Sailing on the Sun Princess

Ship tip

The newest ship in the Princess Sphere class is the Sun Princess. My husband and I were on the Sun’s second voyage in an extended balcony stateroom. I’ll take you through the ship, sharing what we liked and didn’t like about the ship itself, the food, drinks, entertainment, and more. We embarked in Barcelona and once we were through the metal detector we received our medallions and were asked to take a seat in the waiting area where we browsed the shops, and we found a few souvenirs for our daughter. We entered the Piazza near Coffee Currents on deck 7, looked around for a few minutes before making our way to our stateroom to put down our carry-on items and decided to tour the ship. Our first stop was to the Spa, and I booked a treatment for myself, and my husband and I booked a couples massage before returning to the Piazza for the party where a DJ played great music and we got to know some of our fellow cruisers from Ireland. One thing on the ship I really liked was the elevator system. Instead of pushing the up or down button as we’re accustomed to, you pressed the deck you wanted to go to and then it directed you to the most convenient lift (labeled A – F) with a little arrow letting you know where it was whether it was to your left, right, or one of the three behind you. Instead of everyone crowding into one car, it dispersed the crowd into separate cars and made the ride go faster. I hope more ships start implementing this. The Princess Plus or Premier packages are worth every penny, especially if you order via the app – more on this below. We had the plus package and with that we could enjoy any drink ($15 or less), specialty coffees, hot chocolates, the juice bar (though we never found it). It also included crew appreciation (i.e. tips), two casual meals per sailing, two premium desserts per day, along with two fitness classes. And we each had free Wi-Fi on our phones. You’re going to use these anyway so make sure you choose one of these packages as the savings are well worth it. Let’s look at what I liked and disliked about the ship itself, starting with our stateroom. We had an extended balcony on the port side and there was plenty of room for my husband and I to move around and not bump into each other. Depending on the layout of the room, some have the couch closer to the bathroom and the bed closer to the balcony, and other rooms have this flipped. Our bed was next to the balcony which was convenient for getting up to look at the port, or any passing islands. However, the bed was a tad too firm. The mini fridge was large enough to hold a couple of small saucers with a slice of cheesecake (it was amazing!), muffin or croissant, but it was too small to hold anything larger. The bathroom was plenty large enough for both of us. Ladies, the shower has a raised bar that makes shaving your legs easier! The food in the Horizon’s Dining Room (we ate on deck 6) the first night was phenomenal. We ate at 7:00 PM and we didn’t leave Barcelona until the appetizers came because they were waiting to be refueled; however, because the ship uses liquid nitrogen gas, the captain announced we had plenty of fuel for our 10-day cruise and we were getting underway. I had the salmon, and my husband had the New York Strip – both were cooked perfectly. This was also our anniversary and they brought us a cake and some of the wait staff sang to us. The service was not the best – my husband asked for a glass of merlot with his steak, though it never came, in addition to a few other missteps. We sat in a different section the next night and we sat there the remainder of our trip. The wait staff we had were much better. However, the food in the Horizons Dining Room was okay at best. Nothing stood out until the second formal night on our last sea day, which was better than it had been the preceding week. We tried The Eatery (buffet); however, other than some rolls and fruit, the staff put your food on your plate and handed it to you – and they had the same food on either side. We had egg-white omelets one morning and French toast and pancakes on another day. My husband could only eat the blueberries out of the pancakes, though the French Toast was good. Other than a few desserts (cherry crumble, cheesecake, and bread pudding) nothing really stood out. All the apple desserts were way too sweet for our tastes. We were able to have dinner in The Catch by Rudi and this was a great experience. It’s a three-course meal and for our appetizers I got the shrimp on the rocks and my husband enjoyed the calamari. The entrees were delicious (halibut for me, surf-n-turf for my hubby), and the desserts were rich and flavorful, though we weren’t able to finish them. If you have the opportunity to spoil yourself one evening on board, do visit The Catch by Rudi. My favorite place to eat on board was Lido Greens – they made the best salads as I ordered them. Pristine blue skies, the Mediterranean Sea passing by several decks below, a gentle breeze lessens the intensity of the sun, and off in the distance the sea and sky blend together on the horizon – that is the best way to enjoy a fresh salad. I also recommend getting the Plus or Premier package because the fee for using OceanNow is waived, and you get unlimited room service. We sat in the dome one afternoon and ordered lunch through the Princess app and the waiter arrived a little bit later with our burgers – I’m a fan of the veggie burger! I have to say, we were rather