CalTexCruiser

I have seen reports that those in the Signature Restaurant for suites had no waits and received excellent service.

When they combine the Reserve Restaurant with the Signature Restaurant in October 2024 under the new Sanctuary Collection program, I hope the experience does not degrade to the lowest common denominator reported here.

On a few occasions we had to wait behind a number of guests while the Reserve host/hostess explained they were at the wrong dining room entrance.

On 5/19/2024 at 9:50 AM, mahasamatman said:

 

And I mention that on every survey. If they really wanted a great name, they'd change it to Connoisseur Class (United's old name for Business Class).

Princess can't make up its mind what to call this.

First it was Club Class.  Then Reserve Class.

Then when the Sun was introduced, it was Reserve Class plus Signature Suites.

Then two months later they changed their mind and combined Reserve Class and Signature Suites on the Sun to Sanctuary Collection.

The OP did state "no commentary or reply to comments."  So we should not expect any.

I still appreciate the photos.

I suppose the suite experience prior to Oct 24 will probably be different from the "Sanctuary Collection" experience when the suite passengers are lumped in with the remaining Sanctuary Collection passengers.

The ability to book the Sanctuary at the Go lounge and not having to run onboard to get in line at the Sanctuary is also a valuable benefit, WHEN IT WORKS. 

It worked for us but others have reported that incompetent/lazy/overworked concierges on board waited too long to make the requested Sanctuary reservations.

Anyone have any information on WHY Park 19 is still unavailable?  

@bnickle Thanks for sharing 

Is your sailing fully booked, and if so, does the ship feel crowded with 4,000 passengers?

19 hours ago, ILUVHOCKEY said:

The menu has changed since it started.  See attached for thr most current. The menu is fixed. Except the entree.  Yiu have a choice between the 3 entrees.

 

However the cocktails are exclusive to spellbound and they are great.

 

Hope that helps 

offerings on menu look good

10 minutes ago, Princessscrewedme said:

Thanks mom! I just want to cry! But I appreciate your support! There isn't anyone offering any support here on the cruise so it means a lot!

love your screen name

Really sounds horrific what Princess has done

The same thing happened last year on Princess’ other rust bucket Crown

13 hours ago, capriccio said:

What I am anticipating, unfortunately, is that Princess will turn both restaurants into the current Reserve format of MDR menus at breakfast and lunch plus one special dish at dinner. 

 

If that happens the suite passengers will lose the current suite breakfasts and the promised unique dinner menus.  Just another diminution of the originally promised Signature suite experience.

If they do this they'll have to provide suite breakfasts in one of the specialty dining restaurants.  Makes no sense that suite breakfasts are available on all other Princess ships but not the Sun/Star.

I'm afraid this thread as severely veered off course

8 minutes ago, Lyndonn said:

I saw the Greenland cruise offer on Apr 30th and it was titled a Prestige Casino offer.  At that time the staterooms offered for the Casino free offer was Balcony, ocean view and interior…subject to available.  Also, shown was a reduced price of something like $1250 pp for a mini suite and a full suite was offered at around $2450 pp.  the Prestige offer looked very appealing to us and what sold us to book under the non-refundable deposit terms of $200 pp was that the offer included Princess Plus package too.  
I did not see the Star Princess free offer pop up until the following day of May 1st and was nothing was stated about that offer was a Casino offer…but it did look strange with offering free mini-suite rooms with Princess Premier pkg. I’ve never seen that generous of a free package…so, I had my doubts.

 

We did book the Greenland cruise and when we received the letter from Jen dated May 3rd (same letter went out for both cruises) that the offer was an error, however tgey would honor the offer but in a interior room with no Plus packages included.  Since we did not want an interior stateroom we decided to cancel and get our money back while we still could without penalty.  
 

We have been cruising over 30 years with Princess and I’ve never seen such an error…it even crossed my mind that there may have been a disgruntled employee causing chaos for Princess.  If so, I’m sad to see that happen and respect the way Princess is handling the problem.

 

 

I suspect if not for the Star Princess error they may have honored the Greenland bookings.  But once it became a feeding frenzy where they were handing out mini-suites for free and potentially losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue they went back and revoked everyone.

1 minute ago, Lyndonn said:

 

 

Expand the above post to see what I posted and was written on our invoice for the Greenland cruise.  There was no doubt that this was a legit Casino offer. 

I agree with you about the Greenland cruise, and I pointed that out in my post above.  When I saw the Greenland cruise offer it looked very similar to casino offers I've received in the past.  So yes, you had no reason to doubt the legitimacy.

The obvious glitch was the Star Princess comped mini-suite + Premier Package for pretty much anyone who logged into their Princess account.

10 minutes ago, memoak said:

Free mini suites reported by people who have never even been in a Princess casino is obviously a glitch. I called this out as soon as I saw it. Our last bounce back offer after 10,000 points was only free interior and $100 free play. This was very clearly a glitch in the system

3 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

The Greenland offer showed Casino offer and it was for an obstructed ocean view or an interior. It looked legit to me. What you’re talking about is on a different thread. 

The Star Princess offer of comped mini-suite + free Premier package is clearly a glitch.  Although I frequently play in the casinos, the best offers I've ever received from Princess are free inside cabins and sometimes free play dollars, but never the plus or premier package.

I would agree with @MsSoCalCruiser the Greenland offer on the Emerald was more in line with what I've received in the past.

FWIW, 

My former CVP attempted the hard sale of this on me a few months ago.  He is no longer my CVP.

