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Just be glad there are shower curtains... In Europe, some accommodations, even the higher end ones, don't even have them. The first time I went to Europe in the 1990s, I looked at my mom in horror when I walked into the bathroom and found no barrier to contain the splashing water in the tub--no door, no curtain, zilch. That's when housekeeping told me that was the purpose of the removable shower wand and lack of the curtain. You turned the water off to lather and removed the shower wand from the bracket to rinse and not make a mess. It's a disguised way of conserving water. In the U.S., we tend to only think of removable shower wands for disabled people.

Fun fact...there are many varieties of bananas and the kind that Americans are accustomed to is the Cavendish variety. The Cavendish banana is not really consumed in Latin America because their supply is earmarked for export to the U.S. and the rest of the world. Latin America mostly consumes the "cooking" varieties like plantains.

Customer service is correct--just show up before the check-in cutoff. At this moment, no one looks at the QR code or Arrival Group; this could change in the future. There is a separate line for Platinum/Elite/Suites to get you to a check-in agent faster. If you want to make use of the Platinum/Elite boarding lounge, assuming that there will be one at your embarkation port, make sure to arrive super early. Once the initial crowd that checked-in early is boarded, it's a free for all.

This applies to Terminal 2 at Port Everglades for Platinum/Elite/Suites and is enforced by the honor system. Separate line outside terminal building that gets you to security/x-rays, but no dedicated x-ray line. Separate line for check-in. Separate boarding lounge on 2nd floor; only applies if you arrive before boarding commences.

Princess will begin considering and accepting bids after final payment all the way up to 24 hours prior to departure. You may be notified, or be surprised. If you placed a bid before 02/24/23, Princess will notify you of the acceptance of your bid and then you have 48 hours to pay for the bid via the Cruise Personalizer or TA. If you don't pay, you will be put back in your original stateroom assignment. If you placed a bid on or after 02/24/23, the charge you used to secure the bid will be charged automatically, if Princess accepts your bid. There are was an instance last week where my friends last week never got an acceptance e-mail and were surprised with a new upgraded cabin number by looking at their Cruise Personalizer. Princess usually, informs you of the upgrade by e-mail. In both instances, Princess may or may not send you a declined offer e-mail. I think this is done on purpose so Princess has flexibility to accept offers up until sailing. Consider yourself still in the running if you don't get a declined e-mail. Once Princess declines, it's the end of the game for both you and Princess. Princess (or the algorithm) won't re-consider an offer that was already declined, per my CVP.

Where does Princess publish the age demographic of a particular sailing prior to the sailing date?

Princess subdivides their cabins even further with location distinctions--forward/mid-forward/midship/ mid-aft/aft and deck level. The higher the 2nd letter (sometimes number), the better the location, with mid-ship, lower decks being the highest location being most expensive. When you book a guarantee you can get a category upgrade, location upgrade, or both. In your case, an MF is the lowest mini-suite, which is located forward on higher decks. Princess could assign you anything ME to MA, all of which would be considered a location upgrade. It would be great if Princess could assign you a suite, which would be considered a full category upgrade!

How do I pick a sailing where the passengers are aware of how the toilets function?

Not sure which berth you will occupy, but the trek to even get out of the port area can be long one. Princess might offer more availability of a tour once on board if they can scrape up enough people to join and get the tour operator to agree to operate. The World Trade Center is near the port area and there is Hop on and Off Bus has a stop there. There are 3 routes for the HOAOB, but you're free to transfer to any of them with in the allotted time on your ticket. Pre-purchase a ticket online. If your confident enough to navigate, the Metro is Barcelona is great. This is the option we took.

Got it! For a moment there you were starting to sound like a Princess apologist. I still respectfully disagree with your opinions, but wholeheartedly agree with you about your technical analysis.

@chengkp75 OP stated that stateroom toilets were out for 12 hours at a time. That's unacceptable when you're paying a couple of thousand dollars for a vacation. On land, you'd be out of that hotel, at least I would be. Where does your passion for ship sewage systems come from, if you don't mind me asking?

It's nice that the sundaes look like the pictures on the Princess website in person; can't claim false advertising. Pretty much the only nice thing I can say about it. I can't imagine someone ordering two of those everyday or even twice on an entire cruise. So glad that other specialty dessert items are available in lieu of the sundaes.

The MedallionClass App used to give the 50% Platinum/Elite discount on the spot. Every since the app's version upgrade last month, the app no longer does for all. Buy it full price and then you'll get OBC equivalent to the discount credited to your onboard folio, once on the ship. The fine print of the Captain's Circle benefits says its supposed be OBC, but it was great when the app gave it on the spot. I think the are finally enforcing the discount as OBC so passengers spend money. If it were me, I would forgo the multi device and suck it up that I had to disconnect and reconnect another device when switching use, or use that one device as a hotspot for the others. The multi device plan is too expensive for slow Internet.

I think part of the problem with the Royal Princess in San Francisco is that while the ship sailed out full a lot of the passengers were local and last minute bookings after final payment passed. (Having said that, there was only 1100 passengers on the October 2022 California Coastal cruise I was on, and the capacity limits had been lifted.) In January 2023, the 15 day sailings to Hawaii for March went to as low as $649 per person plus port/taxes for interior. Princess is filling the ship, but not at top dollar. Also, I think Princess is short ships right now, so they would rather deploy ships to destinations where they can make the most revenue, like the Mediterranean, Australia/New Zealand, Alaska. If you look at next year's schedule the Sun Princess starts the Med in February. That's the earliest I've ever seen the Med offered on Princess. Also, it's unusual for a new ship to start in the Med; usually, it's a transatlantic to the Caribbean for the inaugural season.

