Live from the Caribbean Princess Sanctuary

[TheY85]

Hello! We are currently on the Caribbean Princess doing a back-to-back Eastern/Western Caribbean Cruise - We had booked a similar itinerary on the Sky Princess for March 2020 that was cancelled due to Covid two days before we were to set sail.  We are finally taking that cruise! We have taken quite a few Princess Cruises - We are platinum members - almost elite - and we have cruised on other lines as well so we are somewhat experienced when it comes to cruising … 
 

in anticipation of this cruise I started watching YouTube videos - my there are a lot of talented people out there giving us all advice - Thank you to all of those folks! 
 

it seemed the consensus - at least from the people whose videos I watched - was that the Sanctuary was well worth the extra cost. Soooo … on embarkation day, my husband and I raced up to the Sanctuary as soon as we boarded the ship so that we could make our reservations. We were #20 and we were in the first boarding group so we were surprised so many people beat us here. Anyways, as we waited for our number to be called the person who appeared to be in charge announced that all of the lounge chairs had already been sold out for the sea days. We were then informed that they had some clam shells left - not our first choice as we love the sun and were hoping for loungers on the deck in the sunshine, but we decided to give the clam shells a try. 

Today, our first sea day, we went to the Sanctuary at 1:00 pm. There were still people in the clamshell we had reserved and we were asked to wait a few minutes. At about 1:05, we were shown to our clamshell. Shortly thereafter we were handed a menu and our lunch order was taken. We each ordered a bento box and a drink. At about 2 pm we finally received our drinks - We had seriously considered ordering drinks through the medallion class app by that point. We still waited quite some time for our Bento Boxes, which were very tasty when they finally did arrive. But by that point, we were really thinking the upcharge is not worth it. No one came to ask if we wanted anything else so we did end up ordering drinks on the app and they arrived promptly, which was pretty impressive. Again we thought the Sanctuary really is not worth it. But as I started writing this, it was afternoon tea time - (I had forgotten that was served in the Sanctuary) We had a very attentive server who offered sandwiches, pastries, tea and coffee. It was very nice. 
 

We have the Sanctuary booked already for our next sea day as well - Are we excited about that? I would have to say no. We were not able to reserve the lounge chairs we would have much preferred to the clam shells and really the service has not been what we expected. 
 

 

[rbtan]

12 minutes ago, TheY85 said:

Hello! We are currently on the Caribbean Princess doing a back-to-back Eastern/Western Caribbean Cruise - We had booked a similar itinerary on the Sky Princess for March 2020 that was cancelled due to Covid two days before we were to set sail.  We are finally taking that cruise! We have taken quite a few Princess Cruises - We are platinum members - almost elite - and we have cruised on other lines as well so we are somewhat experienced when it comes to cruising … 
 

in anticipation of this cruise I started watching YouTube videos - my there are a lot of talented people out there giving us all advice - Thank you to all of those folks! 
 

it seemed the consensus - at least from the people whose videos I watched - was that the Sanctuary was well worth the extra cost. Soooo … on embarkation day, my husband and I raced up to the Sanctuary as soon as we boarded the ship so that we could make our reservations. We were #20 and we were in the first boarding group so we were surprised so many people beat us here. Anyways, as we waited for our number to be called the person who appeared to be in charge announced that all of the lounge chairs had already been sold out for the sea days. We were then informed that they had some clam shells left - not our first choice as we love the sun and were hoping for loungers on the deck in the sunshine, but we decided to give the clam shells a try. 

Today, our first sea day, we went to the Sanctuary at 1:00 pm. There were still people in the clamshell we had reserved and we were asked to wait a few minutes. At about 1:05, we were shown to our clamshell. Shortly thereafter we were handed a menu and our lunch order was taken. We each ordered a bento box and a drink. At about 2 pm we finally received our drinks - We had seriously considered ordering drinks through the medallion class app by that point. We still waited quite some time for our Bento Boxes, which were very tasty when they finally did arrive. But by that point, we were really thinking the upcharge is not worth it. No one came to ask if we wanted anything else so we did end up ordering drinks on the app and they arrived promptly, which was pretty impressive. Again we thought the Sanctuary really is not worth it. But as I started writing this, it was afternoon tea time - (I had forgotten that was served in the Sanctuary) We had a very attentive server who offered sandwiches, pastries, tea and coffee. It was very nice. 
 

