KKB

@smilesntravels I would NOT fly to Paris during Olympics--flights & hotels are certainly OUTRAGEOUS, if you can even get bookings. London is WONDERFUL if you can go a few days ahead. We stayed at the Marlin Waterloo last Oct. Highly recommend. Bidding for upgrades: we do this A LOT. For our UK Regal last month we booked an interior. Then bid $185pp (so $370 total) for a deluxe balcony & got it! NOW--NO GUARANTEES. We would have been fine in an interior. But it was nice. (we usually say $500 total for interior to Balcony bid on a 7 day...so we felt good about this one!) Have a wonderful cruise--did UK cruises last May & this April. Friend & I head to Dublin this Oct. UK is my fav place I've cruised--history, landscape & LOVELY people. So great.

OK, Lochness ISN'T that exciting. It's just a lake. Lovely, but... Belfast is AMAZING--the best Hop On Hop Off bus tour I've ever taken (London a close 2nd, Dublin 3rd). Titanic Museum fantastic...but, yes, the Causeways...choices choices. Orkney Island are AMAZING--they dropped it from ours the last minute & I was SO sad. Take the free shuttle into Kirkwall (LOVELY seaside town) earlY & get in line a the travel center. For 25lbs you get an AMAZING tour of the area. HIGHLY recommend. Plus time to wander Kirkwall after your several hour tour. I loved Dublin but with the travel time in (tender & train), it is very limiting. Much better itinerary, imo.

@smilesntravels We just got off the Regal Princess UK cruise & it was GREAT! Room--for us, while we like a balcony, we really do find we don't use it much. You have a very port intensive cruise, so you won't have much time to use it anyway. Princess interior rooms are laid out nicely--and you will sleep SO well at night. I did an interior for 20 days last year in UK & Norway. Personally, I'm rarely in my room (especially on port intensive criuses). I know people who COULD NOT do interiors (tho have they tried?); we find them fine. You can turn the TV to the Bridge cam to create a "window" of sorts if you choose. As far as Princess Plus goes, I'm a fan. IF the numbers make sense--which they do, imo, for anyone who likes even the occasional drink. $60pp/day Breaks down: $16pp/day gratuities $25pp/day internet (this could be halved if you share) That leaves $20pp/day ($30 if you share internet) for specialty coffees, sodas, alcoholic drinks--2 of those alone will be a breakeven! Generally, we find Princess excursions typically overpriced...and I'm a bit over the large bus tours. DO NOT stay on the ship in Portland! Weymouth s a lovely sea side village. (I'd skip Holyhead or Glasgow over Portland!) I recommend Overloard Tours for a Normandy tour out of Le Havre (the best choice for Le Havre...it's kind of a "meh" port) I recommend https://www.invergordon-bustours.com/ --I have done Tour 2 twice! Edinburgh we hired a van & driver & went to St. Andrews--a must do for any golf fan. There were 6 of us & it ran about $200 each. TripAdvisor, Viator or Get Your Guide Best part is we got to go where we wanted & stay as long as we wanted. But it meant missing Edinburgh, boo--another time. Cobh is a lovely little town--you could wander there in the AM, then come back to watch Olympics. (you dock RIGHT in town...you truly can get off a bit, come back, go back out--it's that close) Dublin was a fav but be sure to get up early to get 1st tender tickets. Since you have to tender in, then take a train to Dublin, you are looking at a bit of travel time on each end. Not much was open that we wanted to do with that early arrival, so we did the Hop On Hop Off bus to start--funny, great way to get the lay of the land. TOO many things to do there, you will have to be selective! We wandered Trinity College/Temple Bar area, had Irish lunch, then hit the Irish Rock N Roll Museum--loved it, but U2 IS my fav band! (DH really enjoyed it as well and he's not the music junky that I am) Glasgow was OK. We wandered all over city center. Lots of shopping. Most places didn't open until noon for lunch (we were peckish by 11--had to settle for a pint at a pub, which WAS open, lol) We got RT bus tickets at the port. Nice 30 min. direct bus in, but it was about 90 min. back as it was a traditional bus that stopped numerous times. I recommend the train.

@bethfelk Thanks for a fun TR! I followed your Regal TR as we were on the Regal for 28 days last month...great ship! (except that stupid Princess Live design🫠 Congrats on graduation--time for real life!🤪

Would we get better offers if I called & asked them to combine our offers?

Sry duplicate post

@BuckeyeMark Thanks for this! We LOVE LOVE Eclass ships! (IV balconies suit us just fine) I didn't love Norway but we didn't cruise the fjords to looking forward to your thoughts. Regarding Celebrity desserts--yep, the look lovely but have always been lacking in flavor, imo. Luckily not a huge dessert person!

We, too, are fans! It is particularly suited to cooler climates but we enjoy the extra space & floor to ceiling glass even in warmer climates. It is little different than a fully covered balcony, imo.

NOT MUCH. Nothing of value, imo. Priority boarding, bottle of cheap sparkling wine, daily canapes, extra loyalty points.

