Just back from 11/24 Royal Princess Eastern Caribbean

[xltiny]

Figured I would share some of the thoughts from our first cruise on the Royal Princess. A 10 day Eastern Caribbean itinerary encompassing Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados, St Kitts, St Thomas and Princess Cays.

 

Embarkation

Arriving at Port Everglades (Pier 2) at around 10:30am there was already a pretty long (100ft) line in the non-preferred embarkation waiting for their chance to enter the port to be processed. The preferred passenger line stretched out to the ramp, it took about 30 minutes or so for us to make our way thru the line and get our cruise cards, based upon the 1100 or so Platinum/Elites on this cruise waiting areas were divided into Platinum downstairs Elite upstairs. There were ample amounts of juice/water and pastries and they were refilled quite frequently. By the time we got to the Elite room there were only 20-30 people in the room, so my guess is most of the crowd in front of us was Platinum.

 

First Impressions

The ship is absolutely gorgeous, we dropped our bags off at the room and headed to the dining room. We got seated with some other folks and had the typical sailaway lunch. Food was tasty but no better or worse than what we've had before.

 

After lunch we went exploring, as our cabin was located just forward of the forward stairs the lack of a midhship staircase was an annoyance for all of about 2 minutes, after which our brains figured out to walk forward or aft and it wasn't an issue for the rest of the cruise.

 

Piazza - Absolutely gorgeous, almost every event in the Piazza had people watching from all three decks.

 

"Royal Tea" - It is advertised that there is a $10 pp Afternoon tea that occurs in the Piazza with the string quartet playing and a wider selection of teas. I saw areas for tea time roped off but nobody was ever seated in the 2 or 3 times I wandered by.

 

Horizon Court/Bistro/Pastry Shop - This was a real treat, while the Bistro mainly had build your own Gyro/Taco/Sandwiches and the apt named pastry shop had desserts, the new and improved layout for the Horizon Court had seating aplenty no real wait for omelettes in the morning and at least 2 or 3 different types of carving stations every night. We found the food to be a huge step up compared to other Princess ships we have been on. The best part of the new layout was the availability of seating at any time of day.

 

Dining - All three dining rooms got updated decor and looked much nicer. Dining primarily in Allegro, we only ate in Concerto twice but from what we saw it was setup for lots of tables for "2", granted they were tables for 2 separated by 30 inches between tables in a giant line. In Allegro the section we were located in was a semi closed alcove with 4 x 4 tops and a 8 top, the partitioning helped cut down the noise from the rest of the dining room and dining felt more intimate rather than in a cafeteria, we were able to have normal volume conversations without bothering our neighbors.

 

The quality of food in the dining room was hit and miss, on some nights things were overcooked or sat so long that they became soggy and on other nights were some of the best meals we ever had. (Lobster night on the 2nd formal night had some of the best lobster we have ever eaten, it was large succulent not over cooked or salted and had a slight "sea" taste to it, the jumbo shrimp though were tough and tasteless. Although we don't experience east coast lobster often we do go out for a live lobster meal about once every month or so back home and the lobster in the MDR was significantly better. Past Princess lobster we have experienced be it the Crown Grill or MDR has varied between bearable > awful so we were very surprised.)

 

I suspect one of the reasons for the soggy food perhaps had to do with one of the tables located in our section had some "highly demanding" diners who walked in 15 mins late every night and complained to the head waiter that they had been there for 10 mins and not got their appetizers yet, following that episode they got their courses first regardless if they ordered first or last. For 5 nights they complained about the food continually and monopolized the time of 2 of the head waiters and our waiter and jr waiter, to the detriment of everyone else in the section. What really irked me was there was a table nearby where a woman required a walker to get around and the walker was stored around the corner and this woman fussed about not wanting somebody else's mobility device near them.[/end rant]

 

Alfredo's - Ate there twice during lunch, the additional menu choices (ravioli/tiramisu/etc) made this a much more interesting food venue compared to the Alfredo's retrofit on the Grand Princess. Food was excellent.

 

International Cafe - Food here was outstanding per usual

 

Gelato - We tried a couple different things here, crepe with ice cream, Oreo Sundae, and 3 scoops in a waffle cone. The crepe and waffle cone were both very lacking (soggy waffle cone, and my crepe guy took about 5 tries to get a sad looking tiny crepe)The ice cream while not gummy like the normal dining room ice cream was nothing really special (we might be spoiled as we have an award winning gelato place in town).

 

Norman Love Desserts - For the first time we tried 2 more of the Norman Love inspired desserts they were both definitely a step up from the normal desserts, the first was a cheesecake type dessert and the 2nd being the pistachio/chocolate mousse was absolutely divine and I am still kicking myself that I didn't get 2!

