Regal Jan. 18, 2015 my thoughts

We just got off the Regal and I thought I would post my thoughts on the cruise. This was our 10th Princess cruise and we have cruised other cruise lines many times. We sail the Caribbean every January so we have been to all the ports before.

We left home in Kissimmee at 9:15 and arrived at Park and Go at 12:15. There was a bit of a back up but we didn’t have too long of a wait. The guys took our luggage out of our car and put it into the Regal shuttle and we were on our way to the ship after a short wait. There was a lot of traffic getting to the ship but we were soon dropping off our luggage and heading onto the ship. Check-in was very easy and only took a few minutes. Since it was after 1 we dropped off our carry ons in our cabin. We had a standard balcony cabin on Dolphin deck all the way forward.

Our cabin was kinda small with the bed , a desk, chair, small table and refrigerator. I knew the balcony was small but it was really fine. There were two reclining chairs and a small table. There was plenty of storage space in the room with a large closet. I liked the rectangle shaped sink and thought there was plenty of space for everything. I also liked the low small shelf that went across the shower. Throughout the week we had a little trouble with the toilet flushing. Sometimes I had to push the bottom 5-6 times before it would flush but it always did flush.

We headed up to the Horizon Court for lunch. Wow what a change from the other ships. It is very spacious and has a great variety of dishes. From the pool area you first come to the Horizon Bistro which takes the place of the Caribe Cafe on other ships. It has sandwiches, a few hot dishes and a taco bar. Next is the pastry shop with all the deserts. This is where you can get fresh waffles in the morning. Then you come to the Horizon Court which has all the hot dishes. The food bars are perpendicular to the seating so they go across the ship. You really need to look at everything before making a selection since there are different dishes in many different locations. I really loved the lasagna, which they had some version of everyday and that was located on the side of one of the long food bars. The food was very good for the most part and we ate there a lot. There also seemed to be plenty of seating.

At sail away time we tried to get to the front of the ship to watch us leaving port only to discover that there is nowhere to view out the front but the Sanctuary. You cannot get out on top of the bridge or walk out front on the promenade deck. The promenade deck has only a short deck space on either side. There are some nice chairs right outside of the piazza and a few deck lounge chairs towards the back of the ship on both sides. None of these areas are covered. We really enjoyed hearing the ship’s horn play the Love Boat theme song when we left port.

We had early seating in the Allegro Dining room. Usually we choose anytime but last year in January the wait times we so bad because everyone wanted to eat early. We like to eat at 6 most nights so we figured we would just do traditional dining. We had an excellent wait staff and most of the food was good. The only meal that was disappointing was the prime rib the first night. We ate in the dining room 4 nights, the Horizon Court 2 nights and one night at the Crab Shack.

We went to the welcome aboard show in the Princess Theater. There were only 2 shows and they weren’t that crowded. All the production shows were SRO at the 8:30 show so if you want to see the shows at that time you need to be at the theater at 8. They had three shows a night of the production shows 6:30, 8:30 and 10:30. The other nights there were two shows at 7:30 and 9. There was no lack of entertainment in the evening. There was always something going on. Princess Live takes the place of the Explorers Lounge and is set up like a TV studio so I think it has more seating. Vista Lounge takes the place of Club Fusion and it doesn’t have a bar at the back. The Wheelhouse bar is very small and attached to the Crown Grill.

We ate breakfast every morning in the Horizon Court. There was a great variety of food. There are eggs “over easy” on trays but you can ask for them well done and they will make them for you. There is also a place to get omelets to order. The OJ glasses were tiny so we just asked for a large glass of ice and poured the OJ into them. Most days I had waffles but there was no real fruit to put on them, only jam. On the last day they ran out of bacon. They had different types of sausage each day.

Our first port was Princess Cay. Tendering was easy and handled very well. It was a beautiful day and warm enough to go swimming. We did a Princess shore excursion on St Thomas to St Johns’ Trunk Bay. We docked at Havensight and took a ferry from right next to the ship. There was no Princess representative with us and we weren’t sure what to do when we got off the ferry. The people at the dock loaded us into safari cabs that held about 25 people and we went off to Trunk Bay. We had about 2 hours there. We were supposed to be back at the safari taxis at 12:25. They gave a 20 minute call on the beach at 12:10 so everyone would have time to shower and change. We headed to the parking lot at 12:25 and stopped for a minute to rinse our feet off but by the time we got to the parking lot all the taxis were gone. It was only 12:27 but they left us. There were two other ladies that were also left. An independent taxi driver said he would take us to the ferry for $6 each. We didn’t have any choice so we went with him. We made the ferry back to the ship so all was well. So if anyone takes this tour just make sure you are back to the parking lot on time and not a minute late. We told the shore excursion people that we were left at Trunk Bay when we got back to the ship to see if we could get our $6 dollars back and they landed up refunding us $25 PP.

In St Martin we rented a car and toured the island and went to the beach. It was another beautiful day. We were docked right next to the Allure of the Seas. I was worried that there would be too many people but it really was no problem.

We went to the Crab Shack on the last night, Saturday, in the roped off section of the Horizon Court. It was good but they would only give us more crab if we got another whole dinner. There was a huge amount of shrimp and we really only wanted the crab. On the Coral last May they brought us just more crab. It is really a waste of food to do it that way. They also had the Crab Shack on the first formal night, Tuesday.

We went to the Stargazing one night. It was the first one they ever did so it was a bit disorganized. They had some of the lights turned off but not really enough of them and you could hear MUTS and see some of the lights from that. It was led by an activities member who had a cell phone to find the constellations. I’m hoping that they improve it.

