Royal Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Wonderful time, great tours/ports (except for Mykonos - see comments below).  Glad to see Princess has finally improved upon the quality of their entertainment/shows.  Great shopping on board ship.  Thanks to Vicki our cabin steward on Caribe deck and Paul in Facets for all their assistance.

My only disappointment was the tour guide we had in Mykonos (George) - had absolutely no knowledge of the ruins (Knossos) and had to keep referring to a book to tell us about it.  Also, he gave us the impression he was totally bored with the tour.  He never counted to make sure we were all still part of the group and many people in fact left the tour. When asked if we could have a little shopping time in Mykonos, we were told no that we could shop in Athens.  Also, the meal we received as part of the tour at the restaurant was disgusting....a hamburger (couldn't decipher the meat) and lump of rice with yogurt for dessert.  Not at all what we were told the meal would consist of.  I would suggest Princess find another restaurant as well as guide for this particular tour.  We and others on the tour immediately reported our experience to the on-board tour desk upon arrival back to the ship.

It's hard to imagine what could be improved. The days went too fast. School was still in session so there were not too many children. The only negative is that there was too much to see in every stop. More time in every port would be great but that would have cut the number of ports. We'll need to do it again!

Me and my husband loved the cruise. The food and service was amazing.  The biggest complain we have is your internet service. We are both professionals and rely on communicate to our companies. Considering most companies rely on internet, there needs to be major improvement to your internet for us to consider another cruise. Most people our age are at the pinnacle of the careers need this service to travel. Everything was wonderful. 

This is our third time on the Royal & we loved it. I believe it is getting better, food was good, ship clean, staff great. I will cruise on this ship again!!!

We had a blast and created memories for a lifetime!  Can't wait to go back:)  We had two mini-suites with an adjoining balcony for a party of 6.  Plenty of room and fun for all.  This was truly a once in a lifetime event with 3 generations.  Very busy week running from one location to another in an attempt to see and experience as much as possible in the short time in each port.

We took the Royal Princess on a transAtlantic voyage from April 22-May 14, 2016, and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  The at-sea days were filled with activities for all ages, including movies (both in-stateroom and on deck); the Pop choir rehearsals and performances; bridge, canasta, and mahjong play; pickle ball play; interest-group get-togethers; enrichment lectures; port talks (Julio Delgado did an outstanding job at this); trivia contests; dance classes; karaoke; outstanding evening shows; and, of course, eating.  Unfortunately, the shows during the  second leg of our journey (in the Mediterranean Sea) were duplicates from the transAtlantic portion of the trip.  The BOGO happy hours were a pleasure, though the second drink now costs a dollar rather than getting 2 for 1 pricing.  We traveled a similar transAtlantic last year on the Regal Princess, and the trips were quite similar.  Ron Goodman, the cruise director on the Royal Princess, did an outstanding job scheduling and coordinating a full slate of activities.  Moreover, the captain's occasional announcements were filled with humor as well as information--certainly a plus.

The ports were interesting.  One pleasant surprise was that weather precluded our going into Cadiz, and the Captain substituted Lisbon for it.  In those ports where the ship docked a ways from the city, a shuttle was made available for $12 to $15 round trip, a charge we considered excessive.  In most ports, a more personal tour in a cab is available for less money than ship-sponsored excursions, and allows for closer approaches to castles, cathedrals, etc.  On  the other hand, if you have not visited Gaudi's still incomplete Sagrada Familia, be sure to take the tour that goes inside--it is well worth it.  And be sure to see the monkeys and caves at Gibraltar.

Our favorite thing was the Chef's Table.  I also enjoyed participating in the volunteer chorus.  We felt that the food in the dining room could be improved upon - but it wasn't bad.  We would definitely recommend this cruise.

Public areas of ship are outstanding, beautiful and spacious.  Balcony cabins and the balcony are very small compared to smaller ships.  Would not sail on a ship this large again.  Everything is crowded almost all the time and the elevators will drive you to drink.  Some genius decided to install steps only forward and aft.  Plan on a long wait for an elevator or a long walk for steps if you cabin is in the middle of the ship.

In my opinion, I think Princess hired a new bean counter three or four years ago.  At least one item or service has been downgraded on every cruise I have taken over this time.  The drop in food quality was noticeable on this cruise.  

