Was It A Rumor - Sun Princess Dining Changes??

[Suite Susie]

1 hour ago, dog said:

Where will the American Diner be as of October 14/24?

At the back of the buffet, where Catch and the Butchers Block are located. 

[Esprit]

23 minutes ago, Suite Susie said:

At the back of the buffet, where Catch and the Butchers Block are located. 

That would be a good location, and Princess can then relocate that awful life size fibreglass cow!

[dides]

Came across this article on the changes an Aussie cruise site

[bstrauss3]

I think the changes have already started. Spellbound seems to have been relocated to the port side back room of the horizon on Deck 8. Walked through this afternoon and it was filled with the signage and prop bottles.

[dides]

2 hours ago, bstrauss3 said:

I think the changes have already started. Spellbound seems to have been relocated to the port side back room of the horizon on Deck 8. Walked through this afternoon and it was filled with the signage and prop bottles.

When we walked through last week it was the first space on the left coming in from the Wake View entrance. Is that where you mean? No idea if that's the spot where it's always been.

 

 

[cruisedoctor]

I’m back aboard the Sun Princess again…last time was on the maiden voyage when nothing was ready. I’ve been reading on another topic how bad things were on the previous sailing.  When we boarded the following letter was in everyone’s stateroom.

 

Just as on the maiden voyage back in February, there are different types of contractors on board.  However, I’ve yet to see any ongoing work disrupting any guest areas.  Deck 19 is closed-off to guests.  However, on embarkation day, because it was raining, no one was working up there, so I snuck in to see how much of Park-19 had been removed. (See photos)  I thought they would have been further along by now, but other than when it is raining, they have been working up there.  I spoke to some other contractors today, and they told me management hopes to have it completely disassembled by the time we reach Ft. Lauderdale, where all the pieces will be off-loaded.

I have to say, based on our experiences with the total blackout of any information, about the Sun’s status during the 2 months prior to the her maiden voyage, Princess has an iron fist when it comes to withholding information it doesn’t want the public to know.  I can’t figure out whether they keep it from even the upper management on board the ship, or that management has been threatened, if they say anything to the passengers, press, or bloggers.

I got to know the Director Of Restaurant Operations very well back in February.  The 1st thing I asked him when I saw him on embarkation day, was when the Sanctuary and specialty restaurants were going to be switched around…will it be during this cruise, or after arriving in Ft. Lauderdale.  I had yet to see the above letter, as I hadn’t been into my stateroom yet.  After a long pause, he said it wouldn’t be during the cruise.  Since he is in charge of all the restaurants on board the ship I would think he should know.  I was surprised, when I read the letter, that these restaurants supposedly would be playing musical chairs during the cruise.  I got to know many of the MDR hosts back in February, and they were still here, so I’ve been asking them if they know anything.  Everyone says no one has told them anything.  I even spoke with the Cruise Director the other evening.  Her response was that upper management does not tell any crew members anything for fear it would appear on social media.  The CIA, NSA, and FBI need to take lessons on keeping information from leaking out.

 

The only thing that I could see different up on Deck 8 of the Horizon Dining Room is that they changed the hanging fixtures in the middle 3rd of that area, and now there are table cloths on the tables which previously were bare.

 

For those who haven’t seen that Deck 8 Dining Room (the future Sanctuary Dining Room) the area is divided into 3rd’s by two walkways that run from the front of the dining area, to the back of the ship.  These two walkways are used by passengers to get out to the Wakeview Terrace, Pool, and Bar.  Here is a photo I took of one of those walkways.

What you are looking at is as follows:  To the left side of the walkway is 1/3 of the new Sanctuary Dining Room.  To the right side of this walkway is the middle 1/3 section of the new Sanctuary Dining Room.  In the upper right hand corner you can see the new weird brass colored hanging fixtures.  At the end of this walkway is the door that leads to one of the aft scenic elevators, and the entrance to the Wakeview Terrace, Bar, and Pool.

