LIVE - Royal Princess - 10/11/15 to 10/31/15

amscene1 · October 21, 2015

Everyone

They have added spooky movies for Halloween to the on demand movie selections.

Laundry: turnaround has been about 36 hours for Elite perk laundry. It's faster than I expected. I usually get it out around 10am and it's come back by 9pm the next day. I also did some delicates in the self serve laundry and you have to buy a token by swiping your cruise card. The machines so not take quarters. I washed and no dryers were available, so I hung my things in the bathroom!! It worked.

I have a new roll call to look forward to!!

That's it for now.

I was on this same cruise, I wanted to add as long as we got our laundry out before 9am we got it back by 9pm same day turnaround for my elite perk. Anything later is next day.

So if you got it out at 11pm Wednesday night you would have it by 9pm Thursday.

October 22, 2015

EVERYONE:

Just wanted to jump back on with a clarification before people get upset. I went to the Crown Grill and they confirmed that formal night dining in CG is Smart Casual. I went to Sabatini's and they still have the sign about Formal Night dress code, but when I asked about it the gentleman told me that it's still Smart Casual. He said they would like it to be dressier, but they don't enforce anything. They said they don't want sloppy jeans, shorts, etc. So, sorry to pass on misinformation, but nothing has changed. Smart Casual in specialty restaurants on formal night is still in place.

Good night all.

Crisis averted :D

Love following along. Thanks for sharing.

Andrew

WNcruiser · October 22, 2015

EVERYONE:

Just wanted to jump back on with a clarification before people get upset. I went to the Crown Grill and they confirmed that formal night dining in CG is Smart Casual. I went to Sabatini's and they still have the sign about Formal Night dress code, but when I asked about it the gentleman told me that it's still Smart Casual. He said they would like it to be dressier, but they don't enforce anything. They said they don't want sloppy jeans, shorts, etc. So, sorry to pass on misinformation, but nothing has changed. Smart Casual in specialty restaurants on formal night is still in place.

Good night all.

Yeah!:D We choose not to dress formal so always use the specialty restaurants on Celebrity. Glad Princess is not changing their rules.

shootingstar07 · October 22, 2015

Also interested in how the Princess Cay survived Joaquin. Have a wonderful trip.

I just got off the Royal. Princess Cay was skipped 3 times - Sept 30, Oct 2 and most recently, Oct 20. When I had the opportunity to ask Capt. Sagani the state of the island, he said it was fine. The reason it was skipped on Oct 20 was the high seas and 40 knot winds!! If weather improved, I am sure the current sailing will have a pleasant visit.

CruzPrincess, thanks for doing a "live from". I was going to try, but just too much pressure to type fast!!! I appreciate you using your internet mins doing this.

If you see "PhyllJim" please tell them "thank you and sorry we didn't see them before disembarking". Phyllis will understand.

Kathleen

Edited October 22, 2015 by shootingstar07

WISH84 · October 22, 2015

I just got off the Royal. Princess Cay was skipped 3 times - Sept 30, Oct 2 and most recently, Oct 20. When I had the opportunity to ask Capt. Sagani the state of the island, he said it was fine. The reason it was skipped on Oct 20 was the high seas and 40 knot winds!! If weather improved, I am sure the current sailing will have a pleasant visit.

Someone posted earlier on another thread (or another social site) that they were at Princess Cays today and all is well.

Steelers36 · October 22, 2015

Phew. That should stop the CC board from exploding :D.

DITTO and AMEN to that!!!

Steelers36 · October 22, 2015

Someone posted earlier on another thread (or another social site) that they were at Princess Cays today and all is well.

So true - and Bridge Cams don't lie. It's a sunny afternoon in Eleuthera.

shootingstar07 · October 22, 2015

Someone posted earlier on another thread (or another social site) that they were at Princess Cays today and all is well.

Just saw the Royal bridge cam. Yep, beautiful day at Princess Cay!!!

buchananglasgow · October 22, 2015

Do they serve Minosa for breakfast anywhere on the ship.

I love to start the day with some fizz. 4 weeks to go and we will be on her, can't wait.

KruzPrincess · October 23, 2015

Good Day Everyone.

We had our 2nd half Meet & Greet today and it was great fun. First we did a slot pull at 10AM. Our slot organizers got the casino manager to supply some prizes and we had about 25 people participate. We each put in $15 and came away with $10. Some of us who made money got the extra gifts. I got a Princess cap!! My thanks to the organizers.

