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Princess is aligning themselves with the other mass market competition to pay off their debt. RC, X, and Carnival have been charging for these amenities for a long time. If the competition can get away with it why can't Princess? It's a question of where Princess loyalists will take their loyalty. Will they stick with Princess or go with more premium cruise lines? Princess has to live with the decision they made and any future impact to their business. Obviously they think that this move to start charging for more amenities won't hurt, but improve their bottom line. I still think that Princess' Standard fares are competitive considering voyage length compared to the competition. Remember when airlines starting charging for checked bags for those in economy? One airline did it and the rest followed suit, except Southwest. One airline started a basic economy fare; now, all major carriers have a basic economy fare.

To Princess' credit, they did take on an astronomical load of debt to survive the pandemic. The "nickel and diming" isn't uncalled for so they don't default on their debt. How else are they supposed pay back their creditors? The creditors won't take drinks, room service, or specialty dining as payment.

I'm going to preface my statement by saying, I understand the view of Princess loyalists and not wanting to be nickel and dimed. People never like it when you have to suddenly have to pay for stuff that you didn't have to before. Princess is aligning themselves with the other mass market cruise lines. RC, Celebrity, Carnival have been charging for room service and ALL of their specialty dining for a while now. It was nice while it lasted. If the direct mass market competition can get away with it why can't Princess? The question now becomes, where will Princess loyalists' loyalty go? Will they take your business to more premium cruise lines, spend more for the fare and potentially cruise less? Or will they continue to patronize Princess? Still think that the current Princess Standard prices are a great value considering the length of their cruises, especially the Drop and Go fares.

Cash is king in the US only if you're buying a home. The federal government is trying to cut down on money laundering and illegal transactions. Banks hate cash because they are now subject to too many currency reports. If a non-business account holder deposits more than $10K a month in cash, the bank has to fill out a currency report and submit it to the IRS. They close accounts that have too much cash activity. Much of the illicit drug trade deals in cash, which is another reason why officials want cash out of the picture. There's an emphasis on the ability to trace where money comes from, which is why cash is going by the wayside. There's also a problem with business robberies, so many places go cashless so there's no cash to steal.

As the saying goes...If it's too good to be true, then it probably is. I think O.N.E. is banking that whoever buys these packages won't make use of the land portion; either because they forgot or they can't get a date that will jive with their schedule.

Your cabin sink has to be cleaner than the dispensers in the buffet. Passengers turn a blind eye to the signs at the buffet water dispenser stations that state not to refill your personal water bottles. Many times the lip of the container which has their saliva makes contact with the spout. Some people refill their used cup from the pitchers in the buffet. Too many germs. I always drink bottled water and get espresso/coffee from the coffee outlet, which on Princess is the International Cafe or the Espresso Bar in the World Fresh Marketplace.

The Sapphire Princess has no obstructed view balcony categories. Those only exist on Royal Class ships.

Your medallion has a unique code attached to it. The unique code on your Medallion will be programmed into the cabin entry system on embarkation day. You unique code doesn’t change (unless you lose your Medallion and you get a new one.) It’s the door entry system that is reprogrammed not your Medallion.

I can confirm that there's Indian food in the buffet everyday. Among the choices are daal, naan, papadum, spinach paneer, and various meat curries. On Indian food theme nights, there will be biriyanis and chutneys. There's more, but that's all coming to mind right now.

Even if you could, please don't. That's the nice way of summarizing what is being said.

I would pass on the Hampton Inn YVR. Behind it are automobile workshops and warehouses that you will have to walk through to get to the Bridgepoint Station. Doesn't exactly feel the safest.

The walk is flat. Not sure what the other post is referring to. The natural route would be to take Burrard or Thurlow and turn on West Georgia. There are ride shares but would recommend walking to the Pan Pacific and catching them their to find them easier.

Years ago, I remember a couple frantically looking for their ship's check-in at the Port of Miami. When asked what ship they were on they said, "Liberty." Both the Carnival Liberty and the Liberty of the Seas were in port. They were at RCCL's terminal, when in reality they were booked on the Carnival Liberty and dropped at the wrong terminal. The name of the ship matters.

