When it was first launched in 1995 the Sun Princess was the
world’s largest cruise ship weighing in at 77,00 tons. Originally debuting as
having the largest number of balcony cabins and a 24-hour café, the Sun Princess
is now one of the smallest ships in the Princess fleet. It dwarfs the 5,000+ passenger mega ships of
today. The Sun was refurbished in 2016 and currently houses 1,011 cabins with
18 decks.
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| Sun Princess |
The
current facilities include a theatre, Movies Under the Stars, three swimming
pools, five spas, nine food and dining areas and The Sanctuary -- an
adults-only retreat.
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| The Sanctuary area |
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| Entrance to The Sanctuary |
The
Sun Princess is based in Sydney so the majority of passengers are Aussies and
Kiwis with their on board currency being the Australian Dollar. All announcements are in English as are the
TV shows. Bridge, Bingo and themed
trivia quizzes seem to cater more to the older crowd so younger couples may
find the ship to be too quiet.
Tipping is not required by passengers embarking from
Australia. Also, no 18% mandatory service
charge is added to the beverage or bar bills.
Periodically you may be handed a receipt to sign for beverage or alcohol
purchases. There is a TIP line on the
receipt but it is not required nor is it expected. It can just be left blank.
The Sun Princess receives 3.5 out of 5 stars with Cruise Critic with 276 of 416 total reviewers rating the ship as EXCELLENT or VERY
GOOD. I would have rated the ship as VERY GOOD had it not been for the sewage smell that emanated from
the port side on Promenade deck.
Passenger Services confirmed that they have an exhaust valve located there but
one would not know this beforehand. Overall I felt that the food
was standard but service was excellent with a very friendly and helpful staff.
The Sun Princess docks at the White Bay Cruise
Terminal. Be sure to check your documents carefully as there are two
cruise terminals in Sydney, the Oversees Passengers Terminal and the White Bay Terminal. Cost for the transfer from Sydney
airport to White Bay Terminal is considerably more than to the Oversees
Terminal and travel time runs close to an hour.
All
tagged luggage will be taken from you before you proceed into the
terminal. Don’t worry if you forgot your
luggage tags. Staff is available and
will hand write tags for you. After
dropping my luggage I proceeded inside and walked directly to a waiting
check-in station. The entire check-in
process was one of the quickest ever experienced. With my newly issued cruise card I
walked straight to the boarding door and on to the ship. With no waiting anywhere it was only 12:30pm
and, what else, time to eat. I made my
way to the Horizon Court.
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| Horizon Court |
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| Horizon Court |
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| Horizon Court |
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| Horizon Court |
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| Horizon Court |
Immediately
following lunch I went down to the room and was pleasantly surprised to see my
luggage sitting inside the cabin. The
entire embarkation process, including luggage handling, was quick, easy and
very well managed.
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| Inside Accessible Cabin |
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| Inside Accessible Cabin |
What
made this cruise unique and vivid in my mind was the “Travelling Film Festival
At Sea”. Princess presented the third
Film Festival At Sea and was offered in partnership with the Sydney Film
Festival. In addition, one had the
opportunity to be part of an open forum to discuss the films with acclaimed
Australian film critic Richard Kuipers.
Here is the list of the seven films presented during the cruise:
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| Richard Kuipers Photo by Cult Projections |
SING STREET Directed by John Carney
Sydney Film
Festival 2016
Sundance
Film Festival 2016
Dublin Film
Festival 2016
MAGGIE’S PLAN Directed by Rebecca Miller
Sydney Film
Festival 2016
Toronto
International Film Festival 2015
Sundance
Film Festival 2016
ELVIS AND NIXON Directed by Liza Johnson
Sydney
Film Festival 2015
Tribeca Film
Festival 2016
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC Directed by Matt Ross
Sydney Film
Festival 2016
Sundance
Film Festival 2016
Cannes Film
Festival 2016
LOVE & FRIENDSHIP Directed by Whit Stillman
Sydney Film
Festival 2016
Sundance
Film Festival 2016
SUNSET SONG Directed by Terence Davies
Sydney Film
Festival 2015
Melbourne
International Film Festival 2015
MUSTANG Directed by Deniz Gamze Erguven
Sydney Film
Festival 2016
Cannes Film
Festival 2015
Nominated: Best Foreign Film
88th Academy Awards
Princess
Cruises has a long-standing tradition of offering a Captain’s Welcome Aboard
Champagne Waterfall party creating a champagne waterfall tower on one of the
formal nights. Many man-hours are spent
neatly stacking champagne glasses into a tower formation, somewhere around 15
rows high. This is an opportunity to personally
meet and have a photo taken with the Captain as you pour champagne over the
tower of champagne glasses.
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| Building the tower of glasses |
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| Captain pouring the champagne |
Added after the
refurbishment in April 2016 was Share By Curtis Stone. This is a
specialty restaurant and carries a cover charge of $39 per person. I tested out the cuisine the last night of the cruise. Appetizers included Jamón Serrano - a dry cured Spanish Ham; Australian
Sopressata; Salami Finocchiona from Southern Tuscany; Hungarian Salami; Honey
Comb and Baguette from France; Quince Paste with Toasted Pecan from Spain; Pear
Mostarda with Black Pepper Cracker from Italy and finally Crab Apple with
Chestnut Cracker from California. I followed this up with a Shrimp salad
with lemon gel, turnip, citrus salt and brioche. For my main entrée I
selected Turbot, expertly prepared with Gruyére
Crumb and served atop a bed of spinach with a Potato Gratin prepared with black
winter truffle and cream. As if that wasn’t enough I opted for a decadent
Chocolate Crémeux with hazelnut and vanilla bean
ice cream. Hats off to the chef. This was the best dining
experience of the cruise.
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| Photo by public domain |
The cruise was a 6-night Sydney round-trip to the island of Tasmania. Ports-of-call will be discussed in the next article.
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