We love the atmosphere on Princess, great food, movies under the stars, the multiple pools, elegant design and great service! You are right - cruising is total pampering 😊
Great video. Thank you. We love Princess because of the value for the money, security and safety. Plus (big plus), the friends we have made among the crew. When we came back after COVID, we met a lady we had know from 15 years before. It was like old home week. We have seen great cruise directors like Matt and Gary Golding. Great job.
We are seriously thinking of booking our first ever cruise. I have watched many videos here on RU-vid, and the reviews in general are very good and give me the inspiration to want to go, however there is one thing I am a little worried about, and that is crowds. I think that could put a damper on it. There would be nothing worse than having to queue at the buffet or wait for a table etc. The ship we are considering sailing is Sky Princess on an 8 day Norwegian Fjords cruise. That ships capacity is 3600. That is a lot of people. I like the way you broke your review into segments. You never mentioned crowding. Either that is a good thing because it didn't affect you, or you simply forgot about it. Subbed.
you are right, I had similar reservations. Nut I must admit, although it was full to capacity, it did not feel as cramped and crazy as I expected. Obviously you need to have some expectations given there are 3600 on a ship but there is 1 staff per 2 people with Princess so it didn't seem so bad. Plus you can always use the app to order drinks if the queues are big. I think you should give it a go, you only know if you try, and what do you lose? seeing the fjords by cruise will never be a bad decision I think.
Crowds are really dependent on when you sail. If you sail during a popular holiday period on a shorter cruise, you will get more families, which increases passenger density as that will typically be 3 or 4 bodies per cabin. Having done more than 10 cruises on Princess, I'll say the places you can typically "feel" the crowds when the ship is at or over "full" occupancy are as follows: Picking a dine my way time that is popular or within say 45m of a prior popular time. For example maybe don't choose 7:20pm, if lots of people like to dine at 6:30 or 7. If the ship is very full, you will be queuing to get in the Main Dining Room. On a full cruise, getting pool side loungers or a spot in a hot tub might be a little more challenging. Popular travel paths on the ship can get a little crowded, for example on deck 7, the public walkway that connects the piazza to the lounges mid and aft on the ship, and also has the photo display walls can feel congested at times. You always have the option to head outside at the piazza and walk aft, out on deck, and re-enter the interior by the aft lounge, skipping the internal congestion. Like I say though, I've only ever felt crowds during popular holiday periods when a LOT of mulit-generational families are onboard. Princess really prides itself on service, and being expat-british/kiwi I absolutely love the food. I've cruised a couple of other lines and found the food disappointing and the level of attentiveness and service not quite up to what Princess aspires to bring to the table.
Well done. I think you give a great overview of the current level of service and features of cruising with Princess as a first time experience! If you've had a long history of sailing with the line there have been a lot of changes. Some embrace the changes, others complain. But there are still things that keep us with Princes, like the attention to detail and service, and the quality of the food, as well as route options.
that is true, change isn't always bad and it is important to retain an overview of everything for the opinion. But for me, to be honest they were fantastic and it surpassed my expectations.
One of the changes is a really bad degradation of the quality of food in the dining room. It's really poor quality and frankly there was better food in the buffet. To put it bluntly, it's the worst food I've had in 15 cruises.
@warpedweft9004 I'd agree that quality seriously dropped during covid times and the following supply chain problems period. Recently though they have been getting back towards where they were.
@@hungrytoexplore Let's put it this way: when we disembarked on the final day (which took forever just like everything else on this ship), we felt a sense of relief that could only be matched by the survivors of the Titantic. No exaggerations here.
