Princess Cruises

Overview

Princess Cruises may be best known for introducing cruise travel to millions of viewers, when its flagship became the setting for The Love Boat television series in 1977. Since that heady time of small-screen stardom, the Princess fleet has grown both in the number and size of ships plying European waters. Although most are large in scale, Princess vessels manage to create the illusion of intimacy through the use of color and decor in understated yet lovely public rooms graced by multimillion-dollar art collections.

Princess has also become more flexible lately; Personal Choice Cruising offers alternatives for open-seating dining (when you wish and with whom you please) and entertainment options as diverse as those found in resorts ashore.

Welcome additions to Princess's roster of adult activities, which still include standbys like bingo and art auctions, are ScholarShip@Sea enrichment programs featuring guest lecturers, cooking classes, wine-tasting seminars, pottery workshops, and computer and digital photography classes. Nighttime production shows tend toward Broadway-style revues presented in the main show lounge, and performers might include comedians, magicians, jugglers, and acrobats. Live bands play a wide range of musical styles for dancing and listening in smaller lounges throughout the ships and each ship has a disco.

On Pub Night the cruise director's staff leads a rollicking evening of fun with passenger participation. At the conclusion of the second formal night, champagne trickles down over a champagne waterfall, painstakingly created by the arrangement of champagne glasses in a pyramid shape. It's a great photo-op when several women are invited to join the maître d' atop the platform to assist in the pouring.

Lovely chapels or the wide-open decks are equally romantic settings for weddings at sea. Princess Cruises explode the myth that just any captain of any ship can marry starry-eyed couples. Legally, ceremonies with the captain officiating can only be performed on certain Grand-class Princess vessels. It's an option not offered by any other cruise.

24305 Town Center Drive, Santa Clarita, CA, 91355-4999. 661/753-0000 or 800/774-6237. www.princess.com. Cruise Style: Premium.