So watch out for this even from your CVPs.

45 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

 

 

We are hopeful the Sun Princess will be a great blend of a premium experience while still being more family-friendly. 

 

 

Hope it works out for you given your substantial investment.  This is Princess' first foray into becoming more family friendly (with Park 19) and the ship within a ship concept (with the sun deck and lounge).  

I hope their treatment of suite guests reflects the significant premium paid over non-suite Sanctuary Class cabins.

4 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

 

My kids will be 10 and 8 when we sail over Thanksgiving. 

 

I'd like to have lounge access so we'll give it a try, but I'm sure it won't be worth the $15k premium (I guess a bit less since we got Premium and mini-suites would still have to add that).

 

You know what they say about a fool and his money...🤪

I'm not sure if you are aware, but Princess' current stated policy is that those under 16 are not allowed in the Sanctuary Club.

This is unlike the Celebrity Retreat Sundeck on Celebrity's Edge class ships where children are allowed.

13 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Wild if true.

 

We just booked on Wednesday (so with the new Sanctuary announcement) and for a family of 4 like us - on the Thanksgiving 2024 sailing, we can get a mini-suite for $5k or a Vista (Penthouse) suite for $20k.

 

A $15k premium to add the lounge and a slightly larger room is significant. 

 

We booked a Vista and we'll keep that, but our first time on Princess may be our last (or at least we'll book a mini-suite in the future).

LOL or you can book two (2) Sanctuary Collection mini-suites for 10k, which will be half the  cost of the Vista Suite and you will have a lot more space (unless of course you have very young children in which case two rooms would not make sense).

19 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

I haven't read all 12 pages of this yet - but is it accurate that suites are losing access to an exclusive restaurant (i.e. Signature)?

Suite guests still have access to "private dining" whatever that means.  We do not know yet whether the "private dining" suite guests have access to will be shared with non-suite Sanctuary Collection guests.

Some are speculating that the Reserve Restaurant and the Signature Restaurant will be merged as the "private dining" so that all Sanctuary Collection guests have access to either.  

If this occurs, this will mean that the suite guest dining experience will be degraded somewhat if suite guests have to wait in line when the restaurants are full.

9 minutes ago, pompeii said:

Do we know for sure that we can bid on upgrades with a comped cruise?  I was wondering about that.  Has anyone done it?

Not sure about this particular comped cruise as this is an oddball due to not being part of a casino offer.

However, recently, we were offered (through the casino) a comped inside cabin, but chose to pay $ 400 (total for two people over the entire sailing) for a mini-suite.  We then bid and were successfully upgraded to a Penthouse Suite.

2 minutes ago, telecheck said:

There is really no reason to cancel the Barcelona cruise now. It is still far off and a lot can happen. The deposit of $200 is just a small amount, and with that, I am at least guaranteed an inside room. With tax, it's $285, which is only $40 per day, still a very good deal for solo travel on the newest ship. I can use the OBC to pay for gratuities, and I may still have enough balance to book an excursion. I can always bid for a better cabin closer to sailing if the pricing is good. If I cancel, Princess is the one who would be very happy because they can sell my room for more than $2,000 to other passengers. Of course, they want me to cancel, but I am not going to do that. They need to pay for the mistake they made.

Good for you.

Princess is counting on people cancelling due to their disappointment in getting a comped inside cabin with no perks versus the too good to be true comped mini suite with Premiere package.

If you really think about it, a comped inside cabin on the newest ship is a great deal.

22 minutes ago, memoak said:

As I said when this was first reported it is a glitch in the system. I would have questioned getting something for nothing. Remember if it looks too good to be true it probably is

True.  I went through the booking process and when I saw 0 dollars for a mini-suite that includes the Premiere Package on the Star, I concluded that this booking if made will be revoked and I did not want to go through the hassle of dealing with Princess to cancel.

Although I must say the consolation prize of a comped inside cabin is not bad for Princess' newest ship.  

56 minutes ago, J18ktleo said:

So I have a group on Star Jan 2026.

I had everyone book suites for the exclusivity of the experience since I loved the suite experience on Celebrity and the new Princess ships sounded like a similar experience.

Now, with these changes, it sounds crowded, over booked and the areas created for 80 suites will be servicing an additional 135 cabins, which is not exclusive, doubling the capacity 😰

Our pricing, since we booked at first offering, is less for the suites than what the mini's are going for now with the Sanctuary experience, which is a positive.

Wondering if the delay of the Star is so they can adjust some of the areas for better capacity and to offer their clients the experience that is so prominently promoted in all the advertisements?

Would be appropriate to deliver what they offer/promote?

If they can keep the space previously identified as the Signature Restaurant as dedicated dining for suites only, that would go part of the way in delivering what they promoted.

For the Sanctuary Club, I suppose that was always intended to be a shared space with non-suite guests.  The only thing lost would be the small dedicated suite area of the Sanctuary, which did not have the space to hold all suite guests anyway.

35 minutes ago, keldaria said:

I don’t believe that because it would’ve be clearly stated that signature is exclusive to suites like the lounge was. I think some sort of merging of co-mingling will occur which is why they reference private dining instead of coming right out with it.

DELETED as I made the same point you did.

4 minutes ago, techsearch said:

I had my beverage package refunded. I had paid for it (or rather reserved it) and they refunded it as now my Suite 'inlcudes' the Premier package. 

 

Does your Travel Summary now state Premier package?

I purchased Plus with my Penthouse Suite and it is still Plus.  Absolutely no refund to me.