 

My guess is that no one at Princess Headquarters. who is making decisions about this new “exclusive” dining room, has actually been on board the ship, and seen that these two walkways, that are necessary to get passengers to the Wakeview Area, will be running through their exclusive area where all the suite guests will be dining.  I can just picture a family of mom, dad and their two little screaming kids, dressed in bathing suites and flip-flops parading down the walkway to the Wakeview Pool, while Mr. & Mrs Big Bucks are trying to enjoy a quite dinner.  You can’t put up a wall on either side of the walkways because the waiters wouldn’t be able to easily get from one area to the others.  If you close off the walkways, then the only way to get to the Wakeview Area would be a long walk on the outside of the ship.

 

I’m looking forward to see what management is going to do.  If any further changes occur during this cruise I’ll let you know.

 

If there are any questions, I’ll be happy to try to answer them.

 

Dr. J

 

 

[CalTexCruiser]

Holy sh*t.  A picture is worth a thousand words.  I had no idea when others said that the walkway to the Wakeview pool is through the Sanctuary dining room, that it literally runs right through the gut of the dining room.

 

And there are TWO (2) !?@ walkways.

 

Ugh.  That's pretty disgusting.

 

[CalTexCruiser]

28 minutes ago, cruisedoctor said:

2 downloads

 

 

 

My guess is that no one at Princess Headquarters. who is making decisions about this new “exclusive” dining room, has actually been on board the ship, and seen that these two walkways, that are necessary to get passengers to the Wakeview Area, will be running through their exclusive area where all the suite guests will be dining.  I can just picture a family of mom, dad and their two little screaming kids, dressed in bathing suites and flip-flops parading down the walkway to the Wakeview Pool, while Mr. & Mrs Big Bucks are trying to enjoy a quite dinner.  You can’t put up a wall on either side of the walkways because the waiters wouldn’t be able to easily get from one area to the others.  If you close off the walkways, then the only way to get to the Wakeview Area would be a long walk on the outside of the ship.

 

 

Reports are that John Padgett (Princess' President) was on the last sailing prior to the TA.  He must have seen the POS that is the Sanctuary Dining Room.

 

This dining room is going to be so undesirable that the Sanctuary guests will all be opting for Specialty Dining every night with the new Premier Package, assuming space is available to accommodate the likely surge in demand.

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

32 minutes ago, cruisedoctor said:

I’m back aboard the Sun Princess again…last time was on the maiden voyage when nothing was ready. I’ve been reading on another topic how bad things were on the previous sailing.  When we boarded the following letter was in everyone’s stateroom.

 

Just as on the maiden voyage back in February, there are different types of contractors on board.  However, I’ve yet to see any ongoing work disrupting any guest areas.  Deck 19 is closed-off to guests.  However, on embarkation day, because it was raining, no one was working up there, so I snuck in to see how much of Park-19 had been removed. (See photos)  I thought they would have been further along by now, but other than when it is raining, they have been working up there.  I spoke to some other contractors today, and they told me management hopes to have it completely disassembled by the time we reach Ft. Lauderdale, where all the pieces will be off-loaded.

IMG_0881.mov 1.48 MB · 2 downloads

I have to say, based on our experiences with the total blackout of any information, about the Sun’s status during the 2 months prior to the her maiden voyage, Princess has an iron fist when it comes to withholding information it doesn’t want the public to know.  I can’t figure out whether they keep it from even the upper management on board the ship, or that management has been threatened, if they say anything to the passengers, press, or bloggers.

