Royal Princess Pre Maiden Cruise

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Royal Princess is due to have one or two 3 day pre maiden cruises,

 

according to port time table she will arrive ahead off these by a few days,

 

so will have time for TAs Media VIPs etc to have a look around,

 

so question how many folks are looking to book one of these cruises,

 

folks on the maiden are you looking to extend your cruise.

 

yours Shogun

[dmwnc1959]

I saw this when you first posted it on the other thread and forwarded to some folks I know that live near Southampton. Haven't heard back from them yet but it's safe to say they'll love experiencing a brand new ship. ;)

[dides]

Good to know - hoping to book the preview cruise leaving on 13th June. We are relative newbies and have only been on the Sapphire but the Royal looks fantastic! Looking to try one of the new deluxe balconies but if we miss out then any non-overlooked balcony will do.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Dates and Times for The Royal From Southampton Port

 

Cruise Liner

Royal Princess

Arrival

07/6/13

Departure

09/6/13 | 17:00

Operator

Princess CruisesTerminal

SOUTHAMPTON OCEAN Destination Blank

 

Royal Princess

Arrival

10/6/13 | 5:00

Departure

10/6/13 | 17:00

Operator

Princess CruisesTerminal

SOUTHAMPTON OCEAN Destination

Guernsey, Southampton Think this could just be an overnight or a mistake

 

Cruise Liner Royal Princess

Arrival

11/6/13 | 5:00

Departure

11/6/13 | 17:00

Operator

Princess CruisesTerminal

SOUTHAMPTON OCEAN Destination

Guernsey, Southampton

 

 

 

Cruise Liner Royal Princess

Arrival

13/6/13 | 5:00

Departure

13/6/13 | 17:00

Operator

Princess CruisesTerminal

SOUTHAMPTON OCEAN Destination

Guernsey, Southampton

 

« Back Cruise Liner Royal Princess

Arrival

16/6/13 | 5:00

Departure

16/6/13 | 17:00

Operator

Princess CruisesTerminal

SOUTHAMPTON OCEAN Destination

Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Spain

 

 

So looks like at least one three day cruise, may an over night as well,

but looks like she will be early and will have a few days in port.

Think one date looks wrong, but thats what the port has put out,

 

 

yours Shogun

[Bogof1]

Shogun thanks for this. Any idea how we book are they on web site or do we try TA?

[Shogun]

Hi There

 

I would watch Princess web site,

 

 

expect they will put out a press release telling all when they go on sale

 

just to good a PR to miss.

 

Then may be a web count down to the big day.

 

May be do as they did with maiden set time and day worldwide

 

yours Shogun

[Bogof1]

Just checked not there yet. Will continue to look, could really do with a short cruise it's a long way til September and the Crown!

[caribill]

Any idea how we book are they on web site or do we try TA?

 

Princess announced this when the original schedules were released last year.

 

Basically they said at the time these days were buffer days in case of a delivery delay and would not open them up for booking until they could be more certain a sailing could actually occur.

[Shogun]

Hi Caribill

 

Southampton port is showing the Royal arriving 9 days before maiden cruise, so we assume construction is going well,

 

 

yours Shogun

[julieh]

We were told by the future cruise consultant when we were on the Grand in October that the 3 day mini cruises were not going to happen they were going to be for Travel agents and press etc only. So we have booked on the Crown departing Southampton 12th June perhaps we might see the Royal?

[Shogun]

Hi There

 

While there are a number of TAs and industry VIPs

 

do not think Princess would give away 7000 free places

 

also the ship is in port ahead of these three day cruises

 

so expect thats when the trade and media will get there chance

 

to see her.

 

yours Shogun

[dides]

Someone on another board contacted Princess UK at the start of this month and they confirmed that these cruises will be made available to the general public

[englishbird]

I can't wait for my visit to look around The Royal. I have been told that we will have at least 1 night onboard for The TA/press event.:D:D

[Shogun]

Hi Englishbird

 

One of the better perks for being a good TA,

 

 

enjoy,

 

would love to meet my old TA, so crew can practice their man over board.

 

yours Shogun

[caribill]

From the Princess press release last valentine's day.

 

"The Royal Princess maiden season cruises will open for sale on March 15, 2012. There will also be two three-day preview cruises sailing roundtrip from Southampton on June 10 and 13 that will be available for booking at a later date."

 

http://www.princess.com/news/press_releases/2012/02/Princess-Cruises-Unveils-Inaugural-Itineraries-of-New-Royal-Princess.html

[dmwnc1959]

This is also posted on the Everything ROYAL PRINCESS thread (along with a LOT of other great details and an ongoing virtual tour), but I wanted to post it here as well in case there might be folks not following along on the other thread. ;)

 

Royal Princess preview sailings to go on sale

 

Princess Cruises has announced two preview cruises on board Royal Princess, giving passengers an opportunity to get a taste of the new ship before the official maiden voyage on June 16.

