Royal Princess: nice ship, great service, but mediocre food and entertainment

Royal Princess Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 10

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Royal Princess

10 Night Western Mediterranean (Rome To Barcelona)

Sail date: May 17, 2017

Ship: Royal Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: R439

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

The Mediterranean itinerary was excellent.  Every port was interesting.  The ship is large and well laid out, and even though it was full, it never felt crowded.  The new Horizon Court and Horizon Bistro buffets are especially well designed, so we hardly had to wait in line to get food, and there were always available tables.  The service staff was excellent.  Our balcony cabin was a little smaller than other Princess ships like Grand, Star or Ruby, but otherwise very comfortable.  One major improvement in every cabin was the flat screen TV and the on-demand channels/programs they offered.  (I think all Princess ships should have this.)  We were very disappointed with the quality of the food.  With the exception of the Crown Grill, the food in the buffet and dining room was just mediocre.  However, the pizza in the Alfredo's Pizzeria was surprisingly delicious; it is not well patronized by the guests, but IMHO, it is definitely a "not-miss" and it's free.  The entertainment and activity programs they offered were similar with other Princess ships; however, the Cruise Director's staff of the Royal Princess was mediocre, which really made the entertainment less enjoyable.  Overall, I give 5 stars for "ship layout, service, itinerary", 4 stars for "cabin", and 3 stars for "food, entertainment".

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Ports of call

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

1 out of 5

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5

Messina, Sicily

3 out of 5

Dubrovnik, Croatia

5 out of 5

Kotor, Montenegro

5 out of 5

Corfu, Greece

3 out of 5

Ajaccio, Corsica

5 out of 5

Toulon, France

3 out of 5

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5
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2 Comments

barbi1963    7 years ago

Seemed like entertainment and cruise director were brand new and activities were few and far between.

barbi1963    7 years ago

Same issues on our European Capital cruise on April 20th. Food was without exception "nasty". We did enjoy Crown Grill.

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