Passengers will be able to shop for high-end brands at stores galore on the 4,300-guest Sun Princess when the ship debuts today on its maiden voyage out of Civitavecchia-Rome, Italy.

Sun Princess, the first Sphere Class ship, offers more than 5,800 square feet of commercial space from premium brands offering everything from bling and beauty to fashion and accessories.

Among the more than 25 brands making their debut at sea are Chanel No. 1, Beyond Yoga and Varley. Also available are sustainable fashion from Neu Nomad and Italian elegance with Pinko handbags. In addition, WAVES, the first Princess-branded merchandise boutique, will makes its debut on board, offering an exclusive limited Princess Inaugural collection that celebrates the iconic new ship as well as new lines featuring the Princess Seawitch.

"This expansive retail environment, created in partnership with Harding+, marks a new level of excellence for Princess retail,” said Sabine Muhlberger, vice president of onboard revenue experience at Princess Cruises. “Our guests are going to love this new and unique shopping experience that will enhance the already spectacular cruise experience aboard Sun Princess."

What's on deck  

The retail design boasts open, spacious areas with interactive merchandising and pop-up locations. For instance, on deck 8 the Premium Watch Lounge features the first-at-sea Breitling Lounge concept and the latest TAG Heuer boutique design as well as The Fine Timepieces Boutique — a wonderland of signature watches for both men and women from Longines, Rado, Tissot, Hamilton in addition to pre-owned Rolex watches.

The Beauty & Wellness Boutique, also on deck 8, offers name brands such as Chanel, Dior, Lancôme, Estee Lauder, Clinique, and a curated range of sustainable and organic skincare brands including Comfort Zone, Neom Organics, This Works, Rituals and unisex clean skincare by REN Skincare.

Courtesy of Princess CruisesSun Princess boasts a host of name brands such as Chanel, Dior and Estee Lauder, among many others.

Bling it on

Three new upscale brands will be available for purchase. These include the award-winning London-based jewelry designer Shaun Leane, and Paris-based jewelry designer Yvonne Leon. There will also be a diverse selection of gender-neutral precious metals and materials from John Hardy and costume jewelry featuring the latest retail store concept design from Swarovski.

Tippler favorites

Cocktail lovers can buy some fine spirits such as  Johnnie Walker Blue Xordinaire while fashionistas looking for cool specs can eye the offerings at interactive brand displays. These include brands such as Tom Ford, Prada, Oakley and Maui Jim, pre-loved luxury leather and accessories from Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Gucci, and Pandora Jewelry.

After its maiden voyage, the 175,500-ton Sun Princess begins a series of sailings throughout the Mediterranean through early October before moving to the Caribbean, with all voyages featuring its signature  Princess Medallion amenities. Sun Princess features the most balcony staterooms of any ship in the fleet and offers 29 restaurants and lounges. 

Ijust came across the news that Salesforce has chartered an entire cruise ship to serve as a meeting venue and floating hotel for its sprawling Dreamforce tech conference in San Francisco, which will swell San Francisco (population 837,000) by more than 130,000 visitors for four days in September. They even rechristened Celebrity Infinity as the "Dream Boat" for the week (hey, cruise ship nicknames have a long tradition, right, Princess?). 

So I reached out to Ron Gulaskey, Global Director of Corporate, Incentives and Charter Sales for Celebrity Cruises, to get some specific examples of how cruise incentive trips and corporate charters work.

Here's our 20-minute interview (and here's the full transcript if you prefer to read it): 

Need a reason to take a Crystal cruise? The luxury ship operator has created a  couple of good ones on its luxury ships Symphony and Serenity.

First on the list is one designed for film and theater buffs that sails from Laem Chabang (Bangkok) to Hong Kong, Feb 16 - 28, 2024. Presented for passenger pleasure on this one is a wowza lineup that includes Grammy-nominated Christine Allado,  Broadway musical historian Steven Friedman, former regional marketing director for United Artists and Columbia Pictures Andrew Friedenberg and esteemed American movie and TV actor Bruce McGill, who will be aboard for fireside chats to share industry anecdotes.

There's disappointing news for passengers booked on Princess Cruises's Sun Princess inaugural voyage ... and perhaps cruises after that. Princess and Italian ship builder Fincantieri have announced a delay in the delivery of what will be Princess's largest ship.

The postponement has led to the cancellation of the ship’s debut voyage, a 10-day sailing originally set to depart from Barcelona on Feb. 8. The cruise line has been largely mum on the reasons for the delay or how long it will last. 

