Wishing on a star

Yes! Have a great cruise!!! Great that you cleared the waitlist!!!! Yes, there can always be some last minute cancellations. But I wouldn't want to lose the money involved in cancelling a Suite at the last minute!!!! Would definitely hope that I had good insurance that would cover that particular cancellation! Wonder if they are still dong waitlist with the new bidding system. If there are often waitlist for Suites well before final payment or well before a cruise is marked 'unavailable', then this is yet another reason why these would rarely go unsold, and be offered at last minute for upgrade.

Does anybody know if if it has to be Club Class Minisuite or a Full Suite to get priority boarding. Non Elite. Regular Minisuites do not get this perk, right?

Also, the Sanctuary is, of course, in demand on days at sea. Port days, maybe not so much?

I don't know when blocks are released. I do very highly doubt that Princess would allow any person or company to hold cabins without payment after final payment date. Also, I would guess that by final payment date, most all people who might have to cancel. (thus opening up cabins) have probably cancelled in order to avoid losing money. And, cancelations would definitely show up as available cabins in the system. So, yes, bidding on ' no available' cabins would seem very confusing. And I do wonder if the situation that has been mentioned is a part of this.

Just a heads-up on booking those wonderful Aft facing cabins. There have been a few reports of people being booted 'upgraded' to lesser desirable non-aft cabins. I don't know what the deal is? Don't know if it is more than a couple of unexplained occurrences. But, just wanted to mention that. Make sure, and keep checking that the cabin is DO NOT UPGRADE, AT ALL. And keep your fingers crossed!

Also, I am not sure when you might be planning to cruise. We sail during what I all off-season, when most kids and families are not traveling. I can say that we have never had an issue with kids on Princess during those times.

Also, on ships that have these, there are the little cabana covers with padded loungers on either side of the adult retreat pool, and I believe these are reserved just like the loungers in the Sanctuary. They might be the last to be reserved, and be available.

I hope you did read my above post. If anyone can board the ship and get on an elevator, they can access the Sanctuary just the exact same as anyone else. No problems! If somebody were to move more slowly, perhaps with a walker, the more able and faster person can easily go on ahead up to book loungers. And, about the shade or sun. the Sanctuary is a wrap-around area from Port to Bow to Starboard at the front of the ship. Especially the very front of the ship has the large like shade tarps that provide partial shade. Shade on the other areas will definitely vary by time of day and which direction that the ship is facing/sailing. We learned to be able to choose loungers with more shade. Also, the Majestic does not have the usual Sanctuary, but a fully enclosed covered pool and adult only area open to all adult guests.

To the new possible Princess cruisers here. Yes, the Sanctuary can fill up very quickly on warm weather cruises. But, don't let any perceived attitude and advice to just to sail another line put you off!!! Here are the possibilities. As mentioned, the cabanas within the Sanctuary are pricey, so they will probably not be all booked. Also, remember the Retreat pool area is adults only. Yes, very busy on sea days in nice weather, but you can make sure to get up there early and get loungers. (Staff has been known to remove items from loungers that seem to be left unoccupied for any longer period of the.) Suites also have priority boarding. ( I don't live the suite life, but I am thinking this does not include the small mini-suites.) From what I understand, there are some real differences between Virgin and Princess. Lack of pool area, (Princess will have the AFT, the mid-ship main pool area, and the Retreat pool) lack of Buffett, and other aspects. So make sure you try to get a feel for what each experience might be like.

A number of cabins available when the cruise reaches capacity does not mean that the best suites are available. They usually book well in advance. While limiting capacity nearer to sailing does leave the possibility of a better suite not being filled. As mentioned, there is always the possibility that any cancellation might occur. But, the odds of a ship reading their projected capacity while most of the better suites are unbooked is probably fairly low. Notice that the offer to bid that was sent was only for up to Mini-Suite. Not the "Presidential Suite". Biden most likely hasn't cancelled!!! Hahaha!!! I believe that Princess makes it clear in their info that not all sailings and not all categories or all cruisers who meet the basic requirements will be open for bid. I would imagine that Princess knows just what they are doing and how to improve revenue by having people bid on cabins that are actually available.

it is Final Payment, right... so I would not assume a lot of cancellations. Others might not think this at all. But, what I will guess is that there are indeed cabins available. That Princess has been limiting ship capacity on these upcoming cruises, die to staffing and supply issues. This would be a way for Princess to increase initial revenue on the ship with limited passengers. If this were me, and I did want to hope for a deal on an upgrade, I would consider making a bid. You never know!

