Sun Princess sampler review

[staceymrow]

We flew out of Brisbane at 5.30 am for Sydney the morning of the 18th.

I booked cheap early flights as Sydney is 1hr ahead due to daylight saving and I didnt want to risk any flight delays and missing the ship.

 

Landed and found a shuttle bus (between Virgin and Qantas terminals) he charged us $14pp, miss 4 was free to get to wharf 8.

 

We arrived at the wharf by 9am and what a sight!!!

Passengers were still disembarking from thier 28 day cruise., and there was just a handful of people for the 2 nighter here at this stage.

Our bags wre quickly taken from us as we jumped off the bus and we checked in at the terminal.

We were told boarding woiuld commence at around 11,30am.

 

We walked up to Wynyard so DH could buy some cigars (took 10 min) and came back and sat and had a bite to eat and waited.

 

Around 11.45am we were allowed to board.

I put my bag with my 2 bottles wine through the xray machine without feeling any anxiety or guilt that I would be caught. What a great feeling!!! ;)

 

Within 2 minutes we were on board.

We found our cabin B623 found the fridge, put the wine in to get cold and went to explore.

It was overcast and quite humid and miss 4 wanted to swim but we didnt receive our bags for a few hours so we had to wait.

We found the bbq and had a bite to eat and enjoyed the view.

It didnt seem that busy at all.

Once the bags arrived, miss 4 swam and we kicked back with a beer for DH and a Raspberry fizz for me. OH YUMMMMMMMMM!!!!! I reccommend everyone try one!!:)

Sailaway was suppose to be at 5.30pm,but we were abit late, 30minutes I think.

I stood at the front and did not move. It was raining, cold and windy, but I wasnt missing this for anything.

I have always wanted to Sail out of Sydney on a Cruise since I was little.

The captain was very generous with his horn blowing, blew as we left, as we approached the Harbour bridge, and a few times heading towards the heads

Up above, we waved to the bridgeclimbers, It was such a great atmosphere regardless of the weather! Everyone was enjoying themselves!!

 

Just before Manly, the pilot jumped off and out the heads we sailed

By this time we were sitting having some dinner in the buffet as we were too cold and wet to be outside, but we had a great window view.

 

We were down for 1st sitting dinner at 6pm but didnt use it as it would have ment missing being outside for sailaway.

The food was really nice .Plenty of it too.

 

At 7.30pm we registered miss 4 at kids club (they werent operating on 1st day) They open 10am next day.

As we had miss 4 with us that night, we didnt go to shows or do much at all except walk and talk and meet new people.

 

We had another dinner later on that night at Verdis Pizza.Delicious!!

Dh was rapt at the 24 hr buffet and free Pizza- He loves to eat and couldnt get enough!!

The staff were wonderful, especially to miss 4.

 

By this time I was starting to get the hang of where I was going without getting lost!On a 7nighter it takes me the whole cruise to know where Im going, but as I only had 3days this time I was doing well!! :rolleyes:

 

I know I said I wasnt going to sleep for 72 hrs but we were buggered!By 10.30pm we were back in the cabin.

It was an inside-no windows and I wasnt sure how I would go with it- but I would book another inside again!! We were hardly in there!!

I forgot my alarm clock so used my phones alarm and had cruise cam on tv.But during the night they turned it around the show the pool and lights and Dh complained he coulnt sleep due to the room lit up so we turned it off.

I woke up every hour or so on night 1- I didnt want to sleep in so I kept checking the time.I still felt that I had a good nights sleep though!

 

So that is Day 1.

Normally I write down things day by day on cruises, but didnt on this one.

I have tried not to miss anything out-but probably have :rolleyes:

I will have a break and return with day 2 and anything I may have forgotten ;)

[MargnGrah]

Sounds like a great start to a wonderful little holiday!!!!!:D

Sounds like the check in went smoothly, thats good to hear. Rasberry Fizz sounds good, was it acholic??:rolleyes:

Look forward to hearing the rest:)

[arxcards]

Sounds like the check in went smoothly, thats good to hear. Rasberry Fizz sounds good, was it acholic??:rolleyes:

Ooooh Yes!! :D

 

Thanks for the first day info. Sailaways are special - regardless of the weather, and the front of Horizon Court is a great vantage point for a protected view over the bow.

