747FC

I've been on multiple cruises each with Costa, Celebrity, and Holland America, and single cruise experiences with NCL and Seabourn.

Princess has an itinerary around Japan that interests me, which is on their Diamond Princess. I have not heard anything good about Princess: Does anyone have some good advice about sailing/not sailing with them? FYI, we are thinking of getting a min-suite or suite category.

Thanks!

YVR Cockroach

My cruising experience is very limited but i did 2 San Pedro a.k.a Los Angeles - Vancouver repo sailings 4 years apart. First on the Island Princess, 5 days was very nice. Next (this past March) was on the Star Princess for 4 days. Absolutely abysmal in comparison. Not sure how much it was due to an overworked crew (ship had to go deep cleaning/inspection arriving in U.S. waters for the first time in 1/2 year) and cutbacks (e.g., no baggage offloading unless you had purchased a Princess transfer, limited dining rooms open for a full ship).

Hoyaheel

We've had 2 trips on Princess (Alaska & Black Sea) but on Pacific Princess, a small ship which we ADORE. We loved those cruises and thought Princess was quite nice, but a big ship is a very different experience so I wouldn't necessarily extrapolate my experience.

On the other hand, I'm the kind of passenger that makes a decision to enjoy myself no matter what happens. I can try to do an "objective" review when I'm done - there are always things that can be improved, right? - but while I'm traveling I try to relax and have fun. [my husband might disagree that I'm always *successful* at this, but I do try]

Doc Savage

I enjoyed my cruise from Vancouver to Seward on Princess. Great staff, everything very efficient, had a reasonable room with a window but no balcony. They did a great job of getting close to the glaciers and showing us the beautiful sights. Food was plentiful and good. A really nice experience.

(I'm one of those people who looks at a cruise as transportation between places I want to see. As far as the "entertainment," I can take or leave the shows, etc. Give me a few good books, and I'm happy.)

MSPeconomist

Is this the old Love Boat ship from the TV show?

Panam Clipper

You are correct.

Hoyaheel

Actually, no, it's not. The current Pacific Princess is one of the R ships built for Renaissance cruises in the late 90s/early 2000s before they went bankrupt. The Love Boat Pacific Princess left Princess in 2002 and was scrapped (I think) in 2013 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Pacific

Hoyaheel

We don't cruise a lot (by "Cruiser" standards). We like a cruise as an intro/overview to an area where we might return on a land trip (or, like in Alaska, an area that is great to see by water). We have never been to an evening show on a cruise. We like to sit on our balcony with our binoculars/camera and drinks and relax. We do like other people to feed us - that part is nice^

On the other hand, husband is far more social than I am, and a cruise is a nice way for him to be able to socialize with other people while I can be solitary and read in private if I prefer (though I usually play nice at dinners)

piper28

All of my cruising so far has been done on Princess, so I'd have to say that I do tend to like them . I have to admit, I'm a little surprised at the "Ive not heard anything good about Princess", because I definitely wouldn't consider them to have a bad reputation.

From what I've heard, I'd say it compares reasonably with Celebrity, some will pick one, some will pick the other, and it depends on what people are looking for in a cruise too. Holland America is also pretty similar. They're all mass-market cruise lines, and these days, you're definitely starting to see the places where the lines are starting to cut corners to keep the fares down, and as a result, you're seeing more nickel and diming on all these lines. Princess is definitely more low key when it comes to onboard activities compared to something like Royal Caribbean.

Princess has been fragmenting somewhat when it comes to regionalization. I know there's a number of ships that operate the Australia market, and the onboard experience is different for those. I think this has been happening with the Asian market for them too. I'm pretty sure the Diamond has undergone a number of changes specifically for the Japanese market. I can't really remember exactly what they were, since I didn't pay a lot of attention to it, but one thing I vaguely recall is the installation of bidets on the toilets. I think they also added a sushi restaurant.

I think if you were happy with the experiences you had on Costa, Holland America and Celebrity, you'll do fine on Princess. One thing with that ship - almost all of the mini suites are on the the Dolphin deck. As a result, the balconies are all completely exposed from above - if you look at how the cabins step down the side you'll be able to see this. There's a handful of mini's that have completely covered balconies on the emerald deck, but they're also right over one of the entertainment venues. Suites I think are mostly on the front or back, and the back ones at least would be completely covered balconies. Caribe deck balcony cabins tend to be fairly popular, they have larger balconies, and they're about 50% covered.

I think I'm around 192 days on Princess, so at least from my perspective they must be doing something right.

747FC

Thanks all for your insights and choosing to share your experiences. Thanks, piper28 for noting the exposed balcony on the mini-suite. We decided to go with a Vista suite instead.

Hoyaheel

Someone just returned and posted about their Diamond Princess/Japan trip on CruiseCritic (I'm sure there are many reviews in the Member Review section, but this happened to be in the Asia forum which I'm monitoring because I have an Asia cruise coming up in Nov/Dec :-) Mostly more about the ports but some info on the ship itself.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2400960

747FC

Thanks for sharing. Which line will you be on? Itinerary?

Hoyaheel

We'll be on Azamara (our first time on that line), 10 nights, Singapore to Hong Kong with stops in Koh Samui, Bangkok (overnight) and Ho Chi Minh City (overnight). We bought the tickets last summer - they had a great sale, balcony cabin for the price of an inside (It's called a "double upgrade" or similar and they have another one now for certain itineraries)

Since we love this R ship, we're excited to try a "nicer" (more expensive, more inclusive) line. Neither my husband nor I have visited any of the cities on this itinerary (we're spending time in SIN ahead of time and a couple days in HKG at the end).

747FC

Nice. Hope you enjoy Azamara and all those interesting stops. When we were in HK, we basically did three things: Eat, do a harbor boat tour, and visit the Peak. Recommend all three! We wanted to do a walking tour of Lamma Island, but my wife got sick and it was a rainy day.

Hoyaheel

I already have food tours identified for Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City. Our port timing won't work out to do one in Bangkok, and I haven't looked into Hong Kong yet. Of course we can (and will) just wander around and eat, but I like a food tour as an interesting peek into a culture (bonus when they're walking tours and you get more history/culture along with the food^)