Sun Princess Cruise Experience: Our Detailed Review

In case you didn’t know, the Sun Princess is Princess Cruises’ latest behemoth ship. I just got back from a 9-day sailing and took meticulous notes on this shiny new cruise ship.

The Sheer Size is Nuts (By Princess Standards)

When I say this ship is massive, by Princess Cruises standards, it’s quite large. It feels especially large when you get off in ports and have to walk back down the dock to reboard – that’s when the sheer scale of the Sun Princess hits you. Even though it carries a ton of people, the only time it really felt crowded was during breakfast. The Eatery fills up quickly and the International Cafe, which sits outside The Eatery doesn’t lend itself well to crowds of people waiting for their coffees. You kind of end up waiting in the middle of where the walking traffic moves.

Sure, there are bigger ships on the sea (mostly from Royal Caribbean) – but for Princess which usually has more mid-sized ships, the Sun just feels massive in comparison.

The Medallion Life

Your entire cruise experience revolves around the new Medallion wearable device and app, for better or worse. I’ll admit it has some creepy “Big Brother” vibes with how much it tracks your every movement and purchase. But the convenience it provides is undeniable. I first experienced the Medallion system on the Sky Princess, and felt like that ship had all the kinks worked out, but on the Sun Princess, it felt like more bugs existed than before. It may have been operational issues on the ship more than the app, but it just didn’t feel as good as on the Sky Princess.

For those who aren’t familiar, the medallion is your modern-day “cruise card” that you tap everywhere to make payments, order drinks, unlock your stateroom, get on/off the ship, and more. But what’s unique is the app can use the medallion to detect your location anywhere on board. Order a drink or meal through the app and the server will manage to find you anywhere on the ship to deliver it, usually within 15 minutes. Caveat: there were times when it took longer and other times when our order was marked “delivered” and it never arrived.

The medallion definitely feels like getting on/off the ship is way faster. The only time we ever waited in line was for the few minutes it took people to get through security.

This made getting food/drinks almost too easy. On port days when we needed to get off the ship early for excursions, setting up a scheduled delivery of my Egg Muffin, fruit plate in coffee was convenient.

Fair warning though – if you’re anti-tracking and value privacy over convenience, the ubiquitous Medallion system may not be for you. However, you can turn off tracking for your travel party if you want more privacy.

Story: we were sitting in a bar having our nightly pre-dinner cocktail. The bar was packed on this night for some reason. A staff member in a suit started wandering the room, made eye contact with me from 40 feet away, and then made a b-line for us. He wanted to make sure I had preordered my dinner for the night because of a documented food allergy. This is because the tracking is being done via the medallion. They could see where we were and were able to track us down within feet of our location. It definitely felt a little creepy, though I appreciated the effort.

Premier Package Was Best for Us

We opted for the NEW Premier package at $90 per day and I’m glad we did for a few reasons:

1. If you need to have more than one device connected to the internet at a time, Premier makes sense just based on that (you can have four devices). The cheaper Plus package only allows one device, which was a non-starter for me needing both my phone and laptop to be online. I’m unfortunately not able to just live off the grid for almost three weeks and need to periodically check in with clients.
2. The wine selection is considerably better with Premium vs Plus. As a wine drinker, the upgrade was 100% worth it.
3. Unlimited specialty dining meals are now included with Premier, which was a nice addition to our 9-day cruise to break up the repetition of the main dining rotation.
4. Unlimited premium desserts and ice creams – a nice perk for those with a sweet tooth. But in reality, I only had a couple during the entire voyage.
5. Unlimited casual dining. This was great for days when nothing appealed in the main dining rooms for lunch or dinner. Being able to go to Alfredo’s or grab some pub food at any time was a nice option.

Premier removed almost any need to think about or worry over costs on board. For $90 per day, the premium drinks, specialty dining, better wines, desserts, and the internet made it an easy choice for our needs.

