Pacific Princess Ship Review

Pacific Princess in Vancouver, British Columbia. Photo © Aaron Saunders

Princess bucked the trend when it picked up the relatively diminutive Pacific Princess and Ocean Princess after the demise of their original owner, Renaissance Cruises. Rather clubby in character, they offer the Princess experience on a more personal scale. With just 670 passengers aboard, they carry only a fraction of the number you’d expect to find on a typical megaship. Together, they are marketed as the “Small Ships of Princess.”

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Pacific Princess Public Rooms

Ambiance onboard has been compared to a European boutique hotel and with good reason: The Pacific Princess is clubby, sedate, and relaxing. Décor is best described as Old World with classical touches like fluted columns, Oriental-inspired carpeting, and paintings with gilded frames. Most noteworthy is the ship’s library, appointed in a traditional English manner with wood paneling, simulated fireplace and trompe loeil skylight. Other public rooms include a forward-looking observation lounge, cabaret-style main lounge, casino that’s somewhat on the small side, card room, internet center, and the rather social Club Bar for pre-dinner drinks.

The "Grand Staircase" atrium is one of the most recognizeable features aboard Pacific Princess and her sisters. Photo courtesy of Princess Cruises

Out on deck there’s a full-service spa and fitness center plus a centrally located pool and hot tub area. Activities on the Pacific Princess are mainly of the traditional cruise kind: shuffleboard, jogging, and golf driving. But these ships aren’t about a hubbub of activity, they’re more for leisurely days at sea and time spent ashore in intriguing ports of call; in fact, the Pacific Princess tends to be deployed on some of Princess Cruises’ more far-ranging and exotic itineraries, including the occasional World Cruise stretching more than 100 days.

Pacific Princess Dining Options

Sabatini's aboard Pacific Princess. Photo courtesy of Princess Cruises

Despite its smaller size—weighing in at only 30,000 gross tons—the Pacific Princess manages to have a respectable variety in dining venues. There’s a single-deck main dining room plus two alternative restaurants: Sabatini’s trattoria for Italian fare and Sterling Steakhouse for meat-eaters, open for dinner on alternating nights; both are rather intimate spaces, seating fewer than 100 passengers at a time. There’s also a buffet restaurant with pizzeria and barbecue for more casual dining, plus of course the customary pool grill out on deck.

Staterooms aboard Pacific Princess

Cabins continue the European touch into the passenger quarters, although with a slightly more modern tinge to the décor. Most are standard outside cabins, 73 percent with private balconies. The Pacific Princess adds a deck of mini-suites to the cabin mix, giving it a bit more choices in accommodations than its otherwise nearly identical sister the Ocean Princess. The Pacific Princess also offers the ultimate in small-ship accommodations: 10 Owner’s Suites located above the bow and the stern, measuring 700 to 900 square feet.

Avid Cruiser Posts Featuring Pacific Princess:

• Five Reasons Why I Prefer Cruising On Small Ships