I recently went on an incredible cruise with Princess Cruises from Southampton. I spent 4 days and 4 nights at sea with Princess Cruises onboard the beautiful Sky Princess enjoying the high-quality facilities, the delicious all-inclusive food options, and taking in the ocean view from my Mini-Suite Stateroom Balcony.
Cruising from the U.K has a huge amount of benefits which I noticed and benefited from when getting ready for the cruise, on the first day of the cruise, and throughout the cruise.
I still can’t believe how many places you can visit in Europe on a cruise from Southampton with no flying needed!
In this cruise travel blog, I’m going to tell you why I loved travelling with Princess Cruises from Southampton, the best cruises from Southampton with Princess Cruises and how cruising from Southampton will benefit you too.
Cruising with Princess Cruises from Southampton
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1. Large Range of Destinations From Southampton
Princess Cruise Ships can travel an amazing distance whilst we’re sleeping in our extremely comfy and cosy beds (I miss the bed in my stateroom!).
I know one thing people love about cruising is waking up in a different destination and this is definitely possible even when departing from Southampton on a cruise!
In fact, I was really surprised and impressed by the number of European destinations that can be reached and visited whilst on a cruise from Southampton including France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Russia, and many more!
Whether you want a scenic cruise cruising around the Fjords of Norway, you want a city break cruise visiting iconic cities such as Bilbao and Lisbon or Barcelona, Florence, and Rome, or you want a soaking-up-the-sun island cruise visiting the Canary Islands, Princess Cruises offers all of these whilst sailing from Southampton!
Here are cruises from Southampton with Princess Cruises!
2. No Need to Think About Flights
As a U.K resident, a huge benefit of going on one of the cruises from Southampton is the fact that you do not need to fly anywhere first.
This is a benefit in time and money. If you were to fly from another port, even in Europe, this could add an extra travel day on either side of your cruise and is an extra cost.
On my cruise with Princess Cruises from Southampton, I drove from Manchester to Southampton on day 1 of the cruise ready to board at lunchtime and I was home by dinner time on the day we arrived back into Southampton which was perfect!
Time and money are not the only benefits from booking a cruise from Southampton. Many people are scared of flying or not able to fly in some cases.
In fact, I had recently been talking to a friend about how her mum won’t fly these days so they have to take a 2 week family holiday in the UK each year instead of going away.
It’s safe to say that by day 2 of my cruise I was messaging her telling her that they need to book a cruise next year! This way her mum doesn’t need to fly but they can easily see some of Europe and do something different!
3. Princess Cruises Amazing All-Inclusive Fare
Onboard the Sky Princess with Princess Cruises I was completely amazed how much was included within the cruise fare.
I shared my cruising experience on Instagram (you can see my story highlights here!) and the top question I got was – what food is included on a cruise and what costs extra on onboard a cruise??
Food:
The Sky Princess is full of restaurants, bars, cafes, and takeaway points. The vast majority of these are included within the fare that you pay to confirm the cruise. They are known as the Inclusive Cruise Dining options.
For example, on board the Sky Princess there are 3 Ala Carte Restaurants offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Dinner consists of 3 courses from a changing menu and this is included in the Princess Fare.
Alfredo’s Pizzeria offers amazing authentic Pizzas and side dishes from 11:00 am all day and everything on the menu is included in the Princess Fare.
Pizza’s, Chips, Taco’s, and Soft Serve Ice Cream are available up on the pool deck to take back to your sun lounger and all your visits are included in the Princess Fare.
The International Cafe is where I found myself most whilst onboard the Sky Princess. This is open 24 hours a day offering Pastries, Sandwiches and Desserts and all of these are included in the Princess Fare.
In addition to this a big buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner with casual seating is also available and included because a buffet is not always a bad thing, it is quick and convenient and a great way to keep the kids happy.
Many people think only a buffet is included in the basic cruise fare and this is certainly not the case with Princess Cruises.
When it comes to restaurants that cost extra, there are Speciality Restaurants onboard like the Crown Grill, Sabatini’s Italian and Bistro Sur La Mer which cost extra to eat in. These Speciality Restaurants are fantastic for a special occasion on board and the best thing is that you don’t need to book them or commit until you are on the ship.
However, I really want to stress what incredible value the Speciality Restaurants are! Each menu has a set price with multiple courses, for example, we ate in the Crown Grill paying $29.00 for 4 courses which included steak and lobster!
