We return from Sun Princess, where a back-to-back pair of 7-day cruises over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays offered a new yet familiar experience. Sailing on Sphere class again was highly anticipated by all family members after two longer cruises on Enchanted Princess. We eagerly looked forward to the different offerings at the International Cafe, alternate kids club configuration, more accommodating Wake View pool, and potential to make it to Princess Cays this time.
On the first leg of this cruise, we stayed in a mini-suite on deck 10 just a few cabins down from our holiday 2024 sailing; due to a steep price increase, we moved to a deck 5 Oceanview room for the second week. I was apprehensive about how the slightly smaller room would suit our family, but the size wasn’t a problem at all. With the help of some magnets and a duvet cover, we could separate the cabin and get a similar effect to the curtains in a mini-suite.
The downside of this cabin was a very audible, intermittent, industrial-sounding noise at night. Sleep was still successful every evening, but we’ll need to re-evaluate future bookings in this section of the ship. Cabin 5511 is an easy number to remember, but at night it sounded like an off-balance washing machine.
Apart from the cabin noise and a Medallion/door issue on turnaround day, Sun Princess was an ultimately relaxing way to spend the holiday period. We enjoyed the added programming from cruise director Cole and team, and the New Year’s Eve festivities were well-organized and fun for the whole family. The B2B process between the weeks ended up being quite straightforward and only would have been improved if we’d stayed in the same cabin.
I think I’ve found a happy place with the Princess product. With only a few minor downsides and opportunities for operational improvements, Sun Princess was once again a solid choice that I think we’ll be happy to repeat in future.
Booking and planning
Choosing the cruise
The first leg of this trip was booked onboard Sun Princess in December 2024. We chose to come back in 2025 on the same ship, week, and almost the same cabin – just two away from our last mini-suite on deck 10.
I did miss out on the future cruise deposit option. By the time we’d officially decided to repeat the trip next year, it was the last day of the sailing, and the Future Cruise representatives had a running list of 20 or so cabin numbers they needed to talk to ahead of anyone else. I wasn’t yet familiar with the Princess variant of future cruise deposits and didn’t want to lose out on both the specific cabin and price that I’d already seen online.
Complicating the FCD situation, I could have used the “buy a deposit” paperwork or functionality in the Princess app, but needed to talk to someone to use a different credit card. At that time, I was still using a US dollar card for onboard purchases, but future cruise deposits through the app are charged in your original booking currency. While I’ve moved to a Rogers MasterCard for onboard purchases since it works well for both USD and CAD, I still make the actual cruise booking with a TD Visa. Making sure everything substantial for travel (flights and cruise, at least) gets charged to a consistent credit card helps with travel insurance claims.
During our 10-day March 2025 Enchanted Princess voyage, in the wake of pure joy that was not having to go home on Day 8, I added a second week on Sun Princess to our holiday plans and used the Future Cruise desk to assist with the booking. Our refundable deposit was $200 CAD ($100/adult; no specific deposit needed for kids), and each adult was given $150 USD in onboard credit for that sailing. It was assigned immediately to our travel agent, and she arranged for the two bookings to be linked as a back-to-back sailing.
Week 2 cabin selection
The Eastern Caribbean cruise during the week of December 28 was priced significantly higher than the previous week’s Western Caribbean run:
- The second segment was booked three months later, with price history showing mini-suites going up about $1200 CAD/person for the first two guests between mid-December and mid-March.
- Puerto Rico and St. Maarten (although not really Princess Cays/Bahamas) are more “premium” Eastern Caribbean destinations with higher port fees than the more Western Caribbean ports of Grand Cayman, Roatan and Cozumel.
- The week that includes New Year’s Eve/Day is also attractive to North American travelers. Many people would rather not be away from home right on Christmas Day – but that second week is still in a period where kids are off school, some businesses are still at reduced capacity or closed, and New Year’s Day is a paid holiday for a significant number of workers.
This meant that mini-suites in the same MD category as week 1 were priced at over $10,000 CAD for the second week when bundled with Princess Plus. $10K is a mental threshold where I start thinking that perhaps that amount of money would be better invested or put towards a capital expense, rather than a frivolous vacation.
Since Sun Princess is a Sphere-class ship with both Oceanview and Balcony cabins offering decent 4-passenger configurations, and we don’t get a lot of use out of a balcony, I decided to officially try booking an Oceanview for the second week. The total cruise still cost ~$1000 CAD more than the previous week, even in a cabin two full categories down!
At booking, the only Oceanview available for 4 people was cabin 5534, the second-last aft cabin on deck 5, port side. 5534 is also a connecting cabin with 5532. Connecting rooms are a less-desirable option if you don’t know who’s in the second cabin, since there can be noise transfer through the interior door. Still, the call of a second week on the seas was strong enough to overcome the suboptimal stateroom positioning, and part of me also wanted to check out the cabin and location for review purposes.
During April through July 2025, the price and cabin availability for week 2 changed drastically, and I ended up working with our travel agent more than usual to get a better value on this sailing. First, cabin 5526 became available – while still an Oceanview on the port side towards the aft, it does not directly connect to any other staterooms. There is a way from the travel agent backend to swap cabins directly without rebooking the cruise, if the cabins are in the same category and unoccupied. Since both 5534 and 5526 are considered O3 Oceanview, the swap was made successfully with booking number, onboard credit, and pricing preserved.
In May, two 4-person cabins in the O2 Oceanview category opened up, and the total price on these ended up being $625 CAD less than the original booking. Unfortunately, Princess required this change to be made as a new booking, so while we were able to secure cabin 5417 and reapply our original $200 CAD future cruise deposits, the change reduced our onboard credit by $100US/person – still an overall savings of $345 CAD, and a “better” cabin category. The Better than Best Price Guarantee also might not have worked since we were technically moving from an O3 to O2 cabin.
Early July brought in another $138 CAD price drop for O2 cabins, but stateroom 5511 (O3, aft starboard, non-connecting) was now also available for $249 CAD less than our current hold on O2/5417. The main difference between an O2 and O3 on this deck is that O2s are all considered more midship, while O3 can be mid-forward or mid-aft. In a practical sense, the difference between midship and mid-aft designations can be as small as the literal next cabin. 5417 is closer to the Lotus Spa, and while probably not a very noisy venue itself, my thought was that there may be increased foot traffic in the hall for people getting to the midship elevators and stairs. Even though we were changing categories back from O2 to O3, our TA was able to keep the existing booking and offer the reduced price.
So, with a total price drop of $594 CAD from the original price (accounting for reduced non-refundable OBC), we ended back up in an O3-class Oceanview for the week of December 28. We avoided a connecting room, and from our original location, ended up slightly closer to the imaginary midship line that designates a price jump. For me I think that was worth the occasional checks of CruisePlum, princess.com, and a couple emails to our travel agent.
When the cruises got first linked as a B2B sailing, the Princess mobile app didn’t really deal with them well – only showing the first seven days of the sailing. There are still two separate bookings on the Princess website, and I had two different booking numbers, but the app sees it as one continuous sailing. I’d secured a consistent main dining time for the first week but was unable to get back into the appropriate section of the app to book for week two. Luckily the Dine Line (1-833-805-DINE) was able to sort this out.
After final payment things seemed to be more functional in the mobile app UI – only showing the first booking number and cabin, but with a date range that reflected the full 14-day duration. The standard Princess website continued to show both sailings separately.
Flights
Both Saturday, December 20 (a day before the first sailing) and Sunday, January 4 (disembarkation day for cruise 2) seem to be universally excluded from most airline sales. Not only that, when compared to other carriers, Air Canada reached new high watermarks for flights that would have obliterated the Aeroplan credit card checked bag benefit. While Google Flights predicted that booking later in November would see reduced pricing, I saw waiting that long as risky, especially with high demand during the holiday season.
For the first time with personal travel, I booked refundable airfares to make sure we had dates and pricing secured. This was an interesting new challenge. Travel agents might have better access to airline booking systems to look for additional fare categories, but some airlines don’t offer truly refundable, economy-class tickets through standard purchase flows. I wanted refundable, rather than “cancel for credit”, because it gives the most flexibility to select another airline with more desirable flight properties and doesn’t lock you into spending that money with a particular carrier in future.
Many US-based airlines (American, Delta, United) all seem to have a refundable option without making you pay for a checked bag/better seat if you don’t want it. Canadian carriers have generally chosen to hide, bundle, or avoid showing the “full refund” option until you’re already part-way through the transaction. Sometimes it’s offered as CFAR (Cancel For Any Reason) through a third-party insurance company, with a non-refundable premium.
