Worried about Royal Princess/s bad reviews???

Hi all you Royal Princess cruisers.

Have been looking into the 14 night cruise from Rome to Barcelona in May, 2016. The Itinerary really suits us, however I am reading really bad reviews of this ship. Can someone please explain these, or can someone alternatively give me some positive thoughts to book this cruise. Totally shocked by the bad reviews of this lovely looking new ship.

Cheers Bob and Christine ( Downunder )

Hi-

I was on the Royal twice in 2015 and it was a lovely ship. I did two live-from blogs (greatly focused on the ship) and the links are in my signature line.

The Royal is lovely, and cruise reviews are subjective. If this itinerary and time works for you, then you might want to go with it!

I am happy to answer any questions.

Tracie-Lynn

The Royal has received a lot of bad press right from the very start. Granted, some of the criticisms are well founded. The over crowded elevators mid ship are a big problem. The small balconies are problematic for some. The layout of the Promenade deck has turned many cruisers away.

However, there are many positives which help to offset these negatives. The atrium area is large and stunning. The buffet area is huge and very well laid out. We found the food to be quite good and there was a large variety of dining venues offered. The crew were friendly and accommodating.

As with any ship, if you want to enjoy your cruise, you will. The balconies are large enough for two people to sit out on with a small cocktail table between two chairs (more than two people would be problematic). The midship elevators can be avoided by walking to the front or the back of the ship to catch the elevator or take the stairs. In lieu of the Promenade deck there is a wonderful walking/running area up on Deck 17 which provides great views of the sea.

Was the Royal our favorite Princess ship? No. Would we sail her again? Yes, we would if the itinerary and price were right. You seem to have found an itinerary that suits your needs so give it a try and then form your own opinion. I believe that as long as you go with an open mind and the attitude that you will make the most of your cruise you will have a great trip. Enjoy!

I have been on the Royal twice and absolutely loved it. I did not find anything negative about it. We have booked it again this next year to Caribbean

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Hi

For us the Royal class of ships offers nothing, while ship is nice inside, I do not want to spend my time in the atrium,

if the ship is just to get you from port to port no issues, if you have lots of sea days or want to go scenic cruising then I would not pick the Royal,

however if price is good a cruise is a cruise.

yours Shogun

We have been on the Royal 4 times.....in the Mediterranean in 2014, a repo from New York to Fort Lauderdale also in 2014, the British Isles in 2015 and in the Caribbean in fall of 2015. So various itineraries for different experiences. The positives of the Royal far outweigh the negatives. Do not hesitate to book this ship!

Hi all you Royal Princess cruisers.

 

Have been looking into the 14 night cruise from Rome to Barcelona in May, 2016. The Itinerary really suits us, however I am reading really bad reviews of this ship. Can someone please explain these, or can someone alternatively give me some positive thoughts to book this cruise. Totally shocked by the bad reviews of this lovely looking new ship.

 

Cheers Bob and Christine ( Downunder )

I have a Royal review below. It's a good review. Now that you have read the bad reviews, go to the Member review section of Cruise Critic. You will find that two thirds of the cruisers that sailed her, enjoyed their cruise. :D

Maybe because you are focusing on the bad ones.

We had a superb time on the Royal. We liked it so much that we booked it for next year. I really don't see the negatives at all (yes, I know, no middle stairs, not a full promenade, and no aft pool) but we had a blast. She's a beautiful ship.

Thank you to all that answered. That has settled us down a bit. Really like this 14 nighter in the med. we now may go ahead with it.

Thanks guys.

Cheers bob.

Thank you to all that answered. That has settled us down a bit. Really like this 14 nighter in the med. we now may go ahead with it.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Cheers bob.

Happy planning!!!

Thank you to all that answered. That has settled us down a bit. Really like this 14 nighter in the med. we now may go ahead with it.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Cheers bob.

Have a great time on that cruise. Looks like a really nice itinerary. And, btw, if we gave much credence to all of the negative reviews on the Princess ships that we have been on we never would have made it out of our front door to go on those cruises. Not to say that there aren't legitimate issues for some folks, its just that we have never found anything that merits a one, two, or even a three star rating.

