The Ultimate Guide to Sailing on Sun Princess

Is The Ultimate Guide to Sailing on Sun Princess the book that will actually help you plan your cruise, or is it just another glossy overview you could skim online for free? Here is the short answer: it is a practical, ship-specific handbook written for people who have a sailing booked on Sun Princess, Princess Cruises’ newest flagship, and want to walk aboard already knowing where to go, what to reserve, which cabin to choose, and how to spend their money well. It is written by Leo Sotropa as part of the Ultimate Ship Guides series, and it exists to answer the hundreds of small questions that come up between the moment you book and the moment your Ocean Medallion clicks you through the terminal.

This page describes what the book covers, who it is for, and why a guide devoted to one ship beats a general cruise primer. If you would rather read some of the material first, there are free companion articles on this site for Sun Princess, linked throughout. But if you want everything organized in one place, chapter by chapter, with action steps to follow before you sail, the book is built for exactly that.

What the Sun Princess book actually is

The Ultimate Guide to Sailing on Sun Princess is an independent, unofficial handbook. It is not published by the cruise line, and that independence is the point. Because no one is selling you an upsell, the book can tell you plainly which specialty restaurants are worth the splurge and which included venues already do the job, which staterooms are genuinely good value and which ones to avoid, and where the ship’s layout works against you if you do not plan for it. It is one title in the Ultimate Ship Guides series, and each book in that series is devoted to a single ship rather than a whole fleet or a whole cruise line.

Sun Princess deserves that focused treatment. She is the first of the all-new Sphere Class, Princess’s largest ship and one of its first dual-fuel LNG vessels, a clean-sheet redesign built to feel light, airy, and connected to the sea. At around 177,000 gross tons across 21 decks, carrying roughly 4,300 guests in about 2,157 staterooms, she is big enough that first-timers routinely lose an afternoon just figuring out how to get from their cabin to dinner. A book that knows this ship can save you that afternoon and several more.

The book is illustrated with graphite chapter illustrations, and it is available in two formats: a Kindle ebook you can carry on your phone and search at the buffet, and a 6×9 paperback you can mark up and pass around the dinner table while you plan. Every chapter ends with clear, practical Action Steps, so you are never left with a pile of information and no idea what to do with it. You read a chapter, you do the two or three things it tells you to do, and you move on.

Because cruising details change, the book keeps its ship facts steady while pointing you to the Princess app for anything that moves. Venues, itineraries, and prices should always be confirmed there. The book gives you the judgment and the structure; the app gives you today’s schedule.

What is inside the book

The book follows the shape of a real cruise, from the decision about which cabin to book through embarkation day, the ports, the dining, and the quiet art of not overspending. Here is what each part does for you.

The ship’s layout, deck by deck

The opening chapters give you a tour of Sun Princess’s neighborhoods and spaces so you can navigate her without wasting vacation time. That means understanding the reimagined three-deck Piazza atrium at the heart of the ship, now with an outward, glass-walled suspended Sphere that opens up expansive ocean views, plus a movable LED screen for live entertainment. It means knowing about The Dome, the geodesic glass-enclosed structure at the very top of the ship, inspired by the terraces of Santorini, which works as an indoor-outdoor pool retreat by day and transforms into a theater for Cirque Éloize acrobatic shows at night. The guide walks you through the pools, from the Sea Breeze and Terrace pools to the wake-view pool aft, and the entertainment rooms like the Princess Theater and Princess Live. Once you can picture the ship, the rest of your planning gets much easier. For a taste of this before you buy, the free Sun Princess Sphere Class ship guide covers the design at a high level.

The full cabin guide

Choosing a stateroom is the decision most people get least help with, and it is where the book earns its keep for a lot of readers. Sun Princess offers Interior, Oceanview, and Balcony cabins, along with Mini-Suites and the Sanctuary Collection suites that come with retreat access. The book explains which categories give you the best value and which to avoid for noise, motion, and obstructed views. Its honest read is that an Interior or a sheltered Balcony is the value play, a midship Balcony on the mid-decks is the best all-round choice for light, space, and the steadiest ride, and a Sanctuary Collection suite sits at the top of the range.

Just as usefully, it tells you what to steer clear of once you open the deck plan: cabins directly under the pool deck, the buffet, or The Dome, where noise carries; rooms near nightlife venues; forward high-deck rooms if anyone is prone to seasickness; and lower-deck balconies where lifeboats or structure block the view you paid for. That specific, this-ship advice is exactly what a generic cruise book cannot give you.

The complete dining guide

Sun Princess has a large and genuinely interesting range of places to eat, and the book sorts them into what is already included, what is worth paying extra for, and what you should reserve before you board. On the included side there are three main dining rooms, where you can keep a traditional set seating or use Dine My Way through your Medallion for flexible times, plus the Horizons buffet, the pizzerias at Alfredo’s and Gigi’s, O’Malley’s Irish pub, and the 24-hour International Café by the Piazza.

