Royal Princess design: badly solsticized

[shepp]

It's still a question if we have a 270-degree promenade on the Royal.

 

Sure looks like it from the deck plan, but from the renderings, mebbe not.

[RickEk]

Deck plans are showing a narrow passage around the stern (not seen in the renderings).

 

 

 

 

 

Is there a passage behind lifeboats?

 

 

 

 

The rendering is not promising at this time.

 

Yeah, it doesn't appear that there is access on the Promenade behind the lifeboats...

 

Hm..

 

220,000 GRT Oasis has wrap-around promenade, forward and rear viewing areas, spacious upper decks, plenty of sun and sea.

 

90,000 GRT Nieuw Amsterdam has wrap-around promenade, forward and rear viewing areas, spacious upper decks, plenty of sun and sea.

 

The Royal is 30,000 GRT larger than the Grand class.

Isn't extra 30,000 GRT enough to preserve Princess signature features and improve whatever has to be improved?

 

Sigh... well, you really can't call the jogging track on the Oasis a wrap-around Promenade. It's not the same thing at all. It certainly appears that the Royal has spacious upper decks... for a ship of her size. The 90k GRT Coral and Island Princess have everything that you cite... Princess designers have made decisions that you don't like... so be it. Move on. :)

[cruisetrail]

15 cruises and I swear the only time I've been on the Promenade deck is for a life boat drill. It's honestly amazing to me what some people's priorities are.

 

It has been for about a century.

A good tradition, a mark of a classy ship.

 

As many other cruisers I start my day on the promenade.

I run a few circles.

It's scenic, it's refreshing, it's inspiring, it's rejuvenating.

It's a pleasure available only on a classy ship at sea.

 

What a beauty!

Yes, I waited quite a bit to get a picture with less people...

 

 

 

you really can't call the jogging track on the Oasis a wrap-around Promenade. It's not the same thing at all.

One can call it jogging track, walking track, scenic track...

It's not as beautiful as classic promenades on more upscaled ships but it's technically a wrap-around promenade.

[cruisetrail]

 

I am sure they COULD have put a full promenade (or anything else), but if their research indicated the space was best used in other ways thats what they are going to do...

 

 

Probably Royal Caribbean and HAL made mistakes in their research resulted in fully equipped ships to meet anyone's requirements.

 

I honestly don't want well researched Royal Princess to look like well researched Celebrity Eclipse on sea days:

[macusr]

Having recently sailed on Celebrity, I'm excited to see the Solstice-esque design aspects in the new Royal design. I'm over the moon about the Horizon Court changes and am looking forward to the International Cafe/Piazza area becoming even better. I can't wait to try Alfredo's, the new menu in Sabatini's, etc. And we haven't even gotten all the details about entertainment yet!

 

And finally pillowtop mattresses in all the cabins - hallelujah!

 

Would I like a full wraparound promenade deck? Absolutely - I love walking out there! Is it a deal breaker if Royal doesn't have it or only has a partial promenade? No

 

I also want to see a library like the one that Island has - windows that face out to sea, comfy leather chairs - but that doesn't seem to be the trend with the library these days.

 

There are features I like about Celebrity better than Princess and vice versa. With Royal, those gaps are closing. And I for one am happy to see that - I get the best of both worlds! Bring on those late 2013 Caribbean itineraries...I'm ready to book!

[timetravler]

I am very excited about the Royal and booked the first TransAtlantic yesterday. I love the clean lines in the cabins,the beautiful public areas and the swimming pool. One of the reason I booked this ship is because it is so different, yet so Princess. I will not miss the aft pool as I rarely see more then a few people in that pool. I do a lot of walking every day on a ship, but I expect to find plenty of space to do that on the Royal. None of the negative things mentioned were a deal breaker for me. Because many of the catagorys on the Trans-Atlantic are completely booked in just one day, that alone tells me many people like myself are going to love this ship.

[KruzPrincess]

Yeah, it doesn't appear that there is access on the Promenade behind the lifeboats...

 

 

 

Sigh... well, you really can't call the jogging track on the Oasis a wrap-around Promenade. It's not the same thing at all. It certainly appears that the Royal has spacious upper decks... for a ship of her size. The 90k GRT Coral and Island Princess have everything that you cite... Princess designers have made decisions that you don't like... so be it. Move on. :)

 

This is Cruise CRITIC! People come here to critique all manners of cruise life. Everyone gets their say.

