Background
On my Sun Princess voyage, I found the dining options to be quite good! While not as good as my culinary experience on Virgin Voyages, it definitely surpassed my Holland American Koningsdam and Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas dining experiences. The Sun Princess has plenty of dining venues and options, and in this post, I’m going to review some highlights. If you’re curious about my cabin on the Sun Princess, I’ve highlighted that in a separate post here.
I’ve also started working with a travel agency, Fora Travel, and can assist in booking cruises on Princess. With our Virtuoso partnership, we may be able to get special offers and perks for your next sailing. If you are interested in sailing, feel free to email me at takeofftotravel@fora.travel, and I would be happy to help you plan your trip.
Specialty Dining
The Sun Princess has 7 specialty dining options, all of which are $45 + gratuity per person extra (or unlimited visits with Princess Premier).
- The Butcher’s Block by Dario- Family-style bistro with famous butcher Dario Cecchini.
- The Catch by Rudi- A seafood-focused option from award-winning Chef Rudi Sodamin.
- Crown Grill- Traditional steakhouse with premium aged beef.
- Makoto Ocean- Featuring sushi & sashimi creations.
- Umai Hot Pot- Design your own Shabu Shabu hot pot.
- Umai Teppayaki- Partake in Japanese Teppanyaki theatre.
- Sabatini’s- Italian family recipes.
Reservations were a bit hard to come by on day 1 for dinner at the speciality dining restaurants, but things always seemed to open up on the app, so I just had to check it constantly.
I ended up trying 3 speciality restaurants for dinner: Crown Grille, Sabbatinis, and Umai Hot Pot.
The Crown Grille was excellent and worth it, in my opinion.
But Sabatini’s Italian Trattoria and Umai Hot Pot were not worth it to me. While Sabatini’s has a gorgeous interior, it didn’t taste the best, and I feel a hot pot at Umai wasn’t worth the surcharge. The seafood at Umai was questionable as well.
I did try Makato Ocean for lunch and really enjoyed the set lunch! It was $25 + gratuity for the lunch.
Experiential Dining
For an extra fee, there are also two experiential dining options called Spellbound by Magic Castle, which is described as a world full of illusions, elixirs, and mind-bending entertainment. Also, there is Love by Britto, which is a dining experience where the artistry of Romero Britto blends with the culinary creations of Rudi Sodamin.
Main Dining
I found the food in the main dining room to be quite good! I visited for all three services (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and thought they were all pretty solid. For breakfast, the pan-Asian options they offered was quite good. On sea days, they also opened the main dining room for lunch.
For dinner, you could do traditional dining where you eat at the same time each day or have flexible dining where you can make a reservation or just walk in. Soleil & Eclipse are the complimentary main dining rooms. We did flexible dining but reserved a slot depending on the day.
The only issue I encountered was the service for dinner. The dining room service is super slow, particularly on the late seatings. We had a 7:15 pm reservation and were seated quickly. The main entrees didn’t come out until 8:40 pm, and it was happening to everyone nearby, too, and at this point, some guests next to us left already without eating.
The Eatery (Buffet)
I found the food quality at the buffet to be quite good. I also loved that the staff served you, so there weren’t the whole cleanliness issues of passengers and touching the tongs. My favorite station was the “Red Ginger” station, which had make-your-own stir fry and sometimes make-your-own ramen. The eatery also had a grab-and-go section, which was nice.
Casual Dining
The Americana Diner was kind of fun and a nice table service option. They had cafe bites like burgers, chicken wings, and even soda shakes (which were included!)
Outside the Eatery is the Promenade, where outdoor dining is available with pizza, burgers, tacos & ice cream. And then on the Lido deck, there is pizza, burgers, tacos & greens. There was a place where you could make your own salad, and one that also had some pretty good shawarma.
Two casual dining options required an additional fee of $15 per person. O’Malley’s Irish Pub has a classic Irish pub menu with a refreshing twist, and there is Alfredo’s Pizzeria as well.
Coffee, Gelato, & Bars
Even though I have Princess Premier, I actually didn’t drink too much alcohol, but there were numerous bars that I visited to get some drinks. I did visit the International Cafe and one of the other coffee shops more as they made a really good matcha latte. So that was where I mostly utilized my unlimited drinks.
I did also try the gelato shop as specialty desserts were included in Princess Premier, but I found the selection to be a bit limited, and most of the flavors outside of mango, vanilla, and chocolate weren’t very good.
OceanNow Delivery
Since I had the Princess Premier package, I got free OceanNow delivery, though one can add this service for $14.99 per passenger per voyage. Items can be delivered to your stateroom or to you on the ship. The menu is on the smaller side, with limited food and drink options. It was still a nice feature to have, and I utilized it almost daily, but it did generally take 40 minutes to order drinks to room service, and on a few occasions, I had to call to follow up on the items. I wish it was a bit faster.
Also, for breakfast delivered to your stateroom, there is a limited continental breakfast offered free of charge to all guests. You just have to fill out a card and place it outside your stateroom the night before. I utilized this some days when I didn’t need a heavy breakfast.
Entertainment
The Sun Princess has numerous venues, such as the Princess Arena, where guest entertainers & production shows are put on by the Sun Princess singers and dancers. I do feel like the Princess Arena is quite small, considering how large the ship is. I did see one production show called Fiera that I found to be entertaining. It did fill up pretty quickly.
Princess Live has daily activities, including trivia, enrichment, game shows, and Laugh Lounge Comedy.
The Dome was a cool spot, and it had daytime relaxation, indoor/outdoor swimming, and scheduled evening entertainment. At night, the dome converted to a nightclub.
There was a casino, and at night, it was always pretty crowded. Perhaps they should have made it a bit larger.
And, the Piazza is the heart of the Sun Princess with energizing activities, Zumba, game shows & live music, and dance parties.
The Verdict
Overall, the food and dining on the Sun Princess exceeded my expectations and was better than my first Princess cruise back in 2016. I felt some of the speciality dining was not worth the added cost, as the main dining room was quite good. Though I didn’t partake in too many entertainment options, I liked the venues, and there was always something going on. The only issue that I faced with the main dining room was the pace of service during the later seatings. But otherwise, I was quite happy and enjoyed my Sun Princess sailing.
Have you been on the Sun Princess before? What did you think of the Sun Princess dining options? Comment below!
Cheers,
Ty
Have any questions? I’ve also started working with a travel agency, Fora Travel, and can assist in booking cruises & planning trips. Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!
