Live From The Royal Princess

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Yes I'd say a majority of us are very interested in this new flagship. I also suspect that most people will love its new features and be not too bothered by some of its shortcomings. I know I will get over the lack of passenger accessible midship stairs and all around promenade deck. :D

 

I am looking forward to sailing her in October and from the pics pleased with the changes as all the ships were starting to look and feel the same to me...:D

[sunsetbeachgal]

Hi Carole!

 

I remember seeing the menu for The Crab Shack but not the Ocean Terrace Seafood Bar in the Atrium above Bellini's?

 

I think I have seen both...I specifically was looking for sushi but did not see it...will look further later when i have more time to get on other computer and off IPAD...DH says to tell you I am usually right!! LOL:D

[dmwnc1959]

I think I have seen both...I specifically was looking for sushi but did not see it...will look further later when i have more time to get on other computer and off IPAD...DH says to tell you I am usually right!! LOL:D

 

I'm actually off work tonight (yipee!) and will also look back through this thread. Tell DH I said HELLO! :D

[sunsetbeachgal]

I'm actually off work tonight (yipee!) and will also look back through this thread. Tell DH I said HELLO! :D

 

I have also been following alot of the links tonthe reviews from the two preview cruises so it could have been in one of those...I never forget a menu (LOL) and remember seeing some free appetizers such as seaweed salad, and charges of 4.95 apiece for some of the other items...will keep looking!

 

Can someone else help us find the menu from the Ocean Seafood Bar??

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Sometimes the whole beans on top of a coffee maker are for decoration only.

 

The legend had those machines in the Buffet and by the pool and the amount of beans in the top did fluctuate with use, same with the hot chocolate machine. The coffee did taste better than on princess and I never once bought specialty coffee at there 2 coffee places.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

The machines are not syrup based. They are pre-ground beans. The hoppers on the top are not just for decoration. When the system goes through it's brewing cycle you can see the level in the hoppers change, and throughout the course of the day there is a substantial difference in hopper level between regular and decaf.

 

The coffee was also pretty good:)

[dedosr]

The machines are not syrup based. They are pre-ground beans. The hoppers on the top are not just for decoration. When the system goes through it's brewing cycle you can see the level in the hoppers change, and throughout the course of the day there is a substantial difference in hopper level between regular and decaf.

 

Thank you Dave!!

That is very good to know. Is the only location for that type of coffee machine, Aft of Horizon Court Outside, or are there other locations.

[dedosr]

Hi Carole!

 

I remember seeing the menu for The Crab Shack but not the Ocean Terrace Seafood Bar in the Atrium above Bellini's?

 

 

Dave, It was posted, can't remember where though. Because I took notes for my upcoming cruise in November. I remember because I was surprised that they listed some complimentary items. One of which I was not sure of, so I looked it up, and then realized I would not try it. But others I would.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Some more pics for you will post my thoughts on the Royal tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yours Shogun

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Royal Quiz Time,

 

Swissdave is not allowed to take part,

 

Where on the Royal will you find two rotovator blades from a garden cultivator.

 

yours Shogun

[sashas_mom]

The machines are not syrup based. They are pre-ground beans. The hoppers on the top are not just for decoration. When the system goes through it's brewing cycle you can see the level in the hoppers change, and throughout the course of the day there is a substantial difference in hopper level between regular and decaf.

 

If there is now free ground coffee, I would assume the only reason to get the coffee card would be for the specialty coffees, is that correct? Frankly I'm surprised that Princess would be offering a ground coffee for free now, since I'm sure the coffee card has been a good source of revenue for them. love to spend time in the Piazza. I've been using coffee cards since they became available to enjoy a regular coffee there. Do you know if I would still need a coffee card there for regular coffee if they are offering it for free in Horizon?

 

Also, i read somewhere on one of the Royal threads that the coffee card on the Royal includes other treats. Anyone know?

[sunsetbeachgal]

Shogun...love the picture of the dog!!!

[Shogun]

Hi Some More Pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yours Shogun

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Coffee Card can be used for Ice Cream

 

yours shogun

[tracemyirishroots]

In the very Aft of Horizon Court (outside), there are dispensers for coffee, decaf, hot water for tea, and NOW hot chocolate (which I love to mix with my coffee). Also, the cream, whole milk, fat-free milk. Sitting in this aft section, on a divan with a rattan coffeetable, watching the wake with hot coffee & hot chocolate or tea - Paradise!

 

Donna

 

Now this sounds like my kind of place! Hot cup of tea, ocean breeze and maybe a good e-book on my tablet!

