recent royal princess cruisers?

[ckrcjr]

We just off the Royal Princess on March 9 and almost had to be dragged off the ship! It did not disappoint us at all and we were eager to see the new changes. Having cruised with Princess many times, we felt confident the ship would not disappoint - and it did not! The crew was outstanding! The food was great (we thought)...Horizon Court, Crown Grill, Alfredos...of course the International Café and the gelatos were out of this world (the turtle sundae was incredible).

 

We never had problems with the elevators and did not really notice the center staircase was not there - just walk a little further and no issues. The balcony was great - again no issues. We were in a deluxe balcony on Emerald loved it.

 

Would sail her again in a heartbeat!!!! Go and have a wonderful time and don't worry about some negative reviews. Every crew member we saw always had a smile and they were all so entertaining, pleasant and all around fun. Don't miss the pub night as that was a lot of fun. So much to see and do!

 

Love the Royal!!

[HRPro]

We sailed on the Royal this past fall on her Maiden TA and almost all the early reviews were negative. We were also apprehensive, but Dave's "Everything Royal" thread built our excitement and more than offset the negatives. We loved everything about the Royal from the professional friendly crew to the delicious food and the beautiful elegant décor. We weren't bothered by the lack of the central stairs and had no problems with the elevators midship, which is where our cabin was located. I did my walking on the upper deck walking track and enjoyed the entertainment in the various venues including the beautiful piazza. Don't miss Alfredo's and the Gelato bar. Go and enjoy--you won't be sorry!

[fnewman]

We were also on the maiden TA last year and thoroughly enjoyed every day. Yes, the ship is different from others in a several ways- most are improvements, in my opinion. Rest assured It is all Princess, so you shouldn't be disappointed. When reading reviews, I generally disregard both the best and worst ones, figuring that both are probably a bit extreme. What's in the middle are usually the most dependable.

[stay_or_go]

We too just got off the Royal, first time on a Princess ship.

 

Loved it, it is really a beautiful ship.

 

The international cafe is great along with the pizza and the pub lunch!

 

We were in the middle of March break with tons of kids and teens on board and the ship did not feel crowded at all.

 

Yes the balconies are smaller and yes the elevator situation is poor, and yes there is a bad smell occasionally, but the ship makes up for that and more.

 

I don't think you would be disappointed, we certainly were not.

[sunshine100]

We have had the pleasure of being on Royal two times!! Both very different experiences, as we had 2 different cruise directors! We loved, loved both of the cruises!! No complaints whatsoever!! Great crew, great food, great entertainment, was very sad getting off the ship both cruises!!! In 2 weeks of being on this ship, we were never bored and are looking forward to going on her again or on Regal! :D:D

[Jetswdo]

I will be on the Royal in a few weeks. When I book a cruise, itinerary comes first. Decent food second. After reading all the reviews: most people seem happy with the food. There are larger balconies to be found, if that is more important than cabin location. I can live with the smaller balcony for this trip.

I can live without center staircase- not really a biggy to me. Not happy with sanctuary situation- that is the most negative to me about Princess in general.

But the positives for this sailing, out weighs the negatives. That being said:

if sanctuary use will make or break your cruise--- then book Celebrity. But if itinerary is most important, and you can live without central staircase, promonade, sanctuary, sooty aft cabins, then you should be very happy on the Royal.

[Cruise Junky]

Was anyone able to take advantage of the crazy low prices for the 30th and 13th sailings ? $549 for a balcony....nice

[Sunsailor]

We've booked a deluxe balcony cabin mid forward obstructed view cabin (E333) for our December cruise. Does anyone have photos from the balcony so we can see just how high the lifeboats are? (Any cabin obstructed by regular lifeboats not tenders)

Please post here or email us lipp4 at comcast dot net.

 

Thanks so much

Barbara

[abbydancer2003]

We did the Caribbean Maiden on the Royal, and wouldn't go back. My husbands review was bad enough that Princess called him about it.

 

That said, there was A LOT we liked about the Royal. As others have said, the Horizon Court is great, the Piazza is gorgeous, and the rooms are very nice (we had a deluxe balcony).

 

Why won't we go back? Two main things. First the lack of a Promenade deck. One of the things we enjoy very, very much is walking the Promenade each afternoon. The other is the lack of a dance venue. On other ships we dance in the Wheelhouse and Explorers, and this ship has neither. They do put the dance band in the Atrium, which was nice in that there was a lot of before dinner dance opportunities, but the floor is marble, which would be very hard on dancers for more than a few days.

 

For us, these were show stoppers. If those, and center stairs, don't matter, it's a great ship.

[janetz]

Did you not know about the lack of a Promenade deck before you sailed? :)That has been a huge topic of conversation since the ship was built.

Thanks for the heads up on the lack of dancing venues. That was something I did not know about but not a deal breaker for us.

Edited March 22, 2014 by janetz

[abbydancer2003]

Did you not know about the lack of a Promenade deck before you sailed? :)That has been a huge topic of conversation since the ship was built.

