vjmatty

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

From what I have determined, Celebrity's Sky Suite is much better: larger, better service, Retreat stuff, Luminae, etc.

1 hour ago, Oceangoer2 said:

I just did a little research....pay a little extra for a Princess mini-suite but it's still less than X charges.  Have no idea how nice this cabin would be compared with eg a Celebrity Sky Suite.

 

 

Includ

A Princess mini-suite wouldn’t compare to a Celebrity sky suite in terms of amenities. I’d compare it more to a junior suite on RC. The lowest level true suite on Princess would depend on the ship.  The newest ship class is Sphere, which includes both the Star and Sun, and their lowest level suites are S9.

Right now their classification system is going through major changes, and long time Princess cruisers are unhappy. I’m sure there are people leaving Princess to try X as well. It seems like the entire cruising industry is making changes that are geared toward a younger demographic and making long time passengers unhappy. Me, I find there have always been things I really liked and things that really annoyed me about all cruise lines. I even have a list somewhere comparing RC/Celebrity and Princess, with the pros and cons of each. Wish I knew what I did with it lol. 

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

As the prev. post mentions, there should be no problem with any number of 'extra people' on the Cabana Decks'..   I do not think they are adult only, so it seems that any children who are in these cabins could also be on the Cabana Decks.  Hopefully not a big problem.  

 

Also, the bed/sofa configuration is alternating...  This makes the cabins fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.  Every other one will be 'bed by the entry' and every other one will be 'sofa by the entry'.

I would choose a sofa by the entry.  The bed will be inset in the widest part of the layout.

This way, the cabin seems more open at the sliding door.  The closets. sofa, and counters would all be together.

It is easy to see when looking at deck plans.    And, there are a lot of photos.

You can also tell whether the bed faces forward or backward when sailing, by where the inset is the widest in the cabin.   That will be the 'headboard'.

 

Unfortunately I need the bed as close to the bathroom as possible. It’s an over 50 thing lol. Plus I like the couch near the balcony so if the weather isn’t great, as is often on transatlantics, I can still enjoy the view throughout the day from indoors. 

1 hour ago, TRLD said:

They never claimed continually flooding 

 

They said 3 different incidents.

 

No hot water lasting a few hours.

A water outage due to a broken pipe length unstated the next day

Toilets not working on the third day again length of problem not stated.

 

While certainly not the best string of events, seems to be more of inconveniences.

Yes that makes it much better 🤦🏻‍♀️

3 minutes ago, Sea Hag said:

This is true. It's a very rare night that I don't have to get up and trek off to the bathroom. I'd be a very unhappy cruiser to have to leave the cabin in the middle of the night and find a working public toilet.

Same here…all this “drink x ounces of water per day” has me up at least once, especially if I don’t finish the water by 6pm.  This is also why I don’t like the “bed near balcony” configuration on the Sun Princess. I need fewer steps dammit. lol 

6 hours ago, abouna said:

Still also looking for 14101,102,103,104. Also strange shaped with huge balconies. 

There are posts about all the forward balconies in general on the site that shall not be named, or livre du visage, mostly complaining they were not advised there would be a steel instead of glass balcony. The problem they have is that you can’t see the ocean when sitting down. I’ve sailed in cove balconies on other ships so for me it’s not really an issue.  I think the rooms you’re asking about, if you look at outside photos of the ship, the first two are crammed under the bridge which would make the room dark and obstruct the view. The second two, 03 and 04, appear to be more open and unobstructed. 

2 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

And many other perks too......

Yes, drinks up to $15 and WiFi, two premium desserts per day that look like they were designed by an 8 year old, and two casual dining meals. No charge for room service or medallion activation fee. Two fitness classes, ostensibly to counter the premium desserts lol. 

1 hour ago, memoak said:

So if your home water heater dies how long does it take you to get a new one installed ?  Give people a break. I have been on a ship with no toilets at all for 12 hours not pleasant but it was not a deal breaker

May not be a deal breaker for you,  but for some it would be a bladder breaker for sure. 

