2013 Christmas Cruise on Royal Princess - A Photo Review!

[lynwar]

Your photos of St. Thomas yesterday and St. Maarten today (in the review) make me want to go back there again really soon.

[whataboutport]

12.22.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

We also each got this odd credit amount from the online travel company that my dad booked through. A lot of agencies (as well as Princess) offer online credit incentives, so be sure to check all of your options before booking!

 

 

I saw the agency on this OBC notice and went to check out the site. They have a lot of OBC offers, but I went to check out the sailing I'm thinking about for Nov 2014 and there are NO cabins available, only JS and higher. Your dad was super lucky to get those aft cabins!

Edited January 5, 2014 by whataboutport

[greenie082756]

I thought you took some really great comparison shots of the Allure and Royal Princess. My goodness how big they are in one of those photos! You captured their size so well! Thanks for the photos, keep them coming! :D

[hsaroya]

Wonderful review, as always, Victoria. Reading it is rather bittersweet, however, as this was the very sailing we had to cancel due to insane air fare from Edmonton to FLL ($1400 per person). Makes me look even more forward to the Med cruise on the new Regal Princess that we booked for August instead! I'm still bitter about not being in the tropics for Christmas - first time in 7 yrs! :(. Looking forward to reading about the rest of your journey. I have enjoyed all of your other reviews - nice to see some younger cruisers picking up the torch!

[whataboutport]

I really want to read your So. Carib review, but when I click the link all the pics are gone. :( Is there another way I can read/view it?

Edited January 6, 2014 by whataboutport

[LittleMissMagic]

I'd love to read a review of yours for the Allure. Prices have come down a lot in the past few years. If they hadn't, I wouldn't be sailing on her in three more weeks :D We got a Boardwalk Balcony for under $900pp which I thought was a pretty good price.

 

Yeah, that's a great price! The problem for us is that we're usually traveling during peak vacation time, so prices are much higher. I started to price out the Allure for spring break this year, and the inside cabins are starting around $900. Spring break is going to be my "budget" trip because I'm planning a big money-blowing graduation cruise on the Disney Fantasy. :D

[LittleMissMagic]

I saw the agency on this OBC notice and went to check out the site. They have a lot of OBC offers, but I went to check out the sailing I'm thinking about for Nov 2014 and there are NO cabins available, only JS and higher. Your dad was super lucky to get those aft cabins!

 

I thought so, too, but we surprisingly had selection of a few different decks. We chose deck 9 because the balconies appeared the largest on the deck plans. Maybe because the price was originally listed as much higher and people didn't want to book.

[whataboutport]

Yeah, that's a great price! The problem for us is that we're usually traveling during peak vacation time, so prices are much higher. I started to price out the Allure for spring break this year, and the inside cabins are starting around $900. Spring break is going to be my "budget" trip because I'm planning a big money-blowing graduation cruise on the Disney Fantasy. :D

 

We got an ocean facing balcony last March on the Allure and paid $1200/pp. Good price for that ship and that time, but I still think that ship is overpriced and the ports are meh.

[whataboutport]

I thought so, too, but we surprisingly had selection of a few different decks. We chose deck 9 because the balconies appeared the largest on the deck plans. Maybe because the price was originally listed as much higher and people didn't want to book.

 

The dates/cabins I'm looking at are available on all other sites, as well as the cruiselines site. I just was wondering out loud why that particular site didn't show anything lower than JS as available. Maybe it's still too early!

[LittleMissMagic]

I really want to read your So. Carib review, but when I click the link all the pics are gone. :( Is there another way I can read/view it?

 

Ah, yes! That is because I stupidly used Facebook as an image-hosting site. I thought I would kill two birds with one stone by uploading them to Facebook and then creating my own image tags. What I ended up doing was creating a super giant Facebook album. And a year or so later, Facebook made some change which created new image URLs for all of the photos, so my IMGs are no longer linked. Unfortunately, Cruise Critic doesn't allow you to edit posts after 30 minutes or so, so I am unable to go back and fix my TR on CC. One of my goals is to bring all of my cruise and Disney trip reports onto my blog, and I'll recreate my Adventure photo review there. Until then, if you go to the last page of the thread, you should find a link that I posted with that sends you to the Facebook album with the photos.

 

Lesson learned: never use Facebook for image hosting.

[LittleMissMagic]

The dates/cabins I'm looking at are available on all other sites, as well as the cruiselines site. I just was wondering out loud why that particular site didn't show anything lower than JS as available. Maybe it's still too early!

 

Definitely keep checking! We booked our cruise rather last-minute (as we do almost everything). I think it was just five weeks in advance.

[LittleMissMagic]

When we got back, Rachel FINALLY decided to buy the ring I told her she should buy. While she was doing that, I wandered.

