Royal, please consider doing...

[Conanc]

My partner and I have been rather loyal to Royal, as my signature shows. When Royal changed their loyalty program to be comparable to all the other lines, we weren't bitter...not at all...not one teensy bit..not one bitter bone in MY body!

 

Where was I? Oh yes, we weren't bitter. It did ease our motivation to get to Diamond status, however, and we decided we would try a few other lines to see if Royal really was the Best of All Possible Lines for us.

 

We just got back from a cruise on the Crown Princess, and it was wonderful--because, well...we were cruising. Princess will not, however, be the line that unseats Royal as our first love. There are a number of reasons for this--and many of them wouldn't bother most people. We think Royal's ships are just designed better--they have a way of handling crowds without making you feel crowded. The flow of the ship is better, and the public spaces don't seem so choppy. I like the fact that the materials on a Royal ship are more honest--when you see wood, it really is wood. Wood shouldn't dent like metal if someone hit the wall a little too hard... We hated the Daily Patter, but it made us appreciate the organization behind the Cruise Compass that much more.

 

That said, there were a few times we found ourselves saying "OOOOH, I wish Royal Caribbean did this..." I started this thread to share a few of those moments, though for the sake of discussion I see no reason to restrict this thread to Princess or to my own personal quirks. What have you seen on other lines that you wish Royal would do to make them the PERFECT cruise line?

 

Here's my list:

 

1. We loved the fact that the MDR was open for lunch every day-including embarkation.

 

2. We loved having the Muster Drill in air-conditioned comfort, even if we did have to take our life jackets.

 

3. The selection at the International Cafe was fabulous. There is no reason why the Promenade Cafe couldn't be this good, but somehow it never is.

 

4. The cruise director's staff did a morning show on the ship's television every day, with interviews of staff and mentioning highlights of the day's activities. We never made a point of watching it, but it was amazing how much we picked up by just having it on while getting ready in the morning.

 

5. Afternoon Tea--it never took very long, but it was just so civilized. And after all, there is never enough food on a cruise ship anyway, is there?

 

6. The pool furniture was just more comfortable. By cruise ship standards I am NOT a lard-ass, but those vinyl-straps loungers on Royal's ships are not comfortable for more than 20 minutes.

 

7. There were chocolates on our pillow with the evening turndown service. They couldn't have cost very much, but it gave us a real feeling of attentive pampering...(I couldn't help myself--I just had to mention this one).

 

I'm sure I'll probably think of a few more, and I'll post them if this thread doesn't sink like a rock.

 

Hi Michael,

 

Thanks for posting. I am enjoying this thread! It's been awhile since we've tried Princess. We are loyal to Royal but are considering booking the next cruise (after Explorer and Allure) on Celebrity again. We really enjoy some of the little extras and the C&A perks for Elite are better than they are for Diamond. I do agree with some of the items on your list -- especially the MDR being open for lunch everyday. We do not enjoy the Windjammer.

[MuffinW]

5. Afternoon Tea--it never took very long, but it was just so civilized. And after all, there is never enough food on a cruise ship anyway, is there?

 

I've cruised Princess twice and have my first cruise on Royal Caribbean coming up in September (on the Navigator). I was rather disappointed to discover that Royal Caribbean doesn't serve a formal afternoon tea. I've heard that scones and such are put out in the Windjammer at 3, and I'm glad to hear it, but that doesn't compare to going to the MDR for tea, sitting down at a table with others, and being served by white-gloved waiters while music plays gently in the background. It's so civilized.

 

That being said, I am REALLY looking forward to my cruise on the Navigator. I'm sure seeing the wonders of Greece, Italy, and Egypt will make up for the lack of a formal afternoon tea. :)

[terisu10]

I've cruised Princess twice and have my first cruise on Royal Caribbean coming up in September (on the Navigator). I was rather disappointed to discover that Royal Caribbean doesn't serve a formal afternoon tea. I've heard that scones and such are put out in the Windjammer at 3, and I'm glad to hear it, but that doesn't compare to going to the MDR for tea, sitting down at a table with others, and being served by white-gloved waiters while music plays gently in the background. It's so civilized.

 

That being said, I am REALLY looking forward to my cruise on the Navigator. I'm sure seeing the wonders of Greece, Italy, and Egypt will make up for the lack of a formal afternoon tea. :)

 

I agree with YOU. I have not been on Princess but Carnival's tea is so proper. It is served in one of the lounges by waiters and waitresses wearing gloves. There are tables and comfortable chairs to sit on. Waiters pour the tea and then they pull up a tea cart with the scones, tea sandwiches, tea cakes and biscuits - all so delicious and served on real china. You use real silverware and cloth napkins. The small tables are covered in tablecloths. You can have as much as you want. The tea lasts about 1 1/2 hours. They usually have a string duo or trio playing beautiful classical music. It is only twice during the 8 day sailing but it is so special, I never miss it.

[Cruzin-K]

I love love love Royal Caribbean but am really looking forward to my first Princess cruise next year. I'm almost sorry there's only one day at sea because with the Ultimate Ship's tour (fingers crossed) the pub lunch and the afternoon tea taking up the day I won't have enough time to experience everything the ship has to offer with only my evenings to do it. :(

 

I'll probably be looking at Princess again in 2012 (Tahiti) and I might branch out and try one of their Southern Caribbean cruises that year as well, depending on whether or not they continue to visit different ports than Royal.

