New Cruiser to Princess, food and service?

[Instigatorhw]

My partner and I are new to cruising this year and spent a delightful 2 months celebrating my 40th earlier this year on two Seabourn vessels. We have unexpectedly won a 3 week cruise (departing Oct 2014) with a great itinerary of plenty of sea days. Just wondering what to expect in terms of food quality and service aboard Sun Princess? Also any tips on clothing, we packed fairly extravagantly for Seabourn and are hoping to avoid all the luggage required for two months.....I'm hoping it's a bit more casual this time around so tips for appropriate dinner wear would be appreciated!

[Loonbeam]

Food is subjective. Two people at the same table won't share the same opinion of the same meal. Personally I find Princess to be pretty decent but then again I prefer continental style cuisine.

 

Australia cruises tend to be more casual, so I wouldn't go overboard. There will be formal nights, but you can opt for the buffet on those nights if you don't want to carry formal wear.

[Mrs.Gosse]

We just got off the Golden princess and the food was wonderful. Better then I anticipated because DH and I are both chefs and our idea of amazing is very different then some people we have met. We can tell banquet prepared food. Everything in the dining room was great. The buffet was pretty good and then quick food stations (burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches)were very good and prepared fresh. The pizza was so good my husband got it every day and he is from New York and crazy picky about pizza.

[OCruisers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

Please keep in mind Princess is a mass market cruise line. A very good mass market but don't expect Seabourn. ;)

It's been a while since we've sailed on Sun Princess but did enjoy being on her -- not too big and not too small. :)

On Princess cruises in general ....

Food: While subjective ... we are normally happy with the MDR but have found it best to go to a specialty restaurant for steaks.

Service: No problems for us. Bar service is always especially good.

Dress: Lots less formal than it once was. For formal evenings my husband has recently quit taking his tuxedo and just takes a navy sports coat. On "smart casual" nights long pants and a golf shirts are worn by most men.

Have a GREAT cruise and please let us know how you liked it when you return. :)

LuLu

[Instigatorhw]

Thank you for the responses, we are curious about being on a bigger ship and easy to please in terms of amusing ourselves. I am looking forward to a larger range of entertainment and don't require fine dining every night. I am wondering how room service is on board Princess?

 

In particular, I'm looking forward to smaller bags and less formal clothing. I admit I didn't love dressing in elegantly casual and formal attire every night for two months on our last cruise!

 

Thanks Lulu, very informative!

[GUT2407]

My partner and I are new to cruising this year and spent a delightful 2 months celebrating my 40th earlier this year on two Seabourn vessels. We have unexpectedly won a 3 week cruise (departing Oct 2014) with a great itinerary of plenty of sea days. Just wondering what to expect in terms of food quality and service aboard Sun Princess? Also any tips on clothing, we packed fairly extravagantly for Seabourn and are hoping to avoid all the luggage required for two months.....I'm hoping it's a bit more casual this time around so tips for appropriate dinner wear would be appreciated!

 

Food is subjective, but it is on the whole good.

 

Dress on 'Casual" nights men trousers and shirt, ladies equivalent. "Formal" men suit and tie ladies a nice dress or pants and top. If you want to meet the Princess "guidelines".

[shredie]

Room service is mediocre. Breakfast is just a few cold items. Only suite guests can order from the MDR menu. However, the International Cafe is a deli sort of arrangement on the piazza where you can get pastries and sandwiches and soup 24 hours a day and then take it to your room if you want to. The food there is very good.

[PunkiC]

If you like a good New York slice, you will love the pizza. I do, but make sure you get it fresh. They make large pizzas and sometimes they sit for a while.

 

Other than the pizza, I like to make huge salads at the buffet but their salad dressings are too heavy. I need to find a solution to that problem. I was getting very spoiled with the wonderful salad dressings on Cunard's Queen Victoria.

 

I really love to cook and have a hard time finding anything on a ship that I like as well as what I make at home.

