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Note - this page contains multiple reviews.
Name: Leslie Corbin
Email: lcorbin@criterioninc.com
Age: 37
Occupation: Project Manager
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Princess-Sun
SailingDate: March 30, 1999
Itinerary: Panama Canal
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 95
CabinComfort: 97
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 97
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck:
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 98
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 100
ShoreExcVariety: 100
FoodVariety: 100
DeckService:
ShoreExcValue: 100
GoodForHoneymoon: 95
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 70
LoungeService: 95
TenderService: 100
GoodForSeniors: 90
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 90
WheelchairAccess: 90
ExerciseFacilities: 95
EntertShowLounge: 85
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 90
CruiseActivities: 85
Casino:
AirSeaProgram: 80
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 98
EmbarkDisembark: 80
DiscoNightclubs: 90
DeckSpace: 98
Stabilization: 98
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio: 98
OverallCruiseValue: 98
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 16 Apr 1999
Time: 10:01:46
Remote Name: dfw2-wc1.atlas.digex.net
Remote User:
Comments
My husband and I just returned from the March 30, 1999 Panama Canal sailing on the Sun
Princess. This was our first
cruise.
In researching cruise lines, I came across CruiseOpinion.com and found it to be very
informative. Based on what I read at
CruiseOpinion.com, I chose the Princess Sun for our cruise and selected a mid-ship balcony
stateroom on the starboard
side of the ship. This turned out to be the perfect choice for our Panama Canal trip!
About 2 weeks prior to departure, we received our cruise documents including a list of
possible excursions and descriptions.
My husband and I read through the excursion list and chose those excursions we were
interested in. For each location, we
chose a first and second choice. We chose active type excursions such as scuba diving,
snorkeling, 4-wheel driving, etc. We
also filled out the immigration forms ahead of time.
Packing
This cruise had 3 formal nights and 5 semi-formal nights and the rest informal. Since I
travel for work I'm usually an
extremely light packer. I can go for a whole week out of my small roll-aboard suitcase.
However, in this case, I had to pack
evening gowns and suits, so I went ahead and packed 3 large suitcases. In our roll-aboard
suitcases, I put critical items
(stuff that couldn't be replaced if the airline lost our suitcases), shorts to change into
upon arrival at the ship, a 12-pack of
Coca Cola for our cabin refrigerator, and a small fan for our balcony for Panama Canal
day. From what I've read, some
cruise lines don't like it if you bring drinks onboard because they want to make money by
forcing you to buy drinks, but not
Princess. They didn't say a word about the Cokes. Onboard, Cokes cost $1.50 per can. It
was really nice to have these
drinks in our cabin refrigerator.
Departure Day
Before we left the house, we put on our anti-seasickness patches. The Caribbean side of
the cruise was fine, but there was
a lot of motion on the Pacific side, so it was a good thing we got these from our doctor!
Princess flew us on American to San Juan Puerto Rico. The flight was direct and departed
about 10:30 am, so it was a very
relaxing start. Princess employees met us at the airport. They directed us to a bus that
took us to the ship. Check in at the
cruise terminal took all of 10 minutes since we had already filled out our immigration
forms. I gave them my credit card for
express checkout at the end of the cruise and then we were aboard the ship. After a quick
change of clothes in our
stateroom, I went to the tour desk and immediately made reservations for all of our shore
excursions. We were able to get all
of our 1st choices, except on one tour - a trip to a rain forest in Venezuela - where we
took our 2nd choice - a 4-Wheel drive
excursion which turned out to be great (more on this later!)
We requested second seating dinner so that we would not have to rush back from shore
excursions. We were put at a table
for 6. I don't know how Princess matches up dinner companions, but either this was an
incredible coincidence or they do
some sort or computer matching (like a computer dating service) because our dinner
companions turned out to have a lot in
common with us. My husband is Australian and we both prefer British humor. Our table
companions were a retired British
couple who had worked in similar fields to my husband and myself and a Canadian couple.
While our table-mates were all
older than us, they also had tons in common with us including similar opinions on politics
and the world in general and they
were all a lot of fun. We would go our separate ways during the day, but all found
ourselves looking forward to getting
together at dinner to share stories about what we'd done that day!
Cabin
Our cabin was a mid-ship balcony cabin on the Baja deck, starboard side. I picked this
cabin because I heard that cabins in
the middle get the least motion. It was decorated in pleasing shades of coral and seafoam
green. Princess describes the 2
twin beds pushed together as a Queen size bed, but my husband and I have a Queen size bed
at home and this was
definitely wider. There was a large 3-door cabinet for storing our clothes. There was
plenty of hanging space and wooden
hangers and numerous shelves, plus 2 drawers for underwear and socks and a small safe in
the cabinet. There was also a
small dresser with small drawers next to the bed and a small lounge chair. In the adjacent
corner, there is another stand with
the TV and refrigerator and a few shelves. After unpacking, our 5 suitcases fit easily
under the bed.
The bathroom was smaller than any of the closets in our house. It contained toilet, sink
and shower. My husband had
difficulty showering without getting water all over the bathroom floor. The shower curtain
tends to swing out over the lip of
the shower and water would go all over the floor. Aiming the showerhead toward the back
wall of the shower, rather than in
the middle seemed to help somewhat. However, when the ship is really rocking, the curtain
really swings out and there's not
much you can do to avoid flooding the bathroom floor. Fortunately, every time we left the
room our room steward would
come in for a quick tidy up and would dry off the bathroom. I brought air freshener and
potpourri for the bathroom. Also, for
some reason, Princess does not provide shower gel, so if you prefer to use shower gel, be
sure to bring your own. Princess
does provide terry cloth robes, useful since there's not a lot of room to dry off in the
bathroom.
The balcony was wonderful. There was a bistro size table and 2 straight chairs, but you
could put your feet up on the railing.
We spent a lot of time on the balcony every day. We sort of used the balcony like a living
room.
