Regal Princess review Jan 3 - 10 with pictures, Patters and videos

As promised, sorry it took so long, I had to scan in the patters and get the pictures in a format that would be acceptable. Please feel free to ask any questions and i will try to answer.

Arrival in Florida,

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale January 1, New years day, due to cheaper fares on Jan 1. We stayed at the W hotel off the beach, extraordinary hotel if you have to stay, I've stayed at other W's as well so we knew what to expect and were thoroughly satisfied with our choice of hotel for the coming 2 days.

Embarkation

As there were 7 Ships in that day, we were warned that Taxi's might be limited and since it was Sunday after holidays that also may hinder getting a cab as lots of people were leaving to Airport to return home. We went down to the lobby early to get a cab and after a slight wait, flagged a cab down and we were off to the Port about 1045. Arriving at the Port close to 1100, we parted with our bags and went to line up with the Platinum/Elite priority boarding group. This is the earliest I've ever been at the port so I was expecting a long wait as the general boarding line was extremely long already. We actually only waited until about 1110 and boom, we were on our way, we made it through all the security checks, got our cruise cards and we were off to the embarkation lounge where we waited for about 20 minutes. The back to back were escorted back aboard first (there were about 350 of them) and then we were allow to board. I think we were onbaord by 1150. Our rooms were not ready yet so we made our way to the horizon court (HC) for lunch, this would be the first time I've every eaten lunch on embarkation day before 1:00 pm. We had a lovely lunch and made our way throughout the ship exploring the gym, the deck areas, the Sanctuary and Piazza area. The MDR was open but we opted for the HC for lunch.

At about 2:00 pm we made our way to our room, it was a Mini suite Marina deck 323. This was directly under the Deck area next to bar by the sky-walk. The room was great, plenty of room for two people, bed comfortable, and the sofa was nice. I will get into the in room entrainment system Princess has gone with later, that was awesome. The bathroom was adequate and the storage same as standard room. The balcony seemed smaller, but we only spent short times out there. I've posted pictures of the Bathroom and living area on links provided at the end. I will say, you can hear things going on on the deck above but that didn't start to happen till about 0630 and ended about 1100ish. Not too bad, as other have written about. You can hear the music from the deck during the day, but I liked it so not a problem. I'm on vacation so liked it anyways.

After the Muster drill ( which went fairly smoothly) we made it back to room, and went to sail away party. It was great, waving at people in the Condo on the end of the beach is always fun. I have a time lapse video of it I'll include.

Dinner was casual in the main dining room (MDR). The food was great, no issues but service was a bit slow, I assume it's the first cruise day for this group of passengers so no issue. The offerings were standard fair, but the the always available included 3 Curtis Stone appetizers and Entrees. I had the Thai wraps and the Pork entree twice by Mr. Stone. Soo good. The other fair was great as well, we chose anytime dining so we shared table with very wonderful people each night. We met all sorts of folks from Canada and across the US. We went to Princess theater for the first night show which included Carl Strong (a comedian) and the Princess Dancers and Band , Carl was awesome and his show was funny, although a bit crude, but I'm OK with that, I don't think some folks enjoyed it as much as I did. The dancers were great. We also went to the Princes Live theater (mid ship deck 7). It's set up as a “T.V.” studio so they had cameras and seating like a live television show. Most of the shows there were game shows, so they were interactive and they also filmed the Wake show in there. All the games hosted by the Assistant CD staff were awesome. Especially the Yes/No game and the battle of the sexes.

Sea days 1 and 2

Uneventful, we slept in, for me that is to about 0515 as I'm an early riser. I enjoyed time at the gym and my wife took advantage of the Zumba classes, she said they were well suited and instructed. They conducted the class on the 18th deck in the basketball court. We had breakfast in the HC everyday except one when we had it in the IC. The omelet station in the HC is great and the service was quick and efficient. I'd like to complain about some of the cruisers who don't seem to know that a line forms and you should not jump in and out of line but that is out of Princess control. We enjoyed lunch in the HC each day and it was great. The first Sea day was formal night so we enjoyed dinner in the main dinning room which was great. The Food was wonderful everything seem to be on par with Princess so no complaints. The second Sea day we had dinner in the Crab Shack, soo good but the food was too much. I think they should offer a lighter appetizer and soup and then the large boils, I had the King crab and peel and eat shrimp while my wife had the Royal boil which had crab, king crab, shrimp, sausage, potatoes, corn and muscles. I'm not a muscles fan so I passed on that. I'll try to include pictures from that later. We enjoyed a chocolate show in the Princess Live Theater, and they introduced several chocolate martini's drinks available at the wheel house bar. The candy bar martini is my wife's new favorite. Additionally, while in the Vista lounge I had a dirty banana (insert lewd joke) which is now my favorite, it's change from my normal Cuba Libra or old fashion. Vacation is time for changes.

