Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call

12/10/2023

Hello fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call shipmates! September 2nd we had mentioned we might close this page due to no involvement from the followers. In that post there was no response at all and other posts since then have not had much interaction. We will be closing this page effective October 31, 2023. Anyone who hasn't already done so, are welcome to check out our group page called Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Inaugural Cruise. For those of you who have been following us, we want to thank you and let you know that we have appreciated your support!

02/10/2023

Hello fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call cruisers!! We hope you all had a GREAT weekend! For Paul and I, we felt it was a very nice weekend! Not to hot, not to cold, just right for us (mid 70's low 80;s)! Now this week, we have heard we are going back up into the 90's. Always trying to stay positive so who knows this might be the last week to work on one's tan before season ends. ;-)

How many of you have or will be solo cruising? Please share your stories!!! What were your emotions the first time and has that changed (if you been on more than one solo cruise). We aren't sure we could do it since we are shy.

26/09/2023

Hello fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call cruisers!!!

This will be Paul's and my sixth cruise with Princess. We know there are more experienced cruisers out there and are completely open to their hearing/learning from their experiences. There might be some less cruised cruisers in this group that have questions, ideas and/or experience on other cruise lines, we want to hear/learn from you as well. What about you who might be first time cruising, do you have questions you would like to ask? Please feel free to post ideas, suggestions and or questions!

25/09/2023

Happy Monday fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call! As I was laying in bed last night I had this terrible thought that something was missing for our inaugural cruise. Sure enough, when I got up this morning, I checked the booking information and realized that we have not booked a room for our first night in Barcelona! I know that Michele and I have talked about it, but I forgot the details of why we had not booked yet. So, before we take action, are you planning on staying for a night or two before the cruise? If so, do you book on your own or are you booking through Princess? The prices listed on the Princess web site are from $209-$249 US. We also compared with booking direct with the listed hotels and found that is less expensive. Do you have a preference on hotels? Are you taking advantage of the Princess Transfer from the airport to the hotel and hotel to the cruise port? We can't wait to hear what you have planned!

11/09/2023

Ahoy fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call cruisers!

Who wants to chat about the rumor posted 20 hours ago on Sun Princess - Princess Cruises and all the comments following, "Do you think Sun Princess will be ready to cruise in Feb 2024?" Now don't get us wrong, we don't want to promote rumors but WOW, what a way to get a discussion going right!?!?!

Everything we have read and are following hasn't noted anything to have started a statement/rumor such as the above. If any of you have seen an article/video, please feel free to share it with us. It's important to be educated! We all work very hard for what we have, and cruising is considered a luxury for many (including us!) so if those of us cruising on the inaugural cruise, it would be nice for us to know!

02/09/2023

Ahoy, fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call mates!!

We know it's been a while since we posted, and we do apologize for that! Here comes the excuses....getting ready for our upcoming wedding this Tuesday, September 5th!!! It will be a very small wedding, 14 people in total, it will be in Santa Cruz, California and the majority of us will be staying at an Air BnB. As with must wedding the bride and groom supply everything and since this is a "destination" wedding, we want to make sure we will be taking everything we need especially, since our Air BnB is a little remote.

Okay that is excuse one and the other excuse is we have been trying to decide if we should keep this page since we created the Facebook group Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call. The group has way more people in it than this page and there is a little more activity in the group. We didn't want to just close this page without checking in with you all, so please provide your thoughts.

As a reminder, we created this page so as to get to know our fellow shipmates before we sail and to possibly share and learn new things about the ports, ship, hotels, excursions but especially about YOU!

24/08/2023

Ahoy fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call cruisers!!! We just thought we would check in with you and see what's up. Have any of you be keeping track of the Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) stock? Paul is very interested in the Stock market and keeps not only an eye on it but both eyes!!! We must share that Michele, went a little silly and order Valentine magnets for our cabin door. Looks like we will be decorating our door. Not only did she get Valentine magnets, she got Christmas magnets, because we will be cruising the Fiji Islands at Christmas, then she also got birthday magnets!!! We will be sailing with our brother and a good friend in May for their 70th birthdays. So we will be that couple that decorate their cabin door! We hope everyone is doing well and surviving this odd weather we have been having.

