vjmatty

3 hours ago, SquishTheWhale said:

 

I agree with the above posts that I'd expect them to take raw chicken a lot more seriously! I'm glad they did. They also asked for our cabin number, but it didn't seem to go anywhere.

He's not- it could well be a coincidence. At the time of the event we were only really concerned for my son as he's only 4 and had a couple of bites before we realised. He seems fine luckily.

Toddlers seem to be equipped with the most powerfully durable stomachs. They’ll find food that’s been under the couch for a month and still not succumb to food poisoning. Of course I’m not recommending you rely on the phenomenon and let your kid eat uncooked food, it’s just something I’ve noticed in the last 30 years of being a parent and grandparent. 

48 minutes ago, doghog said:

I didn't say they weren't cooked ahead of time. That all can be accomplished on the grill/flat top. 

I’ve always thought they were like the ones in the store that come frozen and precooked. Then again I stopped eating meat 10 years ago and only see the boxes my husband buys. 

7 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

I’ve never heard of anyone being cavity searched. Go big or go home 😎

If you can carry that much booze in the prison purse I’d say you’ve earned the right to those free drinks. 

Princess does not care what you put in your body while you’re in port, as long as you don’t bring anything onto the ship. People getting snarky and trying to turn this into a controversial thread should probably follow you to the dispensary so they can lighten up. 

17 hours ago, son3cruisers said:

Follow up #2 - Success 👍

I thought I would try again, as we all know  CS agents can vary.

Shout out to CS agent April, who was able to escalate the issue and grant the advertised deposit of $99. Fully refundable deposit for a 2026 cruise. 
Third time’s a charm I guess. 

Did you call again or use the chat?

1 hour ago, son3cruisers said:

Like I said I’m new to Princess and the agent did not help one bit. Didn’t offer to look into it or offer any apology for a website glitch. Good Customer service is a thing of the past I guess. I’m sure this is an offer that is advertised often? Or is this rare with Princess ( $99 deposit) 

It is very common, in fact it’s been extended a few times. Sometimes they even have $1 deposits. Usually the PVP’S are better with customer service than this. Most if not all would at least offer an apology, for what little that might be worth. 

23 minutes ago, son3cruisers said:

No it’s not a suite. I used the chat feature to chat with an agent who said it’s not for 2026 sailings and would not apply it even though it’s advertised online.( little red flag by the price )  I sent a screen shot. Would not help at all. She said that’s why I couldn’t book online - it’s not applicable . I asked why it’s being advertised and got a blanket response . 
 

Looks like a marketing IT problem on the website. I would say they’d better get it fixed quickly but based on your chat with Princess they don’t seem to care. 

3 minutes ago, chubbypiggy said:

I used my FCD and booked a cabin for the 2026 Sapphire Princess 15 days 8/19/26-9/3/26.  Several friends decided to join us; they don’t have any FCD.  After they found that cruise, at the left top of the page with the pricing and itinerary, it advertises “$99 Deposit”.  During their booking, they got to the page where it shows pricing for each person, and to book, need to click “book now” button at the end.  On that page, it asked for $800 deposit.  They really want to join us, so they continued and booked with an $800 deposit.  They wondered why it advertises as “$99 deposit” but ended up having to pay $800?   Anyone encountered similar situation when they booked the cruises on this new sale?

That is interesting, since the $99 sale is still on. I moved a current booking to one of the 2026 sailings so the deposit probably carried over. 

1 hour ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

I was on the phone with a VP from Princess yesterday (about a booking issue) and I asked about Park 19.

 

She was pretty tight-lipped about things but what she did say was that, "I actually just talked to the team about this earlier today because somebody else asked and what I can tell you is we are working on something we can share with people about this in the coming days."

 

That really tells us nothing other than they know people are talking about it and hopefully they actually have something to say on the matter soon. Hopefully what they'll be sharing is that Park 19 is opening, but it could just as easily be an explanation of the delays (or even a bunch of PR talk that tells us nothing at all).

 

Fingers crossed for those of you cruising on the Sun soon that it will be positive news.

The blowback on this will only get worse in the coming weeks as more and more schools are out and sailings have more kids. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have to start giving out OBC to keep people happy. 

I think what you’re dealing with is that some categories are only available as an extended sailing vs a shorter sailing, or vice versa. For example, some suite categories are available for the transatlantic on Sky but not if combining it with the European itinerary just before it. Enchanted is the exact opposite. This is a common yet annoying thing Princess does when combining sailings. 

1 hour ago, louden said:

Surprised apart from learning about this release date on CC have received no direct  information from Princess.  Bookings might be open but not all.  Getting many areas saying reserved only or appear to be blocked/not released yet.  Once again if you are booking for two , cabins that can accommodate three are not available.  Very frustrating. 

 

Anyone else experiencing this ?

 

Louden

No I’m finding Sky and Enchanted are both open for booking. Haven’t tried the others. 

Changing the room within the same category should not trigger a price change or change your booking in any other way. It sounds like someone made a mistake in the booking system. Definitely keep on this. 

31 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

Not what I wanted to hear but thank you.

