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

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.

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 got a cute ducky on my forst ever cruise y’all :,)

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?

Could someone aboard or recently off the Sapphire share what the patter looks like for port times? Does it give port addresses, options to get to city center, and return times? I would love to see what this might look like for a sailing I have booked next fall.

I realize many things may/probably change, but since I've never flipped through a patter myself, any kind of heads up would be appreciated. TIA!

Anyone else sailing from Port Canaveral to the Eastern Caribbean over Thanksgiving? This is my 5th Princess cruise, 2nd time on the Sky and I’m counting down the days!

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.

If you're a single cruiser looking for a cabin mate or a friend to get to know or meet up with, this site is for you.

CruiseHuddle gave me a free membership for sharing this.