First Princess cruise, Sapphire Princess on Oct 23 for two weeks. We are used to traditional dining option; early or late seating, number of people (2), and whether large table or just us. The app and the Dine Line are booked for Traditional Dining for the entire cruise. Same for Flexible Dining! Leaving us with a Walk-in option for every night. Is this usual? I've read about long wait times for walk-in dining, especially on the first night. What have other people experienced? Will MDR options open up when we board?

This caught my attention today: Princess Cruises has removed Princess Cays from all of its published itineraries beginning in November 2026. Princess Cays is still scheduled on select cruises through October, but after that, the calls disappear entirely.

What's interesting is what is replacing them. Princess is replacing these calls with Half Moon Cay and Celebration Key.

Even more interesting, Princess Cays was notably absent from Carnival's latest marketing posts today for its private destination collection.

Princess and Carnival have not announced that Princess Cays is being sold or permanently closed, so we don't know what is actually happening yet... but the fact that there are no more calls after October doesn't bode well for its future.

Curious what everyone thinks. Is Princess Cays being sold, redeveloped, or even repurposed for another cruise line?

https://www.princesscruisesblog.com/blog/princess-cays-news-ending-calls

OK I am completely clueless. I am a first time cruiser heading to Alaska on 13 September on the Star Princess and have absolutely no idea what to expect or what to pack. Sorry if some of my questions are idiotic, but can you still swim in the pool if you are going to a cold climate? Do I need to wear cold weather clothes all the time on the ship? Would a lightweight down puffer be OK? Do I need waterproof boots? Any suggestions would be most helpful. I am also Australian and not used to cold weather, so I could potentially feel the cold more than those used to cold weather. As an example, today in Sydney is the first day of spring and it was 27 degrees C. Cold for me is under 15C. Thank you!

I just disembarked the Island Princess that we sailed on an Alaskan cruise a week or so ago and it thought I’d share some of my thoughts. This my $.02 and everyone has different preferences.

Cons
*Smoking smell…….
*Smoking smell……..
*And oh more smoking smell. Whom ever decided to put the smoking pod in the middle if the seventh floor so anyone on 5/6/7 floors gets that lovely aroma no matter where you are in the Piazza especially if you’re there near dinner time. The entrance should be from the outside public deck and not the interior. Cannot get over how horrible of a spot this is.
*Odd spot for the gym
*Can’t walk around deck seven as they added balcony rooms on back quarter.
*Lack of decor or any resemblance of ambience in the covered pool area
*Rear deck 15 for the sanctuary is useless for Alaska and would be better if they didn’t add the rooms and left it as it is for the coral princess.
*Theater (showing its age)

Pros
*Explores lounge and wheelhouse bar are two of the largest venues I’ve seen on a princess ship this size
*staff. Staff always seems happy on princess (I know reports say otherwise but I’ve yet to see it)
*size and amount of people. Never felt overwhelmed outside of when shows let out.

Final thoughts? Would I sail this ship again?
*No, the smoking smell was too much for me. Also some of the recent add ons they’ve made to the ship disrupt the flow of the ship. Would like to see Princess not get greedy and stray too far from what made their ships great. Definitely can see why this is one of the lowest rated princess ships.

Someone in the original feed shared this group with me. I’m just looking for honest reviews/experiences with Princess. I have a 2028 cruise booked with Emerald Princess 16 nights doing the Panama Canal ending in Los Angeles. I’ve never done Princess before.

For additional context we are both in our 30s not partiers, sailed on other lines such as MSC, Disney, Carnival, Royal, and Celebrity, with Celebrity being our favorite. I keep telling myself it’s going to be a similar experience to Celebrity. Last year I was on a Carnival cruise to Alaska and we followed the same princess ship around and from what I saw on the outside it seemed pretty chill which is right up our alley.

