VersaliusPrimus

13 hours ago, CanadianBurger said:

First taste of a production show last night. The cast did one number in the Piazza. 
 

 

IMG_3583.mov 100.15 MB · 45 downloads  

 

A Backstreet Boys song from 1999 is certainly an... interesting choice for Princess.  I guess it just serves as a short demo of their dancers in the Piazza rather than any showcase of their singers.  I hope their song choice for production shows follows more in line with 5 Skies or Rock Opera i.e. classical pieces mixed with modern songs from vocal powerhouses like Kelly Clarkson.  Even the modern songs in Rock Opera (namely, the ones from "The Greatest Showman" soundtrack) were used well in showing off more complex choreography and vocal performances than previous production shows.  Seems we'll have to wait for reviews from later cruises to find out if the Sun Princess shows live up to the hype.

I will echo all the previous posts and thank you for the immense amount of info you have gathered while on your vacation!  I hope you still found time to kick back and relax between wandering around snapping photos and collecting info!

12 hours ago, CanadianBurger said:

Some more random wandering pics. 

 

The Gelateria

 

 

 

Thank you very much for all the photos!  If you get the chance, can you snap a quick photo of the menu at the Gelateria?  Curious to see what's changed since this looks like half the usual number of options as other ships.

10 minutes ago, lstone19 said:

So with Premier, $5 for the soft ice cream but unlimited premium desserts. I guess I’ll order a premium dessert, eat one cone’s worth of the soft ice cream, and throw the rest away.

Indeed, I am hoping the charge for soft serve is just miscommunication between staff.  If not, then this is liable to result in a lot of food wasted by people doing exactly this.  Why pay the fee for soft serve if your package already includes a higher tier dessert (assuming they're still made with gelato) that you can order, eat what you want and toss the rest?  Even if someone "only" opted for Princess Plus, that still covers 2 premium desserts per day. 

A fee for soft serve ice cream on a ship which is supposed to be more family friendly than previous designs with the new Park19 (whenever it's finished) would set Princess apart from its competitors in a negative fashion, even before they book if they research the ship first.

2 hours ago, Real NHDOC said:

There are no bad choices off the Tamarind menu. Order whatever you prefer and you will enjoy it. You can order as many starters as you want as well as sides. Limit is only to one entree. 

In the main dining room on other cruise lines we've been able to order an entree-portion of a starter and vice versa.  Do you know if this is also possible in Tamarind?

One of our party isn't terribly excited about the entree options but might like multiple appetizers, maybe a larger portion of an appetizer as a main course.

I have sailed on the Royal Princess for a 10 day Eastern Caribbean cruise in Dec 2017 and the Sky Princess (closer to Discovery than Royal in both age and features) this past summer for a B2B Iceland and Norway trip.  While they are very similar ships, there are a couple differences you are likely to notice if your focus is onboard entertainment, which you specifically mention.

Princess Live on the Royal and Regal is much more enclosed with a regular-sized, single door serving as its only passenger entrance.  On the later ships, beginning with Sky Princess, this venue is opened up to the main walking path along the starboard side of the ship where passengers can walk from the Princess Theater all the way back to the Vista lounge (a "throughfare" if you will).  This allowed for more seating not only within the venue proper but also the passengers seated along the throughfare to also participate in any trivia or other activities conducted here.  I should note that on both Royal and Sky this venue completely filled up 20-30 minutes prior to popular activities, like the Abba trivia on Sky.  Still, the additional seating made a difference and made the setting feel more open (because it was).

The other major entertainment difference is the selection of production shows.  The Royal (and Regal when we sailed on her June 2022) had Bravo and one other show (the name escapes me at the moment) while Sky had Rock Opera and Five Skies.  We would judge both Bravo and Rock Opera to be comparable in style with the latter having a more contemporary song selection (at least two songs I recall from the soundtrack to The Greatest Showman).  Our enjoyment of these shows depended heavily on the matching of the vocalists' style and range to the song they were performing.  This ended up being rather hit-or-miss on both ships unfortunately, but overall we enjoyed both shows.  Five Skies, on the other hand, quickly became our favorite show out of all we've seen across the Princess fleet, so much so we went back to see both showtimes on the second cruise onboard Sky.  The technical advancements, storytelling, and vocal performances hit all the right notes for us.  

