Sun Princess – A Tour Of The Ship

After spending ten days onboard the Sun Princess in February, I wanted to share a little of the experience on board. Unfortunately even with ten days onboard the Sun Princess I was not able to experience every space on board. But hope to provide some helpful information and photos below.

Getting Around Sun Princess

Boarding a cruise ship is always an exciting experience. Unless you have the chance to sail on sister ships, which may have the same or similar layouts, they are all different. Maybe not to a great extent, but gaining your bearings does take a little time.

I usually take the first two or three days to get used to where the different rooms or spaces are. It can take more than a week to get my port and starboard sorted out, though. At times I have found myself totally lost even on the day before disembarking. That is why I am happy to find on most ships I have sailed maps such as the one above near to most elevators.

Atrium

Like most cruise ships the Sun Princess has a central Atrium. The Atrium is four decks high between deck 5 and deck 8, and many different spaces are in this area. All four decks are accessible by glass panoramic lifts that look out over the Atrium.

The Atrium on Deck 5 is where you will find the International Cafe and Front Desk. Moving up to Deck 6 you will find the Princess Shops, Latitudes and Reflections. On Deck 7 are the Crooners bar and dance floor. With Deck 8 containing SHARE by Curtis Stone.

International Cafe

The International Cafe is one of the spaces that I spent a lot of time while onboard. If you are looking for real barista made coffee this is where you might also find yourself. There is also a range of other cafe style drinks you can find here. Also depending on the time of day, there is a range of pastries, sandwiches and other light food.

Promenade Deck

Another spot that I spent a lot of time was on the outside deck around deck 7, the Promenade Deck. The outside deck offers a complete circuit of roughly 530m in length. I made full use of this deck as a walking track doing between 15-20 laps on sea days.

Internet Cafe & Library

I did not find myself using these two rooms much. The internet cafe is ideal for those who don’t want to carry a computer with them. But want the ability to get online and check email or get in touch with family at home. I brought my computer with me and as such made more use of the wifi internet available.

The library saw minimal use by anyone on the particular cruise I was on. Due to the potential health risks of a breakout of norovirus on the previous cruise the books and such were removed as a precaution. I made a visit to the room once to have some quite time working on the computer. When the books are in place, I think it would be quite a popular place.

Photo Gallery

I found the photo gallery onboard Sun Princess to be an interesting spot. In the past other ships, I have sailed on the focus has been purely on selling photos taken by the ship photographers. However, the Photo Gallery onboard offers for sale a range of basic camera’s and equipment as well. It makes it ever so slightly easier for people who might forget a battery or memory card. Or worst case find’s their camera dies and needing a quick replacement.

Let’s See A Show

There are two spaces on the Sun Princess designed for shows. The Princess Theatre located all the way forward on deck 7 and the Vista Lounge located aft on deck 7.

The Princess theatre is used for a couple of different things. At times there might be a movie showing, or at night this is where you can find the production shows.

The Vista Lounge has a relatively wide variety of uses throughout the day. Throughout the day there were activities such as dance classes, bingo, and other presentations. At night there were a couple of different performances.

Entertainment and Bars

The Sun Princess has plenty of different options for entertainment at night. Whether you are looking for Singing, dancing or drinking there is somewhere for you.

Whether you are looking for a drink by the pool, a bite to eat or a drink as high on board as you can. They are stacked one on top of the other all overlooking the pool.

The Legends Bar is where the party starts after the sun goes down. There is a DJ in here at night, either playing music, karaoke or other fun.

The Wheelhouse Bar is home to some of the best entertainment onboard from my experience. At the time I was on the Sun Princess there were three different acts which performed in here. There was a solo Guitarist, A duo playing music for dancing to and a band that played pop music.

Movies Under The Stars

One of the things that I enjoyed most was watching movies out on the pool deck under the stairs. Sitting above the pool on deck 12 is a huge screen where some of the most recent release movies are played.

Something To Eat

One thing that there never seems to be a shortage of onboard is enough good food. There are essentially seven places you can find food, with a couple of other options for food as well.

Already mentioned above are the International Cafe, SHARE by Curtis Stone and Terrace Grill. Additionally, there is also the Main Dining Rooms, Starling Steakhouse, Kai Seafood and Horizon Court Buffet.

Art Everywhere

Cruise ships, in general, seem to carry an extensive art collection. Not just for the purpose of art auctions either. There is no end of blanks walls as you walk around the ship and these are used to display artworks.

Something I Missed

I can be certain that I have missed some things in this little tour around the Sun Princess. It is mostly a case of what I had the opportunity to photograph is what I can share with you. There are some area’s that I know I missed such as the Casino, The Sanctuary and the Fitness Centre. However, it seemed whenever I was near this places I either did not have the camera with me, or it did not seem appropriate. I hope that you have enjoyed this brief tour and would love to hear any feedback you may have.

Would you like to read more about the cruise? Consider taking a look at “Sun Princess 10 Night South Pacific Cruise” where I take you through the whole cruise. Looking at the ports we visited and share some of my experience.