dreaminofcruisin

That is likely a fire door.

I keep seeing comments about towels....and some of it seems a little confusing...just to state this succinctly: YOU MUST BRING A BEACH/POOL TOWEL FROM THE SHIP. THERE ARE NO TOWELS AT PRINCESS CAYS. At least, that's what they told us on the Sky in February. 🙂

We always use EZ Air for International Business class flights. You can often save a bunch over booking them directly. We usually book them as soon as they are available (about 300 days out) at the Flexible fare. You can then keep watching the prices/miles and as you get closer to your date, you can always cancel/change the flights if the price decreases or there are better options. Even if you are going through a TA, you can control the flights yourself online in your Princess cruise personalizer. If you want to see what it looks like, without logging on, go pick a similar cruise for this year, pick the "Flight Quotes" tab and you can see what your current options would be. However, likely at this point it will be more expensive than if you booked at 300 days out. It definitely depends on where the ship docks in Southampton. If it's at the Queen Elizabeth terminal, that is a really LONG walk, so you would definitely want a cab then. Yes, usually if the price of your cruise drops, you can call and ask for a re-fare...though if you have a TA, they would be the one doing that at your request. Know that often you might lose some benefits that came with it when you booked (sales that included OBC or something) and end up with whatever the current benefit is. Always ask. If you do book EZ Air, be sure and ask whether or not you will be able to keep the flights you have booked (I think usually you can if you re-fare), just in case that would be a pricing difference you would want to be aware of. Welcome to Princess! I hope you enjoy your cruise.

There were 8 of us on our last cruise, all had Princess wrist bands including the 4 year old and the 7 year old. They worked great and were very convenient. The ones the kids had are just the smallest size (that a small adult might use), but even those could be adjusted to fit. I have one that has now been on 3 cruises and it is still holding up well. It took me a few cruises to buy one (used OBC). Now, if I wear it out, I'll immediately buy another one. It's just so handy. However, I would wait until you get on board to buy one. That way you can try it and be sure you like the fit.

#3 - Use a CVP and have them do the booking if you are booking multiple cabins. They can then set up the link for you. Since I was paying for all 3 cabins (DD and family in 1, DS and family in other), she automatically linked them for me.

Yes. The only risk is that the price COULD go up between now and when you cruise.

Pretty sure the OceanReady agent is clueless.... The email we received yesterday stated: 'To support these changes and the transition to the new system, main dining reservations that you may have already made will be cancelled.'

Use the app for dining reservations. You can link the other cabin's people by adding them using their booking number. (You can actually set up dining reservations with anyone on the ship as long as you have their booking number.) Then you should be able to pull them in to a table for 5 or whatever. For excursions, you will need to use the cruise personalizer and do them separately. I suppose there is a small risk it would get full, but as long as you do them close to the same time, it should be ok. Usually when you go meet up for your excursion, as long as you are together as a party, you will end up on the same bus. The excursion tickets will show up in each cabin separately, so be sure the other cabin is paying attention to them..... 😉

At least on paper......we'll see what happens when we all actually try and get the type of dining we desire...... 🙃

Unfortunately, this is sort of correct. You can link them on the App by using the booking numbers. Each cabin will have a separate booking number. You'll need this to make dining reservations, etc. However, to make payments, etc., you do have to have a logon for at least one person in each cabin to use to get at the cruise personalizer. The only way around this is to have a travel agent or a CVP (Princess cruise vacation planner) do it for you. I just was on a ship in February with 3 cabins that I was paying for, so did have to logon to each one. It's kind of a pain, but once you know that's how it is, it's not too hard. You're right though...it would seem like there should be an option where one person can manage multiple cabins.

I do think a lot of your issues are with the Sun Princess being new and they haven't gotten the timing down yet. Although I would never call service in the MDR (on other ships) fast, I have always had servers who were 'around' if you needed something. I've also never seen a sommelier on a Princess ship....generally the assistant server has taken our wine orders....but I have heard sommeliers are coming back. On any ship, some servers/bartenders have embraced the medallion technology...others...not so much. Our 2 cruises last year, we had the best service in the MDR that we have had recently. We've not yet been on the Sun. I would suggest trying another cruise (on a different ship), to see if service is better.

I wouldn't fret too much at this point. Princess will have to release a new version of the app that accommodates these dining changes. It will actually have to work. Their track record of releasing a working app version at the time they state is not good. My guess is you will be home from your cruise before it actually happens.....

We bought the Princess wrist band ---size small for our 4 year old DGD. It was a bit big, but it stayed on her fine and now she'll have it for our next trip! She was quite excited about having the "Mermaid watch"! 😁

You might want to be careful with this. We had 2 cabins on our last cruise. We set up our medallions so we could all open both cabin doors. My DD hung her kid's medallions on their door so they wouldn't forget them. I kept hearing a clicking nose at our door. I finally figured out that our door kept sensing their medallions and unlocking...... 😮

Whether or not you have booked the cruise, you can do a 'mock' trial of the EZ Air options. Go to the Princess website. Pick the cruise you are interested in. Pick "Flight Quotes" --- assuming you are within about 300 days of the cruise-- and it will show you the current EZ Air options and prices.

So, this will require updates to the app. What are the odds that it will work with the first push out ? 🙄

Yes. It will appear once onboard. Several things are like that, so don't panic if you don't see them ahead of time....

The most 'fabulous' discount I ever saw from a TA was $75 OBC on a 14 day cruise. I 'get' that some people have great TAs, but count yourself fortunate as they are more difficult to find than some seem to believe.....and yes....done the "ask someone onboard who loves their TA" thing....She was my last one and never did find any advantage to her either. 🤷‍♀️

YMMV. I have had 3 different TAs and finally given up on that route as I found I knew more about cruising on Princess than they did..... 😟

I have had it happen. It does go back to each individual card, so keep those card and pin numbers until you are back from your cruise!

Yup. We had the package and our number of drinks kept increasing even though it wasn't us ordering. This was back (with a card), but the app was just getting going and I believe at that time you could see where it was being charged. It was from locations we were not even at. It got so bad that we met with a manager. She said only 1 other person complained about it, so she didn't seem to think it was a problem.....pretty sure she just thought we 'forgot' we had ordered drinks. It was quite annoying. We suspect someone had heard us give our cabin number and decided they would try and use it .... and they did....quite successfully. We wouldn't have cared except they were having a good time and we were afraid we would exceed our 15 at some point. So...not a problem with the medallion....since it didn't even exist then.... I do really wish they would make better use of the medallion technology instead of asking for our cabin number. Some bartenders seem really good at it....others...not so much.

The bartender will likely ask for your cabin number to confirm the correct charge, or ask you to place your medallion on the reader. You can later confirm on the phone app that you were charged correctly (or not charged if you have the package).

You don't think your name and address are readily available whether or not you use this app? Have you googled yourself?

This is SO true. I've been on these boards long enough that every time there is a new ship that comes out, the complaints are rampant. Then time goes by and suddenly those ships (now no longer the newest) are the 'favorites' of everyone! 😁

Did you book the cruise through a TA? If so, did the TA somehow set up an entire group they had to dine together? Just trying to guess..... 🙃