Royal Princess - Any Past Cruisers?

[harnesshorseman]

This will be my first cruise on a smaller ship. Any hints or opinions would be appreciated. Sailing on the 11/15 cruise from Fort Lauderdale through the canal. Thanks

[friend of Eeyore]

I loved my cruise on her. We ended up with a great cabin and a great bunch at our table. I/we enjoyed the trivia, the evening music, the ease of walking around the (small) ship (quite different from walking around the Crown or Grand).

 

Hints?

*Get yourself acquainted with the ship - it's quite easy to do on the small ship.

*Check out the library - very nice on a small ship (with a trading shelf to trade your paperbacks).

*Get to know the people on your roll-call, and try to do something with them (or your table group) once or twice during the cruise.

 

Feel free to ask any questions - I can't think of much right now, but can answer anything!

[paul929207]

We also enjoyed our cruise last November on the Royal Princess. We sailed from Venice to Rome. We have also been n her sister ships, the Pacific and the Tahitian Princesses. We have four more cruises booked on the Tahitian.

 

On a small ship, you don't have to go as far to get somewhere. If you meet someone the first day, you run into them again often. As mentioned above, the library is wonderful.

 

Of course, on a smaller ship, you do not have as many choices. For instance, they only have traditional dining.

[Pam in CA]

I really liked the Royal Princess. It takes only five minutes to get from one end of the ship to the other and it has a wonderful "feel" to it. As a small ship, people tend to get to know each other quicker and seem to be more relaxed about meeting other people.

 

The library is beautiful, and large, with a great selection of books. There are a lot of comfortable chairs to sit in and relax. The library overlooks the pool area and there are lots of windows and good light. The ceiling is painted and is beautiful.

 

Being a smaller ship, there aren't a lot of nooks and crannies to find. We enjoyed going to the Royal Lounge for a pre-cruise drink. It's at the very front of the ship and you have marvelous views as you enjoy your drink.

 

The Internet cafe is a very small area with just a few computers at the portside entrance to the Royal Lounge. If you want to go on the Internet, I found that before pre-dinner drinks or after dinner was a good time to go.

 

There's a very nice area outside the back of the Panorama buffet where I often brought my food from the buffet to sit and watch the wake.

 

The cabins are very nice -- larger than the standard oceanview cabins on the Grand class ships. They are spacious enough to have a small couch and table, great if you want to do some in-cabin dining or snacking. They, and the whole ship, has an old world charm. The railings on the stairways are iron scrollwork and there's lots of beautiful dark wood. The cabin furniture is dark wood French provincial. Charming. While not a new ship, it's not glitzy but rather subdued and classy.

[katisdale]

We really enjoyed our cruise last November on the Royal. We were on the same cruise as Pam in CA. One of the best things about the smaller ship in my opinion is that the ports themselves never seemed overwhelmed by the number of tourists. We had first seating in the traditional dining room. Once when we were late getting back from an excursion we used the buffet for our dinner. Although we preferred the dining room the food in the buffet also seemed a step up for the usual on a 7 or so day cruise.

[paul929207]

We really enjoyed our cruise last November on the Royal. We were on the same cruise as Pam in CA. One of the best things about the smaller ship in my opinion is that the ports themselves never seemed overwhelmed by the number of tourists. We had first seating in the traditional dining room. Once when we were late getting back from an excursion we used the buffet for our dinner. Although we preferred the dining room the food in the buffet also seemed a step up for the usual on a 7 or so day cruise.

 

So true. we never arrived at a museum or other sight at the same time 10 or 15 other buses did.