Staff Travel Diaries: From Rome to Athens - A week onboard the brand-new Sun Princess cruise ship

Embarkation Day

We flew from Manchester to Rome and took a transfer to the port which took about 1 hour and 20 minutes. We then checked in & picked up our Medallions – these are AMAZING – you use this to pay for drinks, check-in/off the ships, it acts as your room key and the door unlocks automatically as you walk up. I LOVED these! We then had time to check out our stunning cabins and get unpacked.

The Trip:

We set sail from Rome heading to Naples, where we visited and explored Ercolano, Herculaneum. This is an ancient Roman town that was destroyed when Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. In the evening, I watched the Sam Smith Concert by the pool at Movies under the Stars before meeting the Princess team for cocktails at the Cascade bar in the Dome and dinner at the Horizon Restaurant.

On day two, we had some brand training and time to explore the ship. I then spent the afternoon at The Enclave it the Lotus Spa – it was beautiful! They have a Himalayan Salt Room, amazing Jacuzzis, steam room and heated loungers – you can purchase day and week passes. That evening everyone onboard got dressed up for Gala night, there was free champagne and performances in the Piazza throughout the evening. On this night, we enjoyed one of the speciality dining, Catch by Rudi, which is a fish restaurant on board – this was the best meal I had. The food was incredible – I would really recommend it.

For the rest of the trip, I also enjoyed port stops to Crete and Kusadasi. Kusadasi is the perfect spot for any shopaholic – it’s also brilliant if you want a dose of culture and history. You can arrange an excursion to the ancient town of Ephesus or take a taxi – it’s about 35mins away from the port.

My Favourite things about my time on the Princess cruise:

The Wake View Bar was my favourite spot on the ship, there is a lovely infinity pool and it’s very relaxing.

The ship has a very similar feel to P&O Cruises Arvia for anyone who has experienced this, the décor is very similar.
The ship is stunning, loads of great food options on board. The staff are extremely friendly and attentive.

There are great facilities on board to cater for all: gym, spa, shopping, restaurants, casino etc.

The new Princess app is fantastic for keeping up to date with what’s on day to day. You can also use this for OceanNow Delivery which means that you can order food/drink to be delivered to wherever you are on the ship. It was extremely easy to embark/disembark with your medallion as well – quick and seamless.
The entertainment onboard is brilliant – there is something on until around midnight every night and then the Piazza acts as a night club until early hours. Good Spirits is an experiential bar where the waiters do a live demonstration of a customer’s order. O’Malleys had live singers every night.
Princess Plus/Premier packages are extremely worth it – it was great knowing up to 15 drinks, coffees, cocktails, wine etc were all included, and you just had to tap your medallion.

My favourite port stop was Kusadasi, Turkey – spent the morning shopping and then visited Ephesus ancient ruins.

Rooms on Sun Princess:

The Deluxe balcony suites are stunning and very spacious.
There is a lot of cupboard space to fully unpack and enough room to fit your cases under the beds.
The design is very elegant and modern.
The balconies are huge.