And for those wondering about the 15-drink-per-day limit (since there’s almost a daily post asking about it on various social media platforms) – it was now not an issue. You can order as many drinks as you want with the new Premier package. I’m a scotch drinker and to get a decent pour, you have to order a double. Before the new Premier package was introduced, I still never got to 15 drinks per day (the old limit), but I can see how people might appreciate the truly unlimited drinks now.

Staff & Service

I can’t say enough about how incredible and friendly most of the service was on the Sun Princess. Our room steward, waiters, and bartenders – everyone worked incredibly hard, and it really elevated the experience. I’m always amazed at how they remember everyone’s names.

However, we did notice a clear slip in the quality of service in the second week compared to the first, likely due to a crew changeover partway through our sailing. Simple things like forgetting drink orders or getting meals wrong became more frequent from our new set of MDR servers.

Additionally, as we approached Southampton, you could tell exhaustion was setting in for some staff, and they were looking forward to getting home. Many of the staff had been on since day 1 of the ship sailing to help launch the Sun. So it’s understandable that some people were ready to leave.

Suites & Staterooms

We originally booked an interior room. When the bid offer came in I followed some old advice and just placed bids on upgrades because “you don’t have to take the offer if you don’t like it.” Well, guess what, that’s not the case anymore. My offer was accepted and we automatically became the proud recipients of a large ocean-view cabin for only $80 total. In hindsight, I’m glad it worked out. The room has noticeably more space than a standard room. These ocean-view cabins are spacious, basically, a separate living space with a sofa and sleeping area made it feel spacious.

As “Elite” guests, we also received a nice amenity of free premium bar setup in our room – on the second week they even topped us up with a few more beverages! Some older posts complained about the bar setup quality. It does leave a lot to be desired, with things like “Johnny Walker Red” being their higher end spirit offered. HOWEVER, it’s now been reported that they are doing away with the bar setups with mini bottles of liquor for a standard seltzer can and soft drink setup that cannot be switched out.

Weirdly, I was in love with the bathrooms in the cabins on the Sun Princess. They just feel elevated in design, feel more spacious, and have plenty of storage. It’s the first Princess ship that actually has glass shower doors! Gone are the days of the shower curtains.

Cabins to Avoid on the Sun Princess

That being said, I’d avoid the “Cabana” balcony suites. The layout is really bizarre and in my opinion a downgrade. When you walk out onto your balcony, it’s not really a balcony. There’s another area in front of your balcony that connects a few other cabana suites. The idea is that a few rooms share a private balcony with a jacuzzi. However, it also means that walking out onto your balcony doesn’t give you a private ocean view because there’s this 20 – 30 foot of additional patio in front of you and everyone above you just looks down into your balcony area.

Power Outlets on the Sun Princess

They’ve done a great job with the power situation in these rooms. Every outlet has a USA 110v plug, a Euro plug, a USB-C, and a USB-A plug. There are outlets by the desk area and with each nightstand on both sides of the bed. Since we had ample USB outlets, all we really needed a regular USA outlet for was the blow dryer. Don’t get tricked! There’s what looks like a two-prong USA outlet by the sink in the bathroom. It has a funky icon next to it. This outlet is for charging an electronic razor — that’s the only kind of plug that will fit in this outlet so don’t try and jam another device in there — it won’t work. My mom tripped the breaker in her state room by running the hair dryer while her curling iron was on — so beware ladies!

Dining Highs & Lows

Not everything is perfect….ever. While our experience was overall pretty good with dinner options, breakfast, and lunch left a lot to be desired.

Main Dining Rooms

All of the dining rooms were well-decorated and had a lovely ambiance.

It can be confusing because there are three floors (Decks 6, 7 and 8). We reserved dining in the Deck 6 MDR prior to the trip via the app for the first few days just so we knew there was a guaranteed place to eat. On night one, the dining room manager introduced himself to us and said he went ahead and booked our table for us every night of the trip. If we didn’t show, it was fine.

Food quality in the main dining rooms (MDRs) was consistently just “OK” across breakfast and lunch. Dinner was better. On port days, it’s an “express breakfast” which just means a shorter list of options. Nothing mind-blowing, but solid and sufficient. My biggest gripe here is the operating hours. On sea days, the MDR closes for breakfast at 9:00 am. You basically have to choose between sleeping in a little, hitting the gym, or getting a decent breakfast.

