Steelers36

It was yesterday afternoon and you can find it on Carmen Roig's YouTube page. It was more of the usual rah-rah sales gab. I didn't see all of the questions answered either, nor many of the issues raised here addressed. That would not be in line with the rah-rah session style.

Don't be surprised if they manage to rig up some of the gauze "sails" they use on other ships. IMO, it doesn't do much at all on Royal Class, so I wouldn't expect a lot of coverage for Sun Class, but they'll make an effort I expect. I also expect there will magically be more pads on loungers that didn't have them before.

Never seen such a thing, nor anything close to it. ETA: Someone mentioned robe. I can see someone coming in from pool deck and using a standard terry robe as a cover-up. That wouldn't be alarming IMO. I do agree should be wearing footwear of some sort (that's a rule).

I do not see PCL guessing at all. They have realized a significant number of guests want to continue with TD and they are adding that back into the mix formally (it really never left if one was aware of things and requested it). OTOH, they will make it easier since guests can request that option upfront and it is done outside of DMW App which could not handle TD at all. Guests can still make custom reservations or do walk-up (a.k.a "anytime"). It's the best of all worlds if they can pull it off smoothly. DR Mgrs have been dealing with making adjustments to whatever gobbledy-gook DMW delivers them.

Not on their public webpages. They may have hidden or member pages that will indicate discounts. Some have the discounting baked into their booking engines if you get access to those webpages.

That one is a no-no to mention specifically and has been deleted in the past. It does have several participating subscribing travel agencies and acts as an intermediary advertising platform in effect. You should find non-specific wording to refer to this website like posters who reference the "Big Box". I have advised posters to look for a website where agents compete for your business (or similar).

As for Canadian fees, we probably have higher hotel tax rates than many are used to. BTW, those $300 - $400 US room rates are well over $500 in Monopoly money (er CAD funds).

I think the Fairmont chain is Canada's top line of hotels.

No, they don't transfer funds. See my post above which aligns with your final sentences.

No. You cash out casino winnings/balance at the cage. You then visit GS and hand over the cash and ask them to deposit it into your cabin account.

I agree that the absence of a public AO section for open decks is a miss. That said, as long as I don't have to sit under or near the noisy MUTS screen, I don't mind a few kids and we wouldn't generally be sailing in prime school holiday periods.

Thanks for the illustration. And for clarification - yes, Suite guests already had included access to the Signature Suite sub-section within the Sanctuary. So, I do agree that the only added benefit if Premier package. For the Minis and handful of special Balconies, they did not have the Sanctuary access. I am not surprised there is a huge money-grab here and it won't take long for savvy guests to figure it out. The question is, will they give up their habit of booking Suites and drop down in protest or switch to another line? Guests like me are certainly not chomping at the bit to fill ay void and snap up those expensive Suites.

I don't need Princess for information. I might need someone there to do something for me I cannot do myself. That still requires some level of understanding and job function on their end to execute and deliver. And requires some expertise on my end (in some cases) to ensure it is being done right. This is tough situation for newbies and read their tales of woe on here often. As far as TA's go, I'd venture that most of them know less about PCL than I do. Speaks to the challenge of getting a good one that is knowledgeable and thorough. OTOH, I just don't see it as a TA job responsibility to call up PCL and book dining for a client - as an example. So, a TA Isn't the answer for everything.

Another issue raised is that access to Sanctuary is not possible for the masses on Sun and Star (and presumably the ships that will follow). It is now turned to an exclusive area for most expensive cabins (save for a handful of special deluxe balconies. For me, based on the early reports of what the Sanctuary is on the Sun for $100/day, I have zero interest in booking it, whereas I am all over it for Caribbean sector voyages on most of the rest of the fleet. So, the loss of even having the option on a Sun/Star voyage doesn't really concern me. That said, I presume they will upgrade the whole thing by this Fall because they only had the nice padded loungers primarily in the exclusive Signature Suite section and I doubt anyone included in the new Sanctuary Class is going to be happy to be laying out on a crowded sun deck in regular loungers. I continue to believe the lack of much shade is going to be a huge problem until they resolve that. I still want to experience the Sun Class one day - because it is new and different for the most part. I don't see this change really affecting us as I would not have been attempting to book the Sanctuary even in the Caribbean. Other than trying this new Class out, I would prefer one of the older ships if I was taking a Caribbean cruise in order to have a decent Sanctuary experience. Who knows if Princess will look to alter the experience on the older ships - particularly Royal Class - in order to deliver at least some level of this new change of Ship-Within-A-Ship?