Our travel agent had thoughtfully sent us a small bouquet of tropical flowers for the
cabin. It was beautiful and lasted for the
entire duration of the trip.
Cabin Steward
Our cabin steward was Lambert. He was extremely unobtrusive and unfailingly polite on
those rare occasions when we saw
him in the hallway. Every time we left the cabin, he would go in and tidy up. If we went
to breakfast for half an hour, we would
come back to a dry and clean bathroom and freshly made bed. My husband and I are very neat
people and always put
things away after using them, so there wasn't much tidying up Lambert had to do for us.
One morning I saw a cabin steward
dealing with piles and piles of clothes that some other passengers had inconsiderately
left all over their cabin. It looked like
an explosion in there. It was so bad; I wouldn't have blamed the steward for quitting on
the spot! I hope they left that poor
steward a great tip. There was always fresh ice in our refrigerator and I asked for 2
additional bath towels and Lambert
made sure they were there every single day.
Food
We live in a city that has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the US. Most
folks here dine out 4 - 5 times per
week. The restaurant business here is highly competitive. If a restaurant is not really
great, it will close down fast! Some of
the other Princess Sun reviews stated that the food was not as good as on other cruises or
that sometimes people had
trouble finding something to eat on the dining room menus. I was curious to find out what
we would think of the food on the
Princess Sun. Would we be disappointed? I can honestly say the food was great. There were
a wide variety of choices and
everything looked and tasted great! The food was similar to the kind of food you can get
at an upscale traditional restaurant
or fine country club. There were different menus for each breakfast, lunch and dinner in
the main dining rooms and so many
good choices; it was hard to decide what to have. I love seafood and they had lobster,
crab, scallops, tillapia, salmon,
calimari, and more. All of it was excellent. But they also offered other entrees for
people who don't like seafood such as
Prime Rib, Roast lamb, Veal, Chicken, and more exotic meats such as ostrich and buffalo.
One night they had Rabbit as a
choice. One of our tablemates ordered it and it looked mighty appetizing. She said it was
delicious. You would have to be a
really picky eater not to find something you like with all the choices.
We had breakfast in the Horizon Court one morning. It was fine, but the lure of the great
food in the Dining rooms was too
great. Why settle for less than the best? So, except for one day, when we were on an all
day excursion and ate off the ship,
we ate every meal in the dining room. Usually we had 3 - 5 courses at lunch and at dinner,
which is far more than we usually
eat. My husband lost 4 pounds during the cruise by sticking to the healthy choice menu. I
ate just about anything I wanted
from the menus including dessert, which I usually don't eat. I didn't lose any weight, but
I didn't gain either!
The waiters onboard seemed to be mostly Filipino. Ours were Julius and Caesar who were
very attentive and nice. They
definitely contributed to our dining enjoyment.
The Bars
There are 5 or 6 bars onboard. We tried several and got attached to the Wheelhouse bar. It
is truly beautiful, but best of all
they had some great entertainment. We especially liked the Legacy Trio, a Filipino band
with a woman lead singer who had
a great voice.
The Shows
There was an English comedian onboard named Duggie Brown and his show opened with a
comedic banjo player. Their
show in the Vista Lounge was very funny! We also went to English Pub Night, which was
hilarious, although both my
husband and myself were glad that we were not chosen as audience participants as the stuff
they were asked to do was
pretty raunchy. We didn't see any of the other shows, but our dinner companions did and
loved them.
The Ports
St. Thomas
We docked in St. Thomas early in the morning. Docked right ahead of us was the Grand
Princess (truly an amazing sight)
and the Costa Victoria. Anchored on the starboard side astern was the Star Clipper, a
sailing cruise ship. It was very
beautiful to see under full sail.
My husband and I did the PADI Scuba Diving for non-certified divers excursion in St.
Thomas. This is done at Coki Beach.
They are EXTREMELY concerned about your safety. If you have any health problems, such as
high cholesterol, frequent
colds, or high blood pressure, you will not be allowed to scuba dive. We took about half
an hour of instruction, then
snorkeled for an hour; fed fish milk bone dog biscuits (they loved it!) Then spent a
half-hour scuba diving with a dive master.
It was so much fun! We found Scuba easier than snorkeling and definitely plan to get
certified in the near future. Our dive
master was extremely instructive and took a lot of care to insure that we had a safe dive.
It was a wonderful experience and I
highly recommend it if you have the slightest interest in learning to Scuba dive.
We went shopping in St. Thomas in the afternoon, but came back with only a bottle of duty
free cognac. The stores mostly
had duty free stuff that we weren't really interested in.
Martinique
Martinique is a very pretty island. We took the snorkeling excursion there. The reefs are
among the most beautiful I have
seen with abundant fish of numerous varieties, black anemones and more. The reefs are deep
with canyons 30 to 40 feet
deep. Toward the end of snorkeling at the first sight, as my husband and I swam back to
the boat, a man about 15 yards
from us screamed, 'Help! I need help!' He was a fellow passenger on our ship and about 50
years old. We were about 15
yards away from him. My husband immediately swam to his aide while I shouted for a life
buoy. My husband swam behind the
man and grabbed him by his elbows from behind so the man couldn't climb on him in his
panic and supported him in the
water giving the man a chance to catch his breath. Meanwhile, I reached the thrown life
buoy and swam with it over to the
man. Apparently, the man was not used to swimming in water this deep and had got water in
his snorkel and mouth and just
panicked. He didn't have on a life vest. His wife was very startled and very concerned
about him, but he was OK. Our
snorkeling guide remained on the boat 30 yards away drinking rum punch oblivious to the
occurrence. Thanks to my
husband's quick action a possible tragedy was averted. If you are not used to swimming in
the ocean and snorkeling, I would
strongly recommend that you snorkel with a life vest on and also, never snorkel alone,
always snorkel with a companion. My
husband and I always make sure we can see each other every minute or so when snorkeling.
