This was my 48th cruise and 19th on Princess, Buenos Aires to San Antonio. We flew from Phoenix via Atlanta to Buenos Aires and stayed 2 nights precruise at the Hilton. We toured the city and it was very hot and the traffic was awful. We relied on taxis which were very reasonable. The day of embarkation we received an email stating the ship would be delayed and not to show up before 4pm at the port. The traffic getting to the port was horrific as a container ship had arrived and there were tons of trucks. At the port there was standing room only and no air conditioning as the electricity went out. We waited with 900 people with no water and then had to take a bus to the ship. There were at least 4 stories as to why the ship was delayed. Luggage also had to be transported by bus to the ship. We stayed overnight in Buenos Aires but had no reason to get off the next day and face the obstacles of the port. Our cabin was a DB D332 pretty spacious and decent size balcony, very quiet, good location. There were many Elite passengers so laundry service was slow, we did our own wash one day. We had a bumpy cruise with high winds that made it impossible to go outside. We missed Puerto Madryn although we almost made it to the port but turned around not once but twice to pick up Chilean pilots. More bumpy cold weather but we made it to Port Stanley where we went to volunteer point to see the penguins, this was the best day despite a long drive. We had more cold and windy weather for 12 of 14 days that made it difficult to appreciate the ports we stopped at including Ushuaia, Puerto Montt and Chacabuco. These were tender ports so it was a trial to get on land. At the Captain's Party Captain Nash said he would not sign up for this itinerary again there were so many obstacles, ie, late to port, difficulty tendering not enough tender docks, poor sea conditions, missed ports. I would not recommend this itinerary except for seeing the penguins, very unimpressive and too many sea days which are a snooze. A lot of passengers seemed to use this cruise to get away from colder climates so they were content to sit and read and drink coffee or play cards all day. It was fairly easy to bring wine onboard at these ports, also the ship had some “bargain” wines you could get (I imagine because the wine list changed and they were liquidating some bottles?) Most cruisers were aboard for the 49 passage. We had a good meet and greet, well managed shore excursions with cruise critic people. The food was pretty good especially in the Horizon court. A lot of entertainment in the Piazza including dance and zumba. The production show Silk was a strange melange of pop music and a traditional theme. The shows required getting a seat 30 minutes prior. Debarkation at San Antonio was good as we had a Princess excursion that ended at the airport. We visited a nice winery and had a fair city tour. Read Less

This was the newest Princess ship we have been on to date. It is also somewhat bigger so there is plenty to do and enough places to go, although the library was like "Old Mother Hubbard's Cupboard", so if you are a reader bring your own reading material. We had a balcony cabin on the Aloha deck toward the rear of the ship. Comfortable and quiet. Easy access to the rear elevator to access the Allegro Dining hall or go top side for poolside activities and the Horizon. We ate most of our meals in the Allegro -- breakfast, lunch (when not in port), and dinner basically for portion control. A few mornings we had early shore excursions and had to be in the departure point close to 7 am, which is when the Allegro opens, so we either got something from the International Cafe or in the Horizon Court. On port days, after our shore excursion, we would have lunch in Alfredo's, the grill, or the Horizon Court.. The HC didn't seem to vary their lunch menu much, unlike we had found on previous cruises. Basically same old, same old, so take out of one dish one day, and another the next, and so on. We found the service in the Allegro to be somewhat slow for our tastes as the average time for any meal was 1.5 hours, which made it close to get to a show in the evening. The CD recognized the problem and had 3 shows, one at 4:30, one that was at 7:30, but got moved to 7:15 or even 7:00, so he adjusted the wrong way, and the other one at 8:30, which is close to bed time for some of us (Hey, it's vacation :-)) After putting up with nothing but singers and musicians on previous cruises, we were pleasantly surprised to have 4 comedians during our 19 day cruise. So Thank You Princess for getting some entertainment worth going to. Also the production show -- The Secret of Silk was fantastic. Hopefully they don't run it into the ground like they did with Magic To Do. You