jennymaxgirl

Hello! I just came across your post and would love to know how you liked your cabin on Deck 4 koningsdam? I also have a cabin booked at the aft of deck 4 with a large verandah. Sailing in March. Anything stand out to you as great or not so great?

Thx

 

Starting next month there will be a no smoking policy on balconies. We've booked a large balcony cabin on deck 4 and have no worries about smoke.

Thank you so much! This is very helpful :)

Children’s Menu

 

Supper Duper Fresh Fruit - Should probably read Super Duper, but the menu says Supper Duper -- an orange shell filled with tropical fruit.

 

C & C Crazy Dippers - Carrots and Celery sticks with yogurt ranch

 

Dutch Fun Fair Frites -- fresh hot potato fries served in a paper cup and served with ketchup and mayonnaise

 

Cheesey Caesar -- crisp lettuce, Parmesan cheese, Caesar dressing, crunchy crouton -- you can ask for grilled chicken on top

 

Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup --chicken noodle soup served in a rich broth

 

Soup of the Day

 

3-2-1 Pasta -- spaghetti served with a choice of marinara, meat or creamy alfredo sauce, topped with Parmesan cheese and served with crispy garlic toast

 

Home Run Sliders --build your own burger combination. Choose from veggie, turkey or ground beef sliders served with lettuce, tomato and pickle slices

 

Chicken Clucks - breaded chicken strips with dipping sauce and your choice of All Mixed Up Salad or Fun Fair Frites

 

Gobble Gobble Wrap - fresh turkey, lettuce and tomato wrapped up and served with either Fun Fair Frites or Super Duper Fresh Fruit

 

Piece of Pizza -- choice of cheese, vegetable or pepperoni pizza

 

Very Yummy Veggie Dumplings --vegetable stuffed dumplings pan fried or steamed and served with vegetable fried rice

 

Capt'n's Favorite Fish -- oven baked fish served with sticky rice or an All Mixed Up SaladJunior Cucumber Bites --kid size sushi bites made with cucumber, avocado and sticky rice

Dining on Koningsdam - Is there shrimp cocktail (the larger prawn size) available upon request in the dining room each night? Shrimp cocktail makes the day for my kids on a cruise! That and Caesar salad.

Also wondering if a side of potatoes, garlic mashed or baked style, can be added onto entrees in the dining room? Notice a lot of entrees w/o my much loved potato side.

At lunch time - is a nice Mac n cheese easy to come by in the Lido Marketplace? Been looking at the menus I have found online, but they do seem limited. Makes me wonder if the options are more limited in the buffet than on say a Princess ship.

Lastly - does the dining room have a kids' menu?

Thank you for any advice !! Can't wait to sail in March.

Looks like you had a fantastic cruise!! New to HAL and will be on the Koningsdam in March. Can I ask you - did you see any kids using the Seaview pool? We would like to go to the Seaview pool with the kids. I notice on a cruise critic pic that the sign posted at that pool states that kids under age 14 require adult supervision. This leads me to believe that kids can use the pool. However, I have read elsewhere and been told by HAL that it's an adult only pool. Do you have insight on what you experienced at that pool? Also - can you tell me if the pools are open for evening swims? Thanks a bunch. Jennifer:)

This was just my 3rd HAL cruise but 31st overall since I started sailing in 2001. I have 27 Carnival sailings and 1 RCI.

 

I didn’t write a review of my January Zuiderdam cruise. First time I didn’t write anything since I first found Cruise Critic. Not sure why. Probably because I don’t typically cruise in January and when I returned, it was straight into tax season and I just never found the energy.

 

So, I got a casino discount (think it was 30%) which made this affordable as a solo although it was at the top of my price range. I’m just tired of the same old/same old on Carnival and really liked the ports on this, so I booked.

 

Of course, thanks to the hurricanes, there were port changes. Our first POC was to be St Martin, which was changed to St Croix, and then changed to Antigua. Our last port (other than HMC) was originally St Thomas, which was changed to Cap Cana, which ended up being changed while onboard to La Romana.

 

There were sizable price drops. I received a couple of upgrade emails but didn’t want to spend another $200 x 2 to upgrade. I ended up upgrading myself from an inside to a verandah (5044) but, of course, I lost my prepaid gratuities and $50 OBC.