Plus it is fun to be able to point
stuff out to each other and take photos underwater!
Grenada
In Grenada, we took a bus tour to a spice plantation, rainforest, waterfall and old fort
and wished we hadn't. Why? Because
the old people on the bus with us complained and complained. The spice plantation was
interesting and we got to see how
cocoa grows. However, by the second stop, the old people on the bus were complaining.
'We're not going to stop again are
we? I'm not getting out of the bus.' Since none of this required much physical exertion, I
don't know what the problem was.
Hadn't they read the excursion itinerary before they signed up for this? My only problem
was being stuck on a bus listening
to them complain. Next time, we will hire a taxi driver to take us on a private tour. We
did get 2 large packages of saffron for
the incredibly cheap price of $4 U.S.!
La Guiara (Venezuela)
We had wanted to go on the Rainforest tour, but first it was full and in the end it was
cancelled. Our second choice was the
4-Whee Drive Excursion that provided us with the most memorable day from the whole trip.
First of all, let me say, we really
enjoyed this, but many of the other passengers hated this excursion. It all depends on how
flexible you are how
adventuresome you are and how much of a sense of humor you have. Also, you need to be in
reasonably good physical
condition for this trip - especially no back problems. The 4-Wheel drive excursion was
described as being something like
being in the movie Romancing the Stone. If you recall in the movie Michael Douglas and
Kathleen Turner were on something
of a wild ride, bouncing around through a jungle. They weren't clean all the time, in
fact, they were hot and dirty in a lot of
the scenes and danger seemed to lurk everywhere in the jungle. But, there were also scenes
in the movie where they saw
great beauty and enjoyed swimming and finally had a great meal. And, in fact, that's what
this trip was like.
Our first 4-Wheel Drive vehicle was open air and we and another couple from Australia
enjoyed incredible views while being
bounced all over the place through mountains. Others on the excursion rode in enclosed
4-Wheel Drive vehicles. Not as
much fun, but then, we got rained on and splashed by water from a river we crossed. The
air was clean and fresh and the
vegetation the greenest greens with wildflowers everywhere. The roads in the mountains
were scenic and incredibly rough.
As it had rained that morning, the roads were also slick. The roads are paved - badly and
also unpaved in many areas.
Many times the vehicle seemed so close to the edge that the slightest wrong move would
cause it to go over the brink and
tumble into the valley far below. Yes, it was at times scary. Especially when our driver
had steer with the slide due to the slick
road and we were steering toward the precipice, but it was also exhilarating. The scenery
was magical. After about 2 hours,
we passed through a remote village and then stopped at a gorgeous beach for an hour of
swimming. In the meantime, our
4-Wheel Truck was taken out of service. Something about the brakes not working quite
right. The four of us were
transferred to the supply vehicle. It was a bit cramped, but still a lot of fun. Another
of the vehicles had a flat tire. You should
have seen speed with which the drivers change a tire. I think they must do it every day! A
while later, the same vehicle had
another flat tire. Another quick change and onward another half an hour to a waterfall and
more swimming and picture
taking. We had lunch about 2:30pm. Lunch was at a remote restaurant with patio dining. We
had fish and some sort of local
bread. It was good, but I couldn't help wondering about the razor wire surrounding this
restaurant in the middle of nowhere.
After lunch, it was back to the 4-Wheel Drives for the drive back to the ship. After
bouncing around for a while we came upon
a remote village and stopped. The children in the village put on an impromptu show for us
and passed a hat. The show was
really cute with dancing, music and singing. Our tour guide told us the history of the
village. The villagers were the
descendents of slaves who had been brought from Africa to work the plantations. At last we
returned to the trucks for our
final drive back to the ship. A mile away from the ship and one of the other drivers
signaled our driver. In my poor Spanish, I
asked the driver if the problem was the other vehicle needed water for the radiator. I had
to laugh when he said, no, the
problem was the other vehicle was out of gas.
Curacao
We blew off the canoe excursion we had planned for the morning and went shopping since it
was Easter Sunday and the
stores would only be open from 9:00am until 1:00pm. We wanted to see the town while it was
open. Our ship docked at the
new cruise dock. The terminal has not been completed and it is further from the town than
the old cruise dock. We walked
about half a mile to the pontoon bridge to go into town. The bridge warning lights came on
and the gates swung down as we
were about to cross, so we walked further to the ferry and took it across as the bridge
swung open to accommodate a small
ship. It was interesting to see the pontoon bridge move, since I had never seen one
before. Locals, who knew it took forever
to move, walked under the gates and crossed the bridge in plenty of time.
The town is very scenic with charming colorful buildings and tourist shopping is
conveniently grouped together on the
waterfront. If you are looking to buy Tanzinite, this is the place to do it. I looked at a
ring at one jewelry store that was
$4,000. It had about a 6 carat pear shaped Tanzinite and a lot of diamonds. On the ship, a
similar ring would cost at least
$10,000. I didn't buy any jewelry, but the prices were certainly reasonable. Here we
bought 2 blue Delft cutting boards, a
porcelain fish and blue Curacao liquer. This was definitely the best shopping of the
entire trip.
We ran into the Australian couple who had been on the 4-Wheel Drive excursion with us the
day before. They had gone on
the canoe excursion and said it was great. They were actually canoeing in the ocean. But
they only had 45 minutes to shop
before all the stores closed in Curacao.
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal was the highlight of our adventure. It takes all day to pass through the
Panama Canal. The scenery is
amazing. The Canal workers are friendly and will readily wave to you as your ship passes
by. I went to the top decks early in
the morning to see what was going on and could not believe the number of people up there.
