dides

Thinking about the design a bit more, I really cannot understand why the Reserve Collection Restaurant is located next to the mid-aft elevators when all the Reserve Cabanas are located near the forward elevators and the Reserve Mini-Suites are mostly midships. And the Signature restaurant is located midships when most of the suites are located mid-aft and aft! In terms of numbers (if you exclude 3rd/4th+ passengers) then you will have just over 400 passengers allowed to eat at the Reserve Collection Restaurant while only 160 will be eating at the Signature restaurant. And they aren't that different in size.

Yes, this is referring to the Reserve Collection Cabanas (Category C1/C2) on deck 9 which will have access to the Cabana Deck AND Reserve Collection restaurant. Reserve Collection Mini-Suites (Category M1/M2) will also have access to the Reserve Collection Restaurant - circa another 120 staterooms.

Definitely, quite a revolutionary bridge design for Sphere class according to Adam Savage

Just spotted that Sun Princess is on a Barcelona port schedule site for these dates at the E-Helix terminal. i.e. not a sailing but docked for the media events https://www.barcelonacruiseterminal.com/

Looks like they are pulling some inventory on the inaugural at least - wondering if something else is going on....

Interesting price changes! I only see the words "Enjoy Signature upgrades and benefits", no mention of Sanctuary though?

Maybe before when dining finally opens up - if it's Signature amenities then existing guests might get access to the Signature restaurant and the complimentary speciality dining perk on embarkation night.

I just checked in with a friendly travel agent from the UK and this is all they are seeing: And the pricing is still the same as the old category. Including the sanctuary is a weird one - maybe it's still early days and this is just a building block in Princess' plan 😁

It's appeared on the deck plan version and was claimed to have been added - see my post #1118 . It does feel strange though - all the other Signature categories start with an S so why create a D0?

Yup, was hoping someone with travel agent access could verify - we only have the Princess website to go on and it doesn't seem to hang together!

On another site it's been pointed out that a new category of Premium Deluxe Balcony D0 has just been created which now falls under the Signature collection. These are the aft based ones only- the deck plan indicates they get Signature benefits but it doesn't mention this when you click to reserve a particular stateroom under special notes and the pricing hasn't yet changed. Can anyone confirm? This will be a nice surprise for anyone already booked!

Confirming the name - it's the Skagway Dining Room - deck 6 midship

Reserve Class dining is in the Santa Fe Dining Room - Deck 6 Midship - for Diamond Princess as per Ken's live from thread earlier this year. Same for her sister ship, Sapphire Princess when we were on her.

Just the picture - was focussing on the drawer but the plug thing is there

For info, Princess did release a rendering for The Promenade in their September dining update and the one during the shipyard visit was just a slightly updated rendering without the sofas Original version Shipyard version

Ahh yes I spotted that too - that is NOT like the interior sofa from the room layout picture at all! I did wonder if they needed more room for the ladder so just put something there that would fit lol There was this stray couch in the corridor outside the mockup rooms - where would that go do you think? Good spot on the drawer - mini-suites get the drawer but the standard bathrooms don't! Mini-suite Standard bathroom

This article about the shipyard visit from Insider Travel Report has more information about the casino and elevators: “Around the perimeter, are LED ribbons,” Parker said. “And wrapped around these columns and around the back are also LED strips. So, if someone hits the jackpot, this place will come alive.” When asked about smoking in the casino, Parker said: “it will be smoking and non-smoking. One new innovation we have on this ship is 100 percent fresh-air replenishment in this casino. So that is a separate system that’s been installed in here to continuously replace this space with fresh air.” Though seemingly a pedestrian topic, Sun Princess’ elevators will be “smart.” “When you walk up to an elevator, you hit the deck you want to go to, and it tells you which elevator to get in,” said Parker. Sun Princess’ three elevator bank—located at the ship’s fore, mid and aft—offer guests six or eight cars each. The elevator bank’s computer will calculate the number of floor-stops per car and identify the quickest ride for guests to reach their destination. “We have 4,300 guests, potentially 1,000 uppers, but we wanted the ship still to feel small and intimate,” said Parker. “You’ll see by the way we’ve organized the lobbies and the elevators. It should be very easy for our guests to get around the ship.”

Some of the venues do appear to need a lot more work but as the video mentions, some have carpet and the final finish covered up to protect them. There are 3,500 people working on it almost 24/7 I believe. Maybe they will be working on it up to the wire and won't be doing a full preview cruise from the shipyard/Trieste. And the 2 day inaugural "launch" in Barcelona on the 6th means they will have more control of where the media can roam and what events they put on.

If you want to geek out on more detail then this longer video below of the shipyard visit from an Argentinian channel will tick a few boxes- you can switch on subtitles in English to try and catch some of the commentary. Some interesting sections along the way - 4:13 Lido deck food venue 9:49 International Cafe 10:42 World Fresh Marketplace 16:57 Mockup cabins 18:16 Sockets in cabins

This post tries to capture all the Casual Dining venues and menus

While I can now search for Sun Princess cruises, it won't allow me to select any suites on any of the cruises I checked (I wanted to see if the price had gone down on the inaugural lol). Seems okay for the other cabin types.

Here is a Youtube short video which shows a lot more detail from the deluxe balcony design mockup

Video from Princess showing the keel laying and announcing Captain Gennaro Arma as the first captain of Star Princess

The construction of Star Princess reached a major milestone today with laying of the keel. The 500-ton keel was ceremoniously lowered into position in the building dock, where it will remain until its float-out. A Princess Medallion was also welded into the ship, believed to bring good luck.

Nothing we didn't know already according to my other half - facts n figures about the ship mainly 😁