love2cruisegal

I think it really depends on where your cabin is located on Emerald deck. We were in cabin E319 in December and were located right in the middle of the second forward life boat. We could see out over the lifeboat without any obstructions while sitting on the balcony. Could not see down, however, but didn't both us. So just check the deck plan as I believe the life boats near the aft are taller so the view may be blocked more than forward.

Enjoy your cruise; she's a gorgeous ship!

i was in a suite, recently on the Royal, and they had bottles of shampoo and body wash. There wasnt anything on the walls of the shower. Maybe there are no dispensers in the suites.

We were on the Royal in Dec. and the dispensers were in our cabin, deluxe balcony. We like them better only because you didn't have to worry about the small bottles on the small shelf or falling on the floor.

I just checked them out and they honestly don't look that muck better. I didn't really see anything I didn't see with princess.

Princess Grand Med on Regal only has a couple weeks during summer stopping in Santorini. Celebrity has many, plus more options.

Princess's summer offerings in the Greek Isles are awful. They are really forcing their clientele to look at Celebrity. Much better itineraries there.

I agree. If they don't have any better ones in 2015 or 2016, looks like we'll be switching to Celebrity for a Med cruise. Their 2014 itineraries are better. I really would prefer to sail Princess, have more cruises with them than Celebrity. But will have to go with better itinerary.

We were on the Royal Dec. 8 sailing and had booked a guarantee BZ partial obstructed view balcony. About 3 weeks before sailing we received an email and an upgrade to a deluxe balcony partial obstructed cabin E319. It was right in the middle of the second forward lifeboat and we had a great view. The top of the lifeboat was just even with the bottom of the balcony rail, so we were able to look out over the lifeboat while sitting on the balcony. We were afraid we wouldn't be able to see while sitting but we did. Actually used the balcony quite often especially for coffee in a.m. and wine before dinner.

Hopefully if you book a guarantee BZ you will get upgraded as we did. Good luck and enjoy the Royal, we did. She's beautiful!

Do you think your cabin upgrade may have made you happier on the cruise?

Did you bother to read the comment posted on this thread by the fellow who paid for a suite and felt he did not get good value for what he paid, the small balcony and the smaller cabin then he expected.

 

Now can you tell me why this fellow does not want to sail Royal again yet you do?

I think I know the answer please post yours.

Yes we were "happy" with our upgrade but that didn't make us any "happier" about the cruise. We would have been just as "happy" with our balcony cabin!

My answer is: why do you want people to rant about the Royal when some people actually enjoyed the cruise and loved the ship!! And....if you haven't sailed on the Royal, then you shouldn't have anything negative to rant about yet! I don't understand!

How many reviews are there compared to how many passengers have sailed on the Royal? How many reviews are from the first month or so when there were issues? How long have the other ships been in service compared to the Royal? Numbers don't lie but they can be manipulated.

 

Having sailed on the Royal, she is now one of my favorite ships, and I've been on quite a few, including Celebrity. She's not perfect but what ship is? She has quite a few things that are better than any other Princess ship and for that matter, any other ship on any line. I can't wait to re-board her in September.

I totally agree with you Pam and also Pia and Dave. We were on the Dec. 8 sailing (Dave was also on that sailing) of the Royal and we loved it. All the people who have been complaining early on have not even sailed on the Royal. Why would anyone cancel a cruise without even seeing it? We took this cruise as we wanted to sail on a brand new ship and pics were awesome. The ship is just gorgeous in person. We had no issues with food, cabin, elevators, stairs, even the toilet paper holder. Now come on, don't understand the toilet paper holder issue...there really isn't one. I think some people just like to complain. Yes there were no midship stairs but our cabin was near the forward stairs and it was very convenient. Yes in elevators did seem a little smaller, but people sure do like to cram themselves into them. Can't wait for the next one! We were in a deluxe balcony (partial obstructed) and were upgraded as we had reserved a guaranty partial obstructed balcony. We enjoyed the little extra room and yes the balconies are smaller but we were still able to enjoy coffee in the a.m. and a glass of wine before dinner. Also life boats were low enough and didn't block our view as we were sitting down.

We would sail on the Royal again in a heart beat if the price was as good as we got for Dec. 8. I've never written a review and was planning to for this cruise, but I guess you can consider this a partial review of the Royal. We also loved all the options for dinner, Alfredo's was one of our favorites. Hope they add it to the grand class ships. We did eat in Sabatini's one night to celebrate our belated anniversary and it was fantastic. The Horizon Court & Bistro was very well laid out and large. We normally don't eat dinner in the Horizon, but we did a couple times on this cruise. Very good.

Guess I've gone on too much, but thought I'd give you our version of our wonderful cruise on the Royal. Can't wait to sail on her again or try the Regal.

We were just on the Dec.8 Royal sailing and booked a guarantee balcony and received an upgrade to a deluxe balcony 3 weeks before our cruise. We booked a guarantee balcony back in 2006 on the Grand and had our cabin assigned 2 -3 months before the cruise. Guess it all varies.

Enjoy your cruise.

The cabins on Emerald Deck can go from no obstruction at all, to a great deal obstructed especially if you are located behind one of the tenders.

 

Best advice is to check the available cabins, and compare it on the Deck Plan along with where the lifeboat placement that's indicated on those deck plans. In all of my research, for the most part, they are pretty accurate.

 

On my B2B Turn Around Day I zipped through several of the Emerald Deck cabins and took pictures. You can see them here, start with Post #464 and go through to Post #474...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1950107&page=24

Hello Dave, we were on the Dec. 8 cruise with you. Enjoyed meeting you and all the roll call.

