Everything ROYAL PRINCESS: What are you looking forward to MOST of all?

[Woobstr112G]

I just booked another Royal cruise. Friends of mine are cruising in December. Unfortuately I will miss meeting Dave as I get on when he gets off. My cruise is December 15. Couldn't stay away and they will get a chance to experience this beautiful ship.

 

Trudy

 

Trudy;

Nice to see you posting. Hope all is well.....:):):)

 

Bob

[mwvcruiser]

Has anyone mentioned anything about a wine package being available on the Royal?

[rdsqrl]

Has anyone mentioned anything about a wine package being available on the Royal?

Yes, they've mentioned it, and yes, it's available.

[dmwnc1959]

Has anyone mentioned anything about a wine package being available on the Royal?

 

Hi mwvcruiser!

 

Here's a thread that may be of interest...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1859718

[dmwnc1959]

Dave, you left this post over on our Roll Call. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=38968982&postcount=4008

 

"Less than FOUR months before Royal Princess arrives in Fort Lauderdale! You guys must be freaking out! :eek::D

 

And what's with calling everyone on here "NUTS"? ;) "

 

I was able to answer your question.

 

Marty

 

Hi Marty!!!

 

As always it's a pleasure to see your name here. I'll check in to the 'reply' shortly. :D

 

 

 

Congratulations an your Royal cruise. A lot of us will miss not being able to sail with Dave. His thread has really brought a lot of people together.

 

Marty

 

And that was the intent. :D To have a friendly community of people and to bring those together who from Day 1 of this thread were excited and booked, or were thinking about booking Royal Princess. And I'm glad to see so many have made friends! As Marty from Madagascar said, this is the FUN side of the island. ;)

[dmwnc1959]

Sunset, YES they do have the mail slot! Yeesh, I was just ready to give up then found a video someone posted of their mini suite:

 

Here's another picture

 

http://www.cruisetricks.de/galerie/index.php/royal-princess/kabinen-suiten/kabinen-balkon-deluxe-d215-5698

[dmwnc1959]

I see we've cracked the 400,000 'views' mark! THANKS again to everyone for following along!!! :D

 

 

 

Thanks for the update Dave. Happy to see they are making all their ports.:D

 

The cool thing about all of these inaugural port visits, from Guernsey to Venice, is that they are all 'firsts'. The first time she ever arrives into that port to tie up alongside, the first welcoming by the city and collecting of the ceremonial plaques, the first ship tours by local port agents, the first use of the ships tenders, those on other ships in port with her seeing Royal Princess for the very first time ever and hearing the Love Boat horn! It's a unique and very special time on this very special ship. :D

 

153 Days and counting!!!

[dmwnc1959]

Today Royal Princess is making its inaugural call on the resort town of Kusadasi, Turkey, gateway to

Ephesus. There is one other cruise ship in port with her, the SeaDream 1.

 

Royal Princess will be docked from 12pm-7pm local time.

 

Screen grab from Marine Traffic 9:16am local time while Royal Princess was on approach showing area islands and major cities...

 

 

Final docking location...

 

 

Web cams and a picture of her arrival and docking in Kusadasi...

 

(Credit Sahin0953)

[dmwnc1959]

Royal Princess web cam now turned around looking at Kusadasi...

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

Thought about you yesterday. Were you home when we had the tornado warnings? That was the first time I have followed the advise and taken cover. Me and 7 cats in a bathroom!! Talk about a funny site. My MIL had my son at the theater in Shallotte and was freaking out. I told her since we really don't have basements here to get in she was probably safer there then home!!

It was a scary few hours!!

BTW have you heard of The Kindred Spirits Mailbox?

 

Our weather has been terrible, hasn't it! So much rain! Those poor vacationers here to enjoy the beach (yes, have been to Kindred Spirit). I am doing packing lists, printing documents and touring info., etc. as we leave for our Royal cruise in less than two weeks! Am going to try to do some live posting if the internet isn't too slow. ;) Stay dry!

[Pia1913]

Royal Princess web cam now turned around looking at Kusadasi...

 

 

Dave, do you ever sleep? You were posting at 1:30 AM and here again just after 5. :confused:

[dmwnc1959]

Dave, do you ever sleep? You were posting at 1:30 AM and here again just after 5. :confused:

 

Hi Pia!

 

I work the overnight shift which is great because all of the new info is posted by time most folks in the US are up in the morning, and when those on the other side of the world are getting ready to head off to bed. :D

[Pia1913]

hi pia!

 

I work the overnight shift which is great because all of the new info is posted by time most folks in the us are up in the morning, and when those on the other side of the world are getting ready to head off to bed. :d

 

gotcha! ;)

[TorontoTL]

I so need to go to Istanbul, does it ever look nice from the webcam. Kusadasi is such a great stop, I so loved visiting Ephesus.

[Cinerama]

The martini bar, Crooners, is much larger on Royal Princess. They supposedly have a menu of 75 different martini's. You can find 10 pictures of Crooners here...

 

http://www.cruisetricks.de/galerie/index.php/royal-princess/bars-lounges

 

:D

 

The Crooners is too small on the other ships. When they have a singer/piano player that gets the crowd involved, the empty seats are hard to find.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Dave,

 

I need some help and wondering if you can help or point me in the correct direction. I am in the final stages of planning sightseeing and Toulon, France is stumping me. Apparently ships dock at one of two places--either right in the port of Toulon or at another harbor called La Seyne Sur Mer, and even if it is the second option your itinerary shows it as Toulon. This second option requires a shuttle or ferry to get back and forth to Toulon, not a big deal but makes a difference in what I plan for the day. I have spent time on the Europe boards and it seems as if both are used, by both larger and smaller cruise ships.

