Day 130: Fort Lauderdale and Royal Princess Bon Voyage Experience

I'll start with a confession:  it is actually the next morning as I finish this post. I started it last night and got...not far. In fact, I had so little written when I fell asleep that I've simply changed any "todays" to "yesterday" and "this mornings" to "yesterday morning". I think this is the first time I've slacked all winter, but, luckily, today is a sea day, so I'll not have much to type again tonight. 

We docked yesterday morning at Pier 4 in Port Everglades in total darkness, a result of the time change. Close to us at Pier 2- in fact, so close I couldn't get much of it in one photo- was the Royal Princess.

Later, after the sun had risen:

We had been looking forward to yesterday for a couple of months, as we were going to have our second Bon Voyage Experience  (BVE) ever on a turnaround day. Last year we toured the Caribbean Princess, and though we'd already cruised earlier this winter on the Royal Princess, we were anxious to go back and refresh our memories about some of her features. 

We had breakfast in the Botticelli Dining Room, served by dear Fin from the Philippines. We weren't in a huge rush; we knew that we weren't going to be able to get on the Royal Princess until all the passengers that were disembarking today were off that ship and they had achieved a zero count. Just before 9:30am, we walked off the Emerald Princess.  Going through immigration was a smidge slow, despite the fact that there were five ICE agents checking passports and customs forms today, but on a Sunday with seven cruise ships in port, it went as well -or better than- we might have expected. It was about 10am when we finally exited Terminal 4...and walked across the parking lot to Terminal 2. When we had booked this BVE in January, we had never imagined that, on a busy Sunday, we would be parked "bumper to bumper" with the Royal Princess. 

The Royal Princess bow on the left and the Emerald Princess stern on the right:

Luckily for us, the entire BVE check in process in Terminal 2 was handled perfectly today (much unlike our check in for the Caribbean Princess last year, when they didn't know what to do with us). I had completed the requisite registration on line with passport information, and printed out our boarding passes, which looked exactly like the boarding passes that required to embark on any cruise. While we were waiting to board the Royal Princess, we posed for our free embarkation photo...in front of a Waikiki Beach backdrop. Really?  It's been almost a year since this ship launched, and they haven't had photo backdrops of it made?

We had just a bit of a wait, but were quite content using our iPhones to pay bills, check accounts and make phone calls. At 11:10am, Royal Princess Future Cruise Consultant. Nikki Beare greeted us and led us up the gangway. We've known Nikki for years, since she was a cruise staffer, and the last time we saw here she was heading off the Emerald Princess to go backpacking in South America. Big hugs, which were watched with amusement by the other two people doing the BVE. Then we stepped on the ship and immediately encountered a security officer whom we had gotten to know very well last winter on the Emerald Princess. More hugs ensued, at which point the other lady doing the BVE asked, "Do you know everybody?"  No. In fact, those were the only two people we recognized the entire time we were on the ship. They just happened to be the first two we saw. ;-)

We opted to show ourselves around the ship, and not take a guided tour. In fact, we were people on a mission:  to see the cabin we have booked for next winter again, and answer some questions about it that have popped up in our minds. We knew that we needed to hurry, and that the cabins would soon be locked in preparation for new passengers coming onboard. Still, we took a second to take in the -WOW- view of the Piazza, which is simply gorgeous. 

While we were standing there, we took a photo of that notorious mid-ship staircase that is closed to passenger traffic above Deck 7. Here's how it's blocked off; a half flight of stairs goes up from Deck 7 with a door at the top. 

And since we were two of the first four people on board, the door to the crew-only stairs was still wide open, and I snuck a photo. This is what all the hulabaloo is about:  the fact that these stairs have not been furnished to passenger standards and are closed to passenger use. They're there; they're just not for us.  

We then hurried up to Deck 16, Lido Deck, to see our cabin again. We were in luck; the cabin doors were all still open. We snuck in and took lots of photos, most of which are similar to photos we took and I posted last October, so no repeats will be posted here. We wanted to verify storage capacity, and which way the bathroom door opened. It's opposite our door on the Emerald Princess, which means that I'll need to reinforce that side of our over the door shoe rack that lays under the bathroom door handle. Over the course of several months, that tends to rip if not reinforced.

