Chesie

We were not able to drop anchor in the cays in January. Too windy. We were going to stay on board anyway but without porting, so did everyone else! Good news we got the port fees credited. Bought us a bottle of wine

We inquired during our tour first day. $149.00 pp for the week, no day pass. We opted out as we had a couple excursions already book. Sorry we didn't sign up. It looked like heaven! It will give us another reason to sail her again!

Thank you for the review. We were on the 1/25 sailing and had a great time!

I thought it was Mighty Leaf brand. The Regal actually has a loose tea leaf 'cabinet' which I never saw anyone around, so I am unsure how you got to select your choice. Something to check out this October when we are back on her!

Yes, Mighty Leaf. My DH got hooked on the mint green tea and I ended up on amazon getting 3 boxes!

In the cruise personalizer you can go to "guest check in" and at the bottom of the page you can select a special occasion. One of the list is Retirement, so go for it!

 

That means you get balloons and a sign on the cabin door on the day you select and a voucher for a cake you can use in the MDR.

I celebrated retirement on our cruise last month on The Regal. Things must have changed.... No sign, no balloons but I did get a cake voucher :)

We were on the Regal 1/25. We were in our room to drop bags at 12:05 then went to the restaurant for a sit down lunch. This is the first time we booked a cruise for the ship and not the ports. We only went to a couple shows but everyone seemed to arrive early for the seats they wanted. Never felt we were crowed in any way on the Regal. Walk/run track up top was not crowded. We did traditional dining so no wait there. We haven't cruised on rccl in awhile so I can not give an opinion on Allure. However, these are two completely different styles of cruising, IMHO.

Two questions....have searched and haven't been able to come up with the answer. How much is a single spa pass for the week on a 7 day on the Regal? And how do you reserve the Sanctuary?

 

Thanks!!

The Enclave is breathtaking, imho! Yes, $149 pp for week.

I read the entire thread of suggestions for the balcony cabins on Royal. There was input about how the fact that there aren't any staircases in the Piazza has affected some balcony choices.

Would anyone be able to help those of us first time Royals choose an INSIDE cabin. I am happy anywhere on the ship, back-front-up-down. Right now we have Emerald deck but are willing to change.

We just came off the Regal, her sister. Originally had C211. Unless you enjoy the theater music at night, stay away from the forward insides on Caribe deck. We moved to B322 and found that inside much better and a bit roomier.

Thats great that they have 3 - were they all on SEA days?

 

Were they all different food items?

 

Did you have to line up early?

The ones I attend were. Some items from Sabatini's and CG were exceptional and yes I got there early as they were quite crowded by the time they started.

We found Princess Live crowded and spilling out into the walking area.

Not something I wanted to experience, way too small. :(

The only night there was standing room only and spill out was the marriage match gameshow. I think you could hear us all laughing up to the top deck! But, its not for everyone. We just happen to enjoy it.

I would like to know if the ship felt crowded?

Not at all. Actually DH commented more than once he couldn't believe the ship held that many passengers.

How many cooking demos were there throughout the week? Did you have to line up early?

I went to 3 but i think i missed one. They did give you taste samples also.

OP - you weren't four decks up. I believe you were two decks up as there is blank space on the Emerald and Dolphin deck and those spaces may be associate with the theater in some way.

You are correct with the blank spaces. However, the theater also takes up Fiesta deck 6 where the band is at. Blank area or not, its noisy for that distance.

Just curious: what about Princess Live! hooked you? I thought the mystery dealie was weak, and on my Royal cruise, the space was used for activities it was utterly unsuited for, like Zumba and trivia. Since I have no wish to see the Wake Show in person, have they added other stuff that used the space and technology well?

I attended the culinary demos that were quite nice. Don't recall zumba being in that space? Game show and trivia also. Guess its not for everyone but I enjoyed it.

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

What are the rules for bringing your own soda and water bottles on the ship with you. We have been on two other cruise lines and were able to take on water bottles we purchased. I have looked on the Princess site and can not find anything that list prohibited items.

Just back from the Regal. Bought a case of water, slapped on a luggage tag and delivered to the room! No problems.

