Paula_MacFan

Thanks for the detailed review! It sounds like overall you had a great cruise and wonderful time. We've sailed on the Regal 3 times now, most recently in January. We've always had a good time, but on our last cruise we had the same observations as yours that I quoted above. Princess Live is an uncomfortable venue and Explorers is so much better, the Wheelhouse is not big enough (especially compared to the Grand class ships), Crooners is nice but there wasn't any music there on our last cruise, and the Vista Lounge is criminally under used. I got a chuckle about your 'commercial interruption' as we also never take an elevator on our cruises 🙂

We were on the Island in September/October 2023 for a port-intensive European cruise. We had a great time and enjoyed the ship. Our mini-suite was in good condition, we enjoyed both Sabatini's and Bayou Cafe (serves Crown Grill menu), there was plenty of evening entertainment, and everything went as planned. One downside is no International Cafe, as someone else has mentioned. I wouldn't hesitate to sail on the Island again!

We had an excursion cancelled by Princess for our upcoming Alaska cruise and didn't get a notice either. The only reason I noticed was it was no longer listed on our Travel Summary. A few days after noticing it gone we recieved a refund to our credit card. I was disappointed because it was a bucket list type excursion, but our port time was changed slightly so there was no longer enough time for the tour. I asked my CVP about it -- basically is this standard procedure? Their response was that Princess no longer has a dedicated excursion department so there's no one to complain to about it. We just booked another excursion and moved on. But I was annoyed.

I understood that from your initial post, but was responding to this comment: At that point I wouldn't waste time with someone you clearly thought/knew was misinformed, and would consult the source (Princess website). Bottom line you ate in the MDR and appear to have enjoyed the rest of your cruise. It's good you shared your experience here as a cautionary tale about Princess reps, although I (like @memoak) have never heard a CVP use the title 'Tripadvisor'.

Someone else posted this helpful PDF recently here on CC. It's a great overview of all the dining options on each ship, with pricing where applicable. Princess Dining Option.pdf

I understand your frustration with being given incorrect information by a rep; however, Princess dining is explained on their website. Included dining: https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/onboard-experience/food-and-dining/whats-included Other tabs on that same page describe specialty dining and other options. The website has detailed deck plans if there is any confusion over what venues are available on each ship. I get that people like to talk to a real person, but at the same time there is a large amount of easily accessible information on the Princess website that might be a good starting point before calling someone on the phone.

We were on Regal in January and they had the Nolan Ryan beef. We ate at the CG one night and it was very good. We had the surf and turf, so filets with the upcharge for lobster. We enjoyed it a lot and the couple at the table next to us remarked on our meals and said they looked so good they were making another reservation to come back later in the week and have what we were having 🙂 Having said that we are getting ready to cruise to Alaska in 3 weeks on Sapphire and haven't made any specialty dining reservations. We usually do CG and Sabatini's (in this case would be Sterling Steakhouse on Sapphire) but decided with the busy port days and higher prices for specialty dining, we're skipping it this time. Honestly for the pricing I think the Ultimate Balcony Dining is the way to go now as you get more for your money vs specialty dining.

Thanks for the feedback. Just to clarify -- the Patter looks like it's a 45 minute program, but the picture you posted says 'Step inside....for our 10 minute voyage'. So you have to sign up the day before and it's a very short program? Thanks!

Looks like the weather is fantastic!

It let me select a cabana mini suite and then wanted a total of $570 -- $400 non-refundable deposit that would convert to OBC onboard, and $170 taxes/port fees. By the time I came back here and posted the screen shot above, and then went back to the Princess screen, it suddenly said no rooms were available. Either they figured it out or everyone here on CC is frantically booking free rooms 🙂

I'm seeing it too but am too chicken to actually book it 🙂

Judging from these comments I took it to mean 'all ships/all season': ".....and something all guests sailing this summer with Princess Cruises to Alaska is guaranteed to see. See the Northern Lights on Every Princess Cruise to Alaska in 2024." We are also on the Sapphire in 3 weeks 🙂 Maybe you can report back after next week and let us know!

@Ken the cruiser I'd love to hear any feedback or insight you have into the new features mentioned in this post, specifically the Voyage to the Stars Northern Lights theater presentation. Thanks!

We're doing a 15 day cruisetour starting May 24, with the land portion first and then Southbound cruise on Sapphire starting June 1. I'll be following along to get prepped for our trip 🙂 Looking forward to your reports!

Princess EZPay Installment Plan https://www.princess.com/en-us/plan/ezpay-cruise-payment-plan I've never used it but have seen it discussed here on CC. I just Googled 'Princess cruise Installment plan' and it was the first result.

Same here! We leave in 4 weeks and have had our excursions booked for months. All of them have gone WAY up in price, and the 'sale' prices reflected now at '20% off' are still much higher than we paid originally.

Your comments gave me pause so I just logged into my Personalizer and I am able to book my own transfers online just like always under the Flights & Transfers tab. I clipped the screen shot because I don't want our names on here, but everything looks just like it has in the past. Did you book direct? I know if you book with a TA then they have to book the transfers.

Follow up comment -- we were able to use the United app functionality to order meals, track bags, etc just like normal. We have United flights booked thru EZ Air for our trip home from our upcoming Alaska cruise and it shows up in our United account like normal.

I just checked my United account. We flew Polaris Class round trip to LHR last fall using EZ Air and we received PQPs.

This doesn't help your problem but my Princess CVP told me last year that Princess no longer has a dedicated shore excursion department.

Because it's a dreary Saturday afternoon where I live, I decided to use the time to re-price our upcoming Alaska trip. We are doing a 15 day Alaska cruisetour the last week of May and the first week of June 2024. To book the exact same trip with airfare and excursions right now would cost us $5,928 more than what we paid. It really does pay to book early and plan ahead 🙂

I get it -- some people go on several cruises a year and for us it's usually two. Also I can't say they NEVER have salads at IC -- we don't sit there 24/7 -- but I didn't see any on our January cruise and remember commenting to hubby about it. They used to have a shrimp salad that I haven't seem in a really long time. You can report back with your findings next month 🙂

Yeah as I said we enjoyed salads in the past too but on our 2023 & 2024 cruises we haven't seen any. I don't disagree they were available back in 2022 😀

The Island does unique itineraries so if you want to go to those places then that's the ship, IC or not 🙂 Also on our last few cruises we haven't seen any salads in the IC. I used to like the salads there too but haven't seen any in awhile. On our last cruise (January, Regal) the offerings appeared pared back from what we've seen and were primarily sandwiches and desserts.

That is correct -- the Island doesn't have an International Cafe but it has never had one to the best of my knowledge. We sailed on that ship last fall and it was one of the few things we missed 🙂 Otherwise we really liked the ship and didn't have any problems finding food at other venues.