Restful Trip

Royal Princess Cruise Review to Mexico

bulldwgs

Contributor Level: Third Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 3

Helpful Votes: 25

Overall rating:

4.4 out of 5

7 Night Mexican Riviera (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 23, 2019

Ship: Royal Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: C629

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

Truly enjoyed the cruise. Princess has to find a way to politely tell rowdy juveniles eating together in the dining room that they have to behave or they should go to the buffet. 99.9% of the staff did a spectacular job. They were very polite everything you would come to expect on a princess cruise. The ship was very well-maintained and extremely clean. Plenty to do for everyone. The only downfall of the entire cruise with tendering in Cabo San Lucas and and getting off the ship back in LA. Truly enjoyable time. Already booked the same cruise for next year.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Very smooth well oiled machine.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

The food on Princess cruises is always very good. With that being said we ate in the Crown Grill which was excellent. We think the main dining room has slipped a little bit in variety and quality of the food. This could be that the ship had just finished a 49 day cruise when our cruise started.

Wheelhouse Bar

5 out of 5

This location is right outside the crown grill. Very classy. Often we were able to listen to live classical music while enjoying an evening night out.

Trident Grill

5 out of 5

This is a great place to go get a hamburger, sausage, hot dog, and fries cooked fresh for no extra charge. Excellent place to sit and watch the outdoor big screen TV that often has concerts or the latest movie

Horizon Court

5 out of 5

For a buffet this place is excellent. They always have a wide variety to choose from. They have an excellent pastry shop. And one of the designer coffee shop is located in the middle.

Crown Grill

5 out of 5

Excellent steakhouse. You can bring your own bottle of wine with no cork charge. Conrad the head waiter is excellent

Crooner's Bar

5 out of 5

Nice little area to get a drink in the evening or the lookout on the ocean during the day. Listen to some piano or watch the events down below.

Alfredo's Pizzeria

5 out of 5

Excellent venue. This is a hidden gem with no up charge.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Matt O was the cruise director and he did a wonderful job and adapting to his audience. This was the first time the Royal Princess had been on the West Coast. There were 602 minors / kids on this cruise since it was over spring break. This is more kids than we’ve seen on every Princess Cruise combined. The cruise director and his team did an amazing job of adopting and making the trip enjoyable for everyone. They have excellent pool and a wonderful fitness center. There is also an adult only section. No rock climbing walls or any of that other nonsense on Princess

Entertainment

4 out of 5

The shows were pretty good. If you are into classical music they had a cellist and violinist Classical Duo Who were outstanding. They also had a number of other bands and groups that played Pop music. They also had a piano player who performed.

Children's Programs

We don’t have any kids

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

The bar servers did an excellent job. Room steward also do amazing. And all of the ship personnel is extremely polite and willing to help in anyway they can.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

This is an extremely well maintained and very clean ship. It is obvious that princess reinvest in ensuring their ships are modern and clean.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Cabin was extremely clean. Always stocked. Plenty of room.

Ship tip

Have a wonderful time. Make sure you try Alfredo’s. They serve pizza and some Italian food no extra charge. Make sure you use the triton grill no extra charge for freshly cooked hamburgers, hotdogs, and sausage. No up charge. And also use the pizza parlor outside no up charge.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

5 out of 5

The port in San Pedro is excellent. Very easy to board the ship and plenty a room. The port in San Pedro is excellent. Very easy to board the ship and plenty a room.

Thumbs Up 6

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

1 out of 5

We didn’t do any excursions but the one thing we disliked about this Port is having to use the tender to get ashore. Very cumbersome and slow process. They need to rethink this.

Thumbs Up 0

Mazatlan, Mexico

5 out of 5

We took a open air tour of the city for approximately two hours. Excellent time to have a terrific overview. Got some great pictures

Thumbs Up 1

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

5 out of 5

We did another tour around the city. Had an excellent time.

Thumbs Up 2

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

This was terrible. Princess cruise said that immigration/customs wasn’t ready to receive us. We waited nearly 50 minutes to get off the ship. We were walkoffs and the first group. With princess been owned by Carnival Cruise Lines be should have some serious power in the port agent should make sure proper staffing is there. Do you know if they threaten to leave the port and go somewhere else in the city would definitely ensure there was manpower to allow the ship to disembark correctly.