Royal Princess Review

[ibfern]

Royal Baltics and Transatlantic 9/2/14-9/27/14

Embarkation

We got on the ship quickly with plenty of time to settle in and explore before muster. The ship was the same as it had been last year when we spent a month on it; large and laid out well but still lacking a full promenade deck outside. We went to trivia and quickly found some partners who were good, although Ken was the star player. We won our first trivia and got water bottles, I figure by the end of the cruise we might be able to build a raft of water bottles!

 

Muster was quick and very small and I was surprised how few people there were at muster, not realizing what a small number of people were checking in from Berlin. This was a weird cruise in that it was sold many different ways. Some people embarked in Copenhagen three days before Berlin, some in St. Petersburg, and many embarked in Copenhagen 9/10/14 for the transatlantic. Our dinner was OK, in spite of asking for a large table for 8-10, we were put at a table of 4 and ate alone since our table mates were off in Berlin. We didn't leave Berlin until 10:30 PM.

The following day we changed our table to a larger one for 8 and all of our friend joined us at early seating and this became the highlight of the cruise in many ways. On turnaround day we changed our table of 8 to a table of 10 and that undoubtedly became the highlight of everyone’s cruise. We all looked forward to dinner each night, and maybe gained a few pounds too, afte rall food taste better when shared with good friends

Problems in the Cabin

I Woke up the first morning ready to embrace the day. I had been on the Royal last year for 30 days and experienced some issues so I was ready to embrace a new and improved ship. This was not quite the experience I had. The toilet in my room (A718) was clogged first thing the morning, and you know how that goes when you are traveling. This caused extreme discomfort to us and I spent the morning calling for help. Just like last year, nobody came to fix the toilet until I called 5 times, not my favorite way to start a cruise. We had to vacate the room and race to use the public bathrooms, then to the front desk to ask for help in person, this being the most effective method of eliciting help on this ship. Good grief, I swear I am not doing anything different on this ship than I do on others so I don't understand what the problem is. Could it be related to the power blackout we had yesterday right after we boarded?

 

Problems on the ship

Some cruise critic friends took my rear facing deluxe balcony C743 (from last year’s cruise), the infamous soot room, and were beside themselves with how bad it smelled, how much tar was on their balcony, and how unusable it was. Please beware that the issues around the sooty aft cabins, and the plumbing problems still exist. If you have booked any of the aft cabins beware that there has been no fix.

Laundry service was another problem, taking 3+ days from the beginning of the cruise, and throughout the cruise the time grew longer, usually 5-6 days. Having spent 10 nights in Berlin pre cruise, I had lots of dirty clothing and was not expecting to encounter this kind of delay. To add insult to injury, close to the close of the first segment of the cruise (the Baltics) they offered a “stuff a laundry” bag promotion where everybody could get as much laundry done as they could fit in a bag for $20. This probably caused more delays for us elite members who were getting our laundry done as a benefit. I refrain to call it free because we spend a lot of money taking a lot of cruises to gain elite status.

Trivia and other Games

We played trivia a lot but encountered a really lousy cruise staff member named Geof who was such a bummer; he ruined the experience for a lot of us. He ran a cruise long progressive trivia and was so rude to the captain it really offended many of us. This cruise long game took place at around noon on every sea day and was often interrupted by the Captains daily announcement. Every time the Captain came on Geof would make faces and act like the captain’s announcement was so boring and useless and then he would make “speed it up” gestures and pretend that he was dying, or just dropped to the floor as if in prayer, all centered around making fun of the Captains announcement. When the captain finished his announcement, Geof would clap and talk about how long winded the captain was. Frankly I was embarrassed for the Captain, I though Captain Dino Sagani was one of the more personable and informative Captains I have ever cruised with. This guy Geof was a fool, and quite full of himself! I did not like him at all.

Otherwise the Cruise staff was excellent. The Cruise Director Lisa Ball was fantastic; she was very involved in all aspects of the shipboard activities and even called trivia. We really enjoyed her presence and appreciated how involved and active she was, truly a team player and in no way full of herself like some CD’s can be. Lisa really set the bar high for me!

