Royal Princess Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This was my first Princess cruise and it will probably be my last. The food was extremely disappointing both in the dining rooms and the buffet. There is only one memorable dish I had in the dining room, on the first night the Red Snapper Mojito Ceviche which was very good and different than what I've had on other ships. The rest of the dishes were very pedestrian and lacked both creativity and variety. One of the things I like about cruising is having the experience of eating well every night and that never happened on this cruise. Other experienced Princess cruisers said this was the worst Princess food they have had on a cruise.
The buffet served very similar food every night. The food was generally boring and lacked flavor or was too salty. The meats were generally overcooked and dried out. Even if the meat looked good while it was being served it often dried out shortly after getting it to a table to eat. The only reliably good food at the buffet was the Indian food which was always flavorful and well spiced with a nice little kick. I would say the best food night on the ship was the Indian night in the buffet.
The other issue I had was customer service. We had a problem with our cabin that I'll expand on in the cabin review. We brought it up on the first day and they gave us a reasonable explanation. Then the second day it happened again and it happened an additional three (four for me because my wife did not experience it the last time I did) times during the cruise. The third time we reported it I finally had a a supervisor come to the cabin and he agreed the issue was happening and would investigate. It happened twice more for me but was eventually resolved. With that number of reports and experiences I would have expected some sort of compensation for our inconvenience and negative experiences. However none was ever extended and the apologies seemed rather weak.
Cabin Review
Balcony
The cabin itself is well designed. I liked the layout and the bed was very comfortable. The balcony was nice and I liked being directly under the lido deck because it gave us a larger roof. I had been concerned that it would be too noisy but there was very little noise from above. I heard some carts from time to time up there but nothing that wasn't easily ignored.
The first time we got to our cabin it was filled with paint fumes. It was very strong and we went down to the front desk to tell them about it. They said they often do work when the ship is in it's main port and to open the cabin for 1 to 1/12 hours to let it air out. We thought that was a reasonable explanation and did what they said. There were no fumes on our balcony so airing it out was fine.
The next day we had an unexpected sea day because it was too windy at St Peter's Port to get tenders in and out. However we weren't in the home port but that afternoon when we returned to our cabin after doing things in other places around the ship there were very strong fumes again. We found the folks doing the painting on deck 16 or 17 and told them the fumes were getting into our room. We aired it out again in about 40 minutes.
On the fourth day of the cruise after returning from Dublin our cabin was once again filled with strong paint fumes. I called the front desk and they said they would send someone up but we left for dinner after waiting 20 minutes without anyone coming. The next day after getting back from Belfast the same thing happened. This time I went down to the front desk and a supervisor returned to the cabin with me after waiting 5 minutes to get to a desk person and another 10 for the supervisor to come out. Dinesh, the supervisor, came back to our cabin, acknowledged and experienced the fumes and said he would investigate and get back to me. The next day we had fumes again but they were weaker and he did get back to ask about them on the phone. The day after that I smelled the fumes but my wife didn't. After that we didn't have the fumes again.
If you are sensitive to paint fumes (thankfully I'm not, but they still gave me a headache if I didn't leave the room) be sure to either avoid this cabin or make sure they take care of it the first time you experience them.
Port Reviews
Cobh (Cork)
Did the Jameson tour with an independent taxi. If you do this take the taxi from the port rather than from Cork and you'll save money. It's well worth the trip and price even if you're not a huge Irish Whisky fan.
Dublin
Had a lot of fun here. Did our own trip out to Howth on the DART for the sea cliff walk then the Guinness Storehouse tour which was fun but crowded.
Kirkwall
All the taxis were taken up and we thought we wouldn't get one but lucked out on one who had taken her son to school that morning. We had Mary show us around and she took us to all of the old neolithic sites. She also had great stories and information. She also took us to a place where they had two "sheep" pigs. Very fuzzy pigs that were big but still quite cute. Highly recommend finding Mary or her husband for a tour.
Invergordon (Inverness)
Took a taxi to Loch Ness and did the Loch Ness Experience and was pleasantly surprised. It was very well presented and basically gave a history of the research into the likelihood (it isn't likely) that the monster exists. It also explained how some of the things people say indicate the monster occur and why they are false positives for the monster.
Edinburgh (South Queensferry)
Did the hop on hop off bus and went to the castle first. Had a great time even though it was foggy and rainy much of the time. Also went to the museum with the t-rex, cars, planes, etc... Will definitely go back to Edinburgh.
Le Havre
Walked around Le Havre in the rain. The ship didn't tell us that most businesses close for lunch for a couple of hours between 12 and 3 so missed a bunch of places. Found a nice toy store to get a puzzle for the last sea day and also got some great pasteries. It's a fairly easy walk from the ship but it would be nicer on a non-rainy day and also outside of the lunch time.
Belfast
Did an independent taxi trip to Giants Causeway with two other couples and had a great time. Really cool place. There were a few too many Game Of Thrones related stops on the trip, but it was still interesting and worthwhile overall. It was 240 Pounds for the whole trip split between three couples. We got it from the information center in Belfast where the ship shuttle dropped us off.
Greenock (Glasgow)
Had fun riding the hop on hop off bus around Glasgow. Would have liked more time there but still had a good time.