vjmatty

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 🤷🏻‍♀️

10 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

What do you mean? All YC rooms on MSC are in the YC.

 

They have interior staterooms, but they're all classified as suites. 

Maybe that’s why it wasn’t a problem then, since they were always called suites from the onset of YC. Here you had two months of sailings taking place before the DO and reserve minis were announced as included in the SWS (ship within a ship) designation. However, if passengers knew all along these categories would be be included, there wouldn’t be this blowback as people would know what they were getting into when they booked. I suppose some could argue there was a suggestion when DO descriptions started showing the word “signature” but that only caused a lot of speculative discussions, far short of clear notice.  

2 hours ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

You bring up a good point… I’m guessing that when Yacht Club and Haven first came out, with their non-suite alternative cabins, people had the same concerns. It would appear that Princess is following their models, rather than those of Celebrity or Cunard, which have no option for a lesser category cabin in their Retreat or Grill class. 

37 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

I am seeing comments where a Suite guest had not been able to get loungers in the Sanctuary, but the the Concierge made the reservations for them.  They were able to get loungers as they wanted.

Has this been something usual in the past???  Is this new?

Of course Princess is not known for being consistent!!!  I know that access to the Sanctuary has not been a Suite perk.

 

If this is something new, then I am seeing the signs already posted that Princess will move towards taking the Retreat area and the Sanctuary,  and restricting therm to a new  SANCTUARY CLASS SYSTEM, like they now have on the Sun Princess. I would almost bet on it.  

 

I will say that if these Royal Class ships end up without an adult only area,  I will not be sailing with Princess.

 

We have one cruise booked on the Sun, that we are now questioning....

We have another cruise booked on a Royal Class ship, that would also be cancelled if Princess makes these changes.

           

That is troubling news. Did the comments say that the retreat pool and deck were as also appropriated for suite guests, or just the sanctuary?

4 minutes ago, memoak said:

I don’t get why one would want to pay for the Sanctuary when you have a huge balcony and room service. 

On Royal class, even many of the suite balconies are too narrow to face the ocean. 

22 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Thanks!

 

Between the first day and the two specialty dining meals included with Premier, We would be giving up three meals in the suite dining room... Would you say It is worth giving up three out of the seven?

Of course! The specialty dining rooms will not be anywhere near as large as the MDR so you’ll still be getting an exclusive experience. The food will likely be better as well given that everyone else on the ship is paying a significant upcharge. “Giving up” is how you would describe missing specialty dining for a more ordinary meal in the reserve dining room.  In fact, one of my favorite hacks when suites are overpriced on a particular sailing is to schedule every meal in the specialty restaurants.

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

@miched  I never said it did not happen to you, I simple stated that it is not a 100% certainty that it can be done.  

 

 @Liao Similar things have happened to us.  We were given a bottle of wine that was supposed to be charged to our account but never was.  

 

 My whole point is that while people have been able to order off the Blu menu in Luminae it is come that may continue to happen, but it is not something that someone should count on as a certainty.  

 

Sounds like it’s ship specific. Your experience, if I’m reading correctly, is limited to a Millennium sailing. Others are giving examples of the remaining three ships and the thread is about Infinity, which I can confirm as of less than two months an ago was allowing multiple menus in Blu and Luminae. 

8 minutes ago, ProfMHC said:

Nov 5 Fort Lauderdale, arrive 6 AM

Thank you for noticing that, unfortunately it’s too late to edit again 😕

9 hours ago, ProfMHC said:

Transatlantic was auto rebooked for us. Not much of a date change (depart 2 days later—same return date). Naturally way too early to have booked anything else. However, the promised price reduction didn’t show up in personalizer. Sent in a ??? —- let’s see how Princess responds 

Here is the new itinerary:

Oct 22 Depart 6:00PM Barcelona

Oct 23 Mallorca (Palma) 8am to 6pm

Oct 25 Gibraltar 7am to 6pm

Oct 28 Azores Islands (Ponta Delgada), 9am to 6pm

Nov 5 Ft. Lauderdale, Arrive 6pm

All the rest are sea days.

ETA: Subject to change of course.

