Royal Princess - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

[Jean C]

Here's my review of the Royal Princess, for what it's worth -

 

The Good 

 

It's a lovely ship and in good condition overall. We didn't find it too big, our cabin is always in the forward section so we regularly walk the length of the ship for food - always back and forth on Lido deck or via the atrium, never along the never ending cabin corridors. Real Mccoy porcelain crockery in the buffet.

 

The Bad 

Not too bad as such as we're enjoying the cruise as per usual, but some things are worth noting.

 

Cabin 

Balcony cabin, what's not to like. Good condition, shower a tad bigger than on other ships, should suit most people. Hand held shower wand. Annoying pop, pop, pop sound for a while from vanity sink waste trap, it eventually settles.

 

Sensor lights - frustratingly annoying. The ceiling light outside the bathroom door in the wardrobe area works on a sensor day and night. At night, if you visit the bathroom, it floods too much light into the cabin, disturbing the other passenger. We always leave the bathroom light on which gives us enough light to find our way around, so at night we would put a bit of masking tape over the sensor. It worked a treat.

 

There are under-cabinet sensor lights on each side of the bed. Mine kept going on randomly when we'd settled for the night. Keith, who is more agile than me, took the bottom drawer out, clambered down to floor level, and disconnected the plug from the back inside of the cabinet. To be fair, on later reflection, it could have been the 2nd pillow that I'd placed on the floor, relaxing and settling and moving of its own accord enough to set off the sensor.

 

The TV also has a white flickering light behind it, something to do with internet communicating with the TV, even when it's switched off. It was annoying in the dark the first night but we got used to it.

 

Food

I'm easily pleased if I haven't done the cooking myself, however ...

 

Buffet - good selection but very repetitive. For breakfast I'm a granola girl, they excelled there. Pastries etc I'm ho-hum about, good selection but nothing excited me to indulge in the calories. Lunch, again good selection for everyone, but it felt a bit repetitive day after day. Broke up the monotony with pizza by the slice - outstanding, a must try, and sandwiches from the International Cafe. 

 

The Buffet has, for want of a better term, an interesting layout. The port side is a mirror image of the starboard side, with multiple aisles running between them. You know how you often see kids that have lost their parents in supermarket aisles? you'll get to re-experience that feeling! By the time you wander down one aisle, along another, backtrack to something you saw earlier, you may as well have been spun around three times with a blindfold on, it's easy to get disoriented, in fact even today a little Asian lady with a walking stick and a staff member carrying her food, was clearly lost. I make a mental note of what side we are sitting on each time, port is our preference but starboard if the sun's coming in.

 

The food is also arranged in an illogical, to me anyway, way. I get my granola, I have to go to the beginning of the line for milk, then to where the hot food is for canned style peaches and apricots. At lunch, I get a brioche bun, backtrack for butter, I like the tuna mush stuff, but then I have to go on a hunt for lettuce and tomato. Cucumber is at another station altogether. By this time I'm thinking, okay, our table's on Port side and this, or that's, the front of the ship - woohoo, I'm not lost, I think I can find my way back to our table.

 

Buffet coffee is actually okay. Staff come by with pots of the stuff and I find it drinkable. One day I made my own and it was disgusting, so dunno why the difference 🤷‍♀️ 

 

MDR 

Food pleasant enough but no wow factor in either mains or desserts.  See my section on food failures further down.

 

Pool deck pizza by the slice  🍕 

Outstanding.

 

International Cafe

Good +.

 

Food failures 

Keith had porridge for breakfast this morning. It wasn't hot, he said if we were in prison, there would be a riot.

 

Our first sirloin steak in the MDR (medium) was so tough you felt like you'd had a workout just cutting into it. To be fair, other steaks we had later were good.

 

For dessert one day I chose Peach Flambe 🔥, and I see it's on the menu again tonight.  It was canned style sliced peaches in a syrup with slightly more flavor than the syrup from a can of Woolworths peaches, together with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Very underwhelming and disappointing.

