LIVE from the Royal Princess - 30 days, Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale - 9/27 - 10/27

[Kiwi Kruzer]

I got a couple of web cam grabs of Royal Princess arriving in Venice just in case Kiwi Kruzer (David) was offline....

 

Excellent shots. Thanks for posting. They really are great...not only was I not on line...I was sound asleep over on this side of the world..:D:D so I missed the sail in.

 

 

[lovevacadays]

I will add to Sunset Beach's post and wish the TA cruisers a wonderful Bon Voyage. I am thinking of many of you I met at Judy's house last October.:) A special Bon Voyage to Judy, Pam and Pam's sister Nancy.:):):)

[riclop]

Great shots as always Mike, thanks.

[dmwnc1959]

HI Bob, glad you caught her coming in to Venice. I bet it sent chills down your back watching her sail by. Enjoy that suite! :D

 

Kay - I'll be watching too!

 

 

Excellent shots. Thanks for posting. They really are great...not only was I not on line...I was sound asleep over on this side of the world..:D:D so I missed the sail in.

 

Well then, I'm glad I was your wing man for the day! I kept checking your 'green light' to see if you were online and even Googled the time of day and it was late evening.

[Pia1913]

Good Morning from Venice; day two. For a day forecasted to have heavy rain, as of now it looks dry and clear. We cancelled our plans with Bob and Meredith to go to Verona, even though Mike’s knee is a little better. They walked their feet off yesterday anyway, so it will be a respite for them too.

　

There was no Patter last night as this is turnaround day and they will issue a new one for this next leg of the cruise. The only thing I can tell you now is the the Ship’s officers have remained the same and I’ll check in later when there’s something new to report. Just as an aside, when you go ashore in this port you must carry your passport with you. Not a copy; the real thing.

　

Going to the gym. See you later. BTW, just learned yesterday that it's open 24 hours because nothing under it other than HC.

[DonahCBrown]

Hope Mike's knee is better. Give our best to Bob and Meredith, and say hi to Nancy and Gene if you run into them. They should be boarding in Venice if all went well for them getting into Venice from Florence. Wish we could be there with all of you.

[Pia1913]

Back again now that I have the Patter du jour. As previously mentioned, none of the main staff has changed. We were disappointed at the gym a few hours ago, because they decided to recalibrate all the treadmills and shut them all down; all at the same time. So I tried some other equipment, just to get the body moving.

　

Ok. Now for today’s offerings. Lots of MUTS concerts all day, namely; Barry Manilow, Paul McCartney, Pavarotti and Stevie Wonder. And at 1:30, the movie Quartet will be shown in Vista.

　

I see several new musical names; Pianist Timothy Pottorff in Wheelhouse and the Philippe Lavoipierre jazz trio, also in Wheelhouse. Again in the Wheelhouse is Ray Coussins, advertised as former piano player to Frank Sinatra. It appears that the Wheelhouse entertainment will vary somewhat. Crooners, that had Kory Simon now has Valeriy Myrnyy who last week was playing on and off in the Piazza. The Alegria string quartet is still aboard as is the party band; The Volume.

　

Tonight, instead of the usual Welcome Aboard show (which they will most likely do tomorrow), will be another performance by the Venetian musicians of last night. We didn’t go, so perhaps we will tonight. “Jack Reacher” will be on MUTS and “The Place Beyond the Pines” will be in Vista. At 11:00 PM another movie; “Searching for Sugarman” will be in Princess Live.

　

I still don’t know whether or not our internet minutes will carry over and I still have more than 2 hours remaining. I am posting this now; before 10 AM.

Donna, we wish you were with us too. :)

Bye.

[High C's]

Hi Pia! I followed along on your Live while we were having fun in Munich so it was like the best of both worlds!!! We saw the Royal yesterday from the train as we arrived in Venice. WOW!!! Just waiting at the hotel - water taxi coming to get us at noon.

SEE YOU SOON!!! :D

[aaerobear]

Glad it is all working out for you and Mike, glad you are liking the new Royal.

