Royal Princess Review 4/13/19 ... Mexican Riviera

[oskidunker]

There wouldn’t be room. 

[Cruise Raider]

24 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I agree - I heard "No" more times on this trip than I have over all of our cruises combined. I was shocked. I was pretty fed up by the end of the cruise - like you, we had a good time, but just wasn't what I am used to. I vowed NEVER to sail Royal Princess again and was even dubious as to whether I would give Princess another chance. I sent an email to customer relations when I returned, and my TA also went to bat for me on some of the unacceptable issues we had. Happy to say that Princess came through - contacted me within days and added all kinds of goodies on to two cruises I had booked. One of which is on Royal Princess. Hmmmmmm.......

 

Now I've calmed down and things don't seem so bad, especially when I read of what NCL is doing to it's poor passengers sailing on Getaway next week!

 

We are sailing the Bliss Sept 30th from Vancouver to LA - did it last year and LOVED it. This time we are trying their Haven cabin. I might never come back to "regular" cruising......lol!

 

I am glad Princess came through for you!!  Like you, there were just some things I wasn't used to.  I actually dubbed the Grand Princess the ship of 'Yes' a few cruises back because no matter what you asked for, the answer was yes.  Of course, my requests are usually reasonable ones ... I'm not used to paying my hard earned dollars just to hear 'no'.  Thankfully, there was usually someone right behind to make things right.  Dennis, the head waiter in the Symphony, was one of these that made it happen!  He was one of the busiest men on the ship ... I am sure!!  

 

Do tell ... what is NCL doing to the passengers on the Getaway?  I haven't heard a thing!  

 

The Bliss was in port with us a couple of times on this trip.  Oh ... and I've heard the Haven cabins are sheer 'bliss' ...pun intended.  

 

[ceilidh1]

2 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

Do tell ... what is NCL doing to the passengers on the Getaway?  I haven't heard a thing!  

 

 

 

They have cut 2 days off the 12 day Transatlantic, eliminating the only 2 interesting ports (Le Havre and Brugge). They notified those booked this Friday evening (long weekend) and they sail next weekend. No option of cancelling/refunding and only offering a 25% refund of cruise fare and $300 per person air change fee. The reason? So they could take the ship to dry dock 2 days earlier......I would be livid!

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, TheRabbit said:

For others, were you able to plug the Cpap in behind the bed or did you have to run an extension. I thing this question was asked by others months ago, but never saw a definitive answer. This way I can pass it on if I see it pop up again.

 

We're join the Royal on the 4th of May. Looking forward to being on-board the Royal again after over 5 years.

 

There was an outlet right next to the side of the bed that is next to the desk.  There should be no problem for a cord to reach to that side of the bed.  Now, if there are two Cpap machines being used, I don't recall seeing a second outlet in the floor and I did check.  There is another outlet over by the opposite end of the desk as well and we used that one for our plug in clock with has a 3 foot cord and it reached as far as the lamp on the nighstand so maybe that would work for a second Cpap machine after all.  

[TheRabbit]

2 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

There was an outlet right next to the side of the bed that is next to the desk.  There should be no problem for a cord to reach to that side of the bed.  Now, if there are two Cpap machines being used, I don't recall seeing a second outlet in the floor and I did check.  There is another outlet over by the opposite end of the desk as well and we used that one for our plug in clock with has a 3 foot cord and it reached as far as the lamp on the nighstand so maybe that would work for a second Cpap machine after all.  

If I'm reading this right, your DH was not on the wall side of the room? What room type were you in? I have seen plugs behind the bed on some ships, but never tracked which ones.

[Cruise Raider]

29 minutes ago, Cruise frenzy said:

Cruise Raider -- thanks for your Royal review.  Do you know who the most traveled passengers ere on your cruise?  Thanks.

 

No ... we never made it to the party for that because the time on our invitation was so inconvenient.  This is the first one we've ever missed but it was either missing that party or missing dinner.  

I don't like to continue to dwell on the negatives but have posted that I am unhappy with how Princess is handling their dining times.  They are listed online when you book as a certain time and then it is ultimately changed when you board.  There is no longer an option to dine around 6:15 PM and they were allowing traditional diners that are irritated with their changed dining times into the anytime dining venues to make that even more of an impossibility.  Thankfully, they were checking cabin numbers on this sailing to make sure we were assigned to anytime dining.   Getting a table at that time is still not always possible, especially if you like a particular wait team's section.  However, we were usually given a table within 10 minutes of waiting in line with only one time of being given a pager.  Since we were told that the wait was about 30 minutes and maybe longer, we decided to go have our soup and salad courses in Alfredo's and then went to the MDR for our main course after our buzzer went off.  hahaha!!  We showed them!  

