Royal Princess review with photos

[tuffy0317]

My husband and I (early 30s) are fresh off the March 3rd sailing of Royal Princess. It was our first time with Princess, so I wanted to share a review (with photos!) and answer any questions you may have.

 

This was our first time cruising Princess & we definitely came away with mixed feelings, but the benefits of unplugging & relaxing for ten days cannot be understated and outweighed all the negatives.

 

The Ship

 

Royal is the largest ship weve ever been on & definitely felt like it. While it never felt crowded, the choppy layout of the ship made it confusing to navigate – a complaint many have had for both Royal & Regal Princess. For instance, the only way to we could access our dining room was through one set of elevators/stairs, which could only be accessed from the 7th floor (so if you were on the 5th floor Atrium, you had to go up to the 7th floor, just to go back down) – confusing, right? You have to go up to go down.

 

Much has been made of the lack of a mid-ship staircase on this ship – there are only elevators mid-ship from floors 7 – 17 – but we didn’t find it to be a huge problem. We just walked forward or aft to the stairs, or waited for a mid-ship elevator (which seemed small and always crowded). But if you’re mobility challenged, I can see how this is definitely frustrating.

 

(photo looks blue because all of the tempered glass on-board has a blue tint to it - all my above deck photos looking out are blue!)

 

Even though the ship is only three years old, it’s starting to show a bit of wear & tear in places, which surprised us. When she goes into dry dock later this year, I’m hoping they hit her with a good coat of paint, inside & out. Overall, Royal Princess has very traditional steamliner decor, with lots of muted neutrals & no tacky "cruise ship neon" decor. The exception to this was our dining room, Allegro, which was very dark & featured a decor which my husband equated to Ruby Tuesday. The atrium was beautiful & always crowded with passengers enjoying the live music (it was also oddly warm some evenings…).

 

 

Activities

Royal features a number of activities throughout the sea days, but they’re definitely geared toward their older crowd of passengers (think lots of trivia & bingo). Every evening, they played current movies (including several recent Oscar winners) on MUTS, but the timing never seemed to work for us because of our dinner seating (we would have had to see the show that started at 10:15pm). I’m disappointed that we didn’t get to enjoy this unique feature of the ship.

 

We did enjoy stargazing one night – an activity offered through their partnership with Discovery Channel – but it could have been better done with a crew member who actually had studied up, instead of just reading off a piece of paper. It was still neat to be on deck 18 with the lights turned off, just gazing up at millions of stars in the dark night!

 

We continued our streak of not seeing cruise ship production shows in the theater so I can't comment on those, but did enjoy all the live bands which played nightly around the ship. We also enjoyed the string quartet (they seemed very well received by all passengers).

 

(the skywalk feature was neat to see once, but not the highlight that Princess makes it out to be)

 

The pool deck was busy during sea days (they always are on a Caribbean cruise), but there seemed to be ample lounge chairs. The biggest problem was that chairs in the shade came at an absolute premium (there were about two dozen of them near the adult-only pool), so we didn’t really sit out on the pool deck much. The Sanctuary area in the very front of the ship offered plenty of shade, but I wasn’t going to pay extra just to have a lounge chair in the shade. Another odd thing about the ship is that all the pools were relatively deep. I’m a little under average height for a women (5’4″), but the shallowest pool was 4’11”, which made it almost over my head, & one pool started at 6′. Definitely not kid-friendly.

 

 

We found ourselves spending a lot of time on deck 16 aft largely because it was in the shade & featured comfortable outdoor couches to relax on. The area never seemed crowded & was a great place to sit & read or to eat. It definitely felt like an underutilized secret of the ship & became our spot to hang out for sail away (we normally like standing at the front of the ship, but the layout means there aren’t any good views from the front).

 

 

We loved Princess' anniversary celebration with The Love Boat & watched episodes every evening on our stateroom TV. I can officially say that I wish I was born 10 years earlier to have fully appreciated this show in its prime.

[tuffy0317]

Crew

A highlight of the voyage was the awesome crew. Every person we encountered was very friendly, making eye contact, smiling & saying hello. Our cabin steward, Maynard, was great, kept our room super tidy & kept us entertained with towel animals on a daily basis. We also got the opportunity to tour the Bridge & all the officers were nice and personable. Oddly, I think we only saw the Cruise Director once, but his staff was certainly out & about & visible.

