Royal Princess - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

[Jean C]

[Jean C]

And here's a pics of the ship. We're 4 up and one to the left of the first "R" of "Royal Princess" 🤗

[phoenixx]

45 minutes ago, Jean C said:

Hi, our first stop in NZ is Tauranga so formalities are done there. Prior to arrival in NZ all passengers, including Aus and NZ, have to complete a NZ Traveller Declaration on line (replaces the old arrival cards). Most people grizzling and moaning about it only being able to be done on line, but internet provided in Internet Cafe for those who needed it.

 

We've been told we just need our Medallion and Govt issued ID to go ashore. I guess guests' bags will be xrayed on leaving as despite being told a zillion times not to take food off ship, there will be those who give it a try. I expect Customs will use sniffer dogs and check disembarking bags in Auckland.

 

We received no compensation for missing Pago Page - I get envious of tales of cruisers on other voyages getting generous OBC when port stops are missed [sigh], neither did they refund port costs. Instead we got a berth at Mt Maunganui (Tauranga) a day early, so I guess it went to that instead.

 

"and did you still pay the full fare?" - not quite sure what you mean by this. No refunds, no compensation, but we originally booked at and then re-priced to a really good fare, so probably we did well compared to some others on the cruise.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. As the cruise finishes in Sydney but you are disembarking earlier in Auckland, did you pay the same fare as if you were going all the way to Sydney or a reduced fare?

Thanks

[Jean C]

Just a few more thoughts.

 

Food is still hit and miss. Keith had a very tough pork loin chop the other day, so tough he could barely cut through it with a steak knife and couldn't chew it.

 

Menu seems very US-oriented, with lots of weird (to me) offerings, lots of sweet, fruit based cold soups, ie Beet & Berries. An offering tonight is a fruit smoothie. As said previously, I don't get out much, hehehe, maybe I'm behind the times.

 

We talked with an Ausdie couple this morning, they too found the food hit and miss.  Having said that, my waistband tells me that I'm not going hungry. 

 

Shows again are hit and miss, a lot of US singers who insist on telling you in lengthy detail their life stories [sigh]. It becomes tiresome after a while, it's meaningless to those of us who weren't raised in some small tin pot town in Alabama and can't relate. One night we had, for a change, an Aussie singer from Perth and I said to myself, thank goodness for an Aussie - and that from a NZer, so I shall go niw and wash my mouth out 😉 Others too have found the main theatre shows a bit under par.

 

The staff are awesome.  The Cruise Director, DuVaal Gamble, is the best we've come across. He's bright, enthusiastic, humorous, with nothing fake or forced. He's very likeable. The quiz staff regular hosts, Cezar and Carlos, are very likeable, and we enjoy their sessions.

 

Our cabin steward, Jonnifer, changed our sheets, without us asking, so he gets top marks, he's a lovely, friendly and meticulous guy. The new bedding has a fold line down the middle and I now figure why I end up with top sheet touching the floor on my side. The term Duvet Hog comes to mind - oops!

 

Our wait staff in the restaurant are delightful too, Joivalli and Mitch, they treat us like long-lost rellies when they see us, and if they spot us around the ship.

 

Food and theatre entertainment under par, but hopefully that will probably swing more to Down Under tastes going forward.

 

Would still cruise on Royal Princess even if above two categories were the same.

 

The library is well stocked with puzzles and games. Pretty light on novels, but maybe the best had gone by the time we boarded and then found the library. Books deposited by passengers appeared periodically, you just had to be in the right place at the right time to get them. One day I stuck my nose in as a man put a book back. I said "ooh, I like that word 'killing'", he said it was a good book, so it barely touched the shelf and I too enjoyed it.

 

Anyway, time to go and explore ashore, we know Mt Maunganui well, it's a lovely seaside town to stroll around.

 

Thanks everyone for all the likes and positive comments, they're much appreciated 🥰 🥰

 

 

 

 

[Jean C]

7 minutes ago, phoenixx said:

Sorry if I wasn't clear. As the cruise finishes in Sydney but you are disembarking earlier in Auckland, did you pay the same fare as if you were going all the way to Sydney or a reduced fare?

Thanks

Hi, thanks for clarifying. The cruise was sold in different segments with embarkation from Vancouver, LA or Honolulu, and disembarkation at Honolulu, Auckland or Sydney. The fares would have been pro-rated according to the number of days for each particular cruise segment, ours at 17 days was significantly cheaper than if we'd paid all the way to Sydney, an extra 6 days, or if we'd embarked in LA, for example 🙂

[CDaze71]

@Jean C  THANK YOU SO MUCH! Can't wait.

What do these highlighted symbols mean? I can't seem to find a consistent theme. For eg casino and trivia have the same symbol. 

