oteixeira

40 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

Yes I have. In fact, to illustrate my ability to compare, I’ve been in a Royal Suite, Crown Loft Suite, Owner’s Suite and Grand Suite on RC; Royal Suite and Aqua Sky Suite on Celebrity, Penthouse Suite and Window Suite on Princess, as well as Princess Grill and  Queens Grill on Cunard.  The most enjoyable for me were those suites that had their own areas for dining and lounges but not far removed from everything else. I liked Queens Grill on Cunard and Owners Suite on Deck 8 near Central Park on Oasis Class the best.  My least favorite was the Crown Loft Suite on Oasis class ships. There is only one set of elevators because  deck 17 is very small. Also, the CLS itself, while beautiful to look at, was impractical as the stairs got old quickly lol.

Cool, maybe I just don't mind the walking as much?  LOL

2 minutes ago, TRLD said:

My objection to the golden door approach is because it is often needed because the cruise experience outside of the Golden door is very substandard such as on MSC. Yacht Club good, outside of Yacht Club rather poor even by family oriented mass market standards.

I mean I understand that can be the case depending on the line, but you never answered my question, we kind of zigged when we were currently talking about zagging.  Again, I have sailed behind the door.  Going to the room is no different then a room on most of the rest of the ship, which was your argument for it not being a great set up.  So, have you ever sailed behind the golden door?  
 

12 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

The issue with the golden door concept is when it becomes too removed from the other venues on the ship you might want to experience and enjoy. For example, Oasis class on Royal Caribbean has deck 17 where certain suites are on the same floor as the dining room and suite lounge, with nothing else. That’s great if all you’re going to do for the entire cruise is eat and drink. However, if you want Io go to trivia, live music, broadway shows, specialty dining, the spa, other bars, basically any kind of entertainment, it’s a pain when you need to run back to deck 17 to change, drop off bags, shower or grab something from your suite. Cruise lines need to find that balance between exclusivity and isolation. 

May I ask if you have ever sailed behind the golden door?  I enjoy a lot of things in the main ship and it is no harder to go back to my room on deck 17 then it is to go back to my room on deck 5, or deck 14 (balcony on most NCL), etc.  The person I was referring to earlier spends a lot of time in the Casino, the idea is really to enjoy the ship but have a place to go back to that is away from the crowds so you can relax (in a public setting).  

1 hour ago, TRLD said:

In order to get its demographics more into mid 50s instead of mid or high 60s it has to make it more attractive to 40/50 demographic which will include a few more children and young adults.

And this is what I call family friendly.  I think we have similar thoughts, we will see how it all works out.  

1 hour ago, G&T Cruisers said:

I just read an article that Princess is starting a ship with in a ship concept called the Sanctuary Collection on Sun & Star Princess and that the sanctuary  will be part of a cabin grade and no longer available to the average passenger it seems to be the same direction as Norwegian and MSC with there private areas.

I don't know if this will spread to the rest of the fleet but that seems to be the way most lines are going.

 

Do tell....

58 minutes ago, TRLD said:

Because those lines have a different market focus. NCL  Royal and Carnival are NA family focused lines.  MSC is a European family focused line. Where as Princess, Celebrity, and HAL are NA adult focused lines. 

Totally different ship environments. On the family focused lines you need an isolated area because the main areas are far more chaotic.

 

Princess is going more in line with its adult focused competition, Celebrity, while keeping its general feel.

While I would have agreed with this before the new class of ship I think the top deck with Park 19 show very clearly that Princess wants to be more of a family line.  Time will tell.  

1 hour ago, insidecabin said:

The issue I see and why Haven & Yacht club are successful, you need everything exclusive behind the magic doors, cabins, restaurants, lounge, bar, deck...... you don't have to go far to get access to everything, restaurants are steps away from your exclusive lounge and bar..

RCI and Celebrity tried to patch up older designs to provide the facilities to try to compete and it took time

Why Princess did not take the opportunity to go ship in a ship  with a brand new ship is surprising, MSC and NCL are on multiple iterations of the concept while princess is patching up old designs to try to get more exclusive(more $)  like others did years ago, what we have is a private sun deck with a lot of suites below it.

