So, in no particular order, here are my opinions...
The elevator issue and those silly fountains remain the most disagreeable things on the ship. The elevators have never been as bad as on embarkation day (understandably) but they are still not good. When there are four of them in a lobby, the two on the left are not tied in to the two on the right, so, just as on other ships, passengers push both sets of buttons and take the elevator that arrives first, leaving the other elevator to stop. on. every. deck. Doors open and no one's there. Princess, do you want to hire the twins to reprogram this (I'm sure they and any 10-year olds could easily do it)? This is one of the most wearisome features on the midship elevator bank on the Emerald Princess: here we have it, times three.
The fountains still haven't figured out how to 1.) spray upwards when the ship is cruising, or 2.) stop draining across the Lido Deck. Anyone who has spent even one hour watching football on MUTS on the other ships when cruising on gentle seas could have told Princess that those fountains weren't going to work. If the water in a pool splashes out and drenches game-watchers, a piddly fountain spray wasn't going to stay straight. Silliness.
The quality of the entertainment on board has been on a different (better, higher) level than on the other Princess ships. I hope this continues and spreads fleet-wide.
The Vista Lounge has every other row of chairs that is nearly impossible to get into. I guess they expect us to sprout wings and elevate ourselves into those chairs, but have they seen Princess passengers lately? Not a lot of mobility ability among most of us.
The Piazza is all it's cracked up to be, but because it's a Multi-use venue, the various entertainments are timed consecutively instead of concurrently. Kory Simon doesn't start in Crooners until 10:15, after dancing and music and mini-production shows, etc. Yes, the Piazza is the place to be at night (because the much touted "top decks" are wet and windy and slippery and chilly.
Alfredos is a treasure. Love it, love the service, love the menu, love that it's open from 11:30am onwards. A real winner.
I've yet to see ANYONE in Celebrations. Shocking! ;-)
There are ample loungers on this ship. No, not many are in the shade, and the shade that exists is moving shade, but, to be able to find loungers poolside at 2pm on a sea day is a very good thing.
I take back everything I said about the Pastry Shop. Stopping by there mid-afternoon, there were several fancier desserts being offered, and a cook was carmelizing creme brûlée as I watched and videoed. He explained what he was doing as I videoed, which leads me to believe that they are very accustomed to doing these sorts of demonstrations. We heard at the MTP lunch that there is sometimes a chocolate fountain there at lunch, which sounds decadent, so, in the end, I'm more impressed than I thought I would be.
We still haven't eaten in either the Horizon Court Buffet or the Horizon Bistro. We're trying to dine around, but will inevitably run out of time.
We walked out of the (minimized) Promenade Deck behind Facets last night, wanting to enjoy the nice outdoor seating there while watching the ocean, but there was water dripping down like rain- but we could tell it wasn't rain. Of course, my first thought was "those damn fountains are leaking all the way down here", but G thinks it was ocean spray dripping off the Seawalk overhang. Whatever the cause, the seating was unusable (but the view of the Skywalk from below was cool).
I haven't seen the pools to be overrun and crowded. The hot tubs are moreso, but because all six of them are in relatively close proximity, it's easy to just go to another one. However, they are also not a bit shaded, so beware. It's too early to tell how these areas will be on a longer (7-night) Caribbean cruise, so for now I'll tentatively say they might work. The biggest issue I see is the noise bleed from the main pool to the quiet Retreat Pool. Whether it's from a movie, a pool game, of a band, you definitely hear the noise at the "quiet" pool. I despise those cabanas, but I'm sure Princess is pleased...they were all in use this afternoon (at $80 a day).
What I'm about to tell you is hearsay to an exponential power, but I've been told by someone who should know that the Regal will add an aft pool (where?) and center stairs for passenger use. Don't take it to the bank, but it's nice to know that Princess has heard all the complaints.
The kids and teen areas look every bit as nice as they did in the marketing videos. We love the jogging/walking track, but unless it's early in the day or cloudy, it's a windy oven out there. I'm particularly impressed with the outdoor fitness equipment stations...there are far more of them then I realized, and detailed use instructions are posted for each one. This reminds me so much of the large cities in China where, next to the playground equipment in parks is adult fitness equipment just like on the Royal Princess. As someone who always wants to be outside, I think that's a fine idea!!
The International Cafe is amazing with ample seating. In fact, the Royal Princess on whole feels less crowded than the Super Grand Class ships. We love that.
There are no sales table in the Piazza during the evenings. There are no sales table in the Piazza during the evenings. There are no sales table in the Piazza during the evenings. (This is so important it's worth saying thrice).
The tender loading area is so cool that it's almost sexy. We'll no longer feel like we're walking down a narrow stairway in the bowels of the ship. On the Royal Princess it's open and large and bright and new. This didn't stop it from taking 2 hours (we heard) to get tender tickets to Princess Cays yesterday, the explanation was that tenders of this size had never docked there before. I'm sure it will improve over time.
I need to close for now, and will post a Part 3 of ship thoughts before Sunday. But for us, as of now, the Royal Princess offers more in the plus column than the minus, and we can't wait to cruise on her again!
Photo 1: those Vista Lounge chairs. Mmmmm...comfy! ;-)
Photo 2: just one of the many pieces of outdoor exercise equipment on the jogging track.
Photo 3: even he didn't like the fountains
Photo 4: a replica of the coat the Duchess of Cambridge wore for the Royal Princess christening.
Photo 5: the dripping Skywalk at night.