Thanks for the info!

Tracey

[TorontoTL]

Hi All

 

Coffee Card can be used for Ice Cream

 

yours shogun

 

They might need to change the name of the coffee card to something else soon.;)

[chamima]

Hi Some More Pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yours Shogun

 

 

 

I think this is the teen area.

Nice to see that they get nicer sun loungers than adult passengers! ;)

 

My girls would have LOVED this when they were teens! Exactly the kind of area where they could hang out.

The only problem I see is that when they were in the regular hot tubs at night I could (surreptitiously) check to make sure where they were but I don't think I'd be allowed back here.

[Northender]

Love the picture of Shogun.:):)

[Shogun]

Hi All

The Royal Princess

First these are my thoughts you are free to agree or disagree, I am booked on another cruise on the Royal, will cruise on her again in the years to come but not because she is the Royal, but because she is going to the right ports at the right price,

First Sight

She looks big, but not pretty, now Epic for me is ugly, in fact the last ship I liked the shape off was the QM2, for me the Royal looks like any modern cruise ship and lacks a unique style, love it or hate it the old Skywalkers shopping cart was unique.

Now this first sight is important for me it tells me many things, MUTS looks like it was dropped onto the ship its not shaped into it in any way, the bow might be functional but just does not look right in my option.

So this tells me straight away that this ship has been build to a budget, it has ben built to over a good return on the investment made, it has been designed to please share holders more than the cruisers on-board her. Now there is nothing wrong with this, if it was not for those share holders we would not get to enjoy cruising Princess ships, but what is important is the split between return on investment and just making things look pretty,

First Impression

I have walked onboard a Princess ship, layout may be new but not radical as such within minutes I knew where everything was, I was happy with this. Others might be a sad by this but my view is that Princess has build this ship to a tried and tested formula and just modernised and developed it a little.

Maiden Cruise

For me this was the biggest let down, may be my fault for not checking out maiden cruises more, but I expected some thing , in fact anything which told me I was on a maiden cruise, we got nothing, nothing in the check in hall, nothing at sailaway, nothing on board even the shops were sailing first seasons but nothing maiden. And our gift nothing.

So to the Ship. In no order.

The Casino

The casino is big, however a few issues the tables need to be opened up to give you access to the slots on the far side, access is from one end only, this is the smoking slots section, the slots near the stair case are smoke free, however when in use they is almost no space between the seats to get to a machine, the other issue the machine types are very similar I would like to a better range.

On our cruise the casino was very busy so Princess will be happy.

MUTS

I thought this was the best picture and sound system I had come across, the seating appeared to work well, I liked the covered upper deck section great for wet weather, the fact that hot food is now available late was a real plus, bar service was good, pop corn was offered, but hot pizza was a most welcomed service.

Dancing Fountains,

During the day the kids loved them, the shows at night were good, on short cruises folks will go to watch them, however once you have seen the shows you are not going to keep going to them on longer cruises unless Princess comes up with some thing new, using the area as a party stage seemed to work, with the Princess dancers get wet seemed to be OK.

The light and movie screen link up worked well, OK did break down but this could happen any time, and was fixed the next day.

Crown Grill

For me the best service and food onboard the ship, now I only ate the fish, however my waiter spotted this and brought me lobster tails as an extra side dish all ten of them. Nothing was to much trouble for them, very polite, friendly, wished I had more time to go back again, those who had the beef and the pork were also very impressed, the only let down was the desert, a new menu, our favourite was gone the cobbler. But we still had a great time.

Alfredo

Very nice, went twice, well worth trying for something different to the MDR, desert was yummy, service was good, never had any trouble getting a seat.

International Café

Has to be the best thing that Princess has come up with in the last ten years, was very popular, some times a small wait for service, and some times you had to move to the other side of the atrium to find a seat, the issue here is the ship was sailing with almost 1000 less passengers than a full cruise.

Atrium

While it is a great space and the heart of the ship I have a few issues, the central soft seating has a hand rail just at eye level this needs to be lower, the two spiral stair cases have an odd step spacing DW complained her knees hurt after going up and down them, I found the steps were not comfortable and was always watching my step, they also bring you out intothe atrium not good when things are on, or when the tables are full as you then have to walk past folk to get out of the atrium, I am sure on other ships they bring you out to the sides, now I found the party band to be to loud, sound bounced around so much s that I left the area, likewise I found the coorners piano player to be to loud late at night, when sitting at the IC late at night you want peace and quite, not some one singing pub songs.

