Just Back From The Royal

[trafficgirl124]

Just returned Monday from a 10 day Caribbean Cruise on the Royal. Ship is just beautiful, room was great (E106- obstructed balcony, but large balcony), food was great and the cruise director Matt O'Brien was amazing. Counting the days till my next cruise on the Carribean Princess in August. This will cruise #21 on Princess.

[Micahs Grandad]

Any discussion on *****? Looking like our August cruise will not be *****.

[PoohUnderstands]

We just got off the Royal recently and there is absolutely no talk, signage, etc. about ***** on the Royal. I hear it is still not ship wide and completely running on the Regal yet! I really thought we would have ***** for upcoming end of October, 2018, cruise, but I am not even thinking that way anymore! In fact, *****, what's that?

 

Pooh

[Micahs Grandad]

We just got off the Royal recently and there is absolutely no talk, signage, etc. about ***** on the Royal. I hear it is still not ship wide and completely running on the Regal yet! I really thought we would have ***** for upcoming end of October, 2018, cruise, but I am not even thinking that way anymore! In fact, *****, what's that?

 

Pooh

 

Wondering if the people who were implementing ***** are still even with the company?

[paul929207]

We are on the Royal in September/October and again next year in February and March. Beginning to wonder if we will get ***** on even the later one.

[Astro Flyer]

Any discussion on *****? Looking like our August cruise will not be *****.

 

We just got off the Royal recently and there is absolutely no talk' date=' signage, etc. about ***** on the Royal. I hear it is still not ship wide and completely running on the Regal yet! I really thought we would have ***** for upcoming end of October, 2018, cruise, but I am not even thinking that way anymore! In fact, *****, what's that?

 

Pooh[/quote']

Six months after booking a May 2019 cruise on the Royal I received an email about the cruise. Included was notification that ***** would not be available on our cruise. That notification was sent 6 weeks after the rollout on the Regal & within a month of *****’s scheduled January implementation on the Royal.

 

So based on this Princess notification, it won’t be on your cruises & not available until about Summer 2019 at the earliest.

 

“The creation of Ocean Medallion Vacations is an all-encompassing project that is currently being activated onboard another Princess ship. We had hoped to have it launched in time for your cruise aboard Royal Princess. However, we have identified refinements and enhancements that require more time for us to fully realize our aspirations to elevate the guest experience by way of this new technology. We hope you’ll experience Ocean Medallion on a future cruise with Princess. We apologize for any disappointment this news may cause for you“.

[PoohUnderstands]

Six months after booking a May 2019 cruise on the Royal I received an email about the cruise. Included was notification that ***** would not be available on our cruise. That notification was sent 6 weeks after the rollout on the Regal & within a month of *****’s scheduled January implementation on the Royal.

 

So based on this Princess notification, it won’t be on your cruises & not available until about Summer 2019 at the earliest.

 

“The creation of Ocean Medallion Vacations is an all-encompassing project that is currently being activated onboard another Princess ship. We had hoped to have it launched in time for your cruise aboard Royal Princess. However, we have identified refinements and enhancements that require more time for us to fully realize our aspirations to elevate the guest experience by way of this new technology. We hope you’ll experience Ocean Medallion on a future cruise with Princess. We apologize for any disappointment this news may cause for you“.

 

 

Now, if that isn't an example of an "understatement of the year (no, decade!)," I don't know what is! I wonder how long it took the PR person to put this together and if that person could keep a smile off their face(using wrong possessive pronoun but they say it is acceptable these days!) while that person wrote it?!

 

Pooh

[chrysalis]

Just returned Monday from a 10 day Caribbean Cruise on the Royal. Ship is just beautiful, room was great (E106- obstructed balcony, but large balcony), food was great and the cruise director Matt O'Brien was amazing. Counting the days till my next cruise on the Carribean Princess in August. This will cruise #21 on Princess.

 

We got off when you did, but had been on for 20 days....not quite as good as previous sailings on the Royal.

 

Felt that food not up to previous standards, service OK but one night in ATD dinner took 3.25 hours. Never once during the entire cruise did we ever had a head waiter come to the table to see how things were. One dinner, 3 people out of 8 at the table had to send their food back as it was not prepared properly.

 

Felt that senior crew were less visible than in the past. We disappointed to see that children were allowed in the retreat area and pool (The hostess from the Sanctuary actually visited them and waved while they swam). Had one of the wait staff in the IC actually insist that we buy another coffee card for the 2nd leg of a 20 day booking.

 

The large boats that they use to transport pax to and from Princess Cays take way to long to load and exit. A huge waste of time.

 

All in all, it was an OK cruise, but did not seem like those in recent years.

[floridalover5623]

We were in that cabin in Feb. It had a nice size balcony but the only thing is the location requires lots of walking no matter you want to do.

It's much to far forward for me.

