Royal (Princess) end to 2017

Sharing our short review of the New Year's Eve cruise on the Royal Princess. Glad to answer any questions.

Itinerary: 11 day Southern Caribbean r/t Fort Lauderdale.

Stateroom: B429 Mini-suite

Our demographic: 60+ couple

We expected the New Year's Eve cruise to have different demographics than normal, given the holiday nature, and it did ... lots of well behaved children, and all cabins sold out. We enjoyed the cruise very much, and will return to both Princess and the Royal Princess should the opportunity present itself.

Embarkation: a snap - 30 mins from handing off the luggage to walking onto the Royal Princess - time of arrival at Port Everglades 1100 (including a stop at the wine-table to pay corkage on our bubbly and wine we were bringing on board).

Cabin: Ready when boarded .. dropped off our hand luggage and proceeded to lunch in the Concerto Dining Room

Ship: Clean and well appointed, everything was working (which we encountered) - Casino smelled of cigarette smoke, even when closed on port days (we react to such, so we avoided transiting the Casino ... not a big deal). Piazza (5-7 decks) was the center of activities, and the Fountain Pool on the 16th Deck had lots of high energy activities.

Dining:

Food is important to us, and frankly one of the reasons we have frequented Princess and Holland America. Recognize our pallets are our own, and thus our delight might be another's "yuck." Our only request of the waitstaff on board the ship (and in restaurants) ... "We are not in a hurry, we do wish to have our food piping hot, please do what you can to make sure this happens." -- We were not disappointed.

Concerto - We had Club Class dining - the "special dishes" were lazy on the part of the kitchen, when they push "Caesar Salad" multiple times, you know they didn't think this one through. The menu was adequate and all the food was beautifully presented and tasteful.

The service (especially Daniel/Milos and Alex/Lenore) was top notch. The never waiting for "Club Class" was never challenged, there was always a table available.

All dishes arrived hot or cold as expected (a challenge sometimes) and were tasteful and well presented. Getting a second helping was easily accommodated. Breakfast menu was basic, and changed daily. Asked and learned - coffee in dining room is DRIP not syrup.

Horizon Buffet - excellent stop for cheese/meats for an afternoon snack on the balcony ... superior to the in-room "canapes" which were teeny-weeny. Lunch and dinner menu matched the dining room. The soups were amazing and HOT. The meats/veggies/fish/etc were a challenge to keep hot.

Pizza/Burgers on 16th Deck -- they were crazy good.

International Cafe - amazing good pastries in the AM and salads/appetizers in the afternoon. Coffee fix -- their baristas do magic.

Alfredo's -- it is a sleeper. Lunched there one afternoon and the Antipasto was amazing. Hooked, we ate there on the last night of the cruise. Pizza is about 9-10 inches, big enough to split.

Room Service - Rocks! We enjoy late night burgers and they were delish ... mid-afternoon soups or sandwich ... great. Breakfast menu is adequate and write-in requests were always fulfilled (we didn't go overboard, but would ask for carafe of coffee or some bacon, and it would appear).

Drinks and venues

Piazza -- find Grace .. let her spoil you

Vines -- you sometime encounter folks who just aren't having a good day ... the staff here seem to always be in that "why am I working here?" mood at Vines the three times we engaged with them and for that reason, we found somewhere else to sip our libations

Wheelhouse Bar - there is such a thing as too much steel-drum ... great service for libations

Club Six - felt tight - long and narrow .. stopped in only once

Crooners -- big crowd few servers .. they were challenged.

Entertainment:

New Year's Eve -- there was something for everyone - multiple locations

Love Boat Festival on the 16th Deck -- Great fun for all ages (90 minutes in duration)

Mardi Gras celebration - they dropped some banners but they could have dropped the whole concept as the "celebration" lasted 20-30 mins, given they had gone all-out for New Year's Eve.

Crooners - we normally are big fans of the piano bar ... and .. the piano player (Perry Grant) on this trip had the place packed with his shtick and show tunes. He is a gifted entertainer. Unfortunately, his humor and our taste did not match, especially jokes about suicide (YMMV) - we found other activities.

Our Cabin B429 (Dolphin Deck) Minisuite

Minisuite cabin design on the Royal differs from the design encountered on the Ruby ... the sitting area and the bed area had the option of pulling a curtain (which was a nice heavy noise deadening and blackout curtain) and the televisions were big-screen wall mounted.

The closet area is the signature open design (with plenty of light) and one stacked shelf. The safe can hold tablets, but a 15-17in laptop would be have to go elsewhere (you can chain it down to the numerous stationary items in the room if necessary).

We were glad we brought a small table cloth and towel clips (made the afternoon and evenings on the balcony more vacation like and nothing slid on the table top with a slight list when at sea) Also bring along a corkscrew if you carry on wine ... room service will scoot up to open yours if you don't so no panic (they wont leave the corkscrew).

Handiwipes came in handy to wipe down surfaces and instruments

Steward provided extension cord for CPAP -- but wasn't necessary ... two 110V outlets at the desk .. and two 220V -- a travel outlet with USB and additional outlets did the trick for us.

WiFi signal is this cabin was strong and fast-ish (not lightening fast like home, but not interminable like on many cruises)

Ports of Call:

Princess Cay -- we enjoyed the sun and the quiet ... disembarking early involves waits, disembark at around 11-12 and you zip onto a boat.

St Thomas -- they continue to recover from hurricane damage - snorkel excursion via Princess was nice to St. Johns. Water remains disturbed so actual snorkeling was a bit hit and miss

Martinique - we opted to walk the city. If you don't speak/read/understand french you might find the populace cold and disinterested. Currency is Euros.