That all said, we enjoyed both of our cruises but definitely prefer the modified layout and newer production shows on the Sky/Enchanted/Discovery Princess.  Hope this helps!

Glad to see others enjoying the Catch!  We dined there three times on our B2B on the Sky this past summer, trying out different combinations of appetizers and entrees.  We agreed later that the presence of the Catch on a ship would mean we never set foot in Crown Grill since we love seafood and can get surf and turf at the Catch without an additional fee.  

One question:  I've heard from a neighbor who just disembarked from the Hawaii cruise previous to yours that the Discovery is not yet using Starlink, but it looks like you had no trouble posting from the ship, including quite a few photos.  Is Starlink available onboard or were you making do with the older service?

Thank you again for your posts and report!

7 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

 No worries!  That crack Princess IT team has tracking this totally automated, probably as part of the Medallion app. 

I wouldn't be surprised if they [eventually] turn this flexible rate lock into a "perk" for those who book with the Princess Premier package, or rather, make that a requirement to do so.  

On 10/18/2023 at 5:34 PM, WisCruiser2 said:

I'm wondering how you could "lock in" a fare without having a specific itinerary or dates -- will it be for "a balcony room on a 7-day on _____Princess"? 

This part of the announcement also stood out to me.  How can a customer "secure today's pricing... without locking in the specific dates or itinerary" for any cabin?  Pricing largely depends on cabin category, sailing date, ship, and itinerary.  Even if you hold three of those four variables constant, the fourth will still affect the price i.e. a customer designates they want to "lock in" the fare for a standard balcony on the Discovery Princess to Alaska for 7 days, they will see a difference in cruise fare between sailing in May or July.  

Does Princess have some calculated cruise fare for each cabin category with a substantial price cushion built-in as a "fee" to ensure some minimum profit margin?  This margin could then be considered by the customer the cost of "locking in" a rate with the flexibility of attaching it to a booking later. 

The amount of headache this can potentially cause for passengers, booking agents, and people behind the scenes at PCL is mindboggling...

18 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Deployment opening schedule

 

Nov 1 - Alaska (OV, AN, RD, GR)

Nov 8 - Europe (AL, OY, ID, EX, VY, BR)

Nov 15 - 7N Caribbean (HM, OA, AD, ID, SR, BR, RD, RH, GR)

Dec 5 - Star (Icon 2)

Feb 14 - Short Caribbean and LAX (UT, WN, AN, LB, FR, MA, NV, AD, JW)

Feb 14 - Northeast (SY, OY, LB, VI)

Feb 21 - Other Caribbean (SY AL, EX, JW)

Thanks for the info!  The Allure in Europe is certainly an interesting prospect, especially if it's going to be in the Mediterranean.

Does anyone know if Celebrity's deployment schedule will likely follow this timing or thereabouts, being a sister cruiseline?  I haven't seen anything on the Celebrity CC boards yet about 2025 deployment.

On 7/17/2023 at 2:44 AM, D. B. said:

I find the communication problem to be something we encounter on every cruise line . But I know these people have to listen to god knows how many versions of the English Language from one guest to the next so we cannot expect them to be fluent in all of what they hear?

I find that often when I ask for A Number of something in the buffet like One Cookie I get 2 or 3? I’m guessing that they are told to Error on the high side of what the Think the guest is asking for than serving to little?

   

Ask for a cookie and get multiple?  This sounds like a possible explanation to how my pants got tighter after my last cruise... 😄

12 hours ago, little britain said:

No; it is the one off Anthem repo from Southampton to Singapore in October 2024 that is meant to be going on sale in October 2023

Thanks for the clarification!  So the Singapore season itself could open up at a different time, although it is still unclear when since they removed it from the opening schedule.

8 hours ago, twangster said:

 

Celebrity has offered that 77% of short term cruises are booked < 6 months from sail date.

 

Singapore is mostly a short cruise market.  While not all Singapore cruises are 3/4/5 nights, the majority are.  Short cruise markets typically book on shorter notice compared to the traditional cruise market.  Consequently there is no hurry to release them this far in advance.

