Royal Princess Review 11/17-11/24 Eastern Caribbean

[Host CJSKIDS]

So really enjoyed reading your review, very funny! Loved all your pictures as well.

 

Sorry to read that you had such issues on the ship.

[5:00_Somewhere]

Were you in an aft cabin also? I was hoping that since our balcony was half covered and half uncovered it would help. Unfortunately, it did not. And I agree, after what we paid it is rather upsetting to know that our balcony was a hot mess every time we went to use it.

 

-Andrew :)

 

HA! I guess it would have helped if I'd included that info. Yes, we had a Riviera Deck aft balcony. The soot and diesel fumes were HORRIBLE. Made our balcony unusable for the great majority of the cruise. Before we boarded the Royal, we had actually already booked a Baja Deck aft balcony cabin (possibly yours) on the Regal for next November. But, during sail away from St. Thomas - one of the few times many of us could be out on our aft balconies, because the ship was moving sideways and backwards - we spoke with the passengers in "our cabin" on the Regal and they had the soot and fumes problem, as well. So, we visited the future cruise consultant and switched cabins on the Regal. Not even sure we'll keep the cruise, but for now we have the largest balcony we could find on the side of the ship. We shall see.

[Retiring cajun]

Andrew, where are your pics posted?

 

 

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[Retiring cajun]

Does anytime dining take "reservations?" Royal princess

 

 

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[5:00_Somewhere]

Does anytime dining take "reservations?" Royal princess

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

It does, if they can accommodate them. We were very fortunate on our first night (in the Concerto Dining Room on Deck 6) to be seated at a table with a wonderful waiter and an outstanding assistant waiter/waitress (Nole and Danka) who absolutely made our evening. When the Assistant Head Waiter for our section of the dining room came around to say hello, we told him how wonderful they were, and asked right then if we could reserve the table every night at 8:00, which he did happily. However, sometimes if the section is already too full at a particular time, they may not be able to accommodate such a standing reservation. Can't hurt to ask, though. I would note in these situations, though, that it is always a good idea to let them know in advance if you plan to eat somewhere other than your "reserved" Anytime Dining table on a given night, so that they can plan accordingly.

 

Hope that helped. Happy cruising. :)

[5:00_Somewhere]

Andrew, where are your pics posted?

 

 

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There is a separate thread with links here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1949079

[5:00_Somewhere]

Andrew, where are your pics posted?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

There is a separate thread with links here: Andrew's Royal Pictures

[dforeigner]

Thanks for taking time to write a review.

[Guest arowe6]

Per the advice of some of you on thus thread, we did write a letter. It's not exactly concise, since our issues went on for 7 days. But it is filled with facts... Dates, times, names, numbers.

 

We will see what happens.

 

The only other time we have written to Princess was in 2011 to thank them for their incredible service on our Emerald Cruise and we heard back within 3 weeks. I'm assuming the same thing happens when the experience is not so good?

 

-Andrew

[tequilasunrise]

Enjoyed your review, you sound like a lot of fun and it seemed very honest, which I like. Great pictures. Thanks for sharing!

[kelly one]

I just returned from Eastern Caribbean on the Royal Princess and was extremely disappointed in our Balcony Cabin E 627 on Emerald Deck 8. There was a huge 2 level lifeboat and a crane directly outside the balcony which totally obstructed the view of the ocean. We usually like to have breakfast on the balcony each morning but did not do this once on our 7 day cruise as it was so unpleasant as the only view was this huge lifeboat. Anyone who books a balcony on this deck should be aware that all cabins have these massive obstructions except for extreme forward and extreme aft cabins. Princess completely mislead us prior to booking this cabin telling us that the only obstruction was a drop down bed from the ceiling which obstructed the balcony if in use. There were just 2 of us travelling so we thought this was not an issue for us. On entering the cabin on day one we headed straight for the balcony and were shocked by this huge lifeboat suspended directly outside our balcony. On Princess website if you click on "obstruction" it also states only the drop down bed info. Be very cautious about all cabins from Zone 4 to the end of Zone 6 as these are major obstructed cabins.

i also want to add that this is my 22nd cruise and I have never seen lifeboats suspended directly outside balcony cabins, all other ships have them recessed usually in the Promenade Deck which was directly below us not hanging right outside balconies. There is no access to the Promenade Deck for walking as it is cordoned off for maintenance crews only underneath these lifeboats.

