Is Royal the worst rated ship on CC?

[JimmyVWine]

The ratings will change and I am sure that the Royal will be in the 90% mark in no time at all, as will the Regal too.

The math doesn't support you. It would take 550 consecutive "love it" reviews without a single dissent to drive the percentage up to 90%. If the next 200 reviews were all "love it" reviews, then the percentage would only climb to 81%. Leaving every other issue aside, baclony issues (soot and size) will simply not allow for a run of 200 consecutive positives, let alone 550.

 

But it will be interesting to see where Regal's reviews come out. There has been enough discussion of Royal such that people booked on Regal should have an entirely different set of expectations than early Royal passengers. People who have a visceral reaction to small balconies and absent center stairways should know better than to expect miracles from Regal. So it won't surprise me to see Regal jump out of the box with much, much higher ratings.

Edited January 15, 2014 by JimmyVWine

[cruiseclues]

Princess will determine what things it can improve on by the surveys sent out to the 75000 plus cruisers that have sailed her. They will look to the money but also to what pleases the majority of people that sail Princess. I have always found them to be the consummate host.

They can't please everyone but they will do what they can to garner more positive reviews. The ship is not the disaster some want it to be.

 

Yes, they will...and also from much of what is said on Cruise Critic and other cruise forums...which I personally find to be more valuable to the Cruise Line...as it covers a lot more territory. Many cruisers do not fill out the survey. In comparison, items discussed in the forums allow for much more thought and are expressed over time in many cases. The ship has its problems...as most ships do, especially during the ships beginning with the US market...most of these problems will be resolved within a period of months...but a few might require more time or much more money...such as those related to the design itself. We will be making our own decisions after time. We welcome all remarks. :):):):)

[baldercash]

Thank you. Exactly! If you haven’t sailed on the ship and experienced it for yourself, you should keep your comments to yourself. There is a lot of misinformation out there and people are just repeating it, when they don’t even know what they are talking about. :rolleyes:

 

 

We know Royal is rated as one of the worse ships reviewed by Cruise Critic reviewers who have sailed her.

That is a fact.

 

So what are you talking about except you don't accept opposing views well, have nothing to contribute but like to tell people to shut up?

 

Nice....

[cruiseclues]

Not sure where Cruise Critic gets their NOW 63% (up by 1% already) of cruisers loved it...for Royal Princess

 

Counted Stars: 3 stars or Greater...possibly I made a mistake in the count?

Percent.....Running Total Percent..............Stars

37%..........................................................5 or 5+

19%......................56%..............................4

17%......................73%..............................3

 

In any case, the average ratings of the individual components should be more important to most...as cruisers may have different preferences for individual components (dining, etc).

 

We believe these loved it ratings continue to rise for relatively new cruise ships.

 

It would be nice if Cruise Critic could tell us how they arrive at the Cruisers Loved It Percent. :):):):)

Edited January 15, 2014 by cruiseclues

[baldercash]

Not sure where Cruise Critic gets their NOW 63% (up by 1% already) of cruisers loved it...for Royal Princess

 

Counted Stars: 3 stars or Greater...possibly I made a mistake in the count?

Percent.....Running Total Percent..............Stars

37%..........................................................5 or 5+

19%......................56%..............................4

17%......................73%..............................3

 

In any case, the average ratings of the individual components should be more important to most...as cruisers may have different preferences for individual components (dining, etc).

 

We believe these loved it ratings continue to rise for relatively new cruise ships.

 

It would be nice if Cruise Critic could tell us how they arrive at the Cruisers Loved It Percent. :):):):)

 

Really you don't think 1* and 2* reviews have no impact on the overall average rating?

[cruiseclues]

I recounted and found the Royal Princess Cruisers Loved It percentage was probably the number of 4 stars plus 5 Stars & 5 Stars Plus & the total number of cruiser reviews did not count the not rated ones for the percentage calculation. :):):):)

Edited January 15, 2014 by cruiseclues

[Mom33]

We know Royal is rated as one of the worse ships reviewed by Cruise Critic reviewers who have sailed her.

That is a fact.

 

So what are you talking about except you don't accept opposing views well, have nothing to contribute but like to tell people to shut up?

 

Nice....

 

Is it now? Why are people on this thread saying they sailed her, they liked her and they will sail her again? How could she be the worse ship to them? 63 % liked their cruise according to the Member Review board. Are those people wrong?

