DrSch

I would recommend you bring Lysol brand III spray, Clorox Hydrogen Peroxide Wipes and clean the cabin.

Carry a wipe with you, and clean things before you touch them.

Wash your hands thoroughly (20 seconds in warm water) and scrub and then wipe dry with paper towels.

Take a napkin or two, and use it to handle the serving utensils that other people are touching.

Don't use the handrails, and if you do, make sure you wash your hands before putting anything in your mouth or near your eyes. Push elevator buttons with your elbows, rather than your fingers.

Prevention is much better than medication :)

Probably late to the party.. but here is what we are doing in April this year.

We are flying to LA, and staying in LA overnight.

We are working with a wedding Officiant. This person takes care of all the registering, and paperwork, so we don't have to spend a day in the courts / government offices. In our case, they will meet us at the hotel, and we will show our passports, sign some papers and have a quick ceremony .and bam.. married. No fuss, no frills. Reasonable priced (< $500).

If you need more information on the Officiants, please let me know.

Then from CA there are several cruise options.. Hawaii, Mexico, CA Coastal, and in our case.. we are flying to Tahiti for a 10 night cruise for our honeymoon..

My recommendation is to have your TA mark your reservations as upgrade to next type of cabin only.

Thus if I am in a Balcony, I know if I get an upgrade it is to a Mini or Suite.

The ships are sister ships, so that is not what your choice should be made on.

The question becomes which ports excite you, what excursions you want to do, and what you like to do in port.

If you're cruise experience is about the ship, and not the ports, I would say go out of Lauderdale. Hotels and airports are more accessible, the port facilities are larger and better run. It is definitely a smoother choice, and at that time of year, there are problems with fog here in Texas.

Diving / Snorkeling in Roatan, Belize and Cozumel are much nicer, so if that's your thing, then the western is a better cruise. If you want to visit a Mayan Temple, the western is a better choice as well.

If you like wandering around port, shopping, and drinking, go with the Eastern.

Far more frustration having to drive to the airport go thru tsa stay at hotel and get to pier... I'm fine with port of houston

Princess just needs to change the plan to have the ship always go out as a late departure.. and return late as well.. then no one will be upset that they didn't get to leave on time.

go to the Casino.. put 1000 on your cruise card as a casino credit. play a slot machine once, cash out your card and put the cash in your wallet.. do that 4 times on the cruise..

My Two cents worth

Sounds like the Crew did what they were supposed to do - they called your room... you did not answer, so whose fault is that??

They stopped serving the "underage" person adult beverages, so at some point they realized something was wrong - they kicked him out of the bar.. The crew did what they deemed appropriate...

 

The real issue here is parental control ( or lack thereof ) - too many times on ships, "children" (if you can call a almost 17 year old a child) are left to fend for themselves and expect the crew to be a babysitter - that is the parents job, not the bartender in a bar!!! If this 16 year old (almost 17) is pulling this stunt on the ship, how many times had he hit the liquor cabinet at home??

 

Your "Kid" out having a few drinks, sounds to be the least of your problems - you're lucky he wasn't hooking up with some young lady someplace, or maybe that was the plan... Learn to control your kid, so adults on the ship can enjoy their vacation away their own...

BINGO!! THIS ^^

Too many people go on cruises these days, and expect no only the crew to be the baby sitter to their teenagers, but the other passengers as well.

Sorry people, you have kids.. just because Princess has a kid's club, it doesn't mean you are on vacation from being a parent.. you get to do that until the kid is out on his own, and sometimes you need to be a parent after that as well.

The 16 and older group has free range to roam the ship. The younger kids are watched, but the older kids have the freedom to roam the ship and cause trouble.

To expect that Princess and Princess security will do the job of parenting is insane. Without thinking about it, way too many parents just think "OK..Princess and Princess security will watch my child, I can pretend I don't have them and go and have fun."

So as a passenger without kids, I have to deal with packs of kids running down the halls at night.. taking the do not disturb signs off doors, hanging out up at MUTS being loud and "Cool". I have seen people's vacations ruined by other people's kids.. on one ship, there were over 700 kids, and they would hang out on top of the ship and make it uncomfortable for some of the older people to simply stroll the deck.

I have on more than on occasion on a ship had to be the parent to your kids.. I am far more intimidating that a 16 year old, and I have stopped them dead in their tracks from running down the halls. I have told them to leave the MUTS area when they are talking so loudly that people can't hear the movie. I won't put up with crap from your kids.

