Sun Princess Reviews

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We started our holiday on a Wednesday evening from London Heathrow. It was a long journey to Sydney via Abu Dhabi but would prove to be well worth it. We were picked up from the airport by a Princess rep and whisked across to the port. Far too early as it was only 9.30 am. But having dropped off our cases we set off to explore Darling harbour which was a great start to the holiday. Back at embarkation things went quite quickly and we were soon on board. Our cabin was in a great position near to the atrium and our steward could not have been more welcoming. Sun Princess may be an older ship but we were very pleasantly surprised, it has a beautiful atrium and dining areas are bright and cheerful. We ate in the Marquis Restaurant second sitting, our waiter William, ably assisted by his sister Tami could not have been better. He had a great sense of humour and ensured that second helpings were always available! Casual dining in the Horizon court could be busy but had excellent choice for breakfast and lunch. It was Easter during the voyage and a highlight was the chocolate egg display in the atrium! The sea was rough as we crossed the edge of a tropical cyclone, however problems encountered were not of the ship's making. Loose containers caused us to be late arriving in Tauranga and we sadly missed Napier as a container ship was unable to vacate our berth.

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This was our 4th cruise, but first on the Sun Princess. The crew and social directors were fantastic. How the social directors keep on doing what they do every hour of the day is beyond me. We were supposed to berth in Napier but unfortunately we couldn't get in because of a cargo ship taking up our berth, which was not Princess lines fault. The social directors were very quick in getting out a revised programme of activities for that afternoon. Our steward for our room was excellent. Every day, twice a day, he would do our room and refresh at night, with as we all know, 2 little chocies on the pillow. He was really a delightful person, with a very cheeky smile. Our dinner waiter and drink waiter also couldn't do enough to please us, even going the extra mile to let us taste some eschargots (snails). We weren't game to try them, but he bought a small plate in for us all to try. Excellent service. The captain would always update us a couple of times a day, and when the weather was rough, and he couldn't get us berthed on time, he would notify us with a very good idea of what was happening. The food what can we say, too much of it, and beautifully presented, and the breakfast and lunch staff always went out of their way to help us. We would definitely do more Princess Cruises. The shows were superb, the entertainment and costumes were great, and the London Pub show on the second last night was a real buzz. Cudeos to Time the Social Director. Another person to give cudoes to is Adam James, the pianist on the 5th floor. What a great singer and very "hot" to look at. He asked for requests every night and did his very best to sing what we all asked. I hope he will be on our next cruise when we decide where to cruise too.

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My sister has always wanted to celebrate her 50th birthday with a bang. My sister and husband have being on two previously cruises but the rest of us have never cruised before. We arrived in Sydney airport early Friday morning, and had organised our own transfer directly to the port. We arrived around 10.00 and found the baggage drop area, we dropped off our suitcases and had no trouble checking in. By 12.000 they were boarding the ship, our number was called and we were sitting down by 12.45pm to a buffet lunch at the Horizon Bar. I was very surprised how smoothly everything ran. After lunch we went to our cabins and found our suitcases waiting for us. I found our ocean view cabin exactly how I thought it would be. Yes the shower and toilet are small, and the room is small, but how much time do you actually spend in your cabin? To me it was perfect. There was sufficient room in the wardrobe for all our clothes and the suitcases fitted perfectly under our bed. We sailed out of Sydney Harbour, and I don't think there could be a more beautiful port to leave on your first cruise. I was always concerned about sea sickness as the crossing of the Tasman from Australia to New Zealand can be very rough. And yes we did have very rough weather due to the cyclone that struck Fiji when we were on the cruise. Yes there was a lot of movement on the ship especially at night, but luckily I did not suffer from any sea sickness. We spent the first two days at sea. We always ate our dinner in Regency Dining room (late sitting). We had two wonderful waiters who after the first night knew our likes in wine and food. Thoung and Monica we found were wonderful. What can I say about the dinners, there was always three courses with three choices for each course, plus the same meals for the diners who did not like the theme for that night. Then there was approximately 5 different deserts to pick from. There was different theme every night. For us the food was always first class, and if you wanted seconds there was no problems to have seconds. There is also the Sterling Steak House which has a $20 surcharge that we did not try but some of our group did, and they advised that the steak was wonderful. The Horizon Bar, is an all day buffet running from 5.30am to 11.30 at night. We always had breakfast there and found there was a lot to choose from but my favourite was the eggs Benedict and Florentine. The waffles must be tried they were freshly made and were amazing. Lunch was at the Horizon Bar and we found there was always various foods ranging