 

I do remember reading that vacations longer than 5 days are uncommon in Singapore, so it makes sense for the associated sailings to be about that length.  Combined with the statistic from Celebrity, it makes sense from the business side to wait, watch the market and make any adjustments to maximize revenue.  As a consumer who likes to plan out vacations years in advance, though, the wait to even know the dates for certain sailings (assuming itineraries will be identical to the Spectrum) is a little disappointing. 

We're booked on cruises for 2024 and 2025, and have watched the cruise fares continue to rise.  We wonder what the base cruise fare will be another 3 months from now?  Add on top of that the rising airfare and vacations to Asia from North America are getting very pricey.  😞    

2 hours ago, springaussie said:

I am starting to think Spectrum cruises could have a target on them for sales and charters in China. 
If the target isn’t meet plan B for Anthem and Spectrum happens. 

This would explain the multi-month delay in releasing the Singapore sailings.  If demand for Spectrum sailings exceeds supply, supplement that supply with Anthem sailings.  Otherwise, Anthem maintains separate itineraries out of Singapore while Spectrum serves Hong Kong and/or Shanghai.  

10 hours ago, little britain said:

Friend on Anthem today asked same… told going on sale in October. No further details.

 

Kerping my calendar 📅 clear!! 

Do you mean Singapore sailings for 2024-2025 will go on sale in October?  They were listed on the release schedule document as the week of July 23rd, but that line has since disappeared.  Does the switch from the Spectrum OTS necessitate a review of itineraries for 3 months, even though the replacement ship is likely the same class?  

I don't really expect anyone here to have these answers, just wondering "out loud" as it were.

2 hours ago, D. B. said:

OK. We had dinner tonight in the buffet and I ask about sugar free or no sugar added desserts.

not many choices but at least one desert (you have to ask which one) and always one flavor of ice cream. The cookies are so blah they probably don’t have much sugar?

I ask if any of the cookies were sugar free but the crew members limited command of English made communication impossible.

l know they have a big selection of diet sodas.

I think the Grand dining room menu also has some sugar free offerings.

I hope that helps?

D. B.

Thank you very much!  Firsthand data definitely helps from someone currently onboard!

One sugar free dessert and one sugar free flavor ice cream is exactly what was available during our last Princess cruise last month, so I was hoping for more from O since their marketing pushes their culinary offerings so much.  Perhaps they could taste better than on Princess?  Then again, the Princess sugar free dessert was consistently tasteless, so that would be quite a low bar to clear...

Princess only had Diet Pepsi and Sprite Zero so O having a wider selection than that would be refreshing.  🙂

Curious, would you attribute the communication difficulties you experienced to the staff being relatively new to the job/setting?  We also had some issues clearly communicating with our waiters on the Princess cruise, although generally that was only with the crew who were still early in their first contract and did not have as much experience with English-speaking passengers as the more seasoned crew.

Regarding the wifi, in a video posted yesterday a travel agent I follow on Youtube posted a full ship tour of the Riviera where he states the ship will soon be equipped with Starlink.  The Marina should also be on their list to upgrade, although probably not in time for you to benefit from it.  😞

Thank you again for taking time out of your vacation to give your reports!

On 7/14/2023 at 9:12 AM, D. B. said:

Some of the food is better than X but a lot of it I would rate as equal. But Remember food is such a personal thing and that is only My opinion.

Now O has more food Choices than X does.

the Ice cream is Excellent but not many flavor choices.

they make Milkshakes out of Ice cream!

 

As others have expressed, thanks for reporting during your cruise!  We have our first Oceania cruise booked for 2025 while also looking at options for our first Celebrity cruise.  A quick question if you get the chance:  How extensive are the sugar-free or no sugar added options onboard Oceania?  If you happen to have tried any, how did you like it/them?  

3 hours ago, Coral said:

CAPTAIN’S CIRCLE LAUNCH PROMOTION     Princess Past Guests are eligible for a special promotion when they book early! The special promotionconsists of a Captain’s Circle Launch Discount, which may be combined with launch and group promotions. These discounts do not apply to third or fourth berth guests. Please refer to the attached fares and itinerary sheets for Captain’s Circle Discount amounts.  This discount expires on August 31, 2023.

Europe 2025 Southampton Princess Standard FaresItin.xlsx 47.72 kB · 88 downloads Europe 2025 Mediterranean FaresItin Standard Fares .xlsx 59.41 kB · 53 downloads

I will echo previous sentiments:  Thank you for the advance notice!  I love being able to plan ahead and compare itineraries with what the other cruise lines have to offer, especially with ship deployments changing in seemingly every region these days.  