The point being that YOU and only YOU are responsible for your kid's behavior on the ship (And everywhere else for that matter). You can focus on who on the ship was at fault, but bottom line, you are at fault.. even though you did nothing wrong.

OP.. make sure your kid knows that other people spent the money they had saved up for a vacation on that cruise. His being drunk and unruly could have damaged their vacation. Does he have the right to do that to them?

People may lose their jobs on the cruise line because he had to get drunk.. How does he feel about the fact that he may have cost someone their job?

Princess may lose business because he decided he wanted to get drunk and other people were offended by drunk kids roaming around on their ship... How does he feel about the fact that he may have damaged future sales for Princess.

For those of you that say "You can't stop a 16 year old from drinking / trying to drink".. I can tell you that I wouldn't have dared to do that when I was younger, because I feared my father. Stop trying to be "Besties" with your kids and start being parents..

Clarification... people with princess transfers will be picked up at airport moved to Marriott and given hotel rooms for the night

Oh and hotel rooms would be arranged

I was told by princess on phone all passengers will be moved from ship to marriot houston. No pickups allowed at port... if you hear different let me know

Last conversation with Princess this morning.. ship will get into port late and passengers will be moved by bus to Marriott.

.

And im igh platinum as well

I have an owb reserved at IC Tahiti. We get in at 9pm Sun night and staying there Sun night. Mon is the day in question that we could do Moorea but the more I read and think about it half the day would be lost in travel so now just planning to stay in Papeete

So I need some advice...

I Have two options. Get off the Plane and spend a night at the Intercontinental, and then do the taxi to the ferry to the taxi to the Hilton Moorea for 1 night, followed by the taxi to the ferry to the ship the next morning carrying all our bags for both journeys, or spend 2 nights at the Intercontinental in one of the over water motus there.

Anyone have some experience at the Intercontinental and the Hilton Moorea, and is it worth the hassle to get over to Moorea for the night, or should we just relax at the Intercontinental.

I have never seen an uncrowded pool in the Caribbean between 10 and 4. That said, I have rarely had a problem swimming my laps at 8 or 9 AM and after 4. Just wish there were some larger pools! (for lap swimmers you would need to do about 100 lengths!!)The one illustrated here looks longer than usual. Can anyone confirm?

It's not that long, and you would have a difficult time doing laps in it, as it is very narrow, unless you had the pool to yourself. There is no machine for doing laps in this one either.

Not very large for the number of passengers on board. Confirms my worst fears. I'll be interested to see this ship up close and personal. From why I've read so far about the Royal, it seems to be Princess hybrid answer to RCL, NCL mega ships.

I think that is the idea..to compete wth those ships.. not sure why as Carnival owns them all, you would think they would just create nichce markets.. I guess they are trying to give the consumer more choices.

Oh this looks different than what I remember on Star and Caribbean Princess (bigger). Is this the same area where they had what they called the "swim against the current" pool?

This is the new evolution of that area. the Adult only pool area.

I enjoyed your review, especially as we are booked on the Royal in February. The size of the balcony continues to be a recurring theme (problem) on the Royal versus other Princess ships. We had booked a deluxe balcony but have already upgraded to a mini suite as the balcony seems a bit bigger and we like to spend late afternoon and evenings on the balcony.

 

One point you made in your review troubled me. I realize that you pay a hefty premium for the Sanctuary but I thought the adult Retreat pool was free. If I read the review correctly, Princess is also charging for a lounge chair without the amenities of the Sanctuary. Is this correct? If so, what is the charge for a Retreat chair.

 

Candidly, I'v had some concerns about the Royal product since she went into service this past summer. As Elite, we've sailed on many Princess ships and have been very satisfied with the product. But for the fact that DW wants to sail on the Royal, I would have preferred one of the older ships or HAL.

There are free chairs by the retreat pool, but there are also several cabanas that are right next to it, that incur a fee.

if you look at this pic, you can see where the free chairs are in comparison to the cabanas..

Thanks for the review. We were on the Royal also and I wrote a very mixed review. It was our first and last time on this brand. Princess is just not for us...

I just went and read your review.. Don't discount Princess due to this ship. Try the Grand Class ships if you ever have a chance (Ruby, Emerald, etc).

Thank You for your review, very interesting. I do have a question. Are the seats in the theater smaller in size than the previous Princess ships ? and did they take out the side isles in the theater ? The lack of a deck 7 promanade and the aft pool area as well as the smaller balcony size I think would make a difference to us. Have not been on the Royal as yet and knowing these things would come into our decision to book it or not. Thanks so much for a balanced review.

