Greetings from the Sun on the Southern Opener

[wka_orlando]

Greetings from the Sun on the opening cruise of the southern carib route!

 

All and all, a really nice trip with a bit of good comedy which I will spell out in a full travel report later. We are due in to Lauderdale Sunday and I will wait for my own computer. (The Princess computers still bite as always...)

 

Anyhow the short version;

 

The Sun: Still a very nice ship that is very well kept but does suffer some mechanical issues. Good for her age but the bow thrusters are broke and we heard about several plumming issues during the trip including an exploding sprinkler pipe that washed out a cabin...

 

All in all, the ship looks very well cared for given her age with everything looking nice and clean. They have introduced some very practical changes to slow norovirus problems which I will detail later.

 

The Fun:

Given this was the first trip on the southern route for a crew out of Alaska, very smooth sailing. Most of the ports are still getting it together but the tours and sights were great. Much better than the usual eastern or western routes.

 

We got mauled by a couple of tug boats in Isle Margarita... Big rubber marks and some dented plates... :-) seems the port workers were on strike and it took three tries to get us tied up with the bow thrusters out. It was fun to watch! Wish I had my video camera. Many of the crew are new this trip and the Bowson and thrid were trying to train them during the proceedure. Better entertainment than the shows! :-) Still they got us tied up and a whole line of uniforms came along to drive the crew nuts... first docking of the year and it made the local tv news so of course all of the pomp yahoos showed up to slow things down. :-)

Be careful about the buses they use for the tours. Ours was blowing exhaust into the passenger compartment and we heard of groups that had to change several times due to breakdowns. First ship of the season so maybe they have not seen a lot of use lately....

 

For those of you who like Beno the guide in Dominica, you will be happy to know he has spawned a hundred copies that all go by that name. Good luck finding the original. Maybe he is lic his name and living on the royalties... :-) The Beno we got was ok and was well informed on his fame!

 

The entertainment staff on at present are really good and a lot of fun. The stage performers are by far the best we have seen in the last couple of years which is not hard. The male dancers were really good as were most of the women. A couple of the gals need diet help... One is the tubbiest I have ever seen on stage and another makes Alley McBeal look fat. They all can dance well however, which is a big improvement over the last cruise when they tripped over each other several times.

 

The comedians so far are totally lame. Do not know where they find them but I can only hope that someday the line hires a talent agent with a 'working' understanding of humor.

 

Tony Cherry was a guest singer and was very good not to mention a better comedian than those hired for that job! If you get a chance to see him, go...

 

There is a really nasty drunk playing/attempting humor on a piano in the atrium. I will not give his name but my goodness, where did they bail him out from??? He is balanced by two really good classical piano players that are top notch.

 

Oh well, enough for now. In summary, this is the best ride that Princess has given us in several years and the southern ports are much better as they are all upgrading to pull in more ships.

 

Regards!

 

p.s. If someone has a upper level contact with Princess, please tell them that serving Rassberry Venigrette as the only salad dressing for ten nights in a row is a bit weird... must have picked up a tanker load cheap someplace. nasty nasty stuff....

[bubbalu]

Thanks for the info. I'm on the Sun in January. Looking forward to the details once you get back home. :)

[spaceguy]

Good to hear your assessment of things. We just finished the repositioning from San Francisco on the Sun...

 

I see you are not a fan of the one piano player!! We had quite a few people like him on our cruise...

 

I too thought the comedians needed a little help....

 

Sound as if you are enjoying things.

[coiran]

Would that piano player be Paul Burton?

 

Ron

[Belle2002]

Who is current CD?

Belle

[wka_orlando]

Last night we had HAL Spears and broke our dry spell on comedians! He was really good and a lot more fun the the norm! Also interested to note there are a lot of good voices among the crew. Talent night had several staffers that sing as well as the headliners. The majority of the cruise staff sing like pros as well. Go figure... On our last trip, the headliners should have bought the audience drinks for the pain caused. This lot could go Vegas!

 

The direcor is Gavin Chandler and his assistant is Julie (Ausie) both are very good.

