phonejock

Hi We will be in Halifax on September first which is a Sunday and Sydney on the second which is Labour day. Anything we should know? We are planning to take the ship’s excursions, so I am not worried there. I was just wondering if the shops would be open. TIA.

Hi I love all the suggestions here. Add my vote for smoke free casino. On our last cruise, Sky over New Years, the smoke was so bad in the casino, I had to air out my dresses before putting them back in the closet. And please stop the baked Alaska parade. Most of the time, I would like to finish dinner in time to make a show, and this just delays it. I will add my own modest request. I wish the IC had some sort of small tray/ cup holder, like you get at Dunkin Donuts. On mornings that we have an early excursion, it would be nice to run down, get coffees and a bite to eat for both of us and bring it back to the room. Or bring something up to where I am sitting around the ship. Maybe, I missed them, but I have never seen any. ( very first world problem 😊)

Hi Just a suggestion There were a couple of threads on this board of the first two sailings of the Sun. The one by @CanadianBurger was especially good. As DH and I like to book Reserve Collection minis, I was interested to see different configurations between the cabana and plain RC versions. The cabana one looks very narrow with a smaller bathroom. If we ever decide to book the Sun, I will be googling like a madwoman to research the room that would work best. All the best.

Nice You have a great “eye” Thanks for sharing

@CanadianBurger Since this thread is my current addiction, I would be remiss if I did not say THANK YOU for taking the time from your vacation to give your impressions of the Sun Princess. You went above and beyond researching the various venues and answering everyone’s questions. Princess, if you are reading this, do something special for this man and his wife! Best wishes and Safe travels

Good Morning, DH &I have done Reserve Collection three or four times on different ships. On all of them, there was a row of two top tables. People were always striking up conversations. You could always ask the maitre d if anyone else is interested in sharing. Hope this helps. Best wishes and travel safe.

@niftrip First thank you for this excellent thread. Quick Question It appears that your Reserve Collection Cabana mini suite is very narrow ( or more narrow than other mini suites I have been in). It looks a little claustrophobic. How are you finding it? IMHO, from all the posts I have read about the Sun, one is going to have to thoroughly research all the various permutations of the cabins before booking. Best wishes and Travel Safe

Thanks All Safe Travels

Hi Probably the stupid question of the day…. Is the Casino on NE/ Canadian cruises open like they are on other cruises, closed while in port, then open once they set sail? Thinking of the 10 day going from Boston to Quebec on the Emerald. The last night, we are overnight in Quebec, so I would assume the Casino would be closed.

Just my opinion… I was on the Regal in March 2023 and on the Sky a month ago. DH and I ate at Sabatini's and the Crown Grill on both ships. We agreed that the service and food was better on the Sky.

@cr8tiv1 Great Question about how many inaugural cruises have been cancelled. Speaking strictly personally, I know of two. Back in the early 2000s, we were going the first cruise of the Sapphire or Diamond. (Sorry, can’t remember) it was cancelled and we were able to switch to the Coral. Fast forward to 2020, we booked the inaugural trip of the Enchanted. It was to celebrate retirement and was a great itinerary. As everyone knows that was also canceled due to the ship not being ready and, of course, Covid. Fortunately in both cases, we had much more than two weeks notice, so I really feel bad for all the disappointed cruisers.

Hi if it helps, you should know that that you are covered with a sheet most of the time. The masseuse will fold back the covering off whatever part of the body they are working on. As for the upselling, just smile and say you are not interested. Just had a great massage on the Sky, one of the highlights of the trip. As soon as I nicely said, no thanks, the masseuse stopped and just gave me a couple of suggestions, like drinking more water. I hope you pamper yourself. A good full body massage will make you feel absolutely great. (Although like cruising, once you do one, you want another😊.

