Disappointing Royal Princess trip

[paddingtonbear]

Kosi

 

Good to read you review. It will help a lot of people make decisions - if they need a big bathroom get a mini suite - if they want a big balcony choose a cabin that has one. Unfortunately it is difficult to know these things before you cruise on a new ship.

Sorry you had to be the guinea pig for us all! :)

 

Who do you usually sail with and to where?

I hope you have a wonderful experience on your next cruise.

[Topo Gigio]

What are the comments about Regal?

[Clutterlady]

Kosi

 

Good to read you review. It will help a lot of people make decisions - if they need a big bathroom get a mini suite - if they want a big balcony choose a cabin that has one. Unfortunately it is difficult to know these things before you cruise on a new ship.

Sorry you had to be the guinea pig for us all! :)

 

Who do you usually sail with and to where?

I hope you have a wonderful experience on your next cruise.

 

Why would it be difficult to know certain things about any ship or vacation? If you do research with any vacation, certain thing should not be such a big surprise:)

[Kosi]

I did read some of the reviews before I booked this cruise.. and to be honest it would not have stopped me from trying Princess..and I am glad I did .. cause it was the one that was missing from my list..Please don't think there were not come good things this cruise line does.. like I said they have excursions down to a science.

Our room was spotless at all times. ..sometimes you have a room where it just feels not so clean from the start.

 

And we loved the tv set up.. a nice big tv right in front of the bed... And there are tons of GOOD movies to pick from!

 

The fellow passengers were beyond friendly! There seemed to be a lot from the South..

[Lynniepoo]

I did read some of the reviews before I booked this cruise.. and to be honest it would not have stopped me from trying Princess..and I am glad I did .. cause it was the one that was missing from my list..Please don't think there were not come good things this cruise line does.. like I said they have excursions down to a science.

Our room was spotless at all times. ..sometimes you have a room where it just feels not so clean from the start.

 

And we loved the tv set up.. a nice big tv right in front of the bed... And there are tons of GOOD movies to pick from!

 

The fellow passengers were beyond friendly! There seemed to be a lot from the South..

 

We southerners pride ourselves on our good manners! ;)

 

I agree that maybe you should try a different Princess ship. DH and I especially loved the Ruby.

 

As for staff, we too have had a mix of happy and grumpy over the years...but doesn't that apply to every service industry? We've only sailed Princess, but I would think every cruise line would have some type of similar problem. (For others who have sailed on other lines, please don't flame me over this!)

[kmhkmb]

Just got off the Royal today. I found the crew on this ship to be very friendly - much more so in fact than what I have experienced on the Crown and the Ruby. I also really enjoyed the entertainment and found the food to be excellent.

 

On another note, it may interest people to know that we had to lug our lifejackets to the muster drill and standards were not enforced in the Concerto dining room on formal nights (saw men wearing jeans and t-shirts - I personally don't mind this but thought others might find it interesting).

[janetz]

Just got off the Royal today. I found the crew on this ship to be very friendly - much more so in fact than what I have experienced on the Crown and the Ruby. I also really enjoyed the entertainment and found the food to be excellent.

 

On another note, it may interest people to know that we had to lug our lifejackets to the muster drill and standards were not enforced in the Concerto dining room on formal nights (saw men wearing jeans and t-shirts - I personally don't mind this but thought others might find it interesting).

 

Thank you for your thoughts. I have two weeks to wait. Did you use the Enclave? What did you think of the shows onboard? :)

[4cats4me]

What are the comments about Regal?

 

Although I was not personally on the Regal, my friend was. She just returned and had a fantastic cruise. She has cruised on Princess many many times and the regal was her best cruise. my other friend cruised on the regal in June and also loved it. No complaints from either person

[kmhkmb]

Thank you for your thoughts. I have two weeks to wait. Did you use the Enclave? What did you think of the shows onboard? :)

 

I just posted a review on the Enclave in a seperate thread - I'm a big fan! For the most part I liked the shows - some more than others. My hands-down favourite was the Colors of the World show. I also really enjoyed the pub night show, the murder mystery, many of the Piazza performers and the musician/comedian they had on board. I didnt care for the comedian - but everyone around me was roaring with laughter so I may have been in the minority. I also wasn't very impressed with the show on the first night - a bit too much of an infomercial IMO (they were promoting various things you could purchase). The production show on the last night was also good. Hope you have a great cruise - even though I just got off I'm jealous!!

