Live from the Royal Princess January 26 to February 2, 2014

[caribill]

For dessert I have the peanut butter and chocolate pie with Oreo cookie crust which was amazing.

 

Wow I CAN'T wait to have that!:D

 

It's the best dessert on the ship.

[mistyann]

Thank you soooo much for the live review! We are sailing her this April :D Could you tell me your opinion on the temp in the Theater, MDR & the inside of the ship in general? I'm one of those people that gets cold easy. :o We were on the Oasis and the Allure recently and found it to be very comfortable, I was only cold one night at dinner in the MDR. Just trying to decide on my outfits!!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info ...

[rabbitoh_777]

.

 

 

Outstanding review, it is much appreciated. :)

 

Cheers...

 

:cool:

[smilz]

Loving your review!!! Not sure if I missed the info, but is the Sanctuary pool open to all passengers? And by the way, why don't you use DP for your partner?

[A1A]

Benny,

Enjoying your live from the Royal Princess! You mentioned that the ship is full, yet at times you are surprised to see a lack of people at particular places on the ship. Is it the design of the ship or is this crowd an early to bed late to rise type of sailing? Would love to hear more about Alfredo's set up and the offerings. Thanks for the tips on available lounge chairs above the pool we will try that location if shut out. Love your attitude about the new ship, wishing you a fantastic voyage and looking forward to your photos upon your return!

Cheers!

Ken

Edited January 30, 2014 by A1A

[tobyt]

Thanks mom33 for the photos, I am hopeful the chair situation will be ok....we board in just a bit over a week and it looks like a fairly full ship!

[TorontoTL]

Today we're in St. Maarten, it looks like a gorgeous day out. Somehow the ship was able to dock without waking me up. The seas were really smooth last night, I wasn't awoken by ship's movement.

 

I continue to wonder where everyone is on this ship. I must do completely different things from everyone else, I am sitting in the Piazza now and there aren't anymore than a dozen other passengers around. I assume everyone is at the buffet for breakfast and not using the international cafe. I suppose people are using the buffet more on this ship because even last night in the Allegro dining room, there were many tables empty. Now that the HC has a Pastry Shop that makes the cappuccinos and other specialty coffee drinks, people don't need to come to the IC to get their specialty coffees in the morning.

 

The pastries at the IC on the Royal have been outstanding. Today's cinnamon roll was hot out of the oven. I love how they are made not that sweet, I find Cinnabon makes them way too sweet, I like them on this ship better. One thing that isn't made well though is the individual pies. They have these small whole individual sized pies at the IC that look great. The crusts are great, but both the blueberry and cherry pies I have tried were disappointing. The filling on each was way to dry. I like my pie filling to be much more moist and a bit more liquid than solid.

 

We spent the day walking around Phillipsberg doing a bit of shopping. Nice day here today. We were back on the ship before the usual afternoon rain shower. In fact, the shower came with great timing as I was just stepping out to the Retreat pool area for a hot tub. Just then, the rain shower started causing people to scatter. This gave me a hot tub to myself. The hot tubs on this ship have powerful jets and they are hot enough without being too hot. Sometimes I find that the hot tubs on the ships are not powerful enough or are too cool, not so on this ship. However, I do wish they had put a couple of hot tubs under the cover of some shade. At least the a Lotus Spa pool hot tubs often had some shade. Also their position by the Lotus Spa pool also gave them some protection from the wind, something that the Retreat Pool doesn't have at all. It can be quite windy up there when the ship is booting it. Oh while I'm thinking about it, I think if Princess is going to add a pool at the aft of the Regal Princess, then they should add a hot tub or two as well. Considering the number of passengers not his ship, there should be a couple more hot tubs, six isn't enough in my opinion.

 

I mentioned the showers in an earlier post, I want to mention something else about them. I know quite a few people don't like the shower curtains, perhaps because they often love you too much. On the Royal Princess, they no longer love you. The shower bring larger and the shower curtain being longer, the curtain now stays put and doesn't touch you as you shower, this is great. I can live without a glass shower door when it works like this. I can also understand why they use curtains to reduce the weight and save on fuel.

 

Our cabin steward has been amazing, although we didn't see him until the second day, he has been very efficient. We never return to our cabin without it having been tidied and cleaned. We haven't needed to ask for anything. If you get Enrique you'll be very lucky, such a nice guy.

