LIVE from Sun Princess Barcelona to Southampton September 14th-23rd

[dides]

Well the scaffolding has now moved back from the Sanctuary towards the middle of Park 19, leaving just the pylons in place

And we have a completed sign. Can hear a mix of Sanctuary music and some background thumping from the main Lido deck.

 

 

[rhobbkf]

2 hours ago, Esprit said:

So has anyone on board successfully deactivated the under sink light that comes on when motion is detected at night?

The bed side table lights are easy to stop, but I had no joy with the one in the bathroom (btw we  were in a deluxe balcony cabin).

Yes.  You have to line the tape up between the light switches so it completely covers the sensors. Once I did this, the under sink light no longer comes on.  At first I just taped over the top and it kept coming on.

[dides]

40 minutes ago, dides said:

Well the scaffolding has now moved back from the Sanctuary towards the middle of Park 19, leaving just the pylons in place

And we have a completed sign. Can hear a mix of Sanctuary music and some background thumping from the main Lido deck.

 

 

Well I spoke too soon. The sun came out around 1pm and so did the workmen and their grinder! 

[Esprit]

1 hour ago, rhobbkf said:

Yes.  You have to line the tape up between the light switches so it completely covers the sensors. Once I did this, the under sink light no longer comes on.  At first I just taped over the top and it kept coming on.

Thank you

So I just didn’t do a thorough job of taping the sensor 😩

[Pink-belle]

New addition to our stateroom today, we now have hooks 😀 behind the door. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

33 minutes ago, Pink-belle said:

New addition to our stateroom today, we now have hooks 😀 behind the door. 

Did you add them or did Princess? 🤣

[Wishing on a star]

I am SO sorry to hear about those who are affected by all of the demolition at Park 19!!!!

It sounds like they are trying to get ahead of this, so that it will not be as much of an issue when the New Sanctuary Club begins next month!   SUITE GUEST should really be due some compensation!

 

I see the comment where Deck 8 looks like 'Denny's'...

I do not think that is true at all.   

Yes, it does not have any real 'views'....  Which needs addressed with window treatments.

But, as far as I am seeing, it could be very very nice. 

Many of the photos and pics out there are taken with the bare tables, not set up, no tablecloths, etc.  Which, of course, does look like any other diner/restaurant.  But, one has to remember that.

The only thing that I really HATE are those hideous, atrocious, ugly, hanging light fixtures.

Anyone at Princess see this????      You need to change those!

[dog]

13 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

I am SO sorry to hear about those who are affected by all of the demolition at Park 19!!!!

It sounds like they are trying to get ahead of this, so that it will not be as much of an issue when the New Sanctuary Club begins next month!   SUITE GUEST should really be due some compensation!

 

I see the comment where Deck 8 looks like 'Denny's'...

I do not think that is true at all.   

Yes, it does not have any real 'views'....  Which needs addressed with window treatments.

But, as far as I am seeing, it could be very very nice. 

Many of the photos and pics out there are taken with the bare tables, not set up, no tablecloths, etc.  Which, of course, does look like any other diner/restaurant.  But, one has to remember that.

The only thing that I really HATE are those hideous, atrocious, ugly, hanging light fixtures.

Anyone at Princess see this????      You need to change those!

Sorry about the Denny’s comment!  It is an American Diner and the tables  etc look like that to me.

 I would hope there is some upgrading going in there shortly since the Signature/ Sanctuary Collection were promised a more upscale private dining area.

[SotonScotty]

I will post something positive regarding Sun Princess. On YouTube a couple show you 2 hidden areas of the ship passengers are allowed to go to. We found them both. The hidden stairs at the back look brand new and you can walk round the front of the ship. It's worth seeing if you can find the video 

[GonzoWCS]

Great information thanks for this!

 

Cheers

[h20skibum]

6 hours ago, Esprit said:

Thank you

So I just didn’t do a thorough job of taping the sensor 😩

Does the light come on at full intensity, or does it work more like a night light?   It looks like it is set to stay on for up to 10 minutes. It appears you can adjust the time it stays on.  

