Princess and I have a long history together and it reads a bit like a young adult romance novel. She was my first love (because she was the first line I sailed on as an adult 11 years ago), but I haven’t remained faithful. While I adored her personality, there just wasn’t a spark (I guess I’m not that attracted to gold and brown tones) and she wasn’t overly accepting of me as a vegetarian, straddling the generational line between X and millennial. Mostly though, I’m fickle and have bounced around between dozens of ships on every non-luxury line like a 2 year-old who snuck a sip of her mom’s double espresso before handspringing into an inflatable castle. But Princess and I have had many trysts over the years, some even lasting weeks like the time she took me to Hawaii.
Then Covid hit and I collapsed into a period of forced [cruising] abstinence from which I emerged hungry, desperate, and entirely undiscriminating – I hopped on any cruise ship that fit my budget and schedule. But as it happened, almost a year went by before my first post-pandemic cruise on Princess – I think she was keeping her distance until I settled down and figured out what I really wanted. And sure enough, when we finally reunited, something had changed. Where before there was barely a spark, now I loved her with such passion that I took a pregnancy test along with my post-cruise Covid test just to be safe. So what is it that I love so much about Princess these days? Read on to find out!
The first 7 of these things aren’t new – I think it just took reaching a certain level of maturity on my part to truly appreciate them. Or maybe it has something to do with contrast, as I just debarked from a spring break cruise on another cruise line that shall go unnamed to protect the guilty, but that begins with C and ends with L (I actually love so many things about Carnival, but I did find myself missing a lot of features on Princess).
The final 3 things are new-ish to Princess and were brand new to me on my first post-Covid sailing onboard the Majestic Princess. They really went a long way in moving Princess into contention for my favorite line.
You can tell a lot about the passenger demographics on a particular cruise line based on the relative size of the brig versus the morgue. On Carnival the square footage dedicated to the brig versus the morgue is 10/1 and on Princess it’s 1/10. Kidding…mostly. But it’s true that the crowd on Princess trends older and the vibe onboard is more serene. And that’s just the way I like it!
It’s always awkward on Carnival when I’m asked, “what did you do last night?” and I’m like, “I ate dinner at 5pm, hit the early movie, and retired to my chambers by 9pm.” And then the questioner looks at me like a great grandparent who just called them by the wrong name. Bless her heart.
But on Princess when I tell my neighbors at dinner that I spent my day listening to an audiobook while walking an outside deck, listening to an enrichment lecture, and competing against myself in a cake eating context, they just pretend they didn’t hear the last part (bless their heart) and answer with an enthusiastic, “me too!” Which brings me to…
As a retired college professor, I sometimes miss being on a collage campus where I would recreationally pop into the classes of colleagues to learn something new and bask in the deep knowledge and enthusiasm of experts in fields different from mine. Of course, I don’t miss it enough to give up cruising! But on Princess I can have the best of both worlds, with enrichment lectures and onboard naturalists! In my opinion, no line does enrichment better than Princess.
One of my favorite evening activities on Princess is to curl up in a warm blanket (provided) on a padded lounger (special pads are added to loungers for the movies) with some (free) popcorn and buffet snacks to watch a movie on a large screen under the stars. There’s always a great selection of movies and you can even use the Medallion App to order a drink or a snack right to your lounger!
I proudly boast at being able to eat the most pizza at sea and Princess proudly boasts at having the best tasting pizza at sea. In addition to occasional pizza served at the buffet and your standard kid’s menu fare, there are two places you can find complimentary pizza on most Princess ships: at Alfredo’s, an Italian sit-down restaurant or at a walk-up counter (usually called “Slice” or “Prego”) serving Neopolitan-style pizza on an outside deck (check deck plans to see if your particular ship has these venues and where they’re located).
While I hold the unpopular opinion that the pizza at Alfredo’s isn’t that great, I love, love, love many of the non-pizza offerings there (you can read my full review, see the menu, and drool over numerous food pics HERE), which makes Alfredo’s one of my favorite complimentary restaurants at sea. And I think the giant slices of pizza available at Prego’s and Slice are that great. In fact, I’d order that entire cheese pie pictured on the left below, fold it in half, then in half again, wolf it right down and then hit Alfredo’s for double desserts.
If you want to know the truth, I have no clue what happens on a cruise ship past 9pm and I’m hours into blissful slumber, dreaming about being seduced by the Captain, by the time the buffet closes on Princess. That being said, I like the idea of 24 hour food. Because even though I sleep like a drunk corpse on a cruise, it’s always possible I could wake in the wee hours with a hankering for sugar and carbs – because I always have a hankering for sugar and carbs. And the International Cafe would be there to offer me a sandwich and four desserts without judgement – because why else would it be open 24 hours a day? No, this is perfectly normal!
You might be wondering why a vegetarian who doesn’t eat lobster would include free lobster in her top 10 list of things I love about Princess. While I usually stick to writing about things I’ve experienced first hand, sometimes seeing joy in another is actually more powerful than experiencing it yourself. And above almost anything else, my cruising companions and friends cite free lobster as the thing that currently distinguishes the line from many others. You can see the current dinner menus HERE and will note that the broiled lobster tail is usually served on night 5.