People and chairs covered the
deck like at an outdoor rock concert. Some people had been staking out their spot since
the wee hours of the morning. I
quickly retreated to our cabin. Here, having a balcony on the starboard side really paid
off. We set up the portable fan we
had brought with us on our balcony table and were able to take photos all day long without
getting sunburned and in relative
comfort. Up at the top of the ship, other passengers sat in a mob of people getting
roasted by the sun and suffering in the
extreme humidity of the place. Our ship passed through the locks on the left side, leaving
us free to take pictures of the
locks on the right side from our balcony. It was perfect! We tuned our cabin TV to the
channel that showed the forward view
from the ship and listened to the commentary by the Panama Canal expert they brought
onboard all day long. At dinner,
there were lots of sunburned passengers, but everyone had enjoyed passing through the
canal.
Acapulco
After the Panama Canal, there are 2 full days aboard ship. Princess keeps things lively
with lots to do during the days, but
the sea on the pacific side was rough and many passengers got seasick. Keep those
anti-seasickness patches on! There
were many sea turtles and dolphins to be seen on the Pacific side.
We arrived in Acapulco late, since we had been late in starting through the Panama Canal.
Only one shore excursion was
not cancelled and it had been severely abbreviated. It involved riding a bus. We were not
about to do that again, so we got
off the ship to walk around and were immediately swarmed by Mexicans wanting to take us to
their stores. I explained that we
live in Texas and don't want or need to buy anything in Mexico since we can get all that
stuff in Texas as cheaply and easily,
but they were relentless in their pursuit. Finally, in disgust, we got a nice cab driver
to give us a personal tour of Acapulco.
He showed us the tourist strip and took us to some nice points to see the view and showed
us celebrity homes. Then we
returned to the ship for our last night onboard.
The Last Night Onboard
We had packed while still at sea and place our bags in the hall. On the last night
Princess serves up a celebratory dinner.
We said fond good-byes to our wonderful dining companions. We passed out tips to our room
steward, waiter, assistant
waiter and headwaiter, then went to the Wheelhouse Bar and watched the Legacy trio until
the wee hours.
Disembarkation
Disembarkation was fast and easy. We had breakfast and then went to our room to collect
our carryon luggage. The receipt
for our stay on the ship had been delivered. While we waited for our group to be called to
disembark, my husband checked
the bill and receipt to make sure it was correct. It was. Our group was called and we
proceeded off the ship and into a long
line in the terminal warehouse where we identified our luggage to an American Airlines
representative. Really, this could
have been handled better. Then it was to the buses for the drive to the airport, about an
hour away from where the ship was
docked.
It was 2 hours before our flight when we got to the airport, so they sent us to a lounge
with complimentary drinks to wait it
out. Finally they sent us to our gate area. Unfortunately, the Acapulco airport lacks a
proper PA system and since this was a
special flight for Princess cruise passengers only, there was some confusion. The gate
agents attempted to make
announcements using a bullhorn. That was essentially useless. No one could hear them. I
stood only 10 feet away and have
perfect hearing and couldn't hear them! There was no board to post what flight was
boarding, so news of boarding time
spread by word of mouth. This was somewhat inconvenient and confusing for handicapped and
elderly passengers. The
Acapulco airport is a bit out of date, passengers walk down stairs to board busses to
drive about a block away to a plane,
then have to climb up mobile stairs to enter the plane. The buses were adequate but lacked
seating. I immediately gave up
my seat to an elderly woman and my husband gave his up to an elderly man and many others,
followed suit. Despite this,
there were many elderly and frail people who had no place to sit on the bus. Since so many
of Princesses passengers are
elderly or disabled, and Acapulco is a prime port for cruise ships, it would behoove the
airport to update to modern
gangways and forget the stair and bus routine. Wheelchair passengers had to be hand
carried up the stairs to the plane by
the Captain and a ground crew member. Since there were about 10 Wheelchair passengers, the
Captain got some pretty
major exercise prior to takeoff. He was very professional and courteous about it and
treated the handicapped passengers
with great dignity, but it seemed wrong that he would have to do this in addition to his
job. A lot of the passengers were
unhappy about the whole boarding experience. I heard one disgruntled older man loudly
telling everyone in the plane that
we should all complain to American to 'Get these people fired.' But the problem was NOT
the airline employees. The Captain
and other American personnel were extremely nice and professional. The problem was the
Acapulco Airport facilities. The
American Airline personnel were doing their best to cope with the bad situation.
Name: Bernie Bryant
Email: bbryant@intellisys.net
Age: 64
Occupation: Civil Service
NumberOfCruises: 11
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Princess-Sun
SailingDate: 30 March 1999
Itinerary: San Juan, St. Thomas,Caracas, Curacao, Canal,
FoodDiningRoom: 75
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 95
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 98
CabinAmenities: 95
FoodLidoDeck: 90
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 90
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 90
ShoreExcValue: 85
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 90
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 90
LoungeService: 98
TenderService: 95
GoodForSeniors: 90
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 85
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 98
EntertShowLounge: 90
OverallPortsofCall: 98
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 85
CruiseActivities:
Casino: 90
AirSeaProgram: 80
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 97
EmbarkDisembark: 98
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 90
Stabilization: 90
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 95
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 20 Apr 1999
Time: 21:07:03
Remote Name: pm04200.intellisys.net
Remote User:
Comments
Embarkation and debarkation. Without a doubt, Princess has these down pat. The best we've
ever been through. Our
Air-Sea program worked out pretty good. We flew Delta going to San Juan. When we landed,
we were met and escorted to
transportation to the ship. We walked into the terminal where a Princess rep did a
pre-scan of our paperwork, and corrected
those who had errors before they got into the line to board. Our papers were quickly
checked and we were on board in less
than ten minutes from the time we entered the terminal. Our debarkation was as smooth.
They took our airline tickets two
days after we boarded and returned them two days before we landed, with all the proper
paperwork. They said we would
debark at approximatly 10:00AM. We disembarked at 10:10AM. We were taken to the terminal
and directed to the counter.
