CalTexCruiser

It's a zero cost gift to those already booked in D0 and Reserve mini-suite (before the change to the Sanctuary class). For those of us already booked in suites, there is absolutely no "upgrade." I wouldn't even care if Princess had not sent me an email telling me I've been upgraded, because there is no upgrade for suite passengers. Just send the upgrade email to the D0 and Reserve mini-suite folks because they are getting free upgrades. I understand that the prices have NOW gone up dramatically as Princess is trying to monetize the Sanctuary space.

On the other Princess ships, the number of people allowed into the Sanctuary is determined by the number of loungers/cabanas available, so there is never an overcrowding issue. When comparing to Celebrity, there are 158 suites in total on the Celebrity Apex. So the Retreat sundeck on the Apex would be shared by a smaller quantity of cabins (61 less cabins) than on the Princess Sun. I don't know the difference in square footage between the Apex Retreat and the Sun Sanctuary sundeck, but there will definitely be more people now in the Sun Sanctuary sundeck than in Celebrity's Retreat sundeck. And I often find the Celebrity Retreat sundeck to be quite crowded, especially during sea days. That does not bode well for the Sun Sanctuary sundeck on a warm weather sailing.

I believe there were 90+ or even 100+ Reserve Mini-suites under the old system, so at least those number of cabins will now have access to the Sanctuary. LOL

They will have to combine the two restaurants into one "private" restaurant. No way the Reserve Collection Restaurant can accommodate all the Mini-Suites that have been designated as Sanctuary Collection; or could it?

Well said. Princess just: 1) Provided an incredible gift to the D0 balcony cabins of private dining and sanctuary access (whoever said you can't get something for nothing have not met Princess management); 2) Provided a substantial gift of sanctuary access to those booked in Reserve Mini's; 3) Shafted those in S9 suites which are basically the same as Reserve Mini's but who probably paid hundreds if not thousands more (versus the Reserve Mini's) just for access to the lounge; and 4) Degraded the experience of those in higher level suites who now have to deal with a much more crowded Sanctuary and private dining.

agreed they should at least upgrade folks in S class cabins to Premier from Plus for free, and for those already booked with Premier give them an OBC equal to the difference between Plus and Premier

same here. Booked in an S4 absolutely no “upgrade” for us if anything it’s a downgrade for us as they will be jamming more people into the “sanctuary” and “private” dining

So what cabins are assigned the Reserve Class dining and what are assigned the Signature dining--or has that distinction been removed?

thanks for the detailed report @Sox Fan Cruiser. Very much appreciated. One question regarding the suite lounge...are alcoholic beverages available all day in the lounge. If so, that would be unlike the concierge lounge on the Royal Class ships where free alcohol is available only during happy hour (5-7pm). If free alcoholic beverages are available all day in the suite lounge, then there would less of a reason for folks in a suite to buy a Premium Plus/Premier package.

We were on the March 2024 Singapore - Dubai sailing that was cancelled. The Encore sailed directly from Singapore to the Med around the horn of Africa without passengers. My guess they will sail from the Med to Singapore without passengers in November.

no only ships with concierge lounges (ie suite lounges) have concierges

I'm actually encouraged to hear that the food is better in the Sun Signature restaurant than the MDR. Sounds like Princess is upping its suite benefits to get closer to Celebrity's Retreat and NCL's Haven. With the separate restaurant for the Signature Suite, I hope they get a little more creative in the future with their offerings for suite guests.

I've not been on Princess' older ships so would not have any comment on the Caribbean Princess. In my opinion, the following benefits of the Sun would likely outweigh the larger suite on the older ship: 1) included use of the Sanctuary with its dedicated pool and hot tub; 2) suite lounge; and 3) dedicated Signature restaurant (I'm not a fan of the Reserve class restaurant of the other ships that is just a section of the MDR). 1) would be especially important in a warm weather sailing.

Thanks for reporting. We were originally assigned deck 17 penthouse suites but switched to deck 15 penthouse suites due to noise concerns from the Sanctuary. With the large number of loungers in the Sanctuary I guess some noise would be inevitable during setup.

@duck65 Were you aware of any non-suite guests in the Sanctuary? my understanding is that it costs 99 per sea day to book a lounger for a non-suite guest and I wonder if demand is high?

Did the signature restaurant become full?

Thanks for posting the update. The advertisement of signature benefits for the balcony class D0 cabin was obviously an artifact of Princess IT at their worst. The only question was whether a D0 customer can hold Princess to honor what they advertised on their website. Looks like the answer is NO they will NOT honor it. To those in the D0 cabin who are able to make a Signature restaurant reservation, note that suite passengers never had the ability to book the Reserve/Club class restaurant. You just show up whenever you want. So the fact that a D0 cabin can make a Signature restaurant reservation would be another artifact of Princess IT incompetence.

it was 5 last Oct

It is remarkable how many bad blackjack plays I’ve seen at the 6:5 tables on a cruise ship. Examples of some real head-scratchers: - stay on soft 16 against dealer 10 - split 7-7s against dealer 10 - double down 8 against a dealer 7 - split 5-5s splitting 10s and hitting 14 or 15 against a dealer bust card are also common occurrences

Should this thread be renamed Sun Princess Part Deaux ?

Anyone have any thoughts on picking Penthouse Suites on deck 15 vs 17? The Penthouse Suites on deck 17 are right below The Sanctuary, which raises the question of whether these suites will be noisy when loungers are being moved around starting early in the morning. With the large number of loungers in The Sanctuary, noise concerns may definitely be a concern if the deck 17 suites are not well sound insulated. We were initially assigned a deck 17 Penthouse Suite on our sailing next year, but decided to move to deck 15 due to the potential noise issue. I think the deck 15 Penthouse Suites also have the advantage of direct access to the Signature Lounge without having to take an elevator, much like the Penthouse Suites on Royal class ships.

Good question @FLAlaska Hopefully it’ll stay 24/7 i do see a full bar in the lounge so as long as they can lock the alcohol when unattended then there should be no problem

Agreed. My Penthouse Suite booking confirmation states: If anyone booked in a D0 has this in the booking confirmation, Princess will be hard-pressed to deny you the benefit they confirmed at the time of booking. Anything else can be easily dismissed by onboard personnel as a website mistake or agent mistake, and I imagine you'll be out of luck trying to argue entitlement to signature benefits when it is clear that the booking is for a BALCONY class cabin.

Thanks @WonderMan3 On the other ships, breakfast for full suites is available in one of the specialty dining restaurants. I guess since there is a dedicated Signature restaurant that would be where the full suite breakfast is served on the Sun. I'm not a Princess veteran by any means but the "Indulgences" extra charge items on the lunch menu seem new.

At the beginning of the video, the hostess of the Reserve Restaurant stated that the menu for the Reserve Restaurant and the Signature Restaurant are the same. The staff member that stated "a la carte menus specially for the suites" is the head sommelier of the Signature Restaurant. I take that to mean the additional a la carte item each evening that is not available in the MDR, similar to the Reserve class dining on other Princess ships. If the Signature Restaurant did in fact have a specially dedicated menu similar to the Luminae on Celebrity, I would imagine Princess would plaster that all over their website. Hope someone currently in a Signature suite can confirm.