Royal Princess Review
A wonderful cruise experience on a truly gorgeous ship!
Rating by category
Additional details
EMBARKATION: I arrived by shuttle bus from my hotel quite early, around 9:30am, and was third in line. Before the main entry doors opened at 10:15am, they had already handed out the Health Questionnaire, then all the Priority Embarkation passengers (Suites, Elite, Platinum) were allowed in first. It only took a few minutes to get my key card, and then we were all directed to a separate seating area on the backside of the first floor that faced the ship. This seating area quickly filled up over the next hour.
Just after 11:30am this section was moved upstairs to another seating area, then we boarded the ship in orderly fashion by rows, passing the Embarkation photo backdrops before entering the gangway. Once aboard I went straight to my room to drop off my carry-on, went to Sabatini's on Plaza Deck forward and made my dinner reservations for that evening, then ate lunch at the International Cafe. All this before 12:30pm.
By 1:30pm the line of cars and vans to get to the drop off point for the ship was backed up well out of sight. I'm sure for those folks it was a bit of a nightmare.
Cabin Review
I had C406, a 'sideways' inside, for two weeks. Location was perfect, with no cabin forward of me, and quick access to the amidships elevators, or just a bit further walk to the forward elevators and stairs. The cabin layout has it that both bathrooms and closet areas of my cabin and the one aft of it are back-to-back, so noise from the other cabins bedroom area and TV were never an issue, nor did I actually ever hear anything at all from the other cabin during the two weeks I was aboard ship. The head of my bed was facing the bow end, the foot of the bed facing toward the aft end.Storage space was plenty for me, and I never used most of the drawers in the bedroom area or shelves in the two smaller closet areas. A lot of my items I just kept in my suitcase or carry-on and pulled them out as I needed them. My large suitcase fit easily under the bed. The pump dispensers in the shower were a nice addition, but I always bring my own from home. The position of the toilet paper dispenser was a non-issue.WiFi from the cabin worked quite well, as did the A/C, and TV. No issues with shower water pressure or temperature. The interactive TV offered a lot more options than I could ever have used in the time I was aboard ship. The Intranet was great, and although I save the Patters as a keepsake, I never really used the paper version, always opting to use my iPhone instead. Not only does the Intranet list all ships activities and venues, but also lists menus for most all restaurants except the MDR.