Royal Cruising
Royal Princess Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 55
7 Night Mediterranean & Adriatic (Athens To Barcelona)
Sail date: September 02, 2017
Ship: Royal Princess
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: M315
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 7 years ago
Review summary
Since I started cruising I love it. What is not to enjoy? So far I can say the 2 cruises with Princess, overall I had wonderful times. I spend my time relaxing, good food and enjoying new ports. Happy Cruising to AllEmbarkation
This is my second cruise with Princess line and again I really enjoyed it. My first cruise ever was with Regal Princess last year seeing the New England Coast and Canada. This year 2017, I choose the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise with the Royal Princess. The Royal Princess by design is the same as the Regal Princess so I was comfortable and familiar with the interior and exterior. I was very happy we had early boarding in Athens at 12:00pm (ship departure was at 7pm), this was quite convenient for me as I had to check out my hotel by noon. When I arrived at the Pireas port in Athens by 12:00pm, I was greeted by luggage handler which took my luggage directly to the ship. I had to wait on line for check in with my passport and that took about 45 minutes. After check in I went to my room which was ready. My luggage arrived to my room around 2:30pm
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
I booked at 6:00pm reservations at Allegro dining room for every evening. I liked to have the same waiter and bus boy every evening and was very happy with the excellent service. If you missed your dining time by over an hour you had to go to 5th Floor dining room Symphony for anytime dining. I had to go to the Symphony one time, but was not really happy with the service there. I can say they food is the same. I prefer the food at Allegro or Symphony than the buffet. I made 2 specialty reservations one at Crown Grill which was excellent and the other at Sabatini's which I do not recommend. I had the lobster and shrimp and both did not taste as they should. They were unseasoned and had a fish smell and taste. I would never eat at Sabatini's again for this reason. Also the same night and next day I had issues with my stomach due to bad food.
On this trip I had the unlimited drink package which was offered with the ticket promotion and I really enjoyed the cocktails and service from the bar tenders. I highly recommend the drink package. It also includes specialty coffees and bottled water.
Onboard Activities
There are many activities available, but I mainly focused on excursions and relaxation
Entertainment
I did not have time for activities on board as I was exhauted from long excursions.
Children's Programs
I do not have children
Service and Staff
Princess offers excellent service. I cannot complain about the staff.
Ship Quality
Royal Princess is a big ship and maintained well.
Cabin / Stateroom
I had balcony room and enjoyed the view from balcony
Ports of call
I stayed in Athens for a few days before ship departure. I used a local tour operator Key Tours, which I was very happy with. I visited the Acropolis and the museum and all areas around the city. I took a day cruise to 3 islands Aegina, Hydra and Poros which was excellent. I took overnight Delphi/Meteora Tour and overnight Nafplion Tour. The tours included lunch and the overnight ones hotel and dinner, relatively affordable pricing.
Thumbs Up
2
I really enjoyed this port. It has a unique landscape. We were fortunate we were the only ship at this port as this is a tender port and a small island so it can be overwhelming from large numbers of tourists and compact narrow streets. I took the tour offered by Princess "Oia, Fira, Winery & Pre Historic Museum". I highly recommend this tour. It was informative and lots to see. It included lunch at local restaurant which I enjoyed
The place is amazing I only wish I took a different tour. This is a tender port. The tour offered by Princess Kotor, St. Tryphon Cathedral, Njegusi & Cetinje was not worth the time and effort. We first had to wait 30 minutes for 7 people that were late, then we spend most of time in the bus and hardly any time outside bus to see any attractions. We were for 20 minutes in a museum and 20 minutes in a local village restaurant to sample cheese, ham and wine and 2 short photo stops. The rest of 3-4 hours were on the bus. The road on the mountains was very narrow so the bus had to wait or back up numerous times this was time consuming. We did not see all excursions listed on the itinerary for this tour due to delays in traffic. I suggest on this port you just visit the Medieval village which is next to port or do the other tour offered by Princess Perast & Boka Bay which is a boat tour that your take nearby. Avoid the mountain area if driving, but walking up the mountain you will get amazing views. When the ship enters and leaves the port its very close to landscape so you get very amazing views of scenery, worth visiting.
Stunning. This was my favorite place. I booked a private tour I found from Trip Advisor as I wanted to visit the ancient site of Tindary and the Church with the Black Madonna Statue; S. Stefano di
Camastra; a place that produces ancient pottery using Medieval techniques, and short stop in city of Messina. Messina offers so much, one can walk from the boat and also take the hop on and off bus if you do not want to take a tour.
Italy is an amazing place and I love to explore more of it. I took a tour so I did not see city of Naples. I took the Princess tour "Best of the Bay of Naples: Pompeii, Sorrento & Capri for Small Groups". with Lunch which I do not recommend because it was very disorganized and this may be an issue with the tour operator. The tour guide Momma Monica always rushed us. We hardly had any time to see much of Pompeii and then rushed to have lunch in Sorrento where we were stuck mostly in traffic. Monica did not allow us any time to go to surrounding shops in Sorrento instead rushed us to get on a boat to Amalfi coast in pouring rain. When we reached Alfi coast it was still pouring and Monica insisted to still do sight seeing but majority of people stayed under awnings by cafes. Nothing but disaster. I will like to mention the lunch that was included on this tour, it was ok but very small portions and no desert as promised. Food was mainly appetizer plate size. If I knew this information about this tour I would have done something else instead and save my $269 cost of ticket
This was our last port. I stayed a week in Barcelona after ship landing and booked tours via local operators via Viator. The city itself is nice to see 2 days the most, mostly it is Gaudi oriented and over crowded with tourists. I enjoyed tours outside city such as Monserrat, Cardona Salt Mines, and Medieval Villages. Place is worth one visit, but not more.
Disembarkation
Disembarkation was smooth, no complaints, beautiful port.