Sox Fan Cruiser

We were in a suite so we ate in the Signature restaurant. I will say that line on deck 7 was an absolute mess the first two days. With deck 6 being traditional and the reservation line for deck 7, at 7pm there were just people everywhere. Horrible layout. The deck 7 reservation line is situated right in front of the aft elevators. Was very glad we were in a suite. But it did get better as the cruise progressed.

It’s not that disturbing. We just got off and most of it was ready. It will all be fully operational by October. Couldn’t care less about Park 19 and was glad it wasn’t ready. That should not make or break your cruise. Love is the only thing still in the works that we wanted to do.

We haven’t gone to the Elite lounge in years. There was no mention of it in the suite documents but I think I remember reading about it in our Elite notice. With the Suite lounge there is no need for the skimpy Elite lounge. It’s too early for our evening plans anyway. 5-7pm? We don’t even start getting ready until at least 6:00.

We seriously only spent time in the suite lounge, the suite sundeck and the suite restaurant except for Spellbound, Teppanyaki and The Wheelhouse so it was actually nice to walk around the ship a little bit! Didn’t bother us at all! 😜 And yes, we would walk to the aft elevator bank (not to be confused with the glass elevator at the back of the ship), get off on 7 and walk forward to the atrium. Just be aware that the aft elevator bank opens up to the main dining room waiting line and deck 7 can be a madhouse, especially the first few nights because everyone doesn’t know where to go. The traditional seating diners don’t know that they have to go to 6 and the only way to get there is that aft elevator/stairs. It was a mad house the first few days at 7pm. The prime rib cart has not made it to the ship yet.

Seems like a good time to talk about the Signature Restaurant. Again, I went into this cruise we high hopes and low expectations. When I heard that this special restaurant was going to have the same menu as the main dining room, I was more than a little disappointed. I love Luminae on Celebrity and was looking for the same thing. But I was pleasantly surprised! We don't eat dinner until 8pm so all my experience will be from that timeframe. I have no idea what it's like earlier. We never had to wait for a table and sometimes we even got a seat next to the window. The place was never more than half full so we didn't have to sit next to other people. The tables are pretty close together so "next to" sometimes means "with". 🙂 The decor is sparse to say is nicely. In fact the entire ship feels under-decorated. Where Celebrity has art (and some pretty strange stuff at that!) all over the place, this ship is lacking some better color and design. I would even call the Signature Restaurant plain. There is the glass piece in the center of the room but the rest is white on white on white. And while most of the room is warmly lit, the tables at the back wall have way too many lights and it's unpleasant to sit there. We were put there the first night and nicely refused to sit there again. The wait staff was wonderful! The past 3 or 4 Princess cruises, the wait staff didn't know how to course things. We would get our appetizers before the wine was even delivered and then the main dish would come out while we still had our appetizer wine. We would have to direct them throughout the entire meal. Not this cruise. It was exactly as it should be. We were sat and given our menu. Then sommelier would come over and "talk us into" a glass of champagne. Once we decided what we wanted the sommelier would come over and discuss the wine pairing. We would then order from the waiter. The right wine would come with the right course and everything was timed perfectly. The wait staff would offer suggestions and would realize early in the cruise our likes and dislikes. I almost always choose the fish dish for my main and never eat cow. After a few days they stopped suggesting the beef option to me even though they would for my husband. And the food was definitely a step up from the main dining room fare that we are used to. The escargot tasting a lot better and more refined than in the past. I've already mentioned it on this thread but I will repeat it. The kitchen for the Signature and Reserve dining rooms is the same. And while they have the same menu as the main dining room, there are some additional items and it's all prepared just a little different. It's also made to order so you can make some substitutions. The last night they had a pasta dish with shrimp on it. Since there was already a scallop dish on the menu, I asked if they could swap out the shrimp and replace it with scallops. They said it was no problem at all and you could tell that the scallops were not just taken off the other dish and added to mine. They were cooked separately and incorporated into the dish as if that was the chef's intent all along. It was the best pasta dish I have had in any of my 45 cruises, including specialty restaurants. I raved about it for days! We tried not to eat desserts on this cruise but my husband buckled a couple of times. Of course the waiter brought me a spoon and one night I did take a bite and it was delicious!! They were also good with our coffee course making sure the husband had decaf every night. We joked that we would find their cabin in the middle of the night if it wasn't decaf as my husband would be up all night, but they got it right every time. Limoncello also made it to our table a few evenings as a gift from the sommelier. I will say that we had the Plus package and we ended up drinking "not included" wines most nights. I wouldn't say that the sommelier pushed the more expensive wines but he did learn our taste and usually suggested wines out of our package. We did try a few covered by Plus and didn't really like them. I would say that it is more Princess' fault than the sommelier's but we did notice it. And we really weren't going to let a $3 charge ruin our fantastic dining experience but I know it would bother others. My biggest negative of the entire cruise is the Atrium. I know Princess is moving towards that place being the center hub of the ship and that's fine. Not what we like but there are other places we can go. But the problem is that it is really really loud! Crooners is useless because it's open to the atrium so while there IS a piano there, there was hardly ever someone playing it. The atrium is non stop from morning until late at night. And loud! The reason I bring this up is that the Signature Restaurant is right off the atrium. But they keep the doors closed and you can't hear anything in the restaurant. Although when people come in or go out, you can hear it but it's not for long. Overall, it was a wonderful experience each night. We ate there every night except when we went to Spellbound and Teppanyaki and the one day in Mykonos where we ate too much on land and were still full at dinner! 🙂 As I said, we never went there for breakfast so I can't answer the breakfast questions. I also forgot to ask if we could eat in the Reserve restaurant. My apologies. Speaking of the Reserve Collection restaurant, there seemed to always be a little bit of a wait for a table. We would go to the Wheelhouse bar at 7pm for our pre-dinner cocktail and would end up chatting with people waiting for their table. Not sure if more of the Reserve folks eat later or the restaurant just isn't big enough to handle everyone. It was not usually a long wait but we never had that problem at the Signature restaurant. Next topic: Signature Sun Deck (tomorrow)

