Sun Princess Signature Benefits and Experiences

[cricketts]

Great idea to have a separate thread for the Sun Princess! I'm so glad I found this 🙂 

We're thinking of doing the Istanbul to Rome in July 2025. I have 3 questions that I can't figure out from the website or deck plans:

1) Where is the Sanctuary restaurant?

2) Does the Suite Lounge have bar service?

3) Do any of the suites have double vanities?

Thank y'all very much!!

Edited June 20 by cricketts

[dides]

26 minutes ago, cricketts said:

1) Where is the Sanctuary restaurant?

2) Does the Suite Lounge have bar service?

3) Do any of the suites have double vanities?

1) Signature Dining Room for suites is currently Deck 7 Midship but there is talk of changes coming in around October with the Sanctuary Collection changes. It could be moving to Deck 8 Aft and becoming the Sanctuary Dining Room  (with more passengers to cater for).

 

2) The Suite Lounge is open 24/7 with service available from sunrise to sunset. There is bar service.

 

3) Only the Sky Suite has side-by-side double vanity sinks:

 

 

 

Penthouse (or Vista) and Owners (or Grand) Suites have single sinks in the bathroom and a sink in the separate toilet. Signature Suites have a mini-suite bathroom with one sink.

 

Owners/Grand

 

 

 

 

[cricketts]

6 hours ago, dides said:

 

"changes coming in around October with the Sanctuary Collection changes. It could be moving to Deck 8 Aft and becoming the Sanctuary Dining Room" 

 

 

Thank you VERY much for such wonderful explanations - and your pictures are terrific 🙂 

What other changes are coming in October?

[CalTexCruiser]

3 hours ago, cricketts said:

 

Thank you VERY much for such wonderful explanations - and your pictures are terrific 🙂 

What other changes are coming in October?

No more dedicated Signature area in the Sanctuary 

 

Instead of a dedicated Signature restaurant, rumors are that the suite guests will be placed in the same dining room as the non-suite Sanctuary class guests…similar to the Reserve dining of the other ships

 

Princess flirted with the idea of a ship within a ship for suite guests but a couple months in changed their mind 

 

 

[cricketts]

1 hour ago, CalTexCruiser said:

No more dedicated Signature area in the Sanctuary 

 

Instead of a dedicated Signature restaurant, rumors are that the suite guests will be placed in the same dining room as the non-suite Sanctuary class guests…similar to the Reserve dining of the other ships

 

Princess flirted with the idea of a ship within a ship for suite guests but a couple months in changed their mind 

 

 

Thank you! And, somewhat disappointing information 😞 

In recent years, we've moved away from Princess to the Retreat on Celebrity. We were really thinking that maybe Princess would "right the ship 😜" and find their lane to compete with the Retreat, Haven, Yacht Club, etc. The price for the S4 suite on the itinerary that we're looking at certainly should provide outstanding amenities. It's not whether we'll sail Princess, it's what room category gives us the best value.

 

[CalTexCruiser]

8 hours ago, cricketts said:

Thank you! And, somewhat disappointing information 😞 

In recent years, we've moved away from Princess to the Retreat on Celebrity. We were really thinking that maybe Princess would "right the ship 😜" and find their lane to compete with the Retreat, Haven, Yacht Club, etc. The price for the S4 suite on the itinerary that we're looking at certainly should provide outstanding amenities. It's not whether we'll sail Princess, it's what room category gives us the best value.

 

 

We also frequently sail on Celebrity's Retreat.

 

Initially we were intrigued by Sun's Signature concept and booked a sailing for next May.  But now not so much.

 

I personally certainly would not pay what Princess is asking for nowadays for their suites on the Sun.  Your best bang for the buck probably would be to book one of the non-suite Sanctuary cabins...the only thing you'll miss out on would be the lounge.  You'll still have access to the Sanctuary Club and Sanctuary dining.

 

IMO, the lounge is not worth the big bump up in price to book a suite.

[chamima]

20 hours ago, dides said:

1) Signature Dining Room for suites is currently Deck 7 Midship but there is talk of changes coming in around October with the Sanctuary Collection changes. It could be moving to Deck 8 Aft and becoming the Sanctuary Dining Room  (with more passengers to cater for).

