just off the royal princess

I was hoping to share some info that might be helpful to folks, as I know I was on these boards alot when I was planning our trip. I will share info in several posts, but please feel free to ask questions. the royal would not have been my first choice as the promenade deck is one of our favorite spots on the ship and there is not one on the royal, and the reviews have been so so, but the itinerary and the time worked for us. so.... did we miss the promenade? yes very much. we walked the track up on the top deck most mornings which was fine, but not the same as walking the promenade at sunset, in between dinner and shows. never the less, we were on a CRUISE in sunshine so I cant really complain. it is funny talking to people on the ship as well as on these boards as people find very different things important on a cruise.

we had a balcony room on the lido deck L114. the balcony was on the small side but it was fine for the two of us and the room size was fine. the location was good for sea days, but not so good when you are spending alot of time on decks 6 and & and might want to run to your room to change. no issues with noise and although you could feel the motion it did not bother us at all.

as far as embarkation i have read about alfredos being a spot people dont know about initially. well the word is out. we tried to go there for lunch and they werent going to be open until 12:30. we came back at 12:45 and it was full. since we didnt feel like the dining room options that were available for lunch we ended up in the horizon court with everyone else, but it was not that bad and food was good. we did make it there later in the cruise though and the pizza was wonderful!! we had requested 6pm traditional dining and although it said that was confirmed on my reservation info it ended up being 5:30. we sat with 2 other couples and it was nice getting to know them, although we did not go there every night. the food was fine, not super but certainly not bad and there were certainly plenty of options if you didnt get something you liked. for the first time we tried specialty dining at the crown grill. the steak was very good as were the desserts but to us it would not be something we would do again due to the cost as we felt the free options were just fine. I should probably add that hubby and I are not fine diners so would have been happy with horizon court and alfredos as well as the pool side grill if we had to. even the soft serve ice cream was good. more to come

Thanks! I'll be on the Royal for the 1st time this summer. Love reading all about her!

Thank you! Looking forward to more as we board on the 28th. 😊

Thanks for sharing. Look forward to reading more.

the entertainment was typical for a princess ship. shows nightly were usually 8:15 and 10 :15, and sometimes 6:15 as well , varying from the production shows with princess singers and dancers, a magician and a comedian. Entertainers vary from voyage to voyage, so dont know if what we saw will be what you will see. we are not fans of the production shows on princess although we did go to the first night and it was so so. we did not care for the comedian, eric lyden, but that of course is a manner of taste. the female headliner was Teacake, a former member of the princess production group, but her voice is incredible. if you like aretha or whitney, see her, she is very good. there was a magician that did two shows as well one in the princess theatre and later in the week in the vista lounge. his magic was great, but for me, at least when we saw him the first show, he did not connect with the audience as he did not speak to the audience at all. late in the cruise there was a quartet from the UK called the flyboys, and they were very good and I would highly recommend them if you get a chance. as is typical of a princess ship, the bigger shows like the magician fill up within 30 minutes of the show time, but that is not the case with all the shows, it seemed to be hit or miss. we always end up in the princess live theatre with the game shows, trivia, cruise staff fun, and they were always fun. most of them were not hard to get into, except for things like the liars club and the marriage game, in that case its best to go to whatever the activity is before those so you have a seat. they often record the 9:15 activity and show it on the tv the next day. there was a string quartet of ladies that seemed to be playing somewhere every night as well as 2 different piano players and a steel drum player. thre is of course movie under the starts, but get there early at least for the 7:15 show as chairs fill up fast. during the day there is trivia, line dancing, steel drum lessons, zumba, and plenty to keep you running around the ship if you choose to do so.

the pool situation was as expected with only one main pool on the main deck and an ADULT ONLY POOL on a higher deck just in front of the sanctuary. people stake their claims early for chairs. IF YOU want a seat by the main pool its often hard to come by, but there are lots of decks of loungers on upper levels so that if you dont mind a bit of a walk down the stairs for a quick cool off in the pool it is fine. the towel police is active around the main pool and staff do remove the towels periodically if people dont come back. the same can not be said for the adult pool where towels will stay on loungers all day long without anyone sitting in them. around that pool you can rent covered cabanas for something like $100.00 a day? it actually wasnt as bad as I thought it might be, and we always managed to find somewhere to sit that was on an upper deck but not that far to jump in the pool and cool off.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I'm enjoying reading about your cruise. Looking forward to more.

I was hoping to share some info that might be helpful to folks, as I know I was on these boards alot when I was planning our trip. I will share info in several posts, but please feel free to ask questions. the royal would not have been my first choice as the promenade deck is one of our favorite spots on the ship and there is not one on the royal, and the reviews have been so so, but the itinerary and the time worked for us. so.... did we miss the promenade? yes very much. we walked the track up on the top deck most mornings which was fine, but not the same as walking the promenade at sunset, in between dinner and shows. never the less, we were on a CRUISE in sunshine so I cant really complain. it is funny talking to people on the ship as well as on these boards as people find very different things important on a cruise.