[maitaiguy]

Poolside grill on Princess is awesome and very convenient. However, RC would have to redesign their ships. Not likely.

 

While realizing that CCers are a small percentage of cruisers on board - the pizza on Royal Caribbean is pretty much described by most of us as terrible. It wouldn't take much to improve the quality of the pizza.

 

Have to agree about the pool lounges on Princess, way more comfortable!

 

Service on both is good, but RC just seems friendlier and down to earth. IMHO.

 

Did you notice which line my next cruise is on? Yeah, I thought so!:D

 

To us, it's the service (for a mass market line and we definitely aren't luxury line cruisers....)

[readytogo2]

I wish RCI would....

 

On Celebrity dinner menus, the entire left side of the menu never changes. The right side is the nightly menu that changes. On the every night menu on the left, there is shrimp cocktail, escargot, ceveche, and creme brulee....plus some others I can't remember. Basically, they took customer favorites and made it available every night.

That's what I like about Princess,has shrimp cocktail everyday. The Alfredo Fettuccine(which is the best I ever had) either as a dinner or appetizer and the Love boat dessert everyday yumm

I agree with the ops comments, we also enjoyed our Princess cruise and hope to do another. The one thing that sticks out in our mind that we did not like was the Horzon court felt it was to cut up, very confusing and not at all user friendly. We went there once and never went up there again.

 

We really like Princess foods especially Sabatini which was awesome and the chef tasting menu both were great experiences.

 

Both RCL and Princess are so similiar with just a few tweaks here and there to make them different. There are somethings Princess does better then RCL and vice versa.

I'm hoping that they are much alike. As far as the Horizon Court, the first time I saw it it drove us nuts, by the 2nd cruise with them, it made sense, when you know what you want at a certain station, you just go there instead of the one line with all those slow pokes that hold it up ughh :eek: We love Sabitini's although some hate because of how long the dinner can be, but we have always had a group of friends and it was a great time. The Chef Table is a little too rich for my blood, although people rave about it.

[Gon2hwe]

Would love to have a coffee pot in our cabin like they do on NCL. Having to wait on room service and then get cold coffee was not fun on Royal. :p

[knotIn1]

Loved Princess.

 

Perhaps crazy, but I wouldn't cruise one line just to get repeat cruiser perks.

 

Ports and length of time at ports is the main deciding factor, then price.

[BroncosFan2010]

I agree, I really wish RCCL had better Pizza, and a grill area by the pool would be great.

[Ocean Boy]

One thing that I will say for RCI is that I still feel that the have the most aesthetically pleasing ships in the business. I have never been in port and looked at a ship from another line and thought to myself that I wish I were on that ship.

 

I am a pizza lover and the stuff on RCI really is nothing that I couldn't get frozen in the grocery store and heat up in the oven. The only really good pizza we had on RCI was on Serenade when they had make your own pizza in the Windjammer in the evening. I don't know why they can't serve something similar to that pizza all the time.

 

I agree about the chairs out by the pool. Those straps get to you. But the seating in the adult solarium on Independence was VERY comfortable. I really came to enjoy it in there. And we really enjoyed having a grill out by the pool when we sailed on Celebrity.

 

On thing I really hope is that RCI does not continue to build new ships like Oasis where you cannot get out onto the bow. I love going out there at night. And, yes, I understand that there are plenty of other places to go but that is one thing that I will miss when we sail Oasis.

[ORB]

One thing that I will say for RCI is that I still feel that the have the most aesthetically pleasing ships in the business.

 

I agree with you whole-heartedly. For instance, Enchantment's decor may reveal a 1980's design which some find dated, but it was the best of 1980's design and therefore has an integrity which keeps it interesting to me.

 

We had a young honeymoon couple on the Crown Princess who told us they chose the ship because they liked all the wood and brass. Most of the "wood" was pictures of wood, and a good bit of the brass was anodized aluminum. I'm glad they were happy, and I didn't poke a hole in their bubble but if you REALLY like wood and brass, don't go on the Crown Princess.

[negc]

Many, if not most, of the things that the OP would like to see on RCI ships are already there. Each line has things that they do very well and some things that they do better than other lines. We have sailed Princess, HAL, NCL, Celebrity, and several other lines and each has its own particular strong points as well as weak points. We have found every cruise to be more than satisfactory overall, but our tastes and preferences lead us to book with RCI the majority of the time. We have found the service to be friendlier than on some other lines, the decor more pleasing to our tastes, and the buffet restaurant set up to be superior to the cafeteria style restaurants on some other lines. Are there some things that the others offer that I would love to see incorporated into the RCI experience? Of course. But none whose absence would lead me to foresake my first choice in cruising. That said, no one line is the perfect choice for everyone. If there were there would only be one line operating and that really isn't something we should look forward to.

[Bobbye]

Oasis has muster drill inside- which was amazing... so much better. And no life vests required. I hope that all the RCCL ships go in this direction at some point.

 

Not all have inside on the Oasis. We've been on her twice and both times we were in the Aquatheatre for muster.