A very Royal cruise-Rome to Barcelona 18/06/16 with photos

[wood868]

This is going to be a fairly short review with lots of photos. I have a lot of photos to upload and it was one seriously incredible journey , it's also my first review so please bear with me if things go a bit wrong!!

 

I am 29 and my partner is 27,we was first time cruisers with Princess, previously we have cruised with MSC and Norwegian. I will add my views on the variations between them.

 

We boarded the cruise in Rome, we stayed overnight in the Best Western Santina and used Romecabsbooking to take us to the port.

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited June 26, 2016 by wood868

[ltcal94]

I was onboard with you , so it will be interesting to hear your take on the cruise. We loved it , it is an amazing ship and amazing destinations .

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for posting the photos.

[porridgeuk]

Looking forward to your review and pictures, we are staying at the Santina next year pre cruise so also interested on your views of hotel as well as cruise :)

[Working 2 Cruise]

Thank you for your review. I know those are a ton of work.... we all appreciate your efforts!

[riclop]

Looking forward to it.

[wood868]

So we started in Rome, we landed at FCO around 9pm and was met by a very well dressed gentleman from romecabsbooking who were excellent by the way. He drove us swiftly and smoothly to the hotel and we arrived 40 minutes later. The Best Western Royal Santina was our home for one night.

 

It truly was an excellent find we paid $144 for the night and this included a full breakfast. PRINCESS also use this hotel as their pre departure hotel but they charge a heck of a lot more. The hotel is located outside Termini station so ideal if you wish to take the train to CVT port. The train is quicker than a transfer. If you have a lot of luggage I wouldn't recommend it though.

 

We was picked up at 11.45 the next morning by the romecabsbooking shuttle this was €66 for the two of us. It was great value. The driver was friendly and very good. We arrived at CVT at 1.15.

 

Next Up -boarding the ship

[pixidustmom]

Looking forward to reading your review.

[Clarea]

Following.:)

[wood868]

After arriving at CVT and entering the tent that Princess use for boarding. We handed our luggage to a porter and headed to the area to board. I have to say Princess have this nailed. We walked straight in, was handed our cruise cards, one quick photo and we was on board.

 

This is where again I was seriously impressed with Princess. The room was ready immediately, so we found our way to room M720 and unloaded our hand luggage. Bags were delivered around one hour later. We met Jun our steward and he was a seriously good guy. Helpful and very efficient he kept our room immaculate.

[wood868]

Being around 1.30 we decided to head up one floor for some lunch. Fearing it would be chaos we bravely headed into the Horizon Court Bistro/Buffet for a quick bite to eat. Again I feel this is another huge selling point of Princess. At no time in the entire week did the buffet seem hectic or chaos. It is so well designed with gaps to walk through there is never any queue or build up. The servers are amazing as well. They ask within about a minute if you want any drinks etc. They will even provide water and ice tea if you don't want to walk to the machines. The food was plentiful and hot and the selection was incredible and very tasty. Best food I've eaten in a buffet by a mile.

[wood868]

After finishing our lunch we decided to head for a wander around and explore the ship and see what the week had in store for us. (if anyone is interested I have scanned all the patters). The ship is stunning, beautiful, Incredible I don't think words can do it justice. The size of the ship is immense and you will tower over most other ships in Port. Whilst being large it never felt so big to walk from one end to the other. The ship is well designed to ensure people are never crowded, except maybe the Piazza when a show is on.

 

Some photos below of the ship

 

Casino

Piazza x3 as it's stunning

Wheelhouse Bar

[wood868]

Here are some more photos in chronological order

 

Running Track on deck 17 AFT

The Retreat (adults only) deck 16 FWD

Movies Under the Stars screen on Lido Deck MID

The Pool in the Retreat deck 16 FWD

[happythoughts]

Enjoying your review. Yes, I would love to see the Patters. Thank you!

[wood868]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[wood868]

Later that afternoon was the Muster drill, we was informed ours was in the Vista lounge on deck 7, Princess require you to bring the life jackets with you to the Muster drill , so be prepared to walk back to your cabin before Muster to collect them. As with most cruise lines they scan your card to evidence attendance, this took around 25 mins and is conducted in English only, 80%of people on board I'd say we're American and Canadian , so the ship announces only in English.

 

It was around 6pm once we was back at the cabin so we decided to head down to one of the restaurants and check out the menu, there are two restaurants you can choose on anytime dining , they both serve the same menu. Nothing really appealed so we looked at Alfredo's, this is a fee free pizzeria on deck 6 MID . What can I say this was our favourite dining venue on the boat. The pizza was exceptional and as good as we tasted in Sorrento. The menu stays the same each night but as a free dining venue I think this is simply wonderful.

 

The location of Alfredo's means you are right in the Piazza which is the hub of the ship, it was here we got our first of many tastes of Rhapsody, the ships band. It is a really bustling area and great for people watching.

 

The Piazza is simply stunning it's worthy of being the centre point to any great ship, we spent many evenings in Bellinis or Crooners enjoying the atmosphere.

 

 

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[wood868]

 

 

The Piazza

 

 

 

 

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[wood868]

We then attended the Welcome Aboard show with Ron who was the CD for this cruise, he is one of the best Princess have , very friendly and approachable, very active around the boat and we enjoyed his numerous jokes and friendly nature. The show was okay, the comedian they had was a lady from the UK, despite being from the UK myself I didn't find her that amusing but she had a good singing voice, definitely should be a singer not a comedian.

 

Off to bed before the first excursion to Lucca -booked via Princess tomorrow.

 

 

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[wood868]

 

 

 

Welcome to Livorno- a very industrial port

 

 

 

 

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[Woobstr112G]

Great pictures. Keep em' coming.....:):):)

 

Bob

Edited July 3, 2016 by Woobstr112G

[wood868]

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to take a Princess shore excursion to Lucca, I have to say I don't think it was great value for money, we only had around 3 hours in Lucca and our guide didn't really deliver. I was disappointed especially considering what it cost.

 

Some photos above,

 

 

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[wood868]

Once we had finished the excursion we headed back and was dropped off at the boat, this was around 12.30 so just in time for lunch. We headed upto a deserted Horizon Court, the food was amazing as always and we loved the cake and cookies always available in Horizon Bistro daily, another area I think Princess exceeds.

 

 

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[wood868]

 

 

 

 

Some photos of some amazing acrobats in the Piazza

 

 

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