Porter caught my interest; I travelled with them to Las Vegas in late 2024 and 2025, and was really impressed with the aircraft, service and pricing. They’ve also added partnerships with American Airlines and Air Transat recently as well, meaning there could be more alternative flights that they’ll put you on if your original one gets cancelled. The fully-refundable PorterClassic Freedom fare does bundle a premium seat (if available) and checked bags, but the additional cost over the Standard and Flexible fares wasn’t a huge increase at the time of booking.
Initially I’d booked a direct route between Toronto and West Palm Beach, but about a month later was able to switch to land in Fort Lauderdale for $102 CAD less, saving the cost of a drive down I-95 South.
One mistake I made: rather than fully cancelling the flight to PBI and then booking FLL, I used the flight change option on the Porter site, which resulted in a ~$100 CAD flight credit rather than a refund to my credit card. It turned out that within a month, another Porter flight showed up with decent timing and pricing for a future trip, so the credit didn’t go to waste.
The return flight on January 4 was also booked with Porter at what I considered to be a good price for a daytime flight on that day: $297 CAD/person for the Freedom rate. The downside is that it was a codeshare with Air Transat, with a stop in Montreal before moving to a Porter-operated plane back to Toronto. Reddit certainly advises against this arrangement, but comparable flights by time or non-stop that Sunday were double that price or more. Since this is our flight home there was less urgency than the outbound trip, where you need to make a ship.
For seat selection and baggage with an Air Transat x Porter booking, one comment suggested using the tiny “If you are a travel agent” link on the Manage My Booking page, which drops you at https://www.airtransat.com/en-CA/seat-selection-canada. On that page, provide your flight details (Porter now includes an Air Transat 6-character confirmation number in their booking confirmation emails) but do not check the I am a travel agent checkbox on that page. This should hopefully let you get through seat selection and baggage options prior to your flight.
I was able to use these instructions to get into the portal and see my flights, but when attempting to select seats and add checked baggage, all passengers were listed as “Mr.” Clicking through to the next page, I got an “under maintenance” message and was prompted to call a 1-877 number. Checking repeatedly over the course of a few days, the “maintenance” never ended.
By the time I’d steeled myself to call in early December to confirm seating, Air Transat was in the midst of a potential pilot strike, and I didn’t really feel like our case was urgent enough to wait in the queue.
Eventually I did end up braving the phone tree, and got bounced back and forth a few times between Air Transat and Porter’s call centres, but was able to secure seats together for the family as well as have Porter re-push names, genders (everyone was marked as M), and dates of birth (which were apparently all set to January 1) to Air Transat’s backend.
Hotel and ground transportation
With pricing for our preferred hotels along State Road 84 reaching north of $400 CAD including taxes and jerk fees, I reluctantly accepted that we would have to skip dinner at Old Heidelberg this time and select a more reasonably priced property elsewhere in Fort Lauderdale. After quite a bit of searching I found a CAA/AAA rate of $243 USD for SpringHill Suites by Marriott Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port, which had all the amenities we like (airport shuttle, free breakfast, pool) and seemed to be within a reasonable walk of a few restaurants.
SpringHill Suites also shows up on the pre-fab list of hotel pickups for All Stars Transportation, so that made booking a shuttle to Port Everglades an easy task, if still much pricier than an Uber.
Food
Porter flies out of terminal 3 at Pearson and US flights use the A gates, which is nowhere near my preferred Subway in terminal 1 where I could have secured a 6am sandwich. Sad trombone.
Because our flight wasn’t expected to land until 1pm, I’d initially assumed lunch would be our standard airport pizza for the kids. I then realized we weren’t landing in Terminal 2 at Fort Lauderdale, which is used by both WestJet and AC, so all the food options were different. Kayla loaded us up with snacks from Bulk Barn for the journey, and we figured we’d try to get to the hotel and then food as quickly as possible after landing.
With Old Heidelberg just slightly too far from the hotel for dinner without a taxi or rideshare, the restaurant of intrigue within a 30-minute walk of the hotel was Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor. The menu speaks for itself, and I figured it’d be quite the experience with the kids.
Planned excursions and attractions
For the two weeks on Sun Princess, I pre-booked three excursions:
- For our day in Cozumel, I selected the all-inclusive Nachi Cocom beach experience. Cozumel has a few of these options, and between this one and Mr. Sanchos, Nachi Cocom seemed to be the more family friendly of the two. There also seem to be good reviews about Paradise Beach – perhaps an option for a future sailing.
- We’d booked a daybed for our trip to Princess Cays, which we will hopefully make this time – we were 0/2 for this port. While the “excursion” says there is a maximum of 2 people, we figured our kids wouldn’t really be a huge problem.
- In St. Maarten, we planned to spend the day at Big Bastards Beach Bar with the “Beach Like a Billionaire” package. With this package, beach games and floaties are included, which we figured might be a fun option for our children.
Our stop on Christmas Day, similar to 2024, was slated for Mahogany Bay (soon to be rebranded as Isla Tropicale) – where I expected we would try and get some chairs or a clamshell once at the beach. The pre-paid options, sold only through the ship, try to bundle a chairlift ride – wholly unnecessary for able-bodied individuals who don’t mind a 5-minute walk.
The other ports during these two weeks were likely to end up being sea days for us; Grand Cayman is a tender port and focuses a lot on snorkeling excursions, while San Juan, Puerto Rico, has lots of historical sites that would interest me personally – but not so much the rest of the family.
Other pre-cruise items
I had to renew my 10-year passport, which was within 3 months of expiry by sail date. The local Kitchener Service Canada office was in full Ticketmaster mode (no slots available) when it came to making an appointment online, and the Government of Canada’s online passport renewal process is limited, releasing availability at 7am and 7pm daily.
I ended up using the traditional fillable PDF process with printed photos, booking an appointment at a non-passport-specific Service Canada location. That change pushed the service guarantee from 10 to 20 business days after submission. Canada Post was also undergoing a rotating strike in this timeframe but the 20 business day estimate ended up being spot on. I then updated my passport details with the airlines, Princess app, Trusted Traveller program for NEXUS, and password manager in plenty of time to sail. One side effect of using the different Service Canada location is that my passport issuing authority is now OTTAWA rather than KITCHENER, but there’s no difference in how it operates.
My family had a few very busy weeks leading up to the cruise. I’d attended AWS re:Invent 2025 in early December to further my professional interests, and the next two weeks were filled with work wrap-ups, personal appointments, and slowly making sure suitcases contained the required items. Even though I’d booked Medallion home delivery, there was no indication that the devices had shipped – very similar to the Canada Post-triggered situation the year prior. No Medallions ended up arriving so this trip would be our first Blue Lane experience.
One change within the Princess app (also possible with the Web interface at https://oceanready-personalinfo-ui.prod.ocean.com/) is that they now explicitly ask for your inbound travel details, like flight or driving, and then indicate that they will assign an arrival group based on that information. This used to be optional and (still can be) set within the Flights > Provide Independent Air Information section of the Manage Booking section on princess.com.
In our case, I provided details for the previous day’s flight. The electronic boarding pass didn’t change immediately, but updated the next day with an “11:00 AM – 2:00 PM” slot. This is very similar to previous sailings that showed a 10:30am – 2pm time. It’s not yet as restrictive as NCL or Carnival with their half-hour windows, or MSC with their much later afternoon slots (if you didn’t book a premium cabin.) Given the size and number of passengers on Sphere-class, though, and combined with the removal of free Medallion shipping in 2026, I wouldn’t be surprised if this block starts getting more specific.
Travel day
Taking off
Driving to and parking at Pearson is a well-practiced routine for us, and with the minor exception of the Nexus/Global Entry machines at US Customs not recognizing either of our children (which was quickly rectified by the agent), we made it into the innards of Terminal 3 Transborder. Our first stop was the Plaza Premium Lounge to try and get breakfast courtesy of credit card status, and our party of 4 luckily made it in without a wait.
I’d say that the T3 US/Canada transborder lounge is slightly better than the same-named facility in Terminal 1, with better seating and a less narrow space. It is still by far anything from “premium” after having experienced the Amex-branded lounges in LAS and LGA, and I’m sure those don’t even compare to some of the upscale airline options. The food was good though, and it was certainly a more calming space than the zoo downstairs at gates A14-16 next to the Starbucks, so I’ll avoid complaining too much.
I also received a very pleasant and informative email from the SpringHill Suites front desk before departure, detailing airport and cruise port transportation options, parking details, included breakfast, and housekeeping information. They also attached a map of the area showing the two nearby shopping plazas, and I recognized the southern Oakwood Plaza from our previous stay in the area at La Quinta.
