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Gates should have taken his fortune and lived a quiet life. Now he (and his foundation) meddles with world affairs. The problem doesn't lie with his early life accomplishments, but his current life. Maybe Princess should hire folks at Microsoft to build them an AI platform to answer questions that that are worthy of a hang up when asked to a live person? I jest.

Message is something about having one OS. I get it if it refers to Windows dominating. Much of the younger generation see Gates as a villain rather than a hero. But I digress, still think that people have to learn to help themselves. Web resources are vast. As far as bookings go, I think going CVP/TA route is best, with my preference being a knowledgeable CVP. I also think that people should be as informed as they can be before making a booking. The CVP/TA shouldn't have to spoon feed everything. By the same token, passengers shouldn't be so fickle about their bookings. Labor is expensive nowadays, good labor is even more expensive.

If you're tipping extra for good service, then that's extortion or bribery. If you're tipping because of good service, that's being appreciative of the good service.

Also keep in mind, that some people, like myself, don't care about cabin location as long as the fare category is honored. I'd be livid if I was denied boarding when booking a guarantee like what happened to RCCL passengers a few months back. Princess is excellent with move over/downgrade offers. For sailings that have lots of ocean (Hawaii, Mexico, Caribbean), I'd gladly take an inside. Having cruised to Alaska several times, a window or a balcony isn't priority for me as the extra sunlight messes with my sleep. I won't pay for it, but if Princess wants to upgrade me on their dime, who am I to say no? Everyone is different.

@Thrak Late, usually past final payment. It looks like Princess is making good on their book early to get the lowest fares, especially on the Sun Princess. I'd like to see if Princess really stands by their threat of getting rid of Drop and Go fares as the year progresses. Of those cruises listed, the furthest we booked in advance was the Enchanted, Med, 11/23, which we booked in 06/23 on our Alaska cruise because it was on the 50% off book onboard list despite it being so far out. What I have noticed, is that the closer to sail date the cabin is assigned, the more likely the upgrade. For said cruise, the aft Penthouse was assigned 3 days before the cruise while we were in Rome, so we has to get hotel to help us print luggage tags. When the Royal was homeported in SF during the restart, we booked a week before sailing because we didn't have to fly. Bid to Upgrade works in favor of guarantees, IMO. The cabin availability is a moving target. Someone who chose "prime" location cabins could bid for an upgrade, have their bid accepted, opening up their cabin for someone else.

I'm from a younger generation and we find the Internet to be a wonderful resource. What are people asking Princess reps and CVPs? Everything is pretty much online. Cruise Deck Plans has all of the deck plans for the ships. Cruise Mapper has all of the itineraries for a ship listed sequentially and easy to read. Heck, you can search a specific ship on YouTube and see if your question will be answered there. I agree that it shouldn't be like pulling teeth to get good help from Princess, but at the same time there are plenty of self help resources. I also agree that if booking directly with Princess, CVPs should be used in case you have to make a complicated change to your booking. Princess laid off many of their phone agents during pandemic. Now they are hiring any one under the sun en masse to fill their CVP positions. In retrospect, part of me thinks that Princess intentionally outsourced the trunk line to the Philippines to give passengers a hard time, so that they would book with CVPs who have quotas to meet. Personally, I don't book with TAs because I think that they should be eliminated like the airlines have done to many of the TAs. It saves Princess from having to pay commissions, which increases their bottom line and potentially could provide passengers with lower fares. Once I'm booked I don't have complicated requests--maybe a refare here and there.

Just in recent times... Royal, 10/22, California Coastal, booked IF, upgraded to D4 aft facing Royal, 12/22, Mexican Riviera, booked IF, upgraded to DB mid forward Regal, 12/22, Caribbean, booked IF, upgraded to BW mid aft Royal, 01/23, Hawaii, booked IF, upgraded to DB mid forward Sky, 04/23, Spain/Portugal/France, booked IF, upgraded to IA midship Royal, 04/23, Pacific Northwest, booked BW, upgraded to ME mid forward Majestic, 06/23, Alaska, booked IF, upgraded BW mid aft Sky, 07/23, Norway/Iceland, booked BW, assigned BW mid forward Caribbean, 08/23, New England/Canada, booked OF, upgraded to BA midship Enchanted, 11/23, Grand Mediterranean, booked BF, upgraded to S3 aft Emerald, 01/24, Panama Canal, booked IF, upgraded to IB mid forward Pre pandemic, we've been upgraded to the Owner's Suite on the Regal from a regular balcony once and forward facing M6 quite a few times on various Royal Class ships. Most of the time we book BW and and more often than not have been upgraded to a non-obstructed balcony. Interior to balcony was pretty rare occurrence in those times, when we did book interior. We booked guarantees all the time. We have feet that still function well and can walk to where we need to be on the ship. Noise doesn't really bother us. We don't really get seasick. You can't win if you don't play the game. At the end of the day, if you don't get upgraded, you get assigned the category that you paid for. Unless, of course, you get a move over or downgrade offer. Many will disagree with the paragraph above, but I stand by my opinion.

Not being snarky, but your cabins mates will could be disturbed anyway. There are motion sensor controlled lights underneath the nightstands and in the closest area that will illuminate with the slightest bit of motion. Best to bring painter’s tape to cover up the sensor, if you think this will be a problem.

