vwlmember

Directly from their email..... "Princess Cruises, in collaboration with shipbuilder Fincantieri, has made the difficult decision to postpone the delivery of Star Princess until Fall 2025."

The new inaugural sailings of Star Princess will sail roundtrip from Barcelona and include an 11-day Mediterranean voyage on October 4, 2025, and a 7-day Mediterranean voyage on October 15, 2025, that precede a 14-day transatlantic crossing to Fort Lauderdale on October 22, 2025, for the ship’s first Caribbean season. These three new cruises will open for sale on April 30, 2024. September is a no go.

Let's see........Icon was ready a month early and had multiple unpaid cruises and a transatlantic so she was well prepared before the inaugural. Utopia of the Seas will be ready three days early. Star will be two weeks late with a year's notice to cruisers. Princess screwed up the Sun launch in spectacular fashion at the last possible moment. Now they cancel 11 cruises on Star. Granted it is with considerable notice, but two in a row is not confidence building. I will still give Royal the win.

I just received the notification and am not a casino player. Guess I will go back to Royal since they seem to have their act together.

I just booked an 8-night on the Spectrum in April '26 out of Shanghai. Price was very reasonable for an aft verandah. Not looking forward to the long flight to get there from Boston.

Oasis went through Amplification back in April 2019. Highly unlikely they will make any large scale changes during this dry dock.

The Quantum class is my favorite of the nine ships on which I have cruised. Spent a week on Anthem of the Seas and was blown away. I went skydiving on a ship while at sea! Drove bumper cars. Went three hundred feet up in the air on Northstar. Took in some great music inside a two story music hall. Had a drink in a pub and one made by a robot. Had a spectacular Italian meal at Jamie's. Spent hours sitting in the beautiful and relaxing Solarium. Watched fabulous entertainment in 270. Ate pizza whenever I wanted. Drank great wines in Vintages. The kummelwack made my eyes water in a good way. All that, and I still did not do everything. Am booked on Odyssey of the Seas next March and cannot wait to get onboard. This family of ships are a destination without a single port required.

My wife and I are booked on the September 30th cruise in a D1 Premium Deluxe Balcony on deck 15. Cannot wait! 578 days and counting down!

I get it. But look at all the daylight on Sun Princess.

Yes, it is a long walk to the aft elevator bank. Having mobility issues would make that walk difficult.

How about a Sunset Veranda? Great locations and a real balcony. The cabins are a few feet longer than the average IV.

If your cruise is after this Thanksgiving, wait for the Black Friday deal. I upgraded the two of us for $185 total. Well worth it at that price.

Was in SV 8336 on the Beyond. It was great. There was some noise from the mooring lines when first in port. Other than that, nothing. We actually have the same exact cabin booked for our Panama Canal cruise on Beyond this December.

They also went to China and Greece. I seem to remember a Hawaii trip but cannot find confirmation anywhere.

Been in SV8336 on the Beyond and only heard noise from the mooring ropes being deployed on the port mornings. The balcony did get almost complete sun.

That price is through RCL directly I assume. I used an online TA. The instructions in the first post did not specify if it had to be a RCl direct booking.

Ship: Odyssey of the Seas Destination: Bahamas roundtrip from Bayonne Dates: March 23, 2025 # of Nights: 7 Cabin Type: Obstructed Balcony (2E) Total Price (inc. taxes & port charges, exc. gratuities): $1583.22 for 2 people Average Price Per Night (per Person - USD): $113 Other Perks: $100 OBC

Beyond SV 8336 in the center. Beautiful room. Could hear the mooring lines being deployed some mornings.

Well, now I am glad I upgraded to the premium drink package for our Panama Canal cruise on Beyond next December. Hopefully they don't raise the prices again before we go!

No one should be surprised that there is a shortage of personnel fleet wide. Icon needed 2300+ people to fully staff the new flagship. A large percentage of those would be experienced staff from the fleet, bolstered by new employees.

They just put the Ascent into use and needed 1400 crew members to staff that new build. Where do you think they came from? They would not use rookies. As they were already tight on staffing, the transfer of even half of the 1400 new crew needed would put a strain on all of the other ships.

Celebrity. I just cancelled and rebooked excursions for our Dec 24 cruise.

Very interesting. I have filled out surveys from HAL, Royal, Celebrity and NCL and have never received a response to an issue I referenced. Never. We are not complainers, but rather like to provide feedback on things we see that need improvement to enhance the customer experience. We will be taking our first Princess cruise on the Star Princess in September 2025. I am now looking forward to this trip even more as this shows they do care about their service level. Something sorely lacking in this industry at this time.

Yes. On the Beyond in September 2022 I asked for a mattress topper and our cabin steward added it the same day. Difference was night & day.

Hopefully they will offer a refund if they cancel Turkey ports. I have a cruise scheduled on the Star Princess in September 2025 and the main reason for taking this voyage is the stop at Kusadasi. If it will not stop there I would rather switch to a Baltic or Japan cruise. But, this is still a long way off so the situation will be different once we get into 2025 hopefully.