nattie

Very excited about this! I have already booked 19 day Circle Japan with Hokkaido. Cant wait for the excursions to be released.

We just booked Circle Japan for July 2024 and as I was going through booking process cabins were disappearing. Had to get PVP to find a mini for me that could accommodate 3 people. BUT, that is for unique sailings, ie my itinerary is available ONLY on July 1, 2024. I am not expecting for it to drop in price and expect it will be fully sold out. On the other hand, sailings that are available throughout the season (Med, Alaska, Caribbean) should go down in price. In fact, I have booked my upcoming Med sailing about a year out and have successfully asked for re-fare twice. 

13 hours ago, avonlady6390 said:

In regards to specialty coffees besides the ic there is two other locations in front of princess live shares space with the bar and in the buffet in the pastry isle.  I was on the discovery last October and it was full as well but I used the app for ordering drinks which helped some and could usually find areas that weren't crowded and having made dinner reservations for the week in the mdr before the cruise.

We were on Discovery in August, dont know about passanger count, but I am assuming close to full. The buffet coffee shop and Princess Live coffee shop never had any lines for me. 

We use them as fidget magnets 🙂

Just an FYI, I didnt not have to reinstall. The update happened on its own. I am on iphone 13 if that matters.

We are in suite and elite so very much 🤞 for and invite ion Enchanted in August! 

15 hours ago, mskaufman said:

So, I'm getting a message that I should keep away from an obstructed view guarantee, but if I can pick out the room, I should be fine.

 

Thats what I would do. I would not generally book a guarantee anyways, but it is particularly important for that room type.

We LOVE obstructed view balconies on the Royal Class ships! Currently we have E432 and E428 booked for our April cruise.

You have to be strategic in picking the cabins out though. The best ones are mid ship on Emerald (some are extended size). They overlook the relaxation deck below and have no life boats blocking the view. If you cant score one of these, look or the one in between the life boats. I second a vote for cruisedeckplans, it is a great resource! 

When we were on Regal last February they had advertised pickleball times in the patter daily. DS and I were introduced to the sport and enjoyed playing almost daily.

As previous posters stated, some time recently (we noticed after Covid restart) Princess changed how they do "prepayments" for services. All of your prepaid $ and OBC show up as a credit on day one and they get "used up" as cruise goes along by the posted charges. So if you had some other charge before your massages/Enclave was charged the credits will be used and you will have to pay the difference at the end. In any case, you will get a charge onboard for the services regardless of prepayment, because said prepayment is reflected as general credit not a credit for a particular service.

Just now, arizonaperson said:

Princess also has self-serve laundries on board ( on most if not all decks) so consider that as well ,it’s a great feature. About three dollars to wash and  $3.00 to dry and if you bring your own soap with you ,you save on that expense. 

If you do spring for Suite for space reasons, laundry is included. Just FYI.

We have traveled with DS on princess and other cruise lines since he was 1 yo. Princess has been his favorite for various reasons for almost 13 years now.

Looking back at when he was 3 yo, DS LOVED kids club on Princess but he is also used to daycare type of situations. Does your 3yo go to daycare normally? If yes, they will be used to daycare routine and rules. I am saying this because a friend of mine thought her kid would magically love kids club when she has never been away from her mom before. Giant fail there. Anyway, in my personal experience Princess kids club stuff is "head and shoulders" above the stuff on other lines we tried (That list does not include Disney). They truly bond with the kids and (it might have changed) most of them have some type of child development degrees (at least in younger programs).

Now for possible negatives. This is a LONG cruise, be prepared for mostly retirees on board. Ie almost no other kids. Might be a plus if your kiddo likes interacting with adults (mine did) but also may be a huge minus. We only did 7 days way back when DS was that young. Also, in some cases when fellow passengers are expecting a "kid-free" cruise they might get grumpy when kids inevitably "act up" by actually being kids (personal experience from 14 day circle Caribbean here).

Also please keep in mind that Kids club has a mandatory break for lunch and dinner daily unless in port.

I did not see what ship is sailing that itinerary, but some Princess ships have more to offer for kids, ie "hidden" kids pool on Caribbean Princess.

Kilili,

Thank you so much for the insights! Yes, please I would love a recommendation for a tour company for Mykonos and Athens! My email is hilliardmn@starpower.net if you dont want to post it here.

We cant do anything on the day we board in Rome, as we are sharing a private transfer with some folks to the port, plus I am planning to use that day as "relax" day. Says a lot about my itinerary if boarding day is considered relaxing! 😜

I might switch things around and do night tour of Catacombs on day one, which will free up a day for Ostia. Need to do more research on that. We do normally deal well with jet lag, but 2 tours on arrival day with one of them being night tour might be too much.

I am hearing everyone on the Naples day... Will look into private excursion with just Pompeii/Vesuvius. 

