Princess v P&O

Any general cruise line chat
User avatar

Topic author
Mervyn and Trish
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 15259
Joined: February 2013

Princess v P&O

#1

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

I sort of promised and hinted I’d do this, so here goes.

Princess in the Blue Corner, versus P&O in the Green Corner (an obscure reference to the colour of the tint in their glass windows and balcony fronts!)

Or more specifically Sapphire Princess versus Azura/Ventura. And even more specifically travelling as Elite passengers versus our expectation as Caribbean next year.

There’ll be quite a lot of this so I’ll be writing and posting it in bite-sized chunks.

So first to the ships themselves, and of course they have a lot in common. All three are based on the Princess Grand Class design, so if you know the P&O pair it will all seem very familiar on Sapphire. In fact much more in common than different. I’d say there are more differences in décor and style across the P&O fleet than across these three ships.

Sapphire and her sister Diamond were built in 2004, so slightly older than the P&O pair. They were also built in Japan, unlike the rest of the Grand Class built in Italy, but you wouldn’t notice if I hadn’t told you.

Like some later Princess ships, Azura/Ventura have one more passenger deck than Sapphire, the Riviera Deck. They also have one more public deck at the stern, with the Epicurean restaurant as well as the Bar overlooking the stern. On Sapphire there is just a single venue there, the Skywalker’s Nightclub.

Although the extra deck means A/V have more passengers than Sapphire, that is not obvious in terms of crowding inside the ship as P&O make better use of the public space. For example Sapphire’s Casino goes right across the ship, and was sparsely populated, whereas P&O have used part of that space for an additional pub style bar. That bar also provides an additional entertainment venue, so Karaoke, for example, doesn’t have to compete for space elsewhere.

There is also a huge Internet Café on Deck 7, which again, since the ship is now wi-fi throughout, is little used and largely wasted space.

There are fewer speciality restaurants. Sabatini’s (Italian) is in the same area as Sindhu. There is also the Sterling Steakhouse, which alternatives with the Crab Shack, as an area of the buffet in the evening, in the same way as the Beach House works. But the Wheelhouse Bar, in the same location as the Glasshouse, is just a bar, not a food option. And there is no Epicurean equivalent.

I can’t answer for how crowded it will get on open decks in sunnier climates. We were up to the North Cape so it wasn’t really sunbathing weather. But I do think A/V have more sunbed areas up on deck so I guess the crowding will be pretty similar. Princess have a stated policy of removing items from unoccupied sunbeds, but we have no idea how well they police it.

One final difference outside. You have to choose between indoor pool on Ventura, or Sea Screen on Azura. Sapphire has both.

Décor is very similar. The differences don’t smack you in the eye. The atrium has the same panoramic lifts though the view from them is rather obscured by some ornate gilt work on the glass. The atrium stairs are laid out differently and there is no dance floor, just chairs and tables. Overall we though the P&O atriums with the striking black marble arches are more impressive.

Pretty much everything else is in exactly the same place on all three ships, so you won’t get lost!

We loved the ship as much as we love Azura and Ventura, so I’d have to mark this category a score draw.

User avatar

Topic author
Mervyn and Trish
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 15259
Joined: February 2013

Re: Princess v P&O

#2

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

Boarding.

Well we can’t really compare here as our status was slightly confused and we have yet to experience boarding on P&O as Caribou! Plus our recent boardings as commoners on P&O have been smooth and painless when we’ve turned up at the times allocated.

We were both Elite, the top Princess loyalty grade (largely earned through our P&O trips but we just got in under the wire as they’ve not put a stop to that – not surprising as there were over 500 Elite on this cruise!) and Club Class – more on that later. Both get us priority boarding, but on paper at least it works differently from P&O.

Princess have allocated boarding times, but they are not as random as P&O appear to be. They are deck by deck, so the allocated time for our deck was 13.00 (the second batch) and they undertake to have cabins ready when you board at your correct time. Clearly they prioritise cabin preparation in the same order.

As priority boarders we had priority within our allocated group. So we couldn’t just turn up at 11.30 and get fed and watered until we boarded and then again on board. There seemed to be no such facility as offered by P&O.

