Royal Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I did not enjoy my time on the Royal.  The boat was too big for me.  I had to wait for elevators, service, activities, etc.  There were not many activities offered that you did not have to pay an additional charge on the sea days.   It was too cold to use the pool/outside areas.  The waiter's were not very friendly unless you were buying bottles of wine.  If you did not drink, the dinner service was very slow. 

The Royal Princess ship and crew are a major disappointment. I have sailed on 7 other Princess ships so I thought I knew what to expect from Princess.  In fact, I took this same cruise 3 years ago on the Caribbean Princess and had a very nice time. 

I did manage to find a few things I liked about this ship: The Piazza area is lovely.  The in-room TV has been upgraded to include movies on demand.  The Horizon Grill area has been expanded to include a Bistro and additional seating. More nightly entertainment is offered. There is a nice "dancing waters" show several times a day.

Unfortunately, the negatives far outweigh the positives:  Neither the ship nor the crew are capable of handling nearly 4000 passengers.  The elevators are too small and there are not enough of them.  You could easily wait 15 minutes for an elevator.  There are no public staircases mid-ship past deck 7.  Your are forced to use elevators that do not always stop.  The food in the main dining rooms is mediocre as was the service.  There are more specialty dining options available from $20-$25 per person.  On this 12 night cruise we chose specialty dining 4 times.  The first night in the Grill was worth the extra money - good service and good food.  The other 3 (Crab Shack, Sabatino's and a return to the Grill) were not worth it.  Service in specialty dining deteriorated as more people rejected the regular dining rooms. 

Plumbing seems to be a problem on this ship.  Toilets in public restrooms did not always flush. 

The crew is not well trained ( or they don't communicate with each other) but they all have excuses.  Too many times when asking directions, we were sent the wrong way. 

The British Isles are lovely, but not on the Royal Princess.

Day one: we were bussed to a shopping center because there was an out break of " The cruise Ship Sickness". From there it went down hill.  We waited in line for hours to get on a bus to go back to the ship, then we waited in line for hours more to get on board.

Once onboard they were trying to run the ship with a very limited crew.  Our anytime dinning turned in to having to make reservations for every meal, or go to the Buffett.   WE were forced to eat when they had room. The wait staff was surly,  to the point of rude.  This keep up until three days be for cruise was over.  We were told they were running the ship with the same amount of help they use to run one half the size.

On my first excursion, while going down a very steep ramp, one of the staff let a couple of drinking cans fall off a cart, and I was hit by them.  I went to the Dr. on board, He said I probably had a bruised rotor cup, I was given some pain meds. then interview by two other people. I got a card stating" sorry you were SICK".  I wasn't sick, I was hurt.  I cancelled all but two of my up coming excursions, I was not going to miss spending time in Scotland.

The only good thing I can say about our cruise is we had a very good cabin man, his name was Chris.  He always called us by name. 

This was my 21st cruise, and I am really glad it was not my first.  I would never go again is it had been. 

I know if you cruise, you have the chance of getting sick, but this crew seem to take out their problems on those of us who stayed well.  Maybe the cruise lines should look at not building BIGER SHIPS to cram more people on board.  I think this was half the problem.

Good opportunity to walk the stairs exercise and enjoy the food. The walking area on the ship was relaxing , great for stress relief . 

Prices in the Spa were too high. Coupons given { i.e. 5.00 $  were useless ] as they were only good in the store . Picture prices were out of reach , deals on pictures would be nice

We greatly enjoyed the ports of call on this cruise (although we were surprised by how chilly it was for August, generally low 60s for a high) from the unique island country of Guernsey to Loch Ness to Paris. We unfortunately missed out on Dublin due to storminess.  The great itinerary overcame the actual cruise itself, which had problems right from the git go. Everyone was delayed entering into the cruise terminal until 3 p.m. due to a complete scrubdown/sanitizing of the ship and terminal as a result of the previous cruise having hundreds of cases of novovirus (our cruise apparently only had a couple dozen apparently). So departure was delayed as there was chaos as over 3,000 passengers had to be processed in just a few hours and the lines were long! They wouldn't open the dining rooms until after the safety drill was completed, which wasn't until nearly 8. So we didn't get a first chance to eat until after 8 (and had no lunch). There were several delays leaving ports throughout the cruise for one reason or another.   

