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Issues I Have With Princess Cruises
2K views
Jan 28, 2025
After two recent cruises on Princess Cruises (Sky Princess and Regal Princess), I came away with 6 issues about cruising on Princess Cruises. With a major, and costly, cruise booked for next year with them, I look if these concerns are serious enough to pull that cruise, and what I think you should do if these concerns and issues are important to you too. ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 87 cruises I have done to date. BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTs ————————————————- Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA ——————————————— TikTok: @garybembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
i booked on a pretty costly princess
0:02
cruise next year but have a real dilemma
0:05
after coming off two short trips
0:07
a four night regal princess and a five
0:09
night sky princess cruise i came off
0:12
those with a couple of pretty big
0:14
concerns based on those trips so i
0:15
decided to take time to pause and
0:18
reflect on those issues before making a
0:21
final decision if i should keep going
0:22
with that booking i decided to share
0:24
this with you because i think it could
0:26
help you particularly if you're
0:28
considering or thinking about princess
0:30
cruises if you're new here welcome
0:32
aboard i'm gary bembridge and it's my
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goal to make it fun and easy to discover
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plan and enjoy unforgettable cruise
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vacations
0:41
the first thing that struck me stepping
0:43
on board those ships is how incredibly
0:46
samey they are
0:47
take a look at these lobbies
0:49
these are from four different princess
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cruise ships that i've been on caribbean
0:54
princess royal princess regal princess
0:57
and sky princess it's impossible i think
1:00
to tell which ship i was on because
1:02
they're all basically look the same
1:04
princess ships have the same decor
1:08
largely the same layout the same
1:09
facilities so that sense of excitement
1:12
and the thrill
1:13
of exploring the differences when you
1:15
step on a new princess ship
1:18
just simply isn't there
1:20
on reflection though i wondered could
1:22
this familiarity and sameness actually
1:25
be a plus so the big alaska trip that
1:28
i've got booked next year
1:30
means that i can focus right away on the
1:32
destination because as i step on that
1:34
ship which will be the majestic princess
1:37
everything is going to be familiar the
1:39
look the feel the layout and i'll know
1:43
where
1:43
everything is
1:45
so i'll only have to take limited time
1:47
getting to know the ship
1:49
also thinking about it that multi-tech
1:51
atrium is the hub for everything
1:55
there's a 24-hour hour international
1:57
cafe
1:58
vines and other bars alfredo's the pizza
2:01
ocean terrace sushi bar shops photo
2:04
center future cruise sales and just off
2:06
that the casino guest services excursion
2:09
desks the crown grills sabatinis and so
2:12
on i can drink i can eat i can dine i
2:15
can be entertained there
2:17
so although it's very familiar that hub
2:19
is something that works and
2:21
i was thinking possibly trumps my
2:22
concern about the lack of excitement of
2:25
having something new a new ship to
2:27
explore and experience when i get on a
2:28
princess ship
2:30
however there is an issue or a gripe
2:32
based on these recent trips that seems
2:34
much less easy to reconcile than this
2:36
particular one and i think i should have
2:39
considered much more carefully before i
2:41
booked next year's trip
2:44
this issue is the fact
2:46
that the ships are getting so big regal
2:49
princess carries
2:50
3560 passengers sky princess and all the
2:53
newer ships are even bigger with 3 60
2:57
passengers when these ships are full
2:59
they do feel busy and crowded now i'm a
3:02
fan overall of smaller ships so one of
3:05
the big concerns i've got now is the
3:07
push by princess into only bigger and
3:11
bigger ships princess got rid of many of
3:14
these smaller ships during the pandemic
3:15
there are still some smaller ship
3:17
options like they've got ireland
3:19
princess 2 200 passengers coral princess
3:22
with 2 000 and sapphire princess with 2
3:25
600 however those last two the coral and
3:28
the sapphire are based in australia and
3:30
island princess sells kind of offbeat
3:33
routes like iceland panama they do much
3:36
longer voyages 39 voyages to full world
3:39
cruises so that doesn't really help me
3:42
when i'm looking to plan more kind of
3:43
normal regular trips so if i want to go
3:46
on a princess cruise
3:48
particularly this next one and in the
3:49
future i'm going to have to get over my
3:51
concern about big ships now i booked
3:54
princess because they're the experts in
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alaska they've been there over 50 years
3:58
they're calling to all the places on
4:00
that artillery that i really want to see
4:02
they're passing places that i've not
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seen before
4:04
and so i think i need to get over the
4:06
size for that particular trip maybe for
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other itineraries in the future that
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size that may factor in much more so
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certainly i would say if ship size is an
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issue for you particularly big ship size
4:19
then think about princess suitability
4:21
and think about it based on where you
4:24
are going like i'm going to be doing
4:26
stick with me on this next concern as
4:29
frivolous as it sounds at first because
4:31
it will make sense in a moment
4:34
i'm a massive fan of afternoon tea both
4:36
on land and on cruise ships
4:39
but one of the things the princess
4:41
doesn't do well
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at all
4:43
is afternoon tea
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the included afternoon tea it's served
4:47
in one of the main dining rooms you know
4:49
waiters come around with trays of
4:50
sandwiches cakes and scones but to be
4:53
honest they're not that exciting and i
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didn't think they were particularly
4:57
great quality cakes and sandwiches
5:00
now you don't get for example as you
5:01
would on viking a beautiful tiered tray
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with very high quality fancy cakes very
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fine cakes beautiful sandwiches princess
5:10
afternoon tea is basically just fine of
5:13
course
5:14
i'm not going to choose a cruise line
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and a cruise based on afternoon tea
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so why am i talking about it well for me
5:20
getting something like afternoon tea
5:22
right
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is indicative i think of a lion's
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approach to cuisine
5:27
and overall kind of culinary expertise
5:30
so just
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how good is princess food now i was very
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sensitive to this because before these
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trips i was repeatedly asked by a
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surprisingly large number of people
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what's happening with princess food is
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it better is it worse especially
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because the ships are getting bigger
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one test i have when i go on a cruise
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ship to see the attention and quality
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that goes into our cuisine other than my
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afternoon tea
5:56
is the poached egg test now i discovered
5:59
this on a show called hotel inspector
6:01
where the presenter would go to
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different hotels and one of the tests
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that she used was how well they managed
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a basic skill
6:09
like poached eggs
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the reason being it's a relatively
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tricky thing to do but it's also a
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really fundamental cooking thing the
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test she said was usually a good
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indication of overall culinary skill
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now on princess in every single
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restaurant and i went to quite a few
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that i ordered a poached egg they
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absolutely passed this test amazingly
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unlike two of the lines that i had also
