Royal Princess

Our Grand Mediterranean cruise was a long time in planning, we followed the construction of the Royal Princess from the beginning and eagerly awaited her completion, watched the sail out, christening, etc.  Embarkation and disembarkation went fast and efficient with minimal congestion.

Ready for departure in Barcelona

Arrived safety at our destination, Venice

The sailaway on deck

Royal Princess is beautiful and opulent and in particular the Piazza elegantly decorated in cream, gold and wood tones which give a luxurious feel. The public areas are clean and well maintained. Automatic doors and wider entryways everywhere are wonderful. It feels like a luxury resort hotel on the water, which is really what all cruise ships should be. The service overall was wonderful. We were very pleased with the ship and the amenities, the style and grandeur of the Royal made us feel like we really were somewhere special.

Our stateroom was great, decent room size, plenty of storage, the bed comfortable, good quality linen and the in room movies were a great plus. We watched several movies that we had wanted to see. Our room was very close to the elevators and laundry which was very handy. Given the proximity it was extremely quiet and although we had neighbours on both sides we never heard them or their TV.  We found the crew very helpful and pleasant, especially our room stewardess. Christina was very courteous and supportive and always had a big smile and kept our room constantly refreshed and as requested she added a top sheet for us. Unlike previous Princess ships we have been on the staterooms now have power saving facility where you put your cruise card in the slot to turn on lights.

Just unpack and make ourselves at home

Look forward to this at the end of a busy day.

Laundry room.

The production shows for the most part were good and with the larger theatre posed no problems getting a seat for the show.

Have a sing along… “All The Single Ladies…”

Comfortable seating

Great shows

It is truly a beautiful, massive ship with such splendour, but you really would not know there were that many people on board most of the time, and often you couldn’t even tell the ship was moving. We were never short of a table to sit at, or a chair to sit on. It didn’t matter if we were at the aft of the Horizon, or if we were outside at one of the bars or if we were in the piazza. There was always a place available to sit and take things in no matter where you happened to be.

Watch the day go by

In my opinion the lack of a Promenade deck that allows you to walk completely around the ship outdoors was disappointing. We have always enjoyed a stroll around the ship on our previous cruises, that’s part of the romance of a cruise ship and a relaxing way to walk off the evening meal after the show.

The only real criticism of the ship is the elevator due to the absence of mid stairs made for long walks to get to certain parts of the ship and overcrowded elevators, which although there were more of them, they were smaller. This was mainly an issue in and out of ports where you wait to find them crammed with people. We had to learn to cram people in elevators and as a joke my husband would say ‘shuffle in we can take another five people’ or joke and tell me to get up on his shoulders. This is not a deal breaker and by taking out the midship staircase gave Princess space for the beautiful new larger atrium or “piazza”.

and of course there is always the stairs to walk off all the delicious food

The Horizon buffet has been redesigned and now divided into 2 parts, it is huge, and they have different food, so you really have to walk across the length of 2 full buffets to see the full selection. Because of the size a map with the day’s selections indicating which areas are open could be useful. In the buffet the food selections were good and the choices were plentiful and the inclusion of the Pastry shop for desserts was good. The Horizon Court staff was quick to get drinks and clear tables. I must say we actually felt there were more selection and better choices to eat at the buffet rather than the dining room for dinner.

We ate several times in the main dining room, Allegro where had opted for late sitting. We also ate there for breakfast on the first sea day. The food was excellent but found the variety lacking a little. We had originally booked for a table of 2 but made friends who we wanted to dine with and were easily accommodated. This and the noticeable decrease in the menu selection meant we only ate at our selected table 3 times so we missed the rapport you develop when you have the same waiters each evening. I attribute the decline in service to this fact. Most were friendly but the clearing of dirty dishes and the refilling of drinks was not up to prior standards, but I think being a new ship, it takes time for teams to settle into working out routines.

Dinner for two or a whole group.

The wait staff mixed up orders a few times and were not as attentive as those in the Horizon. It was fine, but not as special as eating in the MDR. Whilst in the Allegro we saw passengers enjoy the opulent Chef’s Table which looked amazing and on our last sea day we had a tour of the galley with the Head Chef and Maître De.

We also ate in Symphony on Italian night, tried the English pub lunch in Wheelhouse and at the Crown Grill for an additional fee of $50 and really enjoyed them all. Alfredos was good as always, the Gelato shop with crepes and waffles and ice creams, was nice but not sure it was worth the fee when you could get soft serve ice cream at any time up stairs by the Sea Walk. The Sea Walk hangs over the ship and is quite fun, but after you’ve walked over it a couple times you’re kind of done with it. The Seaview bar was where we enjoyed our first cocktail onboard and we also enjoyed the Plaza Bar, Wheelhouse and Crooners several times.