The in-flight experience with Porter was great. The 2×2 seating configuration of the Embraer E195-E2 was ideal for our family and I enjoyed the complimentary wine and snack service. Porter also offers complimentary unlimited Wi-Fi assuming you have a free VIPorter membership number and agree to watch a 30-second ad.
The hotel reservation that almost wasn’t
Wi-Fi access, however, would be the cause of some stress. About two hours into the flight, I received an email from a Marriott address with the subject Valid Credit Card policy; Immediate CXL advising that my credit card had been declined and that “As per our 48-hour reservation policy […] we will have no choice but to cancel your reservation at this time.”
Earlier in the week, I’d received an email and text message around 9pm on Sunday from American Express. The messages contained a SafeKey Verification Code, for a $0.00 purchase (presumably, a preauthorization) of “Cursor, AI Powered IDE”. While Cursor is a familiar name in the brave new world of AI-assisted software development, I hadn’t signed up for it directly or through any other partner I knew about. I sighed and began the process of calling Amex to report suspected fraud, which I knew would result in a card replacement with a new number.
The Amex representatives were decent, although also somewhat baffled about the $0 charge amount, and the call went as I expected: sounds like fraud, new card needed, OK, please courier due to impending travel. I was pleased that with Apple Pay I would have a replacement virtual card available in the meantime, and it appeared on my phone within 30 minutes of wrapping up the phone call. Unfortunately, you still don’t get the full new number/expiry date/CVV available until the physical card shows up, so there’s no way to immediately update details for online or phone purchases.
For being couriered within Southwestern Ontario, it seemed like the card took at least a day too long to arrive, but it at least made it to my home a day and a half before we left for Florida. One of the questions I did get asked by the Amex fraud agent was if I had pre-authorized transactions on the card. I replied with “many”. This is the first year I’ve had the card, and I wanted to meet minimum spend thresholds for points. However, I think this is something customer support should proactively mention for a travel/lifestyle card when replacing it: if you have a hotel reservation outstanding on that card, and haven’t pre-paid the full balance, you also need to update the card number and details with the hotel!
My line of thought was, you always get asked for a credit card at hotel check-in (for damage deposit/in-room purchases, or if you want to change the specific card that is being used), and I’d merely give them the replacement card right then. After all, Marriott would have done some type of low-level authorization on the original card at the time the reservation was made, it would have come back as valid to even make the booking, and that should be good until check-in, right? Well, that was not the case, at least with this property and rate.
I still think Marriott and the property, in joint responsibility, could have handled this much better. First, whatever component of the business handles credit card authorization prior to stays – especially if it’s a 48-hour policy – should have run the auth close to that 48 hour mark and proactively reached out if the card was declined. They clearly had both my email and phone number, and that would have given me at least a day to resolve any type of situation with either the card issuer or provide them with an alternate form of payment.
Secondly, I learned later that the Marriott (and Hilton) app and website allow users to update the card used for a reservation securely, but not necessarily within that 48 hour window; the option was not available in the app at the time I received the “immediate CXL” email. I would have been happy to use a web portal to update the card but obviously couldn’t call the hotel mid-air.
Lastly, the Amex card I have provides a Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status, and this reservation was booked with that Bonvoy number and directly through Marriott – not Expedia, American Express Travel, or another third party. I’d think there should be some additional grace for people that book direct and are in good standing in the chain’s membership program, especially at a tier that normally requires 50 nights a year at their properties to achieve. I have to imagine that the rates of declined card + complete no-show at the property would be incredibly low with a linked loyalty club number and some successful stay history.
My conspiracy theory is that because this room was booked on a CAA/AAA rate (about half of the going nightly rate on the day of) and in peak holiday season, there may have been a conscious decision by someone to try and free up some rooms more aggressively than during slower periods.
Back to the email, though: I responded within five minutes detailing the situation and did not receive an immediate response, so as soon as we exited the plane about 90 minutes later, I stood out of the way and called the front desk directly. They had not yet “given the room away” but could not take a credit card over the phone. They did agree to keep my reservation and asked for an expected arrival time. At that point it was a hurry-up-and-wait situation to collect our checked luggage, call again to confirm the hotel shuttle, wait for said shuttle at Area F, arrive at the hotel, and then wait in line for the front desk.
Thankfully, everyone we spoke with at check-in was exceptionally pleasant and understanding, and we were able to get into our room right away for a brief break before picking a place for food. The Burger King closest to the hotel had been replaced with a Shake Shack, but it wasn’t open yet. We looked slightly further down the street and ended up at PDQ, which is a chicken chain I hadn’t heard of before. They served appropriately kid-approved chicken tenders, but like everything else fast food/fast casual these days, it seemed overpriced.
Pool, dinner, and bed
After tendie time, we made our way back to the SpringHill Suites and got ready for some pool time with the kids. The pool was refreshing and we also managed to catch a glimpse of some raccoons in a nearby tree, which was a bit of a novelty over the usual lizard and iguana sightings. The pool was decent, not too cold and seemed to be maintained well.
None of us were especially hungry but we did need to make sure the kids ate and got a good sleep. With Jaxsons being a half-hour walk and it getting dark out, we opted for something closer, and the Moonlite Diner in the Oakwood Plaza was half the distance and decently reviewed. I was pleased with the turkey dinner special, which seemed like the appropriate choice in a diner.
Back at the hotel, I had to secure some extra bedding for both kids, which arrived quickly but they did insist on sending someone to the room to drop it off rather than being able to pick it up directly. I also grabbed a few ready-to-drink beverages from the small gift shop/pantry area downstairs, and spent a very quiet evening in bed reading and catching up with the Internet goings-on that day.
Embarkation morning
Our breakfast plans were slightly delayed due to a medical emergency in the hotel’s serving area, and we chose not to gawk or push past, which is more than I can say for some other guests. The situation cleared quickly, and we got all our things in order and were outside for 9:50am for a 10am scheduled pick-up from All Stars.
Unlike the other properties we’ve stayed at, there was not an All Stars representative with identifying shirt or clipboard. There was a significant crowd milling around for the hotel’s promoted shuttle service as well as rideshare pickups. I was worried we may have missed them, so I called the All Stars number at 10:07am and was informed that there was a delay due to traffic, but that our driver would be there in 15 minutes. This was fairly accurate and we were picked up by 10:20, getting out to the road about five minutes later due to terrible parking jobs by other large vehicles in the lot.
The ride over to Terminal 2 at Port Everglades had one additional stop at the Comfort Suites to pick up a few more passengers, and we were out of the vehicle and had transferred our luggage to a porter by 10:50am. From there on, it was another 10 minutes into the building and through security, and we made it through the Blue Lane and to the upstairs part of the terminal by 11:28. There was a slight delay on the boarding bridge, but in conclusion, we were on Sun Princess and in the Piazza by 11:40. No immediate problems with the Medallions either this time!
Blue Lane wasn’t a terrible experience, but I’m going to estimate it added another 20 minutes to the check-in process versus the Green Lane. Given the inconsistent state of Canada Post, I don’t think I’ll want to pay for Medallion shipping once the Plus/Premier packages no longer include it, so this is just another delay to account for on the first day.
Cabin 10614 (MD mini-suite) – week one
The layout and configuration of 10614 was exactly the same as 10618 the previous year, with no real changes to report. At least one of previous occupants had clearly been irritated with the automatic lights and had placed adhesive bandages over the relevant sensors – but the cabin steward hadn’t removed them between sailings. To find Band-Aids in various parts of the room was kind of a gross initial impression as you don’t really know if they were “used” or not. I guess people really hate the motion-sensitive lights and stewards don’t want to disrupt that.
I don’t recall this cabin being as noisy as last year’s, but the types of noises we heard in December 2024 were very passenger-specific, so it could have just been this specific sailing and group of neighbours that were quieter.
We did get all the expected paperwork for the kids’ program in the room, and the top Pullman bunk stayed down throughout this week. Unlike Enchanted Princess, the HDMI ports on the TVs were not accessible, though, due to the flush-mount proximity to the wall.
Ship
The venues and configuration on Sun Princess also didn’t change much with a year’s time. The initial changes (from the pre-launch plans, to the September 2024 restaurant shuffle) have settled fairly well, albeit with the inclusion of some new hastily-designed, temporary-looking signage at the perimeter of the Piazza directing passengers with the correct routes to main dining rooms. The curved ramp on the port side of the Dome had also been cordoned off with some panels, with the area behind being used for storage. A section outside the Wheelhouse Bar has now been turned into a small Park West art gallery with sales desk. During week two there were several of the sales team trying to nab people on the way to dinner – not aggressively, but still present.
