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Just home from Royal Princess cruise Jan 26 to Feb 2

funinthesun86

By funinthesun86,
in Princess Cruises

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funinthesun86

funinthesun86

Posted
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We are home in the cold again after a wonderful week in the sun. I will be posting a review, but thought I would share my thoughts that are fresh in my mind.

 

By way of introduction, we are a 50-something couple on our annual winter vacation. We have done a number of Carnival cruises in the past, and last year we did a Princess cruise. Our goal is rest and relaxation.

 

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale a day early, as we fly from the cold North. From FLL, we took a taxi ($25 with tip) to Bahai Mar Doubletree on Sunrise Blvd., off A1A. We loved the location, on the beach, and just a couple of blocks south of the main strip. We enjoyed lunch at Bubba Gumps and walked up to the CVS. We met friends at Coconut's for dinner. The food and service were good. We had breakfast in the morning at the little convenience store next to the hotel and then took a stroll on the beautiful beach across the street.

We left our hotel at 10 a.m., taking a taxi ($21 with tip) to Port Everglades. We got our first glimpse of the beautiful Royal Princess. We stood in line for about 15 minutes before we went through security, checked in our two allowed wine bottles, checked in, and then went to the seating area by 10:30. We sat in the seating area until our boarding zone (#1) was called at 12 noon.

 

Two days before our cruise, we were contacted by Princess by phone with an “upgrade” offer, offering to move us from a regular balcony room on Baja, to E618, a Deluxe Balcony with "partial" obstruction. They offered us $200 OBC, and we decided to take it. The room turned out to be very obstructed, with a large life board (the one used for tendering at Princess Cays) directly out our balcony door. We did enjoy the larger room with a love seat.

 

We had some great meals on the Royal Princess. Our favorites included...

 

Crown Grille - we ate here 3 times and had 3 excellent meals with wonderful service. The Filet Mignon and Prime rib were excellent.

 

Horizon Buffet - this is the best lay out of any buffet we have seen. There are lots of choices, with great food for a buffet. We actually ate dinner here twice, which is something we don't usually do.

 

Room Service - we had breakfast delivered to our room several times. The coffee arrived hot in a carafe. The coffee itself was much better than last year’s coffee.

Anytime Dining - this did not work well for us this time. We wanted to eat around 7, which is when everyone else also wants to eat. The first night, we waited about 20 minutes, then got a pager, then waited another 30 minutes.

 

Pizza - delicious pizza for a ship.

 

Ice Cream - stopped for quite a few small soft serve cones.

Princess Cays - We arrived around 9. We went to the Dining Room at 9 and were given tender ticket #2. We boarded the tender at 9:15 for the short trip to Princess Cays. We walked to the left off the tender, all the way to the end. We love this quiet location. I enjoyed snorkeling from the shore and saw pretty fish. We liked the lunch buffet. I had grilled fish and salad. A lovely day. We tendered back at 3.

 

St. Thomas - We arrived in St. Thomas at Crown Bay at 8:00. We left the ship around 8, took a taxi ($30 with tip) to Secret Harbor, about a 30 minute ride. We paid for 2 chairs ($10 each) in the shade of the building. I enjoyed the snorkeling off the shore with lots of beautiful fish. We used the free WiFi on the beach. We bought a fairly good pizza for lunch ($12). The taxi back was also $30.

 

St. Marteen - We docked on the Dutch side at 7 a.m. We left the ship at 8 and took a taxi ($20 with tip) to Orient Beach, a 30 minute ride. We settled on 2 chairs and an umbrella for $20. It was very, very windy. I was unable to snorkel, but we enjoyed the bright sunny day. We took a taxi back to the ship around 1:30.

 

The goal of our cruise is rest and relaxation, so there are a lot of activities that we are not interested in. Some of the things we enjoyed include:

 

Sitting out on our balcony. This was only our second cruise with a balcony, and we certainly enjoyed it.

A huge highlight of the trip was listening to the band Orphea and their singer, Pascale. They were excellent and we went to hear them several times. I hope our paths cross again sometime.

We found a nice quiet deck to sit on, on Deck 7, port side, near aft.

We enjoyed a MUTS, Now You See Me.

I watched several old episodes of Love Boat on our nice stateroom TV.

 

And a few other random thoughts from the week...

 

Theme for the week was "you can't get there from here" due to the really different lay out. A midship stairway would be helpful.

Beautiful ship decor. Not gaudy.

The Crown Grille rocks. Excellent food, great service.

Comfortable beds and bedding.

Obstructed view balcony really means obstructed. A large lifeboat (used for tendering) outside our balcony door.

Small bathroom but nice sized shower.

Great room steward.

Loved, loved the band Pascale and Orphea. They will be on Regal Princess in May.

