Royal Princess Part 3 The Experience

[Shippy]

      An unusual experience because there are only 1600 passengers currently on the ship !

All staff are fabulous.

  It was quite chilly for the sail away from San Francisco. As soon as I walked on deck, someone asked if I would like a blanket to wrap around myself. I said yes and was given a lovely blue  blanket. A few minutes later, I saw my husband wrapped in a green velvet blanket. After the sail away we took them back to the cabin. I was sure the cabin steward would take them away but he has not. We use the during the day in the cabin.

   The suite concierge longe is 24 hours for snacks and specialty coffee. The is a cocktail time from 5 until 7 pm
l opted to get the daily schedule on paper as I do not like carrying my phone around.

   WiFi is not good. Very spotty and slow.

Laundry mats are large and very clean. $3. wash $3. dry.

  Have had plenty of play at the casino.  The machines are basically dead until you tap your medallion on them. Then you can insert $$.

When you are done, your credits go into your ‘bank’ until you do a final cash out. No more paper tickets.

[rocklinmom]

So glad to read your reviews, we will be on the Royal in December. You sailed out of San Francisco, so where are you headed? If Hawaii would love to hear about that as well. And I'm happy to hear that I can request paper copies of the Patter. How did you do that? 

[bmench]

Just booked a cruise last week with the $100 excursion credit would you mind asking passenger services if it can be used as on board credit to use on the ship to buy anything or just for excursions? Thank you so much. 

[Shippy]

  Our cruise is only 7 days. San Francisco round trip.

Ensenada Mexico, Los Angelas, Santa Barbara, San Diego.

Only 1600 passengers. Next cruise is Hawaii. They say full at 4,000 !

  On your medallion app on your phone there is a section for your preferences. You can request paper there.  I prefer, just fold & put in my pocket.

 

[cr8tiv1]

I could not find Royal Part #2.  

 

In a suite, you will get express laundry for free.  Same day service if you give it to your steward by 9 AM.

 

I, personally, am finding it hard to keep track of your threads.  But that's just me.

[Shippy]

11 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I could not find Royal Part #2.  

 

In a suite, you will get express laundry for free.  Same day service if you give it to your steward by 9 AM.

 

I, personally, am finding it hard to keep track of your threads.  But that's just me.

You are right about the laundry.

The laundry on our floor is right next to the concierge lounge, 

very close to our cabin. I am a total insomniac.

The other morning, I took a bag of whites and washed them at 4 am.

Nice they do not lock up the laundry room at night like most other ships.

 

[partybarbie]

The cruise after yours is a 10-day Mexico. I believe the Hawaii one will be after that. I would love to know how many passengers are sailing on the Mexico cruise. Thank you. 

[tutumomickey]

Can you tell me approximately how long after leaving the dock you sail under the Golden Gate bridge? Trying to plan a viewing party on our balcony.

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, partybarbie said:

The cruise after yours is a 10-day Mexico. I believe the Hawaii one will be after that. I would love to know how many passengers are sailing on the Mexico cruise. Thank you. 

There is a 4 night Thanksgiving cruise in there before Hawaii .. I understand that one is actually oversold with nearly 4000 passengers.  They are even sending move over offers on that sailing.  
We were originally booked on that cruise and moved over to the 10 day cruise on the Ruby instead.    I’d have taken a move over offer in a heart beat for that short sailing, though.  
We recently disembarked from the Royal almost a week ago … there were less than 900 passengers onboard for that cruise.  It must be so difficult for the ship’s admin to go from 900 to 1600 to 4000 passengers in a matter of a couple weeks.  I just can’t even imagine the challenges involved.  

 

[SF Cfan]

6 hours ago, tutumomickey said:

Can you tell me approximately how long after leaving the dock you sail under the Golden Gate bridge? Trying to plan a viewing party on our balcony.

I just looked at my time stamp from my GG Bridge sail under video.  It was at 54 minutes after the hour. about 50 minutes after casting off.  

[tutumomickey]

 

1 hour ago, SF Cfan said:

I just looked at my time stamp from my GG Bridge sail under video.  It was at 54 minutes after the hour. about 50 minutes after casting off.  

Thank you.

[reedprincess]

On 11/10/2022 at 7:19 PM, cr8tiv1 said:

I could not find Royal Part #2.  

Here you go: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2893068-royal-princess-part-2-food/#comment-64285497

 

In a suite, you will get express laundry for free.  Same day service if you give it to your steward by 9 AM.

 

I, personally, am finding it hard to keep track of your threads.  But that's just me.

You can click on the OPs name and see all their posts, in case you want to keep up on Part 1, 2 or 3 without having to scroll through all the various Princess threads.. 

[partybarbie]

14 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

There is a 4 night Thanksgiving cruise in there before Hawaii .. I understand that one is actually oversold with nearly 4000 passengers.  They are even sending move over offers on that sailing.  
We were originally booked on that cruise and moved over to the 10 day cruise on the Ruby instead.    I’d have taken a move over offer in a heart beat for that short sailing, though.  
We recently disembarked from the Royal almost a week ago … there were less than 900 passengers onboard for that cruise.  It must be so difficult for the ship’s admin to go from 900 to 1600 to 4000 passengers in a matter of a couple weeks.  I just can’t even imagine the challenges involved.  

 

Thanks for the info. I will be boarding on Sunday. Glad I’m not staying on for the Thanksgiving cruise. That will challenging for sure.

[Cruise Raider]

5 hours ago, partybarbie said:

Thanks for the info. I will be boarding on Sunday. Glad I’m not staying on for the Thanksgiving cruise. That will challenging for sure.

