News from the Royal Princess

[shredie]

That will make lots of people happy, for us we don't care about center stairs.All those that have complaining about it now will probably not use them.

 

Thanks, Sunshine. :) I'll bet lots of people will use them.

[Astro Flyer]

I'll bet lots of people will use them.

 

I'll definitely use them & leave the midship elevators for those with mobility issues. I currently walk to the forward & aft stairways but it will be convenient to have midship stairs for when I'm feeling lazy. ;)

[casavaha]

There were so many mistakes on the Royal that they would need a 6 mo drydock.

No central stairs, no complete promenade deck, no Wheelhouse (I know there is a piano

bar named Wheelhouse), small balconies, to name a few items.

 

Greg

[easyboy]

We always choose the midship cabins, and miss the midship stairs after the muster drill.

[caribill]

I am assuming they were being used for luggage; almost every center elevator said "reservation" on the deck indicator, and the ones that were working never stopped when you pressed the button. It probably took us 10 minutes to figure out how to get to the buffet.

 

Luggage is delivered using service elevators that are not accessible to the passengers.

[floridalover5623]

Opening up the stairs will certainly help but even better (and less expensive) would be linking the elevator banks together to stop people from stopping every passing elevator for no reason.

[kendon]

I sail the Celebrity Silhouette and they have no center stairs. Why is it an issue on the Royal? I have sailed both the Royal and Regal and never missed those stairs.

 

I didn't miss them either and have been on most Princess ships. Really, same number of walking steps to get from A to B. Plenty of elevators too. However, since the stairways are there already, they might as well finish them off.

[PrincessLuver]

We never missed them on the Regal and could care less if they are converted or not.

 

Same here.......one thing I almost never see on a Princess ship is a lot of people using the stairs....much more likely to see people taking the elevators up one flight of stairs to go to a dining room....:D

[jgd3rdbcfd]

My wife and I just got off yesterday, Feb 15. At M&G the Hotel Director acknowledged the fact that they read CC and noted several things they we comment about. He stated that there is a center staircase which will be modified for pax use during fall dry docking.

[speedyjane]

There were so many mistakes on the Royal that they would need a 6 mo drydock.

No central stairs, no complete promenade deck, no Wheelhouse (I know there is a piano

bar named Wheelhouse), small balconies, to name a few items.

 

Greg

 

And no aft pool!

[hcw80]

Oh, please give me a promenade deck so I can consider sailing on the Royal Class ships again. I did forget about the lack of staircases. I always try to use the stairs and leave the elevators to those with mobility problems. We were pretty far forward which is why I forgot about that inconvenience.

[hillslife]

Great news...hope this dry dock and center stairs comes to pass...we board Nov 6th....she will be all spruced up for us a month later :p

[sfo2008]

Yay! Nice to hear.

 

I also think Princess could benefit from switching elevator controls to the more modern type where you enter a destination and the computer tells you what car to take and unifying all of the elevators in the areas.

 

Then there are no buttons inside the cars and the computer handles the capacity surges better. Works miracles in hotels that have stayed at with it installed that used to have elevator capacity issues.

[spyro1952]

I'm on the cruise from Rome directly after dry dock so time will tell. If the stairs take that long the cruise may be cancelled. :eek::eek::eek:

[Viesczy]

pig-headed

 

That's not pig-headed, that's making the company honor their price/contract.

 

If we set up a deal where you agree to do job X for price Y. You get price Y, anything that pops up is on you to eat as you bid on the price and I agreed to the price.

 

Anything else is bait & switch.

[blueseas4me2]

The Royal was the first ship I ever had trouble "learning" and it was mostly because of the missing center stairs. We'll be on the Regal next month and I'm already trying to mentally prepare. :o

[cpj]

YEP! :eek: :eek:

 

He negotiates a price & won't budge to complete things as design when there are cost overruns. :(

 

Sounds like a good business man to me.

[BarbinMich]

Looking at deck plans, S class stairs seem to be more centrally located whereas Royal's seem more aft and more forward

 

That's definitely true re the S class Celebrity ships. We prefer mid-ship cabins on the deck just above the public areas so elevators/stairs need to be convenient to make that location "work." We were just forward of the large mid-ship elevator lobby (it's visually spectacular) on the Celebrity Eclipse last year on Deck 6. Handy to walk down to public areas or to catch an elevator up to the Oceanview Cafe near the top. We've been on the Royal twice, taking a balcony cabin on Emerald deck (#8) near the forward elevator lobby and being assigned the aftmost inside cabin on Caribe deck (#10). Certainly got a lot of exercise walking nearly the length of the ship in both cases!

[tom_uk]

After the upset with Princess cruisers, I actually wondered why Celebrity cruisers didn't go crazy about their new ships since there are only two elevator banks and stairs. Yes, one is fairly mid-ship, but there is no aft elevator or stairs. I sailed on the Equinox and thought is was ill planned. I'm much happier with the Regal/Royal with 3 elevator banks. It's true that the mid-ship elevators on the Solstice class ships have more cars and that helps moving people.

 

I think they did at the time, but perhaps they've got used to it. We still think of the Solstice class as recent, but in fact Celebrity Solstice went into service almost seven years ago - in early 2009.

[pppatpc2]

We always choose the midship cabins, and miss the midship stairs after the muster drill.

 

When we were on the Royal last year, we had a midship cabin and they opened the doors to the center staircase after the muster drill.

[baldercash]

After the upset with Princess cruisers, I actually wondered why Celebrity cruisers didn't go crazy about their new ships since there are only two elevator banks and stairs. Yes, one is fairly mid-ship, but there is no aft elevator or stairs. I sailed on the Equinox and thought is was ill planned. I'm much happier with the Regal/Royal with 3 elevator banks. It's true that the mid-ship elevators on the Solstice class ships have more cars and that helps moving people.[/quote

1000 less pax as well that can have an impact as well.

[Cuizer2]

Does anyone know when it's scheduled for the drydock? We'll be on it in April 2017.

 

I almost booked the April 2017 sailing, until I realized it didn't stop at the private island, so I'm on the May 2017 cruise. :cool:

[easyboy]

When we were on the Royal last year, we had a midship cabin and they opened the doors to the center staircase after the muster drill.

Oh yeah, I remember. it was that narrow steel stair and steps. Too much crowd discouraged us from using it.

We took the aft stairs instead. Thanks for reminding.

[Gallivanting Souls]

My DH & I prefer to use stairs when available. I would much rather hike a few levels of stairs that to wait on a crowded elevator. It didn't bother us on the Grand that there were no center stairs. Once we figured the layout out, it was ok.

[avcruz]

I think they did at the time, but perhaps they've got used to it. We still think of the Solstice class as recent, but in fact Celebrity Solstice went into service almost seven years ago - in early 2009.

 

 

Actually, it's longer than that. I was on the inaugural in November 2008.