Dunk

The Diamond had a full, out of the water dry dock in Marseille 6 months ago. The hull looks pristine. A crew member posted several videos on YouTube you can easily find if you search “Diamond Princess Drydock 2022”. The also did deck, pool and balcony work. Inside the only thing he filmed was adding the dreaded automatic light sensors in the cabins that light things up when you get up in the middle of the night.

They may have used it for that in the interim, but I recall seeing a rendering of something that looked like what the event industry would call a “black box”, a space that can be dressed up to whatever you want it to be, using video and audio to create unique experiences. They did something similar in the Japan Pavilion at Expo 2015 in Milan, and Celebrity is as well in their new version of Qsine.

On early deck plans, there is a space labelled that just forward of Sabatini’s. It’s noted as “360 Restaurant”.

It should be noted though, that Celebrity full suites typically come at a substantially higher cost than those on Princess.

I have a similar situation. This week, I booked one of the new summer ‘23 sailings from Los Angeles on the Emerald. Cruise is in my app, I’m green lane, all good. Went to book my dining, and Day 1: Los Angeles. Day 2: Paris (Le Havre). I’m also evidently visiting London, Guernsey, Dublin, and Cabo San Lucas in my 7-day voyage. All I can say is the Emerald is one heckuva fast cruise ship to be able to accomplish that!

Booked mine this afternoon.

100 percent agree. I've been in the YC two times, and it's great, but outside of the Yach Club, it's the Italian version of Carnival cruise Line.

I didn't receive one after either of my post-shutdown cruises. I hate it because it's the best way to recognize great service.

Has anyone been able to upgrade the drinks portion only of Princess Plus since the Premier package was added? I don’t need the other perks, but I like my top shelf booze. 🙂 If you did, how did you do it and what was the cost?

I think you’d be hard pressed to find a traditional Midnight Buffet on any cruise line these days-and that was the case before COVID as well.

I have had two great post-Covid cruises with Princess. Is it the same as when I first cruised with them in 1990? No, but what is? I've also had two Carnival and one MSC cruises since the restart. They were fine too. None of these five cruises were perfect, but out of all of them, I had the best experiences on Princess. Do they have problems? Yes, but they all do. Go to every cruise line board here on CC and you'll see the same moaning and complaining. So, yes. Princess has always been my first choice, and probably always will be. To quote one of their old slogans, it's "where I belong".

It's amazing to me how many Cabin Stewards are named "Stewart". As Bugs Bunny would say, "What a koinky-dink!"

I sailed on Costa years ago (in the 90's) out of Miami on the defunct Costa Allegra. The ship was really pretty, but it was a different time (fixed seating only) and no one else at my table spoke English. That was painful! That time, and the times I've sailed MSC, I've enjoyed the European atmosphere but hated all announcements being in a multitude of languages. (On a recent MSC cruise, one droned on for ~20 minutes!) I assume with this new experience, that won't be a thing.

I wonder why the LA cruises aren't for sale yet-and in fact, they're still selling the Southampton sailings...

Contrary to what some folks have said, it's not the same thing. The Enclave is in the Lotus Spa, but they are not interchangeable terms. I think some people may confuse The Enclave with the thermal suites, which are on Grand Class ships.

I had a friend who worked for another cruise line tell me, "There are three kinds of cruise lines: beer & pretzels, wine & cheese, and champagne & caviar". Princess has always been, and remains a "wine & cheese" cruise line. About as middle of the road as you can get.