Just Booked Sun Princess TA 2024…..Love It Or Hate It?

[Lady Arwen]

6 hours ago, nini said:

 

What exactly is your question and/or concern?

I asked if anyone else was booked on Sun Princess, but had concerns about certain aspects of the ship.  Sorry, I thought I’d made that clear.

[Lady Arwen]

Thanks everyone for your input!  I’ve decided to go with an open mind and look at it as a new adventure.  It certainly will be a different experience than I’m accustomed to on a Princess ship!

[DHP1]

12 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

Yes, you’re right about that.  I try to focus on the large cabin with full size sofa and a nice big bathroom with glass shower….no shower curtains..yay!  Buffet is not self serve at all.  Many improvements that are meaningful to me, but I do worry about size and number of passengers.  Our CVP said that Princess will be transferring top crew and staff from other ships to Sun because Princess has a lot riding on this ship and they want it be be a success right out if the gate.  I have no idea if this will be the case.  I guess I’ll find out in 2024!

Buffet is not self serve???  

[voljeep]

12 hours ago, nasa1974 said:

Would like to do the Maiden voyage out of Florida. Will have to wait to see what it will cost. 

same for us - wouldn't even mind if it was a little 3-4-5 day to Princess Cay.  This would definitely be about the ship.

[DHP1]

46 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

I asked if anyone else was booked on Sun Princess, but had concerns about certain aspects of the ship.  Sorry, I thought I’d made that clear.

Your question was clear to me. 😀

[Lady Arwen]

17 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

Buffet is not self serve???  

Yes, my husband read it on another cruise website.  I’ll ask him which one.  Apparently, you can look around the buffet to see what you want.  You tell your wait person and they’ll get it for you and bring it all to your table.  Good way to prevent cross contamination, especially since Covid.  Good on Princess.  This has been the norm on HAL (except you carry your own plate to your table) for a long time and we really like it.  

[Geoffa30]

We’re also on the TA. Looking forward to our first suite experience as we’ve booked a Penthouse Suite. Our first TA too hence why we’ve booked the suite as, with the number of sea days, wanted somewhere to relax away from the crowds. Will be interesting to see whether Princess ups the ante on their suite offering especially around the food in the Signature dining room. Here’s hoping it’s not just the same menu as the MDR 🤣 We’ll be keeping an eye on the reviews of earlier cruises to ensure it’s worth the money before paying the final balance.

[Lady Arwen]

15 minutes ago, Geoffa30 said:

We’re also on the TA. Looking forward to our first suite experience as we’ve booked a Penthouse Suite. Our first TA too hence why we’ve booked the suite as, with the number of sea days, wanted somewhere to relax away from the crowds. Will be interesting to see whether Princess ups the ante on their suite offering especially around the food in the Signature dining room. Here’s hoping it’s not just the same menu as the MDR 🤣 We’ll be keeping an eye on the reviews of earlier cruises to ensure it’s worth the money before paying the final balance.

Wow, good for you!  We’re in a balcony on deck six, but hoping if prices go down at some point, we’ll book our preferred mini suite.  Your suite is to die for!  Hope to meet you onboard!

[DHP1]

43 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Wow, good for you!  We’re in a balcony on deck six, but hoping if prices go down at some point, we’ll book our preferred mini suite.  Your suite is to die for!  Hope to meet 

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by DHP1

[Lady Arwen]

15 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

Interesting. According to the deck plan there are balconies on deck 6 however, looking at all the pictures of the Sun Princess I don’t see any balconies on deck 6. 

If you go to the deck plans on Princess, you will see lots of balconies on deck six.  Not sure why you don’t see them.  

[DHP1]

6 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

If you go to the deck plans on Princess, you will see lots of balconies on deck six.  Not sure why you don’t see them.  

I understand now and deleted my message. I didn’t know what a cove balcony was. Now I know. Thanks

I understand your concerns.  It will be different however, got to give a try at least once. 

Edited January 27, 2023 by DHP1

[Lady Arwen]

2 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

I understand now and deleted my message. I didn’t know what a cove balcony was. Now I know. Thanks

I didn’t know either, until saw them!  We booked one just to get a cabin.  We usually upgrade to a mini suite when Princess has a sale.  Hopefully, we can get one later on.

[DHP1]

3 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

I didn’t know either, until saw them!  We booked one just to get a cabin.  We usually upgrade to a mini suite when Princess has a sale.  Hopefully, we can get one later on.

Being that close to the water, I would bring a fishing rod.  Sorry. Lol. We’re having second thoughts on our cabin and maybe change it once we see more updated pictures of the Sun. 

Edited January 27, 2023 by DHP1

[Guest ldtr]

buffet on deck 9, IC and Pizza next to buffet, stern viewing space part of new class system. No thanks.

 

If I wanted to sail on a ship with a class system I would be on Celebrity.

 

Going on P&O Iona. Same ship platform, more traditional layout, no class system. The layout is more what the Sun should have been.

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by ldtr

[Lady Arwen]

5 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

Being that close to the water, I would bring a fishing rod.  Sorry. Lol. We’re having second thoughts on our cabin and maybe change it once we see more updated pictures of the Sun. 

Ha ha….right on!  We’re going to wait to see the updates, too.  I’m sure we’ll move, but mini suites are pricey right now.  Lots of time!  Where have you booked your cabin?

