Royal Princess spent the last two weeks of October in a Singapore drydock, and she came out with the kind of changes you actually notice once you are on board. The headline is the Sanctuary Collection, Princess’s all-inclusive tier, arriving on Royal Princess as part of the rollout to five Royal-Class ships. But the new Irish pub might be what I hear about most from readers.
I have not walked these new rooms yet, so read this as the news as it stands, not a review. What follows is what Princess changed, what it means for a booking, and one date worth circling.
The Sanctuary Collection comes to Royal Princess
The Sanctuary Collection is Princess’s all-inclusive way of sailing: access to the Sanctuary Club, elevated amenities, and personalized service layered on top of the cabin. On Royal Princess, the Collection now covers suites, mini-suites, deluxe balcony and balcony staterooms, plus something new for this ship. Princess built new ocean-view staterooms during the drydock, and those can be reserved as part of the Sanctuary Collection too.
The Collection also gets its own restaurant. The Sanctuary Restaurant sits on deck 6, next to the Concerto Dining Room, and it is open only to Sanctuary Collection guests.
Here is the detail the headline version skips. The Sanctuary Club itself does not become part of the Sanctuary Collection on Royal Princess until April 22, 2027. Until then, any adult guest 16 and older can preview the Sanctuary Club, which used to be the Retreat Pool and The Sanctuary. If you sail Royal Princess before that April date, the preview window is the thing to know. After it, the Club goes behind the Collection wall.
Twenty new cabins, including five for solo cruisers
The drydock also added 20 cabins to the ship: six mini-suites, seven oceanview, two interiors, and five single interiors. The single interiors are the interesting number in that list. Solo cabins on a ship this size are still rare enough to matter, and five of them is a real addition rather than a token gesture.
For a 3,595-guest ship, 20 cabins will not change the feel of the ship. They do change the booking math a little, especially for solo travelers and for anyone pricing the new ocean-view staterooms against a balcony.
The Piazza finally has a pub
The Piazza is the heart of a Royal-Class ship, and it is where the most visible changes landed. O’Malley’s Irish Pub takes over the former Vines location on deck 5, bringing the Princess pub experience to Royal Princess with Irish-inspired fare and the kind of neighborhood pub atmosphere that gives a ship a local to walk into at night.
Nearby, Bellini’s expands into the former Photo Gallery space, which gives it a larger room overlooking the Piazza for Bellini-inspired cocktails, champagne, sparkling wines, and other specialty pours. A pub on one side and a bigger cocktail bar on the other turns the Piazza into more of an evening destination than a passage between dinner and the theater, and that is a change I expect regular Royal Princess cruisers to feel on night one.
Casino, shops, and the practical changes
The Princess Casino was reconfigured into a more open gaming space with room for more slot machines. As part of that work, the staircase connecting decks 6 and 7 was removed so the casino floor could expand. Shoppers get a refreshed Effy jewelry boutique, and The Shops of Princess move to a new onboard retail partner, Starboard.
None of that makes a cruise decision on its own. It does tell you where Princess spent the money: the social rooms, the gaming floor, and the premium tier, rather than a cosmetic refresh of spaces nobody complained about.
Where she goes next
After Singapore, Royal Princess heads to Sydney for the 2026-27 season, sailing Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific, along with shorter coastal getaways. She is one of three Princess ships in the region for the season, which covers 42 unique itineraries and 62 departures.
If you are pricing a Sydney season sailing, the Sanctuary Collection is the comparison worth running against a regular balcony, especially with the new ocean-view staterooms now in the mix. And if you sail before April 22, 2027, remember the Sanctuary Club preview for guests 16 and older. That window closes, and the price of getting in after it closes is a Collection booking.
