princess-royal4

Note - this page contains multiple reviews.

Name: Tony Suarez
Email: tngtony@one.net
Age: 39
Occupation: I.T.
NumberOfCruises: 3
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Princess-Royal
SailingDate: 07/29/00
Itinerary: North Sea (Nothren Europe and Scandinavia)
Cabin: D-480
FoodDiningRoom: 90
CruiseDirector:
CabinComfort: 90
FoodRoomService: 80
CruiseStaff: 85
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 80
DiningRoomService: 100
CabinQuietness: 95
FoodMidnightBuffets: 90
CabinSteward: 100
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 75
ShoreExcValue: 85
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 90
LoungeService: 95
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 60
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 60
OverallPortsofCall: 95
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside:
CruiseActivities: 80
Casino: 100
AirSeaProgram: 90
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 100
EmbarkDisembark: 85
DiscoNightclubs: 75
DeckSpace: 100
Stabilization: 80
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 95
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 18 Aug 2000
Time: 13:25:54
Remote Name: gtepri.mobilnet.gte.com
Remote User:

Comments

This makes my third cruise on Princess and probably the most enjoyable one so far. It was
probably due to the company I kept rather than the actual entertainment on board, but still, I left
thought this cruise was fantastic. The service was at least as good if not better than the other
cruises I have taken. I was lucky enough to get the same excellent cabin steward I had on the Sky
Princess last October, Albert (What are the odds?). The Dining Room staff was also excellent. The
food was plentiful and generally fantastic. The ship was the most spacious I have been on
(including the Grand). The lounge staff (which got to know us real well) was always friendly and
generally prompt. Finally, the ports of call were all wonderful in their own way.

Now, having said all that, nothing is perfect. Even though this was as pleasant an experience I’ve
had on a cruise, there are always a few needles that find their way under your skin:

There was a snafu with the seating arrangements in the main dining room. We were a large group
of 15. According to all the pre-cruise information we had received, we were supposed to be seated
at adjacent tables. Come the first night, we find that there are two adjacent tables and one halfway
across the world. This was totally unacceptable. The passages were purchased 9 months
beforehand and reservations were made before that. How much notice do they need? The second
night, all but one of our party ate at the Lido. The food was good there. But it’s not the same. By
the third night, the seating arrangements were changed to accommodate us as we were told they
would be from the beginning. Come to find out that the Maitre D’ had asked why the rest of us
weren’t at dinner that second night. The response given was ‘What’s you think would happen when
you scatter our group?’ At least they fixed our problem in a gracious manner.

The entertainment and variety was not what I have become accustomed to with Princess. The
shows in the International Lounge all seemed to be song and dance numbers. I really dislike song
and dance shows. On top of that, the lead in every one of these shows was the same lounge lizard:
Tony Gato. The first night’s show was the one that set the tone for the rest of the cruise. Tony did
a night club act with a few jokes told by Adam to Eve and a few songs. The whole thing reminded
me of Bill Murray on Saturday Night Live doing his lounge singer act. What was most amusing
about this act was that after each joke, 10 people seemed to get up and leave. My brother,
nephews and I had had to move to the back of the room so we could quietly heckle this guy without
bothering anyone who may have been sleeping (or by some miracle, enjoying the show).

Once again, I ran into a situation that would have been solved immediately had the person involved
exercised ‘The customer is ALWAYS right’ policy. I got a drink that didn’t taste right. I had been
ordering this same drink from this same bar at least once a day for a week. This one drink didn’t
taste right. I sent it back and my waitress (Katarina, who’d been waiting on our group for the whole
cruise) was told that there was nothing wrong with it. I went to the bar tender and told him there was
something wrong with my drink. He politely explained that there couldn’t be anything wrong with my
drink because it was made from a mix and it was fine. This just boiled my buns, but I just told him to
throw the drink away and thanked him for his attention.

Now here is the pleasant surprise. After about 5 minutes, the bartender (I’m sorry, I don’t remember
his name), had sent out several of his staff to look for me. When he caught up with me, he
apologized profusely and told me that the wrong mix was used. He gave me a new drink the way I
ordered it and all ended fine. It takes a big man to admit his error. I admire that.

Finally, the ship itself was the cleanest, most elegant one I have sailed on. The common areas
were enormous. But this was also part of some of the problems I found with the ship. There was no
'cozy' corner of the ship. The children's play area was the Disco before hours sometimes causing a
problem during the transition from play room for children, to play room for adults! It made the ship
appear as if it din't have as much to offer as the other two I has sailed on. Of coarse this was only
an appearance.