I got to know the Director Of Restaurant Operations very well back in February.  The 1st thing I asked him when I saw him on embarkation day, was when the Sanctuary and specialty restaurants were going to be switched around…will it be during this cruise, or after arriving in Ft. Lauderdale.  I had yet to see the above letter, as I hadn’t been into my stateroom yet.  After a long pause, he said it wouldn’t be during the cruise.  Since he is in charge of all the restaurants on board the ship I would think he should know.  I was surprised, when I read the letter, that these restaurants supposedly would be playing musical chairs during the cruise.  I got to know many of the MDR hosts back in February, and they were still here, so I’ve been asking them if they know anything.  Everyone says no one has told them anything.  I even spoke with the Cruise Director the other evening.  Her response was that upper management does not tell any crew members anything for fear it would appear on social media.  The CIA, NSA, and FBI need to take lessons on keeping information from leaking out.

 

The only thing that I could see different up on Deck 8 of the Horizon Dining Room is that they changed the hanging fixtures in the middle 3rd of that area, and now there are table cloths on the tables which previously were bare.

 

For those who haven’t seen that Deck 8 Dining Room (the future Sanctuary Dining Room) the area is divided into 3rd’s by two walkways that run from the front of the dining area, to the back of the ship.  These two walkways are used by passengers to get out to the Wakeview Terrace, Pool, and Bar.  Here is a photo I took of one of those walkways.

What you are looking at is as follows:  To the left side of the walkway is 1/3 of the new Sanctuary Dining Room.  To the right side of this walkway is the middle 1/3 section of the new Sanctuary Dining Room.  In the upper right hand corner you can see the new weird brass colored hanging fixtures.  At the end of this walkway is the door that leads to one of the aft scenic elevators, and the entrance to the Wakeview Terrace, Bar, and Pool.

 

My guess is that no one at Princess Headquarters. who is making decisions about this new “exclusive” dining room, has actually been on board the ship, and seen that these two walkways, that are necessary to get passengers to the Wakeview Area, will be running through their exclusive area where all the suite guests will be dining.  I can just picture a family of mom, dad and their two little screaming kids, dressed in bathing suites and flip-flops parading down the walkway to the Wakeview Pool, while Mr. & Mrs Big Bucks are trying to enjoy a quite dinner.  You can’t put up a wall on either side of the walkways because the waiters wouldn’t be able to easily get from one area to the others.  If you close off the walkways, then the only way to get to the Wakeview Area would be a long walk on the outside of the ship.

 

I’m looking forward to see what management is going to do.  If any further changes occur during this cruise I’ll let you know.

 

If there are any questions, I’ll be happy to try to answer them.

 

Dr. J

 

 

 

Thank you for the thorough update! 

 

We'll be in a suite over Thanksgiving and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what becomes of things. 

 

We'll be in the Retreat on the Celebrity Apex the week before as I'm planning to do a comparison and I don't think it's going to fare well for Princess.

[CalTexCruiser]

19 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Thank you for the thorough update! 

 

We'll be in a suite over Thanksgiving and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what becomes of things. 

 

We'll be in the Retreat on the Celebrity Apex the week before as I'm planning to do a comparison and I don't think it's going to fare well for Princess.

 

As I recall, you paid quite the sum for the Vista Suite.  Good luck.

 

Apex Retreat is beautiful.  We loved it.

 

We'll be trying our first NCL Haven experience on the Joy, 15-night Panama Canal in late November, and the Joy's Haven areas also look gorgeous.

 

Princess' attempt at the ship-within-ship by comparison is pretty pathetic.  It started out promising with the Signature Suites with their dedicated dining and Sanctuary area, but they've now bastardized it to a pretty weak offering.

 

 

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

1 minute ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

As I recall, you paid quite the sum for the Vista Suite.  Good luck.

 

Apex Retreat is beautiful.  We loved it.

 

We'll be trying our first NCL Haven experience on the Joy, 15-night Panama Canal in late November, and the Joy's Haven areas also look gorgeous.

 

Princess' attempt at the ship-within-ship by comparison is pretty pathetic.  It started out promising with the Signature Suites with their dedicated dining and Sanctuary area, but they've now bastardized it to a pretty weak offering.

You have a good memory!

