Nemanoxer

Gratuities are not a problem for me.

As a result from this thread, I guess the differences between a basic tariff at Princess and at Celebrity are quite irrelevant.

So, I cannot make that an important factor in deciding whether I shall stick with the Sun. Time and reviews will tell.

3 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

I think a couple of other factors are that the first few voyages of a new ship will likely be rough around the edges, and a lot of people are very focused on finding fault with what is the newest ship, not to mention a departure from the Princess template.   Long sentence, but I'm too lazy to fix it.  😃

The template thing is one of the factors why I booked. Princess always seemed a biiiiiiiiiiit too oldschool for me where Celebrity's Edge Class was a biiiiiiiit too fancy. Which is why I stayed with Solstice class for a long time.

A new Princess class seemed like it might eventually be right there.

This cruise, actually, was planned for the ship @roxievegas - and for trying a new cruise line that is head to head with Celebrity.

As mentioned before, I was so dissatisfied with Celebrity that the announcement of a new Princess ship class finally caught me for Princess. BUT in the meantime I went on my supposed-to-be last Celebrity cruise with the Edge, and "sadly" that was over average. It´s too loud and not as relaxing as their older ships, but apart from that they won me back over. I suppose Sun Princess is more cozy and relaxing (?!?!?!?).

And now, Princess also seem to jump the gun with the Sun. 

First world problems, I know.

Forgot to mention I have never cruised Princess or any other Carnival line, so no bonuses for me.

Package prices still do not look like they would make sense for me. I hardly do anything that costs extra. Just some sodas, specialty coffees maybe.

Good morning fellow cruisers.

During Celebrity´s lowest performing, I decided to give Princess a try. I thought they will give their very best when starting a new ship class, so I am booked on Sun Princess in October 2024.

The majority of the yet available reviews very much make me doubt my decision, and I am thinking about getting rid off my Princess booking and go back to Celebrity.

I booked the Standard tariff, no Plus, no Extra Plus, no beverage package or anything like that. I hardly drink alcohol nor do I book specialty restaurants.

Can you please let me know what extra cost I will have to expect on Sun Princess other than shore excursions and beverage packages? Where does Princess differ from Celebrity in side charges?

If reviews do not improve soon, I guess I will mainly base my decision on this factor. So, your input will be very appreciated, thank you. 

Generally speaking, the procedure of "I hate everything about this and that cruise line but I will book them anyway, no matter the cost" will lead exactly nowhere.

Stop booking what you don´t like, or deal with the flaws.

On 3/14/2024 at 1:25 AM, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

I have never found anything more uninteresting (to say it nicely) than the silent disco. Please Princess, don’t do this. When I go dancing, the best part is that all of us are dancing to the same collective beat. But enjoy. Worst thing on an X cruise 😜

I also do not appreciate that for me, but it is REALLY HUGE wherever it is offered.

One important question besides everything else:

How is the food? 

It looks good on the photos, but sadly that does not necessarily mean much anymore.

I am really, really curious how my first Princess cruise on the Sun will compare to Celebrity.

I loved the Equinox til she started getting neglected. She is cozy and homesy, somewhat more oldschool. My last trip was on Edge, and I finally got used to that concept and its liveliness. I started to like it after all resistance.

Now I see all the pictures from Sun, and she appears to be more cozy and homesy again. 

This will be a hard seven monthts of waiting to find out.

1 hour ago, vjmatty said:

Still cheaper than $1800-$3500 on Royal Caribbean’s private island.  

Believing that people pay that on cruise lines other than Silversea, Regent etc. is giving me chills. 

Nothing I can imagine getting from Princess or let´s say Celebrity could ever justify that.

I understand that the few days of vacation that most US employees get, make those days their holy grail - but still...

During Covid, Silversea offered me 12 days (or was it even 14?) on Silver Moon in their highest category as a solo traveler with 5 ports for about 3700 $ - and not per day.

Nuts.

6 minutes ago, Milly1966 said:

Oh my goodness...yes it does open like this! I wonder how long it would have taken ne to figure that out....duh! Thank you!!

Glad I chose a boring trip.

Will spend much time there instead of tourist trap harbor shops.

Did i already miss photos of a CA cabin located in the Sphere?