Food/Dining experiences-- Main Dining Room

We had the best dining table ever, seating for 10--infamous Table for 10 group--and we were close to the back with decent views of the water. Our table was filled with good friends, people we have cruise with before and got along with well, my dear friends joined us for the Transatlantic portion and they got along fabulously with the rest of the group, becoming instant family. I cannot tell you what a difference the right mix of people make for a successful dinner group. So what if we were loud and raucous every night. We spend each night laughing till our tummies hurt (really) and generally being so jovial that we were infectious. Most of the tables around us became louder and looked like they were having as much fun as we were. Laughter was breaking out all over the place. Yes one of our neighbors look like they were suffering being close to our loud and joyous table, and they looked grumpy and bent out of shape much of the time but I suspect this was how they were all of the time, independent of our proximity. J

Our tablemate B (not his real name) started this kleptomaniac routine, which he performed throughout the entire 25 day cruise. He was imitating some lady we had talked about who was on a world cruise and had tried to steal all of the dinnerware, utensils, and whatever else she could get her hands on until she got caught. B would casually start stuffing utensils, sugar containers, plates, glasses, and more, often while the head waiter Arkie (short for Arkadius) stood talking to us about what we did that day, or any special orders we asked for. We laughed and laughed every time Bob did this shtick, as he slowly and surely made all the dinnerware disappear. Then he would stand and all the stuff would fall from his clothing causing all of us to squeal with joy and laughter! No matter how many times he did this, we could not stop laughing at it. B should be a comedian!

Our waitress D (short for Dorota) was fantastic, as was her assistant waiter Zoran. Zoran was not around as much as D, I guess he was getting the food all the time, Princess has changed the way the wait staff works and I was told its normal to not see the assistant much. D really put up with us in such a perfect manner; sometimes she faked being stern when we were having food fights, or just being loud and noisy, and other times joining in as if she was part of our group and she was! Our neighbors had appointed her “Queen” of the dining room staff and she regally wore her the crowns they brought for her. She was incredible in her manner and perfect at negotiating large, loud groups! We all loved her dearly.

I always order extra vegetables for each night. Initially I had grilled Asparagus and Spinach steamed with garlic brought to the table every night. My tablemates were quick to agree that this was a very good thing, generally the dinner plates do not have many veggies on them and we all loved the extras. As the cruise went on they first ran out of Asparagus, then they ran out of Spinach. I asked for Broccoli instead and it always came steamed with garlic, I think garlic makes everything taste better.

During the Baltics portion of the cruise our fixed dining time was 6pm, and during the transatlantic portion, we were supposed to come at 5:30, although we always showed up between 5:45 and 6pm. The only negative to dining at the traditional early seating is that we always missed sail always. The trade off was well worth it, late dining was between 8 and 8:30 and that was just too late for all of us to eat, digest, and get to sleep for early ports.

 

Sabatini’s

We went to Sabatini’s to celebrate our friends wedding anniversary on one of the formal nights. We actually dressed for it, although you don’t have to dress formally on formal nights to dine here. We had our infamous Table for 10 group and started at 7pm and we did not finish until close to 11PM, that’s how much fun we had! The food was excellent, with a few exceptions, and service was great too. Food always tastes good when accompanied by good friends and good service.

Horizon Court Buffet

At the beginning of the cruise the HC is incredible, do try to make it up there on day one for lunch because you will be amazed at the variety they have there, including 4 carving stations. We often went up to the massive buffet at 11:25 am, a perfect time for Ken to grab breakfast and me, lunch, timing being everything here. I always grabbed some yummy grilled veggies, wild rice and asparagus, some lean brisket or other lean meat, Roasted Chicken, and a veggie salad with lo cal dressing. There were many healthy options in the Buffet, no need to feel deprived if dieting. I really enjoyed eating at the HC for Breakfasts and lunch, but really hated it at dinner.

The dinner options were far less abundant than the options during the day. Half of the Horizon Court was closed, or refashioned for Fondues or the Crab Shack. The grill area was always closed, no yummy fresh grilled veggies or meats for dinner were ever available, although they always has several carving stations opened. At dinnertime nuts and dried fruits and lot of veggies and meats were plentiful but as the cruise progressed they seemed to run out leaving less options. I tried to make a trail mix to take with me on port days as a snack, don’t forget to bring ziplock baggies for this. At 5:30 pm there is always an array of deli meats and sandwiches which can be used to make sandwiches for the next days port visit, if you are so inclined to do that this is the place.

