Royal update: not so live on the Royal

[Colo Cruiser]

My cruise critic friends took my rear facing deluxe balcony C743, the infamous soot room, and are beside themselves with how bad it smells, how much tar is on their balcony, and how unusable it is. Please beware that the issues around the sooty aft cabins, and the plumbing problems still exist. If you have booked any of the aft cabins beware that there has been no fix. Also, laundry service is taking 3 days as of yesterday, so be prepared for this.

 

 

 

The soot issue is well documented here on CC, as well as there were no reports that it had been addressed or fixed.

I am curious why the CC friends would still book that aft cabin knowing that the problem is still there. I sure wouldn't. :confused:

Edited September 4, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[Spring578]

Just to present a different side to the soot issue- we were in B737 for an 11 day Baltic cruise at the beginning of August. There was some discoloration of the deck and the carpet inside the balcony doors, but otherwise the aft balcony was great. We found some small particles of soot on the first morning, but it definitely wasn't enough to warrant a complaint. A quick wipe with the beach towel took care of it. There was no smell whatsoever. The aft location is great on the Royal, as we found the aft elevators were usually the least congested. We were able to sit out on the balcony every day and enjoyed the wake view a great deal. We would definitely book an aft cabin on the Royal again.

[capriccio]

The soot issue is well documented here on CC, as well as there were no reports that it had been addressed or fixed.

I am curious why the CC friends would still book that aft cabin knowing that the problem is still there. I sure wouldn't. :confused:

 

I had the same reaction -- we were in an aft facing suite early last December (final payment was made before Ibfern's caution following her cruise last fall). I have seen nothing from Princess or other cruisers claiming that the soot and exhaust issues have been fixed. Until then I would never, ever reserve or recommend those cabins to friends/family.

 

Ibfern - I hope you have smooth sailing from here on out (and no toilet issues)!

Edited September 4, 2014 by capriccio

[candide333]

Amelia, glad your toilet issue was taken care of. Mike, as for being comped, the credit paid for a 2-week cruise. :)

 

I posted a question about the laundry on the Princess FB page. Their response was that the laundry operations are now running smoothly. Corpspeak. :)

 

I'm doing laundry as I type in preparation for packing in a couple of days. Give everyone a hug for me! Not long now.

 

Good for you, Pam. We went on a Transatlantic on the Grand last year in a Window Suite and the aircondition did not work the entire cruise. It sounded like a jet engine and the engineers dealt with the problem by turning it off. The widows do not open.

 

We were compensated with a bottle of wine, not any credit. The most frustrating aspect was that I would call at least four times daily, but rarely would someone respond. I finally just used ear plugs to sleep at night.

 

At your suggestion, I will document and try to resolve with the Captain's Circle host if we have any prolonged issues on our upcoming cruises.

[STCKcruises]

In a little over a week we will know if there are issues with toilets and laundry on the Regal. Had already packed enough to be able to work with a three day laundry delay before Amelia's thread. Will be keeping our fingers crossed :rolleyes:

 

 

Can't comment re laundry on Regal as not elite yet BUT can confirm no problems with toilets in my experience other than a flood in the gents at Outrigger one night. Did have a problem with my door entry system but after an initial delay with 2 trips and a phone call to Pursers Desk they became very responsive. I was very impressed with service and maintenance throughout Regal.

 

 

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[dickinson]

Good for you, Pam. We went on a Transatlantic on the Grand last year in a Window Suite and the aircondition did not work the entire cruise. It sounded like a jet engine and the engineers dealt with the problem by turning it off. The widows do not open.

 

We were compensated with a bottle of wine, not any credit. The most frustrating aspect was that I would call at least four times daily, but rarely would someone respond. I finally just used ear plugs to sleep at night.

 

At your suggestion, I will document and try to resolve with the Captain's Circle host if we have any prolonged issues on our upcoming cruises.

 

Which window suite on the Grand?

[IECalCruiser]

Which window suite on the Grand?

We are not candide333, but we were in F311 and friends were in F309 for a cruise on the Grand in March. A little hard to adjust the set point in our cabin but the AC worked and it certainly didn't sound like a jet engine. Our only noise issue was a creaking noise in the wall behind our bed in rough seas but that was only for two nights. Our friends had no issues.

