Royal Princess So. Caribbean Medley Mini Review

[5:00_Somewhere]

Well, we've been home a couple days now and are getting settled in to "real life" again so, since I promised to write about our trip, I thought it was time to post this mini review.

 

We were on the November 20th sailing of the Royal Princess' 10-day Southern Caribbean Medley itinerary. The trip began with 2 sea days, followed by stops in Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica and St. Thomas, another sea day, and ending with Princess Cays.

 

Boarding was a breeze. Arrived at Port Everglades Terminal 2 at 11:30. There was a long line for general boarding, but no line at all for Preferred Boarding. We walked right in and had our key cards in about 10 minutes. We made our way to the Elite lounge and literally only had time to find a seat when they announced that we would be boarding. We were in our cabin before noon.

 

I had done my research and we very much enjoyed our Dolphin Deck midships Deluxe Balcony Cabin, D409, which is just inside the “point” of the “bump out” under the Sea Walk, which offered one of the largest balconies on the sides of the Royal Class ships.

 

The ship appeared to still be in pretty good shape (we sailed on her last in December 2013), and the Princess personnel we met all seemed to be in good spirits and were mostly very attentive. The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm. In fact, the weather was beautiful, sunny and warm virtually the entire cruise.

 

Muster drill was at 3:30, followed by sail away. Formal Nights were the second sea day and the final sea day (with Princess Cays being the final day of the cruise).

 

The first 2 days were sea days, and we had clear, sunny weather with calm seas all through both days and nights. We splurged and paid for a cabana by the retreat pool for the first sea day ($80/day), which was actually quite nice. The only “complaint” is that, as usual, the entire retreat pool area is extremely windy. But, the pool water was very warm. I will also say that, though there were plenty of the inevitable chair hogs, they did seem to be a bit less extreme than in past cruises: that is, loungers did actually open up from time to time … except in the shaded areas along the glass, which are always “prime real estate”. However, I did not notice any deck attendants removing belongings, and it was common to see loungers occupied by nothing but a towel, book, bag, etc., for hours on end.

 

We had a nice, long stop in Aruba (arrived at 8:00 a.m. with all aboard at 6:30 p.m.), and we took an all-day private tour with ABC Tours. We saw everything from the California Lighthouse to Alto Vista Chapel, Natural Bridge, Natural Pool, ruins of the Gold refinery, and one of the natural caves. We really enjoyed this tour. We had been to Aruba a few times before, but had never really seen the island, itself, so this was a treat.

 

We did the Princess sailing and snorkeling excursion on Bonaire. It was some of the best snorkeling we’ve ever experienced in the Caribbean. The water was warm and clear, and colorful fish were plentiful. The only complaint was that our stay was so short, we only had time for one snorkeling stop and a little bit of a walk around the port area (arrived at 8:00 a.m. with all aboard at 1:30 p.m.)

 

We had a longer day in Granada, arriving at noon with all-aboard at 6:30. We did another private island tour with Tours by Locals, and saw virtually the entire island, which is quite large. The highlight was the River Rum distillery tour, which makes rum the same way they did more than 300 years ago, using a water wheel to run the machine that crushes the sugar from the cane, through boiling, distilling and bottling. The island was lush and beautiful, in stark contrast to the desert islands of Aruba and Bonaire. But, it was a long day with a lot of time spent riding in a van.

 

Dominica was also a beautiful, lush and green island, and the people we met were very friendly. They are recovering well from the damage done by Tropical Storm Erica some months ago, though there is still a good deal of damage to infrastructure, and they are still mourning the loss of an entire village, including 33 inhabitants. We did a Princess whale watching excursion by zodiac here. Unfortunately, we did not see any whales, dolphins or porpoises, but we were afforded beautiful views back at the island from the sea, and a very informative description of the island and its history by our guides. Again, however, this was a very short day.

 

We docked in St. Thomas by 8:00 a.m. and all-aboard was 3:30. We have visited St. Thomas many, many times, so simply took a cab to see a couple of our favorite sites and friends we’ve made there over the years.

The one complaint many people had about this itinerary is that our time on some of the islands seemed pretty short (especially Bonaire and Dominica), but we were aware of this when we booked the cruise. It would have been nice to have more time on these islands, but we enjoyed ourselves and tried to make the most of the time we had.

