Tomcruise92

Really great to read this review OP - thank you. The ship sounds great. The new style piazza is my only reservation.

Sure, I noticed how my cabin steward worked in the MDR in the evening. But my point is on other lines with a twice daily service (like P&O used to have) you likely get a more thorough clean of the cabin, as they have more time and are not dispersed throughout the ship in the evenings.

I noticed that my cabin on Azura was a lot dirtier than my previous Cunard/Princess/Celebrity cabins. I wonder if that is because they only service cabins once per day now? Unlike a hotel, people spend a lot of time in their cruise cabin so I think the evening clean allows the steward to smarten things up. Notably, on my recent Caribbean Princess cruise, the cabin steward cleaned the non essential things in the evening (balcony, mirrors etc) whilst focusing on the essentials (bed, bathroom, floor, bin) in the morning.

Many thanks all - that is really helpful. A tad of a shame you can only book for the first hour, by the sounds of things it may be more orderly if they just have a full booking system to stop people having to wait. Either way I am happy to eat earlier so will try and get the reservations in before we board. Also, good to hear the my holiday page works better ion Arvia too.

Hi all I am fairly new to P&O, having only been on Azura. I have read so many different things about dining on all the ships, it seems there are different rules and operations for each one. With Arvia, I am looking at a cruise for next Easter. How does the MDR work now? Am I able to pre-book a table online beforehand? How long before can I do this? Do you usually have to wait for reservations when arriving at the MDR? I struggled with the virtual system on Azura as I found my phone just didn't work well with the system. Any help would be really appreciated 🙂

Maybe OP is Princess in disguise, getting everyone to say why they love the brand so much 😂 It's actually nice to read all the wonderful things people enjoy about Princess even if it came from a slightly negative thread.

I have had a very similar experience. On Caribbean Princess in late March/early April. Received a folio statement last week (also nothing on disembarkation). Have also received a random interim folio again this morning which shows the first couple of days statement. I imagine it's just a glitch between ship and land systems maybe. Keeping an eye on my credit card statement just in case though!!

I don't disagree with you, I was generalising 😂. Of course both lines I think are very good solid products. I find the base prices are often similar but once the packages are added (and Celebrity gratuity etc), it just seems to come out more costly to sail X than Princess. I also quite enjoy the Princess 'quirks' (Love Boat, gameshows etc). I personally find the two lines very similar. That said, I'd love to try the retreat or new Sun suite... Maybe one day!

How I see it, Celebrity is now significantly more expensive than Princess, and not significantly better. There are strengths to each line, but they are overall similar. Princess packages are also awesome in my opinion.

I think the sun looks very stylish overall. What's everyone's thoughts on the new style Piazza? To me, it is the one thing I've seen on the ship that I think looks really tacky! Hoping Princess scraps the awful blue strobe lights and huge screen!!

It is not a case of not accepting it... I am merely curious how it is working on board the Sun... It is an interesting move returning part of the MDR to a fully fixed area. Dine My Way is generally good too. I did find it more of a struggle on Caribbean Princess than recent Regal and Sky cruises though.

Yes same on some cruises. However the fundamental difference on Sun is that the dining room on one level does not have Dine My Way. It is totally different and a fixed time dining venue only.

I agree! Maybe just one dining room at the aft of all ships could be fixed.

Yes usually on Dine My Way, but if they are doing set tables on the lower level with fixed dining on Sun, I wondered if it is operating differently?

This is interesting. I wonder if Princess will look for this to return to other ships? Unlikely but who knows?! How do you choose the set dining time? On board?

Hi all, After watching some vlogs on the new Sun Princess, it seems Princess has reintroduced fixed set dining times in the MDR on one level. How is this working? Can you chose a table size and time prior to boarding? This is such an exciting development as we absolutely love having the same waiter for the duration of the cruise. I know you can request this on other ships but after spending the last 2 weeks on Caribbean Princess, this was not possible.

Thank you for the kind message. First time to the Caribbean and first time on Caribbean Princess 😊

Thank you - this is really reassuring. It is a healing slowly but steadily. Deep but small! I think we will likely take the same approach 😊

Thank you all for the replies and advice, it is very much appreciated. I will give my insurance company a call. As I'm from the UK and cruising to the Caribbean, I think I definitely need to know where I stand.

Hi all I am supposed to embark a Princess Cruise in about 2 weeks time. About 4 weeks ago, I had an emergency abscess surgery which left an open wound. The wound needs to be 'packed' daily. They predicted it would take a month or so to heal. Alas, I am still basically no further forward. I currently visit my local GP (doctors office) every day to see a nurse to change the packing and manage the wound. They have indicated my partner may be able to take this over on the ship if necessary. I am worried as being away from home for over 2 weeks still with a deep wound seems a little unsettling. Do you think I could book a few nurse appointments on the ship for them to 'check' the wound and dress it for me? Does anyone have any idea how much this will cost? I have insurance but I don't think they will cover me for the wound itself. I am sorry for the graphic detail, just feeling a little sad at this stage at the prospect of having to cancel.

Yes I agree, the other areas of the ship look beautiful but what have they done to the wonderful piazza? I'm hoping the first is just a bad picture. But those hideous screens need to go!

Not sure when you're travelling but we also had this. The issue for us was that for speciality dining, we had to wait until 30 days before embarkation. It then recognised the Premier package.

I have not personally found this. Dine My Way is super simple and means once I board I know where I am. For me, the P&O free-for-all and inconsistency between ships is terrible.

Would a system like Princess or HAL be better where you can just pre-book on an app and adjust during the cruise as needed? You can either select a fixed time for the duration of the cruise or individual times and choose from a shared or private table? This could be fleet wide and make it much simpler!

That's completely understandable, I'm not saying it's bad at all and I'm glad you are happy with the service. All I'm saying is, if P&O up their prices again to similar prices to competitors/other lines in the premium line category, they should reflect that by upping their product to match. If you can pay the same and get more elsewhere, they may start to lose business. Ps. I'm in my 30s so I too have no idea about the good old days, my only comparison is with other lines.