JimmyVWine

Thanks for your report. It confirms something that I suspected. A video posted YT (and linked earlier in this thread) showed a detailed view of the Lido Deck. One thing I noticed was the copious protected bistro seating around the perimeter, just like prior ships. But why? Horizon Court/World Market isn’t up there on Sun. These tables are very useful as overflow from the buffet area on other ships but seem like an awful lot of seating for ice cream cones and pizza slices on Sun. This same type of protected seating seems to be missing around The Eatery.

Carpaccio can be either completely raw, or quick seared on the outside, but still very close to raw throughout.

Looks like a really bad dance class template.

We’ll have wait and see, but I am not convinced that Spellbound is going to be a “dinner experience only” venue. Since the goal for every square foot of the ship is to generate revenue, I can’t imagine why they would leave money on the table by not selling $20 cocktails in the afternoon, separate and apart from the dinner experience.

The “nice” area in the video is not part of the Sanctuary. It is the Suite/Signature Sun Deck.

Well done! Large. Sufficient shade. Some sun peeking through by the rail. All good features.

People often comment about kids pushing all the elevator buttons. But somehow I have never seen or experienced it. Seems like a bit of an urban myth. (Can a myth be “urban” if it pertains to a ship?)

Unless you are in the circular banquet behind that huge column!🙃 The color scheme is awful, unless the photo is a bit off. A bit too “bordello”.

The FB posts from people currently on the ship are replete with complaints about the skimpy decor. And I didn’t declare them a disaster. I was referencing many, many video reviews from noted cruise influencers who have stated in them. I trust them. You don’t have to.

Based on what is not yet operational on the ship, I would take that offer in a New York minute.

LOVE that Princess Live has reverted back to something far more akin to the Explorer's Lounge instead of a cold, industrial TV studio. On the day that the first Princess Live was shown in mock-up I voiced my opinion that the conversion was a big mistake. Took them a decade to hear me.

Same. I am very much looking forward to my "very heavy on the Sea Days" cruise in September. I chose the Sea Day heavy cruise specifically to experience all the ship has to offer. But much of what I am looking forward to isn't yet operational, so I'm not getting any positive feedback from the current reports which is coloring my views. Once I hear about how great the new dining venues are, and how game-changing the entertainment is, and how "Spellbound" I will be, I won't care one bit about the Sanctuary. I chose a Cabana so that I could have my own private Sanctuary. Just wish it was more zhuzhed up.

I can just picture the Zoom call with the decisionmakers trying to come to final resolution as to who should win the war: the germaphobes or the OCDs.

Reviews of other ships that have the same set-up uniformly call the Cabana cabins that open up to the deck area the worst cabins on the ship for that exact reason. One video even showed deck loungers pressed up against the glass of the cabin's "balcony" so that if you were out on your balcony, someone else's greasy head was pressed up against your glass partition, a foot away from you. Yech!

Given that the space will be used by performers who will be engaged in some pretty athletic maneuvers (assuming that the promised entertainment ever materializes) I have to assume that it is a climate controlled environment. Otherwise the performers will pass out. Now, will the climate controlled system work, and will Princess turn it on during the day? Two different questions. They are marketing it as evoking the terraced cliffs of Santorini. Last time I was in Santorini, it was 100 F degrees.

If my Cabana looks like the one in the second photo when I board in September, rest assured that I will be moving the two balcony chairs into the Cabana and the rattan sofa out onto the balcony each day, reversing the operation before dinner.

June, 2018-CCL trading at $60.157. July, 2018-Princess announces two future ships to be launched as the Sphere Class Ships October, 2022-Construction has been underway for just about a year, and CCL is trading at $9.15. Things got cut along the way. The first photo below is the mock-up of a Cabana Mini-Suite that Princess released to the press (taken from an article written here on CC detailing the progress of the build.) The second photo was taken by a guest this week.

Which brings up a question. Do guests in Suites automatically qualify to use the Sanctuary, or is the Suite-only area of the Sanctuary reserved for Suite guests who then pay an additional fee to get in? If it is the former, you are correct. Space will be fought over. If it is the latter, we will have to see how many Suite guests pay even more to get into the Sanctuary. I have always viewed the Sanctuary as a place for non-Suite guests to pay an upgrade fee to get treated like they are in Suites, and not a place that Suite guests would have much of a need to pay extra for. In other words, "Inside Cabin + Sanctuary Access = very nice cruise" and "Suite + Sanctuary Access = paying extra for little in return." But maybe I am completely wrong about that.

While you are at it, post a daily comment about the Cabana "furnishings" using the words "Spartan", "sparse", "unfinished", "lacking" and "embarrassing".

Given that they more than tripled that capacity of the Sanctuary, and now have it divided into "Suite" and "non-Suite" areas, I think it is highly unlikely that we are going to see hundreds of nicely padded loungers in the non-Suite area. The crew member giving the tour in the video I referred to earlier certainly did not leave the impression that the vast row of vinyl loungers that we saw in the non-Suite area are going to be anything other than what we saw. It almost looks to me like the entire set-up is different, and instead of paying for and reserving a specific seating area for the length of the cruise, what you are buying is entry into a "Haven-esque" escape where there are several different seating options open to all who pay (on the non-Suite side), some of which are padded and many of which are not. And if this is true, we will now have a new category of guest on board, which is the "Sanctuary Chair Hog". Sort of like leaving the ranks of the amateurs and turning pro.

Go to post 2967 earlier in this thread to see a video of the Sanctuary. Jump to 1:26 and watch a minute or so from there and you will see that not only are the lounge chairs unpadded, but the gentleman giving the tour concedes that the Sanctuary on Sun is "very different compared to Royal Class." And yes, they added much more capacity. 324 pax on Sun compared to 60-100 on other ships. The Sanctuary has two sections, one for regular paying guests and one area for Suite passengers. The Suite area looks more like what you would be used to.

As compared to... See now?

Honestly, I cannot imagine what would ever possess anyone to pay extra money to gain access to "Princess Cay at Sea".

I was thinking maybe a Rum Runner that went awry.