Royal Repo 10/25 review

[cibaygirls]

Hi everyone,

 

I had wanted to do this as a live from, but once onboard I really did escape completely so never really got around to doing so. I am back at work trying to catch up, so unfortunately I will have to do this in pieces. I do have the patters saved (though not sure I would be able to scan them) and would love to answer any questions.

 

A little background: I sailed with my DH, we are both 40 and have cruised several times before with Princess. This was our first time on the Royal. I am a creature of habit and tend to wind up disliking change, so I was a bit apprehensive that I would find the changes in the ship design annoying rather than interesting. Anyway, here is my review beginning with Day 1

 

We took a limo with some lovely people we met through our roll call (Hi Della, Frank, Kathi & Kevin!!!) and arrived at the port in Brooklyn around 1030/11:00. It was a very quick check-in, however there were already a lot of people there. The Platinum lounge was already full so we were given a number card and were seated right outside the door, and the crowds continued to grow. We sat there and waited until around 11:45 when they called our number and we were able to board. We took our embarkation photo, and were able to get onboard and go immediately to our stateroom. Something I saw somewhere that morning indicated that we would just be able to drop bags off, but our room was completely ready. We were in cabin D729 which is an aft balcony. We were very concerned about the soot, but there was none at the time. You can however see staining in the balcony deck and the carpet just inside the balcony door.

We wandered around the ship, exploring a bit, excited about being on a new ship and learning to navigate around it. We had our typical lunch at the Trident Grill of cheeseburgers and a bucket of Dos Equis (we have simple tastes). We had lunch in the sunshine listening to the Beyonce concert playing on MUTS. It was a gorgeous day. We participated in the Scavenger Hunt as we typically do for the fun of it. It was more exciting this time around as we did get to see spots on the ship we otherwise would not likely go see. It gave us a chance to see the Thermal Spa, which I had been contemplating booking. The price was more than I wanted to pay, and BOY was it hot in there. Now, I expected it to be, but it was really warm and I probably would have been uncomfortable in there for any length of time. The muster drill was at 4:30, and we did have to put our life jackets on, but it was quick and painless and then we were off to sailaway. It was a very festive one, especially since we were sailing under the Verrazano Bridge. The photographers were out in full force, which I always love. They did the scavenger hunt give away, and while I forget what the exact prizes were, they did not seem as good as what I saw in the past (no spa or specialty restaurant giveaways).

As we had the early seating, we had to leave the sailaway party early to get down to dinner. After dinner we both had killer headaches ( I guess too many buckets of Dos Equis, then the wine at dinner, then coming down off the first day of a cruise high) so we went back to the room to watch some TV. The Royal has on demand entertainment, but it wasn’t working that first night so we went to sleep.

[janetz]

I am looking forward to your thoughts. We had a great time. We did end up booking the Enclave which was wonderful :D The Halloween party was so much fun. The costumes were amazing.

Edited November 10, 2014 by janetz

[cibaygirls]

