Anyone sail on the Sun Princess lately?

We have an upcoming Australia/New Zealand cruise on the Sun Princess that we booked because of the itinerary and the ridiculous price they had for a suite. I'm good with her being a small ship but, after reading some reviews, I'm wondering how old & dated she is. Also, with her being a small ship what perks we will actually receive as suite guests?

https://www.princess.com/html/global/popups/metas/sp/sp_suite.html

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https://www.princess.com/html/global/popups/metas/sp/sp_suite.html

 

 

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Thanks. I did see that but seemed there was some perks not available on the Sun.

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We just went and it needs to be retired, problems with toilet,sewage smell on balcony.

We just went and it needs to be retired, problems with toilet,sewage smell on balcony.

Thanks for the reply. This is disheartening but it is what it is at this point. We are well past final payment and have just over 2 weeks until we sail. I guess we'll just have to make the best of it.

Thanks for the reply. This is disheartening but it is what it is at this point. We are well past final payment and have just over 2 weeks until we sail. I guess we'll just have to make the best of it.

Please come back after your cruise and post what you found.

DH and I took a 4-day cruise on the Sun in January. I think we both thought she was slightly better than the Diamond Princess.

Although food is subjective, we thought the food was really good. I liked that the Sun had a luncheon for the Most Traveled Passenger Party, while the Diamond had the cocktail party in Skywalker's.

There's no Skywalker's on the Sun, but we liked Disco on the Promenade deck and we also liked the Kai Sushi.

The Sun is an older ship, but then we are used to the Grand Princess ,and she isn't new either.

Our cabin was fine, and the toilet and shower both worked.

I would go with an open mind. Hopefully your cabin will be fine and you won't encounter any problems.

We have an upcoming Australia/New Zealand cruise on the Sun Princess...I'm wondering how old & dated she is.

If you did a search for the Princess Fleet you would have found that the Sun Princess is the oldest of the 17 ships currently sailing. You can't expect her to be in the shape of a ship launched last year. In general, Princess dumps the old ships on the Australian market.

I've sailed on her several times and I have 2 more booked because I'm on the west coast of Australia and prefer sailing out of Fremantle so I don't have the hassle of flying over to the east. The crew do a great job trying to maintain this ship.

Please come back after your cruise and post what you found.

Will definitely post an update with our experience.

DH and I took a 4-day cruise on the Sun in January. I think we both thought she was slightly better than the Diamond Princess.

 

Although food is subjective, we thought the food was really good. I liked that the Sun had a luncheon for the Most Traveled Passenger Party, while the Diamond had the cocktail party in Skywalker's.

 

There's no Skywalker's on the Sun, but we liked Disco on the Promenade deck and we also liked the Kai Sushi.

 

The Sun is an older ship, but then we are used to the Grand Princess ,and she isn't new either.

 

Our cabin was fine, and the toilet and shower both worked.

 

I would go with an open mind. Hopefully your cabin will be fine and you won't encounter any problems.

Thanks partybarbie! We realize the Sun is an older ship but she was refurbished 2 years ago, so we are hoping age won't be a real problem. We got a great deal on a penthouse suite on a wonderful itinerary. We do not dwell on things that we cannot change and we don't sweat the small stuff. Our itinerary is very port intensive, so much of our time will be onshore anyway.

If you did a search for the Princess Fleet you would have found that the Sun Princess is the oldest of the 17 ships currently sailing. You can't expect her to be in the shape of a ship launched last year. In general, Princess dumps the old ships on the Australian market.

I've sailed on her several times and I have 2 more booked because I'm on the west coast of Australia and prefer sailing out of Fremantle so I don't have the hassle of flying over to the east. The crew do a great job trying to maintain this ship.

We did realize that the Sun Princess was the oldest but she was refurbished in April 2016, so didn't think she would be showing that much signs of age. The itinerary is what we were looking for and we got a penthouse suite at a great deal, so we will deal with whatever we find. A good crew can make the difference!

Hi. We sailed on the Sun in October for 28 days. We had a wonderful cruise. The staff were very nice, the ship was clean and the food was fine. It wasn’t the best food we’ve had but I still managed to gain weight, so I must have eaten enough.

Our cruise around Australia was the best holiday we’ve ever been on! We met really nice people and had an amazing time! Enjoy your holiday!

Hi. We sailed on the Sun in October for 28 days. We had a wonderful cruise. The staff were very nice, the ship was clean and the food was fine. It wasn’t the best food we’ve had but I still managed to gain weight, so I must have eaten enough.

Our cruise around Australia was the best holiday we’ve ever been on! We met really nice people and had an amazing time! Enjoy your holiday!

Thanks for the encouraging words. We are so looking forward to this trip.

