Royal Princess Mexico-January 4-11 Observations

[vcgeno]

Our last 3 Princess cruises have been on the Crown, Ruby, and Emerald which as I understand it are basically the same ship. We had a great time on each of those but the Ruby is much nicer. Things we liked: There seemed to be more seating in the public areas. The buffet was set up in such a way to minimize the chaos found on most other ships. The way the ship was decorated seemed much more elegant and less gaudy. The spa recreation area had a therapeutic whirlpool and a waterbed in addition to the heated stone beds, rain forest showers, steam rooms, and saunas. The adults-only swimming area was larger and had more seating. The Sanctuary area is more secluded.

 

One thing we liked less on the Royal was the elevators, they did not seem to have enough as they seemed slower to arrive and were always more crowded than I recall on the other ships. Another thing we found disappointing was that unlike the other ships, you can not promenade outside on the Promenade deck. Instead of an outdoor deck that circles the ship on the Royal, you only have a couple of porches. You are unable to do laps around the ship as you can do on the others. On the other ships we preferred the Promenade deck to the jogging track. 

 

We found the food and other amenities to be equivalent to the other ships. We thought it was good and has not gone downhill as others have posted.

 

This was our first cruise as "Platinum" members and enjoyed the discounted internet, and early boarding (we did the medallion check-in and for some reason, they did not know we were platinum and assign us to early boarding until we mentioned it)  We went to the nightly Platinum/Elite reception a couple of of the nights and it was nice. 

 

A helpful tip for those leaving LA is to leave LA before purchasing some of your prepaid items. We enjoy wine so we bought the gold wine card where we prepay for 7 bottles of wine at a discounted rate. In reviewing our bill in addition to the card and gratuities which we expected we were charged $20 something in LA taxes. When I asked about it at the front desk they said it was the law and if I had waited until leaving LA to purchase the card I would not have had to pay the tax.

 

We had not planned on going on this trip but we got an email offering us an outstanding price on Mini-Suite. The room they assigned on the 15th floor was advertised as having an oversized balcony. What they did not tell us that we were in full view of anyone on the glass bottom/glass-walled bridge that extended over the water one floor up on the Lido deck. As you can tell from the picture below shot from our balcony not only did we have a nice view of the people on the bridge but they had a nice view of us as well. You will have some version of this view if you book odd-numbered cabins M411 through M425. Next time I will avoid these rooms but the mini-suite was outstanding.

 

We saw the The theater was packed and always filled up about 10 minutes before the shows.  We saw comedian AJ Jamal on two evenings (different shows historically funny), Brent and Sarah's Comedy Magic Show on two evenings (very entertaining) and one of the production shows (my wife loves them me not so much but they were enthusiastic).

 

Prior to the cruise we did the stay and park at the Crown Plaza.  Great hotel, great service would do it again. 

 

All that said we had a great time on a great ship and would highly recommend it to anyone. Let me know if you have any questions. 

[WinksCruises]

I always wondered about those cabins visible from the Skywalk. I guess you didn't use the balcony too much! 😃

[I object 2]

Vcgeno, thanks for your review.  We"re booked on the Regal (sister ship to the Royal) in mini-suite M425.  Did you experience any noise from the Lido deck, such as lounge chair being moved around or from MUTS?  We usually book a mini on Caribe or Aloha deck, but those were sold out when we booked.    

[vcgeno]

4 minutes ago, I object 2 said:

Vcgeno, thanks for your review.  We"re booked on the Regal (sister ship to the Royal) in mini-suite M425.  Did you experience any noise from the Lido deck, such as lounge chair being moved around or from MUTS?  We usually book a mini on Caribe or Aloha deck, but those were sold out when we booked.    

We were worried about that as well but noise from the Lido deck with the balcony doors closed was not an issue.  The music and crowd noise were an issue when you were sitting on the balcony or had your balcony door open.  All in all although we would have preferred not having the noise it was not that big a deal for us.