I recently took my first Princess Cruise on their newest Sphere class of ship — the Sun Princess. Along with a buffet and main dining room, the Sun Princess more restaurants than would be possible to visit every one on a week long sailing.
Princess Cruises offers their Princess Premier package that, along with premium drinks, shore excursion credit, wifi, and photos, offers unlimited speciality dining. On the Sun (and Star) Princess, the cost is currently $105 per person per day. This may seem like a lot, but it covers your daily gratuities which are $20 per person. So it ends up being $85 extra per day. For comparison, Holland America offers Have It All which is $60 per day but only offers 1 specialty dining on a 7-day cruise. Having also just done a Holland America cruise, I prefer Princess Premier and the value it offers to Have It All.
First I’ll cover all the included dining that every passenger has access to at no extra charge.
The Eatery (Buffet)
The buffet is located on Deck 9 mid-ship. It has different stations and all the food is served by staff with the exception of the grab and go section. The grab and go section has premade sandwiches, salads, and deserts individually packaged that you can take to eat anywhere on the ship.
The rest of the stations are pretty standard buffet fare: Mexican, Asian, ramen, meat carving, salad, pasta, pizza, burgers.
I only ate at the buffet twice: once for lunch on a port day and once for breakfast on the final day of the cruise (it’s the only option). For my lunch I had a Mexican rice bowl. I thought it was good but not something I’d go out of my way to get.
On the final sea day they had a special cake station during lunch.
The buffet has seating outside as well with bars and pizza stations.
Americana Diner
During breakfast and lunch, the Americana Diner is an extension of the buffet. At dinner, it offers diner food – breakfast for dinner, burgers, ribs, etc. It is included for all guests. I never ate there so I can’t say how the food is; my guess is that it is essentially the same food that is in the buffet.
Main Dining Rooms – Eclipse and Soleil
The main dining rooms are located on Deck 6 & 7 at the aft of the ship. Breakfast was always served on Deck 6. For dinner I believe Deck 6 was for people with reservations and Deck 7 was for walk ins.
I ate breakfast in the main dining room most days and ate dinner there on one day. The staff was very attentive and it was never crowded (but I think my sailing was not at capacity). Breakfast in particular was a ghost town with only a small section of the space on Deck 6 being used at all. The food was good; and I would have been content eating there for dinner every day had I not purchased Princess Premier.
International Cafe
Located off the atrium and just in front of the buffet on Deck 9, the International Cafe is open 24 hours. In the morning it serves pastries and the rest of the day it serves sandwiches and deserts.
Lido Deck
Deck 17 is the Lido Deck with the pools, hot tubs, and sun loungers. It is essentially a smaller version of the buffet where you can get pizza, tacos, salads, and burgers at different stations, just feet from the pools.
That does it for the included dining options. There are a couple other coffee stations that have a small assortment of pastries or soft serve ice cream.
First off, there are two “casual restaurants”. These are a $15 charge per meal if you don’t have one of the packages. If you have Princess Plus, you get four meals included. If you have Princess Premier, you have unlimited meals at these restaurants.
Alfredo’s Pizzeria
Located on Deck 9 off the Piazza (atrium), you get an appetizer, any pizza, and dessert if you have one of the packages. I ate here on embarkation day and then twice more. I found it to be excellent “fired” pizza and the service to be top notch. A very good alternative to the buffet at lunch, and I believe it was open even on port days. Be aware that you really can’t customize the pizzas on the menu; I was told you can only subtract an ingredient, not add to it.
O’Malley’s Irish Pub
Located on Deck 7 across from the Princess Live venue. O’Malley’s is the onboard pub that offers drinks, food, and live music. You can come for a drink any time. On sea days they offer lunch, and I believe every day they also offer dinner. It is a pub menu, and if you have a package, you get appetizer, main course, and dessert.
I only ate at O’Malley’s once and didn’t spend any other time there because it was always crowded. I think people enjoy the atmosphere and the live music. The food was okay pub food; the best part was my salad which was enough to be a meal on its own. The slice of seven layer cake was HUGE.
Those are the two casual dining options that offer both lunch and dinner (depending on the day).
Next are the true speciality dining restaurants. These are not included at all with Princess Plus, and are unlimited (dinner) for Princess Premier. Otherwise dinner costs $60 per person. There are eight speciality restaurants on the Sun Princess, though two share the same venue (Umai Hot Pot and Umai Teppanyaki). I’ll start with the restaurants where I dined (I skipped two but I’ll still explain what they offer).