I let them know the first day that I wouldn’t be finishing my plate and not to be concerned. I never had dessert either and they push those hard!! (I actually lost weight on this cruise!! Woo hoo!)

We had already paid for the tepanyaki restaurant before the cruise and didn’t eat at any other specialty places so we’re not sure. On the Sky they did let us use it another day. Not sure if that is common practice or not and forgot to ask.

It was definitely windy when we were there! They were handing out sickness bags on the ferry to Delos.

Yes! We did use the door hanger a couple of times. As always seems the case these days, the breakfast sandwich came cold and the muffin wasn’t even toasted. Better to go to the International Cafe if you want that option.

Thanks! With my medication I only eat one meal a day and it’s not breakfast so there was no reason to go and just watch my husband eat. He hates that as well so he just grabbed a quick bite somewhere!

Oh, and full disclosure… In 9 days we NEVER made it to the suite breakfast in the Signature restaurant so I can provide information on that. Sorry.

Welcome letter. I hope it’s not too blurry.

Yes, your medallion was required for the door to the lounge to open. We didn’t go to the lounge very often so can’t comment on the staffing throughout the day. We spent most of our ship time up in the Signature Sun Deck but that’s a topic for another post! 🤪

Misc: They do NOT have special suite seating for the shows. That is reserved for those staying in the Sky Suite or have the Premium package (regardless of suite designation). The suite concierge specifically stated that the Enclave was NOT part of the suite benefits but we never got charged for access so still not sure if it's a perk or an administrative error. We didn't want to ask again! 😜 Funny story: When talking with the suite concierge about suite seating for the shows, he did mention that the service for the Sky Suite passengers was "out of this world" and we all responded that us "lowly" suite guests were getting amazing service we can't even imagine what they are doing for the Sky Suite guests. Truly, they were amazing. And the aft elevators currently are not reserved for suite guests only. Although once past deck 14 you are only accessing suite cabins, the suite lounge or the suite sanctuary so it's technically serving suite guests anyway. The port side elevator wasn't even working the entire duration of our cruise so we had to use the Starboard side one. Luckily there was a little "cut through" corridor where the laundry room was. (Taking a break and will post more later this weekend.) Next Up: Signature Restaurant

