Four Spots Onboard the All-New Sun Princess We’re Not in Love With

Travel Market Report returned earlier this week from five days onboard the all-new Sun Princess. With not a lot of time onboard and several areas still not ready, we didn’t get the complete Sun Princess experience. But we had enough time to determine which spaces we believe your clients will love – and which, particularly for past Princess passengers, they might not be 100% thrilled with.

Last week we broke down all the spaces onboard the ship we think your clients will love. This week, we dive into which spots we walked away from feeling ambivalent. Especially for past Princess cruisers, some of these spots could be a real disappointment and warrant a little head’s up from you, their travel advisor.

1. Piazza

One of the most popular spots onboard any Princess ship, we’re not quite convinced that the new version of the Piazza works. Located inside the Sphere, the atrium stretches three stories tall, with stadium-style seating on the middle and upper levels, and less seating on the bottom level than on other ships.

Princess kept the small press group busy onboard Sun Princess, so we only had a few opportunities to see the Sphere atrium in action.

Similar in design to the atrium theater on Carnival Cruise Line’s newest ships, which sounds great on paper but doesn’t work in reality, the Sphere Atrium on Sun Princess has one thing going for it that Carnival’s doesn’t. Other than a short “show” with aerialists and a hoop twirler prior to Princess’ signature Champagne tower welcome, and a second “farewell” performance towards the end of the cruise (both not yet ready on our sailing, though anyone could watch the performers rehearse throughout the day), there are no production shows in this space. Instead, Princess uses it for events hosted by the entertainment team. From our limited experience checking out each of the three levels, it appears guests can see the main floor action for all three. 

Still, despite being taller than on the rest of the fleet, the atrium itself feels smaller, with less seating on the main level. The few events we passed by were standing room only, on all levels because there was just nowhere to sit.

2. The Arena

For the most part, the Arena, ie the main theater on Sun Princess, is pretty cool. It can be configured in three different ways, to allow for different types of shows. We saw two during our five days onboard. One was a Welsh singer belting out hits from various divas. The other was the first of four new mainstage production show that feature some of the best stage production we’ve seen at sea, cool costumes, and a loose plotline using mostly classic rock songs to push the plot along.

Both shows used the keyhole configuration of the theater, which features the smallest amount of seating. (The theater in the round and standard setup each provide more seating.) Not a problem for the night of the Welsh singer, the limited seating kicked up a fuss among cruisers for the production of Vallora, a Pirate’s Quest.

The seating issue is exacerbated by the large swath of reserved seating for Princess Premium cruisers. A GREAT perk for cruisers who have forked over the extra cost for Princess Premium, it really does reduce the number of seats for “regular” passengers. People showed up an hour (or more) early to snag seats, so that the entire theater was pretty much full more than 20 minutes before each performance (there were three on our sailing).

A Princess spokesperson said the line is not considering requiring reservations. But adding reservation functionality might not be a bad idea, in order to make the process smoother for everyone. People will know if a showing has already filled up without having to camp out for 30 minutes, and Princess can control how many times people see each show to give more people a chance. It’s also possible that by the time that all four shows are up and running (some time in July we’re told), that guests on any particular sailing won’t feel a strong need to see every show. With practically no production-style entertainment on our sailing, the demand for this one show was outsized.

3. Wheelhouse Bar

Wheelhouse Bar is a beloved lounge onboard Princess ships. Sadly, on Sun Princess it has been reduced to just another bar. It’s small, with limited seating, and there’s no stage or open space for any type of entertainment. It’s located near the back of the ship on Deck 7, not far from the Anytime section of the three-level Horizons restaurant, making it more of a pre- or post-dinner spot than anything.

One Elite cruiser from Australia that we spoke to lamented the loss of Wheelhouse Bar as a proper third lounge. Events that might be held in Wheelhouse on other ships are now either held in Princess Live or the Sphere atrium.

4. Horizons dining

Princess is trying something new with Horizons dining on Sun Princess, dividing its three-level restaurant into three distinct experiences, each with its own name.

The bottom level – or Soleil Dining Room – is for traditional early and late seating dining. There’s room for 941 people and clients need to sign up ahead of time for whichever seating they want or sign up on embarkation day.

In the middle is the Eclipse Dining Room, which can fit up to 664 Anytime diners. Clients cannot make reservations – which is different from the rest of the fleet. They must just show up and either get a table on the spot or wait until a spot opens up. Unused space in the Soleil section will be used for Anytime diners as Eclipse fills up.

Both Soleil and Eclipse have the same menu.

Not true on the third level, also called the All American Dining Room, which is the smallest of the three, with room for just 326 people. Like Eclipse, there are no reservations required (or permitted). Crew claimed you can always snag a table, which happened to be true for our one lunch there.

The more casual experience at All American offers a diner-like menu, with a rotating selection of three dishes from the main menu. It’s open from brunch to dinner (always the same menu, other than the three rotating selections) every day of the cruise.

We tried out All American one day for lunch and found the menu to be a bit limited (and in some cases, short on taste, namely our mac & cheese and veggie burger). There are a few all-day breakfast options, along with typical diner foods including a cheeseburger (or veggie burger, though Princess would do really well to invest in Impossible Burgers or Beyond Burgers rather than trying to make them from scratch), fish and chips (which gets a thumbs up, here and in O’Malley’s), fried chicken, shrimp n’ grits, and more plus comfort sides like nachos, tots & poppers, loaded fries, and more.

The single salad option – the house salad – is simply lettuce, parmesan cheese, and croutons. A few cucumbers or a tomato would have been nice! (The Lido Green salad bar, on the other hand, is fantastic and quickly became my favorite spot for a light meal. Plus, it’s open for lunch and dinner.)

The dessert menu at All America, is by far, the best part of the menu with indulgencies like a Mississippi mud pie, apple pie, strawberry shortcake, and banana split.