HaveDogWillTravel

Does anyone know if you can book this for 10 people? I have a suite on an upcoming sailing that would allow for it in terms of space.

@mxpI am by no means an expert on WS itineraries but that night at Ephesus with the orchestra and formal dinner (not formal clothing, just an elegant meal with white linen table cloths ) was stunning. ‘I booked the 17 day Tahiti sailing in part because of the 10 days we are at anchor with the water sports deck out and it also has the beach bbq and fire show which sounds equally amazing. I hope others start posting live reviews with lots of pictures, menus of food and drinks and room service offerings.

I just did 19 days on the Emerald (august/September) and had the same lovely experience. Did not go to MDR for dinner even once. Sushi nights were awesome. They had the best chicken wings I’ve ever had on a ship a couple of nights too. Big, fat, plump and juicy. And Skywalker's is the best venue. Beautiful panoramic views in all directions. Looking forward to a repeat on the Sapphire this December. The drink specials were actually quite nice. If you have a package it works there as well. If you let the bar staff know your wine preferences they will do their best to get it stocked for you

I went back over all my photos to see if I took pictures. I seriously never really pay attention to what others are wearing unless of course it’s something completely out there and can’t be ignored. I can tell you what we wore lol. I wear linen, Cotten or silk typically. I had casual cotton skirts, linen tops, and Hoka sandals or sneakers due to plantar fasciitis. Adam wore non jean pants and short sleeve button up shirts. I really don’t remember seeing suits or fancy dresses but that doesn’t mean people didn’t wear them. My general impression was people dressed like well mannered adults. But again I simply didn’t pay attention.

Thank you for saying so. We can’t wait for our next sailing on Windstar. I may have to book something last minute in 2024 as our current WS cruises are not until Oct 2025 and May 2026

It’s not a comparison. Earlier in this thread someone asked about what windstar was like. So it’s just a description of what I found windstar to be like.

I will add that if I was on an itinerary where a big beautiful balcony with a lovely padded lounger were of great importance, O would be at the top of my list with those deck 7 aft balconies they have.

Of course I meant for me WS is a better value compared to what I’d pay on O with what I’m seeing for SM prices. Windstars All in package includes unlimited cocktails and wine (not just at meals and not just limited wines) wifi and gratuities. So it’s not a direct comparison to SM. It depends on what included or excluded items you place more value on. SM doesn’t include gratuities and if I recall correctly you can’t use OBC to pay them. I place a lot of value on the availability of great wine and alcohol at good prices,( really this is so important, O really disappointed in this matter), the included Ephesus excursion (other sailings have special events. Our South Pacific one has a beach bbq and show where everyone takes a catamaran to the island), the small ship experience with under 300 passengers, & great easy to understand excursions and pricing. Maybe Os excursions are easier to figure out now that they have SM but my sailings don’t so I’m still stuck needing a tutorial to figure it out. I place a lot of value in the open bridge policy and ease of talking directly with officers all over the ship all day. No calling GS and waiting for a call back. That said O really took great care of us when things went south on that March trip. Not everyone on board agreed but I was happy. If I’m reading between the lines correctly you place a lot of value on wifi and the included excursions. I really enjoyed both products and have two future sailings on each line. And honestly there’s no guarantee that my future sailings on either line will live up to the first.

I think each person will place value on different included or excluded items. It really boils down to your personal cruising style. For the Mediterranean sailing on Windstar we were in port all but one day and our T-Mobile plan gave us free texting and cellular. Even while we were sailing we were many times close enough to land to have cellular. So we never missed the wifi. On O we just didn’t use wifi on sea days and used cellular in port. I am by no means able to reliably compare the price of O’s excursions to Windstar’s as I cannot figure out their pricing without taking a lesson on it. It was just too much work so I didn’t. WS excursions I felt were very reasonably priced and transparent. All the excursions were very small groups (there’s only 300 some odd passengers at most & we only had 269 on our sailing). And they were extremely well run with long term well established partners. We did 3 WS excursions and 3 independent ones. On O we did all independent. On port intensive itineraries there just isn’t a lot of drinking going on while on board for us. O was 10 day and WS was 8. Our bar bill on each was under $200. We had OBC that covered all of that if I recall correctly. The only thing we paid at the end was the gratuities. Windstar had a sale that ended Nov 6th on 2025 and 2026 sailings that gave you their All In package free. We booked our next two under that sale so I’ll find out if I think it’s worth paying for I guess. For now we do great without packages and save lots of money by not using them. We had a deck 7 aft balcony on Riviera that had the padded loungers so that was really nice. We had a French balcony on WS. I thought I wouldn’t care for that but we loved it. The WS living room felt so spacious to us. Both had great bathrooms.

