Sun Princess - Original

[chamima]

20 minutes ago, cruisedoctor said:

@vividharp The pasta making kitchen (see photos below) is outside of the entrance to Sabatini’s.

 

 

They had a room like this outside of Alfredos on the Sapphire.

(Which, BTW, is looking better and better the more I see of the Sun)

[eroller]

I’m just amazed that even with two cruises canceled (last minute) that so much is incomplete on SUN PRINCESS.  It’s obvious this ship was nowhere near ready from a passenger service standpoint, let alone technically.  
 

Meanwhile ICON was 99% complete and ready to go with all entertainment when the first pax stepped onboard.  The next ship is even going to be delivered early.  
 

Clearly some differences in the way these two lines handle new builds. 
 

 

Edited March 6 by eroller

[PrincessLuver]

1 hour ago, dides said:

 

 

 

 

Definitely part of the entertainment is going to be watching people getting into these seats

[dog]

28 minutes ago, eroller said:

I’m just amazed that even with two cruises canceled (last minute) that so much is incomplete on SUN PRINCESS.  It’s obvious this ship was nowhere near ready from a passenger service standpoint, let alone technically.  
 

Meanwhile ICON was 99% complete and ready to go with all entertainment when the first pax stepped onboard.  The next ship is even going to be delivered early.  
 

Clearly some differences in the way these two lines handle new builds. 
 

 

Yes!

Agree!

3 of my family members disembarked on Saturday from the ICON. They are well travelled, had a blast.  I asked for photos and was sent a video of my teen gd with a hard hat on, strapped to something, walking on Crown Edge, I believe it is called. Not my kind of cruise, but they would have been very disappointed had they booked the SUN. It is STILL not ready for passengers. Princess has let a lot of people down in many ways. And now We Canadians seem to be blocked from booking online.

[eroller]

9 minutes ago, dog said:

Yes!

Agree!

3 of my family members disembarked on Saturday from the ICON. They are well travelled, had a blast.  I asked for photos and was sent a video of my teen gd with a hard hat on, strapped to something, walking on Crown Edge, I believe it is called. Not my kind of cruise, but they would have been very disappointed had they booked the SUN. It is STILL not ready for passengers. Princess has let a lot of people down in many ways. And now We Canadians seem to be blocked from booking online.

 

I’m just really disappointed with Princess.  They majorly screwed up the most anticipated new build they have introduced in years.  I feel most of it could have been prevented with better coordination with the shipyard, better advanced planning (knowing this is a prototype ship), and better communication with their customers.  Complete fail.  

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, eroller said:

I’m just amazed that even with two cruises canceled (last minute) that so much is incomplete on SUN PRINCESS.  It’s obvious this ship was nowhere near ready from a passenger service standpoint, let alone technically

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, let’s see what the early reviews here on CC are after the first wave of guests gets off. IMO, Princess took a big gamble sailing with much of its new “groundbreaking, spectacular, never-before-seen” features non-operational. It had a choice of cancelling more cruises (probably no fewer than 2) or sailing with apologies. A no win situation. If early reviews are devastating, they chose wrong as first impressions last forever. If early reviews are largely forgiving, they chose right. We will know soon. 

[eroller]

3 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, let’s see what the early reviews here on CC are after the first wave of guests gets off. IMO, Princess took a big gamble sailing with much of its new “groundbreaking, spectacular, never-before-seen” features non-operational. It had a choice of cancelling more cruises (probably no fewer than 2) or sailing with apologies. A no win situation. If early reviews are devastating, they chose wrong as first impressions last forever. If early reviews are largely forgiving, they chose right. We will know soon. 

 

What’s done is done now.  I just feel it could have all been avoided per my previous post.  Really poor planning on the part of Princess and a big fail. They really miscalculated the readiness of this ship, even with their own employees at the shipyard for the entire build.  

