CalTexCruiser

On 7/3/2023 at 10:48 AM, dockman said:

casinos love people who play for "fun" and go with "hunches"  and still play even when casinos come up with 6/5 blackjack rather than follow basic strategy....those players have paid for some beautiful casinos as there millions upon millions of them....blackjack is all about math like all other casino games.

It is remarkable how many bad blackjack plays I’ve seen at the 6:5 tables on a cruise ship.  Examples of some real head-scratchers:

- stay on soft 16 against dealer 10

- split 7-7s against dealer 10

- double down 8 against a dealer 7

- split 5-5s

splitting 10s and hitting 14 or 15 against a dealer bust card are also common occurrences

Should this thread be renamed Sun Princess Part Deaux ?

Anyone have any thoughts on picking Penthouse Suites on deck 15 vs 17?

The Penthouse Suites on deck 17 are right below The Sanctuary, which raises the question of whether these suites will be noisy when loungers are being moved around starting early in the morning.  With the large number of loungers in The Sanctuary, noise concerns may definitely be a concern if the deck 17 suites are not well sound insulated.

We were initially assigned a deck 17 Penthouse Suite on our sailing next year, but decided to move to deck 15 due to the potential noise issue.  I think the deck 15 Penthouse Suites also have the advantage of direct access to the Signature Lounge without having to take an elevator, much like the Penthouse Suites on Royal class ships.

Good question  @FLAlaska

Hopefully it’ll stay 24/7

i do see a full bar in the lounge so as long as they can lock the alcohol when unattended then there should be no problem 

1 hour ago, CatMom72 said:

  I am in an S4 and it clearly states in the comments section that the room is part of the Signature Collection.  That is the kind of written evidence that might make a difference in terms of getting Princess to give someone benefits.  @dog, what does your booking confirmation say?

 

 

Agreed.  

My Penthouse Suite booking confirmation states:

If anyone booked in a D0 has this in the booking confirmation, Princess will be hard-pressed to deny you the benefit they confirmed at the time of booking.

Anything else can be easily dismissed by onboard personnel as a website mistake or agent mistake, and I imagine you'll be out of luck trying to argue entitlement to signature benefits when it is clear that the booking is for a BALCONY class cabin.

Thanks @WonderMan3

On the other ships, breakfast for full suites is available in one of the specialty dining restaurants.

I guess since there is a dedicated Signature restaurant that would be where the full suite breakfast is served on the Sun.

I'm not a Princess veteran by any means but the "Indulgences" extra charge items on the lunch menu seem new.

3 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

According to the video below The Signature dining room has a menu that is exclusive for suite guests; a staff member at Signature says that specifically. 
 

 

At the beginning of the video, the hostess of the Reserve Restaurant stated that the menu for the Reserve Restaurant and the Signature Restaurant are the same.

The staff member that stated "a la carte menus specially for the suites" is the head sommelier of the Signature Restaurant.  I take that to mean the additional a la carte item each evening that is not available in the MDR, similar to the Reserve class dining on other Princess ships.

If the Signature Restaurant did in fact have a specially dedicated menu similar to the Luminae on Celebrity, I would imagine Princess would plaster that all over their website.

Hope someone currently in a Signature suite can confirm.

18 hours ago, TRLD said:

 

 

Would be easy for Princess to add cushions to the recliners in the Sanctuary on the Sun, similar to the ones they add to the Lido deck for movies under the stars, if they choose to do so.

$99 per person to access the Sanctuary on sea days is a significant cost and would be a huge revenue generator if demand is high. 

Princess would be stupid to not add cushions to the Sanctuary recliners to make the area more attractive.  

Princess can recover the cost of the cushions probably in one sailing of the Sun.

9 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I have been in the Reserve portion of the MDR on Grand/GEM class ships.  I never felt that the waitstaff was overwhelmed at rush hour (leading to frenetic dining experience). Staff always had time to chat or exchange pleasantries.  If I needed something, I was attended to promptly by either my "assigned" staff or someone nearby.  

I've only used Reserve dining on the Royal class ships, so perhaps more Reserve guests on Royal class?

2 hours ago, SouKnoMe said:

I find my preference is for specialty dining over MDR. And from the pictures shown so far I haven’t been impressed. This still does not address the fact that with the extra cost of the room and packages there’s no deck accommodations for this category “reserve”. What’s so special about it other than a no wait bland looking dining room. 
 