This year was my first O cruise (Riviera March was supposed to be Bermuda but weather made us go elsewhere) and my first Windstar cruise (Star Legend Oct Istanbul to Athens). I wrote a review of my windstar vacation on the CC Windstar board. Should still be on the first page as they don’t get a lot of posts. I really enjoyed our O cruise even though the itinerary was vastly changed while we were on board. We booked 2 more sailings with them for Vista in Oct 2024 and March 2025 while on board. We don’t book the packages and felt the pricing for our upcoming PH2 and PH1 are very competitive. Those sailings are now priced $1000 per person more under SM. On our Riviera sailing we were impressed with the food but were really surprised with the low quality alcohol and wine available. It didn’t seem to fit. I mean how can you have such great food but not have the same level of wine and alcohol to go with it? For example, my Manhattan was made with Ten High bourbon and Martini & Rossi vermouth. It was so bad I did not drink it. The only other bourbon they had on board was a Woodford reserve that was priced at some astronomical price….I seem to recall $20 a shot but don’t quote me on that. My martini was served in a margarita glass…twice…I gave up. I simply could not find a white wine on board that I liked. What I did love about O is that I could get what I wanted at our next port stop and bring it onboard without issue. I did love the happy hours on O and the Captains party events with open bars. On our Windstar sailing (also booked without packages) I found the menus to be more limited than O’s, but hand to heart I felt the quality was superior. Again as we all know food is subjective but if you read my review there’s pictures. Every cabin on windstar has full MDR room service while it is open. It had an expansive 24 hour gourmet room service menu. My Manhattan was made with Woodford reserve and Antica vermouth for $17 including 18% gratuity. ‘The wine list was extensive and so reasonably priced (I posted the complete list in my review). They had my Trimbach wines and I was in heaven. ‘I paid $9 a day per person for unlimited 24 hour turn around laundry. Windstar has a deck BBQ that simply blew my mind with how good it was. In Ephesus they had a linen tablecloth gourmet meal served at night under the beautifully lit up ancient amphitheater with the Aegean Sea Orchestra playing outstanding classical music. The wine flowed freely from the minute we got there until we left. The 30 minute bus ride each way was perfectly organized and executed. This excursion (260 of the 269 passengers onboard went) was included in our fare. I had coffee with the Captain every morning in the Yacht club and my husband took full advantage of the open bridge policy. In fact every single day I saw and spoke to every officer on board….that’s how visible they were. Officers made sure my every desire was fulfilled. I was simply blown away. We already had another sailing booked with Windstar (Oct 2025 Montreal to Boston) but we booked another while on board (17 days Papeete RT with 10 days of the water sports deck open for May 2026). Right now O with SM is not competitive with Windstar. I will continue to look at all cruise lines and sail with the one who has the itinerary I want at a price I am willing to pay for it. O is certainly on that list and after reading folks comments on SB and SS I’ll add them. But Windstar is my first choice at the moment.

Oh okay. I am just trying to be helpful. Share some tips that it took me awhile to find & that I wish I’d known sooner. I will say you’ve definitely received some interesting perks. That robe is only provided to those in full suites. I love that robe and have tried to get it when I’m not in one but have not been successful on any of the ships. The wine and strawberries are pretty common gifts (still don’t know why they were sent) but that robe……man someone definitely likes you.

They will do it for anyone. I don’t quite get why you’d say that.

I try to be helpful ☺️.

Just call room service, ask for whatever you want. If they can access it they’ll bring it.

They do save some reservations for people to book when they get onboard. It’s been an issue for a long time now. And you are correct Crown usually fills up first. Just you me and several hundreds of others on any given day. Lol.

I have been getting that error for a few days now too. Weird thing is my friend who’s on the same sailing is not having this problem. I have had pretty good luck once on board but I make it a point to make my reservations first thing upon boarding.

No the wine at the chef’s table does not count as part of the 15. I’ve done many CT and I would suggest you limit your food and alcohol intake prior to this event. Last one I went to this year several people showed up clearly well into their limit and had to leave the table. They simply could not enjoy the experience.