 

A couple of comments about the ship accommodations. First, the great majority of our experiences aboard ship were overwhelmingly positive. The vast majority of the Princess personnel we interacted with were professional, friendly, helpful, attentive, and added to our enjoyment of our cruise. Unfortunately, we did have one complaint that seemed to persist: we found most of the service in the dining venues to be well below par, and the food in the main dining rooms to be disappointing. There were a couple of exceptions, but for the most part, we found the wait staff in the Main dining rooms, Crown Grill, Alfredo’s, etc., to be slow, confused, and uninterested in our service. We are usually not real sticklers where service on ships is concerned, and tend to give a lot of leeway, but the majority of the service was so bad (extremely slow, forgetting or mixing up orders/courses, and at times being downright snarky), that we simply stopped going to the dining rooms. And, though we were initially excited to try the 3 new Curtis Stone entrees in the main dining room menu, we were roundly disappointed. We found them bland, tasteless, and usually improperly cooked (e.g., steak and fish both cooked to shoe leather texture). Old favorites, unfortunately, suffered a similar fate in our opinion. I have long enjoyed Princess' food quality, but it really did seem to take a step in the wrong direction on this trip.

 

On the other hand, the sushi chefs at the seafood raw bar were outstanding. And I found the chefs and baristas in the International Café to be friendly, attentive and quick.

 

We found the entertainment on board ship enjoyable, including the singers, musicians, comedian, magician, etc. We especially enjoyed the Argentinian jazz quartet Orphea, as well as Dave Blazer and his jazz quintet, and a wonderful Ukrainian string quartet. We did not see any of the big production shows, but heard good reviews of these, as well. And we very much enjoyed our time (including outstanding service) at our traditional favorite venue for cocktails, the Wheelhouse.

 

I posted a separate note while we were on board about them syncing the elevator while we were aboard, which can be found here:

Elevator buttons finally synced

 

Also, I found the wifi service for my little Windows tablet to be pretty strong and not terribly slow all around the ship, including in our cabin and on our balcony. On the other hand, I note that people with iPads complained of signal strength and speed, as they always seem to do on board ship. Personally, since I never seem to have this problem, I can't help thinking this has more to do with the iPad than the ship's systems.

 

Finally, our disembarkation experience was an absolute breeze. We qualified for EZCheck, and took advantage of this (well worth it for $25/person in our opinion). On the second-to-last evening, we received our special EZ Check luggage tags and our printed airline boarding passes. We dropped our check bags outside our door before dinner on our last night, as usual. In the morning, we arrived at our departure lounge about 5 minutes before the 7:20 arrival time and didn't even have time to sit down before the called our tags. We walked off, were through customs and on the transfer bus to FLL in about 12 minutes total (was so nice not to have to dig through all those bags.) When we arrived at our final destination, our bags came out on the carousel relatively quickly, and we were home before we knew it.

 

I think that's about it. Feel free to ask questions, and I'll be happy to answer if I can.

[TracieABD]

Thank you for the review. I was on the Royal twice this year. On the Caribbean passage, I found the service a bit lacking, too. On our BI cruise, it was much better with the exception of one night in the MDR.

 

I am glad you had a great cruise!!!

[SusieO]

Thanks much for posting your review! Hubby and I will board the Royal (for the first time) on 12/10 for 10 nts; doing a few different stops from your itinerary; St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Antigua along with St. Thomas and Barbados.

 

We never eat in the MDR because it seems the service is to slow for us. We do enjoy the Crown Grill and most of the time go to the buffet so we can pick n choose what we want.

 

Was the ship decorated for Christmas?

[5:00_Somewhere]

Thanks much for posting your review! Hubby and I will board the Royal (for the first time) on 12/10 for 10 nts; doing a few different stops from your itinerary; St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Antigua along with St. Thomas and Barbados.

 

We never eat in the MDR because it seems the service is to slow for us. We do enjoy the Crown Grill and most of the time go to the buffet so we can pick n choose what we want.

 

Was the ship decorated for Christmas?