On several occasions we brought the infamous table for 10 group to the HC, we even found a table for 10 and this became our alternative dining spot although we only ate here twice because of late port visits or because we wanted to see a sail away.

 

Formal Nights

On our first formal night, we dressed for it but hated to as we always do! I noticed that lots of people did not dress for formal nights, many choose to eat at the Buffet. I think we ended up dressing for every formal night except the last, mostly because one of the 10 enjoyed it so much and we wanted to make her happy!

Man Overboard

During one of the last sea days there was a surprising “man overboard” announcement and we were all asked to go back to our cabins for a head count. Everybody did this pretty quickly and mostly hung over the balcony railings looking for whomever had jumped ship. Our room Steward came by and noted we were in our cabin. Meanwhile I noticed a beach ball like red thing floating in the water off the port side of the ship, by this time Captain Sagani had turned the ship around and we were heading back the way we came. A tender boat was lowered into the water and I saw it heading straight for the red ball then suddenly it turned and started going away from it. I could not believe this, I grabbed the phone and called passenger services and told them to tell the captain that the red floating thing was off the port side at 11 o’clock. After a few minutes, the tender boat turned and headed straight for the red thing and in quick time they determined it was nothing more than a fishing marker. Captain Sagani came on and told us that the passengers and crew were all accounted for, complimenting us on one of the quickest counts he had ever seen, and also thanking the passenger who called and directed them to where the red ball was. I hope I was not the only person who called.

Meet and Greets (2)

We had two M&G’s, the first one was during the “Most Traveled lunch” and only one staff member showed up and he was very late. That staff member was the Safety officer and he was hijacked by several people who were having soot issues, poor guy he did invite questions! The second M&G was more crowded and a few more crew members attended including the CD. Both were in Club 6, not terribly conducive large groups and lots of folks had to stand or sit on the floor during the introductions. I know I missed this because I was sitting in the center part of the room and all the activities took place close to the bar area, which is also the smallest area!

Ports and Princess Tours

We did one Princess tour during the 25 day cruise, and this was in Kristiansand, Norway. We did a cruise through the Blindleia Passage to Lillesand, a cute and charming little town which was quite scenic. The cruise was nice but the guide was not very exciting and I just didn’t feel any passion or love from him, something I notice that good guides always have. The town was mostly closed, not only because it was early in the day but also because it was late in the season and most residents were there for the summer only. Finally, we only had a half hour to visit this place and it was not enough time to walk through the narrow lanes of the town, so we didn’t see much of it at all. The excursion was not worth the money we spent on it at all! Other than that, we only did private tours.

Disembarkation

Disembarkation was quick and easy, especially since we booked a transfer to the airport with Princess. We left our room by 8:30am and waited no more than 20-30 minutes in our appointed meeting place before we got off the ship. Immigration was quick and easy, and our luggage was neatly placed in its proper area and we found a porter who hauled our 3 pieces to our transfer bus and off we went to La Guardia. Unfortunately our driver was unable to take us to the departure area of the airport, he grumbled some excuse and dumped us at the arrival terminal and we had to schlep our luggage upstairs to find the proper check in area. This was a mess and most of the folks just grabbed their luggage and dragged it up to the proper place, like us. I did notice that the excuse our driver made, that his bus was too high, was BS, there were no restrictions on height up at the departures area and we had been duped by a lazy, know-nothing bus driver!

[JimmyVWine]

Thanks for the thorough, unbiased review.

[Cruiserkenn]

Special thanks for the warnings about the aft balconies. I would be tempted to book one, so I am glad to know the truth about the soot.

 

Thanks again.

[shredie]

Food fight? LOL.

[Denverite]

Thanks for the review. We are doing the same cruise in 2015 (just Copenhagen to NYC). How was the weather? Could you share information on your private tours, or would I find that in your roll call?

 

Thank you.

[ibfern]

Food fight? LOL.

