JimmyVWine

Quite possible. But early booking still won't get you into the plum locations if those are set aside for Sig and Rsv.

You are of course correct that much more needs to be known. But what we do know is that the passenger load will be 23% higher than the Royal Class ships and PCL has NEVER increased venue spaces in proportion to the new passenger load numbers. Indeed, looking at swimming pool gallonage, when the Royal Class ships were introduced, they decreased the volume of the pools while increasing the passenger load by 17%. I don't think it is possible for Sun Princess to bump out its public spaces by 23%. Simply cannot be done within the length and beam of the ship unless an additional deck of public space is added to what now occupies Lido and Sun Decks. You'd need a second Lido deck, in essence. It does not appear that there is. But we will wait to see. But "Boy. This new ship really increased public space and grew in proportion to the new passenger load" said no one ever.

I thought about this. I can't imagine that NOT being part of the Signature and Reserve experience. Indeed, the Reserve experience would seem to have this feature baked into its name. And here I have no quarrel whatsoever as long as the theater is enlarged to account for the 23% increase in passenger load (or more shows added each night). I have no issue with EVERYONE having access to a particular venue with certain classes of passengers having reserved access to it. (Think Club Class Dining). Where I part ways is when that certain class of passengers supplants other passengers.

Not that difficult of a concept. Take the Sanctuary as an example. There will be a "Signature" area within the Sanctuary. We don't yet know how that will work. But let's assume that among typical Sanctuary bookers, there is a consensus that certain lounger locations are preferred, and that there are 50 such loungers. People scramble on departure day, falling all over themselves to get one of these 50. And if they can't get one of these, there are 30 more that are solid second choice. Not as good, but they'll do. The remaining loungers are better than nothing, but not all that special. Now suppose that the 3% (60 cabins, for a total of roughly 120 people) are allocated all of the 80 best loungers described above as part of their special section. BOOM! Your ribeye inventory is now affected. Your usual Sanctuary booker who locks in a space during B2B cruises, and those who scramble up to the Sun Deck on departure day all of a sudden become #121+ in line as there are 120 "virtual" people ahead of them each and every time. Their days of getting the plum loungers is over. The very simple and predictable result of increasing demand without increasing supply, and then allocating the existing supply in an inequitable manner. (Inequitable in terms of "effort to obtain" and past procedure, as opposed to inequitable based on $$$.) At some point, giving someone a large balcony, and giving them teak furniture, and then on top of that giving them a plum location in the Sanctuary is going to have an impact downstream. It has to.

This is exactly the right "math". Providing luxury should be a zero sum game. Upgrade some people while keeping other people level to where they were. But when a restaurant decides that it now wants to serve A5 Wagyu steak, it should be free to do so for those who want to pay for it. But when the restaurant takes the regular ribeye off the menu in order to add the more expensive cut, the general public suffers the consequence. Or, if the restaurant used to stock 20 regular ribeyes a night and then cuts that back to 5 to make room in the fridge for the Wagyu, that too causes the general public to suffer the consequences.

Actually, I am hoping just the opposite, though I am betting that you will be right and I will be wrong. To me, the Pacific Princess will always be a small ship where the crew knew you by name and the passengers got to know one another as well. Calling one of these leviathans "Pacific Princess" just doesn't seem right to me. Sort of like if Fiat built the equivalent of a Navigator and gave it the "Mini 500" badge.

