Princess Cruises Cruises: Ships, Prices & Deals

Who Princess Cruises suits

Princess Cruises started in 1965 with cruises from Los Angeles to Mexico and became a household name through The Love Boat television series. Today it is part of Carnival Corporation, the largest cruise company in the world, alongside its closest sister brand Holland America Line.

Princess is a classic, mid-priced line. The ships are mid-size to large, but there are no water parks, go-karts or roller coasters. You get a central Piazza atrium, several main and specialty restaurants, production shows, enrichment talks and a lot of quiet deck space. Passengers skew older than on Carnival or Royal Caribbean, especially on longer voyages, and many are repeat guests.

Itinerary length is the clearest difference. Only 14 of the 596 Princess sailings we track in the next 12 months last five nights or fewer, while 261 last two weeks or more, up to a 129-night Coral Princess world cruise. If you want a long voyage, Alaska, the Panama Canal or a world cruise on a big, comfortable ship, Princess is near the top of the list. If you want a short party cruise or a waterslide ship for the kids, look elsewhere.

Princess ships by class

Princess names every ship "Princess" and builds them in classes that share most venues and cabin types. The fleet table above lists all 17 ships we track.

• Sphere class: Sun Princess and Star Princess, the newest and largest at 177,882 gross tons and 4,300 passengers each. They run on LNG and are built around the Dome, a glass-roofed venue on the top deck that works as a pool area by day and a performance space at night.
• Royal class: Royal Princess, Regal Princess, Majestic Princess, Sky Princess, Enchanted Princess and Discovery Princess. Around 142,000–145,000 gross tons, with the glass-floored SeaWalk over the side and balconies on most outside cabins.
• Grand class: Grand Princess and Caribbean Princess, plus the Crown-class trio Crown Princess, Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess. Grand Princess was the largest ship in the world when she launched; Princess's poolside Movies Under the Stars screen first appeared on this class.
• Gem class: Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess, built in Japan and now the core of the line's Japan and Southeast Asia program.
• Coral class: Coral Princess and Island Princess, the smallest ships at 91,627 gross tons. They are narrow enough for the original Panama Canal locks, which is why they handle so many canal transits.

MedallionClass on every ship

Every Princess ship runs MedallionClass. Each guest gets an OceanMedallion, a coin-sized wearable that unlocks your cabin as you approach, acts as your boarding pass and onboard payment card, and lets crew bring drinks or food to wherever you are sitting. It also powers the line's app for booking dining, shows and shore excursions.

Princess Plus and Princess Premier

On top of the basic cruise fare, Princess sells two bundled fare packages. Princess Plus adds a drinks package, Wi-Fi for one device and crew gratuities. Princess Premier upgrades each of those (a higher drinks tier, Wi-Fi for more devices) and adds extras such as specialty dining nights, a photo package and fitness classes.

Whether a package pays off depends on how much you drink and whether you want Wi-Fi. Price the cruise-only fare plus the extras you would actually buy, then compare. The bundle is usually priced per person per day, and the exact contents change from time to time, so read the current inclusions before you book.

Where Princess sails and from which ports

Princess has one of the widest maps of any mass-market line. Of the 596 sailings we track, 148 go to the Caribbean and 105 to Alaska, followed by the Mediterranean (70), Northern Europe (45), Japan (40), Australia and New Zealand (33), Asia (32), Mexico (26) and the Panama Canal (22). Smaller programs cover Hawaii, the California coast, Tahiti and the South Pacific, Canada and New England, and South America.

Fort Lauderdale is the busiest departure port by far, with 140 sailings on ten different ships. Vancouver (58) and Seattle (21) handle most of Alaska, Tokyo (50) is the base for Japan cruises on Diamond and Sapphire Princess, and Los Angeles (47) serves Mexico, the California coast and Hawaii, with San Francisco as a second West Coast base. Southampton, Civitavecchia and Barcelona cover Europe, while Sydney, Brisbane and Singapore anchor the southern-hemisphere and Asia seasons. The bars above show the full regional split.

Alaska with Princess

Alaska is where Princess stands out. Our data holds 105 Princess Alaska sailings, second only to Holland America among the lines we track, on eight ships. Round trips leave from Seattle and Vancouver, while one-way Gulf of Alaska cruises run between Vancouver and Whittier, the port for Anchorage.

The one-way routes make cruisetours possible. Princess runs its own wilderness lodges and glass-domed rail cars, so you can add several nights inland near Denali before or after the cruise. Many itineraries also include a day of scenic cruising in Glacier Bay National Park, where cruise ship access is limited by permit.

Captain's Circle loyalty program

Captain's Circle is Princess's loyalty program. You join after your first cruise and move through four tiers, Gold, Ruby, Platinum and Elite, based on the number of cruises or nights sailed. Lower tiers bring member offers and onboard events; Platinum and Elite add priority services, and Elite includes free laundry.

Because Princess and Holland America share a parent company, it is worth comparing fares on both lines for the same route, especially in Alaska.

Princess prices and the cheapest months

Princess is one of the pricier mass-market lines. The median cheapest fare across 499 sailings with prices is €218 per person per night, close to Celebrity (€215) and above Royal Caribbean (€181), NCL (€165) and Carnival (€132), but below Holland America (€257). By cabin the median is €117 per night for an inside cabin, €155 oceanview, €223 balcony and €572 for a suite.

Much of that comes from where Princess goes. The California coast and Mexico have the lowest medians at €120 and €121 per night, the Panama Canal €135 and the Caribbean €164, while Alaska (€288), Northern Europe (€300) and the Mediterranean (€306) are the most expensive. By month, November is cheapest at €116 per night, followed by December and October; June and August peak at €315 and €318.

The cheapest fare we hold right now is €207 per person for a 2-night Grand Princess sailing from Brisbane in an oceanview cabin. For a full week, a 7-night Star Princess Caribbean cruise from Fort Lauderdale in October starts at €376 per person in an inside cabin. All prices are the cheapest cabin, per person, captured on the date shown on the page. For Princess we currently capture fares from the US booking site only.

How to catch Princess price drops

Princess fares move with demand and the line's frequent sales, and drops tend to show up on sailings with unsold cabins, often in shoulder months and on longer itineraries. The Princess deals feed lists the latest price drops for this line, and find a cruise lets you filter by ship, port and price.

To see where a ship is right now, use the Princess fleet tracker. If you have already booked and your fare can still be changed before final payment, keep watching the price: when your cabin category drops, ask Princess or your travel agent whether the new rate can be applied. A price alert on the plans page does the watching for you and emails you as soon as the fare moves.