The staff and crew are the best!   Bon voyage!  

[anji21]

On 11/11/2022 at 9:23 AM, Cruise Raider said:

There is a 4 night Thanksgiving cruise in there before Hawaii .. I understand that one is actually oversold with nearly 4000 passengers.  They are even sending move over offers on that sailing.  
We were originally booked on that cruise and moved over to the 10 day cruise on the Ruby instead.    I’d have taken a move over offer in a heart beat for that short sailing, though.  
We recently disembarked from the Royal almost a week ago … there were less than 900 passengers onboard for that cruise.  It must be so difficult for the ship’s admin to go from 900 to 1600 to 4000 passengers in a matter of a couple weeks.  I just can’t even imagine the challenges involved.  

 

Hi,

Wondering how you are able to obtain an estimate of # of passengers on a princess line cruise?

I am one of those given a move over offer for the Thanksgiving cruise. I just assumed that it was full, but didn't know the #of passengers booked (or overbooked).

My last cruise last month was also full, and some passengers reported being positive when they got off the ship. 

Thanks!

[Cruise Raider]

3 minutes ago, anji21 said:

Hi,

Wondering how you are able to obtain an estimate of # of passengers on a princess line cruise?

I am one of those given a move over offer for the Thanksgiving cruise. I just assumed that it was full, but didn't know the #of passengers booked (or overbooked).

My last cruise last month was also full, and some passengers reported being positive when they got off the ship. 

Thanks!

We were informed by the front desk staff that the 4 day Thanksgiving cruise was actually overbooked when we were onboard the Royal last week.  

[anji21]

32 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

We were informed by the front desk staff that the 4 day Thanksgiving cruise was actually overbooked when we were onboard the Royal last week.  

 

Thanks!

[SantaFeFan]

On 11/11/2022 at 2:15 PM, SF Cfan said:

I just looked at my time stamp from my GG Bridge sail under video.  It was at 54 minutes after the hour. about 50 minutes after casting off.  

 

That sounds about right. Similar duration on our Grand cruise to Alaska. 

[trbarton]

On 11/11/2022 at 6:34 AM, partybarbie said:

The cruise after yours is a 10-day Mexico. I believe the Hawaii one will be after that. I would love to know how many passengers are sailing on the Mexico cruise. Thank you. 

I’m on the Royal November 27 cruise to Hawaii. Many staterooms available. A friend of mine recently bid for a Mini Suite & their bid was excepted within 1 hr. Perhaps the closer to the cruise that you bid the better options you have in the cost. I looked at bidding for a mini suite over a month ago & traveling solo I would have had to pay at least $2,000. They paid $600 for a mini suite. 

[ElkGroveCruiser]

38 minutes ago, trbarton said:

I’m on the Royal November 27 cruise to Hawaii. Many staterooms available. A friend of mine recently bid for a Mini Suite & their bid was excepted within 1 hr. Perhaps the closer to the cruise that you bid the better options you have in the cost. I looked at bidding for a mini suite over a month ago & traveling solo I would have had to pay at least $2,000. They paid $600 for a mini suite. 

Tom;

Is that $600 per person or total??

TIA

[trbarton]

27 minutes ago, ElkGroveCruiser said:

Tom;

Is that $600 per person or total??

TIA

 

27 minutes ago, ElkGroveCruiser said:

Tom;

Is that $600 per person or total??

TIA

$600 total going from an obstructed view as a single person.. As I mentioned 6 weeks ago my minimum was $1,000 thus $2,000 total. Very interesting to me. 
 

Tom😀

[rocklinmom]

11 hours ago, trbarton said:

I’m on the Royal November 27 cruise to Hawaii. Many staterooms available. A friend of mine recently bid for a Mini Suite & their bid was excepted within 1 hr. Perhaps the closer to the cruise that you bid the better options you have in the cost. I looked at bidding for a mini suite over a month ago & traveling solo I would have had to pay at least $2,000. They paid $600 for a mini suite. 

We will be on the Royal Hawaiian cruise for the holidays so I'm hoping you will post about your cruise? 🙂 

[tutumomickey]

59 minutes ago, rocklinmom said:

We will be on the Royal Hawaiian cruise for the holidays so I'm hoping you will post about your cruise? 🙂 

Any chance you will be doing a review or posting any patters? We are on the Royal March 12th and trying to decide what time we want to reserve for dinner. It seems whatever time we pick always conflicts with what we want to do.

[rocklinmom]

I will try to post, although historically I haven't had a lot of luck doing it live. I did request paper copies of the Patters so if I get them I will post whenever I can. I have my college students as my "tech crew" to do that kind of thing haha. 

[Cruise Raider]

On 11/13/2022 at 7:58 AM, tutumomickey said:

Any chance you will be doing a review or posting any patters? We are on the Royal March 12th and trying to decide what time we want to reserve for dinner. It seems whatever time we pick always conflicts with what we want to do.

On the Royal, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’d want to be out of dinner a bit before for the 7:30 PM show if you like the early show and out by 8:15 PM if you like going to to the activities by the CD show and then head on out to the show in the theater for the 9:30 PM show.  
we were on the Royal a week ago and there was only one show in the theater at night due to very low capacity.  Our 6:15 PM dinner time worked perfectly for us.  It always works well for us as we love going to the 8:30 PM activity and then whatever we find to do afterwards, whether it be the main show in the theater or listening to live music, playing in the casino or watching a movie.  
if we have more than 2 at our table, we always factor in at least another 30-45 minutes so we can get a decent seat at one of the shows.