On the specialty side, the guide walks you through Love by Britto, an artistic prix-fixe with wake views; The Butcher’s Block by Dario, a Tuscan butcher-style steakhouse; Makoto Ocean for Edomae sushi; Sabatini’s Italian Trattoria; the Crown Grill steakhouse; and The Catch by Rudi for seafood. It helps you decide which of these are worth a special night and which reservations tend to disappear first, so you book the ones that matter to you before they fill. It also covers how OceanNow and room service let you order food and drinks to wherever you happen to be on the ship. If you want an overview now, the free what to expect on Sun Princess article introduces the onboard experience.

Entertainment, shows, and the signature thrills

The entertainment chapter covers the shows and signature experiences, with insider timing to help you beat the lines. The Dome’s Cirque Éloize performances, the movable LED screen in the Piazza, Movies Under the Stars on the giant poolside screen, and the productions in the Princess Theater and Princess Live all reward a little planning around when to show up. The book tells you which experiences draw crowds and when the quiet windows are, so you spend less time waiting and more time watching.

MedallionClass, explained properly

If you have never sailed Princess before, the Ocean Medallion is the single biggest difference from any other cruise line, and the book gives it real attention. Every guest wears the Medallion, a quarter-sized wearable that unlocks your stateroom hands-free, speeds up boarding, lets you locate your travel companions around the ship, and handles touchless payments. Through OceanNow you order food and drinks to your location; Dine My Way lets you reserve flexible dining or keep a set seating; and JourneyView helps you plan each day.

The book walks you through setting it all up before you sail: downloading the Princess app, completing the OceanReady check-in, adding a payment method, and ordering your Medallion so everything works from your first minute aboard. Getting this right is the difference between a smooth embarkation and a frustrating one, and it is the kind of thing a first-timer would not know to do in advance. The free Sun Princess MedallionClass first-timer guide is a good place to start if you want a preview.

The ports of call chapter

The book’s marquee season for Sun Princess is the Mediterranean and Greek Isles, sailing seven- to fourteen-night voyages from Rome (Civitavecchia), Athens (Piraeus), and Barcelona. The ports chapter is an in-depth destination guide with top excursions and must-do shortlists for the places these itineraries typically visit. That includes Rome, with the Colosseum, the Vatican, and the Roman Forum, reached by a transfer or train from the port; Naples, for Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Capri, and pizza in its birthplace; Messina in Sicily, for Taormina and Mount Etna; Kotor in Montenegro, with its walled old town and mountain fortress above the bay; and Corfu, with its Venetian old town and beaches.

Then come the Greek highlights: Athens for the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and the Plaka, a transfer from Piraeus; Mykonos, with its windmills, whitewashed Chóra, beaches, and nightlife, sometimes a tender port; and Santorini, with the cliff-top towns of Fira and Oia, the blue domes, the caldera, and the famous sunset, a tender port where you need to allow time for the cable car or the climb from the old port. The book flags which calls are tender ports and which landmarks need timed tickets booked ahead, because those sell out. It also notes that Sun Princess sails the Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale in another season, so you should always confirm your own voyage. For more on the region, see the free Sun Princess Mediterranean and Greek Isles article and the Santorini, Mykonos, and Athens ports guide.

Honest money and value advice

One of the most useful chapters is about money. The book explains what is already included in your fare, when packages actually pay off, and how to avoid the upcharges that quietly add up over a week. It keeps prices relative rather than quoting numbers that would go stale, and points you to the app for what things cost today. On these Mediterranean sailings it covers the practical side too: the euro is used across most ports in Italy, Greece, Montenegro, and Spain, onboard payments run on the Medallion in US dollar accounts, gratuities are added or prepaid, and Wi-Fi is a paid plan often bundled into packages. The goal is to help you decide where your money is well spent and where it is not.

Family know-how and adults-only escapes

Sun Princess works for very different travelers on the same sailing, and the book speaks to both. Families get practical guidance on making the ship work for children and teens, while couples and anyone seeking quiet get the adults-only options, including the Sanctuary Collection, an expanded suite-and-retreat concept with a private sun deck, pool, and exclusive dining. Knowing where the calm corners are, and where the family energy is, helps everyone in your group have the trip they came for.

Embarkation strategy and a chapter of pro tips

The book closes its practical arc with an embarkation-day strategy so your first hours aboard are smooth rather than stressful, and a dedicated chapter of pro tips, common pitfalls, and frequently asked questions. This is where the small, hard-won lessons live: the mistakes people make on day one, the reservations they wish they had made sooner, and the little habits that make a big ship feel easy. As with every chapter, it ends with Action Steps you can carry out before you sail. The free Sun Princess tips article gives you a sample of this thinking.

Action Steps in every chapter

The feature that ties the whole book together is the Action Steps at the end of every chapter. Plenty of travel books tell you interesting things and leave you to figure out what to do about them; this one does not. Each chapter finishes with a short, concrete list of moves, such as which reservations to make, which deck-plan cabins to compare, and which app tasks to complete, so you finish with a plan rather than a pile of trivia.

Who the book is for

First-timers get the most obvious benefit. If you have never sailed Princess, or never sailed at all, the book removes the guesswork from a large ship and an unfamiliar system. You learn how MedallionClass works, how dining is organized, how to read the deck plan, and what to do on embarkation day, all before you leave home.