Thanks for the heads up on the lack of dancing venues. That was something I did not know about but not a deal breaker for us.

 

We did. And we knew about the dance venues, but since it was a new ship and only a 5 day cruise, we decided to go. We did have a good time, but that doesn't mean we'd want to do it again.

[BarbGar]

We also are thinking of cruising on the Royal. Most people seem to say the balconies are small and the "aft" balconies seem to have their own problems with soot. However, a few people did say they had a large balcony. The deck plans don't even show that the suites have larger balconies, so I am confused. Could you please let me know what cabins have the larger balconies? We usually get an "aft" or Caribe Deck balcony because they are larger. We do spend considerable amount of time on the balcony and enjoy the lounge chairs during the day and the two smaller chairs and table for breakfast.

 

I'd appreciate any info you can give me. Thanks.

[kennedyd]

Dany,

We were on the March 9 Royal sailing and I can provide the following info:

1. The tables on the aft facing balconies were covered in black soot as were the decks. This could easily be seen by looking over the rail from the Outrigger bar astern of the Horizon court. I think these balconies have a gorgeous view, but I'm not sure how one would be able to use them with all the soot.

2. Some of the "hump" cabins have larger balconies. We were in D410 and our balcony was very nice sized. You should be able to see this on the deck plans and the individual descriptions of the staterooms will also stipulate if there is a larger balcony.

3. The "regular" balconies were so small one could not turn the charis to face the sea and sit comfortably - this comment form several folks we met at dinner.

[stay_or_go]

We had two cabins E312 and E314 and had the balcony divider opened on the first day. Even with it opened the space was really small. It was difficult to walk between rooms with the chairs and the small tables.

 

These cabins had an obstructed view and the obstructions only bothered me when I was trying to take photos. Otherwise the obstructions did not bother me.

[Cruise Amuse]

We love this ship, and I agree with Pam that it has "sorta kinda" spoiled us for other Princess ships in the fleet (though we love them too). I did not miss the mid ship staircase, and the balcony has sufficient room for a table and 2 chairs. We always get a mini-suite and the bathroom is great!

 

After our cruise next month, we will have spent over one month on the ship and love every minute of it! Ignore the negative comments; when we were on the transatlantic crossing, I was amazed at the number of people who complained where the bathroom tissue holder was located. You would think it was out on their smaller balcony the way they droned on about it.

 

You have already heard about the aft balconies. One other suggestion is don't get a midship cabin close to the Seawalk unless you want to have less privacy on your balcony.

 

BON VOYAGE!

[BarbGar]

Dany,

We were on the March 9 Royal sailing and I can provide the following info:

1. The tables on the aft facing balconies were covered in black soot as were the decks. This could easily be seen by looking over the rail from the Outrigger bar astern of the Horizon court. I think these balconies have a gorgeous view, but I'm not sure how one would be able to use them with all the soot.

2. Some of the "hump" cabins have larger balconies. We were in D410 and our balcony was very nice sized. You should be able to see this on the deck plans and the individual descriptions of the staterooms will also stipulate if there is a larger balcony.

3. The "regular" balconies were so small one could not turn the charis to face the sea and sit comfortably - this comment form several folks we met at dinner.

 

 

Just wondeing where one would find the individual descriptions of the staterooms stipulating if there is a larger balcony?

 

Thanks so much for your help,

Dany

[kennedyd]

Dany

If you start to make a reservation on the Princess website you can see the individual cabin descriptions when you select your cabin. Review the deck plans first and find the hump cabins beneath the Seaview Bar and Seawalk. When you start the reservation process (you do NOT need to finish it - you can stop at any point); you will be asked to select a cabin. Select one of the ones you have picked from the deck plans and the description of the number os square feet and any "unusual" features (such as oversized balcony) will appear in the description.

By the way, she is a gorgeous ship and we encountered no issues other than the abysmal job the current dining room management does with Anytime Dining. We carefully selected our cabin, however, to be sure we avoided any of the "regular" balconies.

[readytoembark]

Known are the lack of a central staircase, narrower balconies (about a foot narrower than standard balconies on most other Princess ships),

 

For us, balconies are the most important part of our cruise. By their comments, it seems many people on this board do not spend a lot of time on their balconies. That’s not us – it’s the most important part of our cruise. For us, a small balcony is a deal breaker. We work hard every day and relaxing on a ship balcony, stretching our legs and watching the ocean go by, is complete nirvana. I know it’s not everyone’s preference, but for us, the balcony is absolute king. Speaking only for ourselves, it was disappointing that when Royal was built, balconies appear to have been given the last priority in design. If small balconies is Princess’ preference, that’s ok. It’s just disappointing and not right for us.

[resistk]

Just finished on the Royal Princess about a week ago, everything was great except the elevators. They stop literally on every floor and are overcrowded because of no central stair case. We were on Deck 15 center, so was a :mad:chore to get anywhere including the buffet one floor up which required walking half the length of the ship to get to the stair case.