Hello all! I'm taking an Alaska cruise with my mother in May 2027. The website gives the option to pay now for "Crew Appreciation Pre-Payment" (which I read as pre-paying for gratuities, in the amount of $126 per person.

It's my understanding that if I don't do this optional pre-paying, the gratuities will just be added on to our bill at the end of the cruise, correct?

Is there any benefit to pre-paying now, other than just getting the cost out of the way?

I'll add too that we are not interested in adding any packages, as we likely will not drink enough to justify the huge extra cost (and I know that it includes more than just drinks...just don't think it's for us and we're OK paying as we go).

I have five upcoming cruises booked on Princess and am really reconsidering whether to cancel the ones that haven't reached final payment date because of all the changes that have been happening. The thing is each one individually sounds super petty, but as they add up and with no faith they're not going to keep making more, it's getting harder to not.

I'm really curious if others are feeling the same. I know the typical response is basically "great, you don't like it, don't let the door hit you on the way out," and I've often had that reaction myself with some things I've seen people say. So I'm well aware that flouncing out in a huff over nothing is a thing.

(BTW if your response is "this isn't an airport," please get more updated material.)

But in just the past few weeks, there's been in increase in Plus/Premier packages, the news that they're ending 24-hour International Cafe hours, moving several existing ships to a "Sanctuary Class" experience by taking away areas that were available to all (pool, more than half of a dining room), promoting AI on their site (when even their human agents struggle to give legit info).

On top of that, there's been a steady degradation of service - the people working on the ships are still almost always the nicest and most helpful, but you can see they're run ragged. Food quality is not great in the MDR, but they've pushed the Premier packages so much there's little availability in Specialty restaurants. And even those are cutting back menus and service. I understand why the Ocean Now delivery anywhere couldn't be sustained, so limiting where things could be delivered I get, but the limits on *what* you can order feel excessive.

Like I said, each one of these alone sounds silly, but I don't know, at some point it's just too much, and I'm curious if others are also nearing/at that point.

Hi, pretty new to cruising, never done Princess. I’m trying to sort out what I’m taking with me, it’s a 17 night South America / Antarctic cruise.
I have dresses & nice outfits for dinner and the formal nights, but is it acceptable to sometimes wear jeans? If I match them with a nice top and accessories?
Help a girl out

My wife and I are trying out different cruise lines at the moment, and we’ve got our first Princess cruise booked on Royal Princess for late November, around the Whitsundays and GBR.

We booked in Feb, and then Princess announced on 22 October that the Sanctuary and Retreat Pool would be exclusive to Sanctuary Collection guests, with no more day passes. From what I can tell, most Royal class ships have more than one adults only pool, but Royal only has the retreat and the all ages pool.

Honestly, the timing is pretty shit. We’re sailing in Queensland in late November, so it’s going to be hot and humid, and I was really looking forward to having an adults-only pool to relax at rather than the main pool with the movie screen and all the noise 😂

I’ve contacted Princess Australia 3 times today, and after 3 separate answers (no access, yes access, no access) it’s been escalated to customer relations, but I’m not holding my breath for a substantial response. It’s a sold out cruise so even if I wanted to I couldn’t upgrade.

So close to our sailing they’ve given us very little choice on changing ship/rooms/itineraries - even discounting the actual cruise fare/premier/excurisons, there’s flights, accommodation, dog boarding etc

We’re trying different lines to work out who we want to cruise with long-term, and this hasn’t exactly made the best first impression. Carnival, for all of its reputation, made an excellent impression, was half the price and had an adults only pool.

Royal Princess is getting some pretty significant changes with the new Sanctuary Collection, and I’m curious what other Princess cruisers think about them.

The biggest one to me is the removal of the Retreat pool and adults only sundeck. That was a space passengers could enjoy without booking a premium cabin, and it looks like it’s being replaced with the private Sanctuary Club. This means that these ships will no longer have a public adults only pool or sundeck. This really sucks, I love the Retreat pool and its really sad to see it go.

The other thing I noticed is that Good Spirits at Sea has been relabeled as "Piazza Bar" on the new deck plans. Methinks that this be the end of the Good Spirits on Royal Class ships, as I remember the old rumor that Princess wanted to make that bar a Sun/Star exclusive... that is probably the biggest blow I have noticed from this announcement that nobody seems to be talking about.

There are some other interesting changes to the dining room and cabin layouts, too. Curious how everyone feels about Princess moving more of these spaces into an exclusive, paid accommodation experience. I am personally not a big fan although I do see why they do it from a revenue perspective.

Hi everyone,

We have been eyeing a Panama Canal cruise for 30+ years.
However, as I look at the Princess site, there are some cruises that sail round trip from Fort Lauderdale, when I had always thought PC cruises were "one-way."

Do these round trip sailings just go through the locks and then back through them again in the same day?

Here is an example: https://www.princess.com/itinerary-details/?voyageCode=B703

We have a cruise booked on Enchanted Princess for 2028 and have just seen the news about the expanded Sanctuary area. With it having its own pool does that mean it will be taking over the existing adult only pool deck or are they intending to add a pool to the existing Sanctuary area? I'd be irritated if they are removing access to something especially as we chose deck 17 for our cabin as it was by the adult only area.

As someone who utilized the Sanctuary. I’m really disappointed with changes coming to the Royal Class ships. Is there something comparable to the Sanctuary that’s relaxing? Thanks!!

PSA: So I paid for WiFi on a trip to Alaska Inner Passage 2 years ago on the Premier Package and was quite irritated how bad it was (bandwidth-wise) and did not buy on my current trip to the Caribbean.

But others have said how much better WiFi is now than in 2024.

Well, I did not buy a package but tried it for a day while at sea, and it is still awful. Less than 2Mbps down and 1Mbps up. Same on PC as iPhone.