Sadly, the situation with Guest Services lines spilling into the elevator lobby continues, and the smoking area on the starboard side of the Wake View terrace significantly cuts down on the amount of available seating for those who don’t want to, or can’t sit by, second-hand smoke. I’d love to see the entire Wake View area become non-smoking as there is still a substantial space up on Deck 18 allocated to smokers.
The public bathroom fixtures were still inconsistent and it’s safe to declare the water tap/soap dispenser combination with an air dryer at the sink a failure. The ill-fated Park 19 complex hasn’t changed either. I walked around deck 19 aft one night and there’s a lot of space that could be repurposed. The highest deck 21, where the top of the Coastal Climb obstacle course was slated to be, has a “lookout” observation area that I think would be interesting for its high vantage point if it ever opened, even without adrenaline-raising activities. Unfortunately, the stairs leading to it are roped off with a crew only sign so I couldn’t in good conscience check it out.
With our previous week’s experience aboard, navigating around the ship was much easier and it was rare if we turned the wrong way. Holiday decorations were wonderfully done, although the garland around the Piazza glass blocked the view through the bottom of the glass for the smaller ones when shows were in progress.
In a pleasant discovery, the Wake View pool continued to be all-ages on Sun Princess this year, and was well-used by children and adults alike. Because of the configuration and much shallower depth of this pool, I was able to reasonably supervise from the bar area while the kids enjoyed time in the water.
Crowds onboard seemed similar this year to last, and I was able to get an approximate passenger count both weeks. On week one (Christmas), the galley tour had a dashboard screen displaying 4794 passengers aboard with 1917 dinner reservations. The second week (New Year’s) we attended the Captain’s Circle party and heard a count of 4632 – about half of those people were said to be new-to-Princess cruisers.
Anecdotally I think both these cruises felt busier than 2024 for a few reasons. First, the smart elevators took noticeably longer to arrive. There were occasions where they refused to activate, showing “too busy” or a similarly worded error message. Eatery table areas were also more crowded, even extending back into the Americana Diner area. Off-peak hours in the buffet, such as 5:30 for the start of dinner service, had totally open tables – but at lunch, people swarmed the Eatery, with little relief from the casual dining or pool deck options also open at the same time.
Speaking of main dining, you’ll probably have good luck either with or without dinner reservations arriving anywhere from 5 to 6:15pm. We went for a (pre-booked) 5:40pm dining time most nights, and it was never seriously busy at check-in.
Now, as we were leaving our table between 7 and 7:30, the hallway leading into the Eclipse dining room was absolutely packed both for reserved and walk-in diners. This is also reflected on the app, where even for cruises over a year out, there aren’t any flexible dining reservations between 6pm and 7:20pm available. Perhaps this is a deliberate flow control mechanism.
The only time I felt like the occupancy situation was not well within control was for the galley tour. They collected people in both the Piazza as well as at the aft entrance to the Soleil dining room, and very quickly a crowd formed and backed up the stairway between the decks. The tour also started at 10:30, about 15 minutes after initially promised – I assume in a bid to round up all the latecomers.
Main dining
We did choose the main dining room for most evening meals. It was generally a good experience, but coming off Enchanted in August, I can certainly see why some people might consider Sun Princess to be a much less appealing experience than the older and smaller ships. I can’t say how our experience would have been with a fixed dining time in the lower Soleil section, or if we’d deliberately asked for a certain waiter team and section like we did on Enchanted, but the overall pacing of the meal and general velocity of the waiters played out to a faster tempo.
Service was pleasant and everyone was unfailingly polite to us and patient with our kids. Yet apart from our wonderful team on Christmas Day, there wasn’t as much of a connection with any of the crew or staff. I’m not generally the type to want over-the-top service – just saying that it was a different attitude and vibe from Enchanted Princess, and less personalized.
Drink service was also more inconsistent, with occasional delays for water or wine refills. A few nights I went back to ordering double wine when it seemed like the waiters were under serious pressure.
On week 1, there were special menus for the evenings of December 24th and 25th; week 2 had one for New Year’s Eve. The net result is that you could have complimentary lobster twice on each of these sailings as the classic Surf n’ Turf did still appear on the second formal night. I’m getting pretty used to the standard Caribbean menu on Princess, so I may consider branching out into more options like the seafood choices in future.
Other complimentary dining
Our primary choice for lunch, despite the crowds, was the Eatery. On these sailings it is a crew-served buffet, which as of the time of writing is the only buffet in the fleet that does this; the newer Star Princess launched the Eatery with self-service and Enchanted is also serve-yourself.
While Sun Princess had this setup last year, it proved to be more contentious than I thought it was going to be. Kayla, somewhat to my surprise, was firmly in the self-service camp and found the crew-served option less desirable. She thinks it creates artificial crowding – and in some cases, only one crew member is handling two different stations, creating lines at multiple areas, so I agree on this point. She also found that she was less likely to try new things (you must deliberately ask for items rather than grazing, and the serving size you get from a crew member is always more than a small taste.)
I wasn’t as bothered by the lack of self-service, since my favourite options in the Sun Princess buffet both generally require crew involvement: the stir fry station and the custom pasta station. There is also a kid-friendly section, and I’m pretty sure our children ate their weight in chicken nuggets from it over the course of the two weeks aboard. Like Enchanted Princess, while there’s nearly always some type of food available throughout the day, the specialty carving and soup stations would close outside of the core 12pm-1:30pm block. In an upgrade from Enchanted, Sun Princess had grab-and-go options as well.
The Eatery also offered a limited late-night menu until 11:30, but various stations started closing earlier than that. The best option was pre-11pm, where you could find a nacho station with salsas, guacamole, melted cheese and somewhat oddly, fish ceviche.
A 2025 change was the removal of the Americana Diner full-service lunch menu. It, like the Eatery, is now a buffet served by crew members, but with slightly different timing and fewer choices than the main buffet area. There’s a seated dinner menu available after 6pm, slightly compressed from the 2024 version, but we didn’t try it either week. We did eat breakfast in this section a few times, most notably on turnaround day between the cruises.
Deck 17 options like pizza, tacos, grilled foods, and a salad bar remained as convenient and tasty alternatives. While normally they close around 9pm, I commend whoever at Princess is responsible for keeping these venues open late into the evening on New Year’s Eve. A pre-midnight slice, hot dog, and fries really hit the spot.
I continued late evening visits to the International Cafe and became more accustomed to the changes on Sphere Class. In general, there were one or two daily “special” items like a po’boy or a Milanese panini with breaded pork loin. There were also a standard set of sandwiches that appeared every day like the schnitzel brotchen, katsu sando, and egg salad. Two of my favourites were the special focaccia contadina (mortadella, porchetta, salsa verde on a focaccia bun) as the closest competitor to the mortadella sandwich from Enchanted and Discovery – and the classic ham and cheese, which also wasn’t a daily offering but really hit the spot.
A caution, though: occasionally the specialty items would be entirely gone by the time I went for a late-evening amble (anywhere from 11pm to 12:30am), and they clear the trays and signs quickly; you wouldn’t even know anything was missing unless you saw it earlier in the evening. I was lucky enough one night to snag a few charcuterie items presented in wine glasses, and those were totally gone by 10pm. Dessert items were always in decent supply and a hit with the kids. My favourite among them were the peanut butter cookies.
During standard hours, one last option for a quick, sweet snack that I think gets overlooked is the Coffee Currents on deck 7. They regularly had a selection of deluxe donuts that we didn’t notice anywhere else on the ship.
Casual dining
We’d booked the pre-July 2025 Plus package and thus were entitled to two casual dining meals per cruise segment. During the first week, we used one on embarkation day at Alfredo’s for pizza, arriving at 12:10 and quoted a 35-minute wait for a table for four. It didn’t take that long – we were paged after 10 minutes and had our food orders in by 12:40. Alfredo’s menu has been cut down even further from our time on Enchanted Princess, axing the mozzarella ball appetizer and agnolotti main and injecting a “quattro formaggi” pizza instead in a clear attempt to reduce food costs. It was still a good quantity of food and the taste was great, but without Plus or Premier, the $15 cover charge is probably not worth it with two other complimentary pizza options onboard.
Our second credit got used at O’Malley’s, where the entire family skipped breakfast and started to line up shortly before 11am for an 11:30am opening. The food options here are less appealing to kids, and I had a hard time making it through the Bushmills Blue Burger due to size and very strong flavour profile. The venue got quite busy right after we ordered, and we also got stuck waiting on a dessert order without drink refills; our server disappeared somewhere and nobody else seemed to be responsible for our table. For this place, I’d suggest ordering all three courses at once, and committing yourself to potentially slow service.
