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Live from the Royal Princess, January 28- February 7: The Move-Over Boomerang Cruise

TracieABD

By TracieABD,
in Princess Cruises

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Laurie7

Laurie7

Posted
Posted

I hope that your flight made it ok and that you have an awesome cruise. Due to a lot of negative reviews, I am looking forward to some positive comments on your journey on the Royal. We sail on February 27, 2015 and are really excited about it. Look forward to your live feedback!

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Working 2 Cruise

Working 2 Cruise

Posted
Posted
I hope that your flight made it ok and that you have an awesome cruise. Due to a lot of negative reviews, I am looking forward to some positive comments on your journey on the Royal. We sail on February 27, 2015 and are really excited about it. Look forward to your live feedback!

 

You really should take those reviews with a big grain of salt! There are people who don't adapt well to change... There was a very recent live from the Regal... I hope you read it!

 

Tracie, you're in our thoughts!

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Pam in CA

Pam in CA

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Posted (edited)
I hope that your flight made it ok and that you have an awesome cruise. Due to a lot of negative reviews, I am looking forward to some positive comments on your journey on the Royal. We sail on February 27, 2015 and are really excited about it. Look forward to your live feedback!
Forget the negative reviews. There's a LOT to like about the Royal. I've sailed on just about every single Princess ship, including the Royal I, Royal II, Regal I, etc. going back almost 25 years and have now sailed twice on the Royal III on 17-day cruises. Just got off the Crown and really missed the features I love about the Royal.

 

Tracie-Lynn is on her way as of five hours ago. That's all I know. :)

Edited by Pam in CA
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Laurie7

Laurie7

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Thanks Nina & Pam for the reminder. This will be our 7th Princess cruise and I haven't been disappointed yet. I just wish that more people would see the glass as half full. I try to read as much as possible so I will definitely check out the posting from the Regal.

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RNGALNG

RNGALNG

Posted
Posted

Following along with best wishes for a great cruise! I'm sure we will hear from you shortly. Can't wait for your live from.

 

We are to sail later on the Royal for the first time. I was like some others and not to thrilled at first to try her, but am now really excited after seeing more photos and reading more reviews of some of the things we don't see on some of the other ships. Ah, to be cruising right now!!!!

 

Let your fun begin!!!

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WisCruiser2

WisCruiser2

Posted
Posted
I hope that your flight made it ok and that you have an awesome cruise. Due to a lot of negative reviews, I am looking forward to some positive comments on your journey on the Royal. We sail on February 27, 2015 and are really excited about it. Look forward to your live feedback!

 

We have a nice Roll Call going for your cruise -- come join us!

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OrcaGirl "Live from...." Rare

OrcaGirl

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Hope you have a great time, and will be following along!

 

If you get the chance, post and/or save the Patters and menus to share later. There are a whole bunch of us looking for the Patters and MDR menus for the 10-day Southern Caribbean itinerary on the Royal.

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TracieABD "Live from...." Rare

TracieABD

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Holy crap! Ya'all are so super great! I have not had a second all day to post anything, but you have really hung in there.

 

Thank you for all the kind words and good wishes. I am pretty sure that this vacation is all your fault!

 

Special thanks to Pam for updating the group.

 

I will post today's entry in the next post!

 

Tons of smilies to you!:):):):):)

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TracieABD "Live from...." Rare

TracieABD

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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

 

Embarkation Day

 

It must be my brand new lucky pajamas as I am on vacation... For a while, I have been packing these stinky (not literally), old pajama and I have NOT been traveling. So, I have purchased fancy new pajama and and I am on vacation! See the correlation???? Viola! I know, I know. Correlation does not equal causation, but I am going to pretend there is a relationship between my jammies and my vacation.

 

Last night, I hardly slept. I kept checking the flight status, answering work email, and fretting. So it seemed just easier to get up at 2 am and finalize the details of the trip. I finished loading the car and gathered my husband and mother. By 4:30 am, we were on our way to the airport. My super-sweetie DH got us there in record time. We checked in, got a wheelchair, and were on the plane without a hiccup. The flight to Atlanta was smooth and easy. In ATL, we were met by the wheelchair guy who took us to our next gate. We received a small upgrade to preferred seating. We would have arrived in FLL super early, but we had to be de-iced. Now, for those of you above the Mason-Dixon line, this may not be any big deal, but down South, de-icing is a pretty big event. In spite of this, we were wheels-up on time and landed early. The wheelchair dude was right there, grabbed our bags (lots of bags) and had us in a taxi within 20 minutes of landing. Wow. The travel gods appeared to be smiling on us.