 

How busy was your cruise? We could rarely get near those seats - some sat there all day playing cards or chatting.

 

I was a bit surprised about the cigars. The port and cigars seems to be an historic component of the classic days of cruising, but the Princess policy states no cigars or pipes (for the courtesy of passengers). Did hubby get any dirty looks?

 

Looking forward to the rest!! :)

How is the fence coming along?

[begginer_cruiser]

 

Dh was rapt at the 24 hr buffet and free Pizza- He loves to eat and couldnt get enough!!

 

 

Hi,

Sounds like you had a great time on the ship.

Can you please tell me, with regards to the 24 hour buffet, what kind of food do they provide? Is it a suitable place to go and have some dinner if you do not wish to go to the dining room one night?

[S&D]

Hi begginer cruiser,

 

Yes, the buffets on these ships (Sun P and Dawn P) - are lovely!.floor to ceiling windows all round, and nice comfy chairs, very suitable for eating if you do not fancy the dining room now and again.

 

Lots of choices of food, curries, stir fries, roast meats, veggies,

rolls and sandwiches, soup, so many varied dishes - and yummy desserts...:D

tea and coffee are self serve there, just the alcohol is charged to your card if required.

 

Very late at night, the choices of course are more limited, maybe sandwiches, spring rolls etc, but that usually is enough at that hour!!

 

The deck grill is also a good choice, by the pools, offering chicken or meat burgers, hot dogs, fries etc, open from late morning to early evening.

 

Hope this helps..

 

S&D

[Gratz]

great review so far, loving it!

[Topaz_M]

 

Can you please tell me, with regards to the 24 hour buffet, what kind of food do they provide?

 

Ahem :cool:,

 

I was on this ship earlier on this year and discovered that at 3am they serve curry & rice to add to the other bits and pieces!

 

I didn't have any ... or I don't remember having any ... that was after a big night in the disco :D

 

** Loved the review, brought back memories **

 

And if you want to see a different sailaway, this was May 08. S&D may remember seeing this before their trip.

 

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=AcKDKBrYUZc

 

Moira

[arxcards]

 

Ahem :cool:,

 

I was on this ship earlier on this year and discovered that at 3am they serve curry & rice to add to the other bits and pieces!

 

I didn't have any ... or I don't remember having any ... that was after a big night in the disco :D

Moira

 

After midnight, the bigger meals were replaced by snack foods. Plenty of sliced meats, salads, pies, pizza, soup, make your own hot dogs etc. There was also a choice of 1 or 2 hot pot meals with pasta or rice - curried prawns, satay chicken etc.

 

Also plenty of cakes and deserts till all hours.

 

We made a habit of calling in for a plate of fruit salad, or a pie after the shows were over. Would also find plenty of cruise staff and entertainers kicking back with a meal after a hard nights work.

 

To refer to Beginner Cruiser's request, the buffet is a good alternative foodwise - but operates like a self serve cattle station during peak hours. The layout is wrong, requiring you to criss-cross the stations, and then you had to compete for space with exiting diners who could not read the no entry signs. I much preffered Ricky asking if I wanted another serve, another drink, another desert in the dining room.

[staceymrow]

Geoff,, he didnt get any dirty looks from smoking cigars, but he only did it outdoors.

My appologies for the delay for part2 but friends rocked up and then the wine came out. oh yes, raspbery fiz is alcaholic!!!:D

 

The Boys are cleaning up fine thanks Geoff ;)

Our cruise was full- with about 400 TAs apparantly on for a conference

 

Stay tuned!! :)

Back soon

[Annatoo]

the buffet is a good alternative foodwise - but operates like a self serve cattle station during peak hours. The layout is wrong, requiring you to criss-cross the stations, and then you had to compete for space with exiting diners who could not read the no entry signs. I much preffered Ricky asking if I wanted another serve, another drink, another desert in the dining room.

