I saw a family with two little girls at the sailaway party. And I completely agree with you about the Starlink speed - it took me an hour and a half to upload a 3 minute video.
IMHO Princess is a shadow of it's former self. I had been sailing Princess since the days of Sitmar. Back in the day Princess was solidly an upper premium line. How I miss the original Pacific/Island Princess, Royal & Sky Princess! A Discovery Princess cruise during her inaugural season confirmed to me that Princess no longer offers the type of cruise product I'm willing to pay for. From ship design, dining, lack of attention to detail, & ever increasing emphasis on onboard revenue production being specific reasons. Viking Ocean is my hands down favorite line & ships of anything currently sailing.
We are on the ship with you. This ship has a lot of outside spaces and in bad weather it is definitely crowded. BTW I heard there are 8 kids onthe ship
We just got off Discovery and had the same opinion of Rudi's on purpose ship that you had on yours. MDR service was slow, and we ate lunch there once and dinner once. That's it. We loved the Ocean Terrace sushi restaurant.
I'm booked on the Sun next year in a Cabana Minisuite. It's usefulness I think definitely varies on your personal situation. It will be very useful to me as my traveling companion and I have very different wake schedules in the morning. So having a space I can go to that's not necessarily the balcony where I can watch some TV without disturbing them is a great bonus.
Honestly, it’s not surprising at all why you didn't see more young families on a long 16-day cruise, especially one that cross the Atlantic. One of the biggest reasons is time off. Most parents can’t take off work for that long, and with kids in school, taking them out for over two weeks can be really tough. Schools are stricter about absences nowadays. Beyond that, long cruises like those don’t always have enough activities for kids outside of the basic kids’ clubs. Sure, the clubs are fun for a few hours, but not for over two weeks. There’s only so much they can do, and families need more to keep everyone entertained. Royal Caribbean would be a better choice for families for that reason. And lastly you have to take into account the transportation involved especially on a one way trip. Cost and logistics might deter families from participating in such a cruise. Thank you for your review.
Diamond Princess (admittedly a very old ship) does something similar with its Churrascaria (which replaced Sterling Steakhouse) - converting half of the buffet for the specialty restaurant. I agree it makes for a cheaper, non-specialty atmosphere.
Chris, thanks for that report, tells me where not to go, and I love cruising. Good deserts just doesn't get it for me. Riding the motorcycle is a better option.
Thanks for your review. I’m curious as to why you boarded so late? I was recently on the Golden Princess & was one of the 1st 10 people into the terminal & we were immediately allowed to board the ship around 10:30 am. In my 38 cruises this is the quickest I’ve ever boarded a Princess ship. It was so great to be able to go to my stateroom upon boarding & drop off my carryons. Plus I was able to go around the ship without the crowds of people. Are you aware that you could ask for a larger table for your balcony for a meal there? Have you cruised with Princess before & if so how do you compare this ship/cruise with other Princess ships?
I'm staying on the same ship as you on the same deck. I find the internet to be very fast, both uploading and downloading speeds. I noticed the workmen on Deck 19 were dismantling the track and support poles for the overhead ride. The deck was closed, as was Deck 20. They also sent all passengers a letter about the restaurant relocations. Some of them will be happening during this transatlantic crossing. The letter apologized for noise and inconvenience and said most of the moving work will be done during overnight hours. On night one, we dined at the Crown Grill and it was as good as ever. Night two, we dined at the Umai Teppanyaki. What a great, entertaining show it was, and the food was terrific. I highly recommend it. Finally, the Holland America Italian restaurant you referred to is called Canaletto, not Canneloni. That one made me laugh! Enjoy the rest of the cruise.
Great review
Great analysis. I'm on the ship with you and agree totally.
Mike
I saw a family with two little girls at the sailaway party. And I completely agree with you about the Starlink speed - it took me an hour and a half to upload a 3 minute video.
