Griff4AU

No Sir, I look forward to shaking your hand one day. I just hope we can put the Discovery out to sea on the day. Princess can make something really very memorable here. I live in an area where I will receive 100% Totality - we could stay home. However it would be special if we were out to sea on the Discovery. Let's just hope they do something remarkable. I did check in to HAL - no chance. Not for me. As I logged in to Polar (the Princess and CCL TA booking site) this morning, I saw several (maybe 15) cabins opened up. It appears (and I may be incorrect) that many are reserving and not even putting the $200 down - so the holds are dropping off. As of a few minutes ago, they were gone.

Wow, this sailing is largely sold out except for interiors and obstructed balconies on Deck 8. If you're wanting on this sailing and want a better cabin, keep checking to see if someone doesn't pay their reduced deposit and loses their spot. Maybe Princess will simply say, "we're nearly sold out on this sailing - we don't need to change a thing". I might just be on the HAL boat. My (then) 12yo will hate it,

Not strange at all if you select a cabin - even if you don’t complete a reservation. When you are on the Princess site and select a cabin (R-210; for example) and move to the next screen, you have placed a temp hold on that cabin. Even if you do not book or reserve using the site, the moment you select R-210; and move to see pricing or see what’s next, R210 will disappear from available inventory. I blocked myself once overnight and almost lost a specific cabin at a TA group rate (which was better than the Princess site rate). That cabin was available again the next morning as I had not reserved using the Princess site. You are “holding a cabin” for a short time every time you select one while playing with the web site.

Coral nailed it. The TA’s use OneSource / Polar for booking CCL & Princess. They are proud of the site but I think it stinks compared to the X/RCL site for TA’s. Even when booking something for myself, I find the cabin on the Princess site and before selecting it (which places a temporary hold on the cabin) I book it through Polar. I think (but not sure) the PVP’s use Polar as well. Reserving on your own than then moving it to a TA before final payment is always fair advice. An independent TA can nearly always offer you more spiffs than you can get direct or through a PVP. Some TA’s give spiffs. Some do not. Some Princess PVP’s are very good. Many are terrible. (Same can be said about the other lines but we’re in the Princess forum). However a TA can offer you more than a PVP can - it’s whether they want to and the agency allows them to. I think booking through the PVP’s is fairly similar to booking all the excursions through the ship or insurance through the cruise line. You’re not getting the best deal or service, but it “feels safer.”

I barely remember those days. The "cool" finance folks wanted the original HP 12c and we aviators wanted an original E6B "whizzy wheel". 'Hard to imagine we put a man on the moon and lived without remote controls (other than dad yelling "change the channel ... "). Reminiscing aside, surely there are some folks at Princess with both the business and financial acumen to realize that the reason they are seeing a full boat this early on with this particular itinerary (how many really will book a Mexico itinerary 18 months out?) is because of the eclipse. And as much as Princess is my "sweet spot" with the cruise lines, if (when) Royal and/or X tosses an eclipse itinerary out there that has the ship on the water and chasing the eclipse, I cancel my Princess reservation that day if the Discovery itinerary still shows her in port. If 50+ years ago we could put men on the moon and fly around the world using slide rules, wizzy wheels and 12c's, Princess can figure out what the right thing to do is here.

I generally shy away from these threads as the response often depends on which forum it's posted in. Usually it's the Princess vs RCL and/or X that has the more entertaining responses. This thread seem pretty fair and unbiased. I will offer that the longer CCL voyages did not seem to have the extreme party lifestyle that the shorter voyages do. If Princess feels to stuffy to the OP, I would try one of the nicer NCL or RCL boats over CCL - but that's just one guy's opinion. And X / HAL - no way (based on your OP).

Now that's just not something you hear every day! 😂 Those HAL cruises are pricey. I am wondering if the Volendam (not mentioned above) will chase the Eclipse some. Departs San Diego on the 6th, 2 sea days then Puerto Vallarta on the 9th. I wish Princess will tweak the Discovery itinerary. Probably a bit rare for them to see this much activity on a sailing 18 months out. I may have to see if X or RCL will put something out for the Eclipse. The Carnival Panorama is due to hit Cabo on the 9th. Maybe they will tweak that itinerary.

Glad we saw this. We're book on a Dlx Balcony, which is the best that's available at the moment. At this moment (26 Oct and 21:35 CT) only Interiors and Dlx Balconies are available. Minimal deposit due after a few day courtesy hold. I'd rather be out to sea, but the HAL prices are silly and we'll have our daughter with us and HAL just isn't 12 yo (in 2024) friendly. Thank you for posting this thread.

Thank you.. That's what I needed to see. While we're likely going to go with a Mini, I like the sky above and personally that's a no-go for me.

That's exactly what I needed to see, and thank you. My better half just did a 180 on me and now I am scrambling for post Christmas sailings. The CP (if that's still her designation - it's been 8 years since on a Princess ship) was my first and favorite Princess ship having been on her 3 times. Even when she wasn't new, she was almost the "defacto flagship" (even with the newer boats) and the crew knew it - almost having a bit of a swagger about them. I was hoping she wasn't going to be "tired" at this point.

No, just 3. 2 adults and a 10 yo. And thank you. I am reading about the mid-ship balconies under the Sea Walk. Not too worried about them, but I do need to do a little more homework. Thank you.

No doubt, Thank you all for the responses. If it was me +1 or if I was with cruise veterans, there's be no question we'd take the aft view Prem Dlx D4 and I would spend hours out there. With 2 newbies (and one being 10) I might be better off with the larger cabin. Absolutely why I haven't considered the postage stamp cabins I remember from RCL. Unfortunately they looked at the NCL Joy which is definitely more "kid appealing" and it's difficult to convince newbies that "attention to detail, polish, class" are very different amongst the lines. I've had some great sailings on NCL, but for newbies I'd rather go with the "known great product" of PCL.

I promise I've searched, but I didn't find anything in the 1st 3 pages and I grew impatient. I figure someone here has the quick answer. It's been 8 years since I have been on a Princess ship, but I am Platinum so I have been on a few of the ships but this will be my first Royal Class ship. Sailing with 2 first timers and I am debating an Aft facing Prem Dlx (always used to be my favorite) or a Mini with an Extended Angle. A Prem Dlx R734 (for example) shows 312 SqFt and R409 (mini with the Ext Angle deck) shows 319. There's a $900ish difference between the 2, which I certainly don't mind spending but I am not sure I get more because of it. I am sure the wisdom here on CC has been on both... if the SqFt is about the same, how much of that is balcony vs deck? With newbies (one being a 10yo), I am just not sure how much deck time we'd spend and would we enjoy more room in the cabin. Thanks in advance, Griff

Leo, thank you. While I am Elite with Princess, I haven't been on one of their ships in nearly 8 years and am looking at the Regal in December when she's back in the US. I'm debating Regal (with my comfort with Princess) vs Oasis (I know, sacrilege here on a Princess forum) for 2 first time cruisers and this is what I needed to see. It seems like I will be very familiar with the ship should I choose to introduce them to Princess - with some nice changes. Well done. Thanks again.