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Princess Cruise Line

MS Royal Princess

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Jim Dotson.
# previous cruises: 3
Date of Trip: June 16, 2001
Itinerary: Europe

Overall an excellent cruise with attentive service from most staff. Ports selected and visited were great but time on most excursions was too short. Actually too little time to browse on our own

All public areas were acceptable and not too crowded. Of course, most people were on tour or too tired at the end of the day to spend time in the public areas.

Food was excellent. All that we ordered was cooked properly and served hot. The only drawback was the dining room menu appeared to be the same served on the Crown Princess the year before. We were hoping for additional selections.

We were upgraded to the Aloha deck with a balcony. However, this cabin was much smaller than we experienced on the Regal and Crown Princess. Forget about "you don't spend much time in your cabin". with the beds made into a queen size and remained that way throughout the cruise it is difficult for two people to get around and get dressed. It is also difficult to climbb over the bed to get to the balcony.

Cruise staff and entertainers were typical Princess. Very good. The regular performers and dancers did a great job with a lot of energy. The one comedian was funny but I believe a little off color for the few teens and pre-teens in attendance. Not something they should be exposed too. (although this was only in small amounts)

On board, sea days were boring to us. We don't care to gamble, play bingo or wooden horse races etc. We did enjoy our ports. On this cruise we took several all day tours and several half day tours alternated to allow some rest between. On this cruise we took a walk in the Old Quarter in Bilbao, Spain and had an afternoon snack (Talipes) with wine. Enjoyed the atmosphere. Bordeaux, France chateaus were pretty. Loved the atmosphere here too. We walked the town but didn't visit the wineries which appeared to be popular. Greenock, Scotland. What can you say. We chose a return visit to Loch Lomond...beautiful and tranquil. The same goes for the town of Luss. We had plenty of time to walk and absorb the beauty. Dublin, Ireland was OK. Our choice of tours caused us to miss the beauty. We toured downtown, St. Patricks and Trinity University. Nice, but Dublin city is crowded with heavy traffic. Next was Cork, Ireland. Beautiful port, countryside, friendly people and excellent food and entertainment. Here we visited the Balarney Castle and enjoyed the view. Choose not to kiss the stone because of the long wait to climb the 100 steps. (over an hour). Falmouth, England allowed us to take a nice tour to Land's End. Nothing spectacular at Land;'s End except a nice view and shopping. A pleasant and tranquil trip though. LeHavre, France was our next stop. We opted to take the Normandy tour. Our drive of two hours was pleasant and the beaches, although a tourist beach, was sobering, remembering what happen there in 1945. The American Cemetery like all National cemeteries allowed time to reflect on the sacrifices made by the many allied soldiers. Shopping was plentiful and the museum was excellent. The only bad thing was the museum was very crowded with all the ship tours entering the building near the same time. Amsterdam, and Brugges were nice as we took canal tours in each of these. Although different cities and countries they appeared to have a lot in common as far as tourist sites. The Belgium "to die for" and I'm not a chocolate lover. Returning to Southampton, the terminal is one of the nicest We've seen. Overall, wonderful itinerary. wish we could have taken more tours and with more time. This part of the world is beautiful with a history that we love and we'd recommend this one for anybody.

Passengers appeared to range from about 100 teenagers, who were well behaved, to late sixties to early seventies. Our experience was of visits with very pleasant people mostly American and Canadians with a sprinkle of Europeans and a few Asians. All wonderful traveling companions