 

Remember to tell Bob "It is all about the luggage tags" he will tell you what that means.

 

Hope you all have a blast from here on in.

 

Ed (and Jeff)

[Gatormomma]

How do u like the new stations in HC? Easy to maneuver?

How are the food choices? Did you go to the fondue night...curious how they did that. Thanks

 

Love reading your reports. We will be on the Royal 12/8...looking forward to it.

 

Arlene

[oma16]

Hello Pia &Mike ,,,,fallowing your live posts on the Royal ,,like always ,

wonderful job .We all totally enjoy reading your every day , sometime twice

a day posting ,,,thanks soooo much:) .Will you do a live post on your Africa

cruise ??? We're doing the cruise in "2015",we'll miss each other :mad: bummer.

Have a blast every day , what can be better then cruising :cool: ~~oma16~~

[bronxgirl25]

Well, today more than ever, as some of you will realize, ;) :D I wish I was joining you. We leave next Wednesday for the stupid business trip that had us cancel this wonderful cruise. :( I will be thinking of all of you as you embark together on this great cruise. :D

[Pam in CA]

All I can say is, "Wow!"

 

We had an early dinner last night at a restaurant around the corner from the hotel that was delicious.

 

Transfer from the Hotel Saturnia to the ship was disorganized but at least they put a wide board across from the hotel to the water taxi so it was relatively easy to board the water taxi. I hardly slept last night due to nightmares of having to jump across the water and up onto the taxi. Wish I'd known it was going to be easy. :) There were four water taxis of passengers going to the ship but there was no shuttle or way to get from where they dropped us off to the ship. We were told to walk even though there was supposed to be a shuttle. One of the Princess reps got her personal car to take my sister and a couple of other challenged people to the ship.

 

After checking in, going through Security was a mess. Very slow and crew members pushed ahead of passengers because they were late getting back to the ship and their duties.

 

Once we boarded, everything changed... for the better. I have a standard balcony cabin on Marina deck and it seems to me to be the same size as my balcony cabin on the Diamond last May. The bathroom is bigger, the wardrobe is smaller. The balcony looks to me to be fine. I like the way it's laid out. I'll post pictures (probably tomorrow) when everything is put away so you won't see my mess. The bed feels really comfortable. Firm but soft.

 

Went up to the Horizon Court for lunch and it's almost too big!!! So many choices. I got a Spring roll, Mongolian beef satay, a couple of breaded shrimp with tartar sauce and a salad. Could only finish about a third of it (but I did finish the salad.)

 

I'm certainly getting my exercise. Went down to drop off our water taxi vouchers and tomorrow's tour tickets. We were going to go to Murano and Burano but it's supposed to rain tomorrow and having been multiple times, we couldn't muster the energy to go. We'll sleep in and relax onboard.

 

We booked late seating but it's at 8:30pm, way too late for us old folks. So, we're switching to Anytime.

 

So far, I really like what I've seen of the Royal. I think it's going to be a great cruise. :)

[Guest USC Traveler]

pam...so glad to know you're finally on board the royal and seem to like your cabin. hope your flight to venice was uneventful. which airline did you fly to venice?

 

looking forward to your postings, whenever they may be. just enjoy your cruise and don't worry about reporting every little detail to the folks at home.

 

remember that great italian saying....que sera, sera!

[Woobstr112G]

Hello all. We've been on-board for about 4 or so hours now. I was dreading embarkation but it actually went amazingly quick (at least for us). They had different colored colored tags that said "Elite"on them. We had yellow and our color was actually first. We were probably the fourth couple (excluding mobility issue travelers) that boarded. Strange thing though we had a couple that were just 2-3 (Bronze Level) and they were also called with us as they also had the yellow boarding card.

We are in an Owner's Suite and I must say that other than the huge balcony, I am disappointed with the cabin. For being an OS suite which is supposedly the best on the ship it is quite small (IMHO). I also discovered that despite what the literature and Princess CS reps say when I called them on Wednesday, there is no DVD player in the suite. I was told that there is an issue with the on demand system creating issue for the DVD player. I even brought a cheap blue ray player and tried to hook it up via HDMI and no go.

