Alaska was magical, the royal princess not so much

Royal Princess Cruise Review

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 40

Overall rating:

4.2 out of 5
Royal Princess

7 Night Inside Passage With Glacier Bay National Park (Seattle Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 16, 2023

Ship: Royal Princess

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

It is unfortunate that princess decided to change some of the things they offered. We booked this cruise a year ago, and suddenly, this summer, they made some changes to some of the free dining that has been offered in the past. Alfredo's is one of the restaurants that they pulled out from under us as a free option. In my opinion, they needed to grandfather in the people who had already paid for their cruises. The staff on the boat were lovely and worked very hard to please us. The drinks were some of the worst I've ever had, both in presentation and just in taste. The food in the main dining room was hit or miss. Some of the other food choices, such as the international cafe, we're just terrible. This is not my first cruise, so I do have something to compare princess to. I also had ordered a case of water, and seen it on my app the whole time leading up to the cruise. On embarkation day, it was not there. It appears more important for princess to be right and try to squeeze more money out of people. By nickel and diming me, instead of trying to get a repeat customer, Princess has now lost me for any future cruise choices.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Boarding for us was a breeze, we had done everything we needed to do ahead of time, and were Green Lane status. Although the app was a little bit finicky and made it difficult to finish the process, I would advise you to work through it. I had to do a little research in order to use the app and get to Green Lane status but it is worth it it makes embarkation a breeze.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
I won't complain too much about the horizon food court, because buffets are buffets. The main dining room, was hit or miss. Fortunately, the staff really worked hard at pleasing everyone and actually made the experience a decent one. The international cafe, in our opinion, was terrible. Serving the same soup every day for 7 days, and it wasn't even a good soup. Our food always came out lukewarm or cold. Trident Grill was fine, and so was the pizzeria on the Lido deck. It's kind of sad that they pulled a quick one on cruisers and stopped offering Alfredo's as a free option. When we booked this a year in advance. Alfredo's was part of it our free dining, Princess should have grandfathered in people who had previously booked a cruise. Don't get me started on the drinks, they were awful.

Allegro Dining Room

3 out of 5

This was the dining room that we had to go to if we were going to have breakfast or lunch. Breakfast choices were very limited, and we're not special, pretty much the same quality as what was on the buffet. We tried to go to lunch several times and found it closed each time they kept very limited hours, which forced us back to the buffet, which we were already tired of.

International Cafe

1 out of 5

We did not enjoy this particular option at all. The same soup everyday and it was very generic. Also, the soup and all foods came out very lukewarm to cold. There were so many options they could have offered that would have hit the spot on and Alaskan cruise, they just missed the opportunity.

Concerto Dining Room

4 out of 5

The service here made the experience. Because our servers were so friendly and accommodating, we made the effort to get here every night. The food was kind of hit or miss, more good than bad. I did especially enjoy the form on nights here.

Prego's Pizzaria

5 out of 5

Prego's pizza was decent enough. We ate here many times. It was always a decent option, if there was too much time between your lunch and dinner, and you were hungry.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
There were many activities offered. We had actually signed up for a few dance lessons but did not take them because we just did not want to feel rushed all day. Princess is not like Royal Caribbean. Our ship did not have water slides, rock climbing, go carts, etc. That is why we chose this cruise line. We wanted more ambiance, romance, and mood for our anniversary. If you are going to have to entertain kids, I would definitely look at all options as far as cruise line choices.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
The first show we saw was supposed to be a soul review and it was pretty awful. It's not that the musicianship wasn't there it's that it came off campy over the top theater style. How can you do a decent soul tribute without a sufficient amount of people of color involved? On the bright side we did enjoy the band Ocean Avenue that played in the common area every night.

Piazza Atrium

5 out of 5

This was our favorite place to hang out at night. We really love that house band Ocean View. Great high energy dance music, and always new songs every night. We definitely made this a regular stop by place after our dinner. I can't say too many good things about the band they were friendly, fun, and awesome musicians who kept everyone entertained. We also had the opportunity to hear instrumental jazz band here one night. This was the place for fun, and after the band was finished, the DJ always kept the dancing going with lots of great tunes from the Disco era to the present.

Princess Theater

4 out of 5

We only attended one show here, but it was so over the top and campy that I did not come back. I do this for a living, and work in production. The show we attended was a soul/motown tribute. It was just way too theatrical for us. The show really did not represent the spirit of the music that it was trying to portray. Don't get me wrong, the singing and dancing was very high quality. We just did not buy into the over the top Vegas on steroids production. The irony was how soulless a soul show could be. Many people will probably disagree with me, but like I said, I do this for a living, so perhaps that makes me hypercritical.