If i had not been on a number of cruises before, including two previously on Princess. I would have thought everything was great. But instead we just kept noticing things that weren't the same as in the past. The entertainment was just so-so, in fact there was not one standing ovation that i saw over the 12 nights. The food was good, but the service seemed slower, as it always seemed to take at least 2 hours to get through a sitting. We were on Anytime dining and sometimes we were made to wait up to 45 minutes to be seated while we could see empty tables in there, but they were controlling it to seat groups of people at a time in an area and then treat it as if we were all together at a scheduled seating. Maybe 5-6 tables would be lumped together with one waiter and assistant that would bring us out each course simultaneously so sometimes we had to wait for slower eaters or those that had ordered wine and then a few appetizers like soup and salad. This system caused us to miss a few shows when we wanted. The onboard activities particularly on sea days seemed a little weak, unless you like playing trivia which they had a lot. Apparently there were only 6 people on the cruise staff for such a large ship (and the cruise director was the dullest I've ever encountered, no jokes or singing or anything). There were only 3 bingo sessions and one was at 9:15 at night. The casino was only open maybe a total of 6 hours the entire cruise. The bingo and casino problem was that we were aways too close to land apparently. We also missed having animal towels in the room, seems like that is gone now too. 

The tours were all good and well organized, but of course getting really pricey. Our tour bill for the 2 of us was about $2,500. I can only think of one port where we actually docked at the waterfront of the town to just get off and go shopping or whatever, in some cases we were up to 20 miles away from the stated port call.  

I think that this cruise was not perfect but definitely worth it

This was our 4th cruise and did not enjoy the ship. We found the staff very snobby and not happy. The shows were catering towards 70+ cruisers. But the food was good. Scotland and Ireland is beautiful. Loved the itinerary

See the spectacular countryside of Ireland and find out why it's called "The Emerald Isle". Beautiful ship especially the Piazza and the new decor of the dining rooms.

This was our fifth Princess cruises and so far Royal Princess was the best of them all.  We enjoyed eating at the Horizon court, which has its own pastry shop.  The food and presentation was excellent but most of all the crew made our cruise experience most memorable.  In other Princess ships you have to order food after 11 PM but at the Royal Princess, the International Café was open 24 hours, which had a variety of food selection.  We enjoyed the entertainment and even participated in their Flash Mob dance.  Our cabin boy did an outstanding job keeping our cabin clean twice a day.  The cooks and waiters were also outstanding and keep us busy eating and dining to our delight.  The entertainment was excellent and a big thank you to their Cruise Director, Lisa Ball, which we were fortunate to have cruise with for the third time with Princess Cruises.  She did an excellent job teaching us ballroom dancing and also the Flash mob.  I highly recommend cruising onboard the Royal Princess including its newer sister ship the Regal Princess.

I can’t rave enough about this experience! The ship was absolutely stunning, and it was huge. Our room was so clean and spacious for a ship cabin. We enjoyed a balcony room and left our sliding doors open over night with a nice breeze and the sounds of waves. We travelled with family therefore we could keep our balconies connected. I’m not sure the correct term, but our “housekeeper” Emanuel was amazing. He was so friendly and kept our room spectacular. The buffet was amazing, so many options and different each day. I spent majority of my time on the Lido deck at the pools. They have a burger and fries place on that deck and we really enjoyed the burgers. I met some really great friends on-board too that I still keep in touch with to this day! Martin that worked in photography was amazing. Best personality and made the trip ten times more fun with him around. Daniel who worked in the buffet and some restaurants was also fantastic, very friendly and charming, and Chris in the jewellery shop. Amazing staff, they really make you feel welcome. The ports were great, lots of shopping, lots to do, we couldn’t of asked for better weather. My favourites were Bridgetown Barbados and St. Thomas. The cabin- the beds were so comfortable, I had just gotten my appendix removed THREE DAYS before we left to come on our vacation (I know right?) and I was very very comfortable. Beds were great, slept like a baby. And we had great tv- the Big Bang Theory, 2 broke girls, two and a half men etc. Great for night time television. I can’t rave enough I was so happy and it was worth every dollar. The worst part was leaving :( haha

The ship is only 2yrs old, and it is spectacular.  There are a great many bars on board, but only 2 pools.  One pool for families and the other the adult pool.  The staterooms are the same size, however the verandah or balcony is very small.  There is only enough room for the 2 chairs and the little table.  One step onto the balcony and you are at the rail.  This ship is very very big.  The crew as always are super nice and friendly.