It’s been a very interesting review. Thank you for doing it. I thought I’d share a few things that I’ve found helpful. There’s an easy way to stock up your room on days you won’t hit your limit. You can use Ocean Now on the ap to order up to 4 drinks to your room at the same time. You could order 4 coronas, 4 Heinekens and they will bring them all unopened. You can add 4 small bottles of water as well. I will typically do a big order when it’s not prime time meal hours. If you want some Straight bourbon (or whatever) for the room just call room service, tell them what brand and ask for 4 straight shots No Ice. If they don’t have your brand you can walk into any bar and ask for that. They will also bring you 6-12 bottles of water when you phone. For room service breakfast I write in what I want on the card (watermelon, bowl of berries, omelets, pancakes,……) and I almost always get it. If I do t know what time I want it delivered I phone room service when I wake up and order it. When I have a package I bring a stainless steel wine thermos and have gone to the outrigger bar when it’s not busy and order my favorite wine. I pour it into the thermos and order another…repeat until full. Most of the time the bartender on day 2 will just hand me the bottle. But if not, I just refill the thermos as needed. I personally would not do this at an indoor bar or when the outdoor bar is busy. So when they first open in the morning is a good time. Some people might find this tacky but I call it having my wine whenever I want on my balcony. As others have said, watch your drink total and your shipboard account for erroneous charges. If you see any just send a message to Crew Chat asking for the drinks or charges to be reversed. Have a great sailing. I hope the weather clears up for you.

I was informed of this policy at a “In the life of a bartender “ behind the scenes tour that Cherry Pie ( yes that’s her name) -the Bar Manager on Emerald - did in September this year. It totally hit me why the crew I sailed with month after month with in 2021 and 2022 didn’t seem to be getting the reviews I wrote about them (always about a week after getting off). I was very sad about that. I now do them within the 3 day limit for crew on board to get the feedback.

Oh goodness gracious no! I would never, ever ask any crew member that! However, after 2 years of taking lots and lots of excursions with crew, hosting them in our home port of SF when their ship is in town and then of course the days at sea, they volunteered information about this. It was just part of conversations that developed over time. Talking about retirement, talking about plans for the future and so on. I was gobsmacked when I was told and it took me an over year before I even mentioned it to others. I think everyone is entitled to form their own reaction to this information or to even just not believe it. There is no right or wrong reaction.

You’ve been very good and accurate information so far. I saw you mentioned it’s been awhile since you last sailed Princess so I’ll add a few tidbits. It’s been reported that those with phones that aren’t iPhones have more issues with Princess ap. But if you have an iPhone it really “should” work beautifully. If you know how to check for updates to the ap then do that. If not, then deleting the ap and downloading it again will accomplish the same thing. To board the ship you really could show up with your passport (and any other documents required like visas) and they would take care of everything at the pier. So while it’s nice to have a travel summary (it really does give great detail about what is included in your fare), medallion (btw this does not activate until you are checked in onboard), luggage tags, and all, if you don’t have these things you will still board. I hope that helps you relax about getting things to work. Once on board, go to the Ocean Now desk and ask for help with the ap. If you go right when you board it should not be crowded. They will help you get on the ship’s intranet and fix any settings on your phone that are interfering with the ap. That ap and the medallion really are “all that”. @CruiseRaideris correct that, at least for iPhones, the bugs have been worked out and it is just a great user experience you can chat with crew, watch the muster drill, arrange dining, order food & drinks to wherever you are (even your cabin), look at the deck plans and my favorite Find my shipmate! I love the locator function. I can see where my friends are & in what venues and join them (or not).

CVP’s do not sell those big hotel/cruise packages. Any CVP you get by contacting Princess will be legit but there are varying degrees of quality in their work. We are not allowed to share our CVP’s names on this board. You can get recommendations at a meet and greet on board. I don’t use FB much at all, but I believe that there is a Princess Cruise Vacation Planner page there.

I’ve had the same fabulous CVP for years. We’ve sailed twice with him and his DH. He said if I book the packages within 30 days of making the booking he does get commission on it. So now I always book with it and remove it at final if I’ve decided not to have it. He also said his commission is based on both number of booking and the price of the bookings. I know they get health insurance as well. That was not a CVP. @Rick&Jeannieare correct about this person being from an outside sales group. They are sanctioned by Princess and that cruise package is legit. Next time you sail go to the meet and greet and ask for CVP recommendations.

Hmmmmmm. Interesting

Thanks for corroborating this.