Royal Princess Review 4/13/19 ... Mexican Riviera

[Cruise Raider]

I will start with the disembarkation as it was so awesome, we arrived at the Long Beach airport by 7:45 am, giving me quite a bit of time to write this review!  10 of 10 stars on he disembarkation!  We requested and were granted  the early walk off group A, which was scheduled to begin around 7:15 am.  We were ready to roll out of our room by 7:00 am,  at which time we said goodbye and thanks to our room steward and head down to wait for our walk off group to be called, which took less than 2 mins waiting time and we were out the door.  The customs line was quick, as was getting our Uber.  I thought our flight was a little on the early side but ends up, we still have a three hour wait here after passing through security but it is so much better than stressing out. I highly recommend packing light and using Long Beach airport when flying out of Los Angeles, if at all possible.....so much nicer than LAX.

Note:  ride sharing pick up point is in front of the Berth 92 sign at San Pedro (even though we were docked at pier 91).  Oh, and some guy in a large Black Lincoln SUV is trying to offer people rides as we disembarked ... no taxi Medallion or Uber / lyft placard and was pretty aggressive.  I we kept refusing his ride as he kept going round and round trying to get someone to bite!  He may have been harmless but it didn’t seem too safe to me and was surprised the port authority allowed this. I tried to find someone that worked at the port to notify them but then our ride had arrived and we had to go!  

 

Now, backing up to embarkation ... 

we arrived at the port around 10:15 by Uber and were directed though security and then to check in.  The security line was about 20 minutes long and then directly to priority check in.  It was a little disorganized as this was the first full Medallion cruise on the Royal and some seemingly new personnel at the port.  We already had our medallions via the mail so they just needed to take our photos and hand us a boarding pass [group A] and were directed to wait in the priory lounge.  Well, there was inadequate space for everyone in that area and it really wasn’t anything special except for the pastries and beverages.  We waited nearly another hour before boarding began ... but then we were on our way!  Yoo-hoo!  

I would give the port a 5 out of 10 stars and the embarkation process a score of 7 to 8 out of 10.  

 

Our stateroom: 

We were allowed to go directly to our rooms to drop off our luggage before heading to the MDR for lunch.  We met up with our room steward, who was just finishing up the vacuuming ... otherwise our room was ready to go!  This is the same room steward we’ve had on our two most recent cruises with Princess, although on another ship ... so we already knew that we liked him a lot!  Great to see a familiar face!  

Our room was stunningly beautiful and being midship, we had one of the large balconies.  The balcony flooring was without that disgusting blue matting (which I call the filth catcher) that is present on so many Princess ships!  Good move, Princess!   The bed / pillows were simply wonderful!  They have replaced the little tv above the mini fridge area with a large flat screen tv on the wall opposite the bed ... what a great improvement that really opened up the room.  Speaking of he mini fridge...it actually worked like a fridge!   The tv has an on demand feature that is just great!   There are plenty of drawers and an adequate number of hangers in our room. The bathroom was mall but clean and so functional.  There is no more barrel chair (thankfully ...as it would have just been in the way for us) but a small indoor table for room service and such.  We ordered a wedge pillow ahead of time and it was delivered to our room on day 2, as were our robes ... so one day after boarding but we were very happy with that.  

Stateroom gets a 10 of 10 stars in my book!  

 

The ship:  

The Royal is by far the most gorgeous Princess ship on which we’ve sailed....EVER!  She is stunningly beautiful and everything was in tip top condition! Even the public restrooms were very nice and clean!  I was very impressed with how everything sparkles and shined!  

We only went to the buffet area once, which was enough, but will go into that later... but it was so beautiful with all granite counters and the layout was sheer perfection!  

The pool areas were beautiful even though I would really miss having an indoor pool area.  The Retreat pool took away any regrets I may have had of booking a ship without an indoor pool. The midship pools was also beautiful with a fountain area in the middle.  The kiddies were playing in the fountain during the day and there was a nighttime themed water show every night.  Nice touch!   The Sanctuary was also beautiful but not very well attended from what I saw.  It turned out it not to be a very warm weather sailing so there were always plenty of loungers by the pool ... sun or shade.  

The dining rooms were also gorgeous.  All the furniture in the public areas was in great condition.  The theater was beautiful but entirely too small for the number of passengers onboard.  The windows were kept nice and clean throughout the ship and the carpet appeared to also be new or at least in great shape.  

The ship was so impressive that I give her a 10 of 10 stars!  

 

I’m going to post this and will continue in the comments section just so I don’t lose everything I’ve written so far.  

