New Sun Princess (Not My Princess)!?!?!

[talkorpi]

5 minutes ago, dides said:

The Signature Lounge rendering has been released. Wow, that aft view will be amazing and an improvement on the Concierge Lounge on Royal class!

 

 

Two posts up

Edited February 21, 2023 by talkorpi

[jwattle]

2 hours ago, c-boy said:

hawt damn ! I'll be calling on that.  

Well light my britches on fire, that place looks delightful!

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

With 17636 already booked, I’m loving the the suite retreat. Now on to the “Coming Soon”  space on our floor!  Loving the fully new ship and the anticipation of new things!  

[trvlwrld]

Does anyone know what a “Cove” balcony is.?  Looks like the balconies are all deluxe, except for the cove type

[dides]

4 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

With 17636 already booked, I’m loving the the suite retreat. Now on to the “Coming Soon”  space on our floor!  Loving the fully new ship and the anticipation of new things!  

The unofficial deck plan (cruisemapper) have called this space Altitude Restaurant but no more details out there

 

[dides]

3 hours ago, trvlwrld said:

Does anyone know what a “Cove” balcony is.?  Looks like the balconies are all deluxe, except for the cove type

These are the sheltered balconies under the lifeboats

 

. 

On P&O Iona and Arvia they have a separate window and door entrance rather than sliding doors and there is a glass panel underneath the handrail. A metal flap can be swung round and bolted to the door to protect you from bad weather so you may not be able to get onto the cove balcony during those times.  Not saying this will be the same design for Sun Princess as  it is being built by Fincantieri rather than Meyer Werft, but it has a similar footprint to these ships

If you forward to 8:40 on this cabin review video on P&O Iona then you will see what they have.

 

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by dides

[caribill]

4 minutes ago, dides said:

These are the sheltered balconies under the lifeboats

 

'I don't understand. The area under the lifeboats is the Promenade Deck walkway.

[dides]

19 minutes ago, caribill said:

'I don't understand. The area under the lifeboats is the Promenade Deck walkway.

 

Cove balconies are highlighted here:

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by dides

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

5 hours ago, dides said:

The unofficial deck plan (cruisemapper) have called this space Altitude Restaurant but no more details out there

 

Thanks. On the Princess site, it still says “coming soon”.

[CruisingWalter]

9 hours ago, trvlwrld said:

Does anyone know what a “Cove” balcony is.?  Looks like the balconies are all deluxe, except for the cove type

 

It's the balconies on Deck 3 (or 2) that are called "cove" because they are sheltered port hole style balconies. You can still step outside but your view is more like a big porthole looking out. Ben and David had a Cove Balcony on the Carnival Celebration which is a sister ship to the Sun Princess. Jump to about 11:50 in the video to go straight to their Cove Balcony cabin tour. You can find similar tours on the P&O Iona and Arvia and the Carnival Mardi Gras which are also sister ships to the Sun Princess. 

https://youtu.be/BSwelflm5YQ

 

[CeCe_]

I am loving this new Sun Princess the more I see it.  Gorgeous ship!  I am already thinking booking a b2b or b2b2b if I can find the same cabin available on different voyages to avoid the hassle to pack up and move.

[PacnGoNow]

8 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

It's the balconies on Deck 3 (or 2) that are called "cove" because they are sheltered port hole style balconies. You can still step outside but your view is more like a big porthole looking out. Ben and David had a Cove Balcony on the Carnival Celebration which is a sister ship to the Sun Princess. Jump to about 11:50 in the video to go straight to their Cove Balcony cabin tour. You can find similar tours on the P&O Iona and Arvia and the Carnival Mardi Gras which are also sister ships to the Sun Princess. 

https://youtu.be/BSwelflm5YQ

 

I’ve been on the Carnival cove balconies. Okay, but smaller view than the regular balconies, but you can sit on their cove balconies, use the cove ledge to put up your feet.  😂   Theirs had a metal piece across across the cove, not glass.
 

It is much closer to the water and you can see the flying fish.

 

However, I would not like them during a big storm.  Too much water flying around for me.  Some people loved them. 
Much better than an inside or OV, IMO.

 

But we like balconies for fresh air.

[deliver42]

There ae so many Princess ships, and many are pretty much the same. You can still sail on them if the Sun is too much change for you, but why would you just discount what seems to be a beautiful ship because it's different?