We were terribly disappointed with our Princess cruise. We were delayed boarding because of unavoidable circumstances on the previous cruise. Thousands of people were herded into a large warehouse and had to wait to get clearance to board. That was just the start of things. Our first port was Princess Cay. Beautiful island but we waited in the sun for 1/2 hr for a tender to get back to the ship.

The waitstaff were terrible snobs. We went to breakfast in the morning and my husband asked for ketchup. The waiter brought him a bowl of ketchup. When we were done eating, of course there was a lot of ketchup left in the bowl and the waiter said to my husband "do you want me to save it for you for the next day?". On formal night we went to our dining room and we're told there was no room and we were asked "did you make reservations". We had anytime dining and didn't know we could make reservations. They told us we could for formal night. We never heard that or seen it written anywhere. (Communication???) They finally took us up to a different dining room and tried to seat us in a work station surrounded by winebuckets, water pitchers and waiters. My husband and brother in law told them no and to find us somewhere else. People at other tables commented to us that they wouldn't have sat there either. They finally sat us at a nice table and the waitstaff were really rude when we only ordered water to drink. We had our meal and when it came time for dessert they were serving a special dessert for Princess's 50th anniversary. Three of us ordered the special dessert and my brother in law ordered cheesecake. The waiter look at him, rolled his eyes and looked away like he was upset he didn't order the special. We couldn't believe it. He brought the desserts but gave the cheesecake to the wrong person. After the waiter left my husband and brother in law switched their desserts to what they ordered and when the waiter saw that, he thought they had traded. After that experience we never went back to our dining room again. We went to the buffet for every meal and thoroughly enjoyed the waitstaff there. It seems like every meal we had someone coming to our table trying to sell something. Wine tasting, Irish coffee etc.

We feel communication was very lacking on this cruise. We went on a shore excursion on St.Thomas and left the ship by the forward exit. When we came back we walked to the forward entrance and were told we couldn't use that entrance but had to go back out and come back in using the midship entrance. They could have told us that before we walked to that entrance.

After several excursions we needed to get more money out of the ATM. They had two on board and neither one worked.

We thought this was all inclusive except for alcoholic drinks. No, we had to pay for soda. The only thing free was coffee, tea, water or lemonade.

Our cabin steward was very very nice and helpful. If we needed anything we just had to ask.

The food, itinerary and excursions were very good.  We did as you will see under my stateroom comments had an experience that overshadowed the good things on this cruise. 

We were fortunate to renew our vows aboard the Royal Princess on our 25th wedding anniversary on Valentine's Day.  The crew was wonderful and very supportive to assure that all the details were perfect!  Everything from the planning to the vows to the photos, cake, and toast were magical!  What a wonderful way to celebrate aboard the Love Boat!  Thank you, Princess!

Jami & Ken Young,

Fast embarkment, very organized! Super friendly staff who couldn't do enough for you. Food was amazing, my husband said he gained 10lbs. The shows were fantastic and great movie under the star choices. loved all the Ports we stopped at. Only disappointment was there was 3 ships docked at Grand Turks, just way too many people.  Our captan was so awesome, played the Love Boat theme song when we left all ports....just awesome.. :)

We travel the world, but are not big cruisers, and have more experience with smaller, more intimate cruise ships, so something this large took some getting use too. The crew and staff were very attentive and polite, the food was adequate and varied, and our snorkeling/scuba trips were good. This is our 4th cruise with Princess, although for our friends who went with us, it was their 40th.

Our cruise actually was a New Year cruise, it is started on Dec 29th. Out of Ft Lauterdale. Came late at night and stayed overnight at nearby Hotel, after breakfast took the taxi to the port, about 5 min. Boarding  process was horribly organized, hundreds of people waited for the doors to open to get registered. Once on the ship, we were amazed at the utter luxury an beauty of the ship. Incredible!  Our room was nice, we always have the one with the balcony. Ports were great, beautiful islands, we went swimming everywhere, except for Barbados, liked it very much. It was terrific wacation, Lott of fun, music, dancing, just great! One thing we hated, was the food. It was awful! You know how there are always so many choices on these cruises, but everything we tried was awful, is it because they are now partners with Carnival? I don't know. Hope they have improved, I am sure many people complained. I remember one guy said to the waiter : I would not feed my dog with the food you, guys, serve here: I thought it was not quite fair, my dog would have loved it.😄 other then that, we  had great time, it was our second New Year cruise and I hope to do it again!

large, would prefer a smaller ship

Excellent service by all staff,dining,room and ctivities.very good entertainment

I just finished to cruise of 10 days on the Royal Princess.  I have a LIST of things that went wrong on this cruise.   I was a solo traveler (which means I have to pay my share & plus haf more,but from the way we were treated on the cruise you would think we had the black plague or something.  Princess makes so many mistakes in the treatment of solo women travelers, that I have a list.  

