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Thank you all for your comments. I am pleased to note that most agree with my thinking. In the future, we will certainly not be booking a cruise on a new ship until it has fully bedded in. However, on this occasion, we did not book the inaugural cruise. Also, as to false advertising, I found a promotional email from Princess sent to me personally no more than a couple of weeks before we sailed. This proclaimed the great entertainment that we could expect! Oh really?

My wife and I sailed on the 28 February 'inaugural cruise'. Whilst the cruise was very good in many respects, we were very disappointed to learn (in a letter from John Padgett (President) that we received in our cabin on embarkation) that elements of Park 19, Spellbound and the production shows planned for the Dome and Arena would not be available. We had no prior warning of this. The letter went on to advise that these features 'were in rehearsal' but we discovered that it was more to do with the venues not being ready. We received a $120 USD OBC (that is $60 USD each)! The production shows are a big thing for us on any cruise and the new Sun Princess shows (that continued to be promoted on our stateroom TV and in several emails received during the cruise) were a major attraction and reason to book what should have been the third (not inaugural) Sun Princess cruise. We complained to Guest Services but achieved nothing other than having our complaint logged. We asked for the $120 OBC to be removed but were advised that this could not be done. So we spent the credit on items we did not really want to purchase. To put the $120 USD in perspective, the derisory $60 USD per person OBC was not enough to purchase any of the Chania excursions that had just been made available due to an itinerary change. (On that point, I note that guests on the 9 March cruise are receiving $50 USD as compensation for the port change: we received nothing)! We do not feel that $120 USD adequately compensates for the loss of the features that were not available: we feel that we have been short-changed. Can any fellow Sun Princess 28 February cruisers update me on any compensation received over and above the $120 USD as I intend to approach Princess.