capriccio

As i understand it, not just Princess ships but all cruise ships in Australia and New Zealand. At least that is what we were told on our 28 day Round Australia cruise last spring and that was really appreciated since the casino is right next to the International Cafe on the Coral Princess. The IC was our favorite place for breakfast but we would have ruled it out immediately if there was smoking in the casino.

I think many of the decorators probably are reliving their teen years when they decorated the outside of their lockers. I wasn't impressed then or now.

Having once had a delayed boarding - on the Enchanted Princess no less - that we were warned about a few hours early (due to a medical emergency the day previously that pushed back the arrival schedule), I will warn you that it will most likely be absolute chaos at noon. In our case, we arrived 45 minutes after the new boarding time and the lines were still long and confused with many annoyed passengers. Some people didn't get the message, some didn't believe it, and others couldn't get or didn't ask for a late checkout from their hotels. Pack your patience and have a great cruise!

In my experience with Princess at Port Everglades, when this happens they have a free shuttle back to the pier you disembarked from because in this case you would be parked at the Palm Garage next to terminal 21 and disembarking at terminal 2 adjacent to the Heron garage.

An Uber or taxi should cost you about $15 total assuming you are at the 4 Points Sheraton on Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale (not the Dania Beach location) not $15 per person.

Very weird! This what I see for the same cabin using my laptop and I-pad.

Can you post a screenshots. Every time I have checked the Princess website since this discussion started there has been no mention of signature benefits for a DO premium balcony. Whereas the description on www.cruise deck plans.com have described it with Signature benefits. Thank you.

Our last name is spelled LaXxxx. At some point in the mid-2000s we first noticed that government agencies were starting to insert a space after La. Our son found out the hard way when he filed an absentee ballot request spelling it the usual way and the application was rejected. After much back and forth they told him that 'the computer' added the space so they couldn't accept his manually completed request. When we moved to Florida, our drivers licenses also had the space although we never filled out an application with one, Sometime in the last decade we noticed that the US Passport office and Global Entry did the same. We still fill out everything with the spelling of the name on our birth certificates or, in my case, marriage license. The most absurd example was completing the application of our local telephone company in 2004. For more than 15 years the billing department addressed the bill to Xxxx La but they managed to get the name correct (or almost since they added the space) in the telephone directory. After asking them to correct it every few years, we couldn't believe it when one month they got it mostly right except they added the space.

You might want to post this on a new thread started just to discuss Sun/Sphere class cabins:

Assuming the ship is on time, I think you could make it given no checked luggage making disembarkation and flight check-in hopefully painless especially if it is a Saturday or Sunday. I wouldn't wait for an Uber or Lyft because they can take a while to arrive. The taxis will be waiting in a line outside the terminal. Have a great cruise and an uneventful flight home.

That should all help! What time is the flight?

Given that the ship's capacity is 4,300 (and that is assuming only 2 passengers per cabin so the number could increase considerably if the 3 and 4 passenger cabins were counted as such) more than half the passengers will miss the production shows and guest entertainers that are offered only twice on a single night. I wonder if the show schedules will change.

Want to bet that some of them complained about how long it took to board the ship?

Last week, before the current passengers boarded, I posted a request that the host begin a thread for each type of cabin (interior, ocean view, balcony, mini-suite, suite) that could be broken down further by the different categories in each type. It would make researching so much easier to have all the relevant information in one place.

No, I was relying on the earlier posted picture where it looks like the back row (?) has a blue glass ceiling that depending upon the sun location could provide some protection and the front row has slanted blue glass that could do the same. Hopefully someone on board on this cruise or the next can clarify. At any rate, to me it certainly looks much more comfortable than the Sanctuary.

So does the MSC Yacht Club. In our 2 experiences (Meraviglia 2020 and Seascape 2023) there was never an issue getting lounges and a handful of cabanas were first come, first served (but did tend to get hogged). There is a dedicated pool, hot tubs, bar and, as an additional bonus, a grill serving breakfast and lunch with snacks in between. If Princess is trying to appeal to those cruisers wanting to experience the 'ship within a ship' concept, they have a long ways to go. In the past, pre-Covid and pre-retirement times (when we really needed a break) we would book Princess suites but even then it was obvious that the benefits weren't all that great (loved breakfast in Sabatinis best). They seem to be taking baby steps trying to catch up with the competition. For now we are keeping our booking for January 2025 in an S9, the Sanctuary mini-suite, that is costing almost exactly the same as our December 2023 Yacht Club suite (same layout as a Princess mini). I hope my waning enthusiasm will change as more reports come in and as Princess tweaks the already identified problems and issues.

I would say that the front area is much, much better that the Signature Sanctuary. It has shade, a variety of seating arrangements, and the lounges seem to have more space between each group of two. Princess has really blown it with the Sun Sanctuary. It will be interesting to see if they make changes on the Star.

The runaround you received is why unless it is in writing you don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to Princess and, for that matter, most other vendors.

I haven't been able to find it on the Princess website. It still looks like the screenshots on my post #2633 on both the princess.com deck plans and when doing a mock booking.

We got some differing news on a post (don't remember which thread) that I didn't have time to refer to that mentioned "on cruisedeckplans.com." So this reminded me and I went to check it out. Sure enough it is on that site but given that it isn't the official Princess site, no one should take it as gospel (which you can't even do with the Princess site). This may be the reason no one, as far as I know, has been able to provide a description of DO signature benefits and upgrades from the official website. WWW.CRUISEDECKPLANS.COM

We've been told - usually by staff helping with the boarding process handing each boarding party a note - that carry-ons can be dropped off in a central location. If I remember correctly it was a specialty restaurant in at least two cases. We've never availed ourselves of that offer. If it is too early for lunch in the MDR (usually noon to 1:30) we usually have a drink up on the Lido deck. There's always been plenty of space in the MDR for carry=ons and by the time we finish eating, the cabin is ready.

Check your docking time because 8:00 am is rather late. Most ships are docked by 7 and many earlier. Of course disembarkation can’t begin the minute they dock. Usually it is about half an hour late.

Any idea as to how many seats there are in the theater? For a ship this size with over 4,000 passengers it looks small.

According to the deck plans and the first video I saw (the one with the 'naked' lounges piled almost on top of each other), the pool and the cabanas are located in the Sanctuary side. The padded ;ounges with a view are located in the suite side.

I preface my recommendation with admitting to being risk averse when it comes to confronting south Florida traffic. I wouldn't worry about a noon flight on Saturday or Sunday and maybe 1 pm on a weekday since you will be in morning rush hour traffic which is always bad and sometimes horrible.