That doesn't make sense.

That would eliminate the current walk-in casual restaurant that Princess is adding to all of their current ships in the new Dine My Way program/

It also leaves to two spaces on Deck 7 for the Signature and Reserve restaurants (that they've invested in furnishing) empty.

I could see somehow trying to combine those two before moving the whole thing to deck eight.

 

***

Edited June 21 by chamima

[dides]

13 minutes ago, chamima said:

That doesn't make sense.

That would eliminate the current walk-in casual restaurant that Princess is adding to all of their current ships in the new Dine My Way program/

It also leaves to two spaces on Deck 7 for the Signature and Reserve restaurants (that they've invested in furnishing) empty.

I could see somehow trying to combine those two before moving the whole thing to deck eight

***

It's all part of bigger set of changes which have been discussed elsewhere where the walk-in restaurant will move to the Deck 9 aft areas where Butchers Block and Catch are located. Summarised here: 

 

 

[chamima]

27 minutes ago, dides said:

It's all part of bigger set of changes which have been discussed elsewhere where the walk-in restaurant will move to the Deck 9 aft areas where Butchers Block and Catch are located. Summarised here: 

 

 

 

 

That actually makes sense.

The only problem (for us, at least) is that all of the noise from decks 6 and 7 will filter up to deck 8 as it does in the MDR on Celebrity. The ambience of a special "suite" or "sanctuary" area just won't be there.

[FLAlaska]

8 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

 

That actually makes sense.

The only problem (for us, at least) is that all of the noise from decks 6 and 7 will filter up to deck 8 as it does in the MDR on Celebrity. The ambience of a special "suite" or "sanctuary" area just won't be there.

As a solo travel, I really enjoyed the reserve dining. I hate eating in the MDR as its so big, and open and just loud. I prefer to eat alone and liked the small, cozier feeling of the reserve space. I really hope the sanctuary dining doesn't become just another MDR

[Nikkibird]

38 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

 

That actually makes sense.

The only problem (for us, at least) is that all of the noise from decks 6 and 7 will filter up to deck 8 as it does in the MDR on Celebrity. The ambience of a special "suite" or "sanctuary" area just won't be there.

Totally agree. Now we get the noise and the people walking through in bathing suits to the Wake Pool. Plus the view out the windows will be awful!

[Nikkibird]

36 minutes ago, FLAlaska said:

As a solo travel, I really enjoyed the reserve dining. I hate eating in the MDR as its so big, and open and just loud. I prefer to eat alone and liked the small, cozier feeling of the reserve space. I really hope the sanctuary dining doesn't become just another MDR

We are concerned about it and going to be watching reviews after October. If we didn't have such a good price on our S4 cabin, we would probably cancel. We certainly wouldn't be paying the $6,500+ more it is now 😳

[FLAlaska]

8 minutes ago, Nikkibird said:

We are concerned about it and going to be watching reviews after October. If we didn't have such a good price on our S4 cabin, we would probably cancel. We certainly wouldn't be paying the $6,500+ more it is now 😳

Same here. I got a really good single price for an S9 for January.  I also have the Sun booked for a Nov TA and have the Sky TA booked as a backup in case I want to go back to the Royal class.

Edited June 21 by FLAlaska

[capriccio]

For all of us booked with departures thru early January we need to make final payment before all the changes are implemented which will make the go/no go decision difficult for us based on what we know now.

Edited June 21 by capriccio

[cricketts]

On 3/8/2024 at 4:04 PM, Skiah said:

We chose a Penthouse Suite on Deck 17. We will be in 17620 on the April 27 sailing. We usually book a stateroom that has rooms above and below. When we selected 17620, we knew the Sanctuary was above us, but since we are early risers, we didn’t think early activity would bother us. We shall see! 
 

Murf

Please clarify what is a Penthouse Suite? The itinerary I'm looking at offers a Signature, Vista, or Grand Suite.

[Nikkibird]

2 minutes ago, cricketts said:

Please clarify what is a Penthouse Suite? The itinerary I'm looking at offers a Signature, Vista, or Grand Suite.