And if for any reason you do not want to go out of your room to eat, 24-hour room service is available. I couldn’t get enough of the guacamole and chips being delivered straight to my room!
Drinks:
When booking a cruise with Princess Cruises you can choose 2 fares – Princess Fare and Princess Plus.
Princess Plus is £30.00 per person per day extra than the Princess Fare and it comes with a Premier Drinks Package.
With Princess Plus, you get unlimited soft drinks and specialty coffees plus 15 drinks per day that are alcoholic and are up to a cost of $12.00 per drink.
This makes opting for the Princess Plus Fare a really good idea because you’ll not have to think about drinks at all, and it doesn’t just include drinks, it also includes unlimited Wi-Fi and crew incentives too.
Activities:
There really is so much to do onboard a cruise with Princess Cruises! I loved that there is a huge theatre with live music and performances each night.
There are regular quizzes and bingo, a kids club, movies on the deck, mini-golf, a big gym, a jogging track, swimming pools, multiple hot tubs, and lots of additional events like taster spa sessions, an art auction, ballroom dancing classes, and much more!
All of these are included in the fare and do not cost extra.
From my experience onboard the Sky Princess, the only things I paid extra for to enhance my cruise were some Wellness activities such as a massage in the Lotus Spa (which was divine!), and an afternoon spent in The Sanctuary.
The Sanctuary is a relaxing adults-only part of the ship with sun loungers, a hot tub, and cabana’s and because I was there in the afternoon I also got afternoon tea served to my lounger.
An afternoon in The Sanctuary is $20.00 which is great value for its special atmosphere and delicious afternoon tea!
4. Princess Cruises High Quality Onboard Facilities
In addition to the amazing food I consumed on the cruise, and the absolute ease of driving to Southampton only to start the cruise, what made this cruise even more enjoyable and impressive were the high-quality onboard facilities.
The Sky Princess is a beautiful ship and every inch of the ship has been designed to such a high quality with so much attention to detail. I don’t think I saw an area that wasn’t sparkling clean!
I also have to take this time to say how amazing the staff were, everyone was so friendly and attentive and did such a good job of keeping the ship enjoyable for guests.
Throughout the cruise, I had my OceanMedallion on me which is an amazing piece of technology unique to Princess Cruises!
The OceanMedallion creates Princess MedallionClass cruising for a truly touchless experience.
I was able to board the cruise in a contactless way, my stateroom opened using the OceanMedallion before I had even reached my door, and it was my payment method on the ship too.
I used The MedallionClass App which was connected to my OceanMedallion to order food and drinks to wherever I was around the ship (this was really impressive and so handy) because my OceanMedallion gave the staff my location, I was able to find my way around the ship and locate my travel buddies on the ship too!
5. Ease of Getting to Southampton
Finally, let me just remind you about the ease of travelling on an incredible trip like this FROM SOUTHAMPTON!
I drove from Manchester on a Monday morning down to Southampton Ocean Cruise Terminal where my cruise with Princess Cruises departed and it was really easy and smooth.
Southampton is well connected by motorways and A-roads if you drive, and Southampton Central Train Station is just 2 miles from Southampton Cruise Terminals meaning getting a train and taxi is very easy.
If you are travelling from London, trains from London Waterloo to Southampton Central can be purchased for under £10.00 each way for a 1-hour 15-minute journey!
On arrival at Southampton Ocean Cruise Terminal, parking was easy (I pre-booked parking with CPS), they valet parked my car, I dropped off my luggage with the porters and started the boarding process.
As soon as I got on the ship, my trip felt like it had started and I left all my worries at the boarding gate!
We didn’t sail away from Southampton until a few hours later but that didn’t matter as food, drink and all facilities were available for me to enjoy straight away!
Related Post: Information For Sailing from Southampton Ocean Terminal on a Cruise!
I hope this has helped you decide whether a cruise with Princess Cruises from Southampton is right for you!
As soon as I got home I was on the website looking at future cruises, I guess it’s right what they say about the Cruise Travel Bug!
- For more of my UK travel posts see:
- How To Spend 1 Week in Wales! The BEST Wales Itinerary!
- A Devon Road Trip Guide & 3 Day Devon Road Trip Itinerary!
- A Cornwall Road Trip Guide & 4 Cornwall Itineraries To Follow!
- 4 Day London Itinerary – How To See So Much Of London in 4 Days!
- How To Get From London to Durdle Door! A Detailed Guide!
My cruise with Princess Cruises was a press trip but all thoughts and opinions are my own.