Cruise impressions - Royal Princess
Royal Princess Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean
14 Night Mediterranean & Aegean Medley (Athens To Barcelona)
Sail date: July 30, 2016
Ship: Royal Princess
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: D715
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 8 years ago
Review summary
I wanted to start by saying that from the technology and safety perspective, this cruise was absolutely impeccable. The ship itself was fantastic, very well laid out and easy to get oriented in. Next best was the staff - they are really trying hard to make passengers happy, and many of them go extra mile.
Now on to things that were less than spectacular.
1. Food - while food was generally of good quality and variety, the breakfast was always the same, and by the end of the cruise it got to the point I no longer even wanted to eat my breakfast.
2. Entertainment - could definitely use some improvement. Most of the entertainment was boring and designed for older adults. The ship needs to think about offering more entertainment for teenagers and young adults, too.
3. Ports - Princess definitely screwed up on the time the ship was docked in most ports. In the most interesting cities where people would really like to spend more time exploring the culture, the ship left too early, usually around 6pm. The worst departure times were in Rome and Florence - the ship could have arranged for a much longer stay as the round-trip drive between Civitavecchia and Rome, and Livorno and Florence, respectively, is 2.5 hours each. Apparently, Princess wanted to save money by not paying ports for a longer stay.
4. Shore excursions - some very good, others were bland, rushed and overpriced. Some very clear misrepresentations and apparently contracts were signed with less than reputable local tour companies. A mixed bag. Not what Princess used to be years ago.
5. Booking practices - Princess markets 14 day cruise (that's what we bought) but apparently sells it also in 7-day increments. So the ship is like a huge revolving door with large groups of people getting on and off the ship with suitcases. The quality of the 7-day increment passengers is much lower than those who bought 14-day increments (think of Carnival Cruises people).
6. Upselling - while we expected some degree of upselling, this cruises exceeded our expectations in a not so good way. Just to give you an example, a set of about 70 black and white photographs made in the ship's studio was initially selling for $8000. When pressed, the photographer agreed to discount the significantly reduced set to about $2000. The whole proposition was ridiculous because a professional photographer would have charged me much, much less for the same, if not better quality of work.
Overall, the impression was that Princess is only after squeezing as much profit as they can in any way possible while clearly sacrificing the vacation quality and experience of many passengers, especially seasoned cruisers. I am not sure if I will now want to sail with Princess again.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ports of call
Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy
21 Comments
Gwbigdog 2 years ago
Gwbigdog 2 years ago
RobertaGilbert 8 years ago
mdavidov98 8 years ago
To CruisingCM: Thank you for your comment. I have stated in my original review about the ride between Civitavecchia and Rome, so that should have tipped you off that I am well aware of the distance between the port and Rome proper. Ship-arranged excursions are not the only offering available in the universe. I have successfully booked private tours in 70% of the ports we docked in, and have zero regrets. These included Rome and Florence with 1.5 hr drive each way. Our drivers were fabulous and we were always on time to board the ship before the departure.
One other thing I want to say. The more criticism we provide as a group, the more cruise lines will listen and hopefully change their ways for better, at least incrementally. The last thing we need is being their apologists in everything, including drawbacks.
mdavidov98 8 years ago
To christineg: You are mistaken. I am an adult in the late 40s but do care about my teenage son, hence my comments. Also, the entertainment could have been much better even for older adults. Finally, it's not about me ordering something else for breakfast - I care about the overall offering, which was indeed boring, an opinion shared by a lot of other people from different countries whom I spoke to on the ship.
noname111 8 years ago
Thank you for posting your review. Lots of issues affect ship arrivals and departures... it's not necessarily a budget issue because any extra cost can always be passed on to passengers in the form of higher cost. Sometimes it is the port administration itself... sometimes it is a contractual issue. One thing to always keep in mind is the distance between the actual port versus the closest desirable city. The port for Rome is not actually Rome proper and the distance to travel eats into your actual available port time.
Check out the travel time between the port of LeHavre and Paris. Actually going into Paris is only reasonable if you take a ship-arranged excursion.
vovavv 8 years ago
davenjen 8 years ago
christineg 8 years ago
mummymitch 8 years ago
mummymitch 8 years ago
davenjen 8 years ago
mdavidov98 8 years ago
To mummymitch - other cruise lines that I sailed with were Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Costa. I would like to try Cunard and Regent in the next few years. Would definitely sail again with Celebrity and Costa. Royal Caribbean and Princess are much alike. They are good but this year I felt a slide in overall satisfaction.
davenjen 8 years ago
mummymitch 8 years ago
mdavidov98 8 years ago
To Kenny007 - the selection itself was primitive and minimalistic, primarily catering to folks from British-influenced cultures that love eggs, bacon and hash browns... I have tried what I could eat in the first three days of the cruise.
To Davenjen - yes, this seems to be a pervasive issue now. I will now be only selecting cruises that spend decent amount of time in ports.
To Kanupriya - if given a choice, would you like to see well-dressed, perfume-smelling folks from all over the world, or obnoxious, foul-smelling, sweaty and rowdy passengers mainly from US, Canada and Britain? What would be your choice?
kanupriya 8 years ago
mummymitch 8 years ago
davenjen 8 years ago
davenjen 8 years ago
kenny007 8 years ago