On the plus side,  after rendering the in-room TV guide service absolutely no use on the previous cruise, this service is now outstanding, at least on this ship.   

This ship is HUGE!  I would have to say that is why this wasn't my favorite ship, it seemed like there were people everywhere, no where to go for some peace and quiet.  That said, it was a beautiful ship and the Princess level of service is still going strong.

The staff on the Royal Princess was attentive to detail and took very good care of the passengers.  As always, there were a few places where it was hard to get some service but that was more because of the crowds than anything else.  Dragan on deck 17 aft (smoking area) was particularly attentive, as was Luka in Churchill's.  The wait staff in the dining room (early seating) seemed overwhelmed at times, but overall the service was good in the Concerto dining room.  Our room steward was great, probably one of the best that we've had as far as taking care of us and our room goes.  He wasn't chatty Cathy, so if you are looking for that type of steward, he wouldn't be the one for you.  But he always kept our supplies full and we never had to ask for anything (not even ice).  Emmanuel was very professional and really, really good at his job.  I will talk more about the staff as I get to individual departments.

The room was much less spacious than we expected.  We had a BA balcony on the Riviera deck.  I'm not sure how many square feet they've taken out of the balcony rooms, but it felt much smaller than we've experienced before on Princess.  The closet space was ample, the bathroom/shower was pretty standard.  The entertainment system on the televisions is marvelous, there isn't much in the live tv department except for sports and news, but the movies are great.  They'll show the movies from "Movies under the Stars" in your room the day after they show on deck.  The great thing is that they are on demand, so no waiting for a specific time to be able to watch your favorite.  We didn't use the balcony much, we rarely use one and the weather on this trip wasn't conducive to sunning very much.

The casino is large, great machines including some of the newest on the market.  The casino host staff was very good, very attentive and helpful.  I was a little sad that a few of my favorite machines weren't working on this cruise.  Kevin, Joyce and an assistant host that was from China (sorry, don't remember her name) were always available for anything that you might need.  I think this was one of the best casinos of all of our ships that we've visited. 

This ship boasts one of the largest atriums of any Princess ship.  Unfortunately, you can never get a seat there and if you happen to get one, it is so noisy in there from morning to night that you can't enjoy the serenity and beauty.  I think the CD staff needs to move some of the events that happen in the atrium into different venues.  Seems like everything was happening in the Atrium, but there was no where to sit to enjoy anything.  I noticed lots of empty bars....probably for want of some live music.  This particular cruise was filled with passengers that enjoyed late night entertainment.  We would have enjoyed some as well, but couldn't find a bar with a nice piano player to visit.

The ports:  Madiera was wonderful.  We took the Princess tour that allowed us to slide down the hill on toboggans and loved it.  We skipped Cadiz (Seville) because of weather, which was a huge disappointment.  They added Lisbon to make up for it, honestly we could have done without Lisbon.  Gibraltar was also a bust for me, after the port lecture we expected to be able to hire a taxi to take us around but all of them were taken.  We were there for 12 hours, so it made for a pretty boring day (with a really long walk into town to look for a taxi that didn't exist).  In Malaga, we again took a Princess tour to Alhambra.  It was perfect, but not for anyone that has any mobility problems at all.  I'm not talking just about wheelchairs, canes and walkers here.....I'm talking about being able to walk 4.5 km quickly.  If you can't do that, you will suffer through this tour.  Still, it was beautiful.  After Malaga, I was hurting so badly that I couldn't even get off of the ship in Cartagena.  My husband did, went to Elche and said I didn't miss much.  Palma de Mallorca was beautiful, we hired a cab for a 2 hour tour with another couple.  We were able to see everything that we wanted to see and had a great time.  Barcelona is not my favorite port, so I'll leave that review to someone who likes Barcelona to talk about their experience.

So, the bottom line is that the cruise was nice, a few disappointments, but still very nice.  We probably won't sail on Royal or Regal again unless they have some amazing itinerary that we just can't pass up.  There are other ships that we've enjoyed so much that there isn't any sense in taking one that you don't. 

BTW Princess, please start putting some covered pools on more of your ships.....

Royal Princess is a beautiful ship and was a nice size for a 22 day cruise. Ports and excursions were awesome. Food and all service staff were great. The main nightly shows were not as spectacular as another cruise line we experienced, but not bad. 

