HaveDogWillTravel

I’ve booked all my dining reservations thru February 2025 already. I’m elite so maybe that makes a difference? Idk.

The roll call would be where a meet and greet would be set up. I haven’t looked to see if ones been started yet. I really hope they decide to sail in the path for the duration of the eclipse event. It will last for several hours pre and post totality. Roads get awfully clogged when trying to position on land making any type of independent excursion risky. Plus I really hate crowds. For me to keep this sailing (and the Iceland one I booked just prior to this) they really will need to explicitly state how they intend to maximize the eclipse experience.

I stayed in 523 last October. As stated above, you have to book the BS category to get the sitting area next to the balcony. I did a live from review (it’s on page 2 of this board) with lots of pictures. I usually book 400 plus sq ft suites with huge balconies. I was pleasantly surprised by how spacious this cabin was and how much we loved the Juliette balcony and ship in general.

I am sorry you have to wait until you get home to properly deal with your tooth. I had a similar issue on board a ship (not WS). I was given the appropriate antibiotic for tooth infections and hydrocodone-acetaminophen (which didn’t touch the pain). He finally gave me a suppository of diclofenac and that really worked! I was told that a morphine drip would be the next option. This was in 2017 and on a much bigger ship. I really feel for you! After all these years that pain is still a vivid memory.

We stopped getting the packages when we sail in suites. For all the reasons that @cr8tiv1 listed. I also don’t care for the white wines Princess serves so I bring my own anyway. In the Sky Suite you get full size bottles of alcohol and a Nespresso machine in cabin. On all Royal class ships I’ve gotten unlimited water, specially coffees, beer and free evening cocktails in the lounge. The day that Reserve Class dining is not good enough to dine in every night is the day I have to examine if I should be giving Princess my suite business. Why on earth would I need a package? And totally agree the $5 charge for using an included perk is ridiculous. It’s insulting. Suites have cost me from $350 per person per day (S6) up to $1000 per person per day (S0). Lately the price of even S6 Vistas is creeping up. So I’ve started comparing and sailing other lines. For the price I’m paying for Princess suites they just don’t compare to what I’m getting on Windstar or Oceania. I’ll still sail Princess out of SF as it’s just so convenient. I have 2 more big dollar suites booked with Princess and after that my suite money will be going elsewhere.

No worries. Thanks for the clarification I’ll look at returning to NY as well.

I’m not sure which sailing you mean. The Eclipse is August 12, 2026.

Thank you so much! I googled it but didn’t search Cunard’s website after my person said she did not have any info on it. Duhhh much appreciated!

I received a marketing email from Cunard for the new 2026 sailings. I believe it was end of Feb but before March 5th. The verbiage mentioned a 2026 eclipse cruise. Does anyone else remember getting that? And if you still have it (mine is deleted from my deleted folder) would you be so kind as to post it? Thank you in advance. Nothing on the Cunard website mentions it and my Cunard person has no information on it. The Aug 9th 2026 QA sailing is in La Coruna on the 12th (eclipse day) which is in the path. However, it is not being marketed (yet) as an Eclipse cruise. I am looking for that email to send to my Cunard person. She has also emailed marketing. TIA

I take pictures. It’s the only way I can keep it straight.

Exactly

Hi @AnyMajorCruiseDude are you saying that you did not have Plus or Premier and were not charged for calling in your MDR orders? If so that would certainly be good news! I am in a suite on Discovery soon and was told by the shoreside suite concierge that without the package I would be charged. Thanks

You mean no Sabatini’s poached eggs over roasted potatoes on my hang tag? 🤣🤣🤣

True that. However, I don’t travel the same at sea as I do on land. I guess I should just stay out of this discussion 😂. As I don’t want to compare like to like on land and at sea. To me these are vastly different experiences and I simply don’t want the same things on land as I do on a ship.

We sailed last October on Legend. Joesph was our executive chef. He (and everything out of his kitchen) was simply outstanding. Was that who you sailed with? He told me all wait staff did tastings of the menus every day so they would be able to discuss the dishes intelligently with PAX. Brilliant!

You might research a different class of Princess ship. The Coral or Grand classes. There’s some pros and cons to both. But you might find a better fit there.