from salads, cold meats and cheeses to hot food. There is also dinner available at The Horizon Bar but could not see the point of eating here when the food in the Regency Dining Room was so good. There is a pizza bar that is opened for lunch and then for dinner. This is a very authentic Italian pizzeria and we had lunch here on a number of occasions. When we first embarked on the ship we purchased a coffee card (I think this was AUD$35) for 15 specialised coffees. I strongly recommend to purchase one of these coffee cards if you like espresso, macchiato, cappuccino etc. The coffee was much better than I was expected. The cost of drinks on the ship was also very reasonable. $5.50 per stubby for basic beers. All martinis and cocktails were $10.15. At dinner there was a range of prices for the wines, we always picked a bottle around the $27 and always came back to these wines as we found them good drinking wines. I was expecting to pay much more for my alcohol and I was pleasantly surprised. The staff on the Sun Princess are magnificient. They work very hard, but always have a smile on their face and greet you whenever they see you. Nothing is too hard, and any queries or questions where always answered and completed with a smile. Due to the bad weather, disembarkment to Bay of Island was very slow as they were only using 3 of the tendered boats. We had researched all the ports before we left, and we were hoping to complete a Helicopter ride when we were at the Bay of Islands. Unfortunately due to the inclement weather we only walked the little town, and then returned to the ship. Our next stop was Auckland. Auckland is situated on a beautiful harbour, and we had prior to leaving organised a short tour of Auckland and a trip to the Villa Maria Winery. Our tour organiser was waiting at the port for us, and we spent a wonderful day in Auckland. I noticed prior to boarding the ship there was very good duty free items (liquor and perfume was much cheaper here than on the ship), I was going to purchase some items, but I thought I would wait till I got to Wellington. But unfortunately there was nowhere else to purchase duty free items, and I regret not purchasing my duty free items here. We left Auckland two hours later than scheduled due to the bad weather from the cyclone therefore would be arriving in Tauranga two hours later than scheduled the next day. We had organised a trip to Rotorua prior to leaving but cancelled the trip after being advised by the captain, that the ship would be arriving in Tauranga later than expected. Though when we arrived in the port, there were still tours going to Rotorua. A few from our group still went to Rotorua and they said it was worthwhile even though it was very rushed. My husband and I walked Tauranga and it is a beautiful sleeping beach town, and we really enjoyed the day here. Our next scheduled stop was Napier, but unfortunately again due to the rough seas we did not stop here. We then arrived in Wellington on Good Friday. Wellington is know as "Windy Wellington" but the day could not have been more perfect. As soon as we disembarked we hopped on the shuttle bus (NZ$10 return) directly to the CBD. We then found a helicopter tour for NZ$240 for a ride of 25 minutes. This was worth every cent, and would strongly recommend to anyone who can do this ride. We then walked the beautiful harbour of Wellington. It was stunning, and then took a very quick tour of museum. Again another fantastic day. Our next stop was Akaroa. We were tendered and this ran much smoother than the Bay of Islands. Akaroa is a very french influenced, and it is another small beach side town. We had not organised anything for Akaroa prior to leaving, as we did not know if there was sufficient time to go to Christchurch. As Christchurch is about 70 minute bus ride from Akaroa. Arriving in Akaroa we found many tourist guides, and picked the one that included a small tour of Christchurch and the devastation that the earthquake had caused, and a jet boat ride. We went to Christchurch first. Christchurch prior to the earthquake must have been a very beautiful town full of old churches and buildings, unfortunately much of the CBD has been ruined due to the earthquake and it had a very eerie and very sad feeling to it. We then proceeded to go approximately 15 minutes from the centre of the CBD to a small creek to complete our jet boating. This was another fantastic way to spend a day. We then caught the coach back to Akaroa in time to catch one of the last tendered boat. Our last stop was Napier. We took the shuttle bus to Napier (NZ$15 return) We had organised and paid for our trip by train via the gorges and a stop over in Middlemarch prior to leaving. This was a great trip, especially if you are train lover and the scenery was magnificent. Though my husband did not really enjoy it and just kept saying more rocks and more rocks. The next day we went through the Fiordland. Unfortunately it was an overcast day, but we still saw the beauty of the Fjords, and the last Fiord was Millford Sound and it was stunning. We then has two days at sea and arrived back in Sydney. The disembarkment ran so smoothly, and we were scheduled to disembark at 9.40am and which we did and we went through customers and immigration by 9.55am. As one of our group stated everything is definitely ran like a "tight ship". My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and have no hesitation in taking another cruise on any of the Princess ships again. The only two negatives would be I would not do another 13 night cruise as I found it was a little a bit too long, and this cruise does cater more to the older generation. Our average age of our group was 50, and we did find sometimes there was not much to do on the ship on the sea days. Would I recommend this cruise yes definitely.

