Sapphire Princess 2022 deployment?!

[gerig]

16 hours ago, Grislap said:

We're wondering, too. Booked our first suite ever for a 65th birthday celebration: the S1 grand suite. There's nothing comparable on the Royal. I wonder what they will offer us. I'm guessing one of the S3s with larger balconies. I would think we'd get a price reduction, too, as the grand suite is significantly costlier than the S3 suites found on the Royal.

I think they will try to keep all the aft suites on the same deck as they were on the Sapphire but there were some Sapphire decks that had 4 suites so two of those will probably move to the higher decks (I suspect the ones that were not corners).

[ram290]

Bummed!  958 Additional Passengers to become friends!  Enjoy small ships, and larger mini suites, but hey!

 

Have called, and they are in the process of finding us cabins within the prices we have already contracted, although they told me I may be moved from my prime mid-ship location, to which I said:  "That was an additional free perk to me"!  Going to be interesting!

 

Renee

 

 

[gerig]

40 minutes ago, ram290 said:

Bummed!  958 Additional Passengers to become friends!  Enjoy small ships, and larger mini suites, but hey!

 

Have called, and they are in the process of finding us cabins within the prices we have already contracted, although they told me I may be moved from my prime mid-ship location, to which I said:  "That was an additional free perk to me"!  Going to be interesting!

 

Renee

 

 

I was informed that based on the cabin you booked and the area you booked you will placed in the same category and area.  I am aware there are some cabin categories on Royal that do not exists on Sapphire and vice versa.  

[CRG7]

Does anyone know what category would be equivalent to the Sapphire's B4? We have an aft balcony booked but see D4 on the Royal deck plans.

[Skeet100]

I received the email today.  I feel cheated as we had first booked Alaska for 2021 for our 35th Anniversary - and it was cancelled.  After MUCH research, I booked on the Sapphire for May 2022 to Alaska.  Decided to really splurge and booked an S4 in a great location.  I was so excited about the huge deck for Alaska.  I also really wanted the small ship and the itinerary.  I don't have a clue what room they will try to switch us to now on Royal.  I read there are soot issues in the rear.  I guess I'll wait and see what they place us with.  But I really was stretching my budget already and I don't want to "settle" for something less at that same rate.   I'm glad it's not totally cancelled at this point, but not sure if we will go through with this cruise or not.    Depends on room choice and final port selections.  Also visiting both Hubbard and Glacier National Park were big parts of choosing the cruise I did.  So, if one of those goes away, I'm thinking I may need to start researching other choices again.  Sigh....  Just when I thought I our plans well in motion....here we go again...   What do you guys think will be equivalent to the S4?  Whatever option it is, not sure it will be worth the price I'm in for.  That large balcony was a huge selling point.  (First Alaska Cruise for us)

[DiRonT]

We had 9/28/22 L.A. to Hawaii booked in Caribe deck aft suite.  Only 2 cruises now from L.A.to Hawaii - Dec '22 and Jan '23.  Neither works for us and other than that they are offering Oct. '22 out of San Francisco but only one aft suite left.  I called and was told - well, we will see what we can do.  I said you have my exact cabin available on 10/8 from. SF but they won't put us on that cruise- really!!!

[Ronnieslady]

7 hours ago, DiRonT said:

We had 9/28/22 L.A. to Hawaii booked in Caribe deck aft suite.  Only 2 cruises now from L.A.to Hawaii - Dec '22 and Jan '23.  Neither works for us and other than that they are offering Oct. '22 out of San Francisco but only one aft suite left.  I called and was told - well, we will see what we can do.  I said you have my exact cabin available on 10/8 from. SF but they won't put us on that cruise- really!!!

We are in the same boat with you. 

.  I just read here on CC, also that the ship has been redeployed. I haven’t heard from my TA yet or Princess.  Probably is give us 2 sailing options to pick from ( on the Crown) if we want to maintain the same price 

as this cruise.  Both of those 2 cruises are horrible for us. There is 2 other options out of San Francisco on the Ruby.  They will not pay for a flight from us to leave out of San Francisco. 

