Sun Princess - Original

[Wishing on a star]

Yes,  the design of the back of the ship, with NO cabins, severe lack of wake view area....

That might be one of several big  'negatives' on this ship.

 

I am still excited to be booked to be onboard when she gets here to the U.S. 

[Fortunate 2 travel]

So excited to sail the Med in a few months.  Will be fun to have a new ship to explore.

[rexdillinger]

We are sailing on the 18th b2b on the Sun. I will be posting on my YouTube channel as many videos as possible. Check out my first post for all the details and to subscribe. https://youtu.be/79wJJHg1tvM?si=vt6deW3Y0W5jVf09

 

[dides]

Here is a spectacular night-time selfie posted by ACD Sarah:

 

[StevenW]

10 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

The original deck plans made it seem like only deck 17 had an aft view on the balcony. Now it looks like all decks have the same little space to view the wake. 
 

Still horrified that Princess wasted the aft view on a stair case. 

 

Looking at those stairs, I still don't understand why anyone would want to use those open-air staircases to travel between multiple floors (particularly when the majority of those floors are stateroom floors). Why would passengers use those stairs when passenger lifts & traditional internal staircases would seem preferable to use.

 

Using traditional open-air stairs up on the Lido deck to travel up/down just one floor is one thing, but multiple floors??

 

Perhaps this might be the architect's way of maximising the fire escape capacity (ie. speed to evacuate the ship)...?

 

I'm sure we'll all be checking out those stairs to find the hidden benefit.

Edited February 11 by StevenW

[CruiseCrabs]

3 hours ago, StevenW said:

 

Looking at those stairs, I still don't understand why anyone would want to use those open-air staircases to travel between multiple floors (particularly when the majority of those floors are stateroom floors). Why would passengers use those stairs when passenger lifts & traditional internal staircases would seem preferable to use.

 

Using traditional open-air stairs up on the Lido deck to travel up/down just one floor is one thing, but multiple floors??

 

Perhaps this might be the architect's way of maximising the fire escape capacity (ie. speed to evacuate the ship)...?

 

I'm sure we'll all be checking out those stairs to find the hidden benefit.

I see a few advantages to those stairs. They present a great stair climb workout location without significant course deviation. They offer an opportunity to get from the rear sun deck to a stateroom floor directly and without waiting for a crowded elevator. The landings will like be a popular selfie spot for those who want the wake in the background.
 

As someone who tries to avoid elevators/lifts, the more stairs, the merrier… but I would not want a room or suite adjacent to them!

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

12 minutes ago, CruiseCrabs said:
 

As someone who tries to avoid elevators/lifts, the more stairs, the merrier… but I would not want a room or suite adjacent to them!

I’ll let you know after my cruise in April. I have one on deck 17. 
 

I don’t expect a lot of people using them. I’m concerned most about secret smokers but hopefully it goes out to sea. 

[CatMom72]

12 minutes ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

I’ll let you know after my cruise in April. I have one on deck 17. 
 

I don’t expect a lot of people using them. I’m concerned most about secret smokers but hopefully it goes out to sea. 

@Sox Fan Cruiser I have one on 17 in June, so I am interested in hearing about your experience.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 2/8/2024 at 5:28 AM, 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".

My take is that any marketing done promoting the Sphere Class would be list because of the massive campaign that Royal is doing with the Icon.  The astronomical rates that Royal is charging and that people are paying amazes me.  Having spent 28 days on Royal Class ships previously, we're looking forward to the 28 days that we have booked on the Sun as well as the additional 28 we have booked on the Star.  Don't need any superlative marketing to convince us.  We like the Princess product and we like the Excel Class of Carnival, so we know what to expect regarding a ship of that size.  It'll be nice with 2000 less passengers.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 2/9/2024 at 6:22 PM, cruisedoctor said:

 

Seems like Princess wants to limit access to these venues to revenue generating passengers.  As opposed to those non-revenue (comped with the Premier Program) passengers. 

I would consider Premier passengers as revenue generating.  At 20 per day over the plus rate,  each passenger is paying 140 over a typical 7 day cruise for 2 specialty meals.  78 out of the 140 would be allocated if it was at two 39.00 venues, leaving a balance of 62.00 for the other upgrades of the premier package.  But if course it's all a matter of perspective.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 2/10/2024 at 1:23 PM, CatMom72 said:

Perhaps not.  But if they weren’t trying to compete with RCCL, why did they turn the two top decks of the Sun Princess into an amusement park?  I could have done without it…🤮

They're not competing with Royal and the top decks of the Sphere Class ships will have some areas that are family oriented in order for the Sphere Class to be marketed as an upscale version of Carnival that multi generational families can enjoy.  Now, if you're opposed to this, you have every current Princess ship in their fleet as an option as well as Celebrity or Holland or others if you think that Princess is becoming too family oriented. Having choices are a good thing. Personally, I hate unruly rug rats, but that has not deterred us from booking 28 days on the Sun and another 28 days on the Star.