 

I hadn’t flown down the morning of sailing for at least a decade but in my effort to keep costs down, I booked a 7:40 nonstop on SW so figured I had plenty of time. For the first time in ages, SW did not give me TSA pre-check. Got to the airport at about 6:10 and then managed to move while in the scanner and had to get the pat-down. Whatever. Not sure why so many people find it so humiliating. Then her wand went off so they had to go through my bags and took me into a room to do a second pat-down. All I wanted was to get some caffeine and food. When they were finally finished with me it was about 6:45. Decided that after that, I needed a mimosa. Except the bar didn’t start serving alcohol until 7! Had to settle for a Starbucks.

 

Uneventful flight. Was starving so got a great bagel down in the baggage claim area at FLL. Retrieved my bottle of wine out of my checked bag and put it in my carryon. Out on the curb, I decided it was finally time to give Uber a try. While I was trying to make my selection, it told me there were no cars but I could do a shared ride. Sure, why not? Driver picked me up then on to the next terminal to pick up another couple who were in town for a conference. Driver headed to the port first and proceeded to take several wrong turns while in the port area. Finally got to Pier 21. Dropped my one big case with a porter and headed into the terminal. The line was long (I’m spoiled by being Platinum on Carnival and missed having priority check-in). Was on the ship before noon. Dropped my carryon in the cabin and took a few photos.

Cabin 5044

 

Headed up to Lido for my first beer and Dive-In Burger.

 

Toured the spa and just wandered around the ship. Checked to see if my bag had arrived but it still wasn’t there. Finally, when we were told to return to our cabins for muster drill, it was waiting. I unpacked while listening to the instructions on the TV. My muster station was in Billboard Onboard.

Thank you for your reply. I came across this photo of the Seaview pool and it states that children under age 14 require adult supervision - which makes me think kids are allowed with supervision. Think this may be the case?

https://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/...ol--v12697128/

Children are only allowed in the Lido pool. The Aft pool, Sea View Pool is adults only.

Smoking is allowed only on the star board side near the Sea View Bar -- which includes several tables in that area. It won't get very smoky at the pool itself or on the port side.

Pools close down in the evening -- usually around 10 PM -- can vary by ship.

Thank you for your reply. I came across this photo of the Seaview pool and it states that children under age 14 require adult supervision - which makes me think kids are allowed with supervision. Think this may be the case?

https://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/koningsdam-986/sea-view-pool-275235/sea-view-pool--v12697128/

sailing with my 8 and 10 yr olds. Are kids allowed in the sea view pool? Is that area smokey due to smoking area? Is either pool open for a night swim? Thx!

I have a question about the loyalty program. I am now Ruby after just completing my third cruise. My question is whether shorter duration cruises i.e. three or four day trips, count as a full cruise when trying to work up to the next level? I have read that it says it goes according to either the number of cruises for the number of the cumulative days which ever is greater. So if you short cruises would be beneficial to move up in the loyalty levels. Am I correct with this?

This is listed as an obstructed view stateroom. Would love to find some feedback or pic of what to expect for a view.

Thanks!

Jennifer

Thanks Nicole. Did you phone the DINE line each morning to reserve? Or did you speak with the Maitre D in the dining room?Thx again

Great review. Can I ask what time your traditional dining was? With a 600 dining time, I am wondering if it gets moved to 530 when you board, as I have read from other cruisers. Thanks! Jennifer

Great Review of the Regal! Can I ask what time you made your dinner reservations for? We board the regal on Sunday and hoping to get anytime dining reservations at 630 pm......but have been reading that they only offer 530 or 745 when trying to make a reservation. Thanks!

Hi Everyone, we are just back from a wonderful week on the Regal Princess and I thought I would do a quick review in case anyone is interested. We were on the 2/26 sailing and flew down to FLL from Buffalo a day early. We usually run into nasty winter weather in the north but this year it was in the 60's when we left!

 

 

We stayed at the Hyatt Place in Plantation to save a little money. We found the hotel rates pretty high for our usual hotels in the FLL area, probably due to being the end of the President’s/winter holiday week. The hotel was very nice, we loved the room. Everything was very clean, the staff was friendly and they had a decent free breakfast.

