Robkat

All the SV's had a lounger, 2 smaller regular balcony chairs, and a small table. We didn't ask for another lounger as we liked the walk-around space and the existing stuff out there suited us fine. We did notice that all the balconies on our deck had the same configuration and no one had a second lounger. So, whether that was because they also liked the roominess of the balcony, or whether they'd been told it wasn't possible, we're not sure. Yes, there was soot flying around out there. We brought pool towels and put them on top of the seats, changed them out a couple of times during the week, and it worked great. Just be careful to check where you're about to sit. Enjoy your SV!

Was also on this cruise, in a Sunset Verandah, so slightly different perspective. The cabin is excellent and that huge verandah is a dream. If you opt for an SV, know that you will get lots of steps in, when heading to either of the elevator banks. We didn't mind and actually kind of enjoyed it. The ship is gorgeous. We've been on the Edge and we thought the Apex was even prettier. The layout is similar, but we did note some differences that seemed like improvements for the flow. We did feel, though, that they could use at least an additional bar ... on a busy, full ship like we had on this cruise, it's needed. Think we've read that they've addressed this on the subsequent E class ships, and we bet it helps. We love that this class of ship has 4 MDRs. It "should" help to disburse people a little more than the larger 2-story MDRs of the Solstice class. That, however, is not always the case. Most evenings we arrived at one of the MDRs to find a long line. We always make reservations for dinner ... of course always for specialty dining, but also for the MDR. Lots of people who choose Select, don't want to bother with reservations, feeling like they prefer to "play it by ear", which is great if that's their preference. The problem is when everyone lines up in one line ... so those with reservations are stuck waiting behind those who are just showing up. This seems like it would be an easy fix, if they just had two lines: one for Reservations/ one No Reservations. It's done this way on another cruise line, and for the most part, works well. Then there wouldn't be such a log jam at the front entrance. Once in though, the food was very good. We had many memorable dishes and were impressed with the taste and consistency. One thing that we didn't love though (and this is prevalent on most cruise lines) was the pacing of the dinner. One course would be barely finished and the next would immediately appear. We always tell our waiter that we're in no rush, but they're trained to be quick and efficient and to move things along. But since our preference is for a more leisurely pace, we take it upon ourselves to deal with this issue, and it seems to help. Also, in recent reviews, some people have been commenting about the service from the Sommeliers ... we found it quite spotty and inconsistent. On some evenings, he would be Johnny on the Spot, quick and efficient and keep an eye on each table. And on other nights, the Somm looked like he was walking through molasses and appeared to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off. We understand that when there are large groups (which there were a lot of on this cruise), they are very time consuming. But, in that case, let the Assistant Waiter take a wine order, or have the Somm ask for temporary assistance. We ate in the buffet for a couple of lunches, and we continue to think that X ships have great food in their buffets. We also like how the different food kiosks/areas are set up. But here I would implore people to be a little more focused and aware of their surroundings in the buffet, especially at really busy times. There are so many people walking around in a dither, almost bumping into others all over the place, gazing distractedly at all the food choices, stopping unexpectedly in crowded pathways. I can't tell you how many times I'd be in front of a kiosk and turn to find someone almost with their chin on my shoulder, checking out the choices! guess it's easy to pick up on the fact that crowded buffets aren't our favorites. LOL. But people could help by being more aware. Nuff said on that particular pet peeve! Will concur that the walking/jogging track on these E class ships are excellent! So much more interesting and varied that almost all others!!! The layout through the 2 decks and the incline are great. We also agreed with many of the OP's other remarks and grading, but hope that this different perspective was also interesting.

Thanks for posting this. Bubble not burst ... it's definitely good to go into the cruise knowing what to expect! Your comment/opinion about the upcharging is absolutely right. Hasn't X now removed most of the incentive to upgrade to Premium. The reason most given for the reason to do so is for the better wines! Now what???

We are flying out of Miami to Rome, where we'll board a TA cruise, which will end in Fort Lauderdale. So, we want to park our car in FLL, go to FLL airport and somehow get from there to MIA. Anybody have experience with this? Or suggestions for companies that do this shuttle? We were able to find Red Coach, which does shuttles between the two airports, and wondered if anyone has used them, and how it went. Any recommendations (besides Uber or Lyft) would be appreciated. Thank you.

OP here: thanks so much to everyone who has posted, shown menus, and reported on their experiences. It's only been 10 months since we were on X last, and I've read this thread, almost in disbelief, to hear about these continued cost increases. When we upgraded from Classic to Premium for this latest cruise, we couldn't believe how much that upgrade had gone up in cost! It was over $100 more than when we had upgraded previously, not so long before. But, like most of you, we liked the included bourbons, tequilas and wine, so we shook our heads, bit the bullet and went ahead. Now, to hear that most of the nicer wines have been priced out of that (already paid!) upgrade range, and that we'll be charged an additional surcharge to have those same wines, is annoying and definitely has us going into this cruise a little up-in-arms. Not to say that we won't have a good time, but who likes feeling like they're having surcharge upon surcharge thrust upon them??? (Now, please don't someone tell us that they've also increased pricing on bourbons to put them out of the Premium package! Now that would be a bridge too far!!! 😂 Considering all this, could you tell us what the policy is about bringing wine bottles on. We haven't done this for so long, thanks to the drinks packages, but now ... Thanks again everyone.

