New Princess Sphere class ships?

[Fairsky84]

Here's a close up of the 'sphere'... really just bumped out balconies. Also, this is the first Princess ship with 'hull hole' balconies below the lifeboats. And you can see a wide promenade above the lifeboats similar to recent CCL and NCL ships. I assume this will include bars, restaurants, and other venues.

 

Finally, the image of the rear deck shows an infinity pool over the stern and public space similar to on MSC Seaside and Nor Prima. 

[natefish95]

I have never sailed Princess, and as a solo traveling mid-20's millennial I am far from their target demographic, but this ship seems really unique and I'd love to try it some day. Hopefully the spa isn't in the windowless depths of the ship like on the Royal class of ships. 

[DavidsNana]

@Fairsky84According to the video that was shown this afternoon, there is also a glass dome on the top of the ship forward that has a pool and can be used at night for aerial entertainment.

[Thrak]

Wow. How "exciting" that presentation was. NOT. Padgett's face must hurt from always having that phony smile.

Edited September 16, 2022 by Thrak

[DavidsNana]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

 

 

The Matson Lines:  SS Lurline and the SS Matsonia were cruise ships that went between the West Coast and Hawaii starting in the 1050's (one way) to the early '70s.  Boat Days in Hawaii were celebrated in huge fashion.  Those were the glorious days of china, crystal, welcome aboard guests of passengers, coin divers, elegance, and charm.  Throwing a flower lei overboard meant you would return to the islands.  AND Aloha Towers....ah, I miss those days.

Yes, I remember seeing videos of the Matson Lines ships sail out of Honolulu from the Aloha Tower and how fancy everything and everyone was.  Not so on the SS Leilani.  It had been a troop ship in WWII and was converted back to a cruise ship sailing in the 1950's.  It was nice to us as the DOD was paying for our trip as we were returning from a year on Midway Island.  We were impressed with the dining room service and food even then on what was probably a 2nd class ship.  And my sister and I had a separate cabin from our parents, across the hall.  However, we were very low in the ship as the portholes were painted over and we had bunkbeds in both cabins.  That was the start of my love for cruising.

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

Did some digging and see that there are only 3 cruises available at the moment.  Still can't see them on princess.com.

 

 

If I am reading this right, there is no price difference between a Mini-Suite and a Cabana Mini.  Seems odd. 
 

Overall, I am not enamored with the private area aspect of the ship. It’s even gotten so meta that the “extra fee” Sanctuary now has an even more exclusive area within the area. Currently, Club Class passengers get a separate area within an MDR, but it is still within the MDR. Same venue that others can enjoy. But when you start to rope off all of the best areas of the ship and reserve them for 100-300 passengers out of 4,300, I think you begin to damage the brand. I’m sure that if one buys their way into the Signature, Reserve and Suite strata of the ship the experience will be awesome. But I wonder if sailing in the lower cabin grades won’t in fact be a downgraded experience compared to current ships. More people fighting for less space, since a greater percentage of total space is now off limits to you. 5 pools sounds great. But not if only 3 are available to the general population which is now 25% greater.  

Edited September 16, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[Wishing on a star]

Does anybody think deck plans will be out soon?

 

I noticed that they might have brought back more promenade.  But, there are the 'Cabana' cabins and Cabana deck area too.  Have to see how that all works out.

 

I think I saw something mentioning a Wake or Wakeview Club.  Something like that.  I wonder if there will be another exclusive area at the rear of the ship.  Surely they have some kind of open wake view bar area/

[cristine]

Uggggg.

Another class of ships having to dock in ugly commercial industrial docks out in the middle of nowhere. Shuttling 4300 passengers.. Oh Yea..
..

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

7 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

I wonder if there will be another exclusive area at the rear of the ship.  Surely they have some kind of open wake view bar area/

Count on any area with the word Club in it being an exclusive area. To me it is very obvious that they have identified the most desirable areas of the ship and intend to rope off 75% of those areas and reserve them as upcharge venues linked to the purchase of the highest priced cabins. The rest of the passengers will fight for the remaining areas. 

