Royal Princess

Pleasantly surprised, but with some quirks.

Room - We loved the aft balcony room - with body lotion provided, unlike carnival. There were no Aussie plugs to charge phones but following a tip from another passenger we had one sent up by guest services. Public areas -The 45 minute long sales show in the atrium was painful to hear from the bar and the staff all looked super uncomfortable- ditch it princess, if we want to shop we will, but heavy handed loud sales tactics turn us off. There were comfy chairs available in the atrium where we played cards and enjoyed well made cocktails. Activities - there were plenty to choose from each day. We were able to attend each of the nightly shows without having to queue super early! We missed Pacific Rory as CD though Duvall was still one of the better ones, he just needs to temper his American volume and enthusiasm for the Aussie market - please don’t make the audience cheer louder for you, just make cheeky jokes, we love dry humour. Spa -The enclave had good amenities provided - sandals and robes in lockers so that you could change there rather than walk in wet swimmers. We missed the swimming costume drying machine and combs provided on the diamond princess a couple of years back. Food - There was a good variety of food and we always got a table in the MDR - but Princess, don’t call a menu ‘Australian’ when it’s clearly American! I’ve never seen ‘cob salad’ on an Aussie restaurant menu. Club sandwiches were served ice cold from the fridge as were the potted garlic prawns - weird and inedible, if you are serving something we expect hot as cold- state that on the menu. The desserts were all great and the seafood and produce very fresh and tasty. Carnival has barramundi on its everyday menu, but Princess didn’t even offer it on the Aussie menu day. On that day, fish and chips were offered at dinner but not lunch which we thought was odd. On the last day, salmon cakes with poached egg were offered at dinner but not breakfast, another very strange choice. Our last 2 domestic cruises were with carnival in a cloud 9 spa balcony room and a suite on P&O adventure. This was definitely a step up from both of those and felt considerably less crowded.

A great fun weekend getaway

Great family weekend getaway. We took the drink package when we booked in December the over cost was surprisingly good value. Ship has lovely decor, lots of open spaces, plenty of room for the 3,000 plus passengers. Dining room food was probably 3 stars but still enjoyable. I’m a diabetic and did advise this, however was never shown an appropriate menu. Drink package was great, however the ice cream deluxe and fresh juice bar were very disappointing, definitely not worth the $20 plus $$$. We had the $49 spa treatment, its was great, the staff were very professional and friendly- so worth it. Entertainment in theatre was fair, but the bands were all excellent The BEST entertainment was everyone dancing “silent” such a great night. Our cabin steward was great went out of his way to accommodate us. Only complaint really was the time it took to get our drinks up to 30 mins. Overall we all had a great time, can’t wait to do it again - thanks Princess

A wonderful post-Covid cruise on Royal Princess

We had done 3 cruisers prior to COVID and really loved them. We had several more planned for 2020/21 but of course they got scuppered thanks to COVID. We live in Wellington (New Zealand) and didn't want to fly anywhere to pick up a cruise. In May 2023 our travel agent found us two back-to-back cruises with embarkation and disembarking in Auckland, 22 nights on the Royal Princess around NZ, to Sydney/Melbourne/Hobart and back around New Zealand. That would work really well for us as we are retired now so could easily drive the 600 or so kilometres from Wellington to Auckland meaning we wouldn't have to fly. When we booked, it seemed so far away that we kind of forgot about it for ages. Prior to Christmas 2024 we looked at upgrading from the standard fare to the Princess Premier fare. One main reason for that was that we are still a bit COVID shy and decided that if we ate each night in one of the specialty restaurants that would cut down our chances of potentially catching COVID. On the Premier fare we could also have unlimited specialty coffees and it included Wi-Fi, amongst other perks. We don’t drink alcohol but the fare included unlimited “mocktails” which we like. As it turned out we were really happy with our decision. The time rolled around as it always does and we headed to Auckland and stayed the night before our cruise at the JetPark hotel at the airport. Our wonderful travel agent had got us a deal with a room for the night and storage of the car free for 10 days and then $8 NZ per day thereafter, really good value. We arrived at the terminal a bit early for our 12 noon check in, but there was no problem. We left our bags on the Wharf and before we knew it we had checked in, picked up our medallions and boarded the Royal Princess on deck 6. We went to our master station but at this stage it wasn't manned so we sat in Bellini's bar for a short time and then decided to have lunch at Alfredo's pizzeria which was open for business. We got to our room on Aloha deck 12. We were in a mini suite. We were really happy with the room especially having our own balcony. We really enjoyed our cruise and we found the staff were just wonderful. Our room steward Marcial was just the best. We ate each night either in the Crown Grill or Sabatinis. The staff at both were just wonderful. They got to know us really well and had our drinks ready for us each night almost before we’d sat down! Most lunchtimes we had pizza from Alfredos…really lovely pizza and once again great staff. Each night we'd make our choices and hang the breakfast menu thingy on the door handle and like clockwork our breakfast would appear the next morning. It suited us to have brekkie in our room, and there was no extra charge - you can do this on the standard fare if you wish. We kept a stock of a few bottles of water in our little fridge in the cabin. With the Premier fare unlimited 500ml bottles of water were free. The medallion worked reasonably well though odd times it had us on the wrong floor, when we were sitting above the Piazza. We really enjoyed chilling out in Bellini's bar overlooking the Piazza - there's always something going on, from dance classes to chef's demonstrations, to Officers vs Guests games, to music and singers. Overall we really loved our cruise. We didn’t care where we went, we just loved being on the ship. Really loved the pistachio ice cream at Gelato…that was part of the Premier package too. With our specialty dining and all the other things, we would have spent way over what it cost us to upgrade to Premier, and would definitely do the same next time. We also got a photo package, and boy those professional photographers know there stuff. We were delighted with the photos. We got quite a few prints, and all the photos taken were given to us digitally. Excellent value. We had to disembark at Sydney for an hour or two, it was a requirement by law as the first cruise ended in Sydney. We stayed in the terminal right next to the ship and the customs/immigration officials let us back on board as soon as possible. We were in the same room so didn't have to pack up or take our bags with us we just walked out as though we were going to the piazza, and walked back in with everything left as it was. And we would definitely cruise with Princess again, this is our 2nd Princess cruise (our first two were P&O – nothing wrong with them but just prefer Princess). Sorry for rambling on a bit...

Fun on the Royal Princess

It was a great cruise. We met with several people from the cruise critic board, which made the cruise even better. We purchased the Premier package. It seems excessive; however, we won a seven-day balcony cabin cruise anywhere in the world during our cruise. This package also gives you unlimited specialty dining, drinks (coffee, soda, water, and alcohol), specialty desserts, and the ice cream parlor. Oh, it also covers the staff gratuities. This is worth every penny. We did a few things together - plan a cabin crawl with the people on your board. It is a great way to see different types of rooms. We were surprised by the side configured inside the room. I was so much roomier than expected. Or the mini-suite at the back of the ship that had a double-deep balcony. Each room is decorated with things from home. In your decorations, show your favorite thing about your town, city, or country. Also, bring a small token of your home to give to your fellow guests. On this cruise, I decorated with hot air balloons and roadrunners. Being from Albuquerque, NM, USA, we host the international balloon fiesta annually. We are also in the southwest part of the USA. Our state bird is the Roadrunner. I made hot air balloons and Zia symbol earrings and Route 66 shot glasses for the men. Food products can only be brought from the home deportation, so green or red chili cannot be transported. These are just some ideas for some extra fun. We also met for high tea a couple of times on the ship. Every cruise is what you make of it.