 

I know, we were acting like school kids with the utmost respect to our hosts! We never threw food when anybody important was looking! This was hands down the best dinner group ever, we did have so much fun everywhere we went together, ever at the wine tasting! Most everybody wanted to join our table...:D

[ibfern]

Thanks for the review. We are doing the same cruise in 2015 (just Copenhagen to NYC). How was the weather? Could you share information on your private tours, or would I find that in your roll call?

 

Thank you.

 

The weather was fantastic, the only day we had rain was in Iceland. Of course that was the day we missed the class 5 Northern lights which were happening but could not be seen because of the the clouds. I am busy writing up the port reviews, they are extensive and full of info and my opinions! I'll post them as soon as I finish, maybe here and on the port boards...

Edited October 9, 2014 by ibfern

[wallypbear]

Hi ibfern, I like your review. Concise and to the point!

 

I am on the Royal in December. Port side aft of aft lifts. Concerned about the issue with bathroom plumbing. Do you know of other guests occupying staterooms in the 700's on any deck that experienced the same issue?

 

Thinking that public restrooms on Sun and Lido aft may be the cause if other staterooms on the "line" had or are continuing to have inoperable commodes.

 

Thanks, wallyp :)

[sunsetbeachgal]

Thanks for the review...love how much fun you had!n:D

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Do you recall what the cutoff number was for the Most Traveled lunch?

[Cruisin-Geezer]

Hi LC - fancy talking to you here! Enjoyed your review - I guess we will need to wear bibs when we see you on the Sapphire in Dec! We're thinking of doing a cruise on Royal P next year, but this review has not overly encouraged us, but we'll discuss when we see you.

.

[rehab444]

Amelia, great, informative review. So sorry about the plumbing problems, but, overall, it seemed to me you had a marvelous time with good friends and a wonderful wait staff.

 

We will be leaving on a Canary Island cruise in the future. Hope to see some folks from the last Royal cruise.

 

Can't wait to see you and Ken on the Anniversary cruise. We're really looking forward to that one. Take care and be well.

 

Stan

[OCruisers]

Thanks so very much for your review -- well written and informative! :)

Hated hearing Royal was still s-l-o-w with the laundry/cleaning. :rolleyes:

LuLu

[canadarocks]

Did you make a complaint about Geof? We really enjoy all the trivia games, and I can understand how his behavior would effect your enjoyment big time! :(

[ibfern]

Hi ibfern, I like your review. Concise and to the point!

 

I am on the Royal in December. Port side aft of aft lifts. Concerned about the issue with bathroom plumbing. Do you know of other guests occupying staterooms in the 700's on any deck that experienced the same issue?

 

Thinking that public restrooms on Sun and Lido aft may be the cause if other staterooms on the "line" had or are continuing to have inoperable commodes.

 

Thanks, wallyp :)

 

I was in A708 last year and had the same problems but I cannot tell you about others, not exactly a conversation starter LOL! :eek:

[ibfern]

Do you recall what the cutoff number was for the Most Traveled lunch?

 

Yes 351!

[ibfern]

Did you make a complaint about Geof? We really enjoy all the trivia games, and I can understand how his behavior would effect your enjoyment big time! :(

 

Yes I did, and I was not the only one who complained. Imagine making fun of the Captain, the boss! Captian Sagani is really a good guy, we all adored him!

[ibfern]

Hi LC - fancy talking to you here! Enjoyed your review - I guess we will need to wear bibs when we see you on the Sapphire in Dec! We're thinking of doing a cruise on Royal P next year, but this review has not overly encouraged us, but we'll discuss when we see you.

.

 

Yep you might need bibs, you never know what might come flying onto your area when you eat with me but I am such a crappy aim it usually falls on the floor! :o

[canadarocks]

Yes I did, and I was not the only one who complained. Imagine making fun of the Captain, the boss! Captian Sagani is really a good guy, we all adored him!

 

Thanks. We'll be onboard for 20 nights in March, so hopefully Geof will be long gone and Captain Sagani will still be there! :D

Edited October 9, 2014 by canadarocks

[searoses]

Am a new to princess cruiser wondering about your comments regarding bringing food off the ships.....this is a big no no on the other lines I've sailed and other forums I've read....hard to believe the hc would be putting food out for for this purpose...your description of geof was hysterical and I bet he will be hearing about his antics from his supervisor very soon! Looking forward to reading about your port experiences.....thank you or posting.