I've been on the Discovery Princess and the Enchanted Princess, and I have to say my experiences have made me a Princess loyalist. To me, Princess represents the platonic ideal of classic cruising. If you want nightclubs, racetracks, ice skating rinks, and other cutting edge (for sea, at least) attractions, Princess probably isn't for you. Instead, Princess takes all the classic staples of cruising (great food, great shows, great amenities, great crews, etc) and refines them to the next level. You won't find anything groundbreaking on Princess ships, but everything you do find will be at a premium quality. The sole exception to this is the tech, as the medallion is indeed groundbreaking and frankly now that I've cruised with it I don't want to cruise without it. It's been tastefully integrated in helpful ways while never being intrusive.
Agree 100%. We cruised many ships with different Carriers and finally settled for Princess “our favourite”. It fits our needs perfectly. Very satisfied with them.
@bigsneed404 Everything you stated is correct We've tried them all, and you just can't beat the value received on a Princess Cruise. You can pay more for a LITTLE more luxury or pay less for a party atmosphere, sub-prime food, and service, but for us, Princess is the sweet spot. Happy Cruising!
I've cruised on Discovery Princess, Coral Princess and Regal Princess, and my biggest positive of cruising with Princess is that the crowd control on their ships. The design of their ships handle crowds SO well that it's really difficult sometimes to find a busy area - I've been so impressed on every single one of my trips!
I'm doing my 1st cruise ever tomorrow on Coral Princess and have looked at quite a lot of other channels for reviews. I have to say this is the best I've seen, esp since I resonate with that personality of gratitude for everything and enjoying every moment. I saw someone else's vid where they were unhappy that the free ice cream shop on board was called Swirls but served scoops instead of swirls.....and i was like ughhhh. Thank you for radiating positivity and sharing your experience.
I don’t usually interact with videos but I had to to show my appreciation for the mention of wheelchair accessibility, that never gets mentioned in these reviews - so thanks! Great video and I’ll be going on the sky princess soon!
Very informative video Joe. The cruise is far bigger and better than I imagined but I am more interested in the destinations outside the cruise to be honest 😂.
Great video. I was in this cruise too and I have to agree, the crew are amazing. It was my 3rd cruise with Princess and I have to say the crew were great on each one. I did one cruise on another cruise line and have to say I found that I had been spoiled by the service of the crew on Princess. The crew on the other line weren’t rude or bad at their job they just didn’t have the same welcome and friendly service that Princess offer. I also agree the Norwegian Fjords is a great destination on a cruise, I did it on Sky in June 2022 and it was beautiful.Enjoy your next adventure!
oh, that is cool. The crew really are amazing, I cannot say that enough. I would love to cruise the Norwegian Fjords, perhaps one day in the future I will be lucky enough to do so.
G Morn Joe,New Sub,we've always fancied a Cruise,but had a few Reservations, after viewing your Vlog,they've all been dispelled, enjoyed your on screen persona, very polished all round show,answered all our questions, we've been converted, so our next step is to book a holiday on one.blessings from Steve&Theresa Rainham Essex
We've cruised the Caribbean, Enchanted and the Sky already and we're back on the Sky in two weeks. We always enjoy Princess cruises. Great video. Keep it up.
Great review! I've been on the Sky and Majestic Princess. Hands down love the staff aboard the Sky Princess. We truly felt welcomed and at home during our 2 week Caribbean cruise. Best vacation I've ever had! ❤️
When a "gratuity" is automatically added by a merchant, it is not a gratuity. It's a charge. It's a way to get you and me to increase wages of the crew (or any other kind of employee of any other kind of company) by enough that their employees choose to stay in the job. It makes stooges of us all. If any company is genuinely interested in showing respect for and retaining its employees, then let them pay decent enough wages WITHOUT expecting customers to subsidize their wages... so that more profit then rolls up to the top. Then, when and if desired, a gratuity, tip, etc. can again become what it is meant to be: an individual, voluntary act.