My friend calls it "being behind the golden door" and refuses to cruise on any line that does not have that door.  :D 

@Wishing on a star I am simply pointing out that when you booked I am guessing you already knew there were no free adult only areas, just the one you had to pay into?  That was clear from before the ship sailed. If so, I don't see the difference other then how you pay to get in (room vs. pass).  

10 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

Very weird departure for Princess to both build a ship more appealing to multiple generations, then make the choice to block those same multiple generations from some areas, even if they're a perk of the cabin...

Marketing genius at work I guess...

Totally agree on this and guessing if they REALLY want families they will change this to be kids allowed with the parents in the area, but we will see.

8 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

Yes, the Sanctuary was a pay area,and at $40 for a day, reasonable for most, and available to anyone regardless of cabin type.

There was ALSO no fee/free adult only deck and pool areas available to everyone, regardless of cabin type.

Aft wake pool and deck. Retreat Pool and deck/bar.. Lotus Spa poo and deck space. 

Those were all included, no extra charge, adult only areas - lovely. 

None are available on Sun, including Sanctuary - unless you buy a certain cabin class. 

Ahhh, so I get it now. 

Your complaint is the removal of the aft wake pool and deck. Retreat Pool and deck/bar as well as the Lotus Spa pool and deck space adult only spaces. 

I understand, but that really has nothing to do with the conversation about the change of a pay per day/week adult area to a pay per cabin adult area.  Because both were, and are, exclusive and pay to play areas on the Sun. 

Your real complaint should be that Princess got rid of those other areas on the new class of ship, which again I don't think has anything to do with the conversation here.  

7 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Just to clarify...  that is not an 'adult area'...  that is a very exclusive area, that is not available to most guests.   There is no open and available adult area onboard.  

In the past you paid a premium to gain access to the adult only area, right?  That is my understanding of the Sanctuary on other Princess ships.  This is more of the same, just the access is determined by you paying for the class of room rather then a week long pass.  Either way, it is "exclusive" to those who wish to pay.  Please correct me if I have that wrong?

3 minutes ago, Fortunate 2 travel said:

You make some very good points. I would like to point out that people who booked an S9 may have saved a lot of money booking a Sanctuary mini suite.  Giving up a lounge (and in room coffee maker) would not have been a big deal to us.   This is a total cluster.  I also wonder if the restaurant on the back that has never opened is going to be re purposed?

That restaurant is a licence deal with some artist (Britto?), I don't think they can back out that easily.  I also think based on cost it will be pretty much empty most of the time, but time will tell.

7 minutes ago, roxievegas said:

Yes

the last full day of the cruise, you may receive an offer under your door for your next cruise. 

Referred to the "come back and play" offer - if you have played enough.

After that you will receive emails and US mail offers sent to you with offers

Now they have you.

I mean, maybe not....I don't do much more then $100 a day, so it would have to be a cruise were I hit enough to play for quite a while on the machine I guess.  :)  Here is to hoping!  

6 minutes ago, roxievegas said:

The first time you sit down at the machine, it will ask for your birthdate (use to be you created a "code").  It reads your medallion, and matches the birthdate to your medallion and cabin.

You can feed "real" money into the machine, or you can choose to take money (the amount is charged to your cabin) and have it put in your "casino bank".  

If you play cash, when you decide to get off that machine, and you still have money left on the machine it will go to your "casino bank" and you go to the next machine and draw from that money to play the next machine, or you put real cash in again.  At anytime you can go to the cashier cage and get real money out of your casino bank.

But if you are going to be playing for 7 days or longer, just continue to use the money in your "casino bank" and wait until the end of the cruise to hopefully cash out.

Great explanation, thank you.  So first play it will create the casino account for me.  :)  

17 minutes ago, Catbert234 said:

Not stupid. You need your medallion to play at any table on a Princess ship. They use it to check a person's age (for younger players) and you automatically join the Players Club

So basically if I use my cash (I bring cash for the slots) do I check into the machine with my medallion and I am good, or do I need to sign up for some Players Club thing?  LOL  You would think I would have asked this years ago but first time back on Princess in a very long time and they seem to be more generous with casino stuff then NCL is.  

