CaptainPedantic

Sure @Ken the cruiser †Up to 50% off Princess Plus Package is applicable to all passengers, available on all grades. Purchase the Princess Plus package at up to 50% saving ( from £25pp per day) Discount subject to change and on selected voyages within this campaign only. Up to 50% off Princess Plus Package is available from 3rd May 2023 - 3rd July 2023, and applies to voyages in this campaign only.

+1 for this @Ken the cruiser in case you don't use VPN, here's a copy-paste of the offer Up to 50% off Princess Plus Packages† Book a 2024 cruise by 3 July 2023. A Princess cruise is amazing value, and we want to share the love and save you money. For the first time ever, enjoy up to 50% off a Princess Plus all-inclusive package. You’ll pay from £25pp per day, instead of £50pp per day for Princess Plus when you book a 2024 cruise. A Plus Beverage Package comprising cocktails, wine, speciality coffees and more, Wi-Fi, crew appreciation, premium desserts, fitness classes are all included, saving up to £90pp per day. Offer ends on 3 July 2023.

In the UK, Princess are currently offering Plus at half price for 2024 cruises. So while this promotion is not available in the US at the moment, there is a chance of this happening in the future.

We were on the Caribbean Princess 6-20 May, both 7 day cruises were fully-booked but never felt crowded. The only really noticeable / recurring issue was bar service on the open decks on the sea days, this could be pretty slow and crowded at times, but then I probably could also have been less polite if I was truly in a hurry 😉

We spent some time on the west side of the island near Luna Beach, no issues there.

We were on Caribbean Princess 6-20 May and didn't notice any problems with Sargassum on any of the beaches we visited.

Our 2-year old daughter came out with chickenpox on day 6 of our 22-night Caribbean round-trip cruise to/from Southampton on Oriana back in 2006. I understand it's likely she picked it up just before we embarked, but we had no idea... She was quarantined for 7 days (and we were in an inside!) and she was finally released the morning of our last Caribbean port 😞 at least we made one port all together! It was a miracle that no other kids on the cruise caught it, it was quite a busy kids club, maybe they'd all had it previously... It was explained to us that chickenpox was particularly dangerous for the crew, as it wasn't common in their home countries - maybe 20% of them had had it, and most of those would have caught it abroad as international students. So very important that we respected the quarantine (we would have done anyway of course). P&O were great throughout, we were very well looked-after, much more than I would have expected at the time to be honest. Our cabin steward hadn't had chickenpox, so he had to swap with someone who had.

I agree with wowzz that it's unlikely, and it's worth noting that it will be a turnaround port with people leaving the ship to go home so that could make it a little more difficult. I'm sure the tour operator would be able to advise and also offer some flexibility in case of delays.

I was going to say exactly the same thing, and this is actually what I saw when this change was brought in - although note that I am in the UK where all deposits are non-refundable. I was watching the price of a cruise this summer for a while, and when this policy was brought in the price to choose a cabin was the same as before, but the price for a guaranteed cabin was £21pp less. Not a great difference, but I certainly thought of it as a discount for the guarantee rather than a premium for choosing a cabin.

Not sure if this is still common practice, but certainly in the past travel agents were able to get block bookings that would then remove availability from general view at least temporarily. I use the same method as AlanCruise, especially useful for 4-berth cabin availability.

Yes the weight allowance is the same. I've never seen cases being weighed personally, but I wouldn't take the risk of my luggage being stopped or potentially being a hazard for the porters/cabin stewards. One of the beauties of sailing from Southampton is you can take more cases, as long as they are under 23kg.

And you can pool your allowance too - so if there are 2 of you, you can share your 56/60kg across 3 cases instead of 4 if you wish (since Mrs Pedantic was adamant SHE needed the extra... 😉)

Also worth considering the day you are visiting and if you can find out how many other ships are in port and how many of those are turnaround visits... We have taken the train 3 times as a family of 4 with mixed experiences - but at least we made it back to the ship each time! The first time we did it was perfectly fine but the second wasn't so great - it was the last Sunday of the month (when museums/sites are free to visit), there were lots of other cruise ships in port and the train was completely packed - more like the London underground at rush hour! Standing crammed in for the whole journey was not a pleasant experience, but we did choose to do it a 3rd time and that was also ok. But not as convenient as the first time due to the relocation of the shuttle drop-off, which means an additional shuttle ride to the station (and ticket)... Our preference is now to take a private taxi transfer - more expensive obviously, but no stress, no fitting in with other people's plans or rigid schedules.

