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

[ihermdar]

On 4/20/2019 at 5:43 PM, Cruise Raider said:

 

We still had a good time and a very enjoyable cruise.  

Valariano and Renz in the MDR were great.  Itsel was also a sweetheart and Dennis, the head waiter in the Symphony dining room also bent over backwards to make us happy.  Rosalie in Bellini’s also did a great job, as did Emily at guest services. Sebastian (Basti, up in Club 6) was another one that mad us feel so welcome!  There were others as well that made our cruise more special.  So, didn’t mean to make it sound like the entire crew was dismissive ... just some of them need a lesson in customer service.  Everyone at Alfredo’s and the IC & coffee bar were great.  One of them apologized for the delay when there really wasn’t one.  

Of note, room service as spot on and quick!  And, this morning at 4 am, our toilet decided to stop working and the plumber was there within ten minutes of our phone call.  It would have been a hassle to get dressed to find a working toilet at that time in the morning.  So grateful we didn’t have to.  

 

Is Alfredos a specialty dining room?

[Astro Flyer]

1 hour ago, ihermdar said:

Is Alfredos a specialty dining room?

There’s no extra charge & here’s the menu:

 

http://www.beyondships2.com/uploads/8/2/4/5/8245255/rp-alfredos_pizzeria-23-may-13.pdf

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, ihermdar said:

Is Alfredos a specialty dining room?

Alfredos is BETTER than specialty dining and FREE!

[Cruise Raider]

18 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Alfredos is BETTER than specialty dining and FREE!

 

I love the Crown Grill but I agree .... Alfredo's is amazing and there is no extra charge.  Almost wished we had gone there the last night to end the cruise on a good note.  We instead were given a table in the Concerto dining room and our waiter wasn't up to par.  

[Cruise Raider]

On 4/21/2019 at 3:40 PM, Idratherbeatsea said:

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

 

Ugh!!  They must have just not felt like looking for it ... 

we ordered it several times and told they didn't have it.  We did get tea, just not what we wanted so I thought they were being truthful.  Oh well ... next time, will just bring my own.  

[Cruise Raider]

On 4/21/2019 at 2:07 PM, sskate said:

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

 

We were in a regular balcony room and I can say the mattress (and pillows) were among the most comfortable beds we've ever had on a cruise.  Heck, I have a relatively new mattress at home and I think the Princess bed on this cruise was more comfortable than the one I have at home.  It was heaven!!  

[Idratherbeatsea]

27 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

We were in a regular balcony room and I can say the mattress (and pillows) were among the most comfortable beds we've ever had on a cruise.  Heck, I have a relatively new mattress at home and I think the Princess bed on this cruise was more comfortable than the one I have at home.  It was heaven!!  

Ours was very comfortable as well. Noticed stacks of new mattresses stacked on pier beside ship as we disembarked.

[sskate]

24 minutes ago, Idratherbeatsea said:

Ours was very comfortable as well. Noticed stacks of new mattresses stacked on pier beside ship as we disembarked.

Hope they put new mattresses in all staterooms in time for our cruise in May.

[vino100]

On 4/20/2019 at 7:27 PM, Cruise Raider said:

 

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. 

What time was traditionall dining? I’m hoping they honor the time we were told. 

Thanks so much for your review. We board on May 4th. 

[Idratherbeatsea]

10 minutes ago, vino100 said:

What time was traditionall dining? I’m hoping they honor the time we were told. 

Thanks so much for your review. We board on May 4th. 

530 and 745

[vino100]

3 minutes ago, Idratherbeatsea said:

530 and 745

Thanks for the info. Really irritating since our cruise personalizer says late is 7:15. 

[Cruise Raider]

14 hours ago, vino100 said:

What time was traditionall dining? I’m hoping they honor the time we were told. 

Thanks so much for your review. We board on May 4th. 

 

The early dining was at 5:00 PM and 5:30 PM ... two seatings, one in the Adolfo and the other in the Concerto.   And, the late traditional was at either 7:30 PM or 7:45 PM with only one seating, which was in the Adolfo.  

If you are in traditional and you couldn't make it to your seating, you are allowed to dine in the anytime dining, either in the Symphony or the Concerto dining rooms only after 7:30 PM.  They were checking cabin numbers at the door for anytime dining prior to 7:30 PM.  Maybe afterwards as well but we never went that late.  

