Kit6

I agree that it’s poor form to not have an adult only area including in regular cruise fare. Even though I’ve personally never used that area in previous cruises, I think it’s very important to offer a kid free space on any cruise ship for those that just want a different vibe/occasional break from having kids all about. To charge (and charge quite a lot) to have a day pass to an adult area is poor customer service. 
 

I sure hope this lack of communication from Princess is just due to new ship, new app, new website format, etc and will iron out. Wouldn’t be hard to have an auto email notification system for updates on park 19 and itinerary changes. We’ve had 2 ports change & only noticed when we received a credit on our credit card for excursion cancelations.  Yes, itineraries can change but to not let customers know about the change, especially when you also auto cancel booked excursions, is awful customer service. We’ve gotten a couple auto emails to remind us to complete online checkins (even though we already had, clearly just rolled out to every single reservation) but zero other than that. Disappointing. And can’t help but be nervous about the quality of our upcoming cruise. We’ve never had a cruise we didn’t love as a family so I’m still hopeful this will be the same, just hoping we don’t regret trying a new cruise line (new to us). 

45 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

I can't speak for all kids, but any ship with kids clubs and good food has been enough for my kids so I'm confident they will have a great time. 

 

We will give an honest assessment of just how kid-friendly the Sun Princess is on our YouTube channel following the cruise... I'm quite curious myself to see what we think!

I feel the same, pool & good food and I think we’ll be happy. My kids have always enjoyed some time in kids clubs so that’ll be fun to check out, but even if it’s way below Disney cruise kids club fun, I think we’ll be okay. They’ve never spent a lot of time there, even on DCL. 
 

When approximately are you sailing on Sun Princess? This summer?

The complete absence of communication is at the core of the problem for sure. Even though I’m not in the “this will make or break our vacation” group, it is more than a little frustrating to have absolutely zero communication. If it is indeed a situation that will not be rectified until fall when the ship enters the US, that should have been passed on to passengers months ago when they must have found out that was a requirement to open park 19. At least give those of you that would have canceled/gone with another cruise line the opportunity to do so. And how would they go years from initial planning to building the ship to getting the ship cleared to sail and no one at Princess researched this very important aspect of getting it safety certified? I’ll be on the Sun Princess with my family mid summer so I’ll be sure to update if I have any updates. 

2 hours ago, CalTexCruiser said:

I am confused by all this back and forth about slides.

 

Bottom line, is there or is there not a slide on the Sun?  And more importantly, will I be able to slide down this purported slide on my upcoming cruise next May?

From what I’ve read - once you proceed through the ropes course, at the top there is a quick slide to get back down to the starting point. So the only was to use the slide is to climb up through the ropes course. The slide itself is not a big thing, just a fun way to get back down from the top of the ropes course. Until park 19 is open, you won’t be able to get to the slide at all. 

18 minutes ago, LittleTinker said:

I took a teenager and 2 preteens. Well, the 12 year old was 13 the day we left......15, 13 and 11.

There were not many kids onboard so on many days, the machines were turned off in the kids club,
Most of the time during the day they did not want to go to the kids club as they said it was boring, and the activities they did were babyish.
The teen walked out of the teen club and said there was nothing to do.

The contrast was Sapphire Princess which they LOVED and I couldnt tear them away.

There was little in the way of entertainment for the kids to join in with. There was a scavenger hunt on one day but it only lasted 20 minutes.

There are 3 pool options.
The dome pool we never saw open as they close it when they have rehearsals for the shows.
(this is the pool that when it IS open, adults complain about kids in because there excited voices boom through the dome disturbing people)
The Lido is the deepest pool and is crowded.
The Wake View Pool is lovely, but be careful of the protruding grates. My 3 all cut their feet and legs several times.....as did others.  I was told the pool was going to be closed to repair it but I dont think they have done that as yet.

I think a lot of it was because of the ports. As so many people left the ship, there just wasnt anything laid on for them on the ship. Nothing going on in the kids club is what did it, I think so little opportunity to make any friends.

They spent the afternoon one day in the salon getting pampered with mani/pedis etc
One went to Spellbound  (was not worth it)
Every evening they watched Movies Under the Stars
and the rest of the time, they swam

On Sapphire there were many activities they could join in with, such as darts competition, quizzes and games, etc

They have never been on any other cruiseline

 

Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate your input. Hopefully there are more activities for kids to participate in this summer when likely many more kids on board. If not we’ll make the most of what we have - sunshine & family time on the ship. 