The difference between a FC flight and the class structure on a cruise ship is that the FC passengers on a plane do not get up out of their seats and occupy the Coach Class seats, make demands of the Coach Class flight attendants and use the Coach Class restroom. They stay in their lane. On a ship, nothing stops the Signature and Reserve passengers from utilizing the basic amenities on the ship, and indeed they are encouraged to do so. This puts downward pressure on those venues making it more difficult for those who must use them to in fact use them. Looking at the numbers, the ship will sail with 4,300 passengers, 3,750 of whom are restricted to using three of the five pools on the ship. Already that is more passengers sharing three pools than you have on a Royal Class ship. Now assume that one-third of the Sig and Rsv passengers choose to lounge around those same three pools because they want to enjoy the steel drum band that is playing, or the Lionel Ritchie concert that is playing on MUTS. You now have 3,950 people trying to use the space that is equivalent in size to the space on a Royal Class ship that had 3,500 people using it. I am 100% in favor of a cruise line upgrading the experience for people willing to pay for the upgrade. But I am 100% against a cruise line downgrading the experience for everyone else. 3,950 people competing for the "basic amenities" is a downgrade as compared to 3,500 people competing for the basic amenities. No two ways about it. And the big unknown is which areas of the ship will be off limits to basic fare passengers. Imagine if all of the empty space showing up at the aft of the ship is reserved for Sig and Rsv passengers. Wouldn't it be a downgrade for the basic fare passengers if there is no place aft where one can sit, or stand and stare out at the ocean? Now, it is unlikely that this will happen. But suppose that 50% of that space is cut off for use by 13% of the passengers. That is surely a downgrade. There is no equivalent when looking at FC flying.

https://www.princess.com/deckPlans.do?shipCode=SU

I will try to keep the editorializing to a minimum (though those who respond to this should feel free to weigh in on whether any of this is good or bad.) Instead, I’ll just provide the data derived from studying the published deck plan. A couple of caveats. I could not get Deck 11 to load, so there are assumptions built in as to which category of cabins are on that deck. I am probably close, but don’t hold me to these exact numbers. I know that they are not 100% accurate. Second, since the deck plan is brand new, it could change over time. With that, here are the statistics of the cabin classes which reveal what percentage of the passengers on board will be sailing with exclusive privileges and special access to certain areas and benefits, and what percentage of passengers will not have access to those areas and benefits. Also, I don’t know exactly what additional benefits will come with “Signature” or “Reserve” status. But from what has been revealed so far, we can assume that it includes certain dining options, lounging areas and pool(s). TOTAL CABINS = 2115 · INTERIORS = 454 (6 Singles) · OCEANVIEWS = 180 (All in the O2 and O3 categories. There does not seem to be an O1 category.) · DELUXE BALCONY = 1032 (All Balconies are considered “Deluxe". There is no such thing as a “regular” Balcony. And 96 are categorized as “Premium” though this designation confers no extra benefits. It relates only to balcony size and location. Also, the Balconies are very inconsistent in terms of cabin size and balcony size if the deck plan is drawn to scale. Moving “down” in category class can result in booking a really large balcony if you don’t mind being far forward. Also, 100 of these Balcony cabins have "Cove" balconies, cut out from the steel structure of the ship just like the previous Sun Princess.) · MINI-SUITES = 388 (138 of these are Cabana cabins, and of those, 78 come with “Reserve” privileges which appear to include access to a private open deck in addition to the cabin’s own cabana. In addition, 136 non-cabana Mini-Suites are categorized as “Reserve” cabins which include whatever area access and benefits that title confers. 114 Mini-Suites have both no cabana and no extra benefits.) · SUITES = 61 (Of these, 24 are “Signature Suites” which are cabins that are equal to or smaller in size to Mini-Suites. They are essentially cabins that are the size of the smallest Mini-Suites but are conferred “Signature” status which appears to provide the exact same privileges of all other Suites. Think of them as really small Suites, or Mini-Suites with better privileges. None of the Suites are wake-facing, though the deck plan seems to suggest private open deck space there that is intended to be shared among all of the Suite occupants.) All in, there are: · 61 (3%) of cabins that are classified as “Signature” status cabins; and · 214 (10%) of cabins that are classified as “Reserve” status cabins. So 3% of the passengers will have full access to all amenities on board; 10% will have elevated, but not full access to all amenities on board, and 87% of the passengers will have no extra benefits and will be precluded from accessing certain areas, venues or benefits. Some will see this as a good development while others will view this as a turn for the worse.

