My wife and I decided to do another Mediterranean cruise and she liked the itinerary and time that this cruise sailed. We arrived I Rome three days early to do some sightseeing and to more importantly, acclimatize ourselves to European time. I highly recommend this, especially of you have never visited the eternal city. Our hotel for this trip was the Crowne Plaza San Pietro. My wife picked this hotel over a more central hotel because it had a pool for relaxing after a long day of sightseeing. It was located about a mile and a half from the Vatican but really wasn't walkable. The roads near the hotel had poor pedestrian sidewalks, but fortunately the hotel had a shuttle to the Vatican for €1.50. For a full review of the hotel see my log on Tripadvisor. We took the train from St. Peters station(after taking the public bus from the hotel to the station) and were quickly shuttled to Civitavecchia for €4.70 each. Much more economical than taking a ship transfer or private motor coach. Once at the Civitavecchia station there is a bus that will transfer you to the port for €2. But be aware that it doesn’t run between noon and 2:30. A cab from the station is €20 for four and it takes you right to the ship. If you are a just two, find another couple to share the ride. The convenience is well worth the extra money.

Embarkation went very smoothly when we arrived at 1 pm and our cabin was all ready for us. The Royal Princess is the largest ship we have cruised on, we have been fortunate to have taken 18 previous cruises prior but nothing this big. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t feel over crowded at any time. For a ship this big it only had two pools available but not a lot of our fellow passengers used them so it was never crowded. That might be different on other sailings depending on location and passenger makeup. My wife really liked the buffet organization. She found it flowed much better than on other ships. I can’t comment on that as I try to avoid the buffet. The design of this ship prevents having a wrap around promenade deck. This is something that I missed. There is a small track around the funnels on the 17th deck but it just isn’t a real substitute for a proper promenade.

We were upgraded to cabin E711. It is a deluxe balcony on the Starboard side and is located on the 8th deck, one above the promenade near the rear of the ship. The balcony had an unobstructed view that the cabins a little farther toward the bow didn’t have as the life boats are hung in front of those balconies. The cabin was quiet and near the aft elevators which made it quite convenient. The cabin had a small pull out sofa that was quite useless and uncomfortable to sit on. The rest of the cabin was quite serviceable. The staff was definitely up to Princess standards and the food more than met our expectations. I had nothing to complain about from the dining room. The shows were decent but not overwhelming. There was the Broadway type shows and a couple of performances each by a magician and a ventriloquist. The unexpected highlight for my wife was a talk by Bernie Kopel. He played Doc on the original Love Boat TV show. Afterwards he posed for photos with the passengers, which gave my wife quite the thrill. Read more