Please remember this will be my first experience with Princess and I’m just trying to understand what I’ve purchased. Thanks 

The only real benefit of Reserve class is the dining room (and better room location).  

If you prefer specialty dining, then Reserve class makes less sense.

I would pay for a Reserve class mini-suite if it is around $10 pp per day extra; otherwise, I'll pass.  YMMV.

If you want special deck accommodations, then book the S9 signature suites (sized the same as mini-suites).

22 minutes ago, RoperDK said:

Good idea to split this topic off from the main Sun thread.  I am interested in hearing any knowledge of the menu items in the Signature restaurant compared to the MDR. I am hoping for an upgraded experience, not just a couple of enhanced dishes (Club Class) and the prime rib cart.  Princess would never answer the question about whether the menu would differ from the MDR.  Princess has advertised the rolling prime rib cart, but nothing else. Hopefully, we will get reports back soon.        

I hope the Signature restaurant will have an upgraded menu but I won't hold my breath. 

My biggest complaint about the Reserve/Club class dining of the other Princess ships have been the lackluster MDR menu and the fact that the restaurant is really part of the larger MDR.

Another complaint is that with the large number of Reserve class mini-suite and suite guests on the other ships, the waitstaff is often overwhelmed at rush hour which leads to a frenetic dining experience.

At least now the Signature Restaurant is a dedicated space, which hopefully translates to a more relaxed/upscale dining experience.

Just now, nasa1974 said:

How about I start a thread that says "Sun Princess Signature Suites". That seems pretty straight forward and could be helpful. 

Here is the Sanctuary thread. It fell to the bottom of page 2.

 

thanks for the suggestion--I just started the thread.

Hopefully those interested in suite benefits of the Sun will post there to avoid those comments from being buried in this main thread.

At the suggestion of someone in the main Sun Princess thread, I am starting this thread so people can post about Sun Princess Signature benefits and experiences.

The Sun Princess suite benefits are different enough from the other classes of Princess ships that a separate thread is deserved.

What we know:

Cabins designated as S9 and above have signature benefits, including:

Access to the Signature Restaurant (has the same menu as the Reserve Restaurant).

Access to the Signature Lounge (two stories on decks 15 & 16).

Access to the Signature Sun Deck, a private area of The Sanctuary (at the very rear of deck 18 with padded loungers with expansive views of the rear of the ship).

The S9 suites have the same size as regular mini-suites.  It is unclear if the S9 suites are any different from the mini-suites, except for access to the signature benefits.

For those that asked whether access to the suite area of the Sanctuary is included as a suite benefit, the following is from Princess' website about Suite accommodations on the Sun:

"a spacious Signature Penthouse Suite with balcony includes all the amenities of our Signature Collection, including access to the Signature Restaurant, Signature Lounge and Signature Sun Deck, a private area of The Sanctuary."

So full suite would include access to the private area of The Sanctuary.

And it would appear this suite area has the best loungers and the best views.

The one question I have...since suite guests traverse through the non-suite area of the Sanctuary to get to the suite area, would it be possible for suite guests to just hang out in the non-suite area?

Or are suite guests limited to the suite area only?

3 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

IMO, we need a detailed report from a guest who interviews the Sanctuary manager and asks them a list of questions on the operation.  Until then, I think we have speculated the heck out of the place.  In fact, I have been thinking that the Sun Sanctuary needs its own thread topic and all posts in this thread on the subject should be moved to it.  ( @Host CJSKIDS, is that too much work now with maybe 100 posts on the Sun Sanctuary-  what do you think?)

I second this motion.  @Host CJSKIDS

58 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Which brings up a question.  Do guests in Suites automatically qualify to use the Sanctuary, or is the Suite-only area of the Sanctuary reserved for Suite guests who then pay an additional fee to get in?  

From Princess website about Suite accommodations on the Sun:

a spacious Signature Penthouse Suite with balcony includes all the amenities of our Signature Collection, including access to the Signature Restaurant, Signature Lounge and Signature Sun Deck, a private area of The Sanctuary.

So full suite would include access to the private area of The Sanctuary.

And it would appear this private area has the best loungers and the best views.

But does seem there may not be enough loungers in the suite area for ALL suite guests.  Wonder if suite guests can also hang around the non-suite area of The Sanctuary.

As I have grown tired of the continual back-and-forth regarding whether D0 has Signature benefits, I just fired off an email to the executive office at Princess to ask them to clarify the issue.  Will post back if I hear anything.

