Sun Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Sun Princess has the potential to be a great ship once it gets all venues up and running. If you need a basic cruise vacation in the Mediterranean for relaxation, then you can enjoy this ship especially on the pool decks. I've had better menu variety in dining rooms on other cruise lines but it was still enjoyable on Sun Princess. Lido Slice had the best pizza. Gelateria was disappointing. Gelato was rock hard frozen on the day I had it. The bars were great and the service from the crew make up for whatever you might find is lacking on the ship. The only major downside for me was the poor air ventilation in the casino with smoke drifting outside of the casino at times. Princess needs to either improve the air circulation so smoke can dissipate faster in the casino or give smokers a lounge to hang out.

To be fair to guests for the lack of entertainments, for missing promised high end activities and amenities, for charging unusual high cost for pier transits, high cost excursions, lack of food quality control, Sun princess should partially refund money to guests to compensate for their disappointments.

Fantastic itinerary on a new ship. Ship: a new ship with some initial glitches. the Sun is so beautiful, that it was easy to look past the not ready elements. I was disappointed by the amount of space given over to up-charge elements; including specialty dining and sanctuary. Itinerary: very busy with long/full port days. not much time to enjoy the ship. The ports are great, but the "steps" added up over the course of the 20 long days (plus a day in Rome to start) -- even with a mix of guided excursions. You might plan on benching yourself a couple days to enjoy the ship.

Glad that I went. I learned that inaugural seasons are not for me. Also there were not enough sea days for me to unwind. Ports most days in beautiful places was tiring. This is a beautiful new ship.

The Sun Princess is well on its way! The ship is still not 100% done but I would say it's 90% there, and all the of the dining areas and bars are beautiful. I missed being able to use Park 19, but we were able to catch a couple shows in the Arena. The best part about this experience are the staff, who are so fun and personable. They really make it a great experience! Some negatives: The Princess Medallion app needs a lot of work. It is just inconsistent and glitchy. If Princess wants everyone to rely on this, it needs to work. I regularly got booted off the wifi, and the staff sometime had issues finding me on the ship even with my medallion. The large displays near the elevators also were a little hard to use and would get stuck sometimes. The laundry rooms were always full. Princess (and I) underestimated how many people would use the laundry services. The laundry rooms are large, and it seems like they could definitely fit a few more machines. One morning I got a "vegetable frittata." To my surprise when I started eating it, I noticed there were shrimp in the frittata. For me this was just an inconvenience, but I feel that things like shellfish and other common allergens should be labeled in the buffet since some people have severe reactions. My biggest gripe with this trip was that a member of our group ordered a motorized wheelchair to meet him on the boat, and Princess sent it off without confirming who it was for. Fortunately, he brought his own chair with him. Otherwise, he would not have been able to easily get around the ship or leave the boat at all in some cases. We went to guest services about this multiple times, and though they were apologetic, there was nothing done to remedy the situation. My relative struggled to get around in many of the ports of call because this chair he brought was not rated for extended use.

Sun Princess staff was phenomenal and food in Reserve Dining Outstanding. Entertainment/Shows and venue size was limited and lacking.

We loved our trip on the Sun Princess. The ship was modern, clean, and well designed. Excellent customer service onboard. We dined at the Reserve collection for dinner and enjoyed the food. Would definitely return for another trip.

they knew there was no Santorini visit and did not change or advised me to make it my option to go on this trip ,half of the ship doesn't work, dj was not a dj i think they didn't even have music on his laptop not even requesting the music they would play it. i don't think is right from such a big company to do this to people, feel very disappointed... 19th floor were the zip line and water slides were at was closed, the Dome was closed, the acrobat show never happened. advise do not go on this ship. they should have the ship working fully

Would never go on a boat for first time. Wish we knew. Horrible food, the boat constantly rocked more than any other boat I have been on for being how big it is. There were no trash cans in the boat and the restrooms were hidden. There was no entertainment and to get a seat in the piazza you had to wait around for forever to save a seat or fight the crowd. It wasn’t worth the fight after the 3rd day when the shoes or music was not great. We should have gotten more credit or free things being the first sailers. Would not recommend this cruise ship to anyone.

