aussiecruiser275

Yes to the first three questions, unsure of the hours but was open until  9pm on the Enchanted

I think the OP it trying to justify the huge increase in such a short space of time much higher than inflation. Just prior to COVID it was only 25AUD so we are talking a 252% increase in 5 years  in AU pricing or a 460% increase on USD comparison over a 13 year period when it was only 10USD for specialty dining -  so the posters point is valid irrespective of what other changes are going on with Princess.

2nd that im not looking forward to my 10foot high balcony rail from my C2 balcony Cabana mini - how awful and hideous it looks

My two girls (12 and 13 when they cruise)  and DW will be on her 28DEC24 for 21 days but they love Princess cruises (they hate RC and P&O Aus, carnival OK). this will be their 17th cruise and they cant wait for the Sun to sail and they seem to be enthralled with Park 19 for what has  been said so far.

On 1/21/2024 at 2:21 AM, Hobby3333 said:

Since we are cruising from Barcelona in July, I was wondering how many kids might be on a Princess ship.  We sailed from Amsterdam last July on HAL and there were not many kids.  I like kids so don’t take it wrong.  

On the enchanted in July 2022 to Iceland there were 298 (including my 2) under the age of 18 so wasn't too crowded at all , but i imagine a cruise on the med would have a lot more 

C1 - reserve class mini suite cabana room  will look out on the Caban Deck - much like the earier Iona P&O review  fronting to the promenade

C2 -reserve class mini suite cabana room have the balcony ponoti directly look out but will have access to the cabana deck. 

But the balcony area above is exposed to people from above just like the minis on the grand class ships - which didn't bother me too much

Both categories will have TVS in the cabana area and both have their storage areas not obstructed by the couch as in the P&O review so it seems Princess have taken a step further to iron out a few of these issues that have arisen on other companies boats with similar categories

However as has been commented, i cannot wait to hear on the reviews come next month.

It is for the festive season later this year. I have the option of flying in on Air Canada to Miami at 645pm (two days before the cruise) or at 0700 the next morning on American (one day before the cruise)

I thought the option on Air Canada was better , however i have begun to hear so many stores that it would be better to fly in on the next morning at 0700am as less chance of delays etc especially due to weather.

Costs are insignificant as would be the airline.

My cruise i out of Fort Lauderdale but the flight timings are less favourable.

Anyone had any thoughts on flights at this time f year. Sorry for the questions we are from Australia so we have no experience on potential snow / winter related flight travel issues We are doing Xmas in the ski fields of Mont Tremblant prior in case there were questions on why we were flying from Montreal.

Thank you in advance for everyone's help.

I dont know but it certainly wont be the Diamond between her japan seasons she will be sailing the Australian waters over 2025/26 which was announced a couple of weeks ago. 

Does this also apply for people from Australia or is it just from North America?

we go standard - but over a week of cruising we will go through about 2 to 3 bottles of wine over a 7 day cruise between the two of us in the restaurant which we purchase and being elite there is 50% off wifi . We have no use for fitness classes, juice bar and drinking like fish out of water so we see no value in the plus or premier package.

6 hours ago, wallyj said:

The APP when ordering your Medallion should recognize you have the Premier package and automatically include in your order the ‘included/free’ accessory. It is currently a ‘clip’ in an exclusive color(royal blue) to the Premier package. If you go to the Princess website and review the packages, when you scroll down what is included with Premier, it shows a stripped clip. 

You can order any other accessories, but you do not receive any discount or credit if you do not want the ‘clip’. 
 

I believe on the ship at the Ocean Front location where you can purchase Medallion accessories, similar clips in different colors are priced about $8 to give you an ideal of the value of the included accessory with the Premier package.

I can confirm Wallyj is correct. Having just came off the Grand last month and that's what we were offered too - there were three different colours available. So we paid to purchase the sports watch band - there was no 10% discount for elite either in case anyone enquires - as they get that asked all the time they told me.

If they do most likely would be the Diamond outside of their japan season , depends though if princess decide to get rid of any further ships after the Sun / Star come into service . 