That is so odd. Everyone can do the math that you just did and reach the same conclusion. Why would they expect anyone to pay more for Plus when the component parts are less expensive?

Count on any area with the word Club in it being an exclusive area. To me it is very obvious that they have identified the most desirable areas of the ship and intend to rope off 75% of those areas and reserve them as upcharge venues linked to the purchase of the highest priced cabins. The rest of the passengers will fight for the remaining areas.

I’m surprised that your original purchase price for Plus came out to be more than $50 per person per day more than the basic fare. I have never priced out a cruise where that has been true.

If I am reading this right, there is no price difference between a Mini-Suite and a Cabana Mini. Seems odd. Overall, I am not enamored with the private area aspect of the ship. It’s even gotten so meta that the “extra fee” Sanctuary now has an even more exclusive area within the area. Currently, Club Class passengers get a separate area within an MDR, but it is still within the MDR. Same venue that others can enjoy. But when you start to rope off all of the best areas of the ship and reserve them for 100-300 passengers out of 4,300, I think you begin to damage the brand. I’m sure that if one buys their way into the Signature, Reserve and Suite strata of the ship the experience will be awesome. But I wonder if sailing in the lower cabin grades won’t in fact be a downgraded experience compared to current ships. More people fighting for less space, since a greater percentage of total space is now off limits to you. 5 pools sounds great. But not if only 3 are available to the general population which is now 25% greater.

That has not been my experience. Maybe there are different types of non-refundable OBC. But when I have tried to apply my OBC, I have been denied.

??? I never said otherwise. I suggested that Seabourn (a chain) compared to Per Se (one of many Keller restaurants.) And no, I do not expect CG at Outback prices. If I wanted Outback prices, I would level down to a lower level of cruise line.

Non-refundable onboard credit has always been available for use for excursions as long as you book and pay on board. Nothing has changed in that regard. But if you want to lock in an excursion before sailing, you have to pre-pay and cannot use that type of OBC to do so.

Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud have way more restaurants under management than Azzam and Eclipse have ships. Capitol Grille is quite simply a chain of "pretty decent" restaurants in exactly the same way that Princess is a chain of "pretty decent" ships. By no stretch is Princess "the Outback of the cruise industry" as you suggested earlier.

Not even close. Those cruise lines you mentioned are Daniel and Per Se. Capitol Grille is a large chain that is nice, but nowhere near luxury.

To me, you have just described the Chuck-E-Cheez of cruising whereas I want the Capitol Grille. Both can exist in equipoise. Capitol Grille does not have to add Whack-A-Mole machines to compete or survive.

"Our loyal customers have made known their strong preference for covered balconies and we listened!"

Look for the new build to "fix" this problem by putting 4 round holes in the plastic panel so that you can slip your feet through and dangle your feet over the edge. That way you can sit facing directly at the ocean. 😄

Certainly would be nice to see larger balconies and a usable Promenade. I'd even settle for one like NCL's Boardwalk, or whatever they call it. Large. Walkable. And multi-purpose.

Allow me to put on my grouch hat for a moment. Unless the boys live in the South Pacific, they probably own long pants. Is it going to kill them to wear long pants for 2 hours? Frankly, I think a 10 year old would look very silly in shorts at night when everyone else is dressed in Smart Casual or Formal outfits. At that age, he is probably taking pride in being recognized as, and called a "fine young man" and probably can't wait to shed the trappings of a little boy. Sure, it might be cute to see a 3 or 4 year old in shorts. But 10? Seems like a stretch. He'd be so much more dashing in long pants.

I just hope that the new builds do not include "Magic Carpets" Go-Kart tracks or ice skating rinks. Or Any fast causal food by Guy Fieri. Other than that, I am pretty flexible.

Thanks so much for the report. We will be doing a similar, though shorter itinerary next year and you have provided some valuable insight.