Five Things Princess Cruises Does Best: From Deals To Cabins
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Cruises are one of my favorite ways to travel with my family. Cruises are the best way for me to break free from the hassle of daily life to sail the ocean and relax on a gorgeous ship. Cruises have so much for multigenerational families to enjoy while traveling together. I’ve been cruising for over 20 years with 5 of those years working on cruise ships. I have sailed on many ships across the cruise industry over the years. This post is reserved for highlighting all the aspects I love about Princess Cruises, and why you should consider taking an incredible vacation with Princess this year! Did you know that the classic TV show The Love Boat was filmed aboard Princess cruise ships throughout its 10 years on the small screen?
This post is not sponsored by Princess Cruises.
Related: The Ultimate Relaxing Vacation: A Repositioning Cruise
Cruise Add-Ons that are Worth the Splurge
Tips for Staying Healthy on a Cruise
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Cost
A Princess cruise has a lot to offer—beautiful ships, a huge selection of different ports of call around the world from South America to Australia, onboard activities, and the excellent service that cruise guests expect. Princess also partners with Discovery to offer amazing enrichment programs and destination-themed activities. Guests can participate in lei-making and ukulele lessons on Hawaiian cruises and learn about life aboard the Deadliest Catch boats on Alaskan cruises. Yet, Princess cruises are more modestly priced than Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Disney Cruise Line. Princess cruise ships do not have all the “bells and whistles” of Royal Caribbean or Carnival ships like water slides, rock-climbing walls, ice skating rinks, or roller coasters. With Celebrity Cruises, you pay for the elegance and prestige of sailing on a “premium” cruise line while with Disney Cruise Line, you pay for the one-of-a-kind Disney entertainment. Not to say I don’t like these other cruise lines—I have sailed on all of them and love each of them for different reasons. However, it’s worth noting that a Princess cruise on a newer ship can be less expensive than a cruise on a much older Royal Caribbean ship.
The Discovery Princess docked in San Diego
Music: Night in Venice, Musician: Kevin MacLeod, https://filmmusic.io/song/5763-night-in-venice, License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
I found this when I sailed on the Discovery Princess when it was two years old, and my cruise was more affordable than my Royal Caribbean cruises on significantly older ships. The onboard prices for specialty dining, spa treatments, and gift shop merchandise were also less expensive on my Princess cruise.
Guests can choose to purchase the bundled Princess Plus package which includes wi-fi, a beverage package, premium desserts, crew gratuities, and two fitness classes. The Princess Premier package covers wi-fi on 4 devices, a premium beverage package, crew gratuities, two specialty meals, unlimited casual dining, unlimited digital photos, unlimited fitness classes, and reserved seating in the theater.
My nephew who orders cheeseburgers at 2am appreciates that Princess Cruises is one of the last standard cruise lines to offer free room service.
You can find plenty of deals year-round on Princess cruises through cruise travel agencies.
Check out Princess cruise deals at Cruise Direct:
Bargain Cha$ing Tourist Tip: Black Friday/Cyber Monday is a really good time to book a Princess cruise for not only reduced cruise fares but discounts on dining, shore excursions, and beverage packages. 2. Ambiance
Princess cruise ships embody class and style without being snobby or pretentious. The piazza at the ships' center is gorgeous with a glass staircase and a beautiful chandelier. The ships themselves are designed with soft subdued colors and understated accents. Whereas Carnival ships are very bold, loud, and dare I say, flashy, Princess ships are the opposite. You won’t find a cruise staff member yelling into a microphone poolside, telling everyone to “Make some noise!”
Whenever I cruise with Princess, I can’t help but slow down and relax. I found the dress code—even in the main dining rooms—to be very loose and casual. Tuxes and gowns are not necessary. (At least this was the case on my California Coastal cruise. The dress code may be fancier on different itineraries).
Overall, I really enjoyed the ambiance of Princess Cruises.
