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My thoughts exactly in a far more eloquent and coherent way. Happy cruising.

Hi ev1. Dinner at Catch by Rudi tonight.  Honestly the BEST dinner we had in a long time. Impeccable service, incredible tastes, quantity more than plenty, quality off the charts. Solid 12 out of 10. And that's  me being stingy. 

Now some pet peeves to even the score.

1. Swimming pools: too few for the size of the ship. Difficult to get a chair (blame the entitled chair hogs), and I believe that Princess in the process of creating more suites they limited the common spaces.

2. Crew assistance chat: Too little too slow. Usually takes between 7 to 10 minutes for a reply, making it impossible for a chat. Novel concept, but needs more staff. 

3. Fresh juice: what is that thing they are trying to pass as juice? Better use it as engine cleaner.

4. Most bars and cafes are now open space. This maximizes public space but limits the feeling of privacy and warmth. Probably younger passengers appreciate it more.

As I said the above are just minor gripes the old geezer in me tries hard to find and complain. Technologically the ship is gorgeous, and the positives outweigh the negatives. Plus, we are vacationing cruising in a brand new ship, with the crew trying its best. Most of the positives I credit the crew with, most of the negatives I blame corporate. A solid 8 out of 10.

Sorry for the delay but it was dinner time. MDR, walked right in to the usual table. Zero wait. Beef Wellington was offered and it was REALLY good. Tomorrow we will dine at Rudi's and I will let you know. But, IMHO, as a cook for 25 years (NOT a chef) I would advise trying anything else but Dario, however YMMV. 

back to scoring. Many CC fellow cruisers often mentioned the constant upsetting, but we did not feel it. Nickel and dime is there, so you have to be vigilant. Limited number of shops, so no worries there. Overall spending vibe 7/10.

Guest services: of course the Princess IT messed up and their system says my wife is not premier, but I am. So she is being charged for everything.  GS recognizes  the issue, but after 3 visits, the problem remains. But, I give them that they are polite. 3/10.

Laundromat: they do exist, but only 2 machines per deck!!!! Either bring enough clothes or go there at around midnight. Still, kudos for making them available with free soap supplies. 7/10. To be continued.

Fixed dining. 7:30pm. No waiting at all. Always the same table even though we did n9t ask for it. Lines at DK7 are huge. We prefer deck 6. Worked better for us.

Cabin is typical of a cruise ship, with plenty of room for two. Balcony is huge, category D0 will be a Sanctuary category as of October. Right now is simply a premium Deluxe Balcony. Cabin. Has a shower. Many fellow cruisers here in CC complained of the automatic night lights, but we find them quite useful. A/C works beautifully and TV is probably 70 inches or more. No coffee or tea amenities but you can request them if you have no package. Room service is quick with 20-30 minutes to deliver. So far no wrong deliveries.

Hope I did it correctly 🙏 

Disclaimer: highly subjective review.

On board Sun Princess 13/07 to 20/07 Barcelona to Rome. 

Boarding process: a bit chaotic due to crowds, but we were lucky to quickly find a porter and immediately went to security. After that the whole process lasted 20 minutes and we were on board. 8/10

Everything was okay, we had drinks, went to muster station, had lunch at the MDR 6th floor. Cabins were ready quite before 2 and luggage was delivered before 4. Cabin stewart very friendly and efficient. Quite good. First impressions 10/10.

Cabin: Deck 16, category D0. Balcony is huge with 2 loungers, 2 chairs a small table and still plenty of room. A bit windy, but quite enjoyable.  Cabin has lots of storage space etc. As expected. What we did not expect is the twice-a-day cabin makeover. We thought this was a thing of the past. 10/10.

MDR: in the pluses food is always hot (a rarity for cruise ships), service is exceedingly good, and food is very good (compared to the 2023 TA with Epic). In the minuses, not as a large selection, but still you find something to eat. 9/10.

