Royal Princess Review 2016-01-29 10 Day Caribbean

[Katie333]

Just back ...

 

We had mixed feelings when the Royal Princess debuted. We have long felt Princess needed to modernize their décor and shipboard amenities, but were disappointed to hear of the small balconies and cabin sizes. Unlike many, we DO enjoy spending time in our cabin, particularly on the balcony so this issue was of concern to us. Despite this, these 40-ish Platinum Princess cruisers decided to set sail for a 10 day trip to the Caribbean.

 

The Cabin:

 

Yes, the balcony is indeed small. Much smaller than any ship we’ve ever sailed on. With that said, it was still comfortable to sit out there and have a drink and watch the waves. We were sailing with friends and we opened the partition between balconies which made it extra long, and with some manoeuvring we could move from balcony to balcony. This was not the deal breaker I had feared and with the modern décor and good storage, the small cabin was still quite nice. We loved the new TV, and all the on-demand features. Our stewardess Roselle was fantastic, very funny, and great at adjusting to our bizarre schedule, and finding time to slip into the room for a refresh.

 

The Food:

 

This was an area we were really looking forward to, as it seemed Princess made real effort to improve offerings and add more variety. We did enjoy the buffet, and ate there almost exclusively. Lots of choices, loved the taco bar and the sandwiches (on Princess bread/buns, you simply can’t go wrong!), plus the Pastry Shop with the coffee bar. Admittedly there were 1 or 2 nights where we actually had trouble finding something that appealed to us, but other nights were a bonanza of options, so certainly one’s personal tastes and preferences will weigh in here. My husband tried every one of the Chocolate Journey desserts and proclaimed most of them amazing. We did the dining room once for lunch, very nice and Alfredos twice. I’ll confess I quite liked the antipasto appetizer and the Hawaiian pizza but the calzone was not really to my liking. Though fully baked, it oozed a liquid from the veggies inside but was still very tough to cut with the provided butter knife. Our experience with room service was mixed – they came very quickly but the green salad I ordered from room service was served with tomatoes that were green and yellow with zero hint of red – why bother putting them on the plate? The chocolate cake was wet, and not as in a moist cake, almost as if it had been left on a wet counter, very strange. Loved the Asian dishes for the most part, and I was in complete heaven during Italian Night. My husband loved the Indian food they frequently had in the ‘spice route’ section. Lots of fresh salad fixings, and of course, the amazing bread and buns.

 

The Ship & Entertainment:

 

I think this is the most beautiful ship we have ever sailed on. Lovely décor throughout the ship and in the cabins. Beautiful Piazza area, felt very expansive, and of course, had the fabulous International Café as well. Despite the lack of mid-ship stairs, I thought the ship was well very laid out. Everything seemed to be in the right spot, and little space was wasted. The MUTS screen was great, and we enjoyed a movie out there with some popcorn. Also thought the fountain show was really cute, a mini-Bellagio experience and quite impressive on a moving ship. Enjoyed Troy Thirgill quite a bit as well as Hawley magic. The production show Spectacular lived up to its name, quite impressive for a ship’s production, though it felt a little jumbled (I was looking for some sort of unified theme). The Beatlemaniacs came onboard and that’s another show well worth going to. Overall, really enjoyed the entertainment.

 

Ports:

 

This was a nice itinerary for us: Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica, St Thomas and Princess Cays. We’d been to all before except Dominica and we did a ship’s tour of an open trolley that weaved throughout Roseau with some nice photo stops and a short tour at the botanical gardens as well. All the schoolchildren came out to the fences to wave at the ‘choo choo’, it was very cute. Princess Cays stop was cancelled because of high winds and strong seas (for the best I’m sure, given the tendering process) and in all the other islands, we did a walkabout and some shopping. Had beautiful weather every day but the first and last, and enjoyed the tropical sunshine in each port.

 

Overall Impressions:

 

Despite my initial concerns over the balcony size, it did not diminish our enjoyment of this cruise. Good food, great ports, beautiful ship and of course, I wish I was back on board. We were sailing with friends and met other nice people (Hi Vickie and Bernie!), and that also made the experience enjoyable. We have booked a cruise on her sister ship next year, and after that, I’ll look forward to getting my larger balcony back on some other itineraries!