 

Elevator situation is a nightmare also as there are smaller elevators for Princess's largest ship.......makes no sense as the congestion was dreadful.

Princess was always my favorite but will never sail on the Royal again. This was my first on Royal and my last, have sailed Emerald, Golden, Caribbean all of them were much better laid out than this ship.

[lynwar]

Sorry about your bad view. We were on a Carnival ship in 2006 and there were French "doors" at the window site. We thought we'd have a view and when we opened them, a life boat was right outside the window. Our view was down to the Promenade deck or maybe a slight ocean view to the right of the lifeboat. There was no straightaway sight line to the sea. It wasn't advertised as a balcony room, however, just "ocean view" as I remember. It's always disappointing not to have an open sight outside the cabin.

 

The elevators weren't a big deal to us. Ours at work with many senior citizens in the retirement community were slow and there were scooter issues, and going up to go down situations and no waiting, so I was used to it. Our "adventure" was that the elevator that did come was behind us or the furthest away from where we were standing and had to run. That didn't happen too often.

 

I hope that you don't give up on the Royal. She basically has the same layout as the other ships if you study the deck plans. I figured it out by the 2nd-3rd day and then knew my way her. We were on the same sailing you were and it was a new ship for us, too. We've also been on the other ones you mentioned.

 

Other than what you mentioned, I hope you had a good cruise, overall.

 

Lynne

[xznwfd]

I'm so glad I found your review Andrew, even if a little late. You always give a balanced view of your cruises, and I love your writing style and upbeat attitude. Sorry you had such awful A/C issues, that is the one thing on a cruise that could ruin it for me.

 

Thanks again for sharing your experience with us, and Happy Holidays to you and Brad!

 

Cathy

[Guest arowe6]

I'm so glad I found your review Andrew, even if a little late. You always give a balanced view of your cruises, and I love your writing style and upbeat attitude. Sorry you had such awful A/C issues, that is the one thing on a cruise that could ruin it for me.

 

Thanks again for sharing your experience with us, and Happy Holidays to you and Brad!

 

Cathy

 

Thank you for your kind words Cathy. I'm in the process of posting another review of the Ruby as I type this. Just got home yesterday.

 

Happy Holidays,

Andrew :)

[AttilaTheFun]

Thanks for another fantastic review Andrew! They are always entertaining, informative, and well-balanced. The pics were a lot of fun to look through as well and not just because you and your partner are so cute! Happy cruising!

[Princess#2]

Thank you Andrew for your fabulous review. We are sailing on the 19th in the same cabin you were in. I called Princess today to see if the Soot issues have been rectified. I was told in the morning that they were aware of it and when I called back in the afternoon to see about changing cabins I was told they were not aware of any issues especially Soot issues on the Royal!! Yikes.

[Guest arowe6]

Thank you Andrew for your fabulous review. We are sailing on the 19th in the same cabin you were in. I called Princess today to see if the Soot issues have been rectified. I was told in the morning that they were aware of it and when I called back in the afternoon to see about changing cabins I was told they were not aware of any issues especially Soot issues on the Royal!! Yikes.

 

Hi there,

 

I saw your post and wondered what cabin you were in. Sorry to say there is definitely a problem with soot. And sh***y AC too. :-/

 

The Royal is a beautiful and great ship. But I would never pay what I paid to sail on her again. And I wouldn't cruise in this cabin again if it were free.

 

Hope you're able to switch. If not, make the best if it and try to enjoy. Who knows. Maybe everything will be fixed by the time you sail?! :)

 

-Andrew