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

[Wishing on a star]

That is sad to hear the 'uncharge' tea did not have better cakes and snacks!

I always wanted to do that when they offered it in the raised round area off the Piazza, and bright in the tablecloths, tea service, and bright red roses on the tables.

Wow,  a crane for Park 19,  and some new chairs for the Sanctuary.

Wonder if you will see any signs of any covers/tarps shade being brought in.

I love all of your real-time updates!  And, hope to hear the latest until you finish your cruise.

[dides]

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

Most likely to take down, and offload the pylons while they are in port.

Yep one pylon has been taken down already so hopefully they will push through while they have it in Mayflower Dock until tomorrow night - and they are turning the ship around tonight

[dides]

1 hour ago, Geoffa30 said:

Thanks for all the updates Dides.ope you enjoy your weekend in Southampton whatever your plans are. I understand a lot of the vloggers types will be visiting at some point.

Would you believe I am doing our laundry? I know we could send this off to be done but I am not getting my unmentionables done that way. Can't believe the one on our deck only has 1 washer and 1 dryer but at least it's free.

 

There will be over 300 TAs and vloggers onboard tomorrow. We will have a foot in both camps  - will hope to invite the ones we know well to have a peek at our suite!

 

 

Edited Saturday at 04:15 PM by dides

[dides]

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

 

I love all of your real-time updates!  And, hope to hear the latest until you finish your cruise.

The 'ring for champagne' bell was being installed just before the Sanctuary closed just now - hope to get some pics tomorrow.

 

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

Wow. What a nightmare.

 

This explains why the Sun Princess is staying in Southampton a few nights then. Getting off all the scrap metal, and possibly, seeing as they have already started getting ready to move restaurants around, offload any carpets, furniture etc that they are doing away with.

 

To all those affected by the work, I hope you can get adequate compensation! And for all of you on the TA I hope your cruise isn’t impacted by similar noise and drama.

 

They really should have either cancelled the cruise, or notified people of the work pre cruise and give people the option to continue or not.

 

[commodoredave]

44 minutes ago, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

Wow. What a nightmare.

 

This explains why the Sun Princess is staying in Southampton a few nights then. Getting off all the scrap metal, and possibly, seeing as they have already started getting ready to move restaurants around, offload any carpets, furniture etc that they are doing away with.

 

To all those affected by the work, I hope you can get adequate compensation! And for all of you on the TA I hope your cruise isn’t impacted by similar noise and drama.

 

They really should have either cancelled the cruise, or notified people of the work pre cruise and give people the option to continue or not.

 

May I ask if anyone on the current Barcelona to Soton cruise were informed in advance of the construction noise that would take place on your cruise? I ask because Princess told my TA that they have not been informed of any plans for construction on the next leg. However, this could just be their way of hedging their bets.

[LWhit]

No, absolutely nothing and it is very annoying.  

 

This should have been a 7nt trip with the additional 2nts in Southampton left empty for the work to be done and allow the bloggers on board.  

 

Really disappointed.

 

 

Edited Saturday at 05:15 PM by LWhit

[h20skibum]

Is there already a sports court in the area of Park 19?  If not, it would be a very good bet that they will be working on it on the TA

 

From the Princess website. 

 

This is what the deck plan shows for after October 14

 

 

 

 

[beg3yrs]

40 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Is there already a sports court in the area of Park 19?  If not, it would be a very good bet that they will be working on it on the TA

 

From the Princess website. 

 

This is what the deck plan shows for after October 14

 

 

 

 

No, there is not currently a sports court. The area was a bunch of bean bag toss games and tricycles enclosed in a net. Around that are (were) a bunch of hammocks and comfy couches and chairs. And of course the ropes course and the roller glider.

[LWhit]

Deck 19 has been closed from when we got on board on 14 Sept.   We did see if we could go for a look but the stairs are always roped off.

[CalTexCruiser]

On 9/20/2024 at 2:07 AM, 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! 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.

 

Where was the deck party held--I assume pool deck?

[arizonaperson]

Kick off sail away with DJ was listed in Patter at  Lido pool deck 17.

Edited Saturday at 07:08 PM by arizonaperson

[qoap24]

On 9/17/2024 at 5:31 AM, SotonScotty said:

 One pointless thing is 2 65 inch televisions 5 feet apart. 