 

 

We rented a car from the airport for the day since we arrived early (8:30am) and knew we couldn’t check in for a few hours. The car worked out great and was returned later that same evening so we wouldn't have to deal with the return in the morning . The rental car place at the airport is very nice and well organized. It was very convenient and so easy to get back to upon our return.

 

 

We spent the day driving around by the beach and then had dinner at the Downtowner right on the intercoastal. This was a fun place, very lively, great food and decent prices. It was so nice being outside, watching the boats go by and listening to the band. Would definitely go back again.

 

 

Embarkation:

We decided we wanted to head to the ship early since we didn’t have anything planned for the day. Since we were a little farther out from the cruise port we decided to arrange a shuttle service for our group of 4 adults. After contacting a couple of different services I found Howard’s Ground Transportation (from another Cruise Critic Review) and arranged a private shuttle to the cruise port and also for transportation after the cruise. Howard was very prompt at responding to my questions and setting up my arrangements. All of our drivers were wonderful, so friendly right on time. We got a call or text before each pick up time letting us know they were on the way. Would highly recommend this service and will be using them next time we need a shuttle like this.

 

 

We got to the pier at around 10:30 and there was already a pretty good line. At about 11:00 they started to let us in for check in. We have priority boarding on princess so check in was very fast and we were sitting up in the lounge within minutes. We only had to wait about 5 minutes before they told us they were ready to start letting us board. This is the first time we were one of the first on the ship and it was so nice to have beat the crowds.

 

 

Rooms were ready when we boarded even though they told us they may not be ready until 1:00pm. We were in rooms M321 & M319. We took advantage of a $99 upgrade to a mini suite that was offered a few months ago. This was our first time in a mini suite and we loved all of the extra space. We usually like to be in the back of the ship but ended up in the front due to availability with the upgrade offer. We always prefer to be on one of the higher decks closer to pools and the buffet J I actually really liked our location, it was very quiet and no noise from the above deck. We had a lot of noise last year when we found our room under the buffet kitchen area.

 

 

Ship:

We love the Regal Princess, the ship is beautiful. We love the big piazza on the newer ships and some of the newer venues in there. The service all week was wonderful wherever we were. Our room steward was hardly ever seen but always did a great job. We had an issue with our toilet in the room not working and it was fixed right away for us. We had a pretty windy day that knocked our balcony divider open and it was swinging all over the place, our room steward came right away and locked it back up for us. I can’t say enough about the great service by all of the staff!

 

 

Dining:

We chose anytime dining but found ourselves making reservations every night to avoid the long waits to get into the dining rooms. I thought the food in the dining rooms was great, there was always at least one item that I wanted to order and didn’t really run into anything thing I really didn’t like. Loved having some Alfredo every night with my entree but missed the Parmesan basket a lot. Two of our group felt that they had trouble finding something every night and were disappointed in the heavily Caribbean and seafood themed menus. Our first and last nights were spent in the specialty restaurants. We always love Crown Grill but this time we were a little disappointed with Sabatini’s. We just felt that the quality was not as good as we remembered from last year on the Regal. We really enjoyed Alfredo’s but only managed to get there once for lunch on embarkation day.

 

 

Entertainment:

We normally don’t go to many production shows on board but actually went to a few this time around and thought they were very good. We missed the comedian but heard he was excellent from multiple people. We are movie people and managed to see a few this week- The Oscars was shown the first night and then later in the week we saw Bourne, Keeping up with the Joneses, Moonlight, La La Land, and for some reason I am blanking on the others. I also found myself catching more entertainers in the Piazza than I normally would. I really felt like there was a lot more to see and do than on past cruises.

 

 

Ports:

We chose this sailing for the date and not so much the ports. We have never been to Grand Cayman(has always been canceled on other cruises we were on) and have never been to Jamaica on a cruise, although have done a couple of land trips.

 

 

Grand Cayman- We chose a ship tour that included the turtle farm and the stingrays. The tour was decent but we were definitely crammed into our van which made the driving a little uncomfortable. I noticed that others from the ship on the same tour were in bigger vans and did not need to use the jump seats so I think we just didn’t luck out this time around. We loved the turtle farm and stingrays but the other stops were just typical tourists traps (Hell & Rum Cake Factory). It was a fun day and I would definitely go again, maybe a private tour next time but for a ship tour this was pretty good.