Many days, we ended up just going to the International Cafe for a quick breakfast sandwich to avoid the buffet.

Pro-Tip: The biggest breakfast tip is to stay away from the scrambled eggs — they’re unappealing. We figured out that the scrambled eggs come from a bag. If you want real, cracked eggs, either get an omelet or over easy/medium/hard/etc. Also, at the omelet station, they will scramble fresh eggs for you!

Reserve Suite Dining Access

The Reserve mini-suite gives you access to the Reserve Restaurant. It’s a little bit more elevated of a dining experience and reservations aren’t needed — you just show up. We dined here a few times and it did feel more elevated. Unlike the MDR, the server in the Reserve Restaurant feels more personal because they’re handling smaller groups.

Lido Deck

For more casual fare, the Lido deck had some surprises like an awesome made-to-order salad bar station that became my go-to for healthier meals between all the indulgent dining. The burger grill, taco station, and pizza areas were pretty standard, but the salad bar was quite good!

Lackluster Buffet / “Eatery”

On the flip side, The Eatery buffet left a lot to be desired. Despite different themed stations, the quality was mid at best. We largely avoided eating at the buffet outside of quick breakfast grabs. The Eatery closes for breakfast around 10:00 AM. At which point if you move further into the ship, the restaurants that are normally Catch and Butcherblock become a buffet extension that’s opened later — it’s kind of funky (but soon to be changed)

The biggest issue with the Eatery buffet is food temperatures. Food that would otherwise be pretty good was served ice cold. Even after bringing this up to restaurant managers and them scurrying around to try to fix it, this just never improved.

The layout of the buffet is not friendly and leaves people wondering if they’re cutting in line especially when you go to the extended buffet at Catch/Butcherblock.

What’s odd to me is you can go grab a million cheese plates, fruit plates, or hummus/veggie plates at the buffet. But if you order those things through the Medallion app, it’s not “complimentary.” You have to pay $4.99-$5.99 for those items. We still can’t figure out why it costs $5 to order a tiny cheese plate but ordering a cheeseburger is free.

Specialty Dining Winners

We used our specialty dining credits at every restaurant during the voyage.

We chose Crown Grill for an anniversary dinner. The service was awesome and they made us all feel special. The setup here is like a steakhouse, where you order your beef and then the sides are a la carte family style. We couldn’t decide what we wanted for appetizers, so the manager just said “We’ll bring you out all the sides, enough for you to try everything” which was great.

Next, Butcher’s Block by Dario. I’ve never left a meal feeling so stuffed on a cruise than at this restaurant. It’s family-style dining and they just bring out everything for you — almost like a Brazilian steakhouse. We started with a bread appetizer and a glass of wine while you waited for them to get the dining room set up. Then there’s more bread on the table + veggies. Then the food starts coming out: beef tartar; beef carpaccio; etc. The main event is the massive tomahawks and porterhouse steaks they carve up tableside. They’ll just keep putting beef on your plate until you beg them to stop. Finally, there’s desert and a grappa digestif.

Sabatini’s was a nice traditional Italian meal. Filling, tasty and good service. The ambiance felt like you were actually eating in a decent “Americanized” Italian restaurant.

The Catch by Rudi was the biggest surprise. In the past, it’s always been a weird menu and underwhelming, especially on the Sky Princess. However, they knocked it out of the park on the Sun Princess! Even though (for now) the ambiance is awful as it’s in the rear of the buffet, the food was exceptional. We almost skipped this due to past experiences, but glad we didn’t!

The most underwhelming was Makoto Ocean (Replacing Kai). For your dining credit, you get a fixed menu full of things you might not actually order. It seemed wasteful and for the value of the specialty dining credit (About $50/person), you’d expect to be able to order what you want. There’s a better way to do this, and we’ll see if feedback prompts change, as everyone I spoke with was disappointed. Additionally, the restaurant is more of an afterthought, placed in the hallways above the Piazza. So while enjoying your expensive fixed price, limited menu, you get the pleasure of hearing things like game shows and trivia – which would be better suited in Princess Live. Truly a head scratcher on this one.