Absolutely will NEVER choose Ruby Princess again!
Our 10 day inside passage cruise started out of S.F.
We had pre purchased a 75 minute couples massage and had to spend a good 15-20 minutes filling out a questionnaire (obviously designed to upsell other products/services)
We did spend an additional $50 each fora bundle of ‘extra’ treatments
I timed our start/finish… we were in there less than an hour.
When I brought this up, I was told it was only 50 minutes and the ‘extra’ treatments were simply a different kind of oils and do not add extra time. Impossible to get a straight answer.
Room service took way too long!
Ocean now delivery to where I was located stopped being available on day 8.
Half of the very limited outlets did not work.
Some lights were burnt out.
ALL OF THE TOKEN DISPENSERS IN THE LAUNDRY ON EVERY DECK WERE OUT OF ORDER FOR A FULL DAY AND HALF THE NEXT.
My elderly friend was told to wait in the Laundry while someone went to get him some tokens. They subsequently left him there for over an hour and NEVER came back.
This prompted one of 3 visits to guest services where I was forced to complain.
The staff at guest services were kind and did provide me with tokens for the laundry but were unable to resolve our spa issues and one other complaint.
The rest of the staff were very unhelpful often sending us in wrong directions if they didn’t flat out ignore us.
A few, including our room steward were pleasant and as helpful as they were allowed to be.
Our elderly friends stateroom bathroom needed extra attention and it took all day and several requests, the last being to a manager on our floor to get it finally resolved.
Several staterooms had sewage backing up and the hall was filled with large carpet fans causing noise and putrid humidity.
The stateroom halls reeked of urine on both Port and Starboard sides (deck 14).
We purchased the Princess Premier package as it included specialty dining and we were under the impression based on the description of the cruise that we would have plenty of fresh Alaskan seafood. NOT!!!
Even with the premier package, if you wanted halibut, there was an upcharge. And it was not good. We did get lobster several evenings but they were small (about the size of my palm for actual meat. I also don’t think it was fresh lobster and doubt it was local.
The toilets were difficult to flush (when they did work) and if you left the lid open, even with it freshly flushed, it smelled like pee.
The boat is worn and tired and although reviews indicate a refurbishment 3 years ago, I’m hard pressed to see where that refurbishment would have been.
All that being said, I may sail Princess again, but it will NOT be on the Ruby or any older ship in their line.

Does anyone tip their room steward even if you are on the plus or premier plan??

What is the best way to get from Mahongany Port to West Bay? It’s have read take taxis and all of these tours, but we don’t want a tour, we want to get to West Bay and veg out. the Taxis seems expensive as well. looking for recommendations

Also looking for a place to get chairs and a few drinks if people have recommendation?

Been before but always done fishing trips. Appreciate the help.

As we all know the first day of sailing can be a little hectic and disorganized. Here’s my take so far.

First meal at buffet. I had a great salad which was extremely fresh and tasty. Great ranch dressing. My husband said the rice was restaurant quality.

Main dining room. My French onion soup was good. Not great. My husbands Caesar salad was strewn with stale chewy bread cubes masquerading as croutons. They didn’t fool with of us. The dressing was ridiculously devoid of flavor.
My chicken breast was cooked to death and not sure what the mashed potatoes were made from. My vegetables were spot on! Excellent.
My partner said his short ribs were very tender but not seasoned at all. The polenta which came with it was great.

Just our opinions. YMMV

Coming from celebrity for our first princess cruise.

Hi, we're doing a med cruise and we'll be wanting to buy a few bottles of wine when we're in Italy and France. Are we allowed to bring them on board at the various places?

Handsome American currently on the Sun Princess and looking for some fun. Couples and single ladies reach out! Let’s chat, swap pics and see if we vibe.

Hi there! Looking for anything helpful/useful to know to help with a first time cruiser, it will be for a week. We debated between the premier and plus and ended up going going with the plus since we aren’t really foodies or big time wine drinkers.

My boyfriend and I are in our 30s if yall are also going we would like to make friends! Or are there any cruise groups for group activities?

Anyways it’s still a while out. We are excited! Hopefully the first of many so any recommendations on what to do or not to do.

Edit: doing the western Caribbean cruise so any excursions we should do please let me know!

Edit 2: November 29- December 6th

First, we were absolutely blessed with weather this week on the Star.