[Mom33]

Just back ...

 

We had mixed feelings when the Royal Princess debuted. We have long felt Princess needed to modernize their décor and shipboard amenities, but were disappointed to hear of the small balconies and cabin sizes. Unlike many, we DO enjoy spending time in our cabin, particularly on the balcony so this issue was of concern to us. Despite this, these 40-ish Platinum Princess cruisers decided to set sail for a 10 day trip to the Caribbean.

 

The Cabin:

 

Yes, the balcony is indeed small. Much smaller than any ship we’ve ever sailed on. With that said, it was still comfortable to sit out there and have a drink and watch the waves. We were sailing with friends and we opened the partition between balconies which made it extra long, and with some manoeuvring we could move from balcony to balcony. This was not the deal breaker I had feared and with the modern décor and good storage, the small cabin was still quite nice. We loved the new TV, and all the on-demand features. Our stewardess Roselle was fantastic, very funny, and great at adjusting to our bizarre schedule, and finding time to slip into the room for a refresh.

 

The Food:

 

This was an area we were really looking forward to, as it seemed Princess made real effort to improve offerings and add more variety. We did enjoy the buffet, and ate there almost exclusively. Lots of choices, loved the taco bar and the sandwiches (on Princess bread/buns, you simply can’t go wrong!), plus the Pastry Shop with the coffee bar. Admittedly there were 1 or 2 nights where we actually had trouble finding something that appealed to us, but other nights were a bonanza of options, so certainly one’s personal tastes and preferences will weigh in here. My husband tried every one of the Chocolate Journey desserts and proclaimed most of them amazing. We did the dining room once for lunch, very nice and Alfredos twice. I’ll confess I quite liked the antipasto appetizer and the Hawaiian pizza but the calzone was not really to my liking. Though fully baked, it oozed a liquid from the veggies inside but was still very tough to cut with the provided butter knife. Our experience with room service was mixed – they came very quickly but the green salad I ordered from room service was served with tomatoes that were green and yellow with zero hint of red – why bother putting them on the plate? The chocolate cake was wet, and not as in a moist cake, almost as if it had been left on a wet counter, very strange. Loved the Asian dishes for the most part, and I was in complete heaven during Italian Night. My husband loved the Indian food they frequently had in the ‘spice route’ section. Lots of fresh salad fixings, and of course, the amazing bread and buns.

 

The Ship & Entertainment:

 

I think this is the most beautiful ship we have ever sailed on. Lovely décor throughout the ship and in the cabins. Beautiful Piazza area, felt very expansive, and of course, had the fabulous International Café as well. Despite the lack of mid-ship stairs, I thought the ship was well very laid out. Everything seemed to be in the right spot, and little space was wasted. The MUTS screen was great, and we enjoyed a movie out there with some popcorn. Also thought the fountain show was really cute, a mini-Bellagio experience and quite impressive on a moving ship. Enjoyed Troy Thirgill quite a bit as well as Hawley magic. The production show Spectacular lived up to its name, quite impressive for a ship’s production, though it felt a little jumbled (I was looking for some sort of unified theme). The Beatlemaniacs came onboard and that’s another show well worth going to. Overall, really enjoyed the entertainment.

 

Ports:

 

This was a nice itinerary for us: Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica, St Thomas and Princess Cays. We’d been to all before except Dominica and we did a ship’s tour of an open trolley that weaved throughout Roseau with some nice photo stops and a short tour at the botanical gardens as well. All the schoolchildren came out to the fences to wave at the ‘choo choo’, it was very cute. Princess Cays stop was cancelled because of high winds and strong seas (for the best I’m sure, given the tendering process) and in all the other islands, we did a walkabout and some shopping. Had beautiful weather every day but the first and last, and enjoyed the tropical sunshine in each port.

 

Overall Impressions:

 

Despite my initial concerns over the balcony size, it did not diminish our enjoyment of this cruise. Good food, great ports, beautiful ship and of course, I wish I was back on board. We were sailing with friends and met other nice people (Hi Vickie and Bernie!), and that also made the experience enjoyable. We have booked a cruise on her sister ship next year, and after that, I’ll look forward to getting my larger balcony back on some other itineraries!

 

Thanks for the review! :D Glad you enjoyed it.

