Sun Princess - Original

[MsSoCalCruiser]

57 minutes ago, dides said:

Considering they said Butchers Block by Dario would be 'family style' on a big table it may well be permanent. And Catch by Rudi had a lot more booking slots. We shall hopefully find out in 10 or 11 days. Ahh darnit, we would have been boarding today and I had booked Butchers Block for the first evening!

I was so looking forward to following you along on the Inaugural cruise. So disappointing! The really awful thing is the way that no one could move over to any other cruises because they were sold out. Super disappointing. Anyway, I can’t wait until some information starts coming out. I can’t believe how little is on social media. Odd, don’t you think?

[dides]

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I was so looking forward to following you along on the Inaugural cruise. So disappointing! The really awful thing is the way that no one could move over to any other cruises because they were sold out. Super disappointing. Anyway, I can’t wait until some information starts coming out. I can’t believe how little is on social media. Odd, don’t you think?

It is odd and frustrating. All the fanfare from the team arriving in Monfalcone and then you don't see anything of note! I'm fed up with pizza and protective clothing  pictures lol. There must be an embargo. I'm sure it's all building up to the actual handover and we will soon be flooded with details.

 

Edited February 8 by dides

[Nemanoxer]

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I was so looking forward to following you along on the Inaugural cruise. So disappointing! The really awful thing is the way that no one could move over to any other cruises because they were sold out. Super disappointing. Anyway, I can’t wait until some information starts coming out. I can’t believe how little is on social media. Odd, don’t you think?

 

As a used-to-be avid Celebrity guest, I feel Princess is super underperforming in marketing the new ship class. What an ado was made about Edge class.

 

What I see from Princess, is giving me "Carnival spits out a new ship class for their medium luxury brand, check it out or leave it be" vibes. And maybe that is what´s actually going on inside of Princess / Carnival. They do not appear to be super crazy mad happy to present a new ship class. Like "people will buy it anyway".

[d9704011]

53 minutes ago, Nemanoxer said:

Like "people will buy it anyway".

That's me... I booked a Sun Princess cruise. When Celebrity Edge came out, I booked a cruise on that ship too and enjoyed it.  Main difference between the Princess and Celebrity experience, in ky opinion, is the hype surcharge reflected in the pricing.

[LAS!!1414]

On 2/5/2024 at 3:19 PM, teecee60 said:

I am an enrichment speaker for Princess, recently assigned to Sun for the 18 February sailing. They are flying me to Rome next week... so there are a LOT of "someones" at Corporate HQ that are at least somewhat certain that the sun will sail on the 18.

How long will u be on the Sun Princess ???

[teecee60]

19 minutes ago, LAS!!1414 said:

How long will u be on the Sun Princess ???

 

Just for the (new) inaugural. (18-28 Feb) I will have a VERY quick turnaround to be on Regal for 21 days in March, followed by the Eclipse Cruise on Emerald in April.

 

Edited February 8 by teecee60

[LAS!!1414]

3 hours ago, teecee60 said:

 

Just for the (new) inaugural. (18-28 Feb) I will have a VERY quick turnaround to be on Regal for 21 days in March, followed by the Eclipse Cruise on Emerald in April.

 

Thanks --- We will be on the TA Sept 23. We live in Indiana and are looking forward to the Total Eclipse on Apil 8 from our home.

 

[SouKnoMe]

8 hours ago, Nemanoxer said:

 

As a used-to-be avid Celebrity guest, I feel Princess is super underperforming in marketing the new ship class. What an ado was made about Edge class.

 

What I see from Princess, is giving me "Carnival spits out a new ship class for their medium luxury brand, check it out or leave it be" vibes. And maybe that is what´s actually going on inside of Princess / Carnival. They do not appear to be super crazy mad happy to present a new ship class. Like "people will buy it anyway".

Hoping my laughing matched the intent of the comment. 😂

[vjmatty]

12 hours ago, Nemanoxer said:

 

As a used-to-be avid Celebrity guest, I feel Princess is super underperforming in marketing the new ship class. What an ado was made about Edge class.

