kiwi sailor Posted June 6, 2017 #1 Share Posted June 6, 2017 My wife and I just a had a short two night cruise from Brisbane to Sydney last weekend. We were last on the Sun Princess back in September 1998 and I've got to say she is great shape. Maybe even better than me, 19 years later. Without getting out a magnify glass I couldn't find any fault with her. Just don't remember her being so small, but been on few giants since 1998. Crew seemed happy and very helpful. Neil the CD was everywhere and always acknowledged everyone he passed while walking around. Princess certainly do look after her older girls compared to P&O Australia. Certainly would have no hesitation on sailing on Sun Princess again. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Coral Posted June 6, 2017 #2 Share Posted June 6, 2017 Wasn't she the largest ship when she debuted? I loved that ship. I loved the size of that ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted June 7, 2017 #3 Share Posted June 7, 2017 We've done two cruises on Sun. She's a lovely ship. I think she's the perfect size for our region - big enough to provide good facilities yet small enough that the number of passengers don't swamp the smaller ports, and not too expensive to cruise on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruiser411 Posted June 7, 2017 #4 Share Posted June 7, 2017 Wasn't she the largest ship when she debuted? I loved that ship. I loved the size of that ship. Yes, she was the largest cruise ship in the world until RCCL launched Sovereign of the Seas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
partybarbie Posted June 7, 2017 #5 Share Posted June 7, 2017 Thanks for the review. We will be doing a short cruise on her in January. Glad to hear she is ship-shape.;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyboy Posted June 7, 2017 #6 Share Posted June 7, 2017 Thanks for the feedback. Have not sailed on her recently but have heard the same impressions from a co-passenger we had. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky TGO Posted June 7, 2017 #7 Share Posted June 7, 2017 Thanks for sharing. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougH Posted June 7, 2017 #8 Share Posted June 7, 2017 Thanks for the update, I love the Sun class ships. I thought they were a perfect size and had many a great meal in the pizzeria :) Sure hated when they sent them all 'down under" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kim.elniski Posted June 12, 2017 #9 Share Posted June 12, 2017 We will be on the Sun Princess in October. Can't wait! We are looking so forward to visiting Austrailia. We are from Canada and this is definitely on my bucket list!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seacruise9 Posted June 12, 2017 #10 Share Posted June 12, 2017 Hi, In 1997, I cruised aboard the Sun Princess for seven days to the Western Caribbean. In 2015, I cruised aboard the Sun Princess for 10 days out of Sydney. I agree that this is still a nice ship and is maintained very well. The 77,000 ton Sun Princess was the largest cruise ship in the world when she entered service in 1995. She surpassed the 76,000 ton SS Norway. In 1996, the Sun Princess was surpassed by the Carnival Destiny (the first 100,000 ton cruise ship). Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Kinkacruiser Posted June 12, 2017 #11 Share Posted June 12, 2017 Thanks for the update, I love the Sun class ships. I thought they were a perfect size and had many a great meal in the pizzeria :) Sure hated when they sent them all 'down under" Unfortunately the Pizzeria is now home to Share. The new look buffet (Horizon Court) is very user friendly and the full size, wall-mounted TV with a great movie selection is wonderful for cabin times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi sailor Posted June 12, 2017 Author #12 Share Posted June 12, 2017 Unfortunately the Pizzeria is now home to Share. The new look buffet (Horizon Court) is very user friendly and the full size, wall-mounted TV with a great movie selection is wonderful for cabin times. Yes, have to agree the Movie selection was great, the TV series were just OK. The picture quality was very good and the screen size was great, they were Samsung TVs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToeKnees Posted June 13, 2017 #13 Share Posted June 13, 2017 Lovely to hear good reviews of the Sun princess, can you tell me which cabins you were in that had the wall mounted full size TV's ?? THanks :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus Traveller Posted June 13, 2017 #14 Share Posted June 13, 2017 Lovely to hear good reviews of the Sun princess, can you tell me which cabins you were in that had the wall mounted full size TV's ?? THanks :-) I don't know what you would call 'full size' and I don't really care if the TV is wall-mounted but we love the new interactive TV system. It has a fantastic selection of movies and shows. A great feature is that all of the presentations (Port Talks and guest lecturers) appear on the TV a few hours after they are presented, then stay on for the duration of the cruise. You can also pause or stop any movie or talk and go back to it later. It will re-start at the point you left it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunscreen Posted October 25, 2017 #15 Share Posted October 25, 2017 Am anxious to hear how your cruise was as we are doing 10 night Queensland coast in Feb 2019 and are from SK. I heard account is in AUS dollars which is a better conversion for us Canadians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanp91 Posted October 25, 2017 #16 Share Posted October 25, 2017 I heard account is in AUS dollars which is a better conversion for us Canadians. That's