Second trip on the Royal Princess (1st one ended in the Med with power issues). This trip was to the Sou Carib to a number of islands we had not visited previously. In short, the ship was over-crowded despite the size of the Royal - plus the ship appeared to be short-staffed. Our booking included assigned dining time and the waiters were very good. However, food was continually slow getting to the table and was often cold. Either not enough wait staff or not enough cooks - or both. Food in the dining room was mediocre at best and not up to the quality we had experienced on previous Princess cruises. We finally stopped eating dinner in the main dining room and went to the Horizon Court.

Crowding was a big problem. The stated capacity of the Royal is 3600 and we were told there were 3850 passengers on board - obviously too many for the amount of public space on the ship. In addition, we had never encountered it before but there were large numbers of electric chairs transporting people around the ship. They blocked the aisles, passageways, elevators and dining areas. After awhile it became ridiculous because of the delays getting around to the shows and entertainment. Elevator waits were unreasonable. Entertainment was very good during the first part of the cruise and there were several excellent shows with really outstanding performances.

Shore tours on this cruise were disappointing. Since we were visiting islands, we wanted to sail (or motor) around the island to get a good view of the entire area. None were offered. You could sail and snorkle at most stops but no site-seeing sailings. We took several land tours and Barbados and St. Lucia were excellent. Read more