know, you see it once and it's great, you see it on your next cruise and it's OK, you see it on successive cruises year after year and it's not worth going to. Also the in-room entertainment is greatly improved. Instead of a couple of.episodes of Love Boat repeating day after day and a movie running constantly all day, there was plenty of variety to keep one entertained if you're not into the casino and "children's party games" thing. The ports were what you would expect on a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires -- a small sampling of the Caribbean, a few ports in Brazil, then Montevideo, and finally BA. The Caribbean are still rebuilding following the 2017 hurricanes, so some of the scenery was remnants of the devastation. Fortaleza, Brazil is a mixture of rich and poor intertwined throughout the city, not much else to see. Salvador de Bahia is also an old city, some historic sites, the cobblestone roads are rough and difficult to walk through, and as we were there just before Carnival, the bands were practicing for the parades so the guide was difficult to hear at times. We had been to Rio, Montevideo, and BA on previous cruises, so we looked for something different in our shore excursions going to Petropolis, quite interesting; a winery via an old steam train, and then the debark. Rio, Montevideo, and Buenos Aires were all quite hot. In Rio, we docked in front of terminal 2, but after exiting the ship had to walk past terminal 3 and then into terminal 4 before we could get to our transportation. That seemed a little strange to me.. The ship had some problems with some people who did not have visas to enter Argentina. They hid on the ship which caused a delay in our departure because the ship could not sail with them on board. So they had to be located and escorted off the ship. This together with the replenishing of items for the stores on board caused a lengthy delay in our departure. As a result the captain lost his slot to enter the single lane channel between Montevideo and Buenos Aires. We had to anchor through the night until the next morning when the channel was clear of other vessels which had moved up in position to cross the channel. Instead of getting into Buenos Aires at roughly dawn and going on our excursions, we were delayed and unable to dock until almost 2 pm. Needless to say the excursions had to be cancelled. The luggage which would have been waiting for us at the airport following our excursion was still on the ship and only gradually off-loaded and taken to the terminal. Information for how we were to get off the ship was not very clear. Fortunately we got to stay in our cabins until we docked. Then had to wait another couple of hours for the ship to be cleared and the luggage taken to the terminal, which was quite a distance from he ship. Released in groups we made our way off the Royal and down to the pavement to walk some distance to crowd onto buses to be taken to the terminal. Getting to the terminal we were joined by passengers from an MSC ship and a Holland American ship which were also debarking. So everyone was in this hot, confined "warehouse" terminal trying to find their luggage. It was wall-to-wall people and trying to find their suitcases among thousands of other suitcases. Once we got out suitcases, we had to slowly make out way outside to the buses that would take us to the airport. Meanwhile, the Royal had a scheduled overnight in BA.before moving on down the Argentine coast. The embarkation was great, probably the best I have ever had. The debarkation was horrible and needs work. Love Boat fans will be happy to know that sometimes when sailing away from a port, the ship's horn will sound the first notes of the theme song. When leaving other ports, it sounds like the home team team just scored a goal at the hockey stadium. The few children that were on the ship were all well-behaved and mostly accompanied their parents. A big improvement over some previous cruises where they run wild on the decks, play elevator tag, and scream and shriek as they run past the cabins. Glad we didn't have to put up with that this time. We are looking forward to our next cruise. Read Less

