cruisingrob21

There are some adjoining large inside cabins - that would be a pretty nice setup - a ton of space.

great point - I snagged one of the inside-out K cabins on the Kdam and have been offered upsells. I like the topside location, access to the jogging track, pools, buffet and crowsnest so I'm not interested in changing location. From what I've seen in pictures, those specific cabins on Pinnacle ships actually let a good amount of light in - the Signature ships have less room between the cabin window and the pool dome/exterior stairs so the view is less.

Certain low category (IE, OZ) fares are non-refundable deposits and may not have hold ability. Up until a few years ago, the website never allow a hold - you had to put money down when booking. They softened it a while back, but now seems to be going back to disallowing holds when booking online. TA's still can.

I think Kdam does a hawaii voyage RT Vancouver after this one, then heads south on a coastal and then mexico.

Don't forget that on the Vista and Pinnacle class ships there are 2 (maybe 4) inside cabins with a window 🙂

Don't the Vista/Signature inside cabins (that aren't square) not include a loveseat? Just OV and above, and the big insides?

Agree with Steelers - maybe for last minute bookings, but I'm still seeing 3 days +/- (depending on time of day when booked) for deposit requirements on bookings before final payment in the Princess booking system. If within final payment, it's usually due within 24 or to midnight (PST/PDT) the following day. OP's TA might be imposing such restrictions - which makes sense since it takes time to put booking info in, or to make a phone call for a booking, then a followup call for deposit payment.

I was on the Majestic back in 2021 and they had it - it worked, kind of. The app was clunky and I had a few bets on NFL games. There were one or two duplicate bets. I wish it would work better but I wonder if they ended up taking it down because it did seem to have some serious issues. I ended up netting $5 after several $5 bets on a few games. Oh well.

It's pretty hard to fit anything else in those mini-fridges beyond 1 setup with the cans of soda and bottles of sparkling and still water. The mini-bar setup, free laundry, and priority line at guest services are the only real "elite' benefits anymore. The discounted wifi is nice, but it was a sneaky way to take something that used to be free and charge for it. The mini-bar setup is 'watered down' (pardon the pun) if you have princess plus. The free laundry can take days on some cruises, so much so that a normal 7 day cruise isn't really worth it, and by day 7 of a 10 day cruise sometimes they stop accepting laundry or you don't get it back until the night before disembarking.

HAL just had a $1 deposit sale - it was only for a week so they aren't gone necessarily. Cruise bookings are still going strong so the sales are pretty weak these days. The "50% off" is certainly a misnomer since 50% of an inflated price can still be too high. I think in the coming months the market will soften a bit and we may see some more interesting sales. In the UK there was supposedly a sale with Princess Plus at a discount so I could see them going that way eventually.

And now she's heading far inland. The westerdam is still soldiering north, ahead of the storm.

Never mind - captain turned back to the east

Interesting, it appears the Sapphire is turning west to head out to open seas outside of the Dixon Entrance. The captain might be trying to in the lee behind Haida Gwaii islands and then aim for the center of low pressure. If the timing works, the storm will significantly weaken by the time the Sapphire makes it into the lower pressure center, if not, it'll be 2 very bumpy 4-6 hour rides separated by a somewhat calm respite. The NA is still staying in protected waters for another few hours. The westerdam is all out trying to beat the storm. 4 very different strategies between Volendam, Sapphire, Nieuw Amsterdam and Westerdam.

Good point, the R and S class ships had those forward and aft stairways.

These ones on the R ships?

...It looks like the Nieuw Amsterdam is taking a protected course NB to avoid the worst of the storm.

Volendam is smaller and narrower and may be able to find a more sheltered route that the sapphire cannot - or has a wider margin of safety going through the inside passage. Regardless, it's the captain's choice as they are ultimately responsible for the safety of the ship. As others have mentioned, be thankful you're avoiding the storm - it would likely be pretty lousy on shore anyways.

this voyage was also briefly advertised as a RT Seattle voyage - were there people that were staying on for the return trip?

There are several "cousin" ships to the Sun already sailing for P&O, Aida, and even some of the new Carnival ships. While there are a lot of differences, some of the cabin layouts are similar to what you can probably expect on the Sun/Star. Here is a video of a balcony cabin in the same place as the "cove balcony" on the Sun/Star on the P&O Arvia. Obviously the decor and layout may be a bit different, but the cove format will be likely be similar with a window and separate door to a sheltered balcony.

HAL and CCL are in a tough spot. It costs lots of capital to do wholescale upgrades. I think the R class ship cabins were partially updated when COVID hit, but I'm not sure those upgrades were ever completed below the highest category oceanview rooms. Now, HAL and CCL much choose to pay down debt, or make improvements to their existing products. I think we will see one cycle of drydocks where maintenance its key (I dont think much heavy maintenance was done during covid) before any significant refurbishments and new venues - and that will likely be brought on by competitors upgrading their older ships, and accordingly, raising the (lowest) bar.

late 2024 to early 2025 were released in March of 2023, so expect March of 2024 for late 2025

I'm trying to update the schedule for each ship. Next gap in schedule for Coral, which would imply a drydock, is 9/27/24 to 10/16/24. https://cruisingrobsblog.blogspot.com/p/princess-cruises-ship-schedule.html

No kidding, remember in 2021 and 2022 when the cruise lines were doing kids sail free, or 2nd passenger is free, or HAL even had "reserve a verandah or higher cabin, and get a interior for taxes and fees only" Yeah those days are gone. Our minisuite to alaska on discovery this year was about $5k for the 4 of us, next year its pushing 8-9k for the same voyage. As are the days of ships only 50% to 70% full. Oh well. My hope is that the cruise lines can use this extra income to pay down their debt and start doing some drydocks that repair issues and do create new innovations on board.

I'm filling them out in an order that is biased toward west coast based ships. If anyone has a ship schedule they'd like to see sooner than later let me know.

It's a work in progress and I only have voyages on the Crown updated to late 2024 at this time but here is the link for those following this thread. I'll continue to verify what the old schedule had (fixed a few differences) as well as add based on new itinerary releases over the last year or so. You'll notice that embarkation ports are bold and hyperlinked to the corresponding Princess page. https://cruisingrobsblog.blogspot.com/p/princess-cruises-ship-schedule.html