TorontoTL

Wonderful Live From thread. I feel like I’ve been to the dining rooms, buffet and other restaurants on the Sky Princess and haven’t even stepped foot on the Sky yet.  Thanks for all the wonderful photos and information.

This is the forward pool adults only Retreat Pool.  It reminds me of the Grand Class Lotus Spa pool and I like the layout with the two levels.

Thanks so much for taking the time and internet minutes to post all of your commentary and photos of your awesome Japan cruise.  It gives me so much to look forward to this November.  Have a safe trip home.

Thanks for the great review.  We are looking forward to our upcoming 17 d Japan cruise on Nov 12/19.  We are arriving in Tokyo and will spend a few days there before heading to the ship.

Thanks so much for posting this Live from.  We are going to be on board the Diamond Princess Nov 12 and doing a 17 d cruise around Japan so I'm super interested in your posts!  Looking forward to the rest of your cruise.

Benny

February they had not been upgraded yet at least in the inside cabin we were in.

I had a power strip packed on my most recent cruise on the Regal Princess.  It was taken from me.  Later that same day a power strip was delivered to my cabin, but it wasn't mine.

Most decks on the Regal you can walk fore to aft no problem.  The 6th deck is really the big exception to that because the galley is between the mid ships dining room and the aft dining room on the 6th deck.  So to get to the aft dining room you have to take the aft elevators or stairs from any deck above 6 down to 6.

P&O has often shared ship platforms with Princess and Princess often transfers its older ships to Iona.

Princess has announced two new LNG powered ships have been ordered.  Do you think they might share a platform with the new P&O Iona which is also LNG powered?

This ship has some nice features like a large covered pool, a 360* promenade deck amongst them that we have been asking Princess to bring back.

https://www.pocruises.com/global/deckplans/Iona/Iona-Deckplans-2019-20.pdf this link is for the deck plans.

There are also suites that open up so that the balcony essentially becomes part of the cabin similar to the Celebrity Edge.

This ship is being built by Meyer Werft in Germany while the new Princess ships will be built by Fincantieri in Italy so I'm guessing they won't be the same platforms.  If not, I hope Princess will use some of the ideas that the Iona will have.

Of the Princess ships I’ve sailed on that had been updated, none of them really had any significant cabin updates that were visible to me, other than mattresses and bedding.  When they update their ships they should do more to update the cabins including the bathrooms.  The bathrooms in cabins on the Grand are looking very dated.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your first cruise with Princess, we like them too. 

7 hours ago, Geoffa30 said:

Don’t shoot the messenger but has anyone noticed the two alfresco dining areas on the promenade deck outside La Mer and Alfredo’s? Interesting. 

 

Really looking forward to experiencing Royal Class v2.

No I hadn't noticed that until you pointed it out, nice.

Yes hopefully it wasn't that bad.

The updated menus look great.  I love all the seafood offerings.  Princess has made some menu changes since I last cruised 2 years ago.

You could drive yourself up there if you rent a car which is what we did each port in Hawaii on our cruise.  We used https://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/  and found that car rentals were surprisingly inexpensive.

I am totally looking forward to the Sky Princess, the changes announced so far interest me.

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I have been on many Princess cruises and look forward to eventually trying out their newest class of ships. Although I would say that smaller ships would be nice, the realities of the cruise business make it less cost efficient to build smaller ships without charging quite a bit more money for cruises. If we want to have affordable cruises then large ships are the way of the future. If we can want smaller ships then we need to be prepared to pay more.

In the end I wouldn't rule out this new class without trying a cruise on one first.

Toronto, that may be true, but STiLL fully encloses that pool area ( which I just do NOT get...). at the expense of the deck space around the pool area.

 

At least maybe wind will not be an issue. just being crammed in with no air of view of the sea... not worth the trade-off....

 

Now, if they had made this a nice adult area with a retractable glass roof... That I might get onboard with.

Yes, pun intended.

 

That would make the space usable and enjoyable during all itineraries and conditions... But, then again, Princess wouldn't bother to actually heat the pool or the area.. so....

I agree, I hope it has a covered pool like the Majestic Princess has.

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With the elimination of Crooner's Princess is reaching the break point of packing passengers into limited venues in order to place restaurants in unpleasant locations. Who really wants to dine in an area where bands are playing two decks below? Have you also noticed how limited the seating is around the Retreat Pool? I did notice that Princess Live appears larger and is open to the corridor. Maybe it's been changed to a lounge.

In my opinion Royal Class ships are very poorly designed. Wish they would stop building them and come up with a different passenger friendly design.

If you look at the deck plans closely, there is a second level on the sky deck around the Retreat Pool, the overall space around the pool will be about the same. The addition of the cabins doesn't in fact reduce the deck space around the Retreat, it is just spread out over two decks instead of only one.

I hope the Retreat pool is covered and more like the covered two deck pools on the original Grand Class ships.

The Seawalk also no longer seems to be a bridge, but instead just the glass floor that juts out over the side of the ship and now on both sides. Overall the changes look very positive. I am hoping that the Retreat pool area now two levels will be covered. I was hoping for a front facing lounge but that doesn't seem to be happening.

Wow, now I'm hungry and I've just eaten breakfast. Thanks for the great food photos.

In a way, this reminds me of the layout of the Grand Class ships' Lotus Spa pools where there is little space around the pool but more lounge space on the deck above.

One thing that I really like is the fact that there are more hot tubs than before and yes the two main pools both look large.

Enjoying your live from, thanks for taking us along on your cruise.

Have a great cruise and enjoy your suite!