Park 19 on the Sun Princess

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

2 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Mind sharing any you've seen do that? 

 

I haven't seen any. 

The post right after yours. 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

1 minute ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

The post right after yours. 

Yes, we've established that.

[peder]

8 minutes ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

They are not going to announce something for that space. They have cancelled Park 19. I suggest you find another cruise. 

 

Nonsense, they'll absolutely announce something, especially for the Star Princess, which still has lead time to make changes. Sun Princess will be harder because they'll presumably be unable to replace / remove Park 19 while the ship is sailing, but I fully expect the Star to have a comparable feature.

[vjmatty]

3 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

The fact that people based their enjoyment of their ENTIRE cruise on this one thing baffles me. 

As is the fact that you’d have based your loss of pride with Princess for having what would have amounted to a glorified sports deck.  The overreaction to Park 19 in both directions was particularly baffling, including people calling it an “amusement park” and comparing it to Royal Caribbean.  

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

Just now, vjmatty said:

As is the fact that you’d have based your loss of pride with Princess for having what would have amounted to a glorified sports deck.  The overreaction to Park 19 in both directions was particularly baffling, including people calling it an “amusement park” and comparing it to Royal Caribbean.  

Valid.  🙂

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

12 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Yes, we've established that.

yes, I responded before reading the post in between.  Apologies

[peder]

15 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

 

If the kids clubs + pools, shows, trivia, and anything else you bring with you (i.e. board games) aren't enough to keep them happy, I doubt Park 19 would have made a significant difference as it's not something that would have occupied them for more than a few hours over the course of the week. 

 

This will be our first sailing on Princess, but my kids had a great time on Celebrity which also didn't have any slides or similar activities, but you know your kids best as to what will make them happy. 

 

Princess probably wasn't a great selection irrespective of Park 19 if you think they'll be bored.

 

We've sailed on MSC and Disney, and MSC is very laid back and doesn't have a ton of onboard activities, and still our kids have had a great time. They just like to use the slides and water park once or twice a trip. That's why I've said they just need something, anything to scratch that adventure itch.

[chamima]

5 hours ago, chamima said:

We also booked because we thought it might be a cute thing for our grandchildren to experience.

I just hope that the kid's clubs, which they've LOVED on other Princess ships have improved since the dismal reports I read about earlier.

If those aren't fun that really would impact the cruise!

 

1 hour ago, LittleTinker said:

Non of the good bits are open.

There's some hammocks....and a netted area with some toys.

 

But it's so windy up there it's not that great to be honest.

 

My 3 didn't enjoy the kids club in here but have loved it on other Princess cruises 

 

 

 

Posts like @LittleTinker above have me a lot more worried than the closing of Park 19.

We're sailing on the New Year's cruise so if they don't step up the kid's clubs for that week (and the week before) then there's a big problem.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

6 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

As is the fact that you’d have based your loss of pride with Princess for having what would have amounted to a glorified sports deck.  The overreaction to Park 19 in both directions was particularly baffling, including people calling it an “amusement park” and comparing it to Royal Caribbean.  

I agree with this - the extremes on both sides definitely seem to be an overreaction.

 

I wonder if Princess is allowing people with non-refundable deposits to get their money been if this is truly a dealbreaker for them...I feel like that would be the right thing to do.

Edited August 4 by FamilyAtSea.travel

[vjmatty]

2 minutes ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

Valid.  🙂

I should clarify that I do hope something is done with it but I can’t fathom what given all the wind reported up there.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

10 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

I should clarify that I do hope something is done with it but I can’t fathom what given all the wind reported up there.

It will have to be something of relative significance to make up for what they're losing with Park 19.

 

I think the big question is - do we see them implement something else that is family-friendly or do they back off this strategy entirely and add something for adults?

 

---

 

They originally announced Park19 in June 2023 with its maiden voyage in February 2024 (8 months prior). 

Based on that - with a maiden voyage of September 2025 for the Star Princess, we should hopefully hear more about what they're going to do with that space on the Star around January 2025 (though hopefully we hear something sooner about plans for the Sun).

[peder]

And also seems likely that the Sun and Star will have different features in that space. For the Sun, I expect them to salvage whatever they can, but with Star, they'll have a bit more leeway to come up with a better overall use of the space.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Cruise Mummy (on YouTube) is sailing this week on the Sun Princess with her kid... Will be curious to see what she thinks.

[vjmatty]

1 hour ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

It will have to be something of relative significance to make up for what they're losing with Park 19.

