Had it's ups and downs
Sun Princess Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 5
Helpful Votes: 77
20 Night The Best Of The Mediterranean (Rome Roundtrip)
Sail date: March 19, 2024
Ship: Sun Princess
Cabin type: Suite
Cabin number: 09204
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 1 month ago
Review summary
Sun Princess staff was phenomenal and food in Reserve Dining Outstanding. Entertainment/Shows and venue size was limited and lacking.Embarkation
Company contracted by Princess for transfers failed to have sufficient busses for transfers. Many waited 3-4 hrs for a bus. Large luggage was placed in a semi-truck while carry-on's had to go with us on the bus. After arriving at the port, we were required to stand in a long line to drop-off our carry-ons; another to go through security and finally another to check-in before boarding.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We dined in the Reserve Dining for Reserve Class bookings. No reservation's required, we were always seated quickly and the staff was outstanding, knowledgeable, entertaining and the food excellent. However, we did notice the lines for the main dining room were always long and many of those dining in the main dining room complained about the line and waiting time.
Onboard Activities
Was too cold for pool deck activities. The Piazza activities were often lacking or inappropriate. Paper Airplane flying contests, face painting and children's games might have been acceptable during the day, but definitely not after 6:00p Trivia challenges mostly in the Princess live lounge were fun, but many of the crew staff vs cruisers challenges in the Piazza (a version of beer pong, ball darts, etc.) were boring and often too long and too many children allowed to play, particularly in the pre and after dinner activities. (Children should play with other children in the child/teen activity rooms.
Entertainment
The stage (ARENA) production shows were non existent until the last night and they made do with other cruise entertainers. A violinist duo was nice, but not appropriate for a major stage production. We found only one duo (Ilsa Sandoval Duo) playing around various ship venues that was outstanding. The rest we found mostly mediocre. The only dancing venue (other than for lessons) was in the Piazza and even there the did lessons before allowing free dancing. The Princess live lounge has a large stage but the public is not allowed on it...so no dancing there. Lastly, the Dome and Spellbound were not open to cruisers. Tickets to watch a Dome rehearsal were made available only to Elite and Main Suite cruisers towards the end of our cruise. The same for Spellbound....opportunity to purchase reservations were only provided to VIP/Elite and Presidential/Skyview suite cruisers.
Children's Programs
No children, and there were many activities (& participation) more appropriate for children in the main Piazza area . These should have been limited to the Children's programs in their designated areas.
Service and Staff
Our cabin steward was excellent. Always available when needed but never hovering. Took care of our needs immediately. The staff in the Reserve Dining area were outstanding...from the restaurant & section Maitre d's to the wait staff and Wine Somalia. They were friendly, knowledgeable about their recommendations and a pleasure to deal with.
Ship Quality
Many venues (Live Lounge, Arena, Dome) were too small for the number of people wanting to attend. The crooner's lounge is out in the open by the main Piazza area and not conducive to actually listening and enjoying the entertainers. The main Piazza rises through 3 decks but seating on the upper decks is limited and viewing of activities on the main floor is limited or non existent from some seating areas.
Cabin / Stateroom
The cabin was maintained flawlessly, but the cabana suites were poorly designed. The balcony area is large, but an 8 ft, blue-tinted glass ruins the view. (This is true on many decks, including pool decks as well.) The bathrooms are extremely small...length is acceptable, but the width is limited and even I (5/3" at 125lbs) had difficulty moving/washing my hair without hitting walls. Worse, you couldn't shut the shower door once exiting without standing in the small space beside the toilet first. (Large folks had to step out of the bathroom to shut the shower door.) Two people could not fit in the bathroom at the same time. Even worse, the bathroom was off the entry hall directly across from the closets and drawers. The bathroom door could not be opened if someone was retrieving something from the closet/drawers and vice versa. The cabana area was a nice thought, but a wasted area in cooler temperatures. Worse, while we had a private cabana off the main room which lead to our balcony, many cabana suites had balconies that led to a large shared cabana space. As such you had no privacy on your balcony.