 

Have to say this has been a good ride. The Sun is a really nice ship for those who like a smaller (only 2000 passengers :-) ) ship. Sad to say the ole girl is feeling her age though. They are trying to work out a dry dock time for her asap to fix some issues and there is talk about her being retired. None of these issues show where passengers can see them (except the afore mentioned mauling by tugs). None are really interfering with her daily operations as such... Just needs tugs at each port and the sailors are nursing her a bit. Those of you planning a run on her have nothing to worry about unless they pick your week to send her to the dock. I hope they fix her and keep her around. Oddly enough, I have had a better time on her than on the Grand. Fewer people means better ops to make friends and it is less of a chore to do things. Ten day trips also tend to cut down on the number of kids and the, how shall I say it, trashy folks that think formal night is a teeshirt with a tie printed on it... Not what I pay to ride with.

 

A few minor gripes to pass back to the line.

 

For some reason, they are cutting more corners in the food dept. Hard to get juice in the buffet these days. Only offer Orange and maybe cranberry from a single pump that is always backed up or empty. No apple or tomato to be hand unless you go to the dinning room where you get a shot glass with your order... Is it really so expensive?

 

The buffet is a bit down from my last ride. OK, I guess, but not very organized in terms of getting even a glass of water. Started getting my drink before food because everything was cold by the time the single water/tea line moved. Ice cream shop, which charges.., now closes at 6pm so no after dinner use. Stayed open til 8pm last ride. The list goes on. Mostly small picky things that individually are not a bother but together are a bit disappointing. I just can't see how this is really saving them enough to be worth it...

 

On the positive, they are taking Noro-virus more seriously now... Everyone is asked to use hand sanitizor on the way into the buffet or coming in from ports. LONG OVERDUE! The public bathroom doors are locked open so you do not have to touch them. The ladies gripe because people can see them fussing with makeup in the mirrors but on a sanitary note, a GOOD IDEA. Washing hands seems to be a lost art....

 

More later!

 

WKA

 

p.s. The computers are getting worse on board. If you really need working email, consider a PDA with wireless or a small laptop. Today not even AOL or MSN are working after yet another software "Upgrade". Really wish they would dump this garbage software and get something that works....

[spaceguy]

I suspect the piano player in question is Ben.....

 

I too thought the Sun had cut back in food and services. The orange juice is okay at the buffet but the cranberry is more like Kool-Aid, can't be much juice in it.

 

We only had three choices of jam, strawberry, apricot, and orange marmalade for the 15 days.. Did they switch out yet or is that all that is being offered?

[Totally Addicted]

Ben Roberts is the piano player in the Atrium. He's a Bert Stratton wanna be but needs to sit in on Bert's gigs a bit more often! Not that I am a Bert fan.

 

The first comedian on this cruise was fabulous!! One of the funniest I've ever seen and definitely the funniest on any ship!! Unfortunately his name skips my mind at this moment!!

 

Didn't like Cherry at all! The Princess Theater show "Tribute" (to the Beatles, Beach Boys, Cher, Madonna, Rat Pack, etc.) was great!! More to our liking!! Piano Man was a great show! (Billy Joel, Elton John, etc.) We have walked out of a couple of the shows!!

 

The Internet cafe at this moment is extremely hot!!! Of course, the Internet is very slow as usual!

 

Out of here! Too hot!!

[spaceguy]

Better to have a slow day of internet on a ship at sea...than a day of fast internet at work!!

[wka_orlando]

Well tastes in comedy vary :-)

 

There are a few mechanical problems that seem to be getting a bit worse starting yesterday. Yes, the internet room has not had AC for a couple of days along with the photo galary and a few other spots. As mentioned before, they are working on some mechanical issues that I suspect went unhandled while in Alaska.

 

This is the last cruise for the current captain which will likely have some impact on things. The current one is nice enough, did not really meet him, but at the circle party, there was really nothing happening. They got a late start and said nothing. The circle rep on this ride is kind of bitchy and the whole thing was only good for a free drink... On all of the other rides, there was a presentation, pics of the new ships, new route info... usually worth going too.. this time they handed out three bottles of champs and called it a night.

 

On a positive note, since we are the first ride on the southern route this year, all of the footage for the ships video is new and from this trip. My first time paying $35 for the DVD...

 

On a interesting side note, we seem to be having some difficulty at the Cays. When they dropped anchor and launched the tenders, we were lined up nicely with the rec area. It is now an hour later and we seem to be drifting away! :-0 The tenders are following us and I just felt a rumble that feels like the anchor going up. Will have to go see, we might have pulled loose. The seas are rather rough for this spot and they might be moving us back to the right spot and try again.

 

Well, off to see this round of crew Univ... :-) The waves are really picking up and the tenders are flying...