Overall enjoyed the cruise but OH MY GOD it was the March of the entitled pax and the walk of the zombie staff. I love Princess but yikes it was an overall horror show with so many excuses for everything like new facilities, new staff and crew, short staffed etc. For a ship this beautiful and this expensive they need to get it together quickly. The layout wasn’t my favorite - it felt boxed in which is hard to explain. The arena (theater) was tiny as were most indoor areas. Outside was very nice w/ample seating. The dome was amazing (and air conditioned) however the lido area is hot as hades most days with too many windows blocking airflow. You have to go up above the pool to get a breeze. Buffet was not self serve but it was a weird, pass your plate over the top and try to point to what you want so you had to keep passing your plate back and forth. I missed a pushing match one afternoon over a table (heard it was hilarious). Found it sad that so many people wouldn’t share a table with others. We invited a man who spoke no English and his wife to share a table w/us at lunch after watching various people say no to them or outright ignore them. Left a bad taste in my mouth. Same thing happened in Princess Live with another couple. We did have a fantastic time but stayed as far away from the herd as much as possible. Ran into a celebrity which was cool! Hannah Waddingham from Ted Lasso was filming a commercial onboard and I thought I was imagining things but I was not! Probably one and done with Sun Princess but will sail Princess again. Also should mention there was a big casino tournament which I was a part of but decided to skip while onboard. Stood in line almost two hours to sign in to get my group info and just said forget about it. Not worth my time. Still won over $500 using my OBC.

Loved the cruise. We were part of the where’s Walter group. Wish Omalleys was bigger

My wife and I were passengers on the Sun Princess inaugural transatlantic cruise sailing from Southampton on September 23, 2024. We are veterans of at least two dozen cruises, many of them transatlantic crossings, but this was our first time on a Princess ship. And likely our last. For a cruise line hoping to compete in the premium cruise market, Princess is remarkably short on basic amenities, at least in what they call their Deluxe Balcony Staterooms on the Sun. Want Q-Tips (cotton swabs) or shower caps? Bring your own or do without them, because Princess doesn’t provide them. The stateroom itself had more than ample storage space, but the bar in the closet to hang clothes was too high for shorter passengers like my wife; one of too many thoughtless design flaws on this brand new, supposedly state-of-the-art ship. The corridors on the passenger decks are so narrow that the service carts barely had room to pass each other, and I mean barely. But the most egregious design flaws were the inadequate fitness center and the shockingly small theater for a ship that size. When my wife complained to Cruise Director Corrine Steel that despite arriving 15 minutes before showtime there were no available seats, Steel’s reply was as astonishing as it was tone deaf: ”What do you want me to do? Build a bigger one?” With such a dismissive attitude to a passenger’s legitimate concern, Steel has no business working on any ship for any company in any capacity. Yet here she is, employed by Princess as a Cruise Director. The food in the MDR was mostly good but was never great. Unlike on other cruise lines, the waiters on Sun Princess have no assistants, so they are running around in a frenzy taking orders, serving meals and clearing tables, doing it all themselves. The bread on the tables is limited to one plain roll per person, with a pat of butter as the only spread. Frankly, the selection of table breads at even The Cheesecake Factory puts Princess to shame. Though the wizards at Princess had the entire English language at their disposal, The Eatery is what they chose to call their buffet restaurant. Apparently there was a contest for the most unimaginative and unappealing name for the buffet and The Eatery won hands down. In appearance, The Eatery is a mix between a cafeteria and an automat. For the most part passengers cannot serve themselves. The food is already portioned and prepared in advance, so you eat your sandwich Princess’s way or no way. There are some exceptions to that rule but the room does have an unmistakable industrial feel as the crew hands out food behind metal counters that surround the center of the room. The grill on The Promenade