r/PrincessCruises

Hey there can anyone please recommend the Star vs the Discovery Princess to Alaska? Do you know if they offer similar enrichment? Has anyone felt that the Star Princess is crowded? Trying to decide between the two.

Friday night (07/03), on the Royal Princess, the Vista Lounge broadcast a Fox News disgusting and hateful tirade against freedom and in support of fascism, hate, racism, and bigotry. What a way to celebrate America's birthday.

When flying into Barcelona from the United States, how long should I plan to get through customs, etc? We are coming next spring.

Thanks!!

I am currently on the 10 day European Capitals cruise and I'm not super impressed by the food or the food service.

Due to the slow service, we have chosen to eat at the buffet most nights for dinner. We only go to a sit down dinner if the menu looks like it's worth it. I swear, It takes almost a half hour just to get a drink other than water in the dining room. The offerings that aren't an "upgrade" are okay and all the desserts have been mid. The desserts at the International Cafe have been better than anything served at a meal.

The last time I cruised was about 10 years ago on Holland America and I just remember the food every night being so good at our sit down dinner (or at least better than okay).

Is this a one off for this ship? Or is it this way across all of Princess?

Just saw this news and we are going to get on this boat next weekend to Alaska! 😭

I just finished a week long cruise on the Discovery Princess…let me just say it was a GREAT experience. The entertainment was on point, the food/drink was excellent, but above all the service was FANTASTIC.

Reflecting on the trip made me realize just how hard the staff on board are working when you consider a few things: (1) Most crew sign month-long contracts with Princess in counties where the labor laws are waaaay looser than the U.S. For crew members, this means they are expected to work 7-days a week, probably 10-12+ hour days, for weeks sailing the same cruise routes back-to-back-to-back and so on. I hope they are granted some kind of off days when the ship makes stops along the cruise routes, but I didn’t see much of this. (2) Their wages don’t compare to what Americans would expect for that kind of contract. At the entry level, they make like 30k in a 9 month period. (3) A lot (but definitely not all) of cruise work is guest-facing, which has to be exhausting! The fact that they can do the same routine week in and week out with minimal rest with a smile on their faces amazes me. THAT IS TO SAY: please give kudos to your stateroom stewards, bartenders, waiters, and anybody else you think is going above and beyond for you on your trip. I know these cruises aren’t cheap, but the workers aboard ship should get their flowers for how hard Princess has them working.

P.S. tipping doesn’t hurt either

We did our first Princess cruise a few weeks ago to Alaska and were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the alcoholic drinks. They were far better than the drinks on the Celebrity cruise we did last year, which tasted like they were made with cheap mixers. I'm not talking about the amount of alcohol, just the overall quality. I would consider cruising with Princess again so I'm wondering if Princess's drinks are consistent throughout the line or if we just got lucky.

Edit: Thanks everyone for the responses. Seems like overall, the drinks on Princess are pretty good. I may sail with them again.

We are doing the 7-Day Alaska cruise on Emerald. We had booked glacier kayaking, but I have broken my elbow, so we need a new plan. Would you recommend just spending time in Skagway, or is there another excursion that you would really recommend? Any help is appreciated!

Hi! This is our first cruise, so we’re not super familiar with the entire process! We have completed all the check-in steps, besides the security photo. It’s not really clear in app if there are any requirements for the photo, does this have to be a headshot with a solid background? Or could it just be any casual photo? Such as a selfie or a photo of you outside?

Thanks in advance!

From watching YouTube videos (can’t believe everything on the Internet), it appears the buffet on Sun Princess is staff-served and the Star Princess is self-served. If the two do have different approaches, does anyone know the thinking behind that?

Researching a second Alaska cruise. On the last cruise with NCL, on the Sun, we went straight up from Vancouver and truly stayed "inside". I am just wondering what the reason is why Discovery does not go east of Vancouver Island? Could it be the bridge is too low? It is kind of a bummer because as I recall, losing out on that scenery and the calmer waters is a shame.

Any feedback welcomed.

I have not seen such a ‘lively’ group of social media complainers in all my cruises with Princess. From diarrhea dog to kids doing kid things, Jesus Shells, wet floors, and ‘terrible’ food…the list goes on. So many folks seem to be in such a tizzy over various aspects of the cruise that it’s feeling less like the ‘Love Boat’ and more like the ‘Karen Boat.’

Worse, the overreaction is straining the poor crew who have been absolutely wonderful in the face of challenges from the subset of unhappy customers.

Can we please just enjoy our last day without another perceived or manufactured crisis?

We’re nearing the end of our first time back on Princess (Caribbean) after many years away and trying out MSC and Celebrity. This is a B2B2B with the last ‘B’ a switch to Caribbean Princess from the MSC Seashore. So we’ve been able to compare the two buffets very closely. In virtually every way, the smaller older Caribbean buffet has showed us the attention and a smaller array of food can beat a larger buffet of lower quality food.

The Princess food is always hot when it’s supposed to be. The MSC buffet had a problem: their breads and cooked foods were put out under hot lamps well ahead of opening. So this meant dried out or tough/stale bread or food that you would not serve yourself because it was dry/overcooked. This happened at nearly every breakfast/lunch/dinner on the MSC buffet. This very rarely has happened in the week we’ve been on Princess.

In fact, the seafood preparation has been so poor on MSC, that we avoid them in general. On Princess, seafoods have been much better and more consistent. The ethnic foods too (e.g. Indian) have been first rate on Princess and very hit or miss on MSC.

The Princess plates are stoneware and are always clean and even hot when we pick them up (MSC’s are plastic). The tables on Princess are each stocked with their own silverware (vs near the plates in MSC), so very convenient not to have to go back into the buffet crowd just to get a knife and fork.

So we are happy to report that the much older Princess ship has been a happy surprise to come back to compared to the newer, glitzier, bigger MSC ships, foodwise. As anything, YMMV! 😋

I'm a big cruise fan and I'm going on my very first Princess cruise in a few weeks. I'll be sailing on the Sky Princess and I'm in my early 30s - would love some tips!

Can someone take a picture of the fridge size on the ruby princess? Planning a trip with a baby and would like to know how much space I have for her milk. Thank you!

Booked in a mini suite on Princess Coral in Alaska leaving July 8th. Just got an offer to move to a standard balcony from our min suite and if we do they will refund 100% of both of our base fare $6,700 CDN. IF we accept, do we have to take any standard balcony cabin anywhere on the ship - regardless if an inferior location or obstructed view? Or do we get to pick our new balcony room? Not sure how they can do this as the ship has been sold out for months. Thoughts?