Sun Princess - Original

[tripsahoy2]

Booked on Barcelona to Barcelona 6/22-7/13/2024. Excited as i

we celebrate husband’s special birthday. Ne3d to get hotel for earl arrival and plane tix.

 

[tripsahoy2]

Decided to travel on the Sun Princess again for 3/8/2025. Caribbean cruise. Hope to figure out where everything is as totally new configurations on this new ship. Probably will be same for new one debuting in 2025.

[tripsahoy2]

4 hours ago, mlmbar said:

Food was quite good on Sky in November after having been disappointed on Regal Feb 2022. However, Crown Grille was a disappointment and will not go again. We are used to Blu on Celebrity so hoping the Reserve will be similar

 

5 hours ago, d9704011 said:

I'm sure there's no stupid stuff on Oceania but is there regular bingo?

Love Oceania as well. Great food. Always enjoyed their cruises. 

[rbtan]

5 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Kind of difficult to compare Oceania with Celebrity and Princess let alone the entry level lines since Oceania is well known for their food.  But then again, there's nothing in the Oceania fleet that's going to compare to the two Sphere Class ships for overall amenities.

If you've not sailed a smaller more intimate ship that has no:Annoying photographers taking your picture at every opportunity(yes, it's a revenue enhancer)garbage & worthless(and they are) art sales(again revenue)Annoying announcements on the "Inch of Gold" for sale & other worthless trinkets.The inability to get into a lot of ports due to size. So exactly what ARE the Sphere class amenities? I'll be answering Voljeep's usual  comments as well as to why do we sail Princess at times & not just Oceania.

 We did not like Oceania's "Save the Seas" load of crap. It is not that environmentally different. Instead we got into several ports at 10-12 in the morning meaning less time in the ports.

Edited May 1, 2023 by rbtan
additions

[rbtan]

5 hours ago, d9704011 said:

I'm sure there's no stupid stuff on Oceania but is there regular bingo?

Bridge yes. Bingo? Not sure.

[rbtan]

5 hours ago, mlmbar said:

Food was quite good on Sky in November after having been disappointed on Regal Feb 2022. However, Crown Grille was a disappointment and will not go again. We are used to Blu on Celebrity so hoping the Reserve will be similar

I think Reserve Class on the Sun will be more akin to Laminae on Celebrity. I hope

[rbtan]

5 hours ago, voljeep said:

so why  ever chose Princess then?

Love the staff. The best on any line in our opinion. Always very friendly & genuinely caring about the pax.Overall the best run & most reasonably priced excursions & most choices, again in our opinion.I think the new Sphere level ships are definitely trying to up the game like Celebrity. If we like the Sun, we'll do more trips on Princess.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, rbtan said:

If you've not sailed a smaller more intimate ship that has no:Annoying photographers taking your picture at every opportunity(yes, it's a revenue enhancer)garbage & worthless(and they are) art sales(again revenue)Annoying announcements on the "Inch of Gold" for sale & other worthless trinkets.The inability to get into a lot of ports due to size. So exactly what ARE the Sphere class amenities? I'll be answering Voljeep's usual  comments as well as to why do we sail Princess at times & not just Oceania.

 We did not like Oceania's "Save the Seas" load of crap. It is not that environmentally different. Instead we got into several ports at 10-12 in the morning meaning less time in the ports.

We sail for the ship not the ports.  In the past 18 months we've been on the newest ships that Princess (Discovery), Carnival (Celebration), Celebrity (Apex), & NCL (Prima) were sailing at the time we sailed on them for a total of 56 days.

Last time we did a smaller ship under 100 K tons was about 30 cruises ago.

[jwattle]

5 hours ago, rbtan said:

If you've not sailed a smaller more intimate ship that has no:Annoying photographers taking your picture at every opportunity(yes, it's a revenue enhancer)garbage & worthless(and they are) art sales(again revenue)Annoying announcements on the "Inch of Gold" for sale & other worthless trinkets.The inability to get into a lot of ports due to size. So exactly what ARE the Sphere class amenities? I'll be answering Voljeep's usual  comments as well as to why do we sail Princess at times & not just Oceania.