This last section caught my attention (emphasis added).  Does this mean the past guest discount is ending only for these Europe itineraries or ending for all new bookings on August 31st?

11 hours ago, Moondogy said:

The pen is just to give length scale. The model of the crown was from 2011.

Thank you for the comparison!  We were on the Regal in June 2022 but were told they did not have any ship models for sale due to supply/distribution issues.  Does anyone know if they have resumed selling them since then?

12 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

 

To add just a bit more information to help interpret the chart:

 

"The larger the number in the right hand column the more spacious a ship may feel. At least that’s the idea. A number in the 20’s would feel crowded and cramped while a number in the high 40’s and above may feel spacious."

3 hours ago, cruisingrob21 said:

There is at least one computational error in this table - and more importantly, this table assumes no 3rd or 4th berths are full.  If you include those, the order shifts around a bit.

 

Another item worth considering, is that (if I recall correctly) tonnage is a misnomer and actually is a somewhat standard way the "internal volume" of a ship is calculated.  This is most easily understood with an example.  The Diamond and Sapphire are nearly the same dimensions as the Grand, Emerald, Crown, Ruby, except that they are a few feet wider on decks 7 and below.  This translates to a larger tonnage (remember, volume) even though it may not seem like much to be just a few feet wider.  Additionally, the Diamond and Sapphire have a pool with an retractable cover.  The way I understand it, that whole space under the cover is included in the tonnage, whereas the Emerald, Ruby, Crown, and Caribbean have the same pool area (since they are similar designs) but its not covered, so its not included.  This allows the diamond and sapphire to have a higher tonnage, even though they have at least 1 fewer deck of cabins.

 

I enjoy the passengers/elevators ratio, or passengers/hot tub 🙂

Thanks for the link!  I've been using the same metric to compare the passenger density on different ships, but it does have some limitations.  One noted in that post is the tendency of some cruise lines, itineraries, or ships to exceed the double occupancy number used in the calculation, rendering that assumption false and affecting the results. 

Another limitation I didn't see any discussion about was the proportion of the stated gross tonnage that is actually available for passengers to explore.  Every cruise ship will have some portion of its volume dedicated to areas necessary for vessel operations (bridge, generators, engines, control systems, etc.), another portion dedicated to behind-the-scenes hotel operations (kitchens, theatrical backstage, hotel admin, etc.), another portion occupied by passenger and crew cabins, and the remaining volume is what passengers can spread out and enjoy.  This last portion would be the used to find a more accurate metric of passenger density.  Since I don't know of any official numbers for any ship segmented in this way, perhaps I could posit some numbers to see how it changes the comparison of two ships, namely the Grand and Royal Princess:

Grand Princess official numbers:  107,517 GT with 2600 passengers at dual occupancy

Royal Princess official numbers:  142,229 GT with 3560 passengers at dual occupancy

Now let's consider the Grand Princess and get a [very] loose estimate of its GT available to passengers.  If we assume vessel operations occupy 20,000 GT and hotel operations occupy another 20,000 GT, cabins occupy about 46,500 GT (estimate from passenger cabins occupying the majority of 5.5 decks plus crew cabins down below), then the GT available to passengers becomes 21,017.

Now let's consider the Royal Princess and generate estimates of each segment relative to those on the Grand.  This larger ship will require more space dedicated to each segment due to increased demand for propulsion and a higher passenger count.  If we then assume vessel operations occupy 30,000 GT (more generators, engines, etc.), hotel operations are another 30,000 GT (more kitchen space, more laundry capacity, etc.), cabins are about 58,500 GT (passenger cabins occupying about 6 decks plus another deck for crew cabins), then the GT available to passengers becomes 23,729.   

Using the adjusted numbers for GT, the revised metric is now 8.08 for the Grand and 6.67 for the Royal.  Of course, this metric still does not take into account any outdoor space available to passengers or how the ship's design accommodates passenger flow to reduce any perception of overcrowding.  This avenue of analysis also does not account for space available on a limited basis, such as the Sanctuary or Concierge lounge.  This last limitation will have a greater impact on the usefulness of this analysis on ships like the upcoming Sun Princess with more sections of the ship dedicated toward Reserve or Signature suite guests. 

