Princess Cruises - Life on Board....
I will post separately my opinions and some hints on visiting the destinations, but first I want to pass on my opinion and some hints about life onboard a Princess Cruise ship.
A good cabin if on a limited budget:
I traveled with my wife and 2 sons who are 21 and 15 years old. Whilst we could have fitted into 1 cabin it would have been very tight so we decided to book 2 cabins. To keep the cost down we booked inside cabins but opted for cabins on Lido deck (deck 15). Whilst we had no window or balcony in the cabins we were only feet away from the pool deck which acted as our place to sit and enjoys the view. It was handy being able to pop back to the cabin as it was only a few feet away from the pool. We used the cabins as somewhere to sleep - and when it is dark the window and balcony are not much use anyway.
Days at sea:
When you have a number of days at sea there are not enough sun beds on the pool decks for everyone. This frustrated some people who could not find any beds to sit on. My advice is to get up early and base yourselves on the Pool deck. By 8:30 am all the beds are occupied so it pays to set an alarm. You cannot simply reserve the beds and come back later, so accept you are going to get up and take a good book with you! There are a vast amount of organized activities offered but we chose not to do them.
Dining:
All the food is included in the main buffet restaurants and also in the main table service restaurants. We used the buffet restaurant for breakfast and lunch and there was plenty of choices available. For the evenings we found the Anytime Dining table service restaurants the best as we could eat at a table for 4 people without sharing a table and at a time we wanted to. These restaurants are popular, so it is worth booking a table in the morning for that evening. The table service provided by the waiters is excellent and the quality of the food is good. We preferred this to the buffet restaurant and opted against the traditionally fixed dining option.
Fine Dining:
The Crown Princess also has a selection of fine dining restaurants where a supplement is charged to eat there. Of these, we found the Crown Grill to be excellent for the $26 per person cost but were disappointed with Sabatini's Italian restaurant where the $26 per person cost did not seem worth it. We also dined at the Salty Dog gastropub for a $12 per person supplement. The food here was good but the menu was a bit limited.
Entertainment on board:
Every evening there is a show in the ship's theatre. The standard offered is very good and guest "stars" are flown out to the ship to give a variety of acts. Acts included singers, tribute acts, comedians, magicians, jugglers and talks by sporting celebrities. Princess Cruises are also known for their Movies under the Stars. Here, comfy cushions are placed on the sun beds for outdoor movie watching. Popcorn is provided to enhance the movie experience and blankets are available so you can wrap up warm if needed.
Expect and budget for a large bill:
It is tempting to think that because all meals can be free as they are included in the holiday cost, that you will not spend much on board. Drinks are not included and you are restricted to 1 bottle of wine per adult per voyage that you can take onboard. After that, wine costs $30 upwards per bottle to buy. Spirits are about $7 per drink and bottles of beer cost about $5 per bottle. You can pre-purchase a soft drinks package at $8 per day for unlimited juice, soda, mocktails and hot chocolate. The crew all work very hard to make your stay enjoyable and tipping is normal and expected. We decided to pay the ship's recommended amount of $13.50 per person per day. The tips, therefore, add $800 to your bill for a family of 4 on a 14-day cruise. Our expenses bill was well over $1250 on top of the holiday cost. This is about £1000 in extras.
Visit the destinations:
The reason we booked a cruise is to visit many destinations. A cruise simply becomes an expensive hotel if you do not make sure you get off the ship and see the amazing destinations you are visiting. I will be posting my hints and opinions of each of the destinations we visited in separate blogs.