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Thanks Billy! Will do for sure, assuming we get to go...

We booked during their Black Friday sale - whatever it was called. It was the promo just prior to the latest "Best. Sale. Ever". It was a pretty decent deal: reduced deposits, drinks, WiFi, gratuitues, $50/pp OBC (for a balcony). We aren't specialty dining people, so that didn't matter much. The same cruise during the Best Sale Ever promo was about $200 higher - not terrible. All the reviews (Billy's included) and video tours of the Royal class ships look pretty great. It does seem the side-facing balconies on those ships are SUPER small, at least compared to Royal Caribbean ships. So we went for an aft-facing, but those are better anyway ?

We just booked Princess for the first time, also a Deck 9 aft balcony on a Royal-class ship (Sky). Ours is in January 2022. Assuming that actually happens, I'll post feedback on the cabin as well as any soot. I'm also interested in what others have to say about Princess, and Royal-class ships in particular. This will be our first exposure to Princess as well, having only sailed with Royal Caribbean in the past also. --Dave

Thanks for the comments / feedback - it is appreciated! We decided to go ahead and book with Princess. We found a reasonably good deal on an aft balcony on the Sky in January 2022 (hopefully...). Thanks again --Dave

I recently received an unpleasant email from Celebrity informing me of the cancellation of our February 2022 Summit sailing out of San Juan. Unfortunate, especially since I had just a few weeks prior Lift & Shifted to that sailing from a similar early 2021 sailing. Having now used my Lift & Shift, I find myself without a cruise at all... Thus began the search for a suitable replacement. We have some experience with Royal, having sailed 4 times with them, but were looking for something new and different, and a bit more upmarket. Thus the interest in Celebrity. The search has led to a possible good fit with Holland America on the new Rotterdam out of Fort Lauderdale. I have read (and fully enjoyed!) Billy's review of his Nieuw Stantendam sailing - and was looking for any more information about HAL in general: impressions, must-do's, things to know, what to expect, etc. Thanks in advance!

Thanks Billy! Looking forward to the new forums. Any word on new podcast episodes?