Random Thoughts and Observations on the Recategorization

[cherylandtk]

Sometime today the deck plans with the newly assigned categories of many of the Grand Class ships were posted on the Princess site. You can pull the plans up in different tabs and compare them side-by-side. Here are a few things I noticed:

 

-Almost all Emerald deck OV rooms are now called obstructed (OV,OW etc.) even though many of them are completely unobstructed. A good value if you can book early and snag one.

 

-It seems to me that the forward-to-aft location trumps the high-mid-low deck location in most instances. Only the Riviera has the 'public deck' downgrades. (Or Aloha on the early girls). Equivalent type and location fore to aft are the same on Aloha (Baja for early girls) down through Emerald.

 

-There are good values to be found in the just-slightly-forward-of-the-forward-stairs cabins in all types. Now called BF/BE, but were formerly BA-BD cabins, depending on how high the deck was. Similar situation found in the now IF/IE cabins (insides).

 

-The aft facing balconies (old BB) are now the B4 level, very close to price of a minisuite, too.

 

-The plaza deck insides, formerly the lowest three or four categories are now some of the higher priced insides. Were K-L-M, now IC.

 

-Instead of just a few cabins in the lowest category in the grade (BF/BG or K-L-M) there are now many cabins in the forward sections in the new grades. (BF, OF, IF). I think there could be a few lower categories tucked in somewhere, but I have not yet found them on the plans and have not gone back to the .pdf file to locate everything.

 

-I am still trying to figure out how and where the obstructed rooms compare value-wise to the unobstructed. Or how the ABC levels compared to the VWX levels. (On the new Royal, the pricing of the DZ and the BY were the same, and I am still trying to figure out if an obstruction is worth much of a downgrade/lower cost in Princess' price structure).

 

Any other observations you care to share about the new plans?

[Astro Flyer]

I think the changes were long overdue...the days of old when there were reasons to pay more for the higher decks has not been valid for decades. For me, it's a big improvement on the Royal & if the other ships are the same thing then that's an improvement for them also.

[Coral]

Cheryl - glad someone understands the system!

 

I find it ironic that the explanation we read said that people don't like to be near public spaces (such as plaza deck) and those are more expensive.

 

After looking at the new system, I personally prefer the old system. I was looking to book a cruise on the Grand yesterday and it fell under the new system and I struggled. I need to go back and look at the categories price compared to the other mini suites.

 

I actually wish they would reduce the amount of categories. There doesn't have to be 10 inside cabin categories (just guessing here - not sure how many there are). 1 or 2 would be good IMO.

 

I did look at some deluxe balconies (that were aft) and they were more expensive than the mini suites. This is sad. Here I thought Princess was just getting their act together and putting couches in their balconies but they are still as expensive if not more than mini suite categories.

[Sassy's Mom]

Any other observations you care to share about the new plans?

 

I booked the Sapphire yesterday and was completely stumped on the AD/ME change (website deckplan says AD while my booking says ME). I guess we'll have to wait and see how it all plays out over the next couple of months. Hopefully this isn't a change to just improve revenue.

[cherylandtk]

I find it ironic that the explanation we read said that people don't like to be near public spaces (such as plaza deck) and those are more expensive.

Presumably these are downgraded from IA/OA to IC/OC because of the proximity to public spaces. But a two step downgrade for proximity was trumped by the six or seven step upgrade for midship. (As near as I can figure:)and yes, it does seem ironic)

[Coral]

I booked the Sapphire yesterday and was completely stumped on the AD/ME change (website deckplan says AD while my booking says ME). I guess we'll have to wait and see how it all plays out over the next couple of months. Hopefully this isn't a change to just improve revenue.

 

I booked an Alaskan cruise also on the Sapphire and had to search for my normal AD cabin.

[Stevesan]

Not all ships are yet in synch on Princess' web site with the new system.

The deck plans have changed, but ships on the booking pages still display the "old" categories.

 

Examples:

For cruises on Caribbean the booking page after its "change date" displays AE, AD, AC, AB, AA on the booking page for Sept 8.

The same is true for Crown and Star.

[cherylandtk]

I think the links from the booking pages need to be double-checked. I was able to pull up the correct deck plans by starting at the ship page and picking the right set, but they absolutely need to link correctly from the booking pages.

[cherylandtk]

Too late to edit the above post, but I did have one more thought. The folks who had been tasked to work out the transition glitches and whatnot with the new deck plans with the simultaneous opening of bookings for the Royal and the Europe/Alaska season are probably busy with the unexpected task of notifying the CB passengers of the cancellations and doing some extra phone duties. It's a convergence of huge proportions.

[CruizinCupcake]

Where on the princess site are you finding the new deck plans? When I go to ships then deck plans it is the old deck plans. We booked the emerald for may yesterday kinda blindly since no plans were out.

[cherylandtk]

From main Princess page choose the Learn About Our Cruises tab, select Ships from the dropdown list, choose the ship you want, on the next page select Deck Plans from the

list on the right hand side of the page under the Related Information bar. Next page gives you two choices of which set of plans you want to use.

[Loonbeam]

As noted on another thread, if your browser caches them you may have to clear cache to see the new ones as they have the same link reference.

[geoherb]

Our BE cabin on the Crown in December is now classified as a BB. I said when we were assigned it last year that I preferred it over many of the BD and BC cabin locations. The strange thing I notice is that now the most forward BB cabins on the Baja Deck are adjacent to BE cabins. Under the old system, everything seemed to make more sense in that you'd gradually get a change from one category to the next unless there was a major reason such as an obstruction.

[jollyjones]

As noted on another thread, if your browser caches them you may have to clear cache to see the new ones as they have the same link reference.

 

Thanks for this tip - it was driving me nuts trying to get to the new plans.

[califgary]

I booked an Alaskan cruise also on the Sapphire and had to search for my normal AD cabin.

 

Me too - I wound up calling princess and getting help to snag our favorite E731 on the Sapphire...it took the Princess Rep a minute or two to get the new category as well - but success in the end, Alaska 2013 is all booked.