Would you cruise on Royal Princess?

[DetroitMark]

I don't care how bad the band is, as long as they don't play "There's Got To Be a Morning After."

[Toto2Kansas]

Opps, just realized I called Lorraine, Arlene, I must have Arlene on the brain today, I knew better than that, my apology to her.

[CruisenOne]

DW and I have been following the Post throughout the day.

 

We think that we were on this Cruise from 12/22/07 to 1/07/08;

however, the Reviewer had the destination as: South America/Antarctica?

And yet the Reviewer lists the Ports on the Southern Caribbean Adventurer.

 

To answer the OPs question: YES we would sail on the Royal Princess again.

 

O.K. -- Our input.

 

Graffiti: We never saw it.

 

Temper tantrums/Bad passenger behavior: We never witnessed any.

 

T.V.: Only complaint that we heard was that the Fooball Playoffs were not shown on Sunday. They were shown on Saturday.

 

Devil's Island (Ile Royal): We knew early on that we would not be able to Tender in. The seas were fairly rough the morning that we approached Ile Royal. Part of cruising life.

 

WC cancelling: Heard talk about this; however, never could confirm.

 

Entertainment: Was so-so.

 

Dining: Meals - Fantastic (Dining Room) Service - Some glitches. Part of cruising.

 

Ship: We looked at the Deck Plans and knew that were on a small ship.

Were not suprised.

 

Closet/Drawer Space: More than adequate.

 

Ports: Knew that we were cruising on: Christmas, Boxing Day and New Years. No surprises.

 

Royal Treatment: So what:confused:

 

The foregoing is: OHO

[Pythian]

I couldn't imagine being offended abut someone telling me that drank champagne of off-set seasickness - wild monkey sex, maybe, but drinking champagne. Also, did she happen to inquire as to the person on his arm - it might have been *gasp* his wife (or SO). And if not, what business was is of hers really.

 

The question - would I sail the Royal? Yes, we are planning to very soon and I have no doubt I will love the ship.

 

Your question about yellow fever - the shots are a heckuva lot better than catching yellow fever...

 

Charlie

 

OMGosh... I've gotta tell you that I'm really excited now to be on the Royal this December! How could you not like a ship that provides Champagne as a seasickness cure and one that "might" provide for "wild monkey sex"? Ok, we know that Princess doesn't provied 'free' champagne (unless you are really a beloved Princess Customer!) - but, come on (!) it is known as the "Love Boat"!

 

As for the Yellow Fever shot... don't worry about being stung by a bee when you are about to be trampled by an elephant! The shot is nothing. No big deal and good for 10 years. Getting Yellow Fever would be bad though! And I and my DW are also up on all the other nasty things, having lived around the world and getting stuck with just about every "cure' for 'whatever' that there is. (Including some that haven't been around for a few hundred years). I think must of us continue to travel for the fun and excitment of visiting somewhere we haven't been... heck with the darned bugs.... We have science and a great health system on our side... they have only dirty water...... ha!

 

We are on-board this Dec and can't hardly wait!

 

Dan

[Crzn-Life]

We were on the Royal Princess Dec 22- Jan 7 but we obviously weren't on the cruise they were on!

 

All cruises have their pluses and minuses. This was an older, cruise-savvy crowd. Met some very nice people, saw a couple of jerks, but that's cruising. The Royal is small which means the small passage ways can be crowded and seating in bars and open areas can be at a premium. It will never be our favorite ship. We cancelled the world cruise but we did this before this cruise and after being on the ship were glad we did. Not because it is a bad ship, but because we discovered to our surprise that we prefer the larger ships. But we had a wonderful time on the cruise. We're booked on the Pacific for 2 b2b's this fall and are looking forward to them. If the intinerary was one we wanted, we wouldn't hesitate to sail on the Royal again.

 

So what if Lorraine got special treatment. She lives on the ship. Besides, she's a fun lady. We ate at the same time as she and are having a heckuva time recalling a purple cape and her being escorted by the head chef or even Francois (the maitre d') everynight. By the way, he was really cool. I wonder what the person who wrote the review was drinking that made her/him see purple and be so miserable?

 

Didn't see any graffitti. The captain was one of the best. He's our 2nd favorite so far...our favorite is Wm. Kent who will be going to the Royal next.

 

We did have some bad weather and couldn't stop at Devil's Island. Sad, but that's life on the high seas.

 

There was no disembarkation lounge for Platinums & elites. All passengers used the same lounge. Unfortunately disembarkation was a delayed because of the luggage situation, so instead of the planned debarkation we all had to wait and since no groups left on time, the theater filled up.

 

It was a nice cruise and if you like the smaller ships, the Royal is the way to go.

 

By the way, we were among the most traveled passengers on board and we didn't hear the whining and complaining referred to in the review. Most of us that have cruised that often know that there is no perfect ship or cruise. There are just good and great cruises, no bad ones (at least so far! We've only been on 56 so what do we know.)

[partybarbie]

What a great thread this has turned out to be. Thank you everyone for your comments and pictures. My DH and I are thoughly enjoying reading all of the responses.:D

[Pam in CA]

I just wanted to cringe everytime they were playing. Unfortunately the Internet Cafe is next to the Royal Lounge so I couldn't avoid them completely. One night between their sets they were working on one song. The piano player had a run he had to play. They practiced it over and over and over. The next night I heard them play, and you guessed it, the piano player still couldn't get it right. The singer thought she was hot stuff. I think she'd end up on the blooper reel if she auditioned for American Idol.

Jim, I so totally agree with you. We went up there every evening for a drink before dinner and after the first night, sat as far away as we could. I've sung in an amateur, no-audition choir for years and we gave very professional-style concerts during the holidays. Almost everyone in the choir could sing better than the lead singer. She was really bad. :(

[piper28]

The ROYAL is one of two (?) PRINCESS ships that have the new menus. I do not eat seafood. The new menus are heavily seafood based (salads, soups and pasta dishes). I found myself going to the "always available" portion of the menu more that I would have liked; the overall selection was just uninspiring! Preparation was fine.

 

Obviously food is one of those things that it depends on the person. I'm a picky eater, and often on ships have ordered a fair amount from the always available menu. I actually think on the Royal 12 day cruise I only did that once (and I'm also a no seafood person). I really felt I ate pretty well on that cruise.

 

Personally, I'd sail on the Royal again without any hesitation if I liked the itinerary. We really enjoyed ourselves.