Because of the variety and convenience of food in the other spots around the ship, we didn’t use casual dining on the second week. The absence of the sushi restaurant in these casual choices is noticeable, having been promoted to full specialty dining on Sphere class ships. I think 2026 will offer a worse experience for these venues as well, as the Plus package for bookings after July 2025 shifts to including four casual dining credits per week – so people will undoubtedly choose to eat at the casual venues more often.
It would be nice if Princess opened another venue at lunch and did something like a pared-down version of Love by Britto or Sabatini’s, but I’m sure that would lead to guest confusion over casual vs. specialty and certainly wouldn’t help the bottom line.
Drinks
Some, but not all, of the dust has settled around April 2025’s Sodagate, with most bars on Sun Princess having soda guns and the default option now a fountain drink. I did exclusively receive canned ginger ale from the Wheelhouse bar as the mixer for my Jameson base, and was not ever charged extra, so I’d suggest going there if you prefer your mixed drinks to be made with soda from a can.
I didn’t try ordering any pop to the cabin, but an OceanNow room service order of sparkling water and up to four (capped) beers of the same type showed up quickly and with no extra charges. You do have to distinguish between “sparkling water” and “club soda” at the bars as well. I don’t have a real preference between them if it’s a cold, bubbly liquid, but it appears to be a different proposition for the crew.
The Plus package maximum of $15 per drink has held on to its purchasing power for our purposes, although fully half (9 out of the 18) listed cocktails on the Seaview bar menu exceed the $15 price point. Similar ratios applied for cocktails on the “core bar” menu and at the Wheelhouse bar. Beer, ready-to-drink beverages, and “default” wine ordered by style (not specific winery or brand name) were all covered.
I managed to work within the 15 alcoholic drink-per-day cap on Plus, although was at the top end of that range when a few stray glasses of wine at dinner were allocated to my tab rather than Kayla’s. The “no doubles except wine” rule continues, but practically you could get two drinks at a time with a cabin number and the passenger names. Like on Enchanted Princess, this new policy helped during daytime bar service from both servers and walk-up bars. When I ordered two drinks – one for me and one for Kayla – those beverages were assigned to each of our accounts correctly. I also witnessed other people being able to get three drinks at a time using two cabin numbers.
My favourite watering hole was by far the Wheelhouse due to Neville and Wirat’s friendly service and quick refills. I usually went around 10:15 to 10:30pm after our kids had wrapped up with Firefly Park and gotten to bed. That timing lined up with the Crown Grill service requirements dying down, so seating and a lovely conversation were generally available. They do start the close process around 11pm for a midnight “lights on/go home”, but my usual drink of choice was straightforward to make, and I was assured I wasn’t being an imposition.
After midnight, the benefit of Sphere class is that alcohol service is available at the International Cafe until 2am, so I could wrap up with a last glass of wine, sparkling water, and preferred sandwich before heading back to the cabin.
I was also usually able to get a shady seat at the Sun Bar where Wirat served during morning to mid-day, and then in the afternoon I moved to Wake View with Derick (who also tended bar at the International Cafe later in the evenings and had some great banter going on with passengers.) Crooners was consistently the busiest inside bar when open, with The Mix and Sea View bars as the outside venues with the longest waits.
At the end of the first week, we did experience a shortage of limes on Day 7. Lemon was still in good supply and offered immediately as a substitute, but I think this is the first time I’ve seen a situation on Princess where a common food or beverage item has clearly run out. Even on our extended Enchanted Princess sailing, with the warning that some bar items would be in short supply, we didn’t have this happen. The next day, we resupplied at Port Everglades and had no notable provisioning issues on the second week.
Platinum perks
Our kids have now reached Platinum Captain’s Circle status, so were legitimately able to enter the daily Platinum and Elite Lounge area before dinner (good thing, because staff were checking Medallions.) On these sailings the “lounge” was in the back of the Americana Diner, with a small section of maybe 15 tables roped off and a portable, self-serve buffet. It’s less food variety than Enchanted Princess (no giardiniera – but that was available from the salad section in the Eatery), and drink service is slower as there’s no bar in the same area. No real complaints, but it’s not quite as good of an experience as the Vista Lounge. It still was a helpful place to stop for a few nibbles after the kids returned from the afternoon Firefly Park session.
On week two, Kayla and I attended the Captain’s Circle party held in the Dome, which had canapes and free drinks not counted towards your 15 Plus allotment. Wine, beer, and a small selection of both non-alcoholic and alcoholic cocktails were served from trays – although the servers did say they’d go to the bar if you wanted something different. It was a pretty short event with the usual corporate platitudes about Princess, but the captain did give some numbers about the guest count by loyalty tier. They also gave out a few prizes based on Medallion presence in the area. I think I’d go again if the timing was convenient, and it wasn’t nearly as insular as the Latitudes event on Bliss from a few years ago.
One unexpected Platinum benefit that we did take up this time: a 10% discount on spa treatments. This discount extends to the Thermal Suite pass, which was something that we hadn’t considered on Princess and I hadn’t experienced on a ship since Norwegian Epic.
Spa
One of our activities on Day 1 (since the kids’ program isn’t open until 7pm on embarkation day) was to take a tour of the Lotus Spa, a venue we hadn’t been into before on any Princess ship. I’m not often up for the sales pitch that comes along with the tour, but it was interesting to see the thermal suite outside of a YouTube review.
Kayla had been interested in a pedicure while onboard anyway, so we used the opportunity to book that service. By the end of the tour, we were impressed with the options in the thermal area – especially the whirlpool with massage showers and tile loungers. We booked access for both Kayla and I as we felt that we could make good use of the spa throughout the sailing. Despite having kids with us, they had been consistent about wanting to go to and stay in the youth program in the evenings, so we figured that would be a good time to get some use out of the venue. There was a slight discount for booking both weeks as well.
Once we’d finished family dinner around 7:30, it became an enjoyable routine to send the kids off to Firefly Park and then for Kayla and I to head to the spa for an hour or so. That time of the evening was not busy at all, so all the amenities were available and you could cycle through the rooms in relative seclusion. They also had a neat bathing suit drying apparatus in the changerooms, so we were never left with the unpleasantness of a wet suit all cruise.
While the spa rules prohibit talking in the lounger area, people do start conversations in other sections that can be difficult to tune out. Because of the position of the spa on deck 6, the loungers happen to be right underneath the Piazza, so there were bass notes audible from above when we typically went. These are both easily worked around with a set of noise-cancelling earbuds.
I’m not sure that the thermal area is an instant pre-book on future cruises, but it was certainly very relaxing and I’m glad to have tried it this time around. It is on a pretty low deck, so no forward-facing outside views like those on Celebrity’s Edge class or NCL Breakaway Plus vessels, but at the time of night we usually went it wouldn’t have had much of a view to speak of anyway.
Ports
Cozumel – Nachi Cocom
Sun Princess docked at Puerta Maya in Cozumel, which seems to be a Carnival Corporation-aligned pier. (This should not be confused with Costa Maya which is a completely different port city in Mexico.) The port has a more south-western location than the ones used by Royal Caribbean and NCL, but this worked in our favour as Nachi Cocom is even further in that direction. Leaving the port required us to weave through the shops and some shared shuttle vendors pretending to be taxi coordinators, but once we made it to the official taxi line, everything was smooth. We were assembled into a van with a group going to San Francisco Beach Club in the same direction.
It was about a 20 minute drive to the Nachi Cocom entrance, and we were greeted with a (paid) photo opportunity and settled the remaining balance on the reservation on a credit card. After that, we were led to a nice shady spot with lounge chairs and prompted for drinks and to pick our food items. With our booking, we could select an appetizer, salad or soup, entree, and dessert. The kids were able to select from a more limited menu (eg: burger, hot dog, tacos.) We did get asked to order food early to avoid a wait from the kitchen. The children were also welcome to order virgin drinks, although the frozen options were limited based on what had already been pre-mixed.
As promised, it ended up being a quiet and relaxing day. The kids appreciated the pool and hammock area, and I tried as many of the beers as I could. Service throughout the day was quick and friendly from Felipe and Emanuel. The total price was $176USD for the day, plus tip. I think that was very fair compared to many of the other beach clubs in the area, and especially when held up against the Princess excursions.
Princess Cays
All indications in the morning were that Princess Cays was a go! Our daybed booking tickets also came with an invite to the Princess Arena at our convenience, which allowed us to bypass the water shuttle ticketing system. It did take some time for them to filter us into the queue, but eventually we were led out onto a tender boat.