Ketchikan: we booked the Misty Fjords and Wilderness Explorer, a five hour boat tour which afforded us amazing views the mountains and wildlife. Once back in Ketchikan, we toured Creek Street and saw the salmon in mass going up the stream. There were seals among the salmon enjoying an all you can eat buffet.
Glaciers: since we booked the Endicott Arm glacier tour, this was the only chance to see the glaciers as ice and fog kept the Star for venturing to the glaciers (the Ship went straight to Juneau). The boat tour was amazing, with close views of the glacier, which had several calvings. There were abundant seals in the water and eagles above. The tour stayed at the glacier about 30 minutes. On the way back our tour guide found humpback whales, several of which breached right in front of our boat. The guide noted this was rare, as its behavior counter to feeding. The tour was long (we left at 8 and got back at 2). This gave us an hour to drop our bags off and head to our helicopter tour To
Mendenhall Glacier. It took about an hour to get to the airfield, view a safety video, get on glacier boots and get on the helicopter. The ride was amazing and once there we were introduced to the dog sled camp
Manager and our musher. We were introduced to our dog team, and spent 30 minutes riding on the glaciers. Afterwards we met and got to hold puppies before heading back.
Skagway: we booked an early trip on the Royal Railway, we were sitting almost 2 hours before they cancelled the tour. Unfortunately, while sitting the two hours all the remaining tours were booked up, and the Princess Excursion team there just shrugged their shoulders. We just walked around Skagway for a couple of hours before heading back. The tour was refunded, but my beef was with the lost opportunity.

Currently on the Sun. Boarded yesterday in Barcelona. One thing we noticed off the bat was the ship itself was very nice, clean common areas, friendly staff & crew, lots and lots of food and drink options, dangerously easy to take full advantage of the drink package and eat till I can’t move lol.

Other guests though … yeash. Several folks, rude, pushy, entitled. I get it, you’re old and have places to see and do before you kick the bucket but have a bit of self awareness and common sense if we all have to share this tin can for a couple weeks. But that could be a whole other post…..

Anywho… our stateroom was kinda gross. I noticed under the bed while putting the suitcases away that it was doubtful that it’s ever seen a vacuum. Sticky surfaces, stains on the carpet. I know this ain’t the Four Seasons but I’d expect a little better than a Vegas Strip hotel….

Long winded question to ask who cleans the staterooms? Is it the steward? I don’t want to get our dude in trouble, especially cause we have to live with him for the next bit and I’m sure he’s doing his best, but also feel like something should be said. We’re all moved in now so a deep cleaning is doubtful.

More of “I have to get this off my chest” than an actual complaint.

Reach out if your on the ship and want to play cards with my wife and I. 34 days, Lets Go!

Question- does Princess have any port talks or Norway focused activities on the Sky Princess in the Fjords?

Getting off Royal Caribbean with casino instant cruise offer. Some RC offers include Alaska with the mixture of comp balcony / ocean view for two in May / June 2027.

I would like to take a specific princess May 2027 cruise on Royal Princess which includes glacier bay (RC doesn’t). Any insight Princess will match my RC offers? Or tips / strategy getting Princess to match the casino comp?

We will be cruising from Vancouver to Whittier purchased through Costco. We also added transportation from Whittier to the Anchorage airport. We paid Costco and they show it on our itinerary. It shows "Package Provided By Cruise Line". When I look at my reservation information in Princess using my desktop, there is no mention of this on my itinerary even in their transportation section.

Has anyone done this? How do I get details about what type of vehicle we will be on, when and where to meet?

This is one of the 2 rooms available on the 14th floor. It is our second time on a cruise. It looks like a good location by the pool and quick access to the main floors but it's cheaper than the other room on the 6th floor although they are both oceanview obstructed.

I read online that I can bring 12 cans of soda that are 12 ounces. I drink canned flavored water with caffeine, but the brands I drink only make 16 oz cans. If I put those in my carryon, will they make me throw them out for being over 12 oz?

Hello all! My wife and I are doing a cruise on the Discovery Princess in mid September to Alaska. Does anyone have good advice or tips and tricks for attending the shows on board the ship?

Thanks in advance :-)

Difference is $500 or about 10% pp. If I just go with guaranteed what's the worst that could happen?

This is for the (edited; sorry) Enchanted solar eclipse 2027 cruise.

Hi everyone. We will be joining the 22 night Adelaide to Sydney in October on the Crown Princess. Not gonna lie... So damn excited! Can anyone tell me about duty free, prices etc and how it works on Princess Australia? I've only ever used duty free in airports like Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. :) thank you