Royal Princess Nov. 10-17

[dmwnc1959]

Not many have posted about the fondue place, crabshack, and other alternative dining options. Maybe passengers don't see value there.

 

The majority (not all) of what I have read has been mostly positive from those who have actually dined in those surcharge venues. One problem seems to be the general unawareness that they even exist until they see it listed in the Patter, and then there are just so many other options available they never get around to it.

 

Maybe we'll hear more about these venue's from passengers sailing Royal Princess in the Caribbean. It's possible that for the port intensive Mediterranean cruises there were fewer passengers who opted to use them instead of the buffets, Alfredo's, and the MDR's. On a 7-night cruise with more sea days there will be more chances to sample them.

 

I know that I'll be dining in each of them at least once during my 14-nights aboard Royal Princess, and will keep an eye at participation numbers during my cruise. ;)

 

10 days and Counting! :D:D:D

[drakes2]

Great idea re the shower mat. I wear my Havaianas in the shower and on deck which works well for me. I don't like going barefoot except in the pool or on the beach. I'm going to love the padded headboard for nighttime reading. :)

Are the showers on the Royal slippery? I ask because years ago when I was last on a Princess cruise, I brought a small plastic shower matt from 99 cent store for the shower--- cruisecritic people recommended-- plus a couple of clothes pins for the curtain. This was an excellent tip at the time.

 

Anyway, just wondering if this is necessary for the new Royal ship.

[lx200gps]

OP, thank you for the review. I think the consensus on the new gimmicks (Sea Walk and Fountain show) is that they are misses and not close to being hits. Not many have posted about the fondue place, crabshack, and other alternative dining options. Maybe passengers don't see value there. It is good to read about Alfredo's though. The most troubling things that I have read lately in reviews relate to lackluster service in dining rooms. Are these the Anytime Rooms or the fixed time rooms?

 

Also, I guess the first thing I will do on board next summer is to book the Enclave for the voyage. In the past, the first things we have done was sign up for Chef's Table and other specialty dining. No CT for us next summer, but we will sign up for Winemakers Dinner, Crown Grill (maybe twice) and Sabatini's. My wife will usually sign up for her gym classes as well.

 

Based on our week on the Royal, while we had numerous service lapses in our time on board, many more than on previous cruises, I don't believe it was due to staff not being interested in serving, or being slow or lazy, it seemed more of a confusion and inefficiency thing. We were lead to believe that a BIG crew change had just happened, and that may explain some of the lower than usual service levels, but they were always unfailingly friendly and helpful, even while being befuddled and confused. If many or most of them were very new to the ship, and the ship's layout and processes are very different from the other ships they worked, that too could explain some of the problems

 

And unfortunately, the service lapses were NOT restricted to the Dining Rooms (The few times we used a Dining Room, it was the Symphony). We had a particularly unfortunate experience in Sabatini's one night, with a hopelessly friendly and initially attentive waiter virtually disappearing for the second half of our meal, despite seeming to be very busy with other paying guests. I do, though, prefer to re-fill my own wine glass, so I wasn't going to bother flagging him down ;o). Similar problems in the Crown Grill for one of the Pub Lunches

[Beachdude]

Good review OP. I have to laugh because I think you had a better experience getting on board than most. Our transport to the ship was stuck in front of the terminal for 45 minutes before we could get out. No problem for us cost wise because it was a rental car transfer van, but we were hearing a lot of complaints about $60 cab fares.

 

Sally immediately pulled me to the Elite line (she just has a nose for it) where for some reason we were redirected into a second line that didn’t move for 10 minutes. When Sally had had enough, she asked the Princess gentlemen why he pushed us aside in a line that was going nowhere. He disappeared for a few minutes and then came back and told Sally that her card was blue. Then he walked off. Well after the earth shook for a minute, Sally ordered me to keep up as she walked quickly into the Elite line that was going through security. Heaven help anyone got in her way, but thankfully nobody did. Once we got up to the counter and received our ship cards, they were indeed Black Elite cards. The Princess Representative lied to my wife and she doesn’t take the lightly. However, I told her things will go better on the rest of the cruise and they did. That by far was the worst experience of the cruise. Still, Princess has a lot of work to do on embarkation.