 

 

 

 

[Astro Flyer]

Was the new production show The Secret Silk performed?

 

Since the Royal arrived in LA on 3/23 the show has been suspended & have read speculation about the reasons why.  We embark next Saturday & hope to see this latest Stephen Schwartz production show having enjoyed his two other shows for Princess,

 

Looking forward to reading more about your experiences on the Royal Princess which we’ve enjoyed several times.

[Cruise Raider]

Continuing along to the service onboard:  

we received some top notch service but I can only give the overall service 6 to 7 out of 10 stars.  Some of the crew seemed to be totally unprepared for having 4000 passengers onboard.  It was almost like a complete surprise that so many people showed up for the cruise. The worst of this was seen In the buffet area, which is why we only went there once ... such chaos that we chose not to subject ourselves to that ever again.  The dining room room staff rated from just passable to excellent!  Some couldn’t be bothered to fill a special request and some happily did so.  We finally found a set of waiters that provided fabulous service and tried to get in their section but without being able to secure a reservation for anytime in between 5:30 and 7:30, this proved to be an Impossible task.  

 

The food:  

This sailing had the best food we’ve had on any recent sailing on any line!  Everything we ate was just excellent!  We had only one pub luncheon and even though we planned on going to the Royal Tea, we just filled up on other food.  It was just that good ...wherever we ate.  

The new wine list is also fantastic and we were able to purchase a package, making it somewhat economical for some really nice wines.  

Bellini’s was one of our favorite bars and the one chance we had to go to Crooners also was a blast!  

The food gets 10 of 10 stars!  

 

Entertainment:  

We can only give the entertainment 7 of 10 stars.  The cruise director, Matt O gets 10 of 10, though ... as does the Piano player at Crooners.  

However, we felt like the public venues for the shows were entirely too small, especially in Princess Live and in the theater, as mentioned before.  I can’t for the life of me understand why some of the more popular shows are scheduled in such small venues with inadequate seating.  I know Princess can’t do too much about the theater, now the ship has already built but it is a flaw.  

The singers that played in the Piazza were just way too loud ... you couldn’t even sit at one of the bars and have a conversation, even with shouting.  We don’t usually object to loud music but this was beyond a decibel level to be the slightest bit enjoyable.  What’s funny is that the volume on MUTS was so low you could barely hear the movies in certain parts.  The movies were great but we had to repeat them in our cabin or in the Vista Lounge for the parts we missed at MUTS.   

 

Ok ... so our plane has finally arrived ... and so have to finish up for now.  If I think of anything else, will continue in the comments after we board.  Overall, I would give the cruise an 8 of 10 stars.  So many great memories made with just a few misses.  

[PrincessLuver]

35 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

The ship:  

The Royal is by far the most gorgeous Princess ship on which we’ve sailed....EVER!  She is stunningly beautiful and everything was in tip top condition! Even the public restrooms were very nice and clean!  I was very impressed with how everything sparkles and shined!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agree.....the Royal  Class ships are our favorite and everything you say they are!!!

[DrivesLikeMario]

Great review!  Interesting about the pillow wedge!  I didn't know about that. 
So glad you had such a good time and even though we missed you on the other Royal cruise, we WILL meet up one of these days so my DH can talk Raiders stuff with you!  Thanks again!

[mthomp5]

Thanks for the review Cruise Raider!  I’m really looking forward to boarding the Royal on 4/27.  

 

Just a couple of questions:

What is a wedge pillow?

Did you embark and disembark from Berth 91?

[Gran7577]

Thank you for this. We embark on the 27th with two other couples. This will be our first cruise on one of the Royal class ships. Have previously cruised on the Grand Class ships and the Island Princess.

[4cats4me]

92/91 are right next to each other.  You embark at 92, and when you get off the ship, you will be routed through the disembarkation tent at 91. As a result, even though we parked in front of 92, when we disembarked, since we had to go through the luggage tent (91) where immigration is, we had to double back to 92 where our car was.  

For this reason, in the future of one drives I recommend parking in front of 91 to have a very short walk to the car with ALL the luggage at the end of cruise versus having to walk approx 1,000 feet back to 92. 

 

 

[4cats4me]

Cruise Raider, so glad you loved the ship.  Your review mirrors the way we felt after disembark ing our first Royal-Class Cruise back in 2015 after divorcing Princess for four years due to previous disappointments and cuts, that have since been rectified.  😃. So glad we gave Princess another chance.  

 

I am curious about the buffet issue.   We only ate at the buffet last week and it was a pretty good experience, albeit, there was some gross behavior on the part of some passengers.  I will say that buffet service is not nearly as good on the Royal Class ships since they don’t have enough buffet stewards for the amount of passengers, compared to the excellent buffet service we received on the Crown a few months back.   

