Sun Princess Likes, Dislikes and the Unexpected | Our Honest Sun Princess Experience 

Been on more than 15 Princess cruises and more than that for Carnival. Your experience at the Crown is something I’ve never experienced but I haven’t been on the Sun. Try a cruise from the west coast, I think you’ll get the experience you’ve heard so much about. Two things I wish Princess was a little Carnival like, they need a sports bar and they need a sea day brunch like Carnival’s. I’m on my first Princess since the change in the packages, which include premium dining. Out of 10 days there were only a couple days with reservations available and the available times were at 8:30 pm only. This is my first ever Princess cruise where I won’t be going to the Crown at least once.

I was on the seven day Sun Princess cruise that followed your cruise. I agree with some of your likes and dislikes and disagree with some. This was my 23rd Princess cruise and not my favorite, but not so bad as to take it off my future cruise list. We loved our mini-suite, especially the walk-in shower with the glass door. Hated the closet designed for someone six feet tall (I am 5'0"). The entire ship is beautiful with glass everywhere, but badly laid out. Like you, we like to drop off our luggage in the cabin and then go to the dining room on embarkation day, but on this cruise, we were sent to the Eatery (buffet) with our carry-on bags. It was total chaos! The seating around the atrium was nice, but unfortunately the noise from the atrium carried into the bars. The Wheelhouse Bar, which is great on the other Princess ships was small and had no music. The entertainment spaces were MUCH TOO SMALL for a ship carrying over 4000 passengers. My husband uses a walker and we opted not to stand on the lines for any shows. We did not eat at the Crown Grill, but did eat at The Catch by Rudy and it was great. Delicious food, great service. Love the International Cafe and did enjoy sitting outdoors with our food. Our MDR experiences were spot-on! Smoking in the casino was a definite problem that they need to correct NOW, not on the next ship. Love the medallion. Loved, loved the elevators!

Thanks for the review. I love Princess and agree with your dislikes.

Good seeing u guys, been awhile since ive watched! Great info🎉🎉🎉

I hope they get it figured out before I cruise on her in December I’m so sorry you had that experience. I’ve never had a bad experience on a princess cruise I’m glad you’re going to give it another try

Fantastic video. So informative.

As for the Buffet my thought is that moving it to a lower deck it will have no one passing through to get to the pool areas.

Sharon!

A very balanced review. Much appreciated.

"Cane races, scooter challenges"🤣🤣great review, very helpful

Thanks!! I love an honest review! Awesome job!

It makes sense that when they changed out crew in Ft. Lauderdale you started seeing service issues. We will experience more and more of this as they continue to build mega ships and try to staff them. There are only so many people willing to do it. It's not an easy life.

Thank you,thank you, thank you for your honest review. A lot of other you tubers will sugarcoat everything about the cruise. I would rather hear the truth so I can make a good informed decision on what cruiseline i would want to go on. Normally, on a new cruiseship, they will have the best of the best working on the ship to make sure everyone is taken care of, but it looks like this time they went with the D,E,I, version.

Good review 🙋🇩🇪

Thank you for your honest review. I am scheduled to go on Sun Princess in March. This will be my 6th cruise with Princess. I am concerned about you review of Crown Grill. I have been there. 5 times and that was always the highlight of my trip. As far as allergies you can note this in your app before the cruise, they will know this at time of service. MILLER LITE?? really now you have me very concerned. Again, thanks for your review.

You know that we go back and forth between Princess and NCL and recently a RCCL. We have seen no upgrade in the Princess experience except the medallion and we like their shows. The food was not better nor was their dining service at any venue that we tried. It was equally as good as NCL but it was “supposed” to be an upgrade. Fortunately we like all of the cruise lines that we have gone on and will continue to go back and forth. I’m glad that you guys tried Princess, the Discovery Princess is particularly nice.

Very good honest review, really appreciate real experiences being related and not glossing over the issues . Nothing gets fixed if sub par operations are ignored , if a meal / service is bad it needs to be addressed immediately ( or as soon as possible) Not in anger but firmly and some sort of resolution offered.

Hey Sharon at Sea 🤗

The food allergy thing is on the App where other information is recorded but they probably should review that on the ship too in the dining room.

We are Elite and I am done going to the Crown Grill and it is on almost every ship. Years ago it was Wonderful . I just don’t know why this is? 😢

So glad you mentioned the A/C problem in the hallways and elevators. We had the same problem on the Sky Princess last year. Thought it was just the Caribbean since we’d been cruising the West Coast the last few years and we’d forgotten how hot the Caribbean is - lol! We’ve had the same 50/50 experience with Princess service. Some things are awesome - others not good at all. So we’re very conflicted about booking Princess again. PS - just found out a new crew came onboard in Fort Lauderdale.

Thanks for great review, i have never done princess and would love to try it

I think they watched your video because we had 3 excellent experiences at the specialty restaurants. The crown grill was great, the teppanyaki was awesome. Sabatiinis was ok. The elevator areas were still warm

Thank you for your honest review - appreciate the real life experience & transparency Great Job 👍🏻

On the Sky Princess, we were asked at every meal about allergies so that is surprising to me too.