 

I wanted to add to your comments on the Buffet. While we thought the taste of the food was so so (same as other Princess ship), we at no time ever felt it was crowded and there were always a lot empty tables available. Our favorite place to enjoy our meal was the outside seating on the aft. It was very roomy with a pleasant relaxed atmosphere. That wait service in the Buffet was the best service of the whole ship. Princess has designed the buffet nicely. We never stood in any long lines, and never felt crowded going to the different venues. Also, Princess is obviously looking after passenger health because you will burn off quite a few calories walking, what seem like the entire length of the ship, to the dessert bar.

 

Someone asked about the deck area outside Crooners Bar. It is a very nice area, but I think it is rarely used simply because access from Crooners Bar is not obvious. If you don’t know where the doors are, you will likely not used tthe deck area because they are hidden from normal view.

 

All in all a very nice ship. I’m not sure we will sail her again because we like large balconies with some cover and that is rare on this ship. I also like to use the sauna and that cost extra on the Royal. But I think there will be a good following for the ship.

 

One little nit-noid for me is the Pub Lunch in the Crown Grill. I enjoy this lunch on other Princess ships because the food is somewhat authentic English pub food in a somewhat authentic atmosphere. The group I was with agreed the food wasn’t very good on the Royal and the ship jazz band kind of took away from the English Pub atmosphere. Jazz in a pub? How hard would it be for the ship pianist to play some pub themed music? I will skip The Pub lunch if we sail the Royal again.

 

The seafood bucket on the other hand was a lot of fun and pretty good. Our only complaint is they only provided it on formal nights. It wasn’t that big a deal for me to slop through a bucket of clams and crab legs in a tux, but my very lovely wife Sally wasn’t so keen about it in her beautiful dress. Still, it was worth the $20 for me.

 

Best meal on the ship for us was steak on the Crown Grill. We are from Oklahoma and take pride in our beef. We have eaten in the Crown Grill many times over the years, but by far this was the best meal I have ever eaten on any of our 20 cruises. I was told later by one chef that Princess brought in a well-known chef for the Crown Grill and it showed. I say that despite the terrible service we had during the meal. But as has been said by many others, bad service was standard at all the dining areas. We just didn’t expect in the Crown. However, you will not go wrong with the Sterling Silver Beef Chop. YOU HERE THAT? It’s calling my name again. Buuurt! Buurt!, we have a rare chop ready JUST for you. LOL

 

We will remember this cruise fondly. It’s a pretty good ship with a lot of fun to offer. Princess is trying a few things on it and some will probably stick. But all in all, I don’t see very many folks regreting at least one cruise on the Royal.

 

Burt

[cruze610]

Thanks for your review Cruz610......a question about the Enclave.....is it coed or are there 2 areas - 1 male/ 1female?

 

The Enclave is coed but there are seperate male/female restroom/locker rooms to use before and after using the enclave.

[muffyn]

OP:

 

what cabin did you have?

[Shogun]

Hi Dave

It is people that make a great cruise be they my fellow passengers but mostly its been crew either amazing service or just being so nice having crew cry when its time to say good bye makes a cruise you recall for ever

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

[dmwnc1959]

Hi Dave

It is people that make a great cruise be they my fellow passengers but mostly its been crew either amazing service or just being so nice having crew cry when its time to say good bye makes a cruise you recall for ever

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

 

I'm definitely not the 'social butterfly' type of person and only just joined Roll Calls last year. I've chatted with some this year on my Royal Princess B2B Roll Calls and it will be fun to have some dinner and drinks with them. And I'm always nice to the crew. Call it 'karma', or what comes around goes around. :D

[Pam in CA]

And I'm always nice to the crew. Call it 'karma', or what comes around goes around. :D

