Inaugural Cruise

[sharbil]

Can anyone voice the pros and cons,on going on a inaugural cruise.Would like too try one on the new Ruby princess when she comes.Thanks!

[kryos]

Originally Posted by sharbil

Can anyone voice the pros and cons,on going on a inaugural cruise.Would like too try one on the new Ruby princess when she comes.Thanks!

I've never been on an inaugural cruise, but here is how I would see the pros and cons:

Pros -- Knowing that no one slept in that bed before you ... no one used that cabin ... you're numero uno. Guess there's something special about being on a ship's first voyage ... something you can tell the grandkids about someday. Can you imagine having been on the QE2's first voyage? That had to be truly special.

Cons -- Price. You're gonna pay dearly for an inaugural cruise ... so just hope Princess throws in a few special "gimmies" for the folks on the inaugural sailing ... like maybe some special events, photos, commemorative gifts, etc.

Another "con" would be systems not functioning properly. Even the most carefully laid plans can go awry. When a ship is new, despite how carefully it was built, and how detailed a plan was set up for its roll-out ... things are gonna go wrong. The crew is not used to the ship and their new co-workers, so there are gonna be problems there. Also, there could be minor maintenance problems that will rear their ugly heads and have to be fixed. So, if you are gonna sail an inaugural sailing, be flexible and understanding when something goes wrong.

But, I would imagine doing an inaugural sailing would be fun, so I certainly wouldn't discourage you from doing it. But, man ... I can't help but wonder what the privilege will cost you. Frankly, I'd sooner wait a month ... let the price drop back to normal levels ... and then take my cruise on a new ship then. But, what can I say? I'm a bit on the cheap side.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[ronnie]

We sailed the inaugural cruise for the Caribbean Princess. As for us, we will never do another inaugural cruise again. It's not that we didn't have an enjoyable time, there was just alot of disorganization. I guess the right term would be "Food Services Dept" struggled all week. From room service to the dinning rooms and everything in between. Then there were the electrical and technical issues.
- the incabin phone system failed which resulted in no wake-up calls so people missed shore excursions
- couple of the nightly shows were canceled due tech. failures
- Casino had staff problems
- alot of crew memebers were obvisouly new and not fully prepared for their jobs.
But, we made the best of it and still had a good time . I think from now own we will let the crew and staff get all the "bugs" worked out before sailing a new ship.

[RTV God]

I haven't been on a inaugural cruise, but we did go on the Disney Wonder when it was only a month old. The boat was spotless. Everything shined and the staff all seemed to work great.

You might not want to go on the first cruise, but if you can go when the boat is brand new, you should. Having everything new just adds the the greatness of cruising.