[beg3yrs]

I sincerely doubt the aft exterior stairs are normally available to passengers. Mostly for crew only and definitely available in an emergency. However in a week or so we'll find out for sure.

[h20skibum]

I find it odd that the deck plans in the app appear to be more up to date than those on the Princess website.  I would think they would have one master set that they display on all devices.

 

Maybe they are updating the plans on the website, because all cabins on deck 9 have disappeared from the plan

 

[hawgwildterry]

Anyone having luck booking normal dinning reservations for the April 27th 14 day Med cruise aboard the Sun?

[cruisedoctor]

I can't believe that the Vice President Of Sales at Princess just had an exclusive 1 hour webinar in conjunction with Travel Weekly, and did NOT mention anything about when the Sun Princess is being handed over, or about the maiden voyage.  Having a national audience of travel agents, it would have been a perfect time.  She spent some time going over some of the high points of the ship, but nothing anyone hasn't seen on the website.  I submitted several questions, but none got answered.  Sigh!

[SouKnoMe]

Maybe all communication has to come from President’s office. Frustrating yes!

[lstone19]

1 hour ago, hawgwildterry said:

Anyone having luck booking normal dinning reservations for the April 27th 14 day Med cruise aboard the Sun?

No, dining reservations are not open for it yet.

[Jemnibabe02]

Does anyone have or know where I can find deck plans of the locations of the laundries on the Sun?  I would sure like to know if they are spread out on each deck or fewer than on other ships.  Thanks in advance.

 

Judy from SW Florida

[d9704011]

10 minutes ago, Jemnibabe02 said:

Does anyone have or know where I can find deck plans of the locations of the laundries on the Sun?  I would sure like to know if they are spread out on each deck or fewer than on other ships.  Thanks in advance.

 

Judy from SW Florida

Shown on here.  For example, look near 12324...

https://www.princess.com/deckPlans.do?shipCode=SU

[nasa1974]

Same location for decks 10 through 15 just aft of the forward elevators.

[hawgwildterry]

1 hour ago, lstone19 said:

No, dining reservations are not open for it yet.

Thank you very much for the reply.  Hurry up and wait is the name of the game.

[Meldrum]

3 hours ago, hawgwildterry said:

Anyone having luck booking normal dinning reservations for the April 27th 14 day Med cruise aboard the Sun?

We are on the March 29 sailing and we cannot book dining reservations in the app yet. So far only the first three cruises seems to be open for dining reservations. I check daily, but maybe I have to wait until February 18th.

[lstone19]

2 minutes ago, hawgwildterry said:

Thank you very much for the reply.  Hurry up and wait is the name of the game.

 

We are on the 4/27 cruise as well although we're doing the 21-night version so we are watching for them to open as well.

[rocklinmom]

We are looking at the Sun this summer and curious about the open cabana deck 9. Does anyone know if smoking will be allowed on this open deck? I wouldn't want to book a balcony cabin on deck 10 above if so. I know no one has sailed on her yet, and can't wait to read reviews, but perhaps someone has read this information somewhere? Also on deck 9, I see drawings of outside seating for the buffet, IC, Alfredo's. There are deck 10 cabins directly above. Wondering how much of the buffet seating is inside vs. outside...again, only if someone is in the know. Cabin selection is very important right now since we don't have any reviews yet. Soon hopefully! 

[Wishing on a star]

We can only go by the smoking areas on other ships....

And, I think it is pretty safe to say NO..  No smoking on that cabana deck.

There is not supposed to be smoking in cabins or on balconies.  And, I would consider this area to be like these cabana cabin balconies.

Smoking areas have been much more restrictive.  

Examples are an area on one side of the aft public deck area,  the casino...

 

What I want to mention is this... remember that there is double high blue glass along that cabana deck area.   This will be there, just out from / below those deck 10 cabins.

 

I thought maybe I wanted one of those larger/deeper balconies there on deck 10.  The ones that are not 'inset' but are on the 'bump out' areas.   But, most all were taken, and none that were non-adjoining and the layout we want are available.

We chose a balcony on a bit higher deck, so that might not be a factor.

 

Edited February 12 by Wishing on a star