Sam.Seattle

Celebrity still has a better suite experience when you factor in the Retreat.  We still enjoy the Suites on Princess.  Just reset your expectations and give Princess a try.  The price point for a Princess suite is much less than Celebrity.  On Celebrity we stay in the Royal Suite or higher.  Princess we will sail in full suite or Mini Suite.  

Cheers

🍷

Celebrity had paper airplane contest for all passengers.  It was a blast making the plane and seeing which plane flew the most distance.  I would love to do it again on Princess.

2 hours ago, deise17311 said:

On FB Elite Group someone posted that they were told by Princess that the suite breakfast in Sabatini's (or Crown Grill) is being discontinued and will be held in the Reserve Dining room (along with Club Class - makes no sense) - can anyone confirm this vs rumors and mis-information?

 

One possibility I suppose is that on the Sun Princess only it will be held in the Suite DR so no need to be held in a speciality restaurant. 

It looks like a Specialty Restaurant will continue to be the location for full suite passengers. See bullet point 5 in attached from Princess's suite benefits.

Yes Emerald has a very limited version of the Thermal Suite,  And, yes it is part of the suite amenities. 

Be sure to take advantage of Complimentary dinner in a specialty restaurant on embarkation day.

Cheers!

🍷

Tugs helped the Carribean Princess in to Port Everglades this morning per a friend on board. 

Watching the Web Cam at Port of Miami now.  A CCL ship coming in. 

Thanks everyone!!!  

Fun to look at on the Web Cam.

Cheers

🍷

1 minute ago, horseymike said:

What ship ?

Not sure.  Edge Class... I can see the orange Magic Carpet.

Anyone know why she is delayed today?

2 minutes ago, Sabbycat said:

Being elitist is never attractive. Develop some empathy or stop commenting. 

What is an elitist?  I bet there are people who can only dream of any cruise and would consider all cruisers elitist.  For me an elitist is a point of reference.

7 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

@4-2-N-8

Why do you continue to use the term "junior suite" when no such room class exist on Celebrity? 

 

Maybe because people are concerned that the Sky Suite is evolving into a Royal Jr. Suite?

40 minutes ago, The German Guys said:

Of course, you can survive without a butler. But if you pay for an adventure where it was included then you can definitely expect the service to be provided. 

 

We are just now on the Beyond in a CS. I was shocked to learn from the butler that we are provided with water daily, but if we take a Coke, beer or another water from the minibar we would be charged!! With the included premium drink package we can have almost everything in every bar and restaurant. But a Coke from the minibar will be charged. This is unbelievable! 

 

Furthermore, on our sea day it was almost impossible to get two loungers. Finally, there were just two left. At noon!

 

We have just one more Celebrity Cruise on our list among of a total of 7 booked future cruises. We very much hope we still have access to Luminea for dinner without paying an upcharge being only in a RS at that time. After the recent changes, I can imagine everything…

 

Sorry Celebrity, you want to be different but not with us in that way…

German Guys,

Not having a mini bar stocked with complimentary beverages is not new with Celebrity for Sky and Celebrity Suites.  I recall be surprised with this policy pre pandemic when we were in a Celebrity Suite. What I have observed is some butlers will quietly bring what you request.  Yes, you bring back soda, beer etc from the Retreat Lounge without question. Based on all the chatter here, I bet the Butlers are being closely monitored.

1 minute ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

JS guests on RCI have Coastal Kitchen access.....for dinner only....based on availability. 

Well, for me that is even worse having "maybe" access.  No thanks!

6 minutes ago, CruisinBanka said:

Jr. Suites have access to Coastal Kitchen for dinner only upon availability. 

Well, for me that is even worse having "maybe" access.  No thanks!

3 hours ago, Mark_K said:

If they follow the Royal Caribbean Junior Suite model, you would get Luminae, but not the lounge nor the sundeck.
 

Also, Internet, gratuities, and drinks wouldn’t be included.

I don't believe Jr. Suites have access to the CA Kitchen which is the suite version of Luminae.

On 7/22/2023 at 6:27 AM, LACruiser88 said:

Does not look like our ship???

Yes, it was taken on the Emerald the last night.  Our room steward explained the combination of a longer cruise and families traveling together created a lot more luggage than usual.  The good news was they seem to get the luggage off the ship very quickly.  I did not experience any delay at the port getting our luggage.

17 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Well you compare a single older Princess ship to what?  What Celebrity ships are you comparing to?

 

I will say that Celebrity tends to put their best staff on their newest ships,  but their newest ships have few balconies.

Check out my signature.  I tried to be clear in my comparisons, but your question is valid.  It is not a valid comparison of the ship quality when compared to Edge Class. 

I kept in mind my Infinity experiences.  Regardless of the ship's age, I expect the same staff quality throughout the fleet.

On 7/21/2023 at 11:32 AM, CruisinBanka said:

Thanks for your review. I was expecting better than this out of Princess, as I had always heard good things from people I know who have sailed on them. What ship were you on? Is it an older ship? 
 

We were on the Emerald, an older ship.  I tried to relate the ship experience to the Infinity as well as the Edge class ships.  

Suitcase Case Back up!  

Full boat with lots of families = lots of suitcases.

I was remiss not to mention the Medallion!

I love it.  I use the wrist band option.  The medallion works much like the room card, but does much more.  My favorite part of the medallion is the crew can easily identify you when ordering beverages etc.

50 minutes ago, CruisinBanka said:

Thanks for your review. I was expecting better than this out of Princess, as I had always heard good things from people I know who have sailed on them. What ship were you on? Is it an older ship? 
 

