Andrew J. Cat

I found the Reserve Collection dining to be worth the extra cost.  Much more intimate dining area, and vastly better service.  I liked the specials that they added to the menus on both lunch and dinner.

Sorry, no Nespresso or any such things on any Princess ships.

Just now, 1cruiselvr said:

Thank you Andrew J. Cat for your prompt and polite response.  So it's a separate part of the MDR reserved for suite and RC mini suite pax?

Yes, that is correct.  The other replies give even better info than mine.  I’m jealous, I want to go back!  
One anecdote I want to share about Emerald Princess:  the staff was exceptionally engaged and seemed genuinely happy.  Enjoy!

We were just on Emerald in a Reserve Collection mini suite.

You’ll love the dining!  It’s a separate area of the Da Vinci dining room.  Excellent service.  The head waiter prepares a special entree, which I took almost every time.  No waiting, no lines, it’s really great.

They are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

7 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Wow, it was a neat feature we really liked. It's similar to what we have at home. It's not strong enough to blind anyone but keeps you from stumbling in a dark cabin. I only wish the auto light in the closet area would stay on longer. 

We had it last month on Emerald Princess.  We liked it as well.  Ditto on the closet light.

I’ve sailed on Royal in the aft cabins.  Same basic design as Sky.  
No smoke, but we had cigarette butts and even some cigarette packs on our balcony every morning.  

Has Princess reinstated bar snacks at the various bars on the ship?  I recall having honey roasted peanuts and a spicy bar mix served with cocktails for at least 20 years prior to the shutdown.

We’ve only sailed once since Covid, and were told by the bartenders that they were discontinued due to the pandemic.  This was almost a year ago.  
Many thanks for any info. 

26 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

You will get a cabin of their choosing, pay a lot for it, and like it.

 

It's the future of cruising.

Maybe they’ll start doing that in the MDR.  No plus or premier package, they choose your entree.  Plus or premier, you get to choose. 🤪

2 each (mini bottles) of:  Dewars scotch, Smirnoff vodka, Courvoisier cognac, and I think Bacardi rum.

The mini fridge has 2 each of Perrier, Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and Dos Equis.

This is from memory from last year.  If I’m not exact, I’m pretty close.

I just got this.  I’m ready to sail!  😁

But at least they offer to order chocolate covered strawberries on every call!  And I mean EVERY call, regardless of what you called about.  (Ok, that was an exaggeration).  
I, too worked in call centers.  It’s all about the metrics (# of calls taken per hour, etc.), and nothing whatsoever about the quality of service rendered.

I’ve been pricing some cruises and it does not make any mention of Princess Plus, Premier, etc.  Perhaps they’re having some technical difficulties. 😬

On 3/7/2023 at 6:35 PM, Bobbiegentry said:

It appears so. The descriptions and pricing are gone as we’ve already docked in Kobe. 

Thanks!!  I’m considering the November circle Japan cruise.  They just now loaded the Kobe shore excursions.  I’m interested in visiting Kyoto.

The bridge cam shows that you are enroute to Kobe.  Does Princess offer a shore excursion to Kyoto from Kobe on your cruise?

51 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Interesting  🤫  I wonder if they will change CC dining to Reserve Collection dining?  Another gimmick!  

Yes, they are changing the CC dining to Reserve Collection dining.  It appears to just a name change.   I rather like the new name.  In my opinion, the term Club Class kinda implied that you are in a specific class on the ship, whereas Reserve Collection more correlates to the “collection” of advantageously located cabins, with exclusive dining included in the price.  Just my opinion, so please don’t anyone bash me for this. 😁

We’ve been cruising on Princess for 30 years.  When they came out with the original Crown and Regal, we hesitated as they were too big. We tried them and loved them.  
Then came the Sun class ships.  Nope, too big.  We tried the and loved them.

Then the Grand class ships.  Same deal.

Then the Royal class.  Now these were just too big and they eliminated the wrap around promenade deck.  No way we’re doing that.  We’ve sailed on the Royal class ships now 5 times.  We love them.

My point is, you don’t know until you go!  
And yes, I’m hesitant about the new Sun Princess! Lol!

The noise from the Lido deck will depend on EXACTLY what is above you.  We were on the deck below the Lido deck on Caribbean Princess a while back.  We carefully selected the cabin based on what was above us.  It was  R410, which was under a Ladies’ room.   We had very little noise, other than sun beds being moved around in the wee hours by the crew.  Folks on the Starboard side complained about the noise from being under the ice cream stand.

Our May 7 western Caribbean was just cxld due to dry dock.  We selected May 14 eastern Caribbean as a substitute via a link that they emailed to us.

I then called Princess to try to firm it up an select a cabin.  They said we had to wait until they process it.  Grrrr!!!  We’re extremely picky as far as cabin location.

The Princess rep advised that it could take up to 30 days for us to be transferred to the new sailing.  <sigh>
Oh well.  First world problems. 😁

Many thanks to everyone who takes the time to post here next Sunday!

Every experiential anecdote will be greatly appreciated.

<tongue-in-cheek> I hope to hear about butter pats in the MDRs and of course chair hogs! 😁

We sailed on her in January, 1996.  Big & roomy ship.  No bells & whistles like today’s ships.  Just a nice ship with great service.  

We have two cats, Amos & Andy.  The pictured one is Andy, AKA Andrew J. Cat.

As with previous posters, this was also a late night choice. 😁

7 hours ago, Grego said:

We are booked on the January 9th voyage as well and, it's a 14 day itinerary.  The only reason for us to cancel that booking is because they are assuring us that either the 19th or 20th of December sailings are still happening.  Our preference is the 20th on the Sky because she is doing PR this time.

If all the precautions are in place aboard the ship as planned, we have no concern about being on the ship.  We have nearly 50 voyages aboard Princess ships with a lot of great memories and many shipboard friendships we have made and it's time to support our cruise line and get back to living again.

We will tell you all about our great voyage when we get back.

I admire your optimism and enthusiasm.  We cancelled this cruise about a month ago (I posted earlier on this thread).  I hope that on Jan 9 we will be kicking ourselves for canceling!  Good luck!  Your pictures are fabulous, BTW. 

We were on this cruise and we cancelled it about a month ago.  Our reasons for cancelling are pretty much outlined in the previous comments on this thread.  

We got our deposit refunded within two days after I called Princess to cancel.

We are elite and have two cruises currently booked.
No Caribbean email for us.  I did get one a few days ago about Panama Canal Cruises becoming available for 21 and 22.  I get emails from some guy at Princess who introduces himself as our Cruise Vacation Planner.  His emails are sporadic and the deals he offers are never anything more than a free bottle of wine.  
 

1 hour ago, Linsifer said:

And once on the ship, I would be concerned that there would be a detected COVID case and we would all end up being quarantined forever.  

That is absolutely my biggest concern about future cruising. 

That being said, we still have two upcoming cruises booked, Jan '21 and Dec '21.  

Hoping for the best. 🤞

Cruise date May 2

Cancelled by Princess Mar 12 Phase 1

Option #2 selected Mar 12

Refund to credit card May 22

FCC received June 2