Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Live from Royal Princess February 7-17…Nat & Ro’s 3rd Excellent Adventure-Royal Style

FraudBroad

By FraudBroad,
in Princess Cruises

 Share

Recommended Posts

Arya3

Arya3

Posted
Posted

Natalie,

Thanks for your daily detailed, helpful, and humorous updates on the Royal. I've enjoyed cruising along with you and appreciate the time you have given up to allow us to share in your amusing adventures. I have had the pleasure of cruising with David and Melissa twice on the Royal and agree with you that all cruise director staff should be as nice as them! I am getting excited for my upcoming trip on the Regal which will be my first time to the Caribbean.

Hope you and Ro have a safe trip home!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TracieABD "Live from...." Rare

TracieABD

Posted
Posted

Oh, no! I hate that this is coming to an end... That means your "excellent adventure" is almost over!:( I will miss your updates!

 

I guess, we will just have to find another somebody, boarding today, to carry the mantle and start a new live from thread.

 

Anyone? Anyone? Anybody? Bueller? Anyone?

 

I will anxiously await your final thoughts!

TL:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FraudBroad

FraudBroad

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yesterday was a sad...sad...sad day...

 

I was up early to spend a bit more time sitting in the warm sun before leaving to head back to the frozen tundra. Don't get me wrong...I missed my girls...but I was going to miss Royal Princess, my new friends, the fabulous fun...and the wonderful weather!

 

Ro and I headed to the Princess Theater around 8:45. We waited until almost 9:20...we heard no announcements, there was a waiter serving coffee but no other ship personnel. The Theater was packed with people waiting to disembark. We decided to head to the Piazza and see what was going on.

 

Low and behold the gangway was EMPTY. We our ship cards were scanned and we were off in the blink of an eye...small tears...sigh....

 

We found our luggage right away and only waited in line for customs for about 10 minutes. Our porter found us a cab right away and we were at the airport in no time. Cab fare for the two of us was $11.00.

 

We checked in and made our way to the gate for our flight at 11:35. The whole terminal was a mad house and you couldn't even find a place to sit! Evidently the issues with weather across the country were reeking havoc with air travel. Our flight was delayed about 40 minutes and before we knew it we had landed at Milwaukee.

 

It took forever to get our bags and we finally made it to her car at the hotel around 3:30. We had to stop for gas on the way home and finally made it to my house at 5:00. It was a LONG LONG LONG day!!!!

 

Something with the car didn't seem right and when we arrived at my house we realized it had been broken into while we were gone. Ro's brand new GPS was gone as well as a set of tickets to a show in Chicago for next month. And if you want to know why we didn't realize it until we got home all I can say is she doesn't keep her car very clean....I told her to call the hotel and the Milwaukee Police when she got home. Whether or not she did that I have no idea. It was just a sad end to a very good vacation!!!!

 

I'll post again in the next few days with final thoughts. Again, thank you all for your kind words and following us along!

 

Regards,

Natalie

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FraudBroad

FraudBroad

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Nat, Vicki, and Tracie-Lynn, Could you tell us what you saw folks wearing on formal nights? More glitz and glam, or a little more casual? Men wearing more tuxes or possibly shirt and tie?

 

Actually all of the above! You'd be safe in anything....but for the dinning rooms you do have to be a bit more dressed up...though I did see people in shorts in the buffet area those nights!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
vickie_bernie

vickie_bernie

Posted
Posted
Just curious, do you know why the itinerary is different for this sailing? We're on the 2/27 sailing, so even though the port order won't be the same, it's been fun to follow along with Nat & with your blog, Vicki. Cruise anticipation is building to a fever pitch!

 

Many things cause an itinerary to change. But I believe the reason for this change was occupancy at berths at certain ports. It all comes down to parking spots.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RNGALNG

RNGALNG

Posted
Posted

What about her breathing machine?? Did they take that as well?

