Sun princess vs. Star mini vs balcony

[AnnMorin]

Here is my delimma, I am thinking of talking my husband into the ten day southern carribean on the sun for Feb. 2006. We are on the Star in a mini suite for Thanksgiving 2005. In order to swing the sun ten day trip I may have to go down to a regular balcony cabin. Are they very small? Our son will be joining us and he will be 13 at the time. Where does the bed for the third person come from as I don't see a couch. I am assuming it pulls down from the ceiling. It is not like over my head is it? Would a 13 year old growing boy be comfortale in that type of bed? I love the look of the mini suite but the price is about $2000.00 different. I don't know if I can justify that price to my husband.

[Coral]

I have a friend who had a triple balcony on the Sun Princess and she hated the cabin. Instead of beds - it was more like 3 benches that pulled out from the wall.

 

I love the Sun class ships but I would hesitate before putting 3 in a balcony cabin on the Sun Princess. These triples and quad balcony cabins are different than the Grand class and Coral class ships.

 

Hopefully Hulagirl from this board will pipe in on this one.

[Hulagirl]

Hopefully this will post before your ships leave, the board is so slow right now!

 

Coral wrote me and told me about your post. Yes, we were in a triple/quad cabin on the Sun Princess and it almost ended our sailings on Princess. That was the first Princess cruise we took as a family and the most uncomfortable one.

 

We are like you, my husband, myself and our daughter, so 3 of us. The cabins on the Sun are very, very narrow and small. There are no actual beds in these cabins. When we first walked into the room I thought they had mistakenly put us in a closet. There will be this one, long, very narrow sort of couch thing, and then the 3 beds will fold out of the wall. There are absolutely no beds in these cabins. If you look on the deck plans for this class of ship, you will notice there are very few rooms that can accomodate 3/4 people with a balcony. We had to use the couch thing for storing our suitcases and anything we had. Since there is no bed to store anything under, this is all that was utilized for. One morning we made the mistake of ordering breakfast and trying to eat it on our balcony. I actually had to sit half way in the cabin to use the table.

 

Truly, if there was no way I could justify the money for a mini suite on this ship, then I just wouldn't go. We now sail on the Grand Class ships or on the new Island/Coral type ships. These all have basically the same type of cabins and are comfortable.

 

So to answer your question. Two of you will sleep in the upper bunk things and the 3rd person will sleep on the lower bunk that all fold out of the wall. The bathrooms are also very, very small in the cabin. I just can't even give you one bit of positive advice for booking that room, and I'm sorry about that.

 

Now the rest of the ship was fine. Very pretty ship and comfortable. I just wish those cabins were better.

 

Hopefully this helps you some. I wish I had a picture of the room. Another poster I met from Canada had some pictures of this room, but I don't have it anymore to show you. She also hated the room.

 

Good luck. Book the mini and have a great trip.

 

Susan

[Toto2Kansas]

I agree with Coral that three in a regular balcony cabin will be a very tight squeeze. We have had them before with just two of us and that would be the most I would fit into a regular balcony cabin. Especially on the Sun Class ships where the balcony is so very tiny, it just doesn't give you very much added room at all. If you can't afford a mini on the Sun, you may look into an outside cabin as the extra sq. footage with no balcony might give you the added space you will need. Remember, the sq. footage includes the balcony on Princess and so if you could get a cabin that gave you the space with no balcony, at least you would have a little more room. Best of Luck!

[AnnMorin]

I have decided if we can not swing the mini to forgo it. Since this is not until NEXT Feb. I have plenty of time to come up with the funds and talk DH into it. I saw your photos Toto and that cabin looks divine!

[Toto2Kansas]

Ann, the minis on the Sun Class really are nice. I think you would find them plenty roomy for three if you can swing it. Glad I remembered to take all of those pics and that they could help others see what might be in store for them down the road.

Best of Luck, here's hoping you win that lottery! LOL

[Coral]

I found some pictures of the Triple Balcony on the Sun Class ships. This is P&O's website where they have a sister of the Sun Princess.

Go to this website:

 

http://www.pocruises.co.uk/

 

On the left hand corner, select "Our Ships".. Click "Oceana" (formerly Ocean Princess and sister of the Sun Princess) and then under Cabin Plan select "Family cabin" which is the same as a triple balcony on a Sun Class ship.

 

Thanks Hulagirl for piping in.

 

Theresa

[AnnMorin]

you all are just the best!

I would be sorely dissapointed to sleep like that! I did look at the mini again, now if I can just sell off my DVC points DH said I can book it!

Anyone looking for a great deal on 190 points at Vero beach?

[Toto2Kansas]

Best of Luck Ann, I hope you can grab up one of those minis! :) Let us know if things work out. :)