I’ve been on 20 cruises. Princess plus is never worth it. You get on board credit PLUS, the break even on drinks is 7 Alcohol drinks a day, everyday! Can you say alcoholic? Even with soda & coffee drinks, it’s still over paying. Military & retirees also get 125/per week OBC making the plus package a rip off.
well it is a lot more than just drinks, if you do drink and add all the other things like wifi, room service, premium desserts, gratuities, gym classes... etc you can definitely make it worth it. but of course, it all depends on the person
Actually, gratuities only go to your room Stewart and the persons that serves you at the main dining room. I was in a cruise back in July and I was just wondering how the gratuities worked just out of curiosity and I asked add customer relationship so Customer Service and that’s what I was told. I had the drink package so my gratuities were cover, but some other people wanted to stop the gratuities so I need to explainexplain to them why it was not fair to do that.
I picked my cruise because of the destinations! I have been to Buenos Aires two other times but hard to see the rest of countries…because South America is so big and expensive to get around. This cruise makes it much easier! Plus we are going to Antarctica which is a bucket list item. I will be staying BA for a month afterwards.
Flying to Singapore in 5 hours… cruise leaves Singapore Nov 11… Port Klang Nov 12… Langkawi Island Nov 13… Ho Chi Minh Nov 16… Sihanoukville Nov 18… Koh Samui Nov 19… Bangkok Nov 20. You should travel with me! 😄
Hi , my partner and i was on this cruise , it was also our first cruise and we absolutely loved it. The ship is amazing , we are hooked now and are looking to book the Norwegian fjords for 2025 , great video Thank you ⚓
We just got off a Princess cruise and I can honestly say that the food in the dining room was garbage. People on YT have posted menus and photos of the meals in the dining room but what we were offered and served was nothing like that. I suspect it's a recent cost cutting measure or maybe it's to force people to go to the speciality restaurants or pay a premium for the additional menu, but when people are posting dishes with nice steaks, lobster, prawns and scallops - well we never saw any of that. The only prawns we saw were if you chose the shrimp cocktail. The highlight of Gala Night was two prawn dumplings which turned out to be fish balls and three slivers of steamed beef. No actual steak or lobster. My recommendation - don't bother with anything that says steak because its slices of tough steamed beef, and avoid the fish because it's dry and leathery. We also never saw salmon except at lunch when we got two wafer thin postage stamp sized bits in a salad. It was so bad that the people on the next table, who were loyal Princess cruisers, cancelled their next cruise.
@@hungrytoexplore I did see your video which surprised me greatly as what we were offered was nothing like that. Having seen such videos I had higher expectations, was sadly disappointed when none of those items appeared on the menu.
While I appreciate you may like the convenience of the Princess plus or worse (cost wise) the premiere package, the cruise line would not be offering it unless it was a net money maker for them. My girlfriend and I are booked on a 12 cruise in June on the Regal Princess. On top of your published cabin rate you have about 500 in tax and port fees. If we got the the least expensive package (plus) that would be an additional 1440.00 (US dollar) bringing the total in addition to cabin cost to almost 2000.00! Granted, the 1440.00 includes the roughly 400 gratuity leaving 1000 extra someone can spend on drinks and specialty dining by not getting the package. My girlfriend and I don’t drink alcohol and we don’t want Wi-Fi on a vacation like this we want to unplug so it’s a no brainer but do you really think your going to drink more than 1000.00 in drinks on a cruise? If so, I don’t want to be on a cruise with a ship full of people drinking that much personally. Perhaps Princess can do a package that would include specialty dinners, 5 soft or sports drinks a day and gratuity for 30 a day per person to cover non alcohol drinkers
yeah, I think that it is only really worth it is you drink alcohol to maximise it for you. But of course they will have their profit line in everything they do. Your suggestion of an alcohol free version is interesting.
