Princess Cruises opens sales for 1st Sun Princess sailings from Florida
The new class and largest ever ship built for Princess Cruises is queueing up mostly seven-night voyages from Port Everglades starting in October 2024.
Bookings for the new itineraries opened Wednesday for Sun Princess, the first in the cruise line’s Sphere class of vessels that will debut in February with Mediterranean and European sailings before making its way to Florida.
The Eastern Caribbean voyages include a seven-night trip to St. Thomas with a late night in San Juan, Puerto Rico, or seven nights with stops at Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic and Grand Turk. Both options also visit the line’s private Bahamas destination Princess Cays. One five-night trip on Oct. 14 to Amber Cove and Grand Turk begins Sun Princess’ stay in Florida.
The line also offers a seven-night Western Caribbean itinerary with stops in Cozumel, Mexico; Belize City, Belize; and Roatán, Honduras, or the option to stack eastern and western trips into one 14-night voyage.
Itineraries run with departures from the Fort Lauderdale port through March 14, 2025.
This is not the first time the line has used the name Sun Princess, but coming in at 175,500 gross tons, the 21-deck vessel is the largest. It has a 4,314-passenger capacity based on double occupancy. Its last ships, 2022′s Discovery Princess, 2020′s Enchanted Princess and 2019′s Sky Princess, come in at around 145,000 gross tons with about 3,660-passenger capacities.
The ship remains under construction at the Fincantieri shipyards in Italy. It’s joining its Carnival Corp. sister ships from Carnival Cruise Line, Mardi Gras, Celebration and Jubilee, to be among the first cruise ships in North America to run on liquefied natural gas as part of the industry’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Wish also runs on LNG as will Royal Caribbean’s new Icon of the Seas when it debuts in January.
This line has sailed versions of Sun Princess from 1974-1988 and 1995-2020. The pilot episode of “The Love Boat” TV series was shot on board the original Sun Princess in 1977.
“We are thrilled about the expansion of the Princess fleet and know that homeporting Sun Princess in Fort Lauderdale offers a convenient option for guests to explore the most elevated experience ever from the Love Boat,” said Princess Cruises President John Padgett in a press release.
European sailings are already open, and Caribbean itinerary details can now be found at princess.com.