While we were on Lido Deck, and the cabin doors were all still open, we peeked into one of the four sideways inside cabins up there. Though the closet is a bit narrower, there is definitely more storage in the sideways cabins. The vanity is a bit longer, and still has the three narrow open shelves at one end that we use on the Emerald Princess to house G's baseball caps, the hair cutter, etc. The cabin we've chosen for next year doesn't have those, and we'll have to rearrange a bit when we sail on the Royal Princess. What I don't like about the sideways inside cabins is that one long wall of them is the corridor wall, and the very plain door opens directly into the bed area. Noisy, and absolutely no privacy. I can just see me in there dressing as G walks in, with anyone in the corridor getting an unwanted show. No, we'll put up with slightly less storage to get more privacy.

That conclusion reached, we walked across all the open deck areas on the top of the Royal Princess.  There were still no other passengers on board, so we were provided with a wonderful opportunity to get some people-free shots (the kind which, I had quickly learned ten years ago, are impossible to get in China). 

The splash pool and main pool areas, with those fountains (grrr...) in the middle:

Lots and lots of loungers:

Movies Under the Stars (MUTS). I hadn't realized how far from the screen most of the loungers are. 

The adults-only Retreat Pool:

The $40 per day Sanctuary:

By the time we got to the Sanctuary, the first passengers had boarded, and there was a line of people waiting to purchase their passes, so the $40 per person per day price tag clearly has still left plenty of demand. Kudos to Princess for raising the price (now maybe they need to lower it for cooler weather itineraries!). The people waiting in line nearly had a fit, thinking that we were getting or seeing or doing something before they could. We had to explain that we were just visiting, and were actually off the Emerald Princess, before we were allowed by passengers to pass.  Oy. We've been nearly run over on embarkation day on the Emerald Princess by people racing to the Sanctuary; there has to be a better way to reserve loungers there! 

Another nice seating area just aft of the Retreat Pool:

Up on the walking/jogging track, an area we are most looking forward to using:

Love, love, love this outdoor exercise equipment:

We next went to lunch in the Concerto Dining Room on Deck 6, where we were served by delightful waiter Luigi from Italy. In fact, that was the biggest surprise of the day for us:  how friendly and welcoming every crew member we encountered was. It was not that way last October; in fact, we had consoled ourselves at that time with the knowledge that crew friendliness and service levels change over time. Well, obviously so.  The embarkation day lunch menu is a bit of a disappointment compared to other Princess ships we've been on, and by that I mean it doesn't feature the salmon I enjoy so much. It does offer trout, but Luigi warned me against it, so G and I both had the chateaubriand and a glass of house red wine and the hazelnut soufflé for dessert. 

By this time G was talking- seriously- about canceling the Emerald Princess cruise leaving that day and trying to get on the Royal Princess. I spent lunch trying to convince him that that was just not going to happen; even if there were empty cabins on the Royal Princess, I know Princess reservations well enough to know that we would not be able to book one. G kept saying that the Royal Princess was "a hundred times better than the Emerald Princess". Well, it certainly is prettier...

Then we left the dining room, and everywhere we went on the ship was crowded. Very crowded. And obnoxiously noisy.  A party band was playing in the Piazza (this is welcome aboard music?  Soothing piano or strings music is so much more welcoming), and a Sheryl Crowe concert was BLARING on MUTS. It was all noise and people and the elevators were basically unusable. We started noticing that, in the Lido Deck pool area, which would basically be for us what the Terrace Deck is on the Emerald Princess, there is no escaping the masses and the noise. Of course, this was a 7-night cruise crowd, which is decidedly different than a 10-night cruise crowd, and I would expect (hope) that Princess will tone down some of the party tone of embarkation day for the longer itineraries next winter, but it definitely felt at odds with Princess's new TV commercials for their new tag line, "Come Back New".

Luckily, G stopped talking about jumping ship from the Emerald Princess to the Royal Princess that day, and stopped saying the Royal Princess is "a hundred times better". More realistically, he admitted that, while some things were better, others were...not so much. 