 

Glad you are home safe. Most things can be replaced but it stinks having your car messed up like that. You feel violated! You are back just in time for more cold and snow. Imagine that!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
desiro

desiro

Posted
Posted

You should go on Stub Hub and take a look and see if anyone is selling your tickets online! They would not be dumb enough to show up at the Theater I wouldn't think would they?!?

 

Glad you had a great trip and it was fun reading your posts! Thanks - I'll say hi to the Royal for you 7 weeks from right now!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FraudBroad

FraudBroad

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Final thoughts…hits and misses…see it…skip it…here are my closing remarks.

 

Just about the ship…

 

I’ll start with the overall design of the ship and of course my thoughts on the center staircase…or should I say lack thereof…

 

I want to start by saying that I specifically chose this ship, Royal Princess. I wanted to sail on one of the new ships and this one had the itinerary that most appealed to me. 7 days just doesn’t cut it for me anymore. Go big or go home as I always say!

 

We were on Emerald Deck (8) so the center staircase became. Most of the time we were hanging out on decks 5-7. When you can’t just walk down one flight of stairs to get where you’re going it’s a pain in the arse…And what’s really irritating is the looks you get in the elevator from people when you’re just going down one deck. I got to the point that if anyone looked at me funny when I pushed 7 when getting on the elevator at 8 I was more than happy to announce “Hey, I’d love to walk, but Princess won’t let me.” It always made people laugh. On the port days when you had to go down to deck 4 to get off, the wait for the elevators could be VERY long. Quite frankly, the elevators on the ship are just too darned small!!!

 

That being said, if I were to sail Royal again I’d book a forward or aft cabin. If so…center staircase issue SOLVED!!!!

 

The Pool area was another one that made me scratch my head. While the premise of the huge fountain is wonderful…it takes away from space as well as an additional pool which is sorely LACKING. My hope is that with R3 they will take out the fountain and add another pool. Unless you pay the extra moola for the Sanctuary, good luck finding a place to lounge poolside. Remember, there is no aft pool by Outriggers either. On another note, though I tried the first night to make it to the fountain show (ended up being cancelled) I could never find the time to go back and see it another night. Big disappointment!

 

Another thing that made me go “hmmmm” was the cabin itself. Looked like every single other cabin I’ve ever stayed in on any Princess ship. While I do believe that there should be some constants in life this made me a bit disappointed. I was looking for something “innovative” and there wasn’t anything. My personal opinion is that unless you are in a mini-suite or above the bathrooms on Princess ships SUCK!!! No other word to describe. I’ve sailed other cruise lines that do a MUCH better job with bathroom design. Overall my cabin impression was that it was “lacking” while the storage space was “okay” I felt that Princess could have invested a bit more in creating a new design and color palette to change things up a bit.

 

Princess Live is another concept that while excellent, fell flat for me. While it was fine for 98% of what we attended there, it was by far not large enough for some of the bigger things like “Marriage Match” and “Liars Club.” While we did attend trivia there quite a few times we always had to re-arrange our chairs so that we could sit more in a “group” setting. For those of you who haven’t seen it, its set up as a TV studio and all of the chairs are arranged facing forward, like in a theater. The concept is great for all of the shows they want to film, but there are too few seats and the arrangement of them doesn’t always work!

 

It’s all about the food…

 

We ate every dinner in the Concerto dining room, early seating at 5:30. Our entire table agreed on the first night that 5:30 was too early so going forward we wouldn’t show up until 5:45. I can tell you I don’t think this made our waiter very happy but so be it. I was on vacation and going with the flow. The food was always excellent and our waiter and assistant waiter were both very good. No complaints at all!

 

The only time I grabbed food in the buffet was when I wanted my muesli for breakfast. I never quite understood the flow of the buffet area and most of the time I left feeling confused. I heard people that liked it and I heard people that didn’t. Overall, most agreed that the food was excellent!

