Royal Princess Room E321 - Room from hell

[wheelie2282]

We cruised on Royal Princess last December to Fiji and had an accessible balcony room. Had a great time. Unfortunately on this New Zealand cruise all accessible balcony rooms were already booked so we had to settle for an internal balcony room.   Here is a list of the issues. The first three are unimportant. 1. Sensor light in entry hall switches on at random times, day or night.   2. The automatic door to the bathroom sometimes refused to work.   3. Indicator lights on the automation equipment kept the room dimly light when the room lights were switched off. Strategically placed band aid strips solved this.   4. Water from the shower spilled over the drainage grate and ran into the cabin, even during calm seas or when we were docked. The problem was caused by insufficient fall towards the drain holes - water doesn't like running up hill! It was obvious the problem has been there since the last time the room/bathroom was renovated because the carpet near the bathroom door was discoloured. The only way to shower without getting too much water on the carpet was to put towels near the door on the floor then turn the shower to minimum flow and turn it off when lathering your body. Needless to say not a great way to shower. The room steward did a great job at pretending he had never seen it happen before, calling maintenance to look it the first two times. After that he would look at us sheepishly each time when we asked him to set up a blower again to dry the carpet. Eventually I managed an officer from the service desk to take a look. She was very apologetic, but not admitting that the problem has been there long term. I just told her I wasn't angling for future credits etc, was just trying to get it fixed for the next poor suckers who get the room.   5. Bang-bang. It only happened once, with about a two second delay between the first and second bang. This noise came from the machine room behind the wall near our bed head as we docked in Auckland. We didn't give it much thought at the time, guessing that maybe it was a vibration when the ship touched the dock. We had some rough seas up to that point without any noise whatsoever. The bang-bang again started about midnight on the third last night of the cruise and didn't stop for the remainder of that night and all the next. There were always two bangs, with almost EXACTLY two seconds between the first and second bang. It was really loud, like a heavy fire door slamming or a timber post being hit against the wall. The time between the bang-bang events now ranged from a few seconds to many minutes. Needless to say I was pretty cranky when I went to the service desk the next morning with almost zero sleep I was told it was creaking because of the rough seas. I told them we have been on more than 20 cruises on five cruise lines in massive seas and know what ships sound like when it gets rough. That evening a service desk officer came to our cabin and was surprised at how loud it was. Could not offer us an alternative as all accessible rooms were occupied. That night my wife slept on the floor in the entry hallway to escape the racket a bit. I was stuck with the bed. Fortunately bang-bang only occurred a few times on the last night. BE WARNED. ES31 ROOM FROM HELL!!! BE WARNED. SERVICE DESK IS A MISNOMER. THEIR PLAN IS TO STUFF YOU AROUND UNTIL YOUR CRUISE IS FINISHED AND YOU ARE NO LONGER A PROBLEM TO THEM.

[Rick&Jeannie]

42 minutes ago, wheelie2282 said:

Unfortunately on this New Zealand cruise all accessible balcony rooms were already booked so we had to settle for an internal balcony room.

What the heck is an "internal balcony room"?

[wheelie2282]

Sorry, should have been "internal room" not "internal balcony room".

[that]

Emerald 321 is an interior stateroom

 

@wheelie2282

what a disappointment

Edited February 10 by that

[wheelie2282]

3 minutes ago, that said:

Emerald 321 is an interior stateroom

Yes, I tried to correct the original post but editing is now turned off.

 

We have had many enjoyable cruises with Princess until this one and am surprised at the lack of concern to address the issues.

 

The bathroom would require a few days to rectify as the drainage is wrong, so I suppose they would need to make E321 unavailable for booking while it is fixed.

 

The bang-bang, well for a start a maintenance person should go into the room and have a good look around.

 

The lack of action has made me reluctant to cruise with them again.

 

[that]

 

@wheelie2282

hope your next cruise erases these Memories

 

[wheelie2282]

Thankyou.

 

We are on a short Virgin Voyages cruise in a few days, we are hopeful.

[Teechur]

50 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

What the heck is an "internal balcony room"?

That's the cabin that looks into the engine room. 😄

[dog]

So sorry for that.