Before we left the ship, we returned to the Vista Lounge to see if the seating there had been improved at all since November. No, it's as nonsensical as ever.  How does anyone manage getting into or sitting in those swivel bucket seats?

But I did love the granite on the tables and took photos to put in my kitchen re-do idea folder.  It looks like maps to me:

Just before 3pm, we collected our complimentary embarkation photo and left the Royal Princess. We needed to walk over to Walgreens and get back to the Emerald Princess by 3:30pm. The day had turned hot, and we were definitely feeling the heat coupled with the pace of our day. We reboarded the Emerald Princess just in time, grabbed a Barefoot Bubbly and headed for the (quiet!) Terrace Deck. The Emerald Princess was docked bow first at Pier 4, which provided the best view imaginable to watch the other cruise ships sailaway, as we were facing almost directly down the entrance channel. The Emerald Princess sailaway was delayed until 5:30pm, due to luggage and stores loading issues at Pier 4, so we were able to see five ships sail before ours. 

The Eurodam, Nieuw Amsterdam and Royal Princess sail:

As soon as we had finished the bottle of bubbly and sailed ourselves, we didn't even take time to shower, but went directly to Dinner with Darko. We dined slowly, clearly missing the 7:15pm Welcome Aboard Show, but went to the Princess Theater for the 8:45 show. I didn't last...they were playing a blaring playlist while we were waiting for the show to begin, and  my exhaustion, coupled with, by that time, my complete intolerance to more loud music and "party" atmosphere, had me fleeing for the cool quiet of our cabin. I started this post, got about a paragraph into it, and fell asleep. That's what I needed to "Come Back New". 

The Royal Princess sails away from St. Martin at sunset

So pretty it deserves its own post!

Day 17: St. Martin

Prepared Thursday evening, November 14th

We had not been to St. Martin in over 8 years and so, in addition to, of course, being on the world's biggest cruise ship, on this cruise we were most looking forward to being on St. Martin again.

And, sidebar: in case you're wondering why it was that we were on all these islands- Grand Cayman, Cozumel and St Martin- eight years ago...G was away for two years for the War in Iraq and we hadn't seen each other for 7 months when we finally returned home. He had a couple of months of leave and adjustment time before he had to return to work. We spent 63 nights on cruises, all booked last minute, all in the Caribbean. Eastern, Western, Southern, out of Galveston, Fort Lauderdale and San Juan...we did it all that winter.

So, back to today...we were so pleased to see the Royal Princess docked right next to the Allure OTS this morning, and we went up to the Sun Deck above the bridge to take a really good up close look at the aft end of the Royal Princess. It's funny how we can see a ship much more closely when we're not on the ship. We always enjoy being in port with ships we've sailed on in the past, but when it's a ship we've just recently been on, or are about to go on, it's especially fun.

We had breakfast in the Solarium Bistro...with many people off the ship already, there was no line at all, and we've learned what food is good there (huge bowls of fruit, including papaya, and excellent varieties of muesli) and which to avoid (the reheated pancakes and cafeteria scrambled eggs). And I always enjoy the two flavors of enhanced water and love that the Allure offers somethin besides the usual cruise ship drink options of water, ice tea or lemonade.

It had been so long since we'd been in St. Martin that the entire area around the cruise ship pier was new to us. In fact, we remember our first visit where we walked into Phillipsburg from the ship and it was like taking our lives in our hands. Like Yacht Haven Grande in St. Thomas, or the Renaissance resort in Curaçao, these are improvements that not only make the pier area prettier but safer too.

St. Martin is one island governed by two nationalities: St. Marteen is the Dutch side, where the cruise ships dock, and St. Martin is the French side. All that marks passing from one country to the other is a sign on the side of the road, and cars and people move freely (as in, there are no barriers at all) between one side and the other. We'd already done the French town of Marigot and the infamous Orient Beach, known for its topless (and less) sunbathing. But on this trip we had one mission in mind: to get to Maho Beach on the Dutch side of the island.