Really, the only true disappointment I had was with the entertainment on board. Everything else
was fantastic.

PORTS OF CALL: The ports of call were (with one exception) fantastic. This cruise took us from
Dover, England to La Harvre, France (A couple of hours’ drive north of Paris); then
Rosynth/Edinburgh, Scotland; Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; Hamburg, Germany;
Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Antwerp, Belgium; and back to Dover. Each port had at least a little
something to offer.

I only took two tours. I have learned from previous cruises that if you do just a little research, you
don’t need to take any tours to see all the important sites at each port. This way you have lots of
time to check out the sights without having to look at your watch all the time because the bus is
leaving.

In La Havre, there is nothing…. The only reason for the stop there is because you are near the
Normandy beaches and memorials as well as a 2 or so hour drive (with no traffic) to Paris. Paris is
an absolutely incredible city. You always hear about Paris, but until you actually go there, you have
no idea just how beautiful it is! I took the ‘sights of Paris and Seine River cruise’ tour. The meal on
the boat was phenomenal! The sights seen from my dining table were even more spectacular!

Rosynth again was just the port to Edinburgh (Pronounced Edinboro—how they got that, I’ll never
know… Of coarse these are the same people that gave us Worcestershire sauce and pronounce it
‘woostesheer’). There was a shuttle bus for $4 each way. It was about a 30 minute drive to a very
nice city with a huge castle overlooking the valley the city is in. There were many shops and
pedestrian streets to keep everyone happy. Except the kids that were with us. It seemed like all the
parks were fenced in and locked! As one of my brothers put it, a park with a fence and a locked
gate is a yard, not a park.

Oslo is a port city. You have to get up early to see the ships entrance and navigation through the
Oslo Fjord. It was absolutely breathtaking! Once in port, you just step off the ship onto the city
center square. There are ferries and busses to just about anywhere, but you can just take a 5
minute walk to the main pedestrian mall with enough stores, crowds, street performers and vendors
to keep you entertained. Oslo was by far the most expensive stop we made. Everything was priced
outrageously. But a few $7 beers later, you tend not to care as much.

Copenhagen is also a port city. Though the walk from the ship to the center of town is about 15
minutes, the canals and the narrow streets give you plenty to look at. Little sidewalk cafes and
shops all over the place made it a very pleasant city to visit. There was a shuttle bus available, but
it really wasn’t worth the $4. Fairly close to the ship, about a 5 minute walk from the ship, was the
Little Mermaid statue. No she doesn’t look anything like Ariel from the Disney movie, and if some
one tells you the original tragic story by Hans Christian Anderson, you would barely recognize it.
But there were all us tourists getting our pictures taken at the little mermaid statue anyway. I
wonder if Disney hasn’t made a movie by the same name if we’d really care about this monument?

Hamburg (or as my younger brother called it ‘Omega City’ as in the movie The Omega Man) is also
a port town, but on Sunday (the day we were there) there was NOTHING doing. There was a bike
race that whizzed by. But that was about it. My older brother and I took the Highlights of Berlin tour.
6 hours round trip on a bus and a whole day being driven around to all the sights in Berlin. We
were glad we did this. It was well worth the money. Hamburg is the only port that I really could have
done without. Other than it was a gateway to Berlin for me, I would not have missed it at all.

Amsterdam is as advertised! This is an incredible city. You can walk in to the city but the walk is
through an industrial area so the shuttle bus for $4 each way was pretty much worth it. There are
canals and more canals. Narrow tall houses and a totally unintelligible language! Luckily, all the
countries we visited (except Germany) had very gracious and friendly citizens. And all knew that we
Americans generally do not speak languages other than English. I can handle Spanish, French,
Italian and Portuguese, but take me away from the Latin root and I am dead in the water! Anyway,
we took one of the many canal cruises and hopped from bar to bar enjoying all the sights and
smells! As you walk by some coffee houses, the aroma of coffee is not all you smell. Marijuana is
legal in Amsterdam. Also the red light district is incredible! Think New Orleans has something to
offer? Think again!

Antwerp was the biggest surprise of the bunch! It was a beautiful old city. Street cafes and shops
and one of the largest cathedrals I have ever seen make up this incredible city. Again, the ship
docks a 5 minute walk from the city center and pedestrian malls.

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