Crown Grill
Crown Grill is the steakhouse, and it seemed quite popular. They have a few other options, but it caters towards the carnivores. It is located on Deck 6 past the shops and before the dining room. It isn’t the most logical location, and my understanding is that it is also not the original location on the ship.
I am not a huge steak aficionado, so I can’t speak to how good or not good my steak was, but it seemed fine to me. The steak (whatever type you pick) is served with three types of salt, a sauce of your choice, and your pick of sides.
Umai Teppanyaki & Hot Pot
Technically listed as two restaurants, Umai is a teppanyaki restaurant with a few hot pot stations along the sides. I had never done teppanyaki before (I always thought it was a silly gimmick), but having it included, I decided to give it a try.
There are set seating times each evening. When you arrive, you are seated at one of the teppanyaki stations. Unless you have a huge party, you will be seated with other guests. The servers will take your drink and food orders. Then the chefs come out and start their show.
Each meal includes fried rice plus meats or tofu of your choice.
The chefs are entertaining (singing, making jokes, tossing food into your mouth… very scripted but still fun) and although it is about the show, I was impressed by the food. The meats were flavorful and there were tasty dipping sauces provided. Don’t be scared away by the gimmick factor.
Below is the menu but I don’t believe they offered any of the starters.
Love by Britto
Good luck finding this restaurant. It is located at the far aft of the ship on Deck 17. You either have to walk through the guest room hallway to reach Love or else find the far aft elevators and take them to Deck 17.
The restaurant is quite small but the views are fantastic. Apparently Britto is an artist that is over the top (I’d say completely ugly), but fits right in to any Park West gallery you would find on a cruise ship. The food served is gaudy like the artist; with hearts and love all over the menu of dishes.
However, the food is actually good and the experience, with the views, smaller setting, and number of courses, is actually very good. I would have gone back for a second time if I had the time and there was availability.
Sabatini’s Italian Trattoria
The Italian restaurant is located on Deck 8 just above the Crown Grill in the shop section of the ship.
I’m a fan of Italian food so I booked Sabatini’s twice. Like most of the dining, expect a lot of food; all of which I found very good. Make sure to try the Arancini at the start of the meal; they are delicious.
Makoto Ocean
Located on Deck 8 on the Piazza, if you are dining with Princess Premier you receive the sushi tasting menu. If you are paying on your own, you can order sushi individually.
The ambience is not great as it is essentially open to the atrium. However it does have nice views out the side of the ship.
You have to go in with a sense of adventure. The tasting menu is a lot of sushi, but if you are opposed to raw fish, this is probably a skip for you.
The next two restaurants I didn’t eat at, so I can’t tell you if they are any good or not.
The Catch by Rudi
This is the seafood restaurant; located off the Piazza on Deck 7. A couple I spoke with said they loved it.
The Butcher’s Block by Dario
Apparently restaurants on cruise ships have to have single name of some chef attached to it. The Butcher’s Block, located on Deck 7 next to O’Malley’s, is the steakhouse concept taken to the next level. There are set seatings and everyone is served the same selection of meat, all at the same time. Not my type of dining experience, but I’m sure those that love trying different parts of the cow will enjoy it.
Additionally there is a Gelato space on Deck 7 across from Princess Live. Everyone pays for the gelato, it isn’t covered by any of the packages.
I think that about does it for the dining venues on Sun Princess. I think the added $60 for any restaurant on the ship is too much. However, if you have the Princess Premier, you have a ton of options to choose from. It is too bad that many free options on other ships (made to order pizza, for example), cost you money on Princess. If you don’t have a dining package and want to eat what is included with your cruise fare, you are limited to the buffet (plus Americana Diner), International Cafe, and dining room. Holland America, on the other hand, offers made to order pizza, burger bar, and Dutch Cafe in addition to the buffet and dining room and they are smaller ships.
I also think that the speciality dining on Norwegian is a (very) slight step up. With Free at Sea, you don’t get unlimited dining but you do get to try out three restaurants on a week sailing. I enjoyed the speciality dining on Princess, but nothing that made me want to go out of my way to try again.
I would say my top restaurants were Love, Umai, and Alfredo’s Pizza. What dining options do you enjoy on Princess?