Edited September 16, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[Cruise Wonderland]

2 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

That is my question too. The Signature Suites have a private restaurant and lounge now too. Is this similar to the NCL Haven? 

 

Should be, and MSC Yacht Club as well.

[CruizinSusan70]

23 minutes ago, cristine said:

Uggggg.

Another class of ships having to dock in ugly commercial industrial docks out in the middle of nowhere. Shuttling 4300 passengers.. Oh Yea..
..

 

 

You can just cruise on the smaller, older ships in the fleet.  It's been announced for awhile regarding the size of the ship being 175 K tons.  And 4300 for this size ship is great compared to the Excel Class ships in Carnival, P&O, and Aida, which top out at 6,000+.

[Cruise Wonderland]

Category S0: Signature Sky Suite (Deck 16)

Category S2: Signature Owner's Suite (Deck 10/16)

Category S4: Signature Penthouse Suite (Deck 15/16/17)

Category S9: Signature Suite (Deck 15/16)

 

Category C1/C2: Reserve Cabana Mini Suite (Deck 9)

Category CA/CB: Cabana Mini Suite (Deck 10/11/12)

 

Category M1/M2: Reserve Mini Suite (Deck 10/11/12/14/15/16/17)

Category MA/MD: Mini Suite (Deck 10/11/12/14)

 

Category D1/D2: Premium Deluxe Balcony (Deck 10/11/12/14/15/16/17)

Category DA/DB/DC/DD/DE/DF: Deluxe Balcony (Deck 9/10/11/12/14/15/16/17)

Category DG/DH: Cove Balcony (Deck 6)

 

Category O2/O3/O5: Premium Oceanview (Deck 5/6/10/11)

 

Category IA/IB/IC/ID/IE/IF: Interior (Deck 5/6/9/10/11/12/14/15/16/17)

Category IS: Interior Single (Deck 10)

[Astro Flyer]

In the name reveal presentation they said there are 29 dining venues & guessing the majority will have a fee.

 

In 2013 on one of Royal Princess’ first cruises & the inaugural TA we had a deluxe balcony cabin (DB) & for the same type of cabin on Sun Princess the lowest category costs 220% more. 🥴

We paid $82/pp/day for a Discovery balcony cabin on the March 2022 inaugural cruise & doubt if Sun will be worth so much more.

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by Astro Flyer

[dreaminofcruisin]

27 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Count on any area with the word Club in it being an exclusive area. To me it is very obvious that they have identified the most desirable areas of the ship and intend to rope off 75% of those areas and reserve them as upcharge venues linked to the purchase of the highest priced cabins. The rest of the passengers will fight for the remaining areas. 

 

 

☹️☹️☹️

[Cruise Wonderland]

Deck plan is available here:

https://www.princess.com/deckPlans.do?shipCode=SU

 

Only the cabins are shown. No details on the public area yet.

 

The suite area will be at the aft top deck, just like Norwegian Prima.

Edited September 16, 2022 by Cruise Wonderland

[CruizinSusan70]

On 9/14/2022 at 4:29 PM, JimmyVWine said:

I just hope that the new builds do not include "Magic Carpets" Go-Kart tracks or ice skating rinks.  Or Any fast causal food by Guy Fieri. Other than that, I am pretty flexible. 

Go kart tracks on NCL and ice skating rinks on RCI are aimed at the family market, which is not the primary class that Princess serves.  The Magic Carpet on the Edge Class of Celebrity though is aimed at the same class of cruise customer that Princess goes after. 

Sorry it's not your cup of tea, but that class of ship is fabulous and there are just as many Celebrity stalwarts that are against change similar to those Princess cruisers that pine for the older smaller ships.