 

Once we arrived at port, it took a moment to negotiate the ramps and the queue into the Preferred Line. For those of you who have not followed along, my mother and I are on this cruise as one part of this mack-daddy move-over offer. One of the contingencies was an upgrade to a full suite. Sweet.

 

After check-in, we were directed upstairs. At this point, people were sorted into two groups. Those who require assistance. And those who are Elite (Platinum has a separate area) and/ or in a full suite. Due to my mother's mobility issues, we were sent to the mobility impairment room. It was only after I pointed out that our keys have SUITE in big letters to the sorting dude were we allowed to enter the holy shrine. For those of you who care, yes, there were bevies and pastries, and coffee. I normally would not care greatly about the difference, but I have been gunning for the Sanctuary, so I wanted to get on as fast as possible.

 

And fast it went. The wheelchair dude (it is sort of becoming a big old blur of wheelchair dudes now) brought us straight to our room. I would have loved to stop and admire our digs, but I had places to be.

I jogged up to the Sanctuary and it was chaos, quiet and controlled chaos, but chaos all the same. I did not know this, but there is a new system. You are supposed to reserve the Sanctuary on your phone in your stateroom by dialing 138. Then you go up to the Sanctuary to confirm your reservation and pick out your lounger. The Serenity Dictator- um, I mean Steward, who was running the show was really confusing the issue. Some people had called, and some had just raced up there. If you were in the latter group, he would leave the area and call in your reservation for you. So weird. Well, the mood was definitely stressed and several large groups were booking together, so I opted to just book for tomorrow. I will go a day at a time. The mojo was just not right to book for the entire cruise.

 

Once I returned to the room, I met our delightful room steward. His name is Richard (just like my super sweetie DH) and he is AMAZE-BALLS! I forgot to make my "Yes, I really am this high maintenance" list, but no worries. He walked in with a clip-board and pen and asked us lots of questions so he could customize his service to meet our needs. What???? That is crazy good service! He has been in and out all day, trying to get the things that we asked for. The funniest part is the fruit. Initially, he brought us a basket of mixed fruits: apples, bananas, grapes, oranges, etc... He asked if we like the fruit, and I had to admit I could eat none of it because I am allergic to apples, and apples are in the basket "touching" the other fruit. He simply stated, "I understand, I am allergic to shrimp". When we came back this evening, we had 5 baskets of fruit; one basket of oranges, one basket of apples, one basket of bananas, etc. He really aims to please.

 

I had lunch at Alfredo's. I stuck with the two antipasto plates. Yum, and just right. The food so far has been great. This is not going to be good for my diet. I am going to have to double-time the stairs to make a small counter-balance to the calories I am consuming.

 

We had dinner at the Crown and it was great. I have found that my experiences at the Crown have been very consistent. They always slightly over-cook my steak ( You could brand my steak and I would consider it done) and everything else is delicious. This meal was no exception. Our waiter, Enrique, was genuinely fun. I just wish I could get a smaller piece of meat. There is no way that I can eat a half a pound of red meat, and I hate to waste a perfectly good, if only slightly over-cooked, steak. What to do??

 

After dinner, I took my mom to the casino to SKI (Spend Kids Inheritance), and I returned to the room to work on this little (ha!) ditty. I know have probably lost most of you, but I blather onward...

 

Thank you for all of your kind thoughts, crossed-fingers, rabbit foot rubbing. We ARE on vacation, so the revised score is:

 

Tracie= 1 Vacation Gremlins= 2

 

Score!!!!!!

 

More tomorrow!

TL

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luvabeach

luvabeach

Posted
Posted

Thanks so much for this review Tracie. We are leaving on the feb 27th -March 9th and I am starting to work myself into a frenzy regarding getting into the Sanctuary for entire cruise. Please let me know how full it actually is the days you go....did people get turned away??? Not sure why they do not let one reserve ahead of time, seems absurd. Most other cruise lines have a far better system.

Have a wonderful 10 days and I look forward to hearing every detail!!!! Thanks again.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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