Theme nights. Italian tonight.

endless supplies of food.

On the first night we enjoyed “Movie Under the Stars” whilst enjoying good popcorn and afterwards pizza from the outdoor Prego Pizzeria whilst my husband enjoyed the burgers from Trident Grill a few times.

We went to the Internet Café a few times and found having the free ‘send a postcard’ option a good way to send brief updates to friends and family advising of our whereabouts. Because of this we didn’t have the need to buy a package of internet time and just paid for use as you go to collect important business emails. The layout of the photo shop was good and it was nice to be remembered by one of the photographers from a previous cruise when we boarded. I don’t know why Princess doesn’t offer the choice of having photos sent electronically or to be viewed in your cabin so they have such wastage of printing them all and not selling the majority.

The photo gallery

If your into gaming…

The Royal Princess is a beautiful ship and we enjoyed our time onboard sailing through the Mediterranean. It has a fabulous crew and we enjoyed it and would most certainly recommend it to anyone.

A Martini, shaken. not stirred please

Movie Under The Stars

The real gem of the Royal Princess is its staff with exceptional customer service who seems genuinely happy to be there. With Captain Tony Draper in command we were in good hands while on Royal Princess.

Didn’t need one…

PS We loved the ship’s horn when it played The Love Boat theme.

Have you sailed on a Royal class ship with Princess? Did you find there was always somewhere private to relax despite the number of passengers onboard?

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*All opinions and photos are our own and we were not financially compensated for this post.

13 Responses

  1. René Klingohr says:

    Hello Lyn and Steve.. I hope That You are enjoying your time in The Dawn Princess. I will Wait to see your review for this trip with some fun facts That I gave to You at The front desk..
    Renê Klingohr – Customer Services Agent on Dawn Princess.

    • Lyn says:

      Hi Rene, We enjoyed our 2nd time onboard Dawn even more than the 1st. Thank you so much for all your help. Can you please contact Maria who was the Junior on Table 47 in the Venetian and ask her to keep in touch with us via our FB page? She will be sure to get a mention in our review which now we are back home should be posted in a week or so.

      • Rene says:

        Hello Lyn, I´m sorry, but I just saw your answer now. I’m on vacation. I left Dawn Princess on May 18th.

        I’m glad that you enjoyed. See you and Steve soon. =)

  2. Lyn,

    Such a beautiful blog- congratulations!

    On this daylight- savings Sunday, with my coffee and croissant at the ready, I absolutely loved reading your review of the ship! The layout of your blog and photos make it so enjoyable! I would really love to read more – the itinerary, perhaps?

    Louise

    • Lyn says:

      Hi Louise, thank you so much for your kind words. It truly was a beautiful ship so it was very easy to write about. I am not sure if you have found the other cruising blog, but I have one called Grand Mediterranean which includes the itinerary. Overall a lovely ship and the perfect itinerary as our introduction to Europe. I hope you enjoyed your coffee and croissant.

  3. Rosemarie says:

    First and foremost… Congratulations on your lovely blog!! I have never been on a cruise and it is definitely on my bucket list. Your pictures of the ship look fantastic, slightly envious 🙂 Look forward to reading more on your journeys!

    • Steve says:

      Hi Rosemarie, thankyou for your positive comments. Whilst the Royal Princess is a magnificent ship I still prefer the intimacy of the smaller vessels like the Dawn, Sun and Sea Princess. The standards are exemplary across the fleet and the staff always make the voyage a memorable experience. We are off to New Zealand next months, this will be our second voyage on the Dawn Princess and time permitting I’m sure Lyn will do a review on the Dawn.

  4. I have never been on a cruise but what a gorgeous ship! Wow. This is a great review, cruises always seems like wonderful vacations but I am weary of having to be locked on board with thousands of people and I heard you come back a few pounds heavier after a cruise 😉

    • Lyn says:

      She is a wonderful ship, third cruise with Princess Cruises very happy with every cruise. So many cruises to go on so choose one and just “do it”.

  5. Ros Christopoulos says:

    Lyn I loved your blog on the Royal Princess and echo your sentiments. We too found Allegro disappointing and only ate there twice during the voyage, something on previous cruises, the dinner sitting had been a highlight. What an amazing ship overall and a wonderful experience. How lovely that we both shared the first experience of the Royal Princess.

    • Lyn says:

      Hi Ros, Welcome! Considering it was the inaugural season and the difficulties experienced on the previous voyage in Mykonos we were very lucky that our only minor gripe was the dining room. I will never forget our wonderful experience.

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