So sad - Our Sun cruise from Sydney to SFO has been cancelled..

[arxcards]

You know your comments are really very interesting - I have asked a few people a few times what is happening at the end of our cruise - given The Sun Princess is going into drydock for 14 days when we arrive in Sydney - the penny has dropped and all jokes aside I'll bet it is to put more bunks in!!!!!!!!!!! I wonder even more now how long this has been planned:mad:

 

C'mon, seriously - That isn't funny!! :confused:

 

I would dread the thought of that happening. I booked a Sun Princess cruise based on the info in the brochure. The Regal Princess refit for extra capacity was the main reason we chose SP over Pacific Dawn.

 

Do you know if it was always planned for drydock, even months ago before the cruise was cancelled? The 14 day break between that cruise & 7th Nov around Australia was always there, even when the SP was going to take all you fine people back to San Francisco.

 

They have been selling cabins to match the current cabin plans, where Pacific Dawn is being sold based on the new cabin layouts.

 

I hope the drydock is just for some running repairs and a freshen up. I mean I really, really, really hope that your thoughts don't pan out to be true! :eek:

[brucedodge]

Hi Sandra and Dave and all our other DUSTer friends,

 

Alan and Glynnis (non-Duster Sydney friends) just emailed us about this cancellation (heard it on talk back radio).

 

What a travesty, with all the planning that goes into a major cruise -- so we'd like to add our sympathy. Gail and I were also part of the cancelled Pacific Princess fiasco from FLL to South Africa and beyond.

 

Since our wonderful Diamond crossing, we've only been on Celebrity, but will be on Princess again in the future -- unless we can't take a chance on what they'll do.

 

Bruce and Gail

[easykruz]

I was sorry to hear that Princess cancelled this cruise. We were on the DUSTS cruise last year we met many nice people and thoroughly enjoyed the cruise. I cannot imagine what it would feel like if Princess would have cancelled our DUSTS cruise last year or the 35 day cruise we just took from BA to SF (South America). So all I can say is that I feel your pain.:(

[canadiansnowbird]

So sorry to see this cruise cancelled. For us it was a toss up between the Sun or Sapphire and chose the Sapphire becasue we had never been to the Pacific and the larger ship was more appealing.

 

Has anyone booked their hotel through Priceline? Will you be refunded? Are there any tours that have booked with deposits? What a mess!!!!

 

Snowbird

[Aussie Gal]

We cruised on the Regal Princess (new Pacific Dawn) for 21 days in January 2006. We had a mini suite and if I could have that cabin every time I cruised I would be one very happy girl. It was huge and the bathroom was fabulous with marble everywhere.

 

I hate to think what they are going to do to that lovely ship with the extra 500 beds/bunks they are adding and where I am wondering where they are going to put them!!

 

Down here we are treated as second rate citizens by P&O/Princess. We never manage to get the newer ships and when we get something really nice they ruin the ship/ships by adding extra cabins and making them overcrowded.

 

Jennie

[Commodore Suzy]

I have just finally been called by Princess about the canceled cruise. Here is the compensation for canceled US passengers they have laid out to me.

 

All cabins I have booked on the Sun 4/7/08 will be offered dollars off their next TRANSPACIFIC cruise of 28+ days booked. This discount is already hooked into the passengers' Captain's Circle numbers and will automatically pop up when I book their next qualifying cruise. [There was no specific number of days within the cancelation mentioned. It seems like it could sit in there for a while if needed. The Princess rep was not aware of any 'must be used or booked by' dates, although Princess could decide to put one in after the fact of course.]

 

The compensation is:

 

$250 per person for a balcony or above booked

$500 per person for an oceanview booked

$750 per person for an inside booked

 

And, no, this is not a typo. Since they easily sell balconies and above, they are offering LESS compensation for folks booking them than insides. The canceled Sun 4/7/08 actually did have some inside cabin availability, even though the higher categories were sold out a long time ago.

 

I wish you much luck in your re-booking efforts.

[NSWP]

I don't think Sun Princess will be getting extra berths, she is only here temp, maybe a tent or two on Prom deck ?

 

Aussie Gal, yes they sure are putting 500 or so extra berths on Regal upon refit here, have a look at P&O Pacific Dawn website, you can see deck plans, plenty of friendly 4 cabins from Nov 9...young people on party cruises and kids, that is the way P&O want it..bodies on bunks.

 

Would be a shame if Regal - Pacific Dawn ends up another Pacific Sky with problem after problem.