 

Crumbled sole. We both had this last night, the two pieces of fish were each just slightly bigger than a chicken nugget - no exaggeration. We could see the same dish served to other guests on nearby tables with much bigger, normal sized, pieces of fish. Ours should never have been allowed out of the kitchen, it was so small. We also noticed with other meals a marked inconsistency in sizes of servings.

 

Otherwise, food was okay, pleasant enough but nothing to rave about. A couple of dishes I thought to myself, if I'd paid for this in a restaurant, I'd complain. Hang on a  minute, who did pay for this? 

 

Other 

Our cruise summary said three formal nights. We've had two, the third is two days after we disembark in Auckland, and that one's lobster night. Maybe they'll Uber our meals to us? If they say 3 nights - get it right, it's not that hard.

 

There are a lot of NZ and Canadians on board, as well as other nationalities (embarkation from Vancouver, LA and Honolulu, disembarkation at Honolulu, Auckland and Sydney). The entertainers and cruise director only seem to dwell on the Yanks and Aussies, Kiwis and Canadians barely get a mention, you'd think we didn't exist (and I don't have an inferiority complex).

 

Theatre 

The theatre gets busy, you need to be there at least half an hour before the first show starts for the better seats. We've had a lot of singers as entertainers, only one has been outstanding, he was billed as an instrumentalist and I almost didn't go, thinking it was just music 🎶.  But he sang popular songs well with energy and enthusiasm and was amazing and flamboyant on the piano, he's been the best show so far. The others have been a bit average, pleasant enough but nothing to write home about. A New York comedian spoke so fast he was hard to follow and some people left before the end.

 

Staff 

As always, the staff are amazing. Our delightfully friendly and meticulous cabin steward (although I'm monitoring whether or not our sheets will ever get changed - the top sheet on my side drags on the floor, a trip hazard if they're into H&S, while Keith's barely tucks in, and it's been like that for days and days. My top sheet also has a small blood smear (mine), so I'll know for sure if and when its changed). 

 

Our waiters are both delightful too.

 

The grumpiest staff we've come across are the two guys in the International Cafe, language may be their problem, otherwise everyone is sweet, helpful and pleasant.

 

The Cruise Director is delightful and great at his job, he hits just the right note, enthusiastic and humorous but not over the top.

 

The Ugly 

We have a lovely standard balcony. I noticed that there was little to no rust to be seen, best on any ship I've been on. One day they came through and repainted the ceiling and wall. Now we have paint smears on the decking floor and all over the black rubber on either side of the privacy dividers.  It looks a mess. Maybe they pay peanuts and get 🙊?

 

Conclusion 

Still a very good, enjoyable cruise. I accept that standards aren't what they used to be. As regards the MDR, maybe the standard will improve when one chef finishes his tour of duty and another takes over? 

 

Same, I suppose, as regards hit and miss with the entertainers?

 

I'd still definitely cruise again, but as always, at the right price.

 

For Aussie and Kiwi pie lovers, lentil pie is on offer every day - hopefully they Aussie-fy their offering for the Down Under season 🥧 

 

PS, medallion. Check your folio accounts as wrong charges still appear, I was charged for a Mai Tai from the pool bar. Now, that's something I would drink, but it wasn't mine. Happily removed from my account, but why they don't make people tap their medallion for purchases, I don't know, it would save that hassle.

 

One night Keith and I sat in the spa pool, with our towels and medallions on a chair a bit further away. A drinks waiter came along and asked if we'd like a drink, we said no thank you. As he walked away, I said to Keith that we'd missed an opportunity there, we could have given any cabin number - I dunno if that would have worked, I'm too honest to give it a try, but it could be a weakness in their system?

 

Cheers all.   If you're asleep by now, I fully understand, hehehe 🤣

 

 

 

[Ozwoody]

Thanks Jean, a very enjoyable and informative read.

