Cabin Review

Our cabin was M129, located high up (Deck15) and forward in the ship. It is a new category for Princess called a Deluxe Balcony. There is a little extra interior space so a small sofa is included instead of just a chair which is featured in the standard balcony cabins. The extra space was welcome, and I would say the size is typical of most standard balcony cabins on other ships. The cabin is very nicely appointed, with soothing colors and quality furnishings. A large flat panel TV is now mounted on the wall directly in front of the beds. It can't be turned so best to watch it while lying in bed. The TV is interactive and it's an excellent system. Very intuitive with plenty of choices for on-demand movies and TV shows. All free I might add. There are also informative channels such as the morning "Wake Show" by the Cruise Director, a weather channel, forward facing live bow view, and the ship's position map. I also enjoyed the music channels which featured severals genres. What is missing is the ability to check your shipboard account or order room service. There are two other ways to check your account, and one is with a cool smart phone app available for free while you are sailing on RP. Besides checking your account, you can look at the ship's itinerary, check what is happening onboard and map it out, and find out just about any other information you want to know about the ship. I really enjoyed using this app. The other way to check your account balance is from two kiosks located by Guest Services that will automatically provide a printout. The bedding in the cabin was excellent and I felt the mattresses were perfect. A refrigerator and nice size safe is included along with bar soap and a bottle of lotion in the bathroom. There are dispensers in the shower for shampoo and body wash. Missing were robes and slippers. Our cabin steward was amazing and such a nice guy. I spoke with him at length about the situation in the Philippines and I felt so bad for him and his colleagues that had to work while they were still in limbo about friends and family back home. It had to be tough and I did my best to make his job as easy as possible, asking for nothing and leaving the cabin as tidy as possible. Kudos to Princess for the layout of these cabins which are ideal for privacy. When you walk out of the bathroom you actually enter an open closet area which you can't see from the cabin itself. This is an ideal dressing area providing complete privacy from other occupants of the cabin. I felt closet and drawer space was more than sufficient, and I liked the large sink area in the bathroom. The shower itself is a little larger than a typical Princess ship, but not as big compared to some other cruise lines. Water pressure was pretty dismal but I'm not sure if that was just in this cabin or all. The a/c worked great in the cabin and pretty much the entire ship was kept at a comfortable temperature, with the exception of the elevators which could get very hot.