Day 2- AT SEA

This morning we woke up around 8 and went for breakfast in the Horizon Court. We don’t often do the buffet, so were anxious to see the layout on the ship. It is huge!!! It was initially overwhelming, and difficult sometimes to recall from day to day where to look for something specific (took me a couple days to re-locate the yogurt parfaits I liked so much) but there really are some great options. We wound up using the buffet way more this cruise than we ever have. Our M& G was scheduled for 10:30 so we just wandered around the ship and relaxed in the room until then. We had a great turnout with so many people showing up and participating in the gift exchange. It had been an extremely active, and at times heated, roll call so it was fun to put faces to names. There were so many of us, that the only location we were told that would accommodate us was the dining room, so it was held in Allegro dining room. This is the dining room for traditional, which we did. I have to say that I did not initially love the design style of the room (a lot of black and red, and almost Asian influence), it was quite different from what I am used to on a Princess ship (the other 2 dining rooms resemble the traditional room moreso). It did grow on me throughout the week and the area for the Chef’s Table is stunning. We had lunch at the Pub Lunch, which was held on every sea day rotating between the 2 different menus. We spent some of the afternoon watching the football game out on MUTs (which was packed), and grabbed a bucket of beer and made our own nachos from the horizon bistro (these improvised nachos became our absolutely favorite thing!! (recall, we have simple tastes). After dinner we went to the hot tub by the Retreat Pool which we had all to ourselves. Grabbed a slice of pizza on the way back to the room before calling it a night. Found it funny when I asked for the pizza to be cut in half so we could share it, it was cut in half horizontally; it’s a good thing my DH likes the crust way more than me otherwise we would have had to fight over it! Another early night for us (which wound up being the theme of this complete escape). It was interesting (to me anyway) that while sitting on the balcony today, a moth flew by. My father passed away several years ago and I have always joked that rather than him coming back as a butterfly, he comes to me as a moth- when I opened my car door to go into the funeral home the first night a giant moth flew into my car. Since then I often see moths in seemingly random spots, especially when I travel

[cibaygirls]

Day 3- AT SEA

You may start to notice as the sea days go by, my memory gets fuzzy and my details are less focused. Today there was still no observable sooting on the balcony, nor was there any other days. Again, we had breakfast at the Horizon court and then went to the Slot Pull someone on our roll call had organized. I think there were around 70 of us participating and they had got the casino host to help so machines were set up for us to use and casino prizes were provided (hats and shirts). We each got $10 or our $15 back, plus there the additional prizes given away. We went to the gym, which felt smaller than on other ships and brought lunch back to eat on the balcony (I do believe some chips made their way back with us). After lunch we went to the internet café and to an art history lecture, which was really interesting. The art director was very passionate about the subject. Before heading up to the room to get ready for dinner, we stopped at Crooners for the BOGO happy hour and got some Tango Tinis. Interesting to note that they were served on the rocks (this happened again to us later in the trip there). They were sooooo green we called them Zombie juice, apropos as it was a Halloween cruise. They give you a raffle ticket when you purchase a drink during happy hour for a giveaway at the end. We didn’t make it back for the drawing so I can’t tell you what the prize was (my luck it was fantastic and that is the thing on this cruise I won). Tonight was the first of 2 formal nights so it was fun as usual seeing everyone dressed up. Tonight was also the champagne waterfall, complete with passed hors d’oevures and A LOT of champagne. They would keep coming around with bottles just filling up your glass. Since we are not people to say no to a free drink, even if it is cheap champagne, we had quite a few glasses. We ended the night with some more champagne cocktails at Bellini’s. This is an addition which I loved. Great drink menu, great location.

[cibaygirls]

Day 4- AT SEA

In reviewing my notes from day 4 all I have written down is “slept late- had donut and latte for breakfast at the international Café.” Soooooooo, needless to say all the champagne must have caught up with me. I don’t recall doing too much of anything today. We did watch a movie in the cabin I’m sure we ate lunch at some point (perhaps chips and guacamole were involved), we did go to the gym, but what else we did, I am not sure. Can you tell that by now I am in full-on relaxation mode? Tonight was the first night they were doing any of the watercolor fantasy shows out on the pool deck so we did check that out. It was the James Bond show. It was pretty cool and we enjoyed it; we were hoping unsuspecting people might get sprayed a bit, but alas that did not happen. We stood to the side of the MUTS screen, however since there are some visual components shown on the screen, we probably would have been better off opposite the screen so you can see what is showing on it. We did have intentions of seeing other shows but never made it back. Another early night for us, excited to get to bed early so we could be up and early the next morning for our first port.

[Bimmer09]

Great journal- keep it coming!

 

Norris

[cibaygirls]

Wow Norris, thank you!!! I have always read your reports with great interest and joy!!