 

She is the ship you hate. You have never been on her. If you want to hate, her go ahead. But don't insult the people who like her by ranting whenever they compliment the ship.

[Mom33]

The math doesn't support you. It would take 550 consecutive "love it" reviews without a single dissent to drive the percentage up to 90%. If the next 200 reviews were all "love it" reviews, then the percentage would only climb to 81%. Leaving every other issue aside, baclony issues (soot and size) will simply not allow for a run of 200 consecutive positives, let alone 550.

But it will be interesting to see where Regal's reviews come out. There has been enough discussion of Royal such that people booked on Regal should have an entirely different set of expectations than early Royal passengers. People who have a visceral reaction to small balconies and absent center stairways should know better than to expect miracles from Regal. So it won't surprise me to see Regal jump out of the box with much, much higher ratings.

 

Not on the Member Review board! The percentage changes with each post.:D LOL

You should ask CC how they figure their percentage. Accuracy doesn't appear to be their forte.

[cruiseclues]

Really you don't think 1* and 2* reviews have no impact on the overall average rating?

 

See my last remark...I think all the star ratings have an effect on the overall average rating & that the NO RATINGs are not part of the calculation. I got 192 total reviews with one star or greater. :)

Edited January 15, 2014 by cruiseclues

[JimmyVWine]

Is it now? Why are people on this thread saying they sailed her, they liked her and they will sail her again? How could she be the worse ship to them? 63 % liked their cruise according to the Member Review board. Are those people wrong?

 

You are conflating "worst rated" with "worst ship". The former is empirically measured by CC Reviews. The latter is pure opinion. This post is about the former and not the latter.

 

Celebrity Reflection set sail just a few months before Royal. The same CC demographic has given her a "love it" rating of 88%. (And that doesn't make it the "best ship). Royal is at 63%. Something has to account for that difference. It can't be that "only negative people write reviews." It can't be "there are many more satisfied passengers who haven't written reviews." While both statements can be true, they should apply equally to both Reflection and Royal. Yet there is a 25% gap betweent he ships. All this thread is trying to do is get to the bottom of why that is. No one is trying to "prove" that one ship is superior to the other. That is unprovable. But one ship's "love it" rating is superior to the other's. And there has to be a reason.

[JimmyVWine]

Not on the Member Review board! The percentage changes with each post.:D LOL

 

??? The Member Reviews are how I was calculating this. There are (or were when I did the math) 202 Member Reviews and a 63% "love it" rating. That is 127 such reviews. It would take 550 out of 550 to get the percentage up to 90%. That would be 677 out of 752.

[cruiseclues]

The Reviews which are posted as Threads give us the most information & that information is more precise than stars ratings...all of it is still mostly opinion, though. :):):):)

Edited January 15, 2014 by cruiseclues

[DShock]

The Royal is on the bottom of my list. Much prefer the Grand Class ships.

[cruiseclues]

??? The Member Reviews are how I was calculating this. There are (or were when I did the math) 202 Member Reviews and a 63% "love it" rating. That is 127 such reviews. It would take 550 out of 550 to get the percentage up to 90%. That would be 677 out of 752.

 

Sort the Member Reviews by Rating Lowest to Highest and subtract the NOT RATED from the total member reviews you use to do the calculations. :):):):)

Edited January 15, 2014 by cruiseclues

[JimmyVWine]

The Reviews which are posted as Threads give us the most information & that information is more precise than stars ratings. :):):):)

I agree with the first part of that statement but not the second. Much has been said about the Member Reviews and that only negative people write reviews and there are many more satisfied people who do not. That may be true, but it is not a phenomenon unique to Royal. Somehow, all of these Debbie Downers are still getting other Princess ships up over 80%. Way above it in some instances. But leaving that aside, I would argue that the reverse phenomenon is true on the Threads. The percentage of people who post reviews here do so in a positive light because if they cam to the Princess board with bad news, the messenger would be shot. So I am certain that there are many people with not-so-good reviews who do not post them on the Threads for fear of being pilloried.

 

And let's not kid ourselves. The number of people who post on the Threads is a real small drop in the bucket compared to the people who surf for cruise ship reviews and find CC's Reviews section. Not everyone registers and spends their time on chat boards. Only the die-hards do and that demographic is hardly unbiased or "precise". Knowldegeable? Absolutely. Useful? Yes, again. But the best place to get unbiased opinions? Not so much. Many of the low reviews in the Review section start off by saying "I am a loyal (Celebrity/MSC/P&O/RCL) customer but I thought I'd give Princess' new toy a try." You may discount those reviews. I find them insightful. Both the good and the bad.

