Nearly as long as four football fields and carrying up to 5,000 guests on 19 decks, Sun Princess is the biggest Love Boat ever. She’s a floating city filled with entertainment, and more restaurants and bars than anyone can reasonably be expected to discover in a full week on board.
And yet, since the debut of the newest generation Princess Cruises ship, reviews have complained that while she can seem too big in some ways, in others, she’s not big enough. In two weeks on board, we discovered why and 10 hacks to find what you’ll love on the newest Love Boat.
An app makes things a snap
A bad omen at the start: A seemingly endless line snaked back and forth in front of the Princess terminal in Fort Lauderdale. But the queue moved remarkably quickly from bag drop to boarding because most everyone had checked in at home on the Princess app and had a Princess Medallion mailed to them. The locket-sized piece of tech serves as boarding pass, room key and credit card everywhere on the ship. So once past a security scan of carry-ons, we can just walk on board the ship.
The Medallion unlocks the door to our stateroom automatically as we approach it, making getting into the room easy even with hands full of baggage. Before heading to lunch, we watch a short safety briefing on our television and stop by our lifeboat muster station to check in, saving having to attend a lengthy mandatory drill later in the afternoon.
Skip the buffet on day one
The Eatery, the buffet zone on deck 9, is a zoo on embarkation day. It’s where everyone congregates for lunch after boarding, making it virtually impossible to find a table and leading to long lineups to get served at the food stations.
You’ll have plenty of chances to graze the buffet on other days when people have figured their own routines. A saner opening gambit is to head to the main Soleil dining room, where lunch is served in peace and quiet on tables with white tablecloths. You can also opt for lunch there on any sea day, although the menu is limited and always the same. It’s rich with crowd-pleasers ranging from calamari to Cobb salad to mains like mac and cheese, the Princess Signature burger or striploin with gravy and fries.
Fill the gaps in your program early
Another first-day gambit is that restaurant reservations can still be had on board even when the app says they aren’t available. I’d been trying for weeks before the cruise to get a reservation on the app for the Umai Teppanyaki, but every night always showed nothing available. Heading to the Princess Live theater after lunch, there was a friendly manager who with a few deft taps of a screen found an opening on the day we wanted. The spa also has sign-ups for fitness classes that can book up and early-bird discounts on massages and beauty treatments.
Going Premium frees many options
And here’s where I was glad I opted to upgrade my beverage and restaurant package from Princess Plus to Premium. Several specialty restaurants including the Umai Teppanyaki, Crown Grill steak house, Rudi’s Catch seafood and Toscana Italian have $45.99 a person cover charges. The charges are included with the Premium plan but not with the Plus package, which includes basic alcoholic drinks, water, wi-fi for one device and crew gratuities. For an extra $30 a person per day, the Premium perks include Plus perks along with most specialty restaurants, premium cocktails and wines up to $17 a glass and wi-fi for multiple devices and fitness center classes. We filled our evenings with dining at the specialty restaurants which have an elevated ambience and service compared to the main restaurants.
Cascade Bar in The Dome zone–Photo by Wallace Immen
Discover your personal happy places
There seem to be early risers who get up before dawn to stake claims on the prime chairs around the pools on Deck 17. But while the sun worshippers’ loungers in the Lido and The Dome area and its Seaview Bar at the bow are in short supply, never fear. There were always shaded tables available in The Dome and to find a sunny lounge chair, go up to Deck 18, which was generally much less busy. My favorite spot to cozy up with a Kindle or check out YouTube was the Cascade Bar, around a fascinating and soothing waterfall sculpture that flows between decks within The Dome. Wi fi connections are excellent wherever in the ship you decide to log in.
There’s sun beyond The Dome and Lido
A recurring issue is how confusing it can be to get around the huge ship whose corridors can seem like endless identical twisting mazes. Signs are confusing and there are some places that seem almost impossible to find even though electronic screens near elevators describe how to get from here to there. In some cases, you have to go from one deck to another and back down to reach a restaurant.
Getting to the Deck 9 Eatery from the forward elevators requires going down a long hallway lined with service carts for stateroom cleaning and then left down a dim unmarked passageway to a doorway that finally opens into the brightly lit mid-ship Piazza.