 

The cruise line said it is releasing details of the previews after being badgered by agents impatient for news of the sailings.

 

The June 9 and June 14 cruises will sail roundtrip from Southampton on a two-night itinerary featuring a call in St Peter Port, on the island of Guernsey.

 

Passengers on the short sailings will be able to sample features such as the SeaWalk, a top-deck glass-bottomed walkway extending over the water more than 28 feet beyond the edge of the vessel, the Princess Live! television studio and new poolside cabanas before the ship’s inaugural sailing.

 

Both voyages will go on sale on January 29 at 2pm to passengers already booked on the maiden voyage, and January 30 at 2pm to all other customers. Fares start from £349 per person for a balcony stateroom.

 

Paul Ludlow, Princess Cruises UK director, said: “Passengers and agents have shown great interest in these preview cruises and have been eagerly awaiting the chance to book. Therefore, we are delighted to be offering them the opportunity to experience Royal Princess on these two sailings.”

 

The 3,600-passenger Royal Princess is a new-generation ship for Princess Cruises, and other special features on board include a greatly-expanded atrium, a pastry shop and a Chef’s Table Lumiere, a private dining experience that surrounds diners in a curtain of light.

(Travel Weekly)

[caribill]

This is also posted on the Everything ROYAL PRINCESS thread (along with a LOT of other great details and an ongoing virtual tour), but I wanted to post it here as well in case there might be folks not following along on the other thread. ;)

 

Royal Princess preview sailings to go on sale

 

Princess Cruises has announced two preview cruises on board Royal Princess, giving passengers an opportunity to get a taste of the new ship before the official maiden voyage on June 16.

 

The cruise line said it is releasing details of the previews after being badgered by agents impatient for news of the sailings.

 

The June 9 and June 14 cruises will sail roundtrip from Southampton on a two-night itinerary featuring a call in St Peter Port, on the island of Guernsey.

 

Passengers on the short sailings will be able to sample features such as the SeaWalk, a top-deck glass-bottomed walkway extending over the water more than 28 feet beyond the edge of the vessel, the Princess Live! television studio and new poolside cabanas before the ship’s inaugural sailing.

 

Both voyages will go on sale on January 29 at 2pm to passengers already booked on the maiden voyage, and January 30 at 2pm to all other customers. Fares start from £349 per person for a balcony stateroom.

 

Paul Ludlow, Princess Cruises UK director, said: “Passengers and agents have shown great interest in these preview cruises and have been eagerly awaiting the chance to book. Therefore, we are delighted to be offering them the opportunity to experience Royal Princess on these two sailings.”

 

The 3,600-passenger Royal Princess is a new-generation ship for Princess Cruises, and other special features on board include a greatly-expanded atrium, a pastry shop and a Chef’s Table Lumiere, a private dining experience that surrounds diners in a curtain of light.

(Travel Weekly)

 

 

Also in a USA publication

http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2013/01/21/royal-princess-preview-cruise/1851203/

 

$530/person in obstructed balcony

 

Looks like they are trying to get back the cost of construction quickly at $265/person/night in the least expensive balcony cabins. Wonder what the unobstructed balcony cabins will go for.

[SCjason]

So after working all last night and getting home at 5:00am, I knew that the Princess preview voyage was being released at 9:00am for those already booked on the Maiden Voyage. At 8:59am I finally go through to Princess who told me that I had to go through a TA (which I later discovered was incorrect). I called my agency and of course my agent was off who knew all about this and I had to deal with a new agent that had no clue about the preview cruise. So at 9:25 I finally hung up on her and called back and spoke with a supervisor who began to assist me. We were on hold together for 40 minutes waiting for Princess so at 10:05 they came back on the line and said that Princess only released balconies and mini-suites for the June 14 voyage. I was not happy to say the least, I would have thought Princess would have at least made that known because we definitely were not expecting to pay $1153 for a 2 day preview cruise in a category BE. We booked it with hopes of them opening up the inside cabins in the future but I can't help but ask, does anyone else think that price was rather high for a 2 day cruise? Our entire 7 day maiden voyage wasn't but a few hundred more? I guess on the positive it will give us one more cruise credit but geeze!

