PTMary

So? Do you actually think that the company's financial matters are by individual ship only? EVERYTHING is run through the corporate financial management system, which in seconds can determine where, and to whom, funds need to be allocated to and when. Just like every major company in the world does.

Princess can easily track every crew member's accounts and make adjustments to those accounts accordingly, even if everything is pooled. It isn't rocket science - just standard corporate financial systems, which all large companies employ. Your bank does this for millions of people every day.

Just standard fares for peak months summer months (our friends were both teachers). No packages or add-ons were priced out as they would need to carefully watch their budget. That is why we were focusing more on P&O than on other cruise lines. Alas, the husband passed due to Covid and we are no longer pricing cruises out of Southampton.

Not impactable at all. At the end of a cruise, all monetary matters are reconciled by the purser and his department. Every passenger's account is verified for expenditures made and if they are paid for. Every passenger's account will have recorded what package, if any, the passenger has, or whether that passenger has prepaid the gratuities if no package was purchased. If a passenger reduces their tips by 50%, it is recorded when the reduction is made, and the financial software onboard will attach it to the passenger's account. If at the end of the cruise the system flags a passenger's reduction, it will be taken into account by the purser and adjustments will be made accordingly. All cash tips received must be submitted by the crew (which they are required to by contract obligations) and will be recorded in the crew member's account. If tips have not been reduced, they will be reimbursed that tip amount in their paycheck. If tips have been reduced, or removed completely, then the crew member's account will be deducted a comparable cash amount to what was submitted to be applied to the tip pool. Anyone in finance will see that this is a simple and easy process, helped greatly by advanced financial software. BTW: if a crew member tries to hide cash tips, they risk being disciplined, which could, in extreme cases, result in immediate firing.

P&O eliminated tips in May 2019. Prices before were definitely cheaper. We have been pricing cruises on P&O out of Southampton for quite some time because we have friends we have been trying to convince to take a cruise with us. Pricing rose by about 20 percent immediately after the change, and have not come down much. Plus, the price difference between P&O and Princess is due to Princess being a more premium product, with P&O being more a budget product.

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I happen to like the multi tiered dining rooms. The ones Princess has had on their ships for decades feel closed-in in comparison. The Sun class will be a welcomed step forward in grand dining room designs. As for Celebrity, I have never had a bad cruise of the dozen or so we have taken with them. We've been on all the Millennium class ships, some multiple times, and enjoyed them all. They are "old school" with a more traditional feel to them. Lots of dark wood colors and cozy areas to lounge in. They just fell comfortable. But our favorite ship of all time is the Celebrity Reflection. We were on it's 2nd cruise after being launched, the first being a short 5-day repositioning cruise for the press. I still remember walking aboard and smelling that "new ship" smell. Everything was brand new, clean and barely used, nothing worn or broken. That cruise was the closest to perfection, with everything on the ship working perfectly. Princess is our 2nd favorite line, and they come in a close second. A great line for itineraries, but a bit shy on amenities. We have sailed a similar number of times on each.

I got that. I've been to enough concerts in my wilder days to know exactly what you meant. I shudder at the thought of how much money I spent on barely hearing the band due to the constant screaming around me. LOL!

Keep in mind that you are mere feet from the source of that music, not half a concert hall away. I agree with Santafefan. They balconies are not private or secluded. There are gaps in the edges of the dividers for sound to flow through. Any music or conversations on someone's balcony can be heard from adjacent balconies. Besides, the sound of the waves against the ship will require the music volume to be raised to be heard better by the music enthusiast. That additional level volume will drift over to the adjacent balconies. It is the simple science of sound waves.

Perhaps "some" would have been more accurate?

And probably less that the majority of cruise ship passengers.

Yes, that is what I recommend, and what we do even if they don't currently check. Just in case.

As many times as someone asks. No one has to answer the question, so just skip the question and move on. Besides, at any time Princess may start enforcing the arrival time slots. There is no guarantee that they will always ignore them. Telling people to go at anytime because they never check, and then when they do so they find out that the policy has been begun to be enforced, is not doing them any favors. I always recommend choosing a time just in case.

We picked the earliest, which I think was 11:00 am. To us, the cruise starts the minute we step on board so we always try to get on board as soon as possible. Plus, getting there earlier than later means we don't have to pay for lunch at a shore based restaurant. Might as well grab the "free food" that is available. We prefer Alfredo's for lunch, but sometimes head to the MDR that is open. We NEVER, I repeat, NEVER, subject ourselves to the frantic food hoarding competition in the buffet upon boarding.

And yet, here you are with post # 335. LOL!! BTW: I'm still here as well, with # 337. Bigger LOL!!