St. Marteen Day3

I'll forgo the St. Marteen info, as most of you have been there or can read reviews, We usually go to Maho beach when we stop there (at the airport) but this time we went to margot and then to Orient Beach. We shopped in Margot and went to Sarifinas for snacks and then off to the beach, the sites at the beach were exquisite. Dinner that night was in the MDR and was great.

St. Thomas Day 4

Since we could not get a Princess Tour to St. Johns, and having had ferry issues before almost missing the boat I was reluctant to do that on my own. We took a cab to Blackbeards castle and went to shopping area. We walked back thinking we were closer than we actually were, we ended up hopping a taxi just to hurry back. We enjoyed a late lunch at Alfredo pizzeria on the ship, wonderful, it was very good we had one pizza and salads ( the antipasto salad was great). Dinner was in the HC at the Bavarian Bier Fest, a favorite of my wife and I, the food was great, ranging from all sorts of German food and sausages. I highly suggest it but you have to look or ask the matre'd what day it will happen on the ship, they don't advertise well. I also wanted to try the Oceans sushi bar on the 7th deck in the piazza. It looked good but we failed to enjoy it.

At sea Day 5

Same as Day 1 and 2, except while walking to gym, I did what everyone else had been doing, I put my hat, book and beach towels on two loungers at 630 am. I went to gym, came back moved my book and added sun screen to my pile of stuff. Went to room walked up to breakfast and then came back to lounger and settled in for a nice day at the pool, once my wife finished Zumab she joined me and we leisured relaxed poolside for several hours, had I not gotten those loungers early, we would have not been able to do that. I felt guilty doing that but others were doing that including a large group who “claimed” about 10 loungers. Every morning. I suspect they swapped out my lounger with one of theirs that was broken, because my stuff was slightly rearranged when I came back from breakfast. We had several Pina Coladias and the bar service was excellent. We decided to head in about 1-- ish to wash off and attend a show. We abandoned our chairs to a waiting couple who appreciated it. Dinner in the MDR again was great I enjoyed the cold pumpkin curry soup, an appetizer of fetichine and braised short ribs.

Day 6, Princess Cays

It's been a few years since we've been here, but it's essentially the same, the addition of “food trucks” or rather food cart similar to the snack carts on a golf course. They do not move around, they are stationary but they have great alternatives the burgers, chicken and ribs. The jerk chicken was good along with the wraps, they offered tacos, but I didn’t not have any . I included a few photos.

Day 7, disembarkation

It's the end of a wonderful but short 7 days. I was ready to go having been away from home for 10 days and still had one more day as we were staying overnight and leaving in the am. I opted to get off the ship as late as possible, which was 1030 and we were literally the last people on the ship. We had breakfast and enjoyed a leisure morning in the vista lounge with coffee , tea and pastries provided. Once we went through the luggage area, the line for CBP was long and not quick but efficient. We went through and were out of the building by 1130.

The main takeaways for me about the Regal Princess:

Entertainment the in room entertainment system is amazing, you can play movies selection that was quite good, and every night they played a movie on MUTS, the next day it was added to the selection. Totally cool just like Netflix or Amazon Prime. The system also had live TV for news, TV shows such as discovery channel selections, and A&E, old Love boat episodes and tons of stuff. They also offered music and there were several apps styled selections that had weather for each stop and position of the ship. Really cool stuff. I hope the rest of the fleet is fitted with this system.

The Ships dance crew and bands were great save Acustix, I didn't think they were that good, my wife told me to not be so critical of musicians but I've come to expect a certain level of entrainment and they missed the bar.