 

My two favorite alternates are Alfredo’s Pizza and the International Café. Both were always outstanding. It was sad that last day when I said a final goodbye to my one true love, the croissant donut. I promised that I’d return one day to continue our mad, passionate affair!

 

Let me entertain you…

 

If you’ve followed along then you already know that we skipped all of them. As we have a season subscription to Broadway in Chicago the shows weren’t that appealing to us. But, from what I heard, all of the shows were excellent, especially “Tenors of Rock.” I wish we’d been able to make it to this one. My understanding is it’s a CAN’T MISS! The skip it would be the magician. While I understand his close up show in the Vista Lounge was outstanding, his big show in the Princess Theater was a HUGE flop!

 

As far as what I heard from people that attended, everyone seemed to like the big production shows. I heard one complain that the music in the big shows was much too loud. When I asked the person if they’d complained to any of the staff about it they gave me a bewildered look. Seriously folks, if you don’t say something then nothing will ever change!

 

The comedian onboard, Phil Tag, was awesome. We saw him as part of the “Liars Club” and I wish I’d make it to his show. He’s pretty hysterical!

 

As you’ve already read we had a great time attending all of the trivia/games put on by the Cruise Director’s staff. We loved each and every one of them with the exception of the “Lyrics” game. This one was held twice and both times it fell flat. I full out told Toby I didn’t like it and they needed to come up with something else! We laughed until we cried during the “Name that tune unplugged” which David hosted. He’s an incredibly talented guitar player and has an amazing personality! I loved each and every one of the Cruise Director’s staff: Peter (CD), Toby (Assistant CD), David, Melissa, Tansy, Daniel & Allen. What makes me sad is that the Cruise Director’s staff is ALWAYS getting changed. You will NEVER EVER have that same exact group together again and I think that’s a mistake. When something works, and works really well, don’t screw it up!!! I liked Peter, the Cruise Director, quite well. What I did hear was some negative comments from guests who were on a B2B cruise, that Peter wasn’t as “present” as Lisa, the prior Cruise Director, had been. While I believe this to be very true, the fact was that Peter got on the ship the same day we did. He was still getting his bearings and figuring out his staff. Give the boy a break  He had a wonderful personality, was quite personal, and I found him to be hysterically funny! He was by far one of the best I’ve seen on a Princess Ship!

 

Shop ‘til you drop…

 

All of the usual suspects are onboard Royal and all located on deck 7. We shopped mainly on the islands and didn’t really have a reason to shop the stores onboard. I did make it the last sea day to the big “SALE” in the Symphony dining room and it was so packed you couldn’t get around. I didn’t last long and didn’t find anything “AMAZING” that I couldn’t live without.

 

Planned vs Executed

 

I go into every vacation with a list a mile long of things I want to try and do. In this case, much of what I wanted to try just didn’t happen.

I’d planned on the following:

Crown Grill

Fondue

Crab Shack

 

I ate 3 of the 10 nights in the main dining room and found the menu always appealing and the food delicious. While at some point I’d like to try all three of the above I’ll save them for next time I’m onboard.

 

Massage/facial

In fact, I never even made it for a tour of the Spa!!!! I’ll finish this section with…there’s always next time 

 

Fountain show…tried to go the first night and it was cancelled. There was always so much more going on I just never seemed to make it back for any of the other shows!!!

 

Ports of Call

 

I love, love, love, love, love this itinerary. We stopped in the following ports: St. Kitts, Barbados, Antigua, Saint Lucia, St. Thomas and Grand Turk. I found something that I really enjoyed at each and every stop. I was disappointed that we didn’t have more time in Saint Lucia. It’s a pretty large island and when the port time is short, you miss out! I found the perfect beach in Barbados, and I can’t wait to return. I loved the Carambola Beach Club in St. Kitts and don’t forget they make the world’s best Pina Colada! I highly recommend the Catamaran/Lobster/Champagne Lunch excursion through Princess in Antigua and would do it again in a heartbeat! Although the weather was rainy in the morning in St. Thomas, the clouds cleared and we had a wonderful time shopping downtown. And I really did like the fact that this itinerary included Grand Turk instead of Princess Cay. This disappointment was because it was just too crowded with three ships in port! I’m sorry to see that for next year, the itinerary doesn’t stop here but goes back to Princess Cay.

