Mary Ann 2

Especially frustrating as people post for this cruise (we are also on your cruise) that they are getting "smoking hot offers" (their words). I would like those of us that booked beforehand (probably at higher $$) to get some good offers! We also have heard nothing about our bids.

You are so welcome! After our mis-booking by the Future Cruise Consultant and our resultant lost onboard credit, I sure don't want anyone else to have to experience that. I am so glad that they had a cabin you could book (not a guarantee). Now we all just have to wait about a year or more to get to experience our wonderful cruise on the Sun Princess!

It said only guaranteed cabins when I booked my cabin also. The travel agent offered me three different cabins to choose from. The online booking is not working the same anymore and not really showing what truly is available. I'm guessing that just like you can't add Club Class amenities to a non Club Class mini suite that you can't add the Reserve amenities. Hopefully your CVP will be able to switch you to an available Reserve Cabana! Fingers crossed for you!! I was totally in your shoes six weeks ago.

I think that the key sentence is: "Enjoy Reserve Collection upgrades on select Cabana Mini-Suites" and the "select Cabana mini-suites" referred to are only the ones that say Reserve. We spent days agonizing over the wording and the deck plans. This is just the conclusion we came to. I also did not want one of the rooms that have the cabana deck outside of them, but there are rooms fore and aft of those that are Reserve Cabanas but have private balconies. If you look at the floor plan, the Reserve Restaurant is a completely separate restaurant from what I can see. We also seldom eat at the MDR, but did enjoy eating at Club Class several times during one cruise when we had Club Class. Like you, access to the Reserve Cabana deck was more important, but it does say "Reserve" so I think you have to have a Reserve room. I don't think that even Princess personnel know all the ins and outs of this new ship because the Future Cruise guy sure did not! And your CVP may not either. But as long as you won't be heartbroken that you don't get Reserve benefits, then that's good. We decided that if we were paying that much for those rooms, we wanted to guarantee that we got the Reserve benefits.

Did you see the deck plan that they just posted here (on the digital brochure)? It doesn't say CA is a Reserve Cabana. I realized that in fact is the room we got from the Princess Future Cruise consultant. Then when I got home and studied the floor plans, it didn't say Reserve Cabana. I don't know for sure, but you should see if you can find anyone who does. We decided to get a room that said Reserve so we wouldn't get a rude surprise when we got onboard! The floor plans say only deck 9 C1 and C2 are Reserve Cabana rooms, though there are also some Reserve Mini-suites M1 and M2. There are enough of those Reserve cabins to fill a Reserve restaurant I believe.

Some exceptions to the number/types of cabins you can bid on perhaps. We are booked in a mini suite and can bid on a Reserve (Club Class) mini suite, and 4 different types of suites.

Since I don't see an answer to your question, I thought that I would let you know that the Majestic does not have a Retreat pool as they have an indoor pool there. It is really nice if you are on an Alaska cruise, for instance, to have an indoor pool.

Did you get a Reserve Cabana Mini Suite or just a cabana mini suite? We booked onboard in March and he booked us in a cabana mini suite. It wasn't until I got home that I discovered that he had ignored that we wanted access to the Reserve restaurant and deck. So we had to rebook and lost $300 in shipboard credit as that promotion had expired. It's all very confusing and even the Princess guy didn't know the difference! Just asking in case you didn't get what you really wanted....

Was that Ariel on the Ruby in Vines? We were so surprised to see him in Feb. and he was equally as surprised to see us and even remembered our names! We had gotten to know him quite well on an 18 day cruise in 2022. He also allowed us to take the good glassware into the dining room. We didn't have as many sea days in Feb. as on last year's cruise, so we were disappointed not to get to see him as much, but were glad he was there for the days we were. So fun to meet up with Princess staff from previous cruises!

We did an aft balcony last year for our Panama cruise. We loved being able to retreat to our balcony out of the sun. It was a very warm, humid day so being able to go back inside and still see the transit of the canal on both sides even though it was on the back was ideal. We started on the front of the ship as we approached the canal early in the morning and later in the day went down to the Promenade to get another viewpoint also.