YMMV

just cruised the royal for 10 nights earlier this month. It was fabulous. Would actually choose the royal for future cruises over other ships. We got off after 10 nights with nothing to complain about. And we are picky..... Would maybe try to get a stateroom either aft or fwd to avoid the stairs or elevators. It was a gorgeous ship and the food/service/entertainment was all top notch.

Thank you to all that answered. That has settled us down a bit. Really like this 14 nighter in the med. we now may go ahead with it.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Cheers bob.

We know Royal is not perfect but we sailed her in April 2014 for 18 days, booked again 10 days in Oct 2014, another 10 days in Oct 2015, and 14 days Rome to FLL Oct 2016.

One of the best crews on Princess, especially when we see Franco the Headwaiter.

The only cruise I've been on was 10 days on the Royal back in October. I don't have the keen eye for ships that some do but I loved the Royal.

We just returned from a ten day cruise on the Royal Friday. It was our second cruise on the ship and we loved it! Our cabin was midship and perfectly located to go forward or aft. We eat almost entirely in the MDR. My background is in food service and have no complaints. Sometimes when I read cruise reviews I wonder if the people were on the same cruise I was on! If you have a positive attitude you'll have a great trip. Karen

The Royal is fabulous! Our Mediterranean trip on her in 2013 was an absolute dream! I don't know what these people who give bad reviews could possibly been thinking. The good of the ship way outweighs any bad. Have a wonderful cruise!!

While some of the negatives have been mentioned, there were a lot more positives about the ship like the great Horizon Court with its theme nights and the on demand TV that we wouldn't hesitate to book another cruise on the Royal (or the Regal). We would avoid the aft suites though given the soot, but otherwise the Royal is really a beautiful ship.

You really have to take reviews with a grain of salt. We just got back from the Emerald Princess and from reading the reviews before hand you would think we would be sailing on a garbage scow. But we had a wonderful cruise and the Emerald Princess was a beautiful ship in spite of the fact it is getting ready to go into dry dock. You have to remember people love to post the negatives but very seldom do they post it when they loved the ship. Plus IMO there are some mighty picky people on this message board. They tend to be more experienced cruisers and I think they are a bit jaded.

Based on our recent 10 day Regal Cruise (similar deck plan to the Royal) we would make one suggestion to those that are able (and willing) to use steps rather then always waiting (sometimes for more then 5 min) for an elevator. While many prefer to book cabins amidships, on the Royal/Regal we would recommend booking a cabin location somewhat closer to the forward or aft stairways/elevators. The oft posted criticism of the ship not having a center stairway (above deck 7) is true...and very annoying for some who have cabins near the center.

Hank

Never go by the reviews. They are simply someone personal perspective on their experiences. What I always find odd are the reviews on the same ship and same dates. Its hard to imagine how their reviews not only are different but almost completely oppisite. You read some reviews saying the ship is just wonderful, the food superb and crew the best. The very next review they will claim the ship was trashed, the crew was horrible and food was from the country buffet.

Many folks have false or extremely high expectation of what a cruise should be or could be. I discount remarks about the ships condition. The most unfounded are comments like rust on exterior of ships or on their balcony. These ships operate in an harsh marine enjoyment, where rust is always present. Other comments about the conditions of the carpets and public rooms being in poor shape are generally untrue. Princess dry docks their ships every 5 years and perform the necessary work as need thru out the ship to keep them updated and in good shape. You will find exceptions, these ships host 2000 to 3000 people a week, all year long so things pop up, but not the extent as some reviewers report. You can find videos on the princess sites that show how extensive theses drying docking can be. I saw one about the grand showing the removal of the first sky walker lounge. Its amazing what they can do in a few weeks. Any resort you go took will not be perfect, but on land base operations, reconstruction can occur at any time, with ships major work has to wait for dry docking. I have never found a princess ship that was not in good condition.

The other major knock is on board ship activities. Princess ships are more traditional than royal Caribbean. Your not going to find water slides, ice rinks rock climbing video arcades on a princess ship. Princess ships are geared to a different clientele, every line has a market demographics they target. But I always find plenty to do and my dance card for the day is full.

