Newbie w/?'s Regal / Crown

We are ready for a change and hear great things about Princess.

 

The 2 I am looking at are Regal & Crown.

 

What we love and is most important to us are balconies, preferably fantail/aft

with lounge chairs to lay and read on our private balcony. On Royal , I know which cabins have those.

 

Can anyone tell me what category or cabins may have lounge chairs on the balcony.

 

Also, any advantage with the mini suite? My husband misses tv the most on cruises. Have read on here that Princess has great variety.

 

 

Any information you would like to share regarding these ships would be much, much appreciated.

 

TIA, lisa

We are ready for a change and hear great things about Princess.

 

 

 

The 2 I am looking at are Regal & Crown.

 

 

 

What we love and is most important to us are balconies, preferably fantail/aft

 

with lounge chairs to lay and read on our private balcony. On Royal , I know which cabins have those.

 

 

 

Can anyone tell me what category or cabins may have lounge chairs on the balcony.

 

 

 

Also, any advantage with the mini suite? My husband misses tv the most on cruises. Have read on here that Princess has great variety.

 

 

 

 

 

Any information you would like to share regarding these ships would be much, much appreciated.

 

 

 

TIA, lisa

To get a balcony with lounge chairs on either ship you need to book a full suite. At most other balconies will only have two reclining chairs and foot rests/ottomans. Unless you book an Owner's Suite on Baja or Dolphin deck the full suite balconies on the Regsl are too narrow to have the loungers face the water. The same is true of the Riviera deck Penthouse Suites midship on the Crown. Any aft full suite on the Crown will be large enough to enjoy the loungers and look out at the wake.

 

I don't know about live TV variety as you have Fox News, MSNBC, BBC News, ESPN International and not much else. The Regal does have a wide choice of complementary on demand movies and TV shows.

 

If you are spending a lot of time in your cabin the mini-suite sitting area with sofa is nice to have. There is also a tub rather than just a tiny shower. On the Crown the balcony is 7 feet deep, more than the standard 5 feet balcony cabin but less than the 9 feet of a Caribe deck balcony. All balconies in the same location on the Regal are the same size and most are only 4 feet deep [emoji27][emoji27]

Edited August 9, 2016 by IECalCruiser

We are ready for a change and hear great things about Princess.

 

The 2 I am looking at are Regal & Crown.

 

What we love and is most important to us are balconies, preferably fantail/aft

with lounge chairs to lay and read on our private balcony. On Royal , I know which cabins have those.

 

Can anyone tell me what category or cabins may have lounge chairs on the balcony.

 

Also, any advantage with the mini suite? My husband misses tv the most on cruises. Have read on here that Princess has great variety.

 

 

Any information you would like to share regarding these ships would be much, much appreciated.

 

TIA, lisa

On all the Princess ships I have been on only full suites have true lounge chairs. Mini suites have reclining chairs w/o cushions and foot stools.

 

TV - The Regal has interactive TV with a selection of newer and classic movies, classic and newer tv shows, a few news channels depending on where you are cruising.

The Crown will not have as large a selection, It will have some channels.

I thought the balconies on the Caribe Deck of the Crown had loungers because they were almost double the size of the other balcony cabins??...have not been on the crown since 2006...Have been on the Royal and Regal recently and most of those balconies are small with no loungers

I thought the balconies on the Caribe Deck of the Crown had loungers because they were almost double the size of the other balcony cabins??...have not been on the crown since 2006...Have been on the Royal and Regal recently and most of those balconies are small with no loungers

After the Star Princess fire the loungers were removed from balconies and replaced with more flame resistant furniture. On Caribe deck there were two reclining chairs with ottomans and two standard chairs. When that furniture was replaced by the latest version a couple of years ago the two standard chairs went away [emoji27]

Thank you all for the info. Celebrity had the recliners with footstools and it was comfy.

 

So is the only difference having mini suite vs balcony is larger room size?

Thank you all for the info. Celebrity had the recliners with footstools and it was comfy.

 

So is the only difference having mini suite vs balcony is larger room size?

 

That and the bathtub.

Balconies on Royal and Regal are tiny. You couldn't fit a recliner and you have to turn your regular chair a bit sideways. Don't expect a large balcony or even a "reasonable" balcony on those ships. The Grand class and Gem class ships have reasonable balconies with larger balconies on Caribe deck. There are many comments here on CC regarding the smaller balconies on the new builds.