[Nanatravel]

Thanks Kate for your recent review. It has been awhile since we sailed on Princess. We will be on the Royal for the same itinerary in March. We are booked on Caribe deck; sure hope we have enough balcony space to at least sit and read.

 

Did you have a Meet & Greet? What venue did they use and at what time? I've just sent off a note to get ours organized.

[CI66774]

OP- thanks for the review. I've been on the Royal three times (total of approx. 65 days) and agree - the good outweigh the bad. Glad you enjoyed the cruise!

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your review.

[Dudleydog73]

We were also on this cruise as first time Royal class cruisers.

 

Overall we agree with the consensus but there were several instances that left us shaking our heads.

 

The room appeared to have way less storage than the grand class ships in the room itself. Losing the shelving unit that the TV sat on as well as having the hair dryer in the only drawer on the desk was a miss in our opinion.

 

We also ate at the Crown Grill once and our large group was sat at the table in the wine storage area. Initially this was great but soon we could not speak to each other as our conversation was drowned out by the piano player approximately 10 feet from us in the bar surrounded by 50 or so people screaming out the words to Sweet Caroline and other songs in his repertoire.. The dinner service was extremely slow compared to other Crown Grills we have eaten at, so not sure what caused the huge delays on the Royal. Had we paid for this dinner out of our own pocket we would have been highly irritated (this was a gift from our TA).

 

Princess Live was interesting to view the Wake Show taping and other game shows, but holding Bingo and Trivia there was crazy as there are no drink holders or fold out tables to place any paper on. They were passing our pieces of wood and clip boards to folks but those ran out quickly for events like Bingo.

 

The lack of the side aisles in the theater was also a miss in our opinion. Princess is missing out on a lot of potential revenue from drink sales as the poor folks manning the theater could not do much once the theater started filling up as they could only reach the folks around the center aisles and gave up quickly before the show started. Also no fold out drink holders in the theater anymore made it hard to wrangle drinks brought in from outside the theater.

 

Overall, we didn't hate the Royal class and have another cruise booked on her this year. Having said that it really does make you wonder who is driving the designs of these new ships.

[Nezmo]

Thanks for the review. We'll be there 3/13. Can't wait.

[Katie333]

Thanks Kate for your recent review. It has been awhile since we sailed on Princess. We will be on the Royal for the same itinerary in March. We are booked on Caribe deck; sure hope we have enough balcony space to at least sit and read.

 

Did you have a Meet & Greet? What venue did they use and at what time? I've just sent off a note to get ours organized.

 

I sat and read just fine, just not as much space to maneuver around, you step out and you sit down pretty much. You won't be able to stretch your legs too much but you can sit up front or one 'lean' back and still fit.

 

I didn't attend the M&G as I wasn't active on the roll call. I suspect it would be held in Club 6 which seemed to be empty a lot of the time and was a nice quiet venue.

[riclop]

Thanks for the well balanced review.

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

Thanks for the detailed review. We are sailing the same itinerary Mar 3rd. My DW is used to the Caribe Deck balconies on the grand class ships and I feel she will be disappointed with the same deck balconies on this ship. Hopefully the rest of the positives with the ship will offset the smaller balcony.

[Woobstr112G]

Great review. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.....:):):)

 

Bob

[jennybenny]

Awe, thanks so much for the review! We are going on this ship and I can't wait to experience it first hand. Happy to hear you had a great time. It makes me even more excited to go on this ship!!

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience

[Katie333]

Thanks for the detailed review. We are sailing the same itinerary Mar 3rd. My DW is used to the Caribe Deck balconies on the grand class ships and I feel she will be disappointed with the same deck balconies on this ship. Hopefully the rest of the positives with the ship will offset the smaller balcony.

 

I always feel better knowing what to expect. If I hadn't known about the smaller balcony size I would have been much more disappointed. Knowing it would be small, I adjusted my expectations and when I boarded, I was happy I was able to read and have drinks out there. Worked for me anyway! :)

[CapeCodFlyer]

OP thank you for the review. We are going to be on the March 13th sailing and your review was helpful. We decided to book one of the obstructed balconies forward on the Emerald deck, knowing that the standard balconies were a bit smaller on the Royal. We felt it was worth trading the glass rail for the extra space (along with a deluxe room). Hope that assumption holds true.