Have just read a thread talking about the price increase of many of the wines by the glass that used to be included in the Premium package. I've tried looking everywhere (and I just don't seem to EVER be able to get an appropriate reply from the Search bar here!) to no avail. For anyone who is cruising right now, would someone mind posting some photos of what wines (red & white) by the glass are now available in the packages, specifically the Premium package. It would be really appreciated. And, if someone has already done this, I apologize, but I just can't track it down. Thanks so much in advance.

Thanks for the contact info... it's good to have as many options as possible. Good to hear that your experience with ITA was alright, we were a little worried.

After working with the EZ Air agent, we called ITA Customer Service, and after giving the agent our locator number, he told us that we had the seats we selected on our record. Once our cruise final is paid, we will contact ITA to pay the seat selection fee directly to the airline. So ... we feel OK about where things stand.

Well, not having used EZ Air before, my questions were to try to educate us about experiences others have had. But also to see, having thought that after booking with EZ Air that seat selection was possible, why we weren't able to do so. This whole thread has been very enlightening and we've learned a lot, about what we can expect and what we shouldn't! 😂 After reading all these posts, and making decisions based on experiences and suggestions, we were able to get seat selections into our ITA record, via an EZ Air agent, which we now know is the best we can do until the flights are paid for. As I said previously, the info we gleaned from all your replies, helped us understand how this program works, and helped us decide where we needed to do more research and where we should act. I'll send out our thanks again to all who took time to help us out.

Thanks so much for this! Will use it and hope for some good results.

Thanks for your reply. Well!!! This makes no sense, does it? How frustrating. I guess if you don't need them, it's not a big deal; but if you DO need assistance, it just doesn't make sense to make it an "ordeal" to contact them! Sigh.

Was there no meal service???? There should be two, right? Dinner & breakfast? If you asked for them, were you given snacks? Was this booked through EZ Air We're in Florida and this is the only direct flight, which is really important to us. However, your experience doesn't bode well for us.

Does anyone have the DIRECT phone number to EZ Air? Thanks.

This is really useful info @sultan_sfo, and we really appreciate you taking the time to reply. A couple of questions: When you went into ITA's website to book your seats, did you use the Princess confirmation # or ITA's locator #? How far out were you from final payment to Princess? And from the flight itself? We're assuming from your description of the process that you paid the seat selection fee directly to ITA? And there was no change to the amount due to Princess at final? We can't figure out, especially now that we've read your experience, why ITA is preventing us from doing anything on their website, with the window stating that this reservation is not paid for. Did you have any phone conversations with them ... we're wondering if a call directly to them might get better results than dealing with Princess EZ Air. And a very big and heartfelt thanks to all who replied. As I said, this is the first time we've used the EZ Air option, and through all your answers, we're learning so much! What an amazing resource CC is in a situation like this!

Thanks so much everyone for these replies. It's really given us some things to think about. It seems like if you get flights on a US carrier, even if you connect with a European carrier, you can make your seat selections. Because we're taking our flights directly from Miami to Rome, all on Alitalia, they might have some issue allowing seat selection? We're going to try the suggestion to call into Princess (oh Lord, give us strength!), and then maybe a direct call into Alitalia to see if someone there can help? Either way, at least you've all given us some good suggestions. In the meantime, if anyone reads this who has dealt with Alitalia via EZ Air and has any first hand experience with them, we'd love to hear about how it went. Thanks so much again for all your replies and suggestions.

This is the first time we've used Princess's EZ Air, so we don't have any experiences with it to draw from. We needed one-way flights from Miami to Rome, and we wanted direct flights. Princess offered the flight we were most interested in, and it is on Alitalia. We booked it, and received a confirmation from Princess, which had a Princess confirmation number, and also an Alitalia locator/confirmation #. The confirmation stated that we should go through the airline to make seat selections. We also saw that the flight costs would be added to our reservation and wouldn't be due until final payment for the cruise was due (not until around August). So, here's our issue. When we go into Alitalia to select our seats, we enter our reservation/locator number, a window comes up that says Reservation Not Paid, and won't allow any action. We would love to not have to contact Princess about this, as it seems tortuous to get any kind of answer from them. We've also been noticing how many of you use EZ Air, so we're hoping that there might be someone who has used Alitalia before, or who might have seen this particular issue before, even on another carrier, who can help us out. If anyone has any knowledge of why this has happened to our booking, or knows what to do next, please advise. Thanks.