I organized the roll call and I usually don't invite staff, but since I was on the ship and had there names...I sent invites to some of the head folks. We had about 40 people attend the meet & greet. I was very lucky to have Captain Sagani, Lisa Ball - Cruise Director, Martin Bristow - Hotel Manager and Frederico - Maitre D'hotel join us. It was very interesting to have them share time with us and I'm very grateful. I have to say the crew on this ship is very invested in providing a good experience. I spoke to Captain Sagani and he said one of his top priorities is having a happy crew and that will translate to happy passengers. It was very nice.

Princess Cay is in great shape. I didn't go ashore myself, but I did ask people if all was well and everyone said it was great. It was very hot, but they had a breeze.

I did have a very nice conversation with Frederico, the Maitre D today. This is his second cruise on the Royal. I asked him about the Curtis Stone roll out. I've read the press, but here is something that I didn't know: He said that Curtis Stone Share will replace Sabatini's. He believes the roll out will be approximately one ship a month thoughout 2016. I believe he said the Regal would the first. He thinks it will come to the Royal at drydock. Some ships will have to have it changed without drydock and he doesn't know how that will be done. Other Curtis Stone features will be rolled out slowly and he didn't have a date for that. He talked a lot about the hand crafted nature of the Norman Love items. They have three staff member who just make Norman Love desserts.

That's it for now. Still having a lovely time and I actually am growing to like the ship more day by day.

Andy · October 23, 2015

At the M&G, I was pleased to get to meet our Cruise Critic HOST Andy who is sailing with us! It was very nice.

Thank you for your very kind comments KruzPrincess. Much appreciated ! We had a wonderful time on Royal Princess - so much so, that we booked onboard to return on November 20th !

I plan to post some comparisons to Celebrity on both forums in the coming days. I hope you continue to have a wonderful cruise !

Andy · October 23, 2015

I hope Andy will post few opinions X wondering minds...
Would love to hear about Perry's first cruise. Andy, have a great time.

Hi Isabella,

As soon as things settle down at work, I will post some insights & comparisons on both forums.

As for Perry - He was absolutely wonderful as usual. He was so happy and excited to be reunited with Princess, and I couldn't be happier for him. Perry was performing in Crooners - doing 2-3 sets per night. If you haven't been "Perryfied" yet - I highly recommed catching his show early on your Royal sailing, as seats fill up fast. On the last night of the Cruise, Perry performed his stage show in the Vista lounge - which worked very nicely for him and his fans.

Agree with KruzPrincess, that Crooners is a MUCH better venue for Perry, than the dreadful CellarMasters. Not that the venue is bad - but it totally wasn't the right fit for Perry or any performer for that matter.

As of now, he's only onboard Royal until early February, but I truly hope that Princess will invite him back at a later date, or on another Princess ship - hopefully sailing from Ft Lauderdale.

Hope this helps !

Edited October 23, 2015 by Host Andy

pjchow · October 23, 2015

Good Day Everyone.

We had our 2nd half Meet & Greet today and it was great fun. First we did a slot pull at 10AM. Our slot organizers got the casino manager to supply some prizes and we had about 25 people participate. We each put in $15 and came away with $10. Some of us who made money got the extra gifts. I got a Princess cap!! My thanks to the organizers.

I organized the roll call and I usually don't invite staff, but since I was on the ship and had there names...I sent invites to some of the head folks. We had about 40 people attend the meet & greet. I was very lucky to have Captain Sagani, Lisa Ball - Cruise Director, Martin Bristow - Hotel Manager and Frederico - Maitre D'hotel join us. It was very interesting to have them share time with us and I'm very grateful. I have to say the crew on this ship is very invested in providing a good experience. I spoke to Captain Sagani and he said one of his top priorities is having a happy crew and that will translate to happy passengers. It was very nice.

Princess Cay is in great shape. I didn't go ashore myself, but I did ask people if all was well and everyone said it was great. It was very hot, but they had a breeze.

I did have a very nice conversation with Frederico, the Maitre D today. This is his second cruise on the Royal. I asked him about the Curtis Stone roll out. I've read the press, but here is something that I didn't know: He said that Curtis Stone Share will replace Sabatini's. He believes the roll out will be approximately one ship a month thoughout 2016. I believe he said the Regal would the first. He thinks it will come to the Royal at drydock. Some ships will have to have it changed without drydock and he doesn't know how that will be done. Other Curtis Stone features will be rolled out slowly and he didn't have a date for that. He talked a lot about the hand crafted nature of the Norman Love items. They have three staff member who just make Norman Love desserts.