 

later,

WKA

[Coral]

Thanks for the updates! Did they get you some more salad dressings? I loved Tribute and Piano Man - 2 of the best shows I have seen on Princess.

 

I am disappointed in some of the comments. I was on the Sun in May and while we had poor service and norovirus on the ship - I thought the ship was fine otherwise. We did not have the mechanical difficulties that your ship currently has. I had not heard of any comments about retiring her - I hope this is not true.

[Totally Addicted]

Hi!

Well the cruise is over! Mickey Finn played the last 2 nights and it was a fabulous show! I agree that Piano Man and Tribute were great shows!! And Hal Spears was great! The comedian at the first of the cruise was incredible also!! (can't remember his name!)

 

They repaired the air conditioning in the Internet Cafe. It was out only for about 24 hours.

 

All in all an incredible trip!! Dominica was our favorite island!! Hiking to Twin Waterfalls and the Emerald Pool was beautiful!!!! Swimming in the Emerald Pool and the Twin Falls amazing!! Snorkeling over the underground volcano was incredible!!

 

Snorkeling off the Catamaran in Barbados was amazing!! The Tiami afternoon trip was wonderful!! Talked with those who took the whole day with lunch and they said it was great also! They served drinks while we were swimming and walking the beach!! The boat was beautiful and we saw things snorkeling in Barbados we'd never seen before!!

 

It was rough at Princess Cays!! Lots of fun though!! This is where we noticed a big difference in the smaller ship!! There weren't many people there!! No problem getting table space where the one man band played!

 

Booked future cruises!! Can't wait to go again!!

:D

[wka_orlando]

Sorry for the long delay finishing this up but came home to some confusion.

 

Have to say we had a great cruise. The ship problems were more of a hassle to the crew than the passengers and the passenger staff were all very nice and attentive. Opionions on the performers will always very but I will say that this lot were much better than we have seen for several years.

 

As for the Southern Route... IT BEATS THE EASTERN/WESTERN ROUTES HANDS DOWN!!!! Much nicer islands with more to see and more interesting people around. Lots of private tour operators that can be used to say big bucks and the places are not as spoiled.

 

As for the Sun herself, the ole girl is holding up well but needs those repairs soon. The crew told me that they are already in work and that they were going to pull a low demand sailing to send her off for ten days of TLC to get things under control. Prob in the Bahamas... I do hope the comments I heard about her getting retired in '07 are wrong but who knows. The preference seems to be running to bigger ships but I will say that the Sun and Island have sold me on the smaller ship feel. Much more personal and lower stress.

 

As for good ole Princess management. I knew they would have to mess with us at least once to keep their reps in tact and they did on the last day. For some reason that is probably related to the mechanical issues, we docked at a different pier on our return and late. We left out of pier 2 and came back at a real dump down the road a piece... Not sure why as Pier 2 was open that day...

 

The new location had a lake for a parking lot and was very disorganized. Most folks did not have too much trouble as the airport buses were there. The folks that parked cars on the other hand were kind of screwed as they had limited and poorly considered transportation back to the correct parking garage. Have to wonder if it was a last minute change. We docked rather late, probably due to our need for tugs (no thrusters up front to dock with) and the different dock may have had something to do with that. The real hassle was the transport back to the parking. Mostly eight seat shuttle vans that really are not meant for so much luggage... A lot of pushing and shoving, no organized line which started a lot of heated exchanges between frustred passengers and the baggage handlers would not help the drivers load bags. Ten days of relaxation and folks dropped right back into the short fuse mode on the pier. My wife and I considered just sneaking back on board and going around again. :-0

 

A future suggestion to Princess that I shall post is to collect the bags and return them at the garage area after the shuttle ride rather than the mess we had to go through. Watching so many people with so many bags attempting to stuff into so few small shuttles...

 

Oh well. We had a good ride and I just sat back and let the hot heads go ahead of me... But... for the $120 it cost to park there, the port authority could have been more helpful and Princess should be telling them that...

 

For those of you considering a ride on the Sun, GO FOR IT. It is a nice ride!

None of her problems will have any effect on your trip. She have us a smooth trips and handled the one stormy day very well. (Stablizers Worked!)

 

Would suggest that you keep an eye out for which trip they cancel to repair her so you do not have your plans changed at the last minute. They should be able to do it with a single ten day drop so it will be just one booking date affected. They will need to do it soon before the tugs pound her to bits. She really did take a pounding at a couple of port. These ships were never intended to be handled like that.