Thanks for these replies. It's such a shame that there isn't a MDR option on that first day! When you're all excited to be aboard and have to face the chaos of the buffet, it certainly brings that experience down a notch. So, we'll definitely give LGB some thought as an alternative ... but wow! ... the price is really up there, isn't it? $72 for a lunch! Yikes! DH is a "value for the money" kind of guy, and even his aversion to the buffet may not be enough for him to feel good about LGB! 😂

Happy New Year to all our fellow cruisers! I know that this has probably been asked and answered dozens of time, but for some reason, no matter what combination of words I use, I can't seem to find the answers we're looking for through a Search. So ... could you please tell us what options there are for lunch on embarkation day on the Apex. And, more specifically, is Le Grand Bistro open for lunch? Can we/do we need to make reservations? (We tried doing this through our booking, but LGB is not offered for lunch???). And, we thought that LGB for lunch was $20pp + tax, but then just read recently that it is now $30pp???? Is it really worth that for a lunch? If we were interested in Raw on 5, but aren't sushi eaters, do you think there are plenty other menu choices? (We've found their menu but aren't sure what half of the offerings are.) We like teppanyaki-type offerings. Do they take embarkation day lunch reservations? We love Celebrity's buffet, but never on an embarkation day. We really wish that Celebrity would offer up a MDR lunch option though. Are there any other options that we haven't thought of? Oh yeah, just thought of Mast Grill, but would really rather a nice, calm, sit-down restaurant for that first day. Thanks for all information you can provide.

Thanks. We aren't too worried about it, but thought that being able to always see a current update would be a handy and nifty thing! We also thought that fresh juice and specialty coffees didn't count towards the daily 15 count? In any case, continue to enjoy and thanks again for the time you're taking to write this review!

Thanks @VMax1700 for this Live! After being away from sailing on HAL for many, many years, we just booked onto the Rotterdam TA & Norway! BUT ... not until 2025!!!☹️ However, we are so excited and, of course, are now wanting to absorb everything we can about this ship and about HAL now operates. Your Live Review is giving us an amazing amount of info! You mentioned above about the "15 drink limit" ... is there a way in the app to track this drink count on a daily basis? We will continue to follow along ... enjoying very much!

Hi @Kitty Ellas Mom, Really happy to hear from you that you're currently on this cruise and having a good time. (You too @Rick&Jeannie!) We were on her earlier this summer. It was our first cruise back on Princess in 14 years. We're now just about to turn Elite, so we had cruised on Princess quite a bit back then. We had a fantastic time. We enjoyed the ship completely, and in spite of a couple of issues (which got dealt with fairly efficiently), we loved the whole 2 weeks. The crew and staff were great, and our meals in Sabitini's and Crown Grill were very good to excellent, and the MDR meals were also good to very good. Yes, there are a few places where her age shows, but nothing that was appalling or inexcusable. We enjoyed being on her so much we booked on the 16 night TA for next year, and we would never had done that if we had found issues at every turn on this recent cruise. There is something to be said for a ship that has a little more of a "traditional, classic" vibe. Hope you continue to enjoy your cruise. And lesson learned, right? Everything we hear or read should be taken with a grain of salt ... maybe around the rim of a margarita???

Thank you for sharing @traceytd! There are plenty of posts about problems and things done badly by Princess, so it was good to hear your particular experience. Enjoy that OBC and gave a great cruise!

Yes, this is very good news and we are both very delighted to hear it! On busy cruises, we also avoid the buffet area (most especially during meal times), but this sounds like it would suit us perfectly, and would be worth "fighting the hordes" in the morning! 😂 Thanks @dreaminofcruisin for passing this along. And thanks all for the replies.

@Lady Arwen or anyone else who's familiar with Sky P's Lido deck: We'll be on the Sky for the first time in a couple of months. We just had our mini-suite guarantee assignment to L206. We were just on the Caribbean P, and on the Lido deck, they had Coffee and Cones, where specialty coffees were available, if we didn't want to run down to IC. Does the Sky have something similar on Lido (or anywhere else for that matter). DH ran down to IC bright and early each morning so we could enjoy a cappuccino out on the balcony before heading out for breakfast. From those forward cabins on Lido, it seems like it would be much faster for us if there was an additional specialty coffee place closer. Thanks for any info.

We really feel that the specialty restaurant quality/service/experience can be quite different from ship to ship. On our most recent cruise on Caribbean P, we thought Sabatini's was excellent ... very good food and lovely service. We went to CG for DH's BD and loved it so much, as we left, we reserved it again for the next week. Since there can easily be issues with how steaks come out, when eating at a steakhouse, we try to order something else we really like (unless we have a real hankering for beef). The first night, we had lamb chops (fantastic) and the next time, we had the veal chop (delectable), so we couldn't have been happier. And both nights, the service was very good. Next up in December, we're going to give Catch by Rudi a go, and have been impressed with most of the reviews so far.