This has been a fun little thought experiment.  Over the years I've read many comments on how a certain ship, class of ship, or cruise line "felt" more crowded, so I searched for a numerical way to compare ships regarding passenger density.  With all its limitations, this metric should never be the sole deciding factor when comparing ships, but it can have some usefulness as a starting point.  I'm an engineer; I like numbers to start with, so this metric serves that purpose.  😄                

We contacted our TA about this promotion since we have two B2B cruises on the Sky this summer booked with Princess Plus.  We were told we would have to refare to obtain the new Princess Plus to qualify for the promotion.  The price difference in the cruise fare from when we booked it on top of the price increase from old to new Princess Plus meant it was nowhere near worth it for us.  We'll wait and see how much of a headache the changeover causes onboard.  😟

21 hours ago, Sarnia 432 said:

The ships may use that time for dry dock before the Alaska season

Possible, although don't these ships usually spend a couple weeks in drydock?  That would leave zero time for repositioning from Hong Kong or Tokyo to Vancouver or Seattle.

2 hours ago, 23ros said:

We are sailing on the Royal from Brisbane to Tokyo.....I too noticed the difference of 14 days,  I knew that the Royal has done the last couple of seasons in Alaska.  I have been waiting for these cruises to be released, as I really want to stay onboard to do Alaska and then the Rockies.

Wee just have to be patient for a few more days I suppose 

I expect the itinerary for the transition cruises weren't finalized in time to be included in the brochure.  Brisbane -> Tokyo -> Whittier -> Vancouver would be a VERY nice cruise indeed!  My family was booked on the Royal from Whittier to Tokyo, but alas, that booking was cancelled due to the fleetwide pause.  We'll have to see if the Royal takes that same route back to Sydney after the Alaska 2024 season though.

Thank you for the early info!

Some observations:

• The Royal Princess currently shows a transition cruise from Sydney to Tokyo, ending on April 27th, 2024.  The earliest itinerary listed on the provided brochure I can see is the southbound Voyage of the Glaciers embarking May 11th from Whittier.  This leaves a span of 14 days in between for an additional transition cruise, although my family was hoping the Royal Princess would be doing Japan cruises for the summer of 2024.
• The Majestic Princess currently shows a transition cruise from Sydney to Hong Kong, ending on May 1st, 2024.  The earliest itinerary I can find on the brochure is May 12th from Seattle, leaving a span of 11 days blank.  I expected the Majestic to remain and run roundtrip Hong Kong cruises for the 2024 summer season since the ship was intended for the Chinese market.

We'll see if these remaining cruises appear to fill in the gaps later on or if the previous itineraries are adjusted to compensate.

On 3/29/2020 at 3:56 PM, PurpleTraveller said:

What a lovely thread! Hard to choose but all great memories!

 

Mt Dalsnibba, Geiranger, Norway

 

 

 

On 3/30/2020 at 6:30 PM, cujosmom said:

Geiranger, Norway

Some very nice photos here of one of the most photogenic places I've seen on the planet!  When I was there June 2018 with my family it was snowing on the summit, so it's nice to see what the view could have been like with good weather.  😄

The view June 20th, 2018 after the clouds parted just for a few moments (pardon the amateur photography on my old S6):

The view closer to Geiranger:

7 hours ago, johnmik1 said:

I can't see any cruises that far in advance on the website.Am I missing something?

See the bottom of post #6 in this thread for the link.  This particular cruise is listed in the spreadsheet for the Alaska itineraries instead of the Japan file, presumably because it starts in Alaska.  

17 hours ago, snoozecrooze said:

Hi! I can't answer your questions as specifically because I don't have first-hand knowledge but I do have some other more general answers to provide. 

 

1. Regarding your first question, check out the reviews for the Celebrity Millennium transpacific from Vancouver here: https://www.cruisecritic.com/celebrity-millennium-transpacific-cruises_cl9-sh167-de146/mra/

They most recently just operated it in a similar timeframe. The all-Transpacific thread of reviews is here: https://www.cruisecritic.com/vancouver-transpacific-cruises_dp27-de146/mra/

 

4. Yes, I believe this is for sure happening, at least for now. The Sydney port schedule has revealed that Royal Princess will cruise in Oceania (along with sister ship, Majestic Princess) in the winter (their summer) of 2021/2022. It's subjective to change, of course, but this seems likely now that Royal's repositioning is out there.