How far in advance does specialty dining go on sale ? Is there a hard and fast rule or could vary  by months and say try every few months 

12 hours ago, mtnesterz said:

There have been rumors that the Caribbean Princess (2004) will transfer to P&OAU to replace the ageing Pacific Explorer. (1996)

Same here and sounds plausible as the 2nd sphere class ship would arrive in 2025 as well 

1 hour ago, chicgotgame said:

Do you know the day the Caribbean sale will start? 

we got told 9am pacific time 18 April for elites and the following day for general sale. Of course that means 2am from where i am !!

have fun chicgotgame in booking and thank you to reedprincess and rngalng for your help

Will be looking at doing a B2B on the new Sun Princess in NOV 2024 when they go on sale next week, however due to cabin requirements and who we are going with etc it will necessitate us changing from a deluxe balcony cabin 7 day cruise to a Cabana minisuite for 14 day cruise afterwards. 

I do know the 14 day goes back to Fort Lauderdale as it is made up of 2 x 7 day cruises so are not worried that one as keeping the same cabin and will do a shore excursion through the cruise line for that day.

i would appreciate all the help as to how this will work as i have heard so many different stories in regards to how we get bags moved to the new cabin / do we need to check in again / when / how to get off and re join - can we do a shore excursion on that day etc. i know things have changed over the years.

Appreciate all you help everybody. We are from Australia and as you can see all I have done before from Fort Lauderdale was a Panama sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles about 6 years ago.

Im having trouble trying to view it says content restricted , appreciate if there is another way to view 

Wow what a crap season for Princess in 2024/2025 , Just Royal, Crown and Diamond. They have really let the ball down big time. This suggest there may be a few ship retirements coming through if they can only send three ships down under - that less capacity than this coming season. Awaiting for further  info to come through. This is what i was just told.

17 hours ago, TravelingBeyondBoundaries said:

Do you know if North American cruises will be released then as well?

Sorry only privy to news on the Australian nz market , im sure there are others on this forum who would have more advanced notice but my guess is info will be forthcoming in april may since the preceding year. Think went on sale in june i think

Australia / NZ and the 2025 RTW EX SYD - news should be coming next week

9 hours ago, arxcards said:

No drydock for Crown Chez, They can swap one of the Euro sockets for an Aussie one in transit across the Pacific. I believe the ship was in drydock during October 2022.

 

Crown Princess arrives in Sydney from her Transpacific on 26th October, as by the Sydney Ports bible. Then a 28-day interval suggests a lap of Australia, which often follows a transpacific. Just doing the lap in reverse makes the dates look a bit different - includes:

30th October - Melbourne

1st November - Adelaide

6th November - Fremantle

14th November - Darwin

18th November - Cairns

21st November - Brisbane

 

And yes, it will be Crown & Royal ex-Sydney, and uncertain bits of Diamond and Grand from Brisbane & Melbourne, with no Coral. 

I don't think they will downguage Sydney. This summer there is two Royal class ships based -  it will surely stay that way again - it just depends on which 2  whilst a grand and panamax ship will be based out of Brisbane / Melbourne. As one of the panmax ships will then do the 2025 RTW which will be announced at the same time unless the RTW gets an upguage to a Grand class ship - which could well do.....these RTW cruises sell out like hotcakes.

any way i guess speculation at this point in time...who's to say what will happen i could be way off the mark

My contact in Princess has told me they would have information for me on the season as well as the 2025 world cruise later in the day on the 21st March. Unless anyone else comes to hand with information before that.

So i guess the Diamond then is not doing sailings out of Singapore then like it is the end of this year. Wonder which ship is going to resume those sailings?

I am so glad sabatinis will be there it bitterly disappoints me it is missing on the Majestic . Never understood bistro sur la mer (was never a problem getting a table).

with regular wait times of 30 min to nearly an hour at lunch at Alfredos on sea days it doesnt surprise me it us not going anywhere . 

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Does anyone have an update on the sailings to be offered ?