 

Regarding the music, we never thought it was too loud, but I am also a “louder, the better “ type of person.   You are right, however, because now that I think about it, there was no way to have a conversation, but since I was only with my husband, we didn’t have a lot to say to one another anyway. He was probably glad that he didn’t have to listen to me. LOL

 

Like you, we miss the indoor pool a little, and Explorer’s, but we like the retreat pool.  This is definitely a cooler weather cruise in April on the West Coast, so we do tend to use the Retreat pool much more in the Caribbean.

 

How many kids were onboard? I read somewhere it was 500.  I think we had about 300.  We had 3,600 onboard, so we weren’t at full capacity. If you had 4,000, sounds like the  10% increase in passengers could have been more problematic for sure. 

[Astro Flyer]

Cruise Raider...could you provide details about how you purchased a wine package?  I’ve purchased them several times but have never been able to get it on a 7 day cruise.

 

Next Saturday we embark for B2B 7-day cruises & driving to the port planned to carryon our wine & to pay corkage. We’ve wanted to try the new wine list however because it’s never been available on our previous 7-day cruises we planned to bring our own wine.

[XBGuy]

According to the Princess web site, the passenger capacity of the Royal Princess is 3560.  I know that there is some fluff in this number because all beds in all cabins may or may not be filled.  However, is the absolute maximum passenger capacity of the Royal Princess really 4000?  I did not think it carried as many passengers as ships like Norwegian's Bliss or Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas.

[cubfan63]

I am also just off the Royal Princess 4/13 cruise.

 

I had an excellent room steward but didn’t meet him until Tuesday when we were in Mazatlan. Then I requested and got the robe I pre-requested.

 

I ate in the Symphony anytime dining room some nights and buffet others (did Mazatlan Night which was Bavarian special and 2nd formal night on 2nd Sea day which was French special). I had dinner in Alfredo’s in first formal night. I did breakfast some mornings very early in the buffet, and only lunch on the PV port day.

 

Service was attentive in the buffet. For the most part the food was good there in the buffet. In the dining room, I found the food average (especially in the MDR) compared to many other Princess cruises. I am Elite.

 

There were 400 Elite and laundry took 72 hours (we received a note). There were 650 kids, per the CD on the Wake show. I was stunned as it didn’t seem like there were that many kids. In general things did not seem crowded to me, but the ship sailed “full”. (CD Matt O is really very entertaining and always around).

 

The bands in the Piazza (Los Brillantes and XCite party band) were wonderful and did not seem loud. Lots of people dancing to their music each night. Didn’t do any show in the theatre but they didn’t have Silk Secret.

 

Spent time at Crooners, Vines, and Good Spirits at Sea Bar (rebranded Bar Piazza) and had excellent service at all.

 

Good Spirits presentations each night with the special cocktails for the event was a great time with Ryan and Gilbert. Times are listed in the patter. Each or the special cocktails are in the drink package. If you like Rum, you must try the “Cartagena Cool”. If you like spicy, the “Sandia En Fuego”.

 

Lou and Gina are at Crooners, and Gilbert and Mowin are at Vines.

 

Likes the Medallion and Medallionet. On-demand TVs were in and out, including last night (would say “please stand by” or not respond to remote). Many commented on it.

 

 

 

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

Great review!  Interesting about the pillow wedge!  I didn't know about that. 
So glad you had such a good time and even though we missed you on the other Royal cruise, we WILL meet up one of these days so my DH can talk Raiders stuff with you!  Thanks again!

 

 I am keeping my fingers crossed that we do!  

And, for the wedge pillow, you can even order the height you need.  The 7” one was perfect for my DH.  The room steward put it under the mattress on one side... it was perfect!  

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, mthomp5 said:

Thanks for the review Cruise Raider!  I’m really looking forward to boarding the Royal on 4/27.  

 

Just a couple of questions:

What is a wedge pillow?

Did you embark and disembark from Berth 91?

  I hope you have a great time on that gorgeous ship. 

A wedge pillow raises the head of the mattress and slopes downward (just like a wedge of cheese) for people that have GERD and/ or sleep apnea.  I find it terribly uncomfortable so it is nice the beds are actually in two so my side wasn’t affected at all.  

 

I forgot to mention that my DH was also supposed to have a Cpap machine, which he hadn’t gotten in time ... but since I was anticipating it, I ordered a gallon of distilled water as well.  It was in our room when we arrived.  They were on top of it!  