Edited October 12, 2014 by kmhkmb

[Love.II.Cruise]

I have on RCCL in a standard inside cabin.

 

In the picture below the bed is behind the curtain.

 

 

Interesting... is there a second TV for the bed area behind the curtain?

[CI66774]

Wow - I've been on the Royal twice and this is NOT what I encountered. There were personnel at every entrance reminding paxs to use the sinks or Purell - all the time.

[CI66774]

"The staff of this ship does not smile. We could not figure out if they are all unhappy or have been told to be unfriendly. . The whole ship just feels strange and unfriendly. "

 

Just read this from one of the reviews for that ship.. and I think they were right on.. could not have said it better!

 

Again - totally opposite from what I experienced on my two Royal trips. Wonderful, wonderful staff - always smiling and eager to help. Better than all other cruise staff on Cunard, RCL, Regent - and almost as good as Disney.

[cr8tiv1]

I understand the need for a dressing area. I travel with a friend. I always take along magnetic hooks and a cloth shower curtain. Instant privacy curtain.

[Topo Gigio]

Although I was not personally on the Regal, my friend was. She just returned and had a fantastic cruise. She has cruised on Princess many many times and the regal was her best cruise. my other friend cruised on the regal in June and also loved it. No complaints from either person

 

Thanks.Planning a cruise on her shortly. Haven't been on Princess since Nov.2008

[dorisis]

Thanks for your thoughts on Royal Princess.

You are not alone. Many who normally love cruising on Princess have been less than pleased with Royal. :o

LuLu

 

We did a B2B on Royal last February and did not think much of that ship. We prefer the smaller ships of Princess. Especialy Coral and Island.

[Jetswdo]

we didn't care for the layout. Very odd that the steam rooms were in the spa that was on opposite side of the ship from where the gym is. Many folks like to do this after a good workout. Also only 40 passes are sold on such a huge ship to use a steam room.

 

Very little shade on this ship.

Elevators were impossible-- too small for the amount of passengers.

 

But the one positive was that the food on this ship was unusally good. I say this because I have found in general on other princess ships that the food was ok to downright horrible. Just inconsistent. Although to be fair, it was several years ago that I was on other princess ships.

I found nothing wrong with our cabin. Most of the workers were perfectly pleasant on our Royal sailing in April. I do think the grand class Princess ships are nicer. But there were many people who were very happy with the Royal on our sailing.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

And we loved the tv set up.. a nice big tv right in front of the bed... And there are tons of GOOD movies to pick from!

I've heard many people rave about the movies & system where you can pause it but no one has mentioned any titles that were available. Are they all very old selections? It sounds like a great idea if there are some newer movies to view. Can you give me some examples of what was offered? Do they televise the same ones being shown on MUTS?

[janetz]

I just posted a review on the Enclave in a seperate thread - I'm a big fan! For the most part I liked the shows - some more than others. My hands-down favourite was the Colors of the World show. I also really enjoyed the pub night show, the murder mystery, many of the Piazza performers and the musician/comedian they had on board. I didnt care for the comedian - but everyone around me was roaring with laughter so I may have been in the minority. I also wasn't very impressed with the show on the first night - a bit too much of an infomercial IMO (they were promoting various things you could purchase). The production show on the last night was also good. Hope you have a great cruise - even though I just got off I'm jealous!!

 

 

Thank you! :)

[Suzanne123]

I've heard many people rave about the movies & system where you can pause it but no one has mentioned any titles that were available. Are they all very old selections? It sounds like a great idea if there are some newer movies to view. Can you give me some examples of what was offered? Do they televise the same ones being shown on MUTS?

 

Just got off the Royal yesterday. Some of the movie titles I recall are:

 

Million Dolar Arm

The Draft

Chef

X-men

Wolverine

Mama Mia

Godzilla

The Grand Budapest. Hotel

Amazing Spider-Man

Day after Tomorrow

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol

Art of the Steal

Nonstop

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Plots for Sale

Many more that I just can't remember, but only a few were recent releases.

