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On Grand Class ships, which the Diamond Princess is part of, only mini-suites and above have couches. Any category below mini suites will not have a couch, and will have the 3rd and 4th person berths as pullman beds from the ceiling. See article below for pics: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/amberjamieson/diamond-princess-coronavirus-quarantine-cruise

Currently on the Majestic Princess and all of the non-refundable OBC clearly reads "non-refundable" in on the folio statement. Guest Services can refund unused refundable OBC in cash on the spot that is valued at $100 or less. Anything over $100 will have to be mailed to you in a check to your address on file once you return home.

The lack of a nightclub is not really a problem confined to the Majestic Princess. On other Royal Class ships, the Hollywood Conservatory is The Sanctuary, which is fee per day usage, so that area is a non-starter. There really isn't a night club built into the Royal Class ships. Most times the Vista Lounge serves as the "nightclub" in the evening, but there were other events scheduled there at 22:30 (comedian show, live band, etc.), so it was already occupied. I think using the Piazza is a horrible idea as well. I overheard passengers with staterooms on Deck 8, above The Piazza complaining about the noise into the night to Guest Services. Hasn't stopped the DJ from spinning though.

Currently on the Majestic Princess to Alaska and I can confirm that the Piazza is the evening Nightclub. I was told ship stopped using Hollywood Conservatory as the nightclub for Alaska because guests who wanted to sit up there at night to watch the scenery complained of the noise, so the venue for the evening "nightclub" with the DJ was moved to the Piazza.

I agree with coming into Vancouver a day early. It will give your companions a chance to rest. They will need it for the trek through the Canada Place during embarkation. I'm a several decades away from 80 years old and thought that the walk through the Canada Place was quite a trek.

The download only Cruise Atlas no longer includes deck plans for all ships in the fleet. That was the one thing that the cruise atlas was good for--the deck plans. The deck plans published here included details about which cabins were had 3rd and 4th occupancy and which ones were connecting. Now it's off to a 3rd party website because the deck plans on the Princess website don't include these details.

Where does a tourist stay in San Francisco then? Union Square, Tenderloin, and South of Market are the really bad areas.

Currently on the Majestic Princess. The Catch by Rudi is stinking up the Piazza area when it's open in the evenings. It smells like fish/seafood (who would have thought?) and is unpleasant. The smells waft down to the Photo Gallery on Deck 6 and the watch shop across the way on Deck 7.

I'm aware. From the Bay Area myself. Better off staying at the Hyatt Regency on the Embarcadero, Fairmont/Mark Hopkins on Nob Hill, or one of the hotels near Fisherman's Wharf. Just stay away from the Union Square and Tenderloin Area. There's nothing to see there any more. Practically all of the businesses there are closed anyway. It's a creepy area to walk at night (even during the day), and it's a shame that such a vibrant area in the past has gone down the drain.

Cancel if you still can and move to a safer part of town. That hotel borders the Tenderloin and isn't exactly in a safe place. Lots of homeless and druggies.

Agree on there being many third party excursion operators in Alaska. I've found that rarely is an excursion sold out completely until on board. If you go to the Shore Excursions desk as soon as you board, there are usually still slots available. All of the inventory isn't released for pre-cruise booking. I've also found that if you end up waitlisted pre-cruise, it's worth while to follow up at the Shore Excursions desk and see if you can be squeezed in.

I've been on 3 Christmas cruises. The festiveness of the events depends on and is within the purview of the cruise director. Only once did I experience an ugly sweater event on a cruise to Hawaii. It's probably because the weather was cold enough to warrant wearing sweaters. No one really dressed formally unless a formal night fell on Christmas. Having said all of this, while the ship is decked out in Christmas decor, not all passengers celebrate that holiday.

It never gets cold in the Caribbean. It's always tropical. The winds can be problem. If they go over 30 mph, ships won't attempt to dock or while docked, won't attempt to leave. Your ship could miss ports or be late to ports because of this.

Princess is evolving. This all started with the improving of the kid's program in 2017 to Camp Discovery. This is just the next step. In the 1990s when I first started cruising with Princess as a third wheel to my grandparents, there was nothing for me to do. Princess has to try to do something to improve their offerings to appeal to a younger crowd. If they don't it will always be old folk cruising with them, and unfortunately, old folks have to deal with illness and mortality so they will not always be around as a customer. Kodak used to be a household name. They failed to keep up with technology and the time and their bread and butter, photographic film, failed them. There is nothing revolutionary about this concept. RCCL started this years ago and look how well it has paid off for them. Their parent company has some of the highest performing cruise stocks, while CCL has some of the poorest. Investors believe in RCCL's ability to implement innovation (RCCL carrying the weight of the RC Group).

