Royal Princess Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We are Platinum Princess folks with 11 cruises completed. This was our 2nd Transatlantic sailing with the last one on the Ruby to Rome. We absolutely love the Ruby, but the Royal is certainly our new favorite ship in the fleet. From the Captain of the ship on down to the lowest paid employees of this ship, we received Class A++ treatment.
Embarkation took a little longer than usual but that was because there were so many Platinum and Elite passengers boarding. Still was not a problem because finally we were on vacation! We were greeted immediately by our stateroom steward, Luca, on Baja deck 11. We've had some excellent stewards on other ships, but Luca far exceeded our others with his attention to detail, greeting us by name each time we met, handling any potential problems before they happened, his sincere feeling of responsibility towards his guests, and his wonderful humor and happy attitude.
The Piazza is at least twice the size of that on the Ruby and this is a great improvement. There are so many more places to sit to enjoy cocktails, coffee, or treats from the International Cafe. The main floor on deck 5 held almost all of the dancing lessons and exhibitions, as well as music venues. The entertainment on this crossing was absolutely fabulous with only a couple of folks who did not seem up to par with the others. There was great variety and we found it difficult to see and do all that we wanted each day.
Cabin Review
Our stateroom was a mini-suite, and yes the balcony is much smaller but it is fine for two people. The two flat-screen TV's were great and the on demand movies were a real plus. A good part of the cruise was cold and windy, so it was nice to be able to watch the first-run movies that had played up on deck inside the warmth of our cabin. Closet, safe, and cupboard were about the same as on the other grand size ships in the fleet. The desk was quite a bit larger and there were two electric plugs! Yea! Bedding and pillows were very nice. We loved the location of the room because it was close to the mid-ship elevators as well as the laundry room.