 

And we were in Berth 91 going out.  I hate to admit that I think we sailed back into the same berth but I can’t really say for sure.  We were just off the ship so quickly, I didn’t really pay attention but I think it was the same one.  

Edited April 20, 2019 by Cruise Raider

[4cats4me]

7 minutes ago, cubfan63 said:

I am also just off the Royal Princess 4/13 cruise.

 

I had an excellent room steward but didn’t meet him until Tuesday when we were in Mazatlan. Then I requested and got the robe I pre-requested.

 

I ate in the Symphony anytime dining room some nights and buffet others (did Mazatlan Night which was Bavarian special and 2nd formal night on 2nd Sea day which was French special). I had dinner in Alfredo’s in first formal night. I did breakfast some mornings very early in the buffet, and only lunch on the PV port day.

 

Service was attentive in the buffet. For the most part the food was good there in the buffet. In the dining room, I found the food average (especially in the MDR) compared to many other Princess cruises. I am Elite.

 

There were 400 Elite and laundry took 72 hours (we received a note). There were 650 kids, per the CD on the Wake show. I was stunned as it didn’t seem like there were that many kids. In general things did not seem crowded to me, but the ship sailed “full”. (CD Matt O is really very entertaining and always around).

 

The bands in the Piazza (Los Brillantes and XCite party band) were wonderful and did not seem loud. Lots of people dancing to their music each night. Didn’t do any show in the theatre but they didn’t have Silk Secret.

 

Spent time at Crooners, Vines, and Good Spirits at Sea Bar (rebranded Bar Piazza) and had excellent service at all.

 

Good Spirits presentations each night with the special cocktails for the event was a great time with Ryan and Gilbert. Times are listed in the patter. Each or the special cocktails are in the drink package. If you like Rum, you must try the “Cartagena Cool”. If you like spicy, the “Sandia En Fuego”.

 

Lou and Gina are at Crooners, and Gilbert and Mowin are at Vines.

 

Likes the Medallion and Medallionet. On-demand TVs were in and out, including last night (would say “please stand by” or not respond to remote). Many commented on it.

 

 

 

 

650 kids? Wow. That would have really irritated us to have On Demand not working, since we really love watching the movies late st night and have the music going all the time.    Last week they were running around putting sensors in the rooms and then they had to replace the sensors.   

400 Elites?  I think we had about 350- 400 and our laundry turn -around was only 24 hours last week.  Wow.  Big difference.  We had 3600 onboard, not 4,000, so maybe that was the difference, the extra 400 people? 

[Luvtennis6060]

How and where did you request a wedge pillow before the cruise?  I could use one on my next cruise on Ruby.  We were on the Royal’s March 30 th sailing.  I agree the live music in the Piazza was much too loud.  We usually enjoy Crooners but could not carry on a conversation when the music was playing. Food was hit and miss but did enjoy the many choices in the buffet.  Service was not as good as we have experienced on the Grand Class ships. We did have a good time and made few new cruise friends.  On to the Ruby on April 23 rd.

 

Cindy

 

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, mthomp5 said:

Thanks for the review Cruise Raider!  I’m really looking forward to boarding the Royal on 4/27.  

 

Just a couple of questions:

What is a wedge pillow?

Did you embark and disembark from Berth 91?

 

49 minutes ago, 4cats4me said:

Cruise Raider, so glad you loved the ship.  Your review mirrors the way we felt after disembark ing our first Royal-Class Cruise back in 2015 after divorcing Princess for four years due to previous disappointments and cuts, that have since been rectified.  😃. So glad we gave Princess another chance.  

 

I am curious about the buffet issue.   We only ate at the buffet last week and it was a pretty good experience, albeit, there was some gross behavior on the part of some passengers.  I will say that buffet service is not nearly as good on the Royal Class ships since they don’t have enough buffet stewards for the amount of passengers, compared to the excellent buffet service we received on the Crown a few months back.   

 

Regarding the music, we never thought it was too loud, but I am also a “louder, the better “ type of person.   You are right, however, because now that I think about it, there was no way to have a conversation, but since I was only with my husband, we didn’t have a lot to say to one another anyway. He was probably glad that he didn’t have to listen to me. LOL

 

Like you, we miss the indoor pool a little, and Explorer’s, but we like the retreat pool.  This is definitely a cooler weather cruise in April on the West Coast, so we do tend to use the Retreat pool much more in the Caribbean.

 

How many kids were onboard? I read somewhere it was 500.  I think we had about 300.  We had 3,600 onboard, so we weren’t at full capacity. If you had 4,000, sounds like the  10% increase in passengers could have been more problematic for sure. 

