Royal Princess

[MisVic]

My husband and I are sailing on the Royal Princess January 10 on the trip around South America. Can anyone describe the amenities on board. I assume there is a hairdryer in the bathroom. Anything anyone particularly likes or dislikes. We are really excited about this voyage.

 

Vicky

[Sunviking]

We did the Royal Princess Santiago to Buenos Aires this past January. I don't remember there being a hairdryer in the cabin. The ship is much smaller than the newer Princess ships but we had a great time. The scenery and ports were spectacular. I'm sure you will enjoy yourselves.

 

Ann

[rkacruiser]

I, too, don't remember whether there is a hairdryer in the cabin or not. Make a call to Princess' Ship Services and they should be able to answer that question accurately.

 

I particularly enjoyed the Horizon Lounge for "Happy Hour". Great bartender and stewards along with a lovely view.

 

I also thought the menus offered in the Dining Room were excellent to very good. Choices for dinner sounded good(and tasted good, too) and, often, it was difficult to decide what to order. Service was excellent; wine selection also was very good. If Rui is the Maitre d', you will find that he runs an excellent dining room!

 

The only real disappointment was the Lido Cafe. Very "cafeteria-like" in style, very crowded at prime meal times, and too often food was not at the proper temperature. Crew there were like the crew everywhere else on the ship: Very pleasant.

 

Royal Princess is an extremely easy ship to get around. You will enjoy her, I think.

[katisdale]

The hair dryer in our cabin was at the vanity not in the bathroom. Actually this worked out well as DH could shower, shave etc. in the bathroom while I dried my hair. The rooms have a small color TV, mini-refrigerator, lots of closet space and a tub in all bathrooms. All rooms are outside. We had an obstructed view (lowest category) and had a decent view around a tender. On our cruise a part of the horizon court was set up each PM as a Sterlings with excellent steaks. There is no Sabitini's and only traditional dining is used as there is only one dining room. The food was great. We had early seating with great tablemates at a table for 6. There are a few tables for two if that is what you are looking for. We even liked the food in the buffet where we usually had breakfast and lunch. Most days there was a pasta station at lunch with very good freshly prepared selections as well as traditional buffet selections and salads. Ours was a port intensive cruise (only 2 sea days out of 12) but there was always something to do on the ship. We enjoyed the movies, comedians, trivia games, and computer classes.

[jwitt2]

I did this itinerary on RP about 6 years ago. It was a wonderful trip. We had port lectures and enrichment lectures which really prepared us for what we were seeing. The scenery is fantastic. Shore excursions were wonderful. We loved the ship, went again on the Amazon cruise several years ago. We are also booked for the final cruise from Rome to Southhampton in May. So sorry to see her leaving. We like the smaller ships and as they told us last time we were on her, the Royal Princess is the flag ship of the line. Many passengers are repeaters.

[RuffinReady]

We did two 32 day cruises on the Royal. In Nov. 2001 we went from Ft. Lauderdale to Varipriso. You will enjoy the Penguins, we saw them on the Faulkland Islands where they have more sheep than people. If you have the chance, go to one of the best Tango Shows in Buenos Aires. It was one of the highlights of our trip. Another great memory was the visit to Cape Horn. It was spectacular, with the ship tossing on the waves which collide where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet. It will be only a brief while, but be sure to hold on to something or better yet go upstairs and get a chair and look out from the crows nest. Our second 32 day cruise in 2002 was also from Ft. Lauderdale, transatlantic to England then to France, Belgium, Holland and around Gt. Britain twice.The Royal was our favorite ship and we are sorry to see her go.

 

Ruffin

 

Bahama Star (long time ago!)

S.S. France (Transatlantic -1965)

S.S Atlantic (Transatlantic, Mediterranean - American Export Lines - 1966)

Europa (Caribbean - 1969 - North German Lloyd)

Statendam (Caribbean - 1975)

Sunward (Bahamas - c. 1980)

Song of America (Caribbean - 1988)

Crown Princess (Alaska - 1999)

Crown Princess (Baltic - 2001)

Royal Princess (B2B to South America - 2001)

Royal Princess (B2B2B; Transatlantic, France, Belgium, Holland; Gt.Britain-2002)

Galaxy (Caribbean - 2003)

 

Prinsendam (B2B; Transatlantic NYC to Athens – May 2005)

[kennicott]

We just got off the Royal at Cape Town on the 17th. Excellent cruise. I'm amazed at how well Princess has maintained the ship. She goes over to P&O next season. All total we have cruised on her for about 3 months total. I thought the staterooms were quite comfortable compared to other ships. Only time we have ever had a bathtub. Yes hairdryers are in each room. Only ship with all outside staterooms. Lots of public deck space, which probably makes her inefficient from a moneymaking standpoint as all the outside area isn't taken up by private balconies. Teak decks really well maintained. For dinner you have three choices. The dining room (traditional only), the dinner buffet, the pizzeria, the Sterling Steakhouse ($15. per head charge) or from 10:30 PM to 2:AM the Bistro.

[RSteele]

We love the Royal...say "hell-o" to Alan and Alana. They entertain nightly in the foyer area. We became friends because our daughter worked on the ship for a couple of contracts...have tried to talk them into coming on the Grand out of Galveston so we could see them more often. Trixie, the ship's excursion officer is also one of the nicest people we've met...works hard to get things right! Tell her hell-o also from the Steele's.