Note: I have not personally sailed on either Royal or Regal but, as stated above, there are many comments regarding the reduced size of the balconies.

Thank you all for the info. Celebrity had the recliners with footstools and it was comfy.

So is the only difference having mini suite vs balcony is larger room size?

 

On the Regal (and Royal) some of the MA/M1 midship mini suites have larger balconies - check the deck plans. Some dislike the fact that people on the SeaWalk can look down on the midship balconies. (Lots of threads on this topic.) I didn't like being midship under the SeaView Bar (Baja deck) as when we looked up we just saw the bottom of the bar protruding instead of the sky.

 

The midship mini suite has two tvs - that was nice. And there is a curtain that can be pulled between the sleeping area and the sofa area.

 

The forward facing Premium mini suites on Marina and Lido decks have larger balconies but I don't know if they have better deck chairs.

 

A few of the Balcony and Deluxe balcony staterooms on Dolphin deck have the extended balconies - but you just get a shower and no sofa in the Balcony category.

 

Good luck with your choice and have a great cruise. The Regal is a beauty.

Edited August 10, 2016 by MarKay525

Balconies on Royal and Regal are tiny. You couldn't fit a recliner and you have to turn your regular chair a bit sideways. Don't expect a large balcony or even a "reasonable" balcony on those ships. The Grand class and Gem class ships have reasonable balconies with larger balconies on Caribe deck. There are many comments here on CC regarding the smaller balconies on the new builds.

 

Note: I have not personally sailed on either Royal or Regal but, as stated above, there are many comments regarding the reduced size of the balconies.

 

I've sailed 6 weeks on the Royal & Regal with a standard size balcony and the balconies are about 20% smaller at 9'x4' than standard 9'x5' balconies on most other Princess. I wouldn't call them tiny & the were acceptable to me including to enjoy a UBD. But just like most standard size Princess balconies there's not enough room for a recliner.

 

Looking at old photos when the Caribe balconies had 4 chairs, even then none were recliners. There were 2 high back chairs that partially reclined & 2 chairs with normal size backs that didn't recline. It was still better than the 2 regular chairs now provided on the larger Caribe balconies.

Edited August 10, 2016 by Astro Flyer

Last Nov. we sailed for the second time on Royal. (Same as Regal, I think). We accepted an upgrade to a Premium mini suite. It was on the very front of the ship on Marina deck. The balcony was enormous. the chairs were just able to recline. The room was spacious and had 2 tv's. We were able to see a corner mini suite and it was very much like a suite with separate bed from living area and a big wrap-around balcony. The movie selection was good and they showed old "Love Boat" movies--quite entertaining. Don't worry too much about the lack of center stairs. We usually sail Celebrity and the S-class ships only have front and rear stairs/elevators--So the lack of center stairs was a non-issue. We have also sailed on this ship in a Deluxe balcony (has a sofa) and the balcony was o.k. Not huge, but decent size for us. We're not very picky

Just off Regal. We had a great sized aft balcony on B deck (B737) It has a sofa but with a normal, shower only bathroom. The aft balconies on B and D deck are the largest with half cover. We had two recliners, two footstools and a square table. I could see below on C deck the balconies were smaller, not covered and had only two recliners and a small round table.

The choice of free films was very good on the television.

Edited August 10, 2016 by caber

Thank you all...Happy sailings

I was so disappointed to see pictures and reviews of the balconies on Regal. I just booked my second cruise and went with a balcony room thinking it would be similar to what we've had before.

 

My husband and I cruised on the Caribbean Princess last year. We spent a lot of time on the balcony it was wonderful. We were able to fit both chairs side by side so we could both face "into the wind". It looks like the balconies on Regal, we will practically be sitting in each other's laps.

 

Now I'm afraid that having a tiny balcony will hinder our cruise experience and its a 14 day cruise. Even the premium balcony lists the same square footage as the others. So I guess at this point its either a 14 day cruise with a tiny balcony or a 7 day cruise in a suite. So I'll stick to my tiny balcony and being on the Lido deck its just a short walk to the pool.

I didn't like being midship under the SeaView Bar (Baja deck) as when we looked up we just saw the bottom of the bar protruding instead of the sky.

 

 

Thanks for posting this information. We just booked a cabin on the Aloha deck which will make matters worse for sky views. I think we are going to cancel.