Royal Transatlantic review 11/17

[cruise2relax]

Trying to hit the highlights for a review of our 25 dayGrand Crossing from Rome to Fort Lauderdale on the Royal Princess. First, let me say the trip waswonderful.

 

 

The ship was in great condition and the staff was performingvery well. The weather was perfect(although I know Princess has nothing to do with the weather). This was the first time we have ever beenaboard for a back to back (our first leg ended in Barcelona where the secondleg, the transatlantic, commenced). There was a significant turn over in staff on that day which was highlynoticeable to us because the dining staff we had grown comfortable with allchanged. Minor detail but I would havepreferred it remain the same as we really enjoyed them and the replacementswere “training.” There was a lot of thatgoing on in the second leg. Due to theport intensity on the first leg and the first half of the second leg, we paidvery little attention to the cruise director staff until the 7 daycrossing. We had Lexi as a cruisedirector, who I heard was a fill in. Frankly, she was awful. We havebeen on transatlantic cruises before and they are usually wildly variedactivities throughout the day that change up frequently. Not this time. Same stuff every day, pretty much at the sametime and most of it revenue generating. Really poor job for a 7 day stretch. It really was a make your own fun type of crossing. Quite disappointing.

 

 

Although subjective, the food we found quite food. The menus continue to be clipped in scopewhich is a bit sad but the quality was good. The dining room lunch menus, which used to be a favorite, were verybasic and disappointing. Princessappears to be struggling to reach the lowest common denominator. Lots of sandwiches on the menus. This is a trend we have noted over the yearswe have cruised with Princess. Speakingwith other cruisers from other lines, this is not unique to Princess. In contrast I was thrilled to see a return onthe dinner menus of pates, duck, escargot, and soufflés. Some of the dinner offerings were moreupscale that in recent cruises. Allgood. God knows I did not gohungry. The buffet on the Royal is stilllight years ahead of the older ships.

With the exception of three ports, we used private tours inall stops. We did so without incident,some on our own with friends, some arranged through cruise critic (some by me)in both small and larger groups. I amnot going to go into detail with the tours unless someone inquires (I am happyto do so if anyone is interested, just let me know) - here is a rundown:

 

 

Rome: Countryside tour and transfer with RomeCabs; Naples:Amalfi coast, winery and lunch with Simply Amalfi; Messina: Castiglione winery andlunch with sicily4you; Dubrovnik: Tour of Dubrovnik & Peljesac and vineyardwith dubrovnikshoretours; Kotor: Speed boat tour of Kotor, Perast and Lady ofthe Rocks with Kotorprivatetours; Corfu: walking food tour withcorfuwalkingtours; Toulon: wine tour of Bandol and Cassis withprovencewinetours; Barcelona: city tour and Montserrat with Barcelona day tours;Valencia: requena caves with Princess; Cartagena: walking food tour withPrincess; Gibraltar: highlights of the rock with inside out rock tours; Seville:tour of Seville and Alcazar with Spain day tours; Tenerife: Teide and Northtour with winery and lunch with Feel Tenerife; and, Lanzarote: full dayhighlights with Princess.

 

 

On a side note, this is the first trip we used EZ Air withPrincess. When I first was looking forflights, I was experiencing enormous price tags due to a one-way to Europeflight. Princess is able to get aroundthat open-jaw thing and we were able to secure a great direct flight to Rome. We even had to change it without a problem. No hiccups in any way with the booking oranything to do with the flight. It wassimply to manage through the airline website directly once booked. Our experience was so positive, I will lookat the EZ Air options for future cruises without question.

 

 

Great cruise and met some really wonderful people.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. Will there be more?.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Grumpy69]

Thanks for the review

 

 

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[srpilo]

Good work

 

Srpilo

[antsp]

Lexie was very hard to take, good job the weather was perfect otherwise it could have been a long 7days at sea. Voice on at 4pm, what was that about, and one night the show in Princess live was meet the cast

[capriccio]

We (family group of 6) were also on the Rome to Fort Lauderdale cruises. Off the top of my head (I'll probably write more in a few days), we did have some complaints about cruise activities. Billy Hygate was the cruise director on the Rome to Barcelona segment with no entertainment director listed. On the Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale cruise, Ron Goodman was the entertainment director and Lexi the cruise director.

• On the Rome to Barcelona cruise shows in the Princess theater were held twice an evening: at 8:15 and 10:15. On the Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale cruise shows in the theater were usually held three times each evening: 6:15, 8:15,and 10:15 - a much, much better schedule!
  
• Trivia on both cruises was held in Club 6, an absolutely horrible venue. There wasn't enough space, the seating is uncomfortable, the video screens (when used) weren't visible to everyone, there was no bar service, etc. All 6 of us said we would never play trivia again on a Royal Class ship if it was held in Club 6. The Vista Lounge would have been much, much better but it seemed to be devoted to income producing activities (Bingo, Art Auctions, etc.).
  