Embarkation absolutely fastest, friendliest and most-efficient ever. Really enjoyed this experience, as well as sail away from Fort Lauderdale. The ship is big, and manages crowds well. Anytime dining was a good option, and the Symphony dining room staff is great. Warm greetings, good service and good conversation with fellow passengers, too. We chose this cruise for the new experience to explore the Atlantic side of South America, specifically Montevideo and Buenos Aires. We mostly enjoy sea days for the relaxation, and excursions not a priority. Rio was a nice plus, with a good, albeit brief tour of Sugarloaf. An overnight here would have been welcomed, if anyone's listening. Fortaleza was a disappointment, with a tour guide who barely spoke English, never led the group anywhere, and thanks to a delay exiting the ship had to bring us back early. Salvador has an easily accessible funicular that will take you up the hill to the UNESCO shopping area for 15 centavos each way. They won't take $US, but the ticket girl's brother will sell you 2 pesos for a dollar. Glad we skipped the guided tour up here, because the nicest part is undergoing an urban renewal, and that entire plaza is fenced off. Still, it was a good stroll around the adjacent plaza and shops there. Montevideo is beautiful, and the short tour of the city very informative. People who went out to the ranches said they really enjoyed their experience. We'd heard disembarking in Buenos Aires can be difficult, and inquired about a morning city tour ending up at the Hotel Sofitel despite being booked at the nearby Hotel Sileo. We were told no problem, and booked the tour. We were later told we had to come back down and rebook to the drop off at city center. It took yet another trip to the Shore Excursion Desk to get the name of the hotel, which is the Sheraton Convention Center. As luck would have it, a combination of passengers with immigration issues and a collision of two MSC ships in Buenos Aires resulted in a delay of arrival into that port until about 2pm. This resulted in the cancelation of everyone's shore excursions. Already receiving luggage tags to send our bags to the Sheraton, we were told we needed new tags and would need to find our own way ashore. We later found out we could have kept those bags out for collection and retrieved them at the hotel. We are still wondering why Princess did not verify luggage colors/numbers before allowing passengers off the gangway. Literally hundreds of passengers left the gangway ahead of their luggage being ready. We entered what looked like a stockyard of cattle pushing their way to the edge of the fencing in the unlit warehouse, blocking access to the other end for those of us whose luggage was there. We managed out to the sidewalk to await a taxi. While the cue ahead of us went quickly, there was a forty-minute lull in available cabs once we got to the front of the line. It is unfathomable that Princess did not have any contingency in place for such a delay. Qui L'umbo. It is such a beautiful ship and staff. Our sympathies to our fellow passengers and crew whose plans changed for the worse due to this delay, but enjoy safe and happy travels moving forward. Read Less

We chose to do the 19 day cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires because of the variety of ports - 4 in the Caribbean and 5 in South America. The ship was continuing on after Buenos Aires for another 14 days to Santiago Chile and then to Los Angeles. The bulk of the passengers were travelling the full 49 days from Fort Lauderdale to LA. More than 2/3 of the ship were Princess Elite passengers. The average age was probably mid 70s - and only 12 children on our portion of the cruise. Cabin We had an inside cabin on deck 12 which while not huge worked well for us. Denys our cabin steward did a fantastic job taking care of the cabin. Dining We did anytime dining the first couple of nights. The food was fine but we felt that the servers for the most part did not want to engage in conversation with us - basically serve you and move onto the next table. So one night we tried the buffet in the Lido and were blown away by the variety of the food. Every night they featured a different country’s food and we found because of the variety that we tended to eat too much but really enjoyed it more than the dining room (except we over ate!). We also had lunch a few times at a small cafe in the piazza which served salad and sandwiches which were quite tasty for a lighter meal (it is open 24 hours!). Entertainment The singing/dancing shows were ok - some better than others. There were a lot of comedians (one was supposedly the best entertainer on Princess overall in 2016 - if he was the best I’d hate to have seen the worst). Also a lot of musicians. The Royal Princess band was fantastic in backing up all the acts with little preparation. Cruise Director Matt O our cruise director was without a doubt one of the best if not THE best cruise directors we have ever had. He was fun and funny. I felt sorry for him that people were rude by running to the dining room the second that the show finished not willing to stay for another 2 minutes to hear him talk. People were going to his trivia contests and not playing trivia just to be entertained by him. Ship The ship is quite nicely decorated and a lot of things take place in