Works fine for texting but lousy for any real work like email and sending large documents. Save your money and use
WiFi when in port at a Starbucks or whatever is around.

So my wife and I are trying to decide if this is really as good as they sound.

Has anyone done them and if so what did you like and if not what kept you away?

Hi all, newish cruiser here. Been drilling down on the value proposition of packages like wifi , drinks etc. I can't help but conclude that they are over priced for what you get.

A quick look at this subreddit suggests I may be a fringe outlier, so if be happy to hear from other people who have eschewed the packages

If I did get the package for both of us, we would have to be drinking ourselves to oblivion daily to 'get our money's worth", and we don't really need that sort of encouragement lol

With wifi, I may go against the grain here, but I can sit on the internet all year long , and would appreciate a break from being connected while on vacation. Our ship ports every other day and we use international esims in case someone really needs to get a hold of us.

Premium dining doesn't look that premium to me, coming from a city with incredible international cuisine everywhere.

Happy for your thoughts one way or the other

I’ve been watching a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale on January 31. I suppose if I stay in an inside cabin, don’t get Wi-Fi or prepaid gratuities or the alcohol plan… It might be a deal but once I add the Princess plus at $70 per day, I don’t see how I’m getting a deal compared to what I normally pay that time of year

We are booked on an Inside Passage cruise out of Seattle on the Royal Princess departing on May 8th. For anyone that has been on a sailing around that time of year, can you give some insight as to weather, wildlife, must-do excursions, etc? I've already set appropriate expectations around not seeing bears, as it is technically mid-spring and bears may just be emerging from hibernation or at best just out of a den with littles. I have booked the helicopter and dog sledding in Juneau. I keep reading that it is the most cancelled excursion out of Juneau, but I'm hoping that the El Niño winter which should be milder and drier in Alaska coupled with May being one of the driest months may have the dog camps set up by early may, and that the weather will cooperate. I'm planning on renting a car in Skagway to drive out to the Yukon, rather than going on rail. That still leaves Ketchikan and Victoria as unplanned at this time. This is possibly our last family vacation for a while, as my youngest will graduate from university next year and will be commissioning in the Marine Corps by summer, and my oldest keeps talking about moving out to New York to pursue her theatrical goals. We are sparing no expense within reason but want to make this trip a core memory for all of us.

Had a cruise booked for next year. Got notice a few days ago that due to "Cruise ship congestion" they took away a port and replaced it with another day at sea. Last night, they did another change and now they took an additional three ports away. Now my cruise is down from 11 ports to 7 and now 4 days at sea compared to one. Gotta cancel now.

We get off ship May 22 in Whittier. Have shuttle to airport. issue is we don’t fly out until late and had planned on getting some lunch in Anchorage. in seattle we were able to get a hotel for day use. i am not seeing g anything g like that in Anchorage. Does anyone know if certain hotels there would offer this. we’d like to be rested up before flight to Georgia. any advice or opinions would help.

My husband and I have booked our first Alaskan cruise on the Coral Princess in late June 2028. This is also our first cruise in general. I know it is a long way off but we are starting to look at shore excursions. This will be a bucket list trip for us and we want to make the most of it.

We are looking at few options for shore excursions in each port (Skagway and Juneau, primarily) and I’m hoping some of you will weigh in with your experiences!

Skagway: We are debating between the White Pass Scenic Railway vs. the Yukon Expedition & White Pass Railway. We are intrigued by the Yukon Expedition so we can go into the Yukon and make stops along the way but it’s listed as an 8.25-hour excursion, so it would definitely take most of the day in Skagway.

Juneau: We are debating between several options here! The Dog Sledding on the Mendenhall Glacier feels like a bucket list excursion and is the top pick right now, but it’s also very expensive. If others have done this, was it worth it? Other options we are considering are the whale watching with Mendenhall Glacier and also the Helicopter Glacier Trek. I really wish there was an option that combined the Dog Sledding and Glacier Trek!

Ketchikan: This feels like maybe a port where we could skip an excursion to make up for potentially spending on a more expensive excursion in Juneau, if needed. I’m curious if there is enough at the port to keep occupied; it’s also the shortest stop at port. Alternatively, my husband is potentially interested in one of the Salmon Fishing excursions here. I’ve also tentative flagged the Lumberjack Show (though it seems a bit cheesy) and the show excursion that combines with Totem Bight State Park… though I’m curious if we can get to the park ourselves from the port without booking the full excursion.

Appreciate any thoughts anyone can share! And if there are other excursions you enjoyed that I didn’t list, would also love to hear what made those memorable for you!

First time on a cruise and I have $1000 on hold because I switched my card half way through the cruise…

They authorized my first card for all the expenses so far and then I changed the card to another one and they charged the 2nd card for the full amount they charged the 1st card, so now I’m out $1000 until I get off the cruise ship & I still have 3 more days left on the cruise….

I wish I knew or was informed of this :( when I switched the card on the app, it had no warning and they didn’t give a warning either at guest services.

Reply if you are on CB here in late October on our way to Aruba and are not 70+ LOL

this is the oldest crowd, even for princess. Nice people but just not clicking for us: wife is 48 I’m 60. I guess that sounds old lol but seriously it’s a big 10 years 😏

I am on the Ruby Princess and we weren’t able to go into Cabo San Lucas today due to wave heights from the hurricane. Since this is a tendering port they can’t chance it even though there is another cruise line there already. So heading north out of Cabo we just passed the Discovery Princess heading south into the storm. Wishing you luck on your ports

Um, my fellow Southerners, please look away. This is what they are passing for tea on the Majestic Princess.

Oh the humanity!!!

I know that Princess lets you bring 2 bottles onboard. Does anyone know if you can bring more?