Iamcruzin

19 hours ago, canadarocks said:

We spent a month onboard the Emerald Princess this winter in a Caribe Deck deluxe balcony. Loved the balcony and the cabin, but my goodness the bathroom and shower were ridiculously small!! On the newer ships please tell me if the Caribe Deck balconies are still bigger, and where oh where do I need to book to get a decent sized bathroom and shower? Don't need a bathtub or a couch like the Mini Suites have...we were upgraded to one of those with an incredibly TINY balcony in 2023.

 

So a BIG BALCONY and A BIG SHOWER.....is that attainable?

If you are looking for a larger balcony like the extra large balconies on the Caribe deck you will have to stick with sailing on the Grand Class ships which at this point are old. Starting with the Royal Class ships the balconies are the size of a postage stamp unless you book a suite. Also the showers are all the same size unless you book a mini suite or above. They have a tub/shower combo. The Royal class has deluxe balcony cabins with larger obstructed view  balconies (no glass view) at the bow of the ship which to me is undesirable. Princess has the most uncomfortable rooms at sea. If you book below a balcony you only have a desk chair to sit in. Every other line has a love seat in every room category.

On 4/15/2024 at 11:01 PM, BamaVol said:

Only reservations for cruises departing Septmber 14 or later will be cancelled.  My June 15 reservations will stay.

 

one of the YouTube cruise bloggers ran an unscientific poll last week and got 3,000 replies. Only 18% want traditional dining.  I project an imbalance.

I'm not surprised. The last time we at in traditional was 2006. It was about the time they had introduced anytime dining and the main dining room in traditional was 1/2 empty every night. On some nights our table mates went to anytime dining. It was a new concept and I guess passenger didn't understand that you didn't have a choice between both dining types just because you booked traditional. 

Does Princess still offer the $1 deposit promotion? If so what time of the year do they offer it?

13 hours ago, rideev said:

Ok, I have eaten at the steakhouses on 4 different cruise lines.  Princess, HAL, NCL, and RCL.  I loved the salt selection at the Crown Grill, and have since bought some like it, but that is all I can say.  None of the four stood out to me.  Yes, the service was good, but the steaks were just ok.  Is it just me? 

 

I do like some of the other specialty restaurants.  I think Sabatini's is wonderful, along with Le Bistro on NCL.

I don't think I will ever book a steakhouse on a cruise again.  For our anniversary cruise we have Sabatini's booked for $90.  As to that the cost of the meal that we are turning down in the MDR and it turns into a pricey meal.  It will be good, but not any better than what we would get here at home for the same cost.

Honestly I find the same experience on land as well. I have had steak at Morton's and at Longhorn steakhouse and for the price I didn't notice a great deal of difference. Morton's is more presentation and atmosphere. The same applies to cruise ships. I would rather go 3 times to Longhorn than 1 time to Morton's.  When they forced you to dress on formal night we would go to the specialty restaurants. It was less expensive than buying 2 new cocktail dresses and more shoes that required us to pay for an extra bag on the airlines.

On 5/4/2024 at 3:24 PM, memoak said:

I don’t get why one would want to pay for the Sanctuary when you have a huge balcony and room service. 

Some would book an inside and hope to get a seat in the Sanctuary. It was a big saving for anyone sailing solo. 

On 5/4/2024 at 2:54 PM, Wishing on a star said:

I am seeing comments where a Suite guest had not been able to get loungers in the Sanctuary, but the the Concierge made the reservations for them.  They were able to get loungers as they wanted.

Has this been something usual in the past???  Is this new?

Of course Princess is not known for being consistent!!!  I know that access to the Sanctuary has not been a Suite perk.

 

If this is something new, then I am seeing the signs already posted that Princess will move towards taking the Retreat area and the Sanctuary,  and restricting therm to a new  SANCTUARY CLASS SYSTEM, like they now have on the Sun Princess. I would almost bet on it.  

 

I will say that if these Royal Class ships end up without an adult only area,  I will not be sailing with Princess.

 

We have one cruise booked on the Sun, that we are now questioning....

We have another cruise booked on a Royal Class ship, that would also be cancelled if Princess makes these changes.

           

Too me the Sanctuary was a waste of space on the ships and the retreat was just another money grab. It was impossible to book even arriving early and all week long it sat empty. Sanctuary class system or not, I will never be able to get a lounge there because I would never book that class. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean offer a better Adult Sanctuary experiences for free and without needing a reservation.  

1 hour ago, Southern Dan said:

I agree that Royal's main focus is currently on families and larger ships and let's be honest, they have a formula that is wildly successful.  There are only so many Oasis/Icon size ships you can have running though before the market is oversaturated as the potential customer base isn't infinite...

