Wishing on a star

Looking at the AFT Sanctuary, and the two lifts there, and the exclusive restaurant that is also located there AFT, it looks like the entire most rear section of the Sanctuary will be private 'reserve' access. So, there will still be a good amount of Sanctuary space, but no forward or aft view. Only side Port or Starboard. Maybe the Bow of the ship up at The Dome will be open, maybe adult only, access?

Barrel chairs.. Hahaha! Anyone know if those deck plan images show any details on deck 7 ?

Nope, Longer cruises, Europe in Feb, not going to have a lot of kids. Believe me, Princess does know this. They know their target audience for these inaugural sailings! That said, have you guys seen the new Princess commercials. Def bringing Princess into the bigger market cruising in the 21st century. I actually like the take... All the colors of the sunsets, azure seas, etc...... REAL not 'neon'. The wonderful magical experiences of cruising... REAL... not (Disney) magic. Nice!

Can anybody who got lucky with those deck plans tell me what might be between the two round Piazza and Forward round area on Deck 7??? I wonder what will be over those OV cabins on deck 6?

My bet is the usual deck names for most decks... Deck 10 - Caribe. Pool deck - Lido But with a new name for others. Maybe Plaza deck for the new lower deck of OV cabins.

If this is the sailing I am thinking, If this is a balcony, It looks like both categories are BE, so no change involved. There is one cabin showing on Deck 15 AFT, a BE, so if this is the case, maybe worth a shot. If you are looking at Interior, then the closest one showing available (non GTY) is on deck 12 AFT.

There only reason to book GTY on Princess is to hope that you will be moved to a higher category, and thus get a cheaper rate for that cabin. No savings just for GTY. And, especially now with the new bidding system, once they get that up and running, unrequested 'upgrades' might be fewer and fewer. Mike&Nancy, are you now after final payment? it sounds as if there were limited cabins left, and so for that location, you were only offered the GTY. If there are any cabins showing available in that section, and you would like your original location, you can try to get moved back into that location. But, without having been assigned a cabin, with the GTY, then I don't know if that would make that less likely. You can move to any cabin that is the SAME category as the one you currently have. Which might get you close to where you want to be. And, make sure that is marked NO Upgrade. And, or, watch your booking closely. Princess can, and has, moved people - again.

Yes, from a high deck category to a mid-deck deck would be, technically, and upgrade. Thus, your move. Since you were AFT, then Forward would also be possible. The more mid-ship the cabin, then the slightly higher the category. Interesting that they moved you without sending you an offer to BID to pay more money. If your room, or a similar AFT room is still available, you can try to to get that back. You can very easily do a move to any other cabin that is the same category that you currently have. One expert here had to do that like three times to finally keep his similar AFT cabin. You probably know about having your cabin marked NO Upgrade. But, for some reason, Princess seems to just ignore that, a lot, lately.

Thanks! I was wondering about the sofa as a single bed, without pulling out. Which seems to be in that second photo above. I wasn't finding photos of that set up. I was thinking it might be a lot more comfortable than the sofa bed on that pull out frame. Do you know if they actually put a mattress over the sofa, similar to the mattress on the fold-down berth?

I guess I am confused about the pricing too. These fares are high. But, if, and or when, there are lower fares, people can refare. So, not sure what the angle is here. Maybe they are hoping to fill these 'special' inaugural savings at these rates. People could also cancel and rebook later dates in the Spring if these sailings have lower fares.

I am seeing a little green tag on these cruises on the Princess website for one dollar deposits. But, of course, when you pull up to book, it wants the double deposit, $400. per person. Hhhhmmm? Anyhow, I am hoping that more of these itineraries for next Spring are released soon. I think these Med. cruises are sometimes announced early Oct?

I am noticing these on the new ship. I wonder if there are similar regular non-suite window cabins on other Princess ships that might be similar. Or, are these unique to the Sphere Sun Princess? Thanks!

We have also seen a discounted rate when logged in to our account that other TAs have not been able to see/find. I think that there are special targeted rates that are offered directly to Princess cruisers accounts. Perhaps make the booking or hold, then go to your TA? They can often offer some OBC, but might not be able to get you as much OBC as Princess had offered on your current booking. Assuming the OBC is un-refundable promo OBC that is not 'yours' to move to any other booking.

