TobleroneTiny

Thank you very much for all your kind and quick replies!

I really appreciate it a lot!

So it will be drinks and snacks only on that balcony.

How big are the balconies in this area?

I realise that the regular balconies on Royal and Regal and the ones for the normal mini suites are on the small side.

This is the area with larger balconies.

But just how much bigger are they?

Is there enough space to enjoy a balcony dinner for 4 persons on on 416/417?

The rooms which interest me even more are:

409 / 410

414 / 415

426 / 427

What is your experience with those balconies?

Would you go for the ultimate balcony dinner for 4 on any of those balconies or is this a stupid idea?

Where are you sailing to? Once you're on the ship, unless the cruise is beginning or ending in Australia, you'll be charged in USD.

It's all within Europe. If the exchange rate was nice, it would be nice for many to have the chrages converted to EUR. As it is, I'm better of not to prepay anything.

The onboard currency may be USD, but some pre-payable items, such as beverage packages or prepaid gratuities show in EUR on the peronalizer for our mediterran cruise. Excursions and speciality restaurants are however quoted in USD, so it's a bit of a mess.

The Princess FX rate from USD to EUR is indeed poor.

...and to make it worse, we will get the EUR converted by the credit card company to our home currency Swiss Francs, so we'll get bitten twice if we prepay anything.

I strongly hope that I can convince them to at least keep charging me in USD for charges on board, as it says in my reservation.

Thanks a lot KLouie2000!

Was there really only one formal night?

I thought 7 day cruises had two, but couldn't find the second one on the patters.

Could it be that the price has just gone up from USD 7.65 (+15%), which is what we paid, to USD 8.05 (+15%) which is what I see on princess.com?

If that is the case, then there's probably no need to hurry with booking it in advance anymore, unless your sailing date is far in the future and the price might increase again.