Royal Princess- Lack of a Walkable Promenade Deck

Still have the shuffle board on the Prom Deck on Dawn Princess. You can walk right around it without going deck up and then back down.

I wish I hadn't read this post. I went to see the 3 day Regal. Then thought what is it doing before November 6th. I saw the 29 day Grand Maiden Voyage. My heart skipped a beat - stopped for a minute - then flipped a bit. It's the itinerary - my dream cruise followed by another dream of TA. Now I only need to figure out a way.... I've been stupid and never purchased future cruise credits. I will for sure about the Royal (on my first b2b AND platinum cruise (yay)). And I'm going to book this cruise. And then spend the next 6-7 months figuring out how to pay for it.

 

Thanks! I have something new to obsess over.

Congratulations on your new obsession!!! :D And I know all too well the excitement of the first cruise as Platinum because mine also is going to be on Royal Princess for my B2B this December. It might be a little thing but I am soooo looking forward to it! :D :D :D

Have you considered using the treadmills?

On emerald, treadmill use was not allowed before 8:00 AM.

Sort of hard to get any sort of workout before an excursion

that way.

I wish I hadn't read this post. I went to see the 3 day Regal. Then thought what is it doing before November 6th. I saw the 29 day Grand Maiden Voyage. My heart skipped a beat - stopped for a minute - then flipped a bit. It's the itinerary - my dream cruise followed by another dream of TA. Now I only need to figure out a way.... I've been stupid and never purchased future cruise credits. I will for sure about the Royal (on my first b2b AND platinum cruise (yay)). And I'm going to book this cruise. And then spend the next 6-7 months figuring out how to pay for it.

 

Thanks! I have something new to obsess over.

But it is a good and fun obsession! Congrats on your bookings and soon to be Platinum cruise.

On emerald, treadmill use was not allowed before 8:00 AM.

Sort of hard to get any sort of workout before an excursion

that way.

Some excursions are workouts....:D

I want to make something clear. While Princess does in fact look at CC (do they read every post, doubt it), its a low level rep in their customer service team who monitors and reports.

Thus, a post like this pretty much will never be seen by anyone of import at Princess. Even when Rai did his q and a I suspect they were filtered, answered and sent back.

If you want to send an open letter to Princess, send it to Princess. Otherwise you are just preaching to the choir.

I guess everyone has something that's important to them. It's really a shame that the OP won't give it one cruise, get their elite status and then post about how unacceptable things are, if they are. I am getting tired of negative posts from those who haven't even been on the ship, particularly when those who have sailed her, rave about how great it is.[/quote]

 

There's a lot more 2 and 3 star reviews than 4 and 5 star.

I wish I hadn't read this post. I went to see the 3 day Regal. Then thought what is it doing before November 6th. I saw the 29 day Grand Maiden Voyage. My heart skipped a beat - stopped for a minute - then flipped a bit. It's the itinerary - my dream cruise followed by another dream of TA. Now I only need to figure out a way.... I've been stupid and never purchased future cruise credits. I will for sure about the Royal (on my first b2b AND platinum cruise (yay)). And I'm going to book this cruise. And then spend the next 6-7 months figuring out how to pay for it.

 

Thanks! I have something new to obsess over.

LOL, I too wish I hadn't read that as I had to go look and also saw the October TA but we are doing that this October on Royal so doubt we will do it again but the 3 day and following 7 day sounds good:D:D

Hmmmm, hubby did tell me not to make any vacation plans for him for next year due to work... hmmmmm

One of the best Princess cruising things FCC's!!

Call me simple. I want good food, good service, nice pools, comfortable pool and deck chairs, a nice balcony, a promenade deck, some string instruments in the lobby for entertainment and and I am happy. I want to feel like I am on a ship and enjoy the view of the sea as much as possible.

 

All the new features on the Royal that people keep listing, I have no interest in.