SeaWalk

5 out of 5

This was a nice little addition to the upper deck.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
The service staff and waiters bent over backwards to try to please everyone. Our room Stuart was extremely helpful and always there for us.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
The ship is kind of dated and there is nothing really that outstanding to mention.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
No complaints about the cabin. We bid and upgraded to an obstructed balcony, and we were happy to get it. People will tell you a balcony is a must on an Alaskan cruise, and they were right. Our curtains stayed open, and we lived looking out of our balcony. Being on the end of the season, the 16th deck was often very cold and windy, while our balcony still felt a comfortable temperature. One critique would be they could have done what Royal does on some of their ships: put some USB ports on your nightstand lamps. Definitely bring a cruise type power strip or USB hub. Also note this is a deluxe obstructed balcony. This ended up giving us about 45 more square footage to live in. Open the curtains and enjoy the world from the comfort of your room

Ship tip

If you're going to saill with princess, expect them to badger you to upgrade to princess plus. You might want to put that money instead towards specialty dining because nothing was special about any of the free dining venues. I feel like they are punishing people for not upgrading to the Princess Plus. Upgrading would not have been worth it for us. And by the way, the drinks were terrible. If we would have paid for plus, we would have really been really unhappy. Princess is owned by Carnival, and they are really struggling. We booked the cruise and had things changed on us, such as available free dining venues. I understand the company trying to cut corners and save money. How they handled the changes, though, and not honoring what I was initially offered. This was not right. The changes occurred one month before my cruise, a cruise I had booked a year ago. We only found out about these changes because we were constantly watching videos to prepare ourselves. Princess misrepresented what I was getting. I don't appreciate them pulling me in, then changing things out from under me. This was our 30th Anniversary Cruise. We are not spoiled brats. We just wanted what was offered initially. What piece of advice would I give? This is a struggling company, buyer beware!

Ports of call

Skagway, Alaska

5 out of 5
Skagway was incredibly beautiful, and we had great weather. We did not book our excursion through princess. We enjoyed our bus tour, which had many great stops for picture taking and opportunities to take in the beauty.

Ketchikan, Alaska

4 out of 5
Expect rain in Alaska, this is not Florida. This is a quaint little town, my only complaint is our cruise did not give us enough time to get out and explore. I do not like to feel rushed when on on a vacation. Even though we got up early, both this port and Victoria left us feeling too rushed.

Victoria, British Columbia

2 out of 5
Stayed on the boat a total because 3 hours, is just crazy. People I know on other cruises, got a whole day here. That is what you need, I do not even like when I have only six or seven hours in a port. Once again, I do not like to feel rushed when on holiday.

Seattle, Washington

5 out of 5
Unfortunately, our flight schedule did not allow a lot of time for us to explore this lovely city, but on the morning of embarkation,we spent a few hours walking around.

Cruise Glacier Bay

5 out of 5
It was raining, but it was still the highlight of the trip. The balcony is a must for a day like we had. The deck was too cold, crowded, and wet.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
I was a little nervous about getting my luggage especially with a flight transfer but they did do a wonderful job of getting our luggage transferred for us to the airline and getting us to the airport, kudos for this!

Traveler Photos

Obstructed balcony, worth the upgrade for an Alaskan cruise Room service on Glacier Bay days is an absolute must also ask for robes to be delivered. If you're only going to do room service once do it on Glacier Bay day Our cabin steward was very helpful, and this was one of the cute things we found one day.
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7 Comments

willwork4cruz    1 year ago

Glad you enjoyed some of your cruise experience. You mentioned Princess removed multiple, formerly free, dining options. Other than the sit down Pizza restaurant, was there any others? I’ve only eaten at Alfredo’s once or twice and thought it was not any better than the Lido pizza so it wasn’t worth taking the time. Since I probably would never eat there again, I didn’t consider it much if a loss.

booger1xx    1 year ago

Seems to me that you might read your cruise contract before criticizing changes made by the cruise line. Always remember two things…one your cruise is what YOU make it and a review is one person’s opinion. Remember the cruise industry was about 2 1/2 years without any revenue. You can’t just dock a cruise ship and wait for things to change. The cruise lines had great expenses with no income. Some of the lines had to sell off ships.

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

cruising2004    1 year ago

Thank you for the detailed review.

Dumfy75    1 year ago

I know some things are unavoidable like itinerary changes, but I agree with you that you should get everything on the ship that was considered as “included” at the point you booked the cruise. All cruise lines are really cost cutting where they can while prices go up and up.

javawoody    1 year ago

Seems to be the same comments for all cruise lines

jallaway    1 year ago

Thanks for your comments. Unfortunately, I'm hearing the same from too many others

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