Hi As the title of this thread states, this was our first cruise over New Year’s Eve. I always enjoy reading cruise reviews, so this is me paying it back. Just a little background, DH and I are in our late 60s with 15 plus cruises. PRE CRUISE The trip down from New England To Fort Lauderdale on SW went well. As we like to use the Princess transfer package, we stayed at one of the hotels they select. Here are a few thoughts on The Renaissance. (TripAdvisor has it listed as The Renaissance Fort Lauderdale West). The room was great. It was a good size, with plenty of storage space. It was very clean and the king size bed was comfortable. Our room faced the freeway, but there was very little noise. Unfortunately, it is not really near anything and the area didn’t look walkable. We got in about 8:00 pm and wanted to get a quick bite. We found the restaurant downstairs to have a very limited menu with expensive drinks. Which would have been OK, if the service hadn’t been so slow and disjointed. The kicker was they automatically added an 18% service charge to our bill. EMBARKATION The bus picked us up about 11:15 and we were at the port 25 mins later. Picking up our medallions, going through security took another 25 and we were on the Sky around 12:15. We had a little trouble finding the Reserve Collection dinning room. We kept getting conflicting information which MDR it was located in. Finally prevailing on a Manager, he had us escorted to the right place. ( It was located in the Estrella). Our luggage was delivered around 5 which was the latest we had ever seen. FOOD I thought overall the food was very good. I always enjoyed the additional meal they had in RC. We had a great meal At Alfredo’s and enjoyed the IC. We ate at Sabatini’s and the Crown Grill. We were very pleased with our meals in the specialty restaurants. We thought they were both better than the ones we had on the Regal in March. ENTERTAINMENT We had very good entertainment on this cruise. We had three production shows, Rock Opera, Spotlight Bar and Five Skys. All the dancers and singers were great. I thought the two lead female singers were outstanding. We had a comedy magician, R.J Cantù who was good, a singer Brianna Faulk who was great, a comedian AJ Jamal who was funny, and another comedian Jim McCue who was just OK. PORTS At Princess Cays, we did the glass bottom boat and then got back on the ship. We stayed on board at Puerto Rico and did a pool day. At Amber Cove, the only rainy day we had, we visited Monkeyland. It is a little touristy but a lot of fun. On Grand Turk we did the duck boat tour. Again a little touristy, but you really see the island. CREW As always, the crew was wonderful. They have really hard jobs and they handled them with grace. Our Steward, Eli was a true ninja. We never saw him, but our room was always made up when we got back from breakfast. Love the self service kiosks in the photo area. DH had a problem downloading our pictures. He went down to the photo staff and it was quickly fixed. We had a great couples massage with just a little upselling. The crew at the IC,scoops, and the juice bar were very nice. BARS ( my biggest complaint) Ok Princess, you have done a fabulous job selling the drink packages. Now PLEASE, help your bar and coffee staff by increasing the number of bartenders and baristas. There was always a 10-15 minute wait to get a drink. The bartenders are literally non stop the whole night. The IC baristas could keep up with demand fairly well as they have two machines. The poor guy up at The Pastry shop only had one and was always backed up. NEW YEARS EVE It was the first formal night NYE. There were several parties going on . The was a family one in the Vista lounge, a dance one in the Piazza, and of course the main one up on Lido. Personally, I am glad we did it once, but feel no need to repeat. A good time was had by one and all. CASINO DH enjoys the casino, so I did spend some time in there. It was busy on the days it was open and packed every night. They need more drink staff circulating. I thought the slots were expensive and very tight. And Princess, please make the casino non smoking. DH was pretty sure smokers were hanging out in there. That is pretty much it. Any questions, I will try to answer. Travel safe everyone!

Just a suggestion. Check out your local library. I have taken my Kindle on our last two cruises. i was able to borrow books for free using the Libby app. (Your area may use a different one) Just look for the check mark in the corner of each book on your Home page to make sure they are fully downloaded . I am a fast reader so I always like to have several books loaded .

Last March DH and I stayed at the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort, booked through Princess with a transfer to the Regal. The transfer bus picked us up at 11:15am and dropped us off at the port 15-20 minutes later. Embarkation was quick and easy and we were in our room by 12. Plenty of time for lunch in the MDR.