Royal Princess in San Diego

Cabin categories are pretty much the same from ship to ship. Except when they’re not. Most ships have inside cabins, oceanview cabins, balcony cabins, and suites. Of course there are usually further divisions within some or all of those categories, but those 4 basic cabin types can normally be found on all major cruise ships. Royal Princess on the other hand is missing an entire cabin category. There are no oceanview passenger cabins anywhere on the ship. None. While most ships have a deck or two of oceanview cabins below the public decks, on Royal Princess there are only crew decks under the public areas. A lot of ships also have some obstructed view oceanview cabins behind the lifeboats, but Royal Princess has none of those either. So options there are limited to inside, balcony, suite, and the sub categories thereof. Cabins on this ship sleep 2-4 people.

typical closet in Royal Princess staterooms

Closets on Princess ships tend to be open rather than having doors, and more spacious than what a lot of other lines provide.

self-serve passenger laundry

Princess ships have nice big self-serve passenger laundries which is quite nice, especially when taking a long cruise, or a cruise as one part of a longer vacation. Wheelchair Accessible cabins are available in different categories and come equipped with full wheelchair-turning space, a roll-in shower equipped with grab bars and a fold-down bench seat, an easy access closet and accessible writing desk. Accessible cabins are usually the largest cabins available in any given category.

interior cabin (photo courtesy of Princess cruises)

As with any cruise ship, interior cabins are the smallest and lowest priced. These range from 158-162 square feet. Even in the inside cabins amenities include a small refrigerator as well as standard items like a hairdryer, safe, and TV.

cabin A203, interior with bunk

Some rooms are equipped with drop-down bunks and will sleep up to 4 people.

Standard Balcony cabin with beds set as 1 (photo courtesy of Princess cruises)

Standard balcony cabins are 214-222 square feet in size (including the balcony) and feature floor to ceiling windows at the sliding door to the balcony on the ocean side of the room. Balconies have 2 chairs and a table.

cabin A111, standard balcony with beds set separately. This was our cabin, and it did not have the extra table and chair shown in the photo from Princess of the same cabin category

Regardless of cabin category, all staterooms have the standard 2 beds that can be set together as a queen size bed or apart as twin beds depending on if guests want one bed or two.

balcony cabin A111 with 1 bunk down

Rooms with drop down bunks do not get any extra furniture on the balcony. There’s a chair at the desk so we brought that outside if we all wanted to sit out there. There is no other inside seating other than the beds. At least in our cabin there wasn’t, though the photo from Princess shows a second chair with a small table.

cabin A201 deluxe balcony

Deluxe Balcony rooms are 233-279 square feet including the balcony, and add a sofa bed to the room’s furnishings. So for the increased cost over a standard balcony cabin you get somewhere else to sit as well as the extra square footage. The list also includes upgraded amenities, which I would hope means separate shampoo and conditioner because in the standard balcony cabin we had it was the nasty all in one sort. I can’t say what the upgrades actually are though since I did not stay in that cabin. The gym showers also had the crappy all-in-one shampoo and conditioner.

cabin A205 mini suite

Mini Suites are styled like an extra-large balcony cabin. These have about 323 square feet including the balcony, and the bathroom includes a bathtub rather than just a shower. It also has a massaging showerhead, and the balconies have an ottoman as well as chairs -some of these balconies have 4 chairs. The sitting area in these rooms includes a coffee table. Some mini-suites book as club class. Those rooms are in prime locations and include some suite amenities like the princess luxury bed, priority embarkation and disembarkation, and special dining privileges. For a larger pricetag than the regular mini-suite of course.

suite (photo courtesy of Princess cruises)

Suites come in either premium at about 554 square feet and located at the bow end corners of various decks, or the slightly pricier penthouse ranging from 440-682 feet depending on location in the ship with the larger ones at the stern corners of various decks and the smaller ones toward the rear of deck 14. Square footage includes the balcony. Balcony furniture includes 4 chairs as well as an ottoman and 2 loungers.

Suite Bathroom (photo courtesy of Princess cruises)

The bathroom has a shower separate from the tub. Other additional perks beyond what the mini-suites offer include priority tender disembarkation at tender ports, complimentary laundry service, complimentary dinner in a specialty restaurant on boarding day, and priority reservations for specialty dining and shore excursions.

Princess Luxury Bed in Suites (photo courtesy of Princess cruises)

This ship has lots of good options for staterooms as long as you’re not looking for oceanview (my usual preferred category because they are bigger than interior and have a view, at a price less than what you pay for a balcony cabin.)

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