Cori

I did not go to the theatre, but I have heard some of those things from other people. You would need to verify with someone that has discussed them in their review.

Yuo choose well with the Moorea Hilton, our favorite on Moorea and we have stayed at all of the major beach fronr resorts on Moorea.

 

Did I give you the skinny on cheap eats close to the Hilton?

I'd love to see that info., we are staying there in April

I've been reading the reviews on the Royal Princess and was doubting booking a Princess cruise. I realized that most if not all of the negative reviews are being submitted by seasoned Princess cruisers. There are many features on the Royal Princess that we are looking forward too. The teen center, (which i've not read one review of), the Broadcast station (I think is really cool), along with some of the other unique features of this ship. We have never cruised with Princess cruise lines, and we are bringing a teenager with us. Princess has some really cool stuff for them, and maybe this is where the problem is with seasoned princess cruisers. I believe Princess is targeting a younger demographic with some of the features of this ship and it's working. We've sailed other cruise lines and the Royal Princess with the price, and amenities was a great fit for our vacation. Maybe this ship isn't for everyone but we are really looking forward to cruising on her, and if everyone keeps canceling we'll have the ship to ourselves. ;)

I believe you are 100% correct, and I hope your cruise is wonderful. As I said in the review, it's not a bad ship it's just not for me. But that doesn't mean it's not for other people. I think Princess is smart going after a different demographic, as most of their current clientele is dying slowly lol, but I just hope they continue to offer services to those of us that like their old ships

The one thing that I really didn't like, was tendering into Princess Cay in the ships life boat. They used 4 of them. On the way back, the pilot had a really hard time tying up to the ship. He made several passes trying to get close enough. One time he came in fast and slammed into the side of the ship jolting us. There was a loud crunching noise on the life boat when we hit the ship. It was life boat #16. The tenders that come out to all of the other private islands that I have been to have pilots that are more experienced at coming along a ship. There were many black marks on the white paint where other life boats must have hit the side of the ship.

From what I was told, this was the first time these tenders were used for Princess Cay, and there was some operator training that was lacking.

I have always wanted to travel to the South Pacific. I am hoping to convince my husband to make this trip next year for my 60th birthday. This year for his 60th he bought a new sports car AND a new motorcycle :o. so I don’t think I’m too far out of line here!

 

SO.. I have gone back and forth between land vs. cruise.. We both do love to cruise and I have decided that is probably the best option for us with a couple of extra days on land.. Most likely in Papeete, possibly Moorea. OF course we have to do a night or two in an over water bungalow.

 

We have never done a ‘luxury’ cruise.. Which is mostly all that is available in the South Pacific. I am a having sticker shock looking at the prices compared to what we pay for Caribbean cruises! But I’ll get over it.

 

I would like to go next fall or winter. Say October 2014- Jan 2015. I know November starts rainy season..

We have to have a balcony, we don’t need a suite. Would prefer November/early December. Hopefully not too rainy then?

 

The cruises I’m looking at are:

 

Paul Gauguin either 11 night leaving Nov 22 2014 or a possibly 7 night in Nov/Dec.

What I’m not crazy about that line is how small their basic Balcony Cabins are (202sf) The Veranda’s cabins are better at 305, but quite a bit more expensive.

 

Oceanea - 10 night Jan 2015 . They seem to have the best price for a higher end cruise, but am worrying in January it might be too rainy. Their lowest priced balcony is 282 sf which is a nice size.

 

Regent- 11 night Dec 7 they are the highest priced, but it appears as though you get more. It includes up to 9 shore excursions. Their basic balcony is 252 sf. At first glance I am leaning towards this cruise.

 

And finally Princess- We have never sailed on Princess, and I know their cruises out of Tahiti are on smaller boats. With Princess we’d probably get a suite. I am definitely leaning towards one of the more upscale lines for this trip.

 

Air.. We will probably use miles, and lots of them! We both hate the long distance flying and have to upgrade on those long flight.. I know most ‘include’ air from LA..

 

I am having a hard time choosing and would welcome pros/ cons , comments and suggestions on which cruise to choose!

I think part of it also depends on what you want to do while you are in Tahiti, and what Islands you want to go to. I would recommend that you check the ports that the ships go to, the excursions offered and what is availabe to you once you are there.

For us, we are going in April, on Princess, because I got a deal I coudln't refuse.. and since we are there to scuba dive, we liked the ports that Princess offers.

Now, if you have a bunch of extra miles please feel free to send some to me..:D