[Globaler]

3 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, let’s see what the early reviews here on CC are after the first wave of guests gets off. IMO, Princess took a big gamble sailing with much of its new “groundbreaking, spectacular, never-before-seen” features non-operational. It had a choice of cancelling more cruises (probably no fewer than 2) or sailing with apologies. A no win situation. If early reviews are devastating, they chose wrong as first impressions last forever. If early reviews are largely forgiving, they chose right. We will know soon. 

Well it for sure guaranteed that I’ll never sail the first month or maybe a little longer on a new ship. Always good to let The kinks get worked out!

[Mom2N3]

2 hours ago, Joe Gib said:

Please. The first two groups of 4200 were flatly cancelled, ours was announced 4 days ahead…… 

Yes.  Princess isn’t doing jack for anyone sailing (or attempting to sail) on the Sun Princess.  

[JimmyVWine]

3 minutes ago, Globaler said:

Well it for sure guaranteed that I’ll never sail the first month or maybe a little longer on a new ship. Always good to let The kinks get worked out!

Funny (not funny) story. Back in 1997 my sister-in-law was a Disney TA. She urged me to book a cruise on their brand new Disney Magic scheduled to set sail in April, 1998.  I figured that I would throw her some business, but I didn’t want anything to do with the first several cruises of a brand new ship on a brand new line. (I’m not counting the Big Red Boat as being a predecessor.). So I booked for the first week of August thinking that this would be enough time to for shakedown issues. After a lengthy delay in launching, our cruise proved to be the second for that ship. Not saying that Sun needed 4 extra month’s lead time. But certainly one would have been a good idea. 

[Mom2N3]

1 hour ago, eroller said:

I’m just amazed that even with two cruises canceled (last minute) that so much is incomplete on SUN PRINCESS.  It’s obvious this ship was nowhere near ready from a passenger service standpoint, let alone technically.  
 

Meanwhile ICON was 99% complete and ready to go with all entertainment when the first pax stepped onboard.  The next ship is even going to be delivered early.  
 

Clearly some differences in the way these two lines handle new builds. 
 

 

Meanwhile, legions of Princess die hards are telling the affected passengers how to feel, that they’re just a bunch of negative Nancy’s, and how blessed they should all feel for the privilege of Princess screwing them over.

 

Glad some of you get it…they cancelled 2 cruises buying themselves almost an extra month…the people on what became the inaugural cruise didn’t book on the inaugural cruise.  NONE of the elements that were promoted for the past couple of years (Arena & Dome shows, Park 19 Spellbound, Love by Britto) are operational.  And they have taken minimal responsibility for not delivering on the experiences customers paid for and offered shockingly little in exchange to both the cancelled cruisers and the ones on this unfinished ship.

[Globaler]

4 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Funny (not funny) story. Back in 1997 my sister-in-law was a Disney TA. She urged me to book a cruise on their brand new Disney Magic scheduled to set sail in April, 1998.  I figured that I would throw her some business, but I didn’t want anything to do with the first several cruises of a brand new ship on a brand new line. (I’m not counting the Big Red Boat as being a predecessor.). So I booked for the first week of August thinking that this would be enough time to for shakedown issues. After a lengthy delay in launching, our cruise proved to be the second for that ship. Not saying that Sun needed 4 extra month’s lead time. But certainly one would have been a good idea. 

I hope Princess gets it together cause I’m on the 6/8 sailing!

[JimmyVWine]

Just now, Globaler said:

I hope Princess gets it together cause I’m on the 6/8 sailing!

I’m holding off until September!

[Globaler]

1 minute ago, JimmyVWine said:

I’m holding off until September!

 By sailing when they did with a lot not operational they really upped the pressure on themselves. Each cruise will create a new expectation based on reviews and bad reviews will impact sales.

[eroller]

17 minutes ago, Mom2N3 said:

Meanwhile, legions of Princess die hards are telling the affected passengers how to feel, that they’re just a bunch of negative Nancy’s, and how blessed they should all feel for the privilege of Princess screwing them over.

