Up next in 10
PRINCESS CRUISES : Are They Any Different To Other Cruise Lines?
245 views
Jan 28, 2025
I explore the Princess Cruises differences to other premium cruise lines they compete with, like Holland America, Cunard, Celebrity and P&O Cruises. I discuss the 5 unique differences I believe set Princess Cruises aside from those other lines. Every line has things is does differently, and these are the 5 Princess Cruises differences. I also discuss what Princess Cruises does the same, or very similar, to those other cruise lines Become a Tips For Travellers Channel Member and get perks. Find out more at http://www.tipsfortravellers.com/join or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY: Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore WATCH THESE POPULAR RECENT VIDEOS: 10 Cabins to Avoid: https://youtu.be/PgTGLma919A European River Cruise Watch-Outs: https://youtu.be/oqhz54wStyk 5 Cruises To Avoid: https://youtu.be/CNiPzK4IRWA Alaska Cruise Need-to-Knows: https://youtu.be/Tn7dpNw5kSI Things Cruise Lines Don’t Want You to Know: https://youtu.be/cs5UKha9ALc Rules Passengers Break Most: https://youtu.be/djZLZ3XV_f0 Things You Can’t Do On A Cruise Any More: https://youtu.be/zas6F4wMD0Q Should You Pay Cruise Gratuities: https://youtu.be/QBYzqxXjEXQ Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 77 cruises at time of making this video. Follow Tips For Travellers on:
View Video Transcript
0:00
I'm Gary Bembridge this is another of my
0:01
cruising tips for travelers I want to
0:03
take a look at what Princess Cruises
0:05
does differently to other cruise lines
0:07
and also a couple of things they do
0:08
basically the same as other cruise lines
0:10
Princess Cruises has been sailing for
0:12
over 55 years so extremely well
0:16
established it's part of the Carnival
0:18
Corporation group of cruise lines
0:21
Princess Cruises
0:22
operated in the premium sector so they
0:24
compete with cruise lines like Holland
0:26
America Celebrity Cunard probably P&O
0:30
Cruises out of the UK and Australia so
0:33
those kinds of cruise lines which tend
0:35
to have mid-sized to large cruise ships
0:37
so what does Princess Cruises do that's
0:40
very different to those other premium
0:42
cruise lines one of the big standouts
0:44
that princess does differently to cruise
0:46
lines is just the number of itineraries
0:49
and how wide it cruises part of that's
0:53
because it has a bigger fleeter than the
0:54
other cruise lines at the time recording
0:56
Princess Cruises is actually the fifth
0:58
largest cruise line of all cruising in
1:02
the world so you have Carnival followed
1:05
by Royal Caribbean followed by norwegian
1:07
followed by MSC Cruises and then
1:08
Princess Cruises so it's a really big
1:11
cruise line it has a bigger fleet than
1:13
the other
1:14
Premium Cruise Lines at the time of
1:16
recording it has 19 ships either in
1:19
service or being built so the most
1:21
recent is in China princess and to come
1:23
is discovery princess they range in size
1:26
from the small ships like Pacific
1:29
princess which carries around 670
1:31
passengers right up to the bigger ships
1:32
and the more recent ships like for
1:34
example Sky Princess and in China
1:36
princess which carries three thousand
1:38
six hundred and sixty passengers they go
1:41
to more destinations than the other
1:43
Premium cruise lines so they go
1:45
certainly nailed publicity they talk
1:47
about going to 380 destinations across
1:51
seven different continents so but I'll
1:53
just have it out one things they do
1:54
differently is just the breadth of
1:56
places they go to and their size the
1:59
second thing they do differently which
2:01
is kind of linked to the first one but
2:03
is so important that I've pulled it out
2:04
and that's Alaska Princess Cruises has
2:07
been sailing to Alaska for over 50 years
2:09
they are the biggest player in the
2:12
Alaska region and it's
2:13
interesting because they don't just own
2:15
their cruise ships which sail there so
2:18
they have often in a season up to eight
2:20
ships operating in a normal Alaska
2:21
season but in addition to that they also
2:23
own some land based things so for
2:26
example they own five lodges they own a
2:30
fleet of motor coaches they even own a
2:33
railway a domed railway carriages which
2:36
can take you from the ships into the
2:39
wilds of Alaska so they are really big
2:42
plane as Alaska region Holland America
2:44
is also a key player in the region but
2:46
princess is the biggest operator and has
2:48
those comprehensive Alaska programs the
2:51
third thing that princess does which is
2:53
very different to the other cruise lines
2:54
is the ocean medallion they were the
2:56