My point in this comment was that Princess is looking attract new to Princess cruisers. They already have a solid base, judging by the high percentage of Platinums and Elites that are on every cruise. Some younger folk won't get near Princess because it has a geriatric connotation like Holland America. Princess would more easily garner more new to Princess passengers on a cheaper itinerary in the Caribbean than on a more expensive one to the Med. Why pay a lot for to try a brand that you're not sure that you would like?

Princess is following CLIA's 2023 research. "Younger generations are the future of cruise."

Old folks hate change and the hate coming from them regarding this change is expected. It's a small area on big ship, and passengers can avoid the area if they so choose. Princess has to do something to cater to a new audience. The now oldies that put Princess on the map are disappearing and Princess is trying to garner a new demographic to replace them. What is questionable is why the Sun Princess is starting in the Med. Princess should take the ship on a transatlantic to the Caribbean for it's inaugural sailings and not wait until the fall. More families cruise the Caribbean and will be able to make use of and test the new concept.

Currently on the Majestic Princess. The ship berthed at Railroad Dock Forward, which meant that we had to tender. Officers stated the harbormaster limited the number of tenders used to 2. This snarled the water shuttle service, and it was a cluster for quite some time. Around 9:00 a.m. the Holland America's Niew Amsterdam helped out the Majestic by dropping one of its tenders to use as a water shuttle for the Majestic passengers, which upped the number of tenders being used to 3. Is this unusual for another ship to help? I noticed the Majestic had 3 tenders on the port side aft, and 3 tenders could have been used from the get go. Even the shore excursions were delayed because of the early morning water shuttle fiasco. On a different note, the major landslide is directly above the parking lot of tender pier, so I'm not sure how tendering made passengers safer. It was still pretty close to the no man's land that the engineers blocked off.

The new MedallionNet instructions given through the app state to "Disable Private Wi-fi Address" and to "Disable Limit IP Address Tracking." Both these functions are two of what VPNs were designed to block. Whenever I had to work remotely while on a cruise, I've had to wait to get into port and find strong wi-fi at the cruise terminal (if there is one) or a cafe to access my work VPN.

In theory, yes, Princess will cancel your voyage and refund you the money paid. Does it happen often? No. In the event that Princess cancels your reservation outright due to an oversold situation, they will refund your money and you can submit a claim to have the airfare you are out reimbursed to you. This happened to my parents on a Majestic Princess sailing to Australia in 2018; Princess cancelled their booking around 2 weeks prior to sail date. At that time Princess was more put together. Not sure how this would be handled with Princess in today's world. A move over offer is voluntary and Princess will give you your cruise fare in refundable OBC on a similar cruise booked at a future date. RCCL had a lot of bad PR regarding the Icon of Seas inaugural sailings due to overbooking. They were cancelling bookings at the last minute.

Always. Princess sends me a new booking confirmation e-mail using the original booking number. I book directly with Princess. The cabin number populates concurrently with your profile in the App. Once, I was browsing Journey View on the App and accidentally hit Profile and low and behold, there was a cabin number. I checked my e-mail afterwards and there was the e-mail from Princess. On the latest version of the App, your cabin number populates atop the QR code generated as your unneeded boarding pass.

Embarkation morning. I try to print my luggage tags from the Cruise Personalizer and not use the handwritten tags from the port. The luggage tags showed "To Be Assigned" until I opened up my Cruise Personalizer on embarkation morning and I had to get the front desk of the hotel I was staying at to print them for me. If Princess is going to bump you off of your sailing, you will be sent a move over offer. The only time I would worry is if you get a move over notice because if not enough passengers take the bait, then Princess might have to deny you and/or others passage. You are absolutely guaranteed to be on sailing until you get such a notice.

If you arrive before 11:00 am at the Canada Place, embarking passenger drop off and checked baggage drop off will be at level P2 of the parking garage underneath. They do no accept checked baggage at Cruise Ship (CS) Level until 11:00 a.m. Passenger check-in opens at 10:15 a.m. (maybe a little earlier), but USCBP officers don't begin their duty until 10:30 a.m. There will be a long line of cars trying to enter and exit the Canada Place. It's best to get dropped off at the street on Howe and walk down the ramp to CS Level yourself if you can manage. Also best to take the elevator inside the Pan Pacific to P2 if arriving before 11:00 a.m. because the elevator at CS Level will have long lines.

@Rick&Jeannie I am currently on the Majestic using Starlink (not sure if that has anything to do with it) and Xfinity e-mail allows me to login and open my inbox with no problems. I don't get stuck of the never ending loop of "connecting to Xfinity." No workaround required. Using a MacBook Air on Ventura. I think Princess read your post.

As long as there is no ticket number populating in your Travel Summary, you can still cancel the EZAir flights. The less than 45 days is immaterial. The no ticket number means EZAir hasn't paid the airlines and the airlines haven't issued your tickets yet. The quandary then becomes, how much to book to your air directly with the airlines this late in the game? Is it even worth it?