Thanks for the links!  Going through them, I'm finding very few mentions of rough seas around Japan, just a few brief mentions of waves the first couple days coming from Vancouver.  So far only one mention of missing a port due to weather, resulting in them spending an extra day in Tokyo.  An extra day to take Tokyo excursions sounds like a good deal to us!  

Interesting, I hadn't looked up the Sydney port schedule but it would make sense with the visible Royal itineraries.  A transition from Singapore to Sydney would also be a cruise we'd be interested in, although the Tokyo to Singapore segment doesn't have any ports of interest to us so a B2B2B wouldn't be ideal (and that is a long time to be on one ship).  

15 hours ago, nomadguy said:

I sailed on the Diamond Princess in June 2019. (The iris and rhododendron were in bloom.) Our itinerary started and ended at Kobe. Ports included Kobe, Kochi, Matsuyama, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Pusan (S.Korea), sailing through the Kanmon straits, and back to Kobe. (Full disclosure - This was our second trip to Japan; the first was a land tour with Collette featuring the gardens of Japan so my opinion is biased based on our previous trip.)

 

It gets hot starting in June so ideally I would choose mid-April to May to visit and see the flowers in bloom, too. But typically that's not when the cruise ships sail there. I might also consider October/early November but would need to double check before committing during that time frame.

 

We did have a little bit of motion when sailing through the Kanmon straits (mid-aft Baja deck, cabin 617) and just slight motion one day early in the cruise (don't recall which) but otherwise it was pretty calm.

 

[snipped for post brevity]

 

I want to return. I loved visiting Japan. I'm sorry I cannot provide more specific information to answer your questions but this may give you a flavor for what we experienced. Feel free to DM me if there's anything else I might share.

 

 

A LOT of good info here, thank you very much!  We'll definitely try to get tours around Kyoto and Tokyo due to all the culture and history.  We're interested in the land tour Princess offers due to their focus on these two cities, but it appears it's only offered prior to the cruise, so this Royal sailing wouldn't be eligible.  We'll definitely look into all of these places and tours you mentioned though!  We may just have to do a post-cruise land tour of our own design like you did.  

As far as weather and rough seas go, it seems you didn't have much trouble while onboard but the weather ashore didn't always cooperate.  This sounds like what we've been told about scheduling a British Isles cruise:  Don't try to plan it around local weather, just book the cruise when it suits you, the weather will do what it wants.  😄

3 hours ago, LawDog61 said:

Sounds great, but I don’t see it on the Princess web page.

3 hours ago, Crystabel said:

I’d sure like to see where you found this cruise. Nothing listed on the Princess website. 

We found this itinerary in the Excel spreadsheet for Alaska cruises posted last week over in this thread:

Hi all!  

My family has been interested in sailing around Japan, but decided we would wait until an itinerary was offered on a Royal class ship after we spent 3 weeks on the Sapphire.  Looking through the 2021 Alaska itineraries posted on this board the other day, we found such an opportunity:

• Royal Princess
• Itinerary:  Japan & North Pacific Crossing 
• Leaving Saturday, Sept 4th, 2021 for 16 days
• Ports:  Anchorage (Whittier), Cross International Date Line, Kushiro, Aomori, Niigata, Kanazawa, Sakaiminato, Busan, Kagoshima, Tokyo (Yokohama)

This brings up a few questions:

1. How are the waves along this path in the north Pacific and around Japan?  Looking at windy.com shows 20+ ft waves southwest of Alaska but how would it look in September?  I'm looking for a website that shows historical wave data with an interface similar to windy.com.
2. Is this a "good" time of the year to be visiting Japan?  Regional typhoon season is said to be May through October, peaking in August/September.  I have read previous reports of the Diamond Princess missing a port or two from its schedule, but it follows a different path than the Royal will take.  
3. Is this itinerary missing a port that previous cruisers would consider a must-see?  
4. The sailing after this one has the Royal Princess ending in Singapore.  Does this mean the Royal and Regal are swapping places for winter 2021 i.e. Royal out of Sydney, Regal out of LA/SF?

Any thoughts would be appreciated!