 

Glad some of you get it…they cancelled 2 cruises buying themselves almost an extra month…the people on what became the inaugural cruise didn’t book on the inaugural cruise.  NONE of the elements that were promoted for the past couple of years (Arena & Dome shows, Park 19 Spellbound, Love by Britto) are operational.  And they have taken minimal responsibility for not delivering on the experiences customers paid for and offered shockingly little in exchange to both the cancelled cruisers and the ones on this unfinished ship.

 

I’m in 100% agreement!  
 

I’ll also add I’ve sailed on quite a few inaugural sailings on various cruise lines.  Yes things are generally not perfect and that can be part of the excitement, but none have been the debacle of SUN PRINCESS.  Even with a few extra weeks to prepare they can’t get it together.  
 

Also not fair to those onboard now who are the guinea pigs not receiving a whole product but paying full price.  They never anticipated being the first.  

Edited March 6 by eroller

[h20skibum]

2 hours ago, eroller said:

I’m just amazed that even with two cruises canceled (last minute) that so much is incomplete on SUN PRINCESS.  It’s obvious this ship was nowhere near ready from a passenger service standpoint, let alone technically.  
 

Meanwhile ICON was 99% complete and ready to go with all entertainment when the first pax stepped onboard.  The next ship is even going to be delivered early.  
 

Clearly some differences in the way these two lines handle new builds. 
 

 

I saw that today, so now I guess I will be on the 5th sailing of it, instead of the 4th.  Everything should be at 100% by then, and I hope everything is at 100% when we sail on Sun.

 

Of course, they have had lots of practice with Oasis class, so there should be no problems.

Edited March 6 by h20skibum

[eroller]

8 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

I saw that today, so now I guess I will be on the 5th sailing of it, instead of the 4th.  Everything should be at 100% by then, and I hope everything is at 100% when we sail on Sun.

 

Of course, they have had lots of practice with Oasis class, so there should be no problems.

 

I wish you luck and hope everything is perfect for your cruise.  
 

ICON was a prototype design just like SUN PRINCESS, and its introduction was flawless.  Royal built in tons of buffer time which Princess should have done.  

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

I thought I read somewhere that those aft elevators were special for suites. Don’t know where I saw that so don’t slam me. It could easily be done with the medallion but not restrict people if they are with suite people. 
 

Anyone else see this?

 

I get on April 8th and will take lots of notes and pics. Probably won’t report back until get home. You won’t see anything from the Arena as I don’t go to the shows but will try to report back on other things (except the buffet!).

[Host CJSKIDS]

@Sox Fan Cruiser looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the ship.  Hope you have a great time!

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Maybe I’ve missed it but I haven’t read any posts about the OceanNow delivery.  Is that working? 

[dides]

4 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

I thought I read somewhere that those aft elevators were special for suites. Don’t know where I saw that so don’t slam me. It could easily be done with the medallion but not restrict people if they are with suite people. 
 

Anyone else see this?

They are are open to everyone although don't know if there are some of the upper decks that are restricted to suite passengers. There are accessible cabins in the middle aft on decks 10 to 14 so these will need access to a set of elevators. The passenger who took the pictures has a cabin near the end of deck 10 aft and didn't realise they were there before

 

Edited March 6 by dides

[Jemnibabe02]

11 hours ago, PrincessLuver said:

 

Definitely part of the entertainment is going to be watching people getting into these seats

Is there a dedicated handicap area and where might it be?

[LEtue]

11 hours ago, Globaler said:

I hope Princess gets it together cause I’m on the 6/8 sailing!

Thinking the same!  See you on board 🙂

[dides]

1 hour ago, Jemnibabe02 said:

Is there a dedicated handicap area and where might it be?

Not sure, it looks like only the front rows have those end seats with arms that go up for accessible use - they had a lot more of these in the Royal class version but then the design allowed for that.

 

[partybarbie]

We’re also waiting until September to sail on the Sun. Our main reason for booking this ship is to experience the new shows and venues. We’re going to have eight straight days at sea. I would expect everything to be operational by then.