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Princess News & General Princess Chatter / Re: Princess wants to become a high end (and high dollar) resort
« on: April 24, 2024, 10:11:32 AM »
It certainly appears, on the surface of it, that Princess is becoming a 'pay for privilege' vacation choice.
I have an upcoming voyage on the Emerald, with an inside cabin, and have submitted a bid for a balcony that is nearly twice what I paid
for a similar move last November. Additionally, we've bid for an Oceanview upgrade, because I simply cannot fathom paying an fortune
to enhance our sleeping quarters.
Perhaps I'm being too much of a nitpicker, but everything from excursions to enhanced dining seems to have
increased substantially.
I have an upcoming voyage on the Emerald, with an inside cabin, and have submitted a bid for a balcony that is nearly twice what I paid
for a similar move last November. Additionally, we've bid for an Oceanview upgrade, because I simply cannot fathom paying an fortune
to enhance our sleeping quarters.
Perhaps I'm being too much of a nitpicker, but everything from excursions to enhanced dining seems to have
increased substantially.
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Princess News & General Princess Chatter / Re: No more day passes to access the Sanctuary on the Sun and Star Princess
« on: April 24, 2024, 10:01:47 AM »
Ah, the return to the 'caste' system of old. When they rename non-package purchasers as 'steerage', we're in trouble.
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Princess News & General Princess Chatter / Re: Princess to ensure that your food portion size will be an "appropriate" quantity
« on: April 22, 2024, 12:10:22 PM »
Must be some executives idea of a cost cutter. I concur, that serving too much of any item is going to generate waste, especially since one can take a little, and go to the buffet again if desired. Although there is one thing... I witnessed a guy with a 'dewdrop' on the end of his beak which he wiped with his hand, and then proceeded to grab a communal set of tongs. Got me thinking I'll be carrying a tiny bottle of sanitizer from now on.
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Princess News & General Princess Chatter / Re: Princess to ensure that your food portion size will be an "appropriate" quantity
« on: April 22, 2024, 11:39:30 AM »
What is different on the Sun? We're booked in the fall for a 19 day hop, first time on the Sun for us.
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Star Princess Chatter / Re: Star Princess Launch Postponed
« on: April 19, 2024, 08:42:31 PM »
At least this decision is being made well in advance.
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Princess News & General Princess Chatter / Re: Princess urges agents to push 2025 as 2024 capacity ‘maxes out’
« on: April 15, 2024, 08:37:45 AM »
"They claimed they had to many people in the upper classification."
Ah, the pox of a successful promotion. Let's hope that Princess doesn't follow, but every indication is that cruises are moving to an a-la-carte sale structure. Bids for cabin 'upgrades' now have a base level for the offer, ie: last December we snagged a balcony 'upgrade' for $200pp. This year, it's a sliding scale, where the minimum bid is $370 'ish per person. For a blind upgrade. Yuck!
Ah, the pox of a successful promotion. Let's hope that Princess doesn't follow, but every indication is that cruises are moving to an a-la-carte sale structure. Bids for cabin 'upgrades' now have a base level for the offer, ie: last December we snagged a balcony 'upgrade' for $200pp. This year, it's a sliding scale, where the minimum bid is $370 'ish per person. For a blind upgrade. Yuck!
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Princess News & General Princess Chatter / Re: Princess Cruises to bring you cocktail "Good Spirits at Sea Experience"
« on: April 14, 2024, 05:35:56 PM »
Is this a consequence of the 'Carnivalization' of Princess?
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Princess News & General Princess Chatter / Re: Princess urges agents to push 2025 as 2024 capacity ‘maxes out’
« on: April 14, 2024, 05:33:42 PM »
Agreed Rich. Elite doesn't carry much 'humph' anymore, eg: Priority Embarkation waiting area, free internet time, and a 3 day turnaround on laundry service. The 'new' structure is clearly pay to play, with epic charges for bundled packages. Clearly there is less resistance to consideration of other lines.
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Princess News & General Princess Chatter / Re: Three reasons why Princess has seriously gone downhill
« on: April 12, 2024, 09:56:40 AM »
This is occurring in many industries, I'm sure. The problem develops when overseas employees lack the authority and training to manage issues for customers in other countries.
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Sun Princess Chatter / Re: Four Spots Onboard the All-New Sun Princess We’re Not in Love With
« on: April 11, 2024, 12:15:20 PM »
The Premiere reserved seating practice is abysmal. Many empty seats, and when they finally open up these seats 5 minutes before showtime, it's amusing to find people diving into the seats in an experience that reminds me of chuming the water on a fishing adventure.
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Sun Princess Chatter / Re: The Dome has one major drawback
« on: April 10, 2024, 08:08:45 PM »"...We also anticipate that guests will need to queue up 40 minutes early or more to get a seat..."
So, not unlike the current practice for the production shows.
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Princess News & General Princess Chatter / Re: Panama (City) opens new cruise ship terminal at (Pacific) mouth of canal
« on: April 10, 2024, 08:23:19 AM »
It's pretty, but isn't fully functional. Much construction around the facility, and passengers are absolutely not allowed to walk on the pier to go to the empty terminal. (A March 28th visit had over a dozen buses idling on the pier while loading.. fumes were fairly awful.) Technically the facility is open, but inno way can it be said to be ready.
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Princess News & General Princess Chatter / Re: Carnival Corp. lost less this quarter than it lost in the same period last year
« on: March 28, 2024, 06:33:35 AM »
Here comes another tier of enhanced passenger pay-to-play privilege.
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Sun Princess Chatter / Re: Sun Princess Sets Sail
« on: March 21, 2024, 02:00:04 PM »
Very nice, but almost a certainly it's out of my price league.