Yes, of course! However, it was easy to see on that video, based on the main ship design and platform, that this was a very similar set-up and location. Which, the deck plans for Sun Princess also show a wide deck area below (which appears to be the mock up image of the exclusive cabana deck area) and which also, just by aligning the decks, leaves the balcony uncovered. The deck above does not seem to offer any additional width or overhang. So, if I were to want a cabana cabin, I would look at other locations to see if any were better.

Not seeing those two on the Crown Grill menu.

In that case, just do the Ultimate Balcony Dinner if it is available!!! Increase in food and service at just a few bucks more.

About people walking right by on that deck below. Yes, that is possible, but I believe that Princess will make this is a restricted access private Deck for Cabana guests only. So, not quite like an open public promenade.

Yes, I just pulled up those new deck plans, and it looks like the room in the video is a small cabin with cabana on deck 10, maybe in the numbers in the 10-200s. Absolutely no cover on the actual outside balcony. they are coded in purple. That might be a good heads-up for some people here!

I would't mind being a bit back from the sea, WITHOUT THOSE HIGH GLASS PANELS... But, it looks like that balcony is totally uncovered. (guess the little inset cabana area is to suffice) I wouldn't mind a partially covered balcony, But that aspect of all other balconies looking down with no cover at all. That would be an issue for me. wonder if a closer look at deck plans would show if the same uncovered balcony situation will be the same on the Sun Princess.

Ohhh! So it is about the crew and behind the scenes. Not one of the dating reality shows.

Assuming you see the trip report from cruisers who recently cruised on Emerald. You might get some good insight there, or maybe ask some questions. I haven't followed that, but did notice that Emerald has Rock Opera as one of their shows!

Could it be that your Back-2-Back makes you and your cruse subject to the stricter guidelines? This could definitely be a Princess glitch or error. I would want to get to the bottom of it. But, if these cases are so limited and unique, I am just trying to think of any rhyme or reason for why you might be different;

Yes, I remember, I think, a live from, or ongoing review, here on CC from somebody who was on that sailing. Maybe you can search and find that? (Hate that the search function is now basically useless!!!)

This was probably the first Love Boat season, and as it airs, usually filming begins on the next season. Again, there is absolutely no intention to 'exploit' anybody. YOU are definitely not what they are wanting to get on camera. How you feel about how all of this might go down is, of course, up to you! But I would not want to make any assumptions that this was going to be just one huge deal-breaker. A lot of this show might be filmed as the young cast goes off on private shore adventures and dates.

I would imagine that specialty restaurants will be closed at some times for filming, maybe late some evenings. Same with some other venues. I can see the young cast set up at areas like wake-view, vista lounge, sanctuary, in the Suites, etc. I heard that they had set up in a section of the Sanctuary. I believe that a lot of scenes will actually be filmed separately and at very late or early hours. I can tell you that scenes of hoards of unsuspecting 'average' princess cruise guests are NOT what they will be wanting. They will have set up carefully crafted and scripted dates and events in the different venues. And would not do this during prime hours. I know that the Batcherlor/Batchelorette sometimes film overnight. How much this would impact the overall cruise, I don't think anyone knows.

Would you be ready to change sailings? If so, I would try to connect with as many others as you can, and email Jan. I am thinking that moveover offers can sometimes be very good. There is the new "Love Boat" series of shows that are to be based on Princess ships. I know that one has been filmed. There was some disruption. But I don't think I remember hearing the person say that it was just SO BAD that it really ruined their cruise, and was worth escalating with Princess about. But, I don't know details.

I too will wait, especially since these itineraries will be in FEB!!!! The thing is, I am afraid that these itineraries will disappear, and will go with the more limited itineraries that Princess has been sailing. I would be disappointed!!! But believe that is what will happen. Wondering if there will be a shortie to fill in a timing gap somewhere????