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Name: Mr. & Mrs. Dermot GRice
Email: ggrice@aracnet.net
Age: 62 (Gerda) and 68 (Dermot)
Occupation: University Lecturer and Retired Professor
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Princess-Royal
SailingDate: May 31, 1998
Itinerary: Scandinavian Capitals + Baltic
FoodDiningRoom: 85
CruiseDirector: 88
CabinComfort: 95
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 93
CabinAmenities: 95
FoodLidoDeck: 90
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 95
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 86
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 88
DeckService: 90
ShoreExcValue: 90
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 92
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors: 90
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 91
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 88
EntertShowLounge: 88
OverallPortsofCall: 91
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside:
CruiseActivities: 92
Casino:
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 92
EmbarkDisembark: 94
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 90
Stabilization: 92
ShopsOnBoard: 87
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 92
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 20 Jun 1998
Time: 13:03:39
Remote Name: 206.222.74.186
Remote User:
Comments
Except for an Atlantic crossing on the Empress of England back in 1970 and a 5-day cruise
of the Rhine on a K & D. ship in the mid 80s, we were
newcomers to the cruise experience, and our comments should no doubt be read in the light
of that fact. For example, our enthusiasm over the cabin
facilities on the Royal Princess was probably at least partly the result of our memories
of our struggles to fit into the very tiny shower facilities on the K & D
ship we'd sailed on previously and our lack of experience with any other 'big ships'. In
any event, we were, on the whole very pleased with our Royal
Princess Cruise.
Among the things that pleased us most about our Royal Princess Cruise was the size and
design of our cabin and the facilities it contained. Our cabin, on
the Plaza deck, was not one of the more expensive staterooms on the ship, but it was
larger and better equipped than some of the rooms we've stayed
in in London bed-and-breakfast hotels! We also very much enjoyed the quietness of our
cabin. Despite the fact that it was right next to the Beauty Salon
and near the Purser's counter, it was always quiet. Good soundproofing in a room (asea or
ashore) is important to us, and we were very impressed with
the soundproofing on the Royal Princess. We were very favourably impressed, too, with the
level of service from the Head Waiters down to the Busboys
in the Continental Dining Room. Our waiter and busboy in particular were efficient,
courteous and, blessedly, neither obsequious or overly familiar.
Indeed, on the whole, the ship's staff and crew were pleasant and efficient.
I had heard that on some ships the processes of embarkation, disembarkation and tour
departures can be problematic. On the Royal Princess, they were
very smoothly handled, with no hang ups and no hold ups.
We did have some reservations about cruise experience on the Royal Princess, though. For
one thing, we found that the food in the dining room was not
always as good as it should have been. Fish, for example, was almost always overcooked,
and meat was sometimes tough. The non-diet desserts, on the
other hand, were generally excellent. (The diet desserts were generally good, but there
was too little variety in the choice of diet desserts over the
course of the cruise.) Indeed, dieters were not, on the whole, well served by the choices
available to them in the dining room. Usually, only a single
choice of soup, main course, and dessert were offered to them, and they were frequently
neither particularly tasty nor particularly sound from a dietary
point of view. The food in the Lido Cafe, however, was consistently good, and we found it
to be a better choice for breakfast and lunch, certainly, than the
dining room.
We had chosen this particular cruise largely because of the ports of calls it offered and
because of the reputation of the Princess ships. We enjoyed the
ports of call (we had visited Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo before, and so visited them
on our own rather than with one of the tours offered by the
cruise this time), were satisfied with the tours that we had booked, and, on the whole,
found that Princess lived up to its reputation. Yes, we would take a
Princess cruise again.
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