[crusdiva]

1 hour ago, SotonScotty said:

I will post something positive regarding Sun Princess. On YouTube a couple show you 2 hidden areas of the ship passengers are allowed to go to. We found them both. The hidden stairs at the back look brand new and you can walk round the front of the ship. It's worth seeing if you can find the video 

Yes. If you check the OPs signature you’ll see it is her video - Brits on a Ship

[Pink-belle]

6 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Did you add them or did Princess? 🤣

Thank fully Princess 🤣 apparently they should have been there all the time.

 

Our Laundry also made it back took from Sunday until this evening.  Captain circle event, 4500 onboard with 1100 elite! 

[commodoredave]

5 minutes ago, Pink-belle said:

Thank fully Princess 🤣 apparently they should have been there all the time.

 

Our Laundry also made it back took from Sunday until this evening.  Captain circle event, 4500 onboard with 1100 elite! 

Any idea how many will be on for the next cruise?

[dides]

Day 6 - At Sea

 

Patter:

 

 

 

 

 

We made it to the Signature Restaurant for the suite breakfast finally! We arrived at around 8:35am so had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast before it closes at 9;30.

Here is the menu:

 

 

 

We were offered a selection.of pastries and opted for some coffee and OJ. 

 

 

 

The pastries were excellent as usual - so much better than room service. The OJ was meh - not there freshly squeezed version we lived from the suite breakfasts in other ships.

 

I ordered some homemade muesli and we both went for the Full English. Chris asked and got some substitutions.

 

 

 

The muesli was tiny in comparison to the old Bircher option you have on other ships. Tasty but there were only a few spoonfuls.

 

The cooked breakfast was wonderful and we are determined to come back again! 

 

After breakfast we had to go show our passports to pass through UK immigration in the Princess Arena. A short line to wait but well organised.

 

We then stopped by Coffee Currents for a coffee/hot chocolate but didn't like the plastic tops they used on the portable cups - they had a weird chlorine smell. So we went up to deck 17 to go to Coffee and Cones instead.

 

While Chris grabbed a replacement of coffee, I ordered my first granita. I chose the blue raspberry flavour and it tasted like a slush puppy (I think you call them slushies in the US). I will try some of the other flavours on another day - they had 3 already made up.

 

 

 

Here are their various menus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris also spotted the board with the list of ship officers:

 

 

 

We stayed up on the Lido deck while they did a towel animal demo and played tracks  for the Poolside Music Trivia.

 

Here are some of the towel animals they made:

 

 

 

 

Next we went to the back of the ship and relaxed in the Sanctuary and Suite Lounge for a few hours. The Sanctuary was busy again and, while the Park 19 demolition had moved further midships there was still a noticeable noise from the grinding.

 

After an afternoon shower and nap we went to the Suite Lounge for pre-dinner drinks on the second formal night. There was another sabre champagne bottle top slicing but Chris tried to stick to Woodford Reserve most of the night and not mix his drinks. The bartender In the Lounge said Chris has his own bottle now! Oh dear.

 

We had a 6pm booking at Sabatini's and were seated quickly. Oh my that restaurant is so dark! A lot of us had to use the torches on our phones to read the menu!

Here it is:

 

 

 

 

 

We were served with some tasty nibbles, bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

 

 

 

 

Chris ordered the Arancini Balls the Lasagne, the Chicken Parmigiana and the Chocolate Hazelnut Tart

 

 

 

 

 

He thought everything was really goof but raved about that dessert.

 

I ordered the Burrata, the Lobster Tortellini, the Eggplant Parmigiana and the Ricotta Cheesecake. 

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed all my dishes except for the dessert which I found too bland. My biggest surprise though was the size of some of these dishes - the Lobster Tortellini was barely 4 mouthfuls. This menu is so different to the Sabatini's on other ships.

 

We spent the rest of the evening in Princess Live!. There was a music game show called Strike Out where each member of the audience had to raise either their left or right hand to guess the year a song came out. If you got it wrong you.were knocked out of that game.

 

 

I actually won the first round and was awarded a weird rubber medallion wrist band as a prize!

