Just off the Royal Princess Baltic Adventure - Ask any questions you have

Hello all,

We disembarked the Royal Princess early this morning after an exceptional 11 day Baltic Cruise. The ship was fantastic and we had a really good time. We were in FORWARD FACING premium mini-suite with a balcony that wrapped from the side of the ship to the front of the ship on Lido Deck. If you have a deck map, the cabin number was L107. We ate in MDR three times, Horizon Bistro (three times for dinner, twice for lunch, and every morning for breakfast), twice in Crown Grill, and like 5 times at Alfredo's

The Excellent:

1. Crown Grill - we ate there twice, and it did not disappoint.

2. Alfredo's - we actually ate there several times, and really enjoyed it

3. our Mini Suite - large room with 2 40" screens and lots of storage space

4. Horizon Bistro for breakfast

The OK:

1. Horizon Bistro for Dinner - it was hit or miss....most of the times miss

2. Horizon bistro for lunch - again....hit or miss

Now lets talk about the wrap around the front balcony. It was HUGE, and had two lounge chairs fully extended along with a table with 4 chairs. When we were in port it was awesome to use once we returned from excursions, and catch a brief sailaway. AT NO TIME WERE WE PREVENTED FROM USING THE BALCONY as some have said with the forward facing balconies by crew / staff / locked door / etc. THAT BEING SAID....when the ship was underway, it was so windy up front that the balcony is basically useless...and when I say windy, I mean WINDY!!!!! On the last sea day, the ship was moving like 19 knots into a 45 knot wind giving us about 66 knots of wind blowing on the front of the ship. Try enjoying that.... The only time the balcony is useable is if the wind is blowing from the rear of the ship and the ship is moving or in port. There was a spinning wind thingy on the extended balcony below me, so all I had to do was look out the window, and that would determine if we could go out on the balcony.

Ok....enough with that. If you have any questions about the Royal Princess, please ask them. I will answer if I can. We are spending an extra day and a half in London right now, so it may take a few hours before I answer....so ask away if you want.

Thanks for the comments.

Thanks so much for your review. We have M107 next April on a TA to Southampton from Fort Lauderdale and we are so excited to have the extended balcony. If you know, I understand the couch may not be a sofa bed and is smaller than the ones in the minisuite.

I look forward to reading more after your London trip. We are also staying for 2 nights after the cruise.

Thanks for the report!

Glad you enjoyed your cruise and the Regal. Thanks for all the balcony info. We have L104 in March on the Royal.

Cheers, Denise

Now lets talk about the wrap around the front balcony. It was HUGE, and had two lounge chairs fully extended along with a table with 4 chairs. When we were in port it was awesome to use once we returned from excursions, and catch a brief sailaway. AT NO TIME WERE WE PREVENTED FROM USING THE BALCONY as some have said with the forward facing balconies by crew / staff / locked door / etc. THAT BEING SAID....when the ship was underway, it was so windy up front that the balcony is basically useless...and when I say windy, I mean WINDY!!!!! On the last sea day, the ship was moving like 19 knots into a 45 knot wind giving us about 66 knots of wind blowing on the front of the ship. Try enjoying that.... The only time the balcony is useable is if the wind is blowing from the rear of the ship and the ship is moving or in port. There was a spinning wind thingy on the extended balcony below me, so all I had to do was look out the window, and that would determine if we could go out on the balcony.

PERFECT!!! You have answered my one and only question! We are booked in this cabin and my question has always been if the balcony was restricted when under way. Glad to know about the spinning wind thingy (lol)! That will be useful! While we plan to bring some things that may help in windy conditions, you have confirmed for me that those things will probably not be enough, lol. My friend has stayed in a forward suite, so she is familiar with the wind issue, but I have not so it will be a completely new experience for me. :p

Okay, I lied, I do have one more question regarding L107...

Where is the bathroom located? It is when you first walk in the cabin door? And, is that also where the closets are?

Okay, and another, lol:

Did you have to keep your window curtains closed at night?

Thank you so much for answering questions!

