capriccio

I can speak to a comparison with MSC’s Yacht Club and there is no comparison based on all my readings to date. All YC cabins have butlers and stewards, on their builds within the last 5 years or so all YC venues and cabins are co-located in a private area, plus their private island (designed from the ground up by them) is gorgeous and includes a dedicated YC area with a restaurant. Since this is a new class of ship you would think Princess might have sent secret shoppers/cruisers on other lines with the ship within a ship concept to report back on what works like cabin sizes, service-many have butlers, drink inclusions, lounge, pool, restaurants, etc. and, most importantly, fares and what doesn’t.

Wow. I guess I'm totally naive. That would never have occurred to me!

I don't understand why the YC wristband isn't required when visiting YC specific venues. That is an easy and unobtrusive form of identification.

Is that a current photo or a pre-launch mock up? At one time I read that only the Signature suites would have a coffee maker. After yesterday's announcement of the inclusion of many other cabins into the Sanctuary Collection who knows? I'm not sure even Princess corporate knows but I am sure customer service couldn't tell you.

Now there will be a daily race of many more people than there are lounges.

Lori - I see that I misled you because the Africa & Middle East forum is set up differently from others that are broken down by area and country or just country. I guess there aren't enough cruise ports in Africa to warrant that. You can obviously post questions there - just make sure you include the port's name in the title. If you want to research the entire forum: go to Search in the upper right corner of the page and enter each port's name individually. For example, I entered Cape Town and got this result:

Since this is a new class of ship you would think Princess might have sent secret shoppers/cruisers on other lines with the ship within a ship concept to report back on what works like cabin sizes, service-many have butlers, drink inclusions, lounge, pool, restaurants, etc. and, most importantly, fares and what doesn’t. I can speak to a comparison with MSC’s Yacht Club and there is no comparison based on all my readings to date.

Especially if we had known that over 100 (IIRC) of them were going to be upgraded!

The Sun Deck/Sanctuary is one of the major reasons we booked an S9 (it certainly wasn't for the terrible short backed balcony chairs that don't even recline a bit). This is a Caribbean cruise and we always book the Sanctuary for the entire week on other Princess ships. I was already concerned about the apparent lack of any shade now I can add being concerned about even getting any place to sit.

That is the only change to our S9 booked with the Plus package and still including the Plus package. The Sanctuary Class Indicator is new although the S9 is a suite designation and was already included as a suite. Plus Beverage Package + Juice Bar 1 $514.43 $514.43 MedallionNet 1-device WiFi 1 $104.93 $104.93 Fitness Classes (2 Classes) 1 $55.09 $55.09 Premium Desserts (2 per day) 1 $73.22 $73.22 DND - Free Medallion Shipping 1 $7.00 $7.00 Crew Appreciation Included 1 $126.00 $126.00 SANCTUARY CLASS INDICATOR 1 $0.00 $0.00

What has changed, in addition to the astronomical fare increase for future bookings, is that the already booked suite guests will be sharing the same amount of space with more than twice as many people as when they originally booked.

And the Concierge Lounge will be more crowded too but at least you booked at a much lower fare I presume. Our S9 fare for a 1 week cruise for 2 passengers increased from under $5000 including the Plus package to $8300 with the Premium package included. if we decide to keep the booking, it will be one and done at those fares.

We booked an S9 (signature suite/mini-suite layout) 3 months ago. When I checked our travel summary this afternoon, note the added line at the bottom. We still have the Plus package but they added a Sanctuary Class Indicator. Plus Beverage Package + Juice Bar 1 $514.43 $514.43 MedallionNet 1-device WiFi 1 $104.93 $104.93 Fitness Classes (2 Classes) 1 $55.09 $55.09 Premium Desserts (2 per day) 1 $73.22 $73.22 DND - Free Medallion Shipping 1 $7.00 $7.00 Crew Appreciation Included 1 $126.00 $126.00 SANCTUARY CLASS INDICATOR 1 $0.00 $0.00

I know recent postings by passengers have said they had no issue with immediate seating in the Signature restaurant while there are long lines in the Reserve restaurant. Maybe that was an impetus for these changes? I just assumed when a company is designing a new totally new ship class they would either determine how much space they had for the areas (lounge, sun deck, restaurant in this case) dedicated to the new 'ship within a ship' concept Padgett is crowing about. Then determined how many passengers could be accommodated and design the cabins. OR determine how many suite cabins they want and design the specialized areas to accommodate those passengers. Instead it seems that none of this was considered. The sun deck as designed would never accommodate all (or whatever percentage used in their calculations) suite passengers so they moved quickly to designate the Sanctuary for suite passengers too. Looking at the pictures of the lounge I wondered about its original capacity. The new Signature designation looks like it is doubling the number of passengers.

I hope you are right but on the new Signature Collection web page (https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/onboard-experience/sanctuary-collection) it states Your own private restaurant Reserved exclusively for Sanctuary CollectionSM guests. Enjoy a custom chef’s menu and dedicated waitstaff and dining room. No reservations needed and no waiting — elevated dining is ready whenever you are.