Dancing on the Royal - loved it!!

[sashas_mom]

Just returned from the TA on the Royal. I won't elaborate on things that have already been discussed, but thought I would add my perspective of the ship and my experience on her. IMHO, she is a gorgeous ship, although I agree there are flaws. My favorite part of the ship is the Piazza and Princess has outdone themselves, in my opinion, on the design and functionality of this space. Pictures just don't do it justice. It's just beautiful, elegant, spacious, and the new features, in my opinion, are a welcome addition. The details in the way it is lit and the color and decor lend to a very relaxing, beautiful space. The chairs were very comfortable and plentiful. It is a wonderful gathering place and we had more ballroom dancing opportunities than I've ever had on the previous 15 cruises we've done with Princess.

 

Yes, I know it's not as ideal as a wood dance floor, but there were many of us dancing every day and evening on the marble, and enjoyed it immensely.

 

The musicians rotated, so starting 3:15 there would be a ballroom dance class at 3:45 some days we had The Volume, a band with two girl singers, Or, the Rick Kilburn Quartet with a wonderful singer, George Evans. Some days we danced again around 5 and again around 8 or 9 p.m. I would say the quartet would have been in the Wheelhouse on other ships, and the band with the girls in Explorers. However, in this case, all their music lent itself to ballroom dancing. We also danced in the Vista Lounge on some occasions.

 

I love to dance. I am not a professional, don't belong to a dance group of cruisers, but am considered by most to be a good dancer. In fact, I was the chosen partner of the dance instructor every day to demonstrate the lessons. All I can say is, if you love dancing and lots of it, this was the best experience I ever had on a cruise ship. Usually the dancing is reserved for the evening on the other ships, and over the years it seemed like there was less and less opportunites for it. I hope Princess will replace some of the acrobatic acts, etc. and give us more opportunities to dance in the Piazza. We did this also on the Golden when on a Hawaii cruise.

 

What I especially enjoyed was the fact that many people who can't dance, but enjoy watching others dance, would come to the Piazza and for three decks people would enjoy watching the dancing and listening to the wonderful singers and bands. This cruise had the best entertainment and Cruise Director's staff I have experienced.

 

I understand the desire to have a wood dance floor, but thought I would share my experience so if you love dancing, you can see there was plenty of opportunity for it.

 

I will reserve my other observations for my official review, but hope this helps someone who is thinking of trying this ship and wondered about the ballroom dancing.

[JimmyVWine]

Thanks for your observations. There are many people here who care a great deal about dancing and dance floors, and I know that the situation on Royal has some concerned. Every report helps.

[Mom33]

Thanks for your perspective on dancing on the Royal. The information will be helpful to those dancers that were afraid to book her. Glad you enjoyed yourself and hope that you will give a review of all your cruise.:)

[Pam in CA]

Thanks for the comments. I often saw people dancing in the Piazza and they looked like they were enjoying it. I've got some photos that I'll post (I'm still uploading to Picasa.)

[TorontoTL]

That's good to hear. Perhaps people who enjoy dancing might like this ship after all.

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for posting your thoughts. I love to dance and love to watch others dance. Sounds like the Royal is a good ship for dancing.:):):)

[Antonintassie]

Hi

 

Interesting observation my wife and I where on the cruise prior and found the arrangement very poor "like dancing in a fishbowl" was a commonly heard comment.

Due to the fact that you are at the bottom of 3 decks dancing in a small area with everyone watching you.We only had a couple of dances and found the experience not to our liking at all

[Esprit]

Glad to read bands would play ballroom dance music. I toured Royal the day before the naming ceremony and thought the Piazza would lend itself well particularly as there was no floor in the Wheelhouse bar and the Explorers lounge had disappeared.

 

Our last cruise on Celebrity Reflection had very limited opportunities for ballroom dancing, so I'm more keen now to book Regal for next summer.

[Carolyn R]

I too loved the dancing in the Piazza in the evening! It was a great place to meet with friends after dinner, share some wine or coffee and dessert. This and the expanded Alfredo's were my favorite things about the Royal.

[luxurysailer]

Dancing in the piazza sounds like great fun. I personally don't care if the floor is wood or marble. What really matters to me is that dancing is being promoted and the music being played is appropriate to the age of the dancers who are actually present and desiring to dance. Too often passengers who want to dance have their eardrums assaulted by music that they don't want to dance to nor know how to dance to. In my experience this is most often done by DJ's, making me wonder if they're intentionally trying to run us off the dance floor and out of the lounge. I've seen more than one lounge emptied very quickly after the DJ starts this nonsense.

[carib]

I have to agree the Piazza was a very much used area, either for hanging out or dancing or reading or eating snacks from the IC. This aspect of the design was a definite winner. I saw more people dancing here than I have seen in any other Piazza.

 

Carolyn I never saw you dancing. I must have missed you. :)

[sunsetbeachgal]

We also enjoyed watching the dancing on the Royal and also dancing here and there, and I thought the quality of the bands was very good.

 

I always felt like, at least on most of the other Princess cruises we have been on, that the Wheelhouse bar was VERY underutilized at night. I am not surprised at this change on the Royal.

[sashas_mom]

Carol,

 

When we first started cruising the Wheelhouse was the place for this kind of dancing and it was full every night. Slowly Princess started cutting back and had less and less live music in there, thus the decline in use of the Wheelhouse. If they had musicians like we had on the Royal, which I really wish they did, the Wheelhouse would be packed again. Also, loved the frequency of the dancing options. I do wish they would keep the sets longer though. Only about an hour at a time, but I guess it's so we have time to catch the shows, games, etc.

 

Eileen

[Esprit]

Carol' date='

 

When we first started cruising the Wheelhouse was the place for this kind of dancing and it was full every night. Slowly Princess started cutting back and had less and less live music in there, thus the decline in use of the Wheelhouse. If they had musicians like we had on the Royal, which I really wish they did, the Wheelhouse would be packed again. Also, loved the frequency of the dancing options. I do wish they would keep the sets longer though. Only about an hour at a time, but I guess it's so we have time to catch the shows, games, etc.

 

Eileen[/quote']

 

This is exactly what we thought. We had amazing times dancing in the Wheelhouse bar on earlier cruises but on Island Princess the band (Phoenix Rising) weren't interested in encouraging people to dance. Their sets were short too with lengthy breaks.