 We did not like Oceania's "Save the Seas" load of crap. It is not that environmentally different. Instead we got into several ports at 10-12 in the morning meaning less time in the ports.

So we can put you down as undecided on Oceania "Save the Seas".

[rbtan]

3 hours ago, jwattle said:

So we can put you down as undecided on Oceania "Save the Seas".

As it shortened port stays, we didn't like it. All it did was have the ship travel  more slowly. Yes it cut down on fuel consumption resulting in less cruise time.

[Guest ldtr]

12 hours ago, rbtan said:

If you've not sailed a smaller more intimate ship that has no:Annoying photographers taking your picture at every opportunity(yes, it's a revenue enhancer)garbage & worthless(and they are) art sales(again revenue)Annoying announcements on the "Inch of Gold" for sale & other worthless trinkets.The inability to get into a lot of ports due to size. So exactly what ARE the Sphere class amenities? I'll be answering Voljeep's usual  comments as well as to why do we sail Princess at times & not just Oceania.

 We did not like Oceania's "Save the Seas" load of crap. It is not that environmentally different. Instead we got into several ports at 10-12 in the morning meaning less time in the ports.

They only are annoying if you choose for them to be or are looking for something to be annoyed by.

 

Have not had a photographer in my last 100 days on Princess (the last year or so) force me to have my picture taken. May have been asked a couple of times, but they easily accepted a no thanks as we walked by

 

While they still do art auctions, they aralso not intrusive. A couple of announceme on some ships, none on others. Pretty much no announcement about the inch of gold sales or other retail sales.  Prettymuch everything listed in the patter, with few announcements.

[Nemanoxer]

Celebrity ignoring environmental issues has me booking the Sun Princess for the somewhat greener fuel usage. LNG is not near to emission free but better than the stuff that Celebrity burn even in their latest ships.

 

I got myself a cabana mini suite, and I have a feeling I might love it.

 

Open to switch from Celebrity to Princess after many years if I like it. "Lutoff-Perlo Cruise Lines" got on my nerves too much lately. 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Nemanoxer

[macusr]

On 4/20/2023 at 11:56 PM, nasa1974 said:

Anyone going to start a roll call? I've already started four between now and February 2025. Don't want to start two more.

 

OK I started the roll call for the 10/14 cruise!

[mrspdp]

On 4/21/2023 at 10:35 AM, kywildcatfanone said:

Wow, so no retreat area for adults anymore?  You have to pay for the sanctuary to have an adults only pool.  That will keep me off that ship then.

I really enjoyed the Retreat on Royal last week.  There were too many kids in main pool, and that was midweek in May!

[cltnccruisers]

Booked for 10/19/24.  Just a 7 night with St Thomas and San Juan.  Covered by a casino comp an added a granddaughter as a Christmas present.  Sun looks like it has some interesting features.

[cltnccruisers]

On 4/30/2023 at 8:50 PM, rbtan said:

Love the staff. The best on any line in our opinion. Always very friendly & genuinely caring about the pax.Overall the best run & most reasonably priced excursions & most choices, again in our opinion.I think the new Sphere level ships are definitely trying to up the game like Celebrity. If we like the Sun, we'll do more trips on Princess.

We just came off a TA on Celebrity Reflection.  We are fans of both Celebrity and Princess for different reasons.  Absolutely agree with your staff assessment.  Unfortunately, we had a couple of very bad experiences with this past cruise.

 

After one more booked cruise on Celebrity Silhouette next April, we'll be returning to Princess.  Not that it's the only reason, but you can't beat the casino comp prices.  😀

[mlmbar]

We are booked for October 19 also and very excited to be in the reserve cabana mini suite. Very curious as to what this looks like. I think I mentioned previously we are on celebrity equinox October 14 of this year. It’s our third time on equinox, and I’m afraid we’re going to be disappointed now that we have sailed on both Regal’ and sky.l we will be back on sky March 2024. We too, are pretty much finished with Celebrity, and have begun using the Princess credit card rather than the Celebrity one.