We just got of Enchanted and we also had a mini suite. When  you turned on one of the TVs, did the other turn on as well? We would change the channel and then the other TV would change or turn on as well. 

[Sudoku]

dides,

Vinnie and Tena here. We missed you for Love Songs trivia last night. We loved meeting you and playing a few games with you.  I have also enjoyed your thorough review of the Sun Princess. Enjoy your get togethers tomorrow.  I look forward to reading your final thoughts.

 

Safe travels, continue cruising, and I’m sure we shall meet again!

 

 

[Pink-belle]

7 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

May I ask what you talked about with JP? 

In a nutshell, I said, I appreciated that ongoing work and maintenance on a ship was essential.  However, whilst I had reached a resolution I was happy with, the ships stance on choosing not to communicate the works required to paying guests. First claiming to not be aware of the schedule, then back tracking on that and saying each guest was going to be dealt with on a one to one basis, came across as poor planning and management to me.

 

The day our cabin was completely unusable could have been dealt with easily with communication.  Advising us of the work, and perhaps offering a reduced cost full day excursion would have saved a lot of upset. 
 

We had other issues for the first 5 days, but I didn’t bother him with any of that, as as I said eventually somebody took responsibility for the issues, things were fixed and we received adaquate compensation. 

[Pink-belle]

We ate at Love by Britto tonight, we thought it was excellent, absolutely “loved” it.  Would have booked again for tomorrow, if it wasn’t closed for a private event! 

[dides]

1 hour ago, Sudoku said:

dides,

Vinnie and Tena here. We missed you for Love Songs trivia last night. We loved meeting you and playing a few games with you.  I have also enjoyed your thorough review of the Sun Princess. Enjoy your get togethers tomorrow.  I look forward to reading your final thoughts.

 

Safe travels, continue cruising, and I’m sure we shall meet again!

 

 

Hey both, aww likewise, meeting folks like yourselves really makes a cruise memorable. Hope you enjoy your trips out and that you get to tick off everything in London you wanted to do.  We must do this again! 🙃

[dides]

Day 8 - Southampton

 

Patter:

 

 

 

 

Well the day started off weird. I woke up at 6;50am. There was no air conditioning noise and no port sounds even though I knew wew were in Southampton.. And for the first time ever we didn't need to race to get off the ship!

We went to the Signature Restaurant for breakfast - we were both pretty hungry so ordered a couple of dishes this time.

 

Chris chose the Texas Toast French Toast and the Full English (no mushrooms or eggs plus 2 hash browns) I went for the Belgian Waffles and Eggs Benedict. The dishes all turned up together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris loved his dishes. My waffles were dreamy but I found my benny eggs too runny. I had a lake of yolk left on my plate.

 

Chris overheard someone at the front desk telling a colleague over the phone that one set of suite guests didn't know that the Sanctuary was a perk on Sun Princess until the end of their cruise! I looked back at our welcome letter and it just mentions Signature Sun Deck so I think Princess need to work on the Comms a bit.

 

After breakfast,we lurked around Coffee Currents and then the Piazza so we could grab a good spot for the Plaque and Key Exchange with the great and the good. The  production singers and dancers were in rehearsal for something so we got to watch that over and over. 

 

We chatted to some Princess Comms and PR folks that had come onboard and Chris spotted John Padgett at one point.

 

Then Corinne the CD came on and did the intros for the Plaque exchange ceremony participants,  everyone did a little speech themselves, out came the plaques, they were exchanged and then there were photo opportunities.

 

 

 

 

Chris went over and got photos with JP and then the Captain - both remembered him from previous PR/bridge visit encounters which left him pretty chuffed.

 

We then went back to our stateroom - I collected our laundry together and spent the next 3-4 hours playing tag with other passengers for use of the washer and dryer in the launderette on deck 17. Everything is still complimentary:

 

 

 

Chris went up to the Sanctuary to find out the latest goings on up there. After messaging me to find out how to get to the main entrance as the scenic elevators were closed off for deck 18. He thinks that was for the loading of new furniture.

 

 

He also watched as a crane hoisted off one of the Park 19 pylons:

 

 

They were also installing.the new 'ring for Champagne' bell. He mumbled about something coming out from behind a curtain. - I can't wait to fathom that out tomorrow! 