 

One thing I want to add to the conversation, though, is that it's not just about one single ship. It's not just about the Royal Princess. Absolutely I can choose another ship if I don't like what the Royal offers. From the beginning I thought it was too big for me. But, the bigger picture here is the thought that this new Royal plan is the beginning of a trend for Princess which will likely be the base plan for their next 10 ships. Those of us that have sailed with Princess for a couple decades can see the future decades of cruising on Princess in these renderings. It's the trend more than the plans of one single ship. The older ships will slip away by attrition as time passes and so will many of the things we love about Princess. I went on a Carnival ship several years back that had virtually no Promenade, barely a place to go outside and look the ocean, and everything was mostly walled in. They took away these lovely public outdoor spaces to create more revenue generating indoor spaces. RCI has ships that are more like floating shopping malls. When the Crown, Ruby, etc. came out with the narrow Promenade decks I could see the writing on the wall. Promenade decks don't make money. I enjoyed reading that some other cruise line ( I forget which one ) was embracing this space and building venues to make the promenade more usable. There are reasons that many people love the traditional style of cruise ships that Princess offers. It's the trend that bothers me.

[Cruise Junky]

This is Cruise CRITIC! People come here to critique all manners of cruise life. Everyone gets their say.

 

One thing I want to add to the conversation, though, is that it's not just about one single ship. It's not just about the Royal Princess. Absolutely I can choose another ship if I don't like what the Royal offers. From the beginning I thought it was too big for me. But, the bigger picture here is the thought that this new Royal plan is the beginning of a trend for Princess which will likely be the base plan for their next 10 ships. Those of us that have sailed with Princess for a couple decades can see the future decades of cruising on Princess in these renderings. It's the trend more than the plans of one single ship. The older ships will slip away by attrition as time passes and so will many of the things we love about Princess. I went on a Carnival ship several years back that had virtually no Promenade, barely a place to go outside and look the ocean, and everything was mostly walled in. They took away these lovely public outdoor spaces to create more revenue generating indoor spaces. RCI has ships that are more like floating shopping malls. When the Crown, Ruby, etc. came out with the narrow Promenade decks I could see the writing on the wall. Promenade decks don't make money. I enjoyed reading that some other cruise line ( I forget which one ) was embracing this space and building venues to make the promenade more usable. There are reasons that many people love the traditional style of cruise ships that Princess offers. It's the trend that bothers me.

 

I'm not disagreeing with you, but not sure we could call two ships a trend yet. But let's face it, Princess's main competition is Celebrity. They went toe to toe with them on the smoking policy and are now putting out comparable ships to the Solsice class. If you can't compete, you're dead. Princess needs to grow and compete to stay competitive, that's what Royal is all about. Is everyone going to embrace it ? Absolutely not. But it will allow them to compete in a different demographic. For those that don't like the changes, there are plenty more shapes and sizes of Princess ships, but please recognize Royal for what it is..Growth. Personally I can't stand the Sun Class ships, but others do. Different strokes.

[KruzPrincess]

I'm not disagreeing with you, but not sure we could call two ships a trend yet. But let's face it, Princess's main competition is Celebrity. They went toe to toe with them on the smoking policy and are now putting out comparable ships to the Solsice class. If you can't compete, you're dead. Princess needs to grow and compete to stay competitive, that's what Royal is all about. Is everyone going to embrace it ? Absolutely not. But it will allow them to compete in a different demographic. For those that don't like the changes, there are plenty more shapes and sizes of Princess ships, but please recognize Royal for what it is..Growth. Personally I can't stand the Sun Class ships, but others do. Different strokes.

 

And it's not that I don't understand what you're saying. I said at the beginning of this thread that it's about attracting new clientele, but I was honestly hoping for new Princess ideas and not a Solsticized Princess ship. When the first picture of the Royal came out several months ago I immediately said it looked like the Solstice class ships. I wish they had some fabulous new design that embraced Princess traditions AND had a bunch of new ideas. I enjoyed my cruise on the Equinox and will likely cruise on Celebrity again. I just like Princess better. We can pretty much assume the next ship to come out will be a sister ship to the Royal. Again, I'm sure plenty of people will love the Royal. For now, it's good we have choices. Cruising on both Princess and Celebrity are good experiences.

[Dena]

I'll miss the promenad. It is one of the few shady outdoor areas. Of course with the new smoking policy, I doubt I can still walk laps on it. But even half a promenad is good. This could nearly be a deal breaker for us.

[Princess Chatterer]

Crooners takes up an entire port side of the 7th deck Piazza on the new Royal and Facets takes out a lot of the space on the starboard side. Add in the sale tables and you have guaranteed complete GRID LOCK during prime time.

