Next Sunday, we will be flying from LAX to Orlando and spending one night at a hotel before boarding the Caribbean Princess for a 16-day voyage via the Panama Canal to San Pedro.
This will be our first time sailing out of Port Canaveral and our first time ever on the Caribbean Princess! The only other Princess ships that we still have not been on are the Sky Princess and Sun Princess. In October, we will be on the Sun. This will be our 8th full transit of the Panama Canal, five times via the old locks and twice via the new locks.
Having been to all of these ports multiple times in the past, we specifically booked this cruise to spend time with a very dear friend who is onboard. And having the cruise end in our home port of San Pedro made it an easy decision (we live an hour N/W of the port). We will probably spend most of our time in the Sanctuary, including on most of the port days.
Since we were extremely late in deciding whether or not to go on this voyage, the cruise was showing "Sold Out" by the time we finally decided to book it a week ago. So, we waitlisted for any available cabin. A few days later, we were assigned an Obstructed Ocean View Cabin on Deck 8. After securing our flight to Orlando, we immediately made our final payment and hoped to make several upgrade bids.
Within a couple of days, our upgrade bid options were made available. We had four options: Ocean View, Balcony, Deluxe Balcony, and a Window Suite. We made "good" bids for both balcony options and the Window Suite. It was interesting that mini-suites were not an option for bidding.
A couple of days ago, we "won" our bid for a S7 Window Suite on Deck 6. This cabin is a "fully accessible" room, which isn't our favorite type of cabin. Our TA did her best to see if they could move us, but no other S7's were available. We like the overall cabin; we are just not fans of the bathroom setup. I know, first-world problems— we will survive!
Within a couple of days, our upgrade bid options were made available. We had four options: Ocean View, Balcony, Deluxe Balcony, and a Window Suite. We made "good" bids for both balcony options and the Window Suite. It was interesting that mini-suites were not an option for bidding.
A couple of days ago, we "won" our bid for a S7 Window Suite on Deck 6. This cabin is a "fully accessible" room, which isn't our favorite type of cabin. Our TA did her best to see if they could move us, but no other S7's were available. We like the overall cabin; we are just not fans of the bathroom setup. I know, first-world problems— we will survive!
Feel free to email me questions, and I will try my best to provide answers.
Cheers, Debbie & Rafael
Click on photo to enlarge