This is where American Airline took over and did their best to kill us before returning
our scarred, tired, hungry bodies to our
destination 2 and 1/2 hours late. The ship. A marvel. Beautifully decorated with lots of
real art. The ship is huge, but is laid
out to appear much smaller than it is. There are two entertainment theaters and the shows
rotate each night. One dining
room attends shows in one theater while the other dining room has a different show in the
second theater. There is a lounge
to suit every taste from the old world style, heavily wooded lounge chair type to the
lights and glass modern lounge, and
everything in between. The atrium was the center of activity where the receptions were
held. It also had it's own lounges
from La Patisserie where you could get not only the beverage of your choice, but fresh
pastries all day long. The ship was
clean. I mean really clean. It was being shined and polished all day. The decks were
immaculate. The public rooms always
shined. Our cabin, while not the biggest we have had was comfortable and well appointed.
The bath was small. I would say
so small that you had to step into the hall to change your mind. There water was hot or
cold in the shower, as you liked it.
We were never out of TV range of a news station. This gave us a little consternation,
because we found out they were
printing a world news letter for the crew, but had suspended it for the passengers after
they got satalite TV. We begged from
the crew for the written word after that. The service. Great! We had a waiter (Gelu,
pronounced jell-o) and assistant,
Cecelia, both Romanian. Gelu said they were a team and they worked as one. They had
everything down and really ran a
smooth operation. We were seated at a table for four. My wife's seat was badly located
several inches from the waiter's
station for the next tables. She was always ducking trays, but other than that, the dining
room was nicely decorated. Our
table companions were as good as they come. We love a small table, early seating. Our room
steward was Louie. He was
really never seen but you always knew he was there. If you used a towel, the next time you
came into the cabin it had been
replaced. Nothing was ever out of place. The cabin was clean as a whistle. If you wanted
him for anything, it was only
necessary to pick up the phone and he was there in a flash. If he couldn't be, one of the
other stewards was. We really felt
pampered. The food. Well, not everything can be great all the time. We called the dining
room food, good Furr's Cafeteria.
For example, on International Night, my wife ordered the Mexican dish, Pollo Loco. It was
half a baked chicken with little or no
seasoning, french fries and green beans. Mexican. While the lobster and King Crab were
really good, they couldn't seem to
get a rib eye steak straight to save their souls. We did breakfast in the Horizon Court
every morning because I worked out in
the gym (The greatest gym I've every seen on a ship) and cleaned up before breakfast. By
then, it was too crowded in the
dining room. The buffet in the Horizon Court had all kinds of fresh fruit as well as all
usual bacon-and-eggs things. There
were always a variety of nice people and pleasant conversation there. We tried the dining
room only one morning for
breakfast and promptly retreated to the Horizon Court. The Lido Deck had the best
cheeseburgers we've eaten outside our
home. They served a variety of other sandwiches. It was about our usual lunch stop. The
pizzeria had some really good
pizza, even if the toppings were a little off the wall. As with all the other service on
the ship, the service there was good, too.
Entertainment. The cruise director seemed to be everywhere. Almost too much everywhere,
hosting every event. The shows
ranged from what I though was Ted Mack's Amature Hour to some really good talent. There
always seemed to be a piano, a
quartet, or a band playing everywhere you went on the ship. It was nice to sit in the
atrium in the late afternoon and listen to
the piano. The Itinerary. We started in San Juan, to St. Thomas, Martinique, Granada,
Caracas, Curacau, the Panama
Canal and Alcopulco. We overnighted in Alcopulco and departed the next morning. It was as
exciting a trip as we have had.
The Canal has to be seen to be believed. There wasn't a bad stop on the whole trip. After
St. Thomas, because it was
Easter week, we were the only cruise ship in the rest of the ports. No crowds! Wow!
Overall trip. We can't wait to do it again.
We only hope they improve the dining room food. With that the trip would be perfect.
Name: Dick and Mary Sands
Email: richard.sands@viasystems.com
Age: 55
Occupation: Manager and Housewife
NumberOfCruises: 3
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Princess-Sun
SailingDate: March 30, 1999
Itinerary: Panama Canal
FoodDiningRoom: 90
CruiseDirector: 85
CabinComfort: 90
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 85
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 95
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 85
ShoreExcValue: 80
GoodForHoneymoon: 85
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 85
LoungeService: 90
TenderService: 90
GoodForSeniors: 90
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 75
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 95
EntertShowLounge: 70
OverallPortsofCall: 85
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 85
CruiseActivities: 85
Casino: 85
AirSeaProgram: 90
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 95
EmbarkDisembark: 100
DiscoNightclubs: 85
DeckSpace: 95
Stabilization: 95
ShopsOnBoard: 80
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 90
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 02 May 1999
Time: 20:35:23
Remote Name: relay8.viasystems.com
Remote User:
Comments
Introduction
This was our 3rd cruise and the 2nd with Princess Cruise Line. We travelled with our
friends John and Lee and this always
make for a better cruise if you have compatible travel mates. The ports of call started
with St. Thomas, Martinique, Grenada,
LaGuaira Venezuela, Curacao, Panama Canal and ended up in Acapulco. The highlight of the
cruise was the Transit of the
Canal fron Atlantic to Pacific Ocean
The Ship
The Sun is a wonderful ship! She is very well kept and maintained. It was fully booked for
this Easter Cruise but it never felt
crowded until the DAy of the Transit for about 3 hours, then the crods got smaller as the
Sun and Heat got Hotter. We neve
had to wait in line for anything.. There was always plenty of sturdy padded deck chairs in
the shade by the main pool. Our
cabin was an inside forward one located on the Caribe Deck. The cabin was spacious enough
for us and the shower was
roomy enough so that the shower curtain did nit cling to you while showering.
The Food
We had the late sitting in the Marquis Dining Room at table 147 with Alex and Nikki as our
servers. There was a variety of
food in the dining room. The food at dinner was good to very good. They offered some
different entrees that we would
normally not propare at home, such as seafoods, veal and lamb. The Veal and Seafood
entrees were delicious. There is
always steaks, chicken, and vegetarian list of foods which are available everyday. The
desserts, especially the souffles were
outstanding. Don't miss them and if you want two just ask and your wish will be granted.
