New to Princess!

[msfish]

We just booked our 1st PC sailing April on the Crown, we have a mini suite Guarantee, what are our chances of upgrade, did we make a good choice with a mini?

Our last cruise was HAL, loved the retreat area but a little limited on night life, is PC a happy medium from HAL and RC?

Any feed back would be great! :)

[Toto2Kansas]

Welcome to Princess: Your chances of an upgrade are as good as anyone elses, as most people leave their bookings open for an upgrade if one comes along, even those with assigned staterooms.

But keep in mind that 99% of upgrades are to the exact category you booked, which in this case is a mini suite. Less than 1% or less are upgraded to a full suite, it does happen, but very very rarely.

For us, if sailing on the Grand Class or larger ships, an AD mini suite is the best choice in the mini suite category, as they are the only mini suites with a fully covered and private balcony. These are availble only on the aft portion on the port and starboard sides of the ship on Emerald Deck. The rest of the mini suites are located on Dolphin Deck and they have a fully exposed and non-private balcony with no cover.

Good Luck, I hope they assign you a good mini suite location, as remember one thing, when booking a guarantee, you could be assigned a mini in a 'not so good' location, it is totally Princess choice in the matter. But if whatever you are assigned is not to your liking, if there are any other mini suites available in THAT category you were assigned, you can often get them to move you to a better location. ;)

[rumpelstiltskin]

I don't know what your chances are, but I hope you get lucky like DH & I did on our first Princess cruise.:D

 

We booked a minisuite on the Golden Princess a couple years ago to Alaska.

We were not informed that we got a free upgrade.

 

We found our assigned cabin, only to discover that our cards didn't work.

 

Found a crewmember who guided us to our stateroom. The entire time, DH groused to me that ~ so far, I am NOT happy with this cruise! ~

 

But when we opened the door to discover a most beautiful full suite with a huge balcony, he said: ~ Forget everything I just said about being unhappy with the cruise. ~

 

Hope you get your wish.:)

[jannandjohn]

We were not informed that we got a free upgrade. We found our assigned cabin, only to discover that our cards didn't work.

.:)

didn't they tell you what your cabin no. was when you checked in??..how odd.

[rumpelstiltskin]

didn't they tell you what your cabin no. was when you checked in??..how odd.

 

No, they did not. We found that to be odd as well.

But we had a great cruise.:)

[rimau]

I once had an upgrade from inside to outside and no one said anything. It took a trip to the service deck to find out why our key did not work.

[jannandjohn]

I once had an upgrade from inside to outside and no one said anything. It took a trip to the service deck to find out why our key did not work.

a true case of "one hand not knowing what the other one is doing"..very bad organisation by the booking people.

[caribill]

On every Princess Cruise I have been on, when checking in they have given me a small map of the ship and have written my cabin number on it.

[FawnRiver]

On our first Princess cruise, we were upgraded from a mini to a full suite. Our TA said it doesn't happen very often, and she couldn't explain exactly why we were picked (we had an assigned stateroom, not a guarantee). Perhaps being a first cruise, it gives you slightly better chances - Princess is savvy enough to know that's a great opportunity to get you hooked. It certainly worked with us. :D

 

Good luck and happy cruising!

[Stevesan]

On our first Princess cruise, we were upgraded from a mini to a full suite. Our TA said it doesn't happen very often, and she couldn't explain exactly why we were picked (we had an assigned stateroom, not a guarantee). Perhaps being a first cruise, it gives you slightly better chances - Princess is savvy enough to know that's a great opportunity to get you hooked. It certainly worked with us. :D

 

Good luck and happy cruising!

 

Our first Celebrity cruise (Mercury) we were upgraded at check-in from a mid OV to a Sky Suite. That was the only real upgrade we ever have had.

When you stay in a Sky Suite you'll enjoy the luxury of European-style butler service. This includes assistance with unpacking and packing. In-suite lunch and dinner service. Afternoon tea. Evening hors d'oeuvres and complimentary espresso and cappuccino.

Thalassotherapy access was included, rtoo.

 

I've had a couple bargain upsells, but they don't count. :p

I see Mercury is no longer listed on Celebrity's web site. I suppose it went to the old ships home.

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/explore/ships/detail.do?shipCode=CN#staterooms/explore/ships/stateroomDetails.do%3FcabinType=SS&cabincls=D&shipCode=CN

[FawnRiver]

Our first Celebrity cruise (Mercury) we were upgraded at check-in from a mid OV to a Sky Suite. That was the only real upgrade we ever have had.

