Retreat pool on the Royal

[reggielew]

Hi!

 

My husband and I are planning to be on the Royal Princess in 3 weeks. Is the Retreat pool free as it is on the Emerald, Ruby, Crown, etc., or is there a charge for passengers not in the Sanctuary?

 

Thanks, Reggie

[capriccio]

Hi!

 

My husband and I are planning to be on the Royal Princess in 3 weeks. Is the Retreat pool free as it is on the Emerald, Ruby, Crown, etc., or is there a charge for passengers not in the Sanctuary?

 

Thanks, Reggie

 

Free and quiet! The only complication we experienced was on a very windy day -- you couldn't walk from one side of ship to the other in that area without the wind blowing your hat off. The other two sea days were much nicer and we spent 2 mornings by the pool.

[Pam in CA]

My husband and I are planning to be on the Royal Princess in 3 weeks. Is the Retreat pool free as it is on the Emerald, Ruby, Crown, etc., or is there a charge for passengers not in the Sanctuary?

It's free. It also tends to be windy and there's little or no shade. Just so you know.

 

[reggielew]

Hi!

 

Thanks for your replies. I'll certainly plan to give it a try.

 

Reggie

[davidnsteph]

We just returned from a holiday cruise on the Royal. The Retreat pool was very quiet, with comfortable loungers. But it was nearly impossible to find an open lounger on sea days.

 

David

[riclop]

Its free so enjoy.

[caribill]

We just returned from a holiday cruise on the Royal. The Retreat pool was very quiet, with comfortable loungers. But it was nearly impossible to find an open lounger on sea days.

 

David

 

What was using all the loungers? People? or Towels?

[davidnsteph]

What was using all the loungers? People? or Towels?

 

Actually, it was people. With only 2 pools and 1 adult pool, the loungers were full.

 

David

[dmwnc1959]

Actually, it was people. With only 2 pools and 1 adult pool, the loungers were full.

 

David

 

When the Retreat was busy, several places I always saw plenty of empty loungers were on the Sun Deck aft of the pool (both port and starboard sides), which were relatively quiet areas, and up on Deck 19 (Sky Deck) above the Retreat. Seems like most people never made it up to Deck 19, even on sea days.

[jannrasp]

We just returned from a Caribbean Cruise on the Royal. The retreat was our favorite place to hang out--we had over 800 kids on our cruise, so it was nice to get away from them sometimes! On our sea days, all the loungers were reserved with people or towels by 7:45 AM! Early bird gets the worm, I suppose.

There are six cabanas around the pool that can be reserved for the 1/2 day or full day, for a price. Then there's an open area behind that, and around the rails of the deck, there is some sort of canvas shade hooked up. Those were our favorites. It was very windy in the Retreat area! Oh, and there are two hot tubs and a bar right there.

[Jetswdo]

My dh and I figure that we will just be on loungers for two mornings and one afternoon on sea days. We just want to be in shaded area any place in retreat pool area or deck above by retreat/sanctuary area. Not important for us to be right next to the pool, we actually like being a bit further away. On the Royal, are there any shaded spots on deck above, assuming we can't find loungers by Sanctuary. (We refuse to have to get stressed out on our vacation to get Sanctuary just for sea days, espescially when all that would probobly be left will be directly in the sun.) We are stuck on Spring Break cruise mid April, (teachers) and would prefer to be in adult area of ship, do to the main pool being busy with families with kids.

[Pam in CA]

No shade anywhere at the Retreat pool. There are canvas coverings and pergola slats that sort of diffuse the sun but don't block it nor can they be considered shade. There's an overhang around the main pool with tables, chairs, some couches and chairs that are in the shade. Depending on the sun's direction, there's some shade but these are snapped up quickly.

 

Here are some photos. The Retreat--

 

The overhang couches and chairs at the main pool:

Edited January 3, 2014 by Pam in CA

[janetz]

We just returned from a Caribbean Cruise on the Royal. The retreat was our favorite place to hang out--we had over 800 kids on our cruise, so it was nice to get away from them sometimes! On our sea days, all the loungers were reserved with people or towels by 7:45 AM! Early bird gets the worm, I suppose.

There are six cabanas around the pool that can be reserved for the 1/2 day or full day, for a price. Then there's an open area behind that, and around the rails of the deck, there is some sort of canvas shade hooked up. Those were our favorites. It was very windy in the Retreat area! Oh, and there are two hot tubs and a bar right there.

 

 

Do they really allow people to leave their towels so early and not remove them after certain amount of time? ugh

[Bently57]

This ship sounds horrible. Give me the Crown or Ruby any day.

[capriccio]

No shade anywhere at the Retreat pool.

 

It really does depend on the direction of the ship, location of the sun, etc. I would qualify that to say there is no permanent shade at the Retreat pool (even the cabanas with roofs could be shady or sunny depending upon the sun's location).

 

I don't sit out in the sun. On our Caribbean cruise last month we went to the Retreat pool on the 3 sea day mornings. The first day - which was extremely windy - we were up against the port side railing (to get out of as much of the wind as possible) and had shade for the morning. On the second day (no wind, thank goodness) we were under the pergola on the starboard side forward and were shady enough until about 1 pm. On the final day, we spent the entire morning in the shade in two of the 4 loungers at the deep end of the pool. I think we got to the pool around 10 am each morning. I also noticed that on mornings 2 and 3 (at least) the area on the starboard side just as you enter the Retreat area from the main pool area was in the shade.

 

I guess this is just a long winded :D way to say you need to check it out for yourself :p. It was a very nice area and we definitely appreciated the relative silence (we like MUTS in the evening but could do without it during the day) and calm.

Edited January 3, 2014 by capriccio