Review of Sun Princess Eastern Caribbean Cruise 27 Feb to 9 Mar 2005

[floridakeith]

After a 6-hour drive we arrived at Berth 29 at Fort Lauderdale. There is no car parking at this berth so I had to drop off my wife, a friend and our baggage and drive to the Midport Parking Garage and take the free shuttle back. So it was 1pm before we joined the check in line. After a delay to fill in a Bahamas landing card that we ultimately never used because our call at Princess Cays was abandoned because of rough seas, we checked in and were on the Sun Princess by 1.30pm. After a leisurely lunch in the buffet we explored the ship until it was time for lifeboat drill and the sail away party on deck.

 

We had interior cabins on Caribe Deck 9, my wife and I in C415 and our friend in C419. The cabins, while smaller than we have had on Holland America, were adequate for a 10-night cruise and were clean and in excellent condition with pleasantly light decoration and soft furnishings. We had booked for early traditional dining and were allocated Table 169 in the Regency Dining Room. It was a table for 6 and we had three delightful dinner companions. Our waiter Cris from Grenada and his assistant Homer from the Philippines were models of friendly efficiency. The food in the dining room was better than we remember from our Princess cruise to Alaska in 2003 and better than either of our recent Holland America cruises, though not up to Celebrity standards. We only had dinner in the dining room, as we prefer the flexibility of the buffet for breakfast and lunch. The buffet choice though was not up to Holland America standards, e.g. you could not get a sandwich for lunch or pizza by the slice other than on one day and the cold table meat and fish selection was poorer.

 

An atrium spans decks 5 to 8. Deck 5, the lowest has the Marquis dining room and purser and tour desks. Deck 6 has the Regency dining room, and the duty free shops. Promenade Deck 7 has the Princess Theater at the bow, then the Wheelhouse Bar followed by an Atrium lounge with a bar and small dance floor where Glenn Radcliffe, a very talented keyboard vocalist sang romantic American songbook music from 9pm each night. This was our favorite after show spot. Towards the stern from the Atrium is another bar, the disco, photo gallery, library and Internet café, plus the Vista show lounge. The promenade has nice teak padded steamer loungers for a quiet spot either in port or at sea if the wind is not too blustery. Deck 8 contains the Casino and the Verdi Café that serves pizzas cooked to order but without any accompaniments such as salad. The remaining public facilities are on Riviera deck 12, which has three pools, the gym and beauty parlor and children’s area. Lido deck 14 has the Horizon Court buffet at the front of the ship with three sided panoramic windows providing excellent views while you eat. Part of the buffet on the starboard side was roped off each evening for the a la carte Sterling Steakhouse at a supplementary charge of $15 per person. The terrace grill serving hot dogs, etc. at lunchtime is outside the Horizon Court overlooking the pool one deck below. Sun Deck 15 over the Horizon Court offers more sun bathing area with another splash pool. Despite the ship carrying slightly more than 100 passengers over its 1,950 two lower berth passenger complement the ship felt spacious and we were always able to find sun loungers or a seat in the bars. Only getting a seat for a show proved to be a challenge as the shows were so popular.

 

We had four production shows: Curtain Up, C’est Magnifique, Tribute and Piano Man. All were enjoyable, but we felt the first two were definitely the best. Other entertainers included an exceptionally good vocalist Darren Lynton, a politically incorrect comedian Philadelphia, a ventriloquist Dan Horn, a magician Garry Carlson (who we did not see), comedy juggler David Deeble and musician/comedian Bayne Bacon.

 

We chose this cruise because a number of the ports were new to us. The first stop after two days at sea was an afternoon in St Vincent. We chose to take a taxi to Fort Charlotte overlooking Kingstown that also gave us a tour of the town. We felt it is a friendly commercially undeveloped island. The next day was Grenada. It is nine years since we vacationed on the island and we were sad to see how much hurricane damage the island suffered. We took a ships half-day tour with a very friendly and informative taxi driver who showed us around St George’s and a rum distillery where we bought a delicious bottle of Grenada Spiced Rum Liqueur before we enjoyed an hour on Grand Anse Beach. St Lucia was new to us. The attractive cruise terminal shopping center and the town of Castries was interesting. We took a ships tour that took us to an old mansion providing spectacular views of the harbor, then on to Marigot Bay. We then passed through Anse La-Raye, a small fishing village that vividly demonstrated how poorer St Lucian’s live, on our way to an old Sugar Mill with a botanical garden. The tour whetted our appetite to return and see more of this pretty island, and also made us appreciate how long it takes to get anywhere on the narrow, winding, hilly roads. Martinique struck us as being just like any large French seaside town, so very untypical Caribbean! We nevertheless enjoyed a ships tour to St Pierre, the village that was totally destroyed in a volcanic eruption in 1902 killing all but one of its 30,000 residents. Then on to the Depaz rum distillery for an interesting factory tour and rum tasting before heading back inland via Balata on roads so narrow, winding and hilly (with precipitous drops) that we sometimes thought our full-sized coach would be unable to make it. Our old friend St Thomas was our next port. This time we just explored the stores in Havensight Mall before taking a taxi to spend the rest of the day on the beach at Magens Bay. As mentioned earlier what would have been our first visit to Princess Cays was canceled because of a tall swell that Captain William Kent decided was too dangerous for tendering. So we had a day at sea instead.

