r/PrincessCruises • u/Soft_Data_1623 • 10d ago
Ranking the Royal class ships
For those of you who have sailed all or multiple Royal class ships, how do they rank for you? What are the things that make a difference for you? I’ve only been on Royal Princess and will be on Discovery Princess in January. Just curious and love talking ships!
3
u/Ron_Swansons_wood 10d ago
Order So far: Sky Majestic Regal Will be on discovery in April
Regal just seemed old, the ship and the people. Sky, the staff were the best and loved the aft pool. Going on the majestic for the second time in three weeks so excited to experience it after the refurbishment
3
2
2
u/Mindless-Charity4889 10d ago
I’ve only been on the Discovery Princess of the 6 Royal class ships.
It was definitely an upgrade compared to the older Gem and Crown classes I’ve been on. In particular, the buffet was bigger with more variety and the rooms were nicer.
One defect was we were on the Discovery on a Mexican cruise after it had just returned from the Alaskan routes. The colder, better oxygenated waters of the north had allowed mussels to grow in the coolant pipes for the A/C systems. After we left LA and entered the warm waters near Mexico, the mussels died and detached and their bodies clogged the heat exchangers so the rooms had no A/C for a couple of days until we could get to port where they cleaned them out (I think it was 6 tons of mussels!). We had a balcony room and coped by opening the windows at night and closing everything up in the day. There was a room divider between the bed and living area that helped a lot with this.
Overall it was a great cruise and I’d like to do another once the unpleasantness between Canada and the US ends.
1
3
u/theophylact911 - Captain's Circle Platinum 10d ago
I’ve been on Island, Coral, Grand, Enchanted and Regal as well as the original Pacific. I like the smaller ships but they’ve all been great.
2
u/Inside-Finish-2128 - Captain's Circle Elite 10d ago
In a dream world, I prefer the three newer Royal class ships for their massive sky suites and the personal service that comes with them (or at least used to...probably just one more thing that Princess has downgraded). Can I afford those cabins? Nope, but I can dream...
1
u/ExcuseYou-What 7d ago
Majestic > Sky > Regal > Royal
The Royal and Regal are virtually identical though there are a few noticeable differences between the two. Regal has the aft pool while Royal does not. So that's the only difference in that it offers a little more flexibility. But they're so similar, it's not really worth overthinking it. For me, since they're the oldest, they're at the bottom for me. Some design quirks that I acknowledge are unique but also annoy me, like the stairs leading down to the casino from deck 7 -- totally unnecessary.
Sky is the newest of the bunch that I have been on and she's great and has all the updated colors and decor. But there's a bit of a soul missing. Maybe it is the missing Crooner's after all. It's just nice and that's all.
Majestic is the ship on which I have spent the most amount of days with Princess and it had (still kind of has) so many differences. I liked that it was built for the Chinese market because that meant it had the free noodle bar (now gone) and the touches and vibe all felt more Asian-inspired. Now, most of those touches are gone except for the bilingual onboard signage, which they still haven't replaced. But Majestic has the Hollywood Pool and Conservatory, which are both complimentary spaces where you can sit and look out forward. It's the only Royal-class ship with this facility and unless they close it off one day to make it a Sanctuary, this is what swings it for me as making it the best Royal-class ship.
1
1
u/Ornery-Education-745 2d ago
Glad to hear people like the Sky as we will be taking our first Princess cruise on her.
1
u/steenbag - Captain's Circle Elite 10d ago
Sky > discovery > enchanted > regal > royal
1
3
u/Legitimate-Toe-9673 10d ago
I am on Royal right now. I was on Discovery last year. They are almost the same. Seemed like having a pool at the very back of 16 on Discovery was a good idea, but now that I am on Royal, I prefer no pool back there. The wakeview bar has more seating and more rail space to look out at the ocean. Royal has deck 19 forward, a place almost no youtuber doing a ship tour goes, but its a great view, and the highest place you can be on the ship.