 

we had a balcony room on the lido deck L114. the balcony was on the small side but it was fine for the two of us and the room size was fine. the location was good for sea days, but not so good when you are spending alot of time on decks 6 and & and might want to run to your room to change. no issues with noise and although you could feel the motion it did not bother us at all.

 

as far as embarkation i have read about alfredos being a spot people dont know about initially. well the word is out. we tried to go there for lunch and they werent going to be open until 12:30. we came back at 12:45 and it was full. since we didnt feel like the dining room options that were available for lunch we ended up in the horizon court with everyone else, but it was not that bad and food was good. we did make it there later in the cruise though and the pizza was wonderful!! we had requested 6pm traditional dining and although it said that was confirmed on my reservation info it ended up being 5:30. we sat with 2 other couples and it was nice getting to know them, although we did not go there every night. the food was fine, not super but certainly not bad and there were certainly plenty of options if you didnt get something you liked. for the first time we tried specialty dining at the crown grill. the steak was very good as were the desserts but to us it would not be something we would do again due to the cost as we felt the free options were just fine. I should probably add that hubby and I are not fine diners so would have been happy with horizon court and alfredos as well as the pool side grill if we had to. even the soft serve ice cream was good. more to come

Doing the Royal for a 15 day TA in October, wondering if the Crown Grill is a quiet spot for dinner, since the bar lounge right next door?

Thanks for the comments.

Glad you enjoyed your embarkation lunch at the buffet.

Will be following your review.

Doing the Royal for a 15 day TA in October, wondering if the Crown Grill is a quiet spot for dinner, since the bar lounge right next door?

I really thought this cruise was not very good. The ports were great, but the ship food and entertainment was the worst. I really don't consider pot pie and meatloaf a great dining option. I thought the best meal was at the crown grill. I have cruised many times on Princess and will not be going back. The ship was always very warm and it really looked like Princess was trying to cut back in every aspect. It really makes me sad that this cruise line changed so much.

I really thought this cruise was not very good. The ports were great, but the ship food and entertainment was the worst. I really don't consider pot pie and meatloaf a great dining option. I thought the best meal was at the crown grill. I have cruised many times on Princess and will not be going back. The ship was always very warm and it really looked like Princess was trying to cut back in every aspect. It really makes me sad that this cruise line changed so much.

Huh?

Thank you! Looking forward to more as we board on the 28th. 😊

This is a great itinerary with a good balance of sea days. Love having 2 sea days at the end of the voyage.

Thank you! Looking forward to more as we board on the 28th. 😊

There will be other Michiganders joining you on this voyage. Our cousins and some friends from MI are boarding with us for this journey. We are formally from MI and now live in Florida full time. This will be our 5th voyage on the Royal and we have done 3 others on the Regal. We love this class ship and I think you will too.

Thank you! Looking forward to more as we board on the 28th. 😊

Only 8 days left to go.

Sorry for the flurry of replies but the site keeps saying that it can't process the reply at this time which meant that I had to change the initial reply to two other different replies - which were all true anyway.

Lol! Yes this is a fantastic itinerary. I also love having the 2 sea days on the end. Sad to hear that Crown Grill is noisy. We planning on dinner there a couple times. We have sailed the Royal one other time and really enjoyed it. :cool:

The noise in the crown can be noisy depending on where you sit. We were seated in front, just behind the wheelhouse bar area and the string quartet was playing. People at the table next to us asked to be moved because of it. Since there was just two of us and we enjoyed the music it did not bother us.

I have to disagree with the poster that said that the food and entertainment was terrible. we enjoyed some of the entertainment quite a bit, others not so much but nothing lasts more than 1/2 hour or so so you dont suffer that long if you hate it, and the food in our experience was fine although not incredible. I overhead one lady going on and on about how awful her muffin was at breakfast and could help but wonder why she didnt just get something else, there were certainly other options.

before I get to the ports I had a few other observations. the lines for anytime dining were quite long at times and I heard lots of complaints. this was also a problem when we were on our last princess cruise, we found that unless you went at 5 or at 8 there were lines, so this time we had traditional dining and went 1/2 the time, always letting our table mates know which days we would most likely not be coming, and that worked much better.

hubby got the soda card and was happy to know he could get virgin strawberry daquiris with it.

several days the girls from the spa set up a massage chair in the pool area and were doing 15 minute chair massages for 25$ which is good for spa prices. one day I had an awful headache and the scalp and neck massage was terrific, you just need to tune out the sales pitch that went with it.

pics of lido 114

Thanks very much for the well balanced information.

room L114

Just wanted to make a few comments before I move on to the ports. we did traditional dining as anytime dining, both with our last princess cruise and with this one anytime dining involves waiting in line unless you go to eat immediately at 5 or around 8. with traditional there was no waiting, and we just tried to tell our waiter and table mates when we predicted that we would not be there the next day. we ate in the MDR about 1/2 the time, otherwise the buffet, the one time at the crown grill, or alfredos.

also the spa ladies had 15 minute chair massages for 25$ several days by the pool. one day I had a bad headache and she was able to relieve it, you just have to ignore the sales pitch.

also hubby was happy to find out that his soda card included virgin strawberry daquiris.