I think the OP makes a valid point in the critique. It's unacceptable for toilets to be non-operational for such a long period of time. Using the toilet is a basic human function and to be deprived of that can cause problems to for those that can no longer "hold it in" and it's not healthy to hold it in. Also, the ship isn't like a hotel on land, where if maintenance goes wrong, you can check-out and check-in somewhere else. You're stuck on the ship, and with sewage, there's no hiding the stench. For all intensive purposes, it might have been user error that caused problems, but it's unacceptable for the fix to take this long. If the sewage pipes take this long to clear, then that means probably time to overhaul the system in a dry dock. Props to all and any maintenance crew that has to deal with such a dirty and disgusting job. The OP's account of the experience reminds of the "Poop Cruise" on the Carnival Triumph.

Mea culpa! I meant to say Ruby Princess, San Francisco to ALASKA. Thanks for the law claification! Not sure about the prices about the Crown Princess cruises next year. I just noticed the changes when I looked up SF itineraries for next year. But also, not so much of a deal if the ship has as many issues as the thread starter mentioned. Won't be cruising out of SF next year on the Crown Princess.

Royal Princess, San Franciso to Hawaii this year is 15 days like Los Angeles sailings. On the Crown Princess, it's an extra day at sea from HI to Ensenada, so 5 days at sea on the way back, as opposed to 4. Ruby Princess, San Francisco to Hawaii this year and last is/has been 10 days. On the Crown Princess, it's an extra day at sea from Victoria to SF, so 2 days at sea on the way back, as opposed to 1. Time in Victoria also extended by a few hours on the Crown sailings. Victoria is usually a 06:00 to 12:00 stop on these sailings. Also, Prince Rupert replaced Victoria on SF to Alaska this year on the Ruby. On Crown next year, it's still being listed as Victoria to satisfy Jones Act.

The Crown Princess has propulsion issues in Alaska for the 2022 season and had to undergo unscheduled dry dock. It will be based out of San Francisco in Fall '23 and Spring/Summer '24. Some itineraries have one an extra day added. Instead of the normal 15 days for Hawaii, the Crown Princess' itinerary is 16 days; for Alaska, 11 instead of 10.

TUI Cruises names their fleet Mein Schiff 1 to 6. But, the decks on their fleet have names like Princess, but in German. The Germans don't seem to mind. If I recall, the defunct Renaissance Cruises also named their ships in numerical order with the prefix "R". Princess' last iteration of the Pacific Princess was the R Three. The 2nd iteration of the Royal Princess was the R Eight. The 3rd iteration of the Ocean Princess (or formerly, Tahitian Princess) was the R Four.

Sorry to hear about your cruise. As much as I like the feel of the Princess' smaller ships, I try not to sail on them because they are getting up there in age. If you drove a car that was approaching 20 years old, nothing about would feel new about it despite having maintained the engine. I wish Princess would rethink the bigger is better strategy. I wonder how long a reasonable time to give the cruise lines a break on service issues? At this point, 1.5 years has passed since the restart. Will cruising with the major operators return to pre-pandemic standards or will they continue to slip? There's a lot of raving going on about Celebrity right now, including the recent accolade by Forbes, wonder what they're doing right behind the scenes?

This year, California weather has been abnormally stormy--lots of storms brewing the Eastern Pacific. This will reflect in your cruise. Was on the Royal Princess to Hawaii in January and the first 2 days were rough (you literally couldn't walk in a straight line) and cold. Very few people around to pool except to get pizza/burgers/froyo. The weather gets more tropical as you approach Hawaii and becomes cools down as you approach Ensenada on the way back. I'd say first two days at sea and the last 2 days at sea to Ensenada, all the way back to San Francisco was cold. Pack clothes you can layer. Rain usually backs off in April in Hawaii, but there are still chances. Have a good cruise! Hawaii is lovely.

Cabin shuffles on Princess' side start after final payment and can occur all the way up to sailing, which is a time after final payment. There could also be last minute booking. By the same token, guests will probably never know if a category is truly sold out since yield management is tight lipped.

Princess makes last minute complementary, and now, paid upgrades. The oceanviews you see may show as sold out now, but if someone in an oceanview gets upgrade to a balcony, then it will become available again or not (if someone from an interior or obstructed ocean view gets upgraded to the "vacated" cabin.) Category sell outs are really a moving target ever since the bid for an upgrade process started. Only Princess yield management really knows what's going on and nothing is really final until the sail date. EDIT: If an entire cruise is showing as sold out, far in advance of a sailing, it may very well be sold out, like the solar eclipse cruises.

I don't think Princess (or JP) foresaw the backlash for the MedallionClass App or all the problems that app would cause. I think Princess really wanted to make the Patter obsolete and have all guests use only the app on their phones and the portals on the ship. The problem, as we all know, is that Journey View on the app stinks; it makes an annoying noise every time you click on an event for more details (you can't shut it off!), is hard to navigate, and is overall clumsy to use. It would have been much better had the developers just listed the schedule top to bottom in columns without the "bubbles" and without the side to side navigation. The developers made it too high tech to its detriment. I think the Event Listings is just a way to bridge the time between the paper version of the schedule of events and digitalizing the schedule of events in totality. It's a time that I hope won't happen until Journey View on the app is fixed. I think they're trying to get those who are loyal to Princess to forget about the Patter and justify it by saying it saves paper. Just look at the Event Listings...the info on it is getting pretty sparse as compared to the Patter.

That's the point. Princess wants to confuse everyone so that they get more money. If you purchase the BEVERAGE PLUS package, then you have to pay for crew appreciation, wi-fi, etc., separately, which is more money for them.