dyxiegirl

The new Sun Princess has been announced to have sofas in balcony cabins.  When I saw a picture I thought it was a typical mini suite. 

Prior to covid, even tiny ports like Orkney Island (scotland) had a separate ship entrance for suites and elite.  Since that is one of the big perks for paying the big bucks for a suite, I can't imagine they would not have it.

  You often have to let the port guy know you are in a suite or elite. At one port on a rainy day, the port guys were collecting the Princess umbrellas so people couldn't take them into town.  He tried to take ours, but when we told him we were in a suite, he apologized and gave it back to us.  

I have a similar problem.  Princess says that your sail docs HAVE to match your passport exactly.  My passport has my first, middle, maiden AND last name.  Princess' system can't even handle this.  Even their own CS agent couldn't do it.  He finally gave up, said it wasn't that big a deal.  (never affected my previous 10 cruises).  So we left out my middle name, which I have been doing for 29 years now.  The airlines don't complain either.  

IMO the food and amenities in CC isn't worth the extra $50/day.  But at $100pp for the cruise: that's a no-brainer.  We have sailed twice in full suites so CC dining was included:  The daily table side pasta appetizer was touted to be very good, but too caloric for us.  However, on the 12 day Great Britain sailing, CC had a lobster dish of some sort at least 5 times, including lunch specials.  We occassionally chose the special that is not available in the MDR.  Lunch, however, in the CC dining is fantastic. So quiet and unhurried: perfect for a sea day. The service is great, and we usually eat before 7 so there was almost never a wait.  

Just one note for those who like the Grand Class ships: on the Grand Princess and on the Caribbean there is a suite class called a Window Suite.  This is a group of 8 suites on deck 6 just off the atrium.  Because so low, there is no balcony but 2 huge windows, and there is every other suite amenity including the special breakfast.  You have to go look for it, as they don't even include it in the "suite from $xxxx" price.  The cost of these full suites is usually less than a CC mini suite, but you get so much more.  We are not sun worshippers, so no balcony was no big deal for us.  And the Britain trip was too cold anyway.  But the location just off the atrium/piazza is amazing!  Just a few steps and you are at a hidden door to the big theater, a quick run down the spiral steps to the International Cafe, etc.  And the room is amazing: 340sf with tub and separate shower, full living room area, and enough storage for a world cruise.

I won a Princess wine bottle stopper.  I am shocked at how well it works.  I keep a bottle of Chianti on the counter for cooking, and the stopper is just great for it.

Sorry for the delay.  We are in quarantine at Lackland from the Grand Princess.  I cannot stress enough how great Princess was while we were in quarantine on the ship in addition to a wonderful cruise.

To answer your questions, the coupon book, as best as I can remember, were mostly for small discounts to stuff like couples messages.  Mostly stuff we wouldn't use.  I have gotten these coupon books from Princess since then, and they are similar.  They say the coupon book is worth $700 or something, and there might be one of two coupons in the book that you would use, saving you a few bucks.

As for the cruise issues:  every port, disembarking was so poorly organized that people were cued up in the stairwells going up 5 flights. Tendering was worse.  They would advertise an event, like dancing, then no one would show up.  We would go the Guest Services for answers and they were either rude, ignored us, or told us they would get back to us, and they never did.  But the worst issue happened on Thanksgiving Day:  the formal dining rooms were so overwhelmed that there was a 3-hour wait for dinner, so we went up to the buffet.  While they had all the food, the quality was poor.  But the clincher was that they were serving pink turkey!  I told a server and they blew it off.  I had to track down the head chef to inform him that he was poisoning people.  The physical ship had issues as well, but that is dependent on the individual ship, so not important.  As I said, we will never go on a Norwegian cruise again, but would and plan to cruise with Princess even after being quarantined.

1 hour ago, Markanddonna said:

I'm not loyal to any cruise line so I hesitate giving them my money up front. For example, I used to go on RCL every other year but haven't been on one since 2016 with no RCL ones in the hopper. I found MSC and they are very nice for our agendas and wishes.

Thanks for answering.  Previously, the only experience with buying on board was with the one Norwegian cruise we took.  At the beginning of the cruise, they offered a substantial coupon book of you put a $200 deposit on any future cruise.  So we bought it.  But the cruise was SO horrible that we made them refund our money, as we will NEVER go on another Norwegian cruise.  But we love Princess, so that won't eat issue.

On 10/22/2019 at 8:47 PM, steelers36 said:

Can't argue with that but I know from past experience that it isn't enough for me.  Our next cruise my wife is going to use her 250 and I will get the package.

Have you done this yet?  This is exactly what my DH and I plan to do on the Grand next month.  I was wondering that if he purchased the unlimited package pre-cruise, if I could use his 250 minutes.  If I can't use his minutes, should he wait till Day 1 to buy package at slight discount?

Excellent advice!  I have never rebooked a cruise, so I would never have thought of it.  This upcoming cruise I booked last February and kind of created a bidding war between Avoya, *****.com, and United Cruises. This time *****  won out, but 2 years ago Avoya did with the same $ but more on-board spending and a specialty dinner.  United looked really good, until I found out that all those miles they give you don't show up until after you return, so it is possibly years till you see them. 

Thanks for replying.  Yes, that is what I am doing now.  I finally googled the right way and found Cruise Critic's article on this subject.  They described perks for each company. It seems that on some lines, the perks are significant.  Unfortunately, not on Princess.  So now I am waiting for the big sales in February. 

We are heading out for a 15 day rt to Hawaii in 6 weeks (2/2020), but are planning on another 10 day cruise for June 2021 to Alaska.  Based on things I have read in the distant past, the very best deal is when you book on board.  Is this true?  What kind of savings are we talking about?  Even just a couple hundred a person would be good, as the 2021 cruise is for 4 of us.  

11 hours ago, Fincherson said:

We just booked out first Princess Cruise (Sun Princess) after having previously sailed only Carnival and NCL. I was excited to get on Cruise Critic and join in on the fun/discussion on a new board, only to find it’s mainly negativity, rudeness and complaining. Am I missing something? Does Princess suck or are people generally more persnickety? Maybe I’m just reading the wrong threads? I’m kind of afraid to post this but I really want to know if I made a mistake giving Princess a try. Is it as mediocre as these posts make it sound?

My husband and I love Princess.  Our next cruise is in February and we are really looking forward to it.  This will be our 7 th cruise with Princess, all in different ships.  Every single trip has been wonderful.  But the trip is also what you make it. ( In a spectacular 12 day cruise around the British Isles where we would  have redone the trip immediately, we heard others in departation day saying it was horrible!) 

Food is such a huge part of a cruise and Princess has always been incredible, especially when dealing with special dietary requirements. We have found that eating in the restaurants (as opposed to the buffet) is a key factor to enjoying the cruise.  You are less likely to overeat, the food is of amazing quality,  and you get waited on!  

Unfortunately, we have not had this experience on Celebrity or Norwegian.  In fact, the food in Norwegian was so bad that they were serving pink turkey on Thanksgiving day and they didn't even notice till I brought it to their attention!  On Celebrity at out table of 12 (6 random couples.  Dinner was the highlight of this Bermuda cruise despite the food) the plating ofwas inconsistent, where the same appetizer looked different from person to person, and at least one entree had to be sent back to the kitchen at each meal due to poor quality.  And the trip was so boring because there wasn't enough to do onboard.

Thanks everyone. I didn't think it would fit. He'll just have to take his iPad instead. His company won't allow it to be insecure.

We a sailing in a few weeks on the Celebrity Summit and my hubby wants bring his 15" laptop, but only if it will fit in the safe. Does anyone know how big the room safe is?