First time on Princess. We have been on Carnival 3 times. I like the slightly upscale-ness of Princess. I liked that there were less kids running around knocking on doors, stealing room service orders, etc. We didn't get towel animals and the big show entertainment is better on Carnival, but we didn't miss it. Carnival had a better party atmosphere and dancing, and we kind of missed that, but overall I think we relaxed more on the Royal Princess. Our room steward, Vladimir, was the best. Princess has much better muster drills than Carnival. On Carnival you go to a place on a deck and have to line to line up in straight lines of 5-6 people. And they are very particular about the lining up. On Princess you go to a lounge or theater and everyone puts on the life vests, the right way, and they talk about overall general ship safety. They are no brainers, but still it was good for first time (& even 4x) cruisers to hear this information.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Super fast. Love leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Best cruise food experience ever. I am gluten-free and was apprehensive about cruising and having enough to eat, and most of all being safe and gluten-free. I read reviews that said that I would have plenty to choose from and everyone was right. I was offered gluten-free options for everything at dinner, and had plenty of choices at breakfast and lunch. I was most surprised that even at the wine tasting and afternoon teas they had GF options for me, as I had put it in my Princess personalizer before the cruise. Our maitre-d in Allegro Dining Room was super. I wish I could remember his name. We chose anytime dining and never had to wait more than 2-3 minutes - if that. Our maitre-d would bring over the next night's menu in a covered folder so that my husband couldn't see what was for dinner tomorrow. He would give me time with the menu and would come back to take my order for the following night. He was so discrete about it, and always had a special, delicious desert for me every night. We loved our waitress, Putri! She was great.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We absolutely love The Sanctuary.
Sanctuary
5 out of 5
You can rent a cabana or just a lounge chair. We chose to rent the lounge chairs for half days. It's so worth it. It was maybe $25-$30. The chairs are so comfortable. I slept on our first sea day for about 4 hours. We returned to The Sanctuary for all of our sea days.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The performers throughout the ship were great. The stage show wasn't as good as on Carnival, but it was really good. I would have liked to see more shows. There was a live band playing to the stage show vs. canned music as on Carnival, so that was great.
Movies Under The Stars
5 out of 5
Movies under the Stars was better than on any ship we've ever been on. The screen was big, clear, and great. There were covers over the lounge chairs, big blankets to cuddle up in, and lots of popcorn. The movie on that night would be playing in your room on all subsequent nights for the duration of your cruise.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
We had the best room steward, Vladimir. He went out of his way to accommodate us. This was our 4th cruise, and Vladimir was the best room steward ever. The staff overall were more friendly and at least seemed to be less-overworked than on Carnival.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was gorgeous and well-maintained.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We had a deluxe balcony cabin on the Dolphin deck, deck 9. It was gorgeous and near everything. It was super quiet. And, one of my pet peeves about cruise ship showers has been taken care of, at least in the deluxe balcony. There is a little shelf for you to rest your foot on as you shave your legs ladies.
Ship tip
They don't make you check out pool towels for onboard or even to take off of the ship unlike Carnival. We really liked that. It rained as we were on the tender from Princess Cay. No, it poured. They had cart loads of dry towels for us just as we got on the ship, as we all looked like we had stepped directly out of the shower.
We stayed at the Fairfield Inn and Suites Ft. Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port on Griffin Road. It was about 5 mins. from the airport and 5 mins. from the dock. They had a wonderful breakfast - lots to choose from. Very nice and clean hotel with great beds.
Just stayed on the beach. It's a great first port and very clean. They serve a nice lunch here and drinks are plentiful. It rained at the end of the day. The tenders tried to get their as soon as they could, but everyone was trying to get off the island at the same time. We all saw the storm coming in, but everyone got in line at the same time. Not a fault of Princess at all.
This port was not ready for excursions or tourists yet. Hardly anything was open. For some of the stores in port that were open, this was their first or second day of being open. They were so gracious and happy to have customers. We heard awful, sad stories about the hurricanes, and ended up spending quite a bit on St. Thomas. Felt good about putting some money into their economy. St. Thomas had been cancelled off of our itinerary, but was put back on about 2 weeks before we left. We could not book any excursions online. They told us to check in with the excursions desk when we got on board, which we did. They only had about 6-7 excursions that were back up and running and those were already booked.
We went to a rundown little beach/snorkel place called Mystique something. The beach was great. The water was even better. I wouldn't have liked to eat or drink anything there. I don't think there was anything to eat. The locals trying to sell you clothing, handmade goods, or braiding your hair were a bit bothersome, but if you stayed in the water they didn't bother you.
We went Ziplining. Sunshine our tour guide was funny and very informational. She made the ride to & from the ship up into the rain forest very educational.
We did the rum distillery tour. We went to Mount Gay and another smaller, older distillery. Mount Gay was well-run and managed. They served us so much rum. Holy cow. It wasn't like a little tasting. They were good size glasses. Then took about a 20 minute ride up to an older distillery in the northern part of the island. The guide wasn't keeping good track of time and everything ran a bit slow. We all realized we needed to get back on the bus, except for that one guy, who the world revolves around. You know the type. So we were late getting back to the ship. Our bus driver did the best he could. And, this is why you book an excursion through the cruise line. The ship called him 3-4 times to make sure we were on our way and to ask how long it would be until we were back. They held the ship for our group. The bus driver was telling the ship he tried to turn down 3 different roads to get back to the ship, but the roads were washed out from the hurricanes.
We went on the ocean kayaking and snorkeling adventure. It was a short 20 minute ride to the beach. The guides were great. It would have been nice to have stairs or even a lower platform to get in and out of (esp. out of) the water when snorkeling. You had to hike yourself and your gear up onto the platform and many people had trouble. We all helped each other out.
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