Now lets talk about the wrap around the front balcony. It was HUGE, and had two lounge chairs fully extended along with a table with 4 chairs. When we were in port it was awesome to use once we returned from excursions, and catch a brief sailaway. AT NO TIME WERE WE PREVENTED FROM USING THE BALCONY as some have said with the forward facing balconies by crew / staff / locked door / etc. THAT BEING SAID....when the ship was underway, it was so windy up front that the balcony is basically useless...and when I say windy, I mean WINDY!!!!! On the last sea day, the ship was moving like 19 knots into a 45 knot wind giving us about 66 knots of wind blowing on the front of the ship. Try enjoying that.... The only time the balcony is useable is if the wind is blowing from the rear of the ship and the ship is moving or in port. There was a spinning wind thingy on the extended balcony below me, so all I had to do was look out the window, and that would determine if we could go out on the balcony.

Sightlines on the balcony were limited when seated due to steel railing right?

Thanks so much for your review. We have M107 next April on a TA to Southampton from Fort Lauderdale and we are so excited to have the extended balcony. If you know, I understand the couch may not be a sofa bed and is smaller than the ones in the minisuite.

 

I look forward to reading more after your London trip. We are also staying for 2 nights after the cruise.

M107 - you have the SUPER DUPER extended balcony. Basically the entire bridge wing is your balcony. We actually had that room booked originally, but changed it when I looked at the deck plans because I thought it would be blocked and you wouldn't have access to the entire bridge wing. Well I learned on this cruise that you do have the entire wing. Enjoy

PERFECT!!! You have answered my one and only question! We are booked in this cabin and my question has always been if the balcony was restricted when under way. Glad to know about the spinning wind thingy (lol)! That will be useful! While we plan to bring some things that may help in windy conditions, you have confirmed for me that those things will probably not be enough, lol. My friend has stayed in a forward suite, so she is familiar with the wind issue, but I have not so it will be a completely new experience for me. :p

The spinning thingy is at the end of the bridge wing on M107. You can see it from the sliding door window, but not the front window. I will admit though that the forward facing window was very nice. I will post photos of the room and balcony when I get back. If you bring things to help, you better have like really strong rope to tie it down with because I was surprised that the chairs didn't blow off the ship....when I say windy, I really, really, really mean WINDY!!!!!!!! I would guess that it was never below 50mph unless wind was at our back.

Okay, I lied, I do have one more question regarding L107...

 

Where is the bathroom located? It is when you first walk in the cabin door? And, is that also where the closets are?

 

Okay, and another, lol:

 

Did you have to keep your window curtains closed at night?

 

Thank you so much for answering questions!

When you walk in, bathroom is on the left, and closets on the right. Move forward a bit and room opens up to the left. Sofa with one of the 40" screens. large desk/countertop/place for wife to put on makeup area. Straight ahead is the sliding door. Turn to left and walk around corner, and there is the large queen bed and forward facing window. Also, there is another 40" screen there.

We left the forward facing curtains open at night, and closed the sliding door curtains because we didn't want our neighbor peering around the corner...then again he probably would have been blown off the ship with all of the wind up front. :D:D:D

Sightlines on the balcony were limited when seated due to steel railing right?

Unless you wanted to look at the sky..... :D:D

You can't see anything forward while seated in a lounge chair. You can see a little when seated in a regular chair....but you are blocked with the steel railing.

Did I mention......It's REALLY WINDY up front...like STUPID WINDY....like you really can't use your balcony WINDY up front when the ship is underway. But the forward facing window kind of makes up for that. :D:D:D

When you walk in, bathroom is on the left, and closets on the right. Move forward a bit and room opens up to the left. Sofa with one of the 40" screens. large desk/countertop/place for wife to put on makeup area. Straight ahead is the sliding door. Turn to left and walk around corner, and there is the large queen bed and forward facing window. Also, there is another 40" screen there.

 

We left the forward facing curtains open at night, and closed the sliding door curtains because we didn't want our neighbor peering around the corner...then again he probably would have been blown off the ship with all of the wind up front. :D:D:D

LOL! Thanks for the chuckle! That is fantastic...I think I read that the cabins on M were not allowed to leave the curtains open at night...glad to hear it does not apply to L.

Great news about the closet/bathroom...it is far enough away from the sleeping area that I won't wake up my friend when I get up at 5:00 a.m. :p I'll be able to slip out for some coffee much more easily than in a standard minisuite.

I'm hoping the queen bed is configurable into twins...I'm sure it must be, lol.

Sorry...our cruise is coming up in October and I guess I have more questions than I thought...

So, how windy was it, really? j/k

I suppose, then, that even the side part of the balcony was not usable while under way...???