I have two main observations/questions on this matter since Suite accommodations are not in our future (save for a freak Powerball or or Mega Millions win). Several posters have mentioned how much the Suites and Minis included in the new Sanctuary badging have jumped in price. On a pure math front, PCL has bundled in the Premier Cruise Fare package at $80/day. They have also bundled in Sanctuary access (Sun/Star) which is $100/day. Did the prices of these cabins jump more than $180/day? Not withstanding perceived value of these new forced inclusions, any price increase beyond $180/day seems like gouging and not in line with the increased value-add. IDK the interest of Suite and Mini guests for the Premier plan versus the Plus plan, but my impression from posts is several book it, but many don't see the added value of $20/day over the Plus. I also wonder how many Suite guests have interest in Sanctuary since you get loungers and spacious balconies with Suites. I am not sure I have read a high correlation here, so not sure if those guests who prefer to book Suites really want to be forced into the bundled extras.

Clear cache for that website?

It was just part of a general CAD at par promo on cruise fares.

I hear you, but I have to laugh at the thought of the IT team trying to successfully program which res to delete, keep, or change. Far easier to wipe the slate clean and have everyone start over. Won't be surprised if DMW crashes from overload when the reservations re-open, however.

I believe all reservations will be flushed in due course. PCL will not know how many of those with reservations will elect TD versus re-booking their same reservations.

Reading this and other threads in the past many months, it seems the overseas call center is even worse than when it began. I wonder if the deterioration is tied to them being given more things to handle, coupled with language barriers and inexperience? It seems only expert guests who know the rules, ins and outs, exactly what they want, etc, can have reasonable success with call center.

Sorry that happened to you. I hope you are not discouraged from trying Princess again. I have always had positive experiences with out table and time requests on board. A little give-and-take on both sides helps. We are always at a private table. One and one with sharing in the early days of original ATD on Princess.

I would suggest all guests unfamiliar with the ships use the deck plans on Princess.com to identify location of the DRs and then you will know once the new DMW is released where your dining preference will be located. That said, it can be possible for Princess or a DRO to make a swap in usage if particular voyage is showing higher demand for one style over another. So, Princess may miss the mark on setting up the allocations at the outset, or a DRO might change things up on board. Perhaps the latter will be too disruptive and they will just send some overflow to an under-used DR rather than switch it all up. I expect PCL to being with the following setup: TD will be in the Aft DR because it has less capacity and they won't expect TD set times to be the most popular. Reservations in DMW and Walk-Ups will be in the mid-ship DR's. This gives DRO flexibility in where to send excess demand as guests only need to to up/down stairs for alternate seating. Just a logical guess - no inside knowledge.

The expectation has been 5:00pm and 7:30pm for a while. Perhaps 5:30pm and 8:00pm in Europe. IMO, 2.5 hrs is a long time, but it has been the case in recent times. The DRs are opening by 5pm and they will expect Early TD to begin then. Guest will need to make reservations for 6:00pm if want to begin later and then request a table block if they want TD experience.

Not quite because prior to DMW, a guest could not book a specific time each night. Either had to live with one of the two offered TD times or be a walk-up. At least until on board and could make a special request.

It is different because PCL removed the TD option when releasing DMW App and any subsequent updates. This was done while still promising to deliver a TD experience. In order to get TD experience, guests have to make the request on board of DR Mgr or DR Host. It would have been impossible to program a working model for TD in DMW. TD is not the same as booking the same time and DR in DMW because DMW does not block the guest into the same table each night and that principle is key to TD (same wait staff and location each night of voyage). What I would say now is DMW Is going to work the way I pitched it to PCL back in 2021: 1. Guest still sets up their Dining Party before making a booking. 2. DMW asks if guest wants TD - Y or N. If Y, DMW asks if Early or Late (generally, 5:00pm or 7:30pm). DMW then asks if Private or Sharing. END The list of guests requesting Early and Late TD goes to the DRO (just like in the old days) and the DRO sets up the tables with his big DR map just like before. I can see DMW having an occupancy limit and preventing requests once the max is reached. This used to be the case in POLAR cruise booking system prior to DMW when guests would elect dining choice at time of booking their cruise. Once TD was full, the guest would be allocated to ATD until boarding where they could make a request for TD. 3. If N, guest is then offered the booking options we see now. (Either book individual nights and times or same time each night). However, only 1 DR will be offered until occupancy filled. IMO, it would be useful if all guests were encouraged to access DMW and it also asked up front if guest wants to elect Walk-Up. At least there would be a positive response from most guests and it might help DROs with plans and allocation of space in the DRs. What I mean is that instead of guessing a non-use of DMW means Walk-Up, they will literally have more data on guest elections.