14/08/2023

Hey fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call cruisers!!! How are all of you doing? Can you all believe we are less than six months away from sailing!!! To be almost exact we are 178 days out before we cruise on the Sun Princess!!!! WOW!!! We booked this cruise back in September 2022, when did you all book this cruise?

We also wanted to say welcome and thank you to those of you who have joined the Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call page! If we missed someone who joined, please speak up for a couple of reasons, one (1) so that we all know you joined us and two (2) so that we can try to figure out why your name can't be seen on the back end of this page.

Dolores Norberg Koppi
John Johnson
Gwen Yehle Young
Sav Gardener
Lorelie B. Oga
Karen Blum Weinstein Newman
Cristina Maricuelo
Shirley Espiritu Olaya
Mehla Joy F. Estolano
Nasir Muslim Aid Foundation
Yohannes Tsegaye
Sandy Bush
Steve Miller
Debby Dawes
Dolly Mardirosian Maxwell

We hope you all know you are more than welcome to start conversations, and/or ask questions anytime! We aren’t experienced cruisers, so we don’t have all the knowledge to think about topics to chat about and/or have all the answers which is another reason we created this page. This is not just Paul’s and my page it is for all those that will be joining us for the Feb 8, 2024, inaugural cruise on the Sun Princess!

07/08/2023

Hello fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call shipmates! We know it's been a while since we posted, and we apologize for that.

Do any of you follow Sun Princess here on Facebook? We do which is where we do find a number of their pictures of our ship, such as the attached one!!!

OMG, the infinity pool looks so luxurious! Can you see yourself in it while cruising along? Wondering if it's in the spa area? What do you think about the pool? Has anyone looked up where this pool is located?

27/07/2023

Hello fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call cruisers!!!

How many of you been doing a countdown till our cruise??? We honestly haven't but we did see a post from the Sun Princess - Maiden Voyage group and they shared. Do any of you know how many days as of today, July 28, 2023?

We booked our cruise right about when it was announced so it has been quite some time. We are under a year away so why not start a countdown!!!

24/07/2023

We just posted this on our group page, Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Inaugural Cruise, but thought it was worth posting here!!!

Well, hello Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call cruisers!!! How are you all doing? Is the summer heat getting to any of you? We're a warm weather couple so we're doing ok with the California heat.
We've got to ask, have any of you decorated your cabin door in the past and if so, do you have pictures to share? Are you planning on decorating your cabin door for this cruise and if so, do you have anything special planned and if so want to share? We've decorated maybe once only one or two items and then our travel agency did up our door for us one year, but I really would like to decorate. We don't know if we really want to go all Valentine Day theme or find something inaugurally. Open to all suggestions!!!

17/07/2023

Hey fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call cruisers! How is life going for you all? We are in the northern California area and we have had some heat, what about you?

We realize this has nothing to do with our inaugural cruise but we want to get to know you and we know this sounds crazy but there is life outside of cruising!!!

04/07/2023

Hello fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call cruisers! We apologize it's been a while since we have posted.

First, we would like to say Happy Independence Day in the USA! We hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe holiday!

Now on to a cruise topic!!! Where do you all enjoy eating? Buffet, main dining room and/or specialty dining? From what we have learned the main dining rooms will be the three-story Horizon dining. This sounds very exciting and interesting to us!!

We personally don't really do the buffet. Our first cruise we did the scheduled dining time and initially enjoyed it but then seemed to have to really juggle when and what we would see or do before and after dining. Since that cruise we now have tried to look better at the Patter and decide what we want to see or do, and the times of the event, then schedule our reservations with the dining room. There were times that we couldn't get our reservation time, but we then would just go to the main dining room and stand in line and would get in fairly quickly!

For lighter meals we have done the street tacos, pizzas and for those late-night cravings we have even ordered room service. Most days we order breakfast in advance from room service to start the day.

We have seen on the Sun Princess they do have some eating places we haven't experienced before on a Princess ship such as, Kai sushi, Bellina's Cocktail Bar (not sure if this is food or not) Coffee Currents (again, not sure if this is food or not) Gelateria (possibly a gelato place). Along with these eating places we also discovered that if you are in a suite, there is a couple of places that are strictly reserved for you.

We would love to get your input and can't wait to try some of the eating places we haven't experience before and hopefully will see you in one of them!!

