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I read that part of the this thread pertaining to the debt load and performance.

The difference between cruise lines and airlines is that airlines provide and essential service and most governments are willing to to bail out their national airlines. The pandemic proved that the airlines were essential in transporting cargo and could still generate revenue even though there were no passengers sitting in the seats. Airlines have a higher incentive to be solvent because of the deals that were tied into government bailouts during the pandemic. (The exception being Middle Eastern airlines of who’s governments can prop them up with no strings from oil revenues.) The cruise industry is purely leisure and won’t ever be bailed out because of their offshoring practices—great for cruise fares but not good for tax revenue.

Princess should also start penalizing TAs who block cabins and don’t release them until the final payment. Many times I’ve seen banks of cabins become available immediately after final payment. CVP says that they are from TA who block cabins and can’t sell them.

Not following supply and demand will only come to hurt Princess. We hear about the full sailings on this board because of move over offers but many of Princess’ ships are only going almost full, not fully booked. Because of Princess’ new pricing strategy of having non refundable deposits and guarantee cabins on the lowest category, they are getting more and more guarantee bookings. It’s not unusual for to see a sailing sold out 2 months prior to sailing only to see cabins become available a month before sailing after guarantees have been assigned.

This part is for sure. This part isn't for sure. Like I said, you could get an upgrade or the ship on your sailing could run out of cabins in that area. Guarantee cabins means that Princess will assign you a cabin in the category/location you paid for or higher. One pays for passage and the cabin will be assigned before embarkation under Princess' purview. If not knowing your exact cabin location bothers you, it's best not to book guarantee. It's a gamble. I always book guarantee with the mentality that best case scenario, I get an upgrade, or worse case scenario, I get a assigned a cabin in the category I booked. Ship location doesn't matter to me as time on a cruise is better than being at home. You can have a different sentiment and that's okay too.

There is a meta category and location category assigned to your guarantee. You will be assigned a cabin in that category or higher. Doesn't always work out this way. If Princess decides to upgrade you, then you could be assigned to another deck/location. This booking type of guarantee book you into the lowest location category and usually is associated with a non-refundable deposit. The above shows all the cabin categories on the Marina Deck and Riviera Deck for the Enchanted Princess. You could book a category BB guarantee "on the Riviera Deck" (in quotes because decks don't really matter in a guarantee), for example, and still end up on the Marina Deck because this category exists on both decks. If you book a BA guarantee "on the Riviera Deck," you could still end up on the Marina Deck if Princess were, for example, to upgrade you to a DF when assigning your cabin.

Not true. They'll find another object to put on the chair...pool floats, clothing, flip-flops, plates of food. Chair hogs still exist on lines that keep tabs on pool towels. Such is the case with RC.

Direct to Airport for cruises disembarking in Vancouver is a program where passengers with U.S. or Canadian passports are pre-cleared prior to disembarking and board a bus immediately after disembarking without having to perform immigration formalities at the Canada Place and are taken directly to YVR. Luggage is taken directly to YVR, is claimed there, and must be checked-in by the passenger personally with the airline. The program is limited to 200 passengers per ship. Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I remember there being a charge for this and deadline to signup 4 days prior to ship's arrival into Vancouver. I assume this program is in place to help with crowd control when there are multiple ships berthed at the Canada Place.

All Princess ships currently have a self serve guest laundromat.

If you don't want the Wi-Fi or OceanNow, you might also consider the Classic Soda Package. That one is only $14.99 plus 18% gratuity. That will cover the sodas on your list. You would just pay for the cocktails ($12 to $$$, depending on if you prefer top shelf alcohol) and mochas (~$5). Might save a few dollars per day, if you only have one cocktail and like the kind on the lower end of the spectrum. If you do want the Wi-Fi or OceanNow, the best option is the Princess Plus Fare ($16 per day for tips, $14.99 per day for Wi-Fi, $14.99 per day for OceanNow, $30 conservatively for 2 cocktails a day)--these alone will make it worth it and the sodas and mochas haven't even been factored in.

Those are photos of two different cabin categories. The top photo is that of a Suite and the bottom photo is that of a Deluxe Balcony. You can tell from the difference in the carpet patterns and how the top photo has a club chair. The sofa bed in a Deluxe Balcony isn't as wide and when pulled out, there is just a crack between the food of the sofa bed and desk, which makes getting to the balcony difficult. In a Mini-Suite the sofa bed doesn't come out like the photo; it's a twin bed, but the person lies parallel to the wall, not perpendicular.

There is a cabin category to what you will book. You are guaranteed that cabin category or better. Again, you could be anywhere on the ship. Using a Royal Class ship as an example: If you booked a BA (midship Balcony), you could be upgraded to a DF (forward Deluxe Balcony) if there were no more BA cabins to assign. No way to predict location, but you are guaranteed the you meta category or better. Just my 2 cents... If you are forced into a guaranteed room to begin with, save money and choose the "Princess Chooses" option from the get go. This books you into a meta category's lowest location category. The only potential problem is that this option has a non-refundable deposit. If you have any inkling of canceling before final payment or are unsure of a cruise, then this isn't a good option.

