The Piazza (the atrium of the ship) is, as anyone who's seen a photo knows, gorgeous. The materials, the finishes, the subdued but elegant colors and those twin double spiral staircases all combine to present a visual feast. However, I dislike the placement of the photo area in the. Piazza. It's hard to glam up a photo area, and the result is that it seems out of place amid all the surrounding elegance.
We haven't yet tried pizza restaurant Alfredo's, but the menu looks wonderful and the decor is beautiful.
The second, minor atrium where the Passenger Services and Shore Excursions Desks are located, is much improved over the Emerald Princess, where the PSD staff has to compete with the sound of the entertainment in the Piazza when dealing with aggrieved passengers. The fountain there provides a soothing background sound, a nice touch for those people standing in line for the PSD (who generally have an unhappy issue). This is exactly where a fountain belongs- NOT on a pool deck (more on that later).
Much has been written about the Crown Grill/Wheelbouse bar combination. I doubt I'll visit either in just 5 days to be able to form an opinion, but it's apparent why there might be an issue as they are completely open to each other.
We swung by the Horizon Court buffet for some fruit mid-afternoon. Yes, it's huge. Yes, there's plenty to choose from. Yes, they need some kind of diagram or map at both the front and rear entrances. It's a wonder that anyone can find everything they want to eat and a table to eat it at before their food gets cold. The much touted Pastry Shop is just a dessert bar with a fancy name. I saw no desserts I haven't seen on any Princess ship...but it's early days yet.
The outdoor area with wicker seating and tables behind the buffet on the back of Deck 16 is perfect for dining with views of the ship's wake. It was packed today, but I'm not willing to judge it on that...everything is packed on embarkation day when the crowd all hits at one time.
There are six hot tubs for the general passenger population plus one more for teens. They each hold six adults...that's 36 people out of 3600 who can use a hot tub at the same time. That was ample for today...we'll see what our first sea day brings. Similarly, I can't yet offer an opinion on the pool situation. Today there was plenty of room; I'll let you know in two days how they hold up to a Caribbean sea day.
The adults-only Retreat Pool has been ruined by the $80 per day cabanas. While the ship is cruising, the privacy drapes around the cabanas become airborne. I don't see how this can please anyone- cabana users or the peripheral masses.
The fountains in the main pool area leak water, seemingly constantly. The end result is that the pool decking becomes slippery and there was actually a 2" deep puddle of water along the outer perimeter of the Seaview Bar. And this was when the ship was docked; a fountain show when the ship is cruising must have Caution, Wet Surface signs everywhere. The fountains show tonight is at 10.30pm. It's so windy, the drapes around the Retreat Pool have become flying missiles, making it dangerous to walk by them. There is no way the water in those fountains is going to go straight up. No way. They should be issuing rain gear and Wellies to the passengers who dare to risk the winds out there to watch the fountain show. Not only is the fountain area a waste of space, it makes the rest of the main pool area a slippery mess. Dumb idea, IMO.
The $20 per day Sanctuary is all that the Marketing videos promised it would be. Here's a nugget of knowledge: on embarkation day, the Sanctuary is free of charge. This could be a real bonus for those people doing back to back cruises- a quiet escape from the normal hecticness of embarkation day.
The library is a "why bother" thing, the smallest I've ever seen on a cruise ship, but I'm not certain that's so horrible. With the proliferation of e-readers, a lot of passengers come on board pretty self-contained. Maybe the library, small as it is, is enough to meet demand.
It's sad that there's no full wrap-around Promenade Deck, but, having seen the small areas of external decking that's there, and the seating areas they contain, I think that I'm happier to focus on what's been added (cushioned teak loungers and wicker conversation areas) instead of what we've lost. In the end, it's just not a big deal for us.
