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First and most importantly, I will say that the most important aspect of our NZ cruise was the sail date we chose- the first two weeks in February. We had exceptionally good weather in both NZ and AU. We had beautiful, warm days in NZ and not overly hot days in AU. In fact, the week prior to our cruise, Sydney had heat warnings, but by the time we got there the second week of February, it was a very pleasant 74 degrees. Our itinerary was 9 days, from Auckland to Sydney. We preferred this over the longer, roundtrip itinerary as we much preferred three sea days over six. We stayed in a mini-suite on deck 12, very far forward. We enjoyed the cabin and the views and were able to get a mini-suite at a very good price because of its far forward location. We also liked our cabin location as it was more private, quiet, and we like to be farther away from activities so we can get more exercise walking. There were no issues with noise and I did not feel like we had much more motion than the rest of the ship. The only improvement for the cabin was I noticed that the sofa had some stains on the legs and they should do an upholstery cleaning. (However, the seating of the sofa was OK.) Water for showers was hot and the bathroom was fairly spacious. Our cabin steward offered exceptional service and I felt quite spoiled. We did notice that the ship was very well maintained. We got the Plus package and felt it had good value for us. We had approx. 3 alcoholic drinks/day, 2-4 other nonalcoholic premium drinks/ day, and enjoyed the free gelato 4 times during our cruise. We substituted a simple dish of gelato with a single topping in place of their elaborate sundaes and thought it was good quality. We had no issues with the Medallion and found it was very convenient to use to open our stateroom and order drinks. We ordered room service, which they delivered in about 15 minutes, which was good timing given how far our cabin was from the stateroom. The MDR food was good but not great. However, Princess buffet and their desserts were much better than what we recently experienced on Royal Caribbean. The International Cafe has some great food , desserts, and snacks and they heated our sandwiches so they tasted very fresh. I was not impressed with the Specialty restaurants, with the exception of Gigi's. The food was really, really good at Gigi's and I felt like I was in a 5-star restaurant because the service was so good. I was disappointed with Crown Grill since their steaks were nowhere near as good as my husband's (he uses the Sous Vide method, then a blow torch to char them on good cuts of steak). I did not like my dinner at Sabatini's; it was horrible in comparison to the food served at the nice Italian restaurant I worked at in college. Sabatini's "Osso Bucco" (which means "eye of bone" = shank) was veal medallions instead of the rich tasting veal shanks. By definition, the dish they served is not "Osso Buco". They also served it with a brown gravy rather than a rich wine gravy that has bone marrow, carrots, celery and onions. They did not have a lobster in the MDR on the formal night, so we decided to skip it and go to the buffet instead. In the future, we will skip formal nights on any cruise that does not have lobster since an average meal does not motivate me to get dressed up. Of note is that we find that restaurants anywhere exceed the offerings of any of the cruise line's specialty restaurants and we are generally rather disappointed with speciality restaurants. In regards to entertainment, it could be improved. Their big theatre shows were very good, but the ones in between them were not. The DJ in the Piazza played a lot of dated music (from the era of my 90-year-old parents). Additionally, when they were supposed to play a certain theme of music, the DJ instead played requested music which was disappointing when we stayed up to dance to 90s music and had ethnic music (Hungarian?) music instead. If they are going to play music by request, they need to communicate that. We did really enjoy the couple's dance lessons given by the cruise director. We also liked the "staff vs. guests" challenge games. They were entertaining and amusing. We did not attend the trivia events, so no info on those. The small musician groups on board were very good. Of note is that I was pleasantly surprised by how exceptional the service was EVERYWHERE on the ship! Embarkation was a breeze- no wait times. Unfortunately, our docking in Sydney was delayed by a half hour due to very rough seas in the Tasmanian Ocean which resulted in some (understandable) delays and confusion. We walked off quickly because we carried our own bags. To get me to choose Princess more often in the future for vacation options, they would need to add a bar with a dance floor with more recent music- similar to what RC offers on their Oasis ships. However, I think I can count on Princess to offer a good, pleasant cruise experience with an excellent itinerary and well-maintained ship so I will likely choose Princess again.
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
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.
