Wiseask

I hear you and that’s well said. The larger and currently unfamiliar Sun Princess will be about a thousand more passengers than we’re used to and we like the idea of being able to communicate with each other on board (as well as with family overseas) via WhatsApp. That’s in addition to staying connected to the world. We drink a lot of soda and bottled water on board, love the gourmet coffees, and I enjoy a few cocktails before dinner and maybe a glass of wine with dinner. I’m a strong believer in paying gratuities to the entire crew, many I will never even see, but who all work hard away from their families for months just so I can have a clean stateroom and fresh pastries at breakfast. (For exceptional individual service I simply hand the crew cash.) So with the Plus package the drinks, tips and Internet are all covered, plus a few other perks included to make it even more attractive, and the more I think about it, the more it sounds like a pretty decent deal.

I think we’re leaning in that direction. Yes, the Plus package is expensive, but I don’t think I want to be unconnected from the Internet for a full 16 days (though I believe that separate and apart from the Plus package, Princess does sell Internet access per diem). Which raises another question: Celebrity provides its passengers with a basic Internet access (included in the fare) or a premium Internet package available for purchase. Although in my experience the basic Internet was slow, it was tolerable, but I was unable to, say, play videos on my phone. I assume that the Wi-Fi I would be purchasing with the Princess Plus package would be more comparable to Celebrity’s premium Wi-Fi package?

In this particular case the Princess rep, though she spoke with a mildly accented English, was easy to understand. According to the answers I have received on this thread, she was simply misinformed about this supposed “hotspot.” But in the handful of times I have called Princess Customer Service, except for one time when my call was answered by a rep whose primary language was clearly English, every other rep spoke in such heavily accented English they were unintelligible (at least to me), and with apologies to them I had to hang up because they were unable to transfer my call Stateside.

I can recall years ago cruising in the Caribbean that as soon as we docked at an island, the crew with permission to go ashore would rush to locations designated as “hotspots” to connect with their families. So those of us, including the Princess reps, who lack your IT sophistication, might be forgiven for making a connection, at least in our minds, between hotspots and Internet access. But I understand what you and others are saying: to receive Internet access on board the ship, one must purchase a Wi-Fi package. Thanks to all for sharing your thoughts.

Thanks for your replies. To be clearer, I will not be purchasing a Premiere package or staying in a suite. That said, do I need to — or even can I — make show reservations? Also, my travel agent booked me a balcony cabin on Deck 15 which I believe is classified as DB, but hasn’t said anything to me about any particular perks, like theater reservations, which come with it. I’ll be sending her an email as we speak for clarification.

I am a veteran of many Celebrity cruises but I am new to Princess. I am currently trying to decide whether purchasing a Plus package for my upcoming Transatlantic cruise on the Sun Princess is worthwhile for me. I realize that unlimited Wi-Fi is included in the Plus package and that Princess also offers separate Wi-Fi packages where the prices depend on the amount of Wi-Fi usage. I plan to explore them to determine what works best for me. But in speaking by phone with a Princess customer service representative, I was told that on board their ships there is a Wi-Fi hotspot that’s available for me to use for free. Because I don’t expect my Wi-Fi usage to be extensive, the hotspot sounded like an attractive option. Can anyone with experience sailing Princess advise me whether the customer service representative I spoke with is correct, that there is in fact a Wi-Fi hotspot on board Princess ships available to passengers to use for free? Frankly, it sounded too good to be true. Thanks.

I am hoping that some loyal Princess passengers might know the answer to my question. I am a veteran of many Celebrity cruises but I am new to Princess. I will be sailing on the new Sun Princess on a transatlantic cruise. I know that some cruise lines (Royal Caribbean comes to mind) strongly recommend making reservations for at least some if not all of their shows because of the high demand and limited theater space. On the other hand, though Celebrity may reserve some seating for suite guests, no reservations for shows are required and seating in the theater has always been available. My questions regarding Princess are whether reservations for any shows are required, or even offered? Or like Celebrity, on Princess ships is seating in the theater simply on a first-come first-served basis? (P.S. Yes, I know, dining venues are different and in many cases reservations are required. My question concerns entertainment venues only and seating in the theater specifically.) Thanks.

I’m new to Princess so you’re asking the wrong person. Call it what you will — a suggestion, a recommendation, an invitation — all I cared about was that wearing formal attire on Formal Nights isn’t mandatory. I am relieved to read from the many people who responded to my inquiry that it isn’t.

Yes, that seems to be the consensus. Thanks to all for sharing the benefit of your experience.

This is a direct quote from a Princess Cruises blog entitled Packing for a Princess Cruise Vacation: “Princess offers a number of formal dining nights during which a dress code is observed. Think evening gowns, cocktail dresses, tuxedos, suits, or dinner jacket and slacks.”

