Sun Princess - Original

[loge23]

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

without reading all 3473 posts and not doing an in depth analysis of the deck plans ...

 

where's VINES?

I don't think that there is a Vines on the Sun. The geniuses in the Front Office have been removing the popular venue from all the new ships.

I'll never forget Jan Schwatrz's answer during the Covid shutdown You Tube videos as  to what was her favorite venue on Princess. You guessed it: The Vines! Apparently, that was the kiss of death for the Vines!

[capriccio]

50 minutes ago, cruisedoctor said:

 

I spoke with the Cruise Director this evening, and asked if they had a timetable for the completion of the theater.  Sadly, they don’t.  I’ve been sneaking in there every day, to see how much progress is being made.  All the workers are speaking Italian, so I’m assuming they are from the shipyard.  The picture below is from late this afternoon.  The table with all the laptops on the stage makes me think that they are working on setting up all the lighting, sound, and other electronic technology.  If that is the case, then after all that is installed, the wizards from the production company would need to come in and program all the lighting and sound for each of the production shows.  I find it difficult to believe that all the shows will be up and running for at least 2 or 3 more sailings.

Any idea as to how many seats there are in the theater?  For a ship this size with over 4,000 passengers it looks small.

[Host CJSKIDS]

29 minutes ago, cruisedoctor said:

Up until this 1st sailing there has been nothing available on the Princess Answers (the place where Princess representatives and travel agents go to find answers to your questions) about The Butcher’s Block Restaurant, other than family style and high end meat being served.  I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one who was leery to make a reservation without knowing all the specifics.  Here is the scoop:

The far aft end of The Eatery is transformed into two of the specialty dining venues each evening.  The Butcher’s Block on the port side, and The Catch on the starboard side.  Here is what the Butcher’s Block area looks like:

The original description said the experience was going to be one long communal table being served family style.  That has changed to a multitude of tables, where passengers will be “sharing” tables, in order to maximize the space available.  Waiters and a butcher will then come around, presenting the various courses of platters of food, from which you would select your choices.  Here is the menu:

 

 

In the picture below, the platters on the right are the beef tartare, the platters on the left are the rump roast carpaccio.

 

The main course consists of 3 types of steak, which the butcher will explain and carve based on your choice(s).  They can be see in the photo below in the “raw state”.

 

You can see on the menu, there are also sides to choose from, other items like bread, a salad, etc.  You also get a desert and complimentary red wine.

 

This looks like a unique and good deal for carnivore passengers.  The manager said it is being very well received so far, and everyone has been leaving “fully” satisfied.  Sorry for the pun!

thank you for posting this.  Looks very interesting.  I will say that the rump roast carpaccio doesn't look like carpaccio, it looks like thinly sliced medium rare rump roast and it's not raw.

[EDVM96]

45 is too much unless they ment AUD. Even then it's much.

[cbfb]

1 minute ago, EDVM96 said:

45 is too much unless they ment AUD. Even then it's much.

Inexpensive compared to other cruise lines. 

[EDVM96]

Just now, cbfb said:

Inexpensive compared to other cruise lines. 

Yes I heard of that before. 😕

[jwattle]

4 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

45 is too much unless they ment AUD. Even then it's much.

$45 for multiple steak choices? What would be fair to you?

[Globaler]

3 minutes ago, jwattle said:

$45 for multiple steak choices? What would be fair to you?

I’m not sure about the price but the ambience looks very understated and plain.

[loge23]

9 hours ago, tulok said:

I have been on Regent twice and will be going on Silversea in the fall. The reason we are going on Princess is because of a family reunion with the in-laws. We have noticed that we are only a few hundreds cheaper on Princess. Balcony to balcony. We have purchased everything that we would get on an all-inclusive. The deals that you can get on the luxury ships make it comparable.   For the prices, I could easily be on an inclusive line. 

I have to compliment cc posters as the Princess folks are a lot less snarky (yes there are a few) then RSSC and Silversea threads.

We've been trying out other more inclusive lines to mixed success.

We just were on an 11 day Oceania in a PH1 cabin - that was $1100 a day with no extra fees.

We were just quoted for a Deluxe Balcony Yacht Club suite on MSC for a TA: $708/per day.

Then we priced a TA on the Sun for 2025: Reserve class (not Cabana) Mini-suite with the Premium package: $670/day - tax included on all quotes. So, a pretty inclusive set-up there. 

Now each has their little points of differentiation, and my spouse really prefers the bigger ships (thinks the small ships are "boring"). But it does seem that Princess offers some value there. There may be some differences with on-board credits a well which I did not factor in these quotes.

Also, she likes the fact that Princess offers pre/post cruise packages (not all do) and has the Princess Air program which is great for one-way flights abroad. So there's that!

Happy Cruising!

[EDVM96]

9 minutes ago, jwattle said:

$45 for multiple steak choices? What would be fair to you?

Remember this is upcharge, so basicaly you pay the difference between the included meals and the premium stuff. So yes, 45 USD (plus the new 18% service charge) seems a lot to me.

[fpsphil]

13 minutes ago, jwattle said:

$45 for multiple steak choices? What would be fair to you?

I’d pay that price. Looks to be similar offerings to what you would get at a Brazilian steakhouse here

[Mike07]

14 minutes ago, jwattle said:

$45 for multiple steak choices? What would be fair to you?

 

The crown is worth maybe $20 (or less) to me. Though last time this came up, people started quoting the steak house prices of peer competitors completely missing my point.

[Mike07]

3 minutes ago, fpsphil said:

I’d pay that price. Looks to be similar offerings to what you would get at a Brazilian steakhouse here

 

Better quality cuts, that's for sure.