[Guest ldtr]

37 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

There ae so many Princess ships, and many are pretty much the same. You can still sail on them if the Sun is too much change for you, but why would you just discount what seems to be a beautiful ship because it's different?

Largely because it represents a fairly dramatic change for Princess in its move to a class structure. Just as Celebrity did with one of its Solstice class ships and all after. Celebrity then retro fitted its older ships to also implement the class structure to make the brand consistent across the fleet, Princess is likely to do the same.  When Celebrity did it they removed a lounge from public access, blocked part of the theater seating, and made the MDR less attractive for those that did not qualify for one of the class dining rooms.

 

So the question is not as much about the Sun itself, but what the potential ramifications are for the rest of the fleet over the next few years.

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by ldtr

[CruisingWalter]

On 2/22/2023 at 6:01 PM, ldtr said:

So the question is not as much about the Sun itself, but what the potential ramifications are for the rest of the fleet over the next few years.

 

I think you hit it squarely on the head. Though I will say I think the MDR on Celebrity ships is above average, about the same as Princess. The Blu dining room that comes with Aqua Class is definitely a step up and worth the price of admission to that class of cabin. We've never done suites so I can't speak to Luminae.

 

But I will say, having sailed Virgin Voyages, the lack of a 'class system' on that ship, other than the one sun deck and the free bar in your cabin, and having basically everything included really makes you take notice when you sail any other cruise line. Especially not having to pay more money for 'better food' or even just soft drinks and WiFi. You do feel more 'nickel and dimed' when you step back onto other cruise lines. 

 

That being said, I'm really looking forward to meeting Sky Princess tomorrow and seeing what the Royal class ships are all about. 🙂

[CruisingWalter]

On 2/22/2023 at 4:50 PM, PacnGoNow said:

However, I would not like them during a big storm.  Too much water flying around for me.  Some people loved them. 
Much better than an inside or OV, IMO.

 

After seeing the Ben and David episode from Carnival Celebration, I really want to try one. I noticed them when we were exiting Mardi Gras at the first port and was very intrigued at staying so close to the water. Now I definitely want to try one out, that will be a different experience for sure. 🙂

[CruisingWalter]

On 2/22/2023 at 9:00 AM, CeCe_ said:

I am loving this new Sun Princess the more I see it.  Gorgeous ship!  I am already thinking booking a b2b or b2b2b if I can find the same cabin available on different voyages to avoid the hassle to pack up and move.

 

it is rather interesting to see how Princess has taken the Excel ship design and really made it their own. Although they have not really shown us the aft yet, which is the section that really makes the Carnival, P&O and AIDA Excel ships look the same.

 

But you can see in the profiles how Princess made the bow area more sleek, they may have added an extra deck in the aft and it appears the aft angles outward as it goes up, rather than in like it does on the others. The Iona/Arvia and Mardi Gras/Celebration are essentially identical from outward appearance.

 

I'm sure there are other threads on here going well in depth on the design, but I'm really curious to see what Princess has done with the Deck 8 area and the overall design of the aft and aft cabins. I loved the Deck 8 patio and pool area on Mardi Gras, but would not want an aft balcony on that ship design because it feels like you're on display. Curious to see how the aft on Sun has been reconfigured. 

[CruizinSusan70]

On 2/22/2023 at 9:00 AM, CeCe_ said:

I am loving this new Sun Princess the more I see it.  Gorgeous ship!  I am already thinking booking a b2b or b2b2b if I can find the same cabin available on different voyages to avoid the hassle to pack up and move.

Of course it's pure speculation at this point whether the cruises will be 7/14 or 10/20 in length once she begins embarking from Port Everglades in October of 2024.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 2/22/2023 at 5:24 PM, deliver42 said:

There ae so many Princess ships, and many are pretty much the same. You can still sail on them if the Sun is too much change for you, but why would you just discount what seems to be a beautiful ship because it's different?

Many people don't like change.  There are those who cruise Carnival and either don't like or won't sail on the Excel Class ships because they think they're too big.  The Vista Class is 133.5 K tons and the Excel is 180 K tons.  These people obviously have not sailed on any of the recent builds over the past 10 years on NCL or RCI that are all bigger than the Vista Class   

The same is true for the new Prima on NCL.  She is so different from the rest of their fleet that many NCL diehards hate her, but those who have sailed on various lines appreciate the upgrades that NCL has done with this new class of ship.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

After seeing the Ben and David episode from Carnival Celebration, I really want to try one. I noticed them when we were exiting Mardi Gras at the first port and was very intrigued at staying so close to the water. Now I definitely want to try one out, that will be a different experience for sure. 🙂

The cove balconies are even closer to the water on the 3 Vista Class ships compared to the Excel Class ships.