Once we arrived, at our allocated time (we’re good like that) there were two queues and we were directed into the priority channel and got on board very quickly. That said with so many people having priority boarding the other queue wasn’t long either.

Next year our status will also be confused on P&O when we are Caribou and have a suite – so another case of double priority boarding. The following week we are doing a Cunard cruise with just a day on shore between, so we’ll be able to do a three way comparison.

But based on our experience so far, no chance yet to try P&O’s cava and curly sandwiches, and with the immediate availability of the cabin I’d say a modest win for Princess.

User avatar

Manoverboard
Ex Team Member
Posts: 13014
Joined: January 2013
Location: Dorset

Re: Princess v P&O

#3

Post by Manoverboard »

I would have marked the physical attributes of Royal Princess and Adonia in exactly the same way.

ps … they were of course the same ship, the former having a casino which was replaced with Andersons, a good swap me thinks.
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

User avatar

Topic author
Mervyn and Trish
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 15259
Joined: February 2013

Re: Princess v P&O

#4

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

Cabin

We chose a Mini Suite on D Deck, what P&O call a Superior Deluxe Balcony Cabin, our preferred home on Azura and Ventura.

The layout is identical but the finishing touches of P&O are missing. No flowers, sweeties or chocs on boarding. Or is any of that loyalty related?

No slippers of any variety, neither loyalty nor cabin related, but there were robes.

When we asked about the slippers the loyalty lady said they only put them in suites on Princess. And since there were over 500 Elite passengers on board how could they possibly……..?
I know. 500 pairs at under £1 a pair. When we’ve paid barely £2.5k each for the cruise. A real bank buster! I never know I cared about slippers.

No fuzzy focus binoculars or atlas either.

And no tea and coffee making facilities. We really like the flexibility of just having a brew when we wake up. However, room service were very efficient and tea for two appeared within 5 to 10 minutes maximum when we rang for it.

There was wine, which did relate to the particular grade of cabin, which I will explain in a moment.

And there was vandalism in the name of technology, which I guess will spread to P&O shortly if it hasn’t already.

These cabins began life with a couple of tvs, mounted in the unit between the bedroom area and the seating area, one facing each way. And a couple of pictures on the walls, with illumination from small lights in the ceiling.

Now that has all changed. The tvs have gone. They could have been replaced by 32 inch, or thereabouts, flat screens in the same location. Instead the pictures have also gone and there are 40 inch screens on the wall, nicely lit by the down-lighters (they didn’t think that bit through), and the purpose built unit forlornly empty.

Probably just me, but I don’t get the need for huge tvs in cabins on a cruise ship. With so much going on around the ship and outside my window, just something I can look at the news headlines on is good enough. I don’t need to sit on the sofa watching re-runs of Casualty and The Durrells at cinema proportions!

The selection of tv channels is pretty similar to P&O, with the usual live channels when they can get them, a webcam to see where you are going, some music options, re-runs of the port presentations, a location map, weather forecasts and some view on demand films and tv series.

There no account info on the tv, but there is an on-board app connected via the wi-fi which gives that as well as other ship info. It also provides access to the internet. As part of the Elite package we got 250 free minutes, but it is, as usual very slow, not helped I’m sure by all the other passengers with free access!

No doubts on this one. Overall a win for P&O.

So back to the wine. That came with Club Class. That deserves a post all of its own

User avatar

Manoverboard
Ex Team Member
Posts: 13014
Joined: January 2013
Location: Dorset

Re: Princess v P&O

#5

Post by Manoverboard »

The larger TVs would surely be beneficial if the weather was crap and the ship was crowded in the public areas, also very useful for folk who are temporarily poorly or have less than 20:20 vision.
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

User avatar

Topic author
Mervyn and Trish
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 15259
Joined: February 2013

Re: Princess v P&O

#6

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

Club Class and Dining

Lumped together because Club Class brings its own dining room as part of the package.

Club Class is relatively new on Princess. It covers suites and the top grade of mini-suites, mid-ships on D deck.