I am so with you on this, exactly what I want.

iT`S TIME TO STOP COMPLANING WHAT THE ROYAL DOESN`T HAVE, THE SHIP IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE TO OUR WHIMS. LETS CONCETRATE ON WHAT THEY HAVE & HOW TO IMPROVE IT. FIRST OF ALL IT IS A BEAUTIFUL SHIP WITH MAGNIFICENT PUBLIC AREAS, AREAS THAT NEED IMPROVEMENT ARE THE CABINS IN THE REAR WITH THE SOOT PROBLEM, CLUB 6 ALTHOUGH BEAUTIFUL, NOT PRATICAL, CABINS & PATIOS ARE NOT GOING TO CHANGE SO ACCEPT AS IS, HOPEFULLY I CAN GET A TOWEL TO SHOWER WITH THAT WILL COVER MY BODY, MORE HELP AT EMBARKATION TO DIRECT CRUISERS TO THE RIGHT LINE TO AVOID PROBLEMS. THIS IS MY LIST, I`M SURE YOU CAN ADD SOME MORE.

Oops, missed one problem were concerned about, the open casino, this past oct. We were on carnivals freedom of the seas that has a open casino, this is an older ship & the smell was so bad going near it we had to go up a deck to walk across. Is this going to be the same problem with the royal as it gets older?

I get where the OP is coming from as I too really enjoy the promenade deck for my twice daily walks. We leave in a few days for a week on the Crown(Caribe deck) then a day in FLL and then will do a week on the Royal Princess. I am keeping an open mind and will not complain/comment negatively until i have been on the Royal. There are many things my husband is looking forward to on the Royal. After 13 Princess cruises I feel there will ALWAYS be a Princess ship that I will enjoy(my favourites are the small ones ).

Just my 2 cents worth. All in all we feel very blessed to be able to cruise ANY ship!

Call me simple. I want good food, good service, nice pools, comfortable pool and deck chairs, a nice balcony, a promenade deck, some string instruments in the lobby for entertainment and and I am happy. I want to feel like I am on a ship and enjoy the view of the sea as much as possible.

 

All the new features on the Royal that people keep listing, I have no interest in.

I am so with you on this, exactly what I want.

Count us in ... We found it on the Emerald instead...

The OP shouldn't need to spend $3K plus to get on a ship to find out a feature they don't like isn't there when they know ahead of time that it isn't there.

 

IMO - walking on a treadmill is not the same as walking on a Promenade deck. I can walk on a treadmill back home.

Exactly!!! So we're spending our $3K in a ship that has what we like.

... I am getting tired of negative posts from those who haven't even been on the ship, particularly when those who have sailed her, rave about how great it is.

And the rest of us are tired of folks like you telling us that we have to spend our hard earned $$$ to sail on the Royal/Regal to find out for sure that we still don't like what we don't like and we still like what we like.

You can pay for our Royal cruise ...

In the unlikely event that the sun starts rising in the west, the moon sets in the east, we hate promenading on the promenade, and dislike hanging out at the aft pool ... we'll give you back 150%

An Open Posting to Princess Cruises- The lack of a walkable promenade deck on the Royal Princess will result in us cancelling our scheduled December cruise.

 

As background, my wife and I have been on 14 Princess Cruises over the last 20 years all over the world (Caribbean, Alaska, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Panama, Norway and elsewhere). Regardless of our itinerary, one of the most important things to us to do on every Princess cruise was our daily exercise walks on the covered promenade deck.

 

I was very disappointed to learn that the Royal Princess does not have a walker friendly promenade deck for people like us. I understand that it is cut off in the front and back of the ship and is too narrow in parts to do exercise walks. For us, the jogging trail at the top of the ship does not work due to my wife's sun sensitivity plus it not being the same quiet ambience of a p

 

 

 

 

As a result of this Royal Princess design feature, we will for the first time in years start looking at other cruise lines. We may continuing to go on some of the older Princess Ships, but that fleet is aging. Our hearts are broken over this as we were one cruise away from Elite Status. We were looking forward to the other innovations of the Royal Princess class of ships. However, for us, this promenade issue is a deal breaker as it is a very important part of our cruise we thought would never be taken away.

Thanks, Rebl4, for your posting.

I need and love the promenade deck. A treadmill is not the same. I have tried the treadmills.

Definitely I will only go on ships with promenade decks.

Thanks again. :)

The OP shouldn't need to spend $3K plus to get on a ship to find out a feature they don't like isn't there when they know ahead of time that it isn't there.