 

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Edited September 4, 2014 by IECalCruiser

[dickinson]

We are not candide333, but we were in F311 and friends were in F309 for a cruise on the Grand in March. A little hard to adjust the set point in our cabin but the AC worked and it certainly didn't sound like a jet engine. Our only noise issue was a creaking noise in the wall behind our bed in rough seas but that was only for two nights. Our friends had no issues.

 

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Thanks. We're in 307 in February.

[ibfern]

Got our laundry tonight, it took 3 days to get back. Is this the norm now?

 

Regarding friends who booked rear facing deluxe balcony, the one I had to leave last year, they were told it was fixed, but this does not see to be the case. They were hopeful I guess.

 

Tallinn was fantastic, did an SPB tour which was delightful, our guide Triin was smart, easy to understand, and totally made our time in Tallinn interesting. No time tonight to share much since we lose another hour tonight, that is two in the last three days, and we meet early at 6:15. I need to get to sleep, so I will try to share more tomorrow.

 

Amelia

[bhopal21]

Got our laundry tonight, it took 3 days to get back. Is this the norm now?

 

Amelia

 

 

Evidently since Princess posted the following to Facebook yesterday when asked about the laundry:

 

we are confident that Royal Princess' laundry operation is now running smoothly. We look forward to welcoming you onboard next week!

 

 

Mike:)

[Loonbeam]

Smoothly with high demands - if there are a lot of elites - could be 3 days easily...

 

Evidently since Princess posted the following to Facebook yesterday when asked about the laundry:

 

we are confident that Royal Princess' laundry operation is now running smoothly. We look forward to welcoming you onboard next week!

 

 

Mike:)

[Pam in CA]

Evidently since Princess posted the following to Facebook yesterday when asked about the laundry:

 

we are confident that Royal Princess' laundry operation is now running smoothly. We look forward to welcoming you onboard next week!

Yeah. That was in response to my FB post to Princess. :)

[bhopal21]

Smoothly with high demands - if there are a lot of elites - could be 3 days easily...

 

OP already stated there were few elites onboard.

 

Mike:)

[Host CJSKIDS]

OP already stated there were few elites onboard.

 

Mike:)

 

I know when we cruised in Europe we had already been there for a week with our 3 kids. I not elite but sent out a lot of laundry to be done and paid for it so I didn't have to spend my cruise in the laundry room.

 

Elite may get the free laundry but perhaps others are doing what I did. Perhaps even paying extra to get it back quickly. That may be a reason that they are backed up and busy. Would seem to me that they would have to do the laundry first for anyone paying to get it back over night.

[DLSHS_Mom]

On our Regal cruise in July there were 100 elites...we got our laundry the next day. No restroom problems...the only problem we had was the elite door entry card kept on failing....my son's platinum ...no problem. They just had a bad batch of the black cards.

[bhopal21]

[quote name='cjskids']I know when we cruised in Europe we had already been there for a week with our 3 kids. I not elite but sent out a lot of laundry to be done and paid for it so I didn't have to spend my cruise in the laundry room.

Elite may get the free laundry but perhaps others are doing what I did. Perhaps even paying extra to get it back quickly. That may be a reason that they are backed up and busy. Would seem to me that they would have to do the laundry first for anyone paying to get it back over night.[/quote]

That was the OP's situation having been on a land vacation pre cruise and she was told on the first day it would be 3 days which indicates a problem onboard the Royal.

Mike:)

[ar1950]

[quote name='cjskids']I know when we cruised in Europe we had already been there for a week with our 3 kids. I not elite but sent out a lot of laundry to be done and [COLOR=Red]paid for it[/COLOR] so I didn't have to spend my cruise in the laundry room.

[COLOR=Red]Elite may get the free laundry[/COLOR] [COLOR=Red]but perhaps others are doing what I did. Perhaps even paying extra to get it back quickly. [/COLOR]That may be a reason that they are backed up and busy. Would seem to me that they would have to do the laundry first for anyone paying to get it back over night.[/quote]

That thought makes a lot of sense and may be the right explanation.