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At 6-30am on Friday 30th March 2012 we were collected by limousine at our home for the Adelaide Airport to travel to Sydney to embark on the Sun Princess for a 14 night cruise to New Zealand. This was our second cruise to NZ with Princess having done the Xmas Cruise in 2010. We arrived at Sydney Airport at about 11am and rounded up the other "fliers" and went to our buses for the short trip to Barangaroo Cruise Terminal. The buses were parked quite some distance from the terminal and it was quite a walk lugging our luggage to the bus. Once on board it was a short 1/2 hour trip to the ship where we saw what appeared to be chaos at the tent. The ship was completely booked out for the cruise and to see 2000+ people milling about was a bit off putting but to our surprise we were on board by 12 midday with a very orderly and organised embarkation procedure. We dropped our hand luggage off at our stateroom, an "inside" on Aloha deck 11 and then went to Horizon Court for a light lunch. We met our cabin steward, Somnieck from Thailand and what a delightful young man he turned out to be. He was meticulous in how our room was cleaned and prepared and being an untidy bloke myself it took me some time over the next couple of days to find my papers and pamphlets etc which he always tidied up after me. He also arranged for a jug of iced water to be in our fridge each day, a much appreciated gesture. We hardly saw him in the room as he knew our meal times and when we were not around to tidy the room each morning and turn it down for the night with the choccy on the pillow with the Princess Patter. THE ROOM We had a corner room which seemed larger than the rooms off the corridors. We had it made up into twin beds and this gave us a large area to move around between the beds. The bathroom was of more than adequate size and me being a big bloke could fit easily in the shower. The shower curtain did not suck into the shower and stuck to the walls so as no water splashed on the floor, something we found not to be the case on our two previous Princess cruises. There was more than ample hanging and storage space in the room with the wardrobe easily holding our clothes and with more than enough good coathangers. There were six drawers between the beds and another six drawers in the dressing table. We only used about half of the drawers. A safe was provided, a small fridge which served our needs and an Australian power point above the fridge. If multiple battery charging was needed a double adaptor or power board would be handy to take. A flat screen TV worked very well with a good selection of programs. There was plenty of room under each bed for suitcase storage. The towels were changed each day or more often if required. MEET & GREET Jane had arranged for a M & G on the first day out of Sydney but I had offered to take whoever was interested from the rollcall out to the forward decks on decks 10 & 11 at 3-30pm before sailing as they are not obvious to find if you dont know how to get there. Quite a few of us went to deck 11 for the sailaway out of Sydney Harbour and from this viewpoint it was spectacular. For most of the cruise it was too windy or too rough to get out onto the front decks. The next morning about 60 or so of us gathered in the Shooting Stars disco area to meet some of the officers and staff. It was quite friendly and informative and thanks must go to Jane for this effort. THE SHIP Sun Princess is the oldest of the three sister ships, Dawn Sea and Sun and is showing her age in places. Some carpeted areas are a bit worn, some lounge furniture is worn, the outside areas are showing rust but the maintenance crews were continuously working at rust scraping and patching. The ship is kept in immaculate condition and is spotlessly clean but some of the areas mentioned just have to be replaced and I presume this will happen early in 2013 when she goes into Brisbane dry dock for an extensive (and expensive) refit. (so we were told) The Captain, Graeme Goodway, kept us informed of the ship's position, course and speed everyday at 0900 and 1200 and at any other time that he had a special announcement to make. Incidently he came from England. For the first 5 or 6 days it was rough. As soon as we cleared Sydney Heads the rock and roll started and got progressively worse. After we cleared Bay of Islands and at about 9-30pm a very large wave hit the ship side on. The people up on the top deck said that water broke over that deck. There was a hell of a bang and a great shudder throughout the ship but I did not hear of any damage being done. The rough weather did not let up until we were nearly at Wellington. We were getting the edge of a cyclone which had hit Fiji. Jocelyn suffered and was sick most days and on the plane going back to Adelaide. It wasnt much fun for