[cruiseclues]

I agree with the first part of that statement but not the second. Much has been said about the Member Reviews and that only negative people write reviews and there are many more satisfied people who do not. That may be true, but it is not a phenomenon unique to Royal. Somehow, all of these Debbie Downers are still getting other Princess ships up over 80%. Way above it in some instances. But leaving that aside, I would argue that the reverse phenomenon is true on the Threads. The percentage of people who post reviews here do so in a positive light because if they cam to the Princess board with bad news, the messenger would be shot. So I am certain that there are many people with not-so-good reviews who do not post them on the Threads for fear of being pilloried.

 

And let's not kid ourselves. The number of people who post on the Threads is a real small drop in the bucket compared to the people who surf for cruise ship reviews and find CC's Reviews section. Not everyone registers and spends their time on chat boards. Only the die-hards do and that demographic is hardly unbiased or "precise". Knowldegeable? Absolutely. Useful? Yes, again. But the best place to get unbiased opinions? Not so much. Many of the low reviews in the Review section start off by saying "I am a loyal (Celebrity/MSC/P&O/RCL) customer but I thought I'd give Princess' new toy a try." You may discount those reviews. I find them insightful. Both the good and the bad.

 

Remember that Precise is not the Same as Accurate, or Truthful...and this precision is mostly due to the posted responses. I do agree with you about the probability of the reviews not posted as threads are likely to be more critical. :):):):)

Edited January 15, 2014 by cruiseclues

[JimmyVWine]

Sort the Member Reviews by Rating Lowest to Highest and subtract the NOT RATED from the total member reviews you use to do the calculations. :):):):)

Do the reverse and you get to the same point.

203 reviews

11 "Not Rated"/192 "Rated"

 

Of those "Rated", there are 120 5+ stars, 5 stars and 4 stars.

 

120 out of 192=62.5% people who loved it. (Assuming 4 stars=love).

 

p.s. Of the 11 "Not Rated", 6 of those are decidedly "Do Not Love It" reviews. So if you add in the "Not Rated" reviews, the "Love It" factor is 125 out of 203, or 61.5%.

[pcsunlover]

The Reviews which are posted as Threads give us the most information & that information is more precise than stars ratings...all of it is still mostly opinion, though. :):):):)

 

Exactly. Many members who did live froms seemed to enjoy the ship. And, I have read many comments on various Royal related threads from people who have sailed and loved the ship but didn't rate it on the Member Review board.

The average member rating is 4.0 when all categories are tallied, which to me, doesn't indicate that the ship is the failure that some claim it is.

[JimmyVWine]

Many members who did live froms seemed to enjoy the ship.

 

To my point, exactly. Who does a "Live" except a frequent Princess Board poster? Are they the most unbiased lot? Who does a "Live" only to tell everyone how bad things are? (OK Woobstr/Bob did one, but his trip did improve over time. ;)). "Lives" are great tools. But they are more akin to people who Instagram their restaurant meals in real time. Which is more common: People posting instant photos of the delicious food they are about to eat, or people who post pictures about the total failures that they just got served? Is a "Hey! I'm here in a restaurant and just got served this awesome steak" a more reliable review than a review on Trip Advisor or Urban Spoon? Or a Zagat rating?

[love2cruisegal]

How many reviews are there compared to how many passengers have sailed on the Royal? How many reviews are from the first month or so when there were issues? How long have the other ships been in service compared to the Royal? Numbers don't lie but they can be manipulated.

 

Having sailed on the Royal, she is now one of my favorite ships, and I've been on quite a few, including Celebrity. She's not perfect but what ship is? She has quite a few things that are better than any other Princess ship and for that matter, any other ship on any line. I can't wait to re-board her in September.

 

I totally agree with you Pam and also Pia and Dave. We were on the Dec. 8 sailing (Dave was also on that sailing) of the Royal and we loved it. All the people who have been complaining early on have not even sailed on the Royal. Why would anyone cancel a cruise without even seeing it? We took this cruise as we wanted to sail on a brand new ship and pics were awesome. The ship is just gorgeous in person. We had no issues with food, cabin, elevators, stairs, even the toilet paper holder. Now come on, don't understand the toilet paper holder issue...there really isn't one. I think some people just like to complain. Yes there were no midship stairs but our cabin was near the forward stairs and it was very convenient. Yes in elevators did seem a little smaller, but people sure do like to cram themselves into them. Can't wait for the next one! We were in a deluxe balcony (partial obstructed) and were upgraded as we had reserved a guaranty partial obstructed balcony. We enjoyed the little extra room and yes the balconies are smaller but we were still able to enjoy coffee in the a.m. and a glass of wine before dinner. Also life boats were low enough and didn't block our view as we were sitting down.

