Royal Princess Southern Caribbean Medley Review

[lostdolphin]

Fort Lauderdale/Embarkation:

 

We flew in the day before the cruise and stayed at the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port Hotel. Most hotels near the cruise port are quite pricy, upwards of $250 a night. You can occasionally find a cheaper one but we didn’t. We have a timeshare so we were able to use some of the points to get the room for about half price.

 

The location of the hotel was great. The drive from the airport was about $15 for our entire group (4 adults). We had a pretty grumpy cab driver, we tried to joke around with him but he just wasn’t having it! He really wasn’t how we wanted to start our vacation! The employees at the Renaissance were much friendlier and welcoming!

 

We ate dinner that night at the Boatyard, a suggestion from the bellhop at the hotel. The restaurant is located right near the hotel, on the intracoastal water way, surrounded by yachting stores and the yachts themselves. As such, the restaurant was decorated along those lines. . The food was good, a little pricier, but we knew that ahead of time. If you ever go, you have to order the appetizer bread. It was so good! After dinner we went for a short walk towards a few shops. Yacht shops, nothing for us to look at there. There is a Walgreens just across the street from the hotel so we stopped in to pick up a few essentials for the cruise. We then headed back to the hotel room. After an early morning we were pretty tired so it was an early night for us.

 

We spent the morning at the hotel until checkout at 11, then headed to the port. Princess docks are the second port so we were able to walk from the hotel. It’s about a 15 minute walk from the hotel to the port. It is a little confusing once you get there because there are no signs letting you know where to go. We ended up asking someone at the gate where we needed to go. It was still early and they weren’t letting people in yet so we got in line. We waited for about a half an hour before they started letting people in. We got through security quickly and then went to wait in line to check in. Check in went smoothly for everyone else but our line. A group ahead of us had something wrong with somethings and at one point there were four Princess employees looking at their passports. Took a little longer but once we were checked in we walked right onboard.

 

The main elevators when we first got on were busy so we walked to the front of the ship and got right on those elevators. We were at our room, L101, in no time. We dropped off our bags, checked out our balcony then headed to Horizon Court for lunch. (I feel like this is what everyone does at this point). We checked out the ship, watched sail away from Deck 17, then headed back to the room to unpack before dinner. The first night we did the main dining room, we had anytime dining in Symphony dining room. The service tonight was okay, the food was good. After dinner we checked out the shops, watched a little bit of the football game on MUTS then headed to the room. We liked the on demand TV in the staterooms. We watched a few movies over the course of the cruise.

 

 

The first two days were sea days. The first day we slept in the headed to the buffet for breakfast. Most of the day today was spent watching football on MUTS. This was not something I would have done but first the Vikings played, then the Packers. Since my mom is a Vikings fan and dad and husband are Packer fans, we were in it for the day. Side note, the deck chairs aren’t meant to sit in for 7 hours!

 

The second sea day we played bingo in princess live theater, ate at Alfredo’s, watched a show or two in the theater, attended a photography seminar in the theater, did the Alpha Hunt, played "Where is the World am I in Princess Live, found my pictures that are on display(which meant walking each floor of staterooms complete in order to find them), shopped a little, and just enjoyed our time on board.

 

Once I get all my photos uploaded I'll review the rest of the cruise and the ports, with photos!

[kayyfire]

Thank you for your review!!! We will be staying in L104 on the Regal in March. How did you like the cabin location?

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the comments.

[riclop]

Thanks for your review.

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

Thanks for your review and looking forward to the rest of it. We will be sailing on the Royal March 3rd and am interested in what you think of the entertainment at night time and how many shows were put on each evening ?

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review so far.

 

Keith

[Clarea]

Thanks for the review.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report.

[lindy sails]

Hope to see photos of your cabin and balcony. Looking forward to reading more of your review.

[yoyosma]

Thank you for doing the review, I enjoyed it and am looking forward the rest of it and the photos!!!

[OCruisers]

Thanks for your review and looking forward to seeing your photos! :)

[lostdolphin]

Alrighty! New computer means a delay to this post. Sorry! I am working on getting all my pictures transferred but haven’t been able to do them all.

I somehow didn't take any picture of the cabin itself. I don't know what I was thinking. I did however get some of the balcony. Our cabin, L101 was on the lido deck. The room is a forward facing balcony room with a much bigger balcony than most rooms. We loved the balcony! And since it’s considered an obstructed view it was cheaper than the rest of the balconies, score for us! There is a fire locker between L101 and L102 that makes these balconies just a little wider than similar rooms. Here is a link that has a good image of the balconies on the front of the boat. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1869295 You can't look down at the water or off the sides of the ship but you can look ahead and slightly to the side which was enough for us. You’re also close enough to stairs so if you wanted to head up to deck 17/18/19 to get a look you didn't have to go far.

As far as room location, I thought it was a good/convenient choice. It’s on the lido deck so you have easy access to the pool deck and the buffet and also close to the forward elevators/stairs for heading to lower levels. It’s enough out of the way that there was hardly ever anyone else in the hallways which made it a quiet area. There was a little more noise in this room than I remember in others. I don’t exactly know where the noise ever really came from (other than the sliding doors of neighboring rooms being slammed shut, but the ship can’t control those people). The only real complaint I had about the location was some vibrating. At first I thought it was only when docking, but now thinking about it, there were other times when there would be a little vibration and noise. All in all I would stay in this room again and would recommend it to others.

Edited February 25, 2016 by lostdolphin

[lindy sails]

Can you try downloading the previous photos again?