 

We have yet to do a Panama Canal sailing but it's most definitely on my cruising bucket list. I love my kids dearly, but between school and sports, they definitely make it a challenge to cruise as much as I'd really like to! Not in a rush for them to grow up, but it will nice to get to where we can do those long sailings any time we like. 

 

I hope you guys have an amazing journey on the Joy. We have not been on that ship, but I've heard great things!

[dog]

Cruisedoctor- excellent description & photos which is what I was asking for. The walkway through the sanctuary restaurant to the wakeview pool had me wondering what kind of joke is this! Guess I’ll get to experience it 5/7 nights since I was not able to book dining reservations on  those nights nor able to purchase a Premier package pre cruise- website errors. Princess has dropped the ball with me.

[Avalon35]

Thank you for the Sanctuary dining photo. What are they thinking? I cant get reservarions either for the Nov sailing for specialty restaurants and am counting on the Sanctuary restaurant to provide some sort of equivalent upscale dining. No matter what dining room,no one wants to eat next to a public pathway with people walking by your food. 

[keldaria]

I have to imagine that the walkways through the sanctuary restaurant will be removed and guest moving to the wake view pool are going to be asked to walk around through the exterior walkways. It would be stupid for them to try and maintain access through the sanctuary restaurant.

 

That said, the “view” from the restaurant that they’ve been advertising clearly won’t be as desirable as claimed. Looking out to a bar and wake view pool users is a terrible view for what should be an exclusive restaurant. Hopefully they figure out a way to make this appealing to guest otherwise it’s a huge downgrade for both reserve and signature guests.

Honestly, I think they need to move things around a bit more. Break the signature restaurant back off and push it up into the Love by Britto area. It makes more sense for their ship within a ship concept to be there anyways since it’s right among the suites. Move love forward to be where they put the Catch (old signature restaurant). Move the Catch and the Butcher Block to be in this larger sanctuary restaurant they are pitching. Move the remaining signature restaurant to where the butcher block was placed and call it a day. 

[dog]

19 hours ago, dides said:

When we walked through last week it was the first space on the left coming in from the Wake View entrance. Is that where you mean? No idea if that's the spot where it's always been.

 

 

Can the elevators behind the new sanctuary restaurant be used to access the wakeview  pool rather then walking through the restaurant?

[dides]

1 minute ago, dog said:

Can the elevators behind the new sanctuary restaurant be used to access the wakeview  pool rather then walking through the restaurant?

Yes, the scenic elevators access all the decks from 8 up to 18, so you could go up and walk through 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

No matter what they do with the walking traffic, if they can't magically give the space incredible views, it's really not going to matter. 

 

I'm guessing I'll try to do specialty dining almost every night on our sailing vs being confined to a space with bad views. 

 

I'm sure the food and service will be fine, but they will be in specialty dining restaurants as well, so I may as well find ones that have a good view. 

 

On that note - which specialty restaurant has the best views on the Sun?

 

[Avalon35]

Good luck getting specialty restaurant reservations - I managed to reserve 1! That’s it.

[dog]

Love by Britto was my only reservation I could make, other then signature restaurant - which is walk in.  Oct.19 th.  Views are nice, 👍.  I don’t really care about the view, more so, the smokers & speedos  dripping while brushing by my table in the classy Sanctuary private dining room.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

26 minutes ago, Avalon35 said:

Good luck getting specialty restaurant reservations - I managed to reserve 1! That’s it.

Isn't that something the suite concierge should be able to fix onboard? 

 

Fortunately we booked Spellbound and Butcher's Block as I didn't realize how difficult it would be to get reservations. I just checked though and you're right, every single restaurant is fully booked every single night. 

 

This is the worst pre-cruise experience I've ever had on any cruise and we do 12+/year. 

 

We only decided to try Princess because of Park 19 so I'm guessing this will be a one and done experience with them. There's so many great cruise lines out there, no reason to financially support one that can't tell their 🫏 from a hole in the ground. 