the piazza which can be awkward for seating but still an enjoyable venue. Ports: St Thomas always a nice stop - we did the Kon Tiki Harbour and beach tour ship excursion to Honeymoon Beach and had a great time. Nice beach, not too crowded and a wonderful time with the crew on the Kon Tiki - flowing rum punches, band and limboing on the return journey. Antigua We did an island tour with Barry from Barry Taxi - very reasonably priced, well guided and taken care of by Barry. Barbados We did a Sunbury Plantation, Orchid World and Gun Signal Hill ship tour - the highlight of which for most would have been a rum punch demonstration at Sunbury Plantation which was very generous and very funny. Orchid World was alright - nothing special. Port of Spain This was not a port I was looking forward to having heard many negatives about Trinidad and safety issues. We chose to do the Caroni Bird Sanctuary with the the ship’s excursion. The drive there echoed what I expected about Trinidad - looking very third world and not inviting. The bid sanctuary was meh - the only real highlight was having a snake asleep directly above our boat - UGH. Fortaleza We had heard news reports of significant violence - burning vehicles and businesses several weeks before our arrival and scores of military had been sent in. No signs of the violence to be seen - not a particularly exciting port but was nice to be in Brazil. Salvador If we thought Brazil was going to be like Fortakeza we were wrong. What a nice port Salvador was. So much more lively and vibrant. In Fortaleza the beach had barely a handful of people on it whereas Salvador’s beaches were packed. We did a city tour with Do Brazil Right - only 8 of us and a great Italian guide named Alfredo. We quite enjoyed it. Rio What can I say but WOW. What a great port - wish we had an overnight stop. We did a ship’s tour to the Christ statue, Brazilian steak house and Sugar Loaf Mountain. It was well organized and quite busy at the places we went to. The Christ statue was packed but quite breath taking. The Brazilian steak house was packed with cruise ship tours - the meat kept coming and coming despite putting out our red stop sign for no more meat. The service was a bit slow and there were some translation misunderstandings - I asked for orange juice and got onion rings - oh well it makes for a good story! Sugar loaf was also quite busy but great views. Montevideo We did a ship’s tour to La Rabida which is an estancia (ranch). It is family owned and only opens for cruise tours. Wonderful hospitality and food - got to milk a cow and get dragged behind a horse. Montevideo is a clean city and Uruguay is not typical of other South American countries - it has the highest literacy rate in South America and supposedly no corruption. Buenos Aires See disembarkation Disembarkation We left Montevideo 52 minutes late due to late loading of stores (third such delay in this cruise) and an immigration issue for 2 people. The Captain announced about an hour after departure because of our late departure we had lost our slot into a narrow channel into Buenos Aires and would have to anchor until 3am. In the end we finally arrived in BA 9 hours late at 2pm. We had booked a debark City tour and tango show with drop off at the airport thru Princess. Because of the late arrival our tour was cancelled and we were supposed to join the ship’s airport transfers. The communication about the tours was not great although we ended up figuring out when/where to meet quite by chance. We disembarked to a dark, crowded and quite chaotic terminal with no signage as to what luggage tags were where - actually they were still offloading luggage from one of two trucks when we arrived in the terminal. It was VERY hot - an elderly lady fainted. When we finally got our luggage went outside and lined up for the 2 buses that were there which filled up and left. Then we heard from one of the other passengers that apparently there had only been 6 buses for airport transfers and they were all enroute to the airport (1 1/2 hours one way in rush hour) and the ground handling staff had no idea if or when another bus would come. They apologized but said that Princess had deserted them. They suggested to take a taxi if we had a flight that evening. So we lined up for 30 minutes and finally got a taxi around 6pm, arriving at 7:20pm at the airport for a 9:45pm flight. After a wonderful cruise the disembarkation left a bad taste in our mouths and a bad impression. Overall the Royal Princess is a lovely ship and this was a great cruise with great ports. Unfortunately all the positives were wiped out by the fiasco in a Buenos Aires. Read Less