Long story short ... no, I don't know who the most traveled passengers were on our sailing. 

[Cruise Raider]

23 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

They have cut 2 days off the 12 day Transatlantic, eliminating the only 2 interesting ports (Le Havre and Brugge). They notified those booked this Friday evening (long weekend) and they sail next weekend. No option of cancelling/refunding and only offering a 25% refund of cruise fare and $300 per person air change fee. The reason? So they could take the ship to dry dock 2 days earlier......I would be livid!

 

Whoa!!  Yes, I'd be a little perturbed even though I usually sail for the ships and not for the ports of call.  But the travel arrangements on such short notice ... yikes!!  

My last booking on NCL was redeployed ... from Alaska (for which I was booked) to Cuba.  They gave us plenty of advanced notice .... but my compensation was a whopping $25 to switch!  hahaha ... I booked a Princess cruise instead.  

And because I love cruising and pretty much hate to fly,  I choose Princess a lot because they haven't abandoned us over here on the west coast as other lines have done.  

 

[Cruise Raider]

24 minutes ago, TheRabbit said:

If I'm reading this right, your DH was not on the wall side of the room? What room type were you in? I have seen plugs behind the bed on some ships, but never tracked which ones.

 

No, my DH didn't get his Cpap machine in time for our trip so we didn't need the extra outlets.  But, he does sleep on the wall side of the room.  We were in a regular balcony room on the Royal.  I don't think we could have gotten to the area behind the bed but I'm sure there is a way as they have to move them for two singles.  

But, there were two outlets on either side of the desk, both of which I believe could have been used for a Cpap machine if there was a three ft cord.  

 

[cubfan63]

Cruise Raider....I think you might have talked to me about the cabin steward. I was mid-ship Emerald deck starboard side.

Just home now from the airport after flight to Chicago O’Hare from LAX. I had a couple more comments about the 4/13 Royal Princess Cruise.

I did attend the Tuscan wine lunch and everything was delicious. It was $60 and held on the 2nd sea day. The only “odd” thing was the Octopus carpaccio. The risotto infused with Asparagus was out of this world.

Za Za in Alfredo’s is a real gem! Everything in Alfredo’s was topnotch. I ate there 2 lunches and formal night dinner. I did embarkation day lunch there and was one of the first people in there. I had no problem there ordering a glass of wine right away on my Premier Beverage package. In fact, the young lady serving me even showed me the screen with the indication of my loyalty level and the PBP.

Only time I had a issue was a mistake in charging on the PBP was one night in the Symphony dining room where the assistant waiter charged my account for wine. As I had 2 drinks there, and only one being charged (guest services had no problem with removing it).

I tend to be up early so buffet at breakfast was not a problem at all. I especially adored the little egg and cheese burritos they had in the Horizon Bistro line (not available in the Horizon Court line). The Bistro line is the buffet line between the pool and the Pastry shop.

Also, something I discovered when trying to use up a little remaining non-refundable credit was because I had the PBP, they only charged me the $3 difference between the $12 limit and the $15 price for the chocolate and wine tasting at Vines. I was told this was a new policy (not sure if just for the ship or line-wise). This is a major difference in PBP to charge the difference, unless it was a misunderstanding by the server as to how to apply it. More than half the wines at Vines are above the $12 PBP limit, btw.

[drewdrewcruiser]

I was also on the 4/13 sailing and was surprised at the painfully slow service in the MDR.  We had anytime dining and wasn't sure if that was the reason we only had one waiter each of the 3 different times we went to the MDR.  He/she would take our order and then never check on us to see if we needed drink refills.  He would bring our food and then disappear again.  We wouldn't want to order dessert for fear it would be another half hour before it was delivered.   The waiters we had weren't very personable either.  Didn't make recommendations or even small talk.  It was more like, "Do you know what you want to order?".  It was our 3rd Princess cruise and I was surprised at the MDR service.   

[Astro Flyer]

cubfan63...thanks for sharing your Super Tuscan lunch experience.  We booked it on a previous cruise until they increased the price to $105 because they replaced one of the wines with one that cost $525.

