An honest review of the royal princess cruise

Royal Princess cruise to Alaska: 7-day cruise from Vancouver to Whitaker 

Cruising is one of my favorite things to do! From awesome ports of call, exciting excursions, and wonderful food, to bad karaoke, excessive bingo playing (and losing), and quick stops in the casino, cruises lines have thought of it all. Top to bottom, inside and out. No detail is left undone. I’ve generally had very good luck with the cruise ships I’ve been on. I can honestly say that each cruise has been overall pleasant and relaxing.

Today I want to provide a review of the Royal Princess on a 7-day Alaskan Cruise in 2024. 

Here are some stats on the boat itself:

· Her maiden voyage was in June 2013

· She cost $735 million to build

· She has the capacity to hold 3,600 passengers

· She weighs 142,714 tons

· She can reach a speed of 22.9 knots (26.4pmh) 

TL;DR Version:

· Super easy and quick to book, embark, and disembark

· Affordable, but on the higher end

· Nothing really fancy onboard. Ship is dated

· Limited activities onboard

· After having high hopes for the food, it was very disappointing

· Excursions were limited; not many adventures

· Off the beaten path in ports never disappoints

· Drink package was worth it to us

· Good experience inside the cabins

· The casino is not our thing but it was a good experience

· Give the Chef’s Table Lumiere a try if you can; Invitation only

Ease of Booking:

It was very easy to book this cruise using the Princess website. I did it all myself with no phone calls to Princess help line for booking. (Go me!) This cruise line has started using a medallion that tracks everything you do and is your key to your cabin.  It is also your purchasing tool for anything on board, including  registering every alcoholic beverage you consume (if you have the drink package, you have a total of 15 drinks allowed per day), and everywhere else where your name or money is required.

The only time I had to call Princess was to make sure that the medallion was being mailed to the correct location. They had tracking on the package and for some reason it always said the medallion was in Florida (I live in Texas). So, they had to send another one. It made it to my house just a few days before the embarkation date. The website also has different devices you can use to carry your medallion: watch bands, bracelets, lanyards, and key rings….all for an added cost, of course! I got my watch band through Amazon because it was cheaper (go figure!).

I did a lot of research about the food in board and ran across an exclusive, invitation only dinner on board. This is called The Chef’s Table Lumiere. It does cost extra but it seemed like an amazing experience. During my research, I found that we can only register for it when we boarded the ship. More on this later.

Cost:

So, I didn’t know this prior to this cruise, but Princess Cruise Lines is owned by Carnival Cruise Lines and is considered to be the more upscale, premium cruise. It seems to be a little more expensive than a Carnival cruise. The drink package was about $70 per day but it included EVERYTHING: drinks, bottled water, specialty coffees, premium desserts, sodas, fresh juices, and internet data. We did the math and decided that it was worth it to us. We also calculated how many alcoholic beverages we needed to consume daily in order to pay for the package. I believe that number was eight and we took that on like personal challenge. :D

Embarkation Process

We boarded the ship in Vancouver. The pier was very small compared to the number of people that were there. Remember, this ship holds 3,600 passengers, so having so many people in a small place was rather uncomfortable. It seemed to take forever to get the ball rolling with letting us board the ship; however, we found out that the boat docked late and they were still trying to get all the other passengers off the ship. Back at the pier, the line wound up and down the outdoor area. It seemed disorganized and chaotic but I think that’s because everyone was so ready to get on the ship and get the party started. 

Once the crew allowed us to start the embarkation process things started moving quickly…which was VERY nice! The whole process took about 30 minutes start to finish. All we had to do was show our passports and go through the security checkpoint. They also verified that we had our medallion and that it was functional. The next step was onto the ship!!! 

As we made our way onto the ship, we realized that there were more individuals in their 70’s and 80’s than any other cruise I have been on. This little tidbit will come into play a little later.

On the Ship

Once we were on the ship, we began the process of trying to figure out the layout of the ship. The first stop was the bar (of course!) and we ordered some fruity drink. Remember, we got the drink package…gotta start the trip off right! 

Next on the agenda was finding our main dining room and try to sign up for the Chef’s Table Lumiere. It wasn’t difficult to find the dining room and we were lucky enough to score the last two seats for that dinner. They only do one dinner per cruise and is invitation only. We were so excited and pleased with ourselves for getting on the invitation list. I will talk more about this experience in a blog entry.

We finally realized that we were starving so we made our way to the buffet on the top deck where everyone else on the ship was apparently thinking the same thing. It was PACKED. My favorite part was a crew member standing at the entrance singing a song about “washy, washy, washy” our hands. He did not let anyone pass who had not washed their hands at that moment. Some people were perturbed by this, but I was thankful the crew was diligent in their efforts to avoid the spread of illness, COVID, Norovirus, and the like.

The décor of the ship was average. We didn’t think there was anything too fancy about the construction and decorations. So that was a bit disappointing. But that’s ok; it’s not about the décor, it’s about the experience!

Activities

After exploring the ship and doing some people-watching, we realized that my sister and I were some of the youngest people on board. This was a bit concerning and it did in fact impact the cruise experience. Compared to other cruises I have been on, the activities on this ship were quite limited. Karaoke was few and far between. Live music was limited throughout the ship and was mostly in the atrium. There weren’t any competitions or scavenger hunts or trivia activities like previous cruises. This was all because the crowd on the ship were mostly in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. So this was VERY disappointing.