If you book as separate segments they should repeat for each one. You might also get a better price and more OBC so it’s worth looking into. 

2 hours ago, loman said:

We only sail Oasis class and always get a two top without any problems .

I dont mind being close to other two top tables .

Dont care if i get different waiters every night either.

Same…we don’t need to exist in a vacuum in the dining room or anywhere else on a cruise. 

7 minutes ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

If the powers that be do think this was an epic fail it should hopefully be fixed when the Star comes out.  Also, it's been reported that 75% of passengers have either the Plus or Premier so they can just go to a bar to get a soda, bottle of water or alcoholic choice to consume with their lunch. 

Hopefully none of the convenience factor of self serve is lost if you have to find a bar. It just seems counterintuitive to make both the beverages and food be service-required on a new class of ship with increased passenger capacity. A smaller ship, this would make more sense. 

30 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

This entire ship is still in Beta testing mode. I’m pretty confident that “sometimes” will become “always” once the Dining Room Manager sees the impact this will have on wait times on Deck 7 on the nights where the MDR meals are offered on Deck 8. 

I wish I shared your optimism 😕

51 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

It doesn't say Beyond Burger. It says plant based burger.

Unless something has changed Princess has the absolute worst plant based burgers we've eaten anywhere!!!! (And Celebrity used to have some of the best but they've downgraded - still not as bad as Princess, though.)

Are they the old traditional veggie burgers? I don’t even eat those anymore. 

7 minutes ago, dides said:

Yes, last month we got 3 selections from that night's MDR menu day appearing on the Deck 8 menu so I reckon they have different Americana menus for each day to match with the MDR offerings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well at least there’s a Beyond Burger for vegetarians. Celebrity has them in Blu but I never had to fall back on that option since the Blu menu always had good entrees. 

9 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

 

Good point but you missed the word "sometimes".

If passengers don't know what menu will be offered each night they will still be going to deck 6 or 7 first.

I think a good solution might be to have the MDR menu for dinner every night with the diner menu for breakfast and lunch but I'm sure there's a problem with that, that I haven't thought of.

Yeah my OCD need for some predictability in life isn’t a big fan of “sometimes.”

12 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

It remains to be seen if this is a feature or a flaw. The decision to place the buffet on Deck 9 is a bit curious, but I think that Princess wanted to capture the vibe of NCL’s Boardwalk without creating a half dozen different restaurants. In so doing, they sort of restored the concept of a usable Promenade which was stripped away in the last build. I think this will prove popular. But at the same time, thousands of people are going to be using Decks 16-19 from mid-day on, especially on Sea Days and having only the usual pizza and burgers up there would never be enough. So some expansion was essential. But I’m not sure it’s enough. The first sea day in the sunny Caribbean will tell the story if people will be willing to leave their loungers on 16 or 17 to go down to Deck 9 to eat. The short walk to the World Market on 17 was a whole lot more convenient for people in bathing suits than a trip down the elevators to Deck 9. 

It also makes me think that the old method of going to the buffet in order to avoid the wait if you aren’t in a private dining category is no longer going to be an option, unless you want dinner at 5. But then you can eat anywhere at 5 and not wait.  The loss of self serve beverages in the buffet that many are reporting seems to be an epic fail in design.

I suppose you could pay for specialty dining every meal but the reservation system for those seems to be problematic, and so called “traditional dining” has lost the hassle free method of simply choosing at booking.  Also, mid-level private dining such as Club Class has disappeared in favor of the overpriced Sanctuary class, so if you don’t want to worry about the reservation mess you have to pay an exorbitant fare. Yes there’s Deck 8 but I would think the menu would get old. I’m not suggesting anyone is going to starve…it’s still a cruise ship….but nobody likes meals to be a chore.  I do have one Star booking for next year, so I’m willing to keep an open mind. I just hope I’m wrong with these concerns. 

1 hour ago, Nolefan95 said:

Then they shouldn't be cruising. Cruising is expensive these days on RCCL.

Or just shouldn’t cruise on Icon. Doesn’t mean they aren’t fun people. 

4 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

And if you have ever booked one doing that you would know that when you look at the invoice it is still non refundable.  Just one of the many quirks with espresso.

I have been able to book refundable suites but only when onboard. 
 

ETA: Correction, that was on Celebrity.

5 minutes ago, Nolefan95 said:

You sound fun to be around.

Some people don’t need to spend a lot of money to be fun 🤷🏻‍♀️

2 hours ago, memoak said:

This thread had to do with booking a mid ship suite with a narrow balcony and then paying for the Sanctuary for lounging space. We just book the suites with large balconies and use that for our lounging 

While my comment in response to your question did mention narrow balconies, that was not original subject of the thread as posted by the OP. She does not even mention balconies. 

2 hours ago, memoak said:

At $40 per person per day would cost well over $1,000 on a long cruise that in my opinion could be used for many other things. 

And that’s why you don’t get it. It’s just your opinion. Obviously it’s not for everyone and certainly not for you. But when you ask a “why would anyone” question and people give you answers, it’s not their fault that you don’t like or understand those answers 🤷🏻‍♀️