Live from Royal Feb 22nd 10 Day Eastern Carib

[Nezmo]

Thanks! One more question if you don't mind: Are any of the aft facing balcony cabins "totally/fully covered"? Pictures kind of show indicate that aft facing on deck 10 and 12 may be fully covered. Thanks again.

Thess photos should help:

 

 

 

Edited February 24, 2016 by Nezmo

[whitecap]

Thess photos should help:

 

 

 

 

Thanks. I've seen similar photos and it is just really difficult to determine the balcony cover when looking head on or at a slight angle. One Princess rep has advised deck 10 and 12 are fully covered and another said they are partially covered. Was hoping for some "on site reporting". Thanks again.

[Steelers0854]

Thank you for the review of your trip. We will be on the Royal in April. You mentioned that the main pool area has been crowded. I was wondering about the situation around the Retreat pool. Is the pool itself crowded? Are chairs available?

 

Thanks and continue to enjoy your cruise.

 

 

Funny enough we just found this pool today while looking for the gym. It was busy but much better than the main pool. Another poster is correct that there is not a lot of shade. If all you want is shade check out deck 18 by the basketball court. About a dozen loungers in full shade (at that time) with no one in them.

[Steelers0854]

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us. I have a question with regards to the traditional dining. I have heard conflicting stories that the 6pm early has become 5:30 and vice versa. Is there two early traditional times of 5:30 and 6 followed by the late traditional at 8:15 ? Also what dining rooms do they use for the traditional ?

 

Thanks and enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

 

Traditional dining times on this cruise are 5:45 and 8. Allegro is used for traditional dining. Concerto is for the early traditional then goes to anytime dining after that.

Edited February 24, 2016 by Steelers0854

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

Traditional dining times on this cruise are 5:45 and 8. Allegro is used for traditional dining. Concerto is for the early traditional then goes to anytime dining after that.

 

Thanks for the reply and one other question with regards to dining.

What time is the early traditional in the Concerto dining room ? I tried reading your patter to find out but could not read the print.

[Steelers0854]

Thanks for the reply and one other question with regards to dining.

 

What time is the early traditional in the Concerto dining room ? I tried reading your patter to find out but could not read the print.

 

 

Answered in the post you quoted. 5:45

[Steelers0854]

Sea Day 2

 

Another relaxing day at sea today.

 

We went to the chocolate journeys demonstration in Princess Live. The demonstration was fun as the Executive Chef and Pastry Chef made it lively. They just walked through the recipes and then handed out copies for the passengers. The best part was at the end when they gave out samples of the chocolate cookies they made and the amazing chocolate truffles.

 

They did make mention that the Norman Love partnership was a multiphase event. The next phase has been discussed on this forum before where they are going to be selling premium chocolates at the International Cafe. He only mentioned this in passing but that's what I understood from his comments.

 

Lunch at Alfredo's was amazing. The reviews are not overblown, it's the best pizza I have had on land or sea. DW thought the minestrone soup was equally delicious. This is a definite must.

 

We went to a Navigation presentation by the 2nd Officer. He did a fantastic job and it was very entertaining and educational. I asked about navigating in heavy fog i.e. Cruising out of Houston. While he was careful in his comments I got that while it's technically possible to do so in no visibility they do not like to as visual navigation is much safer. This was definitely one of the better presentations I have attended.

 

Some other random facts during the presentation:

 

-Officer of the watch (terminology may not be technically correct) shifts are 4 hours long and go from 00:00-0400, 04:00-0800, 08:00-12:00, 12:00-16:00, 16:00-20:00, and 20:00-00:00, each officer works 2 opposite shifts. So you would start at midnight and noon or 4am and 4pm etc.

 

-Princess doesn't use, nor do the plan on using in the near future, azipods for propulsion. They traditional rudder system is cheaper to install and maintain and the likelihood of a malfunction is lower.

 

-At full steam with all engines running the Royal Princess would burn through just under 1 million gallons of gas a day. Of course they never even come close to doing so but it was an interesting fact. Along with the fact that at full tanks they can circumnavigate the earth without the need to refuel.

 

-They still have and sometimes use signal flags to communicate with other ships/land.

 

Afternoon tea still occurs in the MDR for free however you have to hunt for it in the patter as only the extra fee tea is listed in the list of events.

 

The gym can be difficult to find. The entrance is only located on one side of the ship when coming from deck 17 from the front of the ship. Otherwise you can access it via the aft staircase/elevators. While the footprint of the gym is smaller than the Grand Class ships they use the space well and it is nicely equipped. My only complaint would be the lack of free water. Unless I missed it there is no water dispenser in the gym. They did provide a nice large vending machine that dispenses bottled water and other drinks for a fee. Come on princess really?!