Also much to my outrage and dissapointment, I paid for a stateroom with a balcony and ended up with a life boat or tender on my balcony.   I was NOT informed of this by my travel agent or Princess (and this was supposed to be an upgrade according to princess- I guess my 1st cabin was in the galley or something?).  This huge ORANGE boat made my balcony completely unusable, as you could only see over it if you stood on a chair on tip toes.  My travel agent blamed Princess and Princess blamed them.   I spent my entire first day fighting back and forth on the phones between them.    And do you know what Princess did to appease me?   The manager, Monica sent me 6 choc. covered strawberries.!  As if!!!!   I should have been given a ships credit for having paid for a balcony not receiving one.

As I said solo women travelers were treated as tho they were invisible.  I was snubbed & ignored in the casino by the dealer and the waitress.  Each time we went into dinner your "gentlemen" made such a big deal about us being "solo" we were continually embarrassed.   If you don't wish Solo travelers (who pay way too much as a suppliment) then just say so.  No real attempt by Pricess was made to help us connect with other solo travelers.  On Oceania we were invited to a cocktail party (by invitation) and then a dinner by the ships cruise director.   I never ever saw the direction my entire trip on Princess and the captain, who had just broken up with his girlfriend (or wife) tried to pick up my friend. 

Since over 3500 are on board this ship trying to get on was a true nightmare and could have been handled in a much  better fashion.   Also, since so many people were on board, there were lines, lines and more lines no matter where you asked for help.

And then let's look at the nickel & diming aboard this ship.  Water is $2.00 per bottle.  they want you to buy a "soda package", a coffee package" & a "drink package". a" tip paskage"  Transfers of any kind were $19.00 dollars each.  The crew was so busy, no one had time to pay any attention to anyone.   And "over there" with a hand gesture was their idea of directions.

They are SELLING something at all given moments.  Jewelery, clothes, etc.  Plus they ruined excellent spa treatments by trying to get you to buy $250.00 worth of merchandise after each treatment.   They advertised 10%, 20% & 30% off on 3 treatments and tried to argue with me about that after the 3rd treatment.

I won money in the casino and it took well over an hour to get my money and that was only because other passengers went in search of a manager.

Oh and get this....the BIG DEAL SKYWALK they advertise.  Well first, it's as windy and can be up there.  2nd and most important, this walk allows you to see directly into ALL balconies and into many of the higher level staterooms directly.  My friend was treated to the sight of a completely naked man (elder) completely spread out nude.  Delightful.

Then the picture taking, You stand in massive lines and get this....while your friend is having their picture taken you are not allowed to use your own camera at all.  Oh, btw the pictures were $20-00 each or more.

My friend spent the first 4 nights of her first part of the cruise in her room crying.  She must have said something off hand about throwing herself over board and 3 days later 3 men came to see her about it.   If it had been a true emergency she'd be dead by then.

Oh, the movies.....first rate they say.   some were over 4 years old.

It seemed NO ONE could ever give you a correct or direct answer to solve any of your problems, sending you here and there only to end up back at the Passenger service desk where you started in the first.   Most of the crew are very nice (with exceptions) but have not been properly trained on how to handle passenger requests and cummunication, as most do NOt speak English.

The ship is truly beautiful, but who cares.   A 4 floor attraim does not make up for bad service.  shows were just so/so with a few exceptions. (last comedian was great, saw him twice in different rooms).  EX beach boy reject was so bad people poured out of the showroom and all his materal was so dated, you had no idea of what he was talking about. Great casino, really hopping, but rude dealers and waitresses.   Oh, you pay for your drinks there too.

All in all, bigger is NOT better.Service & satified passengers is.   Just completed Oceania for the 1st time in August and it was so 1st rate, with all charges except spa & drinks included.  People so kind and helpful.  Has Princess gone "cattle car"?  Used to be a proud name in cruising and now even Royal Carribean is better.  My next cruise, I'm even looking at Regent or Oceania again.  Why be treated like catttle when you can be treated like royality ....and with the free air and 2 for one free bees....the fares come out about the same.

I want to meet with the President or highset manager for Pincess in person so I can look then in the eye.Or better yet, he should send his own Mother (without any advance notice she was related) and see how shw is treated.