Sun Princess is the first of a new design for Princess which they are calling the Sphere Class. You can see where the name comes from just by looking at the ship which a dome up top at the front and a glass sphere shape on the side of the ship. It is also the biggest ship they have ever had. They added a lot of new things for Princess. I almost feel like they were pushing the line of not being as Premium and being more like a Mass Market. I hope they are careful with this because I would prefer they stick to being a Premium Cruise Line. Bigger is not always better in my opinion.
Even though the ship had been sailing for quite a few months and I had read many reviews and saw a lot of photos I still very excited to get onboard and see it all for myself. It turned out that Princess was changing quite a few things anyway. They changed some names of places like dining dining rooms which required all new signage all around the ship so it still felt sort of like one of my agent cruises where they are putting on the finishing touches before real guests get on.
Sun Princess By the Numbers
21 decks
1133 ft long
177,882 tonnage
4300 guests
1600 crew
31 Dining Locations (13 complimentary options and 8 specialty)
2157 Guest Staterooms (80 suites, 51 accessible rooms, 80 connecting rooms)
5 pools
9 hot tubs
2 LNG Fuel Tanks holding 70,000 ft3 each of liquefied natural gas
I had just 3 days to see as much as I could of this 21 deck Mega Ship! It of course had all the usual things you expect on a Princess Ship. The Piazza is always a main focus and on Sun Princess they take it to the next level with the sphere shaped glass wall as the main focus which brings a lot of sun into the Piazza. There is also a large casino, kids clubs, spa, fitness center and pools and hot tubs. Plenty of the usual dining options along with a lot of new ones too. For this report I will focus mainly on the new things on this ship.
Staterooms
One of the nice thing about travel agent preview cruises is that since there aren't regular guests onboard they make sure to have a variety of stateroom options open for us to check out. Princess added a few new room types that was looking forward to seeing in person.
Cabana Mini Suites are the new room category I was most looking forward to seeing in person. They have an interesting concept where you still have your typical balcony room however before you go out onto the actual balcony you have this sort of middle space which is what they are calling the Cabana. You are outside but you are not all the way outside so you get the fresh air and the views but without all the sun or other weather. There is a set of accordion doors that slide all the way open to you can either opt for all open air or not. The Cabana Mini Suites on Deck 9 open out to a private Cabana Deck area which is a really nice bonus. It has lots of big comfy places to soak up the sun and it's own hot tub. This deck area is only for guests in the Deck 9 Cabana rooms not the ones on the higher decks. If you have one of the Cabana rooms on a higher deck your Cabana opens out to a regular balcony. At least as of right now when I checked prices the rates for the Deck 9 rooms really are not that might higher so I would definitely choose one of those for all the extra space. I think these would be a great option for large family groups or friends so that you have this large deck space to all enjoy together.
Another new thing Princess is finally adding to ships is the ship within a ship concept. They are now offering the Sanctuary Collection which will gives guests that book that type of room their own dining room and deck area with pool, hot tub, bar, etc. If you have sailed Princess in the past you might have bought a pass to the Sanctuary onboard. I always recommended for Glacier Bay day on Alaska cruises. So now you no longer can buy a pass but instead need to book a room that part of the Sanctuary. They have also definitely upgraded the Sanctuary from what is was on the other ships. The Main Dining room used to be 3 floors open to all guests but as of October 14 one floor of that was changed over to the Sanctuary dining room for those guests only (yep that was one of the signs they had to change overnight). All suites are part of the Sanctuary Collection and Sun has some amazing suites! If a suite isn't quite in your budget though don't worry because Princess is also including some Mini Suites and even Deluxe Balcony rooms in the Sanctuary Collection. All Sanctuary Collection rooms come with the Premiere Package so just about everything onboard is included in your cruise fare.
The Dome
This is a new concept for Princess. The Dome is a sort of mixed use space on the top deck all the way forward. I feel like on many ships this area tends to be a bit wasted because it can be pretty windy up there so I like that Princess found a way to make it more usable. The dome shape helps with the wind. During the day it is a beautiful place to relax and enjoy the views all the way in the front of the ship with an indoor/outdoor pool. At night it changes to an entertainment area with cirque type shows or other things like silent disco. They can also do weddings in this area. I feel like this area could maybe use a little more tweaking but it is a cool concept.
The idea that didn't work out
Not all new ideas are good ideas. Before Sun Princess started sailing they were touting a big sports deck with lots of adventure activities. One of the things was supposed to be a first of its kind hang gliding attraction. I am not exactly sure what happened with this but it never actually opened. I don't know if loyal Princess guests complained that this was making the ships too much like the mass market attraction ships and that wasn't what they wanted so Princess listened and scraped this plan or there was an engineering reason behind it. Either way I am sort of glad Princess is not trying to compete with the attractions on those other ships and hopefully going to stick with more premium offerings instead. Unfortunately though since that area was already built for the original plan it is kind of ugly at the moment. I assume Princess has plans to change it soon. I have heard that on Star Princess which will be the sister ship to Sun coming out in 2025 that the sports area will be more dedicated to things like Pickleball, Basketball, and a splash pad. That makes much more sense given the core group of Princess cruisers. I understand Princess wanting to attracting more families but they cannot forget who they are as a brand and the following they have built over the years. I look at Princess as a Premium cruise line that offers plenty for everyone in the family to do while still offering a Premium experience and I hope they stick with that.
There are a few other things I would like to share but I will save that for next week when I talk about the Celebrity Partnerships Princess has added to their ships. If I have inspired to you to want to check out Sun Princess yourself or even better the Star Princess in 2025 or 2026 let me know!
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