LIVE from the SUN Princess - 9 Mar 2024 - 10-Day Mediterranean - Second Voyage

[phabric]

8 minutes ago, IUSteve said:

 

Maybe I've misunderstood, but I thought I read somewhere that Princess had gotten rid of door hangers on Sun. I hope I'm wrong, though. 

Not everyone has the Plus/Premier packages or want to pay $5 for a room service call.  I think if the breakfast hanger is not in your cabin, ask your cabin attendant for one.

[MustangGT]

8 hours ago, CanadianBurger said:

Gloriously cool in the cabin when we returned from Pompeii. 

 

New thermostats (at least since the previous-newest ship I was on was the Majestic). It’s a touchpad, so don’t press hard. Left side is manual or auto fan speed, with the + and - controlling the manual speed. Temp on the right, along with off/on. 

You are such a wealth of information!  My husband just ordered this because, of course, he needs it! 

[MustangGT]

6 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

 

 

Beauty and the Beast

 

That was my first thought!

[IUSteve]

I apologize if this has already been discussed, but has the ship felt crowded? Is it filled to capacity? Wondering what the pools and hot tubs and bars and other venues feel like and if there are long waits, thick crowds, etc.

[GK95]

2 hours ago, CanadianBurger said:

Pompeii was amazing. We booked a private tour with a woman that has a PhD in Archeology, and is actively working a new dig in Pompeii when not giving tours. Her parents were both archeologists, and she grew up playing in the ruins. Her explanations were the most in-depth I’ve ever had on a tour of ancient ruins. Her website is https://www.elianasandretti.com/en

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for her contact info. We’ll be on the Sun Princess in the summer and my teen is fascinated with Naples, history and food. Going to look into a tour while we’re there.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

4 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

@CanadianBurger Congrats on 1,000 posts on your Sun Princess Live report! Again I hope Princess is seeing all the great information you provided on their new ship.

Congratulations! I’m post 1,001! Woot woot! 

 

Never mind, I lied.

Edited March 19 by MsSoCalCruiser

[Steelers36]

If CC took away all the posts about counting up to the 1000th, we'd probably still be back at number 937 of legitimate posts.  🤣

[KLM3164]

3 hours ago, phabric said:

What happens on the Sun, when you have press one deck and get on the elevator then decide it is the wrong deck?

You can hope that the elevator stops on the floor you want, but if it doesn’t you’ll need to exit the elevator and start over.

[nimiq]

On 3/15/2024 at 9:27 AM, CanadianBurger said:

David Meyer, the entertainment in The Arena, was amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s built his own xylophone synthesizer, or xylosynth. I put made an edit of some of his pieces.
 

 

 

 

Not sure how long that was but seriously not my thing had just enough with that short video and also had to laugh at the guy sitting in the second row texting on his phone probably bored like I would be. 😂.

[CanadianBurger]

5 hours ago, phabric said:

I read for the Sun elevator, you press the deck you want and the number of people wanting that deck.

 

Sometimes on the other ships, I press one deck then decide I had pressed the wrong deck.

 

What happens on the Sun, when you have press one deck and get on the elevator then decide it is the wrong deck?

Notwithstanding the buttons left on that once, there’s no way to choose another deck once you’re in the elevator. The display shows what decks the elevator will stop at. 
 

I must say, the elevator system has been much more efficient than on other ships. Only a couple of times has it seemed like a long wait. And no more “milk runs” of stopping at every floor. 

Edited March 19 by CanadianBurger

[CanadianBurger]

3 hours ago, IUSteve said:

I apologize if this has already been discussed, but has the ship felt crowded? Is it filled to capacity? Wondering what the pools and hot tubs and bars and other venues feel like and if there are long waits, thick crowds, etc.

The only time it’s felt crowded is trying to walk around deck 7 of the Piazza during the Captain’s Party. I think half the ship was crammed in there. Other than that, not at all. I will say that we avoid peak times for things, so maybe that helped. 

[CanadianBurger]

I finally made it to Good Spirits. It’s tucked between Princess Live and The Arena, so unless you’re going to the starboard side of the Arena on Deck 7, it’s easy to miss. I wish I’d have gone there earlier! Loved the spot. Had a Vanilla Sky, which was really fresh tasting. They said they squeeze all their juices fresh in the bar. I didn’t notice any prices on the menu, so I have no idea how much they were. The Vanilla Sky must have fit under the $15 Plus limit, since I wasn’t charged anything. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CanadianBurger]

7 hours ago, phabric said:

Not everyone has the Plus/Premier packages or want to pay $5 for a room service call.  I think if the breakfast hanger is not in your cabin, ask your cabin attendant for one.

I found one while cleaning up the cabin this morning. 
 

[CanadianBurger]

Our Farewell Dinner. Again, the filet was absolutely perfect. Unbelievably tender. the desserts weren’t all ours! Snapped pics

from the next table. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CanadianBurger]

I can’t rave enough about the bartenders. Junella, Joy, Marvin, Allan, and Farral have all been fantastic! 
 

