Royal Princess 2/16 - 2-23. The Hits and Misses... IMO

[gnatz007]

Rather then write up a full review, there are plenty of great full reviews on this board, I thought I would just leave some simple bullet items of things I really like about the royal, things that I was a little neutral on, and some things I really wish were improved.

 

The great!

- The decor on board he ship was absolutely stunning. It's the reason I love princess. Once you step on board you can't help be be in awe of her beauty.

- I really appreciated the level of service. All of the crew were pleasant, were smiling, and willing to help / serve.

- the Piazza is beautiful and a lot of activities were centered around the piazza.

- The international Cafe, or affectionately referred to us as "The IC" was one of our favorite places to visit. It seemed the everything we did was via the IC. See a show in the theater, via the IC. Go to dinner via the IC. We just loved it!

- Burgers from the Trident grill. Simple and absolutely tasty!

- Pizza. Loved it! Great to snack on between meals or a great lunch!

- swirls. Loved the ice cream. Smooth and a welcome cool treat at days at sea.

- We only ate dinner in the MDR and our service from sher-ann in the allegro dining room was impeccable and the food was fantastic.

-Stops... We loved Princess Cays, St Thomas, and St Maarten. Great itinerary for us. We really had a great time.

- Beatlemaniacs. After reading Dave's review I was really hoping they would be back on board. Very happy to find out they were on board. They were awesome!

- Robbie Prinz the comedian. Totally hilarious. We loved him.

- on board tv system is awesome.

- we loved sitting aft of the horizon court. It's a great space to relax and watch the sea roll by.

- the pastry shop between the hc and bistro.. Are you kidding me. Loved it! Don't miss the chocolate fountain when they do it. Holy cow...

 

The neutral

- horizon court. I'm putting this in the neutral. The court itself is spacious, well lit, and has a ton of options. The food was good.. But not great. Don't get me wrong, I always walked away happy and full, because there was always something that you will like. It just wasn't over the top great food.. Let's say a B+

- room was nice, (caribe 601) perfect for the two of us. Not luxurious or spacious, but adequate. Had no problems with the size of the balcony. Marking the room as neutral because it served our need without being overly great.

 

The bad

- Lack of promenade deck. Knowing that it didn't exist well before boarding I figured it would be ok... But it was really missed by us. Because it doesn't wrap around, there is no way to see out the front of the ship. Bummer...

- food on princess cays. For us, it was sorely lacking. But a quick trip to the IC upon returning and all was set right!

- swimming pools and chairs on days at sea. The aft pool was missed by us, the retreat pool was packed, and the main pool wasn't any better. After playing find the chair for quite some time, and upgrading locations several times, we finally settled into a nice spot.

- mid elevators and lack of stairs. Sometimes horribly slow, and sometimes barely acceptable. Luckily we were located mid-aft so the aft stairs and elevators were our best friend.

 

Some other thoughts:

Overall we really loved the Royal even with her very few shortcomings. It's a beautiful ship and the service was great. It's certainly a vacation that we will not soon, if ever, forget. We especially loved our MDR server sher-ann. She was awesome and fun.

 

Some had mentioned scooter problems, and we never noticed it. Maybe saw two scooters the whole trip and never noticed them ever getting in the way.

 

The other passengers were friendly and we loved meeting new people. Especially meeting "Santa" on vacation. What a fun guy!

 

I am going through serious cruise withdrawals. Sigh. Until next time.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts......:):):)

 

Bob

[Pythian]

I second the thanks! I'm on-board for the first time in Apr for the TA, and your thoughts were well organized and straight forward. I'm looking forward to the cruise. Last time I was on the Royal, she was a beautiful 'little' ship of 700 persons. Loved it - and I'm thinking I'm going to love this one too.

[Happy2cruise]

Also enjoyed your review....thanks.

[gnatz007]

I second the thanks! I'm on-board for the first time in Apr for the TA, and your thoughts were well organized and straight forward. I'm looking forward to the cruise. Last time I was on the Royal, she was a beautiful 'little' ship of 700 persons. Loved it - and I'm thinking I'm going to love this one too.

 

I'm sure you will absolutely love it. Its easy to look past its "shortcomings".

[gnatz007]

Working on posting some pics... once I figure out flickr ;)

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/118857663@N04/12808202144/in/set-72157641591355175.jpg

Edited February 28, 2014 by gnatz007

[gnatz007]

[stoneharborlady]

I agree with you on the IC, one of my favorite spots too.

 

Just curious, obviously you have been on Princess before, and probably Princess Cays too. What about the lunch was lacking, or different from your previous visits there?

[mistyann]

Working on posting some pics... once I figure out flickr ;)

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/118857663@N04/12808202144/in/set-72157641591355175.jpg

 

Thanks for the review and the PICS!!:D

[Mom33]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. :D

[CI66774]

OP - thanks for your thoughts. I was on the Royal in December and agree with everything you wrote. :)

[whitneythegreat]

Do you use your cruise card to purchase food/equipment on Princess Cays? If we wanted snorkel equipment do we use just use our card? Thanks. Glad to hear the hits and misses. We'll be on the boat in 9 days and can't wait.

 

Also, can you tell me where you took picture 1817? That beach is GORGEOUS!!