[quote name='bhopal21'][COLOR=Red]That was the OP's situation having been on a land vacation pre cruise [/COLOR]and she was told on the first day it would be 3 days which indicates a problem onboard the Royal.
Mike:)[/quote]

The difference being that cjskids PAID for the laundry and the OP just used the free Elite benefit. The only problem maybe that there are a lot of non-Elites that are willing to pay for their laundry to be done quickly.

YMMV, this is all speculation anyway.

[ibfern]

[quote name='GeeDunk']Amelia --

Very hard for me to understand how the same problems with the Royal still exist:confused:

After the TA last Fall, one would think that the problems would be addressed;
evidently they weren't.:(

There is no excuse for the Laundry and Plumbing issues.

The soot issue probably will not be resolved until the Royal goes into DryDock.

Hey -- Enjoy your Cruise; say Howdy to Ken for me.

Cyril[/QUOTE]

[quote name='ssbeagle']I wonder if the same problems exist on the new Regal.[/QUOTE]

Hi Cyril: so nice to hear from you, I so enjoyed meeting you last year. Thanks for the positive thoughts

Hi Caryn and Stan: miss you guys and can't wait to see you on the Anniversary cruise. Not sure about the Regal.

We got our laundry back after 3 days and boy did I need fresh clothing! We are in St Petersburg and having a great, if exhausting time here. I mean to write up a detailed report on this port, as well as Tallinn and Berlin but can't do much until our sea days. St. Petersburg is so interesting, we took a subway that was 500 feet below the surface and riding down the fast escalator all that was was fun and a little frightening, kind of like an E ticket! If you get here, try it for sure.

Had a yummy dinner tonight, the staff in the dining room are outstanding and so it the food, although the choices are fewer than last year. The entertainment is abundant and good and there are a lot of varied trivial games and lots of good movies. Too bad I am so exhausted I cannot enjoy them yet. Can't wait for the sea days....
Amelia

[ibfern]

[quote name='ar1950']That thought makes a lot of sense and may be the right explanation.



The difference being that cjskids PAID for the laundry and the OP just used the free Elite benefit. The only problem maybe that there are a lot of non-Elites that are willing to pay for their laundry to be done quickly.

YMMV, this is all speculation anyway.[/QUOTE]

I paid for this benefit by taking 28 cruises over the last 8 years, and being loyal to Princess. I do appreciate that they may be inundated with laundry, lots of people take land trips before they get on the ship. I would have done my laundry myself if I had know it would take that long, and packed differently. Just passing on info here for your reference so you all can be prepared.

[ssbeagle]

Amelia, an e-mail will be waiting for you when you get a chance. Who is the CD and assistant? Stan would like to do a Baltic cruise but I am hoping Princess will do it on one of the midsized ships. Sounds like you are having a wonderful time.

[GolfMom321]

[quote name='ssbeagle']Amelia, an e-mail will be waiting for you when you get a chance. Who is the CD and assistant? Stan would like to do a Baltic cruise but I am hoping Princess will do it on one of the midsized ships. Sounds like you are having a wonderful time.[/QUOTE]

We were on the Royal in July. CD was Lisa Ball. Assistants were Toby, David and Michele. The Baltics cruise was awesome!

[CruisingObsessed]

[quote name='ibfern']Got our laundry tonight, it took 3 days to get back. Is this the norm now?

Amelia[/quote]

It's not the norm on all ships. We just sailed Grand to Alaska a couple of weeks ago and it was next day service. There were only 55 elites onboard, however, which probably had something to do with that.

Glad things are settling out for you, hope your cruise is smooth sailing from here out!

[ibfern]

[quote name='GolfMom321']We were on the Royal in July. CD was Lisa Ball. Assistants were Toby, David and Michele. The Baltics cruise was awesome![/QUOTE]

We have the same crew now.

[ibfern]

We are exhausted from doing tours daily, and we just got to Helsinki so we are off again for another day. St. Petersburg was so interesting, we did a whirlwind tour of many places in two days, yesterday we saw the Hermitage which was definitely the highlight for me.

Today there is a special "stuff a laundry bag" for $20 in the Patter, so I guess the laundry I put in today will come back tomorrow.

[Pam in CA]

Amelia, I fly out tomorrow afternoon for Copenhagen. See you Wednesday! :)