 

Stateroom - We had one of the new "sideways" inside cabins Category IC located on Deck 15, while overall a little more roomy than the standard inside cabin the bathroom unit is on an angle and the door does not open far enough. I am happy to report that the shower seems larger than other normal inside cabins we have stayed in where the "stability bar" is not located smack in the middle but at the far end away from the water so I was not constantly turning into it. Also there is a little ledge at about knee height to either put your foot up on or to store additional shower items (it was not large enough to sit on) I am not sure if this is common on the Royal or not but it was rather difficult to turn the water temperature down below 30 degrees as the knob seemed to be slightly stuck, even with the safety button pushed down.

 

Ports:Being our first trip to the Eastern Caribbean we did not know what to expect but not being beach people we generally found the islands to be more or less the same and the scenery was similar to what we saw in Hawaii. We did snorkel with stingrays and took a couple of tours to see the local highlights. While the experience was not unpleasant we probably won't do that set of islands again.

 

Closing thoughts: We would not hesitate to book another cruise on the Royal Princess due to how it disperses the large volume of people as well as the quality and quantity of amenities on board.

[canadarocks]

Thanks so much for the great review. We'll be on the Royal for 20 nights in March in an IC cabin as well. :)

[OCruisers]

Thanks so much for your review! :)

Happy to hear the lobster was better than it has been in the past (agree not so good in the past).

LuLu

[nasa1974]

Thanks for the review. We will be doing the same itinerary in March. This will be our third time on the Royal.

[Laurie7]

Thank you so much for your time writing this detailed review. We sail on Royal on February 27, 2015 and are really looking forward to it.

[canadarocks]

Thank you so much for your time writing this detailed review. We sail on Royal on February 27, 2015 and are really looking forward to it.

 

We are on the same sailing. You should check out our Roll Call Laurie! :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1933423

[Woobstr112G]

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

 

Bob

[bachcruise]

Thank you for your great review! Glad to hear you had such a good cruise. I got to spend a few short hours on the Royal last year and was really impressed..can't wait to actually sail on her next week!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Frflatt]

Thanks for the excellent review, we too will be on the Royal in March (19th) and doing the same itinerary- 97 days and counting.

 

We were on the Regal last August and so sort of know what to expect, but all info is helpful and only serves to make us more excited!:)

Edited December 11, 2014 by Frflatt

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

I've got to agree with you about the Gelato quality- it doesn't compare to anything we've had elsewhere. This was the first time on Princess we've tried their Gelato & while it was OK you can get the same thing in the dining room at no additional cost.

Most nights they hadn't sold even half of what they had prepared & just threw it away. It make me wonder if they break even with what they discard.

The only time they sold most of it was on the last day when people were using up their punches on their coffee cards.

[hospvol]

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Royal on Jan. 8. :)

[mph045]

thank You for the review-very helpful!

[Kaitlyn2]

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Royal on Jan. 8. :)

We too will be on the Royal on the 8th but start as a B2B on Dec 29th. Can't wait to see how they do New Year's Eve.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[boca7]

Figured I would share some of the thoughts from our first cruise on the Royal Princess. A 10 day Eastern Caribbean itinerary encompassing Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados, St Kitts, St Thomas and Princess Cays.

 

Embarkation

Arriving at Port Everglades (Pier 2) at around 10:30am there was already a pretty long (100ft) line in the non-preferred embarkation waiting for their chance to enter the port to be processed. The preferred passenger line stretched out to the ramp, it took about 30 minutes or so for us to make our way thru the line and get our cruise cards, based upon the 1100 or so Platinum/Elites on this cruise waiting areas were divided into Platinum downstairs Elite upstairs. There were ample amounts of juice/water and pastries and they were refilled quite frequently. By the time we got to the Elite room there were only 20-30 people in the room, so my guess is most of the crowd in front of us was Platinum.

 

First Impressions

The ship is absolutely gorgeous, we dropped our bags off at the room and headed to the dining room. We got seated with some other folks and had the typical sailaway lunch. Food was tasty but no better or worse than what we've had before.

 

After lunch we went exploring, as our cabin was located just forward of the forward stairs the lack of a midhship staircase was an annoyance for all of about 2 minutes, after which our brains figured out to walk forward or aft and it wasn't an issue for the rest of the cruise.

 

Piazza - Absolutely gorgeous, almost every event in the Piazza had people watching from all three decks.

 

"Royal Tea" - It is advertised that there is a $10 pp Afternoon tea that occurs in the Piazza with the string quartet playing and a wider selection of teas. I saw areas for tea time roped off but nobody was ever seated in the 2 or 3 times I wandered by.

 

Horizon Court/Bistro/Pastry Shop - This was a real treat, while the Bistro mainly had build your own Gyro/Taco/Sandwiches and the apt named pastry shop had desserts, the new and improved layout for the Horizon Court had seating aplenty no real wait for omelettes in the morning and at least 2 or 3 different types of carving stations every night. We found the food to be a huge step up compared to other Princess ships we have been on. The best part of the new layout was the availability of seating at any time of day.

