luvseaside

A Stanley the Bear encounter! My husband asked which crew member lost a bet! Lol!

After enjoying so many Live reports, I thought I’d try my hand. This is our 10th Princess cruise so we’re somewhat seasoned cruisers. First cruise from Galveston though so there was a learning curve Did another thing we’ve never done-fly in the day of embarkation. Only did it bc the flight was very early and a short nonstop flight. Had zero issues. Took Uber from HOU and were dropped off @ 9:30. Got in line and they opened doors soon thereafter. Breezed through security (although they will check your wine in your suitcase very thoroughly) and waited in priority area (coffee/tea/pastries provided) . They started boarding @ 10:30. I ran to Sanctuary to get loungers for one day and they had decent availability. But I’d recommend getting up there fast! Hung out in Crooners for a few minutes while we watched safety video on phone and checked into our muster station nearby. Time for a mimosa! I assured bartender I knew that I would be charged even though I had premier package. We are typically wine drinkers so I won’t have much thoughts on most of the fancy drinks but I’ll try to post some menu pics.

Glad to hear that this is doable. We originally had booked an 11:00 am flight but got nervous about weather and cancelled, rebooking for late afternoon. We plan on doing self-disembark & Uber to HOU too - so hoping that maybe we can get to HOU early enough & change to the earlier flight. (We have a fare category that will allow this & so far that flight isn't booked up). Crossing fingers!

There’s upwards of 40-50 chairs in that area. I would warn that it can be very windy in the Retreat area on sea days.

Our most recent 7 day cruise (Aug 2023) only had one designated "Formal" night (first full sea day) - the second one was labeled "Dress to Impress." My understanding was this was the new format for most cruises but I could be mistaken.

Hope the OP and family are having a great trip. Would love to get update if there is a new Cruise Director on the Regal - saw that Allie may have left a couple of weeks ago. How's the entertainment?

Not sure I'm comfortable doing a screenshot of her instagram -don’t know board protocol but she posted on 12/27/23. It’s last sentence of the post.

Her post just says is the last cruise of her contract. Apparently this was her first cruise job.

According to her Instagram, Allie Ambriano just finished her last cruise on Regal. Guess we'll wait for a trip report to see who the new CD is.

Thanks for this info. We've been discussing what to do since our flight doesn't leave HOU until late afternoon. We discussed taking Princess transfer (ugh) to HOU, then rent a car from there for 3+ hours but renting the car in La Marque sounds so much easier and gives us more options. We also typically use Uber but considering downloading Lyft app now. Glad to know it worked for you.

We have this issue too - our flight leaves HOU late afternoon so we cannot check bags until 12:30 p.m. Which leaves us hanging in pre-security for at least 2 hours after disembarking and transfer. There's zero options to pass the time - it sounds like torture. But the problem is we arrive on a Sunday - so cannot rent a car in Galveston. Enterprise won't allow it. Not sure if there's another option. There is a Cruise Stop convenience store across from terminal that will store bags for $5/bag. But I've no idea how that works in reality. I've seriously considered renting a car once we get to airport for three or so hours though. If you've got that much time, might be worth it once you get to IAH.

Appreciate the info! We are on Regal in a month and I specifically booked dinner for after 7 p.m. on the first night for this reason. We are also bringing on our allotted two bottles of wine to drink in the meantime.

Did the UBD this summer (off the coast of Santorini) and it’s worth the $ and more. I don’t eat shellfish so just got a filet. Enjoyed the meal. When you book, they’ll go over details of what you like (drinks) don’t like (won’t eat). It’s worth it! Also, the personal service is amazing- we actually spent most of the meal talking to our server about his family/home. But I’m sure he’d have left us alone had we let him! 😆

This is strictly a Galveston (Texas) issue. Port Everglades-you can use your package and full compliment of beverages from the minute you step on!

Here’s the Princess passage contract discussing alcohol being brought onboard

Yes, you can each bring on one bottle each. I believe grocery stores in Tx start selling wine at 10 am on Sundays if you want to grab some before you leave. Bon voyage!