 

Dana

[cibaygirls]

Day 5- St Thomas

 

We had originally planned on doing the ships excursion over to BVI to tour the Baths, but had found out yesterday that it was cancelled due to lack of interest. This was very disappointing as that excursion was what we were looking forward to most. I had looked into private excursions prior to leaving, but they were expensive for just 2 of us, and I was a little concerned with timing. So after some brief moments of pouting, we instead were up early to make our way to magen’s bay (this is our “close your eyes and picture a relaxing place” place). We had roomservice breakfast, got off the ship by 8 and were on the beach by 830. We were some of the first people there and walked all the way down to find a quiet spot. I always find it so relaxing to be there early, be one of the only people in the water with all the birds diving into the water around you. I had brought an inflatable float with me so we spent the day swimming and floating, although there was a slow leak in the float; we made due. There was one brief rain shower while we were there. Around 1:00 we made our way to the bar for some rum punches (which I learned my lesson from last year and slowed down my intake this time around) and chicken fingers. We spend some time sitting on the patio at the bar, looking out at the water and then took some drinks into the water before leaving. Took a cab back to the port and walked around the shops a bit, grabbed a bottle of cold beer, a USVI Mango Ale, delicious!! The sun, and I’m sure the rum punch, pretty much knocked me out, so after dinner we watched another movie in the room and called it a night. We really did enjoy the on demand element of the TVs.

I just thought I would point out an odd experience. The day after St Thomas I noticed a fishy smell in the cabin. It turned out it was my bathing suit, and had even gotten to my cover up. I can’t say the beach itself smelled fishy when we were there, but I could NOT get this smell out of my suit and cover up. I soaked them overnight and that helped a little, but did not get rid of it completely. I don’t know if I sat on a dead fish or something, but still, upon returning home I can faintly smell it. I have washed, febreezed and have put them outside to see if that will completely eliminate it. I never experienced such a thing.

[Northender]

Thanks for sharing your days with us. I am really enjoying.:)

[cibaygirls]

Day 6- Antigua

Up early enough today to watch as we sailed into Antigua, which was really cool due to all the little peaks and valleys. Went up to the buffet and brought food down to the balcony. This was the first morning we had issues with soot. It seems like it happened during the night since when we went out in the morning the table had lots of soot as did the ground and the chairs, but there was nothing falling while we were sitting outside. Today our plan was to take a cab to valley church beach, and we were going to meet up with another couple from our roll call to share the cab. As soon as I got off the ship, I was approached about my need for a cab and I secured a ride with Dr. Sal. While there were some tour operators (who did not have the orange shirts on) who were pushy, for the most part all was fine. We met up with the couple and another couple joined, us so off we were. It was $8 per person each way and we set up a pick up time to return, we were told we did not need to pay until our return trip. One of the couples arranged an earlier time than us. We probably could have gotten a better rate, but I wasn’t really in the mood to negotiate… again escaping completely. The ride to the beach was about 20 minutes and once there we rented 2 chairs and an umbrella for $20 and once again spent the day swimming, barely floating (as the leak in the float was now getting worse) and relaxing. We had been to this beach once before and love it, but as a public service announcement, I should point out that there is a steep drop that some people had a hard time navigating when going in, but especially when coming out, of the water. I will now admit, after doing good with my PSA, that we did chuckle at various points in the day when someone would stumble, but only if we knew they were OK and they were laughing. ;):)

For lunch we ate at the beach bar, the Nest. It is your typical beach bar with some good food, we had the Conch Fritters and Jerk Chicken. There were sooooo many flies by our table though that we didn’t sit there and relax much as we had intended as we wanted to get away from them. Dr Sal came back as promised however he negotiated with another driver to take us back (never found out why, but it seems like he had double booked himself). We walked around the shops for a quick couple of minutes and returned to our room. Again, we watched a movie and had some………….. fruit salad! Only kidding, we had some nachos.