[Lady Arwen]

5 minutes ago, ldtr said:

buffet on deck 9, IC and Pizza next to buffet, not piazza, stern viewing space part of new class system. No thanks.

 

Going on P&O Iona. Same ship platform, more traditional layout, no class system. The layout is more what the Sun should have been.

Hope you enjoy Iona, I’m sure it will be lovely.  

[DHP1]

16 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Ha ha….right on!  We’re going to wait to see the updates, too.  I’m sure we’ll move, but mini suites are pricey right now.  Lots of time!  Where have you booked your cabin?

You could book a mini suite now and if the price drops, phone Princess and they will adjust the price. We have done that many of times in the past, almost every cruise. If the price does drop for us, we have to be careful because we may lose our OBC promotion which is $100 each therefore, the price has to drop by $200 to make it worth while. The way things are going, I don’t expect a price drop. An increase will be more likely. 
Funny, 15 years ago our CVP from Princess will call us and ask us would you like to me to adjust the cruise cost. Those days are long gone now. 

Edited January 27, 2023 by DHP1

[DHP1]

24 minutes ago, ldtr said:

buffet on deck 9, IC and Pizza next to buffet, stern viewing space part of new class system. No thanks.

 

If I wanted to sail on a ship with a class system I would be on Celebrity.

 

Going on P&O Iona. Same ship platform, more traditional layout, no class system. The layout is more what the Sun should have been.

 

Thanks. That’s better (buffet). I just watch the video. 

[PescadoAmarillo]

15 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

We only made one cruise on the Pacific Princess (as it turns out, it was its very last cruise with Princess) and we had already decided that she had become our favorite ship!  Imagine our disappointment when they sold her near the beginning of the pandemic.  She went to Azamara.  That line takes a bigger chunk out of your wallet...we may have to just cut back on our number of cruises in order to sail what we like better.  But...we're not there yet! (Thankfully)

Count us among the Pacific Princess’s most ardent fans, also. We had ELEVEN cruises booked on the Pacific when COVID hit, and then the ship was sold. I’m still in mourning. The reality is that we lucky ones had found a tiny corner of the Princess product that especially appealed to us…and the rest of the Princess product is growing in the opposite direction. I look at Azamara and Oceania (they got some of those old Renaissance ships, also) cruises often, and would be happy to reduce cruising days to sail on their ships, but haven’t yet found the perfect cruise with enough new ports to justify the expense. 

[Lady Arwen]

41 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

You could book a mini suite now and if the price drops, phone Princess and they will adjust the price. We have done that many of times in the past, almost every cruise. If the price does drop for us, we have to be careful because we may lose our OBC promotion which is $100 each therefore, the price has to drop by $200 to make it worth while. The way things are going, I don’t expect a price drop. An increase will be more likely. 
Funny, 15 years ago our CVP from Princess will call us and ask us would you like to me to adjust the cruise cost. Those days are long gone now. 

Hoping to get in on an upgrade bid.  Unfortunately, can’t do that prior to final payment.  At this point we’ll wait for a while to make a decision on our cabin.  Currently booked on Regal British Isles September 2023 and our mini suite has dropped a number of times.  Just refared recently to include Princess Plus and it was very close to the original price we booked originally without it.

[Guest ldtr]

2 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Count us among the Pacific Princess’s most ardent fans, also. We had ELEVEN cruises booked on the Pacific when COVID hit, and then the ship was sold. I’m still in mourning. The reality is that we lucky ones had found a tiny corner of the Princess product that especially appealed to us…and the rest of the Princess product is growing in the opposite direction. I look at Azamara and Oceania (they got some of those old Renaissance ships, also) cruises often, and would be happy to reduce cruising days to sail on their ships, but haven’t yet found the perfect cruise with enough new ports to justify the expense. 

We met you and your husband on an Excursion from the Pacific Princess in French Polynesia several years back (the cruise where you made the decision to change your plans and just stay on the Pacific).  Since Princess ship sizes makes it impossible to duplicate the experience (due to ship size restrictions) we have booked a cruise on Oceania that starts in Papeete spends 10 days around the islands then cruises back to LA.

[PescadoAmarillo]

15 minutes ago, ldtr said:

We met you and your husband on an Excursion from the Pacific Princess in French Polynesia several years back (the cruise where you made the decision to change your plans and just stay on the Pacific).  Since Princess ship sizes makes it impossible to duplicate the experience (due to ship size restrictions) we have booked a cruise on Oceania that starts in Papeete spends 10 days around the islands then cruises back to LA.

I look at that cruise all the time, literally a couple of times each week. I’m just not feeling like spending that much to return to a place we’ve already been for months, at least not while the Arctic and Antarctic still wait. Hope it’s a great cruise!!

[Guest ldtr]

59 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I look at that cruise all the time, literally a couple of times each week. I’m just not feeling like spending that much to return to a place we’ve already been for months, at least not while the Arctic and Antarctic still wait. Hope it’s a great cruise!!

Are you looking at doing a landing in Antarctica or just a cruise by?

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

but haven’t yet found the perfect cruise with enough new ports to justify the expense. 

You mean there are actually new ports in existence you have not yet been too?!?  😉

 

[CeCe_]

19 hours ago, Thrak said:

This is the ship where Princess introduces a major "class system". No thanks.

 

Will my husband have a seat in a lifeboat?  🙂  If so, then we are good!