Sun or Star for 14 day b2b XMAS 2025 cruise

[MattnTricia]

My wife and I are looking a booking a b2b cruise  on either the Princess Star or Sun in December 2025 over the holidays sailing the Caribbean from Ft Lauderdale. 

 

It will be just the 2 of us and under normal circumstances we would choose the Star Princess as it has 2 new stops we haven't been to previously. 

 

The concern is obviously potential ship launch delay that has already happened once.  

 

There are 5 other Princess ships with similar itineraries with in 1-2 days departure date we could change to if this were to happen but Star would still be our first choice based on ship and Itinerary. 

 

In the past how did Princess handle these cancelations - I am asking as last minute for Holiday cruises the price is typically significantly more than booking now.  Has Princess in the past given options for other ships on the same dates when this has happened? Our concern would be not wanting to shell out a lot more money to jump on the SUN, Magestic, Sky...... when they are all within $200 of the same price today with the Star being the most expensive right now.  

 

Is it reasonable to assume if Princess had an issue we would like find space on another ship the same 2 weeks without having to come out of pocket for fare change? As an FYI we are not cabin snobs and would likely be in an inside cabin. 

 

[reedprincess]

With Sun's delays, there was full refund and credit towards future cruises, plus some minimal amounts towards changes in airfare or hotels, etc..

 

I wouldn't hesitate to book Star for Xmas/NY 2025. She's due out Oct 2025, and has already had a multiple week delay built into her launch (was due earlier but they w added some time).  

 

By Dec, she'll have been sailing awhile already.  And she won't have the hiccups or conversions like Sun, as that's all being/been ironed out on Sun... 

 

If the price is right, cabin and itinerary are good, I wouldn't hesitate on Star.

 

The older ships may be less expensive though..  🤷🏻‍♀️

[Wishing on a star]

I do believe that they will be much more proactive in making sure that the Star sails without such a lengthy series of delays.  I would imagine that the Holiday Cruises would be good to go.  (maybe some break in growing-pains)    The fact that the Star will not be the first of an entirely new CLASS of ship also works in your favor.

 

But, then again, we are talking about Princess???

 

Here is the thing...  You know that Holiday cruises can be more expensive, and can also sell much further in advance.  You would want to put a booking on the Star, as quickly as you are sure you will be sailing over the Holidays next year.  Princes only go UP.

 

The thought of a back-up plan, with a booking on the Sun, comes to mind.

Hopefully this can be done with a refundable deposit, which is good until Final Payment date.

This puts you win the window of seeing if the Star will sail, as planned.

[SCX22]

I honestly don’t think that there will be any further delays with the Star.  Princess has delayed the launch by 3 months and scrapped the summer cruises to the Med.  There will be 2 inaugural Med cruises (a 10 and a 7 day) and a Transatlantic before the Caribbean season starts.  Transatlantics can be hard to fill because of the few ports and many sea days.  If Princess delays the launch even more, they might have to sail the repositioning TA empty or at very low capacity because of the above mentioned and the high prices of last minute flights.  Princess doesn’t really cruise the Med in the Winter, so I don’t see them keeping the ship in Europe.

 

What I would be worried about is the teething troubles that come with a new ship that has just launched.  If you can live with that, then by all means, book the Star.

[MattnTricia]

Thank for the replies - The though of doing a back up refundable deposit reservation is a great idea. Right now the pricing is pretty reasonable and we would like to get this booked on or before black Friday of this year for the 2025 cruise. 

Edited 16 hours ago by MattnTricia