When we booked, on the opening day of booking for this cruise, we judged it wasn’t worth it. It currently costs about £300 per person more than the next grade down. Of course that gives you a better position on the ship as well as the Club Class benefits. These include the Club Class restaurant, a couple of half bottles of wine on boarding, priority boarding, a luxury bed and one or two other things.

But most of it we were going to get as Elite passengers anyway, so we decided against it and booked the nearest cabin to mid-ships in the next grade down.

But how wrong we were and how lucky too. We got an email a few months before departure saying our cabin had been upgraded. Not us, the cabin. They’d moved the grade boundary so four extra cabins in total became Club Class. If we return to Princess again we’ll never book anything less.

First the simple thing, the bed. We have never before anywhere on a cruise ship or a land-based holiday had a bed so comfortable. It had a thick mattress topper totally masking the join in the two mattresses as it converts from twin to queen. It is the only holiday bed that matches our bed at home, and that has a ridiculously expensive mattress.

Then the dining. I perhaps need to explain how dining works compared to the P&O ships. The basic restaurant layout is the same except Sapphire and her sister have a mid-ships difference compared to all the other Grand Class ships. As with Azura and Ventura there is a large stern restaurant on Deck 6.

But whereas the P&O pair and most of the other Princesses have two mid-ships restaurants, one on Deck 6 and one on Deck 5, each of these is subdivided on Sapphire, to make four, two on each deck.

The basic dining concepts are the same as P&O, with traditional two sitting dining in the stern International Restaurant, though the sitting times are slightly earlier than P&O, at 17.45 and 20.15.

Three of the mid-ships restaurant are Anytime Dining, the Princess version of Freedom. Anytime is 17.30 to 21.30 with the same pros and cons as the P&O version, so if you like Freedom you’ll like Anytime.

Then there is Class Club, which is something else again. We’ve never experienced any direct comparison but maybe others can help. It’s clearly not quite as up market as the Cunard Grills, but feels a step above their Britannia Club. There is certainly nothing to match it on P&O.
So here’s the deal. Club Class is about two thirds of the fourth midships restaurant on the starboard side of Deck 6. It’s the two thirds nearest the window. The remaining third we understood was overflow from Traditional.

But it has been completely refitted, with acres more space between the tables. Some are dedicated tables for two. Most are for a maximum of four, but some of those (the square ones) have cunningly folded tops that can be extended to a table for 6 if needed. But essentially you are seated in the group you arrive in. If you arrive as two you get a table for two.

Opening times are the same as Anytime and you really can turn up any time and get a table immediately. Actually to be fair we had to wait for five minutes once, but that was only because they were setting a table by the window for us. It’s not surprising the wait is minimal. There are only about 120 people entitled to use this restaurant, compared to 400 in a similar space in each of the three Anytime restaurants.

So you arrive at the door to be greeted by, in our case, Casey. On the first night she asked our cabin number and checked our names. She never asked again and never got it wrong!

She passed us to the Head Waiter, Mark, who took us to a table set for two. He also got our names, made sure how we wished to be addressed, by first name, as Mr and Mrs, or Sir and Madam, and never got it wrong.

Every night we got one of those tables big enough for four but with just the two of us. Most nights we were directly by the window. If not we were only one row back. And the aim is to seat you in the same area of the restaurant, so we were only ever served by three different pairs of waiters. At most each pair of waiters had five table to attend to, mostly with only two people at each, occasionally four. So the service was relaxed and attentive.

The menu was essentially the same as other main dining rooms, and exactly as P&O had a selection of different dishes each night, but also some standards available every night. But there was always a special not on the main menu and these included lobster thermidor and surf and turf and similar higher end offerings.

The Club Class restaurant is also open for breakfast every day, and for lunch on sea days, exclusively for Club Class passengers.

Overall we thought the Main Dining Room food was better than P&O, but there may be an element of novelty in that in as much as we can pretty much recite the P&O menus now.

Moving away from the MDR we didn’t feel the buffet selections for lunch and afternoon tea were as good as P&O, though the buffet operation was slicker with waiters constantly offering drinks including tea, coffee and soft drinks served to your table. Breakfast orange juice was excellent, far better than P&O’s watery reconstituted offering. And we didn’t have to play hunt the Earl Grey tea bag as we do on P&O!

