Astro Flyer

In both Standard & Deluxe Balcony cabins midship on Royal-class ship’s Emerald deck most have larger balconies. They’re categorized as obstructed which is only when standing at the railing & looking straight down onto the open Promenade deck…no obstruction when looking outward. Those are generally less expensive & are our favorite location on Royal-class ships.

Booked in the US for around Oz cruise & OBC is in AUD which we used to pre-book tours that are in AUD. For an Auckland to US cruise OBC & tours are in USD. @OzKiwiJJ Thanks again for your insights on cruising Downunder & the tips procedure when booking in the US & cruising in Oz.

I found the same thing…hotel packages for other cities however none for Boston. https://www.princess.com/en-us/cruise-destinations/departure-ports/cruise-ports-and-hotels

Discovery is also swapping specialty dining venues…Sabatini’s will move from its deck 5 location to the deck 7 venue where The Catch by Rudi (previously Sur La Mer) is currently located which moves to the deck 5 venue. Now that Majestic will have the same exchange of locations during the drydock, the swap appears to be the future possibly due to the popularity of Catch which was my best Princess specialty restaurant experience. A couple of years ago we planned to dine at Harmony until their more authentic Chinese menu was replaced with an Americanized menu somewhat similar to Panda Express. On Royal-class ships in the buffet they occasionally have a noodle bar available.

I do not have your problem…I can click on cities to see available excursions to book.

Trust is a major factor for me which continues to decrease due to their too often poor customer service. Since Princess hired ONE as their marketer situations such as yours are occurring. Now when calling their offshore call center primarily in the Philippines there’s always an additional sales pitch…some reps are more forceful than other reps. That is also resulting in decreased onboard service for repeat passengers since ONE now staffs the Captain’s Circle office. While they’re selling different things than timeshares, in my opinion both are more alike than different…hard sells for things that are intentionally kept vague to make a sale for a commission. In my opinion having ONE marketing Princess cruises & other travel related options reflects poorly on Princess. Although as long as sales increase Princess likely cares more about money to repay their pandemic debt than to have happy passengers who will return again.

Our most recent cruises have been on Discovery which did not have that closet motion sensor light. Princess should have figured out that light was undesirable on the earlier Royal-class ships. We’ve also sailed on Royal, Regal, Majestic & Sky but never had that light. We use the low illumination LED lights LACruiser88 showed…one on the desk & one in the bathroom in addition to the light you mentioned that comes from under the front door. As I recall, on Royal-class ships turning on the closet area light turns on the light over the bed which IIRC where different switches on earlier classes of ships.

This was the Starlink speed at sea sailing north from Puerto Vallarta to LA in April 2024.

This year I needed to call Princess twice with issues & got agents located in Jamaica & both were very easy to understand. Both of them took care of my issues within a reasonable amount of time & with no hard sell to book other things. Maybe Princess is addressing the issue with difficult to understand insufficiently trained inexperienced reps in the Philippines…both Jamaican reps were great. Years ago I talked to an American 20 year Princess rep who confided in me that when changes get made to their system it even took her a month to fully grasp the changes because the Princess system was not easy to navigate. Thus it’s not surprising to me that offshore inexperienced reps struggle at their jobs but it appears that was a cost savings decision made by Princess. I am very happy with the service my longtime knowledgable TA provides but understand that she has other clients to help. Thus I try to find solutions myself & only contact her when I cannot find a solution & need her assistance. She’ll contact the Princess section for TAs (seen her emails with them) & if not resolved she’ll contact her Princess DSM to seek a resolution. As has been mentioned, frustrated first time Princess cruisers might go to other cruise lines after dealing with too many pre-cruise issues. Princess appears to be attracting new customers however will they return again or not due to those problems. Princess touts record bookings even with the cost cutting offshore service issues so they might not be willing to improve things. I think that would be a foolish decision & it’s no way to generate repeat passengers. For the past 35 years Princess has been my primary source for cruises but my pre-cruise issues have me trying other lines now. For now the Princess onboard experience & exceptional crew keeps me returning to get our best cruise experience for the price we’re paying.

Based on their other app missed dates, I would be surprised if they’ll be available on 6/17. The date they stated for all of the reservations being deleted was missed by several weeks. On 5/16 the time a 2026 total solar eclipse cruise was available was at midnight PT. In the past opening times have been between 0600 & 0900 PT so there’s no way to predict a time…and possibly even the day if history is any indication.