 

 We were full to capacity ...sold out a few weeks before our sailing.  Others commented they would never go on Easter week again due to all the kids.  You know, there was one toddler down a couple rooms from us and he fussed now and again out on the balcony but for the most part, I think all the kids were very well behaved.  If that was the worst of it, I’d take it anytime!  We don’t even have kids and so think we are sensitive to kids screaming and acting up but we just never noticed any of that!  

I’m really unsure of how many passengers were onboard ... we started our vacation by spending 3 nights in Vegas so we’re dogged tired our first day onboard and just grabbed a quick bite and off to bed early ... so missed the embarkation show.  

Oh, yes ... the buffet! It’s beautiful and the food was amazing but total chaos for breakfast.  I ordered an omelet and turkey sausage at the egg station and someone on the staff grabbed my food and was off running to give it to someone else.  Then, I waited and explained that he just took my food so they had to start all over again and threw he gave my turkey sausage to so redone else that just walked up and asked for it.  She felt bad because she saw me waiting there and the guy behind the counter just ignored both of us and weren’t back to cooking.  All the while, I am just trying to find a place to stand without getting my plate of now cold food knocked over ... 

By this time, there was no place to sit down at a table and so we just went outside. Nobody else was out there as it was just too cold but we managed.  We had bought the wine package and tried to get a bottle for our room from the buffet area.  One guy was willing to help and pointed us to the bar where I knew it wouldn’t work but we exp,aired to the bartender that one of the head guys in the buffet sent us out to her.  So, she got our wine but three wanted to charge us for it and not take it off our package.  On the way back inside, the guy that originally helped us asked us if we got our wine and we exp,Ian Ed she wouldn’t do it for us.  He went back out with us and she claimed she didn’t have the kind of wine we ordered ...after she showed us that she did!  Ugh!  Forget it ... we will just get it at lunchtime in Alfredo’s, where we were successful...thanks to ZaZa that was the supervisor there!  

We just never returned to the buffet after that.  And yes, we’ve sailed on the Grand class many times and the service in the buffet is so much better, however, the food isn’t nearly as good!  

 

As for the music in the Piazza before dinner ... heck, even the bartenders had to wait until there was a break to take your ordeR or you could get a menu and point!  It wasn’t just loud ...it was deafening!  

 

And we sail among several different lines and haven’t really taken any long breaks from Princess.  I was so excited they actually sent one of her newer ships to the west coast.  There were some cut backs that I noticed, though.  There has been no escargot for a month now and only one pub lunch with the second one (the one with shrimp and chips) being canceled.  I also requested some kind of sauce for my salmon and all they would offer was tarter sauce.  Really?  No hollandaise or rommlade (sp?) or similar sauce available ... tarter sauce only for grilled salmon ... take it or leave it.  The waiter ended up putting a rosette of butter on my plate ... hahaha!  The grilled salmon was really good, though. 

There was occasion the waiter said he was too busy for any special requests.  We ordered our specialty coffees in the MDR but the waiter said he was too busy to get us our order.  Like i mentioned, the service was kind of hit or miss and some of our service was outstanding!  

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, Astro Flyer said:

Cruise Raider...could you provide details about how you purchased a wine package?  I’ve purchased them several times but have never been able to get it on a 7 day cruise.

 

Next Saturday we embark for B2B 7-day cruises & driving to the port planned to carryon our wine & to pay corkage. We’ve wanted to try the new wine list however because it’s never been available on our previous 7-day cruises we planned to bring our own wine.

 

I read on these boards that with the elimination of the silver package, we might be able to purchase the wine package on a seven day cruise in the future.  I asked about it during the embarkation lunch and they allowed us purchase the 10 bottle package.  There was an issue with getting our Medallion to work at first so a bit of a delay ... but we finally had a glass of wine in hand about 40 minutes later.   It was in no way advertised anywhere and maybe we were the only ones that asked for it.  Well, 5 days into the cruise, we realized we underestimated our wine drinking abilities so we were able to upgrade to the 12 bottle package ... thanks to the help of our really great head waiter in the Symphony dining room.  

We learned that 12 bottles was just perfect for a seven. Isn’t cruise!  I would purchase it again if offered. Their wine list is great and it beats lugging our own wine onto the ship, even if we sail from our own port.  

The 12 bottle package came to $400 including the 18% gratuity.  Since we don’t really drink hard alcohol, we were very grateful to have this option of purchasing the wine package.  