 

Dinner again with our lovely wait staff Richard and Danka was wonderful. Tonight was the chef's dinner. We shared a twice baked goats cheese soufflé, as good as ever. Then we both had the diver's scallops as an appetizer and then the orange roughy we a main. These were excellent and as always different from previous cruises. I really think the chef is doing an excellent job on this ship. Perfectly seasoned and just delicious and served piping hot. For dessert I had the chocolate lover's trio. This dessert is a major upgrade from the previous dessert trio that I've had. Each of the parts of the trio were delicious, if I was not so full, I would have had another serving.

 

After dinner I grabbed the camera to try to get some night shots of the upper deck areas, I hope they turn out alright. I've had a small tripod for a camera for years, but never used it. I dragged it along on this cruise just to give it a try, hopefully it will help with the night photos, we'll see.

 

Sorry I haven't been commenting much about the entertainment, in general we entertain ourselves and don't go to the show much. We did watch the Butler on the in cabin TV, I LOVE the on demand TV on this ship. I hope that it goes fleet wide in the near future.

 

I've been using the Princess at Sea on my iPhone and iPad Air to keep track of the Patter and events on board. I like having access to the a Patter without having to carry my copy of the Patter. As well, I can check our folio to ensure that there aren't any errant charges whenever and wherever I want. Again, I hope this goes fleet wide soon as well.

[Mom33]

Thanks mom33 for the photos, I am hopeful the chair situation will be ok....we board in just a bit over a week and it looks like a fairly full ship!

 

You're welcome! :D Dave's (dmwnc1959) photos of his cruise have been very helpful to a lot of cruisers. Have a great cruise! We have to wait a little longer to get onboard.(sigh):)

[TorontoTL]

Benny

 

 

 

Your review is very refreshing! Enjoying it very much.

 

 

 

We have a cabin booked on the Lido deck forward.....did you happen to notice where the smoking areas are in that vicinity??

 

 

 

Enjoy the remainder of your cruise and Ft. Lauderdale......I'm in Kingston and we have so much snow and it's cold out there!!!

 

 

The only spot on the ship that I have found excessively smokey is aft of the gym, the outdoor seating area.

 

Thank you soooo much for the live review! We are sailing her this April :D Could you tell me your opinion on the temp in the Theater, MDR & the inside of the ship in general? I'm one of those people that gets cold easy. :o We were on the Oasis and the Allure recently and found it to be very comfortable, I was only cold one night at dinner in the MDR. Just trying to decide on my outfits!!

 

 

Overall I usually find the ships to be too cold. I have found in general this ship to be a comfortable temperature, the Allegro dining room is just a hair cooler than the Piazza.

 

Loving your review!!! Not sure if I missed the info, but is the Sanctuary pool open to all passengers? And by the way, why don't you use DP for your partner?

 

 

The Retreat Pool is free and open to any adult. This is the pool nearest to the Sanctuary. I've never used the acronyms for people.

 

Benny,

Enjoying your live from the Royal Princess! You mentioned that the ship is full, yet at times you are surprised to see a lack of people at particular places on the ship. Is it the design of the ship or is this crowd an early to bed late to rise type of sailing? Would love to hear more about Alfredo's set up and the offerings. Thanks for the tips on available lounge chairs above the pool we will try that location if shut out. Love your attitude about the new ship, wishing you a fantastic voyage and looking forward to your photos upon your return!

Cheers!

Ken

 

 

I think that the crowds are spread out very well on this ship. There is enough going on all over the ship that people spread themselves out, so far anyways.

 

Alfredo's is nicely spread out in the Piazza on deck 6. There is enough seating and enough space between the tables. I love the menu, several appetizers all of which are good, I've eaten them all. A nice selection of pizzas and even a calzone and a pasta dish. You really need to try out Alfredo's, I think it is better than what exists on the Sun, Dawn and Sea Princess ships.

[TorontoTL]

You're welcome! :D Dave's (dmwnc1959) photos of his cruise have been very helpful to a lot of cruisers. Have a great cruise! We have to wait a little longer to get onboard.(sigh):)

 

 

You'll absolutely love it, totally worth the long wait in my opinion. Both my partner and I would cruise on this class of ship again, no hesitation.

[NeptuneSeas]

Thank you for a wonderful "Live from Royal"

Am updating Maitre D' list; are you able to ask Maitre D' Fabio Marcotti how long he'll be on Royal please?Thank you if you can. Bon Apetit & Bon Voyage! Rose.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?=1978121

[TorontoTL]

I think that the decision to use the Piazza as a space for dancing was very smart. Every time there is music for dancing, it is very popular with many couples and groups dancing and enjoying themselves along with many onlookers. I know many here have been upset about the lack of dance floors on the Royal that are hardwood, but the a Piazza really does make a great dance space as evidenced by the popularity of it.