[IECalCruiser]

So after working all last night and getting home at 5:00am, I knew that the Princess preview voyage was being released at 9:00am for those already booked on the Maiden Voyage. At 8:59am I finally go through to Princess who told me that I had to go through a TA (which I later discovered was incorrect). I called my agency and of course my agent was off who knew all about this and I had to deal with a new agent that had no clue about the preview cruise. So at 9:25 I finally hung up on her and called back and spoke with a supervisor who began to assist me. We were on hold together for 40 minutes waiting for Princess so at 10:05 they came back on the line and said that Princess only released balconies and mini-suites for the June 14 voyage. I was not happy to say the least, I would have thought Princess would have at least made that known because we definitely were not expecting to pay $1153 for a 2 day preview cruise in a category BE. We booked it with hopes of them opening up the inside cabins in the future but I can't help but ask, does anyone else think that price was rather high for a 2 day cruise? Our entire 7 day maiden voyage wasn't but a few hundred more? I guess on the positive it will give us one more cruise credit but geeze!

I wouldn't pay that much for the "privilege".

[Shogun]

Hi There

 

Seems a lot cost for us went down £50pp after I first booked,

 

no insides as held for workers, no suites etc held we think for VIPs whoare at naming on the 13th.

 

Maiden booked with TA pre maiden booked with Princess no problem,

 

Princess computers were in melt down, got 6 e mails of them after we booked,

 

rep said it took 17 goes to get booking through

 

then they would not take payment

 

me thinks Princess needs better It dept.

 

yours Shogun

[highheel girl]

So after working all last night and getting home at 5:00am, I knew that the Princess preview voyage was being released at 9:00am for those already booked on the Maiden Voyage. At 8:59am I finally go through to Princess who told me that I had to go through a TA (which I later discovered was incorrect). I called my agency and of course my agent was off who knew all about this and I had to deal with a new agent that had no clue about the preview cruise. So at 9:25 I finally hung up on her and called back and spoke with a supervisor who began to assist me. We were on hold together for 40 minutes waiting for Princess so at 10:05 they came back on the line and said that Princess only released balconies and mini-suites for the June 14 voyage. I was not happy to say the least, I would have thought Princess would have at least made that known because we definitely were not expecting to pay $1153 for a 2 day preview cruise in a category BE. We booked it with hopes of them opening up the inside cabins in the future but I can't help but ask, does anyone else think that price was rather high for a 2 day cruise? Our entire 7 day maiden voyage wasn't but a few hundred more? I guess on the positive it will give us one more cruise credit but geeze!

 

Yes greedy if you ask me. :rolleyes:

[DrivesLikeMario]

They are definitely for anyone, not only TAs and media. Captain's Circle Members were supposed to have first "dibs" on the cabins before they opened up to the general public.

[SCjason]

I wouldn't pay that much for the "privilege".

 

 

But that's just it, it is not the privilege that people think it is. Princess can tout these preview cruises any way they want to by saying come and preview the new layout, the new atrium, the new this; but the fact of the matter is, the June 9th preview cruise is nothing more then the crew working together out on the open seas for the first time with real passengers. They go out for 2 days, then they come back for 3 days off in which they critique everything that went wrong over the first trial. Then they tweak this and tweak that and then they go out on another "preview" cruise to make sure that everything is perfect for the actual maiden voyage leaving out on the 16th. And that is what surprised me so much, in all actuality, Princess should have been paying us to take these preview cruises because I can assure you that they are not going to be smooth sailings. There are going to be a lot of bugs to work out during those two voyages. But after the fare that we just paid I should get on that ship June 14th for my "preview" cruise and not expect a single issue, no more then I would on the Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, etc. But that will not be the case so to charge that much money for basically test guests I think they could have done that differently.

[SCjason]

They are definitely for anyone, not only TAs and media. Captain's Circle Members were supposed to have first "dibs" on the cabins before they opened up to the general public.

 

I have been asking about the preview cruises for a few months now and my TA finally called us on the 21st when they were announced. Initially, they were just going to open up at 9:00am on 1/30 for everyone but then just a few days ago they changed that and backed it up 1 day to give guests who are on the maiden voyage first dibs. Honestly, I kind of liked that because it gave us the chance to basically extend our cruise from 7 days to 9 days. The problem that I do have is the we are booked on an inside room for the 7 days and because Princess didn't open any inside rooms on the preview we had to book a balcony for the 2 days so now when we return to port we are going to have to pack up and change rooms. I truly hope that Princess is not going to make us completely disembark and wait in the terminal for 6 hours. I hope they will either allow us to store our luggage somewhere, or at the least, allow us to roll it up to breakfast and lunch until our next room is ready

[antsp]

Also in a USA publication

http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2013/01/21/royal-princess-preview-cruise/1851203/

 

$530/person in obstructed balcony

 

Looks like they are trying to get back the cost of construction quickly at $265/person/night in the least expensive balcony cabins. Wonder what the unobstructed balcony cabins will go for.

 

Just a thought, anyone have any idea how long the payback ison a new build like the Royal