Royal Princess Review
4.0 / 5.0
GA133642
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s
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Additional details
Sail Date: Nov 2015
Cabin: Balcony
This was our third cruise and all have been with Princess. On the Ruby and Crown. This being a 10 day southern medley of the Caribbean visiting ports Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica, St Thomas and princess Cays. This was a makeup cruise from a 7 day we have to cancel on the Regal January 2015 at last minute due to family emergency back home. That said it was as well a ship destination cruise as I have been keenly interested in the Royal/Regal since being built and as much as some of the ports I wanted to see starting with Aruba.
Embarkation Port Everglades Friday November 20th, 2015: Got in two nights before and stayed at the Embassy Suites on 17th. We had no issues here and recommend you book the hotel transfer at $8 per/person is a good deal. We had a 1230-1500 hour time frame to arrive to the ship. We left hotel at 1115 arrived at the pier 1125 and where on the ship just before noon. So wasn’t a problem for us getting there early and on. There was a long line up. We were able to go straight to our stateroom A534 and drop our carry on off although are suite cases had not yet arrived.
The Ship: Beautiful, Clean and laid out similar to Ruby/Crown. This is a very classy ship and décor. The best thing on the ship was the Piazza, enlarged and we found the music, entertainment there to be fine, not too loud for us as some have complained about. I thought on the Ruby class the Piazza a bit small and this size of the Royal to be just right. This was a Thanksgiving cruise of dates November 20th to 30th. They said they had 3800+ passengers plus crew. So it was FULL. More kids than usual I suspect. This made the Lido pool area more a kid pool. So for us we spent more pool time in the retreat area which we enjoyed. It does fill up though. Enjoyed the Outrigger bar and lounge area aft outside of the Horizon buffet. Excellent bar tenders here, wonderful place to watch sail aways and enjoy a nice nap in the afternoon on the comfy loungers. Very peaceful.
Cabin Review
Balcony
Cabin BB
Stateroom A534 Mid Aft: Three decks down from lido and about 7 decks above promenade. It was about mid-way between the middle elevator banks and the aft ones which was good but you do walk a bit more due in part strategically due to no mid staircase as mentioned many time (flaw on this ship for sure I agree). That said we always got where we were needing to go. The room is nice basic, was quite most of time but I found to last few days of the cruise I could hear more rattling & vibrations from the ship. Not sure why as the first 5-6 days wasn’t as noticeable and think maybe due to lower fuel load/weight? The balcony is small but worked just fine for us and I use the balcony a lot. However getting 3 on there would be standing room only. I found the washroom smaller than I recall on the ruby/Crown & often would have open the door to dry off. We had excellent room steward Maynard. All soaps excellent lines on bed excellent and room was clean. I know some rooms have a couch in them and wish this was the standard to all rooms.
Port Reviews
Aruba
It was OK. Nice beach. I found the light house part a bit of a waste of time & more of a photo opp. Id take a taxi next time.
Bonaire
Was surprised how much we liked it there. Just off the ship walked in town and did some shopping. Arrived 0700 and departed at 1330 so not a lot of time. Very clean in town and close to ship. No beaches near by.
Grenada
We walked in town from the ship. Very HOT. The island itself visually coming into harbor is beautiful. Very hilly. We arrived at 1200 for a 7 PM departure. I don't really like arriving at that time as prefer to do excursions in the morning That said there are taxi's in town and recommend that if you want to see something. It is very congested in town by the port FYI.
Dominica
Island look beautiful. Docked at pier you needed to take taxi to town for shopping. Not much to see or access near the ship and by this time was coming down with affects of motion illness (the ship was fine it was me).
St. Thomas
Docked at Crown Bay, the Prisendam beside us and one other ship over at the other pier. Got off and shopped around the ship and but bottle of Rum at store in port for $10.95. Was trying to communicate with family ashore via the wireless from a store near by that cost $3 to access. Spent 3 hours there. Otherwise would have taken a taxi into town but still wasn't 100%.
Princess Cays
Love it. We don' care a lot about excursions etc. we want the beach break time and this is a beautiful, save and controlled area. Tender to the beach and Princess puts on a very nice BBQ and your beverage program from the ship continues. Lots of chairs, water beautiful. Arrived at 0900 departed at 1500. Just fine for us.
1 Helpful Vote
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