Sun Princess Review

3.5 / 5.0
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Sun Princess; Never Again

Review for Australia & New Zealand Cruise on Sun Princess
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bill24
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: May 2016
Cabin: Interior

My wife and I have just returned from a cruise aboard the Sun Princess from Fremantle to Sydney.We had previously been on the Dawn Princess to New Zealand and had a great cruise so were keen to use the Princess line again. Also we had not been anywhere along the west and northern sides of Australia so this seemed an ideal cruise for us. Things started badly when prior to leaving I received an email stating that due to problems with the ship we would not be calling into Yorkey's Knob (Cairns) and instead would be sailing direct from Darwin to Alotau. This would mean 4 days straight at sea. (About 108 hours in fact) We would receive $100 each onboard credit to compensate for this. This was pathetic as we had paid our money fully expecting to stick to the itinerary. The reason given sounded dodgy and there were rumours around the boat that the reason we did not stop at Yorkey's Knob was due to a financial dispute between the local Port Authority and Princess Cruises who would not pay the increased docking fees and thus boycotted the port. If this is true then the Cruise company should be prosecuted for fraud.

After arriving at Geraldton on the first day we tried to have a shower in our cabin to find no hot water at all. After reporting this to our cabin steward we spent an enjoyable day in the town after having a cold shower. Back on the boat that afternoon we again had no hot water and again reported it to the cabin steward. . Next morning the same thing happened and I spoke to the customer services desk who said they would look into it. For the next 5 days the same thing happened until my wife put in an official complaint in writing. A plumber (?) was sent who told us to run the hot water in the hand basin for 5 minutes. All this did was drain any lukewarm water we had. We gave up complaining after this. We eventually discovered that if we had a shower in the afternoon then there was a chance that the hot water was lukewarm. Of the 17 days on board we had 2 hot showers, 5 lukewarm showers and 10 cold showers. I believe other passengers on our level also had problems. This is not good enough.

On the fourth day I just happened to check my onboard statement to find that my wife's account had been booked for bottles of wine at the Marques Restaurant. We had not been to that restaurant and did not drink wine so I spoke to the Customer Services desk who found the relevant dockets. Another passenger whose card number was similar to ours had signed the dockets so I was told that the amount would be reversed for us and booked to the correct passenger. It was put down to human error by the waiters. Imagine my surprise to find the same thing had happened the next day and following 3 days. Again nothing was done until my wife put in a complaint in writing. Again not good enough.

Cabin Review

Interior

Cabin IA

Cabin was satisfactory except for ongoing problem with hot water

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