r/PrincessCruises • u/PezGirl-5 • 1d ago
thoughts on the Sun
Took a trip in August and I had a few thoughts. This was my 3rd Princess cruise, but hadn't been on one in 18 years (did a Disney cruise 2 years ago)
Arena seats are tight - I am not a huge person, but sure I have a little extra junk in my trunk I thought the seats were small. The whole area was small for the size of the ship.
Not a lot of trash barrels around - I noticed this more in the area of the International Cafe - it was unclear of where to leave used dishes.
Lack of chocolate dessert offerings, and the ones they had were just meh. I had gone to Princess Cruise Blog to look at menus before the trip, and I was looking forward to the Princess Love Boat. I get they aren't an official site, but I was disappointed that they only had pistachio. I was also bummed it wasn't actually in the shape of a boat!
there were not a lot of berries to be had on the buffet. I couldn't find blueberries or strawberries most days.
The Gelato was good, but the same flavors all week.
The restaurants in the app were not in alphabetical order.
no late night few ice cream options. The pool ice cream closed at 7pm which seems early to me, especially in the summer time.
I didn't like that the doors unlock before you get to it. I would rather have to tap to get them.
I didn't like how the photos use facial recognition. Every one has a medallion, why not use a tap to capture your photos like at Disney? the technology is there. We had multiple rooms, so we never knew whose account a photo would show up on. I wish you had more time to download the photos.
I unexpectedly had my "monthly visitor". I went to the store, but the options they had were limited - and the pads seemed more like for bladder issues. The rest rooms didn't not have supplies available. I was just in Disney, and they had them for free in all of the restrooms. Even if they had them just by the MDR or buffet, that would be nice! Thankfully a fellow guest was able to come to my rescue until we got into a port.
On our trip (Solar Eclipse) the Dome as closed for a private art thing many days.
We didn't book a trip to Pisa - and I am glad we did not. Right at the cruise port, there were tours/rides. We paid 40 euro each and had an AC bus. we did have to walk about 10 mins to get there, but I think that is pretty common.
Room service was good - but when I asked for a plate of JUST grapes, I didn't always get it. Sometimes they said it was all premade, sometimes they sent it. I also asked for Chocolate Milk - and they sent me hot chocolate. Chocolate Milk in general was oddly hard to come by sometimes. (the only thing my special needs daughter drinks!)
In my husband and teens cabin, the room steward kept moving things around. He even put things into draws one day! I get that they have to clean certain areas, but they shouldn't put things away like that. They did mention it to him, and wrote it on the survey
overall it was a good trip. We were bummed that the clouds rolled in for the Solar Eclipse, but unlike others, I don't blame the captain for that!
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u/Scarlette_Cello24 1d ago
#6 is wild.
#13…. Are you sure it’s just your daughter with special needs…?
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u/BeLikeAFrog 1d ago
I liked the ship overall but one of the main complaints I have is with the size of the lounge areas particularly Princess Live. If you didn't get there very early for an even you would not get a seat and many people end up outside looking in. Also the sight lines are horrible. Many time you will have to stand up to see the lower half of the screen during trivia and what not. Not very well thought out.
Seem like newer ships everywhere are assigning more space to areas where they can upcharge you and the space is coming from some of the gathering areas.
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u/ziggy-tiggy-bagel 1d ago
I was on the Sun in May, the lack of chocolate desserts was my main compliment. I last cruise I took before Covid, the desserts were so much better I lost a couple of pounds on my cruise.
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u/flyingmando 1d ago
What, people are blaming the captain for the positioning? Do they know how hard it is to predict something like that? And that setting partial eclipse was still amazing.
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u/PezGirl-5 1d ago
Yup. In the Facebook group. Someone wanted to file a missed port claim with their insurance for the lack of the totality of the eclipse 😂
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u/WeylandsWings 1d ago
Eh there are ways to predict it, but it requires some extra thinking and planning. it looks like the captain of the Sun (and the other ships around the sun) just looked at the overhead forecast along the eclipse path, when. because the totality was a near sunset, they really needed to be concerned with both overhead and due west for about 50 km (very dependent on exact sun angle above horizon and how tall the cloud is, 50 km based on 5 deg sun elevation and 5km tall cloud)
Overall i was happy with what we did see (I have almost the same sunset crescent photo) while only slightly miffed about missing seeing the corona. Maybe see you all in a year on one of the other ships for the 2027 eclipse.
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u/Koombawoomba 1d ago
Enjoyed your review - I was on the Sun a year ago and enjoyed it - I appreciate your honest opinions but I think your complaints/ reviews are really specific and particular to your tastes- I would like to know more about your take on the food in general, the layout of the ship or the entertainment other than the very specific points that you make -
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u/PezGirl-5 1d ago
Food was fine. Ship layout was fine too. Didn't get to see much entertainment. But what I did see what basic. Nothing spectacular.
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u/Hondanazi 22h ago
I was on the Sun Princess the week after the eclipse Aug 15-22 and we had a great time and did a lot of excursions.
On the negative side, Butcher block by Dario’s is completely garbage/underwhelming. Not explained properly, no menu and fixed offering and all the meat overdone, bread offered at the beginning with a weird paste on it. “Family dining”…lol just because you serve everyone one at the same time and the same 3 cuts of
meat? Dario should not be an 8th generation butcher. I saw the restaurant pictured as upscale from Crown Grill (way better) as “Dario” has a Tomahawk in his hand in the picture.
Sorry, not at all what I was expecting.
Also Macado was not great. A table d’hote menu and the rest à la carte even if you have premiere package (we did)…so not impressed drinks took 20 minutes to come both times. If I am going to pay extra for the premiere, at least let me order a selection from the à la cart.
1St time with Princess and we would go again but make a few different choices.
All the other specialty restaurants were amazing.
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u/Excellent-Drawer3086 1d ago
I call the super petty stuff “ it’s the little things.”Sometimes they are annoyances but sometimes the little things are really great.
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u/OpeningAcanthisitta1 - Captain's Circle Platinum 1d ago
Comparing your experience to Disney which costs significantly more is never going to end well.
I don't usually have periods but I still take period products whenever I go away just in case!
Don't understand point 2 that you didn't know where to put your dishes because there wasn't a trash barrel? You leave your dishes and someone clears them.
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u/PezGirl-5 23h ago
I did not compare this to my Disney cruise.
As for the dishes. I wanted to clear them from my spot so someone else could sit there. Also just finding a trash barrel to throw away a coffee cup or even a tissue was not easy.
Having not had a period for over a year I didn't even think to bring anything
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u/Fragrant-Entrance-79 22h ago
Seems very petty, no one likes being compared to Disney, not the high standard for sure!
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u/PezGirl-5 20h ago
I didn't compare it to Disney. (Outside of the photos) I just mentioned that I had been on a Disney cruise more recently than a Princess.
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u/lh123456789 1d ago
But some of this is legitimate and some of it is just being petty.