Disappointing service on board the Royal Princess

Royal Princess Cruise Review to Caribbean

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 4
Helpful Votes: 102

Overall rating:

3.2 out of 5
Royal Princess

14 Night East/West Caribbean Adventurer (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 12, 2019

Ship: Royal Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: A302

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Alysia Salsi-Urbanowski Jan 23, 2019, 11:16 AM (5 days ago) to me My husband and I embarked on the Royal Princess directly following disembarkation from the Caribbean Princess. Having become accustomed to the high standards in customer service and kindness and warmth of previous Princess crews, in particular our superb experience on the Caribbean Princess, our welcome..or "not so welcome" to the Royal Princess was in stark contrast and a great disappointment. Accustomed to "Coming back new: and having formed strong bonds and lifetime friendships with staff and crew on our other Princess sailings, the coldness and detachment of the vast majority of staff and crew on the Royal Princess was deeply troubling to us and we did not come back entirely new...Instead we came back hoping that our future cruises that have already been booked with Princess will be as wonderful as the ones prior to this one. I expressed some of my concerns to the front desk and was told that they would happily cancel my upcoming cruises for me if I should opt to do so. We found this unacceptable, inappropriate and an insult to us and to Princess Cruises...We all deserve better! The Royal Princess is a beautiful lady but not a "Love" boat. Cold and austere, we felt her to be a distant cousin at best to her, perhaps, older and not quite as posh and smaller sisters who have a pulsating heartbeat and vibrancy that is tangible in every aspect of cruising. Also, having become accustomed to the signature Princess spirit of inclusiveness and tolerance, we were quite shocked at the laissez-faire attitude of the crew pertaining to mobility and accessibility.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
In comparison to the food and venues on other Princess chips, we found the cuisine on the Royal to rather bland and unimaginative. The service was also mediocre at best.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

2 out of 5
We were very unimpressed and quite underwhelmed by the lack of enthusiasm, empathy and professionalism demonstrated by the majority of the staff and crew that we encountered. SOme were actually quite rude. This is NOT what we have come to know and love about Princess.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
Beautiful ship -- Okay design, though the lack of a full promenade deck was disappointing, as was the lack of signage for mobility devices.

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5
We were also very surprised at the poor condition of our stateroom...the carpets were very, very worn and stained, the beds horrendously uncomfortable, and the furnishings also quite worn.

Ship tip

If you have a disablility and/or require the use of special devices and/or equipment, beware that staff and cerw have not been given adequae sensistivity training and some parts of the ship are not accessible even with the ramps provided and despite touting that they are.

Ports of call

Princess Cays (Cruise Line Private Island)

4 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

4 out of 5

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
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4 Comments

cruisereckoning    4 years ago

Thanks for the review.

RetiredRay    5 years ago

Odd, hope it is better in 247 day.

christine1234    5 years ago

Sorry that you did not enjoy your cruise. We were on the Royal last February and everything was wonderful including outstanding service and kindness from all the crew. Our cabin was spotless and everything looked brand new. Food was excellent.

mermaidaly    5 years ago

I apologize for the two random words at the beginning of my review....can't seem to be able to delete them.

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