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Royal Princess Transatlantic & Mediterranean Cruise – April 18 – May 17 Day by Day


GweninTX
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This will be an attempt at a day by day on the Royal Princessas we make our way across the Atlantic to Greece. If you have specific questions bout the Royal Princess I will attempt to answer them. I hope this helps you out as I have learned so much from others who have done a daily blog!!

 

 

A little something about us,we are from North TX, married 45 years and are both happily retired. I took early retirement fromAT&T and my husband was a mfg. engineer for Emerson Electric, retired at 62and then worked as a part time contractor for 5 years till I could retire. Weare now cruising our life away, one cruise at a time!

 

We flew from DFW on 4/17 on a 10:30 Am flight and it was ontime and uneventful. We landed in Ft. Lauderdale at 2:15 and our luggage cameout quickly. We were on a Lyft to our hotel, the Embassy Suites on 17thstreet quickly. When we got there our room was not ready, but the cheerfullystowed our luggage and I walked over to the Publix for wine and Pepsi’s. Thiswas a first time for us at this property and I love how convenient everythingis. Publix is right next door behind the hotel. In this shopping center are amyriad of shops. There was a nice nail salon and a Massage envy if you hadplenty of time and the desire for these before a cruise. We do not have Publixin TX, but I would equate it with a Kroger or a Tom Thumb Marketplace. It wasvery nice and you could buy most anything you could possibly need for yourcruise. Nice selection of wine and I skipped even going to Total Wine (alsoclose by) as my favorite brand was here and cheap! We had not eaten lunch so Ipicked up a very nice premade sandwich in the deli area for $4. We split that afterI returned as our Cruise Critic roll call was meeting across the street atOutback for dinner and I knew we needed to save room! There were several other nice lookingrestaurants very close to the Embassy suites.

 

Our room was ready at 4:00 pm as promised. I had requested aroom with a view of the port on a high floor as I wanted to be able to walk outon the small balcony and take pictures. I was delighted with our room. I hadread a thread recently on CC disparaging this property as old and outdated.Well I guess my standards are not the same as others as I found our room perfect.The mattress was a nice pillow top that was really comfy. I loved having theliving room separate from the bedroom as I am an early riser and could let myhubby sleep. We are Hilton Diamond and had a Keurig in the room and we enjoyedthat a lot. At 5:30 we went down for the free reception. We were not interestedin food, but were ready for a margarita to toast our vacation. They did have potatochips, assorted veggies, dip, pretzels, chex mix and freshly popped popcorn. Ihad read the drinks were watered down, but being a Texan, I have high standardsfor a margarita and this one was really good and had a good kick to it. We hadour 2 free drinks apiece outside by the outdoor pool. It was a beautiful dayand we enjoyed it. We went to the Outback at 6:00 to meet our group. We hadabout 24 people and it was fun to see friends we had cruised with before andmake new ones. Food was good and they put tables together for us. We went backto the hotel and went to bed fairly early as we were pooped from traveling.

 

4/19/17 – Embarkation Day

 

We woke up about 7:15 and got ready for breakfast. Again, Ihad read horror stories of the free breakfast, but I found it to be well laidout and the cook was efficient in getting omelets and cooked to order eggs outquickly. There was lots of fresh fruit and a bar with a toaster for bagels,bread and English muffins. Coffee and juice were plentiful and I could findnothing to gripe about! We went at 8:00 which was probably the busiest time ofall, but had no problems finding a table or getting our food. Score!

 

We decided a Lyft would be the easiest way to get to theport. I am so glad we did as the lobby looked like a war zone when we went downat 10:30. They had a shuttle you could purchase, but our Lyft ride literallycame in ONE minute, picked us up and it cost me $5.36 (I did have 10% off as apromo for weekday rides) – but really, this is the way to go to the port. Theport was a MADHOUSE! I really hate Ft Lauderdale as they do not put upstanchions to clearly delineate which line is which – Main VS Priority. Plus,there a 2900 Platinums & Elites on this cruise, so we actually got put inthe Main line later as it was moving faster – LOL. We got inside about 11:25 toget our cabin keys and that was efficient and well run. Why can’t they run theoutside like they run the inside?????? We were then taken to the line to get onthe ship directly, we did not have to sit down at all. We were on the ship at12:00 PM and eating lunch in the Concerto dining room at 12:15 pm.