[Royalty X]

I hate to hear this. I guess I'm old-fashioned, but I want a cruise ship to look and feel like a cruise ship.

Agreed! This is why I enjoy the "older" ships we have here in Australia in the P&O Australia and Princess fleets. The big, new ships are a nice novelty, but give me a "classic" ship any day! :)

[littlesteelo]

Probably Royal Caribbean and HAL made mistakes in their research resulted in fully equipped ships to meet anyone's requirements.

 

I honestly don't want well researched Royal Princess to look like well researched Celebrity Eclipse on sea days:

 

All cruise ships look like that on a sea day, regardless of how much open deck space there is. What do you expect? That people should not use the deck chairs? At least Celebrity (and RCI on Voyager/Freedom) had the sense to put their jogging track up there, which effectively keeps space available between the chairs to walk through on a sea day, as opposed to Princess, where people just drag their chairs wherever they like, making the top pool deck a maze of loungers.

[Coral]

My 2 cents - whatever they are worth.

 

I think Princess should have came out with a new design when they came out with the Crown, Ruby, Emerald, etc... They took the easy way out and added another deck and modified a few things. There are just too many ships that are Grand class or Grand class plus.

 

I admit - I like the videos that they have done. I like the new design of the Horizon Court (hated the old design and always have). I know I am not alone in this thought. I love the concept of bringing back the pizzerias like the Sun Class had (just wish they had the menu on the Sun class ships). I like the water show area or whatever they are calling that area. The atrium looks lovely. I like the idea that they are putting couches in some balcony cabins.

 

I am glad they brought back the Vista Lounge. Club Confusion is the worst design of any lounge I have ever seen.

 

What I don't like (what is missing) - I love the aft pool and will miss that. I love the promenade deck on the older ships. I love going out at night and walking outside instead of through the photo gallery and just watching the stars. This is where I hang out during glacier days as oppose to the top deck.

 

I am incredibly disappointed that they didn't put a covered pool on this ship. This was a huge complaint on the last few ships and Princess must not have listened.

 

I actually wonder "how much customer research" was done on this ship. For over a decade, people have complained about the buffet. Well they did change that but I don't think it has anything to do with Princess passenger opinions but more so that the other lines are all doing more with their buffets and they are trying to keep up. Many people have mentioned a covered pool after the last several ships and Princess didn't listen to that (again).

 

The Deluxe balconies - several of the other lines put couches in their balcony cabins. Princess finally did this in a few categories of the balcony cabins and guess what - the ones I have looked at are priced at the same price as the mini suites - what the heck?

 

The new categorization I believe is used to generate more revenue - not make it easier for passengers. I love how Princess tries to say they did this for us but it seems to just benefit them. Fewer categories would make since. I just counted 20 categories of balcony cabins. Come on Princess!

 

I hope the combination of Wheelhouse Lounge and having the Crown Grill right there will work out. I sure hope there isn't something annoying going on at Wheelhouse Lounge while I am trying to enjoy my meal at the Crown Grill.

 

I really had hoped Princess would revamp the cabins on this class - redesign, not just change the shower size (though, I do appreciate a larger shower).

 

I had hoped the Princess theatre would be larger. It doesn't appear they did this but I could be wrong.

 

I am not sure how much Princess really did reach out to their customers and say "what do you want on a new ship"? I hope they did but I doubt it.

[cruisetrail]

All cruise ships look like that on a sea day, regardless of how much open deck space there is. What do you expect? That people should not use the deck chairs?

 

Not all cruise ships...

 

 

[sp2]

I'm not sure why a thread on the Princess boards needs to bash Celebrity Solstice. I am Platinum on Princess but I love the Solstice class ships and find the current Princess ship design boring in comparison. If the new Royal Princess is picking up some elements of the Solstice class ships, its a change for the better IMO. Just check out other areas on this website for articles and reviews, and you can see how hugely popular the Solstice class ships are. With the numerous Grand and Grand "Plus" class ships Princess has, it is time they added some new, proven popular features. Those who aren't interested in them still have the all those "grand" sisters to choose from. If Royal was just another bigger clone of the existing grand ships how boring would that be??

[cruisetrail]

I am just back from the Eclipse - the best ship in Celebrity fleet.

I would love to call it gorgeous but I cannot.

The Eclipse has a couple of major design flaws vs Princess Grand class that prevents us from coming back in the nearest future.