outside The Eatery had cooks who did not speak English, did not know the menu, and needed lessons in time management. So help me, it took them 20 minutes to cook me a hot dog and hamburger. By the way, if you want sauerkraut on your hot dog — who doesn’t? — you’re on the wrong ship. By and large the crew were well meaning and hard working but many were woefully deficient in English … and basic geometry. When I tried explaining to the lady at the waffle station that I only wanted one-quarter of a waffle, she blankly stared back at me as if I was Pythagoras himself presenting a novel theorem. And who spends a reported $1 billion to design and build a new ship holding over 4,000 passengers with only one waffle maker? Or a theater incredibly too small for the number of passengers they invite to see their shows? Or an undersized poorly-equipped fitness center with way too few treadmills? The answer is Princess, that’s who. But the ship was not all bad. The innovative elevators were impressive, as were the ship’s two signature attractions called The Sphere and The Dome. The Sphere is located on decks 7, 8 and 9 midship and is basically a glass ball that lets light into the ship’s interior. It’s the noisy hub of activity for the ship, especially in the evenings, so if you’re looking for a quiet place to enjoy a drink, look elsewhere. Sitting one afternoon on Deck 7 sipping a cappuccino on the starboard side of The Sphere, I heard an unmistakable creaking like an old wooden ship. Time will tell if that was a nostalgic reminder from Princess what crossing the Atlantic sounded like to Christopher Columbus … or was yet another design flaw in their newest ship. My money’s on the latter. The Dome is located on the upper decks at the front of the ship and is a cross between a solarium and a theater — too small a space to be effective as either despite its amazing architecture. It took us a few days to actually see the space as it was frequently closed for undisclosed reasons. Another interesting innovation are the medallions which are like conventional key cards, but more. They are the size of a coin worn around the neck on a complimentary lanyard. In conjunction with the Princess app, the medallions can helpfully locate your cruise companion anywhere on the ship. They are also theoretically designed to reveal your location so that after placing an order your drink will be brought directly to you. That’s the theory anyway. In practice it only worked once for us in the crowded Eatery when we ordered cappuccinos for breakfast. The other times the crew seemed flummoxed by the new technology and simply saw where we were sitting and delivered them to our table the old fashioned way. You would think that during the cruise, Princess would be anxious to hear what their passengers thought about their ship, but you’d be wrong. The guest relations desk on the Sun Princess is hidden — yes, hidden — on Deck 6, a passenger deck. Walk down a long corridor filled with cabin stewards cleaning staterooms, make two quick turns and there’s a room, again way too small for the size of the ship, to voice your concerns, complaints, observations or impressions. Voice them in person because the guest relations desk never answers their phones. In summary, the Sun Princess does have some impressive innovations, some not so much, but its design flaws are stunning and I would not be surprised if the partially completed Star Princess scheduled for launch in 2025 will be the end of the Sphere-class ships if Princess doesn’t correct them. In the highly competitive cruise market there are simply too many other new ships out there which do have sufficiently sized gyms, theaters, crews who speak English as their second instead of their third language, and an adequate number of waffle makers, among many other features to earn our vacation dollars that this ship sorely lacks. One final note. Under the heading of What Were They Thinking, the ship scheduled a crew fire drill during disembarkation, and were so distracted by the drill that the hundreds of impatient and frustrated passengers like me still waiting to disembark slowed to a trickle, even though our luggage was already in the terminal. In their defense, Princess might say that the timing of the drill was ordered by the Coast Guard, but with better organization they could have accomplished both the drill and disembarkation simultaneously. The unhappy faces around me were not the look of people anxious to cruise with Princess again. Disembarkation they called it? I’ve seen better organized riots.