 

She got a new captain this week so I am sure he will take care of it! :-)

 

Good Sailing!

WKA

[middy]

Fingers crossed that the dry docking doesn't occur 8th November.

Middy :)

[T_Bird]

Is there anyone on the Sun for this sailing?

I just checked out her webcam and saw that she is in Grenada. I am intersted to hear how you liked that port. You hear conflicting stories of "it's beautiful" or "still damaged from the hurricanes". I am eagerly awaiting your thoughts!

Thanks!

[caribbean2000]

For all you future Sun cruisers - be sure to look up and say hello to Carlos Justina, who is the asst. Matre 'd in one of the dining rooms - we got to know him when he was the head waiter on the Golden a couple of years ago and he absolutely MADE our cruise! A wonderful, funny man who is excellent at his job. He stays in contact via e-mail with quite a few people he met over his years on Princess and sends along photos of his beautiful children that he only gets to see a couple of times a year back in Portugal. Truly what cruising with Princess is all about - a wonderful man who made us feel special every time we sat down for dinner and ran into him around the ship. A credit to the company!

 

Gene in Massachusetts

 

Grand Princess 02/99

Ocean Princess 04/00

Ocean Princess 04/01

Carnival Pride 06/02

Adventure of the Seas 04/03

Golden Princess 04/04

Star Princess 04/05

...Golden Princess... 04/06!!!

[DandyCandy]

it's so nice to see a REAL review on a cruise, not just a sugar coated one.

we were also on this cruise, and have to say that the entertainment sucked for the most part EXCEPT the tribute shows. We went to the "illusionist" and people walked out. We also saw the "slinkie man". See they made such an impression on us that we don't even know their names.

We HATED princess cays! The people that work the island are rude!! And what we dont understand, is that they didn't let us off the boat for the cays until late in the morning, knowing that everyone had eaten breakfast and then close the lunch buffet on the island at 1:30. Why they couldn't close it at 2:30 i'll never know. Yes i saw the sign that said crew members needed to be back at the ship by 3 hence my 2:30 closure time.

We walked up to get something to eat along with a whole crowd of people and they let half in and then closed the rope in front of us and yelled at us about the buffet closing. No big deal, i wasn't that hungry anyways, was just going to eat out of pure BOREDOM.

 

This was our first cruise, and thought the Sun was great! Yeah if you go around the ship with a magnifying glass you will see obvious wear and tear.

 

Btw did anyone else see the shooting star that was really close to the ship when leaving port everglades? There was about 6 of us in the back of the ship who did, it was so awesome! It looked like u could just reach out and grab it!

 

Also when we were passing cuba, if anyone had gone out late that night you would have seen like a thousand birds swarming the ship! It was quite a site! They were like yellow canaries or parakeets. We stayed out there just watching them b/c the looked like swirling stars!

 

I agree about the formal nights!! People on the boards made it sound like a big whopteedo, so hubby rented a red tux to match my red dress. From the tux shop at home no less and then the formal nights came and i see all these people in smart casual. Especially the last formal night with the champagne waterfall. Then that didn't last long either, we left to go get changed since everyone else was practically in their night gowns, and when we came back it was all over with. So we hit the hot tub and pool with some new friends we had made!

 

 

Barbados was the best for us!! We did the 4wd adventure with catamaran sail and lunch which included the turtle snorkel. OMG this excursion is way worth it! The food they served was better than that at the buffet on the Sun, even ate the flying fish they served.

Dominica was our 2nd favorite! We did the ariel tram.

Our least favorite was Isla Margarita. Maybe it was the excursion we did that turned us off by it. We did the 4wd adventure and the only thing 4wd about it was the vehicle we rode in. We drove mainly around the city and the exhaust fumes were so bad it gave most everyone a headache. Then at the beach, the peddlers would not leave you alone. Even if you said no thank you to them 10 times they would still harass you. Then this one girl actually stopped to look at some of the things and before she knew it there were about 8 of them surrounding her shouting things and they just crowded her in. Felt bad for her. Our nature hike consisted of hiking about 100 feet through someone's backyard which doubled as their personal dump.

 

Our CC roll call fell through but we still managed to meet lots of people and made some really great friendships. In fact, already planning next cruise with a couple we met who got engaged on this cruise.

Loved the ship, loved the itenerary, loved the cruise and loved the experience, can't wait to go again!