It's disappointing to see Solstice class design flaws incorporated into the new Princess ship design.

[Coral]

I am just back from the Eclipse - the best ship in Celebrity fleet.

I would love to call it gorgeous but I cannot.

The Eclipse has a couple of major design flaws vs Princess Grand class that prevents us from coming back in the nearest future.

It's disappointing to see Solstice class design flaws incorporated into the new Princess ship design.

 

Can you elaborate? I have only been on the Millie class.

[Coral]

If Royal was just another bigger clone of the existing grand ships how boring would that be??

 

I agree. It would be boring. I am sick of the Grand class design - it went on way too long. All of these ships look a like.

 

Too bad they didn't make more Coral class ships. Or taken that and added some of the new features in this ship to that design. Oh well.

[TorontoTL]

I'm hoping but it is unlikely, that the promenade deck walkway will go all the way around. At the front end, maybe it goes through the ship and out the other side as it does on the Coral/Island/Sun/Dawn/Sea. That would make me happy, maybe they just didn't put it on the deck diagrams yet?

[cruisetrail]

Can you elaborate? I have only been on the Millie class.

Sure.

Would you mind having a look at this post.

After enjoying this for the first 7 days (we did B2B) we got this on the Eclipse.

After enjoying this for the first 7 days we got this on the Eclipse.

Major design flaws: the lack of promenade and the lack of upper deck space.

Food quality: not as good as on Princess or HAL.

 

Now...

 

1. The Solstice class has no aft pool. The stern has been taken by their "iconic grass lawns blah-blah" - at least something to talk about.

2. The Solstice class has extra charge eateries expanded around the stern - where wrap-around promenade would have been.

 

Royal Princess:

1. The "iconic" aft pool has been eliminated. Anything significant instead of it?

2. The "iconic" wrap-around promenade has gone (most likely?). Anything significant instead of it?

 

What will be Royal Princess selling point over Celebrity?

[cruisetrail]

I'm hoping but it is unlikely, that the promenade deck walkway will go all the way around. At the front end, maybe it goes through the ship and out the other side as it does on the Coral/Island/Sun/Dawn/Sea. That would make me happy, maybe they just didn't put it on the deck diagrams yet?

 

That's my little hope too.

[Coral]

Sure.

Would you mind having a look at this post.

After enjoying this for the first 7 days (we did B2B) we got this on the Eclipse.

After enjoying this for the first 7 days we got this on the Eclipse.

Major design flaws: the lack of promenade and the lack of upper deck space.

Food quality: not as good as on Princess or HAL.

 

Now...

 

1. The Solstice class has no aft pool. The stern has been taken by their "iconic grass lawns blah-blah" - at least something to talk about.

2. The Solstice class has extra charge eateries expanded around the stern - where wrap-around promenade would have been.

 

Royal Princess:

1. The "iconic" aft pool has been eliminated. Anything significant instead of it?

2. The "iconic" wrap-around promenade has gone (most likely?). Anything significant instead of it?

 

What will be Royal Princess selling point over Celebrity?

 

Thanks. My TA loves the Solstice class and loves Celebrity overall. My only experience with Celebrity was mediocre and I couldn't figure out what everyone was raving about.

[TorontoTL]

Overall I actually have few complaints about what I have seen so far of the new Royal Princess. My concerns would be that there should have been an aft pool instead of the sport deck in that area. In fact that aft pool could have been covered in that area too as it sits behind the stack and in front of the elevators. They could have rearranged things and put a sports deck on top of the elevator area and behind the stack or something. But then the pool would have taken space away from the area below the current sports deck. :(

 

My other concern, and hopefully as I previously posted is that the promenade deck doesn't go all the way around like it does on every other Princess designed ship does at the moment. I am just hoping that is an oversight on the deck plans and that around the front it goes through the ship to the other side.

 

It is my opinion that the ship looks beautiful, much more so that the Grand class ships where the upper decks are "lumpy" looking from outside the ship. The Royal is much more sleek in the upper decks.

 

The new ships interiors including the cabins look much more contemporary than other Princess ships and that is something that I thought was really needed. I also like the fact that there is a better space ratio than on the Crown class ships despite it not being as good as the Sapphire/Diamond.

[Coral]

 

 

The new ships interiors including the cabins look much more contemporary than other Princess ships and that is something that I thought was really needed. I also like the fact that there is a better space ratio than on the Crown class ships despite it not being as good as the Sapphire/Diamond.

 

I also like the new interior looks and am glad about the better space ratio.