[Oceansaway17]

2 hours ago, cruisedoctor said:

Here is the menu for American Diner:

thanks for posting

I assume the plae is free since I do not see prices.  I will be on the Sun in early November

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, Globaler said:

They were taking out the bar in the casino on the Enchanted after our March 23 TA when our cruise ended. Not having a bar in the casino is a really bad idea - 1st for drinks and 2nd cause it is a good place for casual gamblers to meet up with people, talk and develop friendships. The only plus is that you don’t have smokers hanging out!

 

thanks for posting this.

There was NS at the bar anyway.

[macaws2]

2 hours ago, Globaler said:

It’s still the same but on princess you can get detergent and softener using your medallion.

Thanks everyone for answering my question, I'll just bring my own travel packets with us like I did before

Gladys 

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, HiramDylan said:

Here’s a video I filmed today of the Sanctuary and Cabanas from the above-deck.

So.. not only no shade, but also no privacy in the area.  Totally unlike the other ships.

[macaws2]

57 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

There is a fee for washer & dryer ($3.50 each?) in addition to purchasing detergent.

 

Thanks for the information, I'll bring my own travel packets like I did before, again thank you

Gladys 

[cruisedoctor]

Yesterday I had an opportunity to meet with Chef Rudi Sodamin, who is the head of Princess Culinary Arts, and has been spearheading the development of the dining venues and menus on the Sun Princess.  He has developed new menus for the Horizon Dining Rooms, and is currently on board the Sun with a group of CIA master chefs, training the galley crews.  I was very surprised and pleased to see how approachable and interested in the feedback of the passengers Chef Rudi was.  While this was an “off the record” conversation, I was surprised that he was noticing some of the same shortcomings that I was seeing, and that he plans to address, if not on the Sun, then at least on the Star.

 

One of the bottlenecks on most cruise ships is the size of the buffet, in terms of the amount of seating…especially for breakfast and lunch.  Over the years, some of the cruise lines have been adding more outdoor seating, to help with the overcrowding during “rush hours”.  On the Sun this area is called the Promenade, it is outdoors and runs the length of The Eatery (buffet) on both the port and starboard sides.  The Promenade has both open air, and covered seating; along with several food stalls (the Seaview Grill, soft ice cream shop, Seaview Pizza, and a bar).  There are a few NCL and Carnival ships that have something similar, but I haven’t had an opportunity to sail on any of those.  This is another instance where the ship renderings, sent out to the media, looked better than the final product.

 

The problem I see is that there isn’t enough of an overhead roof, that would keep passengers dry if they wanted to out on the Promenade to get pizza, soft serve ice cream, or grill items if it were raining…let alone blowing rain when the ship is in motion.  I’ve taken some photos to show that anyone standing in front of one of those food outlets, is out in the open, for all practicle purposes.   Remember, this is NOT on the pool deck where people aren’t dressed in their street clothes.   So, these food outlets are useless in inclement weather.  I saw this first hand the first few days of our sailing when the temperature was in the 50’s and it was drizzling with the wind blowing the rain partway into the food outlets.  The crew members were out there braving the elements all by themselves…and the buffet itself was a mass of  humanity.  Not many passengers want to go outside and get sopping wet while getting additional food, or eating in the rain. 

 

Also, whenever it begins to rain, the crew members have to bring in all the seat cushions out of the rain because it would ruin them.  Where do them put them?  On all the chairs and tables under the covered portion of the Promenade…thus precluding that space from being used by passengers looking for an overflow area from a lack of inside seating. 

 

On the other hand, maybe this was a planned way to cut down on the consumption of free pizza, soft serve ice cream, and grilled items?

 

 

[Globaler]

2 minutes ago, macaws2 said:

Thanks for the information, I'll bring my own travel packets like I did before, again thank you

Gladys 

Sorry, I guess I forgot that you had to pay to run the washer and dryer

[macaws2]

Just now, Globaler said:

Sorry, I guess I forgot that you had to pay to run the washer and dryer

That's fine,,just bring own detergent etc and not like I'm going to be washing clothes all the time, just nice to know that it's there fir convenient use and not having to pack more clothes if not need to.

 

[Globaler]

1 minute ago, macaws2 said:

That's fine,,just bring own detergent etc and not like I'm going to be washing clothes all the time, just nice to know that it's there fir convenient use and not having to pack more clothes if not need to.

 

I do remember though, don’t wait till the last day to do laundry! People got quite a bit perturbed when others didn’t empty washers when the cycle had finished - to the point many found their wet clothes on top of the washer when they finally did show up 😳

[cruisedoctor]

34 minutes ago, Globaler said:

I’m not sure about the price but the ambience looks very understated and plain.

What we have here is the cruise line wanting to offer a specialty dining experience, without needing to use a significant amount of real estate, for a venue that will only be used for a limited number of hours each night.  Yes, they have done that for Sabatini’s and the Crown Grill, two tried and true concepts.  But, The Butcher’s Block and The Catch have yet to prove themselves.  Taking over portions of the buffet, where galley space is already present, gives them the ability to change course, if these venues don’t live up to expectations.  

 

Understated and plain ambieance, because this is the buffet seating during breakfast and lunch.

[jwattle]

20 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

thanks for posting

I assume the plae is free since I do not see prices.  I will be on the Sun in early November

It's one of the Main Dining Rooms 🙂

[FLAlaska]

18 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

So.. not only no shade, but also no privacy in the area.  Totally unlike the other ships.

Just watched a video on YouTube touring the dome and the sea view bar area. He claims the dome and sea view area are adult only during the day. If true, you can get very comfortable areas with shade there. 

Edited March 2 by FLAlaska
Typos