Sox Fan Cruiser

Can I ask that you all take the Sanctuary Collection change to another thread? I was trying to answer specific questions about the current suite experience as I just got off the ship. There are threads already started. Sorry.

It’s the same with Celebrity. The Retreat Sundeck doesn’t accommodate every suite passenger. Some cruises it’s more crowded than others.

And the name change is also to distinguish the Sanctuary as a Suite Sun Deck and not the Sanctuary we think of on other ships. It truly is now equal to the Retreat Sun Deck on Celebrity. I would probably see no options to buy into the Sanctuary now for non suite guests. Maybe Princess read my thread!! 🙂

But yes, there was always a wait at the Reserve Collection restaurant and a half empty dinning room in the Signature restaurant. Spreading it out.

All that work... and it's now not applicable. I still hope you all get some benefit from my write up.

I just got off the Sun Princess and I confirmed that it's 16+. There was one kid that came in to see his parents for a few minutes. The father escorted him from the entrance to the loungers and they hung out for a about 5-10 minutes. The wait staff came over and offered him a soda and were joking around with him so they clearly knew him. But then the father escorted him back to the exit and went back to the lounger with his (assumed) wife. So it's not like the staff jumps on kids and push them out but it's very clear that they can come and check in with their parents but that are not allowed to stay and use the facilities. (sorry for duplicate post right after my first one. i didn't see it when I was reading the thread! I've been answering so many Sun Princess questions I am forgetting which thread is which! 🙂 )

If you do not have a package then you are paying for all your drinks at any bar. Same in the Sun Deck. But they are free for you in the Signature lounge.

Yes. As I said, the drinks in the Signature lounge don’t count towards your drink package maximum but drinks in the Signature sun deck do. If you have a package it’s covered up to the cost that your package allows. The same as any other bar on the ship.

This lounge is nothing like the crappy suite lounge on the Royal class ships. It’s a true suite class lounge. Much to my surprise, Princess got this right.

There was service form sunrise to sunset as described in our welcome letter and not just firm 5-7. That’s when they had a person playing an electronic keyboard.

I never saw a menu for the drinks. I just ordered what I wanted. I never got close to the maximum so maybe it did count but I highly doubt it.

Sorry but no one under 16 is allowed in the Sanctuary even if they are in a suite. They can enter to see their parents but must leave when done. They can not sit in a lounger to hang out nor enjoy the pool or hot tubs.

You are absolutely missing something. Santorini is one of my top 5 most beautiful places on Earth. But I agree, the cable car only access is horrible and not a good experience. I spent my honeymoon here (not on a cruise) and it’s absolutely stunning. But it’s not a good cruise port. And I think that’s what you were saying.

Very interested!! Let us know what they say.

Yeah, it’s totally because of the cable cars. Things started getting dicey when we were there. The heat. A lot of foot traffic congestion right at the entrance. And people waiting in line for a long time. We could feel the negative energy in the air building and so we walked down. Only took 25 minutes. There were people waiting for over 90 minutes and we were the only ship in port. Not a cruise friendly port.

It’s actually the reverse for a lot of people. The Sanctuary on other ships is an adults only quiet place. Not for suites. When the Sun Princess news first came out they had the Sanctuary plus an area in there that was for suites only. So there is truly a ship within a ship concept buts it’s very small. The overflow goes to the Sanctuary. But now the Sanctuary isn’t like the Sanctuary on other ships and cost twice as much. So think of it as a suite sun deck plus other folks can buy in at $100 a day. Not many people will. The non suite designated area is very large so it can accommodate all suite guests plus those that what to buy in. Suite guests won’t notice a difference. But those expecting the old Sanctuary are a little upset. Some of the loungers don’t even have padding.

Absolutely!

Signature Sun Deck menu:

