Cathy, on another review site, there are five reviews of the Royal, all glowing. Four of the five have given five stars, and the fifth, five plus stars. I read them quickly. All five had cruised Princess before (some many times); several thought the food was better than other Princess ships (they have the new Princess menus). Even the buffet was considered quite good. However one reviewer said the service and food preparation in the main dining room was uneven. However, this was the earliest of the reviews, and the more recent were the favorable. Other comments: excellent staff, comfortable new beds, beautiful library, limited entertainment options, lovely decor.
After I read these reviews, I decided I would love to go on the Royal!
Thanks so much for your feedback. I am a loyal Princess cruiser & know I will not be disappointed. Been away from this & other cruise sites being so busy lately. Thanks again
I'll let you know next January We're sailing on the Royal this December. We recently returned from the Emerald. I'm excited to experience the smaller ship, the Emerald was huge, she was beautiful, but I prefer the sun class ships. Maybe the Royal will be a new favorite. If you sail her before we do, please let me know what you think.
I leave in 13 days SO I'll be sure to give you feedback.
My first Princess cruises were on the Pacific & Island (Love Boat) ~ smaller ships. I loved them. Now I've been with the Grand Class ships, so it will be interesting to go back.
Hi ehm, welcome to Cruise-Chat. We're on the 23rd. I wanted to do the 9th, but had to take too many days off from work. We get the week between Christmas and New Years off, so we can take 1 week vacation and get 2. The price is about half to take the cruise before or the cruise after, of course I'm still extremely excited, some new ports I've never been to and a small ship experience! Wish we were on the same cruise!
Thank you for the welcome, Penny. The smaller than common ship and the unusual ports is what attracted us. If you have any questions that I can answer when we are finally on board and you are anxiously waiting, please ask. I will be checking emails during the cruise and would be glad to reply.
Do you think Royal Princess is an attempt to try out their answer to Celebrity's Azamara line?
It could be, Princess has 3 small ships, that usually visit the less traveled ports. At least the ports that the behemoth ships can't get into. I'm hoping it will be more like the Sun class ships, the Sea, Dawn, and Sun, but even better. Thank you for your offer, I will definitely take you up on it. Where are you going to get your Yellow Fever shot? I had to call a doctor in Decatur, AL, who has to order the vaccine for us. They're trying to get other people together to take the shot because they told me that there are 5 shots to a vial and the vial is very expensive. They don't want to have to throw away 3 shots. I have to call back in October to schedule the shots. I was just wondering if it is because the Decatur/Huntsville area is small. Did y'all have any trouble?
Cathy, I was looking over some of you past cruise pictures & notices an "Elite Members" party on the Golden Princess in 2005. That's the first time I've ever seen an exclusive party for Elite members only.
Penny, I just had to jump in on your last post. The Yellow Fever vaccine is in short supply everywhere so you are in good company. We needed to get the shot for our recent Grand Princess cruise that was supposed to stop at Devils Island. Because of rough seas, we could not even get into that port so it turned out the shots were not really necessary. So, 2700 folks got shots and if you figure the math that is a lot of dollars. Just like you, we had to look around and finally worked it out with a local travel clinic that is part of a very large teaching hospital. They managed to get 5 of us together (everyone has to be there at the same time since the vaccine must be used within an hour of being hydrated) but it still cost us about $170 per shot. We were told the shortage was primarily due to an epidemic in parts of South American that has caused WHO to send much of the available vaccine down south.
Thanks for the information Hank. We're scheduled for Devil's Island as well. But Princess posted it was needed in Tobago, Barbados (which I've never had before) and St. Barthelemy. I asked the nurse what would happen if they couldn't get 5 together and she told me they'd order the vial anyway. I wonder if we have to pay for the whole vial if we're the only 2 receiving the shots.
We had two options. The first was the county health department, but they gave the shots only at one location completely on the other side of the county. We then learned through our primary doctor that there was a group of infectious disease doctors who ran a travel medicine clinic as part of their practice. They are nearby and that is where we are going.
Hey Penny, Here's the CDC's page for counties requiring yellow fever shots and the requirements. They are ever changing so saving this page for future travel is not a bad idea and check it when planning future cruises.
Originally posted by penny3333: Thanks for the information Hank. We're scheduled for Devil's Island as well. But Princess posted it was needed in Tobago, Barbados (which I've never had before) and St. Barthelemy. I asked the nurse what would happen if they couldn't get 5 together and she told me they'd order the vial anyway. I wonder if we have to pay for the whole vial if we're the only 2 receiving the shots.
The way it was explained to use was that since the itinerary included a YF country (even though there has never ever been a case of YF on Devils Island) the other ports mandate that every passenger (and crew member) have the vaccine. In the case of our YF shot, we were told that we would have to pay the extra allocated cost of the vial if there was not 5 people. In fact, we had expected to only have 3 (it would have cost about $260) but two days before our appointment they found the last 2 folks.
This is an interesting topic. I hadn't thought about this. On our Panama Canal cruise in January, we will be stopping at Cartagena, Colombia. It appears from the map on the website that Neil gave that we may need YF and Malaria shots. I think I will check this out with RCCL, unless someone already has the answer.
Hi Nadine, In Colombia its not required. It is in the CDC recommended section for children under 9 months of age. They wouldn't meet the age requirements for the cruiseline for this one anyway so you're fine.
In Panama its recommended but excluding the canal zone.
We're sailing on the Royal this December. We recently returned from the Emerald. I'm excited to experience the smaller ship, the Emerald was huge, she was beautiful, but I prefer the sun class ships. Maybe the Royal will be a new favorite. If you sail her before we do, please let me know what you think.
I'm still extremely excited, some new ports I've never been to and a small ship experience! Wish we were on the same cruise!
