The 30-day Round Australia cruise on the Sun Princess was my retirement gift. Overall we loved the cruise. It was a great way to see as much as possible of this wonderful country. We were met at the airport baggage area for our transfer to the ship; the only issue I had was that, in the down time waiting for all passengers to arrive and get their baggage, we were not reminded to put Princess luggage tags on our bags which meant we had to really rush to do so before getting on the coach to go to the ship.

Check-in was relatively easy and we were quickly on the ship and surprisingly found half of our bags already outside our door with the rest of our baggage arriving soon after. There was adequate storage and hanging space for us as we traveled pretty lightly. We didn't want to have to deal with large suitcases and so planned to do laundry on ship since there was a self-service laundry on our deck (as well as most other decks). However, the laundry on our floor consisted of 2 washers and 2 dryers which seemed rather limited for a ship of this size (and all self-service laundries were closed for some reason for several days at various times during the trip) so we ended up doing our laundry in our cabin sink and hanging clothes to dry in the shower. This worked well as we had brought quick-drying clothes and an extra clothesline which made a handy addition to the clothesline in the shower and it didn't take much of our time.

Our balcony cabin (forward, Aloha) appeared in need of updating as the carpet was stained and the wall color choice (an off-white) looked just plain drab (the same color choice was used in the hallways, giving an overall drab and dated appearance). We also had rust on our balcony. While not large by any stretch of the imagination, the cabin was comfortable enough for 2. One of my difficulties with Princess is that you must get at least a mini-suite to have a sofa for additional seating, something that other cruise lines include in their balcony cabins. TV stations seemed relatively plentiful (especially if you like news and sports!) but reception was often not good which led us to rely more on the movie choices which were very plentiful and varied. The mattress was firmer than we are used to (but we have slept on firmer beds) so I can't say we slept really comfortably. The bathroom was adequate but could use an update. We were happy that the shower could be used without getting water all over the bathroom floor; excellent water pressure and temperature. The balcony was just large enough for 2 large chairs and a small table; the privacy walls were appreciated (maintains visual privacy but you can hear neighbors talking on their balcony). We didn't hear our neighbors when in the cabin but we did occasionally hear a "heavy walker" above us. Our cabin stewards both did a good job, worked quickly, and kept us well-supplied and cared for. Read more