The only speciality restaurant we tried was Sabatini’s, which was good in both food and service, but we didn’t think sufficiently better than the MDR justify the $29.99 per head cover charge. But maybe we were spoiled by our Club Class experience.

Overall a victory for Princess.

User avatar

Topic author
Mervyn and Trish
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 15259
Joined: February 2013

Re: Princess v P&O

#7

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

Manoverboard wrote: 10 Jul 2018, 17:25
The larger TVs would surely be beneficial if the weather was cr*p and the ship was crowded in the public areas, also very useful for folk who are temporarily poorly or have less than 20:20 vision.
Personal preference I know Moby. But I think 32 inches in a room the size of a cabin is big enough.

User avatar

Happydays
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1839
Joined: June 2014

Re: Princess v P&O

#8

Post by Happydays »

Hi Merv, good review keep it coming 😂

User avatar

david63
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9392
Joined: January 2012
Location: Lancashire

Re: Princess v P&O

#9

Post by david63 »

Mervyn and Trish wrote: 10 Jul 2018, 17:17
And there was vandalism in the name of technology, which I guess will spread to P&O shortly if it hasn’t already.

These cabins began life with a couple of tvs, mounted in the unit between the bedroom area and the seating area, one facing each way. And a couple of pictures on the walls, with illumination from small lights in the ceiling.
That has already happened on P&O (cannot remember which ship, maybe Arcadia).

The TV had been moved onto the wall which meant that two pictures had been removed to accommodate the TV but the wall had not been cleaned before the TV was installed which meant that there were two areas of the wall that were a different colour - looked very untidy.

User avatar

towny44
Deputy Captain
Deputy Captain
Posts: 8946
Joined: January 2013
Location: Huddersfield

Re: Princess v P&O

#10

Post by towny44 »

Mervyn and Trish wrote: 10 Jul 2018, 18:37
Manoverboard wrote: 10 Jul 2018, 17:25
The larger TVs would surely be beneficial if the weather was cr*p and the ship was crowded in the public areas, also very useful for folk who are temporarily poorly or have less than 20:20 vision.
Personal preference I know Moby. But I think 32 inches in a room the size of a cabin is big enough.
I know our situation is different to normal AB passengers but we do use the cabin during the day quite frequently. Consequently a reasonably sized TV and a good range of TV channels, which must definitely include Sky Sports News, are fairly important for us, something that my letter to P&O, in lieu of the pointless post cruise questionnaire, will be detailing, along with a fairly extensive list of minor service standard complaints.
John

Trainee Pensioner since 2000

User avatar

GillD46
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3364
Joined: January 2013
Location: Gower Peninsula, South Wales

Re: Princess v P&O

#11

Post by GillD46 »

We also use our cabins as we often need to lie down, so a decent TV, ideally with a DVD player, and good range of channels is important to us too.

We had often take our own DVDs as the selection available on board isn’t great.
Gill

User avatar

Stephen
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 15925
Joined: January 2013
Location: Down Souf. The civilised end of the country :)

Re: Princess v P&O

#12

Post by Stephen »

We had two 40" TV's in our cabin on Britannia, one on the wall at the end of the bed and one on the wall in the seating area. Although Mrs S can take or leave them (not literally) I liked them and didn't find a problem with their size. Great watching a movie on a sea day when the weather is rubbish. Picture perfect and now slow downs.

User avatar

Stephen
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 15925
Joined: January 2013
Location: Down Souf. The civilised end of the country :)

Re: Princess v P&O

#13

Post by Stephen »

Enjoying the reviews Merv, although your not selling it to me just yet.