 

I would say if you are going to the 6:45 shows you can get good seats at 10-15 min before show time. I have heard the later shows you had better be here atleast 20 min before hand. But we have not been to one of the later performances.

 

Tonight is our first formal night, no escargot tonight so I will be anxiously awaiting that on the second formal night.

 

Tomorrow is Antigua. We have a Princess Excursion booked and also our first ever dinner at the Crown Grill.

 

Patters and menus to come.

 

[dross]

...A GREAT funny piano bar player, Kory Simon every night until late in Crooners.

 

We were on the Royal last week, and Kory was one of the, if not the very top highlight of our cruise. We enjoyed him each night for many an hour.

[cnd crsr]

Steelers

 

As you walk in the gym from the elevators, there is a water fountain on your left near the washrooms. As well as using the treadmills daily, we both did the stretch and abs classes. The team of 3 that did classes were very good. I was surprised to see the "to pay for drinks" too.

[Steelers0854]

Steelers

 

 

 

As you walk in the gym from the elevators, there is a water fountain on your left near the washrooms. As well as using the treadmills daily, we both did the stretch and abs classes. The team of 3 that did classes were very good. I was surprised to see the "to pay for drinks" too.

 

 

Thank you! I looked all over the place but will hunt that down tomorrow!

[kimcht]

Are there places to fill up refillable water bottles around ship or is it pay

for bottled water only? And I have to laugh, every princess cruise I have been on has a

Friends of bill w get together. Does he live on the ship?

[Steelers0854]

Are there places to fill up refillable water bottles around ship or is it pay

 

for bottled water only? And I have to laugh, every princess cruise I have been on has a

 

Friends of bill w get together. Does he live on the ship?

 

 

The buffet has several water and ice stations that make filling water bottles very easy.

 

You can google friends of Bill w, it's a very specific type of meeting.

[JF - retired RRT]

Are there places to fill up refillable water bottles around ship or is it pay

for bottled water only?

There's always the water in the bathroom...hint: don't use the water in the toilet;):D

[Dbld777]

Thanks for the reply and one other question with regards to dining.

What time is the early traditional in the Concerto dining room ? I tried reading your patter to find out but could not read the print.

 

Currently on the Royal. Concerto Early Traditional is actually listed at 5:30 PM in the Patter. The Allegro Early Traditional is at 5:45 PM.

[jimbri]

Thanks for your live review. Enjoy your trip!

[chamima]

Hi Karen!

 

I don't know if you recall, but we cruised together 7 years ago. As I remember it, you celebrated a fifth anniversary (not wedding...) and by my count you're now up to 12 years! Is that right?

 

On that cruise we did an excursion together on High Pockets - one of the best in St. Thomas! I looked back and found that I still have some great pics from then...

 

Is there any chance you're doing a back to back? We're booked on the Royal on March 3, so if you are, we'll be on board together again - and it would be great to see you and catch up! Any possibility?

 

Hope all is well and that you're now 12 years and counting!

 

All the best,

Jenny

 

Hi Jenny

Internet is terrible so more later but yes, it's 11 years this lat Feb. (from 2005) and I still have the necklace. :D

[trystran72]

That Navigation talk sounds awesome! I would love to do that next time. Enjoy your day in Antigua!!

[Mike&Nancy]

Hi Karen. It's so great to see "live" reports from an up-coming cruise for us. I have a question about the "aft" cabins. We're booked in 725 and it looks like it's directly below the Windjammer, and if anyone stood at the edge, could conceivably look down onto our deck. Which means it isn't covered at all. Am I looking at this correctly?? It's hard to tell by the pics. And if indeed this is so, I think I'm probably gonna to rebook a mini on another part of the ship. I just don't like "company" when I'm sitting out on my deck enjoying the morning coffee, if you know what I mean, LOL. Thanks in advance and seriously, enjoy the cruise as much as I know we are.

 

Mike

[chamima]

Hi again Jenny

Sadly we're getting off on the 3rd.

If I'd known you were sailing I might have been tempted to book it also but as we're just off 14 days on the Eclipse it might have been hard to convince Allan. :p

We did an excursion today with someone who tried to book Highpockets for this cruise but a couple of weeks ago Kathleen had to cancel. :(

Sure glad we got to do that with you - it was really a highlight!!!!

 

 

th whoever asked about 725 - those cabins aren't aft, they're on the side of the ship and I think they might be full covered.

The 730s are the only truly aft cabins.

Baja and Dolphin are parially covered and the rest of the decks are totally open.

No truly aft cabins are totally covered on this ship but i think most of the side cabins are..

Do a search by cabin number on the Princess board.