 

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Cruise Raider

[Idratherbeatsea]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

The early dining was at 5:00 PM and 5:30 PM ... two seatings, one in the Adolfo and the other in the Concerto.   And, the late traditional was at either 7:30 PM or 7:45 PM with only one seating, which was in the Adolfo.  

If you are in traditional and you couldn't make it to your seating, you are allowed to dine in the anytime dining, either in the Symphony or the Concerto dining rooms only after 7:30 PM.  They were checking cabin numbers at the door for anytime dining prior to 7:30 PM.  Maybe afterwards as well but we never went that late.  

 

 

Late was 745 in "Alegro" dining room.

Wish they would stick with what was offered. If they want late to be 745 they make it so in the personalizer. I made sure to put our disappointment in the post cruise survey.

[greenie082756]

Few observations and comments from our April 6th cruise. My 2cents:

 

Cabin: E404 Obstructed balcony

The bed was not comfortable for me and the steward put a mattress topper on and that helped. So I do not think our cabin got one yet. 

I had great difficulty trying to open the balcony door. Hubby had to do it for me. I did not say anything to the steward but I can put money on that the next residents did. I probably should have.

The room only had 2 outlets @ the desk area. We had a multi charging thingy (no surge protected) and that worked for all our stuff.

Our room steward was a very nice gentleman that did a very good job and we were pleased.

 

As far as anytime dining, well we were not impressed. We do not mind waiting and it wasn't that. It was the whole atmosphere of an upgraded sit down buffet menu. Food was "just okay". 

 

Like others we felt that Alfredo's was the best of the whole ship. The service, attitude, food were top notch. We ate there 3 times and loved it.  We ate at the Crown grill one night and it was okay and nothing exceptional. Would we do it again, probably because its still better than the MDR. Princess really needs to step the MDR procedures up. I would rather eat in the buffet if this how its going to be, or maybe this is what they want?

 

I love the screens by the elevators (killed time waiting for the small, slow elevator). What I thought they need more of was more screens in the inside public areas.  So if I wanted to use a screen I went over to where the elevators were. Yes I could use my phone but thought the screens (old eyes) were easier to use.

 

As I have stated before, Royal will not be on the top of our selections of Princess ships. Our favorites seem to be Ruby, Island and Golden.

[Pamster]

What deck do you embark onto in San Pedro?

[HBCcruiser]

What deck do you embark onto in San Pedro?

Deck 6


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hobbyfarmer2]

On 4/20/2019 at 5:01 PM, XBGuy said:

According to the Princess web site, the passenger capacity of the Royal Princess is 3560.  I know that there is some fluff in this number because all beds in all cabins may or may not be filled.  However, is the absolute maximum passenger capacity of the Royal Princess really 4000?  I did not think it carried as many passengers as ships like Norwegian's Bliss or Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas.

I don't think the 3560 number includes 3rds and 4ths, just do occupancy for the 1700+ staterooms.

[Joelocal]

We were on the April 13th cruise also.

We had anytime dining and called in faithfully at 8 am every morning to reserve @ 5:30. We never had to wait. Service did seem slow at times. Best meal was the medallion steak on Sunday., Tender and flavorful. Worst was Friday night. I couldn't see anything exciting so I ordered the specialty burger. I ordered med rare and got well done. I ended up at the buffet. Overall food was excellent.

I had the coffee deal for 15 servings. I was not impressed with their coffee. C-

I really enjoyed the Concerts at Sea on the outside big screen with awesome sound system.  Stones, Hall and Oats, Sheryl Crow, the Who, etc. Much better than most of the live bands I have heard on past cruises.

I felt the most crowded on this ship than any cruise I have been on. A lot of it had to do with a design flaw for traffic flow. Like going from four lanes to two in high traffic areas. This happens on the pool deck, in the buffet, and down in the shop area.

The shows were packed. Saw the magicians show and the Motown Princess show.  Both were ok.

Only got off the ship at Mazatlan  for 30 minutes.

We enjoyed the cruise. 8 out of ten.

 

[drewdrewcruiser]

6 minutes ago, Joelocal said:

We were on the April 13th cruise also.

