Recent Royal Princess trip

[Captain k]

Greetings... Just returned from the Royal's December 8th trip to the western Caribbean.  Flew down on Friday before and spent the time on las Olas Blvd.  Louie Bossi's was a fun dinner evening.  Riverside hotel was great as usual except for the stolen yeti at poolside...!  A stop at CVS for wine and a replacement fake yeti Saturday morning, then uber to the ship.  Got there a little after 11, and breezed through to the ship.  Noticed new carpeting on the steps throughout the ship.  Had a balcony stateroom which was perfectly adequate.  We are platinum and were on the Regal in February.  Room overall was great, although the bathroom door piston squealed when it was opened and closed.  Room steward said he put in two work orders to have it fixed.  It was not fixed the whole cruise.  Beds were new and pretty good, and I believe the tv was new. 

Ship overall condition was excellent with a few rust spots here and there.  Very clean everywhere. Quite a mix of travelers this cruise from across the globe.  A much younger mix than February.  

Entertainment was actually pretty good.  The party band was excellent, the main shows were very good, and the steel drum player was also very good.  The Elton John impersonator was entertaining, just not our favorite.  The cruise director was great, his staff maybe not so much.

Did not get to see the comedian.

Food overall was excellent,other than the last dining room meal.  Buffet dinner one night for Bavarian night.  Only used room service for breakfast, which came on time each day.  We had anytime dining, but enjoyed the same table and waitstaff (Richard)for 3 of the nights.  The maitre D refused to say hello when addressed, or even acknowledge our presence.  Looked like he was having a bad night, every night.  Symphony dining room, slight figured European.  Actually seemed to sneer!  Did a lot of yelling at the hostess throughout the week.  

The poolside grill and pizza were very good also.  

Forget a dress code anymore.  Saw shorts and tee shirts in the dining room on formal nights.

The ports were excellent.  First time in Roatan  and Belize.  Only one other ship in Grand Cayman, went snorkeling ,shopping, and lunch at Rackams.  Great day.  Spent the day in Roatan at Mahogany Bay, which was way better than expected.  Friends went on the hiking excursion and enjoyed it.

In Belize we went to Caye Caulker and really, really liked it.  Great place to visit.

Decided to go to Mr. Sanchos in Cozumel and had a great setup on the beach with unlimited food and drinks.

Early disembarkation went well and uber to airport flawless.  

Again,  too much to do and not enough time to do it all, but another great cruise.

 

 

[franktown]

Thanks for the review.  Sounds like a very good cruise.

[mcrcruiser]

We are looking forward to our West Coast ,Oct 4 ,2019 Mexican Riviera 10 night cruise on Royal Princess 

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your comments.

Did you report this MD?

There is a current live from the Royal and they are having the same issue.

It's really hard to address issues like this once off the ship.

[paul929207]

Thanks for the review. We board the Royal on February for the cruise around South America. So any comments are welcome.

[floridalover5623]

Once on the Royal you'll get spoiled & it's hard top return to one of the older ships again. 😉

[TravelingEA]

We were on this cruise as well. The comedian was excellent! To bad you missed him! We had a balcony cabin, and about 1/2 the time we could not get the balcony door opened. Our steward said he would report it to maintenance, but the last night the door would not open.

 

"Once on the Royal you'll get spoiled & it's hard top return to one of the older ships again." floridalover5623, I much prefer the older ships. Much larger balcony on Caribe Deck and a walkaround deck 7.

[PensFan1028]

I was on this voyage as well. Food quality was excellent and back to a level where it was a few years ago before some of the new menu changes. Poolside grill burger quality was better than usual and everything about the food on board seemed fresh, hot and delicious. Only explored the buffet for light breakfast a few mornings. We also missed the comedian but did see Secret Silk which was a little slow for my taste but decent. 

 

Our TV quit working one day ( a network error I believe as I found out a few TVs did not work). Our phone also experienced some issues (which the captain mentioned in the captain circle party)

 

Overall the ship is still in excellent condition.

 

I also witnessed shorts in the dining room, and in general a lower standard of dress on the non-formal nights. I did not notice anything unusual on formal nights.

 

Went to Calico Jacks in GC, great deal for chairs/umbrellas and really good food.

 

The rain in Roatan confined us to Fat Tuesday for most of the morning... and from what I remember of the rest of the day, the beach was nice :)

 

Booked cave tubing and zip line excursion once off the ship in Belize with a local company and had an excellent experience for $80pp. + $10 for lunch (best bbq chicken and rice/beans I've had)

 

Went to Paradise Beach in Cozumel, been there before and the experience was a little different this time. A lot more children and just didn't experience the quality of the first time. Chicken fajitas were good though.

 

 

Good to see you had a similar experience.

 

 

[Potstech]

1 hour ago, TravelingEA said:

We were on this cruise as well. The comedian was excellent! To bad you missed him! We had a balcony cabin, and about 1/2 the time we could not get the balcony door opened. Our steward said he would report it to maintenance, but the last night the door would not open.

 

"Once on the Royal you'll get spoiled & it's hard top return to one of the older ships again." floridalover5623, I much prefer the older ships. Much larger balcony on Caribe Deck and a walkaround deck 7.

 

Were you in cabin A42? by chance.We had the same problem.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Potstech

[floridalover5623]

3 hours ago, TravelingEA said:

We were on this cruise as well. The comedian was excellent! To bad you missed him! We had a balcony cabin, and about 1/2 the time we could not get the balcony door opened. Our steward said he would report it to maintenance, but the last night the door would not open.

 

"Once on the Royal you'll get spoiled & it's hard top return to one of the older ships again." floridalover5623, I much prefer the older ships. Much larger balcony on Caribe Deck and a walkaround deck 7.

It's probably a good thing that some people prefer the older ships otherwise the prices for the Royal class ships would be out of sight. 😁

Our balcony door on the CB was also tough to open & close. Also the AC was terrible & not repairable for our first leg of a B2B. We never had that problem with the Royal class ships of which there have been many. 

[skynight]

6 hours ago, paul929207 said:

Thanks for the review. We board the Royal on February for the cruise around South America. So any comments are welcome.

We were on the Royal in February 2018. Matt O Brian was the CD. We thought he was really good, one of the best. He mentioned that he was scheduled for the 49 day trip to L.A..