 

What I see from Princess, is giving me "Carnival spits out a new ship class for their medium luxury brand, check it out or leave it be" vibes. And maybe that is what´s actually going on inside of Princess / Carnival. They do not appear to be super crazy mad happy to present a new ship class. Like "people will buy it anyway".

Just like Royal, you couldn’t hear enough about Icon 🙄

[cruisedoctor]

Now that Icon Of The Seas is out, and pretty much sold out for 2024, RCL has moved the bulk of their marketing efforts to the Utopia Of The Seas, which is coming out in July.

 

Now the Sun is hopefully coming out next week, and up to this point, not one Princess TV commercial even mentions her.  

[jwattle]

38 minutes ago, cruisedoctor said:

Now that Icon Of The Seas is out, and pretty much sold out for 2024, RCL has moved the bulk of their marketing efforts to the Utopia Of The Seas, which is coming out in July.

 

Now the Sun is hopefully coming out next week, and up to this point, not one Princess TV commercial even mentions her.  

They did previously. I think they're choosing to let her speak for herself

[Wishing on a star]

Not saying that I think this is good, at all...   But, trying to figure out why such silence...

Apparently,  cruise bookings are at all time highs...  

Financially, cruise lines are trying to bring up their bottom line and stay afloat.

Given these two things..  maybe the cost of creating all of these adds and PR, and putting them out there, is something that they do not feel is necessary.

All I know is, I don't care about slick corporate PR..  in a few weeks, I am hoping that we have plenty of good cruiser feedback and videos!!!

[PacnGoNow]

51 minutes ago, cruisedoctor said:

Now that Icon Of The Seas is out, and pretty much sold out for 2024, RCL has moved the bulk of their marketing efforts to the Utopia Of The Seas, which is coming out in July.

 

Now the Sun is hopefully coming out next week, and up to this point, not one Princess TV commercial even mentions her.  

Only commercials I’ve seen lately have been on a Sat and Sun, recently, promoting the Port Canaveral sailings at the very end of the ad.

[SouKnoMe]

Checking to see if any of our European counterparts have seen anything about the handover today? It’s awfully quiet on YouTube. 

[Pixelskaya]

6 minutes ago, SouKnoMe said:

Checking to see if any of our European counterparts have seen anything about the handover today? It’s awfully quiet on YouTube. 

Nothing, but I’m close to Barcelona today so I may hide for a while and sneak into the VIP sailing 

[dides]

21 minutes ago, SouKnoMe said:

Checking to see if any of our European counterparts have seen anything about the handover today? It’s awfully quiet on YouTube. 

This is Europe checking in. I just spotted a headline in Il Piccolo, the local Trieste newspaper, but the story is behind a paywall

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 9 by dides

[SouKnoMe]

This is nothing like when Ascent was handed over.  I hope that “punch” list was completed satisfactorily. 

[h20skibum]

It currently shows it still at Monfalcone.

 

 

 

 

[vividharp]

@didesyou've done so much research for this. I feel like of all people you should be on that ship!

[dides]

Unofficially, she is due to leave the shipyard  on Tuesday 13th Feb to head to Civitavecchia, with work to complete during the journey.

[SouKnoMe]

Ok. Next week. 

[dides]

3 minutes ago, SouKnoMe said:

Ok. Next week. 

that's not the same as the handover though! But it may have to be!

[SouKnoMe]

7 minutes ago, dides said:

that's not the same as the handover though! But it may have to be!

To be a passenger going through the emotions is one thing, but I feel for the project managers and management watching this thing to get in on time and on budget, I know anxiety is high. 

[dides]

Just now, SouKnoMe said:

To be a passenger going through the emotions is one thing, but I feel for the project managers and management watching this thing to get in on time and on budget, I know anxiety is high. 

Yep, I'm a project manager myself and can't imagine what their go/no-go checklist is like! 

[dides]

Here's a podcast interview with Eithne Williamson VP of Princess Cruises UK and Europe - it's very much UK cruise industry focussed but she does confirm the Sun Princess inaugural will depart on 18th February. 

 

 

Edited February 9 by dides