So, the only thing close to this cruise is a November 17th 2022 Hawaii cruise on the Sapphire .  I put a hold on the last Vista Suite for now. But it is going to cost us $1,648.00 more for both of us .Plus my DH looses his $300.00 in Casino freeplay money.   Needless to say I am not a happy camper or sailor 🤨

[Ronnieslady]

Wonder if anyone has tried to book same itinerary, but our choice of a date, & same cabin category & been successful in them letting you keep the same price . ????       Maybe custom relations would give in , if I were to talk to them .  

[jspitz1]

I'm super annoyed about the switch too, but for us it's going from Royal Princess to Sapphire Princess.  We had a great cabin on Royal Princess for our 10th wedding anniversary for an Australian cruise September 2022, but because of the redeployment it's changed to Sapphire Princess.  I prefer bigger, newer ships and have not been on a Princess ship as large as Royal Princess, so I've cancelled our booking.  

 

[DiRonT]

5 hours ago, Ronnieslady said:

Wonder if anyone has tried to book same itinerary, but our choice of a date, & same cabin category & been successful in them letting you keep the same price . ????       Maybe custom relations would give in , if I were to talk to them .  

I tried for either the Nov 17th or the Oct 8th dates and was told "No"  by Princess.  My TA got the same response (and she is one of Princess biggest bookers).

[PACD_JG]

Shouldn't the Royal be cheaper than the fares we booked on the Sapphire?  I mean, giant ships are usually cheaper than the small ones, no?  Anyway, since the Royal Alaska cruise isn't listed on the Princess website yet, there's no way to check right now.  However, wouldn't it be wiser for Princess to just upgrade us instead of cancelling and just rebooking on the Royal when they do finally list it?

[Dar & Bob]

24 minutes ago, PACD_JG said:

Shouldn't the Royal be cheaper than the fares we booked on the Sapphire?  I mean, giant ships are usually cheaper than the small ones, no?  Anyway, since the Royal Alaska cruise isn't listed on the Princess website yet, there's no way to check right now.  However, wouldn't it be wiser for Princess to just upgrade us instead of cancelling and just rebooking on the Royal when they do finally list it?

That depends on your opinion.  We were booked on the Discovery and got switched out for the Regal.  I would honestly think our fare should have gone down.  There is such a pent up demand, they can do anything they like.   We have to choose to cruise or not. 😞

 

[gerig]

6 hours ago, jspitz1 said:

I'm super annoyed about the switch too, but for us it's going from Royal Princess to Sapphire Princess.  We had a great cabin on Royal Princess for our 10th wedding anniversary for an Australian cruise September 2022, but because of the redeployment it's changed to Sapphire Princess.  I prefer bigger, newer ships and have not been on a Princess ship as large as Royal Princess, so I've cancelled our booking.  

 

Most people doing Alaska prefer the Sapphire over the Royal.  The Royal's promenade isn't as large and there is no indoor pool.   there are more people on the Royal and the balconies are much smaller.  I have been on the Royal twice.  The one good thing about the Royal is alfredos.

[Dar & Bob]

12 minutes ago, gerig said:

Most people doing Alaska prefer the Sapphire over the Royal.  The Royal's promenade isn't as large and there is no indoor pool.   there are more people on the Royal and the balconies are much smaller.  I have been on the Royal twice.  The one good thing about the Royal is alfredos.

It looks like the Grand is similar to the Sapphire, is this true?  Inside pool and the balconies larger?  We would prefer fewer people too.  Thinking of maybe looking at that since we haven't made final payment so we have time. 

 

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, Dar & Bob said:

It looks like the Grand is similar to the Sapphire, is this true?  Inside pool and the balconies larger?  We would prefer fewer people too.  Thinking of maybe looking at that since we haven't made final payment so we have time. 