[cltnccruisers]

24 minutes ago, mlmbar said:

We are booked for October 19 also and very excited to be in the reserve cabana mini suite. Very curious as to what this looks like. I think I mentioned previously we are on celebrity equinox October 14 of this year. It’s our third time on equinox, and I’m afraid we’re going to be disappointed now that we have sailed on both Regal’ and sky.l we will be back on sky March 2024. We too, are pretty much finished with Celebrity, and have begun using the Princess credit card rather than the Celebrity one.

We like Caribbean Princess a lot and enjoyed all the Solstice class Celebrity ships.  Our daughter has gotten hooked on Princess and we'll do this one with her.  She gets casino comps, too, and that is a decision maker for us.  We're hoping there will be a 2025 Moroccan Passage available, maybe on Sun.  They're doing that on Caribbean in 2024 but we're already fully booked.  So we keep our fingers crossed for 2025.

[Nemanoxer]

So, the new Sun Princess has finally switched me away from Celebrity. Never thought that would happen. X is just doing too many things wrong these days.

 

I will be on 19th October 2024, living in the Sphere on deck 12 with my personal cabana. Wow.

 

Can´t wait to see if I regret that or will change my cruise line for longer.

[mlmbar]

Seems like a number of us moving from X. We are on same sailing on deck 9   Honestly not that excited about my equinox on October 14 but we have non refundable deposit and had so many points from credit card that a lot could be k Ickes off the balance.  Excited about ABC islands though   I am doubtful we will go back to X. 

[Nemanoxer]

@mlmbar

 

Wishing you a good ABC trip, anyway. Equinox is my baby darling and ever has been, but X just makes no sense these days. Hope they return to some normality with a next ship class in the 2030s.

[mlmbar]

Thank you!! Third time on Equinox and I know our cabin is refurbished because we had it before. Love the AbCs so it will be awesome. First world problems lol 

[CruizinSusan70]

7 hours ago, cltnccruisers said:

We like Caribbean Princess a lot and enjoyed all the Solstice class Celebrity ships.  Our daughter has gotten hooked on Princess and we'll do this one with her.  She gets casino comps, too, and that is a decision maker for us.  We're hoping there will be a 2025 Moroccan Passage available, maybe on Sun.  They're doing that on Caribbean in 2024 but we're already fully booked.  So we keep our fingers crossed for 2025.

On June 1 the initial European season starting in August of 2025 for the Star opens up for bookings.  Between that ship and the Sun, hopefully you'll be able to find the exact itinerary you're looking for.

[CruizinSusan70]

4 hours ago, mlmbar said:

Seems like a number of us moving from X. We are on same sailing on deck 9   Honestly not that excited about my equinox on October 14 but we have non refundable deposit and had so many points from credit card that a lot could be k Ickes off the balance.  Excited about ABC islands though   I am doubtful we will go back to X. 

We are going to be on the Beyond for an 18 day B2B cruise in November which will determine if X is put into our rearview mirror or not.  The Sphere Class of Princess and Excel Class of Carnival are going to be our wheelhouse in the future for multiple cruises.

[nasa1974]

12 hours ago, cltnccruisers said:

Booked for 10/19/24.  Just a 7 night with St Thomas and San Juan.  Covered by a casino comp an added a granddaughter as a Christmas present.  Sun looks like it has some interesting features.

 

11 hours ago, mlmbar said:

We are booked for October 19 also and very excited to be in the reserve cabana mini suite. Very curious as to what this looks like. I think I mentioned previously we are on celebrity equinox October 14 of this year. It’s our third time on equinox, and I’m afraid we’re going to be disappointed now that we have sailed on both Regal’ and sky.l we will be back on sky March 2024. We too, are pretty much finished with Celebrity, and have begun using the Princess credit card rather than the Celebrity one.

 

7 hours ago, Nemanoxer said:

So, the new Sun Princess has finally switched me away from Celebrity. Never thought that would happen. X is just doing too many things wrong these days.

 

I will be on 19th October 2024, living in the Sphere on deck 12 with my personal cabana. Wow.

 

Can´t wait to see if I regret that or will change my cruise line for longer.

I just started the roll call for this cruise. Hop on board. Looking forward to meeting everyone. This will be my third Caribbean Inaugural cruise on Princess. Doing a b2b starting on the 14th of October.