I was on Royal in September , booked a BW, and was upgraded to a lovely mid aft BB category.

Guest Services & cabin stewards were very good to us.

 

[startedwithamouse]

A white noise app would have you sleeping in the bed. 

 

We've had rooms in rough seas and heard creaking and banging, it's the movement of the ship. 

 

When it was time to sleep, just cranked up the white noise app.

[boeckli]

36 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

A white noise app would have you sleeping in the bed. 

 

We've had rooms in rough seas and heard creaking and banging, it's the movement of the ship. 

 

When it was time to sleep, just cranked up the white noise app.

 

Curious about white noise app - can you recommend one? 

[wheelie2282]

1 hour ago, startedwithamouse said:

A white noise app would have you sleeping in the bed. 

I have been in many heavy seas, the usual creaking and banging in these conditions was not the issue.

 

The bang-bang was so intense it made the bed vibrate. It was like something hitting the wall that the bedhead was attached to.

 

 

[wheelie2282]

1 hour ago, dog said:

So sorry for that.

I was on Royal in September , booked a BW, and was upgraded to a lovely mid aft BB category.

Guest Services & cabin stewards were very good to us.

 

That is what surprises me.

We were on in it over Christmas, had a balcony room A304. One of the most enjoyable cruises we have had.

[Ombud]

3 hours ago, wheelie2282 said:

We cruised on Royal Princess last December to Fiji and had an accessible balcony room. Had a great time. Unfortunately on this New Zealand cruise all accessible balcony rooms were already booked so we had to settle for an internal balcony room.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! Tell me about Decks 5-7. Sorry the room was so bad

2 hours ago, dog said:

So sorry for that.

I was on Royal in September , booked a BW, and was upgraded to a lovely mid aft BB category.

Guest Services & cabin stewards were very good to us.

How is the Royal otherwise? Boarding for 21 nights in E421. Hoping to be able to stay there .... midship low floor .... and I guess I'm one of the few that like the sensor light.

[dog]

2 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic! Tell me about Decks 5-7. Sorry the room was so bad

How is the Royal otherwise? Boarding for 21 nights in E421. Hoping to be able to stay there .... midship low floor .... and I guess I'm one of the few that like the sensor light.

The Royal was fine in my opinion. Clean, typical of that class of ships. I have been booking the mid BW lately as a few in that range have less obstruction. The upgrade I had on Royal was mid aft BB. I will be on Regal soon in another BW.  Royal - I wrote a review on the Vancouver to Honolulu cruise. For what I paid it was fine.  Loved Crown Grill. Few disappointments with Sabatinis and room service foods.  Had haircut at spa- great- with free voucher.

i’m leaning towards only booking the newest ships now in the Signature Class. We will see.

[Ombud]

14 minutes ago, dog said:

The Royal was fine in my opinion. Clean, typical of that class of ships. I have been booking the mid BW lately as a few in that range have less obstruction. The upgrade I had on Royal was mid aft BB. I will be on Regal soon in another BW.  Royal - I wrote a review on the Vancouver to Honolulu cruise. For what I paid it was fine.  Loved Crown Grill. Few disappointments with Sabatinis and room service foods.  Had haircut at spa- great- with free voucher.

i’m leaning towards only booking the newest ships now in the Signature Class. We will see.

Thanks. I'll look up that review. Yes E403-E433 is not obstructed looking out which is why I picked E421. This will be my longest cruise ever. 2nd only to my B2B

Edited February 10 by Ombud

[wheelie2282]

7 minutes ago, Ombud said:

How is the Royal otherwise? Boarding for 21 nights in E421. Hoping to be able to stay there .... midship low floor .... and I guess I'm one of the few that like the sensor light.

1. No issues at all with the dining room and buffet food.

2. I think the entertainment was not as good as when we were on Royal over Christmas.

3. If not for our room problems I would never had bothered with my initial post here.

4. There was ALOT of coughing on the ship after a few days. Common cold, Flu, RSV, covid, who knows? Without testing it is just conjecture.

5. I like the sensor light, just would like it to come on when it is supposed to. 🙂