Itinerary: leave out Caribbean islands except for Trinidad/Tobago; Fortaleza Brazil NOT worth visit/ exclude. Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires are wonderfully memorable stops. But disembarking at BA was the worse experience we’ve ever had. Taxis are scarce ( though not expensive) and we spent 2 hours in bad heat/ humidity on line of at least 100 people for few taxis. I advise you pre-book private pickup at any price ($75??). Cruise director Matt O’ was best in the business. Buffet food was also best we’ve ever had, especially dinner. Room service and stewards were excellent. Entertainment top notch. Deluxe Balcony cabin D148 was fine with good AC ( tiny balcony but not important). PLEASE improve Shore Excursions and ask for evaluations right afterwards. The vans on all Caribbean islands were I poor condition with poor AC and very cramped. Guide’s ok. Trinidad/Tobago was Best island stop with great guide and van. Shore excursion of Monastery in hills with homemade breads/cakes, tea was SO lovely. Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires are unforgettable and worth money of cruise to see! Ship Captain excellent. Others were doing longer 49 day segments. We were happy and ready to disembark at 19 days in Buenos Aires. Read Less

There are a few people that are complaining about problems with stores loading delaying departure and late arrival at some ports. We missed a tour in Buenos Aires and our “Best of Fortaleza” was mainly a 4 hour motor coach ride because we late into port. Sailing on a ship is NOT like riding a bus. We have sailed a bit and know that delays happen. We were disappointed but it is all part of being a traveler, not a tourist. The entertainment on board has been first rate. The Princess singers and dancers are wonderful. The musicians are also great. The production numbers were very well done. Most nights the Princess Theater has been packed. Vickie Bowne is our destination lecturer and her personality adds to the wonderful information about our ports of call. Matt O’Brien is the Cruise Director and is a bundle of energy. We are going to continue to enjoy our cruise. Read Less

We chose this cruise primarily for the itinerary and timing as we like to escape our New England winters - we have cruised with Celebrity, Carnival, NCL, Oceania and Royal - this was our first Princess experience and we tried not to make comparisons, as each line has its strengths and weaknesses. Embarkation was quick and efficient and our deluxe balcony stateroom E126 was ready when we boarded at 1. Small but adequate - our steward Jon was friendly and attentive. Balcony door was a single door that opened out (not a slider) and was difficult to maneuver around in the limited space. Royal Princess is a beautiful ship and we loved that there were so many common areas to sit and relax - the shows were predictable, lots of live music throughout the ship, and many bars and restaurants to grab a drink and a snack. Did not care for the daytime movies by the main pool area. The sound blaring from all the speakers did not make for a relaxing time in the Caribbean. I wish they would move the movies to another area so we could relax poolside undisturbed. We did find the adults only pool to be a better option, though it was extremely windy being on the uppermost deck. Formal nights, we dressed nicely, but are so done with gowns and tuxes. Thankfully, many of our fellow cruisers felt the same and we didn't feel out of place or underdressed. We enjoyed all the bars on the ship but especially liked Bellinis. Always found a seat and the bartenders got to know us and our favorite beverages. We did purchase the drink package and probably spent more than if we had paid per drink but it was nice to not have to deal with paying as we went along. We did not do any excursions through the ship - but just spent the day on the beach at each of the ports - after many cruises, we don't like to be herded around on someone else's schedule. Major disappointment with the cruise was the food - the buffet was ho-hum and the main dining room fare, while not bad, lacked the wow factor - the choices, preparation and preparation were just ok - nothing memorable. Anytime dining worked well for us - we requested a table for 2 and ate later, so never waited and service was quite good, with one exception, a server named Alexa who, on two occasions, gave us a generous dose of attitude - Not sure if it were a language or semantics issue, but she clearly needs instruction in how to speak to her customers. We did enjoy Alfredos for lunch on a couple of sea days - too bad they don't offer a dinner menu in the evening to better utilize the space. A pizza and salad is not my idea of dinner while on vacation. Likewise a burger as an "everyday" option for dinner in the main dining room is again, not "enough" - a steak was offered but carried an additional charge of $19. All in all, we enjoyed our cruise but for the $$ we spent, not sure we will be back. Primarily because while the cruise itself was pleasant enough, there was nothing special enough to book another anytime soon. Read Less