Both are two of my favorite ships & would happily sail both of them again. I’d prefer Discovery which I’ve sailed 3x including recently for the eclipse cruise. The layout is basically the same as earlier Royal-class ships but I like how Discovery has evolved since Royal was first launched. One of the main differences is how Princess Live has changed from an uncomfortable enclosed TV studio to an open comfortable lounge similar to Explorers Lounge on other classes of ships. Discovery has the very popular The Catch by Rudi which for me was the best Princess specialty restaurant experience. Sapphire does have the wide outside Promenade deck however for me I’d book Discovery. Each of us has our own desires & price point to decide which is best for each of us.

Sadly too many Princess reps are inexperienced & are poorly trained now that Princess has decided to cut costs by hiring offshore call center reps.

Starting with voyages departing September 14, 2024, Princess will designate separate dining rooms aboard every ship in the fleet* to three table service options: Traditional dining offering an early and a late seating every evening Reservable dining times Open seating to support walk-ins anytime To support these changes and the transition to the new system, main dining reservations that you may have already made will be cancelled. This change does not affect anyone booked in specialty dining restaurants or suite or reserve collection accommodations, who enjoy a dedicated dining room on Princess ships, where no reservations are required. Starting June 17, you will be able to use the app ahead of your voyage to opt for traditional seating in a dedicated dining room with the same waiter, same table and same time each night, or flexible dining, allowing you to enjoy dinner at any available time and table size of your choosing in either the Reservable or Open Seating dining rooms. * Reservable and Walk-in Anytime Dining will be combined into a single Main Dining Room location aboard Coral Princess and Island Princess.

Searched for the effects of this new CA law (CLRA) and found this statement from CCL about their response to this new law. Royal Caribbean has also stated that RCL & X will also use this procedure throughout the USA to have a unified nationwide pricing policy. "Our total advertised price will now include all government-mandated taxes, fees, and port expenses that we previously itemized separately for consumer awareness," a spokesperson for Carnival Corp. confirmed to T+L. “While this is a California state law, we are making this change nationwide to ensure our advertised pricing is consistent no matter where guests shop for our cruises.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/these-cruise-lines-will-be-more-transparent-about-pricing-soon-here-s-why/ar-BB1mwu4V?ocid=BingNewsSerp

I also recall that situation & why PCL reverted to showing the cruise fare again like other cruise lines. I’ve seen taxes & fees as much as half the amount of the lower priced cruise fares. Wonder if the CA consumer’s law will apply to CA residents only or if it’s based on HQ location? We probably won’t know until 7/1 whether taxes & fees will be included in the price shown or if the current cruise fare with t&f listed meets the requirements of this new law.

That was a quick update (2 days) & now it automatically signs me in again. 🙂

Another Elite benefit bites the dust! You & I were fortunate to be on Discovery’s better & more affordable TSE. Glad that we got a chance to briefly chat in the hallway.

On your previous thread there was some speculation that Alvin Stokes was a name used for AI replies to letters of concern or complaint…maybe that’s true because they all appear to be the same replies & OBC offers. Could that non-standard PCL email go to AI instead of a contractor working on the cold case files. I’m not knowledgeable about how AI works but sending such emails might be an easy task for AI.

Oh joy!!! 🙄 The update kicked me out of the app even after waiting more than 5 minutes to see if it’d restore my automatic sign in. I tried it twice before attempting to sign in using my user ID & password…got this error message. Tried using one of my booking numbers with my DOB…success & can see both booked cruises. Closed & restarted the app which opened however it now opens my furthest out cruise & have to manually switch to my next cruise. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised…fix bugs that didn’t affect me & adds new bugs. 🙄

Thanks for sharing your experience. 🙂 We’ll have a great time on this bucket list itinerary that got canceled during the pandemic in 2020.

What is the Go Lounge…never heard of it.

These are from Royal Princess but it should be the same for Regal Princess.

In their press release this was stated: Reservable and Walk-in Anytime Dining will be combined into a single Main Dining Room location aboard Coral Princess and Island Princess. https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/princess-cruises-rolls-out-fleetwide-dining-revolution

Good to know…guess BNE is not like in Gibraltar where a road crosses the runway midfield & they close the road’s gates for takeoffs & landings. 🥹