Stupid follow up.  I always play casinos (a little) on my cruises, but I never join the casino at sea clubs.  Do you need to have a casino card for these offers, or do they base it off your room card (which you generally insert when you play any slot machine)?

Thanks!

8 minutes ago, whitcruising said:

Ha! Actually it was 2007 for us as well. Caribbean Princess. 

We were on the Grand and it was in such disrepair we swore off Princess.  It was before I knew things like you should look up the last time a ship was in dry dock before you book it.  LOL  It went to dry dock just months after we sailed.  

15 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

But don't you think that if Princess had made possible pre-booking what few spaces were available for purchase in the Sanctuary through the app that the spaces would have sold out?  

I actually think if anyone wanted to use the space enough to pre-book then they would absolutely book on board if still available (which it is based on reviews of how empty it is).  So, IMHO, pre-booking only matters if the space is very popular and sells out every sailing (like the NCL vibe).

4 minutes ago, whitcruising said:

No idea. I haven’t sailed them in 15 years. I’m honestly still very excited and will just let the concierge make my reservations I suppose. 

Same (17 for us), 2007 was my last Princess cruise.  

4 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Apparently Princess feels it is more important to have a ship-within-a-ship than it is to provide a nice area that is available for adults, even pay-per-day.     All the discussion and disappointment that has been online, with those who were concerned about the Sanctuary situation, must not have carried much weight.

Based on a review done here on just the last sailing it is more apparent that no one way buying the passes and Princess is just trying to get the money up front rather then leave the area almost completely unused.  

Just now, whitcruising said:

Ha! I sail June 1st. 38 days from now and still can’t book dining. Spellbound is the only thing that came available about 2 weeks ago. 

I don't normal sail Princess, wanted to try the new ship within a ship concept.  Are they always this consistent at being horribly inconsistent?  

I am in January and in S9 (Suite) and cannot book anything restaurant wise, it says nothing available for everything.

2 minutes ago, Suite Susie said:

Really disappointed with all this as we have an Owners Suite booked for September next year. So if I’m reading this right all we will no longer have exclusive use of the Signature Restaurant and the Sanctuary will now be far busier and hard to get a seat. We book suites at great expense to get a more special experience. Now it seems that the only advantage of booking a full suite now is a bigger room and use of the Concierge Lounge. Will have to see how it pans out, but I think we will be cancelling. 

There should be plenty of new reviews (depending on when you cruise).  I think that the difference in suite guests would be equal to the same number of passes they were selling onboard.  Now, I admit they probably could not sell those passes, but to me having people pay for a day pass into the suite sun deck is worse then having a larger group have access who paid for the room (as at least then you get the same guests and can get to know them, etc).  Anyway, we will see for sure.  I think the restaurant thing is all about bad design, one is always full, one is always empty, and they share a kitchen.  

33 minutes ago, capriccio said:

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 am S9 with Premier and just checked mine and do NOT have the Indicator line.  Go figure.  I think they are still trying to figure this out.  LOL  

3 minutes ago, Mishkin said:

I agree Princess did a terrible job with the wording for suites guests. Nothing seems to have changed for the suite guests other than the fact that you can no longer book it without a package like you used to be able to. The upgrade really applies to people in the Reserve Collection, who now get Sanctuary Access.

This is exactly correct from everything I have read.  I am S9, and I pre-paid for premier.  Since premier was not included for folks like me who booked last year, nothing has changed.  I think the only real difference is instead of having folks who can buy their way into the sanctuary, we will have more people who paid for it up front.  My guess is this is a reaction to zero people on board wanting to spend $90 per person per day to get in?  Not sure honestly.  Also, the restaurants share a kitchen and one had lines and one was always empty (Per @Sox Fan Cruiser who just came off the ship) so that move makes total sense to me.