correct. There are also no gratuities on the Australia-based Princess ships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katisdale Posted October 25, 2017 #17 Share Posted October 25, 2017 Gratuities WILL be charged if you reserved your cruise in the USA. We were really surprised by this. I do not know if this is true for Canadians but we were charged on our 50 day Sun Princess cruise. The new princess beds are also on the Sun and were very comfortable. We agree that the TV's were excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srpilo Posted October 25, 2017 #18 Share Posted October 25, 2017 I have fond memory's of the Sun, we last sailed on her in 2005. Glad to hear she's fairing well Srpilo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joybook Posted October 25, 2017 #19 Share Posted October 25, 2017 Katisdale - I may be wrong but I think the gratuities issue works this way. For Australians who book in Australia for a cruise beginning and ending in Australia the gratuities are built into the price of the fare. For OS cruisers (booking in your own country) I think you will find that, having to pay gratuities, the actual price of your cruise is less than we Aussies pay. All in all it probably evens out for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aus Traveller Posted October 25, 2017 #20 Share Posted October 25, 2017 Katisdale - I may be wrong but I think the gratuities issue works this way. For Australians who book in Australia for a cruise beginning and ending in Australia the gratuities are built into the price of the fare. For OS cruisers (booking in your own country) I think you will find that, having to pay gratuities, the actual price of your cruise is less than we Aussies pay. All in all it probably evens out for everyone. From what I have seen, fares for OS bookings are no cheaper than Australian fares (on Australian-based cruises) and may even be more expensive. I think it is odd that US, Canadian and UK passengers are still charged the auto tips and I cannot see how these are passed on directly to the crew. Their remuneration is at a much higher rate than on ships based elsewhere and takes into account the dollars they would have got as part of the tips pool. US, Canadian and UK passengers can remove the tips without feeling guilty, and then personally tip those staff who serve them. The staff will be able to keep that money.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funkat Posted October 26, 2017 #21 Share Posted October 26, 2017 My wife and I just a had a short two night cruise from Brisbane to Sydney last weekend. We were last on the Sun Princess back in September 1998 and I've got to say she is great shape. Maybe even better than me, 19 years later. Without getting out a magnify glass I couldn't find any fault with her. Just don't remember her being so small, but been on few giants since 1998. Crew seemed happy and very helpful. Neil the CD was everywhere and always acknowledged everyone he passed while walking around. Princess certainly do look after her older girls compared to P&O Australia. Certainly would have no hesitation on sailing on Sun Princess again. John Thanks so much for the post on the Sun Princess. We are booked on her 3/30/18 sailing. After some research on the ship, I was starting to rethink our decision due to her age. Your assessment of the current condition and crew have given me some confidence that we will enjoy our cruise. In May, we sailed on the Radiance of the Seas. She is not as small as the Sun, but still one of the smallest ships that we have sailed on. Our problem with her was not her size but that she was definitely showing signs of her age and it was not hard to see evidence of lacking maintenance. After recently dealing with a small & old ship, it was like dejavu. So nice to hear that obviously Princess has done a great job of maintaining the Sun. There is a certain charm to a small ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
work2travelmore Posted October 26, 2017 #22 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Am anxious to hear how your cruise was as we are doing 10 night Queensland coast in Feb 2019 and are from SK. I heard account is in AUS dollars which is a better conversion for us Canadians. Glad to hear other Canadians will be down under when we are! We are doing three back to back cruises on Sun for our big retirement trip, and will be doing the 10 night Queensland on Feb. 23, 2019, then doing 14 nights to Fiji, and finally 13 nights to New Zealand. Each segment out of Sydney. We are very excited, and don't know how we will make it through to 2019!! I have read some negative posts on the Sun, so I am glad to read more positives here! The account is AUS $$, and I checked the exchange, and this is one of the better conversions for us Canadians for sure!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newport dave Posted October 26, 2017 #23 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Great to hear, we are on her in Nov 18. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X1HYCB Posted October 30, 2017 #24 Share Posted October 30, 2017 Unfortunately the Pizzeria is now home to Share. The new look buffet (Horizon Court) is very user friendly and the full size, wall-mounted TV with a great movie selection is wonderful for cabin times. Just wondering if there's an International Cafe? We'll be sailing her in Jan 2018. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted October 30, 2017 #25 Share Posted October 30, 2017 Just wondering if there's an International Cafe? We'll be sailing her in Jan 2018. Yes, there is an International Cafe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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