AtlantaCruiser72

Somewhere between late November/early December 2023 for Europe 2025 if they remain consistent with past deployment patterns.

@Steelers36 I had assumed the Grand Cayman Day, but u & me know what is contained in "assume" ......

Trying to plan my dining to eat away from MDR on formal nights - hate the chaos and extra crowds - plus don't want to "dress" for those night (always do slacks/dress jeans and either a button down or nice golf shirt but not doing suit/jacket/tie, etc). Any idea which nights will be Formal? I'm assuming 2 and 9???? I want to go ahead and reserve crown and Sabatini's for those nights. Itinerary Day 1 Ft Lauderdale Day 2 At Sea Day 3 At Sea Day 4 Cartagena Day 5 Panama Canal Day 6 Limon Day 7 At Sea Day 8 Falmouth Day 9 Grand Cayman Day 10 At Sea Day 11 Ft. Lauderdale

To my recollection both the mens and women’s locker rooms feature complimentary steam and saunas on Emerald, Ruby, Crown and Caribbean.

Got a bid offer Saturday for our 12/8 Caribbean Princess sailing and initially put in an offer. Cancelled the bid this evening as we are happy with current location and don’t want to chance it. As we were only bidding to go from inside to obstructed oceanview it’s really not a big deal. Had a balcony been within reason we might have considered it, but would rather spend the extra on shoreside experiences. That said the bid options were straightforward, the process was simple, and cancelling the bid just as simple.

Drink package prices on Princess remain constant and are the same whether you pre purchase or buy onboard. Same with specialty dining cover charges. Princess does not play the pricing shell games like Royal.

I found this ad in an old Cruise Critic thread - you could book a 3 night "Party Cruise" in 1978 on the original Sun Princess for $237pp - before taxes and port fees. Adjusted for inflation that would be $1075pp, for an inside cabin, not including taxes, for a 3 night cruise. The original Sun Princess had 1 main dining room with the occasional pop-up deck buffet. 1 small pool, no hot tub, a small single level show lounge, etc. Compare that to what will be on offer on the new ship! I'll take bigger and more options with a muti-class setup, with the "average" person staying in more luxury, and with more choice than those who sailed 40 years ago had in any cabin grade! Sun Princess I 1971-1988

My bets are on Pacific or Sun as well. That said three of the 4 newest ships have not used previous ship names.

@kjf18109 THANK YOU !!!

Anyone have a link for the YouTube stream? I don’t use Facebook (or any other social media platform)

Princess uses a standard MDR menu fleetwide which remains fairly static for the length of the cruise. There may be a "featured item" that changes, but that about only difference from day to day. Food quality may be slightly better than buffet, or may be about the same - just depends on who is in the kitchen and how busy the MDR is for breakfast. Service can be hit or miss for MDR breakfast. Sometimes it's painfully slow and sometimes it's rushed beyond reason. I've never figured out why the dichotomy (found this to be the case on multiple lines). I usually prefer it to Buffet as long as I can get a table for just myself and my travelling companions (s). I hate being forced to share at breakfast (which they often try) as I'm a bit of a bear before the 4th cuppa.

Carnival was the first to break the 100K GRT threshold with the Destiny in 1996 and followed by Princess with the Grand Princess in 1998. Royal Caribbean launched Voyager in 1999 surpassing 125K GRT for the first time. At the time Princess was still an independent operation and NOT part of the Carnival corporation. The later acquisition of two former Renaissance Cruises ships in 2002 was a strategic move by P&O/Princess to replace the aging original "Love Boats" (Pacific and Island Princess'). Well before the acquisition by Carnival Corp (2003) Princess was moving into ever larger and larger ships for their newbuild program and focusing more on mainstream/family cruising. I am excited to see what the Future holds and expect the new Sphere Class ships to be a gentle evolution from the Royal Class class combined with some elements of the newest P&O/Carnival/Costa Vessels.

Last new build for Princess with less than 2K pax were the Sun Class ships. Coral and Island were both built at double occupancy of 2000 and Island post retrofit has a double occupancy of 2200. The overall direction of ship size of >100K GRT and 2500+ passengers has been pretty obvious for Princess since the launch of Grand Princess in 1998.

What is silly is requiring guest to submit a SECOND arriveCan app prior to departing Canada via cruise ship after submitting one to enter the country.

I’ve been pretty accepting of all the Covid protocols and travel hurdles but the Canadian Ministry of health have seriously lost their minds. This is nothing more than an attempt to kill cruise traffic in Canada.

Agreed no price “premium” - the starting “from” pricing matches all 3 of the Crown Princess’ 2024 10 night sailings and is less than the Diamond’s 1 2024 10 night Sea of Cortez sailing. It is priced less than ALL of Enchanted's 10 day Caribbean cruises for fall 2023 to spring 2024. As there is no sailing on any other mainstream competing line, of the same length at the same time, to compare pricing with there is no way to assert a premium has been charged vs other brands. To the OP - this sailing is EXACTLY what Princess advertises - a cruise that stops in Mazatlan on the day of the solar eclipse. They fully intend to be in port that day. If they intended to be at sea they would structure the itinerary as such. Princess, and other tour operators will offer water based tours for potentially more optimal viewing than on the mainland,they just may not yet be bookable. Want something different? Then don’t book this cruise.

Only other ship I know that had them was Emerald. Planned for Crown and Ruby but never retrofitted.

Somewhere in the last 30 days or so Princess have removed both venues from the description of Specialty Dining options on Caribbean Princess. It is unclear if either will ever return as an offering. These may be permanent casualties of the Covid shutdown and the related budgetary cutbacks fleetwide. Neither ever seemed to take off or be wildly popular, so not sure if they ever turned a profit for Princess.

This is where we differ (and having differing opinions is a GREAT thing!). The main theater entertainment is an important element of the cruise experience to me, especially on a line like NCL. For example - I would NEVER book Joy because of Footloose. Only touring Broadway show I ever walked out of - absolute garbage! I'm not going to pay the premium to sail NCL if I'm not going to enjoy the headline show. Same reason I would not sail Oasis of the Seas (CATS). Each to their own I guess!

NCL and Frank DelFEEo’s FEES@Sea program continues the quest to bilk $ out of their ATM’s errrrr passengers

My summation of the OP’s request: “Dear Princess please control the weather for a specific date, on a cruise more than 15 months from now or I will get my knickers in a twist and badmouth you. Many Thanks - KAREN!” Seriously?…. Even if the ship is at sea there is ZERO assurance of clear skies.

Thanks for the replies. Question to self now is do I book Encore which has Kinky Boots/Choir of Man both of which I love, even though I’ve already sailed and really enjoyed her. Or do I take a leap of faith and book Viva and hope the entertainment offerings are just as much to my liking? Considering I can get a balcony on Encore for what I’d pay for an interior on Viva. It’s a tough choice

Can’t seem to find any details on the entertainment for VIVA. Has there been any announcement or rumors? Hoping the game shows will be the same as Prima and also hoping for Noise Boys as well. Hoping for a great main musical show!

I'd be VERY surprised to see a Celebrity ship in Galveston any time soon. RCG seems to want to focus growth in GAL around RCCL for now. I could see them adding a 3rd RCCL ship seasonally however.

RCG has spent far more in custom built terminal facilities than any other cruise corporation. Their focus on guest experience from curb to cabin really does make a difference in the passengers perception of the product! (alliteration intended)