 

IMO - walking on a treadmill is not the same as walking on a Promenade deck. I can walk on a treadmill back home.

Well said, Coral. Thanks for your succinct and timely posting. Excellent, as always.

I agree completely. Is it a given that the older ships have wider-better promenade decks? Was just on crown p., and deck is quite narrow, with only

sit-up chairs, no relaxing horizontal deckchairs. Crown p. Does take you up one deck at front of ship when doing promenade.

Mille grazie, for your comments, as this will surely influence any decisions about these newly designed ships,,,,but who listens to us, when designing for maximum passengers and profits???

So now the promenade deck is virtually nonexistent on the premium new builds. HAL, Princess and Celebrity. Such a shame as the premium cruiser is the one who appreciates them the most. Hopefully they will be re-introduced in future new builds.

It’s a shame the premium brands haven’t explored revenue opportunities with this space instead of losing them altogether. I.e. who wouldn’t mind specialty dining (Sabatini’s, Afredos or Share) with alfresco seating. Or a rear bar on level 7 opening out onto the wrap around promenade. I would pay a premium for a Lenai room (currently offered on HAL). In fact I would prefer it than a tiny balcony.

If they put a little thought into it. I'm sure they could come up with a balance which suits the passengers need and the corporate requirement of revenue opportunities. The main stream lines have already ticked that box.

Who knows, the next ship design may surprise us...

I did a cruise on the Royal without the promenade deck and won't do another one. This is part of my cruise experience, walking as close to the water as possible, counting the flying fish, seeing an occasional dolphin. That makes me feel like I am on a ship and on vacation. It is a zen experience for me. I have been running competitively (well, much slower as I aged but so is my everyone else in the 60+ age group) for over 55 years and I HATE 'dreadmills'. I can go an hour on the promenade and feel relaxed but after 5 minutes on the treadmill I can't get my eyes off the panel and those seconds never tick by. Everyone is different and want different things out of their cruises. No promenade is a deal breaker for me. PS. If you are listening Princess, it doesn't have to be a full circle. I will settle for a 3/4 deck like the Emerald where I have to climb stairs or turn around.

Our first experience with the truncated promenade deck was on the Celebrity Eclipse so Royal wasn't a big shocker to us when we cruised her last year. I used the walking track on the upper deck and it worked well for me, but I did go earlier to avoid major sun-issues. Deal-breakers come in many forms for people and its understandable that someone would not book if a favorite amenity is missing, though personally I focus on the itinerary and enjoy whatever the ship offers 'cause it's a CRUISE! :D

We were on the Regal two years ago and the lack of a full promenade really confused us. We missed it. Tried walking the sports track but it wasn't the same and it was windy up there.

To the OP- I hope you find something that suites you. Personally, I'd do a Grand Class cruise just to secure your Elite status. I'll bet you enjoy it so much that you'll be booking another before you know it.

I agree with those who want a promenade deck. One of my favorite parts of cruising is being near the water and it is just not the same on the upper levels. Besides being open to the elements, it seems so much farther from the water. I'm not sure it is a deal breaker for me, depending on the itinerary, but it's pretty close.

So now the promenade deck is virtually nonexistent on the premium new builds. HAL, Princess and Celebrity. Such a shame as the premium cruiser is the one who appreciates them the most. Hopefully they will be re-introduced in future new builds.

 

It’s a shame the premium brands haven’t explored revenue opportunities with this space instead of losing them altogether. I.e. who wouldn’t mind specialty dining (Sabatini’s, Afredos or Share) with alfresco seating. Or a rear bar on level 7 opening out onto the wrap around promenade. I would pay a premium for a Lenai room (currently offered on HAL). In fact I would prefer it than a tiny balcony.

 

If they put a little thought into it. I'm sure they could come up with a balance which suits the passengers need and the corporate requirement of revenue opportunities. The main stream lines have already ticked that box.

Its not about the passenger anymore, its about the $$$. :(

I agree with those who want a promenade deck. One of my favorite parts of cruising is being near the water and it is just not the same on the upper levels. Besides being open to the elements, it seems so much farther from the water. I'm not sure it is a deal breaker for me, depending on the itinerary, but it's pretty close.

Pretty much the same for me also...