Excited yet a bit anxious!

[hockey1963]

Our final payment is approaching rather quickly and this will be our very first Princess cruise...not out first cruise but with this company yes and we are a bit anxious and nervous but also very excited to try a new line! Royal Princess to us looks like a beautiful ship and the ports as well but the reviews not so much! All though we don't generally let others reviews sway our decision to try a ship this time its bugging us just a little because there are so many negative reviews about the Royal! I would love to hear all the positive about the Royal not the negative,Thanks!

[Croptop]

I've not been on the Royal (yet!) but in my opinion, a cruise is a cruise regardless of ship. There will be things to like, things to love, and things to forget about.

 

Compared to many on these boards, I've not been cruising for very long. But so far, every one of my Princess cruises has been an absolute joy. I can't imagine that a cruise on the Royal would be any different.

 

I still have over a year to wait before I cruise again so I'm a little jealous of you right now! Enjoy your cruise. I hope it turns out to be as wonderful as all of my cruises with Princess have been.

[skynight]

We have been on the Royal for 28 days and had a wonderful time. Here are my thoughts as compared to other Princess ships. You decide what is important to you.

 

Some positives:

Nice enlarged Piazza area with International Café, Vines, live music & dancing

Improved seating and enlarged MDR’s

Very large and improved buffet area with pastry shop. Lots of selections in different areas so scope it out.

Large and comfortable Horizon Terrace area for dining or just sitting around

Vista Lounge area

High Tech theater

Larger cabin bathrooms

Alfredo’s waiter served pizza and other items. Improved menu from other Princess ships that have Alfredo’s.

 

Some negatives:

No 360 degree promenade, just 4 separate sitting areas

Small balconies, 95% are 9’x4’

No center staircase, adding to more crowded mid ship elevators

Adult Pool (retreat pool) has limited shade areas

Princess Live, in my opinion is poorly designed

The ship lacks lounges for dancing, live music and other activities

Limited areas for cards, passengers were using the DR's during the day.

Club 6 is poorly conceived and no sub. for Skywalker's.

[trystran72]

I haven't been on the Royal (yet!) but was just on the Regal and loved everything about the ship and had an amazing vacation top to bottom - food, service, everything was excellent. I hope you love the Royal and have a great cruise!!

[dickinson]

I wrote a positive review this past May. I loved the Royal although there were things different than my other cruises. The things that were different…. one person could think thumbs up while another could think thumbs down. To us none of the negatives would stop us from cruising that ship again. I will say that we did a TA on her and she handled the "rougher" seas better than the Grand did. I heard that the stabilizers are much bigger and wider on this ship.

 

Also, if anyone has posted anything negative about the staff… well… staff changes. We had nothing but positive things to say about them.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Edit to add: Just reread your post. You wanted to know some positives. Here are some:

1. Loved the expanded Horizon court and Horizon Bistro. Lots of things to eat. Swirls is just outside the Bistro. We Would take some desert in a bowl (brownie or similar) and then go to Swirls and they would put ice cream on it. Yum.

 

2. Loved Alfredos. It is free.

 

3. Our cruise director: Lisa Ball. She was GREAT! I think she mostly stays on this ship (except for vacation of course!).

 

4. Atrium. It is bigger than other ships so more seating. However… negative coming.. I think because it is bigger, there is no Explorers and Wheelhouse is attached to Crown Grill the only real dancing venue is the Atrium. This matters to people who love to dance because it is the ONLY venue to dance in.

 

5. Cabins have bigger showers.

6. Flat panel TVs on the wall at the foot of the bad (balcony cabin). They have a different system than other ships because you can choose from among a list of movies to watch when you want to watch. Also, many of the programs and game shows are filmed in the Princess Live theater and then are made available to watch on your tv ON Demand. This also includes lectures and port talks.

 

Hope this list helps.

Edited December 30, 2015 by dickinson

[rob2102]

I read the reviews mainly for a chuckle and to get a feel for the positives about the ships. Many cruise critic poster spend hours writing about how awe full of time they had, about the hidden cost, the horrible crews, the terrible shows and the uneatable food. Then they rebook another princess cruise. I giggle to my self as I eat at the horizon court, wondering where I can find a country buffet that serves such a wide variety of good food. I wander the ship trying to find the tattered furniture, rust spots and all the insensitive and grumpy crew that ignores every body, never finding much of either. I never experienced bad plumbing or poor air conditioning on any of my cruises, but I am sure others have. But I have gone to many a hotels and found similar complaints and issues. They are ships with many complicated systems and do break down and have to be repaired. We find the similar things in all our vacations spots, such is life. I go to an occasional show or magic acts. Most have been good to very good, but I didn't book the cruise to see Broadway shows, so good is enough for me. I go to the casinos, win some lose some, just like all casinos.

