Kit6

I agree that it’s poor form to not have an adult only area including in regular cruise fare. Even though I’ve personally never used that area in previous cruises, I think it’s very important to offer a kid free space on any cruise ship for those that just want a different vibe/occasional break from having kids all about. To charge (and charge quite a lot) to have a day pass to an adult area is poor customer service. I sure hope this lack of communication from Princess is just due to new ship, new app, new website format, etc and will iron out. Wouldn’t be hard to have an auto email notification system for updates on park 19 and itinerary changes. We’ve had 2 ports change & only noticed when we received a credit on our credit card for excursion cancelations. Yes, itineraries can change but to not let customers know about the change, especially when you also auto cancel booked excursions, is awful customer service. We’ve gotten a couple auto emails to remind us to complete online checkins (even though we already had, clearly just rolled out to every single reservation) but zero other than that. Disappointing. And can’t help but be nervous about the quality of our upcoming cruise. We’ve never had a cruise we didn’t love as a family so I’m still hopeful this will be the same, just hoping we don’t regret trying a new cruise line (new to us).

I feel the same, pool & good food and I think we’ll be happy. My kids have always enjoyed some time in kids clubs so that’ll be fun to check out, but even if it’s way below Disney cruise kids club fun, I think we’ll be okay. They’ve never spent a lot of time there, even on DCL. When approximately are you sailing on Sun Princess? This summer?

The complete absence of communication is at the core of the problem for sure. Even though I’m not in the “this will make or break our vacation” group, it is more than a little frustrating to have absolutely zero communication. If it is indeed a situation that will not be rectified until fall when the ship enters the US, that should have been passed on to passengers months ago when they must have found out that was a requirement to open park 19. At least give those of you that would have canceled/gone with another cruise line the opportunity to do so. And how would they go years from initial planning to building the ship to getting the ship cleared to sail and no one at Princess researched this very important aspect of getting it safety certified? I’ll be on the Sun Princess with my family mid summer so I’ll be sure to update if I have any updates.

From what I’ve read - once you proceed through the ropes course, at the top there is a quick slide to get back down to the starting point. So the only was to use the slide is to climb up through the ropes course. The slide itself is not a big thing, just a fun way to get back down from the top of the ropes course. Until park 19 is open, you won’t be able to get to the slide at all.

Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate your input. Hopefully there are more activities for kids to participate in this summer when likely many more kids on board. If not we’ll make the most of what we have - sunshine & family time on the ship.

I believe that is the one & only slide, not a water slide, just a tube slide to come down from the top end of the ropes course. Certainly nothing you’d book the ship because of.

Thank you for the reply - I appreciate your comments. I agree, it is what you make it. Sounds like you’ve cruised so much!! My dream, I love cruising! Such a cool way to see the world.

Maybe I read it differently, but I don't think the comment was saying no one enjoys that or that families shouldn't want that, just that there's ways to enjoy a cruise without it. You're right, there's a multibillion dollar industry based on theme park ships - clearly a whole lot of people love & want that. Even with park 19 (if it was open), the Sun Princess wouldn't come close to competing with those kinds of ships. I think that's where a lot of the confusion comes from - it's just one small area on a large ship. While disappointing to not have it functional, it isn't a water slide park (I believe it's one dry slide to get back down, I could be wrong), it's not a zip line (slow glider, fun but no zip). Perhaps it's the mean mom in me, but if my kids spend 14 nights on a luxury cruise ship complaining they are bored because the ropes course is closed, that'll be the last vacation they take on my tab, lol. I'm clearly just being a little cheeky here but seriously, I think we need to board the ship knowing what it offers & what it doesn't. Clearly a massive misstep from Princess to show thousands of passengers an activity area no one can use, but nothing we can do but make the most of it. We thought we were far enough away from the launch that it would all be up & running but obviously not. Lesson learned for all of us I guess - wait to book until after it's all good.

I agree with you, I'm a little confused at the "there's nothing to do, my kids are bored". Sincere question to those of you in that camp, particularly those that have sailed on the Sun Princess - what do you kids normally do on a cruise that keeps them happy & having fun? Please know, I'm not being sarcastic, I genuinely am trying to understand the reviews of how bored & unhappy kids are on the Sun Princess. We are booked this summer, I have 4 kids (16,15,7,6). We have done 8 cruises but all Disney. We have absolutely loved our Disney Cruise - bright, fun, Disney heaven, but were looking for less park like environment and mostly to cruise the Mediterranean (Disney's 10 night med cruise was significantly more than the 14 night Princess). My kids will definitely miss the AquaDuck water coaster thing but even with that, lineup could be easily 60-90 minutes on peak times so there were days we didn't do it. As anyone who's sailed Disney knows, lots of fun kids club spaces but not great for pools - one shallow kiddie pool & Nemo splash area for under 8, one family pool that is small & always wall to wall with people watching the movie on the big screen and one adult area pool. We were thinking on this cruise that there would be more pool fun and space to swim/play in the pools. We will miss the over the top kids spaces on Disney & fun themed restaurants but we're hoping the kids clubs offer a bit of activities for the kids if they want to try. Has anyone had a kid partake in the kids clubs on the Princess? The teen clubs always seem to offer the most but honestly, we don't cruise so our teens can spend the day in a windowless area on the ship playing MarioKart (which was pretty much the only activity they did on our last cruise, and just for an hour here or there to get a break from the sun). I wonder if some of you are comparing to ships like Disney or the big Royal Caribbean ones with go cart tracks & waterslide parks? I haven't been on Royal Caribbean and truthfully the mega ships with all the theme park stuff doesn't appeal to us. We wanted a quieter, more relaxing cruise this time but obviously I don't want my 4 kids bored out of their minds. I was getting all worried with the reviews of how boring the ship is but I'm trying to remember that we really do go for the family time and for the opportunity to explore new parts of the world. Hopefully we find the ship offers us a great vacation.

Any updates on opening date for park 19?

Wow, that’s very interesting - good pickup on that it was removed from the site! Hopefully if it can’t be opened up, they quickly switch it over to something else. Harder for people to see something they can’t play on than if it was removed/changed to a usable activity space. I have 4 kids, we were all looking forward to trying it out but I’d definitely rather not have it than have one of them injured! Truth be told, we were never super focused on it. It was just a cool thing we were excited to try but we are going for the cruise, for the excursions & some family togetherness. Whether park 19 is up & running or even still there, won’t make or break our cruise. Thanks for the information & your opinion on this!

Thanks! Sounds like there’s lots to do. Hopefully the ropes course is running soon but even without it, I’m sure we’ll have lots of family fun!

Are the swimming pools not open? Kids clubs? I’ve read that there’s lots of activities in the main area (like Zumba & game show type stuff). Are they still offering those things? Maybe just not first day? Or have you been in for a while?