 

 

Grand has no Skywalker's and has a truncated middle staircase. Sapphire, like Grand, has larger balconies (we will really miss our big Caribe balcony) and Sapphire also has an extra-wide Promenade that goes all the way around.

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by Thrak

[Ronnieslady]

This situation is absolutely not our fault. So,  why is it going to cost us more money, because they are offering us dates we never would have picked . Just give us a different ship , same date & $.  I would  like to say this makes no sense except, Princess could actually do this on every single cruise, just to increase their income. Pretty sneaky !!
 All of our bookings are  always done as soon as they come out. Because we are picky about our cabin.  That price is always the best for suites.  They very seldom come down in $.  

Edited September 2, 2021 by Ronnieslady

[compozer]

4 minutes ago, Ronnieslady said:

This situation is absolutely not our fault. So,  why is it going to cost us more money, because they are offering us dates we never would have picked . Just give us a different ship , same date & $.  I would  like to say this makes no sense except, Princess could actually do this on every single cruise, just to increase their income. Pretty sneaky !!
 All of our bookings are  always done as soon as they come out. Because we are picky about our cabin.  That price is always the best for suites.  They very seldom come down in $.  

Totally agree!!

[beavismom]

Are all the balconies smaller on the Royal Princess?  We just have a regular balcony cabin and the info at the website makes it appear they are the same size on both ships.  

[beg3yrs]

6 minutes ago, beavismom said:

Are all the balconies smaller on the Royal Princess?  We just have a regular balcony cabin and the info at the website makes it appear they are the same size on both ships.  

Pretty much all the balconies are smaller. A few exceptions here and there with some angled balconies being a bit larger. On most they are so narrow you have to angle your chair to sit down and not smash your knees. Of course the suites are a different story.

[beavismom]

21 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

Pretty much all the balconies are smaller. A few exceptions here and there with some angled balconies being a bit larger. On most they are so narrow you have to angle your chair to sit down and not smash your knees. Of course the suites are a different story.

 

Thank you!  This may end up leading to us cancelling then.  It's a shame, but my husband is tall and he won't be happy to be that squished on a cruise like this.

[memoak]

4 hours ago, Dar & Bob said:

It looks like the Grand is similar to the Sapphire, is this true?  Inside pool and the balconies larger?  We would prefer fewer people too.  Thinking of maybe looking at that since we haven't made final payment so we have time. 

 

For my money the Grand is a little long in the tooth and more than a little beat up.  And of course no Skywalkers

[WVHillbilly]

Just got the email for our June 18, 2022, they are switching Ketchikan  to Victoria.  Not happy with this change in ports (also said port times may change) and will have to wait and see what cabin I get assigned and if it's not acceptable I'll make a decision on what to do.

[DiRonT]

4 hours ago, Ronnieslady said:

This situation is absolutely not our fault. So,  why is it going to cost us more money, because they are offering us dates we never would have picked . Just give us a different ship , same date & $.  I would  like to say this makes no sense except, Princess could actually do this on every single cruise, just to increase their income. Pretty sneaky !!
 All of our bookings are  always done as soon as they come out. Because we are picky about our cabin.  That price is always the best for suites.  They very seldom come down in $.  

I agree, we almost always book as soon as itineraries are released as we also are picky about cabin selection (love those aft suites).

[compozer]

38 minutes ago, DiRonT said:

I agree, we almost always book as soon as itineraries are released as we also are picky about cabin selection (love those aft suites).

Maybe we should stop posting how great the aft suites are.   I also book them as soon as they are released but this past year, they are booking up first.  Like they use to 10 years ago.    We need to start saying how bad they are and they are not worth the money.

[LoriPhil]

I’m concerned that this same redeployment will occur for our May 2023 Alaska B2B.  Will see what other ship options are available in case we need to be prepared for a change.  Spoke with Princess today and we aren’t able to cancel our August 2022 cruise until Sept 17 when the new booking numbers etc have been assigned.   At that time we have 3 options - refund, future cruise credit, and I assume the third option that wasn’t actually mentioned was taking the cruise.  Well drat!