[tawlaw1526]

Just returned Monday from a 10 day Caribbean Cruise on the Royal. Ship is just beautiful, room was great (E106- obstructed balcony, but large balcony), food was great and the cruise director Matt O'Brien was amazing. Counting the days till my next cruise on the Carribean Princess in August. This will cruise #21 on Princess.

 

I totally agree that cruise director Matt O’Brien is amazing. We sailed with him on a cruise last year.

[yoyosma]

We got off when you did, but had been on for 20 days....not quite as good as previous sailings on the Royal.

 

Felt that food not up to previous standards, service OK but one night in ATD dinner took 3.25 hours. Never once during the entire cruise did we ever had a head waiter come to the table to see how things were. One dinner, 3 people out of 8 at the table had to send their food back as it was not prepared properly.

 

Felt that senior crew were less visible than in the past. We disappointed to see that children were allowed in the retreat area and pool (The hostess from the Sanctuary actually visited them and waved while they swam). Had one of the wait staff in the IC actually insist that we buy another coffee card for the 2nd leg of a 20 day booking.

 

The large boats that they use to transport pax to and from Princess Cays take way to long to load and exit. A huge waste of time.

 

All in all, it was an OK cruise, but did not seem like those in recent years.

I had a friend on this cruise as well and her assessment was the same as yours regarding food and absence of senior staff.

[rkacruiser]

chrysalis,

 

Thanks for your information. Do you recall who the Senior Officers were (i.e. Captain, Hotel Director) on your recent cruises?

[rzmz89]

We also just got off the royal. We were on from 3/30-4/9. We had traditional dining and had great service. We saw the head waiter, Constantine every night. He even made bananas foster for us on the night of cherries jubilee. Our waiter and asst, Salvador and Gede were also superb.

I do agree that the food was not as good. We did enjoy the ports of call.

[rkacruiser]

We also just got off the royal. We were on from 3/30-4/9. We had traditional dining and had great service. We saw the head waiter, Constantine every night. He even made bananas foster for us on the night of cherries jubilee. Our waiter and asst, Salvador and Gede were also superb.

I do agree that the food was not as good. We did enjoy the ports of call.

 

Bananas Foster preparation at table side? Cherries Jubilee preparation at table side? Please confirm "yes" or "no".

 

Thank you.

[CanICruiseSoonPlease]

Just returned Monday from a 10 day Caribbean Cruise on the Royal. Ship is just beautiful, room was great (E106- obstructed balcony, but large balcony), food was great and the cruise director Matt O'Brien was amazing. Counting the days till my next cruise on the Carribean Princess in August. This will cruise #21 on Princess.

 

 

Loved Matt!!

[PoohUnderstands]

Was on the Royal 3/10-3/20 and have to agree Matt O was one of the best CD's I have had on a cruise in a very long time.

And what is so exciting, he is taking a break, but will be back on the Royal for my October, 2018, Canada/NE cruise!!! Definitely

will have a fun cruise onboard!

 

I know what to expect about the quality of food onboard mainline cruise lines and I feel that Royal's offerings were slightly above average, with some offerings better than others. If I can order one or two meals over a 10-14 day period that is very good, I consider myself lucky. Then, of course, I am one that loves variety and not having to cook it myself, so I am not hard to please!

Having CC dining has made the experience of dining soooo much more like the past which I am loving. Only 195 days until I am back aboard the Royal!!!

 

Pooh

[Lucky TGO]

Just returned Monday from a 10 day Caribbean Cruise on the Royal. Ship is just beautiful, room was great (E106- obstructed balcony, but large balcony), food was great and the cruise director Matt O'Brien was amazing. Counting the days till my next cruise on the Carribean Princess in August. This will cruise #21 on Princess.

 

Trafficgirl,

Look for your extra $25.00 OBC for being a loyal passenger. You receive it on your 21cruise. :D

Tony

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[caribill]

CCL Corp management recently had a conference call with stock analysts. Did not indicate any problems at all about the ***** rollout. Did say that 8 ships are now "Ocean Ready."

[rzmz89]

rkacruiser-

The cherries jubilee I think were on the second formal night and it was prepared already at table side. We asked about bananas foster and our head waiter did prepare that extra for us.

[GrammySpo]

May be on that one with you if it departs NY on September 25. Looking forward to another cruise with Matt O. It’s not about the food for me although that is part of the experience. For me its the sites, the people, the laughs, the music, etc.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[rkacruiser]

rkacruiser-

The cherries jubilee I think were on the second formal night and it was prepared already at table side. We asked about bananas foster and our head waiter did prepare that extra for us.

 

Thank you for your response. On HAL ships, such desserts were prepared (flame and all) tableside. Then, the desserts could only be prepared at the front of the MDR and then served by our Steward. Now, they have been eliminated totally. Reason: fire hazard.

 

Hmm.