We were on the Emerald and she is an older ship.  The new Princess ship coming soon looks very interesting.  We will probably try the new ship.

1 hour ago, basenji56 said:

Sorry to hear that the pizza was mediocre.  I remember Princess pizza as being among the (few) highlights when I sailed several years ago.

 

The pizza was fine until they ran out of white flour.

I am really going to have to think twice about sailing on Princess again.  Since the Pandemic, we have been cruising with Celebrity and were looking forward to checking out Princess again. This cruise has been just average for us. 

* The sofa in our Mini suite is in terrible condition.

*The bed is very comfortable.

*The stateroom attendant is very efficient and nice.

* The flour issue is really unfortunate. Not having white dinner rolls was disappointing. As I previously said, the pizza is yucky!

* No individual water bottles.  Really?

* On two different occasions, the desert I tried to order in the MDR was not available.

*The specialty Premium deserts are just soft Ice cream with assorted goodies.  They look fun, but were just soft Ice Cream and toppings in a very fun old school glass container.  

* The food in the MDR has been just average and only hot once. I am not exaggerating.  We have fixed seating at 8:40pm with the same servers who have been very good.

* The casino dealers are very nice and sociable.  I did get put off when I asked to play the Roulet table and was told there was not a dealer available.

* The posting of a sign in the MDR that simply says "10" is a tacky way to asked for a good rating.

* I wish the buffet had eggs benedick. 

* There were ladies walking the buffet asking for feed back and suggesting we provide them a 10-rating for service.  Again, this seems tacky.

* The International Cafe is excellent! The coffee was always good and we enjoyed the snacks.  Unfortunately, they were out of cookies on several occasions.  The staff was efficient, but seemed tired and just mechanical. 

*The Sanctuary is wonderful as it always has been.  Love it up there!  Just wish the weather was better on Sea days.

*The tender service in Maui is inexcusable.  Just do the math and they simply did not have enough boats in the water for the short amount of time we were in Maui.  Perhaps Maui could provide tender boats like in Cozumel that move people more efficiently.

*Kids....  Well, Kids will be kids and the parents are to be blamed for any bad behavior.  We are in the front of the ship and I really did not have negative encounters with the tweens or teens.  Actually, the few I did speak to were polite.

*The shows were good, We enjoyed them all.  Comparing to Celebrity, the new Edge class ships have an amazing round theater with a fully lighted wall that takes the live shows to a new level.  

*The gastro break out seem to be handled very well!  I appreciated the announcements and seeing the staff constantly washing tables, hand rails and other surfaces.

So, will I cruise Princess again?  Probably if the itinerary is good and the price is right.  I will comparison shop against Celebrity and see what best meets our needs.

I hope this brief review will assist those reading and shopping for their next cruise.  

I am really going to have to think twice about sailing on Princess again.  Since the Pandemic, we have been cruising with Celebrity and were looking forward to checking out Princess again. This cruise has been just average for us. 

* The sofa in our Mini suite is in terrible condition.

*The bed is very comfortable.

*The stateroom attendant is very efficient and nice.

* The flour issue is really unfortunate. Not having white dinner rolls was disappointing. As I previously said, the pizza is yucky!

* No individual water bottles.  Really?

* On two different occasions, the desert I tried to order in the MDR was not available.

*The specialty Premium deserts are just soft Ice cream with assorted goodies.  They look fun, but were just soft Ice Cream and toppings in a very fun old school glass container.  

* The food in the MDR has been just average and only hot once. I am not exaggerating.  We have fixed seating at 8:40pm with the same servers who have been very good.

* The casino dealers are very nice and sociable.  I did get put off when I asked to play the Roulet table and was told there was not a dealer available.

* The posting of a sign in the MDR that simply says "10" is a tacky way to asked for a good rating.

* I wish the buffet had eggs benedick. 

* There were ladies walking the buffet asking for feed back and suggesting we provide them a 10-rating for service.  Again, this seems tacky.

* The International Cafe is excellent! The coffee was always good and we enjoyed the snacks.  Unfortunately, they were out of cookies on several occasions.  The staff was efficient, but seemed tired and just mechanical. 

*The Sanctuary is wonderful as it always has been.  Love it up there!  Just wish the weather was better on Sea days.

*The tender service in Maui is inexcusable.  Just do the math and they simply did not have enough boats in the water for the short amount of time we were in Maui.  Perhaps Maui could provide tender boats like in Cozumel that move people more efficiently.

*Kids....  Well, Kids will be kids and the parents are to be blamed for any bad behavior.  We are in the front of the ship and I really did not have negative encounters with the tweens or teens.  Actually, the few I did speak to were polite.

*The shows were good, We enjoyed them all.  Comparing to Celebrity, the new Edge class ships have an amazing round theater with a fully lighted wall that takes the live shows to a new level.  

*The gastro break out seem to be handled very well!  I appreciated the announcements and seeing the staff constantly washing tables, hand rails and other surfaces.

So, will I cruise Princess again?  Probably if the itinerary is good and the price is right.  I will comparison shop against Celebrity and see what best meets our needs.

I hope this brief review will assist those reading and shopping for their next cruise.  

7 hours ago, Pilot53 said:

I asked about that before we hit Hawaii.  I was told by one of the hotel officers that they could not get enough of them when they supplied the ship.  He said there would be other shortages also.  Supply issues.  Also asked if they could resupply in HI.  He said that they could not get small bottles there either, and other items missing.  The pizza was made with wheat flour.  It was not bad, either.

Sorry, but I have to disagree.  The pizza is terrible.  Just wander up to Slice and even the cook admits not many people are enjoying the brown flour dough.