9 hours ago, capriccio said:

But if I remember correctly the Suite dining was advertised to be unique menus (not a single special dish as in reserve dining) and the current suite dining is offering a special breakfast menu similar to that offered in the designated specialty restaurant for suite passenger breakfasts on other Princess ships.  We booked a suite expecting different menus not the same.

I should have clarified…by same menu I meant that if the Reserve and Signature dining rooms become two Sanctuary class dining rooms, that they both have the same special menu that you are referring to. I did not mean the same menu as the soon to be former Reserve dining room. 

2 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

Hi Guys, it's only me Tony I just like to say your cabin has to be better than mine. See photo 😳 😀

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tont

Alcatraz?

4 minutes ago, keldaria said:

Depends on how it happens. When I say merged, I don’t mean physically merged, as you and others have pointed out that is impractical with the kitchen between them. When I say merged I mean the guest list making it a free for all first come first served where either restaurant goes for anyone. That’s not the sort of exclusive experience we paid extra for and ultimately the signature restaurant appears located in a nicer spot right off the plaza making it likely a more attractive target if it’s a free for all and less likely to not be packed if everyone is given the choice.
 

I’m a pretty reasonable guy and don’t complain much but if I can’t walk straight in and sit down every night like was promoted because they merged the lists for the dining areas I’ll be upset to say the least. It’s not about who I’m sitting next to, it’s about paying for an area that’s exclusive and purposely designed to be underbooked so it is always available for suite guest and then potentially not getting it. Yes the reserve would be available then assuming the sanctuary class isn’t oversold from grandfathered cabanas and such but still not the experience advertised.
 

This isn’t going to be a cheap trip for my family, I just want what was promised when I made the deposit or at least some consideration when selling me an “upgrade” that is just a degradation of the original service I was promised. I don’t take nicely to Princess gas lighting me over an expensive trip, especially when they don’t even have it all figured out before they decided to do it. It would be one thing if it was all clearly defined so I could plan accordingly to cancel or stick it out, but now I’m essentially stuck making a go/nogo choice based on speculation.

And that’s exactly what I meant about the numbers working. For me that means enough tables so that I can walk in whenever I want with no reservation. If that perk remains as such then I’ll be satisfied. Otherwise you’re right it’s not what was offered. 

49 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.

So in other words, two “Sanctuary Class” dining rooms formerly known as Reserve and Signature? As long as the menus are the same hopefully it won’t matter which one is assigned. If you look at the deck plan they can’t be merged, but perhaps commingling would happen. I guess I don’t care what kind of cabin the table next to me is in as long as the numbers work. 

7 minutes ago, keldaria said:

I’m right there with you and unfortunately there really isn’t a good way to know at this stage.

 

the more I think about the private dining situation the more I wonder if suites will maintain their access to the signature but rather than a full merger, I wonder if they’ll just take a small portion of the non-suite sanctuary class cabins and move them into the signature restaurant so they can have a little better balance between the 2 and not as much congestion at the reserve restaurant. I mean the space doesn’t make it easy to merge them and allowing a free for all between the 2 would mean potentially a lot of mad suite guest. It wouldn’t be hard to take 15-20% of the non-suite guests and say “congratulations your private dining is at the signature restaurant” and leave the rest in the reserve. 

I’m wondering how dining is going to work also. I don’t think the suites will be infringed on because the Reserve restaurant population has been cut in half and they are only adding the 12 DO cabins. That should give relief to the overcrowding in Reserve dining that was observed in the earlier sailings. Signature dining should not be affected, as there will still

have to be two separate dining rooms since they can’t be combined with the kitchen being in between the dining rooms. But then again at this point I have learned not to underestimate Princess’ ability to come up with more bad ideas. 

1 hour ago, oteixeira said:

Cool, maybe I just don't mind the walking as much?  LOL

Oh I love walking, and get my 10k steps in no problem. My knee can’t do more than 5 flights of stairs though and the wait for elevators on that ship is ridiculous.  I’m keeping an open mind about Sun though, and giving it a fair chance. 

38 minutes ago, oteixeira said:

I mean I understand that can be the case depending on the line, but you never answered my question, we kind of zigged when we were currently talking about zagging.  Again, I have sailed behind the door.  Going to the room is no different then a room on most of the rest of the ship, which was your argument for it not being a great set up.  So, have you ever sailed behind the golden door?  
 