 

Is there any source you have to show where the Royal will dock? The first Grand Med. voyage did not call on Toulon and the second will be too late for me...we will have left to fly to Barcelona by then!

 

Thanks,

Carole

[dmwnc1959]

Dave,

 

I need some help and wondering if you can help or point me in the correct direction. I am in the final stages of planning sightseeing and Toulon, France is stumping me. Apparently ships dock at one of two places--either right in the port of Toulon or at another harbor called La Seyne Sur Mer, and even if it is the second option your itinerary shows it as Toulon. This second option requires a shuttle or ferry to get back and forth to Toulon, not a big deal but makes a difference in what I plan for the day. I have spent time on the Europe boards and it seems as if both are used, by both larger and smaller cruise ships.

 

Is there any source you have to show where the Royal will dock? The first Grand Med. voyage did not call on Toulon and the second will be too late for me...we will have left to fly to Barcelona by then!

 

Thanks,

Carole

 

Hi Carole!

 

You are the ONLY cruise ship in port that day. The main cruise ship dock is across the small harbor from Toulon at La Seyne Sur Mer and used by pretty much all large cruise ships calling at this port. Expect, because of the size of Royal Princess, that she will dock there and that there will be shuttles going back and forth between the pier area and downtown Toulon.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

Dave,

 

Thanks SO much...I had a feeling this was the case! This dock requires a cruise ship shuttle (charge, of course!) or public ferry or bus to get anywhere. But being the only ship, and NOT being there on a Sunday (which means many things are closed) is a big plus!

 

Thx again!

Carole

[dmwnc1959]

Dave,

 

Thanks SO much...I had a feeling this was the case! This dock requires a cruise ship shuttle (charge, of course!) or public ferry or bus to get anywhere. But being the only ship, and NOT being there on a Sunday (which means many things are closed) is a big plus!

 

Thx again!

Carole

 

Hi Carole!

 

I'm sure either way you'll have fun. The ship is there from 7am-6pm so hopefully you'll get to see everything on your schedule. Even if you take the public ferry that would give you some nice views of Royal Princess as you are heading over to or back from Toulon. :D

[sallybrown2012]

Does anyone know if we need cash (quarters/dollar bills) for the do it yourself laundry on the new ship, or can you use your door key to charge it?

[dmwnc1959]

Does anyone know if we need cash (quarters/dollar bills) for the do it yourself laundry on the new ship, or can you use your door key to charge it?

 

This from the LIVE thread...

 

 

It has been mentioned on a thread that us men are useless as we did not take a photo of the hairdrier. So to balance things here are some pictures just for the ladies. :D ;)

 

[chamima]

Does anyone know if we need cash (quarters/dollar bills) for the do it yourself laundry on the new ship, or can you use your door key to charge it?

 

Reports have been that you can use your room card on the Royal but even if you needed cash you can ALWAYS get change at the pursers desk. I never understand why people think they have to bring these (heavy) rolls of quarters! :cool:

[dmwnc1959]

Reports have been that you can use your room card on the Royal but even if you needed cash you can ALWAYS get change at the pursers desk. I never understand why people think they have to bring these (heavy) rolls of quarters! :cool:

 

Found this that might help too...not sure if quarters will still work but I'm sure they will.

 

 

I noticed on 2 of those pictures that they are talking about a $2.00 a load fee to use the washing machines and the dryers and a $1.50 fee for detergent. However, in the Q&A with Rai Caluori, there was a specific question about that and his answer was: The self-service laundry aboard Royal Princess will be cashless. You can simply swipe your cruise card to receive tokens for the washer, dryer and detergent. Happy washing ... but don't spend too much time doing laundry, you'll want to be out and about enjoying the beautiful ship!

 

[dedosr]

Dave,

You just amaze me with your ability to answer everyone's questions. When the Royal arrives in Ft Lauderdale, and begins her caribbean season, one of the ports is St. Maarten. By the way, our favorite. I have been seeing some reports that Great Bay is polluted with raw sewage. I have been diligent about my research, and have come up with varying reports.Some refuting this. We always enjoy taking the ferry into town and go shopping. This year we wanted to do that, and avail ourselves of one of the beach packages the hotels along the bay offer. The offers include chairs, umbrella, facilities, and drinks (maybe even Bellinis). So if you have any info on this Royal Princess Port and Great Bay, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Steve

[dmwnc1959]

Dave,

You just amaze me with your ability to answer everyone's questions. When the Royal arrives in Ft Lauderdale, and begins her caribbean season, one of the ports is St. Maarten. By the way, our favorite. I have been seeing some reports that Great Bay is polluted with raw sewage. I have been diligent about my research, and have come up with varying reports.Some refuting this. We always enjoy taking the ferry into town and go shopping. This year we wanted to do that, and avail ourselves of one of the beach packages the hotels along the bay offer. The offers include chairs, umbrella, facilities, and drinks (maybe even Bellinis). So if you have any info on this Royal Princess Port and Great Bay, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Steve

 

Hi Steve!

 

I was there in December 2012 on Ruby Princess and there were people hanging out at the beach and in the water just in front of the downtown area. I didn't notice the water being polluted. Here's an album of pictures I took.

 

 

For the date you're in port you'll be there with the Allure of the Seas and MSC Divina.

 

I'm sure not much will have changed by time I get back there (twice) this December on Royal Princess! :D