 

The dining room on the Royal has a “special” limited menufor embarkation day lunch. We were just off the Island in February and it had atotally different menu. The menu on the Royal had 2 appetizers – Fettucine Alfredoand a Seafood medley (crawfish and smoked salmon with a small spoonful of onionrelish). Main dish choices were Trout Almondine or Beef tenderloin – both withmixed veggies. Dessert was chocolate Souffle (take it or leave it). The troutwas excellent and others at our table said the beef was excellent. So much morecivilized than the buffet and it is our tradition to eat in the dining room onembarkation day if available. You could also eat in Alfredos, the buffet, pizzaand hamburger/hot dog place.

 

We went back to the room and our luggage was outside ourdoor. We unpacked everything and I found our inside cabin, R725 to haveadequate storage and tons of hangers. Muster drill was at 3:15 and was overquickly. We went outside and watched sail away afterwards and I still get athrill when I hear the horn play “The Love Boat theme”. We had been on herbefore when we did a Transatlantic and the Baltic, but it still makes me smileto hear it play!

 

We have traditional early dining at 5:30 PM – when youreserve it you think it will be 6:00 pm, but we have found they always changeit to an earlier time. We are in the Allegro at the rear of the ship on deck 6.We have a beautiful table for 4 with a view of the ocean. Good friends at ourtable that we have cruised with before and the food was very good. It was thetraditional embarkation dinner with prime rib as the star. It was very tender.I did not have any dessert, but DH said the cheesecake was excellent and Sheilagave a thumb up to the crème brulee!

 

After dinner, we went to the casino for a short time. I hadabout given up on three card poker, but I luckily hit a straight flush, so I amup almost $300. I also played the slots later and accidentally hit the $3 beton the machine with my charm bracelet and made $85 on that one spin. I decidedI had used up all my luck and we left for the Princess theater for the allaboard show. We got to see a great production number, meet the cruise staff andsee a juggler/comedian. It was a good show and we were pooped and headed to bedafterward.

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Following along...am looking at the Royal for next summer. I would have to do interior cabins so any information you can provide about your cabin would be greatly appreciated! Also how it is being in the aft (any vibration, etc.). Thank you and enjoy your voyage!

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We have sailed numerous times from Port Everglades.

It can be a very busy place especially when there are a number of ships in port.

The question about why the outside of the embarkation pier is not run as efficiently as the inside is one,I think, of jjurisdiction.

The outside is managed by the Port Authority and the inside is managed by Princess or whatever cruise line is using the terminal to process passengers. Each entity has differing levels of ability for crowd control.

It has been suggested to arrive after 12:00 to avoid the crush of passengers ready to board. However,we always seem to arrive between 10:30 and 11:00 .

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Sounds like a great start to your TA! Thanks for posting a live.

 

Could you please post the names of the officers/crew listed on the front of the embarkation day Patter?

 

Thanks!

Nick Nash - Captain

Paolo Ansaldi - Staff Captain

Fabio Bracelli - Chief Engineer

Michael Prasse - Hotel GM

Ron Goodman - Cruise director

Dr. Dylan Belton - MD

Sando Morello - CS Director

Domenico Rigato - Food & Bev Director

Alessio Congui - Staff Engr.

Alessio Leo = Chief Electrical Officer

Mihai Barzila - Exec Housekeeping

Giovanni Sisto - Exec chef

Silvio Zampieri - Maitre d'hotel

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4/20/17- Sea Day

 

Today is our first full sea day. I woke up early as a FULLgallon f water fell off our desk at 5:30 AM. We had a rocky night and I guessthe vibration and movement caused it to move closer and closer to the edge tillit toppled over. THAT will wake you up! Since I was wide awake I was out on thewalking track at 6:15. The walking track is on deck 18 and you walk 7 laps fora mile! It was soooooo windy – we were sailing straight into the wind. So, onone side of the ship I was jogging with a strong tailwind and the other I hadto power walk to even make any headway. The high for today will be 68. It isovercast early, but cleared later to a beautiful sunny day.

