Royal 3/9-3/16 a review

[TupeloHoney]

We had a nice cruise on the Royal last week. I thought I’d give a short review in case it is helpful.

 

We got to the pier around 1:10 and were in our rooms by 1:45. It was a very quick embarkation process. We are platinum, so that helped, we didn’t have to wait in line at all.

 

Went to our rooms and dropped off some things then headed to the Horizon Court to grab some lunch. This was really annoying. I don’t know why, but for this meal they had only two staff people handing out plates and flatware. You had to wait in line to get it. I waited and by the time I got to the staff member she was out of silverware. She told me to get my food and come back. I did. I waited in line again, and again she was out of flatware. For that trip I was getting food for my kids so I dropped it off with them and went back to get my own food. Again waited in line, again out of flatware. Again went to get my food and again waited in line and again out of flatware. It was ridiculous. It took almost 30 minutes to get any flatware. I was pretty annoyed. BUT – it was only that meal. All the other meals we had no problems with getting plates or flatware, so I have no idea what the problems was.

 

In general I wasn’t overly impressed with the food on the ship. I’m not at all a food snob, and the food wasn’t bad or anything, but there were very few items that I thought were exceptionally good.

 

We ate dinner in the MDR each night. Service was very good. Food was fine.

 

The cabin was tiny. I don’t know if it was a different level of balcony than we usually get or what, but it was really, really small. We had four people in the room (dh, myself, 6 yo son and 2 yo daughter) and it was super cramped. I did like the bigger bathrooms though. The bigger shower was nice and the bigger sink was nice. Our room steward was good. The one thing I thought was odd is that he gave us a bio hazard bag to put dirty diapers in and then didn’t ever throw it out and replace it. He took the trash out every day, why not the dirty diapers? Mid week we finally asked him to do so and he did. This is probably TMI – but we plop the poop in the toilet and flush, so it wasn’t too stinky, but even so, disposable diapers stink. Otherwise he was good.

 

I did like that for a four person cabin then had one bed that came down from the ceiling and the other was a sofa bed. Our 6 yo wasn’t ready for sleeping in one of those upper bunks. So dd and I took the big bed, poor dh had the top bunk and ds has the sofa. It worked fine. Though dh is a tad large to be climbing up into that top bunk. He was a good sport about it though.

 

The balcony was also ridiculously small. But one thing I did like was the ability to open the doors between the balconies and keep them open. We were traveling with family and had three cabins in a row. We usually have to fight with them to open the doors and keep them open for us. No issues at all there.

 

The ship was nice enough. The buffet is weirdly set up – or just different than I am used to. But it worked fine once we got the hang of it. Didn’t have any problems finding tables for 8 ever really. That was nice. The piazza area is nice, not sure why people have gone on about it being so spectacular, it’s pretty similar to ones on the other ships. The pools were fine. We only swam one day though – and it rained, so dh and ds had the pool to themselves!

 

The thing that annoyed me the most on the ship though was the elevator situation. Ug. A person could wait 10 minutes or more for an elevator. One would come more quickly than that, but it was invariably packed to the gills and you couldn’t squeeze on. I swear I never rode on the elevator on that ship without getting quite intimate with my fellow passengers. They were so crowded. Lack of midship stairs was a real mistake in the design of this ship. It drove me nuts.

 

I went to a few shows, dh and ds went to all of them and liked them all. I saw the Colors of the World, Beatle Maniacs and the Soul Music one. All were pretty good. There were some really drunk folks kind of making fools of themselves as the Beatles one. That was entertaining.

 

We’ve been to all the Ports before. We rented a bungalow on Princess Cays, that was nice, but it was too far from the nicer beach, so that was kind of inconvenient.

 

St Thomas we went to Magens Bay – first time we had gone to that beach. It was incredibly crowded, but we had a really nice time. The kids loved the beach, and so did the adults. It was really nice and gentle slope and gentle waves.

 

St Martin we just did some shopping in town – nothing much – and then stayed at the beach in town for a while. Where we were was really sea weedy, but we still had a nice time just hanging out.

 

That’s all I can think of right now. Overall it was good. Traveling with two small children is not much of a vacation, but we had fun. DS wouldn’t go to the kids club, which is fine, but he got a little bored on the three sea days. I did too for that matter. I confess I’m getting a little tired of cruising, so that may be why my review is a little on the cool side. We’re thinking next year we might try to find an all-inclusive somewhere or rent a house or something. I really miss the smaller ships. I think it’s a shame that they are all these monster ships these days. It makes everything a hassle. But it is what it is.

 

I’ll try to answer questions, not sure how much I’ll be able to help, but I’ll try.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your comments.

Its situations like you experienced in the HC on embarkation day that we head to the nice quiet and relaxing dining room for lunch. ;)

 

What was the type/location of your cabin?

Edited March 19, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[CI66774]

OP - thanks for the review. I, personally, would never put four people in a balcony cabin - way too small. At the very least a mini-suite or adjoining cabins.

[TupeloHoney]

OP - thanks for the review. I, personally, would never put four people in a balcony cabin - way too small. At the very least a mini-suite or adjoining cabins.

 

Yes, that would be ideal! But I'm fortunate enough to not have to pay for my cruises - so I go with what my MIL wants! ;) But, even so, this one felt smaller than in the past. I'll look up the type of cabin it was, I really don't remember. It's possible it was just a different type than normal.

[Bentley5700]

Four people in cramped quarters:eek: - I can see how you would be cool towards cruising.

[TupeloHoney]

We were in Caribe 518 - a deluxe balcony. 233 square feet. I wish I could remember past staterooms to see if it was indeed smaller.