I wish I could find a country buffet that offers the food that you find on a princess. Your not going to find a jonnie rockets, or a star bucks or character ding on board like royal or disney. What you will find are many different dining venues, offering good food in a great setting.

You can make a comparison between the princess regal to the Anthem of the sea. The Anthem is 80 feet longer, has a bit wider beam and about 20000 ton heavier. The regal capacity is 3900 passenger, the anthem just over 4900 royal packs them in, if you look at the state room sizes, royal are always a bit smaller in total square foot age. If you want to vacation with 5000 other peoples their are options out their for you.

One last thought, If you look at reviews posted for the most prestige's lines out their you will see the same types of bad reviews and comments. Its amazing to me how you can spend so much time and money and have such a bad time.

Any ways I been rambling here, I taken many princess cruise's and never been disappointed. I think you will enjoy your cruise, don't be worried. Post a review when you return, be looking forward to see your impressions.

cheers

I wouldn't say "never" go by reviews. I'm sure you can discount some of them, but certainly not all of them.

We sailed on the Royal for 27 days in Aug/Sept., and there were lots of things we liked and some things we didn't like. We thought the food and menus in the mdr were among the best we've had on Princess. Crown Grill was terrific, too. We loved the new set up of Horizon Court, but the food was cold was too often. On our TA portion once the weather got hot we loved HC for the salads, but on the colder British Isles portion we would have appreciated a hot meal.

The piazza is beautiful, but sometimes it's a bit too loud for those who would like to read or have a quiet conversation with others. Gelato is very good. Alfredo's was amazing. The food was wonderful, and we had lunch there several times. For some reason it was hardly ever crowded--maybe people thought it cost extra.

Overall, we did think the ship was too big, and it did feel crowded at times. Another negative is that the towels were very thin, grey, and often stained, and the sheets often had small holes or tears in them. We're elite, and we didn't send our laundry out because we feared that the laundry would ruin them like they did with the linens.

We missed the center stairs somewhat, but our cabin was aft, and we had dinner in Allegro so it wasn't a big deal.

Our waiters and head waiter were terrific, and we had wonderful service in the mdr. The staff in other areas were very good overall, although the young man in Shore Excursions was arrogant and rather rude at times.

We liked the ship so much that we're going on her again in January!

Thanks guys for all your feedback.

Really appreciate it.

Cheers Bob.

Never go by the reviews. They are simply someone personal perspective on their experiences. What I always find odd are the reviews on the same ship and same dates. Its hard to imagine how their reviews not only are different but almost completely oppisite. You read some reviews saying the ship is just wonderful, the food superb and crew the best. The very next review they will claim the ship was trashed, the crew was horrible and food was from the country buffet.

I'm with you Rob. We just took a B2B cruise, not on Princess, and when we got home, several people had already posted reviews of the first cruise. The first review was 1*, the second was 5* and the other one was 4*. While I couldn't totally disagree with the 1* review, the problems the reviewer mentioned were not things that bothered us in the least. I don't mind having to wait for fresh coffee to be brewed, in fact I prefer it to coffee that has been standing for ages. The other problems were of a similar nature. My opinion would have been 4*.

We sailed on Royal Princess last year with a three generation family group, and everyone from 9-72 enjoyed the ship. One of our sons went home and booked a Caribbean cruise on Regal Princess because his family had such a good time. If you look for problems you will find them on any ship. If you go with the intention of having a good cruise, small difficulties will seem unimportant.

I personally LOVE to read the bad reviews - they generally give a very clear picture of the reviewer :)

I have my first cruise on the Royal next June and by reading the bad reviews I can pick out trends to be watchful of and maybe plan around to enhance my cruise. Like the subjects of small balconies and elevator placement...so now I plan on No to wild parties on the Balcony and start investigating alternate routes to various venues. But cruising is very subjective and I have found that the really happy cruisers have realistic expectations and don't sweat the small stuff; which is why I like Princess most of the passengers have the same attitude.