[drewdrewcruiser]

I forgot to mention... Our cabin was one who experienced many TV outages.  One day it was frozen from a little after breakfast all the way until after dinner.   It was so bad that we would be surprised when it actually worked.  When I checked my final stateroom account balance, I noticed a $25 "goodwill credit" for each person in my cabin.  That was a nice gesture and I appreciated it since I didn't ask for it. 

[sskate]

Anyone knows if Princess have put new beds in the staterooms after the wet dock?  That was what Princess advertised about refurbishment on the Royal in end of 2018.  Recent reviews that I have read suggested that they have not.

[Cruise Raider]

9 hours ago, cubfan63 said:

Cruise Raider....I think you might have talked to me about the cabin steward. I was mid-ship Emerald deck starboard side.

Just home now from the airport after flight to Chicago O’Hare from LAX. I had a couple more comments about the 4/13 Royal Princess Cruise.

I did attend the Tuscan wine lunch and everything was delicious. It was $60 and held on the 2nd sea day. The only “odd” thing was the Octopus carpaccio. The risotto infused with Asparagus was out of this world.

Za Za in Alfredo’s is a real gem! Everything in Alfredo’s was topnotch. I ate there 2 lunches and formal night dinner. I did embarkation day lunch there and was one of the first people in there. I had no problem there ordering a glass of wine right away on my Premier Beverage package. In fact, the young lady serving me even showed me the screen with the indication of my loyalty level and the PBP.

Only time I had a issue was a mistake in charging on the PBP was one night in the Symphony dining room where the assistant waiter charged my account for wine. As I had 2 drinks there, and only one being charged (guest services had no problem with removing it).

I tend to be up early so buffet at breakfast was not a problem at all. I especially adored the little egg and cheese burritos they had in the Horizon Bistro line (not available in the Horizon Court line). The Bistro line is the buffet line between the pool and the Pastry shop.

Also, something I discovered when trying to use up a little remaining non-refundable credit was because I had the PBP, they only charged me the $3 difference between the $12 limit and the $15 price for the chocolate and wine tasting at Vines. I was told this was a new policy (not sure if just for the ship or line-wise). This is a major difference in PBP to charge the difference, unless it was a misunderstanding by the server as to how to apply it. More than half the wines at Vines are above the $12 PBP limit, btw.

 

I thought that may have been you on this thread when you mentioned you hadn't met your room steward.  Yes, we were two or three doors down from you.  We saw him all the time and because we've had him as our room steward in the past, he knew our exact preferences without even having to ask him (extra pillows, wine glasses, full ice bucket twice daily and a box of tissues on each nightstand).  Nothing really out of the ordinary but it was just so impressive that he remembered these things from previous cruises (I don't know if that is a good or bad commentary about us ... hahaha!) and he also remembered what times we ate breakfast and dinner.  Of course, our first cruise with him involved no time changes and the second sailing had time changes in the opposite direction of this sailing ... so we confused him with our dining times because we were trying to stick to our home schedule and not on the ship's time. 

 

Great to know about paying just the difference for the drinks (limit + upcharge) instead of the entire drink ... if that is indeed the new policy.  I read on these boards before our cruise that they may be making the wine bottle packages available for 7 night cruises so thought it couldn't hurt to ask.  They were in no way advertising this and don't think it would have been mentioned if I hadn't thought to inquire about it.  But, I was able to purchase it on this sailing. 

We are traveling with our neighbors in the fall on Princess and they have the PBP and will be very glad to hear about this policy if so.  They like  pricier wines and already have the package so seemed like a bit of a waste to have to purchase the entire glass of wine when they already have the package.  They were thinking of just taking the discounts on the bottle if they are still doing that.  I will be following this to see how their policy ends up by the fall.  I know they are rolling out different things all the time and the next cruise may or may not have the same.  

Of note, I was on a Princess sailing in Sept and had 4 coffee cards leftover but two with expiration dates for Dec 2018.  I was assured on that sailing that Princess would honor those cards, even with a past exp date through August 2019.  I asked if he could change it and initial the cards, which he did.  They had absolutely no problem with taking our cards so we enjoyed a cappuccino / latte in the IC and in the MDR,  that is, when they weren't being fussy about fetching it for us in the MDR.  