Leaving the ship and walking to the end of the pier, it was obvious, seeing the Allure and the Royal Princess side by side, that the Allure is bit longer than the Royal Princess but a heckuva lot wider. It has to be, to accommodate two separate sides of ship with central neighborhoods. But it's hard to comprehend the difference until you see them side by side.

There is a well organized taxi dispatch area just beyond the shops at the cruise port, divided up by destination, and there were lots of people waning to go to. Maho Beach. We did hit a bit of a glitch with one taxi driver when he tried to squeeze one more person than he had seats into his minivan, but we spotted that and sent him on his way, waiting for the next taxi driver. The fare was between $8 and $10 per person each way, and I was astounded by 1.) how long it took to get there (it looks so close on a map; and 2) how congested and developed St. Martin has become. Now, for the best idea of the appeal of Maho Beach, better than any of the videos I will post in a couple of day, go to YouTube and search on
Maho Beach and KLM. The appeal of Maho Beach is that it is located right at the end (and I mean the VERY end) of St. Martin's only runway. There is the beach, then a two lane road, then the chain link fence at the end of the runway. When planes, especially large ones, land or take off, the force of wind expelled sends towels, beach bags, even people tumbling into the ocean. The biggest show of all comes on Saturdays, when the vacation week starts and the 747's from the Netherlands, France and the US land.

Great fun!

What I didn't realize from the YouTube videos is that Maho is not a deserted stretch of beach with a fence on one side. No, Maho must be one of the most congested, biggest parties I've ever seen. Anchored by a beach bar on either end (we chose the more popular Sunset Bar), it is one wild time, with lots of drinking and sun burning, punctuated by planes taking off and landing to cheers and applause. The arrival times of the next several flights are hand written on a surfboard with chalk, but knowing the flights could arrive early, a yell goes up whenever anyone sees one on the horizon to alert the boozing spectators.

Almost immediately, we found new BFFs Gus and Karen, and Jeff and Candy, with whom we've been the mainstays of the Diamond Lounge every night during free drinks. We then met Candy (really. Another one) and Tom and made our way through, well, I forget how many exactly, but several buckets of six beers each. After all, it was hot out there! We had a huge discussion about what time we needed to be back on the ship, which was complicated because the Allure had never changed time, remaining in EST, although St. Thomas and St. Martin were actually on hour ahead of EST (which is, what? Atlantic Standard Time?).

Finally, though, the taxi drivers were warning us we needed to get back to the ship, because traffic would be heavy, and they were right (although they had started saying that right after lunch). Thinking the Royal Princess would sail at 5pm AST, I was up on the Sun Deck over the bridge at 4pm Allure time, but saw the Royal's gangways still out. So we had time for a quick clean up (and G squeezed in a hot tub- quelle surprise!) and we up on the Sun Deck at 6pm when the Royal Princess did finally sail, right at sunset, and what a spectacular sight that was! It sat for a minute, after it backed out, as if it was posing for us, and such a pretty lady she is, too.

Then, we were off to Blaze for the Diamond Lounge drinks (oh my), before another cruise highlight, the ice show, called Ice Games. Yes, a figure skating show. On a ship. Actually, this concept was not new to the Allure and Oasis; we'd seen the ice show several years ago on the Mariner of the Sea. But that this can be done at all, and done at the level the skaters are performing is just amazing. Honestly, the entertainment alone, this show and OceanAria and Kenny James and Chicago and more good stuff to come were alone worth the price of the cruise. We had fantastic seats, and I can recommend sitting in the first row, middle on the right side of the ice, because I was involved in the show (no, not on the ice, thank God, but from my seat) and the skaters were whizzing by so close to us we would get a cold breeze each time they did.

For dinner that night, we returned to the Adagio Dining Room as a walk in. I have to say I'm most impressed by the way Royal Caribbean handles My Time Dining, which is like Princess' Anytime Dining where you can dine at any time, not at traditional early or late dining. We have never waited and have always been seated in the section of the same wait staff (the incomparable Althea and Marlon). Like on Holland America, it's nice that the person seating us addresses us by name, and, when we are seated, we are welcomed back by name by our waitstaff.

