The Sun Princess in full Glory
We were very much looking forward to catching up with our Canadian friends Darcy and Caralee, whom we had befriended on our 2025 transatlantic Princess cruise to Southampton, England and who upon learning that we had booked this cruise, excitedly booked the same one with a 5 day after cruise extension in Spain’s resort town of Pineda de Mar, north of Barcelona. Our friends live near Vancouver, Canada, so we’re talking half way around the world travel. That is what we call friendship!
Our reasons for once again taking a transatlantic cruise came down to more luggage availability, less effect of jetlag, 14 days of luxury treatment and rest, and…the refund for the return part of the original airline tickets we had bought last April when we flew from Amsterdam to Nashville, pretty much paid for the cruise. With all the horror stories about air traffic control, TSA not being paid and more of the same, we decided a cruise would suit us better.
Our Canadian friends Darcy and Caralee
The Sun Princess
Following is our reasoning why in future. we prefer to book royal class ships like the Regal Princess over sphere class ships like the Sun Princess or the Sky Princess..
The Sun Princess (launched in 2024) is the lead ship of the new Sphere-class, representing the largest and first LNG-powered vessel in their fleet. It features a 21-deck design focusing on expansive views and modern, sustainable technology. It carries 177,882 Gross Tonnes over a length of 1,133 ft. and a capacity to accommodate 4,300 guests served by a crew of 1,600.
First and foremost, the entire crew was marvelous. Superior to any other cruise we’ve done. Unfortunately the ship’s layout has a number of “design” shortcomings, many loyal passenger don’t particularly like. During the following we will touch upon them.
It took us a couple of days to adjust to the ship’s entirely different floorpan. We were used to the familiar naming of Lido deck etc. instead of the boring numbering system all the way up to the 21st deck. Of course this could have something to do with the AI driven elevator system.
No more library, no Churchill, much smaller gym, now located midship, more attention to exterior spacing with sun decks and a long list of eateries. The Eatery on deck 9 is a confusing directional buffet where guests bumb into each other using both directions. Quite irritating. After a couple of time trying we decided to mostly dine in the Soleil Dining room or the Americana Diner which served excellent chef inspired dishes.
The elevators are now computerized with a form of artificial Intelligence, which means you press the floor you want to go to outside in the elevator hall and the screen will let you now which elevator will take you there. Strange in the beginning, but you quickly adjust and it eliminates standing on side of the hallway and having an elevator arrive on the opposite side, with you having to run to it to make it, yelling: “Please hold the door,” or people inside of the elevator yelling “Can someone push 10 for me.”
the Sphere rooms with extended balconies
Our stateroom was in the sphere on deck 10, just to the front of midship which means that we had a slightly expanded balcony with more seating space on the Starboardside, (not enough for a lounge chair however) with the sun coming in beautifully every day of our trip over. Note: if you like to get a suntan on your way over to Europe, you need a stateroom on the Starboardside, from the 10th floor up, with a balcony. Anywhere else you will mostly experience shadows.
It also means on deck 10, we have just a short distance to many of the eateries just one or two decks below us.
The entire floorpan of the ship is totally different from previous Princess ships we sailed on. The feel is much smaller, kind of cut up, although the entire ship is one of the biggest on the 7 oceans. Time will tell what we like and won’t like, I guess. Right now it feels much more like a commercial enterprise than a welcoming resort on the ocean. Even the entertainment venues have severe limitations
The Dome on the Sun Princess
The only time we visited the famous “Dome”, promoted as the quiet, introspective place aboard the ship was during the Captain’s Welcome for Elite, Platinum and Sanctuary Guests. Ironically during this one glass presentation the Captain, a jolly, friendly Italian from Messina, Sicily with a 27 year work record for the company, showed an audio visual presentation of the growth of Princess Cruises since its founding in 1965. I couldn’t help but silently admire those first early years’ small ships where you knew most of your co-passengers and there was a certain grandeur implanted into the design.
Today’s ships seems to all suffer from a Disney Dream design abundance. Yes we had been upgraded to a Sphere Cabin, which still could not accommodate a lounge chair to enjoy the sun away from the overloaded pools. During In-port maintenance exercises most of the hassle happened for starboard cabins and the smoking decks, as they are typically held on that side of the ship. On the positive: the check in and check out procedures on deck 6 are much more spacious and therefore much better streamlined than on other ships, which helps greatly disembarking and returning at Port of Calls.
The nicest thing about this crossing were the eight days on the Atlantic Ocean before we would hit Santa Cruz on the Canary Island of Tenerife for our first port of call. We were enjoying the Sea Days so much that this first Port of Call was totally neglected. But its significance was that we had finally exchanged the USA for a retirement of adventure travel and charity contributions across the pond.
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