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been on recently who didn't get it right
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so i found the quality of food on
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princess good is it phenomenal probably
6:42
not but it's among the best or better in
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the category
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these are as i mentioned earlier big
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ships catering for a lot of people and i
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think they probably do
6:53
the food better than a similar line like
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piano cruises for example that i was
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actually on just before these trips
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princess food doesn't look it doesn't
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taste like kind of mass produced canteen
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food which i think some other cruise
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lines
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suffer with the range of food is good
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the included options and especially
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dining in places like crown grill or
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sabatini's the food on princess is good
7:15
it's at a level i think that's going to
7:18
get me over my afternoon tea
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disappointment set that concern aside
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and basically enjoy the food
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and just accept that i'm not going to
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have incredible afternoon tea on my
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alaska trip
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however another issue that i have with
7:30
princess cruises is a bigger one and
7:33
this is around smoking
7:35
they still allow smoking in the casino
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even though they have which is a real
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plus for smokers churchill's on many of
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their ships this is a smoking room
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inside the ships however on my trips so
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many people pop into the casino sit
7:50
around in a group near some machines and
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smoke
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smoking in the casino is to me
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unnecessary it does drive me to be
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honest kind of crazy
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i keep wondering you know do smokers
8:02
spend more on gambling certainly the
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ones that i saw sitting around smoking
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on my recent cruises weren't even
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gambling at all
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now on the plus side it does mean of
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course that i'm going to spend less when
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there are many smokers in the casino
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princess cruises also introduced the
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ability to gamble on an app so they've
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launched an app which is called ocean
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play and you can sit by the pool or in
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your cabin or wherever you want to do
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and gamble so i guess there is kind of
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an answer to that however it's not the
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same as being in a casino and that is
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definitely not for me i don't want to go
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and gamble on an app you know i do enjoy
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gambling on the cruise i do love playing
8:39
the machines and the smoking is really
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off-putting
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is it enough to make me change cruise
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lines
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it's not big enough issue to maybe
8:49
change cruise lines but it's an issue
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i'm sure shared by many and something to
8:53
really bear in mind if you are brilliant
8:55
gambling and smoking is a big issue
8:58
one of the other issues i have is one of
9:00
the great signature features on princess
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that i really really like has been
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turned into something totally
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underwhelming on their new ships even
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though it comes with a massive upside to
9:09
many cruise passengers on regal princess
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the skywalk is magnificent it's up on
9:14
the pool deck it's a feature with a
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curved walkway there's a gap one side
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you can look down across all the cabins
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to the promenade deck to the ocean below
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those without fear can walk on the
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actual glass walkway however
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on skype princess it's so much less
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impressive they've actually covered over
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that open area down the side of the walk
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and it's just a strip of glass basically
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to walk on it loses the spectacle it
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loses a drama of it all and it's
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actually not very visible at all so much
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so that i didn't even realize they still
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had it on skype princess until i
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stumbled across it by chance on the last
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day when i was walking across the pool
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deck
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now on the plus side
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if you didn't do your research or
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perhaps booked a guaranteed cabin you
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might find yourself under the skywalk on
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ships like regal princess and everybody
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visiting the skywalk even those not
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walking on it
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actually directly look onto your balcony
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and even potentially into part of your
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cabin it's pretty intrusive
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people just staring down
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on you so on the new ships like sky
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they've actually covered over that open
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area so people can't look down on you as
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much because when people actually walk
10:24
on the glass
10:25
strip they're actually then looking
10:27
straight down to the promenade deck and
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the ocean they're not overlooking your
10:30
balcony and into your cabin
10:32
to anything like the same degree so it
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shows i guess that princess have
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listened to their customers chosen to
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cover up and reduce the amount of people
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looking down onto those balconies and
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cabins it does mean though that the
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whole spectacle and drama of the skywalk
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which is really fantastic has gone it's