First and most importantly, I will say that the most important aspect of our NZ cruise was the sail date we chose- the first two weeks in February. We had exceptionally good weather in both NZ and AU. We had beautiful, warm days in NZ and not overly hot days in AU. In fact, the week prior to our cruise, Sydney had heat warnings, but by the time we got there the second week of February, it was a very pleasant 74 degrees. Our itinerary was 9 days, from Auckland to Sydney. We preferred this over the longer, roundtrip itinerary as we much preferred three sea days over six. We stayed in a mini-suite on deck 12, very far forward. We enjoyed the cabin and the views and were able to get a mini-suite at a very good price because of its far forward location. We also liked our cabin location as it was more private, quiet, and we like to be farther away from activities so we can get more exercise walking. There were no issues with noise and I did not feel like we had much more motion than the rest of the ship. The only improvement for the cabin was I noticed that the sofa had some stains on the legs and they should do an upholstery cleaning. (However, the seating of the sofa was OK.) Water for showers was hot and the bathroom was fairly spacious. Our cabin steward offered exceptional service and I felt quite spoiled. We did notice that the ship was very well maintained. We got the Plus package and felt it had good value for us. We had approx. 3 alcoholic drinks/day, 2-4 other nonalcoholic premium drinks/ day, and enjoyed the free gelato 4 times during our cruise. We substituted a simple dish of gelato with a single topping in place of their elaborate sundaes and thought it was good quality. We had no issues with the Medallion and found it was very convenient to use to open our stateroom and order drinks. We ordered room service, which they delivered in about 15 minutes, which was good timing given how far our cabin was from the stateroom. The MDR food was good but not great. However, Princess buffet and their desserts were much better than what we recently experienced on Royal Caribbean. The International Cafe has some great food , desserts, and snacks and they heated our sandwiches so they tasted very fresh. I was not impressed with the Specialty restaurants, with the exception of Gigi's. The food was really, really good at Gigi's and I felt like I was in a 5-star restaurant because the service was so good. I was disappointed with Crown Grill since their steaks were nowhere near as good as my husband's (he uses the Sous Vide method, then a blow torch to char them on good cuts of steak). I did not like my dinner at Sabatini's; it was horrible in comparison to the food served at the nice Italian restaurant I worked at in college. Sabatini's "Osso Bucco" (which means "eye of bone" = shank) was veal medallions instead of the rich tasting veal shanks. By definition, the dish they served is not "Osso Buco". They also served it with a brown gravy rather than a rich wine gravy that has bone marrow, carrots, celery and onions. They did not have a lobster in the MDR on the formal night, so we decided to skip it and go to the buffet instead. In the future, we will skip formal nights on any cruise that does not have lobster since an average meal does not motivate me to get dressed up. Of note is that we find that restaurants anywhere exceed the offerings of any of the cruise line's specialty restaurants and we are generally rather disappointed with speciality restaurants. In regards to entertainment, it could be improved. Their big theatre shows were very good, but the ones in between them were not. The DJ in the Piazza played a lot of dated music (from the era of my 90-year-old parents). Additionally, when they were supposed to play a certain theme of music, the DJ instead played requested music which was disappointing when we stayed up to dance to 90s music and had ethnic music (Hungarian?) music instead. If they are going to play music by request, they need to communicate that. We did really enjoy the couple's dance lessons given by the cruise director. We also liked the "staff vs. guests" challenge games. They were entertaining and amusing. We did not attend the trivia events, so no info on those. The small musician groups on board were very good. Of note is that I was pleasantly surprised by how exceptional the service was EVERYWHERE on the ship! Embarkation was a breeze- no wait times. Unfortunately, our docking in Sydney was delayed by a half hour due to very rough seas in the Tasmanian Ocean which resulted in some (understandable) delays and confusion. We walked off quickly because we carried our own bags. To get me to choose Princess more often in the future for vacation options, they would need to add a bar with a dance floor with more recent music- similar to what RC offers on their Oasis ships. However, I think I can count on Princess to offer a good, pleasant cruise experience with an excellent itinerary and well-maintained ship so I will likely choose Princess again.
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
From the moment you step aboard, we want you to feel welcomed and right at home. And with attentive service from a friendly staff that knows what hospitality means, you’ll find your Princess® ship truly is your home away from home.
Experience the Ultimate Night of Sleep at Sea
With your overall wellness in mind, we’ve collaborated with a board-certified sleep expert to create the ultimate in blissful comfort. Our luxurious new beds feature a scientifically engineered mattress and bed springs, a plush two-inch pillow top, European-inspired duvets and 100% luxurious Jacquard-woven linens-to assure that at the end of your voyage, you come home feeling refreshed and renewed.
The Princess Luxury Bed is available across the fleet except for Regal Princess, where most staterooms have been updated. On Regal Princess all Full Suites and Club Class staterooms have been updated and we are continuing to convert the few remaining beds.
Photos, floor plan diagrams, amenities, and furnishings represent typical arrangements and may vary by ship and stateroom.
Indulge your appetite whenever you wish on board Princess®. Every hour, our chefs are busy baking, grilling and sautéing great-tasting fare from scratch. Princess offers unparalleled inclusive dining options throughout the ship with a wide range of culinary delights to suit any palate, from endless buffet choice to gourmet pizza, frosty treats, decadent desserts and much more.
Speciality Dining
Dining on board a Princess® cruise ship is a joyful celebration and our speciality restaurants always deliver an extraordinary experience. They are among the best at sea – or anywhere. We serve dishes made with the freshest ingredients, and our menus reflect regional flavours from around the world. You'll find our speciality restaurants are the perfect place to celebrate any occasion.
From fitness to pop choir classes, wine tasting to art classes, Royal Princess offers a wide variety of enrichment classes for passengers to enjoy.
On every Princess ship, you'll find so many ways to play, day or night. Explore The Shops of Princess, celebrate cultures at our Festivals of the World or learn a new talent — our onboard activities will keep you engaged every moment of your cruise holiday.
Original musicals, dazzling magic shows, feature films, top comedians and nightclubs that get your feet movin’ and groovin’. There’s something happening around every corner; luckily, you have a whole cruise of days and nights to experience it all.
Whether you are looking to soak up the views and work up a sweat while having an invigorating gym session, or to just sit back and relax as you get your nails and hair done in the salon, the ship offers a wide range of health, beauty and fitness options.
Royal Princess’ youth and teen centre is fully equipped with everything from the latest video games and movies, arts and crafts and a DJ booth – plus a dedicated outdoor space for each age group. Catering for children aged 3-17, kids can have fun making new friends whilst you take advantage of some of the adults-only facilities available onboard.
