Star Princess Debuts with Smart Tweaks Inspired by Sun Princess Missteps

As is often the case with second-in-class ships, Star Princess, the second in Princess Cruises’ Sphere Class, is nearly identical to Sun Princess. What differences exist are minor (though meaningful) and almost exclusively involve making more room in venues that have turned out to be more popular than anticipated.

O’Malley’s Irish Pub, for instance, features room for 32 more guests. Love By Britto has room for 20 more. There’s also an all-new non-smoking casino, which Princess chief commercial officer Jim Berra told TMR was added because the line “recognized how well on other ships the non-smoking casinos are doing.”

The ship’s most important “differences” aren’t actually different from what Sun Princess looks like now, but it took a lot of shuffling around on Sun Princess after it first debuted to get things right. That shuffling has permitted Star Princess to get it correct, right out of the gate.

“We underestimated the demand for Sanctuary Collection,” Jim Berra, chief commercial officer for Princess, told TMR.

When Sun Princess first debuted, the three-level main dining room was divided into set seating, reservable dining, and the underused walk-ins only Americana Diner. Guests in the Signature and Reserve Collections (which preceded the rollout of Sanctuary Collection) had their own smaller dining rooms. When Sanctuary Collection replaced Signature and Reserve during the Sun’s crossing from Europe to North America, there was no longer enough dining space dedicated just for Sanctuary Collection guests (which collectively outnumbers the previous Signature and Collection guests combined).

“The question became: how do we solve for that?” Berra explained.

The solution was to dedicate the entire top level to the Sanctuary Collection.

“The [Sanctuary] customer values having that dedicated space but also having the flexibility of coming any time they want to come,” Berra said.

This move started a domino effect that, for one, opened up more space in the bottom two levels of the main dining room for non-Sanctuary Collection diners. But it also left the third main dining concept (at various time called All American or Americana) without a home.

“Once that first domino fell, it opened up some optimizations of other parts of our culinary offering.”

The Butcher Block and The Catch by Rudi were moved from awkward spots at the back of the Eatery buffet to their own dedicated spaces, and the Americana Diner (now buffet style) took over both empty spots at the back of the Eatery.

The results of all these changes has been notable, particularly when it comes to the ship’s NPS (net promoter score).

“Newbuilds usually need time to settle in,” said Princess’ president Gus Antorcha. “We hit the ground running, the team did a fabulous job and it shows in our ratings…This ship on its first two voyages has been over 70, which is amazing.”

Sphere Class to Inform Fleet Improvements

With no third Sphere Class currently on order for Princess Cruises, Berra told TMR that he believes that the class will inform the future of the cruise line by influencing improvements made to the current fleet.

“The learnings that we’re taking from Sphere Class can start to apply back to rest of the fleet,” he said. “Before we have a third Sphere Class, you will see elements of what we’ve introduced here make its way to the rest of the fleet.”

Already, Princess is planning to roll out the Makoto Ocean sushi restaurant to select ships. The line is also looking at how to replicate some of the new entertainment experiences, especially those in the Piazza, on the rest of the fleet.

“And, certainly, Sanctuary Collection is something we’re looking to expand beyond just the two Sphere Class ships,” Berra said.

Will there ever be a third Sphere Class?  Berra hopes so.

“If we do our jobs well, hopefully someday there will be a third in the portfolio,” he told TMR.

Added Carmen Roig, senior vice president of sales at Princess: “Sell the two I’ve got… If they come, we will build it.”

The Future of the Sanctuary Collection

One aspect of the Sphere Class that has been a definitive hit is the Sanctuary Collection.

“We were late to the ship-within-a-ship game,” Berra admitted, but added that he believes this has actually been to Princess’ advantage.

“We’ve been able to study how others have built it and they’ve done a lot of things right that we can replicate,” but, he added, there are also some areas that Princess believes it can improve on.

With some other cruise lines, the ship-within-a-ship only comprises suites. On Sun and Star Princess, Sanctuary Collection includes all 80 suites and 123 mini-suites but also include 12 deluxe balconies.

“The reason it’s been so well-received is because of the intro level staterooms,” said Roig. “Those 12 veranda balconies allow us to do multi-gen. That makes a difference.”

Advisors also love it, partly because it incudes Princess Premier in the pricing. Advisors get the commission on that and provide their clients with a luxury experience on a premium product.

Roig referred to the Sanctuary Collection as an annuity. Once clients try it, they don’t go back (at least not on the two ships that offer it.)

But advisors didn’t “get” it right away, Roig said.

Sanctuary Collection was first introduced during Sun Princess’ crossing, following not long after Princess introduced the Signature and Reserve Collections. (Signature and Reserve still exist on the non-Sphere Class ships.)

“It was difficult because they had been trained on this [Signature and Reserve] and, all of a sudden, we flipped a switch. We’re not the only game in town and we only have two ships that have Sanctuary. It’s been an educational process.”

Roig has spent the past year holding in-port functions in Florida and Europe trying to train advisors.

“Any opportunity I get to have travel advisors see it, so they can touch it, feel it, understand it,” she said.

It’s a message she’s trained her team to repeat again and again.

“We’re so new. We’re not top of mind. It’s marketing 101, reach and frequency. We can reach somebody once, but one message isn’t going to do, so we have to constantly weave it into our talk track… Sun’s been around for a year and still there are folks that don’t know.”

TMR asked Roig for advice on how to introduce the Sanctuary Collection to cruisers, especially those who have never stayed in a suite (or never heard of a ship-within-a-ship).

“When you look at Sanctuary pricing, I break it down by day because if you look at hotels stays, they do per night. Why don’t we take a cruise rate and divide it by day and then talk about all that it includes. And when you add in Princess Premier, which is part of Sanctuary, it is a huge value proposition.”