 

This was my 14th cruise and 5th overall with Princess. I’d probably rate it my most favorite Princess cruise and put it in the top 3 of all of the cruises I’ve taken. While I won’t specifically book Royal again to sail Royal, I wouldn’t NOT sail her again. I think overall I prefer ships that are a bit smaller (Emerald/Ruby). That being said, there’s a good likelihood that I will sail her again, an almost identical itinerary (less Grand Turk) in January of 2016.

 

I’ve sailed the Caribbean countless times and maybe I should look into going somewhere else. The fact of the matter is I live someplace that is freezing cold from November through May. I don’t mind being here in the spring, summer or fall, but the winter just sucks. I choose to cruise in the winter to give myself a break from this lousy weather. As I’m typing the current temperature is -6 with a wind-chill making it -26. And as I’m looking back over this fabulous vacation, I can’t help but say “what was I thinking coming back to this weather?????”

 

Thank you all for following along with us during our journey and leaving such kind words. I hope each and every one of you can experience a cruise as great as the one I just took on Royal Princess!

 

Happy sailing!

Natalie

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FraudBroad

FraudBroad

Posted
  • Author
Posted
What about her breathing machine?? Did they take that as well?

 

Glad you are home safe. Most things can be replaced but it stinks having your car messed up like that. You feel violated! You are back just in time for more cold and snow. Imagine that!

 

The CPAP was unzipped but all was all there. Thank GOODNESS!!!

 

I have enjoyed reading your review. One question: did you have a guaranteed reservation with them which was not held because the hotel was overbooked or did you try to book when you arrived? Just wondered. Thanks.

 

We had a guaranteed reservation through Hotels.com that had been PAID IN FULL AT TIME OF BOOKING. I'm writing my letter to the CEO today. They haven't hear the last from me!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bimmer09 "Live from...." Rare

Bimmer09

Posted
Posted

Natalie- I came upon your review today and went to the last page. Great summary if ever there was one.

 

So now I will start at post one and see what I have been missing.

 

Great job!

 

Norris

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FraudBroad

FraudBroad

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Thanks for the live.

 

A little confused by this.....

 

We ate every dinner in the Concerto dining room, early seating at 5:30.

 

I ate 3 of the 10 nights in the main dining room.

 

Duhhhhh....should be 7 of the 10 nights!!! I'm losing it...must be the PCD setting in...or the fact that my brain is frozen from this weather!!!

 

Let's try again...

 

We were scheduled to eat in the Concerto dinning room, early seating at 5:30.

I ate 7 of the 10 nights in the dinning room.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

Posted
Posted
Duhhhhh....should be 7 of the 10 nights!!! I'm losing it...must be the PCD setting in...or the fact that my brain is frozen from this weather!!!

 

Let's try again...

 

We were scheduled to eat in the Concerto dinning room, early seating at 5:30.

I ate 7 of the 10 nights in the dinning room.

 

 

Gotcha! :D

 

Ours (weather) is coming this weekend. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites
caribill

caribill

Posted
Posted
Princess Live is another concept that while excellent, fell flat for me. While it was fine for 98% of what we attended there, it was by far not large enough for some of the bigger things like “Marriage Match” and “Liars Club.”......there are too few seats and the arrangement of them doesn’t always work!

 

The number of seats at Princess Live! is about the same as the number of seats in the Explorers Lounge on other ships.

 

Of course, the same problem existed for Explorers, not enough seating for all the people that want to see the entertainment and game shows there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail on Sun Princess®
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...