 

We got lots of pics and videos which hubby is going to upload to our website. He did a walking tour of the ship b/c a lot of people were curious about the inside of the ship. Also have tons of port pics and also when we shared St. Thomas with Explorer of the seas. Will post again when it's all up so anyone who is interested can see.

[wka_orlando]

Yes,

 

They Cays were a mess. The ships mech issues bit them there as well. The seas were throwing us around a bit and giving the tender chaps a workout. When we first dropped anchor the wind started to shift the ship around and even tangeled the anchors with both twisted on the starboard side. It looked for awhile like we were drifting away from the beach until the anchors got hold of something. Can only imagine what the bottom looks like around there with all of the ships constantly digging them up with anchors. Normally they can use the thrusters to help hold position...

 

Oh well, it was still beach time and that is good. The temp was nice and the water just warm enough for fun while still cooling off. The rains held back for most of the day but there were some really dark cloads that scared most folks back to the ship. Then again, here is a plus for the smaller ships as there are fewer people to share the beach with. When the Carib Princess shows up, you can hardly find a place to stand... from the Sun, you can have as much privacy as you want.

 

As for the food... Be happy you did not get in. We all got nearly raw hamburgers that were cold and the place was full of flies. Tried to take a glass of water and tossed it after catching a strange smell from the glass.

 

We decided to just stick with the fruit table which had a nice assortment of fresh cut stuff and did not leave me feeling to stuffed to go back into the water.

 

For those of you that have not done the Cays yet, there is cheaper/better shopping behind the buildings and outside of the gate. Stuff was half the price and just as good.... We go over to that area on every trip to buy gifts as it is some of the cheapest shopping on the entire cruise.

 

later

WKA

[calikak]

As for the Sun herself, the ole girl is holding up well but needs those repairs soon. The crew told me that they are already in work and that they were going to pull a low demand sailing to send her off for ten days of TLC to get things under control. Prob in the Bahamas... I do hope the comments I heard about her getting retired in '07 are wrong but who knows. The preference seems to be running to bigger ships but I will say that the Sun and Island have sold me on the smaller ship feel. Much more personal and lower stress.

 

Let's hope they don't get rid of the Sun-class ships, at least, not until they build some new ships that size! :( I think they'd lose a lot of passengers to HAL or Celebrity if they did get rid of the smaller ships.

 

Glad to hear you all had a pretty good time on this cruise! We have friends sailing this itinerary in January and they're very excited about it. :)

[T_Bird]

Nice tip WKA - I will remember that for my next sailing! Thanks! :)

 

 

Still looking for someone on the current sailing - Saw the web cam this morning. St. Lucia looks beautiful! The Brig Unicorn ws acutally sailing past the Sun when I logged on to the web cam. Pretty cool!

 

 

For those of you that have not done the Cays yet, there is cheaper/better shopping behind the buildings and outside of the gate. Stuff was half the price and just as good.... We go over to that area on every trip to buy gifts as it is some of the cheapest shopping on the entire cruise.

 

later

WKA

[T_Bird]

Opps! My computer froze and then posted a dup when I hit refresh! Sorry!

[CrusinQueen]

Carribbean2000............................... I know him very well.

 

We first met him back in 1998 on the Grand just as he was promoted

from waiter to Head Waiter. Have sailed with him many, many times

since and each and every cruise was a memorable experience thanks to

him.

 

We are one of those passengers who still keep in touch with him via

e-mail and just yesterday received pictures of his new daughter Aimee.

We also knew his wife Nicki from when she was a bartender onboard &

they also sailed together until the babies came along.

 

We haven't seen him since he was promoted to Asst. Maitre'D but hope

to catch up with him in the future. Anyone on the Sun now or in the

near future please tell him hello from Jeanne & Mike in NJ !!!!!

[2ndsailing]

William and Anna

 

Enjoyed reading your reports on your southern cruise on the Sun. My family and I are booked on a southern cruise on the Star over New Year's. I was wondering what you did at Isla Margarita? Did you do any of the Princess excursions at the other ports you stopped at?

[T_Bird]

Good evening Sun cruisers!

I hope y'all had a better experience in Princess Cay than the folks on her previous sailing. :confused:

I look forward to hearing your reviews when you get back!

Cheers,

T-Bird

[raven22355]

We are sailing the Sun Jan 7. I am interested in hearing about any excursions thru Princess or ideas of things that can be done on your own. Everyone's ideas and thoughts thus far are great. We have never done any excursions on our own, just thru the ship, usually nice but typically pricey!

Thanks in advance