[easyboy]

With consecutive sea days, I would also expect more from the CD on TA's to avoid boredom. Thanks for your feedback.

[Keith1010]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise and thanks for taking the time to provide the highlights from your cruise.

 

Keith

[reedprincess]

We were onboard also from Rome also.

CD on first leg was Billy Hygate. Never even saw him.

Second leg Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale, Royal got their first dose of the split role: Entertainment Director and Cruise Director. ED in charge if actual programming while CD in charge of face time)customer facing position.

Ron Goodman is ED. Any complaints about the programming, schedule, etc can be laid at his footsteps.

Lexi is CD, and the "face" of the cruise staff. Personally, we enjoyed her - much more than Billy Hygate, whom was nowhere to be seen except an occasional greet/de-greet.

The Assistant Cruise staff were stars in our opinion. One of the most diverse cast of characters we've experienced onboard, and all brought something unique to the table. They were great fun.

 

The 7 sea days could have definitely seen more varied activites, but we were sleeping much of it, catching up from the port intensive beginnings.

 

Food was odd in our opinion. We always found something to eat and enjoy, but there was a disproportionate amount of pork onboard!! Pork hash instead of corn beef hash most days, ham in soups that were labeled vegetarian, pork roast most nights in buffet, etc. Difficult at times to find sufficient proteins with so much pork. All in all, good to great food. Only aye in dining room a couple times - zero waits for anytime dining, which was quick and efficient if not exactly peaceful. Worked well though..

 

We had a great time and would sail the Med, Royal, with Lexi or staff etc again in a heartbeat!! Fortunately we have another two Royal cruises booked over the next year, so we've got that covered!!

 

Happy sails!

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting your review. We'll sail on the Royal next month. Does anyone know who will be the CD then and if Ron will still be the ED?

[reedprincess]

Thanks for posting your review. We'll sail on the Royal next month. Does anyone know who will be the CD then and if Ron will still be the ED?

I would expect it to be both in same role as both came aboard in Barcelona, 10/21. Ron as ED and Lexi as CD..

[Micahs Grandad]

Sailed with Billy Hygate about two years ago and thought he was retired.

 

No inter action with guests at all. If he saw someone in hallway he would say hi and be 25 feet away before you could answer back.

[TW6cruiser]

We will be on the Royal for five nights in a few weeks. Any comment on the production/musical shows in the theatre? I know with a short cruise the offerings may be different but I thought I'd ask.

[steveww48]

We will be on the Royal for five nights in a few weeks. Any comment on the production/musical shows in the theatre? I know with a short cruise the offerings may be different but I thought I'd ask.

 

Just off the Royal after the 15-day TA which ended November 5th. We saw four production shows, in this order:

 

1. Colors of the World: Seemed like something that might be put on in Elementary School. In our group of 4, no one enjoyed it.

 

2. Spectacular: A mish-mash of big costumes and big production numbers done in scenes which had no connection to one another and no common theme; appeared to be an attempt to mimic old-style Vegas reviews. Again, none of us enjoyed this.

 

3. What the World Needs Now: Themed around the music of Burt Bacharach-- this was excellent! Every one of us enjoyed this one. Great music which was done very, very well.

 

4. Sweet Soul Music: Themed around 60's Motown and related music-- this was beyond excellent, it was outstanding! All of us enjoyed it immensely, and it was clear the audience felt the same. This show was absolutely great!

 

To be clear, the cast of singers and dancers are talented and they worked hard and performed well in each show. But the content of the shows comes from headquarters and the first two shows were weak in that regard; my negative comments about the first two shows relate to the content and structure of those shows, and not to any deficiencies in the cast.

 

I doubt that it's a coincidence that the shows got better as the cruise went on. Princess probably realizes what they've got and would want to end on the strongest possible note, which is clearly what they did.

 

We did hear that two new shows will be starting up on the Royal-- one show in December and the other in January (I think those were the months). They did not say which of the current shows will go away but I figure that the first two shows we saw will be the ones to be replaced (to put a finer point on it, that is what I would do if I were in charge).

[Lucky TGO]

Nice review thank you.

Tony

[TW6cruiser]

Thanks for your comments on the shows. We have seen "Sweet Soul Music" before and I agree it is good. I've also noticed on other shows what you did on the first few--good quality pieces that don't seem to flow together. I can't recall specifically which ship or shows, but I know I've thought the same thing on a few occasions.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your review/report.

 

Keith

[CZEE]

We were on this transatlantic from Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale. The ship was really in good shape. There were an awful lot of stalls in public bathrooms that were out of order, though and there were periodic issues with the vacuum waste systems as people were flushing washcloths. You expect issues with the waste systems when there are lots of kids onboard. The little ones seem fascinated with the system and flush all manner of things on occasion. This was a mostly adult cruise. So, it was unexpected.

 

Our cabin steward was wonderful. However, he became ill and was sent back to PI when we arrived in FLL. He was unfailingly cheerful and helpful. His replacement was awful. How can you not get hand towels or glasses when the room is refreshed?