The service at dinner was very good
to excellent. We ate most breakfasts at our assigned table and didn't find the food at
breakfast any better than what you
could get on the Horizon Court. Our next trip we would probably eat more breakfasts at the
Horizon Court. You can see and
pick the types of eggs and toast and meats that appealed to your looks also the coffee is
stronger and taste better on the
Horizon Court.
Stateroom
Our room was an inside room and was very quiet. The space in the cabin was sufficient for
us.Our room was always
immaculate. We couldn't have asked for more except an outside cabin with a balcony like we
had when we visited Alaska.
Entertainment Main Shows were mediocre. Definitely geared towards the 70+ crowd. They had
a little too much signing by
the male and female lead singers but the dancing was good. It did pass away some of the
time. They did however have a
Great Luau on the deck with Rock and Roll music along with Caribbean Music that brought
out the crowds and a lot of
people were dancing. They should take a hint from this. Negatives Too much junk mail in
our outside cabin mailbox on the
Art Auction. 1 notification would have been enough, the sales tables piled with gold
chains, watches , etc in the Atrium
cheapen the whole effect a little of this lovely space. On the Positive-- the weather was
perfect and we did have a fun time
relaxing, eating and seeing other countries and peoples of the world. It will be hard for
my wife to go back cooking and doing
house. I don't think we will ccruise on any bigger ships that the Sun Princess, it seems
like you loose the whole being on the
ocean feeling on a very large ship. Looking forward to my next cruise and reviewing the
cruise opinions which I found very
helpful.
Name: Ken Whitney
Email: ken98465@halcyon.com
Age: 38
Occupation: Chief Financial Officer
NumberOfCruises: 2
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Princess-Sun
SailingDate: April 20, 1999
Itinerary: Panama Canal (San Juan to Acapulco)
FoodDiningRoom: 90
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 80
FoodRoomService: 85
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 85
FoodLidoDeck: 90
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 90
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 100
ShoreExcVariety: 85
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 90
ShoreExcValue: 85
GoodForHoneymoon: 90
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 80
LoungeService: 85
TenderService: 90
GoodForSeniors: 85
BeautySalonStaff: 80
EntertainmentLounges: 85
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 90
EntertShowLounge: 75
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon: 90
EntertainmentPoolside: 85
CruiseActivities: 80
Casino: 80
AirSeaProgram: 85
MedicalFacilities: 90
ShipCleanliness: 95
EmbarkDisembark: 90
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 85
Stabilization: 95
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio: 85
OverallCruiseValue: 85
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 05 May 1999
Time: 15:46:33
Remote Name: 204.57.220.15
Remote User:
Comments
First of all, we really enjoyed our Panama Canal honeymoon cruise on the Sun Princess, and
we do not regret our choice.
That being said, there is room for improvement. Assuming that Princess actually sneaks in
and reads these things, most of
our comments are directed toward them.
EMBARK-DISEMBARK: We bought the air/sea package from Seattle. Considering all the horror
stories we had heard about
air/sea, our experience was relatively painless. We flew American from Seattle to Chicago
to San Juan, on time and
comfortably. Buses met us in San Juan and we were at the ship within 45 minutes of landing
(no need to claim luggage).
There were no lines at check in (as most people were already aboard). The downside was
that we arrived after dark in San
Juan and saw none of Puerto Rico. From Acapulco, the return trip was more complicated
because of packing and customs.
Bags must me left in the hallway by midnight before departure. Airline reps met us in the
cruise terminal at about 9 a.m. to
check the bags and issue boarding passes. This was a nuisance, but worked very well. Most
flights didn't leave until
mid-afternoon, but our buses left the ship 3-4 hours early in order to create space for
arriving cruisers. The Acapulco airport
is shamefully bad considering how good it could be. No announcements of flights (except
with bullhorns), no posting of flight
numbers, no admission to the concourses until 1 hour before flight time. That meant that
we were all sitting around the main
terminal, some of us on floors, for several hours. Not a good way to leave Acapulco. The
flights were fine - a United charter
to LA and a regular United flight to Seattle. Don't drink the water though - Montezuma
visited me after a I drank the ice on
the airplane.
ROOM - Our cabin on the Aloha deck was typically small, but adequate for our needs. The
balcony came in handy for
seeing the canal and for photo opportunities at every port, as well as for getting fresh
air. Unlike Norwegian, Princess does
not segregate smoking and non-smoking rooms, and cigarette smoke came onto our balcony and
into our room from our
neighbor. (ATTENTION PRINCESS - SMOKING IN COMMON AREAS IS A MAJOR ISSUE FOR A LOT OF NON
SMOKERS.
Hate to be a pest about it, but cigarette smoke can ruin an otherwise pleasurable day.)
The vacuum toilet failed 3 times. The
first time we had to make 3 requests before it was fixed, starting at 11 p.m. and ending
at 1:20 a.m. This caused us to lose
sleep and miss dining room breakfast. The second time took about 75 minutes to fix and
caused us to hold our bladders in
the early morning. The third time was as we left the ship. Every cabin has a safe - a
great feature.
STEWARD - Our room steward, Linda, was outstanding. It seemed she was always within
eyeshot or earshot, yet she never
got in our way. In fact, personal service was wonderful througout the ship (other than the
toilet fixing crew).
DINING ROOMS - The food was plentiful and delicious. I heard a few minor complaints about
whether something ordered
medium rare would actually come medium rare. The service (Jesus at Regency table 129) was
excellent. Lunch and
breakfast were open seating, and we had good service excpet on the last Friday. Thursday
night was tipping night, and our
Friday lunch waiter was either coasting or incompetent. He was a rare exception to overall
excellence. The Horizon Court on
Lido Deck is a 24-hour buffet, and the food and service there was also good. The Pizzeria
on the Dolphin Deck was
surprisingly good.