[Colo Cruiser]

We were in Caribe 518 - a deluxe balcony. 233 square feet. I wish I could remember past staterooms to see if it was indeed smaller.

 

 

Well due to the fact that it has a couch and is 233 sq ft, I think it would be bigger then the old reg balcony cabins.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[saltypeer]

We had a nice cruise on the Royal last week. I thought I’d give a short review in case it is helpful.........................................................The ship was nice enough. The buffet is weirdly set up – or just different than I am used to. But it worked fine once we got the hang of it. Didn’t have any problems finding tables for 8 ever really. That was nice. The piazza area is nice, not sure why people have gone on about it being so spectacular, it’s pretty similar to ones on the other ships. The pools were fine. We only swam one day though – and it rained, so dh and ds had the pool to themselves!

 

The thing that annoyed me the most on the ship though was the elevator situation. Ug. A person could wait 10 minutes or more for an elevator. One would come more quickly than that, but it was invariably packed to the gills and you couldn’t squeeze on. I swear I never rode on the elevator on that ship without getting quite intimate with my fellow passengers. They were so crowded. Lack of midship stairs was a real mistake in the design of this ship. It drove me nuts.

 

That’s all I can think of right now. Overall it was good. Traveling with two small children is not much of a vacation, but we had fun. DS wouldn’t go to the kids club, which is fine, but he got a little bored on the three sea days. I did too for that matter. I confess I’m getting a little tired of cruising, so that may be why my review is a little on the cool side.

I really miss the smaller ships. I think it’s a shame that they are all these monster ships these days. It makes everything a hassle. But it is what it is.

 

I’ll try to answer questions, not sure how much I’ll be able to help, but I’ll try.

 

An honest opinion is all we crave. Thanks for posting your experience.

 

The vast majority of cruisers read all reviews in the manner they were intended.

 

Have you any ship interior photos you are able to / willing to share?

 

Thanks again

 

Pete

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.....:):):)

 

Bob

Edited March 20, 2014 by Woobstr112G

[Mom33]

OP..... a mini-suite would have been a lot more comfortable for a family of four. The deluxe balcony is larger than the standard, but not enough to ease crowding when more than 2 people are in the cabin. Also, unless you have a specific mid cabin on Caribe deck, the balconies are all the size of the balconies on the upper decks of the other Princess ships.

 

You deserve a couples cruise to recuperate from this one. ;)

[TupeloHoney]

Do you think the bathroom takes up more space on the Royal? The bathroom definitely felt bigger. So maybe that took up more of the square footage? I don't know. We've had the four of us in stateroom before and it didn't feel so bad. Then again the children were a year smaller! lol Our family in the other rooms all just had two to a room and all felt like the staterooms were smaller. But that doesn't mean they actually are - we just may have forgotten just how tiny they are in the year since our last cruise! We did mini suites twice and they were awesome. Wish I could talk MIL into shelling out the money for them again!

[saltypeer]

Do you think the bathroom takes up more space on the Royal? The bathroom definitely felt bigger. So maybe that took up more of the square footage? I don't know. We've had the four of us in stateroom before and it didn't feel so bad. Then again the children were a year smaller! lol Our family in the other rooms all just had two to a room and all felt like the staterooms were smaller. But that doesn't mean they actually are - we just may have forgotten just how tiny they are in the year since our last cruise! We did mini suites twice and they were awesome. Wish I could talk MIL into shelling out the money for them again!

 

Others have commented on different threads that they like the new 'slightly larger' shower area (no figure hugging shower curtain :p), so maybe the extra bathroom size has come from the rest of the cabin.

 

Pete

[dchip]

We did mini suites twice and they were awesome. Wish I could talk MIL into shelling out the money for them again!

 

Would your MIL mind if you added the extra $$ to have a mini suite. That seems like a workable solution to me. :D

 

Cheers, Denise

[winncruiser]

The deluxe balcony staterooms on the Royal are definitely smaller. Everything is just tighter. Even the mini frig is smaller. It can barely hold the large bottle of water that they sell via room service.

Closet space is smaller.

Bathroom appears to be larger but really it's just curved. Balconies are much smaller, so less space there as well.

Food is OK on the Royal in the dining room, not spectacular. Service was very good.

 

I agree with everything the OP said. Spot on!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[dorisis]

I also think Princess does not do a good job on their larger ships. we were very disappointed in the 2 weeks we spent on the royal. We prefer the R class and the Coral and Island size more than any of the larger ships. Too bad Princess has gone the way of most cruise lines in building bigger and bigger.

[dmwnc1959]

I also think Princess does not do a good job on their larger ships. we were very disappointed in the 2 weeks we spent on the royal. We prefer the R class and the Coral and Island size more than any of the larger ships. Too bad Princess has gone the way of most cruise lines in building bigger and bigger.

 

That's a shame you had such a bad time. For the two weeks I was aboard Royal Princess in December, everyone that I spoke to from our M&G had a great time, myself included. I've been on small ships (two of the vessels of Cruise West, Spirit of Oceanus and Spirit of Discovery), as well as the largest in the world (Allure of the Seas), and managed to enjoy myself on 'small' and 'big'. Princess has something for just about everyone. To each their own. ;)

[dmwnc1959]

Have you any ship interior photos you are able to / willing to share?

 

Thanks again

 

Pete

 

I have over 1000 pictures of Royal Princess in my signature, quite a few of them are interior images.

 

:D

[saltypeer]

I have over 1000 pictures of Royal Princess in my signature, quite a few of them are interior images.

 

:D

 

And great pics they are too. I have viewed them over and over.

I am hungry for more. They may be of the same places but i like looking at the different angles people take their shots from.

Don't like all the 'stock' boring photos that the 'sellers' put out.....much prefer real cruisers taking real pictures.

 

Pete