Older crowd. At 50, we were young.

Nice Horizon Buffet. Best layout and food we have ever seen.

No aft pool. No covered pool.

Retreat area was very, very windy.

 

Thanks to everyone who gave great advice on these boards. It was a great week.

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Mrswiz

Mrswiz

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Thank you for the post. I have a question regarding the St. Thomas port. When we took our first Princess cruise and went to St. Thomas we docked in port within walking distance of many stores. The second Princess cruise we took we had to take the water taxi or taxi into town. Sorry I don't know the names of the ports. Was wondering what port the Royal docks in? We will be on the Royal on Feb. 23rd. Can't wait!

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riclop

riclop

Posted
Posted
We are home in the cold again after a wonderful week in the sun. I will be posting a review, but thought I would share my thoughts that are fresh in my mind.

 

By way of introduction, we are a 50-something couple on our annual winter vacation. We have done a number of Carnival cruises in the past, and last year we did a Princess cruise. Our goal is rest and relaxation.

 

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale a day early, as we fly from the cold North. From FLL, we took a taxi ($25 with tip) to Bahai Mar Doubletree on Sunrise Blvd., off A1A. We loved the location, on the beach, and just a couple of blocks south of the main strip. We enjoyed lunch at Bubba Gumps and walked up to the CVS. We met friends at Coconut's for dinner. The food and service were good. We had breakfast in the morning at the little convenience store next to the hotel and then took a stroll on the beautiful beach across the street.

We left our hotel at 10 a.m., taking a taxi ($21 with tip) to Port Everglades. We got our first glimpse of the beautiful Royal Princess. We stood in line for about 15 minutes before we went through security, checked in our two allowed wine bottles, checked in, and then went to the seating area by 10:30. We sat in the seating area until our boarding zone (#1) was called at 12 noon.

 

Two days before our cruise, we were contacted by Princess by phone with an “upgrade” offer, offering to move us from a regular balcony room on Baja, to E618, a Deluxe Balcony with "partial" obstruction. They offered us $200 OBC, and we decided to take it. The room turned out to be very obstructed, with a large life board (the one used for tendering at Princess Cays) directly out our balcony door. We did enjoy the larger room with a love seat.

 

We had some great meals on the Royal Princess. Our favorites included...

 

Crown Grille - we ate here 3 times and had 3 excellent meals with wonderful service. The Filet Mignon and Prime rib were excellent.

 

Horizon Buffet - this is the best lay out of any buffet we have seen. There are lots of choices, with great food for a buffet. We actually ate dinner here twice, which is something we don't usually do.

 

Room Service - we had breakfast delivered to our room several times. The coffee arrived hot in a carafe. The coffee itself was much better than last year’s coffee.

Anytime Dining - this did not work well for us this time. We wanted to eat around 7, which is when everyone else also wants to eat. The first night, we waited about 20 minutes, then got a pager, then waited another 30 minutes.

 

Pizza - delicious pizza for a ship.

 

Ice Cream - stopped for quite a few small soft serve cones.

Princess Cays - We arrived around 9. We went to the Dining Room at 9 and were given tender ticket #2. We boarded the tender at 9:15 for the short trip to Princess Cays. We walked to the left off the tender, all the way to the end. We love this quiet location. I enjoyed snorkeling from the shore and saw pretty fish. We liked the lunch buffet. I had grilled fish and salad. A lovely day. We tendered back at 3.

 

St. Thomas - We arrived in St. Thomas at Crown Bay at 8:00. We left the ship around 8, took a taxi ($30 with tip) to Secret Harbor, about a 30 minute ride. We paid for 2 chairs ($10 each) in the shade of the building. I enjoyed the snorkeling off the shore with lots of beautiful fish. We used the free WiFi on the beach. We bought a fairly good pizza for lunch ($12). The taxi back was also $30.

 

St. Marteen - We docked on the Dutch side at 7 a.m. We left the ship at 8 and took a taxi ($20 with tip) to Orient Beach, a 30 minute ride. We settled on 2 chairs and an umbrella for $20. It was very, very windy. I was unable to snorkel, but we enjoyed the bright sunny day. We took a taxi back to the ship around 1:30.

 

The goal of our cruise is rest and relaxation, so there are a lot of activities that we are not interested in. Some of the things we enjoyed include:

 

Sitting out on our balcony. This was only our second cruise with a balcony, and we certainly enjoyed it.

A huge highlight of the trip was listening to the band Orphea and their singer, Pascale. They were excellent and we went to hear them several times. I hope our paths cross again sometime.

We found a nice quiet deck to sit on, on Deck 7, port side, near aft.

We enjoyed a MUTS, Now You See Me.

I watched several old episodes of Love Boat on our nice stateroom TV.