There seem to be some new Princess/Galveston cruisers so it might be helpful to discuss how Princess handles the Plus/Premier package while cruising from Galveston. I have not (yet) been on a cruise from there (going in 60+ days on Regal), but my understanding is that you cannot use your Plus/Premier package while at port, but have to pay for all beverages a la carte until you reach international waters (approx 2 hrs after sailing?). (Not to mention it's a limited alcohol menu). Princess apparently has offset this issue with a $25 credit. To cover that "dead" period on embarkation day, we personally plan to bring on our allotted two bottles of wine, and maybe one more (and pay for corkage), to make sure we can have a decent glass of wine until the full bar and drink package kick in. "Plan for the worst and hope for the best" is our travel motto! When Princess went out of Houston years ago, we got fogged in overnight and could not leave until early the next morning. That was pre-package days and thankfully we had brought several bottles of wine for the week. This time we have the Premier package, and embarkation day for us is our anniversary; so I want something special to clink glasses with! 🙂 A recent trip report (thanks @TxTeach79!) noted that some folks got upset with the bar staff that first day b/c they could use their pkg; so I though this thread might help avoid some frustration. Knowledge is power, right? Maybe Princess could better communicate this "quirk" of sailing from Galveston to those passengers. This info could be provided in the Travel summary or embarkation information perhaps? Any comments on this topic from those on recent cruises on the Regal would be appreciated, I'm sure.

How interesting about Club 6. Last week it was in use for Platinum/Elite happy hour. Guess they'll move that to Vista Lounge? Thanks for update on Belize. We would love to get off ship and take ferry to Caye Caulker but may just be too much to fool with considering the ferry schedule. Might be a stay-on-the-ship kind of day.

Thanks for feedback. Forgot about Mardi Gras! We are cruising the week between those dates, and it appears that you have to buy a ticket to access the Strand/parade area; so that's likely a no-go for either day. Well darn.

First time cruising from Galveston (leaving on Regal Princess February 2024). We have a flight arriving in HOU @ 7:50 a.m. on the morning of the (Sunday) cruise (I know, I know...but it's a 6:15 a.m. first flight out, nonstop with a 99% on-time arrival so we feel confident doing this. Even if it's delayed, very good chance we'd still make it to ship with time to spare). Anyhoo, if everything goes to chalk, we're thinking of getting an Uber from HOU to Port, which should put us at cruise terminal @ 9:30-9:45 a.m. Could we, at that point, get porters to take our larger bags, and then leave terminal with carryon and walk around the Strand for a couple of hours - maybe grab some brunch? How early do they take luggage? I hate just standing around and waiting at the terminal if not necessary. And frankly, with the limited drinks onboard and no beverage pkg available, why would we rush to get on the ship before 1 p.m.? That way we'd also get to spend some time in Galveston since we're not doing overnight stay. As far as disembarkation, I think we've resigned ourselves to doing the Princess transfer back to HOU and spend 6 hours at the airport. But I did wonder about storing luggage at the Cruise Stop store for a couple of hours and grab an Uber to HOU @ noon since our flight doesn't depart until 4:25 p.m. Any thoughts/suggestions on that?

We have similar issue-not leaving HOU until after 4 pm and really don’t want to sit around airport for 6+ hours. Sailing Princess but can’t do excursion bc drops off at IAH not HOU. I guess only option would be book a private car service which could be cost prohibitive?

I'd suffer the long line at GS - this is either AI or this person has no clue.

It's free. Regal does have separate Sanctuary area.

Yep, the Retreat Pool design on Regal (and Royal) Princess is not great - sooo windy! They originally planned to make it a late night party area but no one could stand being out there. They fixed the wind issue on the Sky and Enchanted by surrounding that area with cabins and better wind shields. Hopefully, later in the day, the ship will slow down enough to make the Retreat tolerable.

Appreciate the photos of Chef's Table. We did Chef's Table on our first Princess Cruise, and said then it was too much food, but we were about to talk ourselves into doing it again on our upcoming cruise on the Regal. Thank you for reminder that it truly is just too much food (for us). Plus the wine (except for the champagne) looks pretty "meh". I think our money is better spent elsewhere.