 

Tonight we had booked the Winemakers Dinner which was held at 645PM. We met up with Franco the headwaiter by the IC along with our dining companions and then went into the dining room. The table was set up beautifully with flowers and the wine bottle walled room set the mood. We had the Mondavi Menu with a Super Tuscan White and the Spellbound Petite Syrah, which flowed freely throughout the meal. Franco was a great host and our table mates were all such great company. I believe the entire group was comprised of cruise critic members, so hello to anyone who is reading this. Not sure how others would find out about it, as I don't recall seeing it in the patter. At the end, in addition to the desert, Franco came out with an extra tray of treats (cookies, petite fours, chocolate covered strawberries, etc.). The entire meal was absolutely delicious and I highly recommend this to anyone considering it. I might have been in a food coma afterwards because I couldn’t tell you what we did after dinner, and there was no rum punch to blame it on this time.

[cibaygirls]

Day 7- At sea

Since we were still full from the night before we skipped breakfast today and went to the gym. Today was indeed another lazy day with no significant highlights. Went to buffet for lunch, then to the casino to lose some money on the slots, then to check some emails. After a nap we went to Afternoon tea for the first time this trip, which is always a favorite of mine; I love the scones. We popped into the Culinary show of cake and marzipan decorating, then it was already time to get ready for dinner.

 

Today was Halloween!! We had brought decorations to hang in the room and on our door, and I was excited to see many others had as well. The ship was decorated all around with a big display of carved pumpkins and baked treats in the Piazza and cobwebs and balloons all around. I was excited as we went down to dinner to see people out and about in costumes or stopping to take pictures of those in costumes. Someone from our roll call had organized a big dinner in one of the anytime dining rooms for us, but once we met up with a couple of others, it seemed there wasn’t going to be a table within that group to accommodate us so we sat in a different area. We had a lovely dinner, again, with great dining companions. There were a couple of Halloween themed portrait stations set up where you could have your pictures taken, which we just had to do! We went to a Halloween movie trivia show in Princess Live. That night there was a big party in the piazza; I was really happy to see so many people dressed up and the party was packed. There was a conga line costume contest to go past the cruise director staff who were handing out pumpkins to select finalists for the costume contest. Well, where we were in the conga line we never moved, so we never got to go past the judges, so weren’t selected as finalists. I have to admit, I was disappointed as I was so happy with our Mary Poppins and Burt the chimney sweep costumes (complete with hand made parrot head for my umbrella). But we did have a great time and loved seeing all the costumes.

[cibaygirls]

Day 8- Aruba

For Aruba, I had made a reservation for 2 beach chairs at Nikky Beach/Reflections which is not too far from the port. We decided to walk to get some exercise, and since it was straight down the main road through town. It was about a 35 minute walk and was quite warm as we were walking into the sun. It was a pretty walk along the water, through some little parks and such. Once we found it, our first impressions were not so great and we contemplated not even staying there. It was not as pretty as it was in pictures I had seen, and was right next to the airport. There were also a significant number of boats anchored right off shore. As beaches in Aruba are public, this location was right next to a street/parking lot, so there were a lot of local families coming and swimming and using the beach. Initially we thought it would not be relaxing and would be too crowded, but it actually made the day more interesting and felt a bit more of a local flavor than just being at some cookie cutter resort. There were swimming lessons being given throughout the morning in the swimming area so on a couple of occasions a little boy with a kickboard would come up and intentionally swim into me until he would get yelled at (it was cute and funny, and yes, probably some form of karma for me laughing at people the other day at VCB or hoping people got spritzed at the water fountain show).

For $20 we got the use of 2 chairs and an umbrella and either a welcome drink or transportation (although I didn’t find out about the latter until after we had already walked there). In turn, as we enjoyed the walk and wanted to walk back along the shore in the water as far as we could get, we took our welcome drink as a goodbye drink. While we were there we had a bucket of Amstel Bright and coronitas and had some onion rings and a ham & cheese toasty; simple food, but it was so good!