That's it for now. Still having a lovely time and I actually am growing to like the ship more day by day.

We are having a wonderful time on our 20 day, starting on Oct 11. We attended both Cruise Critic meetings and the slot pull. Want to give a gigantic "thank you" to Kruz Princess and Christine Lee for their very organized roll call. We are in LOVE :) with the Norman Love desserts!! and the bountiful themed menus in the Horizon Court.

The price for the next (Oct 31) looks so good that if we had enough medications we would stay on.

WISH84 · October 23, 2015

Do they serve Minosa for breakfast anywhere on the ship.
I love to start the day with some fizz. 4 weeks to go and we will be on her, can't wait.

I would think any bar would/could do this.. specially the bars inside. I saw a picture post somewhere and there was a table outside of the buffet advertising Mimosa's for like $3.95. Good price I thought.

Murphey · October 23, 2015

The price for the next (Oct 31) looks so good that if we had enough medications we would stay on.

Do you know that the medical center will help you with that? It happened to us on the Regal in September. The medical center made our prescriptions whole and our insurance (Kaiser) reimbursed us! It's worth a thought!!

adaptabl · October 24, 2015

We were on the Oct 11th sailing. I can see why Perry Grant was fired by Celebrity. His style is for the 80 year old and up crowd. I think this will be our last Princess cruise. The entertainment is far too grey for us.

Working 2 Cruise · October 24, 2015

We were on the Oct 11th sailing. I can see why Perry Grant was fired by Celebrity. His style is for the 80 year old and up crowd. I think this will be our last Princess cruise. The entertainment is far too grey for us.

Enjoy Carnival or RCI... of course, be prepared for the negatives!

Grego · October 24, 2015

We were on the Oct 11th sailing. I can see why Perry Grant was fired by Celebrity. His style is for the 80 year old and up crowd. I think this will be our last Princess cruise. The entertainment is far too grey for us.

See ya.

Shelly97060 · October 24, 2015

Thinking of taking an upsell to a mini suite. Regarding the bathroom, besides a tub, is the shower larger than other cabins? What amenities are included with the mini suite, that are different from a balcony cabin? I realize, the cabin is larger & has a couch. 1st time considering a mini suite. Thanks.

The bathroom has a tub/shower combo so you do have more room in the shower because you are standing inside a full size bathtub.

Shelly97060 · October 24, 2015

Kruzprincess- thanks for taking the time to post and let us travel along with you. I have really been enjoying your posts.

chamima · October 24, 2015

Thank you for your very kind comments KruzPrincess. Much appreciated ! We had a wonderful time on Royal Princess - so much so, that we booked onboard to return on November 20th !

I plan to post some comparisons to Celebrity on both forums in the coming days. I hope you continue to have a wonderful cruise !

Hi Andy,

Glad to hear you had a good time and I can't wait to read your review.

We also sail both lines and I'd love to see if your impressions are similar to ours!

Also appreciate all those who are taking time from their vacations to post.

We love the Royal and can't wait to be back on her again in February.

Edited October 24, 2015 by chamima

luv4cruises · October 24, 2015

We were on the Oct 11th sailing. I can see why Perry Grant was fired by Celebrity. His style is for the 80 year old and up crowd. I think this will be our last Princess cruise. The entertainment is far too grey for us.

That is a pretty harsh judgement on Perry and Princess. He is only on one ship currently on one contract! IMHO Princess ships have excellent entertainment options.

They are the only cruise line I have been on that offers their shows at three times per evening. They offer more production shows /sailing. Princess also has very comfortable secondary venues where they stagger comedy shows, variety shows etc. giving the cruiser many options for enjoying himself.

Princess also has MUTS, free and pay movies on your stateroom TV. On the Royal the movies are On Demand. The selection is current and plentiful. What makes it better than other cruise ships is that you can start a movie, stop it and pick it up at a later time- great for working out in the gym and picking it up later or on a different day.

In addition they have FIVE pools on most ships, four on the Royal, and a Piazza on the Royal and Regal second to none.

Perry - you would give all that up because you don't like Perry!

I am not an "avid" Perry fan, but do enjoy his performances, and in addition to the Southern Caribbean itinerary of the Eclipse was a factor in booking the Eclipse.

I will miss seeing him on the Eclipse in April along with all the entertainment options I could have on the Royal Princess.

Good luck finding better entertainment options other than on the newer RCI ships elsewhere!

P.S. I have not read anywhere that Celebrity fired Perry.

luv4cruises · October 24, 2015