And yes, the service was oftentimes painfully slow in the MDR ... until we found that waiter and assistant we loved ... Valeriano and Renz!  Unfortunately, we were only seated in their section 3 nights.  Magdelena was also pretty good but we only got her once.  She even got me oil and vinegar with my bread one night.  I requested the same when seated in another section but never saw it arrive and by the time the waiter showed back up, the bread was already devoured.  hahaha!!  

I do have to say that I like that this dining room had a multitude of tables for two.  Sometimes we don't mind sharing but then it always seems to take forever to finish dinner and it was already taking a very long time.  I think the person who mentioned that they staff the ship as if it were a Grand Class passenger count pegged it!!  The same number of staff with 1000 more passengers (I am just guestimating ... but that's what it felt like).  

We did meet some nice people dining in the MDR and one had the PBP and also noticed she was charged for some drinks on her account.  They were quickly taken care of as well ... no questions asked.  

And yes, those little egg and cheese burritos were awesome ... even cold, which is how I hate to eat them after the chaos in the buffet ... hahaha!!  

I would have gone to the wine pairing luncheon as we really do love good wines but the menu was just not to our liking.  Neither of us like the octopus and the main dish had meat, which I don't eat and I am not a huge fan of risotto, either .. so we would have just gone for the wine.  If they had it at the Crown Grill with a nice fish dish / steak option ... we would have jumped on it.  

I really wanted to try the Royal tea but it was either offered on the same day as formal night or the Pub Lunch ... there is only so much we can eat during the day, after all.  We gave it our best shot, though.  The only problem with that is, we came back home very hungry.  LOL

 

Glad to hear you made it home safely!  And ... cruise on!!  

 

[Cruise Raider]

10 hours ago, drewdrewcruiser said:

I was also on the 4/13 sailing and was surprised at the painfully slow service in the MDR.  We had anytime dining and wasn't sure if that was the reason we only had one waiter each of the 3 different times we went to the MDR.  He/she would take our order and then never check on us to see if we needed drink refills.  He would bring our food and then disappear again.  We wouldn't want to order dessert for fear it would be another half hour before it was delivered.   The waiters we had weren't very personable either.  Didn't make recommendations or even small talk.  It was more like, "Do you know what you want to order?".  It was our 3rd Princess cruise and I was surprised at the MDR service.   

 

That was my 25th cruise on Princess and I agree with you wholeheartedly (with the exception of the one wait team we found but only got three times).  In the past, if we had a team we adored and we showed up to dinner when we said we would, they would always set aside a table for us in that section.  Now, they seemed so stressed out or apathetic that it detracted from our dining room experience.  We went with low expectations, though, since that dining time change they implemented last year ...  so, our one team was a very pleasant surprise.   

I did love the Italian night with the extra pasta dish that was prepared in the middle of the room.  Well, we both ordered it but my husband didn't get one.  He asked where his was and it took a full thirty minutes more for him to get his.  Wow .. that's too long.  I might have (and I stress 'might have') shared mine with him had I knew it was going to take so long.  It was delicious but they only gave a few pieces of the penne in each dish.  He just called it his dessert and we skipped ordering off the dessert menu.  

And ...they ran out of chamomile tea after the first day.  Too bad ... we so enjoy that after dinner.  

 

[HBCcruiser]

13 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

I am glad Princess came through for you!!  Like you, there were just some things I wasn't used to.  I actually dubbed the Grand Princess the ship of 'Yes' a few cruises back because no matter what you asked for, the answer was yes.  Of course, my requests are usually reasonable ones ... I'm not used to paying my hard earned dollars just to hear 'no'.  Thankfully, there was usually someone right behind to make things right.  Dennis, the head waiter in the Symphony, was one of these that made it happen!  He was one of the busiest men on the ship ... I am sure!!  

 

Do tell ... what is NCL doing to the passengers on the Getaway?  I haven't heard a thing!  

 

The Bliss was in port with us a couple of times on this trip.  Oh ... and I've heard the Haven cabins are sheer 'bliss' ...pun intended.  

 

 

The Haven areas in the larger NCL ships are AMAZING and you are definitely treated well, however, the price is double the cost of suites on the Royal. As much as I love the Haven, I’ll stick to Princess sailings out if LA until they lower the costs on the newer NCL ships’ (Bliss and Joy) sailings. Yes, the pool area is small on these ships for the number of passengers if outside of the Haven. You will also see lots of chair hogs there. 