You can specify your allergy to food in the Princess App, under your profile select Dining Preference under My Preference. You would indicate your food allergy here and save. They will use this to track your food allergy on the medallion along with so many other stuff. My May 2024 Sun Princess cruise, we did lunch in the American classic dining room on embarkation day but they may have changed that by now. The included food for dining was elevated along with the buffet and so much better than Royal by miles. The staffing services were exceptional on the Sun Princess in Europe but some of the staff told me they were being rotated out when returning to the state. The casino smoking was the worst along with a few that I dislike.

We just got off the Sun yesterday, and though you experienced certain things, we had a different take on things. 16 cruises, and the downward spiral continues. I will say for the 3 specialty dining we had, they did ask if we had any allergies. We felt the coffee was horrible, hubby would have to add 2 shots of espresso to our Americano. The insanity continues

Great review. Sounds like they are still working out the kinks in some areas. I'm interested to see your review of an older Princess ship.

Our reservation at Rudy's was 20 minutes late, but once seated the food was good. The Butcher Block was terrible, and took forever. But that is a no menu "tasting experience" that we did not like. I do feel a lot of the staff was new and got better as the sailing went on. We only watched ESPN so no problems there and we loved all the on demand shows. We thought the buffet was to small and crowded, but the pancakes at the American Diner were excellent. Until next time😊

Hi guys we liked your review, we had a similar experience with the Crown grill in Aug , service and food was mediocre. We found the temp near the elevators hot somedays and freezing the next. As for the allergies , with medallion app people are to report allergies prior to cruising , and they are supposed to be on your profile. As for the staff , I'm not sure aware that most of the staff were new on your cruise , so when you thought these staff seam unsure of the the menus or routines , you were right. I'm sure they'll be great by the time we go in January ;). The top sheet thing , we found that this is becoming more common in hotels in Europe too.

I'm a Princess veteran, and I'm sorry to say the line has gone downhill since the new management took over. I have switched over to HAL.

I watched another vlog about your cruise and they said the following about a few of your dislikes. On the first night the crown grill had major problems with their tablet ordering system. They had just moved from where the Butcher Block by Dario moved to and all the orders went there instead of the crown grill kitchen. The problem with service was that 50% of the crew were new due to the turnover after six months. The original crew were the best of the best. I have cruised on Princess 30+ times and would have been very upset with what happened to you and all other guests on your cruise. I will be the Sun Princess next November for their TA and hope after another year these problems are gone.

On the Princess App, you answer the questions regarding food allergies, sonthey do not need to ask you. Also, if you est st the MDR on a regular basis/each night, then the servers get to know you and what you want or need.

you can list your allergies on your account; under check in, there is a dietary requests and you can allergies etc

I heard there was a nearly new crew for your sailing. Add that to new venues and kitchens I am not surprised specialty dining was bad

Several years ago, I became elite on Princess. And I would agree, the specialty restaurants are just not worth going to. The top sheet thing I’ve never understood. The service can be all over the place. They do not ask about allergies because you fill that out when you do the on-line check in. Click on dietary requests, then under dietary restrictions click on food allergy, then specifically check or type in your food allergy. Princess used to be great, but it’s been slipping this last year or two.

the Crown Grill (on other ships) has been great in my sailings. that is unfortunate. Princess is the official cruise line of the Los Angeles Rams. maybe they knew you were a charger fan? ;)

food allergies are noted in the app under dining.

We’ve been on 13 Princess cruises. We’ve stopped going to the Crown Grill. It went from the best on board to absolutely the worst. Way over rated; worst service, worst steaks at sea. We loved Bistro su la mer. Princess replaced that with The Catch by Rudi. So far, our meals a The Catch have been pretty good. But no more Crown Grill for us. Try one of the Royal Class Princess ships next - like the Discovery Princess - that ship may be more in line with what you are used to cruising on.

Re the crew (and to an extent the specialty dining), I think that a lot of the crew changed after the Transatlantic. From what I have read, the ship has been sailing in Europe for the last 9 months, so there was a lot of change over when it finally reached Ft. Lauderdale. One question, what did you think of the size of the entertainment areas?

Unfortunately many crew contracts ended when the ship reached Ft Lauderdale. So a lot of the crew was new. Another reason not to book "new" cruises.

A lot of TV tech issues are easily fixed if you contact someone.

Thanks for your honest review. I went on the Caribbean Princess a couple of years ago. Not impressed. And it was just cited by the CDC as one of the dirtiest ships at sea.

Maybe it can only get better 😔 x

Based off some other reviews, there was a changeover in the entertainment staff. It wouldn't suprise me if that was the case in other departments too

👍!

Since Princess is owned by Carnival Corporation, do you think Carnival would do their own version of the medallion?

What’s that duck over your shoulder

Regarding food allergies: We have never been asked in all the cruises we've taken on any line. On Princess. you complete a food allergy questionnaire on the app, so I'm not understanding your surprise at this. This is done pre-cruise. I'm hoping you sent your food back if it wasn't prepared to your specifications. The servers will always make this right. Princess gave you all an OBC so they more than made up for this disappointment.

Travel Hack…. Don’t give them your actual Cabin # for your towel. It’s all an illusion. After 60 cruises I figured you’d guys would know that. Haha! “Cabin #?” Me: “9999”

Last few cruises, no top sheet, just the duvet cover thing. It was not Princess.

You can request a top sheet, if this is an issue for you.