 

I think the big question is - do we see them implement something else that is family-friendly or do they back off this strategy entirely and add something for adults?

 

---

 

They originally announced Park19 in June 2023 with its maiden voyage in February 2024 (8 months prior). 

Based on that - with a maiden voyage of September 2025 for the Star Princess, we should hopefully hear more about what they're going to do with that space on the Star around January 2025 (though hopefully we hear something sooner about plans for the Sun).

I do recall older ships like Emerald having basketball courts, mini golf and batting cages. Also they could add oldies like shuffleboard and modern tends such as pickleball.  Again these would depend on wind. 

[voljeep]

19 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

I do recall older ships like Emerald having basketball courts, mini golf and batting cages. Also they could add oldies like shuffleboard and modern tends such as pickleball.  Again these would depend on wind. 

skeet shooting, and hitting golf balls into the ocean - Glory days of cruising!

 

and smoking on the plane on the way to the cruise, and on your balcony

 

pickleball?

[Retired-N-Happy]

7 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

The fact that people based their enjoyment of their ENTIRE cruise on this one thing baffles me. 

It can be difficult at times to look at things from the perspective of another cruiser.  The Park 19 set up could have been one of the main reasons why a multigenerational family decided to choose the Sun instead of a more family oriented ship from Royal, Carnival or NCL.  Obviously  Park 19 would have been the impetus for the kids to enjoy themselves to a degree.  Just like the sanctuary was one of the reasons you booked the cabin you wanted,  Park 19 could have been the impetus for a multigenerational family to choose the Sun.

[peder]

And when there are so many options in the cruise industry based on itinerary, ship size, amenities, service, age, etc. if you don't like something about it, why spend your money and vacation time on the ship?

 

It's not a big deal. Only brand zealots are offended.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

3 hours ago, peder said:

And when there are so many options in the cruise industry based on itinerary, ship size, amenities, service, age, etc. if you don't like something about it, why spend your money and vacation time on the ship?

 

It's not a big deal. Only brand zealots are offended.

If you guys do decide to cancel - let us know if they give you your deposit back...they should based on what was essentially false advertising, but that doesn't mean they will.

[peder]

25 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

If you guys do decide to cancel - let us know if they give you your deposit back...they should based on what was essentially false advertising, but that doesn't mean they will.

 

We were booked on the Sun's North America inaugural, but I decided I liked the price and timing of the Star's North America inaugural more, so I'm going to wait and see what is announced for the area on the Star.

 

I'm still optimistic. The Sphere ships look incredible, thermal spa looks fairly solid, and coming from the MSC Yacht Club I'm excited to try the Sanctuary Collection on Princess. I liked the MSC Seashore and Seascape, which are both Fincantieri ships with a similar overall design and size as the Sphere-class ships, so I think I already can anticipate that I'd feel right at home on the Sun/Star Princess. With the current exception of the kids activities, it seems like a really great option for us.

 

And literally not a single other Princess ship in the fleet is appealing to us lol. So it really says a lot about the direction Princess is going IMO.

[TRLD]

41 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

If you guys do decide to cancel - let us know if they give you your deposit back...they should based on what was essentially false advertising, but that doesn't mean they will.

As with all of the other lines the cruise contract allows the cruise line to make changes, have venues change or be closed during your cruise without compensation.

 

As far as false advertising. It is only false advertising if they knew that it would not be available at the time they advertised it. They dropped references just before they announced that it would not open.

Basically there must be an intent to defraud.

 

From the publicly available information, they "could not accept" it. That pretty much always means that the vender could not get it to work as specified in the contract. From the timing it appears that they had problems during initial testing. The timeframe is what one would expect for time given for the vendor to resolve the issue and meet operational requirements. As far as I  an tell the vendor has several land based installtions, but that this was the first cruise ship based. Considerably different forces on a moving ship.

Edited August 5 by TRLD

[TRLD]

7 minutes ago, peder said:

 

We were booked on the Sun's North America inaugural, but I decided I liked the price and timing of the Star's North America inaugural more, so I'm going to wait and see what is announced for the area on the Star.

 

I'm still optimistic. The Sphere ships look incredible, thermal spa looks fairly solid, and coming from the MSC Yacht Club I'm excited to try the Sanctuary Collection on Princess. I liked the MSC Seashore and Seascape, which are both Fincantieri ships with a similar overall design and size as the Sphere-class ships, so I think I already can anticipate that I'd feel right at home on the Sun/Star Princess. With the current exception of the kids activities, it seems like a really great option for us.