 

Next there was the Liars Club game show where you had to guess which of the 3 ACDs was giving the true meaning of an unusual word. This was good silly fun with a lot of laughs.

 

 

We ended the night with the One Hit Wonders music trivia - we came equal first with 38/40 and won some Princess notebooks!

 

 

 

To be continued..

 

 

Edited Thursday at 11:53 PM by dides

[MsSoCalCruiser]

7 hours ago, SotonScotty said:

I will post something positive regarding Sun Princess. On YouTube a couple show you 2 hidden areas of the ship passengers are allowed to go to. We found them both. The hidden stairs at the back look brand new and you can walk round the front of the ship. It's worth seeing if you can find the video 

What is the YouTubers name? Do you know how many videos are on YouTube of the Sun Princess? 🤣

[crusdiva]

6 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

What is the YouTubers name? Do you know how many videos are on YouTube of the Sun Princess? 🤣

The OP (dides) is the “YouTuber”, the link to her videos are in her signature.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

12 minutes ago, crusdiva said:

The OP (dides) is the “YouTuber”, the link to her videos are in her signature.

Thank you so much. How did I not notice the links? I’m watching now! 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

@dides, I have a reservation at The Butcher Block but after watching some reviews I think I want to cancel. Your photos from Sabatini‘s look really yummy and I think my travel friend would really enjoy that venue. I unfortunately have a rare severe dairy allergy. Do you think they would be able to work with my dietary restrictions at that restaurant? I would hate for my friend to miss out because of me. 

[SotonScotty]

3 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

What is the YouTubers name? Do you know how many videos are on YouTube of the Sun Princess? 🤣

BritsOnAShip

Descover the secret decks

Hope this helps

[MsSoCalCruiser]

9 minutes ago, SotonScotty said:

BritsOnAShip

Descover the secret decks

Hope this helps

Thank you! Their videos are really helpful. 

[2UKSotonCruises]

Very poor communication from the ships management about all the ongoing work on board. Ruined our customer experience every day with unwanted jack hammering, angle grinding and deck party one night boom boom boom in our room room room! I SUGGEST EVERYONE RAISES A COMPLAINT WHO HAS BEEN AFFECTED. I'll add all my youtube links shortly to our car crash/road digging experiences. Including The Dome yoga angle grinding class and adult area angle grinding being today's/latest shocking experience with no communication to passengers about any of this work.

Edited 17 hours ago by 2UKSotonCruises

[Esprit]

41 minutes ago, 2UKSotonCruises said:

Very poor communication from the ships management about all the ongoing work on board. Ruined our customer experience every day with unwanted jack hammering, angle grinding and deck party one night boom boom boom in our room room room! 

Curious to know why you selected your particular cabin.

When I planned our Sun Princess cruise I studied the deck plans and concluded deck 15 forward was a safe bet and positioned well for the Dome, Sea View terrace and Princess arena. Admittedly we did have noise from loud passengers in the Jacuzzi situated on deck 9 one day, but it would have been far worse for anyone in the deck 10 and 11 cabins.  

btw We really enjoyed our deck party night with a great view of Santorini all lit up as we sailed away.

[2UKSotonCruises]

9 minutes ago, Esprit said:

Curious to know why you selected your particular cabin.

When I planned our Sun Princess cruise I studied the deck plans and concluded deck 15 forward was a safe bet and positioned well for the Dome, Sea View terrace and Princess arena. Admittedly we did have noise from loud passengers in the Jacuzzi situated on deck 9 one day, but it would have been far worse for anyone in the deck 10 and 11 cabins.  

btw We really enjoyed our deck party night with a great view of Santorini all lit up as we sailed away.

We didn't, we chose the allow princess to select. Was that wrong? Does that mean they will put me in the worst reserve mini suite going? And I'll have to suffer boom boom boom in my room till gone midnight? 

[Esprit]

1 hour ago, 2UKSotonCruises said:

We didn't, we chose the allow princess to select. Was that wrong? Does that mean they will put me in the worst reserve mini suite going? And I'll have to suffer boom boom boom in my room till gone midnight? 

Oh!

I'm sorry to read your distress and hope there are some positives from your Sun Princess experience.