Our cabin was near the front of the ship and for sunning options, we’d take the forward elevator to Deck 17 and head for the Dome at the bow of the ship or the double pools of the central Lido. It was only several days into the cruise that I discovered the Wakeview Terrace zone on the stern that has a beautiful infinity pool with a dramatic rear view of the horizon view along with a friendly bar. It’s particularly tricky to find from most everywhere on the ship because while it’s behind the exclusive Sanctuary restaurant, the exits from there are roped off during the day. It’s easier to access from behind the Americana Grill on deck 9. From upper decks, doors at the far aft of corridors lead to a glass elevator that offers a dramatic view on the way down to Wakeview on deck 8.
Cram for 80s exams
Want to be a hero in the daily trivia contests on Sun Princess? It pays to bone up on the hits and film stars of the 1980s. Hints: Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Molly Ringwald, Ferris Bueller and ET. The decade is a favorite theme of sea day game shows for a good reason: many of the passengers on this cruise grew up in the MTV and big hair decade.
But this isn’t to say this is a nostalgia cruise—far from it. Contemporary electronic music is in the air around Sun Princess and its parties are as leading edge musically as you’ll find anywhere. In karaoke sessions, you’ll find would-be Taylor Swifts trying to Shake It Off or even an aspiring Shaboozey trying to be Tipsy. The crowds on board seemed pleased, no matter when they were born.
Opt for the late shows
Despite being such a big ship, the entertainment venues are just too small for the crowds. It’s a recurring issue. The Princess Live show room can be standing-room-only half an hour before the comedy shows begin. There can be hour-long lines to get into a half-hour Cirque Éloize acrobatic shows on evenings they happen in The Dome. And the Arena– an intimate wraparound theater with nightly headliner events– has people saving entire rows of seats for friends long before showtimes. But extra shows have been added and there’s generally seating for walk-ins at the last shows of the evening.
You might not even be aware of the Cirque Éloize performances, because they’re always so full they aren’t promoted in advance around the ship. When they happen, the performances only show up as a line in the Princess Patter daily program. However, some of the performers also give samples of their shows in the central Piazza at cocktail times. It’s a chance to see the highlights without carving out a large chunk of the evening to see the whole shows,
One evening featured an acrobatic violinist playing a concert while suspended in the middle of the triple-deck Piazza atrium. Another Piazza event featured a mentalist who had done shows the evening before in the Arena. His ability to seemingly read minds was just as effective in the big open plaza. But again many of the best seats around the Piazza fill up long in advance of special events.
Have a never have I ever experience
Ever played water volleyball against the officers of a ship? Or started your morning with a complimentary Zumba class? Or been the suitcase picker who can decide whether it’s a Deal or No Deal? This is your chance to shake off the routine and try something unexpected.
In the Fitness Center there are Pure Barre classes that actually have much to do with a ballet barre (they use bicycles). And the guided Yoga Six or Stretch Lab will work on body parts you’ve neglected. The range of daily fitness classes come with additional fees that are waived if you’ve got a Premier package.
For even more exotic experiences, there are a whole range of seldom-seen treatments like seaweed massage and shoulder cupping. And in the Lotus Spa there’s something I’ve never seen on a cruise before: a menu of vitamin supplements administered by IV. You can choose half-hour drips for hydrating, slimming, or “glowing.” There’s also something called a “detox booster shot.” Do I look that hung over?
Add a second week if you can
By the time you’ve gotten to know the big new ship, a week is already coming to a close. As one fellow guest summed it up on an elevator: ”A week is just a teaser on this ship.” Sun Princess is sailing the Caribbean on seven-day schedules that alternate between weeks that include Amber Cove, Dominican Republic, Belize and Honduras and ones that feature Cozumel, Princess Cay private island and Grand Turk. Doubling up the cruise gives you the chance to get the full experience on this biggest Love Boat ever.
Sun Princess is only the first of this new expanded class of Princess ships. Sister ship Star Princess will debut from Fort Lauderdale in October, 2025 visiting many of the same Caribbean ports as Sun Princess before an Alaska season starting in May, 2026 sailing from Seattle. Sun Princess will also be sailing from Fort Lauderdale for the fall and winter of 2026 after spending a summer in the Mediterranean, with cruises from Barcelona, Civitavecchia for Rome and Athens.
There’s much more to love if you plan ahead and get cozy with the new Princess.
Story by Wallace Immen, The Cruisington Times
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