Im on the Regal Princess right now in Cozumel My major complaint is the staff on the ship, they aren't friendly. They seem very disconnected and almost irritated they're here! We sailed Royal Caribbean last August and the staff wrte amazing, happy, attentive and overly friendly... such a huge difference. The food is good, drinks are good and great entertainment but, the staff handling it all leave a lot to be desired
oh, that is a shame. It would be the last thing that I would suspect given my experience. they too were incredible for me on Sky Princess. I hope it doesn't ruin your trip too much
Spoken by an able bodied person. My stay on the Sky Princess as a disabled person was not enjoyable. The ship has many things to make it look disabled friendly but in reality it is NOT. I have been on seven cruises this is the first time I have found a ship over crowded. As a wheelchair user when there was talk, shows, quiz’s etc but I could not get anywhere near The place was full and no room for a wheelchair I ended up in the corridor with people rushing past me. I could not hear. Deck 16. The tables were so close together like a school canteen. I could not get a table without moving people to let me through. I do not want this fuss every time I go out. This just highlighted that I a. Disabled instead of letting fade into the back ground However, The complementary lemonade was so nice and I did ask for help and of course the dining room staff always helped with a smile. The food I could never see. The counters were too high. I could not serve myself. Yes I was with my husband but I was looking to be independent instead of being made to feel more disabled. The balcony accessible room was lovely. The medallion ap did not work for me. It opened the door on approach but by the time I had get in position to get through the door it had locked itself. Where you put your medallion to open the door was too far away. The Plaza where a lot of entertainment took place around a dance floor also bars also another free food place a coffee bar and the gelato it was so full there was no chance of finding a seat where you could get a wheelchair in. I had my own seat but my husband who is disabled needed to sit down. We wanted gelato but due to the lack of seats guests have set up for the evening on these tables and we could not get through. The only wonderful experience on the Sky Princess was the Estella dining room where Joe, zimit, Ian Dexter, Wilson in fact everyone in this dining made you feel welcome. Princess Plus you are paying €80 dollars a day for this. The first two weeks we didn’t have it. Two cocktails cost 24 dollars so you can’t afford not to have Princess Plus. The disabled seats in the Theatre were right at the front so close to the stage. I think your video shows how load the ship was there was nowhere you could go relax and just watch the water. Well we were luckily enough to have balcony say we spent a lot of time in our room. My description as a disabled person on the Sky Princess “being at a party but looking through the window watching everyone else having fun. I will not be going on a Princess cruise again
Im very sorry to hear that you didn’t have the experience that you expected. It may not mean much now but I have passed your feedback on directly to Princess so I hope in future they can learn from your comments and improve further. Regardless, I appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment on the video
They also told me the reason I could get close to any of the entertainment was because it was so popular and everyone was enjoying the entertainment . I truly believe places like Princess Live are too small for the amount of people on the ship
Perfect video! I took my first cruise ever just a few weeks ago, also solo, and also on Princess (Emerald). I, too, had doubts. And I, too, absolutely loved it and will do it again. I liked everything you liked. Still not convinced about cruising for an overview to see where to return. More likely to choose itineraries that seem best for cruising or for pure relaxation. Getting ready to pull the trigger on a Princess cruise to Alaska.
wow! Alaska would be awesome. I would love to do that. I think using it for destination specific itineraries which would otherwise be difficult is a great way to do it
Spotted on my friend first of all I love Sky Princess I’ve been on her a few times and your videos are amazing I love ❤keep it up and will see you around.
With all the information available about the cruise experience, I continue to be amazed how many people are still concerned about "boredom" on a cruise ship. Listen UP: YOU WILL NOT BE BORED !!
The only real problems we have had on ship Is not enough room to sit for before dinner drinks or after dinner Music is brilliant we are on board now. We have struggled every day to find somewhere to drink and the app is taking about 1/2 hour to get drinks to you. I like princess but usually we find somewhere on other ships that you can sit after dinner and a show to have a last drink or coffee but found everywhere packed each night
Sure, I guess that is always going to be an issue. Although not one which bothered me so much I think, I always found somewhere, but I also like to walk around and not stay too long in one place so maybe that suited me. shame about the app, I personally didn't have any issues.