 

Last night they had the Latin Night deck party. I can now see the logic in having the fountains. People here have complained that the fountains are a waste of space. I can understand that sentiment during the day, although if they would run the fountains for kids to play in more often I wouldn't think that. However, at night, during the party, it is the perfect dance floor. It was very popular with a packed crowds dancing up a storm last night. On the rest of the fleet, there just isn't any place to dance like that during the parties. The addition of cool LED lighting effects and the MUTS screen really add to the ambience and makes the party a blast.

 

One thing I noticed up at the pool last night was the creation of Moët and Chandon and Veuve Cliqout lounges. I believe there were four in total up on the sun deck overlooking the party. These were cordoned off and had comfortable sofas and chairs. According to the sign, they were private lounge spaces like the cabanas. I think they could have been prebooked at the Sanctuary or booked by the waiters during the party. They included two bottles of champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries. For the Moët and Chandon lounge I think the price was $148 and for the Veuve Cliqout lounge I think the price was $225 more or less.

 

Second last sea day today. I decided to finally eat at the Horizon Court/Bistro. I am very impressed with the huge variety of food offered here for breakfast. Really remarkable, I can't imagine anyone not being able to find something that they love to eat. The amount of seating and tables is amazing. I was very easily able to find food and then a clean table to eat at. Within seconds, a waiter was at my table asking me what I'd like to drink. Great service here now too.

 

I sat up by the pool to observe the goings on there and enjoy the lovely morning temperatures for a while. I noticed that the deck attendants were removing towels on the sun loungers. The chair hogs do not rule on this ship. If you leave your towel on a lounger, it will be removed. Glad to see them doing this.

 

I also checked out the Princess Sports Central. The basketball court is huge compared to the rest of the fleet. I like the walking track and actually used some of the outdoor exercise equipment. It's actually cool, I didn't think the equipment was a good idea until I tried it. I guess it is like Venice Beach. The Ping pong tables are in a good location surrounded by netting so your errant balls don't go into the sea. There is putt putt golf and croquet or lawn bowling as well. I have read that the laser target practice is up there, but I did not go looking for it. They were using the court space of batting practice this morning, again it seemed popular.

 

Again I want to comment that this ship really seems to ride the waves and swells much more smoothly than the Grand class and Super Grand class ships. I was somewhat concerned about our cabin choice up high and forward when we booked, but I didn't have to be worried in the end. Last night we had good sized waves and swells along with a good strong wind. I was expecting a lot of crashing and bumping in the night, but it didn't happen. Whoever designed the hull, did a much better job than on those other ships, good stuff. I recall the stabilizers, when active, on the Grand class ships making a very loud noise especially if you were in the Piazza. If the stabilizers have been active on this ship, I have not heard them.

 

Oh I want to correct myself on an earlier comment. I had said that the elevator programming was fixed. Well it is for the forward elevators, pressing any button calls any of the four available elevators. However, the aft elevators are still programmed in pairs so that if you press one button you are only calling two elevators. I can see why they did this, because the forward elevators are all close to each other. The aft elevators are split apart in pairs. The central elevators seemed to be programmed so that the panoramic ones are called separately from the other four.

 

I went to the photo gallery this morning. I wanted to see if the large screens were working. I tried one logging in both with my card and then manually, the first one gave me an error. I went to another screen and the log in worked. I was able to bring up all my photos! Very very cool. Rather than having to look for photos, you can now go to one of the screens and it can show you all the photos of you. Glad to see if up and running. I recall previous review here saying that it wasn't functioning yet, I guess they finally got it working.

 

The longer I spend on this ship, the more impressed I am with the finishes that were used. I really cannot stress enough, how beautiful and elegant this ship is in the way it was decorated. Photos do not do it justice, really. All over the ship you can see the effort out into making the ship have a wonderful sense of elegance and beauty. For me, this really enhanced my cruise experience. I do not feel that it is in any way gaudy as I have read some people post here, in particular the Piazza. Some have said that they didn't like the gold colours in the Piazza. However, when you're actually on the ship, it really all works and looks wonderful. I like how the two anytime dining rooms still have the classic Princess dining room feel, but at the same time, are very updated and pretty. The Allegro dining room for traditional dining is a completely new look and feel. I think it is stunning and more masculine in appearance.