48 minutes ago, AZaTaz said:

Your assumption is incorrect. I like the Island.   I sailed on the Island twice before they added the new cabins and twice since. I will be on her in less than a month for 31 days and have no worries. Could something go wrong, of course!  But then that is true of all ships. If you cruise enough days I would suggest it is a very lucky sailer that does not have incidents. 

I think that poster was referring to how the aft was butchered, as well as adding passengers while losing common areas.  Not just about the current incidents. 

29 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

 

They ARE uncomfortable, as are a LOT of the chairs in other areas of E Class ships.  

But the veranda chairs are horrible.  I suppose the "powers that be" think that with horribly uncomfortable seating it will make people get out of their rooms and spend more money in stores/bars/restaurants. All this does for us is give us yet another reason to be looking elsewhere for our cruises. 

 

We have one X cruise left this fall on Equinox.  The next 3 after that are on Princess. On the first one, among other things the balcony will have a table, 4 chairs, 2 lounge chairs and 2 lounges. We looked at the nearly identical itinerary on Celebrity, same number of nights, and in similar accommodations Princess was several thousand less..... no brainer for us......

 

And Princess still includes gratuities in their $60/day Plus package. 

3 hours ago, 3Shelaghs said:

As to the bed vs sofa location. It is a mix up dependant upon deck. Most of deck 9 are sofa beside Bathroom. Deck 10 more aft showing bed beside bath. 

I'm wondering about kids on Cabana deck, kids in jacuzzi, large groups, guests using deck but not registered for that deck? Noise/smoke from casino below or restaurants?

If you’re not booked in a Deck 9 cabana mini, your medallion will not open the door to the cabana deck. So guests will not have access unless they are registered. 

2 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

There’s less demand for lie-flat seats on day flights, largely because many corporate travel policies only allow employees to fly business class if it’s a red-eye.

Interesting…. I don’t even need lie flat on daytime flights, just prefer business for the space and perks. 

7 hours ago, RobInMN said:

 

Our thoughts on TA's is that we would rather have the long crappy flight at the front-end of our vacation and have the shorter not so bad flight at the end of our cruise. So for us, we booked the West bound TA on Allure for fall of 2025, and someday (post retirement), We'll be looking for an East bound TA (with a number of B2Bs in Australian & New Zealand preceding it).

I’m kind of the opposite because the long flight is a lot less crappy on the way back, since it’s a daytime flight rather than an overnight one. For some reason they’re also cheaper and I don’t have to spend miles for business class since I can find business seats under $1k. Also there is no short flight, since we usually either sail out of NY or Bayonne, or take the train and stay with the kids and grandkids for a few days.

Once I’m retired in a few years and don’t have to fit vacations into a 2-3 week box, the ideal thing is for there to be no flying. With Cunard crossings you can match up reverse directions so there is no flight necessary as long as you don’t mind staying in Europe for a week. 

1 hour ago, georgemoe said:

Considering our first TA for 2026. How would you rank the months best to worst? Does it matter East or West bound? TY!

May and October will always be warmer than March and December. Some people prefer westbound because half the nights will have an extra hour. 

On 6/8/2024 at 12:31 PM, 3Shelaghs said:

Port side Cabana Mini suite, couch beside bathroom. If you booked online, it is noted when cabin is chosen. It does not refer to location of couch when you receive booking confirmation, only in ("notes- in cruise summary"). But diagram is conflicting to what "notes" depict. 

Which deck?

2 hours ago, Blue Eyed Belfast Belle said:

I am booked on the Feb Allure TA. I was on the Enchantment TA last May and it was rough...lying in bed the pictures were coming away from the wall! At least if we are staying inside for a few days on Allure at least there will be more to do

I was on that Enchantment TA as well and yes those first couple of days were rocky!

1 hour ago, bilyclub said:

Saw a liitle twist to the pier running last Tuesday in Cozumel.   Had the usual runners, but the latest two people actually got a ride in a cab on to the pier all the way to the gangplank.

I’ve seen that before, in Chania. Not much fun for the spectators. 

59 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

I never ever said that!

All I said is:

a cruise where I'm trapped inside and with people barfing left and right (because they get seasick because of the to be expected high waves) is not my idea of an enjoyable time!