Thank you for posting. I'm scheduled to cruise with Princess for the first time in a couple of months. I'm trying to decide which cruiseline to go with for a Norway Fjords experience.
Brilliant video - we are on Sky Princess again in March - really looking forward to it. Love the suggestion of asking ‘how many cruises have you been on’? 😂
That is exciting, where are you going? haha It must have been the most asked question to me on the entire cruise... besides... "why tf are you filming yourself?" haha
@@hungrytoexplore ha ha ha - we haven’t quite got to the talking live to the camera stage yet, for that very reason 😂. We have wound people up before by saying “we’d rather not say, don’t like to brag” when in reality we have done very few in comparison to some but it does tend to shut people up 😂. We are going down to southern Spain calling at Bilbao and Gibraltar along the way 😀
I’ve been on the Regal princess and going on the Sky princess next year, I 100% agree with the staff reviews, they always go out of there way to make you feel welcome and there probably some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.
that is true, but you have two chairs outside, a table, the desk chair and two tables inside. I am sure you could request another if required, they are pretty accommodating to requests
Used to work with you at M & S. I remember you going away on holiday. Seems that you did not stop. I did the same but worked remotely every since. I have just booked on the Princess Sun the new ship. I like you have always concerned about being bored. But you have put my mind at rest. Happy travels.
haha yeah, I remember! you are right, I never really stopped, picked up a camera and here I am. You will have an awesome time on Sun Princess, it is going to be amazing I think. There is a chance that I even might be on it this year to film too.
@@hungrytoexplore to be honest I am amazed how cheap it is. I thought I have missed something. I have done the same as you but no camera and working remotely :) I will look out for the video on it. I am the cruise around the Caribbean in Jan. Will see if you have any videos for Romania, Georgia or Armenia as I am going there later on this year from South America where I am now. Keep having fun.
Princess just sent me an email about a 116 day cruise but I couldn't find anyone online who actually participated or provided pictures of the worldwide cruise. 🤣
Heading off to the Norwegian Fjords on the Sky Princess shortly. This is our fourth Princess cruise and second on the Sky Princess. Princess cruises are 100% fantastic and I would recommend to anyone, singles, couples, groups or families.
Great review! We have just come off that ship and it was epic 🎉❤ It was the second time on that ship and have already booked for the Canaries in October. Fantastic ship, fantastic crew, fantastic food, fantastic entertainment!!! What more do you want!!!
Great first cruise review! We cruise on Sky Princess in May 2024, the first Princess cruise for us and our 15th cruise since 2015. We do land holidays also but once you have the cruising bug, it is very hard to stop cruising. Each type of holiday has something different to offer, cruising usually offers us an extra 4lb in weight gain for a week on the ship despite walking 20k to 30k steps per day lol.
@@hungrytoexplore Norwegian Fjords. Barcelona Med cruise is fantastic if that is what you’re on? If you have done Rome as a land holiday then I probably won’t bother taking the tour as it’s super quick and Rome is at least a 3 day event. The cruise port has a nice museum to kill a few hours too instead and the bar along the front is great too.
@@skylineuk1485 that’s the one! It’s to film more content again, so should be fun. I would love to see the fjords. The sky princess cruise will be on my other channel @thejoeyp
Did you not see the pop up saying paid promotion at the start? You must be a genius! It’s still my opinion! I was free to rate it how I wanted and film what I wanted.
Yeah, great video, but so clearly not a video by someone that has not been given something for it, which is a shame, you can say otherwise but I will come back with mamy favts why it is.
@hungrytoexplore so it's a free review? I'll let you state it before I follow up. Please don't just do the norm. Say I'm wrong and you had no benefit from this review and I'll apologise 😔
I was in majestic princess .steams and souna rooms worked very badly. Some Heated bed wasn't working. People at front desk spa promised fixed problems but they didn't do this. I paid 179 dollars for nothing. I will not go back in princess ships
