What are the Secrets of the Sun Princess

[mcrcruiser]

We will be sailing a 14 night Alaska cruise in August 2021 (booked in a mini suite )   

 

 What are the secrets we should be aware of on this ship ?  how is the food & service  & any other pertinent items ?

 

  TIA for your replies 

[LC1950]

I did my first cruise on the Sun Princess (2013 and also my recent last cruise in Oct 2019) and it got me hooked on cruising.  *cough* There are NO secrets .... except .... a very comfortable library on Deck 7.  A wonderful and very wide promenade deck also on 7.  The IC on Deck 5 is great and plenty of seating I found.  Crooners on ummm, is it Deck 7? is great.

 

And I will NOT mention the secret aft deck incase a ninja in the middle of the night does me in.

 

You have been warned!!!

 

Study the deck plans and you will know exactly what I'm talking about.

[OzKiwiJJ]

- The promenade deck goes right around the ship and is very wide down the sides.

- Crooners is in the whole of the atrium area, not just one side, and has a dance floor.

- The Wheelhouse Bar is also a decent size, and with a dance floor.

- She's a smaller ship, around 2000 passengers.

- The minisuites are big, twice the size of a regular balcony cabin and I understand the bathrooms are great.

- I like the dining room layout which has proper tables for two, not side by side with a few cms between them. At breakfast and lunch more tables for two are made by using a removable divider in the middle of tables for six thus turning them into two two-tops.

 

Food on any Princess ship depends on how good the Executive Chef is, and can vary considerably, so hard to say how good it will be for your cruise.

[mcrcruiser]

5 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

- The promenade deck goes right around the ship and is very wide down the sides.

- Crooners is in the whole of the atrium area, not just one side, and has a dance floor.

- The Wheelhouse Bar is also a decent size, and with a dance floor.

- She's a smaller ship, around 2000 passengers.

- The minisuites are big, twice the size of a regular balcony cabin and I understand the bathrooms are great.

- I like the dining room layout which has proper tables for two, not side by side with a few cms between them. At breakfast and lunch more tables for two are made by using a removable divider in the middle of tables for six thus turning them into two two-tops.

 

Food on any Princess ship depends on how good the Executive Chef is, and can vary considerably, so hard to say how good it will be for your cruise.

Thanks for your  in put  .We sailed on a Holland America  cruise ship in 2015 from  San Diego ,our home port to Sydney  .It was out October & your spring  .We stayed one week at the Sydney Boulevard Hotel  ;which is a great hotel  with the HOHO bus right out front 

 We enjoyed going to the opera house ,Cathedral , the Sydney museum &  the vlue Mountains tour  .We also cruised your beautiful harbor 

 

 The only thing there were uncountable little flies all over but ,not at out hotel .I later founf out that they come from the sand dunes  dunes  .

  We had a wonderful time in your city & would go back in a flash 😃

[mcrcruiser]

5 hours ago, LC1950 said:

I did my first cruise on the Sun Princess (2013 and also my recent last cruise in Oct 2019) and it got me hooked on cruising.  *cough* There are NO secrets .... except .... a very comfortable library on Deck 7.  A wonderful and very wide promenade deck also on 7.  The IC on Deck 5 is great and plenty of seating I found.  Crooners on ummm, is it Deck 7? is great.

 

And I will NOT mention the secret aft deck incase a ninja in the middle of the night does me in.

 

You have been warned!!!

 

Study the deck plans and you will know exactly what I'm talking about.

 We did study the deck plans  & we see what you commented on .Thanks 

[bmc alabama]

Two questions I have about the Sun returning to North America in 2021:

 

1)  Is there any Pizza on the ship?  I don't see it on the deck plans

 

2)  Do you think that they'd add soft serve back in?  I know that is something we really enjoy and has us considering the Emerald instead...

[mcrcruiser]

3 hours ago, bmc alabama said:

Two questions I have about the Sun returning to North America in 2021:

 

1)  Is there any Pizza on the ship?  I don't see it on the deck plans

 

2)  Do you think that they'd add soft serve back in?  I know that is something we really enjoy and has us considering the Emerald instead...