Sun Princess is the first ship of a revolutionary new platform designed exclusively for the brand. Obviously, many people who booked the cruise will be disappointed. 

“We understand that this news is disappointing, and we share in that disappointment. We recognize the anticipation that surrounded this sailing, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this cancellation causes,” said John Padgett, president of Princess Cruises.

Full refunds will be issued for fares and any additional services purchased in advance, and any travel agent commissions will be honored, according to the company. 

It's a fair guess that the delay is the result of supply chain issues or the challenges posed by the new build of a vessel that's the first in a new line of ships. Such vessels often have newly designed interiors and features on board that are new for the shipyards constructing them.

When you want to take a cruise today, it’s as if you’re a time traveler. Step right this way into the Wayback Machine!  Offline, travel agents want to send you print brochures by snail mail. Online, your only choice is a cruise booking site straight out of 1990s central casting, where you're required to navigate page after page of drop-down menus and browse through teeny-tiny thumbnail images.

Enough with the time travel!

At Cruiseable we’ve built a sleek, modern, visually rich cruise discovery engine that lets you browse through thousands of beautiful images — of both ships and destinations — accompanied by trustworthy travel journalism instead of marketing hype.

The newest ship from Princess Cruises, Sun Princess, will debut in October 2024 with a bounty of food choices for every ethnic taste. Passengers will never feel hungry, that’s for sure.

One of the highlights will include a theater of Japanese Teppanyaki at Umai Teppanyaki, where the cuisine mingles with captivating performances.

For pub fans, there will be O’Malley’s. Princess says the venue “reimagines the classic Irish pub concept with a refreshing twist."

Seafood devotees can grab their fill at the Catch by Rudi from award-winning chef Rudi Sodamin. And for American food traditionalists, the Promenade will serve up slices of pizza, gourmet burgers, flavorful hot dogs, freshly baked bagels, and a tempting selection of ice cream.

River cruising is one of the breakout stars in travel for 2016 and there are more ways than ever to experience rivers around the world onboard any number of ships. However, there are a few tried and true tricks to making your river cruise experience a success and to fall in love with this mode of travel that can take you around the world.

Here are five ways to enjoy the journey.

One of the first things I always did when cruising on a Crystal ship was to book massages and facials. The ships’ spas were so popular that treatments often sold out well before embarkation day.

So it comes as welcome news that Crystal Cruises, which is returning to the high seas this summer after bankruptcy proceedings, will be launching a new conceptual spa aptly named Aurora — inspired by the Roman goddess of the same name.

As we reported earlier, Crystal Cruises, the popular luxury line that suddenly went belly-up last year, is returning to the seas in 2024 under the aegis of Abercrombie and Kent, which took possession of its ships Serenity and Symphony at auction following a bankruptcy proceeding.

Now comes word that the sister ships will re-enter the nautical arena with inviting new itineraries that include four glorious Grand Journeys of 37 to 68 nights to some of the most sought-after destinations in the world.

I can remember way back when Princess Cruises operated a tiny fleet of Love Boats. My husband and I sailed on them all — Island Princess, Pacific Princess and Princess Italia — and they were dreamy getaways for an idlyllic escape.

Since then the fleet has increased with bigger, innovative and even dreamier vessels. The newest, now under construction, will be Star Princess, the second Sphere Class cruise ship. It will begin an inaugural season of Mediterranean voyages when it debuts in August 2025.

Tickets go on sale June 1 for its Europe 2025 program.

If you didn’t get the memo, the beloved luxury brand Crystal Cruises went belly up about a year ago. Its two luxury liners, Symphony and Serenity, were purchased on the auction block by the prestigious travel company Abercrombie & Kent.

A&K has altered the cruise line's name to Crystal: Exceptional at Sea but retained the ships' names. They've been redesigned and reimagined to include more spacious suites and staterooms, nine restaurants, dazzling décor, a new spa, gym and even a pickleball court.

Much to the delight of Crystal’s foodie fans, world-famous Master Chef Nobuyuki (Nobu) Matsuhisa will once again offer his culinary creations for your dining pleasure in the superb Japanese-influenced venue UMI UMA.

Family-owned AmaWaterways will be the first river cruise company to sail the magnificent Magdalena River in Colombia in 2024 when it debuts  its AmaMagdalena and AmaMelodia.  This is good news for riverboat lovers looking for adventures on new vessels.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have two beautiful ships joining our growing fleet of 26 award-winning river cruise ships and share details on the new itineraries cruising between Cartagena and Barranquilla along the Magdalena River,” said Rudi Schreiner, co-founder and president of AmaWaterways.