We had anytime dining and called in faithfully at 8 am every morning to reserve @ 5:30. We never had to wait. Service did seem slow at times. Best meal was the medallion steak on Sunday., Tender and flavorful. Worst was Friday night. I couldn't see anything exciting so I ordered the specialty burger. I ordered med rare and got well done. I ended up at the buffet. Overall food was excellent.

I had the coffee deal for 15 servings. I was not impressed with their coffee. C-

I really enjoyed the Concerts at Sea on the outside big screen with awesome sound system.  Stones, Hall and Oats, Sheryl Crow, the Who, etc. Much better than most of the live bands I have heard on past cruises.

I felt the most crowded on this ship than any cruise I have been on. A lot of it had to do with a design flaw for traffic flow. Like going from four lanes to two in high traffic areas. This happens on the pool deck, in the buffet, and down in the shop area.

The shows were packed. Saw the magicians show and the Motown Princess show.  Both were ok.

Only got off the ship at Mazatlan  for 30 minutes.

We enjoyed the cruise. 8 out of ten.

 

I was on the 13th sailing and agree with you about Sunday's beef medallion.  Aside from the steak I had at Crown Grill, it was my favorite of the cruise. My son ordered a Crown Grill steak when we dined in Concerto.  He ordered medium and it came almost well done and pretty dry.  Because they charged $19 extra, I voiced my displeasure and the waitress tried to tell me it was medium.  I was happy when the head waiter came over and agreed with me and then personally delivered a new medium steak.   

[Griller]

On ‎4‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 12:18 AM, ceilidh1 said:

Alfredos is BETTER than specialty dining and FREE!

If you don't want to sit down for the Alfredo's pizza its the same pizza selection on the Pool Deck pizza place but only a limited choice every day. Always Pepperoni and Margaretha and then a Special of the Day.

[Cruise Raider]

22 hours ago, Idratherbeatsea said:

Late was 745 in "Alegro" dining room.

Wish they would stick with what was offered. If they want late to be 745 they make it so in the personalizer. I made sure to put our disappointment in the post cruise survey.

 

I agree 100%!!  On our most recent past cruise with Princess, I think they changed the first seating to 4:30 PM .... people were irritated so crowded to the Anytime Dining room, making the lines to get in around 6 PM impossible!  Then, we met some people that wanted the traditional dining but the late one.  Well, they changed that one to 7:45 but that was even too early for them so they said they went at 8:30 PM every night.  Well, they were seated at a table with others and if that were me, I'd have been very annoyed!!  They said it didn't seem to bother the others.  Wow!!  

 

[Cruise Raider]

12 hours ago, hobbyfarmer2 said:

I don't think the 3560 number includes 3rds and 4ths, just do occupancy for the 1700+ staterooms.

 

I think you are right.  On Cruisedeckplans, the occupancy shows the 3560-4272 ... obviously, the 4272 is with every berth filled in 1780 staterooms.  Since we were on a spring break cruise and there were 650 kids onboard, I tend to think our passenger count was closer to the 4000+ mark.  

 

[Idratherbeatsea]

3 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

I think you are right.  On Cruisedeckplans, the occupancy shows the 3560-4272 ... obviously, the 4272 is with every berth filled in 1780 staterooms.  Since we were on a spring break cruise and there were 650 kids onboard, I tend to think our passenger count was closer to the 4000+ mark.  

 

They announced 3850ish

[ihermdar]

On 4/21/2019 at 9:18 PM, ceilidh1 said:

Alfredos is BETTER than specialty dining and FREE!

Thanks, I am looking forward to it.

 

I don't know how to post a new question on this site.

But would love to know if anyone here has been in a Suite where usually breakfast is served just for those rooms. It use to be in the Crown Grill but Princes can't answer for me if Royal does that breakfast anywhere?

[Idratherbeatsea]

18 minutes ago, ihermdar said:

Thanks, I am looking forward to it.

 

I don't know how to post a new question on this site.

But would love to know if anyone here has been in a Suite where usually breakfast is served just for those rooms. It use to be in the Crown Grill but Princes can't answer for me if Royal does that breakfast anywhere?

Suite breakfast is in Sabatinis