Overall, the restaurants were great experiences and a very welcomed change from the MDR after a week of repetition. The food, service, and overall vibe were a noticeable step up.

Spellbound

We also splurged one night for the Spellbound immersive magic/dinner experience and it was easily a cruise highlight despite the $150/pp price tag. After an elevated multi-course meal, you get ushered by a guy in a top hat into an exclusive hidden club. While waiting for the magic show, you hang out in their bar which is reminiscent of the Disneyland Haunted Mansion. While enjoying your drink, there’s a magician perorming more intimate magic for everyone at the bar. Once they’re ready for the show, you’re brought into the room where the actual magic show takes place. Afterward, you’re welcome to hang out in the Spellbound bar and continue drinking.

If you’re from LA, you may know about the Magic Castle in Hollywood. Spellbound is an extension of the Magic Castle. Just like with the Magic Castle, you show up in formal wear. This means a coat and tie for the men and an evening gown/dress for the woman.

Overall, we really enjoyed it.

Love by Britto

We almost skipped Love by Britto, but had a $90 credit to use the last night. So we booked and wow, what a great surprise! I can’t recommend it enough! The ambiance alone makes you feel like you’re on an ultra-luxury ship overlooking the ocean while dining on some really creative meal options.

Sky Princess Room Service

This was hit or miss for us. You fill out the paper door hangar and place it on your doorknob before heading to bed. Then you hope and pray that it will actually arrive — which in two of our instances, it never did. Your options are also limited. You also may or may not receive what you actually ordered. With coffee, for example, you have a choice of ordering it to-go (paper cup) or stay (actual coffee cup). We always seemed to get the opposite of what we ordered to the point where it became a running joke for us.

International Cafe

This became our go-to for a lot of things: coffee, snacks, and quick breakfast food (pastries, coffee cake, avocado toast, Egg Muffins). Weird fact though: if you order the Egg Muffin through the app, it comes as an egg patty just like McDonalds, and with cheese. When you get the one at International Cafe, it’s just an over-easy egg and no cheese. Why they can’t just be the same is odd.

The layout is a challenge for the International Cafe. Where you order and pick up coffee also has a bar area which is in the middle of a walkway. Just seems poorly thought out. It gets crowded easily and everyone is frustrated including the staff.

Night Owl Needs

My main dining gripe was the lack of solid late-night food options for night owls. The Eatery buffet closed at an absurd 10:30 pm, leaving only spotty room service or mobile ordering as the choices if you worked up an appetite after evening activities. More robust late-night casual dining would be appreciated.

Bars & Alcohol

Overall, great selection of cocktails. All of the bars have their own little theme and different menus. This can actually be a little frustrating. Ordering a cocktail at one bar but then ingredients don’t exist for that cocktail at a different location. That got old after a few days.

Some people I was traveling with were consistently impressed at the quality and thought of the cocktails at each bar. They were also impressed with the quality of the glassware being used. I must admit, everything from the rocks glasses to the martini glasses quite was beautiful. However, there was still some frustration trying to figure out what was available at each bar.

If you just want straight spirits, you have to order a double to get a normal pour (they’re actually measuring out the pours). That being said, with either Plus or Premium, you’ll get a good selection of top-quality booze.

One thing that impressed me was the staff actually being concerned about drink quality. We were having drinks at one of the bars on the Lido deck. The supervisor was upset with the bartenders because they ran out of premium liquor and hadn’t requested more. He made sure to remind them that when someone orders a premium drink they get a premium liquor — no exceptions.

You also must check out the Good Spirits bar. There are a few times throughout the night when you watch a live cocktail demonstration. The bartenders here are so fun and playful — it makes for a great vibe. The space is small, however.

