CalTexCruiser

If they do this they'll have to provide suite breakfasts in one of the specialty dining restaurants. Makes no sense that suite breakfasts are available on all other Princess ships but not the Sun/Star.

I'm afraid this thread as severely veered off course

I suspect if not for the Star Princess error they may have honored the Greenland bookings. But once it became a feeding frenzy where they were handing out mini-suites for free and potentially losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue they went back and revoked everyone.

I agree with you about the Greenland cruise, and I pointed that out in my post above. When I saw the Greenland cruise offer it looked very similar to casino offers I've received in the past. So yes, you had no reason to doubt the legitimacy. The obvious glitch was the Star Princess comped mini-suite + Premier Package for pretty much anyone who logged into their Princess account.

The Star Princess offer of comped mini-suite + free Premier package is clearly a glitch. Although I frequently play in the casinos, the best offers I've ever received from Princess are free inside cabins and sometimes free play dollars, but never the plus or premier package. I would agree with @MsSoCalCruiser the Greenland offer on the Emerald was more in line with what I've received in the past.

FWIW, My former CVP attempted the hard sale of this on me a few months ago. He is no longer my CVP. So watch out for this even from your CVPs.

Hope it works out for you given your substantial investment. This is Princess' first foray into becoming more family friendly (with Park 19) and the ship within a ship concept (with the sun deck and lounge). I hope their treatment of suite guests reflects the significant premium paid over non-suite Sanctuary Class cabins.

I'm not sure if you are aware, but Princess' current stated policy is that those under 16 are not allowed in the Sanctuary Club. This is unlike the Celebrity Retreat Sundeck on Celebrity's Edge class ships where children are allowed.

LOL or you can book two (2) Sanctuary Collection mini-suites for 10k, which will be half the cost of the Vista Suite and you will have a lot more space (unless of course you have very young children in which case two rooms would not make sense).

Suite guests still have access to "private dining" whatever that means. We do not know yet whether the "private dining" suite guests have access to will be shared with non-suite Sanctuary Collection guests. Some are speculating that the Reserve Restaurant and the Signature Restaurant will be merged as the "private dining" so that all Sanctuary Collection guests have access to either. If this occurs, this will mean that the suite guest dining experience will be degraded somewhat if suite guests have to wait in line when the restaurants are full.

Not sure about this particular comped cruise as this is an oddball due to not being part of a casino offer. However, recently, we were offered (through the casino) a comped inside cabin, but chose to pay $ 400 (total for two people over the entire sailing) for a mini-suite. We then bid and were successfully upgraded to a Penthouse Suite.

Good for you. Princess is counting on people cancelling due to their disappointment in getting a comped inside cabin with no perks versus the too good to be true comped mini suite with Premiere package. If you really think about it, a comped inside cabin on the newest ship is a great deal.

True. I went through the booking process and when I saw 0 dollars for a mini-suite that includes the Premiere Package on the Star, I concluded that this booking if made will be revoked and I did not want to go through the hassle of dealing with Princess to cancel. Although I must say the consolation prize of a comped inside cabin is not bad for Princess' newest ship.

If they can keep the space previously identified as the Signature Restaurant as dedicated dining for suites only, that would go part of the way in delivering what they promoted. For the Sanctuary Club, I suppose that was always intended to be a shared space with non-suite guests. The only thing lost would be the small dedicated suite area of the Sanctuary, which did not have the space to hold all suite guests anyway.

DELETED as I made the same point you did.

Does your Travel Summary now state Premier package? I purchased Plus with my Penthouse Suite and it is still Plus. Absolutely no refund to me.

Bringing this back on topic: I wonder if they'll dedicate, to suite guests only, some number of loungers in the Sanctuary Club (even though the suite area has apparently been removed) and seats in private dining (even though it is likely that Signature Dining will be merged with Reserve Dining), so suite guests would not be in a situation where they'll be left to wander aimlessly in the Sanctuary Club or have to wait to dine (gasp).

It is definitely possible to "Sanctuarize" the Royal class ships--just combine the Retreat pool and the Sanctuary and voila, you've got a Sun deck at the front.

Has anyone already booked in a full suite prior to this change emailed their CVP or higher ups at Princess to ask what "upgrade" is provided to full suite bookings with the Sanctuary Collection?

LOL. You just described the Sanctuary on ANY Princess ship. It is designed to be exclusive so that the vast majority of guests are EXCLUDED.

It's a zero cost gift to those already booked in D0 and Reserve mini-suite (before the change to the Sanctuary class). For those of us already booked in suites, there is absolutely no "upgrade." I wouldn't even care if Princess had not sent me an email telling me I've been upgraded, because there is no upgrade for suite passengers. Just send the upgrade email to the D0 and Reserve mini-suite folks because they are getting free upgrades. I understand that the prices have NOW gone up dramatically as Princess is trying to monetize the Sanctuary space.

On the other Princess ships, the number of people allowed into the Sanctuary is determined by the number of loungers/cabanas available, so there is never an overcrowding issue. When comparing to Celebrity, there are 158 suites in total on the Celebrity Apex. So the Retreat sundeck on the Apex would be shared by a smaller quantity of cabins (61 less cabins) than on the Princess Sun. I don't know the difference in square footage between the Apex Retreat and the Sun Sanctuary sundeck, but there will definitely be more people now in the Sun Sanctuary sundeck than in Celebrity's Retreat sundeck. And I often find the Celebrity Retreat sundeck to be quite crowded, especially during sea days. That does not bode well for the Sun Sanctuary sundeck on a warm weather sailing.

I believe there were 90+ or even 100+ Reserve Mini-suites under the old system, so at least those number of cabins will now have access to the Sanctuary. LOL

They will have to combine the two restaurants into one "private" restaurant. No way the Reserve Collection Restaurant can accommodate all the Mini-Suites that have been designated as Sanctuary Collection; or could it?

Well said. Princess just: 1) Provided an incredible gift to the D0 balcony cabins of private dining and sanctuary access (whoever said you can't get something for nothing have not met Princess management); 2) Provided a substantial gift of sanctuary access to those booked in Reserve Mini's; 3) Shafted those in S9 suites which are basically the same as Reserve Mini's but who probably paid hundreds if not thousands more (versus the Reserve Mini's) just for access to the lounge; and 4) Degraded the experience of those in higher level suites who now have to deal with a much more crowded Sanctuary and private dining.