[4cats4me]

11 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

 

 We were full to capacity ...sold out a few weeks before our sailing.  Others commented they would never go on Easter week again due to all the kids.  You know, there was one toddler down a couple rooms from us and he fussed now and again out on the balcony but for the most part, I think all the kids were very well behaved.  If that was the worst of it, I’d take it anytime!  We don’t even have kids and so think we are sensitive to kids screaming and acting up but we just never noticed any of that!  

I’m really unsure of how many passengers were onboard ... we started our vacation by spending 3 nights in Vegas so we’re dogged tired our first day onboard and just grabbed a quick bite and off to bed early ... so missed the embarkation show.  

Oh, yes ... the buffet! It’s beautiful and the food was amazing but total chaos for breakfast.  I ordered an omelet and turkey sausage at the egg station and someone on the staff grabbed my food and was off running to give it to someone else.  Then, I waited and explained that he just took my food so they had to start all over again and threw he gave my turkey sausage to so redone else that just walked up and asked for it.  She felt bad because she saw me waiting there and the guy behind the counter just ignored both of us and weren’t back to cooking.  All the while, I am just trying to find a place to stand without getting my plate of now cold food knocked over ... 

By this time, there was no place to sit down at a table and so we just went outside. Nobody else was out there as it was just too cold but we managed.  We had bought the wine package and tried to get a bottle for our room from the buffet area.  One guy was willing to help and pointed us to the bar where I knew it wouldn’t work but we exp,aired to the bartender that one of the head guys in the buffet sent us out to her.  So, she got our wine but three wanted to charge us for it and not take it off our package.  On the way back inside, the guy that originally helped us asked us if we got our wine and we exp,Ian Ed she wouldn’t do it for us.  He went back out with us and she claimed she didn’t have the kind of wine we ordered ...after she showed us that she did!  Ugh!  Forget it ... we will just get it at lunchtime in Alfredo’s, where we were successful...thanks to ZaZa that was the supervisor there!  

We just never returned to the buffet after that.  And yes, we’ve sailed on the Grand class many times and the service in the buffet is so much better, however, the food isn’t nearly as good!  

 

As for the music in the Piazza before dinner ... heck, even the bartenders had to wait until there was a break to take your ordeR or you could get a menu and point!  It wasn’t just loud ...it was deafening!  

 

And we sail among several different lines and haven’t really taken any long breaks from Princess.  I was so excited they actually sent one of her newer ships to the west coast.  There were some cut backs that I noticed, though.  There has been no escargot for a month now and only one pub lunch with the second one (the one with shrimp and chips) being canceled.  I also requested some kind of sauce for my salmon and all they would offer was tarter sauce.  Really?  No hollandaise or rommlade (sp?) or similar sauce available ... tarter sauce only for grilled salmon ... take it or leave it.  The waiter ended up putting a rosette of butter on my plate ... hahaha!  The grilled salmon was really good, though. 

There was occasion the waiter said he was too busy for any special requests.  We ordered our specialty coffees in the MDR but the waiter said he was too busy to get us our order.  Like i mentioned, the service was kind of hit or miss and some of our service was outstanding!  

Breakfast is a zoo up there and I’ve rarely if ever gone there.  My husband always :makes me a plate and brings it back to the room.   We went for breakfast on the last day and it’s was way too crowded.   Lunchtime and dinner are more tame, IMHO, especially if one waits an hour or so past  the mad Rush at noon and goes in at 1:00.  

Regarding the MDR, I’ve heard consistently bad stories about the MDR on the Royal Class ships.  That is just wrong that a waiter would say they’re too busy to accommodate a reasonable request.  I still think it is due to the huge size of the MDRs in relation to the kitchen or something. 

 

And BTW, ZaZa is fantastic.  Loved her. 

 

Edited April 20, 2019 by 4cats4me

[Cruise Raider]

56 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

According to the Princess web site, the passenger capacity of the Royal Princess is 3560.  I know that there is some fluff in this number because all beds in all cabins may or may not be filled.  However, is the absolute maximum passenger capacity of the Royal Princess really 4000?  I did not think it carried as many passengers as ships like Norwegian's Bliss or Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas.

 

I am not really sure of the exact number of passengers ... I was simply guessing and maybe even exaggerating, too.  But, in some ways, it really seemed like the staff was ill prepared for the number of passengers that were onboard.  Still, some of the staff went above and beyond the call of duty!  

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, cubfan63 said:

I am also just off the Royal Princess 4/13 cruise.

 

I had an excellent room steward but didn’t meet him until Tuesday when we were in Mazatlan. Then I requested and got the robe I pre-requested.