 

 

Our Stateroom

Our stateroom, Aloha 602, definitely felt like the smallest we’ve ever had on a cruise, yet was the same class of service as we usually select (a standard veranda). We were surprised that, square footage wise, it is actually bigger than the Celebrity ships we’ve cruised on. The layout just stunk – there seems to be a lot of wasted space in the closet area & we really missed the little couch which is standard on Celebrity Solstice-class balcony rooms. The bathroom was absolutely tiny & definitely lacked the enclosed storage & nice finishes we’ve gotten spoiled with on Celebrity (the only storage was just open shelves). It was the most disappointing part of our room & felt like a much lower class of bathroom than what we’re used to.

 

 

Speaking of the balcony, the balcony space was so narrow we had to sit facing each other, instead of facing out. In addition, the table on the balcony was so small that we felt like we couldn’t really eat out there (something we normally love). We always book a balcony stateroom, but probably spent the least amount of time on the balcony this cruise than any previous voyage. Can't imagine doing Ultimate Balcony Dining on a standard balcony (which is a shame because it's totally the cheesy romance my husband & I love!)

 

 

On the positive side, the room had nice, neutral decor & a brand new flat screen TV hanging on the wall (very handy for watching Love Boat!). The bed & linens were super comfortable & we both slept well, except for two rough nights at sea. We strategically chose our cabin location, based on the lack of mid-ship stairs, & were further after than we ever have been before. But this meant that we could just walk to the aft elevators or stairs, or walk forward on our floor to the forward stairs (especially helpful on port days).

 

One evening, we returned to our room after dinner & there was a strong petroleum smell in the room – as if we were sitting in a gas station. We called the passenger services desk & within 5 minutes the night manager & a maintenance engineer appeared. They determined it had to do with the location of our cabin & the direction the wind was blowing the chimney smoke from the ship – the smoke was literally coming through our room’s HVAC system. Within 10 minutes, they were able to make an adjustment &, after opening our balcony door, the room aired out & we were fine. What impressed me about their entire situation was the speed which it was dealt with (even late at night) & the number of people who followed up to ensure we were ok (even offering another room to sleep in that night & then following up again the next day). I’m glad we called & wondered if others around us were suffering through the smell for no reason…

 

Dining

We had the second seating at Allegro & I’ll finally admit it: traditional dining is dead. Our first few cruises, we had such great tables & really enjoyed meeting other people, sharing about our day & socializing. But the last few cruises, we’ve ended up sitting by ourselves. Our table on this cruise, the second seating for traditional dining, was very awkward: off the main dining room, in a small side room & in the back corner. We were at a table for four with a table for four next to us & were the only people at both tables throughout the entire cruise – it was so isolating. We mentioned to the Head Waiter on the second night that we’d like to sit with other people & he literally shrugged his shoulders & told us there was nothing he could do. We were sad to watch the other tables of passengers around us having such a good time & we felt like we actually dreaded going to dinner because it was such a lonely experience. So from now on, we’ll just be doing anytime dining & making reservations – we heard from many people that this went very well for them.

 

The food itself was very hit-or-miss: I sent a dinner entree back one night because it was so bad & my husband should have sent his chicken back one other night. But then we also had things we loved, especially fresh fish, Greek salad, mahi mahi & Princess’ famous fettuccine alfredo (try the appetizer portion). The bread basket was hit or miss, as were the desserts (except the Princess Love Boat Dream, which was a dreamy chocolate mousse). The Curtis Stone mahi mahi was excellent and we enjoyed many of the Norman Love chocolate desserts, but didn't feel extra special eating "celebrity chef" food.

 

Our waiter & junior waiter were kind, but very business-like & definitely rushed. I understand we were seeing them at the end of their 12 hour day, so it’s understandable they weren’t more friendly, but we often felt rushed through the meal (we were usually at least one course ahead of all the tables around us). On the positive side, they did not push drinks or dessert on us, something we’ve dealt with in the past (we tend to only eat dessert when it’s really something we want & hardly ever drink from the bar at dinner).

 

We had dinner one night at Crown Grill & it was fantastic. I wish the restaurant was more closed off from the Wheelhouse Bar next to it, to create a more intimate feeling, but the food & the service was excellent. Our surf & turf were both prepared to perfection & the dessert sampler was a highlight of the entire cruise. In addition, our waiter Pierre, recommended an excellent bottle of Pinot Noir.