Food 

My first Princess cruise was in 2007 when we toured the Mediterranean area. I remember the food being spectacular. Cold fruity soups at dinner (shockingly very tasty!), escargot, calamari, and delicious shots and other alcoholic beverages (first ever and eternally favorite drink: tiramisu martini!). To say I had very high expectations would be an understatement.  And this was probably my fatal flaw.

The food on this cruise did NOT meet my expectations or taste. The food was bland at best. The fried calamari was cold and chewy (even when we sent it back and got “fresh” calamari…it was the same as the plate we sent back), the eggs benedict were inedible (we sent this back to the kitchen too), and the buffet was oftentimes better than the main dining room food which was quite shocking!

There were several specialty dining areas. We tried the sushi place and were once again disappointed.  And while the made the sushi right in front of us, it was warm and lacked flavor. We didn’t even finish our rolls.  We enjoyed the specialty coffees and premium desserts. Although those specialty desserts were gigantic and rich in flavor, we ate it all with no regrets.

This is the best part about the food experience: medallion deliveries. We could have food and drinks delivered to us anywhere on the ship: in our cabin, in the atrium, by the pool, everywhere!  This service did take a long time to get our food and drinks, but it was a really neat feature and something we enjoyed. 

Excursions

If I’m being honest, the available excursions were rather limited. There were mostly bus tours and not many adventure tours. In 2 ports, we just did our own thing because we couldn’t find anything that really sparked excitement in us. As I stated before, the passengers onboard were mostly elderly, so I think this is why more bus tours were available than adventures. The best excursion for us on this trip was whale watching. While we didn’t get to see a while breach very close to us, it was still amazing to see them fly through the air from a distance. 10 out of 10, would recommend.

In Skagway, we decided to do our own thing. We wanted to go hiking one day but it was raining and the trails were muddy and steep. My asthma was also not doing the best, so we opted to roam around Skagway a bit. We wanted to find a bar that served the infamous “duck fart” shot that I had read about everywhere on the internet as a “must try while in Alaska.” We finally found a bar off the beaten trail and enjoyed a few drinks there. The bartender/owner told us that the duck fart shot was overdone and commercialized.  We understood what he was saying and opted for one of their specialty drinks. I don’t remember what I had; all I remember was that it was good and I felt a bit of a buzz. We played cornhole in the backyard of the bar for a few hours while enjoyed our beverages. We love finding places like this….unique to the area, off the beaten path, and offering local drinks and experiences to visitors. It was a good time….but a loooong walk back to the ship while we were slightly buzzed 😊

Cabin and Amenities

The cabins were nice and clean. We had the bed converted into two twin beds. The room was on the smaller side but it was still nice. We chose a balcony room with an obstructed view; however, we got super lucky and ended up not having any equipment in front of our balcony. We could see as far as our eyes could see. This was a nice surprise when we got to the cabin! The cabin had all the amenities: safe, minifridge, hair dryer, soap, and shampoo and conditioner. There were plenty of towels (of all kinds) as well as tissue and toilet paper. Our stateroom was attended to daily but one thing we missed was the towel art. That’s something I look forward to on all my cruises, but no luck on this trip. Our room attendant was diligent and responsive so that’s always nice. 10 out of 10 there.

We stayed in our cabin and on the balcony when we entered into a fjord to view the glaciers. It was the perfect place to be as the ship turned 360 degrees so that everyone could see all sides of the fjord. We were able to have food and drinks delivered to us at any time (thanks to the medallion super powers).

Drink Package

We always get the premium drink package on cruises because we like to binge drink (just kidding!) While we did do our fair share of drinking, the other amenities offered through the drink package made it even more worth it: internet, specialty coffee and fresh juice, bottled water, specialty dining, and a few other items that we didn’t use. We also did the math and realized all we had to do was drink 6 drinks a day and that would pay for it…not to mention the use of those other services. Six drinks were doable when you think about having a mimosa (or two) at breakfast, fruity drinks at lunch, and cocktails before, during and after dinner. It’s a no brainer for us. The package may still be worth it even if you don’t drink. 

Casino

We did visit the casino once. Neither my sister nor I are gamblers, but we did win about $80 each so we decided stop while we were ahead. Big spenders here! 😊 The casino was large, had plenty of slot machines and tables, and when we went during the day, it was not smokey.  That changes at night, so be prepared if you decide to go then.

Other Relevant Information

We celebrated my birthday onboard. At dinner, they sang happy birthday to me, served me a special dessert, and encouraged me to try a new shot (which was the tasty B52). It was a nice way to celebrate. 

As I have mentioned, this cruise had us use a Medallion for everything. All we had to do was have the medallion scanned to purchase anything: alcohol, specialty food, products, and getting on and off the ship. One feature that was amazing was that you could track your cabinmates anywhere on the ship. And I mean EVERYWHERE.  The medallion was able to be viewed by the staff just by being near them. They were able to look at the picture we had uploaded to the app and medallion, and they knew who we were before we could make a sound. That was really cool and made it super easy to do…anything. This was also our pass to get on and off the ship. So make sure not to lose it!