 

I ate in the Symphony anytime dining room some nights and buffet others (did Mazatlan Night which was Bavarian special and 2nd formal night on 2nd Sea day which was French special). I had dinner in Alfredo’s in first formal night. I did breakfast some mornings very early in the buffet, and only lunch on the PV port day.

 

Service was attentive in the buffet. For the most part the food was good there in the buffet. In the dining room, I found the food average (especially in the MDR) compared to many other Princess cruises. I am Elite.

 

There were 400 Elite and laundry took 72 hours (we received a note). There were 650 kids, per the CD on the Wake show. I was stunned as it didn’t seem like there were that many kids. In general things did not seem crowded to me, but the ship sailed “full”. (CD Matt O is really very entertaining and always around).

 

The bands in the Piazza (Los Brillantes and XCite party band) were wonderful and did not seem loud. Lots of people dancing to their music each night. Didn’t do any show in the theatre but they didn’t have Silk Secret.

 

Spent time at Crooners, Vines, and Good Spirits at Sea Bar (rebranded Bar Piazza) and had excellent service at all.

 

Good Spirits presentations each night with the special cocktails for the event was a great time with Ryan and Gilbert. Times are listed in the patter. Each or the special cocktails are in the drink package. If you like Rum, you must try the “Cartagena Cool”. If you like spicy, the “Sandia En Fuego”.

 

Lou and Gina are at Crooners, and Gilbert and Mowin are at Vines.

 

Likes the Medallion and Medallionet. On-demand TVs were in and out, including last night (would say “please stand by” or not respond to remote). Many commented on it.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh ... that’s funny you mention the On Demand being out.  We didn’t have that experience.  

Oh ..btw, I hate rum!  UCD ... it won’t stay down.  Suffice it to say, that wasn’t something I would have attended.  

We did talk to someone else just a couple of cabins away that hadn’t met our room steward.  That was odd to me as we saw him usually several times a day.  We had this same steward on previous cruises and he remembered exactly what we liked for our room, such as an extra box of Kleenex next to our bed and wine glasses for the bottles of wine we would bring back for time on our balcony.  We didn’t even have to ask.  

We missed the wine blending event as there was something else we were already doing.  The wine pairing luncheon sounded interesting but we passed as I really didn’t care for the menu.  

 

You are so so right about Matt O ... he is the prefect man for that job!  I never tuned into the Wake Show until this morning.  I always watch it ...just didn’t realize where to find it until it was over.  

Weve been elite for some time and never get our laundry done onboard ... maybe pressing but never the laundry.  It is odd we didn’t get that notice, though.  We went to the PES lounge just once and it was crowded so it did seem like there were a lot of elite passengers onboard.  We even missed the Captains Welcome back party on Thursday evening as our invitation was for 7:00 pm and we didn’t  get a table for dinner until 600 pm.  

There were a lot of firsts for this cruise ... missing many of the shows and events and no dinners at the buffet.  We still had fun but just didn’t things very differently from previous sailings.  

 

 

Edited April 20, 2019 by Cruise Raider

[Astro Flyer]

31 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

I read on these boards that with the elimination of the silver package, we might be able to purchase the wine package on a seven day cruise in the future.  I asked about it during the embarkation lunch and they allowed us purchase the 10 bottle package.  There was an issue with getting our Medallion to work at first so a bit of a delay ... but we finally had a glass of wine in hand about 40 minutes later.   It was in no way advertised anywhere and maybe we were the only ones that asked for it.  Well, 5 days into the cruise, we realized we underestimated our wine drinking abilities so we were able to upgrade to the 12 bottle package ... thanks to the help of our really great head waiter in the Symphony dining room.  

We learned that 12 bottles was just perfect for a seven. Isn’t cruise!  I would purchase it again if offered. Their wine list is great and it beats lugging our own wine onto the ship, even if we sail from our own port.  

The 12 bottle package came to $400 including the 18% gratuity.  Since we don’t really drink hard alcohol, we were very grateful to have this option of purchasing the wine package.  

Thanks...we have a week to decide whether to hope to have your gold wine package experience or to carryon our wine.  Being a B2B we can each bring on two fee free bottles from home for our cabin.  I’m leaning towards a wine package which allows us to have a cruise long wine tasting.  🍷🍷

 

I’ll have 20 beers from our minibar during our 2 weeks onboard in addition to our wine.

 

A ten bottle package may be sufficient because we’re also having a UBD and a Winemakers Dinner...did they offer the $60 Super Tuscan lunch in Sabatini’s?