Edited March 1, 2014 by whitneythegreat

[gnatz007]

Do you use your cruise card to purchase food/equipment on Princess Cays? If we wanted snorkel equipment do we use just use our card? Thanks. Glad to hear the hits and misses. We'll be on the boat in 9 days and can't wait.

 

Also, can you tell me where you took picture 1817? That beach is GORGEOUS!!

 

Food is all provided. Equipment is purchased with your cruise card, or as an excursion. We did the locker, snorkel equipment, and shell as a pre-cruise excursion on the princess site. if I had to do it again, I would have skipped the shell. There were plenty of shady places and chairs to be had.

 

1802-1887 are all on St Thomas at Coki Beach. I highly recommend this beach! We weren't planning on going there, but our taxi driver, a hilarious lady named Petra, recommended we go right there. With 5 ships in town it was very nice in the morning, and started to fill in by noon, but still very nice. By 2 we headed back into town for some shopping. (oh while on Coki we paid a visit to the marine park next door... It was probably a miss for the price... $16 PP with a discount coupon handed to us by some nice Alure passengers) but having never gone there either, it was a cool break.

 

1976 - 2021 are pictures of Mullet Bay in St Maarten. Also a very nice beach, and a short 10-ish minute walk to Maho and the airplanes.

 

Speaking of St Maarten, there wasn't a lot said about the mosquito problem other than a very short blurb in the back of the patter. We did take some 40% deet spray, and put it on over our sunscreen. Never saw a mosquito but there was a nice ocean breeze which probably kept any bugs at bay. Funny note, I did get some sort of small bite on St Thomas, but I am still alive, so nothing to problematic ;)

[gnatz007]

I agree with you on the IC, one of my favorite spots too.

 

Just curious, obviously you have been on Princess before, and probably Princess Cays too. What about the lunch was lacking, or different from your previous visits there?

 

This was our first time on Princess Cays, or the Caribbean. The food was bland, and luke warm, which made it taste very, well, not right to us. I think the key is to get in line right at 11:30, maybe. We were looking for our family members, and ended up getting in a very long line around 12:15. In Princesses defense, they have ALOT of mouths to feed, and I am not sure how you could BBQ for that many people and have it come off well. So it certainly didn't ruin the day for us. BTW, they had TONS of fruit, that was sweet and delicious. Also, I didn't try the burger, in favor of other things I don't typically eat for lunch, and other said the burgers were the best thing. The line was long enough, and I wasn't hungry enough to get back in line.

[want2bcruizin]

We were on this same cruise. I would add that our friends that had the Coke package were not able to get free coke at the bar at Princess Cays. They were told that they only had cans of coke and would have to pay the $2. We found some shady chairs and had a nice day. We had the BBQ lunch and the guys loved the ribs. I just had salad and BBQ chicken and it was fine.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[sunsetbeachgal]

Thanks for the review!!

 

I have been to most of the cruise lines "private Islands" (with the exception of Disney) multiple times and I can't remember having a good meal at any of them! ;) Convenient and included...that's it!

Edited March 1, 2014 by sunsetbeachgal

[satxdiver]

I agree with you on the IC, one of my favorite spots too.

 

Just curious, obviously you have been on Princess before, and probably Princess Cays too. What about the lunch was lacking, or different from your previous visits there?

 

We were on the same cruise. We have been to PC three times now. The food has been the same every time. The hamburgers are grilled right there. I suspect the chicken pieces and ribs are prepared on the ship and taken to the island. What it basically is to me is a picnic type operation. The lines are long since there were only 4 serving lines for a ship that holds 3600. Picnics are good but hardly earth shacking so don't expect a gourmet meal.

 

They don't have fountain drinks on PC so the soda cards are not honored. All they have is canned coke. Also they have a very small selection of beer such as Bud. No beer for me since I don't like the bland US style of mass produced beer.

 

We went to Megan's Beach in St Thomas and Orient Beach in St Maarten and enjoyed both. Both had a lot of people present but I would not consider them overly crowded. We had no problem with mosquitoes and did not use any repellent. For those who have not been to Orient Beach located on the French side of the island, women can and do go topless all along the beach. One end of the beach is clothing optional and a sign prominently labels it as such.

 

We rented a car in St Thomas and did our own tour. We had our DS and his family along. We went to Mountain Top and besides the usual banana daiquiri we found some really nice beach clothes. We later saw the same beach clothes (swimming suits, shorts, shirts, etc) in the port shops by the ship for a lot more money.

 

We ate dinner half the time in the HC and half the time in the MDR. We found the HC food selection to be quite good and several times picked it over the MDR. I love seafood and it was offered at both lunch and dinner in the HC.

 

We boarded at around 12 or so and went to Alfredo's for lunch. We later returned one night for dinner. Instead of the HC on boarding for lunch there is the MDR and Alfredo's.

 

I had seen the Beatlemaniacs before and I was not disappointed again this time. If you grew up with the Beatles like I did, don't miss them. The theater was completely full so go early.

 

The comedian was funny and had the audience laughing. I saw him in the theater and in the Vista Lounge. He was funny both times.

[Tak8]

Enjoyed your observations. Great photos. Makes me want my Christmas cruise to come faster.