 

I was expecting the upper decks to be very windy today because we're moving at a good clip, however, that was not the case. I spent time on the walking/jogging track, in a hot tub on the sun deck and in the Retreat pool deck, in none of the locations did I find it windy at all. It must have something to do with the wind coming from behind the ship as we sail northwest or something like that. Anyhow, the upper decks were very comfortable and easy to maneuver on today. I noticed that once again the sun loungers were filled on the pool decks, however, if you wanted shade, it was easy to find a lounger on the sun deck level between the fitness centre and the Fountain pool. There were plenty of loungers in the shade on both the port and starboard sides in that location. Regarding the pools, today the Retreat pool seemed to be the busiest. You could still get in, but forget about doing laps. The Fountain pools on the other hand, weren't very busy in comparison for some reason. I could have gotten into the larger one and done a few laps. It seems that most people use the pools to dip into in order to cool off rather than get exercise. The smaller of the two Fountain pools seem to be use by families with kids and again, mostly for cooling off. I think that adding an aft pool would be a good idea especially if they could add a couple of hot tubs like they have on a few of the Grand class ships. I'm not sure that the hot tubs are in the works though, but they would be a good idea.

 

Lunch was spent at that IC. Despite it being a sea day, it was still easy to find a place to sit and eat and see the vegetable/fruit craving demonstration. There was an issue with one of the servers doing the sandwiches today though. The Executive chef of the ship was at the IC trying to help out with the lunch rush. Apparently, one of the servers didn't speak good English and was toasting the wrong sandwiches causing a backed up line. The Executive chef, who is a really nice guy found out that my order of a pork Cuban sandwich without cheese was done incorrectly. He found us sitting and eating and came to give me the corrected sandwich, I wasn't expecting that! By that time I had eaten the sandwich with the cheese, but gladly ate the second one without. The Cuban sandwiches are quite tasty, I've never had one before so I have no idea if they are authentic or not, but they are good.

[Coral]

Alfredo's is nicely spread out in the Piazza on deck 6. There is enough seating and enough space between the tables. I love the menu, several appetizers all of which are good, I've eaten them all. A nice selection of pizzas and even a calzone and a pasta dish. You really need to try out Alfredo's, I think it is better than what exists on the Sun, Dawn and Sea Princess ships.

 

You are one of the first people who has really compared the pizzerias to the Sun Class ships. Most people who have sailed on the Royal, haven't been on the Sun Class ships or don't remember the pizzeria.

 

Just looking at the menu between the 2, the Sun Class ships menu still appeals to me more but I found your comments very interesting about the comparison. I loved the lasagna and the breads on the Sun Class ships (plus the calzones).

 

I am just glad that Princess is bringing back the Pizzerias to the ships.

[TorontoTL]

You are one of the first people who has really compared the pizzerias to the Sun Class ships. Most people who have sailed on the Royal, haven't been on the Sun Class ships or don't remember the pizzeria.

 

 

 

Just looking at the menu between the 2, the Sun Class ships menu still appeals to me more but I found your comments very interesting about the comparison. I loved the lasagna and the breads on the Sun Class ships (plus the calzones).

 

 

 

I am just glad that Princess is bringing back the Pizzerias to the ships.

 

 

The desserts on offer are nice as well. Alfredo's will bring you a lovely basket of bread with nice olive oil and balsamic to dip as well. Since the Sun class ships are all away from the NA market, I'm extremely happy that Princess has decided to bring back the pizzeria to their newest ships. I personally feel that Alfredo's is better than what I remember to be on the Sun class.

[Alessandrina]

Thanks so much for all your thoughts on the Royal.

My favourite class of ship is the Sun Class; love the size.

 

I might just consider giving this huge ship a try! It does sound lovely. I think my only hesitation would be all the passengers - but you've made it sound like there is room and not too much crowding.

 

How about when you are in port - are there lots of lines/queues of passengers when leaving the ship? Are there many gangways open?

 

Cheers.

[keyol123]

Thanks so much for doing this review....

We will be on this ship in 2 weeks can't wait. We have never sailed with Princess so looking forward to it. Have a good cruise.

Edited January 31, 2014 by keyol123

[CruiseKing]

One thing I noticed up at the pool last night was the creation of Moët and Chandon and Veuve Cliqout lounges. I believe there were four in total up on the sun deck overlooking the party. These were cordoned off and had comfortable sofas and chairs. According to the sign, they were private lounge spaces like the cabanas. I think they could have been prebooked at the Sanctuary or booked by the waiters during the party. They included two bottles of champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries. For the Moët and Chandon lounge I think the price was $148 and for the Veuve Cliqout lounge I think the price was $225 more or less.