[dides]

43 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

On that note - which specialty restaurant has the best views on the Sun?

 

Love by Britto is the obvious one with the best aft views.

The other restaurants are in transition but I've grabbed some pictures from our old footage below.

 

Sabatini's - no views and dark with  fake windows

 

 

Umai - no views -fake windows

 

 

Crown Grill - will be moving to the Reserve Restaurant which does have a good number of windows but they pulled down blinds in the original Crown area

 

 

The Catch by Rudi is moving to the Signature Restaurant which has windows looking out to the deck:

 

 

Butchers Block is moving to the Crown Grill - which has some windows but with blinds pulled down in the evening:

 

 

 

Kai Sushi does look out over one of the Spheres so there is a view!:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

4 minutes ago, dides said:

Love by Britto is the obvious one with the best aft views.

The other restaurants are in transition but I've grabbed some pictures from our old footage below.

 

Sabatini's - no views and dark with  fake windows

 

 

Umai - no views -fake windows

 

 

Crown Grill - will be moving to the Reserve Restaurant which does have a good number of windows but they pulled down blinds in the original Crown area

 

 

The Catch by Rudi is moving to the Signature Restaurant which has windows looking out to the deck:

 

 

Butchers Block is moving to the Crown Grill - which has some windows but with blinds pulled down in the evening:

 

 

 

Kai Sushi does look out over one of the Spheres so there is a view!:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really appreciate you pulling those all together... Thank you! 

 

Of course, Love is adults-only so we won't be able to eat there with our kids. 

 

I'll be curious to see what areas of the ship get the big, open aft and forward views since it's not the restaurants (obviously some are allocated to staterooms but usually there are restaurants like Eden that have stunning views at the aft of the ship).

[Wishing on a star]

2 hours ago, keldaria said:

Honestly, I think they need to move things around a bit more. Break the signature restaurant back off and push it up into the Love by Britto area

 

Agree... (whether for Suites only or 'Sancltuary')   I don't know how many this space seats.

Love has not been a raving success.  Even when they dropped the price.

However, These things are all very 'contractual'.  Whether it be 2 years, 5 years, or more.

When Princess can get out of their contract with Britto, I very much imagine that this is what will happen.

Perhaps this is what they have in mind, and are working on.  

They are juggling to find space, temporarily.

 

Also, note...  Just as the close the Dome late afternoon, to get ready for evening, maybe they could close off these avenues to the Wakeview area before supper every evening.

 

No matter what happens, it is clear that there are huge problems that go all the way up to the very top, Princess corporate.  Uggghhhh.

It has been clear, with the Sun Princess, and on other things as well, that they simply do not know their back end from the other end.

 

 

Edited Saturday at 03:28 PM by Wishing on a star

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Maybe put the Signature restaurant where the Butcher’s Block is moving to? I honestly don’t see that specialty dining venue making it unless they make some changes to the menu. They should let diners order sides like they do at the Crown Grill and then also serve the meat like they are doing now. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to eat a bowl of beans and some raw vegetables along with plates full of beef. Does anyone else feel this way? 

[bstrauss3]

22 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Maybe put the Signature restaurant where the Butcher’s Block is moving to? I honestly don’t see that specialty dining venue making it unless they make some changes to the menu. They should let diners order sides like they do at the Crown Grill and then also serve the meat like they are doing now. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to eat a bowl of beans and some raw vegetables along with plates full of beef. Does anyone else feel this way? 

Unless they dry dock, with the resulting screams about a cancelled cruise, they are limited to essentially cosmetic changes.

 

You can change signage, lamps, soft goods, &c pretty easily.

 

But any equipment changes have to be kept to a minimum. And a restaurant kitchen isn't universal... A meat restaurant needs high temp broilers, maybe you can slide them in over a couple days like they have when SP gets into FtL.

 

But that's about it - everything else has to be able to be done on the fly.