Grenada - wonderful place and people. Truly enjoyed visiting a small herb farm and learning about the spices. Nutmeg co-op and a rum distillery rounded things out nicely.

Bonaire - the highlight of the trip - swim in the sea is like swimming in an aquarium.

Curacao - took a city tour and visit to Senior distillery, a brewery and aloe vera farm

Disembarkation:

A snap -- highly recommend using the US Mobile Passport app -- blazed through customs/immigration following pickup of luggage.

All in all, we were apprehensive about the size of the Royal, but never had an issue finding a seat at any location we were interested in visiting, service was generally top notch and the crew were there to say *yes* to your needs.

Post cruise we wrote to Princess and the CEO of Princess about the cruise and were pleasantly surprised that not only was our note received, we received an answer to our note within a day, both via email and telephonically.

Princess - We'll be back -- Thanks for a great time.

Yay! Thank you for the review. We leave for this cruise on March 30th. We have a snorkeling excursion booked for Bonaire. Thanks again!

Wow! What a great review! Thanks

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Wow! What a great review! Thanks

 

 

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Thanks Sunset Beach Gal ... We had a delightful time totally unwinding 2017 and clearing our mind for 2018.

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CB

Yay! Thank you for the review. We leave for this cruise on March 30th. We have a snorkeling excursion booked for Bonaire. Thanks again!

Jackie - you will love Bonaire and the snorkeling there!

If you don't have an underwater camera ... think about getting one for the day, totally worth while .. you will swim in an aquarium.

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CB

We too were on this cruise and had a wonderful time!

Thanks you for your excellent review!

Thank you for the informative review! It made me very excited to leave on the 29th for the same itinerary on the Royal. Was the wine package available on your cruise?

Thank you for the review looking forward to sailing

on the royal in six more sleeps.

Thank you for the terrific review. Enjoyed your format and details.

Thanks for the great review, we are on the Royal Feb 18th with mostly the same stops.

Jand K

Would you please confirm that "formal nights" were or are on the 1st and second full sea days....thank you...(that would be night 3 and night 9...as "sea day 10" is before coming into Florida the next early morning)....also...planning of tux...(military style)...still a.o.k.? Oh...what a great posting, and lots of great information...much obliged!!!!

On this cruise (Dec 30), New Years Eve was the next night. We were in port for Princess Cays til 4 pm. We had formal night then. I would guess most of the time it might be the next day which is the first day at sea but don't know. The second formal night was as you thought.

My dh wore a tux. Didn't notice how many others did too.

Thank you for the informative review! It made me very excited to leave on the 29th for the same itinerary on the Royal. Was the wine package available on your cruise?

Bonship --- the wine :wine-glass: package was available.

We opted to carry on our selections, took a little logistical gyration, but we found it to be totally worthwhile from a pleasure and economic viewpoint. A few days prior to cruise we purchased our selections from TW in FLL online. Day before pickup, we called and verified all was in place.

When we landed (from Seattle) the day before the cruise, we had our cab take us by TW and I scooted inside and picked up the two boxes. Next day, we put all the wine in wine bags, carried them on, paid the corkage.

We always had "our selection" and everyone was happy. :wine-glass:

Thanks you for your excellent review!

My pleasure ... enjoy!

Would you please confirm that "formal nights" were or are on the 1st and second full sea days....thank you...(that would be night 3 and night 9...as "sea day 10" is before coming into Florida the next early morning)....also...planning of tux...(military style)...still a.o.k.? Oh...what a great posting, and lots of great information...much obliged!!!!

Yes two formal nights ... the first was on the night we left Princess Cays (to match New Year's eve) and the second was as you noted, first sea day after Curacao ... last night (also a sea day, was packout day .. not a formal night.

We noticed many were dressed to the nines ... I opted for the coat & tie and DW wore an evening gown ... we did not feel under or overdressed.

Cheers!

CB

Thanks for the great review, we are on the Royal Feb 18th with mostly the same stops.

Jand K

You are most welcome .. have a great cruise! :ship:

Thank you for the terrific review. Enjoyed your format and details.

Appreciate the kind words ... I've a list sort-of-guy and kept notes as the cruise progressed inbetween naps, meals and naps ... we were there to unwind and that we did!

We too were on this cruise and had a wonderful time!

It sure was fun ... thanks for reading and commenting!

Enjoy!

:ship::ship::ship:

So sorry your Vines experience was not as expected. We sailed on the Royal December 10-20 and had the most awesome staff..maybe new staff?

Very informative , thanks for sharing your memories

Srpilo

Has Princess changed the way they number cabins? Your great review states you were in a mini-suite B-429 on Dolphin deck. The "B" would indicate a cabin on Baha deck and a Dolphin deck cabin would have a "D" before the number. Or at least that is the way it was when I last was on a Princess ship.

Interesting as I was on the 10 day cruise over Christmas. Amel at Vines was fabulous, as were the others. I signed up for 5 wine tastings at Vines! And I have booked another cruise on April 9th JUST to see Perry at Crooners again. Best entertainer on the high seas! To each his own.

So sorry your Vines experience was not as expected. We sailed on the Royal December 10-20 and had the most awesome staff..maybe new staff?

Cruiser113 - We have found that you take the good with the bad and move along, while we make a good time ... Appreciate your thoughtful comment.

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cb

Interesting as I was on the 10 day cruise over Christmas. Amel at Vines was fabulous, as were the others. I signed up for 5 wine tastings at Vines! And I have booked another cruise on April 9th JUST to see Perry at Crooners again. Best entertainer on the high seas! To each his own.

Baronessk -- No worries -- Glad you had as much fun on your cruise as we did on ours!

Happy New Year!

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CB