ceilidh1

There is a place right inside the terminal - it's the West Coast Sightseeing booth near the taxi doors. No idea how much they charge but they definitely offer bag storage.

So sorry you're sailings got cancelled!

Can you report back on how the photo piece works out? I loved when they had the option to buy the "All Inclusive" photos and always purchased it and had TONS of photos! That's no longer offered but would almost make the upgrade to premier worth it if they still had as many photo opportunities. I just sailed Princess in April (first time post Covid) and really don't recall seeing any of the usual stations set up around the ship. Now, that could have been because I wasn't intending on getting pictures done so didn't look...lol. We did get a picture taken at sailaway but when we went to the digital picture place to find it, no one could locate it. I'm just interested to hear if there is ample opportunity to get a bunch of nice pictures. I hope you enjoy the upgraded package - honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that I always sail with a kid as pax 2 I would probably do it just because I hate the thought of having a "bill" to pay at the end. I can't justify paying the extra for a kid who gets nothing extra with the upgrade...

I'm talking about the thing that you have to "pay to play" - no intention of purchasing the premier package so the locking/unlocking door thing doesn't matter BUT if one of the kiddos came back to the room and the "win a cruise" thing came up as they approached, I'm pretty cure they would be tempted to just go ahead and tap it...lol

Does anyone have more details about this? Is the paid entry activated by medallion or just touching the pad at the door? I'm asking as I'm travelling with kiddos and we all know how tempting that would be for a tween......My thoughts would be that the system would register this was a kid approaching and not show the option to enter, but we all know how great the app/medallion has been so......

Yes - that is the procedure (same for the shipload of love contest). @sid_9169 can verify! I believe the SSN is so you get a tax form...

Woohoooo! Nice to see folks getting confirmations. Congrats!

In all likelihood, the folks that accuse parents of "dumping" their kids at kids club are the same ones that complain when kids are in the pools, restaurants, and shows. I wonder how adults would feel if they got onboard and were told "sorry, the pools aren't available for this sailing" or "sorry, only 2 bars are open so take a number and hope you get to have your drink this evening". I have sailed with my 2 kids since they were under a year old and they have LOVED kids club on every line we sailed. I have literally had to force them to leave in order to eat dinner as a family! We sailed Bliss in April and Splash Academy was closed (we were informed ahead of sailing and received $100 credit for the arcade). Since my youngest is now 11, it wasn't a huge concern - he did miss hanging with friends but we were well prepared for the fact it would be closed. I would have been disappointed had I not known ahead of time, too. What I DID notice on this sailing was the number of kids that were visible in all areas of the ship...I have sailed with far more kids onboard and never really noticed them - because they were being entertained in the kids club! Sorry you had to deal with this!

Awesome! Congrats!

Anyone on CC?

Duplicate

This is exactly correct. I wonder if those folks that take issue to the "kids sail free" marketing would take the same offense if it was marketed as "BFFs sail free." This is not unique to Princess - HAL currently has a Kids Sail Free promo, too...and their ships offer even less for the younger ones!

I'm not convinced the VV ships would do well on cold weather cruises...lol

I agree - if they want repeat cruisers, they will have to switch up ports a bit. I, personally, sail more for ship than itinerary, but the majority of folks don't. West Coast has the opportunity of short cruises (3-5 days), longer Mexico 7 or 10 days, California Coastals and Hawaii. Why wouldn't VV want to do those?

I just logged into Polar (TA booking site) and the first 2 sailings for Sapphire are waitlisted for every category, so it is either sold to capacity or they are thinking of cancelling those first two and stopped further bookings. I hope it is the former for those of you booked on it.

I agree - it should NOT be that difficult for Princess to have a consistent window where arrival groups become available. On my April cruise, I was NEVER able to get to the arrival group screen (white screen of death every time) and I received countless emails reminding me to choose a time or one would be selected for me. Well, I never chose one because I couldn't and, if one were chosen for me there was nowhere on the app or documentation that told me this. I am now 60 days out from my next cruise and am able to get past the white screen but get the annoying "0 groups available" screen. Maybe it's too early - but how would I know that, since princess has neglected to tell anyone? Am I expected to just keep checking each day until they magically appear? It really should not be this difficult...

That's what worries me. I would need a second job to fund my cruising...lol

Well, you could....but this is right there on the HAL site...

Agreed! I have a 15 year aold and 11 year old who have been cruising since they were 6 months. Both are already Elite on Princess and love to cruise!

It's actually 3rd/4th guest...kids or not

FYI - this starts today. It applies to any 3rd/4th guest, not just kids. If you have 2023 bookings with 3rd/4th guests you might want to check pricing just in case. I haven't taken a good look myself - just know that the few sailings I was contemplating did not have this offer attached. Boo. May be useful to someone else, though!

Trying this again. I have seen one report of a winning email received on Saturday. No idea if this is true or not.

That's always been the case for Princess - even pre-Covid they would close at meal times. The exception is if you sign them up for a port day. They will take them to the buffet for lunch if they attend all day. They also have a kid dinner one night - again, they take them to the buffet to eat.

Princess has a great kids program - my two have been going since they were tiny (now 15 and 11) and none of the other lines we have sailed even came close! I would literally need to set rules around when they HAD to hang with me rather than go to kids club! Princess also offers port day camp so that you can sign up for your child while at port if adults want to get off the ship without the child (I was always too nervous to do this when they were young, but have done it now they are older).

For that age group, they do lots of arts and craft activities - they generally have a "theme" each day and do crafts/games around that theme. My kids have made keychains, totem poles, necklaces, photo frames, and bookmarks. They colour tshirts and bags. They have educational things such as learning about turtles and sharks. They do ice cream parties, take the kids to the buffet for kid night dinner, watch movies, and play games. I haven't sailed Sky but most ships for that age have a small jungle gym inside the room, computers, books, and an outdoor play area. There is sometimes a talent show, a scavenger hunt, and pajama party (depends on ship/staff/number of kids). Be prepared to have LOTS of projects to bring home...lol!