We have the Sanctuary booked already for our next sea day as well - Are we excited about that? I would have to say no. We were not able to reserve the lounge chairs we would have much preferred to the clam shells and really the service has not been what we expected. 
 

 

We did the Star(now a P&O sip, I believe) in late Jan.2020. As you can imagine, the Bug was making itself known.We felt that some of the "Flu" cases on board were most likely Covid.This was a Hawaii trip. It was amazingly cold in Sanctuary as the Aleutian current runs fairly strong in the winter off California. My spouse pretty much had the entire Sanctuary to himself, due to the cold.He booked every sea day. Attention to detail was excellent. We do Club Class(now Reserve) and we think they attend to CC & the Suites a little better.I did a few times & really liked to food & Mauritso our attendant was second to none.My Spouse prefers less sun so he was totally bundled up like you see on Titanic.In the Caribbean on the Regal it was much warmer.Keith frequently would do full days & read & stay curled up on the comfy lounger. On Oceania Line ALL loungers are thickly padded everywhere on the ships.This is the line we do most often & alternate with Princess when we like the itineraries more.I think when thee is less pax on board the service is better, but we found it fine on the Regal to be excellent as well. We'll just have to wait & see.

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, TheY85 said:

We were then informed that they had some clam shells left - not our first choice as we love the sun and were hoping for loungers on the deck in the sunshine, but we decided to give the clam shells a try. 

What do you mean by this?  The high-priced Cabanas?  Never heard of a clamshell chair cover in the Sanctuary.  For me, a clamshell are those curved things they have on the beach at Princess Cay.

Usually, it is the "shaded" loungers that go first.  Actually the CB does have some full to high-shade loungers compared to the Royal Class.

 

Have you figured out yet to let Mgr/Supvr know you want to book for the next voyage as you are B2B?  You won't be alone in this and is partly why you weren't successful the first leg.  Also, you will have had a bunch of Elite and Suite guest boarding ahead of you who would have had a head start.  You need to be a quick runner to beat enough of them to secure desired chairs.

[TheY85]

Hi, yes the clam shells are like the ones on the beach except they are raised beds. There are four of them on each side in the only area of the Sanctuary that is not covered. 
 

We were planning to book for next week - We were told we would have to wait until Friday to do that, but, as I said, for us it is not really worth it. We were looking forward to having a reserved lounger in the sun … The Sanctuary really doesn’t have much to offer for those of us wanting sun. Also, we have had much better service when renting cabanas in water parks back when our kids were little. Yesterday no one came to ask us if we wanted a drink at all throughout the day until “tea time”. If we wanted anything we found it better to use the app and we can do that from anywhere on the ship. Because this was our first time trying the Sanctuary, we don’t know if this was a one off, or if you really can’t expect much service while there (?) Maybe the people sitting in the covered area get the service (?) 

 

Oh - and actually we are both fast runners - haha! And we were in the priority boarding lounge, so we were part of the first group onto the ship but we didn’t push past anyone - We were pretty relaxed but we did head to the Sanctuary as soon as we boarded. 

[Jilliebean28]

We always book Sanctuary but really think that Sanctuary on the Royal class ships are so much better than Sanctuary on the Grand class ships.  The crew seemed to be so much more attentive and friendly on the Royal class and we liked the layout much more.

[Cruisingawayfromthesnow!]