This is exactly our thoughts. We spent 3 weeks in Turkey and Greece with only one week on a ship. We sailed thru the Corinth Canal on our way to Athens. This year we will spend almost 7 weeks traveling in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy. Spain and France are primarily the islands in the Med….Elba, Mahon, Corsica…..10 days on Vista and 7 days on Wind Spirit (not consecutively). Planes, trains and automobiles. We are hiring private all day transfers that allow us to visit some of the hill towns. There will be trains from home bases in Rome, Florence, Lisbon and Barcelona that we will book on the fly if we feel like it. While we are more than capable (and young enough) to drive we prefer not to in most cases. We find it more relaxing. Of course private drivers are more expensive but we just include it in the budget. Even with the private transfers and drivers the land portion is less per day than our per day costs on the 17 days at sea. (PH2 on O and a mid ship low deck cabin on Spirit). I don’t think I need to use Four seasons as a comparison hotel. I think the locally owned and generationally operated Pensions in Europe are a far nicer experience. We are staying a week in each city either in or on the very outskirts of the historic centers for an average of just under $300 per night. My sailings are between $800 and $1000 a night (for 2). When on land I won’t be forced to pay for things that I won’t use like on my sailings, so I don’t think they should be included in any comparison of sea to land trips as someone suggested. I compare what my land expenses are to my sea expenses and land travel is always cheaper for us. But things like the smaller islands in the Med, the Corinth Canal are best done from a ship. If I like an island well enough we can always make it part of a land trip. Our 5 days on Hydra while in Greece were magical. And thanks for the restaurant suggestion in Florence. I’ve never had truffles. If I decide to try them it’s nice to know where to go for a good experience.

I’ve only sailed WS once ……so far….Legend, Istanbul to Athens last October but I did not get that email. When I asked my WS vacation planner about boarding docs he said just show up with your passport, they are expecting you. And that was exactly what happened. It was a bit weird to not have luggage tags or a boarding pass. A guy with a clipboard checked off our names on a paper list of all things, took our bags and within a few minutes we went thru a security scanner and on board. They ushered us to the aft lounge where we were handed a glass of bubbly and one of the band members checked us in. I loved this check in. So much more civilized. I did bring my documents that showed our OBC, excursions, laundry package and other perks but never had to use it.

A line that advertises itself as “The best cuisine at sea” should never allow this to be the case. in the last year even Princess has had reliably good lobster in its MDR. Over 80 days on 4 different ships in the fleet convinced me it wasn’t a one off.

We had our itinerary changed 3 or so times. I lost count. But in the end they brought the canal back and it was everything we dreamed it would be and more!

Thank you for taking the time to give your impressions of the ship and your experiences. We sail her in October and will love to follow along.

Yes the laundry is a flat rate per day. It’s under $10 a day. I loved it! On longer sailings it is included free. Our 17 day has it for free. Also last year I booked for 2025 and 2026 and All in Package was free.

Yes I’d be happy to. Here’s a link to my Live From that I did. Lots of pictures. Towards the end there’s a discussion of the All In package. i am the one who has always booked the cabin with the largest balcony I can afford. I have the Sky Suite on Discovery Princess booked for the upcoming eclipse. It’s the biggest balcony at sea I believe. So I get the hesitation to sail with only a French balcony. Honestly we were absolutely fine with a French balcony. We made sure to get one of the “old” design cabins where the living room is next to the balcony though. The cabins are under 300 sq ft which for me is really small but the layout was such that it really felt much bigger. We had to adjust to the storage space but managed just fine. The senior officers, HGM, Executive Chef, Maitre D’hotel, right on down the line, on WS are constantly out and about talking with passengers and making sure every detail is up to snuff. I had coffee with the captain almost every morning. The open bridge was so nice, Adam really enjoyed it. I know everyone always says how great the crew is on every sailing and WS is no exception. However, what stood out to me is just how truly HAPPY they were. Many had come from larger ships and told me that they’d never go back. Food is subjective but it was my experience that the food on WS was superior to Oceania. Here’s why I say that. WS had smaller menus than O, but every single bite was perfection. On O I had hit or miss several times…..nothing horrible but meh too many times for the price points. I ordered French onion soup on O and got this brown tasteless broth with almost no onions, bread or cheese. I will use the fresh fruit as another example….on WS every berry, every piece of melon all of it was not over ripe nor under ripe. Melons were never cut too close to rind. On O this was not the case. It came down to the details. I was only disappointed once on WS. I ordered a waffle (room service breakfast) and it was not a yeast waffle as I expected rather it was a more rustic style. The upper deck BBQ with Santorini glittering in the background was truly amazing. The white glove dinner in the ruins of Ephesus at night with the Aegean Quartet was magical. Things that were included and executed brilliantly. I do not find that WS costs more than O, but then on O I don’t book the cheapest cabin. I book what I want on the ship I’m sailing and as long as it runs between $400-$600 day/person I’m happy. If I get what I want at a lower price I’m really happy.

Is there any chance you might consider a Live From? No worries if not, it’s a lot to ask. We are sailing the Wind Spirit this October, our first time on a small sailing ship. It would be great to see some pictures and read thoughts about the sail if possible. Happy sailing! `

We are taking Wind Spirit. She has less than 150 pax