I imagine D0 would be a wildly popular balcony cabin class if it comes with Signature benefits.  Best return ever for a few dollars more per day.

The short notice from Princess canceling the Sun inaugural sailings clearly puts Princess' interest above those of their customers.  Princess should have done the right thing and proactively cancel multiple cruises many weeks ahead, so customers can go to their plan B.

Seabourn (also owned by Carnival) cancelled our March 16 Singapore-Dubai sailing at the end of January due to the Red Sea crisis, giving us plenty of time to switch to a land-based vacation Singapore-Thailand-China-Dubai, which will be fabulous.  It's incredible how cheap hotels/tours are with the strong dollar.

If Princess would give their customers more than 4 days notice, perhaps they could also switch to a land-based European vacation.

We just received notification from our TA that the Singapore-Dubai sailing has been cancelled.

I see that all sailing on Encore before AND after the Red Sea sailing (18-day starting on Apr 3) show as "SOLD OUT."

The April Mediterranean sailings on Encore were showing as available a few days ago.  

Seabourn needs to cancel at least 12 or 13 MORE days in addition to the 18-day Red Sea sailing to be able to transit around Africa to the Mediterranean (total transit of 30 or 31 days without passengers).

It appears the Singapore-Dubai sailing and the 14-day Athens-Athens sailing in March and April may be candidates for cancellation/modification.

6 hours ago, oldmovieguy said:

We booked Encore for an April sailing and then found out that TK had been replaced by Solis, not best pleased I can tell you as I’m a carnivore. Now my question is this, can I still get a damn good steak on board?

Hope you're not on the Apr 3 Encore sailing, as that one will likely be a no-go through the Red Sea.

We are on the Mar 16 Encore sailing, and even though TK Grill is supposed to be replaced with Solis prior to our sailing, our reservations are still showing up as TK Grill reservations.

2 hours ago, cruising kirby said:

There is another scenario............................Cunard has a Singapore to Southampton cruise in March April that consists of a 17 night segment to Cape Town and a 16 night segment to Southampton.  Its has 7 stops including an overnight in Cape Town and obviously a lot of sea days.  So I guess its possible for Seabourn to take passengers from Singapore to Athens in the 36 nights it has available, even though the Encore won't travel as fast as the Cunard ship. It would mean a completely new itinerary but it might be preferable to taking an empty ship most of the way (and refunding pax most/all of their fare)?

Although possible, remember that while Singapore-Dubai is sold out, Dubai-Athens has a substantial number of cabins available.  That means a lot of folks (including us) end their trip in Dubai.  If they were to swap the itinerary to a 36-day Singapore-Athens around the cape, what happens to those folks?  Will they have to fork over more money for the extra 18 days, assuming they are even interested?

Assuming all the Singapore-Dubai passengers cancel if presented this option, Seabourn will still end up losing a lot of money. 

There is no slam dunk solution here.

The Silver Moon (which was supposed to have transited the Red Sea) is now on its way to Cape Town, South Africa, scheduled to arrive on Feb 2 (no passengers).  

(1) They have scheduled 15 days from Malta to Cape Town. 

(2) It took them 1 day to go from Athens to Malta.

(3) The anticipated travel time from Cape Town to Mumbai is 11 days.

The total trip time is estimated to be 27 days between Mumbai and Athens.

The currently scheduled Seabourn Encore Singapore - Athens sailing is 36 days, and is made up of two segments: 18-day Singapore-Dubai and 18-day Dubai-Athens. 

It is pretty certain that the Dubai-Athens segment through the Red Sea will have to be cancelled, and there appears to be a lot of cabins available on this segment.

Scenario 1:

(1) Reduce the Singapore-Dubai segment to a 12-day Singapore-Mumbai sailing.

(2) This will given them 18 + 6 = 24 days.

(3) Then cancel the first 7-day Athens-Venice sailing, and start the Med season from Venice.

Scenario 2:

(A) cancel the entire Singapore-Athens.  But Singapore-Dubai is fully booked so this will be quite expensive for Seabourn.

US and British forces are currently bombing the Houtis in Yemen, so things are about to get a whole lot uglier.

I’m also not too comfortable with the Oman/Qatar/UAE portion of this cruise at this point.  Hope Seabourn just cancels the entire Singapore to Athens sailing, but that’s wishful thinking.

It depends how much you value the Reserve Dining Room, which is a separate section of the MDR.  

We value it at about $ 10 per person per day over a regular mini-suite