The entire process was very comparable to NCL’s Great Stirrup Cay (pre-pier), although I think the trip to Princess Cays seemed shorter than GSC. Once on land, it wasn’t quite clear where to go for daybeds as there are two “Davie Jones Locker” stations, but I can now confidently say that it’s past the buffet, but before the bungalows.
Despite the indicators that these beds were “2 people maximum”, they were gigantic! You could have put four friendly adults on them, so the two of us and our two kids had plenty of room.
There are a couple downsides to the daybeds. First, they are not fully shaded – it is a rope weave across the top. It still cut the heat compared to being directly in the sun, but you’ll need to be diligent about sunscreen. You can also see in the photo that ocean access is roped off; it is a drop to a rocky area. If you want to be able to get in the water, you’ll have to take a short walk over to the clamshells/north beach area.
Daybeds also don’t include any additional perks like drink or food service, or water equipment like floats. If you can handle a beach chair for your backside and don’t need the extra space or mind being lower to the ground, a clamshell rental at a third of the price may be a better option. You’ll have a better shade opportunity and would be closer to the beach and water. We liked the daybed and I got a lovely nap in, but I think I’d feel differently if it was purely out of pocket – this “excursion” was what we spent our non-refundable onboard credit on.
There were a few extra nice features on Princess Cays for families. There’s a shaded parent and tot area, a playground, and a shallow pool with lifeguard designated for kids 12 and under. One downside is that the lifeguard on our visit was primed with a whistle in mouth, ready to blast it at any kid who didn’t rinse off their feet or started messing around in the pool. Our kids were worried that they’d get chirped even when behaving well, and when other kids didn’t follow the rules, the noise upset them.
Bars were busy, especially the Bungalow and Coconut bars. We were lucky early on catching some beers from a roaming cart, but then every subsequent drink involved a short wait. They also ran out of the more Caribbean-aligned beers quickly; I started with a Red Stripe in the morning and by lunch they were out of that and Kalik. It was nice that Plus/Premier drink packages were in effect.
We also liked the lunch, which had burgers, hot dogs, and grilled chicken as primary elements and then some salads, fruit, and desserts as secondary. There was a wait, but I wouldn’t say it was inappropriately lengthy, and the grill staff were putting out fresh food at a good pace. Food service had a hard close at 1:30, so you won’t want to wait too long to grab lunch.
We have one more cruise with Princess Cays booked, and after that many itineraries seem to be switching entirely to Celebration Key as the private island stop. In 2027 it seems Carnival will have more calls at Princess Cays than Princess itself! Celebration Key has the advantage of pools and more activities, but has gained the nickname “Celebration Fee” for its one-plate-of-food-only, no-drink-package-included, extra-pay-waterslide arrangement.
Sadly, NCL’s Great Stirrup Cay will also be going to package-excluded drinks in March 2026, so this seems to be the way of the industry and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Royal follow suit on their properties in the next year.
St. Maarten – Big Bastard’s Beach Bar
After docking, we went over to the most reputable-looking booth and purchased four round-trip fares ($7US apiece) for the water taxi over to the beach area. The first boat we took docked at Walter Plantz Wharf, which was a bit of a further walk to Big Bastard’s past about two dozen other restaurants/hotels/beachfront areas. Ideally we would have taken a taxi to the Captain Hodge Wharf which is only about five properties away, but we didn’t see anything leaving for there from the cruise docks.
We got there, checked in, and immediately started taking sass from Anthony, our waiter. It was a much more jovial experience than Cozumel, with plenty of banter between the staff and guests. Our kids immediately wanted to get in the water with the inflatable toys, so one parent traded off sitting in a beach chair, ordering the next round of drinks, and chatting with the couple beside us (who were coming from a Celebrity ship) with being in the water with the kids. There were a few other families who wanted to use the inflatables, but everyone cooperated well that day.
Big Bastard’s explicitly states that they are family friendly, and kids under 12 don’t require their own chair or separate payment unless you want an extra set of chairs. You’re asked to pay for their drinks separately and not share the all-inclusive package if you have it (which I thought was fair, given the $0 entry fee for them, and ability for them to use the beach toys on our reservation.)
There are beach vendors, unlike Nachi Cocom, but this isn’t exclusive to the Bastard section of the beach. None of them were as pushy as we’ve experienced in the Dominican Republic or Nassau, but prepare yourself to say “no thanks” a few times.
We booked the almost top-end package (the highest price option guarantees you a front row beach chair set), but none of the options are completely all-inclusive: while standard beer, wine and frozen/mixed drinks are bottomless and come at a decent pace from your waiter, with the Beach like a Billionaire option there is a $40US food credit and then you pay for anything over that. We spent about $16 over with two entrees and sides, an order of frings, and a pair of virgin frozen drinks for the kids. I thought the food was prepared well and was reasonably portioned.
I would certainly return to Big Bastard’s on a future sailing. The price for two adults was $184.80US with taxes and fees, plus our extra $16 spent on-site and additional tip to Anthony for his service all day. You can certainly get cheaper, but it was a sold overall experience at that price.
Our day at the beach wrapped up around 4pm, and we were able to head to the closer wharf and catch a return water taxi back to the cruise port.
Grand Cayman
While we didn’t leave Sun Princess for Grand Cayman, one inconvenience for those of us who stayed onboard was a restriction allowing only one bar total open on the ship while within tendering distance of the island. It’s a blatant mechanism to encourage people to get off the ship and spend money in the port – which wouldn’t be so terrible if you didn’t have to take a water shuttle to land. The Sun Bar on deck 18 was the chosen venue to remain open, and while I was able to get a seat in the morning with quick service from the bartenders, the afternoon was absolutely packed with people.
This also impacted the Platinum and Elite lounge drink service, although the servers did offer to make the trek upstairs. People with earlier dinner reservations were also out of luck for booze as the ship didn’t depart until 6pm – we pushed our usual 5:40 dinner arrival to just before 6 when the reservation would still be in effect. By the time we were seated and settled, wine was available once again.
While it wouldn’t be a complete deal-breaker, I will certainly raise an eyebrow to itineraries with Grand Cayman in future unless we have a ship-booked excursion. As of early 2025, voters rejected the idea of a dock – so tendering will continue to be a required process here when going ashore.
Mahogany Bay / Isla Tropicale
With the Christmas morning activities, we didn’t make it out to the beach at Mahogany Bay this year. There is some progress on the Isla Tropicale pool area that hopefully will give folks another water option in 2026 and beyond.
Turnaround/B2B/cabin move process
As Day 7 approached, we were thrilled to know that tomorrow wouldn’t end the vacation. There was a 9:30AM information session in the Arena that I attended on behalf of the family, which had some procedural tidbits. These won’t be the same for every sailing and certainly not for every ship or cruise line, but the key bits were:
- For people staying in the same cabin, you can simply leave your luggage unpacked, just be ready the next morning with your passport and any other necessary immigration/customs documentation. For people changing cabins between segments like us, we were asked to pack up all our items except for passports and anything on clothes hangers – but not tag or put the suitcases out in the hall. Room stewards move the items the next morning, with cleaning of cabins for B2B guests prioritized.
- We were asked to arrive at the Arena through Deck 7 at 9:30am the next day to proceed to customs/immigration in the terminal, then return to the ship once “zero count” was achieved. Existing Medallions would continue to work and become functional around 10am, with stateroom access expected by 10:30am.
- Onboard accounts do roll over to the next cruise automatically, although if you were on a longer B2B2B…+ type sailing, the finance team checks in with you prior to 30 days onboard to ensure all is well with your payment arrangements, and may ask you to settle credit card charges for that timeframe. New onboard credits, if you had any for the second segment, were also expected to appear by 10am.
- There was some additional information for casino guests, specialty dining, and photo purchases that I didn’t pay attention to. The photo team’s explanations did not inspire too much confidence, and I suggest that you buy any photos you want before the photo gallery closes on the last day of the segment.
So on the morning of Day 8 (Day 1 again!) we had a leisurely breakfast in the Americana Diner section, then went down to the Arena at 9:25. We were scanned in and asked for our cabin number, which had already been changed to the new one in the system. We then waited for about 40 minutes (10:05am) before our group was called, based on the section of the theatre that you’d picked to sit in. We were in the port section and the last to be called, which was fine, because it was either wait in the Arena or wait in the cruise terminal.
After exiting the ship we tried to do facial recognition. I was the only one in the family whose face was not detected, so I ended up in a line for passport verification. This was quick and easy, and then we waited for another few minutes, unfortunately with another vocally impatient guest who didn’t seem to understand that we were all waiting in line to get back on the ship and that there was nowhere else to go.