We followed up dinner with live music (there must have been 8 different choices happening concurrently around the ship), and our new favorite way of ending the evening- a stroll through Central Park before bed.

Just another incredible day in paradise!

Photo 1: the aft starboard suites on the Royal Princess

Photo 2: the America's Cup sailing yacht excursion

Photo 3: the Royal Princess (on the right) is big but the Allure OTS is HUGE!

Photo 4: flight arrival times posted at the Sunset Bar

Photo 5: Maho Beach

The Mykonos Suite mistake

Last May, when we were booking a cabin for Winter 2014/15, Christmas 2014 was a long way off. But with the Royal Princess not yet launched, we had no idea how the ship reviews would be, nor what our lives would be like 18 months in the future. In addition to booking a Lido inside cabin on the Royal Princess for 155 days, we double booked the Royal for Christmas/New Years in the Mykonos Suite on Aloha Deck. Our thinking was that if something happened in our lives that allowed us only 20 days to cruise next winter, we'd want those to be 20 fantastic days and we thought a suite could provide that. 

After all the negative reports about the aft suites on the Royal Princess, we couldn't wait to see the Mykonos Suite for ourselves, and we did that this morning during turnaround. Well, it's hard for us to comment on the interior of the suite, being frequent inside cabin cruisers as we are. The bathroom looks fabulous (OMG, I would LOVE that bathroom for a winter on a ship...we're still working out the choreography to use our tiny one), but the balcony, as reported, is rendered unusable by the soot from the smokestacks. The furniture out there is ruined, the cushions are ruined, and the cabin steward told us he cleans every morning. We loved that the balcony wrapped around, providing views of the wake and down the side of the ship, but, as G so correctly stated, "You and I would go nuts". He's right...we're usually pretty laid back, but if we had spent almost the equivalent of the cost of 100 inside cabin nights for 20 nights in the Mykonos Suite, we would be really disappointed. 

The Mykonos Suite will soon be available for Christmas/New Years 2014/15. If you book it, pack lots of black clothing. 

The soot collected in the balcony drain since yesterday. 

Soot stained footstools- the steward said these don't get any cleaner. 

Day 6: Disembarkation from the Royal Princess

I am typing this post in absolute disbelief.

You know how I always say there is no sleeping in on turnaround day; between the thrusters spinning us around into Port Everglades and fellow passengers slamming their cabin doors, we've never slept past 6:15am or so, even with no place to go.

Well, our cabin on the Royal Princess is so quiet, we slept until 7:30am. EST. Yikes! We had to rush to shower and pack our final things (over the door shoe rack stuff, toiletries, night stand items) and vacate the cabin. Even then we were a bit late, at 8:15am. So sorry Antonio.

Dragging all our carry ons, we quickly toured the front corner mini suites and the deluxe balcony cabins on the front of Lido Deck, and a sideways inside cabin (see other post on that) and are settled in at the outdoor seating just forward of the Horizon Bistro. We had our first ever breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet, and I've learned that if I just look confused about where to go (not hard to do), there is an immediate offer of help. I got my usual scrambled egg beaters and salsa, and fruit (the egg beaters came from the buffet, not the bistro).

In a first for us, we are not disembarking until 11:30am. That's late! We're among the five last groups that all disembark at the same time, and it's perfect for us today, but I wonder if the Royal Princess disembarkation will always run so late.

Last night we had a bit of a scare...it was almost 11pm when we set out our four humongous suitcases, and I phoned the PSD to make sure t wasn't too late. I was assured that they would be picking them up until midnight. Good.

At 1am G got up and peeked outside our cabin door...the suitcases were all still there. Hmmmm...I phoned PSD again. "2am madam; they will be picked up by 2am". Okay, no worries. At 3:30am I woke up...still there. I phoned again. "By 4am madam. They will be picked up by 4am". Well, a bit worried then, we wondered what would greet us in the morning. Thankfully, they were gone. Whether they appear in the terminal at 11:30 is another question. Stay tuned...

These five days have been a blur of beaches and blogging and exploring. I feel a bit like a reporter trying to collect all the facts...and that's work! I'm looking forward to "diary days" on the Emerald Princess, but first...another ship!