Some times it rains or its to windy and itineraries have to be changed Bad weather happens, even princess cant control the weather. When I am enjoying my last glass of wine at din din time, I sit back and think, "darn I didn't eat any of those every day things items with the exception of the shrimp cock tails" after all its not everyday for most of us, its vacation and a time to try new stuff ( may be even that Curtis stone foamy stuff) . If I don't like it, they will bring me some thing else, maybe even Kleenex to fight back the tears after seeing their is no salmon on the menus. Hey nothing ventured nothing gained.

I have found many great postings here, many fellow passengers giving honest opinions. Others with helpful insights. Others not so much.

 

I say this all with tongue in cheek. I have always enjoyed all my princess cruises or I wouldn't have re book over and over again. For the most part my fellow passengers have been great. I am sure there were things I didn't like, but they are forgotten in a blur of great things

With our cruise less than two months away we are not getting anxious, but excited, cant wait to get back on board.

[Colo Cruiser]

Ignore the reviews, go and have a good time. ;)

[FritzG]

We were on the Royal for 28 days in late summer, and we must not have suffered too much because we're sailing on her again next week-lol.

 

Seriously there things we liked better than the gem class which we usually sail, but there were lots of things we liked better.

The balcony is smaller, but it was fine. We thought the food and menus were the best we've ever had overall. The piazza is noisy, but it's so big and beautiful that we spent more time there than on any other cruise. The larger shower is a welcome change. The new design of HC is great, and we love Alfredo's.

We can't wait to board again on Jan. 9th!

[mvaughn11]

Don't let the negative talk cause concern. The Royal is a fine ship and you'll have a wonderful time! Most people use this site as a forum for venting. There is a reason why it's called Cruise "Critic" and not Cruise Happy People...

[joeyancho]

You will love Princess. It is far superior to its parent line. Just spent ten days on the Coral Princess and can't wait to cruise Princess again.

[FawnRiver]

Don't let the negative talk cause concern. The Royal is a fine ship and you'll have a wonderful time! Most people use this site as a forum for venting. There is a reason why it's called Cruise "Critic" and not Cruise Happy People...

 

 

I agree. People are far quicker to complain then they are to compliment.

I haven't been on the Royal (yet), but I'm sure you'll have a great time.

A lot of people who complain have the opportunity to bring their issues to the crew's attention during their cruise, but they don't, they just let it fester and come to this site to complain. If you encounter a problem, just politely bring it up and if they can do something to fix it, they will (that's from personal experience).

 

Happy cruising!

[Kenosha Cruiser]

My wife and I love the Royal and Regal. We decided these ships are our favorites in the Princess fleet. Some people will always find negatives onboard, but these ships have many wonderful positives. Relax and have a great cruise!

[Astro Flyer]

Our final payment is approaching rather quickly and this will be our very first Princess cruise...not out first cruise but with this company yes and we are a bit anxious and nervous but also very excited to try a new line! Royal Princess to us looks like a beautiful ship and the ports as well but the reviews not so much! All though we don't generally let others reviews sway our decision to try a ship this time its bugging us just a little because there are so many negative reviews about the Royal! I would love to hear all the positive about the Royal not the negative,Thanks!

Like you, I don't let reviews sway my decision about a cruise...if I did, we would probably never take another cruise. ;)

 

I've sailed a combined 27 days during 2 cruises on the Royal (plus a 17 day TA on the Regal) and would gladly sail on them again. :)

 

The atrium area is great with many options for activities and food...Alfredo's Pizzeria, International Café, Gelato's and the Ocean Terrace Seafood Bar. After sailing on the Royal & Regal and returning to a Grand-class ship my wife & I looked at each other as we entered the atrium and said it's small.

 

The Horizon Court & Horizon Bistro had great buffets and we never had a problem finding a seat including in the outdoor Horizon Terrace area. The coffee from concentrate machines have been replaced by filtered coffee machines that use ground coffee. Taste is subjective but to us it was a definite improvement & we made fewer trips to the International Café to use our coffee card for brewed coffee.

 

The $40 Winemakers Dinner is a great meal served in an isolated section of the main dining room & only available on the Royal & Regal. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1939851

 

The dining rooms were well set up with what appeared to be many more tables for 2 which sometimes we request to have a quicker meal when we have other things planned.

 

We enjoyed having a loveseat couch in our deluxe balcony cabin and even enjoyed another great Ultimate Balcony Dinner. All beds have a pillowtop covered mattress which was more comfortable for us than our previous Princess beds.

 

Before 2000 we only sailed on ships that had 750 passengers and I hesitated to book the behemoth Grand Princess with 2,600 passengers. I discovered that the Grand felt less crowded than the older smaller ships & felt the same way about the Royal-class ships. I don't like crowds however it didn't affect my enjoyment of our cruise...any ship will have crowds when too many passengers want to do the same thing at the same time.

 

For us there were many more pros than cons and the only disappointing thing about the Royal-class ships is that neither are on the West Coast where we can drive to the cruise. ;) Hopefully you'll enjoy the Royal Princess as much as we have enjoyed her during our nearly month of sailing on her. :D

Edited December 30, 2015 by Astro Flyer