 

Edited Saturday at 11:36 PM by CDaze71

[arxcards]

Like the price list changing to $AU when she reaches Sydney, much of the entertainment will swap to acts managed by their Australian agency. That doesn't guarantee it will improve, but it will be different.

 

Apparently, it is all about the vibe. True, those symbols don't make much sense.

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, Jean C said:

Electrical sockets in cabin -

 

Thanks for confirming. Majestic is far more versatile, which is strange considering how close their age is. Yes, being built for China helps as the Chinese outlets are also Australian, but there were USB-As in the lamps as well.

 

We have friends that are taking their first cruise next month, to NZ on Royal. Looks like I will be mailing them some US and Euro pin adaptors.

Edited Sunday at 12:18 AM by arxcards
needed a past tense

[CDaze71]

So will these will be OK to use on Royal? 

[Jean C]

1 hour ago, CDaze71 said:

So will these will be OK to use on Royal? 

Sorry, stuffed if I know. A Euro and a US adaptor.  This is what my Euro adaptor looks like -

 

[Jean C]

Oddities

 

Lentil pie

I should say, out of curiosity I tried the lentil pie. Not really my cup of tea, but it was surprisingly okay. The filling tasted like Mexican-style seasoned mince, however it was very dry.

 

Captain's cocktail function and gala dinner

For us, the Captain's cocktail function was on day 14 of a 17 day cruise, it seemed late in the piece to me. Our restaurant neighbours boarded in LA, disembarking in Auckland, and their first and only Captain's cocktail function was yesterday, the day after ours, even later in the piece than ours.

 

We'd already had our last formal night, our invitation said formal wear but the next day a note was left in the cabin saying it would be smart casual.

 

The next day was the gala dinner that included lobster tail. Again, this was a smart casual day. 

 

It all seemed a bit cobbled together and last minute to us, but maybe that's what they're doing now 🤷‍♀️

 

Other

 

Before boarding I'd read various reviews on the ship and people said how loud the music and activities in the atrium (piazza) were. They seemed okay to me. The open pool deck often had loud movies running though, sometimes unpleasantly loud.

 

After leaving Moorea and heading south-west to NZ we had overcast skies day after day. One day was particularly cold and no one was outside, they even closed the pool bar. You couldn't find a seat in the piazza for love nor money, including if you wanted lunch at the International Cafe.

 

NZ has turned on a perfect day for us today, sunny and blue skies, although cool in the shade. You've done us proud NZ 🤗

 

[Jean C]

Another oddity

We spoke with a couple of different parties who were from Tauranga. I asked if they were disembarking there. The first couple said they wanted to but were told on booking that they couldn't as there wasn't any Customs here. Another group we spoke with said they were given permission to disembark in Tauranga, so they'll be getting off here.

 

The moral of this story is that you need to keep asking the same question of different people until you eventually get the response you want to hear!

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, CDaze71 said:

So will these will be OK to use on Royal? 

Should be, as long as your appliances only have 2 pins on the plug, as there is no earth pin on your US adaptors.

[Jean C]

3 hours ago, CDaze71 said:

@Jean C  THANK YOU SO MUCH! Can't wait.

What do these highlighted symbols mean? I can't seem to find a consistent theme. For eg casino and trivia have the same symbol. 

 

I didn't take much notice at the time. The star is consistently by the theatre shows and anything very special in the piazza. Here's the code for the others - red = vibe, yellow = palate (food/drink), blue = explore (the enrichment lectures)

 

 

Edited Sunday at 03:20 AM by Jean C
Better pic

[CountessCookie]

5 hours ago, Jean C said:

I found a sausage roll, or what could pass for a saisage roll. It was at the Captain's cocktail function and was among the plate of savory nibbles - it was a hot dog sausage encased in flaky pastry and sliced in the traditional way of cutting up sausage rolls

In my opinion it is a crime to call that a sausage roll. I'm all for sausages in in pastry (cheese kranskys in puff is a common quick dinner for me), but these are not sausagerolls 😱🤣

[Jean C]

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

Like the price list changing to $AU when she reaches Sydney, much of the entertainment will swap to acts managed by their Australian agency. That doesn't guarantee it will improve, but it will be different.

 

Apparently, it is all about the vibe. True, those symbols don't make much sense.

Out of interest, I looked at the perfume prices on board (I never "buy" perfume as I have a friend who works for Estee Lauder and gets a generous 6 monthly product allowance, with some of the benefit coming my way). Anyway, I thought of buying my daughter a bottle of something so checked prices at the Chemist Warehouse of what she would like, and then again on board. It's miles cheaper at the Chemist Warehouse!

