CalTexCruiser

3 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

IMO, we need a detailed report from a guest who interviews the Sanctuary manager and asks them a list of questions on the operation.  Until then, I think we have speculated the heck out of the place.  In fact, I have been thinking that the Sun Sanctuary needs its own thread topic and all posts in this thread on the subject should be moved to it.  ( @Host CJSKIDS, is that too much work now with maybe 100 posts on the Sun Sanctuary-  what do you think?)

I second this motion.  @Host CJSKIDS

58 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Which brings up a question.  Do guests in Suites automatically qualify to use the Sanctuary, or is the Suite-only area of the Sanctuary reserved for Suite guests who then pay an additional fee to get in?  

From Princess website about Suite accommodations on the Sun:

a spacious Signature Penthouse Suite with balcony includes all the amenities of our Signature Collection, including access to the Signature Restaurant, Signature Lounge and Signature Sun Deck, a private area of The Sanctuary.

So full suite would include access to the private area of The Sanctuary.

And it would appear this private area has the best loungers and the best views.

But does seem there may not be enough loungers in the suite area for ALL suite guests.  Wonder if suite guests can also hang around the non-suite area of The Sanctuary.

As I have grown tired of the continual back-and-forth regarding whether D0 has Signature benefits, I just fired off an email to the executive office at Princess to ask them to clarify the issue.  Will post back if I hear anything.

I imagine D0 would be a wildly popular balcony cabin class if it comes with Signature benefits.  Best return ever for a few dollars more per day.

The short notice from Princess canceling the Sun inaugural sailings clearly puts Princess' interest above those of their customers.  Princess should have done the right thing and proactively cancel multiple cruises many weeks ahead, so customers can go to their plan B.

Seabourn (also owned by Carnival) cancelled our March 16 Singapore-Dubai sailing at the end of January due to the Red Sea crisis, giving us plenty of time to switch to a land-based vacation Singapore-Thailand-China-Dubai, which will be fabulous.  It's incredible how cheap hotels/tours are with the strong dollar.

If Princess would give their customers more than 4 days notice, perhaps they could also switch to a land-based European vacation.

We just received notification from our TA that the Singapore-Dubai sailing has been cancelled.

I see that all sailing on Encore before AND after the Red Sea sailing (18-day starting on Apr 3) show as "SOLD OUT."

The April Mediterranean sailings on Encore were showing as available a few days ago.  

Seabourn needs to cancel at least 12 or 13 MORE days in addition to the 18-day Red Sea sailing to be able to transit around Africa to the Mediterranean (total transit of 30 or 31 days without passengers).

It appears the Singapore-Dubai sailing and the 14-day Athens-Athens sailing in March and April may be candidates for cancellation/modification.

6 hours ago, oldmovieguy said:

We booked Encore for an April sailing and then found out that TK had been replaced by Solis, not best pleased I can tell you as I’m a carnivore. Now my question is this, can I still get a damn good steak on board?

Hope you're not on the Apr 3 Encore sailing, as that one will likely be a no-go through the Red Sea.

We are on the Mar 16 Encore sailing, and even though TK Grill is supposed to be replaced with Solis prior to our sailing, our reservations are still showing up as TK Grill reservations.

2 hours ago, cruising kirby said:

There is another scenario............................Cunard has a Singapore to Southampton cruise in March April that consists of a 17 night segment to Cape Town and a 16 night segment to Southampton.  Its has 7 stops including an overnight in Cape Town and obviously a lot of sea days.  So I guess its possible for Seabourn to take passengers from Singapore to Athens in the 36 nights it has available, even though the Encore won't travel as fast as the Cunard ship. It would mean a completely new itinerary but it might be preferable to taking an empty ship most of the way (and refunding pax most/all of their fare)?

Although possible, remember that while Singapore-Dubai is sold out, Dubai-Athens has a substantial number of cabins available.  That means a lot of folks (including us) end their trip in Dubai.  If they were to swap the itinerary to a 36-day Singapore-Athens around the cape, what happens to those folks?  Will they have to fork over more money for the extra 18 days, assuming they are even interested?

Assuming all the Singapore-Dubai passengers cancel if presented this option, Seabourn will still end up losing a lot of money. 

There is no slam dunk solution here.

The Silver Moon (which was supposed to have transited the Red Sea) is now on its way to Cape Town, South Africa, scheduled to arrive on Feb 2 (no passengers).  

(1) They have scheduled 15 days from Malta to Cape Town. 

(2) It took them 1 day to go from Athens to Malta.

(3) The anticipated travel time from Cape Town to Mumbai is 11 days.

The total trip time is estimated to be 27 days between Mumbai and Athens.

The currently scheduled Seabourn Encore Singapore - Athens sailing is 36 days, and is made up of two segments: 18-day Singapore-Dubai and 18-day Dubai-Athens. 

It is pretty certain that the Dubai-Athens segment through the Red Sea will have to be cancelled, and there appears to be a lot of cabins available on this segment.

Scenario 1:

(1) Reduce the Singapore-Dubai segment to a 12-day Singapore-Mumbai sailing.

(2) This will given them 18 + 6 = 24 days.

(3) Then cancel the first 7-day Athens-Venice sailing, and start the Med season from Venice.

Scenario 2:

(A) cancel the entire Singapore-Athens.  But Singapore-Dubai is fully booked so this will be quite expensive for Seabourn.

US and British forces are currently bombing the Houtis in Yemen, so things are about to get a whole lot uglier.