 

We did walk back along the water until we hit a beach bar, the west deck, where we stopped for a quick Balashi Chill and then made our way into town. We did some quick shopping buying a t-shirt and swatch watches and then went to Iguana Joe’s for some empanadas and a grouper BLT. As we were walking back to the ship, we stopped at “Local” for a beer and to get onto Wifi. We did some last minute shopping in the terminal at Mopa Mopa and bought some wood artwork; this was after I was disappointed to discover that my favorite glass jewelry store was no longer there, so I needed a consolation purchase. The sun had really wiped us out, as we got more sunburned than we had thought, so when we were onboard we watched sailway from the balcony, got some pizza and treats and watched Divergent and went to bed.

[cibaygirls]

Day 9- At sea

Today was the first day that we really got actively involved in the more typical cruise activities listed in the patter; which is kind of sad as the cruise director staff was great! (better late than never:rolleyes:) We started off with an Art lecture on master prints, then to lunch, then the slot tournament, which despite some technical glitches and near riot situations was fun, but did not make us rich. From there we went to the final art auction and bingo. Tonight was the 2nd formal night and our captains circle party, so we gussied ourselves up and went to that. There were some very tasty hors d’oeuvres, a glass of wine and some speeches and then it was time for dinner. After dinner, we watched some of the production show and then we went to Unplugged, which is a name that tune game with David, the asst cruise director, playing bits of classic rock songs on his guitar. Well, he is an excellent musician, very personable, extremely knowledgeable about music and outright funny, plus we got a perfect score and won, so that was a very enjoyable activity for us. After that was the newlywed match game which is always good for a laugh. Then it was time for bed.

[cibaygirls]

Day 10- At sea

This morning started off with breakfast, again at Horizon Court, and then we rushed down to the internet café to print our boarding passes for our flight home. There was a line, but that moved quickly, and they had even opened up some additional stations where you could use tablets they provided to print. Since there wasn’t anything specific going on at that time, we decided to pack while watching X-Men in the room. By then it was time for Pub lunch, which was followed by the Passenger Talent Show. I would say there were about 10 acts; some singers, some comedians (a lot of Henny Youngman jokes), and a really fun “Pizza Boy/Pizza Man” number. We then went to the classic rock music trivia, and realized our strength is in naming songs/singers, not trivia, but we had fun playing along with friends we had made, who really knew their stuff. We spent some time sitting on the balcony through the rest of the afternoon and went to our final dinner, complete with Baked Alaska parade. On our way down to dinner I stopped to speak to the Captains circle host about some of our concerns with the soot on the balcony. She listened and said it was not the first time this had been brought to her attention and that she would be sure to pass it along and gave us 2 drink coupons. After dinner, we popped open a bottle of Prosecco and made our way back out and about. we did the Motown Music Trivia, which was in a name that tune format. Directly following that was are you smarter than a cruise staff, which was a really fun game that involved several members of the cruise staff and had them doing silly embarrassing things if the audience was smarter (including making Dave, the classic rock aficionado sing ABBA songs). We ended the evening using our drink coupons at Crooners with a martini (again served on the rocks, as we did not specify straight up). Then it was up to bed.

The final day we were up early, did the walk off, immediately grabbed a cab, so we arrived at the airport around 830 with no problems, other than the fact that we now had to cope with life outside of a cruise. :(:eek:

[cibaygirls]

General observations

The design aesthetic of the ship seemed more of a modern style than I am used to, in some spots almost an industrial sort of feel. At some times this did not feel as warm and inviting as other ships

 

The Piazza is absolutely stunning as many others have mentioned. Initially looking at photos I though, OK same old, same old, but it does feel different. There does seem to be some space that is underutilized like the Celebrations store, but it is the heart of the ship.

 

The internet café was smaller than on other ships, so in turn during peak use times there was a bit of a wait; nothing problematic, although we used the computers less than we typically do.