her. ACTIVITIES Too numerous to mention them all but some of them included horse racing, carpet boules, line dancing, trivia (our team won 4) cooking demonstrations, galley tour, back stage tour, bingo and so the list goes on. We didnt have time to get involved in everything and sometimes there were two things on at once and we could only go to one. If you got bored on the cruise dont blame the ship. The Cruise Director was Tim Donovan and Dep. Cruise Director Simon, He was a bit "sus" but I havent worked it out yet if it was an act or if he was for real. I think he was for real but he didnt mind at all having the mickey taken out of him and the Director's staff certainly gave him heaps about it. He turned me off to begin with but I really liked him as time went on and he "grew" on you. I think I will get off this subject. Alea, one of the Director's staff organised the Sun Princess Pop Choir and about 40 of us joined in. We had our first "Practice" about two days out and boy, did we need it. We finished up performing in the Atrium on the last sea day and sang eight songs which seemed to be appreciated by the 6 or 7 hundred passengers who turned out on the stairways and balconies to listen to us. It was a lot of fun. ENTERTAINMENT The Princess dancers and orchestra performed at their usual high standard with their various live shows. They were supported by a magician, a comedian juggler, Donna Campbell, female vocalist, comedy vocalist, Mark Kristian, The Crews' talent time which was excellent, and Three New Zealand tenors who were excellent. One of the most popular entertainers was Adam James who played the piano and sang in the Atrium lounge each night. A string quartet from Ukraine played daily in the Atrium and gave a concert in the Princess Theatre a couple of nights. They were beautiful to listen to. Overall, the entertainment throughout the ship was excellent. SERVICE Our dining room service each night was excellent and entertaining. Our waiter, Richard and junior waiter, Donald could not do enough for us, especially on Crayfish night when we "over indulged a bit". We only ordered our bar drinks the first night and from then on our drinks were waiting for us when we arrived for dinner. Only a small point but things like this impress. The standard of the food and menu selection was the best we have experienced so far with Princess. It doesnt seem possible that the food could be any better but it was. The only area where we experienced a couple of hiccups were with some of the lounges bar staff but they were resolved without fuss. On our previous cruises we also had some hiccups with bar staff so perhaps it is something Princess could look at. DISEMBARKATION Having an afternoon flight to return to Adelaide we were one of the last groups off the ship at 1020. We gathered in the Marquis dining room and were soon off the ship, picked up our cases and on the bus within 15 minutes of leaving the ship. Very painless. SUMMARY Each cruise we do with Princess seems to be better than the one before and so was the case with this cruise. It seemed just like coming home again when we walked up the gangway and into the Atrium on our first day. The only downer for us was Jocelyn being so sick but we suspect her seasickness medication so will speak to our Doctor about this. Princess, we will be back. John & Jocelyn

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We flew from South Australia to Sydney, picked up by coach and taken directly to the ship. We did not have to worry about our luggage and it was sent straight to our cabin. We had to wait a while to board but with the amount of passengers boarding it went smoothly, giving us time to meet new friends. We were on Baja deck, nearly centre of ship and our cabin as we opened the door was spacious for the 2 of us and the balcony is a must.Our cabin Steward William could not do enough for us and I hope soon he sees his wife and 3 children at home. We had calm seas on this trip though some passengers were feeling a bit off on the first few days. We had 2nd sitting in the Marquis Dining room and attended everynight. Valerie and Made looked after us like royalty and the people we had on our table are now part of our family. Tim,Simon and the Entertainment Crew Fantastic!! All the boys and girls at the many bars Amazing!! The adventure was visiting the many ports and the Islanders greeting us with their beautiful smiles. People were complaining about waiting for the tender in Savu Savu,it is not the fault of Princess Cruises and they must realise that. The staff were always there with cold drinks and flannels. In summary: I learnt a lot about our cruise going on Cruise Critic Roll Call and the advise on there by previous travellers was so informative. To the people around Nadi,Fiji our thoughts are with you.

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