Christmas on the Sun Princess Review

[geoherb]

I just submitted my review of our Sun Princess holiday cruise but realize it may take a few weeks for it to appear. When I looked at my individual ratings for items, I noticed that the number of things rating 3 or below was high--but in the end we still had a wonderful cruise and I gave the overall cruise a 4. Here's the review:

 

We had a wonderful Christmas cruise on the Sun Princess. This was our fifth cruise on Princess, having sailed previously on the Grand, Golden (twice), and Star Princess. One nice thing about the Sun is that it's a smaller ship than the Grand-class ships. We like this size ship more, even though it does lack some of the amenities of the larger ships, such as the specialty restaurants--Sabatini's Italian and a separate Sterling Steakhouse. On the Sun Princess, there is a Sterling Steakhouse, but it is only half the Horizon Court buffet area changed over at night and not a separate venue.

 

Embarkation at Fort Lauderdale was slow due to the ship being cleaned more thoroughly because of an outbreak of norovirus two cruises before ours. We had to wait around 90 minutes. There was a man handing out numbered cards as you entered. Somehow he missed us. When I found out they were required and explained how we had been there half an hour already, he gave us cards for the first group of passengers. Check in was quick for us once passengers were allowed to start. We were on the ship within 10 minutes.

 

Our cabin was a category I inside cabin at the bow of the ship on the Aloha Deck. It was smaller than the category I cabin we had on our second Golden Princess cruise, and the layout of the cabin was more square. It had less closet space, but we managed. Each cabin has a small television, a room safe that you can program a code for, and a small refrigerator. We had room for a six-pack of drinks in the refrigerator plus a couple of small bottles. Our cabin steward kept the ice bucket well stocked. It's also kept in the refrigerator, which helps keep the ice better.

 

Although we had requested the beds made as one, they were made up as twin beds when we arrived. Somehow Princess never gets our request right. Our cabin steward, Dexter, managed to put them together while we were at dinner. He was a great cabin steward all cruise long. Our room was always tidied and cleaned.

 

We had second seating traditional dining in the Regency dining room. I would prefer not to have "Personal Choice" dining again after trying it once on the Golden Princess. When we booked this cruise after the final payment date, there was a short waitlist for second seating. I took a chance that we would make it, and a few weeks after booking, we had second seating confirmed on our Cruise Personalizer on the Princess website.

 

Our primary destination is the ship. The ports are secondary to us after having been on several Caribbean cruises. We were not disappointed, but several passengers on our ship complained about our being late to St. Thomas due to an engine problem and rescue call from the U.S. Coast Guard. They also complained that very few shops were open in Martinique on Christmas Eve, Grenada on Christmas Day, and St. Lucia on Boxing Day. We stayed on the ship through lunchtime when it was in port. We like it when it's less crowded. We did walk around each port a little bit. Due to our late arrival in St. Thomas, we did not make it past the marina at Crown Bay, where our ship docked. There is a little grocery store there where we picked up a 12-pack of Diet Coke. I had planned for us to take a water taxi to Water Island if we had been on time. As a goodwill gesture, the captain gave all passengers a $100 shipboard credit. That was great for us, since it covered all our onboard tip charges.

 

Food in the dining room was usually very good. Our waiters were Marcelo from the Philippines and his assistant Hristian from Macedonia. Marcelo was usually efficient, but I could tell he was getting tired of being on the ship. He gets his break after two more cruises. Hristian was on his first contract with Princess and still learning. He has a way to go. We also ate breakfast and lunch in the Regency dining room almost every day. Our only occasions not doing so were the first day when it was not an option and when we tried out the pizza at Verdi's, which is the pizza place in the atrium of the ship. The pizza was good, although only thin crust is offered. I did not like the Horizon Court buffet area. The norovirus outbreak had the ship in a heightened sanitation mode, with staff members serving passengers each item instead of having it a self-serve buffet. The monotony showed on several of their faces.

 

I was pleased with the way the ship handled the norovirus outbreak. Each family received a notice before boarding that emphasized washing hands and using the hand sanitizer before eating. And staff members were at the entrances to all the dining facilities to make sure passengers used the hand sanitizer. Fortunately, we did not become ill. One of our tablemates at dinner did. She was quarantined in her cabin for five days.

 

Entertainment on the ship was varied--both in content and ability. I enjoyed the cruise director and his staff. They were high-energy, enthusiastic people. The night-time piano player/singer (Eric Stone) did an outstanding job. Unfortunately, he was placed in the atrium and had people passing through all the time. He did perform once in the Vista Lounge. I would have liked having a smaller intimate venue for him. The two guys who played the other atrium piano were lousy. One used a back-up tape and played schmaltzy music. The other was just not that good of a pianist. I noticed lots of mistakes in a couple of pieces he played by Chopin and Debussy.