Can't say for sure if there is pizza ;however ,it could be at one of the stations  in the Lido buffet . Best way to verify is to call Princess & ask . not that important to us to know 

[Aus Traveller]

The Pizzeria on deck 8 has been replaced by a SHARE (by Curtis Stone) restaurant. This is a 'pay-extra' restaurant.

 

One of our favourite spots for 'sail-in' is a viewing area near the bow on deck 11. It can be partly shaded by the Bridge immediately above it. The space is accessed by the closed doors at the end of the deck 11 corridors. However, it will be closed off at night and in very rough weather.

 

The Sun has 'any-time' TV where you can watch any of the recorded presentations or any of a couple of hundred movies, all whenever you want. If you 'pause' the show, you can resume it when it suits you. We love this feature.

[Lucky TGO]

It was once a Pirate ship. 😁 sorry I couldn’t help myself.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

7 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

Thanks for your  in put  .We sailed on a Holland America  cruise ship in 2015 from  San Diego ,our home port to Sydney  .It was out October & your spring  .We stayed one week at the Sydney Boulevard Hotel  ;which is a great hotel  with the HOHO bus right out front 

 We enjoyed going to the opera house ,Cathedral , the Sydney museum &  the vlue Mountains tour  .We also cruised your beautiful harbor 

 

 The only thing there were uncountable little flies all over but ,not at out hotel .I later founf out that they come from the sand dunes  dunes  .

  We had a wonderful time in your city & would go back in a flash 😃

I'm so glad you enjoyed your visit to Sydney. The Australian flies can be a pest some years in Sydney but not all the time. They are much worse in the outback. Unfortunately Sydney is currently surrounded by severe bushfires so smoke pollution is the hazard this season, not flies.

[MargoK]

18 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

We will be sailing a 14 night Alaska cruise in August 2021 (booked in a mini suite )   

 

 What are the secrets we should be aware of on this ship ?  how is the food & service  & any other pertinent items ?

 

  TIA for your replies 

 

Thank you for bringing to my attention our favourite ship - Sun Princess will be in Alaska 2021.  Have put a hold on the same cruise but in July for my Big 60!

[Thrak]

5 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

The Pizzeria on deck 8 has been replaced by a SHARE (by Curtis Stone) restaurant. This is a 'pay-extra' restaurant.

 

Anybody who would replace Cafe Corniche with SHARE should be keelhauled. Repeatedly.

[mcrcruiser]

5 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I'm so glad you enjoyed your visit to Sydney. The Australian flies can be a pest some years in Sydney but not all the time. They are much worse in the outback. Unfortunately Sydney is currently surrounded by severe bushfires so smoke pollution is the hazard this season, not flies.

We are so sorry that there are those  horrid brush fires . We did see them on TV & what they were doing to your beautiful city .We pray that they will soon be  put out 

  

 We can only hope to be able to take another Trans Pacific cruise to Australia & New Zealand  

[mcrcruiser]

1 hour ago, MargoK said:

 

Thank you for bringing to my attention our favourite ship - Sun Princess will be in Alaska 2021.  Have put a hold on the same cruise but in July for my Big 60!

This cruise is a winner for us because we  have  the local benefit of not flying .  Except for San Diego & San Pedro ports here in Calif ,we have flown to meet the ships or flown home ,like our 2015 cruise to Sydney ,from San diego ,a 21 day Adventure ,followed by a week in Sydney ;which was a wonderful experience 😄

 

 I did not check for the July cruise  ;but ,the British Columbia port of Prince Rupert is extra special .It is on our itinerary  ,August 14th . We just wished we had more than jut 7 hours in port ,to do the Grizzly Bear  boat cruise to see them in the wild on shore . The most grizzly bears in any area are there .Also ,all sorts of whales are in that area 

Edited December 20, 2019 by mcrcruiser

[BarbinMich]

17 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

. . .