IMHO Princess is a shadow of it's former self. I had been sailing Princess since the days of Sitmar. Back in the day Princess was solidly an upper premium line. How I miss the original Pacific/Island Princess, Royal & Sky Princess! A Discovery Princess cruise during her inaugural season confirmed to me that Princess no longer offers the type of cruise product I'm willing to pay for. From ship design, dining, lack of attention to detail, & ever increasing emphasis on onboard revenue production being specific reasons. Viking Ocean is my hands down favorite line & ships of anything currently sailing.
Great info! We appreciate your honesty which will help us in the future when booking cruises
Yay! Have been wondering how your cruise was going
We are on the ship with you. This ship has a lot of outside spaces and in bad weather it is definitely crowded. BTW I heard there are 8 kids onthe ship
I finally saw 2.
Is the Park 19 area totally deconstructed? I have been dying to see images of what it looks like now.
We just got off Discovery and had the same opinion of Rudi's on purpose ship that you had on yours. MDR service was slow, and we ate lunch there once and dinner once. That's it. We loved the Ocean Terrace sushi restaurant.
Thank you for the review, Princess is usually my go to cruise line and I can’t wait to be on the Sun someday.
I'm booked on the Sun next year in a Cabana Minisuite. It's usefulness I think definitely varies on your personal situation. It will be very useful to me as my traveling companion and I have very different wake schedules in the morning. So having a space I can go to that's not necessarily the balcony where I can watch some TV without disturbing them is a great bonus.
Honestly, it’s not surprising at all why you didn't see more young families on a long 16-day cruise, especially one that cross the Atlantic. One of the biggest reasons is time off. Most parents can’t take off work for that long, and with kids in school, taking them out for over two weeks can be really tough. Schools are stricter about absences nowadays. Beyond that, long cruises like those don’t always have enough activities for kids outside of the basic kids’ clubs. Sure, the clubs are fun for a few hours, but not for over two weeks. There’s only so much they can do, and families need more to keep everyone entertained. Royal Caribbean would be a better choice for families for that reason. And lastly you have to take into account the transportation involved especially on a one way trip. Cost and logistics might deter families from participating in such a cruise.
Thank you for your review.
Diamond Princess (admittedly a very old ship) does something similar with its Churrascaria (which replaced Sterling Steakhouse) - converting half of the buffet for the specialty restaurant. I agree it makes for a cheaper, non-specialty atmosphere.
Chris, thanks for that report, tells me where not to go, and I love cruising. Good deserts just doesn't get it for me. Riding the motorcycle is a better option.
Thanks for your review. I’m curious as to why you boarded so late? I was recently on the Golden Princess & was one of the 1st 10 people into the terminal & we were immediately allowed to board the ship around 10:30 am. In my 38 cruises this is the quickest I’ve ever boarded a Princess ship. It was so great to be able to go to my stateroom upon boarding & drop off my carryons. Plus I was able to go around the ship without the crowds of people. Are you aware that you could ask for a larger table for your balcony for a meal there? Have you cruised with Princess before & if so how do you compare this ship/cruise with other Princess ships?
The transfer buses were late leaving London for Southampton.
Thanks for your insights. We are booked for a March cruise on the Sun. Could you check out the buffet?
Will be checking out the buffet soon.
But Princess says they have the fastest internet at sea.
I'm staying on the same ship as you on the same deck. I find the internet to be very fast, both uploading and downloading speeds. I noticed the workmen on Deck 19 were dismantling the track and support poles for the overhead ride. The deck was closed, as was Deck 20. They also sent all passengers a letter about the restaurant relocations. Some of them will be happening during this transatlantic crossing. The letter apologized for noise and inconvenience and said most of the moving work will be done during overnight hours.
On night one, we dined at the Crown Grill and it was as good as ever. Night two, we dined at the Umai Teppanyaki. What a great, entertaining show it was, and the food was terrific. I highly recommend it.
Finally, the Holland America Italian restaurant you referred to is called Canaletto, not Canneloni. That one made me laugh! Enjoy the rest of the cruise.
You are right, I can't believe I did not remember Canaletto! Oops.
Younger families wont even go on this ship anymore now that their adventure park has been permanently closed. Such a fail.