 

It was not decorated for Christmas during our cruise, but I did think I saw the hint of some decorations starting to peek out when we disembarked. Also, we have sailed sevaral times the week after Thanksgiving, and the ship is always decorated for that cruise. Enjoy your cruise. I'm sure you'll have a very nice time. We have done your itinerary in the past, and it is one of my favorites. Love St. Kitts and Barbados, and enjoyed St. Lucia and Antigua as well.

[nojoke]

Interesting to read your review as we were also on that cruise. We had the same experience as you for embarkation and disembarkation--very fast. We found the crew quite friendly and efficient. The staff at Alfredo’s, especially, were lovely. And the MDR waiters always were able to serve us well--you have to count on 2 hours for dinner no matter what ship you are on. So, just another opinion. This was our 2nd time on the Royal, and we would happily return tomorrow!

[Griller]

We were on the same cruise, I mostly agree with everything said previously, we had a good cruise, the only problems we had were that out luggage had the room number tags ripped off them, obviously we didn't tip the baggage handlers enough, ( not Princess' fault) they said they wanted more but we didn't give in to the blackmail and consequently had to go and find our bags at 8pm in the evening in a heap of bags with no tags down by passenger services desk - who wouldn't deal with inquiries about missing bags until then.

Then the bed was not in the requested configuration so poor Stewart (sic) had to change it round. And we never did get the robes we requested but we didn't pester him about that.

Dining room service on deck 5, anytime, was slow IF we managed to get a table, we didn't manage to get a table at any time we wanted for the first 3 nights. Night one we waited 30 minutes in line only to be given a pager and told it would be 40 minutes or so for s table. we gave up and ate at the buffet. Yes we had a snarky waiter, rare on Princess. Shame they dropped the old "always available" entrees for the dreadful CurtisStone ones.

 

Ah yes, the buffet - you walk a lot to find what you want if you ever do find it, however there is good selection, its not too hot to begin with and the AC cools it down before you get back to the table.

And there is only one coffee station per side, two total, and the boiling water for the tea stops starts and dribbles uncertainly out of the coffee machine.

I can't imagine 3500 Brits on this ship all wanting to make their own tea.

We often had to clear a table for breakfast of the dirty dishes so we had somewhere to sit. The waiters were busy serving coffee as there just aren't enough machines for self service.

On the last night we went to Crown Grill, food was good, service was good, but by debarking time the next day the wine voucher we had presented was still not applied to our account so we lost out on $20. Passenger services could not deal with our inquiry about it as the person responsible didn't come on shift until 8am.

All in all I think I like the Grand class ships better, lines in the buffet and all.

[riclop]

Thanks for your review.

[Woobstr112G]

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

 

Bob

Edited December 4, 2015 by Woobstr112G

[big_schots]

Thanks for the review. Going on the Royal this coming April. Quick question. Did you have Anytime or traditional dining ? After the last two cruises, in Anytime dining, I have become a little disappointed in the "anytime" aspect and especially the service. Thinking of heading back to traditional.

[scrosso]

Thanks for the review, doing the same cruise in January this year - 3rd time on the Royal and cant wait, we will also be doing ABC tours in Aruba.. Do you happen to remember what MUTS were on? (my wife keen to know) and do you know if they were showing any NFL football games on the big screen?

[buchananglasgow]

We also were on this cruise. We never had any problems with waiting staff at the buffet or had to clear a table, always got asked for our coffee, juice order straight away too. We never had any problems any nights in the grill or other restaurants either. We only once pre booked our dining time and never had more than a few minutes to wait to get a table, apart from the last night when we were giving a beeper for 15 min wait for a table, again we had not booked.

All our food was excellent with the exception of one night my husband steak was not to tasty and a bit tough, in all we had a good experience everywhere.

[5:00_Somewhere]

Thanks for the review. Going on the Royal this coming April. Quick question. Did you have Anytime or traditional dining ? After the last two cruises, in Anytime dining, I have become a little disappointed in the "anytime" aspect and especially the service. Thinking of heading back to traditional.

 

We had Anytime dining, and went to the deck 6 Concerto dining room, as we found Deck 5 had longer waits. And, I really don't want to over-emphasize the dining service issue. It's a big ship with a lot of wait staff, and we may have just gotten some folks on "off nights". Our service experiences on Princess have almost always been exceptional, with poor service being the exception. But, for some reason, on this trip the ratio seemed to be reversed for us. It doesn't put us off Princess or the MDRs in general; just led us to start choosing other venues, and we had a fine time (even LOST a little weight this cruise.) ;)

 

Thanks for the review, doing the same cruise in January this year - 3rd time on the Royal and cant wait, we will also be doing ABC tours in Aruba.. Do you happen to remember what MUTS were on? (my wife keen to know) and do you know if they were showing any NFL football games on the big screen?