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

Edited January 6, 2014 by LittleMissMagic

[LittleMissMagic]

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

[LittleMissMagic]

After returning to the ship, we went to the pool deck for a late afternoon pizza. Princess claims that they have the best pizza at sea, and when we sailed on the Island, I thought it was among the worst. However the Royal's pizza is on point! I'm not even a fan of thin crust, but it's amazing!

 

Now I did some stalking of the Allure because the ships seem so much closer when you're on upper decks. Almost as if you could carry on a conversation between someone on the other ship.

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

I did some major balcony creeping. If you're ever on your balcony in port and facing another ship, be warned that you are subject to photograph.

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Check out that balcony with a hot tub! You can also almost see the full-size Christmas tree inside.

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Hello, neighbors!

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

[LittleMissMagic]

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

These balconies connect much better than Princess's in my opinion. Rather than the partition folding back parallel to the room and blocking the view from one stateroom, it folds all the way around and attaches onto the partition. Pictured above are three connected balconies.

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

The people above were fun to watch. They are arranged differently here, but later, a teenage boy arrives and is beside his grandmother and she casually hands her beer over to him every few minutes and he stealthily takes a sip. I don't think his mother ever caught on. And I'm not really sure if he liked it.

Edited January 6, 2014 by LittleMissMagic

[LittleMissMagic]

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Don't know where to put your suitcase? Try the balcony!

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

It's as if our ship just grew!

 

Here's a riddle for you.... what two things on cruise ships are always full, but yet more people always manage to get in?

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Guess hot tubs and elevators? You got it!

 

Interesting fact.... the maximum capacity for the hot tub is listed at 5 persons.

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

[LittleMissMagic]

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

I was having a really fun time with the balcony shots, as I'm sure you can tell. The concept of not knowing who is above or beneath you is really interesting to me. I liked the juxtaposition of the shot above. Did the lavish balcony party realize that there was a man in nothing but his underwear above? And beside the boxers man is a couple just enjoying the view. How funny that these three different groups were caught in one image.

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Good-bye, Allure!

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Something tells me that the maximum capacity of this hot tub is larger than five people.

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

We had a really fun sail away with the Allure of the Seas. The Allure blew its horn, and we sounded back with the Love Boat tune (love it!) which the Allure passengers really seemed to enjoy and react to. We got lots of cheers and waves good-bye.

[Yuk0n Jack]

Been said before by others, but I have to agree - you take stunning photographs!

[west coast cruiser]

Loving these pictures.

[LittleMissMagic]

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

It took forever for this ship to pull out far enough for me to get all of it in the frame!

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

See you in Port Everglades, Allure of the Seas!

[LittleMissMagic]

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

This was my parent's room. I love the complimentary celebration decorations on Princess. This would cost like $25 on Royal Caribbean! :D

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

I was in the hallway waiting on my parents, so I decided to photograph it. The blue carpet is the hallway running perpendicular to the printed carpet.

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

[LittleMissMagic]

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

We went to the wine and cheese party on the top deck, but there was only one table of people there and the cheese didn't look too fresh, so we decided to head to the Bellini bar in the atrium.

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

[jg21]

The kids' mom asked my Dad if he had ever been to the French side before. "Oh, yeah." "Okay, so you know about what is at Orient, right?" "You mean the nudity? Oh, yeah! It's not that bad. Every once in a while an old topless woman walks by, but they're never the ones that you want to look at, anyway." She didn't talk to my dad anymore after that.

 

 

Your dad is my kind of guy.

 

Love your review, even if you are a Clemson family. :D

 

 

Proud Terp here. Leaving for the big 10. What a mistake...:confused:

[LittleMissMagic]

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

I recommend the Raspberry Romance.

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

There was a flash mob in the atrium which was fun. They took a lot of time planting their dancers. One couple was sitting at a table for at least 15 minutes and chatting with another couple there. They also had dancers dressed as bartenders and serving people. The thing that gave it away was an young lady dressed as an elderly woman who took forever to get down the spiral staircase with a cane. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known what was coming.

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.26.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

[LittleMissMagic]

The kids' mom asked my Dad if he had ever been to the French side before. "Oh, yeah." "Okay, so you know about what is at Orient, right?" "You mean the nudity? Oh, yeah! It's not that bad. Every once in a while an old topless woman walks by, but they're never the ones that you want to look at, anyway." She didn't talk to my dad anymore after that.

 

 

Your dad is my kind of guy.

 

Love your review, even if you are a Clemson family. :D

 

 

Proud Terp here. Leaving for the big 10. What a mistake...:confused:

 

I know - I'll miss Maryland! I actually went to the stadium two years ago. I wasn't going for the game. I was on an architecture field trip in DC. But they gave us the night off, so we took the Metro to Maryland. That was the game where we were really sucking and then Sammy Watkins ran a 90-something yard field goal return and turned the game around. I'm going to miss Sammy!