 

 

Montego Bay- We were originally scheduled for Ocho Rios but were switched to Montego Bay a couple weeks before sailing. The ship offered a Hop on Hop off bus to take you to the beach, shopping and a couple other stops.We thought this seemed like a good plan since we wanted to go to the beach and maybe grab some lunch. Instead we ended up waiting in lines for buses…for hours! We got fed up and ended up paying for taxis instead. The way they have it set up is so unorganized and the buses that come around are already full with people going on to other stops. Each time a bus would come, every 15 minutes or so, there was only room for a couple of people. The lines were at least 30 deep each time waiting for bus after bus. It was such a waste of our day, I am still annoyed about the whole thing and should have probably tried to get our money back but I just didn't want to deal with it.

 

 

One of the places we did make it to was the Pork Pit for lunch. We ended up walking to it from a bus stop at Margaritaville. We really wanted jerk and if I had known better we would have just hopped in a taxi to scotchies and called it a day. The pork pit was fine but not really jerk IMO,more BBQ. The meat was pretty dry but it was tasty and not very expensive. We never did make it to the beach due to all of the waiting.

 

 

Cozumel- Spent the day at Paradise Beach. This was our first time at Paradise Beach,very nice beach and very clean facilities. $3 to get in and use their chairs and umbrellas. You had to make a $10 minimum food/drink purchase but that was easy to do. Food was very pricey but it was still much cheaper than paying for an all-inclusive beach day since we don’t drink that much to make the higher price worth it for us. Our other option was to go to Nachi Cocom for the day but we didn’t want to pre-pay for the whole group in case the weather wasn’t great for a beach day. We may try that out next time when it’s just two of us.

 

 

Our ship stayed in Cozumel until 10pm, the latest of any princess cruise port I have been to. We loved the late time, we never felt rushed to get off or on the ship. We actually went back the ship after the day at the beach and we able to shower and head back off the ship for shopping and dinner.

 

 

Spa:

We don’t get any spa services but always enjoy the thermal suites and the enclave on the newer ships. We got a couples pass for the week for $249 (it was $149 for a single pass). I loved the enclave last year on Regal but was disappointed this year. The hot stone loungers are no longer hot and we were told on our tour of the spa that they are “cool stone loungers”. Since when? I know they were always barely warm but a cold stone lounger was not enjoyable at all. I ended up laying on the water bed loungers this time around but so did everyone else so there was a wait at times since there are only two. The pool in the enclave was very relaxing but by the end of the week the water was looking pretty gross and a little foam had formed so I stayed out of it the last two days. I find hot tubs to be kind of skeevy to begin with so I’m sure it was ok but to me it was a bit gross. I love the steam rooms and that is the main reason I use the enclave. I missed the aromas they used to put in at least one of them but did notice a nice scent on one occasion towards the end of the week.

 

 

 

Disembarkation:

At the end of the cruise we chose to do walk off and kept our luggage with us. To me there is nothing worse than having to wait around in a lounge to be called to get off the ship. We were off the ship by 7am and our shuttle arrived about 10 minutes after that.

 

 

We stayed an extra day to avoid the airport crowds and arrived at our hotel by 7:30. We knew check in wasn’t until 3:00 but wanted the hotel to hold our luggage for us. To our surprise they let us check in and go right to our rooms! That has never happened before and definitely not that early in the morning. We stayed at the Riverside Hotel, which has a wonderful location right on Las Olas. They also have a water taxi stop right at the hotel. The rooms were pretty basic but decent for one night. We didn’t pay to stay in the executive tower which I am hoping are more modern and updated than what we had.

 

 

The next morning Howard was there to take us to the airport and we headed home. A great week and a great cruise,can’t wait to plan the next one!

