Sun princess - why no balcony quads?????

[cdnliving]

We are a family of 4 wanting to go on the Sun princess. It's my first time cruising, and I am not certain if I'll feel claustrophobic, so am wanting a balcony room. When I have gone to book it, I have been informed that there are no quads on the Sun princess, in the B class - only balconies with one bed, one sofa bed that sleeps one, and two berths. This seems rather odd - anyone have any insights?

[rjack22]

Here is a thought. I don't know how old your kids are, but if they are old enough you might want to consider two cabins. Get a balcony for you and your husband and get an inside across the hall for the kids.

 

I sure wish that I had done that. It wouldn't have cost any more either. My kids though were teenagers. Four in one cabin was way too much togetherness for me! It was very cramped. Plus with a second cabin you get two bathrooms and more privacy! Now if your kids are younger this would only work if one adult stayed in the inside cabin with one kid and the other in the outside with the second kid. I am sure that is probably not what you had in mind.

 

But this arrangement is an option to think about.

[cdnliving]

Thanks for that. My kids are a bit young yet (12 & 10) , so I wouldn't be comfortable with that at this point. Any other thoughts???

[Toto2Kansas]

We are a family of 4 wanting to go on the Sun princess. It's my first time cruising, and I am not certain if I'll feel claustrophobic, so am wanting a balcony room. When I have gone to book it, I have been informed that there are no quads on the Sun princess, in the B class - only balconies with one bed, one sofa bed that sleeps one, and two berths. This seems rather odd - anyone have any insights?

 

FYI-Sun Princess regular balcony cabins do not have a sofa, so no sofa beds until you go up to the mini suite or full suite category. The balcony rooms include two twins, convertable to a queen, and then a third or sometimes forth pull down bunk out of the wall. The balcony cabins include just the bed/beds, one semi comfortable upholstered chair and a desk chair or stool. No sofas at all.

 

As for a suggestion. You might consider booking two balcony cabins and have the room steward open the divider to the balconys, that way you have access and can keep close eye on those little ones.

[chrysalis]

I think you were given bad info...follow this link to see a couple of cabins that will accommodate 4 ....and then check out other decks.....

 

http://www.princess.com/ships/sp/deck/sp_aloha_index.html

[chrysalis]

by-the-way...we have been on the Sun twice now, and her sistership, the Sea...we are booked again for 2 back-to-back cruises on the Sun in March/07, so as you can see, we are big fans of the ship.

 

Also, you might want to take a look at the pricing....inside cabins are 1/2 the price per person as balconies. If you decide to sail on March 20th or 30th, join our roll call. We are from Sudbury...have family in Barhaven

[Hulagirl]

I can also tell you that on the Sun Princess the balcony quads do not have beds that can be converted to a queen. Unless you have actually stayed in one of these rooms it is hard to imagine how uncomfortable these cabins actually are. You will be told by those that beds can be converted, but they can't. These cabins do not even have actual beds. What you will find is a very narrow couch type thing and the other 3 beds are all fold out of the wall types. We sailed on the Sun when my daughter was 9 and we had one of these cabins for 12 days. It was very, very small and uncomfortable. It there are going to be 4 of you, I don't even know where you will store your luggage. We had to use the couch to pile our luggage on it.

 

I had forgotten how tiny these cabins are until last weekend when we did a one day cruise on the Dawn Princess again in one of these cabins. Had been upgraded for free, so I said we could do it for one night. That was truly the longest I could sail in this small of a cabin. We had sailed on the Dawn last May in an ocean view cabin (triple/quad) and it is much better. While still being on the smaller side, those cabins actually do have beds and then the 3rd and 4th bed fold out of the wall rather than how it is set up for the balcony cabins.

 

This was truly a design flaw on this class of ships. We have sailed on almost all the ships in the Princess fleet and these cabins on the Sun/Dawn/Sea have to be the worst for the balcony/quads. We took pictures of this cabin and will have to get it loaded on webshots for you to see. It is really hard to imagine unless you have seen the cabin.