PURSER-CRUISE STAFF - Other than the toilet repair snafu, the purser's office was helpful.
My wallet was stolen from our
backpack in Venezuela, and the purser's office helped me deal with reporting the theft. By
the way, we believe the thief was
the driver on our tour of Caracas. This tour was not sponsored by Princess, but was hired
in the port terminal in La Guaira,
Venezuela. Hey Jose, if you read CruiseOpinion.com, los federales are coming to get you.
SHORE EXCURSIONS - We took only 1 official excursion, a canoe safari in Curacao. It was
fantastic - canoeing, swimming
and snorkling with Sea Turtles. We hired our own van in Venezuela and enjoyed the glass
factory near Caracas. In St
Thomas we took a cab to Sapphire, a gorgeous and fairly quiet beach. We walked and shopped
in Martinique and Grenada.
We took a Suburban cab to Senor Frogs, a fun place in Acapulco. I got sick of shopping,
but the ports of call were all
interesting. One complaint - it seems that Princess guides us to their favorite shops, not
for our safety but for their profit. In
Acapulco, for example, we were steered to an outrageously priced shop, Las Margaritas. We
just weren't sure whether to
trust the information Princess was giving us. I wonder how much of a cut Princess gets
from their recommended stores?
ENTERTAINMENT - In the words of ship comedian David Reid, the entertainment was geared to
an audience with an
average age of 'deceased'. We noticed a big difference from Norwegian's Alaska
entertainment. Everybody gave a nice
effort, but overall it was a snoozer. The comedian was about 70 years old - and still
younger than his audience. The banjo
player (Princess called him an instrumentalist for fear that we wouldn't show up) was
talented, but really, how much banjo
can one man take??? The singer/impressionist was funny and good, but all of his
impressions were of people over 65
(except for a Michael Jackson moonwalk). We skipped the Harrington Brothers and a Gershwin
show. The dance troup was
typically perky (and sexy/handsome). We watched their first two shows, but skipped the
rest. I admire their performances
(especially considering they are done on a moving stage at sea), but the shows were not
compelling. The Norwegian Wind
(summer 98) took more chances and was a bit more hip.
ART AUCTIONS - We bought one piece, but felt like we were in a really bad infomercial
(Nimrod Jones is the world's leading
painter of sheep's nostrils!!! Insure this item for over $9,000!!!)
SUN PRINCESS - The ship is spectacular. Picturesque 4-story atrium, nicely appointed
public areas. One weakness was the
Promenade Deck, which is partially enclosed so that walking around the ship is not as nice
as it could be. Overall though, I
liked this ship better than the Norwegian Wind.
EXCEPT FOR THE ELEVATORS - Oh my gosh, who designed these things?? In the main elevator
shafts, each set has its
own call buttons. Therefore, in order to call an elevator, you have to run all over and
press about 5 buttons, hoping that an
elevator will eventually arrive. Then 4 other elevators eventually stop, slowing down all
those people. The engineering
committee must have been co-chaired by Marquis De Sade and US West.
OVERALL - For all the issues raised above, we had a wonderful time and plan to cruise
again. It is a vacation unlike any
other. Thank you cruiseopinion.com for maintaining this site.
Name: Mrs. Douglas White
Email: wright.white@sympatico.ca
Age: 52
Occupation: retired
NumberOfCruises: 4
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Princess-Sun
SailingDate: December 15/98 to December 26/98
Itinerary: Christmas 13 day Panama Canal
FoodDiningRoom: 69
CruiseDirector: 0
CabinComfort: 99
FoodRoomService: 90
CruiseStaff: 0
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 50
DiningRoomService: 0
CabinQuietness: 0
FoodMidnightBuffets: 80
CabinSteward: 100
ShoreExcVariety: 80
FoodVariety: 50
DeckService: 80
ShoreExcValue: 75
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 80
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 75
TenderService: 95
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff: 100
EntertainmentLounges: 90
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge:
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon: 100
EntertainmentPoolside: 99
CruiseActivities: 50
Casino: 60
AirSeaProgram: 0
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 80
EmbarkDisembark: 70
DiscoNightclubs: 50
DeckSpace: 0
Stabilization: 100
ShopsOnBoard: 75
SpaceRatio: 0
OverallCruiseValue: 1
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 22 May 1999
Time: 21:35:12
Remote Name: ppp3529.on.bellglobal.com
Remote User:
Comments
We took this cruise to celebrate an Anniversary and took the extra deluxe package (facial,
flowers, canapes,
photograph, etc., etc.,). We had an outside cabin with a balcony. It is a good job that we
did. The ship had a number
of Mexican passengers with small children. These kids had the run of the ship. They ran
the halls, all floors, all
night, run the halls in the day time, jumping over people in wheel chairs, run and
screamed all day by the pool,
wouldn't stay out of the casino, disco, etc. We could get only one glass of champagne when
they made the fountain,
but the kids were sneaking half glasses off the table, when the waiters weren't looking.
We couldn't keep them out of
the Casino, one had his face right in the slot as my money was being cashed out. My
husband complained and
asked why number 10 on page five of the contract wasn't being followed and couldn't get an
answer.
Going up and
down the stairs was difficult with the kids using them as toys and rolling down them. They
would get into the
elevators and hit every button so that they would stop at every floor. The parents didn't
bother to keep the kids in
check in the dining room, they were running around and screaming. We couldn't take
advantage of some of the
ships activities because we were basically shoved right out of the way. There was
absolutely no parental guidance.
They were left on their own and it made the cruise a horrible experience for just about
everyone else. This went on
for four days, until finally the Purser wrote a letter. That didn't work so a meeting took
place.