 

Thanks Geoff......will stick to the Dining Room at night. I love being waited on :p plus it's fun getting to know your special waiters. Buffet is great for breaky, especially taken out on deck in the fresh air.

B E V

[staceymrow]

Day2

 

We woke up early and tried the dining room for breakfast.

No complaints there!

At 9am I wanted to check out the scholarship of the sea showcase and Im glad I did cause I finally learnt what quilling is.might try it on my next longer cruise!

10am came and miss 4 went to kids club,so as we found the casino was open on this voyage (before I left and asked customer service and they told me it wouldnt be open-TYPICAL!!) we made the most of it as miss 4 wasnt a fan of kidsclub on the last cruise.

That lasted 50min til they paged us to pick her up! We were expecting it though! :rolleyes: We watched her for a while in there playing and couldnt figure out why they paged us as everything seemed ok.

When they finally saw us they told us she had been crying and wanted to go.as we left, she wanted to go back, so after lunch she did and that was the start of her love of kidsclub.She never wanted to leave.

I think being 1year older since her last cruise made a difference in making friends easier.

 

It was a pretty crappy day at sea, a few people were swimming(must have been the Victorians ;))It did warm up abit, but not enough for miss4 to swim,(shes a fish and swims all year round up here!)_

 

Oh,we lunched in the buffet again and the theme was Mexican-I couldnt get enough -it was delicious!!

I was looking forward to the art auction(and the free champagne) but couldnt get near the venuie(atriunm lounge)It was packed!

So we gave up and explored and drank and chatted some more.Actually, thats about iwhat we did for the whole trip.

 

We had packed formal gear as we were also told there would be a formal night- but there wasnt.

Smart casual was the dress for the night, so as we were talking to people as our 1st sitting dinner time approached, we thought we would just eat at the buffet again.

So we didnt have dinner at all in the dining room.The food was great and with a buffet for dinner I find its too easy just to go for that option and not dress up for the dining room.We didnt even go to a show! From what I had read on here about the seating, I didnt really want to get there 30min earlier to save a seat.

 

I found this cruise very casual when I expected it to be abit more upperclass than the 2 ships Ive been on.Maybe its cause there were alot of TAs and young families onboard-alot who were cruising for the 1st time.

But saying that, I also overheard alot of passengers complaining to barstaff about the captains circle elite fiasco, and said they were also taking it further and very angry about it all!

 

Before we knew it ,it was time for bed as I wanted to rise early and watch our arrival into Melbourne.

Thats about as spectcular as the Brisbane River!! :eek: In my eyes nothing beats Sydney Harbour!!!(sorry Victorians ;))

 

It didnt go as quick as I thought it would.We really enjoyed ourselves and got this cruise for a good price, with $105 onboard credit, which when I enquired at the pursers desk about it, was told the credit was $150- gotta love that!!! :D

 

We could quite easilly do a few of these samplers next year in place of a longer one, as long as the price is good and it fits in with miss 16 and yr12.

We also had phone reception the whole cruise, and I didnt once hear a phone ring- but saw alot of people on them talking-(me included!!:o)

I had an excuse but- I had to check on the wild weather and house back home!! )

 

We were suppose to dissembark at 9.50am, but as we were walking off with our luggage,we snuck off abit earlier- I think most people were!

No one was dinging off for the last time either, so it probably would have been easy to stow away for the next leg!

 

We had to fly back that arvo, due to work commitments, but the cruise was well worth it and I cant wait to book the next one!

[Sonyac]

 

Thanks Geoff......will stick to the Dining Room at night. I love being waited on :p plus it's fun getting to know your special waiters. Buffet is great for breaky, especially taken out on deck in the fresh air.

B E V

 

Bev,

 

I want all the gory details (lol) of your Hawaiian cruise next year, DH and I want to do it the year after but I want to know what it is like first :D

[Sailaway John]

Good review. We are going on the Sun Princess in June 2009 for a 16 day Asian Experience. From what you have said about the ship I am sure we will enjoy her as much as you did.