 

Oh, I should have mentioned football on MUTS. We're HUGE football fans, and were happy that on our cruise they showed all 3 Sunday NFL games on MUTS both Sundays, and I believe they showed the Thursday night game on MUTS, IIRC. Unfortunately, they did not show the Monday night game on MUTS, but in the Princess Live theater instead. This was a bit disappointing for us, as it was the Pats v. Bills game, and we're (not surprisingly) HUGE Pats fans.

 

I'm sorry, but I don't remember most of the movies on MUTS, and neglected to bring the Patters home with me. I know they showed Avengers Age of Ultron and Ant-Man, but I'm afraid that's all I can recall.

 

I know you'll enjoy your cruise. It's a great ship and a wonderful itinerary. And ABC Tours was great. If you get Ralphie as your driver, you're in for a treat ... and a lot of bumps! And just remember, when he says "Aruba" you say "Arriba!" With gusto! ;)

Edited December 4, 2015 by 5:00_Somewhere

[figmentdj]

Griller wrote:

Shame they dropped the old "always available" entrees for the dreadful Curtis Stone ones.

 

Wait! What?

 

Is this true of all the menus? No "always available" items? No Tri Top Roast? No Beef Medallions?

[Griller]

Griller wrote:

 

 

Wait! What?

 

Is this true of all the menus? No "always available" items? No Tri Top Roast? No Beef Medallions?

 

Closest they came on the always available was Curtis Stone Flank steak with black beans and rice.

Didn't try it.

 

Steak beans and rice? Really????

 

Read my name. Its Griller! No rice and beans with steak for Griller.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Griller

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review!! :)

[floridalover5623]

Griller wrote:

 

 

Wait! What?

 

Is this true of all the menus? No "always available" items? No Tri Top Roast? No Beef Medallions?

Yep. They did away with those & replaced them with the 3 CurtisStone items.

I tried 2 of the 3 and although they were done properly the taste wasn't to my liking. I hesitated to try the third.

_____________________________________________________________

 

We were also on this cruise & didn't experience any delays in eating in the restaurant on deck 5 but we always arrive before 5:45 PM. Perhaps that made a big difference.

We also found the food in the Horizon to be great and above average compared to any other Princess ships. They always had 2 sous chefs overseeing the operation during dining times & willing to go to extremes to correct anything wrong.

[chamima]

Yep. They did away with those & replaced them with the 3 CurtisStone items.

I tried 2 of the 3 and although they were done properly the taste wasn't to my liking. I hesitated to try the third.

_____________________________________________________________

 

We were also on this cruise & didn't experience any delays in eating in the restaurant on deck 5 but we always arrive before 5:45 PM. Perhaps that made a big difference.

We also found the food in the Horizon to be great and above average compared to any other Princess ships. They always had 2 sous chefs overseeing the operation during dining times & willing to go to extremes to correct anything wrong.

 

 

 

I'm a vegetarian . I eat fish but not shellfish. I always counted on the "Always available salmon" as a backup. Are you saying that's gone?

[OCruisers]

Very much enjoyed reading your review! :)

Thanks for your tip on the Dolphin Deck Mini-Suite.

 

LuLu

[floridalover5623]

I'm a vegetarian . I eat fish but not shellfish. I always counted on the "Always available salmon" as a backup. Are you saying that's gone?

It's gone from the always available menu but they did serve it on at least 1 other night. :( You might be able to see the head waiter & arrange to have it on a specific night when it's not on the menu as a standard item.

[5:00_Somewhere]

To clarify, it is true that the long-available "always available" MDR menu items, Beef Medallions, Tri-tip and Salmon, are no longer on the MDR menus, replaced by 3 Curtis Stone specialties: Flank steak with beans and rice, Mahi Mahi with rice and veg ... and I forget the third.