 

regards

John

 

[boeckli]

Thank you for your summary. Read with interest as I'll be on Royal in December 😃

[Jean C]

No Aussie power outlets in cabin, yet, and no sign of any USB ports, unless they're well hidden - and I know what a USB port looks like! Nothing on lightstand base. Can't upload images, unknown server error. Will post images from home, after 22nd.

[boeckli]

2 minutes ago, Jean C said:

No Aussie power outlets in cabin, yet, and no sign of any USB ports, unless they're well hidden - and I know what a USB port looks like! Nothing on lightstand base. Can't upload images, unknown server error. Will post images from home, after 22nd.

 

Any 220V outlets (for European style plugs I would assume)? 

[Jean C]

4 minutes ago, boeckli said:

 

Any 220V outlets (for European style plugs I would assume)? 

Yip, one Euro outlet by the desk, although I’ve read elsewhere that there's also always a Euro outlet under the bed, for those agile enough to go looking. Those with their fingers on the pulse fully expect an Aussie outlet to be installed at some stage for the Aus season, so keep an eye out for any further information from others 🙂

 

PS, being a tight-wad and for necessity only as we're skipping a port where I'd booked a private tour, I invested US15 in 24 hours of internet, so that's why I'm on line now. After 3pm our time (2pm NZ time so whatever that is is Aus and elsewhere), I'll be off line again and won't see any posts until after I rescue and beg forgiveness of my kitty cat on the 22nd - he has to be my priority, I'm dreading his reception 🥴

[arxcards]

25 minutes ago, Jean C said:

No Aussie power outlets in cabin, yet, and no sign of any USB ports, unless they're well hidden - and I know what a USB port looks like! Nothing on lightstand base. Can't upload images, unknown server error. Will post images from home, after 22nd.

Cruise Critic has announced a glitch with attaching images.

[CDaze71]

Thank you Jean for your review. Can't wait for my 7th December Royal cruise. Another quick request if I may please. 

Could you please ask the pool deck pizza staff if they would do a pizza WITHOUT CHEESE? Daughter loves pizzas but on land we always request no cheese and it's not a problem. This would make her very happy if she knew she could ask for this. Thanks again. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 minute ago, CDaze71 said:

Thank you Jean for your review. Can't wait for my 7th December Royal cruise. Another quick request if I may please. 

Could you please ask the pool deck pizza staff if they would do a pizza WITHOUT CHEESE? Daughter loves pizzas but on land we always request no cheese and it's not a problem. This would make her very happy if she knew she could ask for this. Thanks again. 

They probably can, Cilla. I noticed a small pizza being made to order on Coral a couple of times during our world cruise, presumably for someone with a dietary intolerance. 

[Jean C]

Bathrobes

 

We had two bathrobes in our wardrobe. Neither of us are big people, Keith is athletic and a slim Jim. The robes were so small that neither of us could decently do them up! The fronts just met but as soon as you moved you became indecent. We asked if they could be changed, the next lot were much better quality but huge - the belt loops come under my backside and my toes just about poke out from the bottom. But they're cosy and decent. We thought it odd that they had such small sizes initially, given the size of most on board 🤣

[CountessCookie]

1 hour ago, Jean C said:

Yip, one Euro outlet by the desk, although I’ve read elsewhere that there's also always a Euro outlet under the bed, for those agile enough to go looking. Those with their fingers on the pulse fully expect an Aussie outlet to be installed at some stage for the Aus season, so keep an eye out for any further information from others 🙂

 

PS, being a tight-wad and for necessity only as we're skipping a port where I'd booked a private tour, I invested US15 in 24 hours of internet, so that's why I'm on line now. After 3pm our time (2pm NZ time so whatever that is is Aus and elsewhere), I'll be off line again and won't see any posts until after I rescue and beg forgiveness of my kitty cat on the 22nd - he has to be my priority, I'm dreading his reception 🥴

Thank you for using your limited internet to update us. I prey kitty is quick to forgive you. Mine gave me the cold shoulder for over a week, last time I went away.

Edited 31 minutes ago by CountessCookie