Royal Princess quick review

Royal Princess 2/18

Just a quick trip report from our Royal 10 day Southern Cruise.

I am not a writer, just posting our thoughts. If any questions will try and answer.

Our room on Emerald deck aft Deluxe Balcony. Very quiet even above the Vista Lounge. Only real noise was from other balconies with people slamming their balcony doors and dragging their chairs. Balcony very small about 3ft x 8 ft. Not much room, and not very private as you can easily be seen from Promenade deck below.

Stateroom nice, with small loveseat. Also we couldn't turn on lights until after muster drill when we met room attendant. You would think at check in they would tell you that you needed to insert room key in slot inside to turn on electric.

Food was good but portions were small. And as others have stated, butter was only 3 small patties, but could get more if asked. Servers seemed way over worked and not much interaction as on previous cruises. We had a anytime dining and the

wait time was ridiculous as they let half the Symphony Anytime Dining room to be reserved at times which contradicts anytime. On first night wait line way back to Piazza. We opted for buffet. Second night we did steak house, was a fantastic meal. We never had less than a 30 minute wait for the anytime, a couple of times 15 minutes to just get a beeper. We tried differ times and later the better.. Was so stupid they sat up photographers at entrance to Symphony Dining Room and elevator exit which jammed things up, they couldn't figure a better spot? Last formal night we had lobster, 3 small half tails, and butter was pre put on, waiters didn't remove tails from shells, they came with risotto, which I saw most people leave on their plates. Lobster tails and risotto doesn't seem like a good paring to us.The desserts were ok nothing special, actually we left without a couple of times and had better choices International cafe or buffet.

Entertainment was good, one good comedian and 2 fair ones. Theater was too small for this size of ship. A lot of people thought theatre was too warm . Would be nice if they had more adult comedians later at night in some of the smaller venues. For the new show Silk, a lot of people missed it for lack of seating. For featured performers you needed to get there at least 45 minutes early to insure you sit together.

Few children on cruise, most cruisers were 55 plus. Were a lot of platinum and elite passengers, at captain's welcome back cocktails line to get in was to Piazza, so we just skipped it

Casino was smokey and they had 2 non-smoking nights, but you could still smell the residual odor of smoke. Was not a lot of energy going on there as with other cruises.

As for pool area, I walk early in morning and chair savers were out in full force, Princess I believe ,do the worst job of enforcing the chair hogs than the others. They put a notice in Platter everyday about saving, but they do nothing to enforce it.. Also for a ship of this size you need more than 3 hot tubs and 2 soaking tubs. There's also one in Platinum studio.

A few other notes, International cafe it great, and Alfredo's is a must do. Horizon court is very good with a lot of variety.

Embarking and disembarking was very good.

Taxi ride from FLL was $21 to ship due to heavy traffic and only $14 to airport plus tip.

We think for our future cruise will keep to Star, Crown size ships. As we think bigger is not always better.

Decpl

Thanks for the comments

Thanks for the short concise and to the point , review .

Too many reviews lose me by too much chatter.

Royal Princess 2/18

 

Just a quick trip report from our Royal 10 day Southern Cruise.

I am not a writer, just posting our thoughts. If any questions will try and answer.

 

Our room on Emerald deck aft Deluxe Balcony. Very quiet even above the Vista Lounge. Only real noise was from other balconies with people slamming their balcony doors and dragging their chairs. Balcony very small about 3ft x 8 ft. Not much room, and not very private as you can easily be seen from Promenade deck below.

Stateroom nice, with small loveseat. Also we couldn't turn on lights until after muster drill when we met room attendant. You would think at check in they would tell you that you needed to insert room key in slot inside to turn on electric.

Food was good but portions were small. And as others have stated, butter was only 3 small patties, but could get more if asked. Servers seemed way over worked and not much interaction as on previous cruises. We had a anytime dining and the

wait time was ridiculous as they let half the Symphony Anytime Dining room to be reserved at times which contradicts anytime. On first night wait line way back to Piazza. We opted for buffet. Second night we did steak house, was a fantastic meal. We never had less than a 30 minute wait for the anytime, a couple of times 15 minutes to just get a beeper. We tried differ times and later the better.. Was so stupid they sat up photographers at entrance to Symphony Dining Room and elevator exit which jammed things up, they couldn't figure a better spot? Last formal night we had lobster, 3 small half tails, and butter was pre put on, waiters didn't remove tails from shells, they came with risotto, which I saw most people leave on their plates. Lobster tails and risotto doesn't seem like a good paring to us.The desserts were ok nothing special, actually we left without a couple of times and had better choices International cafe or buffet.

 

Entertainment was good, one good comedian and 2 fair ones. Theater was too small for this size of ship. A lot of people thought theatre was too warm . Would be nice if they had more adult comedians later at night in some of the smaller venues. For the new show Silk, a lot of people missed it for lack of seating. For featured performers you needed to get there at least 45 minutes early to insure you sit together.

 

Few children on cruise, most cruisers were 55 plus. Were a lot of platinum and elite passengers, at captain's welcome back cocktails line to get in was to Piazza, so we just skipped it

Casino was smokey and they had 2 non-smoking nights, but you could still smell the residual odor of smoke. Was not a lot of energy going on there as with other cruises.

 

As for pool area, I walk early in morning and chair savers were out in full force, Princess I believe ,do the worst job of enforcing the chair hogs than the others. They put a notice in Platter everyday about saving, but they do nothing to enforce it.. Also for a ship of this size you need more than 3 hot tubs and 2 soaking tubs. There's also one in Platinum studio.

 

A few other notes, International cafe it great, and Alfredo's is a must do. Horizon court is very good with a lot of variety.

 

Embarking and disembarking was very good.