25/06/2023

Hello fellow shipmates! We apologize for not posting more frequently but sometimes life gets busy!

Are any of you following any other pages that provide more information regarding our inaugural cruise

We don't know about you but we are getting more and more excited for this cruise!

Has anyone traveled to any of the ports we are going to in February? We ask so as to prepare for packing!

19/06/2023

Just a little reminder we also created a Facebook "group" called the Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Inaugural Cruise! We would love for you to join us in that group if you would like to. It is posted through Michele Hoffman's page, but it is a private group for those of you who prefer private groups versus public. As you might be able to tell we really want to get to know our fellow shipmates which is why we created the other group. Please join us on either page and/or group, we would love to get acquainted!

Send a message to learn more

19/06/2023

Hello fellow Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call shipmates!!! We've got to ask, what do you all think about the new post regarding the day care for children on board the Sun Princess? The following is what we have seen so far –
“Firefly Park on the new Sun Princess will be open for only the youngest passengers, from six months to seven years old. However, their family members can also attend the venue to interact and play with their younger family members. Kids can be dropped off to enjoy various activities, while the parents can have a break and enjoy other parts of the Sun Princess.
The venue will have a dedicated play area for babies up to three years old to crawl and engage. A babysitting service is available during the after-hours between 10 AM and 1 AM, but this will cost $5 per hour and only for kids aged three-12.”

We personally don’t have any children nor grandchildren in this age range but were wondering what you all thought. Please share!!!

11/06/2023

Hello Fellow Shipmates of the Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call! We don't know about you, but we have been seeing a few more post regarding our inaugural cruise. Some people are sharing they are concerned about the timeliness of the service while on board because of this being the inaugural cruise. Paul and I really aren't that concerned about it, because no matter what we aren't going to be jumping overboard just because the service is slow. We are on vacation and for us while on vacation, time slows down. What are your thoughts?

05/06/2023

Hi Fellow Shipmates! We are inviting you to please follow us in our group page called "Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Inaugural Cruise". If you copy what is in quotations and paste it in the search bar you will find the group. This suggestion was from one of our followers, thanks Chris!!!

I know we mentioned in our prior post that Paul and I are note Facebook tech savvy, but we do read and ask others questions and we understand that for some reason people feel better/safer in Facebook Groups and we want all of our fellow shipmates on the Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call inaugural cruise to feel safe to be able to get acquainted before we set sail. You may ask yourself; how can we get acquainted through these Facebook "Groups" and/or "Pages"? That is a GREAT question, and one way is to share your prior experiences of sail with or without Princess, what you like to eat on board, what you like to do on board, what type of cabin do you like to have, which cabin don't you like to have, how you meet new people, etc.

We honestly, have a list of topics and have shared a few of them to help start get the conversation going but it doesn't seem like we are hitting any key topics, so please join in and help us engage.

02/06/2023

Hello Fellow Shipmates of the Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call!!! If you haven't figured it out by now Paul and I aren't really tech savvy! We created this page as you well know but then we were seeing on Facebook at it would be better to have a "Group". Yesterday we did great a "Group"! The group is called "Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Inaugural Cruise". Please let us know if it matters to you whether we have a Facebook "Page" or a "Group"? All that we want is to get to know each other before our cruise and honestly, we don't feel we are doing a good job in connecting with you.

29/05/2023

Hello Fellow shipmates! As you may have noticed we changed the name of our group from Sun Princess Cruises 02-08-2024 to Sun Princess Feb 8, 2024 Roll Call! We did this because it was brought to our attention that here in the US, we recognize number dates (02-08) as month and day but in other countries (02-08) is recognized as day and month. We want to make sure anyone on Facebook who is sailing on the inaugural cruise of the Sun Princess on February 8, 2024, can hopefully find our page and join so that we can all get acquainted before this exciting cruise!

16/05/2023

Hello fellow Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024 cruisers! We regularly see posts on other pages regarding what to wear for the formal nights dining. This is just what we do. Paul has a very nice suit, he brings it along with two different dress shirts and two different ties. I on the other hand have the hardest time finding that just right outfit. I normally bring two longer length dresses but none of them have sparkle/bling. This next cruise I want to change it up and find something with some sparkles/bling.