 

And a few other random thoughts from the week...

 

Theme for the week was "you can't get there from here" due to the really different lay out. A midship stairway would be helpful.

Beautiful ship decor. Not gaudy.

The Crown Grille rocks. Excellent food, great service.

Comfortable beds and bedding.

Obstructed view balcony really means obstructed. A large lifeboat (used for tendering) outside our balcony door.

Small bathroom but nice sized shower.

Great room steward.

Loved, loved the band Pascale and Orphea. They will be on Regal Princess in May.

Older crowd. At 50, we were young.

Nice Horizon Buffet. Best layout and food we have ever seen.

No aft pool. No covered pool.

Retreat area was very, very windy.

 

Thanks to everyone who gave great advice on these boards. It was a great week.

Thanks for the review.

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sueandkent

sueandkent

Posted
Posted
Thank you for the post. I have a question regarding the St. Thomas port. When we took our first Princess cruise and went to St. Thomas we docked in port within walking distance of many stores. The second Princess cruise we took we had to take the water taxi or taxi into town. Sorry I don't know the names of the ports. Was wondering what port the Royal docks in? We will be on the Royal on Feb. 23rd. Can't wait!

 

The Royal Princess has been docking at Crown Bay which is the one further out of town. There are shops now at Crown Bay also but if you want to shop in town you'll need to take a taxi of some kind.

We just spent a week in St. Thomas in Nov and the OP picked the best beach IMHO, Secret Harbour is beautiful. It's very peaceful and relaxed compared to Megan's Bay and the food at the bar there is good.

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bichonsx2

bichonsx2

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funinthesun86....thanks for GREAT review! So sorry you had to come home to this snowstorm. Where in PA are you? We're in Montgomery County and are right now getting 2 " of snow an hour. SOOOOO sick of this. Can't wait til our cruise on the Royal on April 6th!!!

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chamima

chamima

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Posted
Thanks for the review, we will be on her in 2 short weeks, do you have to make reservations for secret harbour?

 

thanks

 

How busy was Secret Harbour?

We've stopped going to the beach in St. Thomas because all of them are so crowded. :(

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janetz

janetz

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Posted (edited)
How busy was Secret Harbour?

We've stopped going to the beach in St. Thomas because all of them are so crowded. :(

 

 

 

Here is another option. Water Island, a ferry ride from Crown Bay. Beautiful!

 

 

Just Google, Water Island :)

Edited by janetz
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chamima

chamima

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Posted
Here is another option. Water Island, a ferry ride from Crown Bay. Beautiful!

 

 

Just Google, Water Island :)

 

Thanks Janet.

We've been there several times - just looking for something new.

 

A hint for Water Island - it's really nice until the cruise ship excursions get there for their lunch stops. ;)

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funinthesun86

funinthesun86

Posted
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Posted
Thank you for the post. I have a question regarding the St. Thomas port. When we took our first Princess cruise and went to St. Thomas we docked in port within walking distance of many stores. The second Princess cruise we took we had to take the water taxi or taxi into town. Sorry I don't know the names of the ports. Was wondering what port the Royal docks in? We will be on the Royal on Feb. 23rd. Can't wait!

 

We were in Crown Bay, which is a bit further from the stores. We were the only one docked in Crown Bay. There were 3 or 4 other cruiselines in the other port.

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Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

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Posted (edited)
We were in Crown Bay, which is a bit further from the stores. We were the only one docked in Crown Bay. There were 3 or 4 other cruiselines in the other port.

 

Actually there are shops at the pier and a large super market a few blocks from the pier.

Pueblo I think?

Edited by Colo Cruiser
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funinthesun86

funinthesun86

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funinthesun86....thanks for GREAT review! So sorry you had to come home to this snowstorm. Where in PA are you? We're in Montgomery County and are right now getting 2 " of snow an hour. SOOOOO sick of this. Can't wait til our cruise on the Royal on April 6th!!!

 

I am sick of the snow, too. Bummer that it had to have a big snowfall on our first day home. I drove to work this morning in that mess. It took me 2 hours, and it usually only takes 35 minutes. Winter in PA...

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chamima

chamima

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Been meaning to ask this of those of you who've recently come back from the Royal.

Has anyone seen a Headwaiter named Rui?

 

We had him as our Headwaiter on the Emerald two years ago for 3 weeks and had heard he was on the Royal.

We sail in 2 weeks so I am hoping he really is there.

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funinthesun86

funinthesun86

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We are going in April. What is Secret Harbor? Is it a nice beach?

Do they have Coke Zero on the Royal or just Diet Coke?

 

Secret Harbor is a resort. It has a pretty nice beach and snorkeling from shore. And I don't drink either Cokes, so I didn't pay attention. Sorry.

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