If you go to Cruise Deck Plans website, pull up the deck plans of the Emerald Princess and the find the cabins that are available on your cruise that can accommodate a rollaway using the legend. They start on Baja and are usually a connecting cabin. Regardless, the cabin must be able to accommodate 3 in the deck plans for a rollaway to even be feasible. Princess will not allow you to have a rollaway in a double room. Have to agree that space wise, the pullman makes more sense. My cousins that have sailed with my nieces and nephews complain about how tight the walking space in the cabin can be. (Banged up knees!) It's great when the cabin steward brings it in for evening turndown and stores it in the steward's closet in the morning. Not all agree to do this.

Read my post again. Unreserved transport will not be let into the port area. If you reserved it, then no problem.

There’s a difference between pre reserving and hailing a taxi on the spot. You can’t hire a taxi on the spot immediately outside the Cruise Terminal in Civi. There will be none to hire. All of the taxis are outside the port area. If you pre reserved a ride, then the driver should be waiting outside the terminal.

Have to agree with the entertainment. It's severely lacking on the smaller luxury ships. Most of the apologists rooting for those lines cite that the itineraries are too port intensive and that they are too tired to participate in entertainment after immersing themselves while in port. In reality, they need to admit that they are old and tire easily.

Port side, aft of the wraparound promenade (just outside the doors leading to the promenade between Club Fusion and the Photo Gallery) is a smoking area. Hold your breath when there are smokers there and you're doing laps.

Port guards will not let unreserved transport automobiles past the secured area into the cruise terminals. That's why a taxi stand is no where to be found around immediately outside the cruise terminals. If you want to hail a taxi, not pre reserved, you have to take the Port Mobility bus to Largo della Pace and hire a taxi there. Point is to pre-reserve your ride prior to disembarking.

On the Enchanted this past November, ship had a 6:00 am arrival; disembarkation started at 7:15 am (late by 15 minutes); Princess transfer left at 7:45 am and arrived at FCO at 8:35 am. Made to my BA flight at 11:30 am with plenty of time to spare. We decided to use the Princess transfer because we had extra OBC and purchased it while on board. Also note that at FCO, airlines don't open check-in for flights until 3 hours prior to departure. Gates aren't posted until ~1 hour prior to departure. Wouldn't hire a taxi it will be the same cost or more of a private car transfer. Note, that Civi port does not allow private taxis into the cruise ship terminals. You have to take the Port Mobility bus to the central pick-up/drop area in town and hire a taxi there. I'm not even sure that a taxi will take you to FCO as it's out of the way.

My friends and I were discussing the Cabanas with the tall balcony barrier. One said that the balcony looks like and aquarium and the passenger is the fish.

Cabins aren't usually ready until 1:00 pm or after, at which point an announcement is usually made. I've been on cruises where the cruise prior had a very low passenger load and cabins were ready at 11:30 am. If the fire doors leading into the cabin corridors are open, then it's fine to head to your cabin and drop off your luggage and only to drop off your luggage. If said fire doors are closed, then you'll have to lug them around until the the all clear.

As of January 2023, Future Cruise has a very small list of Drop and Go cruises which are up to an extra 35% off the fares currently on the Princess website. Most of them are long cruises. 04/05/24, 32 Days, Sapphire Princess to the South Pacific R/T LAX. Majestic Princess repositioning, 21 to 33, days SYD/AKL to YVR/SEA leaving in April 2024. There was also the ill fated 22 day World Cruise segment from Dubai to Rome in March 2024, as well. Princess stopped offering discounted Plus sometime mid last year. Plus fares weren't supposed to be discounted and someone from Princess finally caught on. Even then, not all discounted Plus fares were removed from the booking engine. I have one last cruise booked using the 50% off promotion from last year, and when I try to convert it to the Plus Fare Package, it says "Please contact us or you travel advisor." For cruises booked early on, I was able to add it no problem at $30 per day, plus the increase to the PVP, if purchased.

Wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't the truth. After the 2nd cancellation, the prices of Sun Princess cruises had a big price increase, and this was still during the up to 40% off promotion last month. My parent's Med cruise for August 2024 increased by $350 pp.

The up to 40% off/cabin upgrade/3rd and 4th sail free promotion that has been going on for months, finally ended as well...or at least, it no longer headlines the USA Princess website.

In Sydney you have to clear immigration after check-in, before boarding the ship and once you're on, you can no longer leave the ship. I'm one of those that likes to wait until the 11th hour to check-in and board if I can help it. Sometimes, I take a Princess transfer out of convenience and I have no choice, but checking-in/boarding late really makes the process a breeze. There's nothing relaxing about vying for an elevator or trying grab embarkation day lunch at the buffet which is a usually a zoo. MDR is better option if you can make it; I've only ever gone as a B2B passenger. Cabins are usually not ready until after 13:00. TBH, between 11:00 and 13:00 is the craziest embarkation time for 15:00/16:00 departures.

In case Princess wants to add furniture to the quasi outdoor area, I found the matching chairs at TJ Maxx.

On the Sky for Easter 2023, there were some Easter decorations in a section of the Piazza. The buffet had decorated chocolate Easter eggs as well. There were quite a few children on board for this sailing because it Easter Break in the UK, so there was an Easter egg hunt. Where the eggs were hidden I don't know. There's always an interdenominational Christian service on Sundays; for Easter, it's probably catered for the occasion.

Princess should reclassify the Cabana Suites with the tall glass barriers as Obstructed Cabana Suites. Yeah, you can see through them, but they're tinted and you can't stick your arms out like a regular height balcony barrier.

The quasi outdoor area in the Cabana category look really cheap. It's like Princess wanted to copy Celebrity's Infinity Verandah's, but fell short. Floors looks unfinished. The wood panels look really cheap and don't belong; the panels look rustic, which contrasts with the modern design of the cabin. Also, not sure why the sofas in the cabins look puckered on a brand new ship.