First time on Princess Cruise line. The ship and staff were excellent.  Princess is now our new favorite. was excellent also. No problems at all.

The ship and staff are first-rate; this is my second cruise with Princess and I am in general pleased. All systems worked well, and the decor and layout are tastefully done.

the cruise was great better than i could expect. go  again  as soon as possible.   the best cruise  we had in years. we cruise often. this was last minute trip. was great.

The ship was beautiful, the staff very accommodating.  The dining room meals were very good but the choices not as many as we have experienced in the past.  The waitstaff both in the dining rooms and buffets were very good.  Embarkation and disembarkation was very organized and went very smooth considering there were over 4,000 passengers.

The ship was beautiful and in impeccable condition.  The decor was classy, yet warm and inviting.  The entire staff would always be there at your finger tips to assist with any request and done in a professional and timely manner.  All areas were in excellent overall condition with 1 exception the Adult Pool needed some freshening up. 

Suggestion:  Yoga classes were only available on sea days in the a.m..  Suggest (as on other cruise ships) offer classes early a.m./sunset on port days.

Only negative to this cruise is that we did not receive our onboard credit of $125.00 as confirmed by your organization when trip was booked.  WTH states that the funds were sent to the ship, however, Princess says that they have not received these funds.  We are now in state of limbo.  Will contact WTH customer relations with this issue.

Mike & Diane Crews

Crowd control needed between shows as people coming into the show were knocking down people leaving.

More help needed getting people off in wheel chairs.

A great experience aboard the Royal Princess.  Very ease boarding and used the "walk-off" to disembark.  During the cruise, we took 3 snorkeling excursions in St. Thomas, Aruba and Bonaire.  Each was well-organized and a lot of fun...we saw incredible numbers of exotic fish and sea turtles.  We dined in the formal dining room every evening.  Food was exceptional and the service staff we had was not only efficient, but also great fun.  We toured the ship's kitchens after a food demonstration by the ship's head chef.  It was amazing to see this "inside" of how the Royal prepares all these meals.  We loved all of the stage shows and were amazed at the level of talent, especially the singers and dancers.  Costumes were incredible.  We also enjoyed the variety of movies shown on deck and in our stateroom as well.  Overall, we truly enjoyed this cruise and would certainly recommend it!

Overall the cruise/vacation was great.

I would suggest that passengers be alerted to the fact that the "downtown/waterfront" area on Dominica is NOT a tourist hot spot.  In fact, I'd stay away from there.  The interior of the island may be great but the town certainly isn't.

The other islands we visited were each outstanding in their own way.  Great tours, Princess and independent.  Fabulous beaches.  Princess Cays is a great destination to either start a cruise or end a cruise (first/last port).

The ship itself is definitely a step up from the other Princess ships I've had the opportunity to sail.  There are new venues in the Piazza, new restaurants, new bars, new ice cream shoppe.  The traditional and speciality dining rooms all uphold the standard of Princess. 

Our 10 night cruise on the Royal Princess was lovely.  The crew were very friendly and attentive.  We enjoyed the shows and the outdoor movies.  Most of the islands, St. Thomas, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Antigua, & Barbados were very nice, the people friendly, and the beaches clean.  We took tours off the boat with the local cabs and it was fine.

Our only complaints would be the food and the small theater.  The food was alright but not as high a quality as I'm use to.  The theater was small and not constructed well.

Overall, we had a lovely time and would definitely go on a Princess ship in the future.

My wife and I just returned from our second Caribbean cruise with Princess cruises.  We took a January 2016 on the Regal Princess which was slightly better for the following reasons.  The Dinning room food on the Regal was excellent compared to Royal.  The Horizon Court food on the Royal was slightly better than the Regal. Both cruises we selected an inside room and they were very comfortable. There is NO inside elevators on the Royal only at the back of the ships.  Waits for the elevators on both ships was extremely long and crowded.  These are very large ships and accommodate several hundred guests each. Service on both was very good and the staffs were very friendly and helpfully.  Overall, I enjoyed the Regal slightly better, my wife like both equally well.  The Regal needs to improve upon the elevators, even though my wife and I had no trouble with the stairs or walking, others on board did.

Jim & Joan P.