[BullyLvr]

Thanks for the review(s). Myself and 3 friends will also be on the 3 March sailing with the same itinerary. We got mid-ship mini's on the Caribe deck. I guess we'll have to make do with small balconies since ours aren't the extended ones, as they were already sold out. I'm sure we'll have a great trip, nonetheless! Can't wait.

[red919]

OP, thank you for the wonderful review.:)

 

As a Platinum member, did they leave info in your room stating special Platinum offers such as internet and did you take part in the nightly drinks specials in Club 6?

[Katie333]

OP, thank you for the wonderful review.:)

 

As a Platinum member, did they leave info in your room stating special Platinum offers such as internet and did you take part in the nightly drinks specials in Club 6?

 

We did get the Platinum 'invitation' card that outlined the lounge schedule. I should have mentioned this in my review, but we really loved this Platinum lounge. Club 6 was a great venue and the waitstaff was fabulous. They offered all of the beverages every night (so I got $5 mojitos all week, yay) and the snacks were above average with chef service. We only started attending later in the week and I wish I had gone every night! :)

 

Nothing was mentioned about the internet but we were well aware of this and once we were logged onto the royal.princess.com site the Internet access was easy and defaulted to our Platinum freebie package.

[choochella]

Thanks so much for the review. It has been awhile since we've sailed with Princess. We are sailing the same itinerary on March 3. We have also sailed this same itinerary but on the Emerald and Ruby. We are guarantee inside right now, but hoping for an upgrade!! Really looking forward to exploring a new ship.:)

[red919]

We did get the Platinum 'invitation' card that outlined the lounge schedule. I should have mentioned this in my review, but we really loved this Platinum lounge. Club 6 was a great venue and the waitstaff was fabulous. They offered all of the beverages every night (so I got $5 mojitos all week, yay) and the snacks were above average with chef service. We only started attending later in the week and I wish I had gone every night! :)

 

Nothing was mentioned about the internet but we were well aware of this and once we were logged onto the royal.princess.com site the Internet access was easy and defaulted to our Platinum freebie package.

Thanks! Sounds great and so glad you enjoyed it. :D

[patrickmoran]

We'll be aboard in late March. A recent review of the Regal Princess mentioned that on several nights there were ribs at the Grill. Is this on the Royal also?

Also, do you recall the times for the shows in the evening? I'm particularly interested in the production shows and the magician. Thanks

[Katie333]

We'll be aboard in late March. A recent review of the Regal Princess mentioned that on several nights there were ribs at the Grill. Is this on the Royal also?

Also, do you recall the times for the shows in the evening? I'm particularly interested in the production shows and the magician. Thanks

 

Yep to the ribs, at the Grille they have a Smokehouse BBQ feature from 6-11pm and ribs are on menu every other day. I'm afraid all I tried were the chicken wings, were were decent, though not very spicy. There were also ribs in the buffet a couple times.

 

The shows were held at 645, 815 and 1030, that was true of every show they held. We typically went to the 645 and had dinner afterward. We got there 10-20 mins in advance and had our choice of seats. From the line ups that were waiting out front for the 815 show (at 730 when we exited!), I would suggest the early or later show.

[Dudleydog73]

We'll be aboard in late March. A recent review of the Regal Princess mentioned that on several nights there were ribs at the Grill. Is this on the Royal also?

Also, do you recall the times for the shows in the evening? I'm particularly interested in the production shows and the magician. Thanks

 

Yes there were ribs / bbq on some nights at the Trident Grill. The show times were 6:45/8:15/10:30 with the 8:15 highly prized. There were several announcements to try to arrange your evening around the other two show times if you wanted to partake in the shows.

 

We had Hawley Magic as the magician and there were two comedians that rotated on and off the ship. The Beatle Maniacs also came on at one of our ports for an evening of shows.

[patrickmoran]

Thanks to both of you.

What time was the Platinum/Elite cocktail hour in the evening?

[Katie333]

Thanks to both of you.

What time was the Platinum/Elite cocktail hour in the evening?

 

5-7pm every night except the night of the Captains Circle party where it was not held.

[hillslife]

Great review...we are doing this itinerary in November. On the Royal..thanks for posting!!