Anything Good About Sun Princess?

[mlbcruiser]

To DeernH20, I have a question for you! (And I really need a fast answer, so I hope you see this!). Since you were on the Sun during spring break, do you think it would be an o.k. ship for first timers - 26, 28 yr. olds and 2 50-somethings who have never cruised before? We are the instigators of this and have cruised a lot. Also, did the ship seem really, really crowded in March and was it next to impossible to find deck chairs (I expect that during March!). Thanks to you or anyone who has input on this. :)

[CruisinChris]

Who was the captain?

[bdjam]

You say more to do with the passengers and their habits ?

Can you give me some ideas how I can avoid my bad habits on another cruise??

Yes – as implied above, Norwalk has more to do with passenger habits than with anything specific about a ship. What can you do? Wash your hands.

[cruiserforlife]

Just like your mother always told you...

[naples007]

After hearing all the negatives about the Sun Princess, I'm going to cancel my cruise for February in a mini suite. I'd rather spend the extra and go on 5 star cruise line. I'm moving over to Crystal Cruises. Sailed on them last year and thought I would give Princess a try again, but I guess not.

[bdjam]

After hearing all the negatives about the Sun Princess, I'm going to cancel my cruise for February in a mini suite. I'd rather spend the extra and go on 5 star cruise line. I'm moving over to Crystal Cruises. Sailed on them last year and thought I would give Princess a try again, but I guess not.

That’s unfortunate…as I said; I personally haven’t seen anything amiss with my Sun Princess cruises. However, I also think if you board a cruise ship believing your experience will be less than what you find acceptable, you will be disappointed no matter how good it is.

[Blackrobe]

The Captain was Alan Wilson.

[tiggrbaby]

Do they make you sanitize your hands before entering the restaurants or entering the buffet line? They did that on our NCL Dawn cruise in April. I was under the impression that was something new in the cruise industry to try and combat the spread of germs.

[kruisey]

Persons tell me they could eat off my floor at home. Therefore hand washing is never a problem with me.

What other answer do you have ?On board at sea for two days.,hand washing every time I moved around....third day the virus developes ?

This is a beautiful ship....Why won't Carnival get her into dry dock for a couple of weeks,not just a few days and CLEAN her and fix her up ?

[C 2 C]

Still on the Sun... am I getting my money's worth? Sure. Does the cruise meet my expectations? No

 

We have cruised over 40 times, 9 on Princess, double that on Celebrity and HAL.

 

Is the food as good as on Celebrity or HAL. No

The ship is as clean. Most of the staff is friendly.

One attentive staff member by the name of Ambi Munar (bless his soul) saved my wallet from sneaky security staff on St Vincent who had removed it from my scanned bag...

 

Is service on Celebrity and HAL perfect... no. Can you have problems on any ship... Yes. Would I sail on the Sun again.... Not when there are better alternatives at the same price.

 

 

There are hand sanitizer(?) dispensors available....

 

I have never and I Mean NEVER seen so many flies in any restaurant as in the Horizon court... They don't come from land because they have been with us for 15 days now... that is a sanitation problem of the first order.

 

If you love trivia... it has an overflow following twice every day and the cruise staff is excellent in providing new and challenging questions daily.

 

The movies have been up-to-date...

 

The comedians stink... last night was Tim Clue and many people walked out as they did in last weeks comedy offering.

 

I don't mind because I can read all the responses from people who never had a negative experience in their life.... or are afraid to acknowledge that perfection anywhere is rare..

 

Experiences are experiences... whether you notice or not is another question.

[kruisey]

Yes I would,but only if they have fixed up her Sanitation issues.

This is my last thread on this issue.

[spongerob]

After hearing all the negatives about the Sun Princess, I'm going to cancel my cruise for February in a mini suite. I'd rather spend the extra and go on 5 star cruise line. I'm moving over to Crystal Cruises. Sailed on them last year and thought I would give Princess a try again, but I guess not.

