Royal Princess Review
Rating by category
Additional details
Prior to boarding this ship, we did a week long trek across Italy, along a similar line to the cruise tour option, but as we've been to all of those places before (Venice, Florence, Rome) we did our own version. Upon arriving in Rome, the night before the cruise, we stayed at an excellent hotel, Trevi 41. We then used Rome Cabs for our transfer to the port. The driver was punctual and efficient in getting us to the port.
As platinum members, we breezed through check in and were onboard the ship in virtually no time.
We were in Emerald 704 (E704) which is listed as an obstructed view balcony. There is really no obstruction worth mentioning. Our stateroom steward was excellent, he was never hard to find and was very helpful. The balcony was small, as we had expected from other reviews. The bathroom was a little bit bigger than we expected and didn't have the ubiquitous clingy shower curtain. The bed was comfortable and we had plenty of pillows.
Cabin Review
Balcony
LIsted as an obstructed view, there's no real obstruction. There is an emergency evacuation raft pod on the deck below that's pretty large, but it doesn't really block much. It doesn't block anything if you're looking straight out.
The bathroom was a little bigger than we expected, as was the shower.
Other than that, it was a pretty standard comfortable stateroom. As its on the Royal, the balconies are small, but they were good enough for the two of us.
Port Reviews
Taormina (Messina)
Messina is a beautiful place, we liked walking around the downtown and through the churches. We had booked a ship's tour to Taormina, but it was cancelled because of the preparations for the G7 summit had pretty much shut down the town so no large tours were being allowed.