13 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

 

Are there not slides?

 

If not, then what is in the background of the picture below?

 

Source: https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/photos-of-sun-princess

I believe that is the one & only slide, not a water slide, just a tube slide to come down from the top end of the ropes course. Certainly nothing you’d book the ship because of. 

35 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

This will be our first Princess cruise so I can't comment on Princess specifically, but we cruise often (6-8 times/year) on pretty much every cruise line out there so I can comment in generalities.

 

None of the kids clubs are as great as Disney, but our kids have yet to find one they haven't absolutely loved,.

 

We cruised on the Celebrity Ascent over Christmas this past year, which is similar to Princess, and they had an absolute blast even though there were no slides, arcade, or anything similar (and we don't even use the pools usually since we have one at home that is bigger than most on cruise ships since we own a swim school).

 

I think most of it comes down to the parents...I see a lot of parents who say their kids "don't like" the kids clubs and the parents are expected to entertain their kids for the entire cruise.

 

Not only does that sound exhausting - in my opinion it is teaching your kids to depend on the parents to do everything for them vs teaching them independence and learning to make friends.

 

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With regards to the teens clubs - on most of the cruise ships it seems like the teens clubs are a meeting point for the teens but then they go off on the ship on their own and do their own thing more often than they are in the actual teens clubs.

 

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It sounds like you have a healthy approach to things so I'm sure your kids will love the Sun Princess...happy sails!

Thank you for the reply - I appreciate your comments. I agree, it is what you make it.  Sounds like you’ve cruised so much!! My dream, I love cruising! Such a cool way to see the world. 

11 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

We have a swimming pool in our backyard, a basketball hoop in our driveway, and we enjoy family time on a regular basis.

 

But you know what we don't have at home?

 

Huge water slides, zip lines, and a ropes course.

 

I don't see the reason to hate on why different families enjoy different things on their cruises (or however they choose to vacation).

 

The fact that all these cruise ships do have all these activities, shows that many of us enjoy these and there's nothing wrong with that (there's also nothing wrong with doing the things you enjoy).

Maybe I read it differently, but I don't think the comment was saying no one enjoys that or that families shouldn't want that, just that there's ways to enjoy a cruise without it.  You're right, there's a multibillion dollar industry based on theme park ships - clearly a whole lot of people love & want that.  Even with park 19 (if it was open), the Sun Princess wouldn't come close to competing with those kinds of ships.  I think that's where a lot of the confusion comes from - it's just one small area on a large ship.  While disappointing to not have it functional, it isn't a water slide park (I believe it's one dry slide to get back down, I could be wrong), it's not a zip line (slow glider, fun but no zip).

Perhaps it's the mean mom in me, but if my kids spend 14 nights on a luxury cruise ship complaining they are bored because the ropes course is closed, that'll be the last vacation they take on my tab, lol.  I'm clearly just being a little cheeky here but seriously, I think we need to board the ship knowing what it offers & what it doesn't.  Clearly a massive misstep from Princess to show thousands of passengers an activity area no one can use, but nothing we can do but make the most of it.  We thought we were far enough away from the launch that it would all be up & running but obviously not.  Lesson learned for all of us I guess - wait to book until after it's all good.

20 minutes ago, RNRcruisers said:

 

OK, this is what bugs me about cruiselines focusing on families. It is a CRUISE, not an amusement park. We took our kids on a cruise way back in 2006 when they were 15, 13 and 9, and had a great time. They swam, played basketball, and we enjoyed family time. We enjoyed being at sea as well as the Caribbean ports. Can't kids find things to do without the fancy upcharge gadgets and playgrounds? No insult intended, but I just don't get it.