 

Disembarking at Fort Lauderdale’s Terminal 2 was the fastest and smoothest we have ever experienced at a US port. We had just sat down to breakfast at 8.30am when the first group was called. We disembarked at 9.15am and despite having to get the shuttle to fetch our car, we were loaded up and on the road home by 9.50am. Gratuities had been automatically charged to our cabin account at $10 per person per day which we are happy with, and it had been charged to our credit card so there had been no hassle finalizing matters.

 

In summary we had an enjoyable cruise on a beautiful, spacious, relaxed and comfortable ship. We prefer the décor on Princess ships to Holland America, and the Princess dining room food was better, but Holland America has a better buffet and much more spacious cabins. If only you could combine the best of each! Our next two cruises are on Celebrity so it will be interesting to see if our previous experience of Celebrity still sets them apart from Princess and Holland America, though we would choose any of them for a particular itinerary.

 

[Nicecara]

Thanks for a very informative review, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself...I generally have the same opinions :)

[enymarsh]

Nice review! I liked your comparisons to other lines and your estimation of HAL is exactly what I would have said. Why don't the cruise lines listen to us??? Combining the best of HAL and Princess certainly would please a lot of people!

[fllcruiser]

Thanks for the review. I board the Sun Princess on saturday!

[LMCAT123]

Thank you for the lovely review. We are taking this same cruise on April 8th and I was wondering if you could find the time I'd appreciate it if you could post how much the taxi ride was to Ft. Charlotte on St. Vincent, likewise the taxi to Magen's Bay.

 

Also wonder how busy the Internet area was on the Sun. Did you notice? or use it ? Any time that is less crowded then other times?

 

Thanks ! :-)

[dcourt]

LMCAT123 - we too are on the April 8th cruise. Come and join our roll call board.

[floridakeith]

Thank you for the lovely review. We are taking this same cruise on April 8th and I was wondering if you could find the time I'd appreciate it if you could post how much the taxi ride was to Ft. Charlotte on St. Vincent, likewise the taxi to Magen's Bay.

 

Also wonder how busy the Internet area was on the Sun. Did you notice? or use it ? Any time that is less crowded then other times?

 

Thanks ! :-)

 

Apologies for the delay in posting a reply but we have been travelling and great excitement our second grandchild, a girl, was born on Easter Sunday so we have been rather busy.

 

From memory a collective taxi for 7 cost us $6 each way to Fort Charlotte from the pier. You only need an hour at the Fort as there is not a lot there apart from the astounding views, a walk through the inside and a chat to the local guide. It is still worth the visit as you get an interesting ride through the town. The locals are very friendly and not at all pushy. The island is very undeveloped for tourism and still has much of the original natural charm of the Caribbean.

 

The taxi to Megans Beach was also $6 each way plus you have to pay the $3 entry fee to the beach as it is a state park. There are lots of taxis at the pier and similarly a lot at the beach so you don't need to book one to take you back to the ship. Watch out on the beach for Abigail who walks back and forth from the beach bar getting your drinks orders so you can just laze on the beach and relax.

 

I didn't use the Internet area on this trip but often walked through it as it is near the library and the port side entrance to the rear show lounge. It never seemed that busy despite the 35 cents per minute rate being the lowest we have come across on cruise ships.

[Caris]

We just got off the Sun yesterday and used the internet frequently. You could always find a terminal, even though there were always several people in there.

On this cruise, after the children's programs were finished (I assume) the teens seemed to congregate in this room using it as a social place, most of them just standing around goofing off, not using the internet. It could get annoying if they decided to run around in and out and be loud, but this was only later in the evenings. This cruise also had the kids on it I've ever seen, but being spring break time, I guess that is to be expected.

The internet always seemd pretty fast and we never had problems with it.

[cruiserforlife]

floridakeith,

 

Thanks for the informative review and congratulations on the new grandchild.

We sailed the Sun on 1/28 and had a fantastic time so I echo many of your sediments.I started a thread named "Live from the Sun" while onboard that is still going strong to this day.Many,many people have commented on what a fantastic time they've had on the Sun recently.

[Grego]

Very good and positive review. We were on the same voyage and felt it was one of the best itineraries thus far. It was too bad that we didn't get to Princess Cays, but the captain did make the correct call and the leisurely sail back to port was OK for us.

 

As reported the production shows were some of the best we've seen in the years sailing with Princess. The other variety acts were a mix of good and great, but since they change with each voyage they might not appear for those sailing on future sailings.

 

The Sun is a very pretty ship and is in good condition for her age. This is the second time for us on her and we had an aft mini-suite which we loved. It may be my imagination, but it appeared that they added a lot more deck chairs on the upper open decks. They were new and more than enough for everyone this time.

 

Our next cruise will be on RCI with some of our very best friends so I'll be able to report on the way they do things on the Brilliance of the Seas in the Mediterranean.

[suntan]

Thank you for the great review. My family and I will be taking this cruise on February 26, 2006. I am new to Princess so hearing all about the interior cabins (we will be on the Riveria deck), the decor, the food, lounges, etc. has been very helpful in confirming in my mind that we have made a good choice.