 

 

[CanadianBurger]

I noticed there was a lot of pile coming off the new carpet in public areas.

 

 

[CanadianBurger]

We had a look at the Cabana mini we’re staying in for our booking in December. It’s one of the Deck 10 ones NOT one of the reserve cabins right on the cabana deck. I have to say, we may switch it for a non-cabana mini. The seating in the cabana area was not comfortable at all for lounging, and was a far cry from the nice-looking L-shaped furniture in the preview pics. The bathroom was much smaller, the shower was a foot less deep, and there was NO DRAWER.  One less closet unit, and the whole cabin felt much more cramped. I will say the balcony was MUCH bigger, and had chairs that reclined. The inside doors to the cabana don’t fold like those on deck 9. 

 

Also took pics from one that was made up. You can compare them to what I posted from ours at the beginning of the Live. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

[CanadianBurger]

Disembarkation was painless. Our car was booked for 10am, so we wandered off with no wait about 9:35. The gangway was on deck 7,  and it was a lot of ramp-walking to get to ground level. Bags were easy to find, a porter grabbed them, and the driver was waiting with a name sign. Staying in Rome for a couple of days before heading back to Canada. Still more posts coming!

[vjmatty]

33 minutes ago, CanadianBurger said:

We had a look at the Cabana mini we’re staying in for our booking in December. It’s one of the Deck 10 ones NOT one of the reserve cabins right on the cabana deck. I have to say, we may switch it for a non-cabana mini. The seating in the cabana area was not comfortable at all for lounging, and was a far cry from the nice-looking L-shaped furniture in the preview pics. The bathroom was much smaller, the shower was a foot less deep, and there was NO DRAWER.  One less closet unit, and the whole cabin felt much more cramped. I will say the balcony was MUCH bigger, and had chairs that reclined. The inside doors to the cabana don’t fold like those on deck 9. 

 

Also took pics from one that was made up. You can compare them to what I posted from ours at the beginning of the Live. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting comparison. When you say the inside doors to the cabana don’t fold as on Deck 9, do you mean the doors between the cabana and cabin, or cabana and balcony? The first promo video during the build showed a schematic where both sets of doors could be folded away so that the cabana could either extend the size of the cabin or the balcony. 

[cbfb]

1 hour ago, CanadianBurger said:

We had a look at the Cabana mini we’re staying in for our booking in December. It’s one of the Deck 10 ones NOT one of the reserve cabins right on the cabana deck. I have to say, we may switch it for a non-cabana mini. The seating in the cabana area was not comfortable at all for lounging, and was a far cry from the nice-looking L-shaped furniture in the preview pics. The bathroom was much smaller, the shower was a foot less deep, and there was NO DRAWER.  One less closet unit, and the whole cabin felt much more cramped. I will say the balcony was MUCH bigger, and had chairs that reclined. The inside doors to the cabana don’t fold like those on deck 9. 

 

Also took pics from one that was made up. You can compare them to what I posted from ours at the beginning of the Live. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Do the chairs on the balcony of a regular mini suite recline? Thinking of switching because the chairs in the deluxe balcony look very uncomfortable. Would hate to upgrade and have the same chairs! 🤣

[cr2000]

 

Incredible thread you put together, this should serve as a comphrensive resource for anyone sailing Sun Princess. I hope someone from Princess reaches out to you and offers you some type of compensation (maybe a free cruise!) for all you've done. Thanks!

[Host CJSKIDS]

3 hours ago, CanadianBurger said:

I can’t rave enough about the bartenders. Junella, Joy, Marvin, Allan, and Farral have all been fantastic! 
 

 

 

Oh I love seeing all the great bartenders, especially Junella.  I'll have to send her all of these.  

 

Thank you for all of your pictures and all of your reports.  So wonderful to see everything and hear about your experiences.  Sounds like a wonderful cruise.  

[JimmyVWine]

2 hours ago, vjmatty said:

When you say the inside doors to the cabana don’t fold as on Deck 9, do you mean the doors between the cabana and cabin, or cabana and balcony?

If you look closely at the second photo, (the one showing the balcony furniture), you will see that behind the chairs on the deck floor there are clips to hold the doors in place once they are accordion-folded.  So based on that photo, it appears that the glass doors between the balcony and the cabana definitely do fold open.  The doors between the cabana and the cabin are a standard slider.

[fishmom]

Thank you for the comparison of the Reserve Mini and the Cabana Mini.  We were originally booked in a deck 10 Cabana, but have been upgraded to Signature Mini.  Of course the Signature amenities will be great, but have been wondering ever since what might have been.  Now I totally have no regrets.  

Agree. This was the thread that all future cruisers of the SUN needed! 

[ceilidh1]

Thank you for your live - I have been following along as my teen and family friends boarded the ship today. She FaceTimed me and gave me a tour of the room and all is well so far. Her only complaint was that there was no elite/priority and it took them almost an hour to get on the ship. I believe what she meant was that was at bag drop (which she said was inside the terminal) as it sounded like once that was done it was a breeze!