Views of the Discovery Princess cruise ship
Music: Sour Soup, Jeff Kaale
3. Princess Medallion
Princess Cruises offer all guests a completely unique feature by way of the Princess Medallionclass vacation. The Medallion is a quarter-size wearable device provided to everyone at cruise check-in which serves first as your stateroom key card but has a lot more benefits!
In addition to opening your stateroom door hands-free, the Medallion scans guests on and off the ship, and can buy merchandise onboard. Princess cruise guests also use the Medallion to order food and drinks onboard. There are also interactive screens throughout the ship which my daughter loved to scan with her Medallion to play games. I found myself using the Medallion mobile app which partners with the Princess Medallion throughout the cruise and found it very helpful. The Medallion mobile app truly made the embarkation process on the Discovery Princess painless. With the ability to complete all the documents in the app prior to embarkation, we arrived to the cruise terminal and walked on the ship a few minutes later! This has never happened before in my many years of cruising.
Princess Cruises gives everyone a free lanyard to hold the Medallion. You can also use Apple Airtag accessories with the Medallion if you want to be fancy!
Music: Golden, Jeff Kaale
4. Staterooms
The staterooms on Princess Cruises are beautiful, well-designed, and comfortable. In fact, the balcony cabins on the Discovery Princess were my favorite staterooms of any cruise line! The storage space was unsurpassed which is huge when you’re sharing cruise cabin space with multiple people. It is important to note that this was a standard verandah stateroom—we didn’t pay extra for all the space! One of my upcoming cruises is on the Discovery Princess, and I am so excited to sail this ship again! Another underrated benefit on Princess cruise ships is the access to complimentary laundry rooms on the stateroom floors. Being able to wash clothes and rewear them is so helpful when traveling with kids.
The amazing closet in my stateroom on the Discovery Princess
Music: Circuit, Jeff Kaale
5. Kids’ Clubs
The relaxed, quiet atmosphere of Princess Cruises often draws a more mature crowd. Despite this, Princess Cruises offers stellar organized children’s activities, competing very well with Royal Caribbean and Carnival. (I haven’t sailed Norwegian Cruise Line to compare). Princess Cruises has paired with Discovery to offer “Camp Discovery” with innovative children’s programs teaching the littlest cruisers about the wildlife specific to their cruise.
My daughter begged to go back to Camp Discovery each day. I was really impressed by the children’s staff on Princess Cruises—it was obvious they adored working with young children. I also loved that the children’s spaces on the Discovery Princess had views of the ocean and an outdoor play area. (Most kids’ clubs I have seen on cruises don’t have windows). The mascot of Princess Cruises is a teddy bear named Stanley who appears for photo ops. One of the kids’ club activities was an ice cream social with Stanley which my daughter loved.
Stanley the Bear
Alaska Cruises
Since I’m showcasing Princess cruises in this post, it must be said that Princess Cruises truly goes above and beyond in Alaska. Princess has sailed to Alaska for over 50 years, and has perfected the Alaska cruise experience. Besides offering world class shore excursions like seeing humpback whales and flying in a helicopter to the top of Mendenhall Glacier, Princess also offers cruisetours. Separate from shore excursions in the ports of call, cruisetours combine an Alaskan Cruise, train travel on the Direct-to-the-Wilderness rail service, and a stay at a Princess wilderness lodge located in a national park. Cruisetours allow guests to advance further into the Alaskan wilderness than what is possible on a cruise alone. Learn all about what to wear in Alaska and print my Alaska packing list here
Denali National Park, Alaska
Princess Cruises provides an outstanding cruise experience without an outrageous price tag. In the sea of competing cruise lines trying to outdo one another, Princess stands out for understated elegance and ambiance. The Princess Medallion, the staterooms, the kids’ programs, and the overall cruise cost establish Princess as a strong contender among the competition. Have you ever cruised with Princess Cruises? I would love to know what you like about Princess Cruises!