 

 

 

We also enjoyed:

- the International Cafe, a coffee shop on the 5th floor, which offered espresso drinks & a killer breakfast sandwich (the best hidden breakfast secret on the ship!). They also offered a light lunch & snacks throughout the day & seemed to be a very underutilized area of the ship. If you just want a sandwich for lunch, this was the place to go.

 

- Alfrado’s. Princess claims to have the best pizza at sea & I would absolutely agree with their claim. We had lunch there on the first day right after we got on board & the pizza was excellent. Alfrado’s never seemed very crowded & I wonder if a lot of passengers think there’s an extra charge to eat there (there’s not, so go enjoy!). We also had a slice of pizza on the pool deck one afternoon & it was good, although definitely not as good as Alfrado’s.

 

 

- the Horizon Cafe & Bistro was better than many other cruises we’ve been on, both in offerings & organization. We enjoyed many of the international offerings (Indian, Thai), but we really missed our daily sushi, which was always our splurge on Celebrity. They did have a nice cheese spread most afternoons & one day we splurged on pulled pork nachos.

 

- afternoon tea: Princess offers two afternoon tea experiences. The Royal Afternoon Tea was $10 per person served in the Atrium & includes a large tower of sweet & savory treats & three different types of tea (along with very knowledgeable staff). It was lovely & absolutely worth the $10 each - felt very special, similar to experiences in London & the UK. The regular afternoon tea is served in the Concerto dining room with similar food, but just one tea option. The day we went, there weren't many people in attendance.

 

A positive regarding bar service on the ship: the waitstaff was ample, but never pushy – I don’t think I was ever asked if I wanted a drink anywhere on the ship, but had no problem finding someone when I did want to order. The drink prices were much lower than other cruises (especially Celebrity), which was nice. We didn’t drink much, but $8 for a glass of wine seemed like a totally fair price point (& is way lower than we’re used to paying at home!).

 

I ordered coffee through room service one morning & it was delivered in about 15 minutes - not bad for morning rush on a sea day!

 

Ports

 

We loved the ports on this itinerary, which was the primary reason why we booked this cruise. We visited four new places (Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada & Princess Cays) & two places we’ve been to previously (Dominica, St. Thomas). With the exception of Dominica, when our tour was rained out, we did all independent excursions, all of which were great. We ended up doing an excursion in Dominica through Princess, the Wacky Rollers 4WD tour, & it was a lot of fun, even in the pouring rain!

 

Spa

We had a couples massage in the Sanctuary on our second sea day, which was excellent. Not only was the massage itself good, it was a neat experience to be able to hear the waves of the ship as I fell into a deep state of relaxation. Our alfresco massage included time to relax in The Sanctuary & with this experience, we finally truly felt relaxed & on vacation. I also had a pedicure on our last sea day & it was well done (still going strong 10 days later) & relaxing. I thought the spa prices were pretty fair & comparable to any big city (in fact, my pedi was only $10 more than what I pay at home).

 

Embarkation/Disembarkation

We got an email the day before we left that the ship would be returning to Ft. Lauderdale late from their previous sailing, but we were only an hour delayed getting on board. Even though they were late arriving, embarkation was super easy &, in an industry first, we loved being able to go right to our room when we got on board (rather than having to kill time on deck).

 

Disembarkation was also very smooth. Rather than being late, we were actually off the ship 30 minutes earlier than we had planned (definitely a first)! A friend picked us up & the whole process was very smooth & easy, as it always is at Port Everglades.

 

A note if you’re cruising in & out of Port Everglades & have Global Entry: bring your cards! The Global Entry line wasn’t well marked, but once we showed our cards, we were moved to the front of the line. If we hadn’t had our cards, we would have had to wait in line. Make sure to fill out your paper customs form, though, as they do not have the kiosks at the port (we had thrown ours out & had to fill it out at the last minute).

 

Wifi

I had the smallest wifi package & the Internet was so slow, it was almost useless! 5-10 minutes to send a tweet & a prewritten email. I saw people working around the ship & I'm not sure how that was even possible. Good ol' 16 Aft seemed to have a pretty good signal, the signal in our room was not great (even though we were right by a router). It's not worth it - just unplug until you get to port!