Now forget that thing I just said about experiencing joy through another, because I will absolutely whip you with my napkin if try to steal a bite of my Journey’s dessert!
Chocolate Journeys is a special culinary program on Princess featuring premium chocolate-based desserts, a step above the regular desserts (which are already very good) in quality. While you’d pay a week’s worth of salary for these at the fancy French bakery on land while the neighborhood busy body standing in line behind you judges your pronunciation as you order, they’re complimentary on Princess. And they’re one of my favorite culinary experiences at sea!
On Princess, a small coin-like device called the OceanMedallion will serve the same functions as the traditional ship card – it will check you on and off the ship, open your stateroom door, and track your onboard purchases (it will even allow you to buy items at certain locations in port that will be charged directly to your shipboard account). In addition, it tracks your movement around the ship so you can have food and beverage items delivered to you at almost any location, so your room steward will know when you’re away from your cabin, so your kids can find you (clearly no moms were involved in the development of this app), and for Covid-19 contact tracing purposes. Crew members can even see when you’re approaching and may even say hello to you by name. I’m also secretly hoping the Captain will low-key misuse it to track me down to propose. #aGirlCanDream
And as part of the massive technology upgrades required to support Medallion technology, internet service (called MedallionNet), while still not perfect, has vastly improved on Princess. You can read my complete review of MedallionNet HERE. But overall, I was impressed with the value and performance of MedallionNet on my recent sailing – it was certainly much better than my pre-medallion Princess sailings. I was able to video chat, stream, and complete necessary work functions for less than the cost of a much more basic internet plan on most other lines.
If I had to choose one thing that currently sets Princess apart from other lines, it would be OceanNow food and beverage delivery. It offers an extensive menu of food and beverage options that can be delivered to guests almost anywhere on the ship via the app (you can also use your television to order items to your cabin). There’s an extra charge for some food items and beverages cost regular retail prices (unless you have Princess Plus or another beverage package that includes them), but there’s also is a long list of complimentary food offerings and no delivery fee (just remember to tip – I generally tip $2 per item). To read my complete review of OceanNow, see all the menus, and view my food pics, go HERE:
Join me in the DeLorean and hang on as we reach a speed of 88 mph in order to travel back to 2011 so I can provide you with some necessary context to the above photo. It’s significant not only because I’m wearing makeup and a dress (which is why you wouldn’t recognize that human as even a distant relative of the 2022 version of me), but because it was taken on my honeymoon onboard my first cruise as an adult on the Sea Princess. We’d chosen this night, a formal night, to officially celebrate our honeymoon. Our wait staff provided us with a special dessert and treated us to a song. Sounds great, right? And it was. However, it wasn’t what we’d imagined or anything we’d choose to do again. Why? Because just outside the frame are 10 total strangers, seated at a long rectangular table with us. It wasn’t exactly the romantic, intimate dinner we’d expected. As new cruisers, we didn’t realize we’d be seated with strangers at dinner each night.
While some still love traditional cruise dining and I’ve made lifelong friends in dining rooms on cruise ships, most people, including me, now see set dining times and table sharing as something that should be retired, only to be experienced through the stories of us old timers: “Listen kid, I walked to school two miles in the snow uphill in both directions AND I sat with total strangers at dinner on my cruises.”
So I was thrilled to experience “Dine My Way,” Princess’s new dining model, very similar to NCL’s Freestyle dining, on my most recent Princess cruise. You simply make a reservation for the time and restaurant of your choice (either for the main dining rooms or specialty restaurants) on the app and indicate if you’d like to dine privately or share a table with others and your preference for dining pace (I like to get in and out quickly, but others may enjoy a more relaxed pace). Set dining times (early and late) are completely gone.
I made all my reservations on the app in advance of my sailing (which was a good thing since the app didn’t work well for me onboard) and had a very positive dining experience. While I still had some lovely conversations with other passengers over dinner, I did so on my terms (as an introvert, I know when I need some alone time to refill my social reserves). While I know not everyone will like this change, I say, “well done, Princess!”
So, will all these desirable characteristics cause me to finally commit to Princess? As it happens, of the four cruises I currently have booked, none of them are on Princess. However, all other things being equal (price, itinerary, and timing), I’d put a ring (gold, of course) right on her! And with that…
Class Dismissed.
Homework (10 points): Share what you most love about Princess in the comments and check out all my recent Princess posts:
How Strong is the Internet on Princess? A Review of MedallionNet
Does Princess Really have the Best Pizza at Sea?
Princess’s 2022 Main Dining Room Dinner Menus
Preparing For Your Princess Cruise in 2022
Princess Cruise Line’s OceanNow Food And Beverage Delivery Menu 2022
Majestic Princess Mini-Suite Review and Tour
Princess Cruise Line’s Elite Lounge: A Review
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