When Star of the Seas makes her debut in 2026 you are going to have 3 Icon/Oasis ships out of Miami, 2 Oasis out of FLL, 1 of each out of Port Canaveral and 1 in Galveston.  These are ships that are going to all the same destinations which by my count is 15 different Caribbean ports during the winter that can support them.  Two years later you are going to have Icon 3 and Oasis 7 in the mix and it gets more complicated.  One might go to Asia year round, who knows?

 

Let's look at the other side with the rumored new "smaller" ships taking bridge heights and environmental regulations that are coming into play.  You need one for Northern Europe in the summer, you would need one or two for Alaska at the same time, if you want to keep Baltimore and Tampa running year round you would need two there.  Isn't Australia cracking down on environmental regulations too?  That makes me think 6 is the magic number with all those things considered.  Or they could completely abandon the Baltimore and Tampa markets but that seems unlikely as there is money to be made.  The "just cruise Celebrity" line doesn't make sense from a business standpoint as they want to keep the parent brand as profitable as possible and both lines offer different things and can coexist.

 

All speculation and we can debate here and elsewhere until something is announced but I like wasting time on the internet and am excited to get some official word on the whole thing.

This is a very logical and well thought out statement. The smaller ships won't be around forever and they are needed to service particular markets.

35 minutes ago, captainannoyed! said:

With you 100%.  My vast preference is Radiance class, though Freedom and Voyager are okay.  But I’ll never sail Oasis or bigger.  No interest whatsoever.  Great for kids and families, and they should stay there.

I'm from NY. If I wanted to go to Central Park it was there. Now that I live in Florida I'm 2 hours from the big theme parks. I won't go on anything bigger than a Quantum Class ship. The bigger the ship the longer it takes to get from one end to the other and it's just more pay for venues and shops. We don't even shop at the malls on land anymore. A perfect day a Coco Cay is great if you are traveling with a family but as empty nesters we need more adventure than a pool day in an over priced Cabana 

On 4/30/2024 at 8:28 PM, PhillyFan33579 said:

Possibly, but you still have the 7th Oasis class ship coming plus Star and the 3rd Icon class ship. Just my two cents opinion, and probably not worth that much, but I think the majority of RCI cruisers won’t get excited about a new, smaller class ship (if/when it happens). 

I hate those monstrosity of the sea ships. Would be very excited for a smaller class ship that can fit into smaller ports.

1 hour ago, mncbabu_yahoo said:

We will be doing one week land tour after Alaska cruise. Our sapphire princess starts from Vancouver Port and reach whittier alaska. We are planning to take a small electric rice cooker for this trip to use during land tour. Will cruise line allow small electric rice cooker?

Thanks 

No. Tuperware makes a microwave rice cooker. Many hotels have microwaves.

8 hours ago, skynight said:

From someone that has been elite for almost 15 years. I have been reading through many of the posts. My opinion. Don't buy your way by booking extra cruises just to become elite. Book cruises because you enjoy them.

I agree. None of these mass market cruise line benefits entice me. I'll get there when I get there and if I never do that's ok too. I just enjoy the journey and don't stress over laundry.

 I don't understand paying extra money by booking solo in a suite just for some well brand liquor and free laundry. If that's how you travel and you want to actually go on the cruise than it's no big deal but if you do it just for elite status it would be less expensive to pay for better booze and paying for laundry that will come back faster if you pay for it than by sending it out elite. There really isn't any value being elite. It's a marketing game to make you feel special and bring you back to spend more money.

1 hour ago, Happy2cruise said:

Anyone else have the problem of not being able to book a deluxe balcony on the
Enchanted?  Every deck I go into they are all guarantees, even tried booking one for 11/2025 and same thing.  Very frustrating.....am I doing something wrong?  Thanks!

Just about every mainstream cruise line offers a love seat and cocktail table in every category room including interiors without having to book guarantee. I never sailed Princess for the accommodations as they are the worst of all of the lines.  I wonder if you can book with a fictional third person and then just cancel the 3rd person?

19 hours ago, MacMadame said:

The whole point of a fleet-wife pool is to make it fairer for all the crew so staff you don't see who help the people we do see get tips and so crew on ships with majority low-tippers don't get punished vs. crew on ships full of us tip-happy Americans. (Yes, we're crazy.) So maybe it used to be that way or maybe it's that way on other lines but it's not that way now according to Princess (and people who have talked to crew about it and reported back).

 

Is it double-dipping? I can see arguments either way. But I don't see it that way. I see service charges on stuff that I used to tip as I went. i.e., I used to give the bartender a tip for each drink ordered but now there is a service charge so I don't have to. I see crew appreciation for everything that is included. It replaces the tips we handed out to our cabin steward and our staff in the MDR at the end of the cruise. So I don't see an overlap there.