 

Our Cruise Critic meet & greet is this morning at 10:00PM. We had it in the Vista Lounge as we had 300 people attend. We had a hugeshowing from the crew. Almost all officers except for the Captain showed up (hewas in a meeting or would have been there). It was nice putting faces withscreen names and we enjoyed it. Afterwards I went to an enrichment lecture on “Gettingall the sleep you need”. Our lecturer was Jeffrey Davidson. It was ok. Thismorning you could also go to bible study, clay pigeon simulator shooting, GoProseminar, morning movie, “Big Fish”, shuffleboard, a fruit & veggie carving,2 trivias and so many Effy & spa seminars I cant list them all! Zumbais held twice a day – 9:00 AM and 4:00pmand they have 4 trained staff members to teach. It is held on Deck 18 on theBasketball Court. I went at 4:00 and there were about 75 people there.

 

In the afternoon we played Hand & Foot canasta with 7other couples from our roll call. We had a great time. You also could choosefrom line dancing, bar flair show, Princess Pop choir, batting cage, scavengerhunt, Wet & Wild pool games, arts & crafts box making, golf putting,Balloon & can target practice and 2 afternoon movies – 20thCentury Woman & Now You See Me 2. A word about the movies on the Royal – weLOVE LOVE the TV”s on the Royal & Regal as they have so much to watch. Theywill spoil you for all the other ships as they have an “On Demand” feature thatallows you to see at least a hundred different movies any time you want. And ifyou stop one before it is over, it will pick up exactly where you left off!Once a movie plays either on MUTS or in the Princess theater they add it to theTV. I would say anything you see at Redbox is available on our TV in ourstateroom.

 

Somebody asked about our interior cabin. It is fine! We hada balcony the last time we were on the Royal. We have new bedding and thefabulous pillows. I asked for a foam one as I do not like squishy featherpillows and my room steward brought me one immediately. A note about oursteward – he is amazing! I knew we would get a good one as we are on theRiviera deck at the back and those are HIGH dollar suites and get the BESTstewards! He is from the Philippines and speaks fluent English. He brings icetwice a day as he must replenish the suites, so he does ours too. I told him hedid not have to, but he still does. The layout of the room is a littledifferent than other ships. I wish the desk drawers were right next to me, butinstead the refrigerator is right next to me and then the drawers. There is oneextra drawer that houses the hair dryer. A side note – I tried the dryer and itstill is pitiful. If you have thick hair or long hair – bring your own. Plus,holding the button down is a pain. I gave up quickly and used my own. The bed has a table with a lamp on each side.Refrigerator keeps wine cold (that is the most important thing you use it for right?) Standard clotheshanging area with lots of hangers. The cubby holes on the wall are not as wideas other ships (I use packing cubes and that is how I know – several packingcubes were wider than the cubby hole) Bathroom has shelves on one side. Thereis a large deep rectangular farm type sink that is nice for rinsing out yourunmentionables. I also adore the step in the shower for shaving my legs. Plentyof hot water. If you have any other specific questions on inside rooms, askaway! Walls are magnetic, so you can bring clips to hang up invitations, maps,etc.

 

Lunch was in the Horizon court. There are 2 sections – the mainHC and the Bistro area that has all the desserts and a coffee bar for lattesand the like. At lunch they have a totally different choice to eat than the HC.Today they had Mexican – we are from TX so I did not hold out a lot of hope,but it actually was decent. I made a small taco salad with decent guacamole ontop. They made refried beans out of black beans that were exceptionally good.The HC is so well laid out that you never have any lines. We are eatingbreakfast and lunch here daily. I checked out the pizza and it was veggie so Iskipped it. DH boycotts the pizzeria as they do not make sausage pizza – a travestyin his mind! They always have cheese & pepperoni.

 

Dinner in the dining room was very good. I had Curtis Stonepork belly, DH had oxtail pasta and tablemates had Pad Thai and Surf &Turf. I requested asparagus as an extra side and it was wonderful Our serversaid I could have it every night if I wanted and I may take him up on it!Dessert was nothing I wanted so I passed. DH got his usual ice cream and othershad apple rolls. I went to the IC later that evening and found my favorite dessertin the IC – Chocolate Peanut butter cups – OMG – If you like those two flavorssave room for one! They are tiny servings as they are super rich!

 

After dinner we donated in the casino and watched our goodfriend WIN at the Yes/No game. Actually 4 people won – the most I have everseen win before. Tonight was country/western night. The performer in thePrincess Theater was a vocalist, Sonia Selbie. MUTS showed Hidden Figures (anAMAZING movie!). Joey Yates was in Crooners. The house band is Tempo Quatro – averageat best.

