Has Princess Cruises lost its way? Or is it
just a temporary blip as it gets back to speed? I've been asked this increasingly by cruisers
coming off recent Princess cruises. They're worried about the service, the menus,
the food, and the much-hyped medallion. I'm Gary Bembridge. Welcome aboard. I've been on three Princess trips in
the last 12 months on Regal Princess, Sky Princess, and Majestic Princess.
And here’s what I think are 4 things they’re getting very wrong right now, and
the 4 things they’re getting very right. While some of the issues people
are raising, like erratic service, should be temporary and can be put down
to post-shutdown challenges all lines are suffering recruiting experienced staff,
I am convinced some are more permanent. As I see evidence that Princess Cruises is
in transition, and they aim to appeal to a different user. The enforced cruise shutdown
has accelerated and made it more obvious. While waiting to board a competitive
line recently, I was chatting to some followers of the channel also recently off
Princess who said they were confused about what Princess now stood for, as
their recent trip had just felt off. I said to them that during the cruise
shutdown Princess made big changes. First, they are now a mostly a big ship fleet. During the
shutdown they sold many of their smaller ships, leaving them a mostly mega
and large ship cruise line. Mega ships are those carrying
3,500 passengers or more. So, all their 6 newer ships (Sky Princess, Regal
Princess, Discovery Princess, Enchanted Princess, Majestic Princess, and Royal
Princess) are mega ships. Then they have 4 large ships carrying over 3,000,
and only 5 mid-sized ships left under that. This means they need to fill these big ships
with more people per trip than ever before. And I think we've seen some changes
in focus and priorities to do that, leading to us increasingly experiencing
a Princess that we’re less used to. I'm seeing they're becoming much
more family, and multi-generational family friendly. I've seen many more
kids on Princess than ever before. When I was on Majestic Princess in Alaska, it
was packed with families, with Kids overtaking the pools, busy Kids Clubs and multiple
occupancy of cabins and fully booked family cabins. Both cabins on either side of me had 4
people staying in them with parents and kids. Even on excursions they’ve got
partnerships with Discovery and Animal Planet to have
more family friendly offers. And they have really elevated and expanded
the Kids Cub size, facilities, and program significantly too. Friends of mine have started
choosing Princess for the great kids’ club option. I’ve been following their
sailings this summer out of the UK on ships like Sky Princess based
there and seen so many more families. Princess seems to be shifting away
from what it traditionally has been, an adult and couples experience. They are now appealing to a wider audience,
including giving families and younger groups of friends a traditional more sedate
classic cruise experience alternative to the hectic resort-style mass lines with like
Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, MSC, and Carnival with all their bells and whistles and
water parks and rock-climbing walls. Further evidence of this focus is they have
no solo cabins, even on their newer ships, unlike other similar lines like Holland America,
Cunard, and even new entrant Virgin, but the ships do have increasing numbers of cabins that can
take a 3rd and 4th guest on sofa or pull-out beds. So, I think it's going through a shift and
that could be throwing regular and historic Princess travellers like me off and why some are
feeling it’s different. Like me to be honest! While I could argue Princess
are trying to offer choice and help people on various budgets
as part of this evolution, they are in danger of confusing us as they keep
changing and making their fares more complicated. At time of recording, they have
recently changed to three fares. Princess Standard, which is a basic standard cruise fare with all extras
charged individually on board. Then there’s Princess Plus
with beverage package, Wi-Fi, and what they call “crew appreciation”
(or as we call them: gratuities). Then there’s Princess Premier, which includes
the plus package and adds some specialty dining, a photo package, and the chance to
win various Princess Prizes. Each day on your stateroom door, you look to see if
you've won a prize like onboard spending, wine tasting, chefs table, and even free cruises.