 

Dining - All three dining rooms got updated decor and looked much nicer. Dining primarily in Allegro, we only ate in Concerto twice but from what we saw it was setup for lots of tables for "2", granted they were tables for 2 separated by 30 inches between tables in a giant line. In Allegro the section we were located in was a semi closed alcove with 4 x 4 tops and a 8 top, the partitioning helped cut down the noise from the rest of the dining room and dining felt more intimate rather than in a cafeteria, we were able to have normal volume conversations without bothering our neighbors.

 

The quality of food in the dining room was hit and miss, on some nights things were overcooked or sat so long that they became soggy and on other nights were some of the best meals we ever had. (Lobster night on the 2nd formal night had some of the best lobster we have ever eaten, it was large succulent not over cooked or salted and had a slight "sea" taste to it, the jumbo shrimp though were tough and tasteless. Although we don't experience east coast lobster often we do go out for a live lobster meal about once every month or so back home and the lobster in the MDR was significantly better. Past Princess lobster we have experienced be it the Crown Grill or MDR has varied between bearable > awful so we were very surprised.)

 

I suspect one of the reasons for the soggy food perhaps had to do with one of the tables located in our section had some "highly demanding" diners who walked in 15 mins late every night and complained to the head waiter that they had been there for 10 mins and not got their appetizers yet, following that episode they got their courses first regardless if they ordered first or last. For 5 nights they complained about the food continually and monopolized the time of 2 of the head waiters and our waiter and jr waiter, to the detriment of everyone else in the section. What really irked me was there was a table nearby where a woman required a walker to get around and the walker was stored around the corner and this woman fussed about not wanting somebody else's mobility device near them.[/end rant]

 

Alfredo's - Ate there twice during lunch, the additional menu choices (ravioli/tiramisu/etc) made this a much more interesting food venue compared to the Alfredo's retrofit on the Grand Princess. Food was excellent.

 

International Cafe - Food here was outstanding per usual

 

Gelato - We tried a couple different things here, crepe with ice cream, Oreo Sundae, and 3 scoops in a waffle cone. The crepe and waffle cone were both very lacking (soggy waffle cone, and my crepe guy took about 5 tries to get a sad looking tiny crepe)The ice cream while not gummy like the normal dining room ice cream was nothing really special (we might be spoiled as we have an award winning gelato place in town).

 

Norman Love Desserts - For the first time we tried 2 more of the Norman Love inspired desserts they were both definitely a step up from the normal desserts, the first was a cheesecake type dessert and the 2nd being the pistachio/chocolate mousse was absolutely divine and I am still kicking myself that I didn't get 2!

 

Stateroom - We had one of the new "sideways" inside cabins Category IC located on Deck 15, while overall a little more roomy than the standard inside cabin the bathroom unit is on an angle and the door does not open far enough. I am happy to report that the shower seems larger than other normal inside cabins we have stayed in where the "stability bar" is not located smack in the middle but at the far end away from the water so I was not constantly turning into it. Also there is a little ledge at about knee height to either put your foot up on or to store additional shower items (it was not large enough to sit on) I am not sure if this is common on the Royal or not but it was rather difficult to turn the water temperature down below 30 degrees as the knob seemed to be slightly stuck, even with the safety button pushed down.

 

Ports:Being our first trip to the Eastern Caribbean we did not know what to expect but not being beach people we generally found the islands to be more or less the same and the scenery was similar to what we saw in Hawaii. We did snorkel with stingrays and took a couple of tours to see the local highlights. While the experience was not unpleasant we probably won't do that set of islands again.

 

Closing thoughts: We would not hesitate to book another cruise on the Royal Princess due to how it disperses the large volume of people as well as the quality and quantity of amenities on board.

 

I was on the same cruise & your dining comments are right on. his was my 4th cruise on the Royal & in the past everything was a 10. They must have changed chefs, soups were served lukewarm, pasta`s were lukewarm & overcooked, & your right formal night was great. I thought the service everywhere was outstanding especially the specialty restaurants which also had outstanding entrees.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

I was on the same cruise & your dining comments are right on. his was my 4th cruise on the Royal & in the past everything was a 10. They must have changed chefs, soups were served lukewarm, pasta`s were lukewarm & overcooked, & your right formal night was great. I thought the service everywhere was outstanding especially the specialty restaurants which also had outstanding entrees.

 

We ate most nights at the buffet & although I personally didn't try the warm soups but my wife said the ones at the buffet were only lukewarm every time she ate them. The pasta's seem OK to me. I suppose we should have said something about the temperature to the Sous chef and he would have corrected it. They were always standing by to check on everything and were open to any criticism.