SUN PRINCESS Reviews

Overall rating: 2/5

Unfortunately, our seven-night experience on Sun Princess was a disappointment, particularly given the cost of the cruise and the expectations we had going into it.

Ship layout

The ship itself is attractive, but I found the layout very difficult to navigate. There didn't seem to be a natural flow around the ship, and we spent a surprising amount of time walking through cabin corridors simply to get from one area to another.

There were numerous dead ends, and after seven days I still felt the ship was poorly laid out. The lifts, however, worked very well throughout the cruise.

Cabin

Our cabin was very nice and we had no complaints whatsoever. It was comfortable, clean and met our expectations.

Our cabin attendant, Buela, did an excellent job of keeping our cabin clean and well serviced throughout the cruise. We were very happy with the service we received from her.

Food

Unfortunately, the food was one of the biggest disappointments.

The food at The Eatery and American Diner was very poor in our experience. Another issue was that these areas were not self-service. Food had to be served by staff, which resulted in queues building up at busy times. We found this particularly frustrating when trying to get a quick meal.

Given the reputation and price point of Princess, I expected considerably more from the overall food experience.

We did, however, enjoy the food in the Eclipse Dining Room. Unfortunately, the service was painfully slow. On one occasion, it took around two hours just to receive two courses. We eventually had to leave without having dessert, even though we had ordered it, because we had another booking for a show and simply couldn't wait any longer.

The speciality restaurants were a different story, but getting reservations at our preferred times was extremely difficult.

Crown Grill was our best dining experience, and a lot of that was down to our server, Anthony, who provided excellent service and really made the evening enjoyable.

We also enjoyed the Teppanyaki restaurant, and the meal itself was enjoyable. However, the only reservation available for our group was at 9:10pm, which was quite late. By the time dinner was finished, it was too late for us to have cocktails afterwards, which was disappointing as we had hoped to make more of an evening of it.

Drinks and bars

We had the Premium Plus Package, but unfortunately found it difficult to justify the cost.

The Irish Bar was particularly disappointing. It lacked atmosphere and table service was extremely slow, making it difficult to get drinks ordered.

The Good Spirits Cocktail Bar was one of the bars we enjoyed, but it was very easy to miss due to its location. We felt it would benefit from being in a more prominent and accessible position. Unfortunately, it also closed at 11:30pm, which seemed far too early for a cruise ship.

The two-drink ordering restriction was also very frustrating when travelling as a group of friends. If my partner and I were in different areas of the ship and drinks were ordered close together, the account could temporarily be blocked for around 10 minutes. This was particularly inconvenient when socialising as a group.

Overall, we felt the Premium Plus Package was difficult to justify because of the restrictions and the slow service. There was also a general feeling that the evening atmosphere was geared towards getting passengers to bed early rather than encouraging people to stay out and enjoy the ship.

Entertainment

For us, this was probably the biggest disappointment of the cruise.

The level of entertainment fell well below what our group expected from a Princess cruise. There simply wasn't enough going on in the evenings to keep us entertained, and we felt this significantly affected the overall experience.

One show we did really enjoy was Spellbound by Magic Castle. It was an excellent show and was definitely a highlight for us. However, it came at an additional cost of $45 per person, which we felt was quite expensive given the overall cost of the cruise.

Lido Deck and pool areas

The Lido Deck was very busy, particularly on sea days. The food in this area was actually good, but the level of service suffered because of the number of passengers.

I feel the Lido area needs considerably more staff on sea days.

The pool area on Deck 8 was enjoyable, although finding a lounger on sea days was difficult because of how busy it became.

Staff

Generally, the staff were fine and we had no major complaints. There were certainly individuals who provided excellent service, with Buela and Anthony at Crown Grill being particular standouts.

Ports

The port stops were fine and we had no complaints about them.

Other issues

One experience particularly frustrated us.

At around 4:00am, we were woken by an announcement being broadcast directly into our cabin while the ship was trying to locate a missing passenger. I completely understand that a missing passenger is a serious situation, but I felt that broadcasting the announcement loudly into every cabin at 4am was extremely disruptive, particularly on a holiday where passengers have paid a significant amount of money for their accommodation.

What made this worse was that, from our perspective, there was no apology afterwards for the disruption.

There was also a medical evacuation on Day 2. Obviously, medical emergencies are unpredictable and I don't want to criticise the crew for something outside their control. However, from what we witnessed, the evacuation appeared to be extremely slow. It took three attempts to get the patient onto the rescue boat, along with their belongings, and the whole process seemed to take a considerable amount of time given the nature of an emergency.

Final thoughts

Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend Princess Cruises based on this experience, and I don't currently see myself booking another Princess cruise.

For the amount of money we spent, I expected a much higher standard of food, entertainment and overall experience.

There was also a general feeling throughout the cruise that there were too many restrictions and cost-saving measures in place — particularly around drinks, restaurant availability and evening entertainment. Rather than feeling like we were being encouraged to enjoy the ship, at times it felt as though there were too many barriers to doing so.

There were positives: our cabin was excellent, Buela kept it exceptionally well serviced, the lifts worked well, we enjoyed the food in the Eclipse Dining Room, Crown Grill was very good, Spellbound was an excellent show, and the port stops were enjoyable.

However, these positives weren't enough to outweigh the overall experience.

Overall: 2/5.

For us, Sun Princess was a disappointment and, given the expense of the holiday, a frustrating experience.