The food was the
poorest quality of all of my three Princess cruises. Our cherries jubilee came to us like
soup. When I asked for
something, I sometimes had a hard time getting it until I made a point of telling them
again. Being nice to and asking
didn't get us anywhere. The arrangements made for us to get to the ship and back were the
poorest we have ever
encountered. We got a reply from the airline and they at least care about how we were
treated and in all fairness,
we are starting at zero and giving them another try. At least they care. We still haven't
heard anything from Princess
and had to have our travel agent get in touch with them again. They said we would probably
get a reply in about two
weeks. We weren't the only ones upset on this cruise. One couple had been on twenty five
cruises and said they
had never, ever seen anything as bad as this.
We went up to the buffett one night (and it was a formal night too)
just to get away from the Mexican kids and found the ship's crew up there eating. We heard
them tell the waiter that
they couldn't stand the noise and the kids running under all the tables, etc. One older
lady was knocked down by a
gang of kids running in the hallway. She refused to charge her own insurance and was going
to try and make
Princess pay. We talked to a gentleman at breakfast one morning, and he was in a wheel
chair. The kids jumped
over his legs. We also noticed that they all had cell phones and were communicating with
gangs on different floors
of the ship. I still have a copy of the letter in English and Spanish is anyone would like
a copy. The fact that Sun
Princess has not replied makes me wonder why. They can't deny it, we have it in writing.
In two weeks we were given
the choice of veal chops five times. I really felt sorry for the rest of the children on
board - they were on really tight
leashes, it wasn't fair to them. Oh well, I guess as long as the Mexicans had a good
times, that's what counts. If it
hadn't been for our balcony, I would have arranged a flight home - two days into the
cruise.
Name: Lynn Kindler
Email: lynnkindler@yahoo.com
Age: 41
Occupation: Branch Manager-Recruiter
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Princess-Sun
SailingDate: May 12-19
Itinerary: Alcapulco-SanFrancisco
FoodDiningRoom: 100
CruiseDirector: 99
CabinComfort: 87
FoodRoomService: 95
CruiseStaff: 95
CabinAmenities: 92
FoodLidoDeck: 92
DiningRoomService: 100
CabinQuietness: 100
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 98
ShoreExcVariety: 98
FoodVariety: 98
DeckService: 92
ShoreExcValue: 87
GoodForHoneymoon: 100
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 96
LoungeService: 98
TenderService: 97
GoodForSeniors: 95
BeautySalonStaff: 87
EntertainmentLounges: 95
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 98
EntertShowLounge: 75
OverallPortsofCall: 98
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside:
CruiseActivities: 87
Casino:
AirSeaProgram: 87
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 100
EmbarkDisembark: 80
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 95
Stabilization: 99
ShopsOnBoard: 87
SpaceRatio: 98
OverallCruiseValue: 98
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 05 Jun 1999
Time: 23:37:08
Remote Name: amdext.amd.com
Remote User:
Comments
Overall we had an excellent time on our first cruise ever. At no fault of the Princess, we
did miss our
connecting flight from Austin to Houston due to inclement weather whereby we ended up
missing the first
two nights on the boat. However, both Continental Airlines and Princess took very good
care of us inspite
of this inconvenience.
The service on the Sun Princess was wonderful. I loved our room steward, Joe; I loved our
waiter, Tito; I
enjoyed the cruise director albeit he was full of schmaltz!!!
The boat is truly beautiful. It was something else to sit out on our deck the first night
as we left Puerto
Vallerta(sp) to watch the sun set as we ate yummy appetizers (gratis of the Princess
because of missing
the boat the first two nights) in our fuzzy terry bathrobes.
No one ever talks about how absolutely 'back to the womb' it is to be lulled to sleep
every night by the
gentle rolling of the boat. Our cabin was towards the back on the Caribe deck and I
absolutely loved it.
The first night or two it was a little bit weird to remember that we were on a boat as we
ate our elegant
meal in the dining room. Our first couple of times off the boat during day excursions my
husband and I did
wonder if we were perceived as walking around like Steve Martin and Dan Akroyd (wild and
crazy guys)
because we both felt like we were still on the boat and had not quite gotten the hang of
acquiring our
sea-legs and then walking on land (we felt like we were walking sideways most of the time
while on land).
The entertainment to me (imho) was like 'Las Vegas meets Mars'. It was really total
Schmaltz. We did enjoy
London Pub night (not for the faint of heart) and one of the guys who entertained us
(cannot for the life of
me remember his name? Greg? ) who was in fact from Las Vegas, was actually pretty durn
good. He sang.
He played the claironet, he joked, he bantered. He was quite a good entertainer. Would I
go see him if he
came to our home town? Probrably not. The Physical Magician was good too.
I loved our waiter Tito. He was just a gem. Very professional and very warm and funny. I
felt like we were
blessed. Our dining companions were interesting and fun. Sure, the first night it was
awkward, but after
awhile we warmed up to each other and enjoyed ourselves.
Disappointing moment: I am a friend of Bill W. and although in the daily schedule there
was a time and
place set aside for friends of Bill W. to meet, my husband and I were the only one's to
show up!!! Oh well,
guess there was a lesson in there for me somewhere.
I don't know what we were thinking about when we packed for the last two days of the
cruise at sea (going
up the Baja Peninsula to San Francisco) but we were freezing most of the time. Being
Texans, anything
close to 60 and lower is cold to us. But we did see some die-hard sunbathers around the
pool trying to
take in the last rays of the trip. One guy looked like he surely must be a member of the
World Tanner's
Club. He was the most amazing color of Walnut. He looked like what you would expect
someone to look like
who had been on a cruise. Even so, REMEMBER TO PACK SUN SCREEN.
Note to the first time cruiser: when you get your disembarking papers for the last day,
pay close attention
to what 'color tags' they've assigned you because this directly impacts when you will
leave the ship to get
your bags and if you've got an early or mid-day flight to catch out the next day, you
don't want to have a
tag that says to the guys on the dock that it is okay if your bags are out last!
Yes, we will definitely cruise again. Yes, we will cruise with Princess and yes, we would
recommend the Sun
Princess as a very nice ship and crew.
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