Corsage: Yes, Dave is right on some of the obstructed view Emerald cabins. We booked a guarantee obstructed balcony and 3 weeks before our cruise we were upgraded to a deluxe obstructed balcony on Emerald - E319. It was located in the middle of the 2nd front lifeboat and the obstruction was minimal. We thought we wouldn't be able to see the ocean when we sat on the balcony, but we could. So we were able sit out there more often than we thought whether having coffee in the a.m. or wine before dinner. It looked like if you had an Emerald balcony further down the back of the ship, you would have a more obstructed view, especially since they are the larger lifeboats/tenders. We saved a lot by booking a guarantee, especially since we were upgraded.

We loved the Royal....enjoy your cruise!

We are lucky enough to cruise twice per year in recent years (our 11th cruise this Friday; three with Princess), and we were planning to return to Ruby for a seven day cruise having enjoyed our first one so much. When we did the itinerary check, we were disappointed in the change to 4's and 5's. It seems to me there are multiple flaws to this marketing decision. To my knowledge, other lines do not use their top ships for these abbreviated cruises. Also, as pointed out already, the itineraries are port deprived. They try to market 9 day cruises combining the 4 and 5, and that would appear to be a market that does not exist. Pay for 9 days and go to fewer ports than one seven day cruise previously on Ruby??? They should have anticipated these flaws when they made such a poor decision.

I agree. I checked out a couple of the 9 day cruises earlier this year, but yes, they are 4 and 5 day cruises put together. The problem with these "combined" 9 day cruises is they all return back to Ft. Lauderdale and finish the 4 or 5 days. That seems like such a waste of time when you could probably do all 9 days without having to return to Ft. Lauderdale in the middle of the cruise. Princess needs more cruises to southern Caribbean.

Thanks caribill. We will board when we get there. Didn't want to sound like I'm panicking, but I'm not. Was just wondering if we could still board earlier.

Always such good info here on cc!!

Oh no....just looked at the email again....and we don't board till 2pm!!!

I love the Royal Princess. It has good karma (even though the elevator guy scolded me when I tried to touch the floor buttons. He does it. LOL

 

Embarkation was a breeze. My daughter dropped us off at 11:22 at the curb with our bags and we were walking on to the ship at 11:44. :)

 

I put my carryon thru the xray machine and I heard the guy watching the pictures ask the other guy "one bottle is ok, right?" and that other guy pointed to a table to the right and said "just go over there so they can check". There were three people at that table so I looked back and those security guys paid no attention after that so I just kept walking. :) I only had one wine bottle in my carryon so I was legal...but didn't feel like waiting on line. I had a ship to get on!!!

 

I love the minisuite. Yes the balcony is smaller than others but no biggie and I immediately sat on the toilet (fully clothed) and reached for the toilet paper and thought "this is what people complain about?" Really??? Also not a biggie. The bathroom is very nice, the big tvs are nice and I'm glad I read cc cause I would have been in the dark cause no one tells you the keycard has to be in the slot for the lights to work!

 

Will let you know on zumba and formal nights.

 

That's all for now...I'm off to explore!!!

 

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Wendy, so glad to hear you were on board so quickly. We will be on the Royal on Dec. 8 and will be following your review closely. Noticed you were on board by 11:44. We are sailing our first cruise as Platinum so we can get priority boarding. However this a.m. received an email from Princess that we will have "progressive check in" on Dec. 8. We are on Emerald Deck and can't board until 1:30!! We're arriving a day early and checkout is noon and will be taking the hotel shuttle to the pier. Anyone else have the progressive check in at Ft. Lauderdale? We're assuming we have to sit and wait for our 1:30 boarding, but will they still let Platinum board earlier? We've never had progressive check in before.

Thanks for any info from anyone. Wendy have a wonderful cruise and hope the weather gets better.

Here's to a smooth and sunny remainder of your cruise.

What happened? We are on Caribbean Princess at the end of September.

We were on the Caribbean Princess last fall and had a wonderful dinner in the Crown Grill. Looking forward to another great dinner on the Royal in Dec. Yes, what happened?

Hi Sep10,

Would you kindly tell me where we can board Oli's Trolley. When my husband and I were in Halifax several months ago we were unable to go to Acadia due to inclement weather. We are Both Into photography. This will be a wonderful Photo OP.

Thank you

Joy1

We did Canada/New England last fall (1st week of Oct.) and did Oli's Trolley thru Acadia Nat. Park in Bar Harbor. (It is Bar Harbor, not Halifax) Not sure if you have purchased your tickets? We purchased them online and the printed copy tells you where to go after you get off the tender. Right around the corner from where you tender you have to turn in your printed copy to receive the actual ticket and they tell you where to go to board, which is right down the street. We really enjoyed the tour.

Have a great time and cruise....we did!

We just did this cruise out of NY (Brooklyn) last year; first week of October. Lucked out with great weather; lower 70's in St. John, Bar Harbor and Newport. Loved this cruise and we flew in to NY and stayed the day before departure. Highly recommend this cruise!

Just the before shots please. You can spare us the after shots and narration.

It will vastly speed up your review.

Agree!! Way too much detail, getting bored waiting; get on with the cruise info; food seems to be the most important thing.

I see this thread has been going on for a long time - I'm glad it's back. We are doing Canada/New England end of Sept. and were planning to do a couple of the mansions and cliff walk on our own, so glad to read all this extra and many suggestions. Sounds like we'll have a great time. Also the restaurants recommended sound wonderful. We should have a great day in Newport.

Thank you!