Now what about you, what do you wear for formal nights? You do know there is no wrong answer, except for shorts, so I've been told.

01/05/2023

Hello fellow Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024 shipmates! We are not really "foodies" but we do like to experience new foods and most importantly, tastes that we can boast about. Have any of you had the chance to participate in the 360 dining experience? Our understanding is that it is by invitation only, not offered on all ships and is only for suite guests. Have you heard if it will be offered on Sun Princess? We would like to hear your thoughts and experiences when it comes to specialty dining experiences lie 360 dining, Chef's table or even the usual specialty dining restaurants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikQxqlo9cJU

27/04/2023

Paul and I created a this page for the inaugural cruise. Those of you going we would love for you to join us on it so that we can get acquainted before the cruise! There is another page similar to ours, but they have not posted in quite a while. We try to post once a week. We would love to get to know you!

Make sure to do the roll call on the Princess Cruises - Churchill's Lounge page as well. This page has just about all the Princess cruises on it and is another way to possibly get to know your shipmates!

20/04/2023

Hey Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024 cruisers!!! We hope you week is going good.

How many of you like to play BINGO on board ship? We do! How many of you do the old fashion way of using the daubers? We do! For us, we buy the smallest package they offer for BINGO. I guess you could call one of us cheap! 😉🙃 What do you think Fortuna Luck the BINGO caller? For us, we enjoyed her on our first cruise but since then, there hasn't been as good of one! Now for an important question, have any of you won in BINGO and if so how much and how many times in one game? We haven't won at all in BINGO. 😞

Please share your experience with us!

03/04/2023

Hello fellow Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024 cruisers!! We wanted to thank those of you who have pressed the "follow" button and those of you who have commented on prior post. We hope those of you who have commented might consider also pressing the "follow" button!

As we have shared before, we want to get to know you before our inaugural trip. Please share anything about yourselves and/or about your cruising experience!!

Following are:
Debby Dawes
Dolly Mardirosian Maxwell
Lorelie B Oga
Sav Gardener
Karen Blum Weinstein Newman
Dolores Norberg Kippo
John Johnson
Gwen Yehle Young

Those not following but have commented:
Lisa Quam
Karina Sabine
Alison Go
David Nichols
Chris Leonard
Albert Moser
Darci Hester Adamski

27/03/2023

Hello fellow Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024, what do you think about the Art Auction? We normally go to the Art Auction to get the free print they give out but on our last cruise we went a little "overboard"! We actually saw a painting we fell in love with! Can you guess which one it was from the pictures? The picture of the map is one that is done on every cruise. It is a map of the route of the cruise with the captains signature on it and the bid goes towards a charity! The picture of Alcatraz we got because one, we are from California and just a few miles away from San Francisco and because it was so pretty! Now we have narrowed down your guess. From the other two, we bid on one of these because we thought we could choose from something else but we were wrong and it was, that you could upgrade to something else. Either way we love our paintings! Would we do it again? Not sure because we really aren't that artsy of people and because we don't have a lot of wall space!!!

20/03/2023

Happy first day of Spring Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024 cruisers! We have somewhat of a routine to our mornings when cruising. After ordering room service and enjoying breakfast on the balcony, we review the daily patter so we can sort of plan our day, then we like to go to the whirlpool bath spas and enjoy a little time while partaking of Bloody Mary's. We rarely get into the pool and sometimes stay in the spa while watching a movie or concert on the big screen. It is also a great way to meet new friends! One of the best parts of cruising is being able to relax and not be pressured by schedules. Do you like the spas? What are your morning routines when cruising?

18/03/2023

Hi fellow Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024 cruisers! Some cruisers would like to have a private page to join. We are very Facebook challenged and are completely open to changing this to a private group.

14/03/2023

We are really interested in our fellow Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024 cruisers opinion of the Princess Patter.

We'll go first! We climb in bed with our two different colored highlighters, the remote for the TV and we order our late-night snacks from the TV, then Michele goes through the patter first and highlights all the things she is interested in; room service arrives and Paul, appropriately robes up and answers the door. We start enjoying our snacks while Paul gets to highlighting the things, he's interested in. Once Paul's finishes, we then have a chat about what we have picked and figured out any conflicting times of the events then lastly, Michele puts them on her cell phone calendar. Some may think, "Seriously, you're on vacation, why do you need to mark it on our calendar!" You're correct and just because we put it on our calendar and the reminder pops up, we have the choice to end what we are currently doing or go to the new event. The calendar pop up is just a helpful reminder that there is another exciting/fun event.

