Back from Regal 6/24 to 7/5

Thanks PrincessCatarina and azdmelani for the info. We'll be sure to line up as early as possible and hopefully our experience in September will be good. I have one more question and I almost hate to ask it but what did you observe most people wearing in the dining room on formal nights? I don't want to turn this into another dress code fight thread - I've read plenty of those unfortunately. I know what Princess suggests as formal attire and I've also seen the "packing list" so we don't need to hear all that over again. I'm really only interested in hearing from people who were on the Regal Princess this summer in the Baltics and what they saw on formal nights so that I can pass it on to the friends that we are cruising with.

We had Club Class dining and on formal nights the people around us were dressed in 'elegant comfort'. Men wore sports coats or suits and ladies wore cocktail dresses. However, outside of the dining room in the photography areas and the piazza I saw several evening gowns and gentlemen with formal wear, such as white dinner jackets. Overall I found it a tad dressier than the Caribbean cruises I have been on with Princess even on this same ship, but no pressure to dress to the nines (unless you want to).

A couple of considerations for packing for this particular itinerary:

• While there are 2 formal nights, the 1st night in port in St. Petersburg acts as a third formal night if you go to the Russian ballet. I saw some very well dressed people board our tour bus that night and 'dressing in your finery' is encouraged!
  
• There are many European guests on these sailings who are less likely to challenge the dress code on formal nights by wearing jeans and shorts to the MDR; then again, if you go to e.g. the buffet you will certainly find plenty of passengers who opted out
  
• Many guests from outside of Europe who take this cruise also travel prior or/and after the cruise, so adding a lot of bulk to luggage with formalwear may not be practical. Consider what makes logistical sense for you.
  
• Are you buying the all-inclusive photo package? Many do, and since the formal night photos are included it makes sense to dress up and try to get some nice photos. We discussed skipping the second formal night but made the effort to look as nice as possible given our investment in the photo package.
  

I hope that helps!

I'm just shocked by this report of delays getting off in St. Petersburg. We were on the mid-June 2016 Regal Baltic cruise and the experience was completely different. No need to get tickets to disembark - just go when you were ready. And the wait to get through Russian Immigration was only about 10 to 20 minutes the 1st day. The second day, it appeared they just looked to see if you had the stamp from the previous day and that was it. It does sound like having a second large ship there made a huge difference. On our cruise, while there was a second ship there, it was much smaller and I believe being processed in a separate section of the terminal.

You were very lucky! There were a total of 8 cruise ships in port in St. Petersburg on July 11 but they were serviced by various terminals (e.g. Seabourn Quest was in the city center and had a small terminal just to themselves, so the immigration process must have been much better!). Only the Serenade of the Seas and Regal Princess were sharing the unlucky terminal of horrendous wait times and the lines were barely moving. It was also a little scary to watch several passengers get pulled aside for additional questioning after presenting their passports following the marathon wait in the hot sun. What was happening and where were they being taken? It really bothered us, so my husband asked one of these passengers afterwards once back on the ship what the reason was for getting pulled aside and found out that not having enough empty (unstamped) passport pages was one reason to get pulled aside. I'm a U.S. citizen but was asked to confirm the country where I was born, otherwise no other questions asked.

It was quite the experience! If we go on this itinerary again I would plan any tour either later in the day on day 1 (which then means the main attractions are already very crowded) or on day 2.

This was my 4th time on this ship and I'm happy to answer any questions you have. I highly recommend a Baltic cruise to anyone, it was one of my favorite cruises to date.

 

Some things of note:

 

Food was excellent and never really had a bad meal. Thanked Nicola on the last day. Never really had a wait for the dining room (and if we did we were paged within 15 minutes)

 

Kelly Rose was our CD and she was a star. Always visible on the ship, very personable and down to earth. Entertainment schedule was excellent and always something to do.

 

Was Nicola your waiter??

The mix of passengers on this cruise was very diverse. Lots of families, people of all ages. Announcements were made in English, Spanish and Chinese.

 

Laundry service was excellent- never had an issue and always came back next day.

 

Like I said any questions I would be happy to answer them!

Was Nicola your waiter?

The immigration process time seems to vary a lot. During the July 5 sailing on the Regal, i.e. on July 11 it easily took over 3 hours to get through this process! Perhaps it was a better experience if you were among the very first to get off the ship before 7 am but we went to the dining room at 7:30 am and did not get through immigration until 10:40 am with hordes of people still behind us waiting. Our disembarkation ticket numbers were in the 600s. A tour group going to Moscow missed their morning train and people with early admission tickets to e.g. the Hermitage were not able to reap the benefit. A couple we met on the plane over to the cruise told us they were simply too tired to go on their booked tour on the second day after this horrible experience and cancelled it.

 

The Serenade of the Seas was in port that same days sharing the services of the same terminal. The crowds were horrendous on the pier and Princess staff said there was nothing they could do to expedite. The arrivals hall was full of tour guides once we got through and luckily ours had not given up on us! What an exhausting morning it was.

 

It seemed the process was more geared towards keeping people out than letting them in, at least on that particular summer day (each individual was processed separately and thoroughly).

 

Hopefully nobody else has to experience this long wait going forward but July 5 sailing was definitely not lucky in St. Petersburg!

Oh no!!! I am so sorry to hear that you had that experience. We were very fortunate to be the only ship in port on the first day, which I am sure expedited the process.

Thanks PrincessCatarina and azdmelani for the info. We'll be sure to line up as early as possible and hopefully our experience in September will be good. I have one more question and I almost hate to ask it but what did you observe most people wearing in the dining room on formal nights? I don't want to turn this into another dress code fight thread - I've read plenty of those unfortunately. I know what Princess suggests as formal attire and I've also seen the "packing list" so we don't need to hear all that over again. I'm really only interested in hearing from people who were on the Regal Princess this summer in the Baltics and what they saw on formal nights so that I can pass it on to the friends that we are cruising with.

Formal nights are always so varied. I see everything from ball gowns to skirts and even shorts. I dont think the dress code police were as active this time, but your trip could vary.