 

Television Live were CNBC, FOX, BBC, MSNBC, ESPN, Princess web cam

 

Television shows included four or five episodes of each: CSI, Big Bang Theory, How I Met your Mother, The Good Wife, NCIS, Mad Men, House Hunters, HGTV, DYI

 

They are still showing Beyoncé, Paul McCartney, James Taylor and Billy Joel concerts from 20'years ago on MUTS.

 

Hope this helps.

[kendon]

On our sailing, there was a girl standing at the entrance to the buffet and encouraged us to wash our hands at the wash stations.:cool:

 

Same here. In fact, they insisted.

[klenklen]

DW and I loved the Royal. My only negative was I couldn't find "An Affair to Remember" with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr on the TV. Won't stop us from going again. A great ship.

[kmhkmb]

I've heard many people rave about the movies & system where you can pause it but no one has mentioned any titles that were available. Are they all very old selections? It sounds like a great idea if there are some newer movies to view. Can you give me some examples of what was offered? Do they televise the same ones being shown on MUTS?

 

 

Lots of recently released movies (e.g., The Fault in our Stars, Edge of Tommorrow, Chef, Godzilla, Return of the Planet of the Apes, Tammy, Divergent, Spiderman 2,) and television shows (e.g., Big Bang Theory, Modern Family many more that I can't recall). Also a selection of classic movies (e.g., Forrest Gump) and episodes of the Love Boat that have been converted into HD - Captian Stubing never looked so good! I noticed that after they featured a movie on MUTS it appeard on the television menu (e.g., Edge of Tommorrow) - but I'm not positive this was the case for all the movies. You can also watch shows taped on the ship during your cruise - e.g., the navigational talk, folkloric show and the interviews with the singers/dancers - a great option if you weren't able to attend the live version.

Edited October 12, 2014 by kmhkmb

[Suzanne123]

we didn't care for the layout. Very odd that the steam rooms were in the spa that was on opposite side of the ship from where the gym is. Many folks like to do this after a good workout. Also only 40 passes are sold on such a huge ship to use a steam room.

 

Very little shade on this ship.

Elevators were impossible-- too small for the amount of passengers.

 

But the one positive was that the food on this ship was unusally good. I say this because I have found in general on other princess ships that the food was ok to downright horrible. Just inconsistent. Although to be fair, it was several years ago that I was on other princess ships.

I found nothing wrong with our cabin. Most of the workers were perfectly pleasant on our Royal sailing in April. I do think the grand class Princess ships are nicer. But there were many people who were very happy with the Royal on our sailing.

 

 

I agree. The ship was beautiful, and the food was better than on our last couple cruises. I loved the new layout of the Horizon Court, Bistro, and the pastry area. Our cabin steward was great. Really loved the huge flat screen television in the cabin.

 

That said, this was my least favorite Princess ship. Really, really missed the mid-ship staircase. Hated the location of the hair dryer attached to the inside of a drawer above the mini-bar. Very hard to find a quiet lounge chair with an unobstructed view of the ocean.

No indoor pool ( nothing new, but still disappoints me). Overall, the ship felt like a huge hotel and not a cruise ship.

 

I still like Princess and I have another cruise booked for next year, but I'll stick with the other ships in the fleet.

YMMV.

[Kosi]

I just posted a review on the Enclave in a seperate thread - I'm a big fan! For the most part I liked the shows - some more than others. My hands-down favourite was the Colors of the World show. I also really enjoyed the pub night show, the murder mystery, many of the Piazza performers and the musician/comedian they had on board. I didnt care for the comedian - but everyone around me was roaring with laughter so I may have been in the minority. I also wasn't very impressed with the show on the first night - a bit too much of an infomercial IMO (they were promoting various things you could purchase). The production show on the last night was also good. Hope you have a great cruise - even though I just got off I'm jealous!!

 

We didn't like Color of the World , but loved the comedian! lol

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Suzanne123 & kmhkmb, Thanks for the movie listings. That may be one change on the new ships that I can appreciate. Not that we go on cruises to watch movies but I absolutely hate to start watching a movie after it begins and they do seem to have some decent selections to choose from. :D