Penthouse Suite is now called Vista Suite

[chamima]

38 minutes ago, Nikkibird said:

Totally agree. Now we get the noise and the people walking through in bathing suits to the Wake Pool. Plus the view out the windows will be awful!

 

What is the view out the windows?

 

And ,why would people be walking through a dining room at all?

 

We've really loved Princess but this new ship layout just wasn't thought through at all!!! 😨

[dides]

17 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

What is the view out the windows?

 

And ,why would people be walking through a dining room at all?

cruisedoctor has posted some pictures on the views in this thread

 

the Deck 8 Americana diner is on the same level as the Wake View Terrace at the back of the ship. It's just plain awkward to navigate to the Wake View Terrace - walking outside on the Prom deck and down the stairs,  walking along a higher deck from corridors of staterooms and going down the scenic elevators or direct through the diner.

 

Edited June 21 by dides

[capriccio]

11 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

What is the view out the windows?

 

And ,why would people be walking through a dining room at all?

 

We've really loved Princess but this new ship layout just wasn't thought through at all!!! 😨

See the current plan for deck 8 aft.  It looks like the current entrances to the Wake View Terrace are thru the Horizons Dining Room (soon to be the Signature/Sanctuary Dining Room).

 

[cricketts]

35 minutes ago, Nikkibird said:

Penthouse Suite is now called Vista Suite

Thank you!

[Nikkibird]

35 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

What is the view out the windows?

 

And ,why would people be walking through a dining room at all?

 

We've really loved Princess but this new ship layout just wasn't thought through at all!!! 😨

Two other people answered. You can see from the photos that it isn't very pleasant. 

I haven't been on the Sun yet but from the diagram of deck 8 aft, it looks like people will walk through the dining room to get to the wake pool. Not sure how they can stop this or change this.

[CalTexCruiser]

37 minutes ago, Nikkibird said:

Two other people answered. You can see from the photos that it isn't very pleasant. 

I haven't been on the Sun yet but from the diagram of deck 8 aft, it looks like people will walk through the dining room to get to the wake pool. Not sure how they can stop this or change this.

 

Hopefully the host/hostess would block anyone not eating in the Sanctuary restaurant from entering, and redirect those people to access the Wake View Terrace from deck 9 (I see some stairs leading from the rear of deck 9 to the Wake View Terrace). Also, others can take the aft elevators directly to the Wake View Terrace.

 

On the positive side, suite guests staying in the aft part of the ship (including those in the Vista Suites) can take the aft elevators directly to Horizons dining.

[chamima]

2 hours ago, chamima said:

 

We've really loved Princess but this new ship layout just wasn't thought through at all!!! 😨

 

 

1 hour ago, Nikkibird said:

Two other people answered. You can see from the photos that it isn't very pleasant. 

I haven't been on the Sun yet but from the diagram of deck 8 aft, it looks like people will walk through the dining room to get to the wake pool. Not sure how they can stop this or change this.

 

I can't find any photos - just the diagram but I can see from that, that there's a big problem.

So , they didn't think through the initial layout and how it would work and now they're compounding the problem.

The only way to an aft (beautiful looking) pool is through the suite dining room! 😨

 

We had 39 days booked in a suite but that's been cancelled and now we'll try a short 7 day before finally judging whether this ship works for us. If others follow our lead Princess better get their act together.

[dides]

2 minutes ago, chamima said:

I can't find any photos

Note that I provided you a link to the photos in my reply to you in post #68

[ISABELLA]

On 3/6/2024 at 4:24 PM, WonderMan3 said:

I am seeing posts from someone on the Sun right now in another group who is in a Penthouse Suite. Breakfast menu is the same everyday. Unclear whether it is the same as Reserve or MDR. Lunch menu unclear if it is the same each day. Someone in that forum recognized the menu items as being the same as what they had in MDR on one of the other ships recently. Dinner menu changes nightly but it is unclear whether it is the same or different than MDR or Reserve. I’m sharing images below. Maybe someone can tell if the dinner menu looks the same as a recent MDR menu. (Photos from Mitch M.)

Just off the Sun. Taste of food in MDR for the most part was just OK. A lot of time was served lukewarm. Not sure if "Signature" experience is worth the price.