disappointed that there were no productions or stage shows in the Princess Arena other than someone playing music each night and we didn’t venture into the arena – though my colleagues did go, and they all said it was okay, at best. Which brings me to the onboard entertainment. There wasn’t much beyond the movies under the stars – awesome seeing Dirty Dancing playing – which we saw as we went up to the Lido Deck for a slice of pizza one night. They had a different game and dance party most nights in the Piazza, but other than watching for a few minutes, it was not our vibe. As for the Piazza itself, deck 7 is the main deck, the floor where they played games or bands performed, and it covered three decks up to deck 9 with places to eat and drink on each floor. Frankly, it wasn’t anything special and a tad underwhelming, in my opinion. The International Café on deck 9 is open 24/7 and a great place to grab a pastry and something to drink. As for the ports, I’ll share a brief anecdote on each place we visited. Mallorca, Spain. Mallorca, an island off the coast of Spain, was nice and there was a bus we took a few miles away into town where we took photos and walked up and down a street buying souvenirs. The fort that was adjacent to the port was beautiful – and still had canons aiming out to the sea. Messina, Italy. Messina is a town on the island of Sicily. We hopped on an open-air bus for a tour of the town and learned about the churches which were rebuilt after the earthquake of 1908. We took several picturesque photos, and my husband got rather soaked when a deluge came in and soaked his jeans! We had shared a pizza in a small café which was so-so (the pizza onboard was better than what we had on land, which was a tad disappointing). Athens, Greece. The port is Piraeus a few miles from the city of Athens. We made the mistake of taking a taxi to the Acropolis. If you do not book any excursions while in Athens, I recommend taking a taxi to the metro station in Piraeus and then hopping on a train which will take you to the main terminal in Athens a few blocks from the Old Parliament House, and then it’s a 15–20-minute walk uphill to the Acropolis. A roundtrip on the train cost 6.40-Euro, whereas the one-way taxi ride cost us 35-Euro and he didn’t take credit cards. Once off the train back in Piraeus we walked back to the ship and stopped at several bakeries along the way for our new favorite pastry….. When you are in Greece you have to have the Spanakopita – spinach and feta inside phyllo dough (with melted butter on top) served warm. It is beyond delicious, and very affordable – under 3.20 Euro. Kusadasi, Turkey. This is in Western Turkey and very close to Ephesus. There are several shops just off the ship where you can find souvenirs; however, prepare to be hounded to buy their goods – so much so that it quickly becomes annoying – so look for the shops with a sign saying, “no hassling.” Crete, Greece. We were supposed to visit Santorini; however, they swapped this for Crete and gave each passenger $50 onboard credit. Princess provided free buses into town where we walked around. This was our favorite port to this point and yes, we enjoyed more Spanakopita, and a few other pastries! Naples, Italy. I highly recommend you do the walking food tasting excursion – it’s worth every penny! We learned about the various castles in Naples, the former Royal Palace – now a museum – as well as the opera house where Mozart once performed (my husband loves his music). Our first stop we got to enjoy Sfogliatelle (Safoia-tella) and espresso. I made sure to buy a few more pastries before getting back on board! Very yummy! We next had lunch at a small café and the pizza was good (just a rung under what they had onboard) as was the wine which they sold for 10 Euro per bottle – hard pass for me on the limoncello, though my husband drank it. Our tour ended at a small gelato place that was amazing. If I could describe Naples in a word: Fabulous! Civitavecchia, Italy was where we disembarked and due to our flight’s time we weren’t able to see any of the sites, other than what we saw on our ride to Leonardo di Vinci Airport. If you must disembark and get to the airport, I recommend you book a transfer to the airport with Princess. We didn’t and had to take a Taxi van with a few other cruisers and despite several vans being there and not in use, we had to wait well over an hour before leaving – they only accepted cash. The hits on the Sun Princess included the space in our stateroom (sans the firmness of the mattress), the Medallion and Princess Plus package, the salads and pizza on the Lido deck, and The Catch by Rudi. I also want to add the Spa – my husband enjoyed his first ever massage! And the staff we met were first class. The misses: a lack of onboard entertainment – the mechanical zip line was inoperable – no clear direction on where the juice bar was (we asked and no one gave clear directions), the Piazza (other than being able to look out and see the sea and ports), and one big miss from my husband: their Mint Juleps (for some odd reason they felt the need to add club soda, which is never a part of the drink – he’s from Kentucky and knows the recipe). Once he pointed this out, they made it correctly for him. Overall, I’m afraid the misses outweigh the hits. That being said, we’re open to taking another cruise with Princess, but on a different ship. The Sun Princess fell short of the hype surrounding its launch and it came in with a solid C-minus.