 

The featured entertainers included Tony Cherry (a lounge singer who talks like Jerry Lewis but sings a little better), Carl Strong (a very funny comedian), a magician, and a violinist. The production shows were pretty good, but nevertheless not that exciting since we had seen a couple of them on other Princess cruises. I enjoyed the male singer, Ralph Daniel, but did not like the female in a lot of numbers. She finally pulled off a good performance in the last production show when she sang a few songs from Cabaret.

 

The pool areas were nice, although many passengers can't read. There was one pool designated as "adults only" that always was full of children. There are also huge signs saying "No Jumping or Diving" that were frequently ignored. We turned away a couple of small boys when they tried to get in our hot tub and pointed out to them that they were supposed to have an adult supervising them. I don't understand how parents can let their children run around unsupervised.

 

But I guess it's not like the parents were paying any attention to the rules either. One afternoon on a sea day we were looking for a couple of chairs side by side on the Promenade Deck. I found one by itself. The couple next to me left a few minutes later, leaving a book and a towel in each chair. I called my partner over to use them, thinking we would leave when they came back in a few minutes. Ninety minutes later they still had not come back. I heard other complaints about chair hogs around the pool area, but we did not go there until late afternoon. I also got upset at smokers who ignored the no-smoking signs in certain areas and the staff members who let them.

 

Overall, though, we did not let any of the problems spoil our cruise. Being away for Christmas is our ideal way to celebrate the holiday.

[Jacqueline]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. It does seem that the noro precautions take its toll in terms of the Horizon court. I am a browser myself..

It always amazes me that people do not anticipate that shops will be closed during the holiday season !

Like yourself, we cruise more for the ships than for the ports when it comes to the Caribbean.

Hope you are well rested for the new year.

[islandersx4]

I was also on the Sun for the Christmas cruise and think that GeoHerb is quite accurate in his review.

The crew did seem tired and bored. Not much sparkle. I understand that they are working a lot harder since the threat of the noro virus. We did end up with an exceptional waiter in the Marquis dining room, Rui and his assistant Bibi. Our table was number 63.

I felt that Tony Cherry had a great voice although his selections were geared to an older crowd. He is quite personable and his speaking voice does sound like Jerry Lewis.

I agree that children left unsupervised is a problem.

We had a cigarette butt land on our balcony, right on the railing. After closer inspection I found another on the floor. I am just amazed that some smokers don't think a thing about disposing of their butts this way. The casino, the few times I was in there was especially bad with all the smoke.

[loge23]

Nice review, Geo! I mostly agree with your assessments - particularly about the Horizon Court, which was pretty much ignored by us after a couple of early visits.

The unsupervised children is a chronic complaint for me. I just don't understand why Princess cannot post a deck steward at the pools. In an earlier post at sea, I told the gruesome but actual tale of a woman changing her baby's diaper on the teak barrier poolside. This during a full health alert! The diaper was left on the barrier until they decided to go off and foul another area. We reported that one to the Purser's Desk to literally no reaction at all.

Speaking of staff, did anyone else notice the lack thereof? It seems the staff has been somewhat thinned out. This isn't necessarily a bad thing since virtually no one bothered us for drinks on the deck this year! The one time I actually did want one, I had to flag a waiter down!

We enjoyed a very nice day onboard during the Princess Cay stop - plenty of chairs and no children in the pool!

About the pools: Why so cold? Surely they have pool heaters - were they not working?

The pizza wasn't bad but I much prefer the "by-the slice" operations found on other Princess ships.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Thanks for the review, our next cruise will be on the SUN and we are looking forward to it, I hope they have some new production shows by then but if they don't my kids haven't seen them:D :D

[DougH]

Glad you had a good cruise, the Sun class of ships is my favorite. I've sailed with Eric Stone a couple of times and love his shows, not usually a big fan of the lounge singers but he is one of just a couple favorites.

[Coral]

I sailed on the Sun Princess probably 4 years ago for Christmas. For some reason, that still ranks as one of my favorite cruises. Glad you enjoyed it!

[chasetf]

Thanks for the review... Glad you had a good time all things considered. Funny how folks expected ports to be in full swing on holidays. I would have been surprised if anything was open.

 

We were in Puerto Vallarta on New Years Day. We went up to visit the local church and forgot New Years is a holy day. So we got to see some of the mass in spanish.

[geoherb]

I thought the water in the pools was a little bit cool, but not too cold to swim. The water in the hot tubs was just lukewarm, and the jets did not work very well. I wondered if they were set like that to avoid aerosolization of germs.

 

The funny thing to me was that the churches in Martinique closed at noon on Sunday. They had services in the morning. I haven't been to a Spanish Mass since 1984--and that was in the Bronx.

 

The Sun class is definitely the right size ship for us. I'll consider another Grand class cruise if the itinerary fits our schedule and budget, but I'd choose the Sun or the Sea if it came down to a choice between similar itineraries.