Not Princess Standard
Royal Princess Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: April 06, 2014
Ship: Royal Princess
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: B-215
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 10 years ago
Review summary
This ship was supposed to be "The New Princess" vessel. When they originally released the maiden year schedule the pricing was at a premium level. Soon after the first voyages and poor reviews the prices appeared to drop reflecting a growing trend of dissatisfaction. I like Princess and have a couple of trips each on the Ruby and Emerald Princess (Both Signature Ships). The problem is that many of the things I appreciated so much on those ships have been eliminated or cut back. The veranda deck walk is a thing of the past. The fantastic bow section of the upper veranda deck walk is gone. The forward views from the fitness center are gone. The rear pool is gone, replaced by one forward attached to the pay for view Sanctuary. The center stairways do not go up to the passenger floors causing backups at the elevators (this is not a minor problem, ask anyone who has sailed on the Royal). The verandas are miniscule even in the mini-suites. They eliminated the side aisles in the upper part of the theatre to slide in a couple of extra seats but it means that people who want to leave in the middle of a performance have to climb over a dozen people. I heard more bad things about this ship in elevators and public places than any other ship I've been on, and that's not as many as some but more than a dozen.
The overall ATTITUDE all over the ship not what I have come to expect from Princess.....found most just not happy... this the FIRST correction that can be FIXED...
Our cabin felt smaller...than other princess ships. The staff seem to just be TIRED of PEOPLE but I sense that they also know that they cannot fix the poor design of this ship. I will sail Princess again ....WILL.... sail on the Royal Princess again HOPEING.... they made changes.
I you have a chance to do the same trip on an older, but better ship, I recommend Princess for the Caribbean without question.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Really need to improve on staff attitudes.....starts everything off negative .
Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
Princess Cays (Cruise Line Private Island)