Redesign ill conceived. They are throwing darts at the wall changing things and finding out it’s a fiasco. In service for half a year still changing things. New ships can take a month or two to get staff aligned. This one half a year and still confused by poor leadership.

Multiple bad design flaws Theaters on most ships with 2-3 thousand passengers have nice 2 story venues with ample seating - on Sun Princess with 4,000 plus passengers it is mostly a much smaller 1 level Arena with possibly 1000 max - we found out quickly one has to arrive 30-45 minutes early to get a seat-comfortable seats and great acoustics- but not acceptable The Dome on deck 17 venue is glass and 95% enclosed and seats maybe 250- geared to acrobatic acts and closed more than open for rehearsals and other events with poor acoustics - visually a wow but impractical to a 4000 plus passenger ship No bar / sports bar/ gastropub with tvs for watching sporting events- most ships at minimum have a casino bar with 2-3 tvs, or a Gastropub such as on Celebrity ships with many tvs and comfortable seating - NO casino bar- Carnival owner owns an NBA team with his cruise guests nowhere to watch with fellow fans ; in room TV does not move out from wall on a swivel stand to any angle in deluxe balcony class room; instead of 24 hr ESPN or Sky Sports very weak Sport24 with usually 1 sport event a day and Sport24 Extra which usually has nothing on; satellite tv reception was very spotty even in calm conditions and not far from coasts; internet speed stable- had passable download speed but very slow upload speed- hardly high speed; the motion sensor lights on both sides of bed and under counter in bathroom are nice additions for nighttime; additional electric outlets also nice; closets and shelving well organized The ship has a notable lack of public rooms / entertainment or quiet areas prevalent on older smaller seats- noise is constant- everything is focused on the 3 story Piazza so guests have to put up with game shows and contests that are held in other venues on most ships, no library or quiet areas, future cruise and internet Cafe areas all not private and open to noisy Piazza noise, no smaller theater such as on Enchanted or Discovery, no protected from wind and quiet adult pool area and bar such as on Enchanted or Discovery- instead at front of ship forward of Dome ( Sea View Terrace) a mostly under glass area ( where the glass are not solid but have small gaps allowing guests and seating to get wet wherever it rains- not a good idea for tropical environments like rhe Caribbean where ship will spend the winter- again looks good but not functional) and creating a wind tunnel environment with a bar that closes at 6- so unlike other ships that have a high deck fully enclosed entertainment area for evening and relaxing quiet area with a bar this ship lacks this so it likely won't go to Alaska, Nordic areas or Antarctica as guests will freeze- bottom line more shops, more specialty restaurants and suites and less space for passenger areas; no separate function room/ bar for Captain’s Circle members; they use a Landing area on Deck 4 used for embarkation and disembarkation for Spanish language classes and also crew meetings outside main passenger elevators The word "bars" is overused on Sun Princess- there are several service bars with walk up only service and no bar stools; the Good Spirits bar which is great full service bar on Enchanted and Discovery off of Piazza-on Sun Princess it is tucked in a side enclosed room near bathrooms with no bar stools and glass door and closed most of day; the Wheelhouse which is a fun lively bar on other ships has a Covid type limited seating number of stools again limiting fun interaction with other like minded guests- the Wake View bar on Deck 8 outside is about the only are this is possible and thus very popular; Bellini's bar on Deck 7, and Crooners bar on 8, are the closest real bars but both, particularly Bellinis, suffer from the constant din from the Piazza; the Cascades Bar on Deck 17 is nice but is a fulcrum for wind tunnels from a combination of automatic exterior doors on Deck, into corridor with non automatic glass doors where one is usually propped open, and resulting wind tunnel from open entry in to Dome one way and back to elevators the opposite way The new O’Malley’s Irish Pub is fun and music was great, aided by the foresight to enclose the room by closed doors shutting out the noise of Princess Live, the busy hallway, and Piazza- the small surcharge for a light menu well worth it as kitchen is adjacent The Cabana Deck section on 9 looks very nice from above with large semi private extended patio and a hot tub for that area only - but there is not a covered area for shade Ship sailing very smooth with great stabilizers; the LNG fuel eliminates the oily smell from funnel to back of ship that exists on old ships Food in the buffet (The Eatery ) was very good and consistent; the breads though many times were stale or hard and pastries/ desserts with very little taste- something Celebrityexcels at with their bread stations; throughout the ship Princess upgraded the French fries to excellent quality; Americana Diner dining room on Deck 8 has nice comfort food- the lighting, particularly in center, is way too bright and if on dimmers they are never used; Alfredo’s Pizza, an upcharge for specialty pizzas of $12.95 even with Premier or Plus package, is a total waste of money- the free pizza on decks 9 and 17 is as good or better; where Princess really hit the mark are the burger-hot dog- Tacos- pizza- venues outside the Eatery on Deck 9 and by pool on Deck 17- orders are taken individually and cooked to order- far superior to Celebrity’s one size fits all where burgers are cooked often a half hour ago in similar venues Staff as always are excellent Guest services, a large hotel reception type area on most ships and hotels is now a small area on Deck 6 where on this ship a small area with 4 tablet manned stations, we went there 3 times for Medallion replacement as they stopped working A few areas of corridors had a garbage or sewer smell - deck 8 by expensive shops, deck 9 near angled corridor outside future cruises , bathroom very small but good shower It appears they set unrealistic ship construction completion date - numerous things did not work- door in Dome, one of controls in hot tub aft deck 8, repairs to stairs around main pool on 17, mass reorganizing of restaurant locations after Atlantic crossing, removal in Southampton on Deck 19 of climbing walls, etc, but bottom line is poor design by naval architect, almost without exception the frequent cruisers we spoke to voiced that they won't sail again on this class of ship

Great ship loved most of the new layout. Great cruise overall

Fun and Fabulous Cruise! Enjoy every minute! Ciao for Now!

It gave us the opportunity to see many of the Greek Islands. We were exhausted every day but saw many wonderful things.

I would say it was a very good cruise, and Princess definitely offered a quality experience (maybe just not targeted at my age group). I got to see and do many great things.

Loved the new ship and the ports of call. Lots of things were “in progress” but they will get that done shortly

We loved the relaxing time, great itinerary, incredible staff, and beautiful ship. The entertainment left a lot to be desired, however,