Kit6

No reservations available, just show up. And yes, there’s a bar right inside the doors of the dome, you pass by it to go to the seating area.

It was in the dome, an excellent venue for it. You’re so close to the performers, the acrobatics are really amazing.

Thanks for sharing, good to know that they’re finally informing their passengers (even if it is just shortly before boarding 😊). Have a great cruise, even without park 19 there’s lots to love!

I totally get what you’re saying. Congrats on the free cruise! Obviously not your first choice but silver lining nonetheless. I hope you enjoy your cruise!

Just in the interest of transparency. Even though I’m not in the group that will cancel or not book without park 19, I don’t think it’s right to heavily promote something & then go silent for months, then slowly tell some people but deny the information to others. In my opinion, this isn’t being discrete about bad news, it’s misleading the people that factor it in when choosing a cruise line/cruise ship.

Oh really? Well that’s interesting, definitely seems legit. It sure why I’ve gotten a different response with Princess website chats & through my travel agency. I’m glad that they are being more direct with it (finally). Now if only they’d put a big announcement in the front page of their website so we’d all know! 😂 I’m one of the rare beings not on any social media, just stumbled upon this website searching for answers on park 19 months ago - haven’t seen anything official myself so totally in the dark with it.

I thought that wasn’t confirmed/that it was possibly not a legit email as it isn’t on their website and not all travel agents were notified? When I asked my travel agent about it about a month ago, she had checked with their agency’s Princess rep and was told it was still hopefully going to get whatever clearance needed to open. Not sure who I believe here, sure seems like a lot is being hidden or not disclosed. Just seems funny to me that Princess would announce the cancellation of park 19 in writing to someone while being completely evasive to everyone else. Not that any of this makes sense, lol. Like I said it’s impossible to know what the heck is actually going on 🤨.

They had 2 different shows, we went to both (one at 830 & one at 10pm). You definitely need to be a half hour early but we found seats both times - one time was 3 of us & one time was all 6 of us. We went 30 minutes early both times, the time we went for the 830 show they actually had the doors closed for setting up so there was a line but we easily got in. They announced every few minutes to not save seats & ushers did actually help people find seats by kindly telling people to move close together (aka stop trying to save seats).

Hopefully Princess announces and/or does something about park 19 soon - the neither here nor there if it all is the core of what’s firing people up on both sides for & against it. They need to get it running or take it down. Clearly, not everyone will be pleased no matter which way they go (clearly evidenced on these forums 😬) but at least everyone could make a choice knowing of park 19 was running, going to be running in the future, or demolished.

I find that the top deck of a cruise ship is always windy - not much they can do about that, pick something & let people decide if they’re okay with the wind or not. On Disney cruise, mini golf on the top deck can be “interesting”, often so windy we didn’t need to hit the ball or a shot would go from great to disastrous or vice versa, lol. And we still enjoyed that. It was definitely windy up on deck 19 on the Sun Princess but we still enjoyed the hammocks & games like giant connect 4 & giant jenga plus they had a few putting competitions up there using a little mat.

I’m sure your kids will still have loads of fun (like ours did)! Ours did mention that it looked fun, wished it was open, whenever we were up on deck 19 playing or hanging out but it wasn’t upsetting to them, just a comment. The kids clubs have energetic employees, lots of activities (for those that wish to go) and there’s also lots of family areas & activities to enjoy. This was our first Princess cruise & we were impressed with the variety of activities/game shows/shows. The Piazza turned out to be a great central & open location for a lot of the entertainment- from game shows to dance lessons. The comments before about a lot of seating where you can’t see down to the center is true (puzzling that the design engineers didn’t identify that) but you can find lots of great areas to view things. Check out the Cirque shows if you hey a chance to - absolutely amazing, especially in a cruise ship venue!

I agree. Frustrating - yes, legal right to compensation - I don’t think so (not a lawyer but I’m guessing big corporations have lawyers that make sure they’re not on the hook for that kinda thing). There’s no guarantee that certain parts will be open, Princess has providing almost zip communication, certainly nothing on proposed opening dates. We were hoping it would be open for our current cruise but nothing indicated it would be months ago (in fact all signs pointed to it not being open), well within the window we could cancel without penalty. It was our choice to sail anyway, as it is all of those that booked & didn’t cancel. side note: last week seemed much quieter on the ship than this week, definitely way more kids this week & more passengers overall. Made it quite clear that the lineups would’ve been VERY long for park 19 so might not be the nonstop bliss many think it would be. It looks like it would be fun but you’d definitely wait longer in line than the course would take you to do, by far.

I see both sides, just trying to acknowledge both. Not meant to offend, I understand that these programs are very important to some. I put “punished” in quotations meant to indicate it was a little off/not the best word. Not used to how offended people get by little posts or an opinion different from their own, I’m not on any social media, jumped on here just for “fun” 😜. I’m really completely fine with loyalty perks, special sections for those who pay extra for suites, etc. Makes sense to have the different options, just wanted to say that I also understand that some families who may save up to do one of these cruises in their lifetimes also might enjoy those areas & is also be okay with supporting that.

I get what sone of you are saying about rewarding loyalty however, on the other side - I think it is nice to make things open & accessible for all too. Many can’t afford a yearly luxury cruise, some want to try different cruises or vacations, not fair to be “punished” for that. I see both sides, nice to have some perks too for those that continue to give their money to one cruise line.

Alfredo’s & O’Malleys are both included in the plus package, 2 meals per sailing.

So we went into the 16+ area at the front of the ship, it is indeed 16+, no charge. They were very nice about it, but did confirm the age restriction. You can go into the dome but not the front part or into that pool (only a small part of the pool is before the dividing wall/doors). We enjoyed a show in the dome as a family, all are welcome there. It’s just the front half of that area including pool that is 16+. Not a big deal for us at all, lots of pools & seating outside that area, but some may not like that.

Not sure if it’s being enforced, we didn’t personally try as only one of my 4 would be old enough. If we venture in, which we likely will over the next week or so, I’ll be sure to post about it.

I totally get that. As a plus though - maybe it’s good that they are being flexible, shifting as need be based on guest feedback, instead of rigidly sticking to original plans with new concepts for them that aren’t as successful as they hoped they’d be. 🤷🏻‍♀️

On the Sun Princess now. While it is a bummer to look at a ropes course you can’t go on (it looks like it would be fun), I gotta say we are finding that there is lots to do. Many activities from morning to very late at night - crafts, games, dance instruction, etc. Lots of kids activities too, options for anyone, including hanging out as a family in lido deck. While there is no sport court, there is an area with a sport court floor that has giant connect 4 & cornhole, fun to enjoy as a family, plenty of comfy seating all around the area. They also do different group games there, we did a team putting challenge (like beer pong but on a putting green), anybody who wanted to join chose a side & played. Lots of fun to be had if you choose to jump in. Regarding the dome pool - that area is clearly marked 16 plus. But if a disappointment as my kids wanted to swim around there but not a huge deal, other pools to choose from. The wakeview pool is awesome, never more than 1/2 full as it’s a bit shady at the back of the ship but still plenty warm enough to swim. The ship is very clean, food is good (dining room service is slow but fine), staff is wonderful throughout. My family of 6 (including two teens & two young kids) are having a fantastic time. As I said, it’s a shame the whole park 19 thing is such a mess but there’s so many other fun things to do, if you don’t obsess with park 19 disappointment.

Wow, thanks for sharing this. What a mess, not what I expected but it’s about time Princess actually put out a statement about it instead of hiding. Embarrassing for Princess, expensive mistake that took the better part of a year to realize.

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.