Back from the royal 1/12-1/19

[nurse@sea]

Hi Thanks for the detailed report.

I have a question about the Sanctuary.

Someone else (who said she was on your sailing) reported that no one was able to book the Sanctuary for the week - that they only had 5 or 6 loungers available for the entire week booking and that all of those had been taken by the previous week's B2B passengers.

She also said they have raised the price to $40/day per lounger. That would be $560 for 2 people for a week. :(

This seems to be different from your experience. :confused:

Any accuracy to any of that? :confused:

 

 

(Oh - and we're in an aft also. Final payment made and hoping for the best. If not, we'll have to deal with it.)[/quoteI

 

i saw that post as well and also felt some confusion. when I arrived at the sanctuary it was between 12:00-12:30. My daughter was the third in line. The two people in front of us booked two loungers each for the full week. we also booked the full week. It was $250 per person. Behind us there were about 8 or 9 people in line. They were standing in full shade.

 

It just goes to show how subjective everyones views are. I find it very surprising that they only sell 5 or 6 loungers for the whole week. I dont know for sure so I cant comment.

 

I do know, that on most days, there were plenty of empty loungers.

Edited January 21, 2014 by nurse@sea

[nurse@sea]

Can you tell us how The Royal's OS compared to OS's on other Princess ships?

 

thanks

 

I have never sailed in an owners suite before this cruise. The only other suite experience I have to compare it to is a vista suite. This suite has two separate rooms, unlike the vista suite, which was more of an open floor plan. I read some peoples posts that had negative feelings about it. I was happy with the set up.

 

The toilet area was separate. There was a door leading into it from the living room area and a second door leading into the shower and tub area. From that part of the bathroom there was a door leading to the bedroom.

 

There was plenty of storage space and closets.

 

Two large flat screen TV's.

 

And the balcony!!! Oh the balcony. It would have been magnificent without the soot, but it still was pretty great for the time we were able to use it.

[Pedro's Girl]

Thanks so much for the review!

 

We are sailing Feb 2. Just wondered how early you got to the port and how early you boarded...so that you were able to grab seats in the sanctuary?? Are you elite or platinum? (We are platinum and can board early...and are keeping our fingers crossed to get into the Sanctuary.

[AndJackie]

Sounds like you had a very nice cruise indeed! We are sailing this lovely lady in a couple of weeks and your review was helpful - thank you! Best wishes for your daughter's upcoming wedding!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[nurse@sea]

Thanks so much for the review!

 

We are sailing Feb 2. Just wondered how early you got to the port and how early you boarded...so that you were able to grab seats in the sanctuary?? Are you elite or platinum? (We are platinum and can board early...and are keeping our fingers crossed to get into the Sanctuary.

 

Im platinum, but this sailing I was in a suite. Im pretty sure the elites, platinum and suites are all priority boarding. Im not 100% though. I got to the port around 10:15 and was in the holding area around 10:30. They had us there for quite a while and It didn't matter what time we got there because once we were in the holding area we were all in different places when we lined up again to board.

 

We actually got on board between 12:00 and 12:30. After boarding we went straight to the Sanctuary.

[Pedro's Girl]

Thank you!

[quincytoo]

Im platinum, but this sailing I was in a suite. Im pretty sure the elites, platinum and suites are all priority boarding. Im not 100% though. I got to the port around 10:15 and was in the holding area around 10:30. They had us there for quite a while and It didn't matter what time we got there because once we were in the holding area we were all in different places when we lined up again to board.

 

We actually got on board between 12:00 and 12:30. After boarding we went straight to the Sanctuary.

 

That sounds exactly like us...we could have been sitting next to each other

[NeurosurgeryNP]

Thanks Toberman... My eyes were starting to bleed.

 

Still a great review and much appreciated. 27 days! (but who is counting ;))

 

35 for us!

[emileg]

We were also on the same cruise. The physical layout of the ship, it's crew and food exceeded expectations. The Horizon Court has been significantly improved over other Grand Class ships with the concept of stations as well as the Bistro.

 

We were very happy with our "obstructed view" deluxe forward balcony. Contrary to what is written on the Princess website, there was no denial of access to these balconies on sea days. We would book the same cabin in a heartbeat.

 

My only gripe was the excessive use of the back lit LCD or LED screen that is used as part of the scenery on production shows. It was extremely bright and lit up the audience. I finally got to the point where I bring ear plugs to shows to temper the excessive noise, but now I have to bring sunglasses as well to deal with the glare.

 

There was an excellent comedian. However, he was standing in front of this humongous and distracting back lit screen. It is kind of like sitting at a table in a restaurant across from a person and the sun is behind them.

 

It seemed like they got a new toy and they had to use it every moment they had, without consideration whether it would benefit or hinder the show.

 

As a whole, this is one gorgeous ship decorated in beautiful earth tones. The piazza was a fun place to be. Moving passenger services and the shore excursion office out of the piazza was a great idea. The officers and crew could not do enough for you. The main dining room service was as good as it gets. We would take this ship again without hesitation; just have to remember to bring ear plugs and sunglasses to the shows.

Edited January 22, 2014 by emileg

[Mom33]

We were also on the same cruise. The physical layout of the ship, it's crew and food exceeded expectations. The Horizon Court has been significantly improved over other Grand Class ships with the concept of stations as well as the Bistro.

 

We were very happy with our "obstructed view" deluxe forward balcony. Contrary to what is written on the Princess website, there was no denial of access to these balconies on sea days. We would book the same cabin in a heartbeat.

 

My only gripe was the excessive use of the back lit LCD or LED screen that is used as part of the scenery on production shows. It was extremely bright and lit up the audience. I finally got to the point where I bring ear plugs to shows to temper the excessive noise, but now I have to bring sunglasses as well to deal with the glare.

 

There was an excellent comedian. However, he was standing in front of this humongous and distracting back lit screen. It is kind of like sitting at a table in a restaurant across from a person and the sun is behind them.

 

It seemed like they got a new toy and they had to use it every moment they had, without consideration whether it would benefit or hinder the show.

 

As a whole, this is one gorgeous ship decorated in beautiful earth tones. The piazza was a fun place to be. Moving passenger services and the shore excursion office out of the piazza was a great idea. The officers and crew could not do enough for you. The main dining room service was as good as it gets. We would take this ship again without hesitation; just have to remember to bring ear plugs and sunglasses to the shows.

 

Thanks for posting your experiences on the Royal. Glad you had a good time.

:D

[vickie_bernie]

Here you go....

 

quote=nurse@sea;

 

Returned from the Royal Princess relaxed and rested. After reading about the positives and negatives, over the last year or so, I wanted to offer a few opinions I had about her. Please remember, these are only my opinions.

The ship overall is beautiful, classic and elegant. I wasnt even able to see the whole thing in the short time I sailed on her. I had an owners suite on Dolphin deck. It suited my needs and I felt there was plenty of room. The love seat and the chairs could have been a little more comfortable, but for the times we used them they were fine. The balcony was enormous!

 

Thanks for the review and thank you Toberman for putting it in paragraphs I too had given up on reading it and enjoyed reading it when re posted.

 

Thanks