We are boarding the Regal next week for a 14-nt caribbean cruise. It was sold to us as 14-nights, but it is actually two 7-night sailings. My travel agent tells me the wine packages are available to cruises 10 nights or longer. I am not quite sure if this will qualify for the wine package to be available to us. The agent says yes, but had never heard of the package before I mentioned it to her. Does anyone have experience with this? Can the wine package wine be drank ONLY in the MDR? Or can drink it in the buffet or in the stateroom? Thanks a lot, Jennifer

I recently called Princess and purchased $5000 in casino credit for an October cruise and I do this so I don't have to carry the cash with me (my goal is to carry that plus more home) and was told that it was strictly for the casino and not onboard credit. I'm fine with that as I'm a gambler and when I asked if I can cash in the chips for cash I was told of course. So yes, you can get casino credit, go to the tables ask for chips and then go to the cage and cash them in for cash.

Hi 99Cruiser. I would like to do the same as you outlined with the casino credit. Did you have any problem cashing out your casino credit for dollars?

Much appreciated, Jennifer

Just saw that I can pre-purchase a bottle of rum before I board the Regal. Will this bottle of rum be given to me to use in my stateroom?

I am wondering if I had the mocktails bev package can I use my bottle of rum that I buy onboard and add to the mocktails? Plenty cheaper than the AIBP.

Thanks!

you must be on the ship to purchase a wine package. Also, cruise must be at least 10 days

I am booked on a 14-night east/west carib on the Regal. However, it's actually two B2B 7-nights, but I booked as 14. Would this qualify for the wine package? Thx

I notice this option seems to have disappeared from the cruise personalizer. Is it sill possible to pre-purchase casino credits online?

Thx!

Great pics Jennifer. Thanks for sharing. We are looking for a beautiful beach to visit while in port. What is the name of the beach in your pics?

Thanks a bunch!

Jennifer

We had an absolute blast as soon as we got off the valor last week we saw an excursion desk paid29.99 got on an air conditioned bus he took us into town we did a great tour of the city. then he took us to a beautiful resort beach for about 2.5 3 hrs amazing they had drinks and food not expensive at all then after that they took us to the port we went to the amber cove pool for an hour or so it was a blast as well so you can't go wrong at all

With anything that you do ;)

I am canadian. When I booked my carib cruise for 2017 the exchange rate on Princess was 35%. When I log into my cruise personalized to purchase casino credit, it reflects that same 35% exchange rate.

My question is, if the CDN dollar continues to rise, will I continue to have the 35% exchange? Is it set once cruise is booked or will it fluctuate as the rates increase/decrease?

Thanks

Thanks for your input! I'm mostly worried about what the unmarked space is beside our cabin at the front, but will roll the dice!

I am almost sure that this space is linens/storage for the room attendants. The room is accessed by the room attendants for their supplies, etc. Could be a bit of a concern if the door is opening and closing steadily, but when we were on the ship in November, I noticed they tended to leave the door propped open when they were working. Closed when they were not around of course.

On the upside, it would be very quiet at night when you're trying to sleep. Potentially quieter than having people staying on that side.....

Hi Everybody, rookie cruiser here. Just booked the 14 day Caribbean on the Regal Princess departing March 12th. I researched the forums, but am wondering if I missed anything during my cabin selection. We are on deck 14 (Riviera) in R207, and I'm wondering if there are any downsides to that location/layout other than the additional movement from being at the front of the ship?

 

Regal Deck Plan

We are booked on the same cruise!! Can't wait :) We were on the Regal in November on the Lido deck as far forward as possible. No problem whatsoever with movement. Great location. You'll be nice and close to the pools and the buffet. Great spot!

Sosua Beach might be a nice option. Haven't been there, but it looks nice.

Looking for feedback on the very recent cruises on the Regal. Would like to know if there were many spring breakers in March or more children than the ship could handle comfortably. Considering cruising next March on Regal, as I have a tight schedule with work and this is a good time to go. Main concern that the ship might be too full (given kids in the quad cabins) or too wild (compared to other times of year).

Feedback from those just back would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Thanks for your report. Looking forward to cruising the Regal in 2017!!!

Can you tell me what the age demographic was like? Were there many children? How about college spring breakers, given that it's spring break? Would love to know how busy the ship was or if it felt crowded.

Thanks so much!

Jennifer

Has anyone been in a cabin at the front of the the Royal or Regal lately? (balcony facing forward - above the bridge). Just wondering if they still allow you to access the balcony while at sea?

I understand it states that it is only accessible in port, but on our previous cruise in L102 we had 24/7 access. Would like to see if this is still the case.

Thanks