LOL! Thanks for the chuckle! That is fantastic...I think I read that the cabins on M were not allowed to leave the curtains open at night...glad to hear it does not apply to L.

 

Great news about the closet/bathroom...it is far enough away from the sleeping area that I won't wake up my friend when I get up at 5:00 a.m. :p I'll be able to slip out for some coffee much more easily than in a standard minisuite.

 

I'm hoping the queen bed is configurable into twins...I'm sure it must be, lol.

There is a sticker on the window that tells you to close your curtains....nobody ever came up and told us to close them.

You are correct....there is a small wall, and a curtain that can divide the bed/sleeping area from the rest of the mini suite.

LOL! Thanks for the chuckle! That is fantastic...I think I read that the cabins on M were not allowed to leave the curtains open at night...glad to hear it does not apply to L.

 

Great news about the closet/bathroom...it is far enough away from the sleeping area that I won't wake up my friend when I get up at 5:00 a.m. :p I'll be able to slip out for some coffee much more easily than in a standard minisuite.

 

I'm hoping the queen bed is configurable into twins...I'm sure it must be, lol.

I am not sure about the bed actually being able to be configured into two twins. There is not a lot of space to do that. However, the sofa will convert to a bed if that helps. Maybe they can convert it, but each bed would have to be up against the wall, and there would only be a small gap. We were configured for a queen, and I never felt a gap in the mattress that would suggest that is could be split. You may want to call.

Sorry...our cruise is coming up in October and I guess I have more questions than I thought...

 

So, how windy was it, really? j/k

 

I suppose, then, that even the side part of the balcony was not usable while under way...???

It was REALLY WINDY. I am going to guess that while we were underway....at full speed....the wind never dropped below 40 - 45mph. Yesterday when I checked the weather channel that is specific to the boat, the wind was a steady 65mph almost all day. We were doing 19 knots and just drove into very nasty weather. It doesn't matter if you are in the front or the side, there is nothing to stop the wind. Now, again, if the wind is coming from the back of the ship blowing forward, you have almost no wind. We have that happen only once or twice the whole journey. I do not mean to scare you on your upcoming trip, but we only used the balcony for sailing into port (becuse it goes really slow then), a little for sail away (again...slow), and I would venture out on some evenings to take sunset photos, but the wind was howling as well during that time. I do not theink I would ever have enjoyed the balcony with all of that wind.

THAT BEING SAID....would I book that room again? In a heartbeat I would. That forward facing window is really big and really nice. and the room is SUPER comfortable.

I can't thank you enough for answering all these questions! THANK YOU!

Did you find the SeaView Bar an enjoyable place to go?

LuLu

I am not sure about the bed actually being able to be configured into two twins. There is not a lot of space to do that. However, the sofa will convert to a bed if that helps. Maybe they can convert it, but each bed would have to be up against the wall, and there would only be a small gap. We were configured for a queen, and I never felt a gap in the mattress that would suggest that is could be split. You may want to call.

I stayed in L108 back in May and the sofa does NOT convert to a bed. Maybe Princess has changed out the sofas since then but no sofa in that cabin.

Unless you wanted to look at the sky..... :D:D

 

You can't see anything forward while seated in a lounge chair. You can see a little when seated in a regular chair....but you are blocked with the steel railing.

Thanks, thats what I thought.

On another note, did you hear anything about Aft balconies and the soot issue?

Thank you for offering to answer questions about the Royal. I'm looking at a possible cruise on this ship next year. One of my concerns is the size of the ship and if it will feel overcrowded. I've been on the Ruby and Crown and felt at times they were too crowded, especially when going to the theater and trying to find seats. We'd have to get there really early. Did you feel the Royal was too crowded?

Also, I hear there is no wrap around promenade deck. Do you know if a person could walk around most of the promenade and then cut through the ship to get to the other side? That is something I've always enjoyed about Princess ships...walking around the promenade deck (rather than the uncovered top deck).

Does the Royal have any covered pools where kids are allowed? Does it have the International Cafe?

Thank you!!!

Did you find the SeaView Bar an enjoyable place to go?

LuLu

Unfortunately, we did not hit the Sea View bar. We did use the Outrigger bar at the back of the ship which had sofas and comfy chairs looking back at the ocean at the stern of the ship outside. It was very nice. Deck 16 (Lido) all the way aft.