JamieLogical

Exciting news to report this morning. Late last night we got our room assignment! We did not receive an email notification from Princess, but my husband logged in to check before bed (we both check like 5 times a day) and there it was! I had a moment of confusion because the room we were assigned was a Forward-Facing Minisuite and I thought that meant we had won our upgrade bid for a Reserve Class Forward-Facing Minisuite. So I checked my email again and didn't see anything about winning the bid. So then I logged into the PlusGrade site to see if my bid had been accepted and it still showed as pending. Upon closer examination, I realized that the room we were assigned was not a Reserve Class room, so we just got a normal forward-facing minisuite, which I guess I didn't realize existed (they are only on a couple of decks). Anyway, we were really happy with the room assignment, because we do like staying in unique cabins with large balconies and this certainly fits the bill. The layout is completely different from a "regular" minisuite on Princess ships. We immediately went to CruiseDeckPlans to look at photos and videos of the room. We found a video of our exact room by a couple with a YouTube channel called "Suite Natured" and they are our new favorite YouTubers because they are ridiculously cute! We watched their video of our room twice and then watched their full ship tour of the Enchanted Princess. Here's the video of our room if anyone is interested: I will be sure to take plenty of pictures of my own as well. There are a couple of things I really like about this room. First off, it doesn't have that stupid walk-in closet area that the normal Princess rooms have. If you read my Live Blog of the Emerald Princess, you know how much I hate that space. I hate that it leaves all my stuff exposed and it's the first thing you see when you walk in the room. I like things neat and tucked away, so it drove me crazy just to see a mess of hanging clothes and a laundry basket on the floor first thing every time I walked into the room. I also hated that the tendency was for whoever was getting ready to stand in that space, blocking access into/out of the bathroom for the other person and posing a real danger to whoever was standing there if someone was in the bathroom and swung the door open quickly. I hated the motion sensor light that always seemed to want to turn on or off at the wrong times and blinded anyone who needed to use the bathroom at night. And, finally, I just hated how much space it wasted that could have been MUCH better utilized in the bathroom. So, right off the bat, I am happy our assigned room just has regular closets. It seems to have plenty of closet and shelf space, so that is great! I also, obviously, love the huge balcony and I think we will get some incredible views from it. I don't love the steel railing, since that does limit the view some, but that is the price you pay for being on the front of the ship. The fact the room has two TVs seems quite silly with the configuration. I also think that if you were a family who booked a minisuite and wanted the separation between the couch and bed that a regular minisuite affords, you would be sorely disappointed. Fortunately, that doesn't matter to us. The only other thing I am a little sad about is not having much of a view from the bed, but I think I can live with that. Ironically, we booked all of our MDR reservations for the Amalfi dining room, which is the one all the way aft on deck 6. It's only accessible from the aft elevators, so we will have quite a walk to dinner each night! We will definitely be getting our steps in on this sailing! I am so happy to be able to print our luggage tags and not go through that whole rigamarole at the port. Our Medallions are scheduled to arrive in the mail today!

We are booked on that one as well and plan to make our decision on final payment while onboard this sailing, since final payment is due 5/12 and this cruise ends 5/11. There are a whole bunch of factors that will go into that, but at least we will be better equipped to make an informed decision.

How much you paid for your original stateroom is completely irrelevant. They already have that money. This seems to shock people, but businesses are usually in the business of making money. They already have your money so if someone is willing to give them more NEW money than you are, they are going to award the upgrade to the person who is giving them more new money. The best way to think about the MoveUp program is that upgrades are not one single room to another single room, they are an entire chain. You upgrade to an Iconic, someone else upgrades to your old suite, someone else upgrades to that person's balcony, someone else upgrades to that person's OV... What any business that is in the business of making money (hint: that's all of them) will do is complete the chain of upgrades that is going to net them the most money.

Can't make any promises as I have only ever sampled the pre-made pasta dishes on the buffet on my MSC sailings. They definitely do have a couple of those out at lunch and dinner every day, though I MUCH preferred the pasta dishes in the MDR, which were all amazing. I would always order the pasta dishes for both lunch and dinner and every time they were almost TOO good.

I hated the Emerald Princess and will avoid it like the plague, but it is the only Princess ship I have ever been on, so I can't say how it compares to the Royal Class ships. I am banking that I will greatly prefer the Royal Class as I am sailing on the Enchanted in under two weeks. I am really hoping I like the newer ships as the Emerald was much too old for me.

There is seating beyond the check-in area, but not before you get through security and check-in. The seating can fill up depending on how late the ship begins boarding.

Definitely do NOT need a tux or cocktail dress for formal night. Some may wear them, but there is certainly no requirement. Just don't wear shorts, holey jeans, or a t-shirt/tank top and you will be fine.

Anyone who thinks that their every move wasn't being tracked on Princess before the Medalions or isn't being tracked on every other cruise ship/line is fooling themselves. They have had cameras everywhere with facial recognition as long as I have been cruising (granted, that is just since 2018). Your keycard gets scanned at bars, shops, restaurants, MDRs, theaters, etc. on other cruise lines, it's not just used to access your room.

Yep, just checked the Deck Plans and all of the OR1 (Deluxe Ocean View) cabins are on Deck 5. Those are essentially identical to the Balcony cabins, minus the actual balcony, but the floorplan is the same.

I think only the Deluxe Ocean View cabins have a couch. Those are mostly on Deck 5, I believe.

I have seen pasta stations on MSC ships in the buffet, but never actually tried them. Looked like they had various noodle types, various sauces, and various toppings and they would mix them all together for you?

Here's a video of a similarly located OV cabin on the Virtuosa, which is a Meragivlia Plus class ship:

CruiseDeckPlans is always a great source for videos and photos of specific cabins. Be aware that even if they don't have photos/videos of a specific room on the ship you are booked on, you can check out the other ships in the same class, as the cabins are typically very similar between ships in the same class.

There should be a link at the top of that page called "Cruise Details" that will have your stateroom number listed if/when it is assigned:

It's definitely not random, but it is complicated. Every upgrade is actually a chain of upgrades and what matters to them is which chains will net them the most money. So if I am booked in an Interior and bit the max on a Balcony and then I hear about someone in an OV that bid the minimum for a Balcony and won, I might be pretty miffed, because I bid way more than that other person. But the fact is that someone else in an Interior probably bid on an OV and the combination of moving that person into the OV and the OV person into the Balcony netted more money. I promise you, every business is in the business of making money, so there is no randomness involved. They will absolutely, without fail, award bids based on what will net them the most money. That's why any question about what you originally paid or loyalty level should not factor in AT ALL. They already have all the money from everyone's original bookings. What you paid for that is completely irrelevant. What matters at the time of awarding upgrade bids is how much MORE you are paying NOW.