 

Sorry that we missed meeting you when you changed cruises (was it the upcoming MR or the coastal?) but thanks for generously sharing your experiences...is it obvious that we’re eagerly anticipating boarding the Royal Princess again. ☺️

Edited April 20, 2019 by Astro Flyer

[Colo Cruiser]

42 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

 

 We were full to capacity ...sold out a few weeks before our sailing.  Others commented they would never go on Easter week again due to all the kids.  You know, there was one toddler down a couple rooms from us and he fussed now and again out on the balcony but for the most part, I think all the kids were very well behaved.  If that was the worst of it, I’d take it anytime!  We don’t even have kids and so think we are sensitive to kids screaming and acting up but we just never noticed any of that!  

I’m really unsure of how many passengers were onboard ... we started our vacation by spending 3 nights in Vegas so we’re dogged tired our first day onboard and just grabbed a quick bite and off to bed early ... so missed the embarkation show.  

Oh, yes ... the buffet! It’s beautiful and the food was amazing but total chaos for breakfast.  I ordered an omelet and turkey sausage at the egg station and someone on the staff grabbed my food and was off running to give it to someone else.  Then, I waited and explained that he just took my food so they had to start all over again and threw he gave my turkey sausage to so redone else that just walked up and asked for it.  She felt bad because she saw me waiting there and the guy behind the counter just ignored both of us and weren’t back to cooking.  All the while, I am just trying to find a place to stand without getting my plate of now cold food knocked over ... 

By this time, there was no place to sit down at a table and so we just went outside. Nobody else was out there as it was just too cold but we managed.  We had bought the wine package and tried to get a bottle for our room from the buffet area.  One guy was willing to help and pointed us to the bar where I knew it wouldn’t work but we exp,aired to the bartender that one of the head guys in the buffet sent us out to her.  So, she got our wine but three wanted to charge us for it and not take it off our package.  On the way back inside, the guy that originally helped us asked us if we got our wine and we exp,Ian Ed she wouldn’t do it for us.  He went back out with us and she claimed she didn’t have the kind of wine we ordered ...after she showed us that she did!  Ugh!  Forget it ... we will just get it at lunchtime in Alfredo’s, where we were successful...thanks to ZaZa that was the supervisor there!  

We just never returned to the buffet after that.  And yes, we’ve sailed on the Grand class many times and the service in the buffet is so much better, however, the food isn’t nearly as good!  

 

As for the music in the Piazza before dinner ... heck, even the bartenders had to wait until there was a break to take your ordeR or you could get a menu and point!  It wasn’t just loud ...it was deafening!  

 

And we sail among several different lines and haven’t really taken any long breaks from Princess.  I was so excited they actually sent one of her newer ships to the west coast.  There were some cut backs that I noticed, though.  There has been no escargot for a month now and only one pub lunch with the second one (the one with shrimp and chips) being canceled.  I also requested some kind of sauce for my salmon and all they would offer was tarter sauce.  Really?  No hollandaise or rommlade (sp?) or similar sauce available ... tarter sauce only for grilled salmon ... take it or leave it.  The waiter ended up putting a rosette of butter on my plate ... hahaha!  The grilled salmon was really good, though. 

There was occasion the waiter said he was too busy for any special requests.  We ordered our specialty coffees in the MDR but the waiter said he was too busy to get us our order.  Like i mentioned, the service was kind of hit or miss and some of our service was outstanding!  

All I can say is wow!  ☹️

This is so disheartening to hear and its early in the Royal west coast deployment and it seems to be getting worse.

[Astro Flyer]

7 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

All I can say is wow!  ☹️

This is so disheartening to hear and its early in the Royal west coast deployment and it seems to be getting worse.

As I recall reading there was a large turnover of crew when the Royal arrived in LA a month ago.  My guess about the reasons for the Royal’s inconsistent service is due to inexperienced & overwhelmed crewmembers.  Although inconsistent dining service due to overwhelmed crew isn’t something new but in recent years it appears to be getting even worse. ☹️

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, Luvtennis6060 said:

How and where did you request a wedge pillow before the cruise?  I could use one on my next cruise on Ruby.  We were on the Royal’s March 30 th sailing.  I agree the live music in the Piazza was much too loud.  We usually enjoy Crooners but could not carry on a conversation when the music was playing. Food was hit and miss but did enjoy the many choices in the buffet.  Service was not as good as we have experienced on the Grand Class ships. We did have a good time and made few new cruise friends.  On to the Ruby on April 23 rd.

 

Cindy

 

 

I ordered the wedge Pillow by emailing:  

Accessofficeprincess@princesscruises.com 

 

be be sure to include your booking number, date of sailing, room number and height of the pillow.  I ordered it a week ahead of time and understood that was cutting it close but it was onboard for us with that short notice.