Sun Princess - Good shape, good ship?

[jswrpw83]

My family is flying to Australia to meet friends and go on a cruise. I had no idea how expensive and long the flights were, and it's making me look at each aspect of our trip! We had decided on the RCI Rhapsody of the Seas and then noticed there was a Sun Princess cruise to the Great Barrier Reef which is really where we'd wanted to go. The problem is I wondered about the Sun Princess.

 

Is she still part of the PCL's fleet? Something I read said she was sold to P&O, and I don't know anything about them...

 

I'd also heard there were problems with safety. As we have teen daughters, I really want to make sure our 12 day cruise is safe with good quality control. We also have to eat gluten free so a good, responsible kitchen staff is essential.

 

And the Princess cruise is more expensive! Any advice is appreciated :D

[Druke I]

We were last on Sun Princess May 04, and she was in very good shape at that time.

 

The mini-suites on that class of ship are outstanding!!

 

She is still a Princess ship, although at the moment sailing for P&O (Australia). Both Princess and P&O (Aus) are owned by Carnival.

[Coral]

The Sun Princess is one of my favorite Princess ships. I was on the ship 3 years ago and loved it.

 

Don't expect all of the amenities of a new RCCL ship but it is a very classy ship.

[jswrpw83]

I'm just hoping for a well maintained, well run ship :D

 

We've had the pleasure to be on the newest RCI ships. It was interesting to note that the girls had more fun spending time with new friends and didn't have time to climb walls or play in the H2O Zone. So while it's exciting to see the newest, biggest, what's best is friendly passengers and staff :)

 

I was really worried, though, about traveling half way around the world and finding ourselves on a 12 day cruise that was completely inadequate :eek:

[RickEk]

Sun Princess is still part of Princess' fleet. She is being "loaned" to P&O (who used to own Princess) for the season.

[Topaz_M]

I was on the Sun Princess in May this year - Fremantle (Perth) to Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, 15 nights. I had only sailed P&O Australia previously and she is a beautiful ship. The staff, food and entertainment were wonderful. The staff in particular didn't want our group to leave! After readng these boards, the Sun is everything any Princess ship would be, perhaps only smaller.

 

Of course most of the passengers are Aussie and a friendlier bunch you couldn't hope to meet (I'm actually from the UK originally but I guess you could say I'm biased ;) )

 

The Sun and Dawn Princesses are operated through a specific website www.princess.com.au in Australia and I don't believe there is any affiliation with P&O since earlier this year. My Sun cruise was originally booked through a T/A via P&O and it got swapped back to Princess before we sailed.

 

Moira

[qld cruiser]

Sun Princess is still part of Princess' fleet. She is being "loaned" to P&O (who used to own Princess) for the season.

 

Hi RickEck, the Sun Princess is here permanently.

great ship, the only downside , the cabins were smaller than other ships we have cruised on.

but I loved it.

 

kind regards, Lorraine:) :)

[jswrpw83]

Thanks to everyone for your information.

 

I'm thinking our once-in-a-lifetime visit to the Great Barrier Reef might actually happen!

 

Crossing my fingers,

[NSWP]

JSWRPW83 (hope I got it right!)

 

We were on Sun Princess for 19 days, around Australia last June/July.

Just to qualify my comments we have also cruised several times on other Princess ships - Star Princess, Diamond Princess, Pacific Princess (3 times) and Regal Princess on her last cruise LA to Sydney, last year. We have also cruised with Sitmar, P&O and Carnival.

 

OK, I found SP to be in very good condition, well maintained, cabins quite small, but comfy, you only sleep there!

The crew were good, the entertainment was good, usual Princess entertainment, the shows, the dancers, singers, comedians etc.

 

There were three issues which concerned me:

1. The food quality, portion serves and presentation were not quite to the standard I encountered on the other Princess ships mentioned above. Not saying it was bad but not to the usual standard.

 

2. Tendering services at Ports, Cairns and Townsville were poor, 5 hour delays, hence everyone on the SP got a future cruise 'goodwill letter - 20% discount off their next cruise. We missed ports at Geraldton, Exmouth and Cooktown, because bad seas prevented tendering, no argument about that, that is a safety issue, but Princess did not have their act together in the operation of those tender services, too few boats with too far to go.!

 

3. Princess Theatre, accommodates 550 persons only, so there are two shows a night which means if every pax wanted to see the show, 50% would 'miss out.' Which happened, due to almost 2100 on board, which appears the norm for SP in Australia, they are packing them in!

 

Pax list, there were 2085 on board SP, of which I can say 95% were Australians, (As announced by the Captain) most of whom were first time cruisers, judging by the 'blue cruise cards' worn around the necks, as you do. Average age? I would say 70. Only 5 children on board.

 

Anyway, hope you get something out of my comments. Enjoy it, A ship full of Aussies is fun, hope you like a beer because there is plenty flowing these days on Sun Princess in Australia.

[Desert Cruizers]

We took the Sun Princess thru the Panama April 2006, and thought she was beautifully maintained for her then 10 yrs. The one downsize, her Balcony rooms are small, as the size includes the Balcony. We had a queen bed and both couldn't get by the end of bed sametime. We are not large people either, food entertainment and staff were very pleasant as we have found on our past Princess Cruises.

[LRATL]

If it makes a difference, all the balconies are in hull. We did not like having to stand up while sitting on the balcony in order to see out......The newer ships have plexiglass which gives a much better view.

[mummsie]

My family is flying to Australia to meet friends and go on a cruise. I had no idea how expensive and long the flights were, and it's making me look at each aspect of our trip! We had decided on the RCI Rhapsody of the Seas and then noticed there was a Sun Princess cruise to the Great Barrier Reef which is really where we'd wanted to go. The problem is I wondered about the Sun Princess.

 

Is she still part of the PCL's fleet? Something I read said she was sold to P&O, and I don't know anything about them...

 

I'd also heard there were problems with safety. As we have teen daughters, I really want to make sure our 12 day cruise is safe with good quality control. We also have to eat gluten free so a good, responsible kitchen staff is essential.

 

And the Princess cruise is more expensive! Any advice is appreciated :D

 

There is a lot of information over on the P&O thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=431

We were on her in January and had a great time. We went during school holidays and they had extra pool staff looking after the kids. They will be safe. Everything on this ship is Princess - just being rented by P&O. Relax and enjoy yourself. - mummsie