first cruise ships to introduce this new
2:59
technology so these are smaller devices
3:01
about the size of a coin you can either
3:03
wear them on your wrist you can wear
3:05
them as a medallion have them in your
3:06
pocket whatever is different ways of
3:08
wearing them and this is really designed
3:10
to transform the whole cruising
3:12
experience link to that medallion is
3:15
also what they claim is the fastest and
3:17
best Wi-Fi at sea which is called
3:19
medallion net and certainly haven't been
3:20
on the cruise ships in princess that
3:23
have introduced the medallion head it's
3:25
phenomenally good Wi-Fi definitely is
3:27
really really cutting edge what is there
3:29
a medallion all about it's really
3:30
designed to streamline simplify and
3:33
improve service so does a couple of
3:35
things first of all what you do before
3:37
you go on a cruise is you upload the app
3:39
and all the data so it gets you
3:41
basically on the ship much faster so
3:42
they'll check in process is much faster
3:44
with the medallion secondly it acts as a
3:47
contactless way of opening your cabin
3:50
door so as you walk towards the door
3:51
it recognizes you and it opens the door
3:53
so it's kind of a touchless contactless
3:55
wave opening it also enables you to
3:58
order things where your base so you
4:01
might be in a bar you can order a drink
4:02
you'll be at the pool and you could
4:04
order sunscreen for example you could be
4:06
watching movie on the stars and order
4:08
some hot chocolate so it basically
4:10
enables location-based ordering it's
4:12
also designed to do to track lots of
4:14
information about you so it enables the
4:16
crew to get to know you and give you
4:18
much more personalized experience so for
4:20
example I've found when everyone on
4:21
cruises with the medallion is it also
4:23
through the medallion will let the crew
4:26
know you
4:26
your preferences so it might know for
4:28
example it'll let them overtime to learn
4:30
that you like decaf coffee with skimmed
4:33
milk or whatever so gets to know your
4:34
preferences and helps them build up a
4:36
profile of you to give you better
4:37
service also importantly what it does
4:39
for the cruise line is also enables them
4:41
to track flow of people where people are
4:44
so they can basically improve the whole
4:45
flow and the way services are delivered
4:47
and set up you know so for example in
4:49
shows come up they know the flow people
4:51
where people are and they can basically
4:52
ramp up service there's a few other
4:55
little bits and pieces you can do with
4:57
it as well as various games you can play
4:58
you can also everyone's enable that you
5:01
can help track where people are on board
5:03
the ship you can also help direct you to
5:05
places around the ship so lots of lots
5:07
of card location-based services so
5:10
that's something that's very different
5:11
at this point in time it's the only real
5:13
cruise line that's really using that
5:14
technology so it's not across all the
5:16
ships they're basically rolling it out
5:17
to all of their fleet the next thing
5:20
that I think princess do differently is
5:22
the whole approach to multi-generational
5:24
and probably could argue family travel
5:26
all the cruise lines as their core in
5:29
the prima category have a similar
5:31
audience so they tend to be you know 50s
5:33
60s 70s tend to be a lot of couples
5:36
traveling but what princess do though is
5:38
they're probably embracing
5:40
multi-generational and family travel
5:42
much more I would say Princess Cruises
5:43
are probably the best of all the premium
5:45
Cruise Lines to go if you're going on
5:48
multi-generational travel so you have
5:50
the grandparents the parents the kids
5:52
because they are really if you're
5:55
looking for a traditional more classic
5:56
kind of experience they are probably the
5:58
best structured for it so you're fine
5:59
certainly during the warm periods in the
6:01
Caribbean you know the holiday periods
6:03
in the middle train you'll find lots of
6:04
multi-generational even family travel so
6:06
they're a pretty big and expansive kids
6:09
program they have three different kids
6:11
clubs for you know ages ranged from
6:14
three or so up to sort of late teens so
6:17
definitely they have programs designed
6:18
to really cater for that
6:20
multi-generational traveler and families
6:23
so certainly it's probably of all of the
6:25
premium lines one of the best also I
6:26
would say for families it is still a
6:29
traditional kind of premium experience
6:31
it's not the whole resort experience so
6:33
from that degree it's not came for
6:35
families but definitely there are
6:36