[Steelers0854]

Antigua

 

 

We arrived into port right at 8am and 3 other ships joined us, one from P&O, one Royal Caribbean, and one from Costa.

 

We took a Princess Excursion going to Nelson's Dockyard, Shirley Heights, and Dow Hill. The excursion was well run and our local guide did a great job, she was warm and very knowledgable. The sites were beautiful. We had the right amount of time at each location imo, given that this tour was not setup to give you time to dine etc. The port area has your typical cruise owned shops but also a lot of local stores.

 

Fun facts about Antigua:

 

-Gas is about $6.50 per gallon

-They have only been fully sovereign since 1981

-Healthcare is provided by the government and included in residents taxes

 

Not a lot going on onboard today while in port so we relaxed around the ship having lunch at the grill on deck.

 

Dinner tonight was at the Crown Grill. This was our first time at the Crown Grill, or any specialty restaurant for that matter. We had 6pm reservations and the place filled up to I would say about 70-80% by the time we left. Service started off disappointing but improved as dinner progressed. The bar is in front of the restaurant but they are 2 very distinct spaces. While the bar and restaurant were both busy I wouldn't say the noise was any louder than most restaurants. The food was good, my steak was perfectly cooked and they had good side choices. Dessert was delicious and I would recommend everyone get the molten chocolate cake, however I would request vanilla vs chocolate ice cream next time. I would put it a notch below a Mortons, DW thought it was a few notches below Mortons. While our meal was good I feel that the food and service in the MDR is comparable and therefore the extra $25 pp cost is not justifiable. However, if there were a reason to go in the future I certainly would not pass on it going forward.

 

Random thoughts on the cruise:

 

-I would say the average age onboard is late 40s or early 50s. We have only seen a handful of people around our age (in their 30s).

 

-They have a string quartet on board, 4 ladies, called Allegria String Quartet. They are amazing, we have seen them in the piazza as well as the vista lounge and enjoyed listening to them. My memory is failing me but I want to say they were from the Ukraine

 

[trystran72]

That Antigua shot is gorgeous!

[Steelers0854]

Let me catch up on some Patters and Menus. I'll post some other updates soon.

 

St Lucia Patters and menus

 

[Steelers0854]

Barbados Patter and Menus

 

[CarrieT]

We just got off the Royal on Monday, after spending two weeks doing the Eastern and Western Caribbean B2B. While we are normally ready to head home after 2 weeks away, both my husband and I would have stayed on another week.

 

I'm in the prices of writing a trip report (I love reading the reports of others, so thought I would reciprocate). We thought the Royal was the best ship we have ever sailed on, and the staff were all fantastic! Assistant cruise director Gary was hilarious, and always had us laughing. We miss the staff and friends we made aboard! Until we sail again....

[Steelers0854]

St Lucia

 

 

IMO St Lucia is a much more lush and beautiful island than Antigua. We took the Princess Excursion going to Marigot Bay along with a scenic drive though the island. We made several stops to photograph the beautiful island and drove through a large banana crop, the islands #1 export to the UK. The guide was knowledgable and friendly, and our driver had some amazing skills. There were parts of our drive that were very difficult and he could do it with his eyes closed. We had a great time on the tour, did a little shopping and got back on the ship for lunch.

 

We were a little late leaving port due to a couple of late excursions. The Costa ship had followed us from Antigua and we had a HAL ship with us as well.

 

We did dinner at the buffet as it was German night. They had a great selection of sausages, sauerkraut, red cabbage, chicken schnitzel etc. the food was very good. We ended the evening by going to the Princess Pyramid game show as well as the Liars Club with the comedian Troy Thirdgill. We met Eleanor Rigby and her DH there and had a great time. The Liars Club was hilarious and I recommend it.

 

Barbados

 

 

We didn't have anything planned for this port. None of the tours sounded appealing and we are only here a short time (7:30am-3:30pm). So we decided to make a leisurely day of it, got up on our own and had breakfast in the MDR which we enjoy more than the buffet. We did get off the ship for a bit and walk around.

 

My first cruise ever was on Windstar over 15 years ago. It was funny to see her parked right next to us and reminded me what a small ship she is.

 

 

There was the Windstar ship, a TUICruises.com ship (never heard of them) and the P&O Britannia ship that were in port with us today. There was also a mega yacht called ICE.

 

We had lunch again in the buffet and enjoyed a leisurely day on the ship playing cards and relaxing.

 

Let me say that Kory Simon is a fantastic performer. Anyone that can see him play should as he is funny, lively and very good musically as well. We enjoyed listening to him tonight in the Vista lounge.

 

Here are tomorrow's Patters, we get in later at 10am so a chance to sleep in!