Next Topic: Signature Sun Deck (Part 2) I am very happy to report that the pool is over 5 feet deep as opposed to the 3 foot “bathtub” Retreat Pool located in the adults only section of the Royal class ships. We could actually swim and do other activities as in other “real” pools. Unfortunately, there is only a ladder to get in and out and it will be difficult for some people to do so. Definitely a design flaw there. It was hard for me to get out so I’m not sure how some older folks will manage. Let’s talk about the biggest flaw. There are absolutely no loungers in the shade except for a couple of oversized, 2 person, circular “beds” under the roof at the aft by flavored water. Even the $499 for a day cabanas have no roof where the loungers are! You could pull them back into the TV/Couch area, but doesn’t that defeat part of the purpose of the cabana? Every other lounger is in the sun most of the time. And a lot of us did NOT want sun. There is minimal shade cast from the center building and the radar balls on top but that is constantly changing and only covers a few loungers at a time. Because there were so many open loungers, we all kept moving our loungers as the shade moved on the deck. And when we did, the poor attendants kept taking the towels off our old loungers and re-wrapping them on our new one! There are some soft chairs in the shade depending on where the sun is but we were not able to lounge with our legs stretched out. I asked if they were going to bring umbrellas in for the Caribbean season and they said no, that this was the intent. We didn’t technically reserve chairs as you do in the other Sanctuary spaces either. We just sat down where we wanted and that was our lounger as long as we wanted. If we left for lunch or something, we just told them we would be back and we left some stuff on it. Again, not sure how it will work in the Caribbean. Not sure that anyone paid to come to this section and as I said, I don’t think you need to. The cabanas are first come first serve (regardless of suite status or not) but you can make reservations for future days in advance. Again, we only saw one or two of them being used at any time during the cruise. Getting to the Sanctuary is complicated as is navigating some other parts of the ship. Aside from the back glass elevators you have to use aft elevator bank. There is no way to get to the entrance the sanctuary on deck 18 itself other than the aft stairs/elevatior. Just as with deck six there is no way to get from the front of the ship to the back staying on deck 18. I am not sure if it was a conscious decision to avoid “walk ins” but you would never stumble across the area on a casual stroll. On both sides of the ship on deck 18, there ARE glass doors that separate the Sanctuary loungers from the “common area” but they weren’t working at the time. I assume that our suite medallion would open it up such as the Retreat doors use our suite cruise card on Celebrity. I did ask, and regardless of staying in a suite, no kids under the age of 16 are allowed in the Sanctuary. One kid did come in to talk to his parents, but he was escorted in and escorted out by his dad. He only stayed a little while. The staff was very friendly to him. They joked around with him and got him a soda but the parents obviously knew the rules. As I said, this isn’t the normal Sanctuary. There is no afternoon tea. There is no seating chart. Non-suite folks need to pay $90 for access for a day. It really is a separate sun deck for suite passengers. And note that all of the above was for the entire Sanctuary area and not just the Signature designated area. Again, there weren’t many of us so it was just one big Suite Sun Deck in my opinion. (I will be going back and reviewing the thread again, to see if I missed any questions. I know there are a few that came in later that i didn't answer yet so I will get to them.)

Next Topic: Signature Sun Deck (Part 1) I need to start this by saying that we had great weather, but I don’t think my experience is anything like what it will be when the ship moves to the Caribbean. This area was not very crowded the entire cruise. There were only about a dozen couples that used it on a regular basis. With that said, I feel like this area is more like the Retreat Sun Deck on the Celebrity ships (for suites only) and should not be looked at like the Sanctuary on other Princess ships. But fret not, there are SO many different places to lounge about on this ship that I don’t think people will need this space to get away from the crowds and the noise. And as in the other suite areas, the service was outstanding. As soon as you entered the space there was someone coming up to greet you and address you by name. They have machines that recognize your medallion. People have a fear that because those aft glass elevators open up right in the Suite section that people will “sneak in”. There is no fear of that! They are on you as soon as that elevator opens asking what you need and where you want to sit. I even heard them ask one couple to leave who just came in to take pictures. They wouldn’t allow them to. (It wasn’t the first day but towards the end of the cruise). So they are on top of it. Once you pick a lounger, they cover it in towels so you are laying on that and not the cushion itself. They also give you a rolled up towel for your head. They then inquire about a cocktail or flavored water or even coffee drinks if it’s early or a little cold out. And yes, there is a full bar with bar stools. You can sit and have a drink or have one of the staff go and get one for you. I know that drinks in the suite lounge don’t count towards your drink package maximum, but I think the ones in the Sun Deck do. At lunch time, they are right there with the bento box menu if you don’t want to leave the area. I’ll post a picture of the menu as well. And while I didn’t ask, I guess you could mix and match items from different themed boxes, but most likely they will just bring you both! They did not offer to go get you other menu items such as burgers or pizza as some do in the Sanctuary, but we always use that as an excuse to get up and walk around a bit anyway.

I meant people screaming but not really sure it's going to be THAT fast to warrant that reaction by the riders. We just don't really know yet. The cars do make a little humming sound when they come around that could be annoying but one might be able to tune it out. There is no talk of cost yet since it's not operational.

They usually don’t show up on the app until sailing. I was worried about the same thing but there was plenty of music the entire cruise in Take5 ( our favorite place on the ship).

It was not operational yet as of Thursday when we left. One day they were testing the Rollglider but it didn’t look very successful. Mostly they just had the motorized part moving around but some of the cars couldn’t even make it all the way around the track. One did have the seat contraption on it but none of the rest of them do. But even the ropes course wasn’t active yet. I don’t know what they were thinking but the track does come by the Sanctuary and I can see a lot of noise coming into that area from the riders. Not well planned.

The decor is horrible! It’s the opposite of a Celebrity ship where the artwork threw up on the ship. It’s beyond plain. I would like something more in the middle of the two.

We haven’t been to the Captain’s Circle event in years either.