Booking and Embarkation: We booked our cruise through an Internet travel site. The price was right for a 10 night Caribbean cruise. We were not disappointed. Even though the Sun Princess is one of the older and smaller ships, it was in wonderful condition and we have very few complaints. We flew to Fort Lauderdale where we embarked at approximately 3 PM. At that time there was no one in the terminal and embarkation was very fast. It also helped that we did all of our paperwork on line prior to the cruise (pre-registration, etc.)
Room and Room Steward: We found our balcony room to be the standard balcony room size, and it was very adequate for the two of us. There was plenty of closet space and we were able to move about the cabin with no problem. Our bed was very comfortable and it had a wonderful down comforter. We slept very well. Our room steward greeted us immediately and asked if there was anything else we needed. He was very attentive and friendly and was able to answer all of our questions we had about the ship. Our room was cleaned very promptly every morning when we left, and was turned down by the time we got back from dinner, including chocolates on the pillow.
Dining: We elected to have the "Anytime Dining" option, which proved to be very good for the two of us. We never had a problem getting into the dining room. We always asked for a table for two, and only had to share a table with another couple one time the entire cruise. The food throughout the ship was fabulous. One night we paid the extra $15 to eat in the Sterling Steakhouse, and it was worth every penny. The service in both the dining room and the steakhouse was always impeccable. We ate a few breakfasts in the Horizon Buffet. It is a typical ship buffet, and all of the food tasted very good. We also had hamburgers at the Terrace Grille at the pool a couple of times for lunch. We had ice cream cones and shakes from the ice cream bar, but were disappointed to have to pay $3.75 for a shake, and $1.50 for a very tiny ice cream cone. We thought all foods were included in our cruise price. I guess things change. Also, a few times we wanted ice cream before retiring, however there was no where on the ship to get it at 10 PM, not even at the buffet. We wanted to dine in the nice Italian restaurant(Trattoria) one night, however it was replaced with a Verdis Pizza. We ate at it anyway, however the menu selection was very small and the pizzas were very thin, and not much flavor. One complaint we have about dining is the formal night. We were turned away from the dining room because my husband was not wearing a suit and tie, even though we were both dressed very nicely. This is our 10th cruise, and we have never been required to wear a suite and tie on formal night, as long as we were dressed nice. When we are on vacation, we do not want to have to take our formal attire with us. We felt that there should have been a formal dining room and a non-formal dining room, other than the buffet.