 

I found the descriptions of the Curtis stone items interesting, but the execution less than exciting, IMHO. I actually didn't mind the flank steak, but there was a sauce that so badly wanted to actually taste like something, but just didn't make it for me. It didn't taste bad, it just didn't really taste like much of anything at all. I normally always like Mahi Mahi, but there was something in this preparation that was not to my liking. One night the flank steak was cooked properly, the next night when a table mate ordered it, the meat came out like shoe leather. Similar experience with the Mahi Mahi. I'm hoping with experience and more time on the menu, these items may improve.

 

Also, I did overhear a couple on board saying that the traditional "always available" items could still be ordered, even though they are not on the menu. I can't vouch for that, and you might want to check with the head waiter in advance, but it's a possibility.

 

And finally, lest there be panic in the streets, the Fettuccine Alfredo WAS on the menu every night, along with another pasta that changed every night.

 

Hope that helps in peoples' preparations.

[floridalover5623]

To clarify, it is true that the long-available "always available" MDR menu items, Beef Medallions, Tri-tip and Salmon, are no longer on the MDR menus, replaced by 3 Curtis Stone specialties: Flank steak with beans and rice, Mahi Mahi with rice and veg ... and I forget the third.

 

I found the descriptions of the Curtis stone items interesting, but the execution less than exciting, IMHO. I actually didn't mind the flank steak, but there was a sauce that so badly wanted to actually taste like something, but just didn't make it for me. It didn't taste bad, it just didn't really taste like much of anything at all. I normally always like Mahi Mahi, but there was something in this preparation that was not to my liking. One night the flank steak was cooked properly, the next night when a table mate ordered it, the meat came out like shoe leather. Similar experience with the Mahi Mahi. I'm hoping with experience and more time on the menu, these items may improve.

 

I had the first 2 & they both had curry on them which turned me off. :( I wasn't brave enough to try the third choice.

 

Also, I did overhear a couple on board saying that the traditional "always available" items could still be ordered, even though they are not on the menu. I can't vouch for that, and you might want to check with the head waiter in advance, but it's a possibility.

 

If I had known that I would have sent the head waiter to get a piece of salmon for me.

 

And finally, lest there be panic in the streets, the Fettuccine Alfredo WAS on the menu every night, along with another pasta that changed every night.

 

Hope that helps in peoples' preparations.

 

It's not the Fettuccine Alfredo the used to make a few years ago. It was dryer & not as tasty. I've been ordering it as a side dish for the past few years hoping it would improve but no way. Maybe it was heather. :p

[thistledoo]

We were on the same cruise, I mostly agree with everything said previously, we had a good cruise, the only problems we had were that out luggage had the room number tags ripped off them, obviously we didn't tip the baggage handlers enough, ( not Princess' fault) they said they wanted more but we didn't give in to the blackmail and consequently had to go and find our bags at 8pm in the evening in a heap of bags with no tags down by passenger services desk - who wouldn't deal with inquiries about missing bags until then.

 

Is this a regular occurrence? How much should you tip for each item of luggage?

 

We're on the Royal next April.

[Griller]

I always thought $1 a bag was enough but this guy was screaming at us "what about more tip"

He had to move the bags about 3 feet to the cart from where we put them.

[Mindy43]

We are very disappointed that the 'always available menu' may not be available. Love the salmon and the beef medallions! We are on the Royal 1/29 and will try to order them anyway (at someone's suggestion). This Curtus Stone doesn't trip our trigger! Sorry princess.

[DougandEric]

We were also on this cruise. I never experienced any issue with the dining room/other dining venue service anywhere (other than mentioned below). We ate in Alfredo's after boarding and got excellent service. I think we were only one of 3 tables for the first 30 minutes we were there (1:00PM or so). They did try to sell us the $40 per person wine tasting the next day but any more, that's to be expected - you just say you aren't interested and move on.