On 4/24/2023 at 2:38 PM, TheY85 said:

Hello! We are currently on the Caribbean Princess doing a back-to-back Eastern/Western Caribbean Cruise - We had booked a similar itinerary on the Sky Princess for March 2020 that was cancelled due to Covid two days before we were to set sail.  We are finally taking that cruise! We have taken quite a few Princess Cruises - We are platinum members - almost elite - and we have cruised on other lines as well so we are somewhat experienced when it comes to cruising … 
 

in anticipation of this cruise I started watching YouTube videos - my there are a lot of talented people out there giving us all advice - Thank you to all of those folks! 
 

it seemed the consensus - at least from the people whose videos I watched - was that the Sanctuary was well worth the extra cost. Soooo … on embarkation day, my husband and I raced up to the Sanctuary as soon as we boarded the ship so that we could make our reservations. We were #20 and we were in the first boarding group so we were surprised so many people beat us here. Anyways, as we waited for our number to be called the person who appeared to be in charge announced that all of the lounge chairs had already been sold out for the sea days. We were then informed that they had some clam shells left - not our first choice as we love the sun and were hoping for loungers on the deck in the sunshine, but we decided to give the clam shells a try. 

Today, our first sea day, we went to the Sanctuary at 1:00 pm. There were still people in the clamshell we had reserved and we were asked to wait a few minutes. At about 1:05, we were shown to our clamshell. Shortly thereafter we were handed a menu and our lunch order was taken. We each ordered a bento box and a drink. At about 2 pm we finally received our drinks - We had seriously considered ordering drinks through the medallion class app by that point. We still waited quite some time for our Bento Boxes, which were very tasty when they finally did arrive. But by that point, we were really thinking the upcharge is not worth it. No one came to ask if we wanted anything else so we did end up ordering drinks on the app and they arrived promptly, which was pretty impressive. Again we thought the Sanctuary really is not worth it. But as I started writing this, it was afternoon tea time - (I had forgotten that was served in the Sanctuary) We had a very attentive server who offered sandwiches, pastries, tea and coffee. It was very nice. 
 

We have the Sanctuary booked already for our next sea day as well - Are we excited about that? I would have to say no. We were not able to reserve the lounge chairs we would have much preferred to the clam shells and really the service has not been what we expected. 
 

 

Are the clam shells in the Sanctuary adjustable?  Can you move the attached sun shades?  Thanks 

[Steelers36]

On 4/25/2023 at 8:31 AM, TheY85 said:

Because this was our first time trying the Sanctuary, we don’t know if this was a one off, or if you really can’t expect much service while there (?) Maybe the people sitting in the covered area get the service (?) 

No, you should have had visits from the staff there - unless you looked visibly asleep. 

 

Interesting you want sun and that class of ship certainly has a wide open full sun area to left and right out near the entrance.  Was never as much in demand as inside in the shade.  That class of ship offers best shade of any in fleet, certainly more than Royal Class. 

 

For shade lovers, CB, KP, EP, RU and likely AP are the best IMO.

[Cruisin Cathy AZ]

On 4/24/2023 at 1:38 PM, TheY85 said:

Hello! We are currently on the Caribbean Princess doing a back-to-back Eastern/Western Caribbean Cruise - We had booked a similar itinerary on the Sky Princess for March 2020 that was cancelled due to Covid two days before we were to set sail.  We are finally taking that cruise! We have taken quite a few Princess Cruises - We are platinum members - almost elite - and we have cruised on other lines as well so we are somewhat experienced when it comes to cruising … 
 

in anticipation of this cruise I started watching YouTube videos - my there are a lot of talented people out there giving us all advice - Thank you to all of those folks! 
 

it seemed the consensus - at least from the people whose videos I watched - was that the Sanctuary was well worth the extra cost. Soooo … on embarkation day, my husband and I raced up to the Sanctuary as soon as we boarded the ship so that we could make our reservations. We were #20 and we were in the first boarding group so we were surprised so many people beat us here. Anyways, as we waited for our number to be called the person who appeared to be in charge announced that all of the lounge chairs had already been sold out for the sea days. We were then informed that they had some clam shells left - not our first choice as we love the sun and were hoping for loungers on the deck in the sunshine, but we decided to give the clam shells a try. 

