Snaefell3

We've sailed PH and Concierge (once each). • Dinner served in your PH by your butler was so-so because of the small table and -- at least in our case -- he had other things going on, so he wasn't as much to hand as a waiter would be; you refilled your own coffee cup, etc. • We'd really rather not sail with an 'R'-class non-suite bathroom again. Nevermind the shower, the commode was awkward, too. • If 6:30pm non-shared specialty reservations are important to you, then PH is important to you, but that makes them *expensive* reservations. • If you have to quarantine, you *will* appreciate the extra space. ...and for the record, in-your-cabin dinner from the specialties in that case does not include butler service -- they put everything in one pile on a waiters stand outside your door and play ding-dong-ditch.

Different cruiseline, different corporation, but several times when Princess reclassed additional vanilla mini-suites as Club Class, the lucky folks with existing reservations got upgraded. There is hope. 🤞

"Revenue enhancement". 😢

Better chances than July. 🙂 https://www.spaceweather.gov/ has Aurora forecasts -- but be aware the green only marks less than 50:50 chance, what you want to see is red.

Yep. Good point. I was thinking/speaking about cruise bookings only. I always tell my TA that I'll take care of those myself unless he can somehow get a commission.

Methinks that TA should be your ex-TA. 😉 Please, for all our sakes, educate them that -- at least for the nonce -- we have other options.

Easier on an 11- or 14-day voyage than a 7, or on a 'R'-class with 2 specialties than on a ship with 4.

O is usually accommodating except when pesky cabotage laws (like the US's PVSA -- often mistakenly cited as the Jones Act) get in the way. Best to ask O directly (and if you can figure out how, Italy). We here on CC aren't maritime attorneys -- at least not yours. 😉

Just back from the grocery store. Wish I could have "booked my milk early". 😉

Psst! To see the Northern Lights, you need night -- which is in short supply during Alaskan summers 😉

Service can be superb or egregious on any size ship, so let's leave that aside. The remaining tradeoff is ports-of-call opportunity (smaller ships go more places) vs economies of scale (bigger ships cost less per Gross Ton to operate). O has chosen to use part of those economies to give pax "elbow room". We don't know about food venues yet, but I suspect the new ships will also have more venues like AquaMar and Bakery -- they'll have the room. Frankly, there are not that many places that a 67,000GT ship can get into that an 86,000GT ship cannot, so there's not much opportunity lost there. The new ships will sail with 61.4 GT/pax, noticeably less crowded than the 'O'- and 'A'-class's 55.8, and spacious compared to the 'R'-class's 50. For comparison, Oasis of the Seas offers but 40.5.

Data indicate otherwise. 😉

Or, alternatively, hit "Refresh" button every 5 or so seconds.

Not on Vista's voyage of Mar 16-27. Have they violated minimum clearance electrical safety regulations for you?

The problem is not so much the nightstands, but that the pillow of the moved bed would be rubbing the bedside power outlets ... and anything an incautious pax might plug into them. You can get separate bedding and maybe 3".