I am aware of how the tip pool works for the people behind the scenes as well as those who you see. They started that back when they started anytime dining around 2006. The 18% at the restaurant is new. Those people were originally part of the tip pool and if you gave them any extra in cash they got to keep that. The bartenders were never part of the tip pool and an 18% gratuity was always added to the drink order. If you tipped additional in cash they got to keep that and it didn't go into the tip pool. If now everyone is in the tip pool including the restaurant staff and the bar tenders than it doesn't seem fair that bar tenders and the restaurant staff are taking money from the tip pool as well as getting additional. That would leave less money for the dining room staff and the room stewards as well as the behind the scene staff.

12 minutes ago, memoak said:

So is the 18% per drink double dipping if you don’t have a drink package ?

I was under the impression that the bar staff were not part of the same pool as the room stewards and the wait staff at the meal venues. Maybe that has changed but they were always separate from the other group.

23 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

The 18% does not go directly to your server. It goes into the gratuity pool. And the Crew Appreciation charge (which also goes into the pool) covers more than servers. It also covers your cabin steward, bartenders, and other hospitality staff.

 

It goes into the pool. The pool is used to pay part of the crew's compensation (as when Princess went to a pool system, they also raised wages) and to pay bonuses. Princess doesn't specify if these are bonuses only to high performers or bonuses that are more generally spread around. I am guessing the former.

So this is in addition to the daily gratuity fee that you pay when you book and they all share this as well? Sounds like double dipping from Princess. 

13 hours ago, FancyPants21 said:

Tipping extra is always optional. Now they are adding 18% I will not be adding any extra unless the service was truly exceptional.

Unless they cut up the food and feed me I can't see anything else that could be done to warrant any extra than the 18% tip. Aren't they also part of the auto gratuity pool? Plus you are paying an additional fee just to eat there and you are not using the MDR which you paid for in the fare. Where does the auto gratuity go on that night that you aren't there?

1 hour ago, Kat915 said:

True, but they only charged me $200 more for her to go solo vs how much it would cost to book two in that room. (My solo cabin was booked months ago.) They lost all that revenue- we don't get any packages, don't gamble, and get few excursions through the cruise line. 

 

I think it gets back to ignorance of customer service reps on booking accessible cabins, plus other stuff that I encountered. 

 

I usually book accessible cabin early on on my own, but my sister was undecided about going. I didn't want to book accessible and be taking it from someone else if she didn't come. Lesson learned. 

$200 more is still $200 more than what it would have been if they added her. Plus they filled a vacant room which might have had to have been discounted closer to sailing. 

2 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I still don't understand why they couldn't move you over (if same category).

Simple.  It's after final payment so why fill one cabin at a lower double rate when you can fill two at a single supplement rate. 

5 hours ago, Mark_K said:

Seems to me that a ship would be preferable to a land trip if you’re worried about sudden problems. I have some friends that were on a land tour in Israel last October.  They spent several days hunkered down in a hotel before they could get a flight back.  The people on Oceania’s Nautica just sailed away a day early.

I agree but if you are dead set on going and don't want a sudden port change than a land trip is the only guarantee.  I wouldn't even be looking to travel to Israel by land or sea at this point in time and or even a year from now. There are enough protests going on in this country. I'm not looking to spend good money to go to a war zone.

22 minutes ago, artvlay said:

We are steady Royal Caribbean passengers and there are quite a number of times that staff offer discounts on dining. We are going on Island Princess next month and I'm wondering if princess also discounts if they have excess room.

I have never known Princess to discount specialty restaurants in the past and I started sailing with them in 1991 when Alfredo's was the only pay for venue. I have sailed on Royal Caribbean as well and know what you are referring to. They scope you out while you are shopping around and offer you a special price.It's usually for a slow booking night. I took them up on an offer for Jamies. They were offering 25% off and before the cruise I didn't hear great things about it but I was pleasantly surprised when we ate there. Service was great since we were the only table in the restaurant.  They offered us 50% for the last night sailing but we declined. No discount for Wonderland or the Steakhouse venue on that sailing but I bet those fill up. Wonderland was more about presentation and not about the food. That is a one and done place for us.

15 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

True. Luckily I'd downloaded the release brochure for that cruise so I knew what the original base price for a mini-suite was. We got a very good deal. Plus at the time we booked a mini-suite was out of our price range but our circumstances changed so we were able to afford the bid  

That's what I do too. It's the only way to know with the prices constantly changing especially if you book far in advance.

 It also depends on what the price of the upgrade would have been at the time of your original booking. I don't have experience on Princess but on Royal Caribbean the starting bid would have cost me more than if I had booked that category to being with. 

Why are they still selling cruises to Israel at this time? If you want to see Israel I would book a land trip. It's one of those ports that is a crap shoot with political unrest that can pop up at any given moment. I wouldn't be booking any cruise to Russia either.

On 1/11/2024 at 2:07 PM, RocknRoll22 said:

Sorry Captain.

 

As a Newbie, I'll try to do better next time.

 

I've been following this site since 2008. You are not the first and certainly won't be the last to make that mistake.