So sad...Royal one star reviews

[kendon]

I am so sorry to see all the one star CC reviews of the Royal Princess. I thought the ship was top notch. It is not a family fun ship by any means, bonus points for us! A brand new ship, great service, good food and entertainment...one star? Geez. Sad.

[windsor26]

I am so sorry to see all the one star CC reviews of the Royal Princess. I thought the ship was top notch. It is not a family fun ship by any means, bonus points for us! A brand new ship, great service, good food and entertainment...one star? Geez. Sad.

 

Where is their star rating?

[TKS]

Member reviews from Cruise Critic are what the original poster was referring to, I believe.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=400

 

Just remember to look at the majority of the reviews, not the outliers. Every cruise line has its cheerleaders and its detractors.

Edited April 9, 2014 by TKS

[Pam in CA]

The Royal seems to generate more opposite reviews. Many love it, many hate it.

[timetravler]

Before even the first cruise many were not happy with the Royal. Then the bad reviews started after the first sailing. People complained about no central staircase, no wrap around promenade deck, and the location of the toilet paper holder. After I sailed on her all I could say is how beautiful of a ship she is. I had few complaints. I would most certainly sail on her again. It was almost as if people had negative things to say no matter what. Guess I am always happy if I am on a cruise, even ones that had issues such as missing a bunch of ports(not the fault of Princess).

[janetz]

None of the complaints I have read are deal breakers for us. I am pretty sure we will love the ship. :)

Edited April 9, 2014 by janetz

[Donder1]

The toilet papers holder? Really? I have read so much about the Royal and like the poster above, I don't think the complaints are deal breakers.

 

And, so many who have complained have never sailed on her.:confused:

 

We are very much looking forward to our cruise on the Royal.

[Happy2cruise]

We sailed the Royal when it first came out and to be honest were disappointed. After getting home we decided our disappointment was due to all the anticipation we had of this new ship. After really thinking about it, the cons were very minimal......after all nothing (not even a new ship) is perfect.

 

We have now booked her again and this time knowing what to expect, we can truly enjoy the ship to the fullest;).

[Mom33]

When you consider the people giving the #1 reviews are unknown to all, they don't use their member names and don't have to use their real name, they can say whatever they want with out a care in the world.

 

We all have a choice as to whether or not they are sincere reviews, biased reviews, ridiculous reviews or over the top.

 

We have CC members that come to the boards to complain, criticize or review cruises and they do it in the public forums where they can be challenged or agreed with. I find those posters to be more trust worthy then those who hide behind another ID on the Member Review site.

 

There is no way I put any credence to a 1 rating on that site. They actually look ridiculous when there are many 5 and 5+ reviews. If the ship was really so bad, there wouldn't be any 5 or 5+ at all.

[MamaTene]

Reviews, no matter which ship or line, are totally subjective. Some people seem to have extremely high expectations for service while others are just more "accepting" While I do read the reviews, most time I take the criticism with a grain of salt. Can't wait to experience Royal Princess in Feb of 2015.

Edited April 9, 2014 by MamaTene

[JimmyVWine]

Some ships (or hotels, or restaurants etc.) achieve a 4 star (out of 5) rating by consistently getting 4 star reviews. Others earn one by getting inconsistent reviews of 4 and 5 stars with a smattering of 1 star reviews. You can pick which way you think is better. Royal has earned hers the latter way with a "65% loved her" rating. This likely means that if you can overlook the things that made people hate the ship, you will likely love it, which could be better than people uniformly saying that the ship is "pretty good", if that makes sense. Of course, if the things that generated the one star reviews bother you, then this is not the ship for you. Polarizing indeed.

[hehny]

I wonder if the bad reviews had to do with the fact that Royal was dramatically different from the other ships in the fleet. I never cruised on Princess before Royal and I loved her, but I had no expectations to compare her too. Most of the bad reviews seem to come from people who had sailed princess before and hated the new model.

 

I've since sailed her again and have been very happy.

[Typhoon1]

You can't please ALL of the people ALL of the time.

[Cruiselover1951]

We are sailing on the Royal on 4/27/14 on her return to Europe, and I have scrutinized most of the reviews and they are as noticed all over the place.

 

This is what I have extracted:

 

PROS:

--------

 

The ship is magnificent and more contemporary decorated (including state rooms) than the older Princess ships

 

The Piazza is amazing

 

The food court is the best laid out in the fleet

 

The Sanctuary and thermal suite are amazing

 

The Staff is amazing

 

 

NEUTRAL (both very good and very bad comments):

----------

 

The food (from the "greatest" to the 'worst')

 

The Gym (From 'fantastic gym' to 'too small and too crowded and too many people walking through')

 

The Crown Grill (from 'great service, great food' to 'poor service, so-so food and to much noise from the adjacent lounge)

 

The Concierge lounge (from 'nice oasis' to 'no-one ever there, staff not able to help on par with the service desk)

 

Production shows/entertainers (from "fantastic" to "waste of time")

 

State rooms (Some bigger and better, i.e. interior, some much smaller, i.e. suites, some have too much furniture, i.e. regular balconies than other Princess ships)

 

The SPA services (from "like other Princess ships" to "Overpriced for what you get"

 

 

BAD (* = often listed as "deal breakers")

----

* The size of the balconies (especially depth) is much smaller than on the other ships (unable sit in a chair facing the water) - this includes the PH suites on the side which are no deeper than regular balconies.

