AtlantaCruiser72

They did add some Late Nov/Dec 25 11 & 14 day sailings on Coral from FLL recently that were not part of the original 25/26 Caribbean Announcement that line her up perfectly for the 2026 World cruise. I predict she will sell better on the WC than Island has the last few years as Island suffers such a maligned image with Princess loyalists due to the Frankenship overhaul they gave her. Were I in a position to do so I'd book Coral on a WC in a heartbeat!

As I don’t have any devices with type c cords I did not pay particular attention. I do remember type a on both sides however

E Concierge suite. All Concierge and Superior suites would be the same.

Was on Grandeur in January. Had beds split into twins. Only outlets/usb are on the side walls (both sides). None in the middle. Sorry did not take photos.

So my opinion - look at the HUGE drive market in Orlando, The Villages/Ocala and Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater. For many the convenience of driving/ubering to Orlando airport, parking and taking the train vs battling the turnpike/I-95 and dealing with port traffic/parking (on port or off) will be beneficial. There is also the savings of fuel/tolls to consider. Once the shuttle to/from Port Canaveral starts this will be beneficial to the South Florida consumer who wishes to cruise from there as an alternate to Port Everglades especially as many will be able to uber to/from the So FL stations rather than paying for parking. This this an earth shattering "game changer"? Not really, but there will be many who will find the partnership beneficial

So far - Marketing to Central and South Florida residents as an alternative to driving to either Port Everglades or Port Canaveral. Free shuttle for Princess guests from Ft Lauderdale and Orlando stations to the ports. Ability to check bags at rail station and bags delivered direct to stateroom. No word yet whether this will be available as an add-on during booking process, or only through Brightline website.

@AlpacaBag much as I expected. Will let the community know any additional details I get from the webinar here in a few minutes!

I still stick to it being a Brightline partnership that includes parking at Brightline stations and allows for “seamless” addition of Brightline train fare (with connecting port shuttles) included as part of the booking process (much like adding ezair or hotel/transfers are today). This would be a “game changer” for many Florida drive market consumers as it would alleviate port parking hassles.

Two separate items rolled into one email. The NYC sailings have already been opened for bookings, They Just want to use the webinar to draw agents attention to them alongside the “game changer” announcement. Very common for companies to do this

Lots of chatter here about terminal upgrades, short itineraries, new homeports, standby program etc. None of these would be considered "Game Changers" as they are already existent from one or more competitors sailing from Florida and would be more akin to 'Keeping up with the Joneses' and none would specifically benefit 'residents of the region' for Florida Cruisers. Rather they would benefit ALL Princess cruisers sailing from Florida. This is why I keep coming back to a specific program that would benefit the Florida drive market, or Florida residents only - special parking benefits, partnership with Brightline, special cruise program only for Florida residents that is based on a buy in for a specific number of cruise night/weeks/sailings per annum with bulk purchase discounts, etc. A true "game changer" would be something a) no one else offers and b) something new to the industry as a whole.

@cynbar with Princess, Holland and Cunard the only time blocks of cabins are held are for affinity groups, the majority of which are under 50 cabins, require a group contract to be signed by the group leader and travel agent, have a bulk deposit, second deposit, review/recall dates etc. The cruise line limits the # of affinity groups and their sizes on each sailing (the number varies bu ship/sail date/region) Depending on the sailing the “recall” dates can happen at 150, 120, 90 & 60 etc days when the agent (or group leader) can choose to buy the unsold cabins rather than have them recalled into inventory. Affinity groups will have a set number of cabins contracted in specific categories and may or may not have specific cabin #s allocated at the time initial contract and bulk deposit are paid (depends on the group). Affinity groups are NOT the same as agent open/promotional group rates or contract rates which have no specific inventory associated with them. When agents book individual cabins into open/promotional group space they are booking into the same inventory pool as everyone else subject to what is available at the moment in time the booking is created/deposited. Open/promotional group space is a set rate by the cruise line and covered multiple letter codes/categories and depending on the current publicly available rates/promotions may be higher or lower. This is all specific to the above mentioned cruise lines. Royal, Celebrity and NCL have slightly different open/promotional policies than Princess, Holland and Cunard