I, too, cancelled a cruise in a minisuite aboard the Dawn Princess, but for a slightly different reason. I had no doubts that the crew and staff would perform to expectations. I (and my lurker better half) decided that we would prefer to avoid the whining, moaning, and bellyaching from the inexperienced and ill-informed public who represent themselves here less as Critics than Chronic Complainers.

 

Yes, I know, I'm not there, but in all honesty, there's no point in arguing with the half-baked conclusions and exaggerated complaints drawn from insignificant issues. Further, I understand the concept that The Customer Is Always Right, but my experience in a service industry also tells me that sometimes, The Customer Is A Whiney-Butt.

 

My apologies for being harsh and insensitive to feelings. As much as we should be crtiquing cruises, we should be critiquing complaints, and it should not be left to the few here who still dare to raise a voice in dissent to accomplish the task.

[bdjam]

Persons tell me they could eat off my floor at home. Therefore hand washing is never a problem with me.

What other answer do you have ?On board at sea for two days.,hand washing every time I moved around....third day the virus developes ?

This is a beautiful ship....Why won't Carnival get her into dry dock for a couple of weeks,not just a few days and CLEAN her and fix her up ?

I’m sorry that you’re no longer posting on this thread as it would be a little easier to have a discussion with you – perhaps that’s not what you’re looking for. In any case, congratulations for being so clean yourself. I think C2C mentioned the fact that the laundry was closed during turnaround due to sanitizing the facilities. I personally know that cabins are thoroughly cleaned between cruises. More than likely the virus develops on board on the third day because someone brought it onboard and it took that long to “develop.” Just because you’re clean doesn’t mean that someone else on board hasn’t used an elevator button with unclean hands…the one you just pushed.

 

Further, the incidence of Norwalk does not mean there is an outbreak – as ‘rob has pointed out, this virus is so common that it’s not even tracked by the CDC here in the United States. Cruise ships are required to report the virus when an outbreak reaches a certain percentage of passengers. Just because Sun Princess has a couple of cases doesn’t mean that it’s become “infected” in the official sense of the word and the fact that it hasn’t is testament to the ships ability to control the outbreak.

 

Putting the ship in dry dock for a couple of hours, a couple of days, a couple of weeks or a couple of years isn’t going to do a darn thing. Every germ on the ship could be eradicated and the first passenger that picks up the virus from a cab door handle, or a stairway handrail on shore and then boards the ship will bring the virus back on board.

 

The best offense is to protect oneself from the spread of the virus from other passengers. If one is going to no longer partake in things for fear of Norwalk, one might as well stay in that eat off the floor clean house of yours.

 

And by the way, Sun Princess is not a Carnival ship…Sun Princess is managed by Princess Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation. Carnival does not dictate to Princess how to run their part of the business.

 

I have never and I Mean NEVER seen so many flies in any restaurant as in the Horizon court... They don't come from land because they have been with us for 15 days now... that is a sanitation problem of the first order.

If I felt this situation had become a sanitation problem, I might take it upon myself first to question those who are in charge on board, and if the desired results weren’t achieved report this situation to CDC. Their job is to ensure cruise ships are sanitary and will inspect a ship without warning. Remember QE2 got a failing score due to cockroaches in the galley…maybe Sun Princess will get the same…

[OutSyder]

We have a B2B booked on the Sun for next March/April. I have been reading the reports on her with interest, but I have not even considered cancelling. Now if Princess decides to put MUTS on this ship prior to my arrival, that is a guaranteed cancellation.

[DakotaSunshine]

the Sun is a WONDERFUL ship. The perfect size and perfect crew. You'll love her!