We were given B211. Looked at deck plans and determined we were up far enough not to be bothered by the Princess Theater, or so I thought. I was worried about the motion as we usually do midship or aft. After hanging the last garment out of the two suitcases, the band in the theater decided to do a practice session. Now mind you we are 4 decks up. It sounded like they were playing in our room! After a couple of minutes there was some chatter in the hall so I opened the door. Well, many passengers were out there complaining to the officer that was walking by. He probably should have taken a different deck because everyone was really upset. The music stopped and he said it didn't seem that bad. Well the band started again and I asked him to step into my room and I got a "oh boy" out of him and he said he would look into it. I decided to go down to passenger services as I knew the rest if the week was going to be one big jam session and we are early to bed kinda people. Explained the situation and she asked if I wanted to be moved. Back to the room to pack up drawers and she sent someone up and they literally moved all our belonging to B322. By doing this we had a most enjoyable time. Well, except our inconsiderate neighbors decided to let loose of the door and let it slam at 11:30 every night. But, that was not the fault of Princess. Princess needs to look into the band noise. I can't imagine the noise heard by the decks below us. I will not be booking a forward cabin on Regal or Royal again. Just sayin.

Just back last night. The Regal is an absolutely beautiful ship. I think Princess made changes to the Horizon court for the better, larger Piazza which was used quite a bit. I think we received excellent service, food (which is subjective) was very good to excellent. Buffet food could have been a bit hotter. I got hooked on Princess Live! All in all it exceeded my expectations!

This is our first cruise to these countries. Four of us are looking for small group local tours from several ports. On a Mediterranean cruise a few years ago, we used Rome-in-Limo for 8 of us, and they used small Mercedes SUVs, and the drivers were fantastic guides. Looking for something similar at the British Isles ports. Looking for recommended tours.

We did the BI cruise August 2013. There was a large group of us on the roll all and. Artois people took charge of the excursions. If you can find our roll all, there is a wealth of information there. We had a blast but it is very port intense.

There will be 2 less at the party the week of 1/25/14 as we will be in bed dreamin away :)

Why was the Princess Kinsale tour a waste of money? We are thinking about booking this tour. What would you recommend instead?

Thanks.

The castle part of the tour was interesting but by the time we got Kinsale we had less than an hour in the town and it was VERY crowded. We had already gone to Blarney so that's why we picked Kinsale. IMHO the tour was not worth the money they charged.

Nice reviews from my fellow cruise mates. It is true this is a very port intensive cruise and we chose to have a partial obstructive view room E404 and glad we did. We just wanted to see if it was raining so we knew what to wear. We had spectacular weather and used the raincoat only once in the almost 3 weeks we were gone. Had enough of a view for us and saved a boat load of money. No upgrades as the ship was full.

We too used several private tour companies only using Princess for Kinsale town tour (waste of time and money as far as I was concerned) Dublin transportation and Edinburgh transportation. Tattoo. NOT TO BE MISSED! We used Timberbush and had a great tour before arriving for the tattoo. We opted to eat lunch at the cafe at Stirling castle which gave us an extra hour or so at the castle. A nice perk. Ate dinner at The Hub at the base of the tattoo entrance and i thought the food was very good. Only negative was our return driver knew how to get to Greenock but NOT the pier. Needless to say we were a tad nervous but all turned out well. Shore excursions with Nigel for Lock Ness was great with Jacobite Queen cruise looking for Nessie. Overlord for Normandy was also someone I would recommend although a few thought it too too long to get to the beaches (about 2 hours) but it is what it is! If you want to see the beaches all tours are going to take that long to get there and we saw a couple sites that the Princess buses did not. We also used international friends for a day trip to Cotswolds which was wonderful. I would recommend you request a van wi ALL seats facing forward. Ours did not and we had to sit backwards. Not fun.

All in all we had a great trip staying in London afterwards for 5 days at the Crowne Plaza which was top notch. Saw The Book of Mormons which was hilarious! Stayed at Premier Inn in Southampton 1 night before boarding and it met all our needs. Chose breakfast ans dinner add on which worked out very well.

Princes....excellent service and met our needs. Food could have been better but then many were complaining so we didn't feel so bad. This was our 4th cruise with Princess and quite honestly our first negative about them.

Now planning our next cruise!

I am doing this in August...I have communicated with 2 people who have done it as recently as last year...if you e-mail me off line I will be happy to share their comments with you...jtamchayatyahoodotcom

Jo,

You'll love Kerry. A beautiful area of Ireland. We drove around ourselves and also went to Dingle which is breathtaking. Enjoy Ireland. They Irish are a wonderful lot.

Emily,

THANK YOU for a wonderful BI review. We are going next August, mostly for the Tattoo and Normandy Beach. I too am a very organized person. I just labeled two 13 folder binders and will condense into a smaller one when leaving for the cruise. I love the planning part, builds the excitment of everything!!

Hope to catch you on a cruise someday

Nancy

I always bring a damp wash cloth in a ziplock bag. Ask the attendant to nuke it a bite and wash my face. Also do this on hot days on an excursion. Cold wash cloth with ice in bag. That way we can freshen up a bit on a hot day out. REALLY came in handy in Egypt. Dust all over the place!