 

Hulagirl

[Hulagirl]

Here are pictures of our cabin on the Dawn Princess. This is the exact cabin we had on the sun Princess also. As you can see, this is the triple/quad cabins and they have no beds, only those fold out things from the wall. Very, very small cabin.

 

 

 

 

 

[Coral]

Thanks Hulagirl for posting the pictures.

 

The triple/quad balcony cabins on the Sun Class ship are different then any other class of ship. There are no normal beds in this cabin. There is a bench and 3 beds that pull out from the wall.

 

If I wanted a quad cabin - I would look into 2 insides/outsides or one balcony for 2 and then an inside across the hall.

[cdnliving]

Hulagirl, thankyou SO much for your complete honesty and posting the photos....it's no wonder they don't have those on the Princess web-site!

We'll have to look at other options..... thanks again,

[ljtinney]

Those cabins are certainly small and uncomfortable. Depending on when you are planning on going, you could look into a mini suite or maybe a couple of inside or outside cabins. Princess has some great prices right now.

[Hulagirl]

Cdnliving: I'm so glad you saw these pictures. We just went on the Dawn last weekend and wanted to make sure we took several pictures of the cabin. Others have asked about these particular cabins on these ships, but when I've told them, nobody wants to believe me. Even if you were to call Princess CS they will tell you something completely different also about the cabins. I would just hate to see you with two children trying to have a fun cruise. Even though some will say you don't spend much time in your cabin, you have to be there at times. You truly would have been miserable.

 

I've seen several itineraries that I would love to go on, but when I see they are using either the Sun/Dawn or Sea Princess, I just pass on by. The only way I could even consider sailing on one of these ships would be in either a mini-suite or one of the full suites as long as our daughter is with us.

 

So very glad to have helped you. Try one of the other ships if you don't book a full suite. At least their quad balcony cabins are larger than this.

 

Have a great cruise with whatever you book.

 

Hulagirl

[cdnliving]

Thanks Hulagirl. Although we absolutely loved the itinerary on the Sun, and were really hoping to sail with Princess, we ended up booking on the CelebrityConstellation, as it fit into our childrens spring break schedules. We were disappointed however, in not being on the Sun.The minisuites and suites were completely booked (we're newbies to the cruising world....to think I thought 6 months ahead was planning ahead....now I know different!! ) Anyhow, thanks so much for your most informative posts. We really appreciate it! BTW, we went to Hawaii last year and

I communicated with a Hulagirl on Tripadvisor - out of curiosity, would that have been you?

[Hulagirl]

Cdnliving: I'm so glad that the pictures helped you with your decision. I can completely understand your not wanting to be in one of these cabins. It is too bad that the mini's and the full suites were completely booked, but I bet you will love our cruise on Celebrity. Our first cruise for the 3 of us was on the Celebrity Mercury with an ocean view cabin. It was really quite comfortable and the bathroom had so much room in it. Then the next cruise was the Sun Princess and this cabin. Almost ended our cruising with Princess forever. Now, with 21 Princess cruises under my belt, you can see that the other ships have been so much better for the cabins, for us.

 

You will have a great time. I completely understand having to book around school schedules. Our daughter is a Junior in High School now and is looking at different colleges. Boy the years have flown. Will tell you, we usually try to book soon after bookings open. Just for your future cruising. The ships can limit the number of kids on board or can reach capacity and not allow anymore 3 or 4 people in a cabin. Just so you know and can plan earlier if that works out for you.

 

Unfortunately, that wasn't me on the TA site, though I rely on that site a lot for information. We love Maui and have gone quite often. Wish I was there right now!

 

Have a wonderful cruise on the Constellation. Haven't been on that ship, but I think you will love it. Maybe next time you can book with Princess. The ships in the other classes have cabins that you will find to work quite well. The mini suites are really very comfortable on the Grand Class ships for more than 2 in the cabin.

 

Glad to have helped.

 

Hulagirl