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become in my view pretty underwhelming
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which is a pity it's not a big deal
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breaker but it's such a pretty a great
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feature like that just doesn't work
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anymore
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now the issue i had
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which is perhaps more important than the
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skywalk is the shows though to what
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degree it should affect my choice it's
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difficult to decide because as you're
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going to hear i have this issue with
11:12
pretty much all the premium cruise lines
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that they compete with the shows in the
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theater are still those song and dance
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review shows around a particular theme
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and they do to me end up feeling very
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repetitive across all the cruise lines
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they all have what feels like a pretty
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random playlist that someone's created
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based around a theme they're very
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interchangeable between every single
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premium cruise line
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and they're in my view pretty dated and
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they haven't really been elevated or
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moved forwards
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they have their tried i guess on
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princess to do something a little bit
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different with one of the shows which is
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called rock opera however
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while they've definitely improved the
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set
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they've improved the costuming they've
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definitely cast singers that can sing
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those kinds of songs consistently well
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it's really not much of a change it just
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looks and sounds better but the song
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choice is a bit random there's no story
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it's still basically a pimped up review
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song and dance show now i may be in the
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minority having this as an issue because
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other passengers do seem to enjoy the
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shows on both princess and other cruise
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lines that have them
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now the entertainment
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is probably not a massively big factor
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in choosing a princess cruise because if
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entertainment was really important in
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the premium category the only one really
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doing something different in my view
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anyway is virgin voyages they're trying
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different things
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not the review format but they actually
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aren't even going to alaska so they are
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i can't even consider them
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but for something even more gripping if
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i did want to make entertainment really
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important i'd have to go more in a mass
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market line say like norwegian cruise
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line which stage full-on broadway
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western shows you know they've got six
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hairspray priscilla queen of the desert
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rock of ages and so on but again that
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cruise line isn't really for me they're
13:00
not experts in alaska so basically i
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guess i need to live with that kind of
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review show now as i worked through all
13:06
these various concerns i was still left
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with the dilemma because there seems to
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be a lot of compromise needed but the
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revelation that i had talking and
13:16
working through these issues is the
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danger of course is looking at
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everything from a glass half empty
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perspective
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focusing on the things that are perhaps
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not working but enough of the things
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that are working you know nothing is
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perfect no cruise line is perfect the
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atrium although being the same is
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probably like that because it's a great
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area that works although they may not do
13:39
afternoon tea well it's just not their
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focus or thing they they have the
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fundamentals of right the food is as
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good as other premium cruise lines i'm
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not really going to choose a cruise line
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based on the skywalk alone or exclude
13:51
one just because they have smoking in
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the casino the shows are good enough to
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keep me entertained
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on the glass half full side princess
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cruises have incredibly consistent
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service when i go on a princess cruise
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it runs well the service is good it's
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familiar and they know what they're
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doing and i know what i don't get from
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them the sameness for them is about
14:10
doing the things they do really well and
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consistently that i know i can rely on
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so i decided i should stick with them
14:18
for that big cruise that i'm doing to
14:19
alaska it's an important cruise for me
14:21
and a route that i really want to do
14:23
they're the experts there and i can go
14:25
knowing i can rely on them and knowing
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exactly what i'm going to get now one of
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the things i didn't mention as a gripe
14:31
or as an issue is the medallion because
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the medallion is something they've
14:35
introduced and for me it just helps
14:38
things work smoothly it's actually for
14:40
me a plus it's actually not even an
14:42
issue it's a real plus but if you're not
14:44
sure though if things like the medallion
14:47
and other changes that princess cruises
14:49
have made for you watch this video where
14:51
i talk about a number of changes they
14:53
have made recently starting with exactly
14:56
how
14:57
technology has totally shaken things up
15:00
see you over there
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