 

##SusyCruisy, just saw your post pop up as I was posting, strange compensation that, more you pay, less you get ? You are helping your clients, goodonya.!!

 

Hope you people on cancelled Sun cruise get something else.:cool:

[Pam in CA]

 

The compensation is:

 

$250 per person for a balcony or above booked

$500 per person for an oceanview booked

$750 per person for an inside booked

 

And, no, this is not a typo. Since they easily sell balconies and above, they are offering LESS compensation for folks booking them than insides.

Now, this s**ks and is patently unfair.

[Commodore Suzy]

##SusyCruisy, just saw your post pop up as I was posting, strange compensation that, more you pay, less you get ? You are helping your clients, goodonya.!!

 

My clients get a lot of love and attention from me, but this is all Princess is providing. Just another thing to make you love them LESS, eh? And I'll tell you something else that isn't really here nor there for you guys, but them giving DOLLARS OFF rather than shipboard credits to the clients directly and proportionately reduces MY commission. So, we're both taking a hit.

 

At least they're giving something to the passengers though, as the last time they changed their minds about some big long far off cruise I had some clients on they got nada. Grrrr

[NSWP]

Thanks SusyCruisy..maybe we will book our next cruise with you, expert advice there.:cool:

 

In Australia we cannot book direct with Princess, have to go through a TA, we use a web cruise marketer in Perth, not allowed to mention companies on here..but he gives us the Best Cruises ?

 

My son has a travel company in Lima, Peru..visiting him there pre Regal cruise, he is now getting into Antarctic Cruises, might give him a go.

[Toto2Kansas]

I wasn't even scheduled on the Sun Cruise, and that offer ticks me off. What a pitiful way to attempt to make it up to all those passengers looking forward to this sailing. It would be one thing to offer it off any other cruise, even with a time limit, but the stipulation that it must be a transpacific cruise of 28 days or longer when there just aren't that many of those around through Princess, and the lower the category you book, the more the discount amount is just ridiculous.

[Host CJSKIDS]

I wasn't even scheduled on the Sun Cruise, and that offer ticks me off. What a pitiful way to attempt to make it up to all those passengers looking forward to this sailing. It would be one thing to offer it off any other cruise, even with a time limit, but the stipulation that it must be a transpacific cruise of 28 days or longer when there just aren't that many of those around through Princess, and the lower the category you book, the more the discount amount is just ridiculous.

 

Toto, I have to say that I once again agree with you completely.

 

I'm so sorry to everyone who had this sailing canceled and hope that you can find something else that makes you happy.

[cactusrose]

My clients get a lot of love and attention from me, but this is all Princess is providing. Just another thing to make you love them LESS, eh? And I'll tell you something else that isn't really here nor there for you guys, but them giving DOLLARS OFF rather than shipboard credits to the clients directly and proportionately reduces MY commission. So, we're both taking a hit.

 

At least they're giving something to the passengers though, as the last time they changed their minds about some big long far off cruise I had some clients on they got nada. Grrrr

 

I was also booked on this cruise and when I look in my circle savings account it shows the offer expires on 12/31/07. That's the must be booked by date, not the sail by date. It really does stink that they are giving more to the inside cabins then the outside cabins and it really isn't fair to offer it as money off the fare so the TA get less commission. Leave it to Princess to turn an attempt at some form of compensation into a bitter pill. The problem with this offer is that the prices have gone up more than what they are offering so net net the customer is still paying more. This is the second time in two years that Princess has canceled a fabulous cruise on us but they didn't offer anything on the previous one.

[pmcrusta]

Well...there you have it, Suzy Cruisy...thank-you for the information:) ...not that any of us former Sun passengers much care for it, but that's not your fault. I'm sorry it effects your income.

Well, it should be interesting on June 7th, when they drop the other shoe as far as the new cruise options go.

[arxcards]

I don't think Sun Princess will be getting extra berths, she is only here temp, maybe a tent or two on Prom deck ?

 

:D I certainly hope not, but comments that there will be extra bunks hits a raw nerve. I hope with the permanent presence of the Princess brand in OZ, that they do not try to Australianize Princess into another P&O. I would rather pay the extra bucks for the extra service. If I want a budget cruise, I can just book on P&O.

 

What do you mean by here temp? She will be here from Nov 07 till at least Apr 09 - maybe longer.

 

Good luck with your re-allocations!