[cr8tiv1]

1 hour ago, DavidsNana said:

Yes, I remember seeing videos of the Matson Lines ships sail out of Honolulu from the Aloha Tower and how fancy everything and everyone was.  Not so on the SS Leilani.  It had been a troop ship in WWII and was converted back to a cruise ship sailing in the 1950's.  It was nice to us as the DOD was paying for our trip as we were returning from a year on Midway Island.  We were impressed with the dining room service and food even then on what was probably a 2nd class ship.  And my sister and I had a separate cabin from our parents, across the hall.  However, we were very low in the ship as the portholes were painted over and we had bunkbeds in both cabins.  That was the start of my love for cruising.

Just for you.  

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by cr8tiv1

[longhorn2004]

Wow, the third Princess ship to be call the Sun Princess.  Please tell me one of the sister ships will be called the Pacific Princess.

[MileHighAko]

Excited for the ship, but kinda majorly bummed at the lack of aft wrap suites... :'( 

[azbirdmom]

21 minutes ago, Cruise Wonderland said:

Deck plan is available here:

https://www.princess.com/deckPlans.do?shipCode=SU

 

Only the cabins are shown. No details on the public area yet.

 

The suite area will be at the aft top deck, just like Norwegian Prima.

 

Very interesting.  I noted that there are 20 elevators.  Originally I counted 18 but missed the two at the very aft of the ship.  Oh and there are very few aft facing cabins, all seem to be Deluxe Balcony.  There may be another category on deck 11 but I couldn't see that one.  I guess Princess is keeping that one a surprise as it seems to be a secret.

[capriccio]

2 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

Ok so in this rendering it shows the balcony and the cabana. My guess is this level of cabin has access to the Cabana Area. 

 

Cabana Area:

 

The Cabana suites and the Cabana deck look lovely except - and it is a big except - it appears that anyone walking on the cabana area deck can see into your cabin.  Now that will probably only be other passengers in the limited number of cabana cabins but that still too many for me.

[Coffeeluvr05]

Anyone notice what looks like Nespresso machines in all of the staterooms?  Oh and finally they put a small sofa in ALL rooms!  I love the new modern look of the rooms and the rest of the ship too, especially the piazza!

[cr8tiv1]

If Princess used today's announcement as a kick start, then they succeeded.  It has opened discussion (good or bad).  It's not a ship for me.  Happy for those who will be pleased with the design.  JP did say that they were hoping this would be a ship for multi-generational cruisers.  

[PescadoAmarillo]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

Wow. How "exciting" that presentation was. NOT. Padgett's face must hurt from always having that phony smile.

I’ll admit to thinking about you 724 times during that video. 

[cruisingrob21]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

Wow. How "exciting" that presentation was. NOT. Padgett's face must hurt from always having that phony smile.

The unveiling was so forced.  Agree about the phony smile.  Even the CEO of Carnival appeared to have better things to do.  Then again, what do you expect - there has been exactly no hype about it.

 

Ill say that I'm more impressed than I expected - they took the same ship profile from the Virgin ships.  Fine, its edgy and new, but this is the way they should have gone with the Royal class. 

Other thoughts:

• The "dome" area, with or without a pool, is nothing novel - its a covered indoor area with a lot of windows.  Gee, saw that back on all the ships that came out from 98 to about 2004 - but its nice to see it return, although I doubt this class of ships will ever make it to Alaska
• The lido would appear to be forward on deck 17, similar to the original Sun/Coral classes.  Otherwise, the lido has been moved "inside" without windows anymore or with an exterior deck on both sides - hard to tell.
• The photos in the press release seem to indicate there is a "reserve" area and "signature" area - I'm guessing with their own restaurants and by the look of it, private elevators on the aft of the ship?  MSC says "hold my beer".  And HAL says "Signature is our gimmick"
• And at 9pm PT tonight, Princess nuked the deck plans.  So, I guess we will have to wait to see what takes up all the blank spaces.