Photo 1: notice on the balcony door of all the forward facing cabins.

Photo 2: the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Allure of the Seas in the distance

Photos 3 and 4: minisuite L106

Royal Princess sideways inside cabins

When we first booked our Royal Princess cruises for next year, we pretty quickly figured out that that Lido Deck was the right deck for us to be on (and, now that we've stayed on it, we know it was a good choice). We never took a midship elevator and didn't miss the midship stairs that aren't there. Most of the time, we move vertically on the ship using the front elevators and stairs. 

What we were less sure about was whether to book a "sideways" inside or not. In the end, we obviously didn't, but today we had a chance to check out one of those cabins during turnaround. 

We made the right choice (for us) on that point too. 

We like to have our beds configured as twins, which in a typical inside forms a T-shaped open area, between the beds and at the foot of them by the vanity. In the sideways insides, the beds, when configured as twins, are (from one wall) nightstand, bed, nightstand, bed. No large open area between the beds to work with (and I assume it's because one nightstand is affixed to a wall and not moveable). 

There is more storage space in the sideways cabins...a whole other set of open cubbies, and they don't lose the topmost shelf above the safe as we did in our cabin. However, the closet is shorter (not as long) and is divided with a floor...we needed our closet to store suitcases, and we couldn't do that in a sideways cabin. 

We appreciate the greater privacy we had in our perpendicular inside cabin, and how quiet it was because the beds were further from the hallway. But that was the whole purpose of this five day cruise...to see if we had made the right decisions about next winter. I can't tell you what that's been worth to us, and now we can't wait to return to the Royal Princess!

Beds configured as twins in a sideways inside cabin:

Extra cubbies in a sideways inside cabin:

Same 4 drawers that don't exist in an Emerald Princess inside (yay!):

Throwing this in here...token machines in a laundry room. 

Day 5: Evening

As G went to a hot tub mid afternoon, I stayed behind to get the blog post on Royal Princess final thoughts typed. Wifi on the Royal has given me some fits, but sometimes it's been great. For example, for the most part, I've been able to check the webcams at home and our Nest thermostat. Yesterday afternoon, at about the time everyone was back on board after Grand Turk, I was able to place a Vonage call to Mom that was as clear as AT&T, albeit with a little latency. Then, just hours later, at 11pm, when it should have been quiet, I couldn't get on at all. A few evenings I've typed blog posts only to unable to send until the next morning. So, it's hard to draw any conclusions. The Blogger app I'd hoped to use to publish blog posts didn't work at all. Can someone let me know if the photos I'm posting are decent? I'm sending emails at the very lowest resolution, but if they're really bad I'll step it up a level.

Anyway, back to this afternoon. Tonight was Breeza Marina night in the Elite Lounge, and you know what that means...herbed goat cheese too. We went right at 5pm and sat with a couple who were thoroughly disgusted with the Royal Princess. No problem; we sat and listened and discussed. It just doesn't affect our enjoyment of the ship if someone else dislikes it. Nor do we feel inclined to defend it. To each his own.

Our final dinner with waitstaff April and Michael (aka Team Yummy) was a treat. I wish we could take them both with us! They have provided wonderful dining service, and April remembered that we were celebrating. G's birthday on this cruise, so tonight was the night for cake and song. So sweet! G wanted me to mention his NY strip steak tonight was the best of the cruise. I had the always available salmon.

We went to the earliest of three performances of the production show Colours of the World in the Princess Theater at 6:45pm (after just two dinner courses). Wonderful show, gorgeous costumes, we enjoyed it very much. The lighting and technology in the Princess Theater is really impressive, and, after seeing the production shows on the Emerald Princess many, many times, it's fun to see new ones.

Then we headed right back to the Vista Lounge for vocalist Mark Prentiss' more informal show back there. You know, I'm probably 15-20 years too young for most of his songs, but his talent and, frankly, his looks made for a pleasant 45 minutes.

We grabbed popcorn on the way back to the cabin to pack. We'd like to go out again to listen to pianist Ray Cousins, but it depends how carefully we choose to pack. If we shove it all in, we'll pay the price tomorrow night. Must stay organized!