When you treat others with respect, you are respected. The most important thing is to respect yourself and treat others the way you would like to be treated. That way, what "goes around, comes around." :)

[dmwnc1959]

When you treat others with respect, you are respected. The most important thing is to respect yourself and treat others the way you would like to be treated. That way, what "goes around, comes around." :)

 

I had that backwards didn't I. ;)

[Retiring cajun]

Are the balconies not covered on Royal princess??? We have a forward deluxe balcony end of december.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[5:00_Somewhere]

Are the balconies not covered on Royal princess??? We have a forward deluxe balcony end of december.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

99.9% of the balconies on the side of the ship are fully covered, so yours should be based on the position you describe. The aft balconies are mostly uncovered or partially uncovered.

 

There are a very few on the side of the ship that are half covered (just forward and aft of the "bump out" for the Sky Walk). If memory serves, all (or most) partially uncovered balconies are on Emerald Deck. We booked one of these for the Regal next year, because we happen to like that combination.

 

Hope that helps.

[coolcruiser4]

Royal Princess November 10-17

 

 

I loved the addition of all of the auto opening doors. Also loved the spa.

 

We were under the impression that we could reserve the Enclave by the day for something like $40-$50 per day per person. Don’t remember if we read that here on CC or on the princess site. This was not the case. We were told when we called to reserve that it had to be done for the entire week. This was $159 per person for the week. We did book it and we are glad we did. It was very relaxing and it truly did help us “escape completely”

 

I could go on and on but this review has already been way too long. I know I left out a lot Any questions, I will gladly answer. But for now I guess that’s all I’ll say. Sorry this review was so long.

 

 

the bottom line. Will I sail Princess again? Of course I will. I am a fan boy! Will sail on the Royal again? Probably not.

 

 

Ok...help me with the Enclave..it's 159 per person for the week. What is included in that? Can you use the relaxing hot tub in without additional fee? Do you have to reserve a time to use it?

[cruze610]

Everything in the Enclave is included in the $159.00 there are no additional fees or reservations needed. There are obviously charges for massage service and beauty services but the 159.00 includes a full week of use of all of the Enclave. When you go there, you can use the therapy pool any time you like.

 

We went there often and at different times. It was rarely crowded and never to the point where we could not get in the pool.

 

Only complaint was that later in the day the water temp was too low. We notified the people at the front desk in the lotus spa and they increased the temp and suggested we try to come earlier when the temp seems to always be hotter.

[bellasorella]

Royal Princess November 10-17

 

 

I’ll start by saying that we have like many of you cruised with Princess many times. I am Elite and DW is only a couple away from Elite. We chose this cruise strictly because of the ship. We decided as soon as we heard that this ship was being built that we HAD TO BE ON IT ASAP!

 

I will try to keep this review as short as possible but I apologize in advance it I start to drag on an on. I tend to do that sometimes. I will keep this strictly about the ship and not go into details about the ports (Princess Cays, St. Thomas and St. Maarten) as that is not what this review is about.

 

Embarkation: We arrived at Port Everglades a littler later than we usually like to but the early flights from EWR to FLL were way to pricey. We arrived at the terminal at about 2pm. The line of people that were lined up outside along side the terminal was longer than we have ever seen in the past. This didn’t bother us as we walked to the front and went in the preferred line. Once inside our line moved rather quickly. From the time we entered the terminal till the time we made it up to the line at the check in counter it was less than 10 minutes. There didn’t seem to be any preferred line once at the check in section. Not a big problem either as the lines moved very swiftly. We worked our way to the front of the line in less than 10 minutes. Checked in, got our cruise cards and were ushered upstairs in no time. Now, once upstairs, that’s where the waiting began. Every one getting their photos taken as they walk on takes some time. I think the wait was about 20 minutes but since I was so excited to board that it felt like an hour. We finally stepped on to the Royal at about 245 ish. We headed straight for the elevator to get to our cabin.