Okay, so here we go.... Frist topic: The Signature Lounge So the Signature Lounge is WAY above any suite lounge that Princess has ever tried to do before. The room is bright and airy and has fantastic views of the wake. The back wall is two stories of glass that provides a wonderful area to lounge about. There is always at least one concierge at the desk available to make reservations for the spa, the specialty restaurants or anything else you need. As I already said in a previous post they arranged for us to get on the first tender over to the dreaded cable cars in Santorini so we didn't have to wait in lines. And they personally walked us down for final disembarkation using their special keys to get a priority, personal elevator. I even heard them arrange for car service for one passenger who didn't have it yet. The train station is quite a walk from the ship (in Rome) and they were arranging a car to take them. They would also arrange a car to take them all the way to Rome. Seriously, THIS is the type of service that I expect in a suite lounge. It's on the same level as Celebrity in terms of lounge itself and service the concierges provide. WAY better than I expected. As stated in our "personal" letter in our stateroom: "The lounge is accessible 24 hours a day, with service provided from sunrise to sunset." The drinks are free and do not count towards your maximum drink allowance if you have a package. There are two waiters that provide complete service so you never have to go to the bar itself. You can just sit down and they will come to you. A concierge will always greet you by name and give you some helpful hints about what is going on that day or the next. There is someone playing music there every day from 5-7 pm. There is plenty of room and it never felt crowded at all. There was always some "snacks" available although none of it seemed very appetizing. (Currently on a weight loss drug that makes food unappealing so I will try and be fair in this area.) Although I did "cheat" and have couple of chocolate truffles one day that were really good! Go to the lounge for the cocktails and view, not the food. They will make reservations for you the first evening for your "free" suite specialty dining perk which includes all the restaurants marked as such: Crown Grill, Sabatini's, Umai Tappanyaki, Umai Hot Pot, Kai Sushi by Makoto, The Catch by Rudi and The Butchers Block by Dario. My biggest complaint of this area is that there was NO communication with us in our stateroom about any suite benefits or special events. The only way we new about anything was if we showed up. There was a Captain and Crew night where they came and spoke to us suite passengers. They had special tickets to the Cirque show for us. They did the special tender ride in Santorini. There was the special disembarkation process. All of it we knew about because we stopped by to get a glass of champagne. I have no idea what we missed on the days we didn't stop by. There should have been a lot more outreach to us in case we didn't go to the lounge. But when we did stop by they were amazing. They always knew our dinner reservations plans that evening, our excursions (if booked through the trip) and our final travel plans (or if we didn't have any.). They were on top of EVERYTHING and really provided that extra special touch that they just haven't been able to do with any other concierge suite host on any other Princess ship. I was more that pleased with this new concept. I went in with high hopes and low expectations and they blew me away. A+ Princess. More to come....

Just got home last night and need to catch up on work today. But I promise I will get to all the questions this weekend! 🤪

They also said that the buses run until 4:30 but all aboard wasn’t until 5:30 so I was confused. The water taxi was operating right up until 5:30. They also have a number of them going back and forth. It was one boat where you would have to wait until it came back to get on. They were constantly going back and forth.

Just got off the Sun Princess. The new port is not that far away from old town. You can purchase a bus ticket from Princess for $9 ahead of time and they say it takes about 20 minutes. The actually ride is more like 10 but they do wait for buses to fill up. Or you can take the water taxi, the “Sea Bus”, for 2 euro each way. Princess “warns” that there may be long lines but that was never the case as far as I could see. The Sea Bus also takes about 10, maybe 15 minutes. Since we had a private tour pick us up at the cruise terminal but then drop us off in old town after, we asked the suite concierge which type of travel was better and they said to use the water taxi as it was very easy. Even Princess was not recommending the bus!

I haven’t used a ship sponsored excursion in years and never had a problem. As karatemom2 said, their business model depends on them getting you back on time. They would go under if they didn’t. 1 hour away is not a long time. Private tours are so much better. As cr8tiv1 explained, if the tour company is nervous about getting you back, they won’t book it. And yes, we used a private tour company for Peggy’s Cove.

I agree. It feels more like home on Princess but they do have their problems. Celebrity is just a better product. Although…. I just got off the Sun Princess today in their version of The Retreat and they have definitely stepped it up a notch. Service throughout the Sun was much better than other ships and their suite service almost was equal to Celebrity. Almost. Much better than in the past.

We just got off the Sun Princess today and there is no activity in there yet. Our cabin was right outside. Still just a bunch of tables with table clothes on them.

Me too! I was a little worried that the first few nights were too calm.

So talking to people this morning, I guess it was really rough last night. They said we were rolling a lot. But I slept right through it.

Now that the cruise is over ☹️ I will say that there was movement throughout the cruise. Whenever we came into port there was A LOT of shaking as the thrusters kicked in to help the azipods. But there was also some movement at night as the speed increased. Just a little port to starboard shaking but we love feeling the ship move so it didn’t bother us. With the beds facing either aft or forward it was actually a comforting movement like rocking a baby’s cradle. Nothing too bad.

I don’t necessarily disagree with you @JimmyVWine just correcting the comment about it being weather related. I don’t think all executives are evil money hungry devils. There are reasons for the change in port, they just aren’t sharing them.