As far as the ship itself goes, all I can say is WOW. It is gigantic. When I first walked into thee Piazza, I stood there for about 15 minutes just starring at it. The Horizon court is gigantic. Many, many, many choices. The eating area out on deck to the rear of the HC is huge. One thing that I thought was novel was when you walked into the HC, they asked you to wash your hands at nearby sinks. There were also purell stations present.

As Pia stated earlier, the fitness center is kinda hard to find but seems well appointed. I will be breaking it in tomorrow.

We made our free suite dinner reservation at the CG for tomorrow night. I am looking forward to that.

Just finished unpacking and stowing my gear so I'm off to explore the Lotus Spa and other areas around the Piazza.

Take Care All.....:):):)

 

Bob

[sunsetbeachgal]

Bob,

 

Be careful around that sink at the HC..when we were on the Royal, the floor around the sinks, which I remember to be granite, was usually pretty wet from the water splashes. I thought it might be hazardous.

 

Glad I wasn't alone in being overwhelmed with the ship the first couple of days. Don't forget to try Alfredo's sooner rather than later!!

 

Carole

Edited October 9, 2013 by sunsetbeachgal

[dchip]

So excited that the TA has begun!! Wishing all of you a fantastic journey!!! We will be waiting for you in Ft Lauderdale!!

 

Cheers,Denise

[dmwnc1959]

Wow! The ship sounds amazing!

 

Pam - glad you both made it aboard! Enjoy the cruise and keep us posted when you have time.

 

Bob - so sorry to hear about the DVD player and owners suites issues. I know how you were so looking forward to it. I do hope it doesn't cast a shadow on the rest of your cruise. Looking forward to hearing more of your onboard experiences.

 

Thank you both for everything! :D

[TorontoTL]

Glad all the new passengers are reporting in! I can't wait to see the ship with my own eyes, but your descriptions will have to do for now. :) Have a wonderful time Pam and Bob.

[Pootimer]

Pam, I believe I read somewhere on these boards, while doing research, that you are in the same "sideways" inside cabin that we've booked for our November cruise on Royal. How do you like it? any noise issues?

[Mom33]

Thanks to all for your perspectives on this cruise and may you all have a wonderful time. Bon Voyage!:D

[RRFPresident]

 

We are in an Owner's Suite and I must say that other than the huge balcony, I am disappointed with the cabin. For being an OS suite which is supposedly the best on the ship it is quite small (IMHO). I also discovered that despite what the literature and Princess CS reps say when I called them on Wednesday, there is no DVD player in the suite. I was told that there is an issue with the on demand system creating issue for the DVD player. I even brought a cheap blue ray player and tried to hook it up via HDMI and no go.

 

 

 

Thanks for posting about your suite. We have an OS booked on the Regal for next summer (previously stayed in PS suites) and are getting more and more disappointed in how these new OS suites seem to be more like overpriced PS suites.

[JimmyVWine]

Pam, I believe I read somewhere on these boards, while doing research, that you are in the same "sideways" inside cabin that we've booked for our November cruise on Royal.

 

Pam posted this earlier today:

 

...I have a standard balcony cabin on Marina deck and it seems to me to be the same size as my balcony cabin on the Diamond last May.

[bronxgirl25]

I have been trying for an hour to find a LIVE web cam from which I can watch the ship leave tomorrow. Can't find a thing. Does anyone have a link to where I can actually see the ship move out and not just photos?

 

thanks in advance!!!:confused:

[trikeman]

I have been trying for an hour to find a LIVE web cam from which I can watch the ship leave tomorrow. Can't find a thing. Does anyone have a link to where I can actually see the ship move out and not just photos?

 

thanks in advance!!!:confused:

 

Take a look at Post # 397 there's an address there for a web cam. Hope that one will work for you.