We looked into the Vista Lounge and Princess Live, but I can't offer an opinion on either yet. The Princess Theater is another area that's not as bad as I'd read. Yes, the seating is narrow, but I don't think it's any narrower than on the Emerald/Ruby/Crown (it's kind of like a middle coach class seat on Southwest. Yes, it's exactly like that). There are no trays that can be pulled out of the arm for drinks; I don't think that's a plus for either drink sales or passengers, but...well, it's not a huge deal either. We like the entrance from Deck 6, probably because it reminds us a bit of the Emerald Princess. We didn't go to the show in the Princess Theater tonight, but have heard that the lighting and sound quality is amazing.
The Sea Walk, and enclosed walkway suspended over the edge of the ship 16 decks above the water and with an area of glass floor looking down to the ocean is nice. (I have a fear of closed in spaces but no fear at all of heights.) Since we have an inside cabin on the same deck, I'm looking forward to watching port arrivals and departures from here. It has a slightly funky smell on the inside, but that was admittedly when we were docked. Maybe, when the Royal Princess is underway, the ventilation is better.
The Concerto Dining Room, the only one we've been in, is pretty with lots of tables for two. Our table for dinner is in the middle area, and we were walked to it through a service station, which didn't thrill me, but we left via a different route which was better. There just aren't as many definable areas for walking to/from tables as on other ships. The Winemakers Dinner area is in the Concerto Dining Room and was very elegant. We're not going to try to book that for this 5-night cruise, but it's something we want to try next time.
The biggest drawback on the entire ship is the elevator situation. Why they shrunk the elevator size on a ship with 500 more people than the Emerald Princess is beyond me. We knew to expect long elevator waits midship, but what we're seeing still surprises us. I have no idea how mobility-impaired people can manage. People are dashing across the elevator lobby to claim one empty space on an elevator going the wrong direction just to get on; how does anyone with a cane or scooter manage. This is the single biggest issue on the ship; the fountains are a silly nuisance but the elevator situation, at least on embarkation day, was dire.
So, these are very preliminary perspectives, and I'll post if they change over the course of the next few days. What isn't likely to change is our opinion of our cabin, an inside cabin on Lido Deck 16 under the Sanctuary. We love it; we love the location, we love the 32" flat panel wall-mounted TV, we love that, in addition to the four drawers in the nightstands, we now have four shallow but wide drawers under the TV. This is a huge improvement over the Emerald Princess, where we have two shelves behind a door, which are too deep and too low to really be useful, and three very narrow shelves which aren't good for anything other than holding G's baseball caps. The cabin is actually about 5 square feet larger than our Emerald Princess inside cabin, but looks smaller due to the lack of mirrors (on the Emerald Princess, most of the back wall is mirrored). The cubbies next to the safe are narrower and fewer than on the Emerald Princess, but, overall, we think the storage is superior to an Emerald Princess inside cabin.
We purposely wanted to avoid those inside cabins that run parallel to the corridors; they offer less privacy when the door is opened and the bed is also closer to any noise in the corridor. They may be very slightly larger, but we feel confident that we've made the right decision...for us.
We LOVE (yes, it's that good) the bathroom sink. Deep and rectangular, it's perfect for hand washing clothing (I know, because I already have). And speaking of hand washing clothing, we've had to adjust our usual clothesline location. There is only a plastic-topped print on one cabin wall, instead of both opposite walls. We've always stuck our clothesline suction cups on those prints, stretching it across the width of the cabin. On the Royal Princess, we've had to attach one end to the sole print, and stretch the line diagonally over to stick on the mirror over the vanity. When there are clothes on it, this means that one of us (me) can't see the TV. It's not a big deal: next year we'll bring a megamagnet for the opposite wall and hook the other end of the clothesline to that.
The ledge in the shower for leg shaving is truly a highlight of the cabin. Unfortunately, the shower curtain then floats outside the shower pan and floods the bathroom with every shower. No problem- we just line the bathroom floor with pool towels, as we do on the Emerald Princess when the shower curtain is too short.
The bottom line is that we see this cabin as completely livable for a winter at sea. (We have the same cabin we've booked for next winter). In the tally of hits and misses, our cabin is definitely a hit.
In the overall grade card for the ship, I'd say there are several As, a few Bs and Cs, and two Fs (and you know what they are). I'll give you a first semester update in a couple of days.
Stay tuned...