Room – Great, we rarely had any issues, save one, we asked for fruit in the room the first night and it took 3 days to get it. Not the fastest or best service, and I heard others complain about the room service but since we didn’t take part in that, I can't speak to it. The room was wonderful and the location great, however not having stairs mid-ship did make it difficult moving around so we constantly had to go to closest stairs (forward) and go up and down from there. Not a good design in my opinion

Tendering- great design and tenders, they pulled right up to the ship, no little dock and the stairs went right from the 4th deck to the tender level about half a set of stairs. Perfect setup , moving people on and off the tenders, so good job there.

No mid-ship stair case is a real pain.

Overall we enjoyed the Regal Princess, look forward to cruising the other Royal class ships and did “come back new”

Pictures

https://goo.gl/photos/uEXW5eSt2ZSE5si7A

Videos

Patters

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_patterJan_9_2016.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_patterJan_8_2016.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_patterJan_7_2016.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_patterJan_6_2016.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_patterJan_5_2016.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_patterJan_4_2016.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_patterJan_3_2016.pdf

Documents

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_LogJan_3_2016.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_Jan_3_2016specials_n_Dinning.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_Itenerychange2016.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_Itenerychange2016.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_FtLauderdale_2016.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_Elite_PlatinumLounge.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_DisembarkationJan_3_2016.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_welcomaboard.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_totals.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/77174295/RegalPrincess_Doc/RegalPrincess_PrincessCays_2016.pdf

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!!

Very nice thanks!!

Thank you for scanning all of those patters and sharing your thoughts! I am craving some Alfredos now... :D

I'm curious - did they advertise for the Ultimate Ship Tour anywhere?

great review....I was onboard the Regal last month and she is def a beautiful ship!..had a great cruise

Great review!

Thank you for scanning all of those patters and sharing your thoughts! I am craving some Alfredos now... :D

 

I'm curious - did they advertise for the Ultimate Ship Tour anywhere?

They did, I wanted to do it but my wife did not, and I didn't want to kill a 1/2 a day without her since we are on vaca together. I'll do it another time.

They also did the chef's table and that looked amazing.

Glad you enjoyed the trip. So did we....it was nice meeting you and your wife.

Thanks for the review and all the patters. Looking forward to my trip on the Regal in February.

Glad you enjoyed the trip. So did we....it was nice meeting you and your wife.

Yes it was great meeting you guys too. Have fun and let us know when you hit it big on the big screen!

Thanks for taking the time to post a review and Patters!

Thanks for your review, patters, & other links

Thank you so much!! We booked our cruise on the Regal about 18 months out. It didn't seem real then but now that we are in the same year we are cruising we are all so excited.

great review! the photos of the IC has got me drooling

Great review thank you

great review! the photos of the IC has got me drooling[/quote

 

I don't think those are pictures of the IC but of the bakery in St. Marteen. Perhaps the OP can verify. I would love to be wrong.

great review! the photos of the IC has got me drooling[/quote

 

I don't think those are pictures of the IC but of the bakery in St. Marteen. Perhaps the OP can verify. I would love to be wrong.

 

 

Correct, that is not the IC, although the IC has some Fabulous snacks, those shown in pictures were from Sarafinas in Margot.

OP, thank you for posting your final onboard bill, as a new to princess cruiser and a information-junkie I liked getting a sense of how princess does the bill once on board.

My question is I see the $40 crab shack charge but only $40 for you and your dw, but other lines add a 18% gratuity to the cover charge, does princess not do this??? I am assuming not since your bill is 40 only.

Does Princess Cays not have the BBQ set up like it did before? Does it just have those carts going around?

There's still all the other food options on Princess Cays. Just added some alternatives. The video review currently going said they liked them. So there you go.

There's still all the other food options on Princess Cays. Just added some alternatives. The video review currently going said they liked them. So there you go.

Thank you. Looking forward to Princess Cays.

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I'd like to complain about some of the cruisers who don't seem to know that a line forms and you should not jump in and out of line but that is out of Princess control.

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I have noticed two schools of thought on the subject here on Cruise Critic. Both sides have compelling arguments pro and con. I doubt that there will ever be a resolution that satisfies everyone's view point on the issue. :eek:

Thank you for taking the time to post the review and information.

Thanks for your review.

Great info thanks.

Thanks for the review.