Ship tip
Book a cabana class suite, but make sure you have a private cabana/balcony, so you can avoid the main dining room and dine in the Reserve Collection Dining room,. It's much better than the main dining. Avoid the Eatery (the buffet area)...It's very limited in choices and NEVER changes.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy Did not visit port
Not enough time considering how late we got to the ship. Rome is an hour from the port and we didn't want to spend two hours driving to visit Rome since we plan on going back for a land tour next year.
If you don't mind an hour drive, take an excursion Taormina. If you prefer a shorter bus excursion, try the Godfather tour (the places where they filmed Michael and Apolonia in Sicily). Messina is nice but we arrived early and many shops were still closed. If you don't have an excursion planned, don't be in a hurry to disembark here. Go a little later, then enjoy the church and the cafes. Have a cappucino and a canoli. (Might want to consider sharing one of those. The place we enjoyed ours made them huge.
If you don't want to do an excursion, you can walk to Old Town (about 30+ minute), but it's a nice walk along the water front. Old Town has many tavernas/restaurants and shops/market places. If you stay long enough, you might even catch some music and Greek dancers in the square.
The town of Oia (pronounced EE yah) is the place to go. However, if you don't do an excursion, you might have trouble getting there. Ships are anchored off shore, with Island tenders providing transport to the Island. Those with excursions are taken to a different port on the other side of the Island where buses take them up the mountain to Oia. Those without excursions are tendered to the small port directly across from where the ship is anchored. ALL tender returns to the ship are from this port. From this port, there are only 3 ways up to Oia. 1. Donkey ride up the 586 steps and smell like one by the time you get there; 2. Walk up the 586 steps (where the donkeys leave their droppings, the smell is awful and the steps can be slippery in those places) or 3. Ride the cable care up....but beware, it only holds 36 people per trip and the lines are 2+ hrs long. The only way back down is walking or the cable car. Be forewarned, you are now competing with the donkey riders and the people who took excursions coming back down to the port so waits may be even longer. We didn't do an excursion and chose to walk only a part way up to Oia for some closer pictures and spend the rest of our time at the port area. There are a few shops to purchase souvenirs and a charming portside taverna with some good Greek wine (or beer), delicious fresh calamari, the best Kalamata Olives I've ever eaten and many other excellent choices to choose from. (But be prepared...it's not the cheapest...Santorini is expensive.)
Recommend booking an excursion to Ephesus. While there are plenty of shops right off the port, the vendors will harass you to enter their shops (worse than the caribbean). (NOTE: You will find the same at the end of the excursion that include a visit to and demonstration of, how Turkish rugs are made as you have an opportunity to shop after.
If you want to go INSIDE the Acropolis/Parthenon, I suggest you purchase an excursion that includes tickets. The lines to purchase tickets are extremely long (possibly an hour or more) as are the lines to get in once you have your ticket. I can only assume they only let so many people in at a time. Athens was a disappointment. Every building (and even some statues) were COVERED in graffiti. Worse, traffic is so bad that the hop-on/hop-off buses took forever to get from one point to the next. You can get the City hop-on/hop-off from the main hub at the Acropolis. However, these busses only go in one direction and from the Acropolis, it goes directly to stop A-5. The Plaka, (the main square/market place for shopping, tavernas, etc) is A2. You have to ride the entire route before getting there. There are some stops that are within a block or two from the Plaka. If you're not doing an excursion and wish to see the Acropolis and visit the Plaka, save yourself some time and check the stopping points that are within a few blocks of the Plaka and get off there and walk to it. You'll have more time to enjoy it.
We decided to take an excursion to Sorrento. It included a bus trip with some stopping points for photo opportunities along the way (no getting off the bus). A couple of free hours in Sorrento for shopping and enjoying the cafes; and a visit to a winery for tasting of five different wines along with some little tapas to go with the tasting. This excursion was fabulous. Sorrento is beautiful. (Highly recommend you try a Sfogliatella di Pistachio...it was delicious.) We were also surprised with a visit to a Limoncello factory and tastings with a short time to shop in their store as well. We visited the Lacrima di Christo Winery, privately owned by the Russo family, who graciously decided to offer us lunch. The wine was free poured (not just a taste) and we were treated to bread with their own olive oil and balsamic vinegrette, then huge individual antipasto plates (and more wine) followed by fresh homemade pasta and tomato sauce made fresh with their own grown tomatoes (more wine) and a lovely desert (with more wine). Needless to say, it was well worth the money.