 

We immediately noticed how beautiful the Piazza was. It was huge and extravagant. We had to wait quite a while to get an elevator. Maybe 10 minutes. Once the elevator opened I understood why.

EVERY SINGLE ELEVATOR on the Royal is I think significantly smaller than that of the other Princess ships. This means that sometimes (often times) when the elevator would open to let people on, there was no room for them to get on. This was a disappointment that I seemed to encounter several times during the cruise. Once at our cabin A707 Jason our stateroom steward greeted us. He was for the most part GREAT. Not the best we have ever had but certainly not bad at all. He was attentive and fulfilled our needs when they came up.

 

 

 

 

The stateroom was very nice but slightly smaller than what we have gotten used to. It was a regular balcony cabin. We didn’t opt for the deluxe balcony but we wished that we had, as it was just a little too tight in our cabin. The shower was noticeably larger and the addition of the little ledge and wall mounted shampoo and shower gel was a nice feature. But how do they increase the shower size? They make the bathroom smaller!!! Not good. The TP holder as mentioned by so many other people is in an awful spot. Princess is very well aware of this and they have already taken steps to change it in the Regal. I would imagine they would also correct it on the Royal.

 

The balcony is smaller as we are all aware of already. We spent a lot of time on the balcony and did miss the extra space. There were 2 chairs that were capable of reclining but with 2 people on the balcony it just isn’t possible to do that. There is also a tiny table on the balcony. There would really be no way to eat any kind of a meal on the balcony the way that it is. We were also above the rear section of Promenade (aft of the last tender) Very bright lights would come on in the evening to light the deck and cause our balcony to never get as dark as we like. This made it more difficult to see all the stars in the sky.

 

Speaking of the Promenade deck, It sucks that it does not wrap all the way around the ship. Lets leave it at that.

 

 

Absolutely loved the layout of this ship!!! This was the first time I went on a cruise and had the layout down pat and actually knew my way around by the 2nd or 3rd day.

 

For the most part, the entire crew was fantastic. Very friendly through out the entire length of the cruise.

 

The only place that we experienced bad service was in the Symphony and Concerto dining rooms. Service was the worst it has ever been. We actually got up and walked out of the Symphony dining room because service was so slow.

 

 

Loved the buffet. The new HC was much nicer, more modern and better laid out. Never once did we have trouble finding a table to sit at. Which is good because we ate almost every dinner there. We ate at the Crown Grill once, Alfredo’s once and Concerto once. All other dinners were at the HC. Food was better quality and better selection than we remembered. And the wait staff was terrific.

 

Crown Grill was great as it always is although DW got a NY Strip and it was very fatty. Alfredo’s was great. We actually went there twice. Just a suggestion to Princess though, It would be nice if they offered some daily specials or something to mix it up a little with the menu.

Burgers and dogs from Trident was great as usual, Pizza from Prego was good but not as good as in the past. Seemed like they are making the pizza a little thinner now. We never made it to the seafood terrace bar so I cant comment on that. Bellini’s was nice but the kind of place where I would only go once just to try it.

 

The Sky Walk was kind of cool the first time I walked on it then the novelty wore off quickly. I think most of the passengers might have felt the same because when ever I walked by, no one was on it. The Sea View bar was kind of cool. The flair show was spectacular!!!

 

MUTS- During the day. EVERY SINGLE DAY ALL DAY LONG all they played was some National Geographic scenic slide show. No TV, no movies. NOTHING AT ALL. I don’t get why they did that. Night Time was of course a different story. Movies every night and even Monday Night the fountain and light show I think is a big waste of space. We went to see it and it was so windy the water was blowing into the air sideways soaking everything on deck. On the final night of the cruise it wasn’t quite as windy but the show only lasts about 5 minutes so not worth seeing more than once.

 

Pools were kind of small but large enough I think. They should really have more lounge chairs by the pools though. On a sea day it is impossible to get a chair unless you are one of those dreaded chair hogs that everyone knows I’m talking about. The no reserving chairs rule is very obviously not enforced.