 

* AFT soot problem still unresolved (especially for De Luxe Balconies and OS at a minimum making the intermittent soot on the balconies an annoyance and at worst making them unusable)

 

* Lack of a wrap-around promenade deck

 

* Too few things to do

 

Bathrooms too small and smaller than other ships

 

Mini-suites have fewer ammenneties than mini-suites on other Princess ships

 

Princess theater too small for the number of paxes on board

 

Princess live (seats too uncomfortable)

 

Lack of Central staircase

 

No policing of early am deck-chair hawking

 

----------------------------------------------------

That about sums it up - Mind you, none of this made us change our booking despite our stateroom (Aft OS) being hammered for the soot, downsizing and lack of wet bar issues)

 

In a couple of weeks we will see for ourselves - if time and energy permits, I will post a report/review.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

The toilet papers holder? Really? I have read so much about the Royal and like the poster above, I don't think the complaints are deal breakers.

 

And, so many who have complained have never sailed on her.:confused:

 

We are very much looking forward to our cruise on the Royal.

 

 

You will have an awesome trip, we missed a lot that the Royal had when we went on the Ruby afterwards.

Looking forward to seeing the changes to Regal too.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - Oy, excuse the auto correct ;)

[OCruisers]

All of our cruise friends who actually know what we enjoy tell us ...

Royal is a beautiful ship ... BUT ...

they all seem to like Emerald/Crown/Ruby much better.

Even our recent bartenders told us they would not want another contract on Royal. :rolleyes:

At some point we'll sail on Royal to see for ourselves but are delaying doing so.

LuLu

~~~

[billco]

Royal has earned hers the latter way with a "65% loved her" rating.

After almost a year of operation, does the Royal have a "Sailing % Full" rating?

[GottaLuvCruising]

We are sailing on the Royal in 4 days. We were concerned about the soot so we booked a mid-ship balcony. We are concerned about the lack of a mid-ship staircase, so we'll allow time or plan to walk forward / aft (depending on our destination). We'll go early to the shows to secure seats. We are aware of the tiny balcony, so we'll leave our legs at home...or not! In any case, we'll be on a cruise and make the best of it. Lots of good Royal reviews, too. I'll post mine when I return.

[USNUZULOOSE]

The way I see it , I like to see it for myself before making a decision. What one person may not like, some else make like it. I like exploring the ships and see what they have in store..:D

[lovevacadays]

Interesting. I scrolled down the first page. I do see one star ratings but I also see several 4 and 5+ star ratings. There are going to be people who do and don't like a ship. An example I can give you is I cruised a few years back with a friend. It was her first cruise. We cruised on the Crown Princess - Western Caribbean. She hated the cruise and complained about everything. It was one of my favorite cruises.

[OceanPrince]

Looks like there were 4 types of repeated complaining.. :D

 

Resistant to change

- "forget the many good things on the ship, there is no promenade deck. OMG! Also.. what's with emails, fax machines worked just fine!"

 

Misplaced dissapointment

- "heavy traffic getting to port, weather is bad, and fellow passengers are rude, thus this is not a good ship. Horrible experience on the Royal!"

 

Overblown minor issues

- "the waiter didnt smile when he took my order, I demand onboard credits for his rudeness! While you are at it, make my balcony 3 feet deeper!"

 

Misaligned expectations

- "where is the rock climbing and the water slides? there's nothing to do on this ship! Gosh, so bored!"

[pcsunlover]

I was just on the Royal Princess last week and will be writing a review with my rating soon.

 

Based on our cruising experience, this ship had some big hits and several "what were they thinking when they designed this ship" moments. I'm happy that I read most of the reviews (good and bad) before the cruise because I knew the things I didn't want to miss, and was prepared for the perceived negatives in advance so I had already planned how to alleviate their impact on my enjoyment of the cruise.

[shredie]

Reviews, no matter which ship or line, are totally subjective. Some people seem to have extremely high expectations for service while others are just more "accepting" While I do read the reviews, most time I take the criticism with a grain of salt. Can't wait to experience Royal Princess in Feb of 2015.

 

I've been reading Carnival reviews (long story) and have noticed that the number of stars doesn't always line up with the rest of the review. Someone will talk about the great food, excellent staff, nice room, but will give a score of one star because something unpleasant happened on a shore excursion (or the pool was too cold/hot or the comedian was not funny, etc.) I haven't done the Royal yet, but I'm waiting for the chance. Stars, schmars...as they say, a bad day on a cruise is still better that a good day at work!:)

[HRPro]

We cruised on the Royal last fall and loved her. Reading Dave's "Everything Royal" thread and other reviews prepared me for the pros and cons, but honestly DH and I enjoyed everything about the Royal. We did have one of the larger angled balconies, so didn't experience that problem, but we were mid ship and weren't bothered by having to walk to the stairs or rely on the mid ship elevators. Food, service and décor were wonderful and we enjoyed the entertainment and shows that we attended. We always book a mini-suite, and we far prefer the Royal's minisuite design. I missed the promenade, but enjoyed Royal's walking track. We sailed on the Star in February and missed the amenities on the Royal even though we really enjoyed our cruise to Hawaii. When we got home, DH agreed to another TA on the Royal in 2015, so we're already booked and really looking forward to our next cruise on the Royal. I think some people don't like change and for others the changes on the Royal impact things that are their priorities in cruising. I'm glad we have lots of choices of ships--to each his own!

[kendon]

All of our cruise friends who actually know what we enjoy tell us ...

Royal is a beautiful ship ... BUT ...

they all seem to like Emerald/Crown/Ruby much better.

Even our recent bartenders told us they would not want another contract on Royal. :rolleyes:

At some point we'll sail on Royal to see for ourselves but are delaying doing so.

LuLu

~~~

 

Don't hesitate...it's gorgeous. If you are looking for a floating amusement park, forget it. This is an elegant and classy ship.