Would be interested in how the balcony looks.

4 minutes ago, FLAlaska said:

From the deck plans, C1 are the ones located on the actual cabana deck, C2 are regular minisuite balcony but you have access to the deck.  All on Deck 9

Yeah. I am on deck 12 now. No Reserve Collection gadgets, but at least free views. And I can see the cabana deck from above.

My question was how to identify the Reserve Collection mini-suites. But I guess I figured that out now, I would have needed to book C1 or C2. Not CA.

Oh 😨

Does anyone understand which cabana mini-suites are entitled for the Reserve Collection?

I am finding it funny how, talking about an industry that is able to sell people a thing like Icon OTS as vacation, large portions of cruise folks believe that one, ten, a hundred or a thousand complaints from private persons matter to members of that industry at all.

Let me compare this to my job. I work for one of the top 5 biggest logistics providers in the world. Like cruise lines moving hundreds of passengers each day, we move a seven to eight digit count of shipments every day. I mean per day on a daily basis.

If General Motors or Apple or Tesla file a complaint with us, everybody gets moving and moves mountains. But if John Doe´s Bricklayer & Sons from Nowhere Valley files a complain... Well, someone will take care some given day. But if John Doe decides he never wants to work with us again, he is forgotten the next day.

And I strongly believe it´s the same thing with global players like Carnival and RCL. They know John Doe will come back some day, no matter what they did to him before. 

We are John Doe.

LNG is like a car crash at 100 mph but your seatbelt is made of bamboo, at least. Greenwashing at its best / worst.

I was just wondering if I will need conditioner and body lotion when the shower water is oily, anyway. How are they going to flush Diesel out of miles and miles of drinking water pipes within a few days? Hope that shoot is gone til October.

This mess made me click the Celebrity website again.

And this is why cruise lines should build their ships with Meyer Shipyards as long as some of our German economy still is available.

Ridiculous.

Hope my trip in October will not be the maiden voyage.

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I was so looking forward to following you along on the Inaugural cruise. So disappointing! The really awful thing is the way that no one could move over to any other cruises because they were sold out. Super disappointing. Anyway, I can’t wait until some information starts coming out. I can’t believe how little is on social media. Odd, don’t you think?

As a used-to-be avid Celebrity guest, I feel Princess is super underperforming in marketing the new ship class. What an ado was made about Edge class.

What I see from Princess, is giving me "Carnival spits out a new ship class for their medium luxury brand, check it out or leave it be" vibes. And maybe that is what´s actually going on inside of Princess / Carnival. They do not appear to be super crazy mad happy to present a new ship class. Like "people will buy it anyway".

Is there an overview for a Princess first timer which venues and events will need to be looked after (reservations etc.)? 

I am booked as Standard til now.

Hi fellow cruisers.

My cruise in October 2024 from FLL will be part of a long trip through several states. By its starting date, I will have traveled CA and HI. You can imagine that, on a Princess cruise, I do not want to dress and look like Tom Hanks in Cast Away.

I could use one suitcase for the CA and HI part and another one, with better clothing, for the cruise. The second one should rather not have been carried around for weeks when I board, so I was thinking I could just courier / FedEx it to my FLL hotel before the cruise and pick it up there.

Has anyone done this before? Does anyone know hotels accepting this?

Any constructive input would be appreciated, thank you.

1 minute ago, vjmatty said:

It’s not really a theme park from what I can tell. It seems more like a glorified sports deck. 

Yeah, I was just trying to find any category for "that"...

Looking very much forward to constructive reviews from customers soon. I could still swap this for a week Hawaii 🤓

I only want to try Princess for once when Celebrity performed too bad.

Not interested in the theme park up there. I want great food and super friendly service and a new ship.

13 minutes ago, IUSteve said:

Am I the only one who thinks it looks ugly and ungainly?  I'm sure it's great inside, and I realize all cruise ships today are boxy, but I miss the days when cruise ships looked like ... ships.  

If I was under 50, I'd even say ship is ugly af. Thank God I am 52 and "not amused".

Still looks two universes better than Icon...

For the time being, I start to get more interested in all the "which extras to book when for whom and what" and that kind of stuff. I got 9 months to wait, but as a Princess first timer, I got some FOMO going on, tbh 😄