Sun Princess Mediterranean Cruise Day 5
In this sea day Mediterranean cruise blog you will find Sun Princess reviews including cruise food and features of the Princess Cruises App along with a complimentary whisky tasting!
For those who like to sleep in or just leisurely start their day, a well chosen cruise can be an excellent vacation choice.
Unlike a hotel with limited breakfast hours, a cruise has so many dining options available to you at all times.
On days when we did not order the free continental breakfast room service delivery on Sun Princess and we didn’t go to the main dining room or buffet for breakfast, we could still enjoy a selection of breakfast foods all day at the Americana Diner!
-> Read Also: Americans Try the Americana Diner – Sun Princess Restaurant Review
Brunch in the Americana Diner
Americana Diner Menu — Sun Princess
As a quick recap, you do not need reservations for the Americana Diner and everything on the menu is available every day except the bottom right corner where it says “Tonight’s Special”. Those items rotate each night to include a few options from the main dining room menu in addition to the default Diner classics.
What We Ordered
Buttermilk Pancake Stack
The buttermilk pancake stack came with blueberry jam, chocolate, streaky bacon, maple syrup, and a torched banana.
In this case we requested only syrup and bacon along with the triple pancake stack and torched bananas. The bacon was missing! Oops 🙂
Diner’s Hash
For the Diner’s Hash you could choose between salt beef and halloumi (cheese). Your preference would be served with home-style potatoes, fried egg, roasted bell peppers, and griddled onions.
Let’s see how it turned out!
This was quite a potato-forward dish with the diced potatoes as well as two large roasted potato wedges. The homestyle potatoes tasted ketchup-y to me and while I wasn’t the hugest fan of that I suppose it fits with the diner theme.
Overall solid brunch!
Strawberry Shortcake Milkshake
Since we are attempting to try (nearly) everything on the Americana Diner menu, this seemed like a good opportunity for the Strawberry Shortcake Milkshake!
Described as strawberry ice cream, fresh strawberries and milk, topped with whipped cream and meringue pieces. I would be surprised if this milkshake actually has fresh strawberries in it, nevertheless it was super tasty!
The meringue pieces on top were a great touch and much better than the donut garnish of the coffee and donuts milkshake we tried previously, imo.
The Wheelhouse Bar on Sun Princess
Shown below is the wheelhouse bar on Sun Princess around 1pm on a sea day.
This is a popular spot for drinks before dinner!
Complimentary Liquor Tasting & History of Whiskey Events
The Princess Cruises App shows you all of the activities for the day and allows you to bookmark your favorites. A complimentary liquor tasting on a cruise is pretty common and will be held in the duty-free liquor store on board. On Sun Princess the duty free liquor store is called Fine Spirits & Treats and in this shop they held the free liquor tasting as well as an educational whiskey tasting.
I do recommend coming on time and only lingering in the shop if you are ready to make a purchase or else it can get awkward. Of course the point of these events are to generate sales and the crew members need to make sales to perform well.
We had the opportunity to try a unique Cotswolds single malt whisky.
This small batch Sherry Cask Single Malt Whisky is drawn from American and Spanish Oak which have been seasoned with dry Oloroso sherry or sweet Pedro Ximinez.
Also wanted to give a shoutout to the beautiful tile design inside this duty-free shop on Sun Princess. I really loved this design and it suited my huaraches nicely, don’t you think?! :p
-> Shop: Nisolo Huaraches in Brandy
Pizza & Dogs on the Pool Deck
From the shop on deck 7 we headed up to deck 9 – the pool deck – to walk around and enjoy the sea views, but let me tell you it’s hard to walk past the Princess Pizzeria without checking the menu and grabbing a slice.
The special of the day was Four-Cheese pizza (fresh mozzarella, fontina, provolone, and dolcelatte).
This 4 cheese slice was the best pizza we ate on Sun Princess! So if you see it, grab a slice!
So happy we grabbed this slice, although after that day we never managed to catch it again which was for sure a bummer.
Feedback for Princess Cruises: Serve the Four-Cheese pizza more often! :o)
Hot Dogs on Sun Princess
There are several hot dog choices available at the grill on Sun Princess.
You can order the hot dog as suggested on the menu which includes mustard, relish, and fried onions, or you can alter it how you prefer such as with just fried onions and ketchup.
They always serve the fries in the cute little baskets and the trays are perfectly picnic-y with the red and white checkered liners.
-> Order on Amazon: Cute little fry baskets
We enjoyed sitting by the windows as we passed through the Dardanelles Strait of Turkey.
Princess Crew Call Chat Review
This feels like a good moment to give some feedback on the Princess Crew Call Chat.
On the Princess Cruises App you have access to “Crew Call Chat” 24 hours per day. This is a really great feature and allows you to ask questions and receive answers via text rather than having to make a phone call or go down to the desk in person. Love this feature!
The quality of the responses, though, was a bit hit or miss. For instance, on the schedule there was a “Craft” in the Horizon’s Dining Room on deck 7. No further details. So I decided to ask the CrewCall Chat what the craft was.