We give it a try every time. We make sure we know what we would have paid for those upgrade categories prior to bidding as to not overbid. We often book interior & figure $500 total bid is the max we would pay for a balcony (alternately if a balcony is $250pp more than an interior when we book, we just book then). Otherwise I put in a lowball bid on some upgrades; I'd say across all lines we are at 50%+ success rate. One example: On Princess last month we saw a price drop on our 16 day cruise after we had booked & were able to upgrade to a deluxe balcony with no extra cost. We had an interior booked on the 12 day cruise following it; bid $370 total for a deluxe balcony. There are NO guarantees--book the room you are happy with. But we find Move Up to be a way to get more value from cruising.

Thanks for the great review! We have sailed 40x but only 3x on Carnival (so "newbies" to Carnival)--Miracle & Splendor. We have the Panorama & Magic booked. I ALMOST didnt't book Magic due to poor reviews, but your review (and a friend wanting to go) changed my mind! We have sailed most mainstream lines & have never had a bad cruise--not a perfect one either tho. But always a good time.

I was going to say Le Voyage...but if so, do Chef's Table. We did Chef's table one night (which is located in Le Voyage) & then did Le Voyage the next night. It was very good, but after Chef's Table, nothing was going to impress!! THAT BEING SAID--if I was going to eat at only 1 restaurant, it would be Eden! The views are great but the food is always amazing. Plus when I compare the cost--Le Voyage wasn't better than Eden (just as good, just not better) I'd say, food is comparable in both places, so yes, Eden wins for views & value.

45 cruises under our belts in 20 years...most on Princess, but Celebrity is close 2nd. But we would say Celebrity is our fav--most comparable to Princess, imo. But we feel ALL mainstream lines are more alike than different. We started cruising when we were about 40, tried Celebrity when we were about 50. We find PLENTY to do in the evenings--shows, gameshows, trivia, dancing, musicians. (as I think about this--pretty much the same as all lines!) On all the cruises we have done, we have only felt the crowd was overall older 2x--an early Dec Caribbean cruise (we were mid-40s) & the 16 transatlantic we took last month--45% were over 70 and about the same % were in their 60s!! Both were on Princess, interestingly. ABC islands are my fav in the Caribbean! What ship is it?

Actually this is PRIME winter cruising time. Funny, we feel E-class to not feel crowded--well laid out with lots of places for people to be.

Yep, I was able to book dinners & brunch, but not disembarkation day. Feels like A LOT with 4 dinners & 2 brunches! Guess we can cancel brunch if it feels like too much. I'd like to try the casual venues as well, but gee, hardly time!!

Other than what I have read on the VV website, and a few comments online, I can't find much info. Wondering if anyone has experienced it. Thanks

Yes, I've looked at several sites with overviews & menus, plus some videos. It looks fun, but the food reviews are very mixed. I think since we only have 4 nights, we will save this one for a future cruise.

OK...this looks very intriguing & fun. But DH is concerned about the menu--little appeals to him from what they show on the menu. I suspect he will actually like it; he has tried Chef's Table on Carnival & Celebrity & enjoyed them both. But neither of us have eaten at a Korean BBQ place, so I'm not even sure how to explain it to him!!

I know you can only book each restaurant once--is that once for dinner or once for ANY meal? In other words, I plan to book 4 different restaurants for dinner, including The Wake. Can I also book The Wake for brunch? Thanks so much for helping with our planning!

OK...a quick Google search gives plenty of support from reliable sources on this one. The reason you don't hear about them--the analytics work.

A few years ago we had a couple tell us about their offer from Princess asking them to change to another ship as ours was overbooked. It was quite impressive--the other cruise was 10 days as opposed to 7, they would move them to a suite as opposed to a balcony & give them $1K OBC. There is discussion on another thread here & skeptism that it occurs. My nephew in analytics in another industry says it nearly certainly does--it's how industries maximize profits. I was looking to see if anyone had personally experienced this or hears someone's story who had.

@AbbyCruiser45 Question: has there been Bingo on this cruise? I have not seen it on Eclass in the last few years but it has been reported that it is back.

It's back? Glad to hear! We sailed it last April & December...plus have been on Apex & Edge in 21 & 22. There was only Deal or No Deal.

I get that. Unfortunately, everyone else was probably keeping a similar schedule! And the buffet always takes the brunt of that . I'm not a fan of lines or crowds either, so often tweak our movements to avoid such things. More difficult to do on a shorter cruise. I might suggest a longer cruise...perhaps a larger ship (seems counterintuitive, but there are then also more places for people to disperse). We LOVE Eclass ships (Apex, Ascent, Beyond, Edge).

You don't hear it because it doesn't happen--SOMEONE will take the better deal! (I'm usually first in line!). Planes offer higher & higher voucher amounts until SOMEONE takes it. Cruises do the same. So actually you hear HAPPY people--"We got this amazing offer to change to this ship...."