[LessWorkMoreTravel]

7 hours ago, sskate said:

Anyone knows if Princess have put new beds in the staterooms after the wet dock?  That was what Princess advertised about refurbishment on the Royal in end of 2018.  Recent reviews that I have read suggested that they have not.

I’m also curious about this 

[drewdrewcruiser]

29 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

And ...they ran out of chamomile tea after the first day.  Too bad ... we so enjoy that after dinner.  

 

My sister asked for Splenda (yellow packet sugar) in Concerto and they told her they didn't have it. We told them that they had it in Symphony (I might have my dining rooms reversed) and the buffet.  The waiter looked annoyed and said those places are different.  I get that they are busy but in past cruises, my sister would have gotten her Splenda and a smile. 

[ceilidh1]

49 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

 

The Haven areas in the larger NCL ships are AMAZING and you are definitely treated well, however, the price is double the cost of suites on the Royal. As much as I love the Haven, I’ll stick to Princess sailings out if LA until they lower the costs on the newer NCL ships’ (Bliss and Joy) sailings. Yes, the pool area is small on these ships for the number of passengers if outside of the Haven. You will also see lots of chair hogs there. 

Yes - the price tag was more than I am usually comfortable with for sure! However, we booked over a year out and got an "ok" price for Haven (actually, the lowest I have ever seen it on any sailing that I have looked at) so feel a little better. Now the pricing on our cruise in Haven is over $1000 more per person than what we booked at! Ouch! That's why I'm worried that I will love it so much I will only want to cruise that way - simply don't have that kind of cruise budget! LOL

[ceilidh1]

8 hours ago, sskate said:

Anyone knows if Princess have put new beds in the staterooms after the wet dock?  That was what Princess advertised about refurbishment on the Royal in end of 2018.  Recent reviews that I have read suggested that they have not.

Our room definitely did NOT have the new beds. Several on our rollcall also said their rooms didn't, but some did seem to! I think it is luck of the draw!

[HBCcruiser]

1 minute ago, ceilidh1 said:

Yes - the price tag was more than I am usually comfortable with for sure! However, we booked over a year out and got an "ok" price for Haven (actually, the lowest I have ever seen it on any sailing that I have looked at) so feel a little better. Now the pricing on our cruise in Haven is over $1000 more per person than what we booked at! Ouch! That's why I'm worried that I will love it so much I will only want to cruise that way - simply don't have that kind of cruise budget! LOL

 

Good for you! Sorry to say, you WILL love it! Once you go Haven...🥳🥰

[4cats4me]

1 hour ago, LessWorkMoreTravel said:

I’m also curious about this 

 

Yes, the mattress seemed new in our cabin. Very firm, yet comfy. No dips or sags, unlike the one we had last April onboard the Royal.  We even commented to each other about the new mattress  and how we liked it. 

[sskate]

4 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Our room definitely did NOT have the new beds. Several on our rollcall also said their rooms didn't, but some did seem to! I think it is luck of the draw!

Which type,of stateroom were you in?  Heard that they have only replaced new beds in the suites.

[Idratherbeatsea]

7 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

That was my 25th cruise on Princess and I agree with you wholeheartedly (with the exception of the one wait team we found but only got three times).  In the past, if we had a team we adored and we showed up to dinner when we said we would, they would always set aside a table for us in that section.  Now, they seemed so stressed out or apathetic that it detracted from our dining room experience.  We went with low expectations, though, since that dining time change they implemented last year ...  so, our one team was a very pleasant surprise.   

I did love the Italian night with the extra pasta dish that was prepared in the middle of the room.  Well, we both ordered it but my husband didn't get one.  He asked where his was and it took a full thirty minutes more for him to get his.  Wow .. that's too long.  I might have (and I stress 'might have') shared mine with him had I knew it was going to take so long.  It was delicious but they only gave a few pieces of the penne in each dish.  He just called it his dessert and we skipped ordering off the dessert menu.  

And ...they ran out of chamomile tea after the first day.  Too bad ... we so enjoy that after dinner.  

 

We were on the 4/13 sailing. Someone at our table for lunch (MDR) on Thursday ordered chamomile tea and got it no problem.

[ceilidh1]

3 hours ago, sskate said:

Which type,of stateroom were you in?  Heard that they have only replaced new beds in the suites.

Obstructed balcony....