dides

Nope. We think that some had found themselves into people's luggage however - hence me missing out on one on the April sailing. They had to use a standard martini glass then!

Absolut Elyx, Lemon, Strawberry. It's listed on this menu

Hi Dr J We are disembarking in Southampton - wish we could spare the time off work to do the TA! Your answers - 1) Director of Restaurant Operations is Indeed Claudio 2) Suite Concierge position.is that certain dining venue changes will be done our of hours so as to avoid disruption to passengers. Some heavier renovations will need to be done at ports like Southampton and FLL. All will be completed for 14th Oct 3) Nothing much known about Park 19 other than they are dismantling it now and will be installing a full Sports Court Will keep our eyes and ears open!

So so - a bit too strong for me. But I am a lightweight with alcohol - prefer fruity vodka and rum based long cocktails. Am I wrong for getting this for the glass it comes in? 😉

Day 2 ,- Palma We opted to stay on the ship and relax today We will eventually get to the proper Suite Breakfast but went for the door hanger option this time. It arrived hot and on time. The most awkward part was finding a surface to place the trays and then eating from it. No easily moveable side tables so we put our plates on some chairs at ate from there. Not great! After breakfast we went up to the Sanctuary - af 10am there were a handful of people in the Sun Deck area and that's all. We settled into the easy chairs in the shade as we aren't sun bunnies. Had to wait a bit for drinks service as there was a crew drill going on. Our view: The delightful Benni came over and we said we remembered her from our April visit when she told us she was leaving the ship in Southampton. She bought Mark the Sanctuary Manager over to us again and he said he was handing it over to a new manager once it arrived in FLL. Some changes were expected in the Sanctuary: - a new 'ring for Champagne' bell - a new small buffet area on the other side from the bar to compliment the bento menu - more loungers - no more daily walk-ins Later on more people started taking up more spaces around the pool and hot tubs . I also noticed some workmen setting up some scaffolding around Park 19. When it got a little too windy in our corner we went down to the Suite Lounge for a couple of hours. Very relaxing with attentive bar staff. Chris had much better hearing than me and overheard one of the Concierge Managers telling a passenger that they could not book them into the Crown Grill on the penultimate day of the cruise - the 22nd - because it was moving location. Didn't think it was happening that soon so will try and find out more. We came back to our suite for a nap then headed off to O'Malley's to grab a bench seat for our evening meal. We dressed smart but not flashy and didn't want to do the formal night thing. We swapped Starters this time - Chris had the Onion Stack and I had the Onion Soup. He loved the onion rings and I regretted not having them too. For mains, Chris had the O'Malley"s Burger and I had the Steak, Ale and Mushroom Pie. The burger and fries were good - I found the pie a bit strange with the gravy seemingly tomato based anf the fries should have been mash or new potatoes. We both had the Irish Apple Cake for dessert and it was tasty but heavy on the stomach! The pub got very busy at times over the next 2-3 hours - we had some live music but it a male singer and not the Irish group. Next we went to Good Spirits ,(spotting Chef Rudi en route) and Chris went through his top 3 drinks from their menu and we were there for one of the cocktail demos. That got really busy at times too We ended the night next door watching karaoke until we hit the 2nd Sinatra song; Chris has overdone it a bit on the draft beers and cocktails and may well regret it tomorrow morning 🙂 To be continued

And here, finally, is The Rose in its fancy glass

Vanilla Vodka, Chocolate Liqueur, Irish Cream and Franglico. It does taste like Ferraro Rocher and is on the Crooners menu. Also on the Princess Live menu too.

Not on the Sun Princess - no card access and Medallions control access to the Suite Lounge.

Here are the patters for the first 2 days,:

Well that was weird - I just hit the post button and we headed over to Good Spirits. On the way, I spotted Chef Rudi himself getting some gelato. I asked if I might take his photo for everyone on cruisecritic and he laughed and said ' of course!,' He then came over to shake our hands and we complimented him on the meal we had at The Catch. Here he is:

So we headed down to The Catch by Rudi for our embarkation night dinner. I forgot to mention that we have the Premier package (original( so have 2 other specialty meals this cruise. I had to persuade Chris to come along because he won't touch fish (no Britto for us!) and the meat options are pretty limited at Catch. It was already half full when we arrived in the aft area of deck 9. The staff were very attentive and we didn't feel it lacked atmosphere. But they will certainly have difficulty squeezing the same numbers into the Signature Restaurant space. There was nothing for Chris for starters so he ordered the fish stew for me to try and I went for the Shrimp on the Rocks. Then he chose the Poivre Perfection and I splashed our on the whole Lobster for the mains. He chose Chantilly Lace for dessert and I selected Delights in the Air. The bread they served was delicious - I left that for Chris to nibble along with the garlic bread from the stew. I really enjoyed the shrimp but the fish stew wasn't my thing at all. The lobster was delicious but way too much food for me! Chris lived both his steak and dessert - enough to come again when we go in Sky next month; And my dessert was sublime - so much like my favourite summer dessert if Eton Mess. Mmmm For the rest of the evening we watched a game show with the CD called Port or Starboard and then watched the Jeopardy type game in Princess Live! before heading to bed. We also received our first ever towel animal on a Princess cruise! To be continued

Here are the times for the first port day

Were are in Sun Princess now and have got some more info on the upcoming changes The Sanctuary will have: - A 'ring for Champagne' bell - A small buffet area the other side of the bar in addition to the bento menu (Source: Mark the Sanctuary Manager) And my other half overheard a Suite Concierge Manager saying they could not book a suite passenger into the Crown Grill on the penultimate day of this cruise - 22nd - because it was moving location. So I have not verified this but it looks like some changes may be in place for some on the TA. Will try and get some more info.

