Royal Princess Review
First Time Cruising with Princess (Have Cruised on NCL Before)
Rating by category
Additional details
Summary--Overall this was the best of the three cruises I have been on, including the Norwegian Epic. Very pretty ship, with extremely beautiful finishings on the interior. Had a luxury feel instead of a family/party feel. The service and food was top-notch, I read previous reviews before the cruise and was nervous about what to expect, but I found that the negatives pointed out by other reviewers were not an issue for me. As mentioned below the stairway/elevator issues is now FIXED! So no need to worry about negative reviews regarding elevator wait times, that will only be an issue on the first day when everybody is boarding at once with bags, same as any other cruiseline. Also, we loved the food and it is all made from scratch on board, with the most options for vegetarian/gluten free/sugar free that I have seen on a ship before.
Embarkation--This was the only slightly frustrating part of the trip. Prior to my cruise, the ship was dry-docked in Europe so they could make some changes including permanently opening up an additional main stairway to alleviate congested elevators in the Piazza area. However upon it's return to the USA it had to go through Coast Guard procedures and security checks, so we were told not to even arrive at the Port until 3pm (for a 5pm departure). Knowing that this would cause a large backup of people, we got to the Port around 1:30 expecting to wait for a while but at least be first in line. To our surprise they were starting to board, but the check-in process was a little chaotic. After going through the check-in counter, you walked out into a waiting area where you were to sit and they would allow one row at a time to walk onto the ship. Most of the time nobody was directing people where to sit, so with no instructions they would "cut the line" and end up boarding before the polite people who have been waiting their turn for up to an hour. We sat where instructed to, then were told by an employee to stand up and start to board, then another employee came over and yelled at all of us saying we just got there (when we had actually been waiting 30-45 minutes), then customers started yelling, and everyone was upset. This needs to be better organized, and there should be a designated employee to tell everyone after check in where to sit and what to expect. We finally got on the ship around 3 and our state room was ready, we carried our own bags so we were good to go. This bad experience was quickly forgotten, but I do hope they work on this for future cruises.
Fellow passengers--definitely an older crowd than the NCL cruises I have been on, more retired couples but a few young people and of course some international travelers. Very fun crowd, we especially loved seeing guests that were good dancers enjoying the live music throughout the day, almost putting on a show for the rest of us.
Cabin Review
Interior
Out of the 3 cruises I have been on, the interior room I had on the Royal Princess was the largest.
Bed--I requested one queen bed but when I got to my room it was split, but the steward apologized and kindly changed it to a queen immediately so we didn't have to sleep on separate beds. Perhaps because we were 2 male guests with different last names they weren't sure if we were a couple or not? It was comfortable and the pillows were good too (and I am very picky with those when I travel). We always had the thermostat on the coolest setting and it was perfect, no issues being too hot or too cold.
Closet--The best part of the bedroom was the "closet" area between the bathroom and the bed. Besides providing privacy from the bath area, it came with plenty of hanging space and hangers for us to hang up all shirts, with lots of room underneath for our suitcases. This is the only cruise I've been on where you had room to leave your suitcase out the entire time, it was great. Also had a mini slim closet with shelves and a safe. Other side of that wall near the bed was a desk area with chair, fridge, and many more drawers that we didn't even use.
Bathroom--very clean, with countertop room around the sink including 3 higher shelves and one long under the sink shelf for placing travel kits or other personal items. No issues with toilet/plumbing/no bad smells coming from it as others have mentioned (On my cruise they announced during the initial muster station drill that it uses a vacuum sewage system and not to place any items in the toilet besides toilet paper. I suspect reviewers that had issues with the toilet were experiencing problems related by clogs caused by other guests. This was not an issue on our cruise). Shower had HOT water, never ran out of hot water and in fact you had to be careful to never set the water temp all the way to "hot" because it will burn you. Much hotter than home tap water and they had warning signs for you to test the temp before stepping in the shower. Not a problem tho, better than if there wasn't enough hot water.
TV - screen was very large and we loved the selection of movies. We didn't spend a lot of time in our rooms, but somehow ended up watching 3-4 movies that we had been wanting to see because they were free in our rooms. Also they pick up where you left off, in case you don't watch the movie in one sitting. Nice to do that while waiting for your loved one to get ready!
Overall very happy with the interior room, I paid $299 per person (through Costco) for the cruise and it was a great value. I would do it again in a heartbeat, no interest in upgrading to a balcony room unless it was the same price.