Incorrect regarding the Holland America packages The ELITE beverage package includes 15 alcoholic drinks per day up to $15/drink menu value and unlimited non alcoholic beverages. The SIGNATURE beverage package includes 15 total drinks per day combined between alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages up to $11/drink. https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/onboard-packages/beverage-packages

@Arizona Wildcat what you say holds true for Royal/Celebrity & NCL open/promo group space but is incorrect for Princess, Holland America, Cunard and Seabourn. As this is a Princess related chat I focused on their policy only. I work for a large agency consortium as an agent and sell into our speculative group space on a daily basis.

Unless a travel agency has a true affinity group booked on a particular sailing (think family reunion, wedding, church, social organization, corporate incentive etc) where they have paid a bulk deposit to allocate a set # of rooms to the group no space is “given” to agents to sell by Princess. All agents/consortiums have access to the full roster of available rooms at prevailing rates and promotions. Some agencies/consortiums will have negotiated rate programs or promotional group rates, but no specific cabin inventory is tied to those rates.

Not yet, but I’m hoping for it soon. Looks like it will be on Coral Princess as she is the only ship in the fleet without a winter/spring 2025/26 deployment. The gap in her schedule is from her 11/13/2025 arrival into Ft. Lauderdale until she reappears in LA on 4/20/26. This would give time for either a dry dock and/or a few Caribbean sailings before a World Cruise.

That was around the same time they offered the 4/5/5 sailings on the Caribbean and had to practically give the cabins away with FCC/OBC promos to fill the ship.

Princess tried 4/5/5 short cruises on the Caribbean Princes about 9-10 years ago, they have also tried 3/4 day sailing mixed with 7 days sailings and year round Caribbean. None of these have previously been successful. Sure markets/demographics change but the short cruise market is saturated. If they were going to introduce short cruises they would have left a ship out of their recent winter 25/26 deployment releases. The only ship in the fleet without deployment for this timeframe is the Coral and she is rumored for the 2026 World cruise and would not be well suited to the short cruise market. Moving into short cruise or year round Caribbean would not be a “game changer”. Rather it would be jointing the herd.

Florida is our countries 3rd most populous state, only behind California and Texas. It’s also growing population wise at about 12% a year. The biggest clusters of the population are within a 3-4 hr drive of either Port Canaveral or Port Everglades. It only makes sense to try and develop ways to increase the number of guests living in the region who choose to sail Princess.

Princess have tried both in the past with little success, and to be honest neither would be a “game changer”, however marketing spin being what it is ….

I just looked at the text with the webinar teaser and my eyes rested on a key phrase “will delight cruisers LIVING IN THAT REGION” With that verbiage and the phrase “game changer” in mind it made me think of the following possibilities: 1. Annual cruising pass where Florida Residents can buy a set number of weeks/cruises per annum at a set price similar to timeshare weeks/points 2. Free parking for Florida residents 3. New “hometown” motorcoach service to Florida residents at no extra charge (been done before by multiple lines either for free or at a charge) 4. Partnership with Brightline - Florida residents receive complimentary/reduced fare transport to/from FLL via Brightline I’m sure it will be far less outside the box than any of those would be. I think some sort of partnership with Brightline, including transfer to/from the port could be an interesting possibility, especially once the extension to Tampa and the rumored Port Canaveral stations are opened.

@Outerdog I was thinking maybe they were digging a canal to build a port in the Villages! LOL

Considering the only ship in the fleet without a winter 2025/spring 2026 deployment is the Coral, and there has not been winter 2026 World Cruise announcement yet we can rule out a new homeport. This leads me to believe it has to be something to do either with terminal facilities or ground transport. I’m not sure either would constitute being a “game changer” but then I’m not a C-suite marketing spin doctor.

I have also heard that applications for new passports are down SIGNIFICANTLY. This would also help with renewal processing times.