Disembarkation was a breeze. We were off the ship in no time. Most everything on the cruise went smoothly. We had a great time and would definitely sail on the Regal again.

Thanks for the review, a little hard on the eyes. :)

Thanks for the information. We wanted to try the crab shack next trip. Unsure if it will be worth missing a MDR meal for a disappointing portion of crab. Like you, we would be there....for...the...crab. Will need to find out more when onboard.

Thanks for taking the time to do a review of your Regal cruise.

We went to the Stargazing one night It was the first one they ever did so it was a bit disorganized. They had some of the lights turned off but not really enough of them and you could hear MUTS and see some of the lights from that. It was led by an activities member who had a cell phone to find the constellations. I’m hoping that they improve it.

Sounds like you had a really nice time aboard Regal Princess! Thanks for your review.

I remember back when I was in the Navy, on ships that would be very, very small compared to the Royal-class (and Grand-class) ships, at night we would 'rig for dark', meaning all exterior lights were extinguished (except for the few navigational running lights), and any other lights leading to the outer decks, or in spaces like the bridge with windows to the outside, had red lighting. It was only then that I remember being able to step out on the bridge wings at night and seeing the sky blanketed with stars.

I can't imagine how well actual stargazing on a cruise ship (which are always lit up like a Christmas tree in Times Square) works. Even in my small town at night, being on the outskirts of the city, it's difficult to see all but the brightest of stars. About twenty-five years ago, when I still lived in North Carolina, I bought a 10" Dobsonian SkyQuest telescope and spent many a winter's night staring into the heavens. It was amazing.

I now have an app on my iPhone 6 Plus as well as my iPad Air called 'Star Walk', which is quite brilliant for stargazing. You can switch over to a 'Night Mode' for better viewing (all of the data and stars on the screen turn red).

:D

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.....:):):)

Bob

Thanks for the review, a little hard on the eyes. :)

Sorry about that. I wrote it on Microsoft Word where there was a space between paragraphs and when I copied it there were no spaces. Since it late I forgot to add the spaces.

Sounds like you had a really nice time aboard Regal Princess! Thanks for your review.

 

I remember back when I was in the Navy, on ships that would be very, very small compared to the Royal-class (and Grand-class) ships, at night we would 'rig for dark', meaning all exterior lights were extinguished (except for the few navigational running lights), and any other lights leading to the outer decks, or in spaces like the bridge with windows to the outside, had red lighting. It was only then that I remember being able to step out on the bridge wings at night and seeing the sky blanketed with stars.

 

I can't imagine how well actual stargazing on a cruise ship (which are always lit up like a Christmas tree in Times Square) works. Even in my small town at night, being on the outskirts of the city, it's difficult to see all but the brightest of stars. About twenty-five years ago, when I still lived in North Carolina, I bought a 10" Dobsonian SkyQuest telescope and spent many a winter's night staring into the heavens. It was amazing.

 

I now have an app on my iPhone 6 Plus as well as my iPad Air called 'Star Walk', which is quite brilliant for stargazing. You can switch over to a 'Night Mode' for better viewing (all of the data and stars on the screen turn red).

 

:D

They did turn off a few of the lights but not near enough. Fortunately it was a very clear night with a new moon so we could see a lot of stars but really we can see more at home. My DH also has an ipad app but somehow we never think to go outside at night to use it:(. I think they are really going to have to tweak this activity to make it successful.

Thanks for your informative review. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.:D

Appreciate the review. We did the crab shack on CB last march and really enjoyed it.

Question, did you notice when they did the fondue? We plan on doing both.

Throughout the week we had a little trouble with the toilet flushing. Sometimes I had to push the bottom 5-6 times before it would flush but it always did flush.

 

We had the same problem on the Royal recently except it would often take between 20 and 30 pushes to work.

 

 

We did a Princess shore excursion on St Thomas to St Johns’ Trunk Bay. We docked at Havensight and took a ferry from right next to the ship. There was no Princess representative with us and we weren’t sure what to do when we got off the ferry. The people at the dock loaded us into safari cabs that held about 25 people and we went off to Trunk Bay.

 

The description of that tour says there will be three scenic stops on the way to Trunk Bay. Did your cab make those stops? (Ours did not in early January and after I reported it to the tour desk, they called me to say the vendor had been reminded to make the stops.)

 

 

see my comments above in red

see my comments above in red

The driver made one very short stop at the Trunk Bay overlook. I wasn't even able to get a picture. I didn't really mind though because I wanted as much time at the beach as possible.

Appreciate the review. We did the crab shack on CB last march and really enjoyed it.

 

Question, did you notice when they did the fondue? We plan on doing both.

They did the fondue two nights. It would have been Wed, Thurs or Fri but I'm not sure which two.

Thank you for your review. I enjoyed reading it. I may be sailing the Regal next January with my cousins and niece so I'm making notes from the reviews. The buffet area sounds awesome. 😊😊😊😊

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Thanks for the great review.

They did the fondue two nights. It would have been Wed, Thurs or Fri but I'm not sure which two.

I think the Fondue night was the second formal night, which was Friday

We just got off yesterday. Had a wonderful time and hope I can sail her or Royal soon! Great experience!

Thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

Next time you write a review using extra lines between paragraphs will make it easier to read.

We are considering the Regal this year, but we have never cruised Princess. Does the Crab Shack cost extra?

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We are considering the Regal this year, but we have never cruised Princess. Does the Crab Shack cost extra?

 

$20/person

$20/person

Thanks!!

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