This was the seventh cruise for my wife (51) and me (59). We enjoy cruising at the end of January just for a respite from winter back in the Midwest. We had previously cruised once on Royal Caribbean and five times on Carnival, all of which we enjoyed. We decided on the Royal Princess this time for three reasons: Port Everglades is close to where our daughter and son-in-law live in Boca Raton, so we were able to see them both before and after the cruise; my sister has cruised with Princess several times and highly recommended it; and we were curious to try the Royal Princess since it was a new ship and had been impressed with the publicity about its development and design. Over the past seven months, I have read all the reviews of the Royal Princess on Cruise Critic, and began to wonder if we made a mistake in booking a cruise on the Royal. Having now completed our cruise, I feel compelled to write this review and say that, in our opinion, not a single one of the features or experiences aboard the Royal which have drawn so much criticism from reviewers, was in any way an issue for us. It was, to date, the most enjoyable cruise we have taken.

Embarkation was very quick. We arrived at about 1:30 and were through security, checked-in and on board by 1:45. Our room was a mini-suite on Riviera Deck, midship. This meant we were nearest the infamous midship elevators with no stairways above deck 7. We never waited more than a minute or two for an elevator, and that very infrequently. The room itself was beautifully decorated, with two flat-screen TVs, and a full bathtub, sofa, dressing table, and loads of storage. The balcony is small, but was completely usable for us. We used it as our sunning area several times during the day if the sun was on our side of the ship. Our cabin steward, Fernando, was friendly, attentive and available.

We always choose the Traditional Dining option, and this time were assigned to the 5:30 seating in the Concerto Dining Room. We had requested a table for two, but were assigned to a table for six. However, after the first night, the four others assigned to our table must have decided to dine at other venues, so we had the table to ourselves for the remainder of the cruise. Our waiter, Adrian, and his assistant, Claudia, gave us impeccable service and were very friendly, quickly learning our preferences and serving us always with a smile. The food was fantastic, and we tried many different items and were never disappointed. We always ate breakfast in the same dining room, and the service and food were always great. We ate lunch at Alfredo's, the pizza restaurant in the Piazza, on three days, and again the food and service were great. A British pub lunch was offered twice during the cruise at the Crown Grill, and we enjoyed that as well. We never ate at the Horizon Court buffet, so have no opinion of that venue. Read more