I’m the one you asked, and yes I did answer your question. You’re confusing two different posters. 

53 minutes ago, oteixeira said:

May I ask if you have ever sailed behind the golden door?  I enjoy a lot of things in the main ship and it is no harder to go back to my room on deck 17 then it is to go back to my room on deck 5, or deck 14 (balcony on most NCL), etc.  The person I was referring to earlier spends a lot of time in the Casino, the idea is really to enjoy the ship but have a place to go back to that is away from the crowds so you can relax (in a public setting).  

Yes I have. In fact, to illustrate my ability to compare, I’ve been in a Royal Suite, Crown Loft Suite, Owner’s Suite and Grand Suite on RC; Royal Suite and Aqua Sky Suite on Celebrity, Penthouse Suite and Window Suite on Princess, as well as Princess Grill and  Queens Grill on Cunard.  The most enjoyable for me were those suites that had their own areas for dining and lounges but not far removed from everything else. I liked Queens Grill on Cunard and Owners Suite on Deck 8 near Central Park on Oasis Class the best.  My least favorite was the Crown Loft Suite on Oasis class ships. There is only one set of elevators because  deck 17 is very small. Also, the CLS itself, while beautiful to look at, was impractical as the stairs got old quickly lol.

1 hour ago, TRLD said:

I think it is more that Princess is getting more concerned abouts it's demographics. Other competing lines have been successful in lowering their average age demographic.

 

While Princess has added a couple of features that will increase its appeal to some families, it is no where near the family friendly lines.

 

More of grandkids willing to go on Princess with grandparents, instead of grandparents going to Royal or NCL when they cruise with kids and grandkids.

 

In order to get its demographics more into mid 50s instead of mid or high 60s it has to make it more attractive to 40/50 demographic which will include a few more children and young adults.

Agreed, I don’t know why so many people equate Park 19 with the water parks and amusement type rides on other more child-oriented ships. Park 19 is just a glorified sports deck.

I also agree there’s a difference between younger couples and family-oriented. Many couples now are deciding not to have children.

2 hours ago, oteixeira said:

My friend calls it "being behind the golden door" and refuses to cruise on any line that does not have that door.  😄

The issue with the golden door concept is when it becomes too removed from the other venues on the ship you might want to experience and enjoy. For example, Oasis class on Royal Caribbean has deck 17 where certain suites are on the same floor as the dining room and suite lounge, with nothing else. That’s great if all you’re going to do for the entire cruise is eat and drink. However, if you want Io go to trivia, live music, broadway shows, specialty dining, the spa, other bars, basically any kind of entertainment, it’s a pain when you need to run back to deck 17 to change, drop off bags, shower or grab something from your suite. Cruise lines need to find that balance between exclusivity and isolation. 

6 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

The majority of people getting free cruises from the casino are just paying for cruises ahead of time.

Unless you’re like me with extremely bad luck…in my case it’s a lot cheaper to just pay for my room and stay out of the casino. Lioness’ method is obviously not for everyone. 

18 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

It was yesterday afternoon and you can find it on Carmen Roig's YouTube page.  It was more of the usual rah-rah sales gab.  I didn't see all of the questions answered either, nor many of the issues raised here addressed.  That would not be in line with the rah-rah session style.

I watched it post live and did not find anything noteworthy beyond what we already know here. Definitely over the top promotionalism if that’s a word. I’m also disliking her husband the more I hear about him lol, especially the dissing of Amtrak irritated me because I love trains. Anyway I am sure they filtered out a lot of the questions we all had because she either didn’t have an answer or didn’t want to answer. 

19 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Don't be surprised if they manage to rig up some of the gauze "sails" they use on other ships.  IMO, it doesn't do much at all on Royal Class, so I wouldn't expect a lot of coverage for Sun Class, but they'll make an effort I expect.

 

I also expect there will magically be more pads on loungers that didn't have them before.

Good question….if they make the whole area homogenous then the cushions will have to match. The question is whether they will do as you say and supply more of the loungers with them or just downgrade those in the former suite area.