Question:
My wife and I are taking our first cruise on the Sun Princess to the Eastern Caribbean Jan 30/04 and we were wondering has anyone out there taken this cruise before? Any suggestions on shore excursions as we are planning to take a couple on the following islands,Barbados,Antigua & possibly St. Maarten? Any ideas??? How was the food on the Sun Princess, entertainment and service? Anything any previous Princess cruisers could share with us would be very helpful and greatly appreciated.

Thanks )

Choices:
cruisers info

 

While I haven't sailed this itinerary on the Sun, I have gone to some of the places, and sailed the Sun in Alaska in August, 2001. The ship is of moderate size, and service was excellent, as was the food at that point. We did it just before they switched to personal choice dining, which we hate. We personally prefer 1st seating, but that's not always possible. If you don't particulary care for the food, just tell the waiter and they will be more than happy to get you something else. They don't know unless you ask. We've been to Barbados twice, and that along with Curacao are our favorite ports. The first time we went we did Orchid World and Harrison Caves. My husband wouldn't go into the cave (clautrophobia) and missed out on something beautiful. This past December, we were on the Dawn Princess, and took a photographic tour of the island. There was only about 21 on the bus, and the tour guide was a professional photographer of black and white photos. This was by far THE BEST tour we have ever had, anywhere. He had set places to stop, but if we saw something that we wanted to photograph, we just asked to stop. He gave marvelous photography tips as well, and you can see the dramatic difference in photographs from that point on. Antigua is OK, and I believe we just did an island tour there. You didn't mention Trinadad and if you were going there. That was included on one of the trips, and after visiting, said if we landed there again, we would never get off the ship. It's very dirty, and not the safest place in the world. We went to a "cruise" in a bird sanctuary, which was beyond belief. The boats were very old flat big rowboats, where you do see some pretty birds, caymans and snakes. It's very desolate, with no restroom facilities. They tell you to use the restroom before you leave. It's an outhouse that's really falling down. Hope this was helpful, and if I can answer anything else, feel free to ask. Oh yes, the shows were very good for the most part. They have a full size theater, and then a lounge type theater. Most nights you would have 4 shows to choose from. Some popular ones are repeated another night so if you miss it one night, you can catch it the next. Casino is small, but winning, if you enjoy that.

Thanks Sue:
I'm sure the information you sent us will help us decide on the shore excursions we finally decide to take. Thanks again:
Rockabar

Hi Rockabar,
it will be a long flight from Saskatoon, SK to Ft Lauderdale!
Generaly, I've always posted a rather lengthy report after our cruises, previously at Newsgroups: Rec.Travel.Cruises. I think this time it will be only at "cruise.chat.com and two more: Dissabled Travel Forum and www-access-able.com
Wife and I are booked on Sun this Oct 22, same 10 days/Eastern Caribbean and once the "dust settles" if you wish, you will be able to find out more. You have planty of time.
This will be our 10th on various Princess vessels, but a first one on Sun. I know you won't be dissapointed, Princess, in addition to
Celebrity and RCI --is on great Line.
Kind regards,
Vladimir

From Saskatoon? What a coincidence, so am I and we are booked on the Sun leaving Feb 7 bound for St. Vincent, Grenada, St. Lucia, Martinique, St. Thomas and Princess Cays.

Have you been to any of these? My brother and his wife are joining us from Ottawa. We are so looking forward to it, it will be our first cruise.

Are you flying out of S'toon? We chose to fly fromCalgary due to a 8oo.oo difference in flights. Figure we can always hop West JEt last minute and still save if we decide we don't want to make that terrible Feb drive!

Look forward to hearing from you

Rockabar,

My wife and I are contributing editors to Cruise Reviews and we have a comprehensive review of our Sun cruise at: http://www.tomandmaryscruisereviews.com/SunPrincessReview.htm
The Princess Sun class ships are our favorite ship design. The ship is magnificent and the crew is outstanding. You are in for a wonderful, memorable cruise.

Tom Ogg has just posted our article on Princess Personal Choice dining, and why we prefer it over Traditional and Open seating. This might help you decide what dinner arrangements you would like to make. http://www.tomandmaryscruisereviews.com/PersonalChoice.htm

Our review will answer most of your questions but if you have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to drop us a line. TomandMaryMilano@yahoo.com

Warm regards,
Tom & Mary