BTW trivia would not something I would enjoy either....

I must have misinterpreted the term “barboat.”  The Pacific Princess crossing did have some huge waves during the last couple days. Racks of dishes were falling and crashing, bottles had to be Saran wrapped to the bar shelf. No one got sick that I could see, although there were sick bags taped all over the ship in case anyone needed one. That ship tended to have very experienced cruisers. Hubby had quite the audience while trying to carry my sidecar, which comes in a martini glass, across the room to me from the bar. Managed not to spill a drop lol, but he’s retired Navy so it’s almost like cheating. He actually likes rough seas, but even for him it got a bit old by the second day, having no elevators and grabbing furniture to keep your balance.  Our ship didn’t get to Ft Lauderdale until after 8pm. Whether an Oasis class ship would move this much I don’t know. 

50 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Do you mean they like or unlike X policies re balcony furniture?

Good question

1 hour ago, Liao said:

I believe that they are appealing to the mass market right now, not the vocal minority here on CC.  If you read FB posts about Celebrity, overall they are firing on all cylinders.

Interesting, didn’t realize the masses had a thing against loungers. I don’t check into FB as much as I used to. 

18 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

Well you are assuming something.... being a sun worshipper and being trapped inside only on the "barfboat" are totally different things!

Looking at weather data you will find December is not that bad - while February is the worst month of the year for a TA!

I think we’re both making assumptions here, for example I disagree with you that being inside a ship is all about drinking. Just so you know who you’re dealing with, that December transatlantic I referenced was on the 600 passenger Pacific Princess. If I can keep busy for 18 days on that ship, surely I can find things to do for 12 days on an Oasis class. 

As for the changing weather, I once did a world cruise segment from NY to SF on the Queen Victoria. In January. We started with the outer decks covered in snow and watched it all change within a week. From the same window at our favorite table during trivia, we’d see a snowy Statue of Liberty, a glorious Ft. Lauderdale sunset, and the walls of the Panama Canal. This was the coolest part of that cruise…. feeling like instead of the ship bringing us through parts of the world, it brought the world to us, by virtue of the views through that same huge window. Of course we spent time on the outer decks as well, especially during the transit, but it eventually got way too hot for me. Maybe that is why I don’t need a lot of tropical weather all the time. 

I realize this perspective is not for everyone, and that’s ok 🤷🏻‍♀️

15 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Yes she does seem to be listening to bad suggestions, implementing them, and then reversing those decisions back to what it used to be.

 

she needs to better and more thoroughly assess and say no to these bad ideas

Or get better advisors if she’s unable or unwilling to do the research herself. 

14 hours ago, jcc1025 said:

One of the best use to be when Royal docked in Ocho Rios Jamaica befor the move to Falmouth. They had a long dock and you could watch the pier runners trying to run to get back and being met by the drug sniffing dogs at the end of the pier near the ship. We use to book our room just to make sure we were on the correct side of the ship for that locations. 

Schadenfreude is fun, but you really can’t predict what side the ship will dock, so you may be disappointed. I value balconies more for usability including while underway so I stick to the aft, which doesn’t provide the benefit of pierside theater. 

20 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

 

We were on a catamaran in St Lucia where that happened.  We were after all aboard but just before sail away.

 

On both trips I’m glad we booked with the ship.  

 

 

It would not have made a difference. If ship and independent tours are late, they don’t take the time to sort out at the pier or try to suss out who was on a ship excursion and therefore has the “right” to be late. 

22 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

Winner of the worst cruise of the season!

Atlantic in February is nothing you want to do!

Princess had one in February of this year and outside decks were closed due to weather 11 out of 14 days....

Having done transatlantic sailings in December, I go in with the expectation that the outside decks won’t always be an option, but hubby and I aren’t sun worshippers anyway.  Sometimes I forget that so many on CC are very Caribbean oriented. Sorry 😕

1 minute ago, RobInMN said:

 

 

 

It was a Reddit AITA post. No other info. AFAIK, the OP was a new account and hasn't posted any follow up.

 

 

Looks like a karma farm thread, TBH