Review: Greek Islands on the Royal Princess, August 2017

[Leo37]

I spent sometime using the Cruise Critic website (and this forum) to help plan this holiday, and so thought a review was in order.

 

By way of background, this was our first ever cruise. Before boarding the ship for its 7 day Greek Island voyage, we spent about a week in Athens. Our expectation before boarding was that this would be a comfortable floating hotel that would take us each day to a new island / port in Greece. We are a British couple in our early / mid 30s.

 

I've divided this review into the good / great (and you'll see, there's a lot of that :cool:), things we thought were OK, and a few things that we didn't like.

 

The Good / Great

 

• The ship itself - overall impressions of the Royal Princess were very positive. She managed not to seem too big and had a lot more 'going on' than we thought. At the same time, we didn't find her overwhelming and were almost always able to find a quiet spot for a drink or to relax. She was packed full of nice features and details, from the nighttime fountain shows, to the peaceful Outrigger Bar at the back of the ship.
  
• Loved the piazza - we thought it gave the ship a real 'focus' or 'hub' and it was nice to have a number of small cafes, bars etc grouped together.
  
• Live music - we really enjoyed that somewhere on the ship - in the center of the Piazza, the Wheelhouse bar, or on deck - there always seemed to be some type of live music. We like all sorts of music, so enjoyed the classical quartet, 'The Sound' a good covers band, the rat pack and big band style music etc. Was always an enjoyable background to a cup of coffee, a cocktail, or just Kindle reading. We also enjoyed a country / rock duo in the Vista Lounge: RAEGAR.
  
• Our stateroom - M716 - which was bigger than we'd expected and very well looked after by our excellent steward. An extra perk was that Horizon's Court buffet / bistro / outside seating was just one deck upstairs, so drinks and snacks were always close to hand. Incidentally, we had no issues with noise from upstairs or the balcony being overlooked (which seem to be two recurring concerns I've read about).
  
• The food on board, overall, was good-to-great. We enjoyed the Main Dining Rooms as Anytime Dining passengers (and managed to eat in all three as disembarking day breakfast was served in the normally traditional dining only restaurant at the back of the ship). I thought there was plenty of choice and particularly enjoyed leisurely breakfasts and lunches in the Main Dining Rooms. Overall quality I'd compare to a good chain restaurant - in a UK context, I'm thinking Jamie's Italian, Cote Brasserie etc.
  
• Inspired by threads and stories here on Cruise Critic, we paid the supplement for a meal in the Crown Grill (well worth the $29 each and an enjoyable four-course dinner, comparable I think to a good restaurant in London), ate in Alfredo's one night (a very enjoyable Italian, but rather quiet - is it well advertised that it is a free rather than paid alternative?), and made several happy visits to Gelato's.
  
• On a related note, we made good use of the coffee card and worked through all 15 stamps, spending a few on the Gelato sundaes. I thought the standard, included coffee was pretty poor, so the better brewed coffee and espresso drinks (and teas) were welcome. Being able to grab a snack at the same time as a coffee from the International Cafe was great.
  
• I liked the variety of activities and was surprised by how much we enjoyed them. We did some of the music quizzes, from 'Disney' to 'Country', the night-time Discovery stargazing up on deck, and even the very 'end of the pier' Ye Olde Pub Night (in which I managed to win a Princess branded water bottle - such a high-end prize!).
  
• And a very personal thing: liked the good selection of Bourbons in the bars, and that it was possible to get sweet dessert wine by the glass in the Dining Rooms.
  

The OK

• The Horizons buffet - while there was plenty of choice, the buffet didn't have much ambience. The staff were always quick with drinks, cleaning tablets etc, but it felt like eating for fuel, rather than eating for enjoyment. It did the job for a late post-exercusion or post-port lunch, but we preferred the Main Dining Rooms when we had the choice.
  
• The big shows in the Princess Theatre. We like West End shows and live music, and watched two on board: one a production show about the world coming together through music and dance, and another an Austrialian singer (apparently Princess' entertainer of the year). We thought they were fine but nothing too special and very short at just 40 minutes or so.
  
• Disembarking at tender ports like Kotor - sitting in a packed restaurant for 45 minutes waiting for your number to be called to be allowed to join a queue for a tender slightly spoils the relaxing / luxury nature of the holiday!
  

The Bad

• More pool space would be good - the pools were packed (unsurprising in the summer) but I thought there might be more pools or, at least, more chairs around them. We were normally ok finding outside space, but saw several very heated arguements that staff had to become involved in about who a deck-chair belonged to and whether someone had 'taken' someone elses!
  
• A few of our fellow passengers. We saw a couple of times passengers being rude to staff (the staff we dealt with were always polite and professional) and snapping their drinks orders, not saying 'please' or 'thank you' despite speaking good English.
  