Today, our first sea day, we went to the Sanctuary at 1:00 pm. There were still people in the clamshell we had reserved and we were asked to wait a few minutes. At about 1:05, we were shown to our clamshell. Shortly thereafter we were handed a menu and our lunch order was taken. We each ordered a bento box and a drink. At about 2 pm we finally received our drinks - We had seriously considered ordering drinks through the medallion class app by that point. We still waited quite some time for our Bento Boxes, which were very tasty when they finally did arrive. But by that point, we were really thinking the upcharge is not worth it. No one came to ask if we wanted anything else so we did end up ordering drinks on the app and they arrived promptly, which was pretty impressive. Again we thought the Sanctuary really is not worth it. But as I started writing this, it was afternoon tea time - (I had forgotten that was served in the Sanctuary) We had a very attentive server who offered sandwiches, pastries, tea and coffee. It was very nice. 
 

We have the Sanctuary booked already for our next sea day as well - Are we excited about that? I would have to say no. We were not able to reserve the lounge chairs we would have much preferred to the clam shells and really the service has not been what we expected. 
 

 

I would have come into the hut and asked for the manager and explained your disappointment and displeasure. I would have also asked in all seriousness how was it possible you were #20 were all of the chairs taken at that point in the reservation process. There are more than 20 chairs and two sessions. I also, would not have waited for them to bring me drinks. It is part of the fee. If you didn’t have the drink pact then you paid out of pocoo. What you ordered from the app. It is truly okay to stand up and walk over and inquire as to the status of your order or ask for additional beverages.you are I. Fact paying a hefty fee to sit there.

[TheY85]

On 5/8/2023 at 2:32 PM, Cruisingawayfromthesnow! said:

Are the clam shells in the Sanctuary adjustable?  Can you move the attached sun shades?  Thanks 

Hi! Sorry for the delay - no - the clam shells are not adjustable and the shades cannot be removed to my knowledge. 

[TheY85]

On 5/10/2023 at 9:50 PM, Cruisin Cathy AZ said:

I would have come into the hut and asked for the manager and explained your disappointment and displeasure. I would have also asked in all seriousness how was it possible you were #20 were all of the chairs taken at that point in the reservation process. There are more than 20 chairs and two sessions. I also, would not have waited for them to bring me drinks. It is part of the fee. If you didn’t have the drink pact then you paid out of pocoo. What you ordered from the app. It is truly okay to stand up and walk over and inquire as to the status of your order or ask for additional beverages.you are I. Fact paying a hefty fee to sit there.

Sorry for the delay - We were just so surprised by the lack of service. We did not complain on the day, as this was our first time booking the sanctuary (and probably our last) so we didn’t know what to expect. We were told the reason they were so booked was as a result of so many back-to-back cruisers the previous week. 
 

We ended up cancelling our other reservations for the sanctuary and we much preferred finding our own lounge chairs for the remainder of our cruise. (Oh and we had booked Princess Plus, so drinks were included)

[TheY85]

On 5/8/2023 at 3:00 PM, Steelers36 said:

No, you should have had visits from the staff there - unless you looked visibly asleep. 

 

Interesting you want sun and that class of ship certainly has a wide open full sun area to left and right out near the entrance.  Was never as much in demand as inside in the shade.  That class of ship offers best shade of any in fleet, certainly more than Royal Class. 

 

For shade lovers, CB, KP, EP, RU and likely AP are the best IMO.

No - we definitely did not look like we were sleeping. And we really weren’t sure if the lack of service was the norm or not. Other people in clam shells in our area also ordered from the app because of the lack of service in the sanctuary. From the replies I have gotten maybe we just caught them on a bad day (?) Everything else during our two weeks on the ship was absolutely wonderful - no complaints at all. 

[Cruisin Cathy AZ]

52 minutes ago, TheY85 said:

Sorry for the delay - We were just so surprised by the lack of service. We did not complain on the day, as this was our first time booking the sanctuary (and probably our last) so we didn’t know what to expect. We were told the reason they were so booked was as a result of so many back-to-back cruisers the previous week. 
 

We ended up cancelling our other reservations for the sanctuary and we much preferred finding our own lounge chairs for the remainder of our cruise. (Oh and we had booked Princess Plus, so drinks were included)

No delay at all. I don’t blame you at all for canceling I probably would’ve done the same after I spoke with management. They usually are remarkable at addressing passengers concerns. I love princess and the sanctuary when I can get in. 😃