Wow that’s quite an increase, although I must admit I was very surprised by how cheap it was for us in 2019. Depending on the price of the P&O “on your own” trip, I’d probably still consider that taxi for 4 people, it was so easy and convenient. But for 2 (or even 1) maybe not.

We booked with Rome hyphen airport dot net for 125 euros total return journey, July 2019. Driver was literally right outside the gates when we got off, dropped us at Castel Sant Angelo and we were the first people in the queue. very reasonable price for a family of 4. Picked us up near the Spanish Steps exactly as requested, he was even 20 mins early as he knew it was due to rain (heavily). We would do this every time from now on.

We've been dropped off in a few different places: Just outside St Peter's Square, on Piazza Papa Pio XII (outside a souvenir shop with clean facilities) Underground parking/terminal not far from St Peter's Square (with a short walk all together to souvenir shop/restrooms) Outside the Flaminio station (across the road from Piazza del Popolo) Behind the Forum, near Circo Massimo We've also taken the train (cheap and quick but can be VERY busy) but our favourite way was to book a private taxi - obviously not the cheapest, but not that expensive and so very easy to arrange and not have to wait for others.

I was one of those although it was with Princess rather than P&O - applied 95 days before our cruise, told to re-apply within 90 days! But no problem after that.

Our kids really enjoyed time in the "geopark" outside the oil museum, you can see it in the last photo from Brian's link. We've also enjoyed wandering around Old Stavanger, there's usually a nice market in the centre of town and some nice walks further in. None of that is "viking" of course but we've been a few times and always found something to do with the kids that they seem to have enjoyed.

We're the same - I spend way too much time looking for the best cabin (unless booking guarantee) and I'd be annoyed too. Last year on a Sky Princess cruise, I forgot to say no to automatic upgrades when booking - we were upgraded from a Deluxe Balcony to a Mini Suite but I was quite disappointed to be honest. Ungrateful I know! But the balcony on the Mini Suite was much smaller than the cabin I purposely chose and with our 2 adult children having a smaller balcony was not ideal. Turned out to be a blessing in the end as we all got Covid and were allowed to spend our 8 day isolation in our cabin, we were so grateful for the extra space inside... I would hope they would offer you a better cabin that you consider "better" and if you don't want it, offer a full refund. Good luck!

We strongly prefer balcony cabins now - but that's because we like to spend a lot of quiet time relaxing and looking out to sea! And we get to avoid sunbed wars on sea days on the warmer cruises. That said... Over half of our cruises have been in inside 4-berth cabins with the kids and we've always really enjoyed them. Obviously spending much less time in the cabin and only really using it for sleeping and changing. As the kids got older (and bigger!), we started to need more space and things were less hectic with fewer activities, and we found a balcony was worth the extra for us. Not sure I helped you out there 🙂 basically "it depends"

The Caribbean is amazing and cruising has to be the best way to see as any of the islands as possible. Itineraries are just fabulous - there is such a variety across the islands in terms of things to do, culture, feel etc. but the constant is how great the people are. And someone already mentioned there is the rum 🙂 We came straight back from our last Caribbean cruise to book another and I'm sure we'll do it again (and again...) if the chance arises. Just brilliant!

Thanks, I didn't realise that! It was our first Britannia cruise and with a fairly late booking we didn't really take notice of the deck plans, just assumed it would be fairly similar to our balconies on other ships... With that considered, I'm even happier with what we got and would definitely not bother with the extra £900!

We had a Saver standard balcony on our last Britannia cruise, it was on F deck directly above the lifeboats - which meant we weren't able to look straight down at the water. Not a big issue and certainly wouldn't feel worth the extra £900, but it was a bit of a shame sailing through the Caribbean and our view of the sea feeling quite distant while at sea. That said, we would definitely book a Saver fare again.

We ended up asking our TA about this, who in turn asked Princess for confirmation of specific E deck aft balconies that could be opened up. We were offered E631 and E633 which is as I expected - E631 has special notes that it cannot connect with E629, which infers E633 is ok... We're booked now so let's see - I'll report back once we're home in case anyone else is interested.

Same here (and also UK), even though I had only applied 95 days before, I was still told to reapply within the 90 days.