Photo 1: G with April and Michael and his birthday cake.

Photos 2-7: from the production show Colours of the World

Some final thoughts on the Royal Princess

I have been trying to keep a list of things to mention on here about the Royal Princess, and so these might be a bit disjointed, but they are simply thoughts I've had while on board.

We booked a cabin in the most perfect of locations (for us)- Lido Deck. Our first instinct was to book on the back of Marina Deck, but for G to get to a hot tub, he would have had to 1.) walk up the aft stairs and through the buffet; or 2.) walk to mid ship and take an elevator up one floor. We would have sorely noticed the absence of mid-ship stairs above Deck 7. As it is, we haven't noticed that at all.

Same with balconies...I know that the balcony size has been significantly reduced on the Royal Princess, but our inside cabin is nicer than what we have on the Emerald Princess. The lighting is so much better...but they really needed to have all the cabin ceiling lights on one switch and the dressing area lights on another.

Having to put a card in to make the lights work...no issue. We used the key card from our pre-cruise night at the LQ, and just tuck it behind the switch plate when we leave the cabin.

Love the shelf in the shower for leg shaving. Why did they make it so wide that the shower curtain won't stay tucked in the shower pan?

Love the removable shower head and the unlimited hot water; hate the low flow shower head. It's fine for five days or a week, but we'll get that washer removed for a several month stay.

The toilet paper holder location wouldn't be so bad if the toilet paper wasn't so thin. When you pull the tissue at an angle (the only way) it tears. So much has been made of this, but, really, who cares? We put a roll on that bottom shelf and were good to go (so to speak). ;-)

The bathroom sink is the BEST! I was able to rinse out my size 11 Teva Toachi 2s in it yesterday after our walk on the beach in Grand Turk with room to spare. Love this! The handle on the faucet to close the stopper is too close to the mirror, but we can work with it.

G misses the top shelf in the cubbies in the dressing area (it's blocked off). But, in general, the four extra drawers we get have greatly improved our cabin storage.

The TV is amazing. The inside cabins have 32" Samsungs; the balcony cabins and suites have Viewsonics. We've been told that the Viewsonics are junk, and that's why there have been so many issues with them. The Regal Princess will have all Samsungs. We've not had a single issue, and are THRILLED with the choice in programming. I've never seen anything like it on a cruise ship. I cannot wait until we have this for a long cruise.

Mattress, linens, pillows, towels...perfection.

Our cabin was extremely quiet, both from ship noise and fellow passenger noise perspective. I'd read where there was inadequate soundproofing between the cabins; we didn't find that to be the case at all.

Room service: we've only called one time, for chocolate covered strawberries and to change out a few minibar items. The phone was answered promptly and service was almost immediate.

I would love more pools and hot tubs, a covered pool area, no MUTS during the day- but it's not going to happen. So be it.

The Princess Theater makes for a wonderful entertainment experience. The seats are no tighter than on the Emerald Princess. We don't miss the pull out trays for drinks because we never drink in there, but I have to think that the lack of them hurts drinks sales. We always enter and leave on Deck 6, and it's always fast. The lighting, the sound, even the LED backdrop (usually I hate that sort of non-traditional thing) is wonderful. We never went to a show there that was full- though we usually tried to get to an early show if possible.

I've only been in Princess Live for Zumba. It doesn't thrill me, but then we don't enjoy the kinds of entertainment that are usually offered there (game shows and passenger talent shows). I love the Princess Live Cafe, only because it had Cherry meringue cookies yesterday (yum!), those funky chairs outside Princess Live are surprisingly comfy, and the hallway adjacent to it is not as tight as it looks in the professional photos.

The Wheelhouse Bar just isn't the same. We don't dance, so it's not an issue, but I can understand why many are very disappointed. And as much as we enjoyed listening to Ray Cousins on the piano, that doesn't make for a very peaceful dinner in the Crown Grill.