Families use it to coordinate a trip that keeps very different ages happy at once, balancing pools and shows and quiet time, and pacing port-heavy days in the Mediterranean heat. Seasoned cruisers still get value from the ship-specific detail, because Sun Princess is a clean-sheet Sphere Class design with venues and a layout that are new even to Princess regulars. Knowing this ship is different from knowing cruising in general.

And it makes a thoughtful gift. If someone you know has a Sun Princess sailing booked, the paperback is an easy present that shows you paid attention, and it gets used from the day it arrives until they walk down the gangway. A companion overview lives in the free Sun Princess cruise guide if you want to see the style before you commit.

Why a ship-specific guide beats a generic cruise primer

A general cruise book has to speak to every ship and every line, so it stays vague by necessity. It cannot tell you that a particular cabin sits under The Dome and will be noisy, or which specialty restaurant on this ship is worth booking first, or how the Piazza and the Sphere change the way you move around the center of the vessel. A book about one ship can. Every recommendation here is about Sun Princess, her real venues, her real cabin categories, and the real ports she visits.

That specificity is also what reduces pre-cruise stress. Most of the anxiety before a cruise comes from not knowing what to expect and worrying you will make an expensive mistake, the wrong cabin, the missed reservation, the excursion that sold out. When you have already read what to do, in the order to do it, that worry mostly evaporates. You board knowing your plan is sound, a good feeling as your Medallion opens your stateroom door for the first time.

There is a newness advantage too. Sun Princess is the freshest ship in the Princess fleet, so a Mediterranean cruise aboard her pairs the world’s oldest treasures with the very latest design and the effortless Medallion experience. A guide that understands both the ancient ports and the brand-new ship helps you get the most from the combination.

About the author and the Ultimate Ship Guides series

The book is written by Leo Sotropa as part of the Ultimate Ship Guides series, a collection of independent handbooks each devoted to a single ship. The series has a consistent philosophy: honest, practical, and specific, with real recommendations rather than marketing, and Action Steps that turn reading into a plan. The companion website, acountryamonth.com, hosts free articles for the ships in the series, including the Sun Princess guides linked throughout this page. Those are a good way to sample the approach before you buy; the book gathers everything into one edited, portable whole with the depth the free pieces only hint at.

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Get The Ultimate Guide to Sailing on Sun Princess

The Ultimate Guide to Sailing on Sun Princess by Leo Sotropa, part of the Ultimate Ship Guides series, is your independent, ship-specific handbook to Princess Cruises’ newest flagship, available on Kindle and paperback with clear Action Steps in every chapter. Read it before you sail and board knowing exactly where to go, what to book, and how to spend well.

Frequently asked questions

Is this an official Princess Cruises book?

No. It is an independent, unofficial guide, and that is deliberate. Because it is not published by the cruise line, it can be candid about which cabins to avoid, which specialty restaurants are worth the extra cost, and where you can skip an upsell. It is written to serve the reader, not to sell you anything on board.

Should I get the Kindle or the paperback?

Both contain the same material, so it comes down to how you like to use a guide. The Kindle ebook is searchable and travels on your phone, which is handy for checking a detail at the buffet or in port. The 6×9 paperback is easy to mark up, flag, and pass around the table while you plan, and it makes a nicer gift. Many readers plan from the paperback at home and keep the ebook with them on the ship.

Is the information up to date?

The book reflects the latest edition and stays grounded in Sun Princess’s design, venues, and typical itineraries. Because cruise details like schedules, specific venues, and prices can change, it deliberately keeps prices relative and tells you to confirm the current specifics in the Princess app. You get durable judgment and structure from the book, and today’s exact details from the app.

Does it cover Sun Princess’s specific ports?

Yes. There is an in-depth ports of call chapter focused on her marquee Mediterranean and Greek Isles season, with destination guides and must-do shortlists for places like Rome, Naples, Messina, Kotor, Corfu, Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini. It flags which stops are tender ports and which landmarks need timed tickets booked ahead. Since she also sails the Caribbean in another season, you are reminded to confirm your own itinerary.

Is it good for first-time cruisers?

It is especially good for first-timers. It explains how MedallionClass and the Ocean Medallion work, how to set up the Princess app and complete OceanReady check-in before you sail, how dining and reservations are organized, and what to do on embarkation day. The Action Steps at the end of each chapter mean you finish with a clear plan rather than a list of things to worry about.

Would it make a good gift?

Yes. For anyone who has a Sun Princess sailing booked, the paperback is a thoughtful, practical present that gets used from the moment it arrives through the end of the trip. Its graphite chapter illustrations and clear structure make it feel like a real book rather than a printout, and it signals that you put thought into the gift.

Does the book replace the Princess app?

No, and it does not try to. The app is where you handle live details: check-in, today’s schedule, current venues, reservations, and prices. The book is where you get the planning, the judgment, and the honest recommendations the app will never give you. They work together, with the guide helping you decide and the app handling the moving parts.