We know there are various ways to view the Patter such as the medallion app, which can be viewed on cell phones and tablets, the TV(s) in our cabin along with the kiosks by the elevators. We just haven't figured out how to make all electronic ways work like we do with our calendar regarding the reminder.

Can any of you share how you use of the Patter, (paper, TV, medallion, and/or kiosk)?

13/03/2023

Hello Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024 followers!! We asked your thoughts about the "Arena" (aka theater), now we thought we would ask your thoughts about the "Dome". The article Chris Leonard shared from our prior post had some information about it. We have included the same article, while in the article it gives you the option to "Jump to Section" and provides a drop down of different articles. Good information!

We are really excited to experience it both during the day and evening! What about you?

https://thepointsguy.com/news/sun-princess-cruise-ship-yard-visit/?utm_source=TPG%20Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6364167&utm_usr=135622c2699259ad555a01b9f495bc57962071cf541ee8756ef44026734ab4f0&utm_msg=b8f3da3435474bc6a04639fb8411ed1a&utm_date=2023-03-10&fbclid=IwAR1D3uNxruGek8wd_5z5kRLWXi_PykxcO1_wJuNUS75KAd1TVAM9yQCJ7FM -dome

11/03/2023

Hello mates of the Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024! What are your thoughts on the Sun Princess Arena (AKA Theater) concept? We are curious about how the entertainment will work with seating all around the stage. Have any of you been to venues that have this kind of arrangement? What are the pros and cons? We like the look but wonder if we will be looking at the backsides of the entertainers. Hopefully Princess has put a lot of thought into how this configuration will work to please all of the audience. Photo rendering courtesy of Princess Cruises.

07/03/2023

Hello mates of the Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024 ! We were looking at the itinerary and realized we have been to three out of the eight start and stops. What about all of you, how many of our start and stops have you been to?

06/03/2023

Happy Monday Fellow Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024 cruisers!!! We hope everyone had a nice weekend.

We have a seven-year-old Jack Russel, miniature Greyhound mix, which we rescued four years ago. We adore him. We are very lucky to have a GREAT dog sitter that we feel very comfortable leaving him with. The longest we have left him has been 13 days. Meet our fur baby Phitz. We were wondering for those of you who have pet(s) (dogs, cats, birds, etc.) who cares for your pet and what is the longest cruise you have been on that has taken you away from your pet(s)?

04/03/2023

Hello Fellow Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024 cruisers!!!!

We realize we haven't posted in a couple of days but as we are sure you all realize and know life sometimes gets in the way of connecting with others such as posting.

We have been refreshing our granddaughter's bedroom for the past three days, from a little girl's room to a teenager's room. We aren't trying to make excuses for not posting but sharing a little about our lives.

We are both retired from working for the State of California for a combined 54 years. Paul does handyman work on the side and Michele is a Mary Kay Independent Consultant and a Notary. We know we shared we are both shy and with the side jobs we have you would think, how could they, both have jobs that deal with the public and say they are shy!!!. You're correct, which is why Michele really gives her Mary Kay products away as gifts and doesn't do much notarizing because she doesn't advertise or pound the pavement and promote herself, whereas Paul, he does such a GREAT job with his handyman work and he doesn't charge a lot, and he has a LOT of repeat customers, which keeps him VERY busy, his shyness is still there when it comes to new customers which is why he doesn't take on many new ones!!

What about you, what do you do? What kind of crazy goes on in your life? We really would like to know!

02/03/2023

Hey Sun Princess Cruise 02-08-2024 ,Pizza in Naples? Oh yeah, it was amazing and if you have not had the pleasure, the Margherita pizza is a must! What food are you looking forward to?

02/03/2023

We are a "get to know you" group for the inaugural sailing of the Sun Princess. If you are going to be on this cruise we would love to get to know you before the sail date. We are hoping that everyone can share their thoughts on excursion ideas, hotels prior to embarkation of after the cruise, etc.