 

The deck is no longer real teak wood like it has always been. I don’t know what it is exactly but it is extremely slippery when wet and the black lines that are supposed to look like the seams in the boards are just painted on with black paint.

 

I loved the addition of all of the auto opening doors. Also loved the spa.

 

We were under the impression that we could reserve the Enclave by the day for something like $40-$50 per day per person. Don’t remember if we read that here on CC or on the princess site. This was not the case. We were told when we called to reserve that it had to be done for the entire week. This was $159 per person for the week. We did book it and we are glad we did. It was very relaxing and it truly did help us “escape completely”

 

I could go on and on but this review has already been way too long. I know I left out a lot Any questions, I will gladly answer. But for now I guess that’s all I’ll say. Sorry this review was so long.

 

 

the bottom line. Will I sail Princess again? Of course I will. I am a fan boy! Will sail on the Royal again? Probably not.

 

Being elite, can you tell us if they have the complimentary laundry service worked out on Royal now? We were on the maiden TA and the laundry was completely overwhelmed. It took 5 days for laundry to come back.

 

We are on Royal again in Sept and were curious.

.?????

 

Thanks

[5:00_Somewhere]

Being elite, can you tell us if they have the complimentary laundry service worked out on Royal now? We were on the maiden TA and the laundry was completely overwhelmed. It took 5 days for laundry to come back.

 

We are on Royal again in Sept and were curious.

.?????

 

Thanks

 

We are Elite and sailed on the Royal a month ago, and the laundry service was as usual. For regular service, I gave it to them on Wednesday morning and it was back Friday morning. Hope that helps.

[janetz]

Everything in the Enclave is included in the $159.00 there are no additional fees or reservations needed. There are obviously charges for massage service and beauty services but the 159.00 includes a full week of use of all of the Enclave. When you go there, you can use the therapy pool any time you like.

 

We went there often and at different times. It was rarely crowded and never to the point where we could not get in the pool.

 

Only complaint was that later in the day the water temp was too low. We notified the people at the front desk in the lotus spa and they increased the temp and suggested we try to come earlier when the temp seems to always be hotter.

 

Great info. When did you book the enclave? As soon as you boarded? :)

[cruze610]

Being elite, can you tell us if they have the complimentary laundry service worked out on Royal now? We were on the maiden TA and the laundry was completely overwhelmed. It took 5 days for laundry to come back.

 

We are on Royal again in Sept and were curious.

.?????

 

Thanks

 

Laundry Service was great as usual. We sent laundry out Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We got is back before 5pm the following day each time. No delays, no missing items.

[cruze610]

Great info. When did you book the enclave? As soon as you boarded? :)

 

It was one of the first things we did when we boarded. We went straight to our cabin and called to reserve. We tried to just reserve for the 3 sea days but were told that to limit the # of pax, we had to book for the entire cruise.

[bellasorella]

Laundry Service was great as usual. We sent laundry out Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We got is back before 5pm the following day each time. No delays, no missing items.

 

Glad to hear it! Laundry service on the Royal Maiden TA in October was NOT at all great -- or even adequate. But happy to hear they seemed to have solved any problems. We have gotten spoiled -- and it does affect how we pack, especially for trips where we have to fly.

 

Appreciate the info.

 

Sandi

[bellasorella]

We are Elite and sailed on the Royal a month ago, and the laundry service was as usual. For regular service, I gave it to them on Wednesday morning and it was back Friday morning. Hope that helps.

 

Thanks! Per my post above (before I saw yours) glad to hear it is worked out.

Whew! Now I can pack lighter -- LOL.

[Retiring cajun]

Dave, where did you dock in St.Maarten? I would like to visit the french and dutch parts of this island. What is the best way to do this? Thanks!

Have a another great week onboard!

[janetz]

It was one of the first things we did when we boarded. We went straight to our cabin and called to reserve. We tried to just reserve for the 3 sea days but were told that to limit the # of pax, we had to book for the entire cruise.

 

 

 

Great, that is what we will do. Thanks :)