Cruise lines trademark the names of their ships. The trademark office won't let you trademark something generic. By adding the name of the cruise line to the name or adding a suffix like "of the Seas", you've tweaked the name enough to be able be issued a trademark.

That's why I specifically stated "Princess ships" in my reply. It's what Princess Cruises wants and that's how they trademarked the names of their ships. Can't speak to the reasoning why. Maybe some one will chime in with the reasoning. I will contend that the earliest ships in Princess Cruises fleet had "Princess" as a prefix in their names (Princess Patricia, Princess Italia, Princess Carla). I'm hypothesizing, but I'm guessing in the 1960's, when Princess Cruises first started, having a monarchy was still widely accepted and monarchs had wider influence; some monarch probably approached Princess Cruises to change the names of their fleet to avoid confusion with a monarchial title.

People are used to Royalty and not Princess ships. When referring to Royalty, "Princess" is a prefix (Princess Diana, Princess Anne, etc.). When referring to Princess ships, "Princess" is a suffix (Royal Princess, Ruby Princess, etc.). Most people, with the exception of Princess fans, far more often come across "Princess" used in Royalty. It rubs off when referring to Princess ships.

There's a Visa gift card and a Visa prepaid card. Visa gift cards cannot be used at ATMs because of money laundering concerns. People who wanted to wash money could by a bunch of Visa gift cards and withdraw the cash from an ATM. No identity attached to the card, so tracing the source money would be hard. A Visa prepaid card can be used at ATMs. There is an identity attached to the card and the card can be reloaded. The account holder is loading money on to the card. If there was any suspicion of money laundering, an institution/law enforcement can freeze the card and go after the account holder.

You won't have to wait. You're free to go ashore when as soon as the ship gains clearance.

The worse thing about these cabins is that it can be noisy when the tenders are dropped or when the lifeboats are dropped for crew drills. Some of the midship cabins where the ship bows inward have larger balconies and no obstruction. The website below will show you the view from almost all of the obstructed view cabins on Royal Class ships: https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/ov.php?ship=Discovery-Princess&cabins=E301-E334

The locations are walkable. I had to pick up a rental car at the building next door to The Paradox on Thurlow St. when I stopped in Vancouver on a Pacific Northwest cruise this past April. It was a 10-15 minute walk from the Canada Place. I wouldn't discourage a stay at either hotel. It boils down to how much convenience you want. One more plus to the Pan Pacific is that it is close to the Waterfront Station. If you need to get from/to the airport you can take the Canada Line to the Airport from this station direct. It's cheap C$9.45 and no traffic; the ride is 25 minutes.

The Pan Pacific is old. It was built for the 1986 World Expo. It was renovated maybe a decade ago. Staff at both locations are top notch, but the prize goes to the Paradox for modernity's sake. It's a newer hotel with more modern offerings. If you're taking a cruise the next morning, the Pan Pacific is better for convenience. It's literally an elevator ride to the cruise ship level because you're already at the Canada Place. For staying in Vancouver to explore the city, I would choose the Paradox in a heartbeat.

These were the prices on the Royal to Hawaii and Pacific Northwest this year and the Sky Portugal, Spain, and France in April. Not sure if $30/$60 are the new prices or if the sailing I was on were the "Scenic Cruises" that Princess is charging more for Sanctuary use? Someone else might chime in with the prices they saw. There was a sign stating "no refunds" on the Royal and the Sky. When we asked, the crew taking sign ups said that refund would only be given if there was lightning or tropical storm like conditions. Light rain wouldn't constitute a refund.

SF sailings don’t sail the true Inside Passage. They sail west of Vancouver Island. They do this to cut distance and save on fuel.

The bottled water and soda packages must be purchased no later than 3 days before embarkation and you should order as many as you think you will drink. The prices are only good if purchased pre-cruise. Once on board, you will pay per can/bottle. Ship security doesn’t usually have a problem if you bring back a few bottles of water or cans of soda when in port.

No need to stop by Guest Services. It will be seamless for the most part. There will a short period, like a couple of minutes maybe not even, where the ship’s door electronic door panels will be reset after the last disembarking passenger is off the ship. During this time you may be “locked out” of your cabin, but once the reset is done, access is immediate.