Their response was to list out several activities that afternoon (not helpful) and then tell me to look at the schedule in my room (not helpful) and then send the generic I’m-closing-out-this-ticket message to finish the chat (corporate box ticking at it’s finest).
I found this a little bit annoying to be honest as my question was not answered, I was clearly already familiar with the schedule in the room and on the app as I asked about a specific event listed on there. In the end they basically told me to go to the dining room and find out lol.
Imagine I had mobility issues. It would have been really nice if someone could have told me what this activity entails (like.. is this a children’s activity or something adults would also enjoy) before I make my way with great effort across the ship. Do you see what I mean?
I truly don’t know if the people responding to the Chat are on the ship and what information/resources they have access to, but on a number of occasions I found the Crew Chat to be less than helpful, unfortunately. Always giving an honest review over here.
Crew Chat is a great app feature which could use some improvements.
Complimentary Laundry on Sun Princess
When you sail on Princess with Elite Status one of the best benefits is free laundry. It was really nice to return to our room and find our laundry washed, pressed, folded, or hanging. Especially on a 14 night cruise, having complimentary laundry is game changing. This is one way Princess Cruise Lines rewards loyalty to their line.
Still, there are things you may wish to consider in order to decide whether or not to send your laundry out on a cruise.
-> See Also: Tips for washing clothes on a cruise
Princess does have laundry rooms for public use throughout the ship. Many who do not wish to hand wash their clothes on vacation will make use of these laundry facilities on a cruise ship.
Self service laundry is a top rated feature of Princess by many cruisers that other lines should take note of.
Dinner in Sun Princess Main Dining Room
For some reason we missed snapping a pic of the dinner menu in the main dining room this night. Must have been distracted by visions of crab cakes and beef Wellington … At any rate, here’s what we tried!
What We Ordered
Crab Cake
A crab cake with some lump crab meat as seen in the photo wearing a hat of greens, one ruby slipper and resting atop a bed of aioli.
I really enjoyed the crab cake and accompanying sauce. We did find it a bit strange, however, that a breaded and fried item would be sat on top of a creamy sauce, rather than the sauce being a garnish along side.
We found this odd because 1. it makes the bottom of the crab cake soggy and 2. if you are averse to the accompanying sauce now the whole bottom of your crab cake is tainted by it. I could see this causing some cruisers to become crab cakes themselves. :p
Feedback for Princess Cruises: Sauces beside fried foods, please and thanks! 🙂
Prosciutto & Melon with Endive & Arugula
Here are two different plates of the same dish for consistency comparison.
This prosciutto and melon medley accented with a bit of endive and arugula is such a prime example of how simple dishes can be outstanding.
With a few flavorful ingredients you have all you need!
This melon and prosciutto salad would make for an easy appetizer at a dinner party!
Roasted Pear Salad
A roasted pear salad was hard to pass up and I am so pleased I didn’t skip it.
I’m a big fan of fruit on salads and this salad offered a brilliant mix of colors and textures between the leaf lettuce, roasted red pepper slices, cooked pears, and sprouts on top.
Beneath the sprouts you could find crumbled blue cheese – always complimentary to sweet pears!
This salad is another example of inspirational cruise food worth re-creating at home!
Beef Wellington
Beef Wellington is at the top of the list of foods I’m eager to order on a cruise. It’s such a fancy meal that is more laborious to make than we care to do very often (literally probably 10 years ago was the last time), but when executed well is such a delight.
While the plating was lovely I was surprisingly underwhelmed by this under seasoned and overcooked Beef Wellington on Sun Princess. Later on in the cruise a waiter gave us the tip to order one step rarer than you want because that’s the way to get the cook you want on it. So I guess we should have ordered medium-rare?
I hope this is a fluke, but I’d love to know how your Wellington was on your last cruise?
Sun Princess Dessert Menu
Coconut Cake with Raspberry Sauce
At the waiters recommendation I ordered the coconut cake with raspberry sauce, but found it a bit boring.
The cake was on the dense and dry side. The filling was okay and it really needed more raspberry sauce.
Chocolate Tart
The chocolate tart with vanilla crème anglaise was as rich and chocolatey as you can imagine by looking at the photo. The crust had an interesting texture reminiscent of the oatmeal-y nature of no-bakes, but more finely ground and drier.
Iced Cointreau Souffle
The iced cointreau soufflé was a last minute addition and it was the highlight of this night’s dessert! If you like cointreau / citrus flavor definitely order this unique cold soufflé!
Next Port of Call: A Day in Istanbul, Turkey
Our next port of call, and also our anniversary, would be Istanbul, Turkey. When I flipped on the TV in our cabin to watch the “Shore Excursion Program” for Istanbul … it was not available. Classic…
More in this Sun Princess Review Series
- Embarkation in Rome
- Pizza in Naples
- One Day in Naples Cruise Port —DIY Walking Tour Photo Diary
- One Day on Crete, Greece
- Americans Try Americana Diner At Sea
- Sun Princess Deluxe Balcony Room Review
- How to Get from Rome Airport to Port of Civitavecchia
Italy Travel Blogs
Sun Princess Mediterranean Cruise
-> Sun Princess Cruise Blogs: Travel with us on an anniversary cruise through the Mediterannean
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