What's the scoop on the Royal Princess?
 

We are booked on the Royal Princess for a 12 day cruise from Great Britain to Europe.We will be traveling with our two teenage daughters. I was excited until I read some negative reviews on another website about this ship. Has anyone sailed with her recently? We are cruise veterans, but have mostly cruised with RCCL in the Caribbean. Input will be most appreciated!

I would like to know myself Susan. Royal is a very popular ship.<BR><BR>Paul

Susan,<BR>We are sailing on the Royal July 17 and sailed her on the Amazon River cruise 2yrs ago. It is a well kept older ship but the best part is (IMO) it is small (about 1200 psgrs), all cabins are outside. We prefer small ships - 1500 psgrs. maximum - not everyone does. It is not glitzy, nor does it have huge shows or casinos, but I am sure you will enjoy it unless you prefer the 2000-3000 psgr size. The destinations are the most important part of the cruise for us in a comfortable smaller ship. Enjoy and stop worrying about what other people say - you never know where they are coming from or what their agenda is.

We sailed her from B.A. to Valparaiso in Jan.2001. The ship was excellent in every aspect. We had a balcony cabin.

We sailed on the Royal Princess twice -<BR>once a 19 day cruise from Puerto Rico to the Mediteranean, ending in Athens.<BR>The more recent was in April, 2000 from Buenos Aires, up the coast of SA,<BR>across to Africa and ending in Barcelona - also 19 days. We have been on many cruises and these were tow of the best! Everything was great.<BR>Enjoy!

Great to hear. I know someone that is cruising the Royal in September.<BR><BR>Thanks for the posts.<BR><BR>Paul

does this ship ever sail vancouver to alaska - like in August?

No, it is in Europe.

Just returned from the Britain/Iceland Royal Princess cruise. Our 2nd time on this ship (would you believe there was a couple taking their 125th cruise on this ship? It's true)and we found it clean, comfortable, and in excellent shape. Being 18 yrs old, it doesn't have the glitz of the newer ships, it is smaller - 1200 psgrs - and cozy and easy to get around. The majority of the cabins (all outside) are exactly the same and there are balcony and small suites as well. The crew was wonderful, food excellent (we do not like buffets with long lines on vacation so eat just about every meal in the main dining room. Plenty of activity on board as usual.<BR>Princess handled the embarkation efficiently. We arrived in London at 6:30AM and were in Southampton at 9:30AM but not boarded until 11:30AM or so - not much anyone can do about that 2hr or so wait, it was as pleasant as possible. Our itinerary went to Bergen, Norway, Shetland Islands, 2 ports in Iceland, N. Ireland, Scotland, Dublin, Falmouth (England) back to Southampton. Weather was much as expected: 50s, cloudy, cool to cold, rainy occasionally, sunny occasionally. Seas relatively calm for the North Sea and North Atlantic. Many families (2 and 3 generations together) and wide range of ages aboard. Of the 1200 passengers, 960 had sailed with Princess before. <BR>Most of the Princess ships have gone to an automatic tipping policy unless otherwise requested. Does not, at this time, apply to the Royal. You can bring your own cash to tip, or charge it on your credit card, your choice. Some interesting pro & con discussion by passengers and crew of the expected purchase of Princess by the Carnival Corp. I would sail on the Royal at any time.

Was on that Rust bucket last oct. & i still can't figure why cabins are so small! All are outsides, so with no cabins in middle of any deck,where did all the extra room go ?? & closets were so shallow , life jackets use up all shelf space,stuck them under sink ! Movie seats were so short & hard it was too painful to sit thru an entire movie.Shows were so bad ,movies were only option,as casino never had any winners in the ten nights we were there! ONE GOOD thing was no one at our table for 8 felt the need to tip our waiter (long story) ! Never again would we go on the #*$&% Royal Princess ! Did i mention the food was almost as bad as the service? <BR>Been on 12 other ships & all were great!<BR>BILL

