desertdwellingsailor

We have reservations on the Sun Princess for a March 15, 2025 cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. I would like to come in two days early and go to the beach before the cruise. But I guess this is during spring break. Is there going to be too much drunken revelry on the beach to make it fun for us? (We are in our 50s).

Thanks!

Bobby

Did anyone watch the Sun Princess naming ceremony? I couldn't find a post about it. Hannah Waddingham from the Ted Lasso show was there and she was such a good speaker.

I think you may want to check the Mexican Riviera group. People go back and forth on whether to bring pesos. I brought them and it was helpful. We stopped in a really awful bathroom in PV and had to pay in pesos. We were buying souvenirs and the vendor discouraged us from using a credit card. YMMV

20 hours ago, Brennivan said:

So we booked a three week cruise on the Sun Princess in July...I am regretting booking this ship and wish I just went with another ship or line

That sounds like a painful feeling. I'm sorry that you are experiencing it. Still, a three week cruise could end up being awesome. It's a brand new sparklingly clean ship. Could be cool at heck. Wishing you well. 

4 hours ago, PMGS247 said:

 

That's funny.  Yeah, the reason for my comment about "unless there's an announcement" is due to the fact that on one specific cruise they did exactly as you described, firmly requesting that people wait until 1pm to go to their rooms.  It was the discovery out of Los Angeles almost exactly a year ago.  Other than that showing up 12-12:30 has been perfectly fine.

Ours was Discovery out of Los Angeles March 2nd this year. I shouldn't complain. The boarding process was super smooth this time. They were just kind of firm about not going to the room until 1. It really didn't matter. Great trip. 

3 hours ago, PMGS247 said:

I tend to make my way to the cabin around noon or just after.  It's a little before the advertised 1pm time but basically every time I've done this the room's been ready and the steward usually already making his rounds of introductions.  I always arrive ready to apologize profusely for coming too early but reality has just been the opposite.  11am is a bit too early for my comfort, even though I'm sure 9 times out of 10 the room stewards will be perfectly nice and let you drop your stuff, I still hold off a little and kill some time eating lunch, but unless there's some sort of announcement I don't wait til 1. 

We did the drop off on earlier cruises but on my last cruise they made an announcement which sounded like they really didn't want us in the room until 1 so we just took our backpacks with us to lunch. Was kind of funny because we didn't get much sleep the night before and the shower where we were staying was broken so we had to wait until 1 to get our shower. And we tried to nap but the captain kept making announcements and people kept knocking on the door. Funny. But it was a very nice cruise. Just can't expect to settle in right away.

1 hour ago, indexcards said:

Victory Victory...Made appointment Saturday, photos taken Sunday.  Visited Passport office to apply this morning. In and out in 20 minutes for both of us.  Was told to go to lunch or shopping and come back at 2:00.   Did so and passports ready and waiting for us thanks to the courtesy and efficiency of the staff at the Passport office in Portsmouth NH.

Now I just have to make the changes in the Princess AP to reflect our new status.

 

Again thanks to all who chimed in on this problem which I caused by not reading the full info under Passport requirements..  I assumed valid was valid, not so for some destinations.

 

It was possible to purchase with credit or debit card which may be a new thing because it was stated in a post on this subject that cash or check was needed.   

Awesome! Have a great time on your cruise!

Saw eagles on the light poles in Juneau on the way to the Mendenhall Glacier. I was surprised at how many eagles I saw overall. Huge eagles up close in the Raptor Center in Sitka. Pretty cool. Sadly we saw no whales in Alaska (early May 2023). But we made up for it whale watching in Cabo a couple of weeks ago! 

On 12/17/2023 at 11:01 PM, thermal said:

I love production shows like Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Mis etc.  I love shows that tell a story and take you on a journey.  

 

Do Princess production shows tell a story?  I'm looking for more that a song variety show that feels like glorified karaoke.....

The shows on Discovery Princess were fun but I couldn't discern any story. I love Wicked, Phantom of the Opera and Les Mis FWIW!

On 3/20/2024 at 7:24 AM, WonderMan3 said:

Views from Premium Deluxe Balcony 15320. Photos from Colleen D.

You could sleep out there if it was warm enough!

On 1/23/2024 at 9:24 PM, Patonick said:

I hope so. I have booked 16459 and it is like that.

we picked one like that too. Hopefully we have warm enough weather to sit out there.

Booked our next cruise. Western Carribean. I think we got a bigger balcony this time. New ship. Fun.

Bobby

Just got off the ship and back to my MIL's house in Orange county. Best part of the trip by far was the whale watching excursion in Cabo. We saw two humpback whales breaching three times together. They say there is no guarantee that you see whales, but our experience couldn't have been better. I had never been whale watching before. The person running the excursion seemed to understand the behavior of the whales and where to look. They had snacks and drinks on the boat. 

My wife thinks that the deserts are better than we had on the previous two trips. We have been on three Discovery Princess 7 day cruises since October 2022. My wife cares more about deserts than I do and she was impressed.

Overall I think the service was the best of the three trips. Obviously it is just our small sample size of 3. But the room service delivery worked almost every time and the wait time at the bars and restaurants were all good. 