Once a year they give away $100,000 cash. Fares are not as straightforward
as they used to be and trying to work out if the levels are good value can
be challenging. Especially if say like me, you don’t want or need all of
them like a drinks package. Based on those three cruises
on 3 ships in the last year, I did not find food as good as their closest
competitors in the included dining venues, although pretty good in the speciality
added-charge Crown Grill and Sabatinis. Having also been on all those
similar Iines in the last year too, Princess felt to have the smaller menu choice
and not as good food compared to Cunard, Holland America, Celebrity, the new
entrant Virgin Voyages and probably about parity with P&O Cruises in the UK
which is close to them as a line. The other lines have upped it with
culinary councils and partnerships. I suspect that Princess knows this is a
weakness as they recently announced the appointment of the US chef Rudi Sodamin as “Head
of Princess Culinary Arts”. He leads their sister Carnival owned Holland America Culinary Council
which did an amazing job upping the food there. So hopefully this will
change from a weakness soon. The fourth thing that Princess
is not quite getting right presently is delivering on what they have chosen
as their big point of difference to other lines. While other competitive lines
have chosen physical features as their standout point of
difference, Princess have not. Holland America’s unique feature is
their series of themed music venues called the Music Walk. Celebrity
has their distinctive new ships with Infinity Balconies and The Retreat Suites with
lounge and deck, Virgin Voyages has it’s no main dining room and multi all-included speciality
restaurants and quirky entertainment, and Cunard the only liner at sea, Transatlantic, Grills,
Insights program and white glove afternoon tea. The thing Princess have chosen to be
the thing to set them apart from others is making all their ships what they call Medallion
class. This uses a technology entwined with the cruising experience with a wearable medallion,
an app linked to it and supposedly better Wi-Fi. It is supposed to make Cruising experience
faster, easier, and more personalised, especially with ships getting bigger and having
to handle more passengers. With bigger ships, crew will struggle to remember guests and
the medallion brings up your picture and name to assist. It unlocks your cabin, you
can order food and drinks to where you are, and charge items on board and even
out in some ports like in Alaska. Other than the medallion itself, which is great
for simplifying things, the app itself on all my trips was very glitchy. And social media and
review sites are full of the same experience. The Apps on less technology leading lines
like Holland America and Celebrity trips I did between these trips worked better,
though worth less features admittedly. Like most, I was expecting amazing Wi-Fi
from all the hype. On all my three trips, Medallion Net was not as good as on
other cruise lines, and I've seen lots of people posting about
frustrations about their Wi-Fi. Princess is making a big play with Medallion Class ships but it's
still glitchy and not quite running. So, now, until it is up and running, it's not really
for me a key strength or advantage - yet. So those are 4 things they’re not quite
getting right these days - but let’s get more upbeat and look at what but
Princess is getting right these days. First, Princess was and remains incredibly
popular. It is the largest in the premium lines category, bigger than Holland America, Celebrity,
Virgin, and Cunard, based on passengers carried. It is the biggest cruise line after the
big four resort mass lines, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC and Norwegian. So clearly appealing to an ever-wider audience
seeking a premium classic experience is working. And I think that is driven by their
consistency. Even though I am less a fan of it, but many clearly many see as a
big plus, is that all their ships, layout, venues, and decor are basically
carbon copies. They are very samey. This means incredibly predictable and
consistent experience right across the fleet no matter which ship you step
on. This seems to be appealing to many. Another key reason for their popularity,
and for me the thing they do best, better than the other direct competitors and the
main reason I would choose them is destinations. They call on over 300 ports, but key is not only
do they have this massive range of destinations that most of the others also
claim, but because they have a bigger fleet still (15 ships) they call on
them more frequently and with more depth. For example, in Alaska, while they are second
only to Holland America in terms of time there, they have multiple ships based there in the season
sailing from Seattle, Vancouver and Whittier, they own and operate scenic
trains, busses and lodges too. They home base ships around the world
offering intensive trips. So, for example, they base ships in Japan, and they do
incredible intensive Japan itineraries. They base multiple ships in the
UK and do incredible Round UK, Norwegian Fjords, and Northern Europe sailings.
They base ships in Australia and do phenomenal around Australia and New Zealand. They base ships on the US West Coast
and do Hawaii and West Coast deep dives. The other close competitors visit many of
these but with limited sailings by comparison. The next thing that I think Princess are doing
well is, although I've touched on it, is offering a viable classic cruising option
for multi-generational travellers. Many traditional cruisers are less keen
to go on Mass Resort Lines, but this was our only real option to include and satisfy
when travelling with families and grandkids. But now Princess offers a real
alternative with the range of cabins, excursions, Kids Clubs, and activities,
so multi-generational travellers know even their younger family members
will not feel out of place. Another thing that I think they're doing well is making it more affordable. As they're
moving into bigger ships, I guess, they're able to leverage costs much more,
but when I look at what Princess is doing, they're constantly offering deals, attractive
pricing in the premium category, especially 3rd and 4th guests in a cabin, and usually very
low deposits sometimes as little as $75 / £50. They have a wide range of cabins and choices
from inside cabins to suites. Even suites tend to be less costly than direct competition.
This is partly as they do not have many added suite features with just a small lounge
and area within the Main Dining Room, unlike other lines like say Celebrity with
separate restaurant, expansive lounge, and deck. If all this though makes you think that
Princess isn't the right cruise line for you, and you want a premium experience that's a more
adult, watch this video about Holland America starting with the one thing that I think people get wrong and misunderstand about
Holland America. See you over there.