[dides]

6 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

it is rather interesting to see how Princess has taken the Excel ship design and really made it their own. Although they have not really shown us the aft yet, which is the section that really makes the Carnival, P&O and AIDA Excel ships look the same.

 

But you can see in the profiles how Princess made the bow area more sleek, they may have added an extra deck in the aft and it appears the aft angles outward as it goes up, rather than in like it does on the others. The Iona/Arvia and Mardi Gras/Celebration are essentially identical from outward appearance.

 

I'm sure there are other threads on here going well in depth on the design, but I'm really curious to see what Princess has done with the Deck 8 area and the overall design of the aft and aft cabins. I loved the Deck 8 patio and pool area on Mardi Gras, but would not want an aft balcony on that ship design because it feels like you're on display. Curious to see how the aft on Sun has been reconfigured. 

 

Thanks for this insight into the design differences.  So Princess have a totally different shipyard doing their design and build work (Fincantieri for Sphere class versus Meyer Werft for Excellence class) although Carnival is the corporation at the top here. Wondering how this all started - did they just take the footprint /external design features, hand it to Fincantieri and ask them to come up with their own ideas? 

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by dides

[Guest ldtr]

7 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

I think you hit it squarely on the head. Though I will say I think the MDR on Celebrity ships is above average, about the same as Princess. The Blu dining room that comes with Aqua Class is definitely a step up and worth the price of admission to that class of cabin. We've never done suites so I can't speak to Luminae.

 

But I will say, having sailed Virgin Voyages, the lack of a 'class system' on that ship, other than the one sun deck and the free bar in your cabin, and having basically everything included really makes you take notice when you sail any other cruise line. Especially not having to pay more money for 'better food' or even just soft drinks and WiFi. You do feel more 'nickel and dimed' when you step back onto other cruise lines. 

 

That being said, I'm really looking forward to meeting Sky Princess tomorrow and seeing what the Royal class ships are all about. 🙂

Celebrity was the line I mostly cruised before they made the change, still sail them if the itinerary is right.  Back then one could notice a substantial difference on the ships when they chopped up the dinning rooms to make the new one.  In doing so the tables became closer together and the noise level increased.  Would not be noticeable to anyone that started with them after the change.  But the impact was noticeable compared to prior.  The biggest change was the conversion of Michaels Club from a public lounge to a suites lounge.

[CeCe_]

4 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Of course it's pure speculation at this point whether the cruises will be 7/14 or 10/20 in length once she begins embarking from Port Everglades in October of 2024.

 

Thank you for the information!  We are inclined not having another cruise to Caribbean anytime soon.  Sort of tired of seeing Princess Cays again.  So, it has to be earlier than later!  We are already booked on one voyage, just need to connect the dots.

[bonagrad]

4 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Many people don't like change.  There are those who cruise Carnival and either don't like or won't sail on the Excel Class ships because they think they're too big.  The Vista Class is 133.5 K tons and the Excel is 180 K tons.  These people obviously have not sailed on any of the recent builds over the past 10 years on NCL or RCI that are all bigger than the Vista Class   

The same is true for the new Prima on NCL.  She is so different from the rest of their fleet that many NCL diehards hate her, but those who have sailed on various lines appreciate the upgrades that NCL has done with this new class of ship.

Cruise lines have to find ways to attract younger generations.  The old style cruise doesn't attract younger generations.  We're in our late 40s and have been cruising since 2005.  We've seen a lot of change over that time and I have to admit some things we miss, but also enjoy some of the changes.  I personally enjoy seeing new ships and exploring them.  One thing I don't necessarily love about Princess is there isn't necessarily enough differentiation among ship to get me too excited.  I'm really excited to see Sun, just as I was to sail on Celebrity Apex last year.

[CruizinSusan70]

42 minutes ago, CeCe_ said:

 

Thank you for the information!  We are inclined not having another cruise to Caribbean anytime soon.  Sort of tired of seeing Princess Cays again.  So, it has to be earlier than later!  We are already booked on one voyage, just need to connect the dots.

We were originally booked on the TA for 9/2024, but decided to wait until she comes to the states to sail on her.  Really looking forward to Princess's spin on the platform that we have previously cruised on with the Carnival Mardi Gras and Celebration.