We were brought back onboard by 10:29am – so under half an hour off the ship, with a total procedural time of 64 minutes. We did try to go downstairs to deck 5 to see if our new cabin was ready. Our Medallions were active, but it ended up being closer to noon by the time all our suitcases and hangers had been moved and the new steward had finished the service process. At least this gave us the chance to grab prime lunch seating in the Eatery. I recommend you do not leave your passports there on turnaround day as you will have to hope a crew member picks them up and turns them in, and stand in line at Guest Services to potentially recover them.
Cabin 5511 (O3 Oceanview) – week two
Our initial impression of 5511 was that it was certainly a smaller floor plan, but acceptable with the bed configuration. It is also a narrower cabin than the mini-suites; you don’t feel it as much in the main area, but that reduced space is most apparent in the bathroom. The showers in oceanview and balcony cabins are about 2/3rds the length of the shower in mini-suites. If you compare the overhead views of the cabins, the length of the bed and couch in the mini-suite as compared to the bathroom space is the best indicator.
Another noticeable difference is the positioning of the wardrobe. In both balcony and oceanview rooms it is parallel to and opposite the bathroom door. This makes the entrance to the room feel very narrow, and also means that if you have the wardrobe doors or drawers pulled out, you’re going to have to shut them before you can open the bathroom door. There were a few minor space conflicts while kids were getting changed, but we got along without any damage to ourselves or the furniture.
Standard mini-suites and higher-tier suites have a larger wardrobe by width, located in the centre of the room with plenty of space to have the drawers out and walk around it. Interestingly, cabana mini-suites have the smaller bathroom size and wardrobe near the entrance as a tradeoff for the extra area used by the cabana portion of the room, so keep that in mind if booking this type of room.
If you’re OK with the space and layout of a balcony cabin on Sun Princess, the Oceanview cabin is truly the equivalent footprint, just without the exterior section. We were not bothered at all as there are many other places to get outside on this ship.
Something lacking from the mini-suite was a curtain to separate the main bed from the sofa and Pullman beds. We find the curtain helps encourage sleep for the kids, even if a parent is in the bed making no noise and reading by the low glow of their phone, with no other light sources. We were able to “borrow” a bedsheet from an unattended laundry cart, which ended up being a duvet cover – a better choice since it was thicker and let through less light. We used strong magnetic hooks to clamp it to the ceiling, which is made of metal and can support the relatively lightweight sheet.
Be cautious using this technique, always keeping a layer of fabric between the ceiling and the magnet. The paint on the ceiling of the cabin scratches incredibly easily if a magnet is drawn across it directly (although you could probably do the same thing with a fingernail – that’s how thin the paint is.) This arrangement is not sanctioned by the cruise line. Some lines explicitly ban hanging things from the ceiling, especially curtains that are not their own, as a potential fire hazard. We would always make sure the sheet was only put up once an adult had retired to the cabin and was staying there for the evening, then take it down in the morning before leaving.
As mentioned in the introduction, 5511 had a noise problem at night. It is hard to tell where sound is really coming from on a ship, but my opinion was that this noise was emanating from a deck below us. The best way to describe it is like an off-balance washing machine or dryer with a heavier amount of clothing in part of the load. I don’t know that we heard it at all during the day, but at night between about 9pm and 1am, the noise would kick up, last for at least thirty seconds, and then wind down for anywhere between two and twenty minutes before starting again. The fact that it was unpredictable in terms of frequency or duration really bothered Kayla, who heard it on the first night while lying in bed, and suggested that she would sleep on a deck chair for the rest of the week if it kept up.
We didn’t mention this to anybody onboard, which I somewhat regret, but I’m not sure that we would have had an effective outcome. On a holiday sailing, Guest Services would almost certainly indicate that there are zero free cabins for non-emergency purposes, and I expect “noise” doesn’t qualify as a good reason for a cabin change versus a room that might be getting held back for “flood.” This noise also always happened late enough in the evening that we were ready to settle in, and didn’t want our steward or maintenance crew poking around investigating.
A cabin several doors away from ours did have a maintenance notice placed on their door on Day 3 claiming an issue with the ventilation was fixed, but that change didn’t impact the noise at all – and to me the noise sounded more like it was much deeper and coming from the bowels of the ship, not the AC unit nearby and not anything like a “compressor failing to start” or “failing fan” noise. I hope whoever ends up in this cabin next is not as bothered by the noise if it does happen to be something nautical or immovable, or can report it and get it resolved.
Events and entertainment
There was lots going on all over the ship these two weeks, a good percentage more than on a standard 7-night Caribbean sailing, and our cruise director Cole happily made sure everyone knew about everything. On week one, there was a repeat of Santa Claus in the Piazza. This was slightly better organized than last year, with the kids that were sitting down for the presentation called by row and allowed to go get a gift first, before the adults horned in. Kayla still thinks there should be a better system.
Christmas Day was a slightly lower key event than last year, with no videos on the giant screen in the Piazza showing Santa’s inbound flight, but it was better-timed and paced. One thing I really missed this year was Pint of Plain, who gave us some wonderful performances last December and in March, but unfortunately will not be able to perform as a trio going forward. Princess has decided to reduce the Irish performers on their ships from trios to duos at most, which I think is a poor tradeoff for what it might save financially, and certainly a loss for guests who enjoy the music and performance.
A highlight for us were the aerialists in the Piazza during the second week, as well as observing the Luminescence (“white night party”) festivities from above. I must hand it to Cole, who put everything into his dance performance that evening. While I’d want to be nowhere near that dance floor, it was very impressive watching a professional at work – like a good bartender, you can really appreciate the skill.
Kayla and I caught one of the production theatre shows, Fiera, which is apparently a rework of the show from other ships. The music was good, but the plot (summary: carnival-themed “But Daddy, I Love Him!”) was somewhat thin. Not sure if this is a Danny Teeson trope, but one part of the show was a definite repeat from another Princess production: there is a segment where the performers are inside a set piece, waving their arms with a video playing behind them. For Fiera, this simulates a roller coaster, while 5-SKIES uses a spaceship-type scenario.
Unfortunately we skipped the other shows (Viva la Musica and Stage Struck) the first week, and while I’d favourited Stage Struck in the app with the intent of seeing it on week two, the performance changed late in the week to what I think was a variety show – I’m not quite sure if the originally scheduled show was moved or cancelled. I expect we’ll be back on Sun Princess before this gets changed, though, and will have the opportunity to see these shows before they’re cycled out.
Special mention to The Twins’ Trip, who were fly-on performers that ran a show in the Dome called “Same Same but Different”. It was family-friendly, entertaining, and took just the right amount of time. They unfortunately happened to get interrupted for several minutes with the Captain’s evening announcement and then got right back to it.
Comparing weeks
Apart from the cost premium on week 2, one change between the Christmas cruise and New Year’s cruise was the makeup and behaviour of the fellow cruisers. Week 2 still had many families onboard but was much less child-oriented. Don’t get me wrong, there were still plenty of kids onboard – but the families skewed older, specifically with teenagers and young adults having a more noticeable presence throughout the ship. From our perspective, there were more “bros” around, and I don’t just mean the 20-somethings – even the 50+ year old adult relatives in those families seemed less inhibited.
People did certainly “dress to impress” that second week. If you’re the type of person who really cares about what other people are wearing, this is certainly the week to ogle all the suits and dresses.
Somewhat begrudgingly, I admit that New Year’s Eve was good. I can’t say that it was worth the price difference for the week on its own, but I look back at it as a wonderful evening. They had several venues in use around the ship, ranging from formal-dress-required in Princess Live to the live band and DJ up on the pool deck. The pool area is where we spent our evening with very convenient access to pizza, hot dogs, and ice cream. Drink service was slammed but politeness with the roving servers went a long way. There’s a tradition where many people jump in the pool in their full outfit at midnight, and our children were absolutely thrilled to be able to participate.
Firefly Park and kids’ programming
From a venue and procedural standpoint, Firefly Park remained the same year-to-year, which suited everyone just fine. The children enjoyed the evening program most, and were there until nearly the 10pm close deadline each evening. “I don’t want to leave!” was a frequent complaint at pickup time. I asked both children for their feedback for this review, and it was universally positive with highlights being “crafts and art”, “video games”, “monkey bars”, “educators were good” and even a compliment for the holiday movie shown. We have come a long way from the utter refusal to go to Camp Ocean on Carnival Celebration.
The only mandatory family event (required supervision) during each week was the Festive Fair in the Piazza, with no parents-must-be-present evening dance parties. In fact, after the Fair, there was still an hour of drop-off time available if you really wanted to ditch your kids.