I’m also not too comfortable with the Oman/Qatar/UAE portion of this cruise at this point.  Hope Seabourn just cancels the entire Singapore to Athens sailing, but that’s wishful thinking.

It depends how much you value the Reserve Dining Room, which is a separate section of the MDR.  

We value it at about $ 10 per person per day over a regular mini-suite

I believe @SDuckers was merely pointing out he is an exception to the statement that "Americans generally love an Indian meal".

I on the other hand would fall into the group of Americans that love an Indian meal, as well as well prepared meals of any other cuisine.

7 hours ago, Geoffa30 said:

I thought the same.

The apparent narrow width of the mock-up Penthouse suite living room in the photo may just be due to an optical illusion created by the camera angle.

The total size of the Regal PH suite is 440 sqft, which we thought was plenty spacious when we stayed in it.

The total size of the Sun PH suite is 446 sqft.

Please do report back on what you think of the Sun PH suite when you sail it.  We are booked in one for Med 2025.

In related news, CCL stock has been on a tear lately 

the living room of the Penthouse Suite seems a bit narrow.

@Sox Fan Cruiser Too bad they could not honor your Sanctuary reservation request. 

Our experience with the Sanctuary reservation back in October at the GO lounge was much better.  The GO lounge concierge texted our request to the Suite Concierge, who was tasked with contacting the sanctuary to request the reservation.  After maybe 30 minutes our GO lounge concierge came back and confirmed with us that our reservation was made.  

We got prime lounge locations, as did others in the GO lounge that also requested Sanctuary reservations.  

Sounds like whether or not the Sanctuary reservations are made depends on the Suite Concierge...our Suite Concierge, Vladimir, was fantastic...one of the best on any cruise line we've encountered.

On 12/2/2023 at 8:05 AM, lisa6191 said:

It’s all done on your account, which is settled up at the end. So you can use the spa as you wish and then at the end you will have $700 credited against whatever you spent there. 
 

I believe the hours are the same every day, 9-6.

This is unexpected.  I thought I read a post by someone else that the credit was applied on a per-day basis, so if one did not use spa services on any given day, the $ 50 credit would be lost.

If it is indeed accumulated, that would be great for someone who uses a lot of spa services...makes booking the Retreat almost a no-brainer in that case.

6 hours ago, CardowMD said:

We were in a concierge cabin on deck 11 aft. Our stateroom attendant didn’t introduce himself, nor was there a card with name in room. His tag said Retreat Host and he explained he had one suite in a Sunset cabin to service, along with the other 15-20 cabins that were CG. He was a “lead “ cabin attendant, I assume training new people.  Just an FYI, there was a button on room for Stateroom Attendant, figure that went directly to his PDA.

2 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

..., or if they are renamed room attendants with added duties. Now I know it Is the latter. No comments on this from me. Facts speak for themselves.

 

 

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

IMO, they don't have any duties that they don't already perform in non-Retreat cabins.

Well @CardowMD did report they have a tag that said "Retreat Host."  So every morning the extra duty of the attendant would be to put on that tag, and voila! now they are a "Retreat Host" and not just a room attendant.

I do think they should remove the "Retreat Host" tag before stepping into a non-SS cabin, to avoid confusing the non-SS passengers.

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

This one I don't agree with. I think the Head Butler is just one of the other butlers that are serving the upper suites. Like stateroom attendants (aka "Retreat Hosts"), he just has a different title for Sky Suite guests.

You are probably right on this, although it would be interesting if someone actually confirmed this by asking the head butler what he does the 99% of the time that he is not doing anything as a "head butler" of Sky Suites.  I would of course phrase it a bit more delicately.

The day pass to the thermal suites area is $ 49 per passenger per day.

Does anyone know if the $ 50/day spa credit applies to a day pass purchase?

If so that would make the Retreat an even better deal as that would mean one person gets in free to the thermal suites area.

On a recent 12-night sailing, this was our breakdown:

2 dinners at Luminae 

3 dinners at Murano

3 dinners at Tuscan

1 dinner at Le Petit Chef

2 dinners at Sushi on Five

1 evening at the buffet...LOL.  So yeah Luminae not the slam dunk it used to be.

We spoke with several different folks while hanging out in the jacuzzi at the Retreat Pool, and they were unable to get loungers at the Sanctuary despite rushing up to the Sanctuary as early as they could upon boarding.

We were able to get what we felt were prime lounger locations in the shaded area for half days (afternoon) on sea days.  

A couple we met at the GO Suite Lounge was able to get half day (afternoon) cabanas on sea days, so they were happy campers too.

The ability to make Sanctuary bookings in the GO Suite Lounge is definitely a nice benefit.

46 minutes ago, Pickels said:

I know there are several "categories'" of suites on the ship, does anyone know if this shoreside lounge will be available to those in a Reserve Collection Mini-Suite?  Thanks for any info. 

no only full suites, and even then only if invited 

Update on how Sanctuary booking worked in our case, as explained to me by the Concierge Lounge concierge--by the way Vladimir on the Regal is fantastic...highly efficient and friendly.

The Go Princess lounge concierge texts the passenger's request to the Concierge Lounge concierge, who then works with the Sanctuary folks over the phone to make the bookings.  So if you want specific lounge locations other than shaded/unshaded, that request can also be passed on.

Any other booking requests such as spa, specialty dining, etc., are handled the same way.

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said: