We are frequent cruisers on Princess. We found the new Royal to be a beautiful ship. The best improvements from other Princess ships are: 1) Horizon Court and Horizon Bistro were so well laid out that it never seemed crowded. It was easy to miss a selection of the food offerings, however, as there were several small areas with different offerings. We liked the relaxing ambience of the dinning area especially in the Horizon Bistro. 2) The Princess Theater - easy to see from any of the seats and we were always able to find a seat within 10 minutes of show time. We usually went to the late show.
The vast majority of the dancing was in the atrium. The hard marble floor doesn't compare to a nice wooden dance floor. We miss the pre-dinner and/or pre-show dancing in the Wheelhouse Bar of Explorer's lounge.