LIVE from Sun Princess Barcelona to Southampton September 14th-23rd

[Trimone]

Just got home, first time on Princess and the last, had a reserve mini suite.

I have never witnessed staff arguing with customers on any cruise until this one.

We we’re informed about getting to Southampton a day early for maintenance well before we cruised no problem, the problem turns to anger when you hear travel agents and all the Princess bosses and all going to be on there on the Saturday, wonder when that was arranged?
on Tuesday we received a form asking us when we were leaving the ship and had to be completed by 6pm Wednesday? We filled out Sunday, last night we had a leaflet telling us we had to depart by 11am this morning! Why were contractors or travel agent guests using the room that we paid for until Monday morning?

very disappointed 

 

[Wishing on a star]

Hate to read the above post!

We can only hope that all of this interruption and 'special events' will be over before the first open public sailing on Oct. 14.   (Would be expected on the short VIP cruise event prior.)

I would not be happy if I were on that cruise, and there were all of the inconveniences that guests are experiencing right now.

 

Trimone, am I to understand that your sailing was originally set to end Sunday, and you received a notice that you were to depart by 11:00 on Saturday?

Could this have been the ubiquiatous Princess Error???   That you got that notice in error?  Workers and staff that were needed onboard could STILL be onboard that day, and have been placed in some other quarters overnight?

Were you able to speak to anyone in charge to clarify?

 

I am sure that everyone was given that disembarking form, and that they expected may folks to go ahead and disembark.  But, I would be interested to know if those, like you, who had intended to leave the ship Sunday, were actually 'ushered' off the ship.  Or if that notice came to you in error???

Edited 9 hours ago by Wishing on a star

[Pink-belle]

Can tell it’s the last night of the cruise.  Just ordered pre dinner drinks in Crooners.  They have been great all cruise, until tonight, they obviously can’t be bothered now. No garnish and sickly sweet. 

 

They have also been packing up some of the “influencer” photo areas.

this resulted in a number of small poles being left over the piazza floor.  2 “suited” one officer looking male and a female were overseeing this. It was the female who left the poles on the floor. The male tripped over them they laughed and walked away. 

 

At this point my husband said they can’t just leave those it’s an accident waiting to happen. 
 

A couple of minutes later a huge crash as a passenger takes a really heavy fall.  
 

thankfully after a little recovery time passenger feels okay. 
 

Lots of people around now scratching heads saying what happened?

I just went down to say I saw exactly what happened, as I didn’t want any of the “floor” staff being blamed, and to her credit when I pointed her out she did say she was taking full responsibility.  

 

[timeforme]

We were on this cruise and had arranged to disembark today (Sunday) due to a medical appointment tomorrow. This was done in advance and Princess knew that we would be leaving late afternoon. The plan had been to have a leisurely day on board. On returning from the eatery at 7am, we found that we could no longer access our room. In addition, we were unable to use our Princess Plus package even though we had paid for the entire cruise including tomorrow. We did eventually get back into the room but then our app stopped working again at 11am. The ship was completely overrun by ‘guests’ and there was nowhere to sit for lunch. It felt like we were gatecrashers at our own party that we had paid for! We decided to give up and left early.              
 

   The construction noise has been unbearable and the cruise was ruined for us by the change in itinerary and the lack of facilities. Love sea days but instead we had an extra day in Southampton. It was completely spoiled by all the additional people and even more construction work. 

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

3 hours ago, dides said:

Here is the new 'Ring for Champagne' Bell

 

 

A gloved hand will hand you the glass of champagne though the foliage. 

 

That has to be one of the stupidest things I’ve seen on a ship. Totally useless. How about talking to a server. And does it really ring?!?  Another noise I could do without while enjoying my Sanctuary time. Im already dreading the sound of pickleball coming from Park 19. 

[Trimone]

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

Hate to read the above post!

We can only hope that all of this interruption and 'special events' will be over before the first open public sailing on Oct. 14.   (Would be expected on the short VIP cruise event prior.)

I would not be happy if I were on that cruise, and there were all of the inconveniences that guests are experiencing right now.

 

Trimone, am I to understand that your sailing was originally set to end Sunday, and you received a notice that you were to depart by 11:00 on Saturday?

Could this have been the ubiquiatous Princess Error???   That you got that notice in error?  Workers and staff that were needed onboard could STILL be onboard that day, and have been placed in some other quarters overnight?

Were you able to speak to anyone in charge to clarify?

 

I am sure that everyone was given that disembarking form, and that they expected may folks to go ahead and disembark.  But, I would be interested to know if those, like you, who had intended to leave the ship Sunday, were actually 'ushered' off the ship.  Or if that notice came to you in error???

Hi, we filled the form out to say we were leaving today 22nd September on Wednesday, our cruise ended tomorrow 23rd September, on that questionnaire it just gave dates not times.

We choose to leave 22/09 we intended to have a leisurely morning, we had paid for it, including packages, we had a letter last night saying we had to be off the ship by 11am this morning. Someone on ship go and knock on 16452 and see if it’s occupied?

Princess should get their act together.

[Wishing on a star]

Wow,  the word 'circus' does not seem to begin to describe the debacle that is going on right now.

Do they think that all of these 'influencers' and Cruise Critic guests are not going to notice all of this.  That the negative PR is not going to get out.

Princess needs to do a lot more than 'get their act together' at this point in the roll-out of this ship, and every thing else as well.