Thank You,

Edited January 31, 2014 by CruiseKing

[TorontoTL]

Last night we went to the Allegro dining room as usual and had a lovely dinner and wonderful service as always. It was formal night and I was surprised to see the escargot on the menu, they were great. The other appetizer, the Tian of shrimp, crab and scallops was excellent. The rockfish and lobster were both wonderful as well, the lobster wasn't rubbery at all and was very enjoyable. The hazelnut and chocolate soufflé had a slight twist that I didn't recall, the sabayon was amaretto, has it always been? This was the first time I had soufflé on this cruise and I loved it as well.

 

After dinner we caught a movie, Way Way Back on MUTS, then we walked around checking out the shops and the photo gallery. The computerized screens to check your photos works very well and the photo gallery really works much better on this ship. The location no longer blocks up a major artery on the Promenade deck as it does on the Grand class ships. Much much better looking and design as well.

 

Then we decided to stay up late, very unusual for us and we caught the late showing, 1030pm of the show Sweet Soul Music. Boy are we glad we did. Traditionally we haven't really enjoyed the Princess productions so haven't gone to them in many many cruises. Well we both were very impressed with this production. The singers and dancers were all excellent and the show itself was great. I like the new lighting effects and the use of technology for things like the backgrounds of the sets. There is another show tonight, Spectacular, we might try to see it if we can stay up that late LOL.

 

We never did see the fountain and lights shows, they always seem to run during early dinning so we were always at dinner. I was looking forward to them, but I guess I'll have to look on you tube to see the shows if they are posted somewhere.

 

So this is our final day on this ship. I will eventually get around to posting a formal review for the Princess boards and for Cruise Critic. But I would summarize that overall I LOVE this ship. There are so many positives they totally outweigh the negatives. Yes there are negatives, and those for me would be, lack of shade for the hot tubs and not enough hot tubs, lack of central stairs and lack of promenade deck. These negative wouldn't prevent me from booking this ship or it's future sister ship the Regal, but I know for some it might. I will state again that the decor on this ship is so much nicer than any other Princess ship in service, I am happy with the direction Princess has gone with this and hope that future dry docks can add this style of decor to the older ships in the fleet.

 

If I have time, I will post some more later today about today's activities, but since this is our last day we might be busy. I'm sure you'd all understand.

[TorontoTL]

Thanks so much for all your thoughts on the Royal.

 

My favourite class of ship is the Sun Class; love the size.

 

 

 

I might just consider giving this huge ship a try! It does sound lovely. I think my only hesitation would be all the passengers - but you've made it sound like there is room and not too much crowding.

 

 

 

How about when you are in port - are there lots of lines/queues of passengers when leaving the ship? Are there many gangways open?

 

 

 

Cheers.

 

 

Honestly, the ship feels less crowded than the Sun class ships. I too love the size of the Sun class and was sad when they were moved away from NA. The Coral and Island feel less full, but the new Royal really spreads people out so I never felt crowded except during embarkation, but even then, we had seats into e Elite lounge so it was fine. Even during disembarkation, I didn't find any crowds. Perhaps because we took our time getting off we were able to miss any line ups.

 

You shouldn't write off this class of ship, Princess as really added a lot of value to it, many of the new additions are wonderful.

[Grego]

Great job, Benny. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[Gopher1934]

Great job Benny :) Thank you for taking the time from your vacation to share all the info you have provided. We will be sailing on the Royal on February 9th

[Alessandrina]

Thanks much! :)

[slc22]

Honestly, the ship feels less crowded ...

You shouldn't write off this class of ship, Princess as really added a lot of value to it, many of the new additions are wonderful.

 

Hi. Benny. Thanks for your review! I was on Royal in December, and your words have really captured the elegance and beauty of the ship. I agree, I never found crowds throughout the week. Very nice job, and so glad you finally had a wonderful, long anticipated cruise!

 

I still miss the Royal's IC, and also had breakfast there every day like you. Nice way to start the day!

 

Safe travel home,

 

Sue

[Cyndirella]

Thank you for the review! It was wonderful to see that you had a great time. I am leaving a week from this Sunday. I was worried about too much movement because I am near the front of the ship (28 rooms back on baja) I am glad you didn't feel a lot if movement. It is my second cruise so I wasn't sure what to expect being near the front. Loved the entire review. Thank you so much :)

 

 

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