overall programs they do are definitely
6:38
much much more for that the other thing
6:41
that they do differently is excursions
6:43
now the bulk of excursions are very
6:45
similar to you'll find on the other
6:46
premium lines but they do have quite an
6:48
interesting partnership which is
6:49
throwing up and generating some
6:52
different excursions and that's a
6:53
partnership they have with the Discovery
6:55
Channel and Animal Planet Channel and
6:57
what they've done is create a whole lot
6:58
of excursions with and through that
7:00
partnership so for example they have
7:02
excursions which are Discovery exclusive
7:04
and Al Planet exclusive discover a
7:07
recommended Animal Planet recommended
7:09
and importantly linking back to that
7:10
multi-generational thing they also have
7:12
discovery family excursions which they
7:14
run on and at times of year when more
7:17
families like to go onboard so a real
7:19
big twist on the excursions linked to
7:21
that partnership with those two big TV
7:23
channels so there's some of things that
7:25
I think that princess do quite
7:27
differently let's talk about some of
7:29
things that are similar or the same well
7:30
first of all the fares are pretty
7:33
similar both in terms of the fare level
7:35
to the other premium lines but also
7:36
what's included so normal exclusions
7:39
that you'll find as you'll find on the
7:40
other lines are gratuities are not
7:43
included in the fare Wi-Fi so I'm
7:45
included in the fare excursions are
7:47
included in the fare especially dining
7:49
is not included in the fare and also if
7:51
you go to their special quiet sanctuary
7:55
area that's also not included within the
7:57
fare and that's consistent across the
7:59
other premium
7:59
lines all the usual inclusions you know
8:02
entertainment food accommodation
8:05
activities are all included as with the
8:07
other lines secondly once you're on
8:09
board it's as I mentioned and alluded to
8:11
earlier it's still very much a classic
8:13
traditional experience on board you
8:16
don't have all the resort attractions
8:17
you're funded ad programs are pretty
8:18
similar you're gonna have a mixture of
8:20
production shows guest lecturers guest
8:23
entertainers quizzes cooking
8:26
demonstrations mixology classes dance
8:29
classes all the stuff that you're going
8:31
to find on the other premium Cruise
8:33
Lines pretty traditional experience and
8:36
very consistent you also find the dress
8:38
code is pretty consistent to those other
8:40
lines as well where it's they have
8:43
casual nights or in more informal nights
8:45
and you have them all formal Garden
8:47
nights but again it's not a very stuffy
8:50
strict dress code
8:51
you'll also find
8:52
on board there's a lot of choice of
8:54
Dunning's they're sitting on the big
8:54
ships you've got up to 12 different
8:56
choice of dining options which is a
8:58
mixture of stuff that's included and
8:59
specialty dining so like some of the
9:01
other prima Lines they do quite a lot
9:03
when it comes to specialty dining so
9:04
what's included is you've got your main
9:06
dining room with fixed or anytime dining
9:08
you've got all your informal dining
9:10
options like the buffet which is called
9:13
world fresh marketplace you've got salty
9:15
dog grill which is kind of burgers more
9:17
informal dining you've got slice
9:19
pizzeria by the pool you've got the
9:22
24-hour international cafe and the
9:24
piazza we can get light snacks and
9:26
coffees when it comes to especially the
9:29
restaurants they differ a little bit
9:30
based on the ship but some of the brands
9:32
that they have or some of the names that
9:34
they've created which all princess
9:36
specific they have things like
9:38
Sabatini's italian they have crown grill
9:42
which is their steakhouse steamers
9:44
seafood on some of the ships planks BBQ
9:47
is on some of the ships and then vines
9:49
which is across many of the ships which
9:51
is a sort of wine bar and like smacking
9:54
kind of venue Princess Cruises is a
9:57
great cruise line it is certainly the
9:59
biggest of all of those premium cruise
10:00
lines out there selling there's a whole
10:03
bunch of things they do differently a
10:04
whole bunch of things they do the same
10:05
but certainly there's a whole lot of
10:07
things that make princess interesting
10:09
because they do very different to other
10:10
premium lines I have loads more videos
10:13
packed full of cruising tips and advice
10:15
so why don't you watch another one of
10:16
those right now
#Adventure Travel
#Cruises & Charters
#Honeymoons & Romantic Getaways
#Luxury Travel
#Specialty Travel
#Transportation
#Travel Agencies & Services
#Vacation Offers