[Pink-belle]

Guest in the Arena at 8:30, for invited guests is indeed Sam Ryder.

[dog]

Unbelievable. Just unbelievable how this sailings passengers were treated!

 

Definitely will avoid the Star prior to her TA in 2025.

[bstrauss3]

On 9/21/2024 at 3:35 PM, PacnGoNow said:

I wonder what the cost

of Park 19 removal will be?  Unreal.

 

Pretty sure if P didn't accept it, the vendor will be eating everything. Wonder if they will claw back the previous progress payments. Somebody is taking a serious bath on this...

[timeforme]

45 minutes ago, Trimone said:

46 minutes ago, Trimone said:

Hi, we filled the form out to say we were leaving today 22nd September on Wednesday, our cruise ended tomorrow 23rd September, on that questionnaire it just gave dates not times.

We choose to leave 22/09 we intended to have a leisurely morning, we had paid for it, including packages, we had a letter last night saying we had to be off the ship by 11am this morning. Someone on ship go and knock on 16452 and see if it’s occupied?

Princess should get their act together.

 

Could someone try 15414 too? Wonder if the new occupants are making use of our Premier Plus package? Probably no need to as everyone seemed to be being wined and dined at the expense of the paying passengers! 

[PacnGoNow]

5 minutes ago, dog said:

Unbelievable. Just unbelievable how this sailings passengers were treated!

 

Definitely will avoid the Star prior to her TA in 2025.

You think they will do the same with the Star?

 

 

[dog]

6 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

You think they will do the same with the Star?

 

 

I have no idea. These recent reports from non TAs, bloggers are giving me a good idea of what matters to a Princess, I no longer recognize.

I was booked on the Star TA that got cancelled and had a hassle getting my FCD back.  
Thanks for those cc members we are getting a balanced view of what’s happening.

[Pink-belle]

1 hour ago, timeforme said:

 

Could someone try 15414 too? Wonder if the new occupants are making use of our Premier Plus package? Probably no need to as everyone seemed to be being wined and dined at the expense of the paying passengers! 

We’ve just walked by both, as not far from our room on 16

 

16452 initials IT & TT

15414 initials JC & KS

[timeforme]

3 minutes ago, Pink-belle said:

We’ve just walked by both, as not far from our room on 16

 

16452 initials IT & TT

15414 initials JC & KS

Thank you 
 

When I was trying to sort out the “access denied” to our room at Customer Services, I met a young lady who had initially thought of disembarking today but was unable to get an earlier flight so had informed them that she was staying on. She too received a letter informing her that she had to be off the ship today by 11am and was worried that she would not be allowed back on if she went for a walk around Southampton. 

 

 

 

 

[dides]

There was a PR presentation in the Arena earlier this evening with Corinne the CD, Eithne of Princess UK and JP.

 

 

They went through the unique selling points of the ship and had segments on sustainability from Jeff Corwin and food from Chef Rudi.

They mentioned the Sanctuary Collection Changes but not the other changes to the ship. 

They said Star would be based on Sun with minimal changes

Also that they would be changing one of the Sun schedules to become a solar eclipse cruise.

 

I was a few feet from Richard Parker, the designer behind the ship, while waiting to go into the Arena but he didn't feature at all in the event. Should I have asked him any questions I wonder 😉

 

A couple of hours later, we attended the Sam Ryder mini-concert.  He was very energetic and sang some rousing songs with audience participation.

 

 

Chris is a new fan now but I know some of the suite guests didn't agree and walked out in the middle! 

 

This completes this Live From as we disembark tomorrow - hope it was helpful and thanks to everyone else who chipped in. I will now handover to everyone on the Transatlantic!

 

 

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by dides

[Trimone]

41 minutes ago, Pink-belle said:

We’ve just walked by both, as not far from our room on 16

 

16452 initials IT & TT

15414 initials JC & KS

IT & TT is us 16452

[Pink-belle]

Feeling frustrated now, not content with their “private” events, the free guests are now allowed into the Piazza where we are trying to enjoy a show! 
 

Princess got this very very wrong. 

[timeforme]

2 minutes ago, Pink-belle said:

Feeling frustrated now, not content with their “private” events, the free guests are now allowed into the Piazza where we are trying to enjoy a show! 
 

Princess got this very very wrong. 

Think we made the right decision to get off early! Whilst we were waiting to leave, one of the new ‘guests’ handed us a business card. He kindly offered to get us a good deal on our next cruise, shameful behaviour in my opinion. Another guest asked not to be filmed by one of the vloggers but was informed that they were not entitled to privacy in this country.

 

Totally agree with your comment about Princess getting this very wrong. 

[azbirdmom]

1 hour ago, dides said:

This completes this Live From as we disembark tomorrow - hope it was helpful and thanks to everyone else who chipped in.

Thanks so much for sharing your journey with us - the good, bad, and perplexing.  I think we will wait just a bit longer before booking a cruise on the Sun (or Star).

[Wishing on a star]

5 hours ago, dog said:

I have no idea. These recent reports from non TAs, bloggers are giving me a good idea of what matters to a Princess, I no longer recognize.

I was booked on the Star TA that got cancelled and had a hassle getting my FCD back.  
Thanks for those cc members we are getting a balanced view of what’s happening.

Very eloquently said.

A Princess that we no longer recognize.  

Thank you to everyone who tries to post fair and truthful information here!