[RetiredNTraveling]

Absolutely a fantastic review~! It sounds like you and Ken are a little like us. We really enjoy good evening company at dinner as it makes for a more memorable cruise! :D

 

Looking forward to meeting the two of you when we cruise on the Crown in 2015.

 

Betty & Mike

[san diego sue]

In all of our Northern Europe ports (was on cruise with Ibfern and part of the group of 10), no mention was made about not bringing food off ship. Stockholm, the food was so expensive. Went to a cafeteria in the Vasa museum. Cost us for two sandwiches and diet coke the equevalent of $40.00. In Iceland a very skimpy sandwich and soft drink about $30.00.After that I brought my own sandwiches. We also made our own snacks from the great variety of nuts from Horizon Ct. Ibfern will tell you about the ports and I am sure she will mention the meals that were included on some of the SPB tours.

In her review above she was very complete so I won't comment. Except to say we were fortunate and had no toilet issues . Was in A639.

Last morning on the ship while waiting to disembark, lots of public restrooms didn't work. This may be common on most ships at that time.Too many people using them as they wait to leave.

[canadarocks]

Ibfern will tell you about the ports and I am sure she will mention the meals that were included on some of the SPB tours.

 

We used SPB Tours extensively on our 2011 cruise (in Helsinki, Tallinn, and St Petersburg.... and if we had been able to dock, we had a tour booked in Berlin as well). I look forward to reading about the tours you took. :)

[Pam in CA]

I was also on this cruise (E703) and had a great time. Amelia's review was great. I had no toilet problem not did I hear of one until reading this review.

 

This cruise was a bit unusual in that it was pretty much cold weather most of the cruise which meant that just about all of the passengers and activity was inside. The Piazza was constantly busy with activities or entertainment planned throughout the day. It was very, very loud and noisy a good deal of the time; very different from my T/A last year on the Royal from Venice to FLL which was a warm weather cruise.

 

I was very disappointed that Club 6 reeked of smoke even though there's no smoking there. It comes in from Churchill's and the Casino and the ventilation is poorly engineered. My person opinion is that it's so good in Club 6 that it draws in the smoke. :) I understand they are addressing this but they will have to deep clean the furniture and soft goods to get the smell out so it doesn't ruin your clothes.

 

I was also very disappointed in the Elite laundry benefit. The excuse given was that there were so many Elite onboard. If I may say, bull****. I've taken quite a few cruises with much greater percentages of Elite with no laundry issues. Over four days meant if you packed carefully, you were close to running out of some clothes by the time you got it back. Also, maybe it was just my steward but there was no laundry pick-up in the afternoon or evening.

 

The CD planned a lot of activities and I'm sure it was a challenge with everyone indoors and a large organized group of Chinese who reserved lounges for their own activities. However, Lisa double-booked events several times in the same space which made for awkwardness because one group was made to leave even though it was posted in the Patter.

 

Food is subjective but I thought the food in the dining room and buffet were very good. I saw some new menu items that were excellent. I'm weird in that I like liver and the calf's liver tart entree was delicious. :)

[ibfern]

Am a new to princess cruiser wondering about your comments regarding bringing food off the ships.....this is a big no no on the other lines I've sailed and other forums I've read....hard to believe the hc would be putting food out for for this purpose...your description of geof was hysterical and I bet he will be hearing about his antics from his supervisor very soon! Looking forward to reading about your port experiences.....thank you or posting.

 

I have to honest, I never heard this mentioned once on this cruise although on some cruises it is commonplace to ask no food be taken off the ship.

 

If you've ever been to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, or Iceland you'll be grateful for any snack you take off the ship because prices are sky high. In Copenhagen I had a delicious sandwich with dark rye, goat cheese, mango chutney, and shredded beats that cost 32 Euros, that's close to $40 depending on the exchange rates. I ate every morsel, it was yummy at least. My husband ordered a side order of fries, they were not so good and cost 10 E! Even water--tap water if you could get it--cost 1E, however most places claimed they did not have tap water. :eek:

 

We found Berlin much more reasonable although it was also difficult to get tap water there as well! Free water in America is a little luxury I learned to appreciate while visiting Europe.