 

And literally not a single other Princess ship in the fleet is appealing to us lol. So it really says a lot about the direction Princess is going IMO.

I suspect that Princess is going about as far as P&O has gone with the similarly sized Iona and her sister ship. Still primarily adult focused with a few more, not many, for kids.  

 

The biggest difference with The Sun and star is not the additional 100 Sq feet or so allocated to family/children space (not any major change), but more in it's move to a class system. More things reserved for particular class cabins (kind of like the initial change Celebrity did when it put it toe in the water of the class system. Certainly not the the ship within a ship of MSC Yacht Club, or the Haven on NCL.

[peder]

56 minutes ago, TRLD said:

I suspect that Princess is going about as far as P&O has gone with the similarly sized Iona and her sister ship. Still primarily adult focused with a few more, not many, for kids.  

 

The biggest difference with The Sun and star is not the additional 100 Sq feet or so allocated to family/children space (not any major change), but more in it's move to a class system. More things reserved for particular class cabins (kind of like the initial change Celebrity did when it put it toe in the water of the class system. Certainly not the the ship within a ship of MSC Yacht Club, or the Haven on NCL.

Yep, the move to the ship-within-a-ship thing is a big draw for us. Brand new ship with a system that we're already familiar with from MSC and DCL.

 

I thought Park 19 was going to be a quick diversion for the kids, not somewhere they'd spend hours. But I watched a walk thru of the Sun Princess with my oldest and he said the ship is "buns" and I'm worried that without at least something akin to Park 19 I'll have a mini mutiny on my hands.

[TRLD]

30 minutes ago, peder said:

Yep, the move to the ship-within-a-ship thing is a big draw for us. Brand new ship with a system that we're already familiar with from MSC and DCL.

 

I thought Park 19 was going to be a quick diversion for the kids, not somewhere they'd spend hours. But I watched a walk thru of the Sun Princess with my oldest and he said the ship is "buns" and I'm worried that without at least something akin to Park 19 I'll have a mini mutiny on my hands.

Except what Princess is doing is not really ship within a ship like NCL Haven or MSC Yacht Club.

 

It is more like a slimmed down version of Celebrity's class system with very limited features. Especially they are still.working through exactly what those features are and exactly how they will be implemented. Started out with 2  additional classes, now down to 1.

Edited August 5 by TRLD

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

2 hours ago, peder said:

 

We were booked on the Sun's North America inaugural, but I decided I liked the price and timing of the Star's North America inaugural more, so I'm going to wait and see what is announced for the area on the Star.

 

I'm still optimistic. The Sphere ships look incredible, thermal spa looks fairly solid, and coming from the MSC Yacht Club I'm excited to try the Sanctuary Collection on Princess. I liked the MSC Seashore and Seascape, which are both Fincantieri ships with a similar overall design and size as the Sphere-class ships, so I think I already can anticipate that I'd feel right at home on the Sun/Star Princess. With the current exception of the kids activities, it seems like a really great option for us.

 

And literally not a single other Princess ship in the fleet is appealing to us lol. So it really says a lot about the direction Princess is going IMO.

We love the Yacht Club and are sailing in the Sanctuary as well.

 

I'm guessing it won't be as good as the YC (what is?) but going into it with an open mind and hopeful I'll be wrong.

 

We've never been on a bad cruise but some are definitely better than others!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

2 hours ago, TRLD said:

As with all of the other lines the cruise contract allows the cruise line to make changes, have venues change or be closed during your cruise without compensation.

 

As far as false advertising. It is only false advertising if they knew that it would not be available at the time they advertised it. They dropped references just before they announced that it would not open.

Basically there must be an intent to defraud.

 

From the publicly available information, they "could not accept" it. That pretty much always means that the vender could not get it to work as specified in the contract. From the timing it appears that they had problems during initial testing. The timeframe is what one would expect for time given for the vendor to resolve the issue and meet operational requirements. As far as I  an tell the vendor has several land based installtions, but that this was the first cruise ship based. Considerably different forces on a moving ship.

I agree with what you're saying and that's why I said it's unlikely they'd provide a refund. 

 

However, there's a difference between what they're legally obligated to do vs what's the right thing to do. 

 

If somebody is sailing with kids and is upset enough to cancel their cruise because Park 19 was a failure, I think the right thing to do would be to give them their money back (whether it's legally required or not).

 

With that said - nothing I've seen from Princess indicates they're the type who cares about their customers (beyond their wallets) so I highly doubt they'll do that without a fight.