Huge variation in personal preference here!!! For me, for sure I like these itineraries. (Just not in chilly Feb) We are not blessed to cruise often, and have enjoyed Princess, but have looked at other lines to get better itineraries). Actually had an Oceania booked pre-Pancemic. Anything that gets Rome and Athens, and also ports like Santorini, Ephesus, in less than two weeks... Thumbs up. I am wondering if, after these pre-season inaugural cruises these itineraries will go go the usual itineraries that we have been seeing. Either Western (Barcelona - Rome) or Eastern with Greece and Ephesus.

Many people seem to be talking about whole blocks or categories of cabins just 'disappearing'. And, also being moved (not really a good upgrade). Also, sailings showing a lot of cabins, going 'not available'. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for this. Princess has also seemed to maybe be limiting capacity on some sailings. Then I notice on the recent review of a Mediterranean cruise that the ship is pretty darned full. But, of course, Med. is always in high demand, and those ships might have been able to be fully staffed. I don't know if anyone has any answers?

To me, those 'sub' categories described a few posts back are actually very different categories. Not just, for example, mid-ship mini, or middle deck mini. There are actually real differences in the balconies or lack of. Itchy and Scratchy has just shown what seems to be the regular options for bidding. If anyone reports that they can pick Forward, Mid, Aft, as well as Low, Middle, High, then that would give me a much better idea of whether I might make a bid or not! Otherwise, I am sticking with my extended mid-ship balcony on Royal class. Those regular balconies are tiny.

Yes, I think that appears to be The Dome, on maybe decks 16-17-18. Not sure if it will be adults only 'Retreat', or possibly all guests during the day, and Adults only at night? We'll have to wait and see! But, that is similar to where the Retreat pool and Sanctuary are on Royal class ships. Is there a private reserved area showing that is at the front? Seems the Sanctuary, and the private access area will be AFT. The renderings suggest forward by the way I am looking at the image. But maybe not so. I always liked the forward facing Sanctuary! But, Wakeview would still be nice.

Do those deck plans show that the one Main Dining Room is the large two level dining room? No other MDRs. Not sure I like a dining room that large and possibly that loud?

We ave been away. so I didn't get to see those deck plans, or get images!!! Maybe they will release some kind of updated deck plans soon. I do see the image here of the Sanctuary in the back of the ship. Not sure if there are two adult pools, a 'Retreat' pool, and the one shown that looks like it is in the Sanctuary area. About the ship within a ship. I do remember hearing that there will be a private special access area of the Sanctuary. The area looks to be pretty large. So, not being like others here who cruise often and enjoy the 'suite' life, I am hoping that there is still some good availability for us commoners like the current system. Ohhhh, and now I am remembering that The Dome will have that indoor/outdoor pool. So, that would probably be the Retreat Pool on the ship?

I am not seeing any additional areas labeled on cruise deck plans.. And the deck plans are not operating on Princess web site. To bad!!! I would love to see some idea of how all these areas and venues will be laid out.

I am not sure if the International Cafe will be there, anywhere near it's current form. I know that they will be offering a ton more dining options. Maybe in a more food-court type setting. (maybe the two level round area that is forward of the huge glassed in Atrium???). Not sure where they are planning to put Cooners in either?

Right now the only details filled on on the deck plans are the cabins. This is because they are pre-built and set in stone before a lot of other things, so that they can start booking cabins. Everything else is still grayed out. I would assume, and hope, that those laundry facilities will be there.

It seems that they are accepting bids as early now as a couple weeks before sailing. At least it isn't always very last minute! I still don't know if I would want to bid or not, because we like the mid-ship larger balconies on the bump out, and an upgrade would probably be to a better cabin, but a TiNY standard balcony on the Royal Class ships. We also like to limit the price of the cruise, and not 'splurge' so these (non)obstructed mid-ship balconies on deck 8 are the cheapest way to book a balcony.

I personally would not like or agree to a bidding system. The thing about Princess is that, even though the Sanctuary loungers can book up quickly for the most popular days, at least it is not a class system or only open for the highest bidder system. Princess seems to be planning a two part Sanctuary with the exclusive class-like system on the new Sun Princess. Even if they are to enlarge this area, if half of the Sanctuary is exclusive, then that brings it much closer to a class system. Heck, I have always hated the bidding system that Ebay used to have. I am glad that most sellers have a buy it now or make-an-offer.

Yes, Princess will come out ahead!!! I just wouldn't be really hoping or counting on bidding for that top Suite. There have been a few reports of people in AFT cabins getting bumped. Even with they swear that their booking is showing NO UPGRADE. Of course, these people are not happy. If I then thought that those cabins were going to the highest bidder.