More to follow.

yours Shogun

[Bentley5700]

Since early reports of spotty air conditioning issues and Internet connectivity trouble have disappeared, I assume that those problems have been addressed.

[HRPro]

Thanks for the pictures and your balanced and detailed review. Look forward to hearing more--very helpful thus far!

[Shogun]

Hi All Part two

Horizon Court

Wow, what a change, what an improvement, still not perfect, but so much better than other ships, so what’s wrong, well in part its size and the choice, you see, you enter, have a look around, and make your selection, then as you walk back to your seat, some one walks past with a plate of something else even more mouth watering than your selection, your first reaction is I did not see that, where was it, not sure what Princess can do about this may be put up some signs telling you where to find the options or menu boards out side so you know to keep looking to find what’s on offer.

Upper Decks,

These did not appear to full, but we were sailing well below full, so deck space in the Caribbean could be an issue we will have to wait for reports, lots of great new seating, those soft seating appeared to get grabbed very quickly and folks stayed and by afternoon a few were sleeping. Nice to have more tables, however the upper decks biggest and best feature is the night time light changes,

Sea View Walk and the Bar

Nice feature great at night time, however I do feel sorry for the folks in the balcony’s right below it, the main thing is this feature does give a bit of charter to the ship, with out it, she would be quite boring to look at.

Club 6

Its location works well, is a good spot during the day, however is heavily booked for private party’s and a wide range of other groups, the back lit menus are great fun, as a night club, well its down to the folks on the ship to give it a heart and soul, on my cruise it was just a nice early morning place for a drink.

In Room TVs

These are a great leap forward however again they could be improved and may be will ,in the future, features like booking tours, room service ordering, etc would be welcomed by most, but just now picture quality and sound were better than expected. OK mine did not work for a few days and it took almost to last night to get everything on it working.

In Room Fridge

A first we had an issue we had an oven not a fridge, however we worked out after a few days what the problem was, and its quite simple, its possible to close the cabinet door with out the fridge door being fully closed, the result is warm air gets into the fridge so it works harder to cool its self generating more heat meaning… well you see the issue,

Solution close the fridge door and check it before closing the cabinet door’

Air Con

This was a bit hit and miss, not worried by this as there where plenty engineers to work on it, it was quite noticeable on our cabin crawl that you went from cool to hot areas and back to cool again, as to our own cabin we found it warm at all times, it may be that the ship settings were done for Southampton and would be reset for the Med.

Room Service

As good as ever you call they say 20 mins and within ten they are at your door,

Breakfast in Room

The new hot bacon and egg muffins are great and always arrived hot, folks need to try them, the coffee appeared a little better than from past cruises, but would still not class it as quality but is drinkable.

Princess Live

This works well as a small entertainment venue you are very close to the action, are the TV cameras required not sure, did not watch anything on my TV but then again it was not working right, the big plus is this area frees up Vista for bigger productions, the area out side it has nice seating and a good bar with real coffee, the blue lighting is not to bright and is a welcome change from the other aras of the ship either side of it,

More to follow

yours Shogun

[Astro Flyer]

The machines are not syrup based. They are pre-ground beans. The hoppers on the top are not just for decoration. When the system goes through it's brewing cycle you can see the level in the hoppers change, and throughout the course of the day there is a substantial difference in hopper level between regular and decaf.

 

Thank you Dave!!

That is very good to know. Is the only location for that type of coffee machine, Aft of Horizon Court Outside, or are there other locations.

Thanks Dave for confirming the accuracy of the info from the manufacturer's website which some have doubted. I must have missed their coffeemakers that used ground coffee instead of grinding whole beans & with serving so much coffee there's no need to have a machine that grinds beans. Someone who sailed on the Royal even reported that it wasn't good & from 'syrup'...maybe it was the placebo affect. ;)

 

Have they implemented their plan to require staff to pour the coffee?

 

Do you know if the bar adjacent to the IC is still requiring a current coffee card for their brewed coffee?

 

With the coffee card on the Royal being usable for gelato, I wonder if it will evolve to add other options such as smoothies.

[dchip]

Thanks Shogun. Your review is very informative. We will be on the first 3 :eek: Caribbean cruises. By then we should be able to see how the sun deck and pools work for warm weather cruising.

 

Looking forward to more! By the way, Shogun is simply magnificent!

 

Cheers, Denise

[PescadoAmarillo]

Shogun, thanks very much for taking the time to do the live from and the reviews. They were both very much appreciated.