 

I was able to bring wine on board and was not asked at any point to declare it. I had even put 2 additional bottles in a box that I intended to carry on, but last minute put a luggage tag on and checked. There was also soda, water and Halloween decorations in the box. That was the last piece of luggage to come to the room and there was a note inside saying it had been checked due suspected alcoholic contents and that we may be contacted if the levels exceed the allowed limits. We were never contacted. I was fully prepared to pay the corkage fee, but I guess since never declared the 2 bottles we carried on, those 2 in the box counted towards our allotment.

 

Princess live- While we liked this space, when events were held in here that were being filmed, we felt the interaction with the host was lost a bit, as they were more focused on the camera and filming than interacting with the audience. We did enjoy the space and the little treats that are always out on the counter at the bar right there (those linzer tarts are the perfect afternoon sweet to split).

 

Skywalk- While a novel feature, I was excited to see it, but it was one of those, “Ok I saw it” spots, but pretty cool none the less.

 

A lot of raffle tickets were given away, including at all art auctions/lectures, at Happy hour at crooners for a variety of different prizes

 

We always love to see the cruise staff perform “if I were not upon the sea” on all of our cruises, so I was disappointed to learn that they don’t do it on this ship.

 

There were a lot of features we did not get around to which we had intended to like Alfredos, but it always smelled delicious.

 

Loved, loved, loved the love boat them horn when leaving all ports!!

 

Overall, I was skeptical trying something new, and initially my thought is “that’s different, I don’t like it.” But my opinion did change as I became accustomed to the ship and we both did enjoy it. It felt a bit more crowded than other ships, but that could be because there were more days at sea than we have done before, so more times when everyone is on board. The stair situation did not bother us as we had an aft cabin, and the elevator concerns did not bother us either as we always take the stairs. I would sail this ship again.

 

Dana

[RLK33853]

Thanks for taking the time to do up a review Dana. This was an interesting itinerary and a great way to check out the new class of ships. You nailed it with the best part being the theme from the Love Boat being played by the ship's horn as we sailed away from each port.

 

We must have been on the wrong side of the Piazza during the Halloween party because I didn't see a Mary Poppins or a Chimney Sweep - too bad - even checked a video we took but there were so many people dressed up it was hard to see everyone. It was great to see so many people took the time to dress up though. You may have seen us or maybe not - we were the two gangsters in black with white ties and our wives were dressed as 'molls".

 

Ray

[janetz]

Thanks for taking the time to do up a review Dana. This was an interesting itinerary and a great way to check out the new class of ships. You nailed it with the best part being the theme from the Love Boat being played by the ship's horn as we sailed away from each port.

 

We must have been on the wrong side of the Piazza during the Halloween party because I didn't see a Mary Poppins or a Chimney Sweep - too bad - even checked a video we took but there were so many people dressed up it was hard to see everyone. It was great to see so many people took the time to dress up though. You may have seen us or maybe not - we were the two gangsters in black with white ties and our wives were dressed as 'molls".

 

Ray

 

We were sitting next to you in Crooners. Got your pic. Great costumes! :)

[RLK33853]

We were sitting next to you in Crooners. Got your pic. Great costumes! :)

 

Bacon and Eggs??? There were some great costumes and it was nice to see so many people take the time to dress up.

[cibaygirls]

Ray, I did see you guys on Halloween, pretty swanky costumes :D We kind of tucked ourselves in a corner by the stairs by the IC, which is likely why we were on a stalled conga line:rolleyes:

 

Jantez, were you the bacon and eggs,I did see you too

 

I LOVED how many people participated. I tried to come up with costumes that were a little more understated as I wanted to wear it to dinner without standing out too much.

 

Dana

[janetz]

Yes we were bacon and eggs. It was great fun.

[dsawyer]

Great review! Sounds like you really had a great time and made the most of your time on the ship and in the ports.

 

The Meet and Greet was so nice and just wish there had been more time to chat with all that I met on the rollcall.

[CruisingJs]

I totally enjoyed your review. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[JohnBoy in NC]

Dana

 

Great review...it helps me remember as I am writing my still! Good to meet you and Danny for the cab ride and other times during the cruise. Stay warm up there in NY!

 

John in NC