Royal Princess Review
ferry_gal
10+ Cruises • Age 60s
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Sail Date: Apr 2015
Cabin: Mini-Suite with Balcony
Just returned from a 10-day Caribbean cruise aboard the Royal Princess. This was our 66th cruise and 10th trip to the Caribbean. Kudos to Princess for the excellent 10-day itinerary (St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Antigua, Barbados, St. Thomas, and Princess Cays/Bahamas) for a diverse, relaxing, fun packed vacation. The service and entertainment on the Royal is outstanding, the fountains/water shows amidship are innovative, and the interior decoration of the ship is beautiful. Unfortunately Princess has really missed on the overall design layout of this ship. For starters there is no full deck that provides a true exterior promenade where you can stroll around the entire ship (typically deck 7 on other Princess ships) or curl up in a cushioned lounge chair in the shade to enjoy a good book or just take in the scenery and sea air.
In addition there is no aft pool or whirlpool spas from which you can enjoy wonderful wake views as you cruise along, no central staircase, no high deck level bar or public area ( i.e. Skywalkers) from which to view arrivals and departures, the mini suite cabins are really nothing more than large balcony cabins with extraordinarily small verandas compared to minis on other Princess ships, and you can't get right up to the outdoor deck railings in many areas to take photos or enjoy arrivals/departures due to double safety rails and plexiglass wind deflectors. In our mini suite cabin you couldn't fully open the refrigerator without first moving the coffee table and the table had to be moved again to sit on the sofa. There is nice furniture on the balcony but it can't be fully utilized without moving the outdoor table inside your cabin. We had an excellent, relaxing voyage but will avoid sailing on the Royal and Regal and plan our future trips on other Princess ships such as the Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, and Star with more well thought out layouts and larger cabins.
Cabin Review
Mini-Suite with Balcony
The cabins are nicely appointed but the Royal has small mini suites compared to other Princess ships; you really shouldn't waste the extra money on a mini suite unless you find an absolute bargain. The cabins have cozy bed linens but interestingly no traditional sheets/blankets (we didn't miss them and thought this was innovative). The bath towels though were harsh to the touch especially after a bit too much sun at the beach or pool. A number of other passengers noted this and we later found out from the crew that the chosen bath linens take less time to dry thus provide significant energy savings.
Port Reviews
St. Kitts (Port Zante)
We had been to St. Kitts a couple of times in the past so we skipped taking a formal excursion and hired a cab to take us to Brimstone Hill Fortress then take us on an island tour. We negotiated the price with the driver up front and had a marvelous day. The Carambola restaurant is a beautiful facility with a white sand beach where you can spend the day and rent a beach chair and umbrella.
St. Lucia
Again we hired a cab to take us on an island tour and to a nice mall for a bit of shopping since we've previously toured the Pitons and also gone golfing on the island.
Princess Cays
Princess Cays is Princess's private island stop in the Bahamas; we were not impressed. The beaches there are more rocky with coarse sand compared to all of the other stops on this cruise itinerary. It was crowded and we felt nickel and dimed to death there. After about 30-minutes ashore we enjoyed the nearly empty tender back to the ship and had a terrific day!
St. Thomas
Since we'd been to St. Thomas 9 times previously we grabbed a cab and headed to Magen's Bay beach. Due to 6 ships in port at once the beach was crowded but it didn't hamper our fun. Once you're dropped off there you can rent a chaise lounge and enjoy the soft white sand beach, sun, and swimming in the azure water. There is a small cafe there for snacks and sandwiches, roving bikini clad waitresses will deliver cool beverages direct to your lounge chair, and there are restrooms and changing facilities. This is not the beach to go to for snorkeling as there are not many fish to see. There are also plenty of cabs/drivers handy to return you to your cruise ship; just be sure to allow plenty of time for you return trip due to heavy traffic with multiple cruise ships in port at the same time.
Antigua
Don't bother taking an excursion here..hire a cab to take you to one of Antigua's 365 white sand beaches. Many beaches have small, locally run bar/restaurants with restrooms, showers, and changing facilities where you can rent a chaise and umbrella for $5 (some even include a rum punch in the price).
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