It doesn't sound too bad for the hierarchy 'Clubbers', I'm wondering how it is for peasant status such as me. Some gruel perhaps, thrown through a cat flap in a cupboard resembling a cabin along with a bucket and chuck it :D

User avatar

barney
Deputy Captain
Deputy Captain
Posts: 5605
Joined: March 2013
Location: Instow Devon

Re: Princess v P&O

#14

Post by barney »

Never done Princess personally but a mate of mine describes it as P&O with knobs on :)
Empty vessels .. and all that


Grando
Third Officer
Third Officer
Posts: 118
Joined: February 2013
Location: Crowborough, East Sussex

Re: Princess v P&O

#15

Post by Grando »

We like both! Personally think that Princess loyalty benefits are better than P&O, we have done a few Princess where we have had a week touring before boarding, our last one was Sydney to Singapore and the free laundry was much appreciated! Free internet and mini bar were also a bonus. We have recently had our future cruise deposit returned with no bother as due to Grahams health we can only get insurance for Europe at the moment, so looking forward to Ventura in November, hopefully we will be able to take another long distance Princess before too long!
Doreen

User avatar

GillD46
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3364
Joined: January 2013
Location: Gower Peninsula, South Wales

Re: Princess v P&O

#16

Post by GillD46 »

We liked Princess too. Food is always subjective, but we felt better than P&O as was service, but it was less formal. The loyalty were very good indeed, many of them doubled if in a high grade cabin.
Gill

User avatar

Kenmo1
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1963
Joined: January 2013

Re: Princess v P&O

#17

Post by Kenmo1 »

We will be travelling on Sapphire Princess in October and have also done Grand Princess and Caribbean Princess We like Princess for the food and the elite loyalty benefits which are very superior to PO but for some reason we still use PO for most of our cruises. I think it is probably due to the Britishness of the entertainment and the atmosphere on the ships, especially Oriana. That statement sounds very narrow minded of us but I can't think of any other reasons other than PO are usually cheaper and we always find the staff super without being 'over the top.' I tend to find the Americanised 'have a nice day attitude' a bit false.

Good grief - I'm starting to sound like some of the whiners and moaners on PO.

Some good comparisons there Merv and look forward to reading the next instalment.

Maureen

User avatar

barney
Deputy Captain
Deputy Captain
Posts: 5605
Joined: March 2013
Location: Instow Devon

Re: Princess v P&O

#18

Post by barney »

Kenmo1 wrote: 11 Jul 2018, 16:18
We will be travelling on Sapphire Princess in October and have also done Grand Princess and Caribbean Princess We like Princess for the food and the elite loyalty benefits which are very superior to PO but for some reason we still use PO for most of our cruises. I think it is probably due to the Britishness of the entertainment and the atmosphere on the ships, especially Oriana. That statement sounds very narrow minded of us but I can't think of any other reasons other than PO are usually cheaper and we always find the staff super without being 'over the top.' I tend to find the Americanised 'have a nice day attitude' a bit false.

Good grief - I'm starting to sound like some of the whiners and moaners on PO.

Some good comparisons there Merv and look forward to reading the next instalment.

Maureen
Strange that you say that Maureen because my friend says exactly the same.
They loved Princess and thought that overall it was slightly superior, but P&O is more them .
Empty vessels .. and all that


CaroleF
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1857
Joined: January 2013
Location: Hampshire

Re: Princess v P&O

#19

Post by CaroleF »

May I ask do you find that, overall Princess is more expensive on board than P&O as they charge an extra, I think it's 15% service on top of whatever the item, drink, alcohol costs? This is one thing that's always put us off trying Princess.

Carole

User avatar

Topic author
Mervyn and Trish
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 15259
Joined: February 2013

Re: Princess v P&O

#20

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

Entertainment, costs, passenger mix, formality and loyalty benefits coming up in future instalments

User avatar

Topic author
Mervyn and Trish
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 15259
Joined: February 2013

Re: Princess v P&O

#21

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

Dress Code

Okay let’s get this one out of the way without starting a war.

The Princess code is marginally less formal than P&O with only three formal nights in 14 rather than four. The definitions are pretty much the same.
In terms of adherence our two Princess cruises showed a lot fewer actual dinner jackets on the posh nights, but generally a good style of dress in the main dining rooms. We saw no assaults by vest or shorts clad rebels.

The lower number of DJs may well be because both our Princess cruises were fly cruises for the majority of passengers. Despite departing Southampton this time, only 800 out of the 2,800 passengers were the home crowd (more on the passenger mix later). Our previous Princess cruise was in Alaska, departing from Vancouver, but many of the Americans had travelled longer to get there that we had!