One of our favourite spots for 'sail-in' is a viewing area near the bow on deck 11. It can be partly shaded by the Bridge immediately above it. The space is accessed by the closed doors at the end of the deck 11 corridors. However, it will be closed off at night and in very rough weather.

. . .

FYI, this area exists on all the pre-Royal ships as far as I know.

Edited December 20, 2019 by BarbinMich

[mcrcruiser]

4 hours ago, BarbinMich said:

FYI, this area exists on all the pre-Royal ships as far as I know.

Interesting    information 

[dreaminofcruisin]

Just so you know....the balconies are a little different than most ships.

They are 'cut out' of the hull.

I wasn't sure about that before we went on the ship, but it was kind of a nice windbreak.

I attached a picture....don't do this too often, so we'll see if it worked.

It actually shows 2 balconies next to each other as we were with another couple and had our door between the balconies open.

 

[mcrcruiser]

1 hour ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

Just so you know....the balconies are a little different than most ships.

They are 'cut out' of the hull.

I wasn't sure about that before we went on the ship, but it was kind of a nice windbreak.

I attached a picture....don't do this too often, so we'll see if it worked.

It actually shows 2 balconies next to each other as we were with another couple and had our door between the balconies open.

 

Thanks .This is quite different  that other ship balconies  .Picture perfect 😄

[MargoK]

17 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

This cruise is a winner for us because we  have  the local benefit of not flying .  Except for San Diego & San Pedro ports here in Calif ,we have flown to meet the ships or flown home ,like our 2015 cruise to Sydney ,from San diego ,a 21 day Adventure ,followed by a week in Sydney ;which was a wonderful experience 😄

 

 I did not check for the July cruise  ;but ,the British Columbia port of Prince Rupert is extra special .It is on our itinerary  ,August 14th . We just wished we had more than jut 7 hours in port ,to do the Grizzly Bear  boat cruise to see them in the wild on shore . The most grizzly bears in any area are there .Also ,all sorts of whales are in that area 

 

Our itinerary is the same. 

 

You have made my day! Bears and whales are what I want to see!!! 

 

Had my favourite cabin on hold. Accessable oceanview cabin.  Laundry across the hall... 

Secrets? I like the Sun's size and friendly staff. A lot of returning crew. On our second cruise we were welcomed like family. Our favourite spot was forward of the buffet in the cafe.  Not everyone knew it was there initially. 

[MargoK]

18 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Anybody who would replace Cafe Corniche with SHARE should be keelhauled. Repeatedly.

 

True. The most deserted restaurant ever. Good spot during the day for those playing board games. 

[Porky55]

On 12/21/2019 at 9:22 AM, MargoK said:

 

True. The most deserted restaurant ever. Good spot during the day for those playing board games. 

Cafe Corniche remains on Sea Princess and the pizzas are “the best” at sea or on land for that matter. Such a surprise and very enjoyable - shame they are gone from Sun Princess 😕

[EllieinNJ]

On 12/20/2019 at 4:13 PM, dreaminofcruisin said:

Just so you know....the balconies are a little different than most ships.

They are 'cut out' of the hull.

I wasn't sure about that before we went on the ship, but it was kind of a nice windbreak.

I attached a picture....don't do this too often, so we'll see if it worked.

It actually shows 2 balconies next to each other as we were with another couple and had our door between the balconies open.

 

Can you see the water while sitting?

[dreaminofcruisin]

40 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

Can you see the water while sitting?

Interesting question...

I guess it would depend on how tall you are...

I went back and looked at some pictures from our cruise. DH is 6'2", so he had no problem seeing over the railing (I assume that's what you are asking). I am 5'7" and I do notice that I scooted my chair right up next to the railing when I was looking out and then I could see over--my chin is about at the top railing. If you are shorter, I would imagine you could see the water by looking under the top railing as it is open---with a bar, if not over it. I can't say that I thought it much different from other ships. I have attached a bit more straight-on picture, so you can see the bar under the railing.

[Aus Traveller]

8 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

Can you see the water while sitting?

Yes.