CalTexCruiser

I noticed that discounts vary based on sailings--how do you go about finding which sailings have the best casino discounts on suites? Do you do that on the website before calling your CVP, or do you ask your CVP to find the best deals for you?

I get this in my reservation.

I must have missed the posts where cancelling a Plus package from a suite reservation would lead to getting a Premier package--how does this work?

What a sh*tsh*w

What about for those who want Specialty Dining every night, but can get in on a small number of nights? Princess should add a disclaimer: subject to availability. Then unlimited Specialty Dining becomes all the Specialty Dining You Might Get Unless We Are Full

LOL. What's next, they offer a Sanctuary Package for ALL cabins?

Since the Sanctuary restaurant will now technically again (after Oct 14) be a separate area of the MDR (just like on other Princess ships), I expect that the meals will be standard MDR meals just like in the Reserve restaurants of the other ships (with perhaps one additional entree per night). Prepared by the same cooks who will be churning out hundreds of meals for all diners in the MDR. As opposed to a dedicated kitchen for the Signature/Reserve restaurants on a different floor that could focus more on quality rather than quantity.

With the current setup (separate Sanctuary suite area and dedicated suite restaurant), most of the reports from full suite passengers are that the suite experience is great on the Sun. We'll see how things go after the changes on Oct 14.

Princess should have comped the Premier package upgrade (from Plus package) to full suite passengers once they decided to make these changes and devalued the suite experience. And for those full suite passengers who already paid for the Premier package, give them an OBC equal to the difference. I got a sweet casino deal on my Vista suite (formerly Penthouse suite) but I can see why someone who paid full price would want to cancel in light of the substantial devaluation. I certainly wouldn't pay the elevated prices I see nowadays for full suites on the Sun.

LOL. So it's not just me worried about this in shared hot tubs and pools.

On the more recent videos of Joy's Haven area, I did see the cabanas. Perhaps these were put in as part of the Joy's refurbishment back in 2022.

Thanks for the advice. How "early" is early to get a cabana? And will there be a chair hog situation even in the Haven sundeck?

Many thanks @Sthrngary I'm the vacation planner of the family, and research ahead of time to avoid being disappointed due to unmet expectations. Based on my research, in addition to the static Haven restaurant menu, I know: 1) There is no fridge in the Haven lounge where one can pick up bottles of water or cans of soda at their leisure, unlike suite lounges on some other cruise lines. 2) No laundry included with a Haven suite. 3) No bottled water or specialty coffee with FAS. 4) No unlimited WIFI with FAS. But on the flip side, the Haven lounge and sundeck look like nice large inviting spaces.

Thanks for the detailed response @Sthrngary Good to know there may be specials on longer cruises. The Noodle Bar sounds great but too bad not available on the Joy. I suppose with the static menu in the Haven it makes sense not to allow special requests, as I can imagine in the second half of a longer cruise there would be a lot of special requests from people who grow tired of the same dinner options. It's strange to me that a suite restaurant would not offer more options but I do see glowing reviews of the Haven restaurant so what they lack in choices they seem to make up in execution.

On a 15 night cruise, it seems the limited Haven menu can get quite repetitive, even after 3 dinners at Specialty Dining. How accommodating is the Haven restaurant in preparing meals on request with at least one day advance notice? For example, if we were to ask for Indian or Asian cuisine, would that be possible?

I suppose we lose something but gain something else. While we lose access to an exclusive Signature restaurant and now have to dine in a much larger Sanctuary restaurant, some of the specialty restaurants will move to nicer facilities (the prior Reserve and Signature restaurants) from the rear of the buffet area. This will encourage us to eat more at specialty dining and reduce our visits to the Sanctuary restaurant.

We priced out a Silversea (16 day) and Haven (15 day) Panama Canal later this year and the cost came out almost the same. But we booked Haven anyway since the Silversea sailing ends up in Lima during rainy season, so Machu Picchu would not be any good. First time on NCL so we'll see how we like it. And I appreciate all these threads started by @Sthrngary--good, concentrated source of info about the Haven experience.

Thanks. I did see the post from the person back in Mar 2022 stating there were no vibration issues in the aft cabin they were in. I was hoping others may chime in to confirm. The fact that I have not seen recent posts complaining about Joy's aft vibration problems may be an indication that the vibration problem is solved.

I saw some posts from a couple of years ago regarding vibration problems in Joy's aft cabins. Is that still an issue? Hope folks who have recently sailed on Joy can report back.

To extrapolate on this thought, is there a minimum time between ordering sodas/water bottles during the HH time window? If I order a soda can, can I immediately order another soda can once the bartender delivers the first soda can, and so on and on until I'm satisfied with the number of soda cans I have stockpiled? Asking for a friend.

Very unappealing

That definitely looks like a slide. And I really hope to go down that thing. Never been on a ship with a slide.

Hopefully the host/hostess would block anyone not eating in the Sanctuary restaurant from entering, and redirect those people to access the Wake View Terrace from deck 9 (I see some stairs leading from the rear of deck 9 to the Wake View Terrace). Also, others can take the aft elevators directly to the Wake View Terrace. On the positive side, suite guests staying in the aft part of the ship (including those in the Vista Suites) can take the aft elevators directly to Horizons dining.

We also frequently sail on Celebrity's Retreat. Initially we were intrigued by Sun's Signature concept and booked a sailing for next May. But now not so much. I personally certainly would not pay what Princess is asking for nowadays for their suites on the Sun. Your best bang for the buck probably would be to book one of the non-suite Sanctuary cabins...the only thing you'll miss out on would be the lounge. You'll still have access to the Sanctuary Club and Sanctuary dining. IMO, the lounge is not worth the big bump up in price to book a suite.

No more dedicated Signature area in the Sanctuary Instead of a dedicated Signature restaurant, rumors are that the suite guests will be placed in the same dining room as the non-suite Sanctuary class guests…similar to the Reserve dining of the other ships Princess flirted with the idea of a ship within a ship for suite guests but a couple months in changed their mind