A marked change is the Americans mostly interpret the formal dress code as being for dinner only and rush back to their cabins to change after. There is not the P&O encouragement to retain it in bars etc.

As far as casual is concerned I didn’t really spot any major differences. Some people really were smart casual by our standards. Some were wearing stuff that looked like it hadn’t been washed in weeks and would have been rejected by the Oxfam shop. And there were a few outright rebels, even outside the dining rooms on the posh nights, with items seen including denim dungarees and a hoodie, dresses styled like bin bags with gaps displaying grey underwear and cardigans which had seen better days. I'm happy with casual, but dirty sat next to me I do find offensive.

So it’s all down to personal taste in dress codes. For us a victory for P&O. Others would see it as a Princess win.
Last edited by Mervyn and Trish on 12 Jul 2018, 16:42, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar

Topic author
Mervyn and Trish
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 15259
Joined: February 2013

Re: Princess v P&O

#22

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

Passenger mix and behaviour

I’d expected that with this as a round-trip cruise from Southampton the dominant passenger group might be Brits, but not so. The biggest group was about 1,000 Americans fly cruising, many with land tour extensions in the UK or Europe.

Brits numbered about 800.

The next largest groups were Australians, Canadians and Japanese, with smaller numbers then of other nationalities.

But apart from the dollar currency it made little difference on board. Much of the trip had a British feel, immersing the visitors in bits of UK culture (alongside the Norwegian views outside). The last night entertainment was awash with Union Jacks.

And we saw exactly the same mix of people. Mostly lovely, with extremes of incredible courteousness and crass rudeness. The latter a minority but of course loud and obvious.

We witnessed staff treated appallingly, as well as on one occasion a waiter politely addressed by a Canadian as “Sir”.
Pretty much the same as P&O. A draw.

User avatar

Stephen
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 15925
Joined: January 2013
Location: Down Souf. The civilised end of the country :)

Re: Princess v P&O

#23

Post by Stephen »

Mervyn and Trish wrote: 12 Jul 2018, 17:04
Passenger mix and behaviour

I’d expected that with this as a round-trip cruise from Southampton the dominant passenger group might be Brits, but not so. The biggest group was about 1,000 Americans fly cruising, many with land tour extensions in the UK or Europe.

Brits numbered about 800.

The next largest groups were Australians, Canadians and Japanese, with smaller numbers then of other nationalities.

But apart from the dollar currency it made little difference on board. Much of the trip had a British feel, immersing the visitors in bits of UK culture (alongside the Norwegian views outside). The last night entertainment was awash with Union Jacks.

And we saw exactly the same mix of people. Mostly lovely, with extremes of incredible courteousness and crass rudeness. The latter a minority but of course loud and obvious.

We witnessed staff treated appallingly, as well as on one occasion a waiter politely addressed by a Canadian as “Sir”.
Pretty much the same as P&O. A draw.
Must have been either Yanks or Northerners Merv.

User avatar

Manoverboard
Ex Team Member
Posts: 13014
Joined: January 2013
Location: Dorset

Re: Princess v P&O

#24

Post by Manoverboard »

We have stayed in top Hotels in Canada and ' Formal ' is simply a word they do not use … nor indeed require or understand the need for.

We prefer to have choice, to us that means elegant casual but others may prefer to go Black Tie … fine as long as we each respect each others wishes. We found this to be true on every Line, including Princess, bar P&O.
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

User avatar

towny44
Deputy Captain
Deputy Captain
Posts: 8946
Joined: January 2013
Location: Huddersfield

Re: Princess v P&O

#25

Post by towny44 »

Manoverboard wrote: 12 Jul 2018, 18:16
We have stayed in top Hotels in Canada and ' Formal ' is simply a word they do not use … nor indeed require or understand the need for.

We prefer to have choice, to us that means elegant casual but others may prefer to go Black Tie … fine as long as we each respect each others wishes. We found this to be true on every Line, including Princess, bar P&O.
My Canadian BIL always wears his DJ on formal nights on all cruise lines, mainly Princess but also Celebrity, RCI and Carnival as well as P&O.
John

Trainee Pensioner since 2000

Return to “General Cruise Line Chat”