When you stay in a Sky Suite you'll enjoy the luxury of European-style butler service. This includes assistance with unpacking and packing. In-suite lunch and dinner service. Afternoon tea. Evening hors d'oeuvres and complimentary espresso and cappuccino.

Thalassotherapy access was included, rtoo.

 

I've had a couple bargain upsells, but they don't count. :p

I see Mercury is no longer listed on Celebrity's web site. I suppose it went to the old ships home.

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/explore/ships/detail.do?shipCode=CN#staterooms/explore/ships/stateroomDetails.do%3FcabinType=SS&cabincls=D&shipCode=CN

A full suite on Princess does include access to the spa's thermal suite, free laundry service and Sabatini's for breakfast (yum). There are no butlers which doesn't particularly bother me. I like to unpack my own stuff.

We were upgraded well in advance of the cruise, presumably they had too many mini-suite guarantees so someone had to move and they picked us. I was a little worried because our mini was amidship and the full suite was aft and I didn't know if the motion of the ship would bother me, but we did it anyway. We certainly didn't regret it.

[cruisnpat]

We booked an inside cabin on a TA cruise in May and ended up in an aft balcony cabin. What a great surprise that was, but we did know about it a few days before we left home.

[Cruisin Kay D]

One recent cruise we booked a balcony guarantee and were assigned an amazing aft balcony. I considered putting in for an upgrade to suite since booking on that ship had been so light -- then I counted the number of mini-suites VS number of bigger suites -- decided my chances to get a big suite was "between slim & none" because any people already in minis had best chance of being moved into a big suite, and nearly all the minis could not beat the balcony I had on the aft!!!

Actually our 1st real upgrade gift occurred on our 3rd Alaskan cruise (probably our 12th on Princess) -- moved from obstructed oceanview on Emerald to Balcony on Aloha!!!

Met a couple on a recent cruise who were on their FIRST ever cruise and got upgraded from balcony to a BIG aft suite!!! What GREAT luck!!! But their problem now is that they may never be happy in a regular balcony cabin!!!

So you just never know!!! Good luck on your chance to get the suite upgrade! Afraid I will NEVER be in a suite except to say hello to someone else.

[lovevacadays]

In regards to your question about nightlife being a happy medium between HAL and RCI - that's how I would describe it. My one and only HAL cruise the night life was dead, dead, dead. Actually, my few RCI cruises have been several years ago and not on the newer ships. Back then I would say the night life between RCI and Princess was similar. RCI may have more venues now on their bigger ships than Princess but I'm not sure.

 

We always seem to find entertaining things to do at night.

[Stevesan]

A full suite on Princess does include access to the spa's thermal suite, free laundry service and Sabatini's for breakfast (yum). There are no butlers which doesn't particularly bother me. I like to unpack my own stuff.

We were upgraded well in advance of the cruise, presumably they had too many mini-suite guarantees so someone had to move and they picked us. I was a little worried because our mini was amidship and the full suite was aft and I didn't know if the motion of the ship would bother me, but we did it anyway. We certainly didn't regret it.

 

The butler kindly allowed me to unpack my bags.

 

The other services were very nice. So, too, was he. :p

[Stevesan]

In regards to your question about nightlife being a happy medium between HAL and RCI - that's how I would describe it. My one and only HAL cruise the night life was dead, dead, dead. Actually, my few RCI cruises have been several years ago and not on the newer ships. Back then I would say the night life between RCI and Princess was similar. RCI may have more venues now on their bigger ships than Princess but I'm not sure.

 

We always seem to find entertaining things to do at night.

 

An evening on Maasdam:

Showtime-CLUB NEVADA 8:00 & 10:00

Black jack tournament - 7:30

Piano Bar - Name That Tune 9:00 & 11:00

Crow's Nest - Larry On Guitar 5:00 & 9:00 - Dance Thru the Decades with the DJ - 9:00 - 11:00

Ocean Bar The Neptunes 5:30& 11:30

Explorer's Lounge Adagio strings

 

Wish I owned the scooter franchise.:p

[deminggraham]

I have booked guarantee Mini's on several cruises and have always wound up with a higher grade Mini. I prefer mid ship or aft. One time I was assigned forward and I found it inconvenient to most locations on the ship. Remember, if you are assigned a cabin and don't like the location, you can change to another location within the same category if there is one open that you would prefer. Good luck and I hope you get a great upgrade.

[msfish]

Thanks for all the info, looking forward to whatever we end up with :)