 

I'm not a shopper but went through the on board shops just to say, been there, done that. I like sparkly things so I hesitated at the Effy (don't laugh) jewellery counter, just to look. For me, I'd never buy pave-style stones, the bigger the better is my motto. Everything was safely behind sealed glass cabinets but a staff member followed me around like a bad smell, I felt like asking her not to invade my personal space! I escaped pronto.

[Jean C]

PS, I fully expect the USD4 coffee to become AUD4 coffee when the on board currency changes over.

 

Another oddity I had to get used to on this cruise, even though I've done other US-based cruises before, is that when passing in the corridors, US and Canadian people pass on the right, rather than the left as we're used to. It took me a moment or two to figure out why they weren't giving way!

[Jean C]

PS, we looked at the on board duty free alcohol as well, out of interest. It was "two for" and whatever figure was quoted was, in a USD number, similar to what you would pay in an AUD or NZD number at airport duty free or a local discount liquor shop, ie USD59 you could buy for AUD59 or NZD59 at our airports 🥴

 

So, USD priced holidays aren't for the faint hearted 🤣 💵 

Edited Sunday at 04:03 AM by Jean C

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, Jean C said:

PS, I fully expect the USD4 coffee to become AUD4 coffee when the on board currency changes over.

 

Another oddity I had to get used to on this cruise, even though I've done other US-based cruises before, is that when passing in the corridors, US and Canadian people pass on the right, rather than the left as we're used to. It took me a moment or two to figure out why they weren't giving way!

International cruise - keep right.

Aussie cruise - keep left.

First cruise in Oz with plenty of passengers staying aboard - guess, sidestep, zig-zag or put your bumpers up.

 

Coffee won't be $AU4. Everything goes up by 1/2.

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, Jean C said:

Out of interest, I looked at the perfume prices on board (I never "buy" perfume as I have a friend who works for Estee Lauder and gets a generous 6 monthly product allowance, with some of the benefit coming my way). Anyway, I thought of buying my daughter a bottle of something so checked prices at the Chemist Warehouse of what she would like, and then again on board. It's miles cheaper at the Chemist Warehouse!

 

I'm not a shopper but went through the on board shops just to say, been there, done that. I like sparkly things so I hesitated at the Effy (don't laugh) jewellery counter, just to look. For me, I'd never buy pave-style stones, the bigger the better is my motto. Everything was safely behind sealed glass cabinets but a staff member followed me around like a bad smell, I felt like asking her not to invade my personal space! I escaped pronto.

Part of the fun of renaming ships and their features, Barb renamed this boo-tick to Iffy when we were on Coral a couple of years ago. I guess it is hard sell when they don't have quality on offer.

[OzKiwiJJ]

7 hours ago, Jean C said:

 

Menu seems very US-oriented, with lots of weird (to me) offerings, lots of sweet, fruit based cold soups, ie Beet & Berries. An offering tonight is a fruit smoothie. As said previously, I don't get out much, hehehe, maybe I'm behind the times.

They've always offered those fruit-based cold soups since we started cruising ten years ago. The difference is they used to offer two other hot soups - one light like a consomme/broth, the other more hearty. Now they usually only have one hot soup on the menu. 

 

The only cold soup that I like is Gazpacho, and Princess does do a very nice one.

[cruise_critical]

Thanks for the awesome updates Jean. I was on the Royal Princess last year for 13 nights and they didn't do the The Secret Silk production show which was disappointing. Noticed that they did do it on your cruise so I'm hoping they do it this time around when I'm on her again later this year!

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

They've always offered those fruit-based cold soups since we started cruising ten years ago. The difference is they used to offer two other hot soups - one light like a consomme/broth, the other more hearty. Now they usually only have one hot soup on the menu. 

 

The only cold soup that I like is Gazpacho, and Princess does do a very nice one.

South Pacific in the middle of summer, those cold fruity soups are refreshing and good palate cleansers. It would be a shame if there was no choice of a hot soup on the nights they have these.

[Jean C]

Sundown at the Mount

 

[mr walker]

5 hours ago, Jean C said:

Another oddity I had to get used to on this cruise, even though I've done other US-based cruises before, is that when passing in the corridors, US and Canadian people pass on the right, rather than the left as we're used to. It took me a moment or two to figure out why they weren't giving way!

 

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

International cruise - keep right.

Aussie cruise - keep left.

First cruise in Oz with plenty of passengers staying aboard - guess, sidestep, zig-zag or put your bumpers up.

This aspect of cruising has always been a problem for me. I suggest that people walk on the same side of the street as they drive, and this carries on ships. This causes some issues, particularly in busy corridors or buffet lines.

Much worse though is in supermarkets, where the trolley pushers go in any direction at any time. I often think to myself, I hope they didn't drive here 😮