Sun Princess Review
Sun Princess compared with Diamond Princess & Pacific Dawn
Rating by category
Additional details
Background:
We're 60 year old Australians with 9 previous cruises with which to compare. As many other Australians wonder how Sun Princess compares with Americanised Princess ships and with P&O Australia, we have done this review as a 3-way comparison. This cruise on the Sun Princess was a 14 night New Zealand cruise from Brisbane and return. In February we cruised from Sydney to Beijing on the Diamond Princess for 23 nights and in September we cruised from Brisbane for 11 nights on an island adventure with Pacific Dawn. So with 3 cruises this year, we feel this comparison may assist other Australian cruisers.
Embarkation:
Cabin Review
Our inside cabin was the smallest and worst designed inside cabin we have had in recent years! We thought that being on deck 10, it would be better than lower decks but apparently this is not the case (others claim even the balcony cabins are small). Problems occur when queen bed arrangement is used. The bedside drawers do not split as on other ships leaving a long unit on one side of the bed and little space on the other. Also it no longer can be used as a bed side table. One of our small suitcases had to be stood on end for that purpose. Also there is no space between the end of the bed and the wardrobe on one side and the desk on the other. The chair at the desk was the only one supplied (there was no room for any other). The shower curtain was the worst yet experienced and still sucked inwards even with extra weights (bulldog clips) on the bottom. The TV had been updated with a flat-screen one but it was the smallest we'd ever seen! As usual with Princess the bed was hard but the supplied egg-crate foam helped a bit. Also if you want a top sheet, ask for it.