 

Cheers,

[pmcrusta]

I just tried to go into the My Princess to see what if anything like information of any kind might be there. It stated the web site was doing maintenance until Sunday. Hummmmm....5 days to update a web site...OOOOKKKKK:rolleyes:

[Colo Cruiser]

I just tried to go into the My Princess to see what if anything like information of any kind might be there. It stated the web site was doing maintenance until Sunday. Hummmmm....5 days to update a web site...OOOOKKKKK:rolleyes:

 

 

 

Working fine for me just now. :)

[pmcrusta]

Me too...now...but lord knows what the heck Princess is doing...if it had just been a error message I'd just figured it was temporary...but with a notice from Princess on the My Princess page, I figured they were putting it down

for a update. But no it's back...after all the other junk this last week I'm really beginning to reconsider if Princess is worth dealing with at all.

[phillipahain]

Suzy CruZy

 

I trust you book other lines than Princess because It seems to me that Princess stinks right now and many loyal Princess folk will be switching to Oceania etc

 

As you say this is the 2nd great cruise Princess have cancelled and when they cancelled that cruise we got Zilch

 

The new Itineries offer Zero in the way of different ports or itineries than have been on offer in the past and not sure many of us will trust Princess now

 

However to offer $750 as compensation to Insides and only $250 for Balconies and above STINKS big time

 

And just what are Princess going to do about all those who have booked Non refundable flights

[Cruise Junky]

And just what are Princess going to do about all those who have booked Non refundable flights

 

Please don't take this that I'm defending Princess because I'm certainly not, I really feel for you guys and it sucks. But the flights can be used with a change fee. Say you paid $1500 for a one way flight to AU. You will have a $1500 credit with that airline so make it a good one and fly somewhere really nice business class :) or take yourself off to Europe. Surprise your wife with a week in Paris.

[Colo Cruiser]

Please don't take this that I'm defending Princess because I'm certainly not, I really feel for you guys and it sucks. But the flights can be used with a change fee. Say you paid $1500 for a one way flight to AU. You will have a $1500 credit with that airline so make it a good one and fly somewhere really nice business class :) or take yourself off to Europe. Surprise your wife with a week in Paris.

 

 

Not as easy as you think.....

I think that would only be if space was available and to pay any applicable fare difference plus the change fee which really limits things. :rolleyes:

[Toto2Kansas]

Although, as I said earlier, we were not booked on this sailing, I am sure Princess has had wind of this cancellation for some time, these decisions are not made overnite.

If nothing else, I think they could have put out the word before the flights opened up (which wasn't that long ago) and became available for booking (330 days prior). That way, with enough notice, those booking their own flights would have been unable to do that before they found out about the cancellation.

It is one thing to cancel a cruise like this, but waiting until some had already booked their flights privately is money out of their pocket that was needless to spend.

[Cruise Junky]

Not as easy as you think.....

I think that would only be if space was available and to pay any applicable fare difference plus the change fee which really limits things. :rolleyes:

 

 

You'd had to pay any increase over what you paid certainly, but tickets aren't hard to use. I do it all the time for business. I had a flight to Montreal booked back in January that cancelled the night before departure, I just used the credit for a ticket to Chicago. Just paid the $100 change fee. You usually have a year from the original booking date to use the credit.

[Deb_in_Aussie]

Greetings all,

 

A number of you in the US have mentioned about non refundable airfares etc... In Australia, Princess has provided claim forms to reimburse people for non refundable travel arrangements that can not be claimed back from travel insurance.

 

There has also been interest in potential changes to Sun when she gets here permanently. One major change that appears to be happening is the loss of Anytime dining. When I tried to book anytime dining for the voyages here I was told that anytime dining will not be available on Sun Princess when she sails out of Australia. But they are offering it on Pacific Dawn (currently Regal Princess). Doesn't make sense to me, but not much does these days. Why cancel a full cruise when Sun Princess had no voyages scheduled after it's arrival in the US. Why not just sell another Trans Pacific back to Australia and then start the Australian season?

 

I suspect there are a lot of changes in the wind and probably none of them good. I have watched this company go backwards ever since Carnival corporation became the owner. Cost cutting and more cost cutting.

 

Cheers,

Deb

[kaseyoz]

I am on the jan 9th sailing of the sun princess and i asked about anytime dining because we have kids. Not availalble so i asked for early seating we are about 350 on the wait list. Suprisingly my kids (we have 2 cabins booked) are further down the list. wonder what happens if one gets it and the other doesnt.

 

I think we will be eating in the buffet a lot as most teen stuff happen early evening.

 

With regards to putting extra beds in, I dont think they will add more cabins just add extra beds to exisiting cabins. more 4 berth cabins which are popular for aussie family cruisers.