Well, Bill, I guess that is what makes the world go round whether it is travel or anything else in this life. Sounds like we were on 2 different ships and perhaps we were mentally. If you were really there you would know what is in the middle of the ship and the theater seats were comfortable for the 1 movie I saw (I am not a movie fan and agree that there aren't many good ones). Our waiters were wonderful and were very well tipped by our table and the food in the dining room was excellent. The ship was clean and in excellent condition. Cabins are of ordinary ship proportions - don't bring so many clothes - and suitcases fit under the bed. I was amazed at the amount of luggage some people had for 12 days!!<BR>Oh well. <BR>

Gosh Bill, what in the world did your dining room server do that would make 8 people decide that they would not tip anything for his service? It may be a long story but I would like to know.

we were on the royal with our teens last 2 summers in europe and we all loved it. this is their favorite boat. we have been on rccl, carnival and celebrity also. 15 cruises. love the size the crew is much friendlier and the food is great. there were always people on board for them to have someone to run around with.patti

The long story! Our waiter on Royal Princess "table #50 ! He just ignored any request for coffee until end of meal & when we finally got it he forgot cream ? When we eventialy got cream it was served in a tiny creamer , with only enough for two cups , we had 8 people with coffee? By the time his helper came back with enough cream , coffee was cold . When i asked for another "hot" coffee , waiter never came back for a long time , Buy then we all decided to leave so we could see show before it was over! We never had time for dessert! That was the first night & he only got worse ! One night i asked him for a steak knife & A1 steak sauce (twice) , a long time later he came up behind me & poured half the bottle on the (tough) steak ! That was when we all decided not to tip him unless he improved before end of cruise , he got worse! He spent most of his time talking to two girls at another table & just ignored our table for eight? We should have requested a new waiter the first night.We did tip the helper,but not the waiter! That's still only a small part of the story of the cruise from hell on Royal ?? Priness! Oh well,just got Docs.today for next cruise,(11 days on a good ship) Millennium ! Never had problems like that on any Celebrity ship,or H.A.L. ship ,or NCL ship , or Costa ship!!<BR>BILL

The long story! Our waiter on Royal Princess "table #50 ! He just ignored any request for coffee until end of meal & when we finally got it he forgot cream ? When we eventialy got cream it was served in a tiny creamer , with only enough for two cups , we had 8 people with coffee? By the time his helper came back with enough cream , coffee was cold . When i asked for another "hot" coffee , waiter never came back for a long time , Buy then we all decided to leave so we could see show before it was over! We never had time for dessert! That was the first night & he only got worse ! One night i asked him for a steak knife & A1 steak sauce (twice) , a long time later he came up behind me & poured half the bottle on the (tough) steak ! That was when we all decided not to tip him unless he improved before end of cruise , he got worse! He spent most of his time talking to two girls at another table & just ignored our table for eight? We should have requested a new waiter the first night.We did tip the helper,but not the waiter! That's still only a small part of the story of the cruise from hell on Royal ?? Priness! Oh well,just got Docs.today for next cruise,(11 days on a good ship) Millennium ! Never had problems like that on any Celebrity ship,or H.A.L. ship ,or NCL ship , or Costa ship!!<BR>BILL

Just returned from the Royal. The room steward and dining staff were terrific! Food well prepared and presented... Closet a little tight but the steward stowed our suitcases. Bathroom with tub was a decent size and two people could actually get in at a time to use the mirror. Terrifc itinerary.<BR><BR>If you aren't treated well, bring it up to someone in charge; things will change!<BR><BR>

Fascinating discussion. We sailed on the Royal Pribcess in 2000 from Buenos Aires to Barcelona, and it was the best cruise we have ever taken (out of a total of 11 on 5 cruise lines). We found it a nice clean ship, very well maintained. The food was superior and the service was excellent. It's the only cruise on which we have been impressed enough to tip the maitre'd. We would have no hesitation in recommending this ship to anyone.<BR><BR>

You should not suffer in silence. If you see the waiter or busboy is not doing his/her job you should immediately report to the head waiter and or the maitre 'd. <BR><BR>On our last RCCL cruise both the waiter and the busboy were new employees. It only took one visit to the head waiter and he was on top of them for the remainder of the cruise (the busboy was replaced but the new one was not much better).<BR><BR>Bottom line. On any value cruise line you may find some service lacking.<BR><BR>Paul<BR>