As for Athens, the Epidaurus trip includes Corinth Canal stop. Still would love a tour company recommendation just in case they have something else I  might like!

Wow! THANK YOU to everyone, such a great wealth of knowledge!

We are all "elite" on Princess and are doing a "just relax" cruise in April, so I am not worried about missing out on "cruise experience" per se. We did  very port intensive cruises before in the Baltic and Alaska and I agree with everyone that it is A LOT. That's why I was thinking of more chill beach days here and there, but DS insists on seeing the sights on this cruise. Since all the history/archeology stuff is his bailiwick, I am inclined to accede.

I think I'll switch to Princess excursion in Knossos or look for private guide for just that and may be spend part of the day walking around Heraklion instead of full day excursion. 

We are from MD, so hot and humid is how our summers are and we are pretty used to the heat. Vesuvius hike is only 25-30 min, so shouldnt be an issue. Part of the reason I was thinking about private excursion here is so my DH can just stay in the car if he doesnt want to do the hike or is done with ruins. I'll research more if we actually want both Herculaneum and Pompeii.

Generally Princess excursions have been a very good quality lately, my only issue with them is the size of the group. We did all Princess excursions in Alaska last August and they were all great, but we did pay extra for "small group" tours where available. However, Alaska/Caribbean excursions are not where you actually NEED to see/here your guide like you do in the Med.

LibertyBella, Meteora sounds AMAZING! 

I have not been to the Mediterranean since last century and could really use some modern and “been there done that” perspective on the tours I am choosing. 

For some background, we are a family of 3 and are doing this trip mostly for our 13 yo DS (he will be 14 on the trip) who is very interested in history and archeology. We have planned a lot of “private” or “small group” things to accommodate for probably A LOT of questions and various fitness levels in our group (DS and I can tour all day, but DH requires frequent rest breaks). My biggest hurdle was to try finding reputable tour operators that are not $$$$.

Thank you in advance for any insights or tour company reviews/recommendations!

ROME:

Arrival day – arrive at 7 am and go to hotel (booked the night before arrival, so can actually check in!), in the afternoon do a Villa Borghese Gallery & Gardens small-group tour.

Day 1 – Custom all day private tour with “Through Eternity Tours”. We have requested an underground Colosseum tour with arena and walking tour of the city. So we have an all day tour with a break for lunch.

In the evening we are planning to do a Rome River Boat Cruise. Not confident on that one, mixed reviews. Could be nice to just sit and see the sights after all day of walking.

Day 2 – Free in the am, planning to just enjoy morning in Rome and may be hit a street market?

In the afternoon we are doing “Crypts, Bones & Catacombs: An Underground Tour of Rome” with Walks of Rome. This is a small-group tour, could not bring myself to pay 600 euro for 3 hours for private!

Cruise

Naples, Italy

Reserved private tour to Pompeii, Herculaneum and Mt. Vesuvius. Climbing Mt. Vesuvius is a must and private option offered additional stop at Herculaneum. Extra bonus for no mandatory cameo factory stop vs all the ship’s tours! We opted for the option that includes archeologist guides at both Herculaneum and Pompeii. Booked this on VIATOR with Worldtours as tour operator (hopefully a good one). This option is significantly more $$$ than ship’s tour, but ship’s tour is also for 40 people.

Crete, Greece

On the fence on this one. I originally wanted to just go to the beach, but DS insisted on Knossos Palace at least (Minotaur and all that…). Right now I have a “Knossos Palace- Zeus Cave -Traditional Villages - Old Wind Mills” private tour booked. None of ship’s tours offered the Zeus Cave or at least I have not seen it. Is the cave really worth the extra $$$? Another major drawback on this tour is that there is no guide at Knossos. If Princess posts more tours with lower passenger capacities like they normally do closer to the sail date, I might switch.

Kusadasi, Turkiye

Doing a private tour with Ephesus Shuttle of “Ephesus, including Terrace houses- Artemis Temple - House of Virgin Mary Tour”. Same price as group tour on Princess. Also, wonderful customer service so far from the tour operator.

Istanbul, Turkiye

Again, doing a private tour with Ephesus Shuttle. Mine is a custom tour, as I wanted to do a Bosphorous cruise and didn’t care about churches or mosques visits. The more I read about Istanbul, the less I am inclined to actually do the Bosphorous cruise due to time constraints. Regardless, I figured if we decide against it, we can just go have some tea at Galata Tower. We are scheduled to tour Topkapi Palace (Harem is optional), walk through Gulhane Park and past Hagia Sophia (not stopping there), visit Underground Cistern, Hippodrome Square and Grand Bazaar. We are scheduled to end with Bosphorous cruise before getting back to port, but, again, might skip that based on timing.