 

We have found the nicest area at the back of deck 16 that weare using as our own personal balcony (we are on 14) At the very back of theship there is a bar and the comfiest leather sofas to sit and watch the wake ofthe ship. I love the wake area and we take our iPads out here to read.

 

 

We were told we would start losing an hour a day startingtomorrow. Tomorrow is another sea day so stay tuned.

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4/22/17 – Sea Day

 

I am exhausted! I must have woken up atleast a dozen times last night. We even slept till 8:30 AM which is totallyunlike us. I am hoping that these calmer seas last. We are just swaying backand forth now, but during the middle of the night it was loud and bumpy. We areat the back of deck 14 and it has been very quiet back there other than last night.No vibrations and very quiet neighbors. It is a little cooler today and I doubt if wehit 65 degrees. Because of Irene we have cloudy skies.

 

We went to the HC for breakfast and it wasgreat as always. Our CC slot pull was at10:30 and I was one of the ones in charge. We had a great time – there were 16people and after we got a machine that worked (first one locked up) We played 3rounds and decided to stop while we were ahead – so everyone got their initial$15 back PLUS $4.00! Score! The Casino host donated some shirts and ball capsand we gave those to the ones who won the most!

 

Other choices for this morning are Zumba, 2trivia’s, clay pigeon shooting, morning movie – Mama Mia, port lecture onGibraltar and the Maitre d’Wine Club at 11:15 AM. We lost our hour again at lunchtime,so we skipped right to 1:00 and we went to the Symphony dining room to playhand & foot canasta. Princess supplies cards, board games and mahjong gamesevery sea day in this dining room. This makes a great place to meet yourfriends and have a nice place to play.

 

Other choices for the afternoon includedline dancing, $500 Blackjack tournament, veterans get together, bar flair show,bingo, napkin folding, afternoon movie – Jurrasic World, flash mob dance class,train & model enthusiasts, and various spa & Effy event

 

We dressed for dinner and met our tablemates in the dining room. A note about Anytime dining – I am not trying to be “DebbieDowner” --- BUT the lines have been enormous for people trying to get intoanytime dining! I am not sure if it is because of club class dining, but we sawthe same thing happen on the Island when we were on it for 15 days in Februaryof this year. I saw this huge line snaking around the deck and wondered whateveryone was in line for so I asked and they were all waiting to eat. Not good!Our meal was excellent, I had the strip steak and DH had a seafood casserole.Table mates had the Chicken & Leek pot pie and rockfish. Dessert was DutchApple pie with ice cream – Yum!

 

After dinner, we went to the Princesstheater and saw a piano player, Joey Yates. His show was titled “Tickle theIvories” and he was a talented piano player. You also could have watched RogueOne on MUTS, Animal Planet trivia, the Checkerboard Guy was in the Vista loungewith 3 shows, Name that Broadway Tune, and various Effy events.

 

 

Tomorrow is another sea day. We will be doingthe winemakers dinner tomorrow night with 5 couples from our roll call, so Iwill post about it too!

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4/22/17 – Sea Day

.........

A note about Anytime dining – I am not trying to be “DebbieDowner” --- BUT the lines have been enormous for people trying to get into anytime dining! I am not sure if it is because of club class dining, but we saw the same thing happen on the Island when we were on it for 15 days in February of this year. I saw this huge line snaking around the deck and wondered what everyone was in line for so I asked and they were all waiting to eat. Not good!

 

What time are you targeting dinner?

 

On our last Royal the lines were there especially if you eat early(but not super early).

They had one room, V early fixed, then anytime, when we checked that often shorter/no line.

If both a bit busy just went a bit later when they had gone.

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Thanks for the live thread, hope you are enjoying your cruise! I'm boarding the Royal in October for the TA cruise back to Florida! I've been on the Regal but not the Royal, can't wait!

 

You will feel right at home! Regal is her twin sis! You will have a blast! Bring a light sweater for outside and cool theaters!

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What time are you targeting dinner?

 

On our last Royal the lines were there especially if you eat early(but not super early).

They had one room, V early fixed, then anytime, when we checked that often shorter/no line.

If both a bit busy just went a bit later when they had gone.

 

We are doing traditional dining so it has not affected us, just have heard from those doing anytime!

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