Buffet: this might raise some objections but I like that they now serve you your food. You might wait a bit, but people now do not get to touch the food, sneeze over it etc. Lunch selection is quite varied and food is tasty (again compared to NCL Epic last year). You will definitely find something to eat, and it is usually hot enough. 8/10.

Butcher's block by Dario. One of the 2 specialty dinners we got in our package. Honestly, a big nothing. Strange concept, a guy walking around with trays of food ringing a bell, slow (very very very slow) service, and food was inedible and no plating. They did not even ask how you like your steak. Steak is cooked unseasoned and you get a small plate of salt and pepper to do it yourself once served????!!!!! The guy in charge asked us how eve4ything was, but was not really interested in the answer. I would not go there even if they paid us. 0/10.

Arena: kinda small for a ship this size but shows are repeated and if you go early you always get a seat. One show with a guy (Mike??) playing music and singing oldies was okay. 5/10. The pirate show lasted about 1 hour and it was quite good production-wise with impressive costumes, story, etc. 10/10.

To be continued. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. 

Lol. One more excuse to plan for another cruise after October. Now, if only the SO agrees and does not file for divorce 😀 for spending so much money.....

As I said, thank you for your time. Happy and safe cruising.

Cabin is 16603

Thank you. Checked the Travel Summary in the website and nothing there. Oh well, nothing lost, nothing gained. Still happy to be cruising. Happy sailings.

Thank you both for taking the time to reply to me. Very interesting information. My next question naturally arises: will the perks apply also for us folks who booked a D2 cabin (more than a year ago) without any knowledge/expectation of the benefits you mentioned and which now is a D0 cabin? If yes, then indeed color me a very very happy cruiser rather than a happy cruiser. 😀😀😀 

I guess something to look forward to have answered once onboard. Still, thank you for the replies.

Hi ev1. Booked a summer 2024 7-day cruise on the Princess Sun a long time ago. Initially the cabin was marked as a D2 category. Later it was marked as D0 category with some added benefits. Then the benefits were gone (no issue because we never had them in mind when booking anyway). But my OCD still asks what on earth is the difference between the D0 and D2 cabins (other than the cabin marking scheme)? Now that the ship has started sailing, has anyone understood if there is indeed a difference or this is simply a gimmick to charge extra even for the few D0 cabins on the ship?

Thank you all

Thank you. All the warning signs (pre-cruise) are there, but I still try to maintain a positive attitude and wait until on board to express a factual opinion. However, countless app and IT issues, reservation erroneous cancellations, started with a D2 cabin, renamed to category D0 with signature benefits, then benefits removed, inability to book dining despite having paid in full, casual dining limited options and so on, make me think that back to RCL it is. Hopefully I am proven wrong.

Thank you very much for the reply. That was the thread that prompted my question. My point was why advertise/offer something as unlimited but only in 1 venue?  Your case might hold, or maybe it was the exception. One has to wait until onboard to find out, but still I believe it is a crappy move on Princess part, if only 1 venue is available for casual dining lunch. Just my 0.02.

Hi ev1. On another thread, it was mentioned that the Sun has ONLY 2 casual dining restaurants and one of them is open only for dinner. All other restaurants have been designated as specialty dining. Is that correct? If yes, then it stinks big time. A premier package customer (with unlimited casual dining) would then essentially have only 1 option for lunch. I do know that he/she can try the buffet and other restaurants, but what is the point of selling it as "unlimited" if there is only 1 restaurant available? Am I missing something? A brand new ship with only 1 casual dining restaurant open for lunch? If that's  the case, I trust the lines would be quite long.

Thank you all for your help and time. 

Thank you so very much for your time. Really appreciated. Just an example of the inconsistency: The app says I have fully checked in and "Ready to Sail". The website says my checkin is Incomplete and the path you showed me (Try our web version) says I need to "Choose you Medallion wearable" with an orange exclamation point. Selecting that takes me to a page to Shop for a wearable. Selecting Shop takes me to a page with Medallion gadgets but no option to buy anything. Just says "Skip and Continue" and then takes me back to the Medallion wearables. Another example: Selecting Dine My Way from the path you suggested,takes me to a nice screen with the cruise itinerary on the left, and options Create New Reservation and Book Dining Plan. Selecting Create a New Reservation takes me to a page with various options that none is clickable. No error message, no informatory message (too early?? too late??? not yet available to your category??? - who knows?). So my point was, they have 2 avenues (web & app) with different info for the same reservation. Not user friendly etc etc. This does not instill customer confidence. But, they get the benefit of the doubt and wait until we are actually onboard.