 

We rushed down to the Crown Grill for our 6:30pm booking. It was a pretty busy night there as usual. Here is the menu:

 

 

 

We had the cheesy garlic bread and a bread basket delivered in the first 5 minutes:

 

 

 

Chris selected the Black and Blue Onion Soup. (Substitute Blue cheese with Mozzarella) and I chose the Scallops.

 

 

 

Both really nice although mine was a tiny dish in comparison

 

Then we both chose our usual Filet Mignon steaks (butterflied). Chris with Peppercorn sauce, mashed potato and fries. Mine with Bearnaise, applewood salt, mushrooms and loaded baked potato.

 

 

 

 

Our steaks were good but the sauces were below par and let the meal down. A real shame 

 

For dessert, Chris ordered the Chocolate Cake and I chose the Key Lime Pie.

 

 

 

Despite the vile green colour my Key Lime pie was refreshing and the biscuit crumb to die for. Chris really enjoyed his dessert too.

 

We rushed out and over to Princess Live! but missed the start of the UK Bands Trivia. So we had to sit through it and mentally mark ourselves. We struggled on identifying one song by the band I really dislike - the Artic Monkeys. The winners got 38/40 and we would have won with 39! Ah well.

 

We sat through another game show and escaped back to our room before karaoke started.

 

To be continued..

 

 

 

 

 

[lennythenose]

2 hours ago, dides said:

Chris selected the Black and Blue Onion Soup. (Substitute Blue cheese with Mozzarella)

 

I was so excited to read this!  We will be going to Crown Grill for the first time next year and I was disappointed when I saw the blue cheese on the menu. We both love onion soup but not blue cheese. It never occurred to me I could request a change🤦‍♀️. 

[commodoredave]

14 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Is there already a sports court in the area of Park 19?  If not, it would be a very good bet that they will be working on it on the TA

 

From the Princess website. 

 

This is what the deck plan shows for after October 14

 

 

 

 

If the work cannot be done by crew, there may be an issue with bringing outside workers on to the ship that will be disembarking in the US. I guess we will know soon.

[dides]

Day 9 - Southampton

 

Patter:

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the list of activities is much reduced on this final day of our cruise.

 

Chris popped up to the Sanctuary this morning just after 8sm and was told it was closed to passengers all day for an event.

The new 'ring for champagne,' area was all blocked off and covered in plastic - either because of the yucky rain this morning or more likely ahead of a big reveal later today 

 

We then went to the Signature Restaurant for breakfast. A Full English and Buttermilk Pancakes later we sat out near Bellinis for a while. All the sofas and chairs around the Piazza had been moved out to the outside edges and there was a constant influx of visitors touring the ship. They also set up a temporary Sun Princess backdrop for photo opportunities 

 

 

At one point there was a momentary power loss as they tested the onshore power take-on.

 

Back at our stateroom we found an invitation to a special event in the Arena:

 

 

Sebastian the Suite Manager later confirmed this had been extended to Suite guests 

 

We were already planning to attend as part of the Princess PR invite we had received and we had heard that Sam Ryder was the artist (the UK's previous Eurovision entrant who came 2nd).

 

We are now sitting in the Suite Lounge - will post again later 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 18 hours ago by dides

[dides]

We had been sat in the middle of the Suite Lounge for almost an hour before we noticed the furniture in the corner had been moved to make way for a ...

 

 

 

 

....Piano! 

 

Yes, this was something else new installed yesterday and played to guests last night!

 

 

[dides]

Here is the new 'Ring for Champagne' Bell

 

 

A gloved hand will hand you the glass of champagne though the foliage. 

 

[PacnGoNow]

25 minutes ago, dides said:

Here is the new 'Ring for Champagne' Bell

 

 

A gloved hand will hand you the glass of champagne though the foliage. 

 

So funny!  Reminds me of the wine windows in Florence, IT.

 

Can anyone go there and ring?  Was it the cheap champagne?  🍾 

[dides]

15 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

So funny!  Reminds me of the wine windows in Florence, IT.

 

Can anyone go there and ring?  Was it the cheap champagne?  🍾 

There is a PR reception going on now so if course it was 'ship champagne'! Only those who get access to the Sanctuary will be able to ring it