chanteur

On 1/13/2023 at 8:35 AM, lhsail said:

There is actually an option to bid on these for $130pp. Motion is not an issue for us, but not being able to use the balcony due to wind would be. 

I had one of the forward mini-suites, last year in the Med on the Regal, & figured the balcony would often be unusable.  I was wrong; it was great!  Balcony was huge & the wind wasn't an issue at all!  It got overly breezy one night, during a storm, but that was the only time.  I liked it a lot &, in fact, have the same cabin booked on three other cruises.

I've been in B204 & it was fine.  Very quiet location & no hall traffic!  Access to the forward viewing area was convenient.

I was sailing with my 90-something year old friend in a handicapped balcony cabin.  2nd day of the cruise, we were informed that they needed to do some work in the cabin & we were being upgraded to a mini-suite, but hadn't been told the cabin number.  They sent two cabin stewards, a wheelchair, & a "hot-shot" kid from guest services to move us to the new mini-suite.  Upon arrival outside B204 I said, "Wait a minute! This cabin doesn't have a balcony."  Hot-Shot Kid smugly informed me that "all mini-suites have a balcony." He opened the door, looked inside, & went pale!!  In addition, it was obvious that the air conditioning wasn't working & the bed was set up as a queen!  (Now, I loved my 90-something friend, but I didn't feature sleeping with her!!)   Hot-Shot Kid, pale AND sweating bullets at this point, not sure what to do, called for reinforcements.  No other mini-suite or suite was available.  Plus, they had already ripped the carpet out of our original cabin.  Eventually, they got the air working & separated the beds.  Facts be known, I really didn't care about the balcony, but Hot-Shot Kid didn't know that.  Wound up with some on-board credit & dinner at Sabatini's for our "inconvenience!" 😉

Been in B104.  The balcony (even along the side) is unusable when the ship is moving.  There is no wind-break at all.  Balcony is covered on the side & partially covered at the front.  Bathroom is a mini-suite style--tile, not marble; no separate tub & shower; no separate wc.  I much prefer the aft or mid-ship suites.

EZAir pricing not only changes daily, sometimes it's minute to minute. I recently booked 1-stop flights, LAX to Sydney and Auckland to LAX, in business class for a pretty good price using EZAir. A few minutes after I'd booked, I went back to the site to check some information & found that the price from Auckland to LAX, on a non-stop flight, had dropped nearly $1,500.00!! I cancelled my previous booking & re-booked with the non-stop flight for a few hundred more. (Worth it to avoid a very long layover.) Checked EZAir the next day & found the same flights were now over $2,000.00 more than I'm paying. Bonus!! Just for giggles, I checked pricing (same flights) on Kayak, Expedia, and directly with the airlines; currently I'm saving from $2,700.00 to $4,300.00 using EZAir. Very pleased.

Booked a Club Class mini suite for a cruise out of Sydney, next year, on the Majestic. Booked it because I want that huge balcony, forward on Marina deck & it just happens to be a Club Class cabin. I don't see the value of booking a Club Class cabin for the "benefits."

Loved Sitmar. Back in the 70s, my first ship was the Fairsea & the first thing that pops into my head is how small the cabin was--inside, upper & lower, no tv, and the first time I flushed that vacuum toilet a) it startled the hell outta me & b) I thought I'd broken it!! Also, the great Italian service in the dining room & the white rubber on the stairs--so you could see how clean they kept the ship (or so I was told!)

Can the obc be used for grats? in the casino?

Hi Owen.

To answer your questions, in the immortal word of Gary Cooper, "Yup." xoxo

B753 was always our favorite cabin on Sea/Dawn Princess. We were quite "put out" when they moved to OZ!! There IS a separate shower.

Hi Think they watched wrong show,The one with the Royal is being repeated just now.

 

Yours Shogun

You are correct. The show I saw was with the Royal. Hope they do better with the Regal.

Where did you see them. The article that I just read said it was to debut in March????

 

http://www.express.co.uk/travel/cruise/625336/Princess-Cruises-documentary-march

Watched via ITV3 on line. As of January 10, they have aired 4 episodes.

Saw the first two episodes. It's more typical "reality" show than documentary. Pretty lame.

On the Diamond last month. In addition to the two US-type outlets at the desk, there are additional US-type outlets behind the TVs. Very handy for charging laptops, etc.

Don't really care for the forward-facing suites. The bedroom door in nice but, in comparison to mid-ship or aft suites, that's about it. The huge balcony is nice in port, but unusable when underway--no wind break. The bathroom is a mini-suite bathroom--no separate shower; tile instead of stone. The sitting room feels cramped, has white laminate cabinets (as opposed to wood), and no bar.

If offered as a free upgrade I'd say yes, but certainly wouldn't pay a premium for one.

Wish Princess would do one-way cruises between Vancouver and Honolulu.

The layout is basically the same, but the sitting room area is smaller on the Dawn. Looking at the diagram of B753 on the Sun, the sitting room wall (where the sofa is) is about 5 feet, or so, closer to the wet bar on the Dawn. On the Dawn, there are no dining table and chairs. Also, given that the side wall is moved inward, there is a small hallway leading from the cabin door to the sitting area. Also, the balcony is smaller and has only one access door. The bedroom & bathroom areas are identical. Hope this makes sense & helps.

The interior of Island/Coral mini suites do not feel any smaller than those on Grand Class ships. Depending on location, some of the balconies are smaller.

The biggest difference is the size of the balcony. Aft mini suite balconies are considerably larger and also have a wet bar. Aft mini suites also have separate tub and shower. Our favorite mini suite, on the Dawn, was always B753. I don't know that it actually is, but it feels bigger than the others & the floor plan is different. No walk-in closet, but dual side-by-side closets are ample. Head of the bed is toward the starboard wall.

Done 3 and 4 day coastals many times. It's a great, relaxing getaway. We do, however, prefer the Fall sailings (Vancouver to LA.) Weather is better in the fall and the trip is, generally, smoother. Northbound, in the spring, the weather is very "iffy" and you're fighting the prevailing current all the way up the coast. Can get pretty rough. We've also had late arrivals due to weather--up to 13 hours late (the day we were to be married in Vancouver, but that's another story!)

At the Port of Los Angeles, we're usually off between 8:30 and 9:00. Once, however, we got caught up in some sort of Customs/Immigration action & weren't allowed to disembark until nearly 1:00pm! Fortunately, Princess opened one of the pool bars as a "cash bar" and we didn't have the worry of missing/rescheduling a flight. Felt bad for those waiting to board; the terminal was a mess!

Actually, the forward mini suites on Baja deck ARE partly covered; they're just covered from two decks above. There is an over-hang from the Horizon Court area on the Lido deck. We had B208 for a Panama Canal trip and it was terrific. The over-hang provided some shade and protection from rain showers. It is also very convenient to the "secret," forward facing deck space; very nice when going through the canal. Also, due to very little foot traffic, nice and quiet.

Roger Carr. Sammy Goldstein. Ron Merritt.

All three are terrific and really know how to work a room!