 

I agree with you, I'm a little confused at the "there's nothing to do, my kids are bored". Sincere question to those of you in that camp, particularly those that have sailed on the Sun Princess - what do you kids normally do on a cruise that keeps them happy & having fun? Please know, I'm not being sarcastic, I genuinely am trying to understand the reviews of how bored & unhappy kids are on the Sun Princess.  We are booked this summer, I have 4 kids (16,15,7,6).  We have done 8 cruises but all Disney.  We have absolutely loved our Disney Cruise - bright, fun, Disney heaven, but were looking for less park like environment and mostly to cruise the Mediterranean (Disney's 10 night med cruise was significantly more than the 14 night Princess).  My kids will definitely miss the AquaDuck water coaster thing but even with that, lineup could be easily 60-90 minutes on peak times so there were days we didn't do it.  As anyone who's sailed Disney knows, lots of fun kids club spaces but not great for pools - one shallow kiddie pool & Nemo splash area for under 8, one family pool that is small & always wall to wall with people watching the movie on the big screen and one adult area pool.  We were thinking on this cruise that there would be more pool fun and space to swim/play in the pools.  We will miss the over the top kids spaces on Disney & fun themed restaurants but we're hoping the kids clubs offer a bit of activities for the kids if they want to try.  Has anyone had a kid partake in the kids clubs on the Princess?  The teen clubs always seem to offer the most but honestly, we don't cruise so our teens can spend the day in a windowless area on the ship playing MarioKart (which was pretty much the only activity they did on our last cruise, and just for an hour here or there to get a break from the sun).  I wonder if some of you are comparing to ships like Disney or the big Royal Caribbean ones with go cart tracks & waterslide parks?  I haven't been on Royal Caribbean and truthfully the mega ships with all the theme park stuff doesn't appeal to us.  We wanted a quieter, more relaxing cruise this time but obviously I don't want my 4 kids bored out of their minds.

I was getting all worried with the reviews of how boring the ship is but I'm trying to remember that we really do go for the family time and for the opportunity to explore new parts of the world.  Hopefully we find the ship offers us a great vacation.

Any updates on opening date for park 19? 

18 minutes ago, ResearchMandela said:

Unfortunately, Princess has almost completely removed any mention of Park 19 from their website advertising from what I can see - see for yourself at Princess.com booking a future cruise. This tells me they will not be opening it at all. Also since they will rename everything as "Sanctuary Suites" soon -  wasn't the potential noise a problem with that area? Maybe that will be a good excuse to remove the glider. There must have been some sort of technical safety issue making it unusable. I suspect this is going to really hit the Caribbean trips the hardest, as at least in Europe, hey, you are touring around Europe most of the time. They must be keeping a low profile as to not welcome cancellations from trips that are still within that timeframe. Maybe on the transatlantic trip they are planning on doing something else with the space? I am no expert on engineering, but I wonder if they could make the entire roller glider a giant slide of some sort. Turn the ropes course into a bunch of rock climbing walls? I'm sure corporate is taking all proposals for the remodel / removal of this attraction. Obviously a huge bummer, and more so a giant eye sore for those paying full price with children on board. It would be fair to offer passengers some sort of relief and to be frank with those within the cancellation period. Anyway, to those who are bummed out, best to make the best of it. It could be worse! Your kids could have had an accident on an unsafe attraction and ended up in the water. August 3rd in a Sky Suite - see you on board!

Wow, that’s very interesting - good pickup on that it was removed from the site! Hopefully if it can’t be opened up, they quickly switch it over to something else. Harder for people to see something they can’t play on than if it was removed/changed to a usable activity space. I have 4 kids, we were all looking forward to trying it out but I’d definitely rather not have it than have one of them injured! Truth be told, we were never super focused on it. It was just a cool thing we were excited to try but we are going for the cruise, for the excursions & some family togetherness. Whether park 19 is up & running or even still there, won’t make or break our cruise. 
 

Thanks for the information & your opinion on this!

43 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

Yes, all the pools are open, kids clubs are running, all the usual activities, 3.producution shows up and running, all three Dome shows up, comedians, trivia, bingo, deal or no deal,ngane shows, and so forth.

The only thing not open as yet is the ropes course, slides and roll glider thing. The activity court area, large connect 4 and Cornhole, seating, etc is all open at Park 19.. can't speak to the tolt wall thing, have t seen any mention yet of that one but seriously - how much of a day would that realistically fill - 5, 10 minutes of looking out the tilted window?  

 

Otherwise, all the other venues are open and running as expected.

 

 

Thanks! Sounds like there’s lots to do. Hopefully the ropes course is running soon but even without it, I’m sure we’ll have lots of family fun!

6 hours ago, levonfan said:

On board. No activity. Sucks 

IMG_6995.dng 62.8 MB · 6 downloads

Are the swimming pools not open? Kids clubs? 
I’ve read that there’s lots of activities in the main area (like Zumba & game show type stuff). Are they still offering those things? Maybe just not first day? Or have you been in for a while?