Mykonos, Greece

I wanted a beach day but was overruled by DS and we are going to Delos. Doing a Princess tour here, couldn’t find any tempting private/small group options.

Athens, Greece

Day 1: We are staying in Athens for couple of days and are planning to do a debark tour to Cape Sounion on arrival to kill time before hotel check-in. I chose the “no lunch” option tour with Athenian Transfers for this. I LOVE all Mediterranean food, but I am not sure about my family, so it would be best to go somewhere all of us can agree on and enjoy vs what the host picks out. Plus no lunch option offered a stop at Lake Vouillamegni (I am sure I am spelling it wrong).

Day 2:

PRIVATE - ACROPOLIS, ACROPOLIS MUSEUM & MYTHOLOGY TOUR with Alternative Athens. In the AM we are doing Acropolis and surroundings and in the PM a walk tour of the city.

Day 3:

I have reserved the “Ancient theatre of Epidaurus -Sanctuary of Asklepios - Eleusian Mysteries” tour because it offers the snorkeling of the sunken city of Epidaurus. This tour is through “Easy Experiences”.

Day 4:

Unfortunately for us this day is a major Greek National Holiday. Also since our flight is at 6 am next day I am inclined to do just a half day catamaran cruise. Have not booked anything yet. I really want to do a Delphi/Thermopylae trip with Easy Experiences (includes a stop at the hot springs!), but the duration is 12 hours. Should I tough it out and just go for it?

On 1/20/2023 at 11:42 AM, dhdoug said:

Looking at new Princess packages and what’s included, fitness class, childish looking specialty desserts I am going to be inclined as a long time Princess supporter to just go with the standard package and pay as you go which seems like the best value without the needless and unused add ones. My guess is that alcohol consumption along with Princess package sales will decrease.

What do you think?

I was considering doing that too, BUT ended up with Princes Plus, as it would be cheaper for us. My math was as follows:

Princess Plus - extra $840 for 7 days cruise for both of us

DH and mine daily drinks (5 each daily @ $10) =$700

Tips = $240 

Internet = cant remember what the price was, but at least $200 for 2 devices

For us Princess Plus is a no brainer

Bumping the thread. 

I am looking for this form too.

+1 to Jenig0013,

Tenerife is Spanish territory and a very lovely island, largest of the Canary islands in fact with daily connections to Spanish mainland, England, etc.

Yes, Princess should have caught this sooner but the fault is not entirely theirs. 

Regal Princess in February 2022 to see if we still like cruising after 2 year break (surprise, surprise, we sure did!)

Norwegian Breakaway in April 2022 (tried the Haven)

Discovery Princess in August 2022 (swapped Alaska for Europe, was originally planning to do a Med cruise that was cancelled due to COVID)

We have 2 booked in 2023:

Regal Princess in April (just Western Caribbean, spring break cruise to get DS to Elite for Europe)

Enchanted Princess in August (FINALLY Med cruise we have had originally booked for June 2020, also first time trying a Princess full suite, so excited!)

We would like to visit Japan in Spring of 2024 and I was exploring an option to do a cruisetour. There are no Japan itineraries on Princess website for 2024 at all (besides Singapore to Tokyo oin March 5th 2024). Does anyone know if these itineraries will be forthcoming or is Princess not going to sail out of Tokyo in 2024? Sorry if this was already discussed.

Is 360 something you have to book on board like Chef's table or can I pre-book on the app? Would love to do this on Enchanted!

Wow! So much great info, thank you!

Unfortunately for us, we are stuck with beginning of August travel due to work and school reasons. The ship we are on offers an excursion to Pompeii and the hike to the summit of Mt. Vesuvius. I really want to do this one, but now I am concerned about the heat. Google says that average high is 86 F, which significantly cooler that August in MD. Am I crazy to attempt the hike? Should we just stick to Pompeii/Archeological museum instead? We do have a decent amount of time in port (7am to 6pm).

Thank you everyone for amazing suggestions!

I have switched from my original reservation at Hotel Artemide to Albergo del Senato. $200 less for better location!

Question, has anyone stayed in Junior Suite in Albergo del Senato? I am wondering what view of "roman rooftops" from the small balcony actually mean?

Also, I like the idea of private transfer from airport, but I would actually like taking the train to Civitavecchia I think. Being from Eastern Europe, I miss train travel :). From Albergo del Senato I assume we will need to take a cab to the train station to catch the train to Civitavecchia? Or should I just scrap the train ride idea?

Was anyone successful in ordering the included in Princess Premier package Medallion Accessory with actual Medallion in the app? I cant figure this out. The app wants to charge me for the accessory I am picking out.

I guess I'll just have to get the accessory once on board?

Bumping this. Researching Prima for April cruise from NYC and a single queen in 2nd bedroom would be a "no-go" for us. Anyone with experience?