About two minutes after embarking Royal Princess in Sochi, Russia, last week I got a real sense I had been here before.
I had, of course, not only because I had sailed on the ship when it was Swan Hellenic's Minerva II, but also because just three days before, I had been on Oceania's Regatta in Dover, one of seven sisters built for the now defunct Renaissance Cruises (before becoming Minerva II, Royal bore the unlovely name of R8).
It's amazing how little they have changed on Royal Princess since its Minerva days. Inevitably what changes there have been have taken it from being a one-off British niche discovery-type cruise ship to a American vessel that has to appeal to our friends over the Pond.
So where there used to be a collection of novels by the bar on deck five there is now a photo gallery. At dinner and as you disembark at each port, happy snappers are there to capture the moment.
I forget what the bar itself was called, but it has been renamed the Casino Bar, which gives a hint as to what has been installed there. And what were all those pictures I saw stacked up in the Royal Lounge? The dreaded art auction has found its way on board.
When I was on Minerva II, I got chatting to a lovely couple who were telling me why they liked Swan. "Do you know, they have bingo on P&O," the last word said in a whisper so no one else might hear and be offended. What would he think of art auctions!
The really big change, and the one I don't understand, is that open dining has gone and dinner is now served in two sittings. If Swan could operate an open dining system, and Oceania can do it on Royal's sister ships, why can't Princess?
On Swan, rather than being able to pick who you dined with you just turned up when you wanted to eat and joined the next available table (although of course friends and family could turn up together and therefore sit with each other). It worked a treat as you had different dining companions each night.
Incidentally, it's still the way they do things on Swan Hellenic and Spirit on Adventure, which speaks volumes in my book.
Minerva II had two additional restaurants on deck 10, which were free but I seem to remember you needed to book as they were very popular. These have become Princess' trademark speciality restaurants - a Sterling Steakhouse on one side and Sabatini's on the other.
They are open alternate evenings, which seems to make sense when you are on a ship with just 700 passengers, and cost an additional $15 and £20 per person respectively.
I ate in the steakhouse and have to say the food was fabulous and cooked to perfection. I'm not a great fan of the way they present you with the uncooked lumps of meat at the start of the meal to help you make up your mind what to order, but here's Alexandru from Romania doing his stuff anyway.
Princess is also offering the Chef's Table dinner that I have already told you about and balcony dining - either a Champagne breakfast ($28 per couple) or a Lobster dinner ($100 per couple).
It is also installed its trademark Lotus Spa - I treated myself to a fabulous 50 minutes of reflexology - and there is now wi-fi throughout the ship, which might not impress too many people but for which I was eternally grateful.
The country-house hotel-style library is unchanged (but different books as all the Swan ones are now on Minerva). A couple of elderly gents were in there while I was nosing around, discussing how much they liked this little hideaway and I can see why. It is a lovely quiet area.
The top deck looked largely unchanged - sadly with no teak deck or loungers as you get on Oceania, but then there were none before either.
And I was so disappointed there were none of the double sun loungers I spotted on Regatta - especially as we had such unexpectedly glorious sunbathing weather each day as we cruised around the Black Sea.
Wonder if it's still an Indian summer if you are in the Ukraine?
Jane Archer