Take care and happy sailings

The ship is Sun Princess. So the cover charge is the 45USD pp charge plus 18% tip. Am I correct to assume that the same logic with other cruise lines applies for specialty dining? 1 appetizer, 1 entree and 1 dessert?

Thank you for your time.

Hi ev1. Apologies if this is a truly stupid question, but I was looking at specialty dining and something confused me. For all restaurants it says "Specialty Restaurant cover charge applies". Does this refer to the 45USD pp fixed charge or there is a cover charge over and above the 45USD. Sometime ago, for one of the restaurants the app stated there was a 145USD cover charge and then the 45USD pp, but now this has been removed and all it says for all restathere is a cover charge. Where I live, a restaurant cover charge refers to a really small charge just to sit down (like 2-3USD pp), get some bread, and dips and water to get started, and then you get the menu to order. Again, sorry if there is a simple answer, but my OCD got the best of me. Take care all.

Hi ev1. As the countdown for my summer cruise with Sun Princess continues, I thought I would share my (subjective) impressions of Princess Cruises. This is our second cruise with them but admittedly many years have gone by ever since. So, overall to me Princess does not seem to be knowing what is doing at least IT-wise and customer service wise. 

1. Too many issues with their app - usually not working correctly, completely down, wrong information ....

2. Constant changes in my booking - they cancelled the reservation 3 times (their mistake) and my TA kept rushing to put it back on.

3. Dismal website and the need/command to only use their app for certain functions (checkin, dining reservations ....) makes it even more frustrating.

4. Booked a D2 cabin, and all of a sudden it became a D0 category with Signature benefits -now they say they made a mistake, no Signature benefits. No biggie (since when I originally booked I was not expecting such benefits) but still these constant "mishaps"do not instill trust.

As I said, these are my first impressions pre-cruise. I certainly hope I am proven wrong and happily surprised once on board.

Thank you very much for the reply. My cruise is in July, so not yet paid in full and the app says I can not yet try/do any dining reservations. I guess I will wait and see. Thank you.

Thank you all. I have contacted the TA and they will look into it - the standard reply being "probably a glitch". Cabin is aft, by the elevators and it is listed as a Premium Deluxe Balcony. There are only 6 such cabins on that deck. The strange thing is that the 2 aft cabins are listed as D0, the 2 mid-ship ones as D1 and the 2 forward ones are listed as D2. I guess somebody at Princess has either too much fun labeling the cabins or too much free time. 😀😀😀

Hi ev1. Cruise in July 2024 with Sun Princess.

2 questions on my Travel Summary. Printed it in September 2023. Looked at it online today. 2 differences (1 small, 1 not so small). Cabin is still the same but the category was D2, now it says D0??? I guess it does not matter (as the cabin is still the same), but I find the inconsistency odd. Now for the not so small. The printed September summary clearly states that the package included ship transfers to and from the port. Now, the online version, says I have not purchased ship transfers so it is my responsibility...... Has this happened to other cruisers as well? Should I escalate it to my TA, or just wait and see what happens closer to the cruise date?

Thank you all

Thank you, done that and when I enter my login credentials nothing happens. Another fellow poster tried it as well and faced the same issue. But, I am an optimist and believe that someday, somehow I will succeed in tying loose ends. Thank you again 

Thank you all for your time. As I said, the technological status of the Princess app and user interfaces is so tragically bad that now it is funny. But hey, cruising is not just about IT and apps. So, I opt to just vent here and look forward to cruising some more. But still, it is reassuring to know that I am not alone in this technological maze. Take care all.