Victorian doesn't go with the theme of the Sun Princess. In Princess' February 2023 Press Release, the words being used to describe the Sun Princess were "contemporary and state-of-the-art" and "bright designs inspired by sunlight." Don't see how Victorian fits into any of this. The renderings of this venue seem dark and antiquated (that one was a give away--Victorian is by definition old). Once the partnership with Magic Castle ends this venue will stick out like a sore thumb even more. Princess isn't known to gut a venue and start over, unlike Celebrity. (But they are known for gutting and chopping up a ship for the sake of more cabins, the Island Princess.) The most that has been commissioned has been to spruce up venues. (Minus the removal of Skywalker's on the Grand Princess and that was forced due to balance issues.) I don't see how this choice of decor will age well. Might as well make the design choices seamless throughout the ship and stick to contemporary. Another example of how the only thing consistent with Princess is inconsistency.

Princess has piles of the ship's pool towels with blue stripes rolled up on a table for passengers to take as they get off the ship at ports with beaches. There's usually a used towel bin for you to deposit your used towels past security as you re embark the ship. If not, bring them back to your cabin and your cabin steward can collect them from there. Princess is generous with pool towel use, so please be respectful and bring your towels back to the ship and leave them on the ship at the end of your cruise. To Alaska this summer on the Majestic, deck crew made passengers checkout the red plaid blankets because large numbers of them started to become unaccounted for. RC keeps tabs and charges $25 for every pool towel that doesn't come back.

It will remain to be seen. If taking a note from the refurbishments of the Grand Class ships, Princess really doesn't do anything to the spaces besides sprucing them up. Compare that to Celebrity or P&O Australia, where they gut it and redo everything.

Are you on a codeshare flight? If so, the reference number for the operating carrier should be listed when you pull up your reservation on the selling carrier's website. If not, call the selling carrier and ask for the reference number on the operating carrier. Use that reference number to access your reservation on the operating carrier's website. If on two separate airlines on the outbound and return, EZAir should have generated two separate booking numbers. DO NOT use the Air Booking Number generated by EZAir. You should be using the Airline Confirmation generated in the furthest right column of the Flights section of your Travel Summary.

I commented about the interior design from the renderings, not the experience. Brand new ship and Princess is putting in a Victorian themed space which doesn't match the other spaces on the ship. Once the partnership with Magic Castle ends, then is spaces deviates from the contemporary design continuity of the rest of the ship and won't make sense. Magic can be done in contemporary spaces.

The buck stops with Princess. Should have said no to some aspects Magic Castle designers came up with, if this is the case.

On Royal Class ships, the buffet will always be open (but there won't necessarily be food, 6 am to 10 pm are the hours with food), and the dispenser will always have brewed coffee/hot water/tea. On some, the lemonade/iced tea dispensers have been removed and you can only get these during service hours in pitchers. Crew doesn't have problems with passengers going in to get a cup of coffee prior to breakfast service or after food service has ended at night. On the Grand Class ships, there's been reports on this board upon the switch to Lavazza coffee pre-brewed coffee is put out in coffee dispenser urns. I assume once the buffet wraps up for the night, these won't be replaced until the next morning for breakfast service. Haven't been on this type of ship since the switch so cannot comment. I know when it was still the coffee concentrate, you could go in at anytime to get brewed coffee. I haven't seen a drink gun at the IC. You can always go to the nearest bar for a cup of water.

By non-specialty coffee I assume you mean brewed coffee. You pay for all beverages at the International Cafe without a package. If you want free brewed coffee, you have to get it yourself at the buffet.

Wish Princess would make the decor more contemporary. The renderings make a brand new ship feel and look old. Why does the theme have to be Victorian? Someone from corporate must like Downton Abbey.

Been there done that. I've learned to look down before stepping over the threshold and out of my cabin.

There is a set time for luggage to be out and ever since the re-start, I've noticed the window has gotten smaller. Pre-pandemic, instructions were always have luggage out by midnight. The cruises I've been on this year, the instructions have said place luggage out between 1700 and 2100. Too add, I've noticed that they don't linger in the corridor for very long. Having said that, I always self carry off the ship.

On a weeklong Mexican Riviera on the Discovery from LA this year, I was told by Guest Services that since the restart, ships have been directed by corporate to have ship time align with the local time in port. Not sure how accurate this statement was, but the sailing I was on followed this rule regarding time changes. We lost and gained an hour in a matter of 48 hours.

Don't need to do an excursion in PV. Take the bus or a taxi to Proyecto Escola. That's the city center where Los Arcos and the Cathedral are. From there you can walk to Zona Romantica. If the beach is your thing, the public beaches start past the Sheraton Buganvilias. The Event Listings from the first day will list the days when the ship's time will go back, specific to you because you are heading west. Cabin steward will leave a note on your bed the night of a time change. Ship time on Princess always matches the local time in port. Probably won't be confiscated. And if it does, at least sparking cider is cheap. YMMV.