This time we were doing Plus and not Premier so we didn't eat at the extra cost places. But we did eat at the two middle of the road places. I got a burger at the gastro pub and pizza at the pizza place and both were very good. We ditched the MDR for the formal nights but we saw a lot of dressed up people so many were participating. Tuesday night we wanted to watch Oscar nominated movie Barbie on deck so we ate dinner up there. I got both a burger and pizza. My wife got pizza and buffet. The Mazatlán 5 hour sea and land excursion was mixed. They dropped us off for an hour at a jewelry store and there was not any food provided. But it was a cultural experience. We did Puerto Vallarta on our own and it was a similar cultural experience. I had fun spending all my pesos on taxis and souvenirs. We paid 15 pesos each to go to a public bathroom with no toilet seats and that was amusing especially for my wife. But it was interesting to spend some time in Mexico. I went to Tijuana and Cozumel in the past, but this is the first time in this part of Mexico. The frigate birds in Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta were very interesting to look at. 

I think that the advice and information from this forum were helpful in several ways. One thing we did in our room was watch all the Sun Princess videos about its construction. It makes us want to go on that ship next, after 3 consecutive Discovery Princess cruises. We are looking at maybe doing one of the 7 day Caribbean cruises next year if they don't sell out. Anyway, happy to answer any questions. It was a good experience.

Bobby

3 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

We have not experienced long waits. Whether it was through the app or at the bar, drink service has been fast and the drinks have been good. 

Probably it was because we were in Alaska and everyone was inside. I think it was Crooners. The bartenders just ignored me when I sat down at the bar. They were working hard. Probably a peak time. I got one drink when I sat down at a table but couldn't get another. Room service worked fine except when we were going past a glacier and we couldn't get our order. I think it is just peak times. Maybe they were understaffed at that time last May. We are leaving Saturday on the same itinerary as this one so I'll see if it is different.

6 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Are you 11 days out now?

10 days. We also got our medallions which are gold as they should be. I think we are set. 

Finally got my boarding pass with the check in window start and stop times. The only weird thing is that the loyalty level is wrong. Thinks I am "New to Princess" with a blue medallion color. Funny. It is gold in the web site. All part of the fun I guess but I'm not going to try to fix it. I should be able to get on the ship and that is all I care about.

Our cruise ends on the 9th. We have to get home Sunday in time for the Oscars. We have been watching all the best picture nominees. I would kind of like to watch Barbie again if they have it on the ship.

5 minutes ago, leck57 said:

 

Hmm Interesting. I just checked my Travel Summary for the cruise I finished on Monday and after Flights (which I didn't have any) it says "your ship begins boarding at at 12.30pm on Feb 05 and sets sail at 4pm on Feb 05"

My travel summary says "Please refer to your OceanReady® Boarding Pass in the Princess Cruises® App on your mobile device to see what time the check-in window starts and ends." Maybe I have to wait for that to show up in the app? It's not a big deal because I can just go to the port in plenty of time before the ship leaves but I was wondering if I missed something.

30 minutes ago, CruiseMob said:

Once my tabs had a boarding pass tab clicking on it had the QR code and the check-in window times.

I probably just need to wait a few days for this to show up. Thanks.

17 minutes ago, leck57 said:

 

Go to the Personalizer on the website and then open the Travel Summary. It's in there as a boarding windows as there are no set times now.

Maybe it gets updated closer to the date. It is still 15 days out. All it says is "Depart 3:00pm"

2 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

I'm accustomed to driving in from the other direction--down the 110...but it's the same exit either direction--Exit 1C--HARBOR BLVD...if you're coming down the 710 through Long Beach, you'd cross Terminal Island, then the Vincent Thomas Bridge...it's the FIRST exit after crossing the bridge...At the end of the offramp, you will cross Harbor Blvd. and you will be facing the terminal...the loop road parallels Harbor Blvd...You can turn into the lot...or continue around and first drop off passengers and luggage if you like, then circle around again and enter the parking lot.

That makes sense. I think we came on the 710 last time and our cab driver got confused by the signs for Long Beach.  So, if Waze takes me that way I will just expect to go through Long Beach first and over the Vincent Thomas bridge and off at 1C.  It will just be my wife and I and one or two rolling bags and a backpack each. Any reason why we can't just park and walk in over the crosswalk? Thanks for your help with this. Seems like if Waze takes us down the 110 it will be harder to get confused since we wont go through Long Beach first.

Is there any way to tell in the app when your embarkation time is? They list an activity at 10:30 and the leaving time is 3 pm so I'm assuming it's like 10 am to 2 pm to get on. But I can't see it on the app or website anywhere.

Long story but last time we cruised out of the San Pedro port our cab driver got lost both ways trying to go to Long Beach instead. I'm looking at Google Maps right now and plan to use Waze the day of (March 2nd) but on our cab ride the driver (who didn't speak English) seemed unsure of which exit to take. Are their any tricks you can share, maybe if you live in the area? We are driving our own car this time and parking at the port for the week.

It looks like we would end up going west on the 710 coming from Fullerton. Google maps says "Take exit 1C for Harbor Blvd toward Catalina Is/Ports O Call Village/San Pedro" Seems simple enough but in my cab ride the driver was confused. Are there any tricks or am I over thinking it?

Thanks!

Bobby

Thanks for all the information on this post. I hope the original poster has a very meaningful experience.

Bobby

Thanks for all the feedback. That is what I am looking for.