[kruisey]

I was not going to post on this subject again.
You are like a Primcesses Knight in Shining Armour.
You must accept that Princess or any cruise or Airline cannot be perfect all the time.
Cruise Critics (I hope anyway) is to hear some negatives and well as just the positives of ship board life.
If Princess reads ,as some have stated....it will be a win win move for everyone.
I am an honest person and the reason why I have brought up this Virus report on the SUN is because there have been too many outbreaks this year.Only in September CDC got the report nearly 300 passengers and crew were down with it.On my cruise APril/May its the first time I have ever felt to ill with horrible stomach cramps. Two friends of mine were on this ship from SF to FLL early this month and were sick for nearly a week.
I hope you notice on other posts I do have a sense of humour and on many occasions have praised Princess....So I am not one of the moaning group.
May I add I love Princess cruises and the great way they have always treated me .
It is my Cruiseline of choice.

[bdjam]

[QUOTE]I was not going to post on this subject again.
You are like a Primcesses Knight in Shining Armour.
You must accept that Princess or any cruise or Airline cannot be perfect all the time. [/QUOTE] [color=black][font='Bookman Old Style']You know what, you should look at some of the MUTS threads…they seem to think totally differently of me there.[/font][/color]
[color=black][font='Bookman Old Style'][/font][/color]
[color=black][font='Bookman Old Style'][color=black][font='Bookman Old Style']I’m not sure what you’re referring to regarding the September report but a ship is not required to report [/font][/color][color=black][font='Bookman Old Style']Norwalk[/font][/color][color=black][font='Bookman Old Style'] to CDC each time it is encountered. A certain percentage of the passenger load must be affected before a report is required. As for experiencing it, I had Norwalk on a cruise I was on…this was a number of years before the media got a hold of the story and made such a deal about it. Then it was called stomach flu. I know what it’s like and I feel sorry for anyone who contracts it. I don’t put the blame on it, however, on the ship or the way the ship is maintained. I would, however, encourage those who do to make the appropriate reports. [/font][/color]

[/font][/color]

[cruiserforlife]

I tell you what I am going to do:

As a concerned cruiser who has a vested interest in this thread since I'll be cruising the Sun on 1/27,I am going to copy this entire thread right now and sent it off to Princess so they too will know what is going on.

I believe too that they do read these boards and this will also put it into black and white for them.

It is my hope that by doing this,I will not only help insure myself an excellent cruise but hopefully help everyone else achieve that goal as well.

We all have many other alternatives for our cruising dollars and Princess needs to know that loyal cruisers such as us (especially Elite status cruisers) should not have concerns such as this before we cruise.

Wish me luck,I hope Princess is listening because we love cruising with them and wouldn't want to change that now.

[kruisey]

That is a great idea....wish I had thought of it myself.
Please let us know the outcome.

[cruiserforlife]

Will do kruisey,I am printing it up as we speak.

Anything you want them to know???

[kruisey]

How they are going to address this problem onThe Sun Princess.?
Was also thinking that some of the employees are not used to our high standards of cleanliness in their own countries...What is clean to them might have a different meaning to us. Its not their fault....but maybe they should be carefully trained into the methods used in other countries.
I had to write this in a tactful manner.....so I hope you understand what I mean.

[bdjam]

[QUOTE]Was also thinking that that some of the employees are not used to our high standards of cleanliness in their own countries...What is clean to them might have a different meaning to them. Its not their fault....but maybe they should be carefully trained into the methods used in other countries.[/QUOTE] :rolleyes: :rolleyes: [color=black][font='Bookman Old Style']I think if this was really an issue – which I don’t believe it is – it wouldn’t just be Sun Princess that was affected…every cruise ship is a multi-national ship.[/font][/color]

[kruisey]

Therefore some of the supervisors from the other ships that don't keep getting a repeated virus....should be loaned to THe Sun to give them their secrets for keeping the virus away from their ship.After all passengers are getting on and off the other ships ....touching the elevator buttons...but not passing on a virus???????????

[MERED1TH]

This information is quite easy to verify. I am quite sure Princess is aware of this.

[url]http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/outbreak/2004/2004summary.htm[/url]

[cruiserforlife]

These cruiseships all have industry standards to uphold to in terms of cleanliness so I don't buy into the fact that things like this are caused by the fact that they aren't from our country.

I am sure they are trained very specifically to handle the spread of virus,probably more than we are ever led to believe.