• The ice cream on deck (Swirls?). Why when there is fresh, good quality ice cream in the Dining Rooms and at Gelato, does the kiosk by the pool serve such old fashioned soft-serve ice cream and in such limited flavours? A real shame.
  

Overall

Really enjoyed it! The cruise felt like a good 4* star hotel (I'd liken it to the Bellagio in Las Vegas because of the vaguely Italian inspired Piazza) that took you somewhere new everyday, and along the way had good food and enjoyable activities. Had such a good time, we put down a deposit while onboard for a 2018 summer Mediterranean cruise on the Crown Princess.

[anthonyy7]

Thank you for your review. The Royal class ships are really nice.

 

 

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[Clarea]

Thanks for the detailed report!

[sunsetbeachgal]

Thanks for the review. We love the Royal and Regal!!

 

 

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[leck57]

A great and balance review Leo37. Fortunately our disembarking at Kotor was very smooth with little wait times but I think it depends which staff run it on the day.

We liked the Swirls near the pool but I guess it's because that was the only ice cream we had included access to. Hope you enjoy your next cruise and we are really looking forward to getting back on the Royal some time soon, although I think I read that she is headed to the US. WE want to see more of Europe and that part of the world first.

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for your review. We loved the Regal which is the sistervship to the Royal. We have two Royal cruises booked through April 2019.

 

Nice to read that you enjoyed your cruise. :):)

[2forseas]

Thank you for your review. The Royal is on our short list for next year.

[princess09]

Thanks for your comprehensive review. Well done!

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review and welcome to Cruise Critic.

[antsp]

Never been a big fan of the Royal or Regal, even though we have a Royal sailing booked. Talking of pools, if Princess took the top of a Crown class ship and stuck it on a Royal class, I think they would almost have the perfect ship.

Still need to fix

 

Promenade

Explorers lounge

[susancruzs]

Thanks for your review, balanced and objective. Everyone has their own style, but sometimes people dwell on negatives, saying a few things ruined their cruise.

 

I'm going on the Royal this year, sailed on the Regal last year, 28 days, and I do like this class. My only issue is the lack of the promenade, having cruised for years (35), I do miss it.

[Momma Mojito]

What a wonderful review. We are going to be on the Royal in October. This will be our first time on the Royal and after reading your review I am really looking forward to our cruise.

Isn't it a shame just how some passengers treat the crew? I'm sure we have all seen it but the crew just has to smile and do their job!!

I sometimes have had a hard time not speaking up to those rude passengers, but I know I have given them a dirty look!

[jasbo49]

Thanks for the review, Leo. Well done and truly useful. Just a couple of comments:

 

You might find the buffet a little more relaxing and quiet if you try it for dinner some time. Like you, we prefer the dining room most of the time, but a couple of times have tried the buffet because of timing issues and found the atmosphere nicer at night.

 

Also, since this was your first cruise, my advice on crowded pools is: Get used to it or find something else to do. As much as I love a little quality pool time, I find all cruise ship pools (at least on cruise lines we can afford) to be way more crowded than I can take. There's just nothing relaxing about sardine-style loungers.

 

Jim

[Corgidawgga]

Thanks for your review on the Royal. GF and I have a cruise scheduled in November and am looking forward to the gelato.

 

 

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[Leo37]

Thanks all for your kind words. Having cribbed heavily from the forum, thought a review was the right way to give something back!

 

Jim, think you might be right about the pools. We just relaxed in the comfy chairs around the edge (near the bars and with tables) and enjoyed the sun, rather than the pools themselves.

 

Never been a big fan of the Royal or Regal, even though we have a Royal sailing booked. Talking of pools, if Princess took the top of a Crown class ship and stuck it on a Royal class, I think they would almost have the perfect ship.

 

We're on the Crown Princess next summer, so will compare and contrast the experience.

[srpilo]

Solid review

 

Thanks for checking back after your cruise

Srpilo

[Wishing on a star]

Thanks!

We are considering a cruise on the Regal,

One real difference in this sister ship is that it has a small pool and additional pool deck space on the AFT of the ship.

It is good that they made this change and helped correct the problem with limited pool/deck space.

Wish the AFT pool was as nice as the one on the Ruby!

[richsea]

Thanks for your balanced review! We also found the pool area a bit too small on Royal. Did you happen to try the Retreat pool on Sun deck (17)? It is a great quiet place to relax, and another pool choice. When you sail Crown, be sure to try the Terrace pool aft. It is small, but a great place to watch the ship's wake, have a cocktail, and meet other adults. IMO, Princess made a big mistake when they eliminated this pool from the Royal.