Amenities – Hits & Misses

The gym facilities on board were a bit of a disappointment, especially for a new ship. While they had a nice assortment of cardio machines, the actual weight room was laughably small with only a few pieces of strength equipment that were always monopolized. Not a deal-breaker, but an area that could be improved.

The pool areas were nicely spread out across different sections of the Lido deck. On sailing days, there was typically a band, the DJ, and then a random movie on the jumbotron. The random blasting of action movies at 3 pm really ruined the pool vibe and it’s typically when the deck would thin out. One minute you’re relaxing in the jacuzzi, the next an action movie with explosions is shaking the pool area. It made no sense and seemed tailored for a much younger crowd despite this sailing’s passengers being mostly older adults.

Adult Only Pool

Many people didn’t realize that there was an Adult Only pool in front of the “Dome”. It’s where we spent most of our time. While the pool was a glorified bathtub, the seating was great with a dedicated bar.

Technology & Support

In addition to the Medallion app, the overall internet speeds were fast and reliable enough for me to easily stay connected for basic work needs.

The technology support via the app’s live chat feature, however, was utterly useless. Any time we had issues properly being charged for drink packages or had to modify reservations, the live chat was a time-wasting nightmare. You’re clearly just talking to an outsourced rep with zero actual knowledge of Princess’ systems or operations. Your best bet is to go in person to the guest services desk.

Theater & Entertainment

I never judge or rate a cruise or cruise ship on the entertainment. I usually prefer to be pleasantly surprised, but when I’m disappointed, it doesn’t really change the overall cruise for me.

The theater is not terribly large. But the seating arrangement makes even the worst seats in the house not so bad. Unfortunately with a ship this size, the entertainment spaces are too small. On popular show evenings, you’d see people waiting for over an hour in line just to get into the theater. I’ve never seen that on any other ship. It was discouraging enough that we skipped most of the shows.

We saw Vallora, A Pirate Quest – Created, directed, and choreographed by Danny Teeson of “American Idol” fame, the show features an upbeat and nostalgic 80’s soundtrack, including Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams,” Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” Chicago’s “You’re the Inspiration” and Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” The show follows the intrepid heroine ‘Vallora’ through a pirate adventure, telling a story of searching for what’s lost and above all else, family and love.

It was clever and well done however is coming to an end from what I understand.

In addition to the theater performances, there were plenty of things to do on the ship including bingo, small magic performances, outstanding musicians in the bars in the evening, etc.

Some Notable Disappointments

The Dome

This space is beautiful during the day, and a peaceful place to chill out. In the afternoon they have a bar available and it never feels crowded.

HOWEVER, when a show is designated to be in the Dome, it’s impossible to get a seat. There are acrobats and cirque-esque performances that we never were able to see due to the lack of seating.

The Piazza

On most princess ships, the Piazza is the central portion of the ship with towering staircases and chandeliers. It’s always been a beautiful space. However, on the Sun Princess, the space is sterile and more geared towards entertainment with theater seating around the perimeter on several levels. It really is a departure from the vibe of the rest of the fleet, and a huge disappointment.

Additionally, there is so much random noise coming from this space (i.e. a game of trivia) that it overpowers every venue around the Piazza. The Sushi restaurant is not enjoyable with the sound, and Crooners Bar is ruined by the sounds coming from the Piazza.

Lack of a Crown Grill Bar

On other ships that have the Crown Grill Bar, it’s an upscale and intimate place for pre or post-dinner drinks. Usually, the bar has great music or pianists. For whatever reason, this doesn’t exist on the

In Conclusion – The Sun Princess is a Huge Departure from the Princess Brand

I know cruise lines are mixing it up and trying to bring in younger travelers. This ship is an obvious effort to change the brand image of a more mature clientele. However, it’s just so incredibly off-brand that it could be a generic MSC ship, an NCL ship, or any other mid-market brand. What has made Princess a special cruise line has all been watered down and is nearly nonexistent on the Sun Princess.

There are a ton of mixed reviews on the ship. Some people love it, but many people are disappointed. By the time my voyage was done, I had concluded that if this was my first experience with Princess, I’d probably never go on another Princess Cruise.