Just off the Coral in December, we cruised the Caribbean on the Royal in January. Overall it was another nice cruise. As always the staff is very friendly and pleasant. We’ve never had a problem with staff in the six cruises we’ve done. We’ve been on the Royal previously as well as the Regal. The Royal is starting to show some wear now. The hull areas are showing rust and can tell the salt is taking its toll. Some inside areas are also showing wear but overall it’s very beautiful. The one concern we have is with dinning. We are not sure if it’s because of the new Club Class Dining or not, but anytime dining seems to be put on the back burner. The three nights without reservations that we would arrive at 7:05, 7:13, 7:10 we were told to wait in the left lane and the reservations wait in the right line. Everyone waited and at 7:30 the doors opened and reservations were let in first and then the waiting line. It was a mess and it seemed it was taking its toll on the waiters. One time we were all let in at 7:30 and one waiter served four tables of two, a table of four, and a table of eight all at the same time. We feel they were understaffed. In the past we were let in ANYTIME as we arrived or given a buzzer and grabbed a drink when called. Service was slower in the past and food quality has gone down. (BTW, when we sailed the Coral we did not have any problems with just showing up and getting in for ANYTIME dining). We feel that Princess should address this issue as there were many dis-satisfied and frustrated guest waiting in long lines for dinner. We will sail Princess again. In fact we will be sailing the Sky next January. Overall we feel Princess still is a good value and enjoy sailing with them. Read Less

Excellent service, huge buffet that didn't seem crowded despite almost 4,000 people on board. The cruise director, Matt O, was the best I've ever had on a cruise. He was funny, energetic, friendly and just overall awesome! He made the cruise. Makes me want to do some research when we're ready for another cruise, to see what ship he'll be on....he was that good. The band, Static, was great. They sang lots of "oldies" and were very interactive with the audience. I normally like to sit at a table for 2, because I'm more introverted, but we decided to take a chance and sit at a larger table. I'm so glad we did! We met some wonderful people, and even met up with some of them for another meal. The onboard activities were great too, from games shows to trivia to The Voice of The Ocean. The ship was beautiful and I would love to do another cruised on the Royal! Read Less

Overall this was a cruise on a par with most of my previous cruises, fifteen on Norwegian, one on Princess. The biggest surprise was the newly installed Medallion.net wi-fi service. It was priced reasonably, unlimited, and provided reliable service much faster than any I've previously experienced on a cruise. I am told it is being rolled out over time to other Princess ships. If your ship has it, I highly recommend it. The variety of food offerings in the buffet was much more extensive than I've found on Norwegian cruises, even on their large ships. and finding a seat was never a problem. Shore excursions were mixed. Puerto Rico's Favorites, A San Juan tour of the rain forest and the fort was one of the best I've ever been on, thanks to an excellent guide (Alejandro). He spoke clearly, explained the plan of the tour, offered lots of background on the island, its history and geography, and provided good information on the biosphere of the rain forest. At the end of the tour he explained where we could go and how to return to the ship if we chose to offload at the town square. The tour at Amber Cove, Dominican Republic (Easy Puerto Plata) was awful. The guide spoke limited English. I understood about half what he said. The town offered limited rewards. We stopped at the Fort de San Felipe, but only for 10 minutes so we were told not to go inside to look around. As we drove through town, the guide pointed out supermarkets, banks, etc. Wow! Generally an economically depressed looking town. We stopped at the central square, but had to stay as a group with the guide. In the modest cathedral, three tour groups were seated in close proximity with their guides providing simultaneous talks. Very hard to make anything out. The longest stop was at the nearby souvenir shop, which did provide restrooms, the only place on the tour that did. The tour was inexpensive, but still not worth it. Read Less