 

Overall Impression of Princess

I feel like I’ve written a lot of negative things, but we really did enjoy it! It was such a nice, refreshing break. It’s amazing the mental break that comes from not checking work email for 10 days. I would cruise Princess again, but likely only with B’s family or in Alaska. We spent much of the cruise comparing our previous experience on Celebrity & decided that Celebrity is definitely a bit nicer across the board. We’ll likely stick with them in the future; however, since we’ve done most of the Caribbean islands where the large ships cruise to, we might take a break from cruising for a while. Viking Ocean Cruises is breaking into the Caribbean next year & their itinerary looks perfect (lots of small islands). Royal was the largest ship we’ve been on & I don’t see us going on a ship larger than her (sorry, Oasis).

 

We learned on this cruise that we definitely do much better with port-heavy itineraries (we were crawling the walls after two days at sea by the time we got to Aruba), but I did read three books, so perhaps I can’t complain! This cruise was a bit unusual with the last day being at Princess Cays instead of at sea – I think I like being at sea better.

 

Overall, a cruise vacation is still an incredible bang for your buck & a great way to unplug, unwind & only unpack once. They work well for us because we can be as active as we want – or as lazy as we want.

 

Happy to answer any questions you may have, & happy cruising!

Edited March 21, 2016 by tuffy0317
forgot something!

[Corinda]

Thanks for the review - it didn't seem overly negative to me. I'm going to be on the Royal in June and it's my first time on her so it's exciting to hear others impressions.

[CRLess]

Thanks for the nice review!

 

You mentioned that you like sushi, but didn't find any at the buffet, so did you try out the sushi at the Ocean Terrace in the atrium? The Ahi Poke is awesome. Also, I am almost certain that sushi is offered a few times in the buffet during a typical cruise.

[memoak]

Did you finish the book ? The Girl on the Train ? Great book

[tuffy0317]

Thanks for the nice review!

 

You mentioned that you like sushi, but didn't find any at the buffet, so did you try out the sushi at the Ocean Terrace in the atrium? The Ahi Poke is awesome. Also, I am almost certain that sushi is offered a few times in the buffet during a typical cruise.

 

We are bummed that we never made it to Ocean Terrace! We walked past once or twice and said "We should stop!" And never did... next cruise :)

 

Sushi was offered once on the buffet, but it was a bit limited and disappointing (Celebrity had quite a wide selection daily)

[tuffy0317]

Did you finish the book ? The Girl on the Train ? Great book

 

Yes! I snagged it out of Princess's library and read it in one day - excellent!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report.

[Amtrack Springfield]

Thanks for the review and pictures of your cruise.

[caribill]

the choppy layout of the ship made it confusing to navigate – a complaint many have had for both Royal & Regal Princess. For instance, the only way to we could access our dining room was through one set of elevators/stairs, which could only be accessed from the 7th floor (so if you were on the 5th floor Atrium, you had to go up to the 7th floor, just to go back down) – confusing, right? You have to go up to go down.

 

 

It is hard for me to understand why this is a complaint.

o This is the same design as on ten other Princess ships.

o I have found similar design on Royal Caribbean ships.

o I have found similar design on Carnival ships.

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your review.

 

Keith

[jennybenny]

Thanks for your review. I am looking forward to our Royal cruise and have heard similar complaints as well. My main concern is the small balcony, but hopefully it's not an issue and if it is, we won't do it again. I've considered venturing out and trying another cruise line, but feel like if I'm going to venture out I want to go all out and my husband is fearful of what that would cost. Not sure which other line I would choose, if I ever choose to try another, but Celebrity seems pretty comparable to Princess and many people who cruise Celebrity like Princess.

Thanks for sharing

[lolane1]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review with all of those great pictures. Actually, I found your review and comments quite balanced. I will be sailing on the Royal over the summer and it was nice to see ahead of time what to expect. It certainly helps to know what I am getting into ahead of time. That was a great picture of the balcony. And yes, it's size will be a bit of a bummer but forewarned is forearmed. I have several months to get over it. LOL

 

As to the comment posted about your assessment of accessing the dining room (going up to go down): Just because this design is on many ships doesn't make it a good design!

