Sun Princess Review

3.5 / 5.0
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No Love for the Love Boat

Review for Australia & New Zealand Cruise on Sun Princess
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porterstarbird
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Feb 2019

My wife and I traveled aboard Sun Princess (our 54th cruise among various lines) because of a long-held desire to see New Zealand and Fiji. In general, our experience was that we have previously had on Holland America ships (the parent company of Princess), which is disappointing. We abandoned 4-star Mariner status on HAL and will avoid Princess or render it at least a second choice because of a deterioration in value--an overall nickle-diming that begins the moment you set foot on the ship; vastly overpriced shore excursions; add-on charges for most decent food choices; poor food quality; and an overall poor condition of the ship. Sun Princess is worn, rusted and needs to be drydocked or scrapped. The passengers, mostly Aussie and mostly repeat customers, are well aware they are being offered a lesser cruise experience but seem content with that based on cost. Our own observation is that Princess is well aware of it's Aussie customer loyalty and like HAL with it's senior customer base has dumbed down it's offering, the result being even for a low cost line it's no bargain. There are a number of ships that ply these waters with similar itineraries and were we to repeat the trip we'd opt for a land-based tour of New Zealand (our cruise could not put into Milford Sound, the highlight of the trip, due to weather) and visit Fiji on a smaller ship with better itinerary. Suva and Lautoka, for example, are just large industrial dirty ports, not the white beaches one looks for in Fiji.

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