During lunch in the Signature Restaurant another couple from the UK were seated next to us. We started nattering and discovered we were both on the cruisecritic roll call and both successfully got upgraded to S4 Penthouse Suites. *Waves to @LWhit* Chris and I had watched our muster videos on our phones in Crooners earlier so were all set to check.in at Horizons on deck 7 for our muster station. The Piazza area was rammed but we managed to squeeze through and walk past the ships to get to muster checkin. We hadn't heard an announcement about cabins being ready but it was 1:20 so we thought we would head up to deck 17 and try our luck..... Our medallions didn't work on our door,! We went along and down to the Suite Lounge entrance on deck 15 and they didn't open the door there either. We managed to get inside when someone came out. After sitting down and ordering some sparkling water we got talking to Sebastian one of the Concierge Managers about our medallions. Sebastian checked on his system and said we needed replacement medallions He said he would go to Guest Services at the other end of the ship and sort it out. What amazing service! We had to wait about half an hour in the end but we were then all sorted. And the Suite Lounge is a wonderful spot to relax So we finally get to access our penthouse suite. It's an obvious upgrade to the deluxe balcony but it does feel like a downgrade to the suites on Royal Class. A little too compact and it feels like there isn't enough usable desk or counter surface in the lounge area - the balcony furniture is lovely though! Here are some pics: Here we have our Suite welcome letter: And the Suite Lounge Team flyer: Our luggage had already been delivered so we unpacked a little and had short nap before heading back to the Suite Lounge for pre-dinner drinks. We had The Catch by Rudi booked for 6:30om and there was a Champagne Sabreing demo at 5:30pm. The Suite Lounge was packed when we arrived so we went and sat upstairs and looked down at the demo. Chris enjoyed the free glasses of Piper Heidsieck!!! To be continued...

Hi, thought I would sneak in a little Live from for this repositioning leg as Sun Princess heads from Europe over to to FLL. This is our second time on Sun Princess but are now in a Penthouse Suite rather than deluxe balcony (the category we booked on the original cancelled inaugural).So hope to record the suite experience before the Sanctuary Collection changes My other half and I flew in from London Heathrow to Barcelona two days before the cruise. We had torrential rain on arrival but it turned pleasantly warm and sunny for the next couple of days. Having visited all the main sights before, we stayed in a hotel north of the city and just relaxed. We took a taxi to the port and arrived at 10am. We, handed off our cases to the porters, went through security and the blue lane with no lines and directed to the priority area to wait for boarding. We were onboard at 10;40. First stop was Crooners. I wanted to order The Rose cocktail only because they didn't have the special stemmed glass in stock when I asked back in April. But was thwarted because they were waiting for the special Rose flower supplies to come onboard later . So Chris got his Ferrero and I had a Mai Tai as our first drinks Our next move was to go back down to deck 7 and grab lunch at the Signature Restaurant. We never usually do a dining room lunch but we thought we would grab the chance to experience it before the suite guests get bundled into a shared dining area again with the new Sanctuary Collection changes. We were greeted at the door and taken to the far end of the room. All the tables by the windows were taken and it was to become 70% full by the end of the lunch period. Here is the lunch menu: Chris chose the Signature Burger and Sundae and I chose the Plant-based Burrito and Lime and Mango Cake. Chris though the burger and fries were really nice. My burrito was a bit bland but I enjoyed the mango cake. We asked to see the menu for that evening even though we were booked in The Catch. Here is The Sailaway Dinner: The Restaurant Manager came around to introduce himself and go through the opening times. We mentioned the upcoming changes but he didn't offer up anything additional. To be continued...

Boarding tomorrow so will try and upload some. If anyone has any burning questions then do ask. We are in a penthouse suite and hopefully getting a decent suite experience before the Sanctuary Collection changes 😆

Nope - just the USB port

There is one USB port on each lamp on the nightstand in suites on Discovery Princess

I heard a rumour once that Princess have a warehouse full of kettles in Southampton that they fill up before ships head back across the pond. Could be utter nonsense of course lol

See this post which lists all the casual dining venues, the ships they appear on and the menus

Report from someone onboard now that they have started to dismantle Park 19 (Credit Kathy S on FB)

Princess have posted on X about the new madrina for Star Princess - the female third engineer on Sun Princess - video can be found on the link here: Today, we're thrilled to announce another "first"! Chiara del Vecchio, our exceptional third engineer on #SunPrincess, has been named the madrina of #StarPrincess, our newest Sphere Class ship debuting in 2025. She is the first member of our technical team to hold this esteemed role. As a madrina, Chiara will uphold a time-honored maritime tradition later this month by smashing the ceremonial bottle of champagne during Star Princess' float-out at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, symbolizing good fortune and safe travels for everyone on board. Congratulations, Chiara! We're honored to have you make history with us.

Great photos - thanks for posting! Someone on another site posted the dining venues patter for today and Catch and Butchers Block were marked as closed - the poster's reservations had been moved to a later day in the cruise. Seems very unusual - interested to know if you have seen anything going on in the Deck 9 aft area?

Here is a pic showing our sofa bed setup in a Premium on Sky which would be very similar

Oh darnit No shouty passengers for us avid people-watchers! (we're boarding in Barcelona in a couple of weeks if that's the same cruise) 😄