Just came off the Sun after a two week mini dry dock in Singapore. We had no issues on the ship. Yes it is a older ship but very nice design, crew and trip. We will be back on the Sun again in October. And have it booked for March of 2019. I find it to be a very nice ship.

If you did a search for the Princess Fleet you would have found that the Sun Princess is the oldest of the 17 ships currently sailing. You can't expect her to be in the shape of a ship launched last year. In general, Princess dumps the old ships on the Australian market.

I've sailed on her several times and I have 2 more booked because I'm on the west coast of Australia and prefer sailing out of Fremantle so I don't have the hassle of flying over to the east. The crew do a great job trying to maintain this ship.

Hi Redeye84, how strict are they with the check in times at Fremantle? We are on the 22/10 to Broome and have read that Aloha deck is 3.30pm check in 😣. We would like to get on about lunchtime if possible.

If you did a search for the Princess Fleet you would have found that the Sun Princess is the oldest of the 17 ships currently sailing. You can't expect her to be in the shape of a ship launched last year. In general, Princess dumps the old ships on the Australian market.

 

I've sailed on her several times and I have 2 more booked because I'm on the west coast of Australia and prefer sailing out of Fremantle so I don't have the hassle of flying over to the east. The crew do a great job trying to maintain this ship.

We like small ships and don’t mind old if maintained well. We are considering a cruise on the Sun in 2020. I am concerned about it’s condition 2 years from now. Would you take a chance that far out?

Just saw this article:

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/sun-princess-debuts-new-features-after-dry-dock.html

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I have sailed on the Sun Princess, just off her this month, and sailing again in October on the ship and a 18 day Australia to Hong Kong trip in 2019. The ship is in great shape now and I see no reason for it not to be the same in two years. The only clue it is a older ship is the styling of the ship, if you look at the lines it looks like a cruise ship not a floating box. It doesn't have everything the new mega ships have but it has something I like more..... space. The Sun never seems crowded like other ships. When you walk around the ship lots of open space not packed by people. It only carries about 2000 passengers and is almost 80,000 GT. I think it is close to the prefect ship.

You should book for 2020 and not worry about anything.

We like small ships and don’t mind old if maintained well. We are considering a cruise on the Sun in 2020. I am concerned about it’s condition 2 years from now. Would you take a chance that far out?

 

Just saw this article:

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/sun-princess-debuts-new-features-after-dry-dock.html

 

 

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We sailed on the Sun twice in the last year and have no complaints. A number of crew had left and returned on new contracts, so that has to say something about the ship.

We would certainly sail on her again.

Hi Redeye84, how strict are they with the check in times at Fremantle? We are on the 22/10 to Broome and have read that Aloha deck is 3.30pm check in 😣. We would like to get on about lunchtime if possible.

You're referring to the 'Progressive Cruise Check-In' times. I wouldn't worry about it. I'm always on Baja deck 10 and scheduled to board first at noon. When I arrive at 11am the place is always packed and I've been on 7 cruises out of Fremantle. There are people that are arriving at their posted times later on but it looks like the majority come whenever they want and board much earlier. I'm Elite so if there aren't too many of us sometimes I get a 'fast-track' and get right on board. Otherwise we go to the 'holding pen' with the other Preferred Boarding cruisers. I like to arrive early enough to have lunch at the restaurant which is open from 12-1:30 so I don't have to join the food fight in the Horizon Court.

Please come back after your cruise and post what you found.

So sorry that I'm late in getting back to this thread.

We found the Sun to be somewhat "dated" but overall pretty well maintained. We were on deck 9, Caribe, and there were a few days that we noticed a horrible sewer smell in parts of the hall. Other than that, no complaints on condition of the ship. Our suite, C747, was nice but could have used some updating.

Size wise, only problem there was the lack of shops. Not much to look at, but then I saved $$$$ by not finding anything that I wanted to purchase. lol

Rating the staff, the service was impeccable!

As for the food, we were not impressed at all. In fact, it was the worst food that we've ever experienced on a cruise. We had Club Class dining in the Regency and still didn't have any meal there that was really good. After a few miserable breakfasts, we started eating breakfast at the International Cafe (usually a muffin or a breakfast sandwich). We ate one meal at the Horizon Court and decided then that we didn't want to eat there again. The steaks we had at Sterling Steakhouse were good, but nothing extraordinary. Other than those steaks, the hamburgers from the Terrace Grill were the best food that we were served. Upside to our disappointment in the food was that we gained no weight on this 13 day cruise!

Although we weren't very impressed with the Sun and really prefer a somewhat larger ship, we find ourselves booked on her again in January 2019. So, she must have not been too bad. lol

Glad to hear that you liked her enough to cruise on her again. :D

That's too funny about the food. We really enjoyed it, but then we both love lamb!