 

Thank you again. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

[rebeljohn]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review and pictures. We will be boarding the Royal tomorrow and doing the same itinerary. We are Celebrity and HAL fans, and this will be our first Princess cruise. Your review was well written, and covered everything. Great job!!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[tright]

Thank you for taking the time to write a review. We will be on Royal this fall and this will be our first time sailing with Princess also. Also enjoyed the pictures.

[Little Sister]

Two questions----#1, when were the formal nights, and #2, what titles were playing at MUTS? Thanks!

[Torgersent]

Thanks for your excellent review.

[floridalover5623]

Your review is pretty much in line to what we've experienced on the ship.

 

I could never understand why the made the Retreat pool so deep and as a result people usually crowd the steps leading into the pool.

[Clarea]

Excellent review and photos, thanks!

[tuffy0317]

Two questions----#1, when were the formal nights, and #2, what titles were playing at MUTS? Thanks!

 

1. Formal nights were the second sea day (so I guess technically day 3) & the second to last night of the cruise (day 8?). Both came on sea days, which was nice!

 

2. Now you're testing my memory! From the titles I can remember: The Martian, Brooklyn, Specrte, Now You See Me. They also played the Steve Jobs movie and The Reverant in the Vista Lounge at various points during the cruise. They also did the Minions movie one afternoon on MUTS.

 

Note that if there was a movie you wanted to see in the Vista Lounge or MUTS, but missed it, they were available on your in-room TV afterward. We couldn't reason spending time on vacation in our room watching a movie, but if you had a bad weather day, it would be perfect.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your review and pictures. We will be boarding the Royal tomorrow and doing the same itinerary. We are Celebrity and HAL fans, and this will be our first Princess cruise. Your review was well written, and covered everything. Great job!!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Have a great trip! The itinerary is fantastic.

 

It is hard for me to understand why this is a complaint.

o This is the same design as on ten other Princess ships.

o I have found similar design on Royal Caribbean ships.

o I have found similar design on Carnival ships.

 

We can just agree to disagree :) I haven't found this on the Royal and Carnival ships we were on, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. I just wanted to point it out, as it seemed to be a real issue for some people (especially those with mobility issues - obviously easier for us, who can just walk up and down two flights of stairs). Lots of vocal comments from people on the ship, throughout the entire cruise (including a funny incident at disembarkation where someone who had been on the ship for 3 B2Bs was still trying to go down the wrong elevator!)

[Mom33]

Thanks for your review. Glad you enjoyed yourself.

 

The Allegro (traditional dining room)is in the same location on all Princess ships. For a first timer it can be quite confusing. You can ask to be changed to early traditional mid-ship deck 6. This is for the overflow on the traditional dining list.

 

Anytime dining is located mid- ship and can be reached on decks 5 and 6 on any elevator mid- ship and forward.

 

It is nice to see so many Celebrity fans giving the Royal and Regal a try and reporting back. It would seem there are more similarities than differences between the Solstice class and Royal class.

 

For those anticipating your next cruise, have a wonderful time.:D

[tuffy0317]

Thanks for your review. Glad you enjoyed yourself.

 

The Allegro (traditional dining room)is in the same location on all Princess ships. For a first timer it can be quite confusing. You can ask to be changed to early traditional mid-ship deck 6. This is for the overflow on the traditional dining list.

 

Anytime dining is located mid- ship and can be reached on decks 5 and 6 on any elevator mid- ship and forward.

 

It is nice to see so many Celebrity fans giving the Royal and Regal a try and reporting back. It would seem there are more similarities than differences between the Solstice class and Royal class.

 

For those anticipating your next cruise, have a wonderful time.:D

 

We actually like the late seating, since it gives us more time at the end of the day in port and we're used to eating late at home. We didn't think we could change to Anytime during the cruise, which is why we'll probably choose that from the beginning going forward.

 

Happy cruising, all!

[TwoCruisers]

Thank you for the great review. I was on the Royal for the two cruises just before yours. I think you did a very excellent and accurate assessment of the ship. As you stated, the crew was wonderful, as I have experienced on all of my 16 Princess cruises.

[big_schots]

Thanks for the concise, informative review. We are leaving on the Royal Princess in three weeks for the same trip, but in reverse order. Were any of your private excursions exceptional ? Plus, who was the cruise director for your trip ?

Thanks,

Eric

Edited March 22, 2016 by big_schots