 

We would sail on the Royal again in a heart beat if the price was as good as we got for Dec. 8. I've never written a review and was planning to for this cruise, but I guess you can consider this a partial review of the Royal. We also loved all the options for dinner, Alfredo's was one of our favorites. Hope they add it to the grand class ships. We did eat in Sabatini's one night to celebrate our belated anniversary and it was fantastic. The Horizon Court & Bistro was very well laid out and large. We normally don't eat dinner in the Horizon, but we did a couple times on this cruise. Very good.

 

Guess I've gone on too much, but thought I'd give you our version of our wonderful cruise on the Royal. Can't wait to sail on her again or try the Regal.

[baldercash]

I totally agree with you Pam and also Pia and Dave. We were on the Dec. 8 sailing (Dave was also on that sailing) of the Royal and we loved it. All the people who have been complaining early on have not even sailed on the Royal. Why would anyone cancel a cruise without even seeing it? We took this cruise as we wanted to sail on a brand new ship and pics were awesome. The ship is just gorgeous in person. We had no issues with food, cabin, elevators, stairs, even the toilet paper holder. Now come on, don't understand the toilet paper holder issue...there really isn't one. I think some people just like to complain. Yes there were no midship stairs but our cabin was near the forward stairs and it was very convenient. Yes in elevators did seem a little smaller, but people sure do like to cram themselves into them. Can't wait for the next one! We were in a deluxe balcony (partial obstructed) and were upgraded as we had reserved a guaranty partial obstructed balcony. We enjoyed the little extra room and yes the balconies are smaller but we were still able to enjoy coffee in the a.m. and a glass of wine before dinner. Also life boats were low enough and didn't block our view as we were sitting down.

 

We would sail on the Royal again in a heart beat if the price was as good as we got for Dec. 8. I've never written a review and was planning to for this cruise, but I guess you can consider this a partial review of the Royal. We also loved all the options for dinner, Alfredo's was one of our favorites. Hope they add it to the grand class ships. We did eat in Sabatini's one night to celebrate our belated anniversary and it was fantastic. The Horizon Court & Bistro was very well laid out and large. We normally don't eat dinner in the Horizon, but we did a couple times on this cruise. Very good.

 

Guess I've gone on too much, but thought I'd give you our version of our wonderful cruise on the Royal. Can't wait to sail on her again or try the Regal.

 

Do you think your cabin upgrade may have made you happier on the cruise?

Did you bother to read the comment posted on this thread by the fellow who paid for a suite and felt he did not get good value for what he paid, the small balcony and the smaller cabin then he expected.

 

Now can you tell me why this fellow does not want to sail Royal again yet you do?

I think I know the answer please post yours.

[love2cruisegal]

Do you think your cabin upgrade may have made you happier on the cruise?

Did you bother to read the comment posted on this thread by the fellow who paid for a suite and felt he did not get good value for what he paid, the small balcony and the smaller cabin then he expected.

 

Now can you tell me why this fellow does not want to sail Royal again yet you do?

I think I know the answer please post yours.

 

Yes we were "happy" with our upgrade but that didn't make us any "happier" about the cruise. We would have been just as "happy" with our balcony cabin!

 

My answer is: why do you want people to rant about the Royal when some people actually enjoyed the cruise and loved the ship!! And....if you haven't sailed on the Royal, then you shouldn't have anything negative to rant about yet! I don't understand!

[JimmyVWine]

It's because of this that I don't put much stock in the overall percentage and prefer to actually read samplings of the reviews with the highest and lowest ratings to see if someone's perceived negative or positive is one of mine.

 

I think this is the point that is getting lost in all of this. The "number" should mean far less than the text. I hope that people are actually reading the text of reviews (both on the Threads and the Reviews) to form opinions! The text of some of the "low" rated reviews sound like they are from people who really enjoyed the ship, and the reviews of some of the 4 star reviews sound like they come from people who would have preferred to be put off at the next port. Sometimes the number of stars awarded is quizzical at best. Enjoy your cruise!