[Jim Avery]

As others have said, less formal. I have sailed Seabourn and Princess twice. Do not expect food like Seabourn. On Star Princess, it is best described as good banquet food. Service in the main dining room was very hit or miss. In the extra tariff venues it was good. On Pacific Princess we were happily surprised with very good food and service. Not quite Seabourn but very good and enjoyable. Have not sailed Sun but it will probably be ok. Princess provides a good product for the price so leave the tux at home and enjoy.:D

[Coral]

The Sun Princess has a wonderful sit down restaurant/pizzeria with pizza, calzones, lasagna and salad made to order. It is not the pizza counter as PunkiC referred to.

 

Last time I checked, the Sun Class doesn't have the pizza counter like the Grand class ships.

 

I love the Sun Princess. I know she is getting older but I would rather sail on that ship compared to some of the newer ships.

 

Food is actually pretty good on Princess. I get tired of the menus as they have used them for years but for a new person, you will be pleased.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Edited September 27, 2014 by Coral

[pppatpc2]

Great thing, IMHO, about Princess is the service. So if you go to dinner and you don't like what you have ordered, ask nicely and they will happily bring you something else. That being said, my DH and I are big foodies and have disliked very few things on Princess. One thing I avoid are the steaks, because they cannot have an open flame on the ship they cook them on grill pans and I just don't like the flavor, but the prime rib is good. They do the comfort foods very well-oxtail pasta, short ribs, lamb shanks, etc.

 

As others have said "not Seabourne", but if that is not your expectation, you will not be dissapointed.

 

As for clothing, you can dress as you like, but you will be limited to where you eat. No shorts in the dining room at dinner, etc. I always bring a few pairs of black slacks and some tops made of the travel knit material, throw in some layers or different jewelery and you can make it look like a bunch of different outfits. My DH always orders one of the tuxs available from Princess online to be delivered to the cabin. We enjoy formal night. There is usually laundry on board as well. You will find on a long voyage like that one there are alot of seasoned travelers who are like minded and do not like to bring alot of baggage.

[Instigatorhw]

Thank you everyone, it's time to start packing and we can't wait!

[Thrak]

The Sun Princess has a wonderful sit down restaurant/pizzeria with pizza, calzones, lasagna and salad made to order. It is not the pizza counter as PunkiC referred to.

 

Last time I checked, the Sun Class doesn't have the pizza counter like the Grand class ships.

 

I love the Sun Princess. I know she is getting older but I would rather sail on that ship compared to some of the newer ships.

 

Food is actually pretty good on Princess. I get tired of the menus as they have used them for years but for a new person, you will be pleased.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Doesn't the Sun have Cafe Corniche? Same as on Sea Princess? If so, that was a great pizza venue and nothing at all like the Lido deck pizza on the Grand class of ships. I thought it was much better. My wife and I greatly enjoyed Sea Princess. She is the ship that introduced me to cruising and got me hooked. :)

[jammen]

My partner and I are new to cruising this year and spent a delightful 2 months celebrating my 40th earlier this year on two Seabourn vessels. We have unexpectedly won a 3 week cruise (departing Oct 2014) with a great itinerary of plenty of sea days. Just wondering what to expect in terms of food quality and service aboard Sun Princess? Also any tips on clothing, we packed fairly extravagantly for Seabourn and are hoping to avoid all the luggage required for two months.....I'm hoping it's a bit more casual this time around so tips for appropriate dinner wear would be appreciated!

 

 

Princess always likes to please, as for food I have never experienced a bad one.

Be sure to take close for formal night.

[Coral]

Doesn't the Sun have Cafe Corniche? Same as on Sea Princess? If so, that was a great pizza venue and nothing at all like the Lido deck pizza on the Grand class of ships. I thought it was much better. My wife and I greatly enjoyed Sea Princess. She is the ship that introduced me to cruising and got me hooked. :)

 

Yes - I didn't remember what the name of the pizzeria as I had sailed most of the Sun Class ships (I think they had different names). It was much better than Alfredos on Sapphire and the pizza on Lido on the Grand Class ships!

 

I wish Royal Princess would have used this menu instead of the menu they used.

 

She is also the ship that made me fall in love with cruising.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Coral