I will be sailing with Princess for the first time, though I am a veteran of many, many Celebrity cruises. The Princess website is quite specific regarding dress codes. My question is how strictly these codes are enforced. On Formal Nights, for example, the code is for men to wear either tuxedos or suits and ties. There will be three such nights on my upcoming Transatlantic crossing on the new Sun Princess. I do understand that with the possible exception of the buffet restaurant, acceptable evening wear aboard most ships is what is generally called Smart Casual, meaning for men a shirt with a collar, slacks or nice jeans. But it’s been at least a decade since I was on a ship where tuxedos or suits were mentioned, much less required (though, of course, passengers were always welcome to dress up if they wished). So perhaps some loyal Princess passengers can help answer my questions: Is formal attire on Formal Nights strictly limited to specific dining venues, or does it apply to all dining venues except the buffet and maybe the casual dining restaurants? Is any part of the MDR open to passengers who are not dressed in formal attire on Formal Nights? Are any of the shows on Formal Nights restricted to passengers in formal attire? And finally, on Formal Nights if not dressed in formal attire, may I still have a drink at any of the many bars on board? Many thanks.

Since reviews are partly subjective, I share some of the poster’s impressions but not all of them. I was on the May 9 to 21 Hawaii cruise, and stayed on board for the May 21 to 28 Alaska sailing. My wife and I, who were celebrating a milestone wedding anniversary, were in a Concierge class cabin on Deck 10. It was our fourth and fifth sailing on the Eclipse. In my experience with Celebrity, the Guest Relations desk or the Concierge assigned to Concierge class passengers will do their best to fix complaints while you’re on board. Of course, some complaints reflect the new normal and can’t be fixed. But the new normal has affected the entire cruise industry, which shut down for years during the pandemic, and has resurfaced with every cruise line cutting costs and services because they, like everyone else, are operating in a new economic reality. Even before the pandemic, I was never a fan of the specialty restaurants on board the S-class ships, thinking them overpriced and frankly mediocre. I had a lot of OBC during the Hawaii leg of my trip and gave Le Petit Chef and the Tuscan Grille a try again. A total waste of money, I thought. On the other hand, I enjoyed the MDR food just fine and from the comments I heard from surrounding tables so did practically everyone else. We even enjoyed the buffet restaurant a few nights when after exhausting shore excursions during the day we didn’t feel like dressing for dinner. The chilly weather during the Alaska leg was a first for me. Normally when cruising in the tropical climates of the Caribbean or the Mediterranean the pool deck is packed, relieving the congestion inside. But unlike its RCCL big sister, Celebrity ships do not offer nearly the number and variety of on board activities, resulting in passengers overcrowding the coffee bar and the buffet restaurant with little else to do when the weather is not conducive to sitting outside. Finding a seat in both the coffee bar and the buffet restaurant became a daily challenge. But Celebrity must be doing something right because both cruises were filled to capacity. I was determined to have a good time and wound up having a wonderful time. I’m sure no matter what cruise line I chose I could find plenty to complain about, but instead I felt privileged and grateful that my wife and I were able to sail to exotic places on a still beautiful ship with perhaps the kindest crew at sea. I certainly agree that the Eclipse is due for a facelift, but thinking that none of us are getting any younger, and regarding Time as our most precious commodity, while on board we booked a Croatia/Israel B2B on the Silhouette for 2024.

We will be sailing to Hilo next month. Although we’d like to see a volcano while we’re there, we purposely did not purchase a ship excursion or an excursion on TripAdvisor, mainly because the tours they offer are too long to suit us, usually six hours or so. Although this will be our first visit to Hawaii, I know from sailing on several other cruises, say in the Caribbean, that there are usually tours offered by guides on the dock, and even taxi drivers willing to take us to tourist spots. Can we expect the same in Hilo, and if so, has anyone taken a private tour to any of the volcanos with a guide they hired on the dock or even with a taxi driver willing to take you? If so, how would you rate your experience? Thanks.

See also:

A lot.

I didn’t, no. But others have: https://youtu.be/lYHhx4fWusA 4.5 laps = 1 mile.

The ship was magnificent, the cruise was fabulous, and I loved the walking track. What more can I say?

Circling back to this topic, we just returned from a T/A on board the Apex and I loved the outdoor track. Unfortunately my wife had broken her foot a few months before and wasn't able to exercise on this cruise, but she did do a slow lap in her orthopedic boot and was equally enthusiastic.

Just to circle back to this topic, we have returned from our T/A on the Apex, and for those of you who posted that the Infinite Veranda cabins had sufficient storage space, you were quite right. Frankly, I thought the cabins were brilliantly designed (except for the bar in the closet), and that the “Infinite Veranda” in particular afforded absolute privacy, extra room, and the ability to enjoy my balcony without leaving my cabin. Two drawbacks: the Captain had the final say whether the window can be lowered, and on two days of rough seas and bad weather it couldn’t. Second, opening the window automatically shuts off the A/C. But we would choose this cabin again with no hesitation.

Thanks to everyone for your replies. We are scheduled to set sail in about two weeks and will see for ourselves soon enough. 🙂🛳

I am about to set sail on the Apex and noticed in a video of the Infinite Veranda cabin that Celebrity eliminated the storage cabinets above the beds which I’ve always welcomed in the veranda cabins on their S-class ships. Although it was difficult to determine from the video, it did not appear that there were many, if any, more drawers for storage in the Apex cabin. Can anyone familiar with both cabin configurations let me know if Celebrity compensated for those eliminated storage cabinets elsewhere in the Apex cabin? Thanks.