 

Lexie was a terrible cruise director. We didn't participate in many events. Her shrill voice didn't carry over some of the microphones well in the events. We gave up. DH went to one of the shows and said it was awful.

 

The food was presented well. Service in the dining room was good overall. Some wait staffs were better than others, as usual. We had an outstanding team one night. I've never understood how prime rib can be salty all the way through. We loved the rolls, always do. Princess is conserving on butter in the dining rooms. I can understand putting only enough pats for the occupants at the table initially. I'd bet they'd been throwing lots of it away. We always got more when we asked. The Bistro and the Horizon Court were very nice. The baristas in the bar in the pastry shop in the Lido were horrible. No reason for the slowness with three people manning the coffee station. I finally complained and it did no good. Lots of excuses. It was sometimes difficult for me to get waited on in the Horizon Court when I was not with my husband. Puzzling.

 

I did buy a pass to the Enclave which I ended up not using because I picked up an upper respiratory infection and felt that the Enclave was not the best place to go. I'd have felt better in the steam rooms. But, the environment there is tailor-made for replicating viruses. There was an incident in the enclave with a man changing between swimsuits in the Enclave. I thought that he should have gone back to the changing area to do that. Maybe the Enclave needs a little supervision. I'll write that up in my review for Princess.

 

The big issue on this ship seemed to be laundry. I was not surprised with the number of elites onboard. The stewards were concerned about how many bags of laundry were submitted on the first night. Apparently the laundry hired new folks and they couldn't keep up with the demand, plus, they were losing small items like socks and ladies underwear that is not tagged. I told my husband to expect problems and to pack additional clothing. But, no. So, he worried constantly. I don't use the service as all of my stuff is handwashable. Our steward passed on that a woman paged him in the middle of the night in an emergency. Her emergency was six bags of laundry that she just had to have back. Sigh. Luckily, he took the night supervisor along. Smart move. Additionally, no laundry could be submitted four days before arriving in FLL. Princess is going to have to do something about elite laundry. The laundry on some ships is overwhelmed with elites and their multiple bags of laundry. We are elite. But, we don't abuse the privilege by allowing others use our benefit. And we don't bring all of our dirty pre-cruise laundry on the ship. It never fails that some will abuse privileges for everyone else.

 

The shore excursions we took in Valencia and Seville did not include any time for shopping. They were good tours and we did see an awful lot. The boat excursion on the Valencia one was just filler. Total waste of time. People went off and shopped on their own and predictably got left. Sigh. Then others had to go back and find them. Princess should put time in for that.

 

The Lorca excursion was outstanding.

 

The excursion we took in Tenerife was not worth the money. Friends who took an all-day excursion to the volcano loved it.

 

We met some folks to play bridge with and did so on the sea days every afternoon.

 

Lot of URIs on the ship and a lot of folks not being polite when sneezing or coughing. It can happen anywhere. But, this is the second cruise where we have been so sick we kept to our statrooms for the last few days of the cruise. I wipe everything down contantly and use hand sanitizer liberally. But, when someone sitting behind you on an excrusiion or is in the elevator with you and sneezes or coughs you really don't have any defense from airborne viruses. I realize they don't want to miss anything Neither did I. But, I did. Insurance won't cover it because we didn't go to the ship's doctor.

 

There were seven or eight ships in port in FLL as well as the boat show. Taxis were hard to get. I've never seen such long lines outside the terminal for taxis. It took us 45 minutes to get one.

 

We didn't get to enjoy as much as we'd have liked to. But, what we did do we enjoyed.

[floridalover5623]

Who is the current Capt Circle host?

Also - what was the number for the most traveled person?

[BarbinMich]

Sailed with Billy Hygate about two years ago and thought he was retired.. ..

 

I think we first had Hygate back on the Sun or the Dawn back in 2005.

[reemab1]

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[reedprincess]

Who is the current Capt Circle host?

Also - what was the number for the most traveled person?

Most traveled was 1400 days, give or take. Cant remember Captain's Circle hostess. Blond, nice enough, spoke like a former kindergarten teacher (IMO)...

[CruzinNoony]

The cut off for MTP was 741 on the transatlantic. The captain circle hostess was Colleena. At the end of the current Caribbean cruise, she is retiring from Princess. Too bad, because she is perfect for the job. :)

[floridalover5623]

The cut off for MTP was 741 on the transatlantic. The captain circle hostess was Colleena. At the end of the current Caribbean cruise, she is retiring from Princess. Too bad, because she is perfect for the job. :)

 

Wow. With cutoff numbers like that we'll never get to go again. :(

Thanks anyway. ;)

[Micahs Grandad]

The cut off for MTP was 741 on the transatlantic. The captain circle hostess was Colleena. At the end of the current Caribbean cruise, she is retiring from Princess. Too bad, because she is perfect for the job. :)

 

Wow thought we have cruised a lot and we are not even half those days.