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If you are seeking insider information, you can send a private message to "sfpd3000" (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/profile/5895-sfpd3000/). This member is an SFPD officer who is regularly assigned to the SF piers, so he may have insider knowledge. He is an active member in the roll call forum and often leaves welcome messages on threads for upcoming cruises docking in SF.

With Monterey being dropped, I would prefer to see it replaced with Santa Barbara or an extra day in San Francisco. I believe most people would prefer these options over replacing it with Catalina Island. The itinerary seems less appealing now. It just feels like a getaway cruise from Long Beach that Carnival regularly offers every week. However, of course, any cruise is better than no cruise.

I actually think that in addition to lowering the port fees, they should also reduce the fare a little bit. Generally, this 5-port itinerary is priced slightly higher than other similar 4-port itineraries. Now that the 5-port itinerary has become a 4-port itinerary, the fare should be adjusted accordingly. The issue is that Princess may not want to do that.

To be honest, I prefer the design of Grand-class ships over Royal-class ships. The wrap-around promenade deck makes a huge difference for me. On a Grand-class ship, I can stay in an inside cabin right above or below the promenade deck. This means that whenever I want to see the ocean, I can simply go up or down one deck, and I can comfortably spend the whole day sitting on the promenade. Unfortunately, Royal-class ships lack such a deck. The Lido deck is not a suitable replacement; it is too far up, and the fence obstructs the view of the ocean. If I were on a Royal-class ship, I would have no choice but to spend more money on a balcony cabin.

You might have a better chance of securing significant discounts through the casino rather than the future cruise department. Though I do not have insider insights, based on my experience and observations, you typically only need to spend about $500 in the casino to qualify for discounts on future cruises. It is not necessary to actually lose $500; you just need to gamble that much money. After a month or two, you may start receiving emails from the casino department offering you 25% off the public fare for a standard balcony cabin for yourself and a guest, often accompanied by $100 to $200 OBC. This deal can apply to most of the cruises Princess offers. For some last-minute deals on cruises that are not selling well, you might even find an inside cabin for as low as $149 per person for a 7-day itinerary.

I am in a similar boat. As a platinum member, I only pay half price for wifi. Typically, I opt for the 4-device plan because it is cheaper than purchasing two single-device plans separately. I usually have some OBC from the cruise line itself, my TA, or the casino department. I use them to cover the daily gratuities. No need to dine at specialty restaurants. There is already plenty of food available elsewhere on the ship. Due to my health restrictions, I stick to drinking water or iced tea and avoid soda and alcohol. These are readily available in the buffet area. Same reason as above, I skip desserts also. I don't need the Medallion shipped to me. I can pick it up at the port. Overall, I don't see much value in the plus package for me.

Princess has launched a new promotion today where some cruises offer $100 OBC per stateroom. However, I noticed that at the same time the price per person has actually increased by $100. This means you will be paying $200 more per stateroom, but you are only receiving $100 OBC. In essence, you are losing $100 even when factoring in the additional OBC, not to mention the fact that you are required to spend more to avail of that OBC.

If I were you, I would only have two choices: either not go at all, or at the very least choose an obstructed balcony room. This is my vacation, and I should enjoy it to the fullest. I should not compromise on myself. I would never pay for an interior cabin at any time. If I had to pay, I would rather pay a bit extra for a balcony room, unless the interior cabin was given to me for free as a casino offer.

There is a risk that if the weather on the second day suddenly worsens, they may not be able to operate tenders. Then, you know the rest of the story.

It depends on the region. The ports on the Pacific side are not as busy as the Caribbean side giving the cruise lines more room to alter the itineraries at the last minute. For example, back in Oct 2022, Sapphire skipped Puerto Vallarta due to high wind but added San Diego as replacement. In Jan 2023, Diamond skipped Loreto due to weather issue but added Mazatlán. In March 2023, Crown skipped two Hawaiian ports but added an extra full day in Honolulu.

I just don't understand why they could not foresee the weather situation in advance. Missing two ports in a row is really rare. They have missed Roatan already, and they should have known that missing another port would make some passengers very angry. If they knew that they might not make Costa Maya also, they should have just sailed directly to Cozumel last night. At least today passengers can spend the whole day in Cozumel rather than another day at sea. With an extra full day in Cozumel, people can go to the mainland to visit some famous ruins such as Chichen Itza or to Cancun by ferry+bus.

Hard to believe that you have missed two ports in a row especially there is no hurricanes or rainstorms in the Caribbean region now. Really very unusual. And just FYI. Last week when I was on the Discovery, the original itinerary actually included Monterey. However, that port was cancelled as the city council refused to accept cruise ships anymore. Princess decided to add an add an extra day in San Francisco to make it an overnight stay. I was pretty sure that the port fee for extended time in SF must be higher than the original port fee in Monterey, but Princess still decided to refund me $10 as OBC. Basically Princess was the one to absorb the additional port fee in SF.

Sorry that you missed the port today. I was almost in the same situation last week on Discovery when we were trying to dock in San Francisco. The wind of 40mph+ was expected to pick up at 7am which was the time that we were scheduled to dock, so the captain made a decision to speed up the ship in the previous evening to let us sail under the Golden Gate Bridge and get into the SF Bay ahead of the wind storm. By 4am we were already docked in SF although the gangways would not open until the original arrival time of 7am. I need to give a shout out to the captain. If not his careful calculation we would have missed the port of San Francisco, which was the highlight of this cruise.

Yes, this is casino rate, but this is a pretty common offer. This is what Princess has been doing to fill up their ships since the restart.

In the mean time, Princess has been sending out heavily discounted offers to a lot of people. You can do a 7-day coastal for $50 per person or a 15-day to Hawaii for $100 per person. It is less than $7 per day, which is even cheaper than the lunch combo that I just picked up from McDonald's. What do you expect?