We were on the cruise departing 9/15/2013 from Venice for 12 nights ending in Barcelona. This was our third cruise, our first with Princess. We flew from San Francisco to Venice and spent 3 nights at Ca Gottardi, an excellent hotel. On the Royal Princess we stayed in a mini suite on the Aloha deck, room 526. We traveled with friends who stayed in room 524. The suite included a couch and overall it was very comfortable. The bathroom included a bath tub, which I enjoyed. We chose "anytime” eating which I highly recommend for the flexibility. Service was excellent. We attended several of the shows. The comedian was good, but the song and dance shows were only mediocre. We’ve had more polished entertainment on other cruises.
The trip was cancelled in Naples due to electrical problems and we were advised we would get our money back and 25% off on future cruises. The staff made plans to send everyone home immediately. Like many other passengers we had plans to stay in Barcelona, then continue our trip from there before going home. To decline their plan we stood in line for two hours. We were told that our original flights home had been canceled. After some research we learned this was not the case. We arranged transportation (trains and flight) to get to Barcelona as planned. What Princess could have done: 1) give out numbers, or have a drop box or anything other than having people stand in line for hours only to be told they will not make any changes, 2) communicate early on that their plan was to send us home, then we would have time to make alternate arrangements. As it was we had about 15 hours to replan (starting at 10:00 p.m.) before we had to leave the ship.
The Royal Princess is a lovely ship. However, we understand this ship, in its short history (first sailing June 2013) has had electrical problems prior to this. I would wait and check their track record before booking.
Comfortable cabin. There is a curtain separating the bedroom from the couch area, an excellent idea. Bathtub was great at the end of a long day touring.