By way of background, this was our 20th cruise with Princess Cruises although we have cruised with other lines, we have mostly cruised with Princess. We have generally been more than satisfied with there ships and services and would miss many of the Elite benefits that we get if we strayed. It was with great anticipation that we booked this cruise since it was a new prototype ship for Princess after many years without anything really new. I read everything that I could about the Royal and enjoyed all the reviews good and bad that were written prior to our cruise.

Embarkation was simple and efficient. We waited in the Elite lounge upstairs until boarding started and once it did, we were in our cabin in no time. Despite there being over 3600 passengers on this ship, it never felt crowded or too busy. This ship didn't feel full, in contrast to the Crown class of ships were you can run into crowds, especially when they set up table in the Piazza to sell things. These types of sales events on the Royal were set up in the atrium above the Casino and didn't block the walkways whatsoever. This is a much better set up. As well, the photo gallery never impeded walking in the hallways either with its location in the Piazza. The photo gallery had these great LCD screens that you could use to find all your photos with a simple swipe of your cruise card.

Our cabin Marina 123 was great. The setup is the same as any Grand class balcony cabin, with a few differences. One important difference is the size of the shower, it is much larger than in the rest of the fleet. The bathroom in general had more storage space with larger glass shelves in it. There was as much storage in the cabin as I am used to with Princess meaning there is a lot. The cabin was decorated in a much more neutral and relaxing tones. I found the quality of the finishes to be better as well. The balcony was fine. Although it was much smaller than a Caribe balcony on the Grand Class, it was more than adequate for sitting and looking out at the sea very comfortably for two. The bedding and mattress were wonderful. I didn't find that I needed a foam topper for the mattress, it seemed to have a pillow top without adding the foam topper. The TV was a large LED mounted on the wall at the foot of the bed. The location made it very easy to see. The new TV programming with on demand shows, movies and recorded shows from Princess Live were great. There were a lot of new and older shows and movies to watch and because they were on demand, it was easy to see complete shows and movies. I hope that Princess adds this to the rest of the fleet. Read more