 

Taxi ride from FLL was $21 to ship due to heavy traffic and only $14 to airport plus tip.

 

We think for our future cruise will keep to Star, Crown size ships. As we think bigger is not always better.

Decpl

Thanks for your comments!

We just returned as somewhat unhappy campers from a CB 10 night and were considering whether we should keep a booked Royal cruise in Jan. Your comments reinforce some of the negatives we found (small theater, ??? food, anytime dining waits). Based on our concerns and what we feel was a subpar response to our concerns from Princess we have decided to forgo this cruise and move on from Princess.

Was on the Royal over Christmas and can't wait to return, return, return...which I'm doing in April. To each his own.....

Thanks for sharing nice review.

Tony

Enjoyed your well-written review, thank-you.

Terrific review/

Keith

It's weird that people have different experiences at the Theatre. We were on Royal in the Med in July and never got to a show more than 10 minutes before the start. Never failed to get a seat and not once was the theatre completely full.

I agree with OP and reserving tables in an Anytime dining room. This should be stopped as it defeats the purpose of anytime dining.

We thought the Royal was great and can't wait to get back one day. Sapphire is next though for us.

We did a 10 day E. Caribbean cruise on the Royal in Jan.

Overall, we enjoyed the Royal, and find it to be a beautiful ship. Agree, Anytime Dining needs improvement. Very long lineups at one door to the Symphony Dining room, and none at the other door for reservations. Why are reservations allowed for Anytime dining? We did reservations when we remembered to do so. Other times, we ate in the buffet and Crown Grill Specialty dining room - excellent food and service. Pizza restaurant was also very good.

Theater was full most evenings and we would have to arrive at least half an hour early, in order to get seats.

It's weird that people have different experiences at the Theatre. We were on Royal in the Med in July and never got to a show more than 10 minutes before the start. Never failed to get a seat and not once was the theatre completely full.

I agree with OP and reserving tables in an Anytime dining room. This should be stopped as it defeats the purpose of anytime dining.

We thought the Royal was great and can't wait to get back one day. Sapphire is next though for us.

On some cruises they had shows on 3x at night and never a problem getting seats

Thanks for the review. We are booked for the Mar 30th cruise. What was playing on MUTS?

The Royal and the Regal are my two favorite ship of Princess fleet know. I don’t hate the others as you can tell in my signature but even we refurbished the older ship are not as elegant as the 3 new ones.

Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Forums

We were on the same cruise as you . It is always interesting to read others reviews from the same cruise. Our experiences were very different so it shows that not everyone experiences things the same and what one likes someone else does not.

Yes lines on first day at Anytime are usually crazy, mainly because people shower and get ready after sailaway and hit the dining room at the same time.

You are right later is better for dining in dining room or go before 615 or after 7:30.

We went to most shows in the Princess Theater and never too early (except for the Secret Silk) and never once did we have trouble getting a seat - although we always went to the later show (first show was always full as the ship had a lot who dined early and went to bed early so they attended earlier show).

We also found the temp. in the theater to be just fine- but that again is a personal thing.

Your review is well written and again it is always interesting to read through someone else's eyes. Thanks for sharing.

Aboard the Royal 4/9/18 those Chair Hogs were all over every choice location , especially those comfy couches on the pool deck . Sun wasn' t even up yet and they had their books and bags in place on those couches .Daily Patter stated that Attendants will remove that stuff after 30 minutes but It was just a idle threat . Only time it was removed was by several gutsy passengers endured a small confrontation when the Hogs arrived .

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Aboard the Royal 4/9/18 those Chair Hogs were all over every choice location , especially those comfy couches on the pool deck . Sun wasn' t even up yet and they had their books and bags in place on those couches .Daily Patter stated that Attendants will remove that stuff after 30 minutes but It was just a idle threat . Only time it was removed was by several gutsy passengers endured a small confrontation when the Hogs arrived .

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I was on the same cruise and never had a problem getting a chair at the adult pool or on the Promenade deck, or had to wait for Anytime dining. Of course I had to get to Crooners one hour before for each Perry Grant show!!! All in all it was a GREAT cruise! Thank you Princess!

Thanks for the review.

We were just on the Royal for a 10 day southern Caribbean cruise. We did not have a problem with the anytime dining..but there were just two of us and always took at table for 2, I did think the food quality wasn't as good as in the past however. The theater, now that was an issue you really had to be there at least 30 minutes early (or more) if you wanted the first show, the second not much of an issue. The comedian, Troy Thirdgill was exceptional. Secret Silk was quite the production, the singer, although talented did not know her audience and was a bit of a miss. Our service was always good. The only two things.. I wish the International Cafe had more variety from day to day and we really really miss having a promenade deck where you can walk around the outside of the ship.. one of our favorite things to do on a cruise. I loved the itinerary and would sail the Royal again if the itinerary was something I would enjoy, however I would probably look for other ships first. I want to try the Regal to see if their somewhat modified promenade would be better.. it would have to be I would think.

Just a question for the folks who just got off the Royal Princess, do you recall the names of the bands that played in the main lounges? We would like to do some dancing after dinner and are wondering if the bands played ballroom music or pop music or everything? If you do remember the names of the bands or performers, please list them and if you could tell me what sort of music do they play? Are most dancing done in the Atrium or the Vista lounge? Thanks.

Every cruise is a bit different and each night can vary as well. We have been on the Royal twice and Regal three times. We eat early a little after 5PM to make the early show and have never faced a lineup yet. The lines start getting a bit longer around six when a bigger crowd shows up. I was told that Symphony seats about 650.

We generally get to the shows about half an hour early to get our choice of seats in the easy going Caribbean. Passengers are more tired after long days in Europe or the Med so ten minutes will generally do