Gibraltar was nothing like I expected. A U.K territory on the Spanish peninsular, it has a very cosmopolitan feel. You will hear British accents and well as Spanish spoken. The town is clean and a mix of old world and modern. A beautiful square with plenty of shops and cafe's is within walking distance and it is a very pleasant walk. You can also opt for an excursion to the top of the Rock and see the monkeys...the only wild monkeys in Europe.
Beautiful. Very old world. The architecture is gorgeous and their is an excavated ruin of an authentic Roman theatre. I highly suggest a walking excursion that includes food. The longer one takes you to the Roman theatre with express entrance and stops at five different bars/restaurants for your choice of wine, beer, coffee or sodas along with that locations specialty tapa. A shorter one includes a guided walk to a market place where your are guided in selecting produce, seafood, etc then after the purchase is made you walk to a restaurant which takes your purchases and makes a delicious Paella for you to lunch on. This is only a 2 hour excursion and leaves you with plenty of time on your own in Cartagena.
Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands
Be sure where your ship is docking. We were told by many crew members that the main part of town is right off the dock and it can be walked easily. Much to our dismay, we learned that our ship docked in a port much further away. (2 hr walk). We did enjoy the coastal views and a visit to Castillo de San Marco (which also served as a fort during WWI. Lots of artifacts and information in the various rooms from both eras and it's all free. Suggestion an excursion (taxi or bus) if you want to go to the main part of town.
Excursions are recommended if you want to see the Sagrada Familia or any other sites. Lines are long for tickets. You can take a taxi, but traffic is heavy and taxis are metered by time (NOT miles). From Princess excursions you can purchase a $9/pp shuttle bus to the Bacelona's main tourist transportation center where you can then purchase a Hop-on/Hop-off bus ticket (about $30+/pp for Srs.). Be forewarned, some locations require a switch from the red line to the blue line and you may spend too much time on buses. If you opt out of excursions. From the transportation center you can walk once block to Las Ramblas, Barcelona's may hub for shopping, restaurants, cafe's and nightlife/entertainment. Las Ramblas is several blocks long and a pleasant walk. You can also take some of the side streets that lead to the Gothic area where you can enjoy the narrow streets and beautiful old architecture.
Marseille (Provence), France Did not visit port
Marseille is about an hour from the port where we docked. You can purchase excursions there or to Aix-en-Provence or the smaller towns like Luberon and Verdon Plateaus where the Lavender factories and fields are. NOTE: The lavender fields are in bloom late May and June so if you're not there during that time, probably not worth the visit.
Highly suggest an excursion. You can do one to the town of Genoa or opt for one of the smaller port towns like Rapallo, Santa Margherita and Porto Fino. We chose an excursion that included the latter three ports and loved it. Beautiful towns all and enjoyable with sufficient time on your own. Porto Fino is definitely a picturesque town for the Rich and Elite. The homes are owned by those who only visit during the season. While it does have a couple of touristy, souvenir shops, you will find mostly shops like Dolce & Gabana, Gucci, Feragamo, Louis Vitton, Prada, etc.; so unless you have deep pockets, do your souvenir, gift shopping elsewhere. There are plenty of restaurants and outdoor cafe's to enjoy the many culinary delights in each town.
La Spezia, Italy Did not visit port
As we plan on doing a land tour of Tuscany next year and will visit Pisa then, we elected to by-pass this port as it was our last day; choosing instead to relax and spend time packing so we could have our luggage out by 9:00p for our next day disembarkation.
Disembarkation
Disembarkation was quick, our luggage was easy to find and the buses were waiting to transport us to Fiumicino Airport. We didn't go through customs at the Port. That was done at the airport and some of the lines (particularly at check-in) and gate side security were long.