 

The first night we tried to get into Symphony (AT dining) about 8:15PM without a reservation and were told we had to wait up to 30 minutes and were given a pager. The rather condescending explanation was that the dining room was AT all the time while Concerto was AT after 7:30PM so had lots of seating available after 7:30PM. Someone ahead of us said the Concerto was seating all that arrived immediately without a reservation. On every other Princess ship, we were told we didn't need to make a reservation after 7:30PM as there would be plenty of seating available (we usually eat after 7:30PM anyway at home) as the majority of passengers like to eat early. We took the pager, went to the Wheelhouse and by the time the drinks arrived, the pager was going off (maybe 10 minutes). There were lots of empty seats when we were seated although they could have been for reservations). The service was fine but we didn't care for the woman handing out the pagers and decided to go to Concerto the next night (we entered on the port side of Symphony). We had a fantastic waiter in Concerto and the next night (no reservation, no wait and they couldn't be happier we came there slightly before 8PM!). We went every night to Concerto thereafter without a reservation, asked for the same waiter (Prasad and Peter - tables 303/305/307) and were seated immediately. After the 2nd time, they just escorted us to the tables without asking any questions (we had a reserved table without a reservation!). We went in on the starboard side every night.

 

I did try the Curtis Stone options a couple of times (the flank steak and the pork tenderloin - I don't like fish so didn't try the Mahi). Both had nice flavors but the flank, although pink, was tough and the pork was just overcooked. I really don't order pork tenderloin out any more because it is almost always cooked to death. The always available options were Caribbean Shrimp Cocktail, Caesar Salad and Country Chicken as well as fettuccine Alfredo. We were offered a couple of special pasta/dessert items not on the menu by our waiter that the maître d'hôtel was making in the dining room but were stuffed so didn't take the offer. Concerto was never full any night while we were there either entering or leaving. I liked the Biedermeier look of the walls with the polished paneling with glossy black trim.

 

The other odd thing that happened the first night was that we went to Crooners before dinner (7:15PM or so) and I ordered my usual drink, a rusty nail made with Johnnie Walker Red. The waiter took the order but when it finally arrived, he went into this long winded explanation of how it had to be made elsewhere because they didn't have Johnnie Walker Red on the bar and that in the future it would be made with the well brand they had (I think NOT). That turned me off immediately and after getting the pager from the Symphony hag (I really don't like being talked down to!), we went to the Wheelhouse and I got another one made to order no questions asked - as I did every night thereafter. I could have made a stink but didn't feel like getting into it. This is the first Princess ship I've ever had something that happen. We never had another drink in Crooners again. Depending on the ship, we either inhabit Crooner's or Wheelhouse. Crooner's is usually good for people watching but on this ship, Wheelhouse was great because you got to see the early seating people coming from the Adagio dining room and the late seating people going to the dining room. Steve on the piano was great (not the best singer) and it suited us. Our waitress was also great and she knew our names and drinks after the first night.

 

Something else that happened was that the husband wanted a cold coffee drink one day after a tour (snorkeling makes you thirsty!) - something like an iced espresso or cappuccino. We were in an elevator (horrible elevator service on this ship by the way!) and were talking about where to get one and a lady said we could get one in the Horizon Court. We went up there but were told they could only make hot drinks and that the IC could make it. We went down to IC, explained what was wanted, told we had to speak to a specific person who could make it, ordered it and it never came. After waiting around while others were served, we ended up outside the Princess Live theater and saw a blender there and asked the bar man if could make it. We explained what we wanted (espresso, ice, blend, pour) and he said sure. There was a manager of some sort there and when he heard we weren't served at IC, immediately got on the phone and had a chat with them. He told us that was the one coffee bar on board they can't say they can't make something as they have all the equipment and ingredients to make anything ordered, even if it's not on the menu of drinks posted. He was very apologetic.

 

I was a bit hesitant about this ship because of the capacity but overall, we really enjoyed it and would sail again on a Royal class ship. It never felt crowded (sometimes in the Horizon Court but that's to be expected) and I was very impressed with the selections offered in the Horizon Bistro/Court. You did have to reconnoiter to see what was available then go back and get what you wanted. The one thing that bothered me was that they had 'grits' every day which was a nice change as on most ships they alternate grits with cream of wheat or oatmeal - this ship had all three everyday. The problem was that it was NOT grits - it was polenta - yellow polenta - there is a difference and grits they were not - similar but not the same. I did eat it a couple of times because grits and a fried or poached egg on top is heaven for breakfast (southern boys like their grits!). The seating was also rather plentiful inside but also available on the rear deck. Outside on the sides of the deck could be very windy to the point that it blew food off your plate but the counter-style seating in front of the bar was calm.

 

Doug