The Vista Lounge, even with its ridiculous chair situation, is an improvement over Club Fusion on the Emerald Princess. But those chairs that, in the professional photos are shown turned backs to the stage really aren't that way...they're right up against the back of the bench seating in front of them. This doesn't work, plain and simple. We only saw one show in here- vocalist Mark Preston's second show, but it was comfortable...since we arrived in time to sit in the bench seating.

We've only been in the Concerto (Deck 6 midship) and Symphony (Deck 5 midship) Dining Rooms. They're typical Princess dining rooms, but for dinner they're opening the doors to enter the dining rooms on both sides, which is an improvement. It still feels like they've cut down on the through ways to reach tables, but it works.

Love the Piazza, but scheduling entertainment there consecutively instead of concurrently as they would if there were several different venues means fewer options to choose from.

Love the IC (plenty of seating) and Alfredo's. Went into Celebrations once; I'm the only person I've ever seen in there. Bellinis, suspended over the Piazza, vibrates. It's a weird sensation. I didn't go to the Ocean Terrace.

PSD and Shore Excursions locations are perfect. Sabatinis loses something when it's not up high on the back of the ship as on the Emerald Princess, but it's appearance is beautiful and elegant

There were never any sales tables set up in the evening in the Piazza. Please, Princess, don't change that!!!

Edited to add: yes there were, tonight, the final night of the cruise, in the photo area. For some reason, they felt they had to have two tables set up with photos of the ship. Bah humbug. But speaking of the photo gallery...

I dislike the photo gallery. It's too plain for the space, and the displays block the views of the ocean. Big thumbs down.

The casino was always packed, but we used Club 6 to move from the front of the ship to mid ship. The casino was smoky, but it's only noticeable near the shops on Deck 7 if you hang over the railing (and I'm pretty sensitive to smoke). Churchills is the real caution...the smoke reaks well outside its doors.

Club 6 is a disappointment as a venue for the Elite lounge. It reminds me of when it is held in the Explorers Lounge on the Island and Coral. No atmosphere, no views. Ho hum.

Shockingly, we don't really miss the Promenade Deck. I love the seating areas out there...when they're dry. We still pop out there every evening to watch the ocean go by.

The Horizon Court Buffet and Bistro is the most amazing buffet I've ever seen on a ship. The Horizon Terrace is wonderful. A pool would be better, of course, but it's very nice.

I'm disappointed in the hand washing sinks in the buffet. They should have had four sinks instead of two, more open instead of tucked away. This could have been so much better. Still, we use them every time we walk by.

We never used the fitness center. I like the location; with no cabins under it I had anticipated it would be open 24 hours a day, but it's still open 7am to 10pm. I will really miss the free sauna and steam room if we're on here for an extended period of time. I like the jogging/walking track concept, but it's awfully windy and hot up there. The exercise equipment is fantastic. The sports court and golf/croquet areas are nice.

There are a much higher number of loungers on the open decks than on other Princess ships. However, few of them have shade other than at certain times of day and the huge majority aren't near a pool. The hot tubs were not too hot or cold; there just aren't enough of them and/or they aren't large enough for our taste.

I never ventured into the Lotus Spa. I did visit the Sanctuary on embarkation day and it's everything they said it would be.

The elevators and fountains...well, you know my feelings on them.


We've listened to a lot of our fellow passengers, and there have been many concerns, but most of them relate to the quality of service, not the ship itself. Certain crew members bowled us over; others not so much. The single worst service seemed to come from the bar waiters in the Elite Lounge, which was really different than what we've found on other ships. If there was a bar supervisor in there, we never met him/her. Quite a change from the Emerald Princess where we've know who the bar supervisor was on Day 1 of a cruise.

Except for the pool areas, the Royal Princess feels far less crowded than the Emerald Princess. In fact, in the Piazza, there's more the feel of the Island Princess. We kept asking ourselves, "Where is everyone?" It's a nice change after the Super Grand Class ships.

Those are most of my thoughts for now. We're going to miss the Royal Princess and look forward to sailing on her again next year. She's not a perfect ship, but, for us, we foresee many enjoyable Royal Princess cruises in our future.

Photos: Royal Princess pool areas on a sunny sea day afternoon