Technical difficulties and Guest Services
I will mention a small issue I ran into the first day of our second week. In the evening, two medallions (mine and one child’s) wouldn’t work to enter the cabin, while Kayla’s and the other kid’s seemed totally functional. The display would recognize our photos but presented an “access not granted” or similar message, and fail to unlock the door. I assumed this was to do with the cabin swap between segments.
I begrudgingly stood in line at Guest Services after dinner, and happened to be the first one in the standard line outside the actual room – so I thought this would have been a quick and easy resolution. Instead, no less than five Elite-status passengers entered the left priority line before I was seen. I feel like I need to mill some 3- and 4-day Pacific Coastal sailings in the bowels of the ship just to be able to stand in the better line on Sphere class, because I can’t see not visiting Guest Services at least once.
I did end up with a representative who was unfailingly polite, but surprisingly did not switch out the two affected Medallions. She came back to the desk, noted that there were two Medallions already inside the cabin, and suggested that the interior privacy lock had been engaged and can cause that error message. One of the Medallions in the cabin was a kid’s (who hadn’t taken it to Firefly Park) and the other’s was Kayla’s – but we don’t turn the extra lock on unless we’re all completely retired for the night. Not willing to take that brush-off as the answer, I asked if I could run down one deck and come back after trying the door, with the goal of not having to wait in line again.
I traipsed back to the cabin, confirmed the lock had not been set, and then went back up – at which point the representative wanted to accompany me back to the cabin and confirm the behaviour. She claimed she needed photos of the situation to report it properly.
Of course, as soon as I walked down the hall with her, there was an obvious door unlocking noise and both the affected Medallions were working again. I profusely apologized. This is, of course, the classic IT problem where the technician shows up to see the problem and it’s already been resolved.
I suggest if you have a similar problem with your own Medallions on a Princess ship and can get in to the cabin, try engaging/retracting the privacy lock a few times to clear its state, then walk away for a moment, walk back, and confirm 100% that the issue still exists before standing in the Guest Services line.
There were several other Guest Services visits we made on this cruise, all to do with items potentially in the lost and found, but at least most of those asks could be timed for low-traffic periods. Everyone in this department was polite and professional once you got to the appropriate spot in line. We did receive a “please update your credit card” note the first week, but you can now change cards and apply a card for multiple guests in the same cabin through the mobile app while onboard. I did that, and as soon as I re-selected the “let everyone spend Jake’s money” box and submitted, our folios combined and all was well without a Guest Services interaction.
Disembarkation and post-cruise
Disembarkation was up to the smooth standards I have come to expect from Princess. We dragged a bit, not leaving the cabin until closer to 7:50am and then skipped breakfast in favour of leaving the ship. We took a coach bus to the airport but had to wait in the terminal 1/2 area for the first group to exit. The bus driver unloaded all the bags rather than having any semblance of organization, then re-loaded the remaining luggage before moving on to the dropoff point between terminals 3 and 4. We did not get harassed for tips, at least.
At FLL, Air Transat departs from Terminal 4. While they have functional check-in kiosks that will verify passports and print boarding passes and bag tags, they do not have a bag drop-only line, so you end up in a single line behind everyone who needs to check in. This added about 30 minutes to our wait time. They had also switched the plane type between when I’d resolved our seating issues and departure days. There were some folks in line claiming that their (paid) seat selection had not been honoured and they were now seated apart from young children. Luckily our seats had been shuffled in an acceptable pattern, but I think this is just what you get with Transat.
We were also lucky that Terminal 3 and 4 are connected, so we were able to reach the Amex-partnered Escape Lounge in Terminal 3. There was a wait when we arrived, so we scanned a QR code and joined the waitlist. Unfortunately, the line situation was terribly organized so people who were lining up for the first time (and subsequently directed to scan the QR code to join the waitlist) were blocking the groups who had received “your space is ready” confirmations, which is a limited-time notification. This really needs to be clearer and separate personnel with obvious signage should be allocated to “please wait” vs. “it’s your turn, come on in” processes.
We ended up getting into the lounge about 20 minutes before boarding started, so really scrambled to grab some food and drinks, as our gate over in Terminal 4 also required a hike to return to. The F&B options in the inner sanctum were quite good, and certainly this would have been a more enjoyable experience if our timeframe wasn’t as compressed. I think we will try to depart the ship earlier and get in on this lounge ASAP. Ideally, I also won’t choose Air Transat in future and have to brave the combined check-in/bag drop line at FLL, but it was over a thousand dollars cheaper than the next-best flights.
In Montreal, our connecting Porter flight was slightly delayed, but not to worry – there is also an Aspire American Express lounge in the domestic section of YUL. We enjoyed some sparkling water, premium hot dogs (yes, the hot dog is literally a special, capacity controlled item) and then headed back to Toronto – counting the days until our next sailing.
Retrospective
The entire family truly enjoyed our two weeks at sea over the holidays. We’ve annoyed many people back home with stories of how this was a wonderfully relaxing trip and our recommendation that they do the same, aggressively declining any extended family obligations. And yes, we still had a meaningful get-together with our relatives a few weeks after returning, at a time and date that worked for everyone.
There is a lot built up around conventional Western holidays and the traditions that come with them, but I feel like cruising during this time is a much better approach for our own core family unit. Everyone gets away from the cold and snow and can eat a huge variety of tasty food that you don’t have to destroy a kitchen for. There’s a built-in throttle on number and size of Christmas presents, because you can’t fit them all in your baggage! On New Year’s Eve you also get as much or little of a party as you want, with no need to find a designated driver or pay Uber surge pricing after the year ticks over.
How much of this holiday joy was specific to the Princess Cruises experience or Sun Princess as a specific ship is less clear. Comparing and weighting and analyzing the differences between Royal and Sphere class has been a theme for the past few of my write-ups, and I think I’m satisfied that I know both ship types well. I’ve also beat the cabin comparisons to death, but all things considered, I would be happy with a cruise on either type of vessel and in any cabin class if the bed configuration was suitable.
Sun Princess currently takes the lead in that category, as well as permitting kids in the aft pool, so Sphere class it shall be in the absence of a killer deal on a mini-suite on previous Princess ship generations. At the risk of overgeneralizing, Sphere is higher-energy and Royal is more sedate.
We are also getting slightly more comfortable taking port excursions with the kids, and all three of the planned outings were nice days. Nachi Cocom and Big Bastard’s are both definitely “would go again” spots given the experience, although in the interest of broadening our horizons we will try one of the other well-reviewed Cozumel beach clubs as a point of comparison before returning there. I liked NCL quite a lot and in 2019 I’d have told you we’d try to tier up to Ambassador status with them, before discovering Princess had some good features in their product that now make it a default search when I’m planning a cruise. In a similar way, I think it’s worth checking out other spots in the ports to see what works best for us.
What’s next?
With much anticipation, we will be sailing Star Princess in the coming weeks. The winter weather we’ve experienced for the past month and a half has been quite unpleasant, mainly because the built-up snow and ice just hasn’t melted and continued to stack up. There were some above-zero temperatures providing a small amount of relief in the days before publishing this, but then an ice rain event hit and started the cycle again.
Star Princess is close to the Sun Princess configuration. The two key venue changes (O’Malley’s expansion; non-smoking casino replacing a shop and hallway) will both be neutral or beneficial to us. I’ve seen some photos of Firefly Park and the playground equipment is somewhat different, but given the footprint of that space there doesn’t seem like a lot that could change.
The only thing I’m not looking forward to is that our voyage on Star Princess is only for seven days – what a first-world problem! With school and work schedules, and other vacation days booked in 2026, a second week onboard didn’t seem feasible at the time. While the Internet connectivity seems like it’d be adequate, neither Kayla nor I would be totally comfortable “working from ship” – there are too many factors that could prevent corporate equipment from functioning properly. Regardless, Day 7 on that sailing will be exceptionally cruel as I don’t think the weather back home will have turned the corner for our return.
We’re still planning on an almost side-to-side voyage in the summer, starting with MSC World America in an Infinite Ocean View cabin with the Aurea experience, then spending a day back in Miami before heading to the NCL Escape for a week in a balcony room. Princess’ summer 2026 offerings didn’t quite line up with our timing, ship, and room choices, so I’m eager to see how the competition stacks up this year.
One more cruise booking I haven’t yet talked about is a second Norwegian voyage later in 2026, with myself and two friends. That week on the fresh new NCL Luna is shaping up to be a slightly rowdier experience, with Vibe Beach Club passes already locked in, no actual intent to leave the ship, and high interest in late-night Reubens at The Local.
Until next time – may your cabins be silent and your bar lines be short!