I decided to do that this morning. I called my TA at 8:05am and by 8:30am, the Shareholder Credit was back on! And my excursion is now showing as paid completely (the SC was applied to it like before). So glad to be done with that. One more question: In the process of changing rooms, my Premier package had to be upgraded to the new package. So now I can get the medallion for free, but I had already paid for it. Should I cancel the medallion order to get a refund of the $10 and hope that the app will work and give it to me for free when I try to order again? Just forget the $10 and leave it? Or ask onboard for a refund? What would you do?

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and ideas. I may just email for the Shareholder Credit again as I can barely stand the thought of attempting to endure another session with the new contracted help that answers the phones now. Or I might try my TA.

It's very hard these days to find a competent rep. I asked on the hour chat yesterday for him to look at the history with no success. It's almost impossible to get to a second level person 😞.

Today our TA changed our room to a higher category as requested. She said since we would keep the same booking number nothing should change. But we are now missing the Shareholder credit that was applied to this cruise months ago. And since that credit was applied to an excursion, the excursion is now short $100 and I don't know if it will be cancelled tonight. I talked to someone at Princess (but foreign contracted help) on the phone and don't think she even knew what a Shareholder credit was. Later in the day, I texted someone for almost an hour and at the end of the hour he confirmed what I had told him at the very beginning!? So both were a total waste of time. Has anyone applied again for the Shareholder Credit a second time when it was lost but the booking # is the same? I'm not sure what they will think of that. Any other ideas of what to do? Any chance it will just randomly show back up? Or is it gone for good?

When we sailed the Ruby out of Galveston in late February, they gave us an onboard credit that would cover several drinks before we reached international waters. Are they not doing that now? Did you check your account the first or second day? It was on ours when we boarded.

Hard to find any rooms available for even one segment!

Princess should send an email with it attached. So look at your emails. Last month we sailed with a friend who was new to Princess and she never opened the email that had it!

On the Ruby the end of Feb., Sabatini's took the digital copy, but the Shops of Princess required a printed copy. I had to go to PSD to have them print coupons out. This cruise coming up I will print them out at home.

We had a great cruise and the staff was great. The Ruby is showing her age a little like some rust on the edge of the balcony, but although I noticed it here and there, it was not anything to prevent me from sailing on her again.

I always go to the Passenger Service Desk as soon as we board and ask them to call. They will then hand you the phone. Or will dial the correct # from a phone at the end of the desk that you can use.

On our cruise two weeks ago, they did not use a USB. The Medallion (Princess) app has a place that you download it directly to your phone. We wanted them put onto a USB stick and were will to pay for a USB stick, but they said that they didn't even have anyway to do that anymore. It may be ship dependent on the answer to this question. But they will NOT ever use your USB stick due to the possibility of a virus (we brought back their own from the last cruise and they wouldn't use it several cruises ago).

They will call you to discuss the menu. Previously on a different cruise, we didn't want a salad so that was omitted. On this cruise, I asked for wine rather than a half split champagne and they substituted that. They are pretty good about asking for your preferences. There are multiple courses starting with canapés and ending with dessert ( a wonderful trio of chocolate mouses with chocolate wrapped around it). There has always been surf and turf (lobster and steak) for the main course. Yes there were flowers though it was a small rose arrangement in a vase rather than the previous centerpiece with mixed flowers. The photographer was very late (supposed to come early on) and the supervisor had to ultimately call him at the end of the meal, but he took more pictures than ever (maybe due to being late). We had the Premier package and we got all the digital files of those pictures whereas previously we had always gotten just one printed picture. We usually do it each cruise. We like the private dinner and since we usually have a balcony overlooking the wake it is very large and private and a special time. Have fun!!

From what I've seen, it appears that the Promenade will be mostly outdoor dining not like the current Grand class Promenades. The Reserve Cabana mini suites on deck 9 forward and aft of the Reserve Cabana open deck I believe will look straight down into the water. (maybe a little lifeboat showing). I also think as you mentioned that some rooms (like the non-Reserve Cabana mini suites) in the middle of the sphere will look down into the water. Those are the rooms we have considered as we like to be able to look down at the water.

We booked two weeks ago right after we had boarded. They did not bring a table for breakfast, but we had a large balcony at the very back (aft) with a small round table that worked fine. They did bring a table for UB dinner.

I have found that the cost for Chef's Table is ship dependent as the results here testify. In a Nov. 2021 cruise on the Majestic, we paid more than we just paid two weeks ago for it on the Ruby. ($100).