COUNTDOWN to REGAL PRINCESS: News, updates, and general information!!!

[#1winelover]

We'll be on that one. Can hardly wait.:)

 

Well come join us on the Inaugural and the b2b starting Nov. 6th. Here's the link to the 11/6 sailing: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=42795842&postcount=1034

 

:D

[cdnguy]

Well come join us on the Inaugural and the b2b starting Nov. 6th. Here's the link to the 11/6 sailing

 

Thanks but by the time we arrive in Ft. Lauderdale on Nov. 3 we will have been on the Regal 29 days.

12 days, Barcelona - Venice, 17 days, Venice - Ft. Lauderdale...both with active roll calls.

 

The Regal will have several inaugurals including our Transatlantic inaugural and the Caribbean inaugural Nov. 6

Edited May 18, 2014 by cdnguy

[dmwnc1959]

Thanks Dmwnc1959,

 

That's a good idea, I'll make a note to check it out later this year. I have no experience with a BVE...are we with a ship staff member to show us around. Are we let loose on our own at all? How long can we stay?

 

I love this board, so much valuable information!

 

For a BVE you're allowed to tour the ship independently as well as dine in a separate venue other than the MDR. Just explain to the Host/Hostess that you have a time constraint and need to be off the ship earlier than the other BVE guests. Embarkation of BVE guests usually begins around 11:30am and it's 'all ashore' at 3pm.

 

The tricky part won't be getting aboard in a timely manner, but getting off with enough leeway to allow for the taxi ride and traffic congestion to get back aboard Royal Princess before they 'close the gates'. You don't want to risk missing the ship!

 

:D

[dmwnc1959]

Regal Princess getting close to the entranceway to Kotor:

 

http://www.kroooz-cams.com/regal/regal1.php

 

 

 

[dmwnc1959]

 

Edited May 18, 2014 by dmwnc1959

[dmwnc1959]

 

Edited May 18, 2014 by dmwnc1959

[dmwnc1959]

Edited May 18, 2014 by dmwnc1959

[dmwnc1959]

Thanks Dave! Hoping all will go smoothly. Took an upsell from an obstructed view on Emerald to a mini suite on Aloha! Had an email last night that our airline crew may go on strike the day we were to depart so now we're flying to Venice on the 28th instead of the 30th. Will have more days to relax before the cruise :)

 

Can't wait to see the first interior ship photos from those sailing before us!

 

 

ENJOY that mini-suite!!! You should be able to watch Regal Princess arrive into Venice on the 29th and cruise down the main canal around noon. THAT is an impressive sight, at least on a web cam. ;)

 

:D

[dmwnc1959]

Thanks to everyone - especially Dave - for these update, photos and more.

 

We'll be leaving in a few hours for the airport, and will arrive in Venice tomorrow. Can't wait to board the Regal on Tuesday!

 

I will endeavour to post a photo of the new 'pool' to this thread as soon as possible after boarding :D If there are any other specific requests or questions that I an answer once on board, just let me know, and I'll do my best.

 

 

Once Regal Princess departs on her Maiden Voyage I'll be in hiatus for a little while, but lurking none the less reading Live reports and looking at everyone's pictures.

 

The small dipping pool will no doubt spark some 'conversation', and it will be interesting to see how long it takes to see if the modifications to the smokestack exhausts and Retreat Pool area are effective.

 

Keep us updated when time permits. I do hope you have a GREAT cruise!!!

 

:D

[dmwnc1959]

Regal Princess is now underway and departing Kotor as of 11:45am local time (9:45GMT and 5:45am EDT).

 

Splendour of the Seas is inbound towards the main bay entrance at 19 knots. I'm guessing they'll pass each other in the bay at some point...

 

 

 

(Rachel Vane aboard Regal Princess)

 

 

(Dani Petekkaya)

Edited May 18, 2014 by dmwnc1959

[dmwnc1959]

Regal Princess is now underway and departing Kotor as of 11:45am local time (9:45GMT and 5:45am EDT)....

 

Looks like she's just moved to another anchorage position further away from town and stopped again. :o

 

Splendour of the Seas is entering the Bay of Kotor on the far western side.

 

Edited May 18, 2014 by dmwnc1959

[dmwnc1959]

Splendour of the Seas passing Regal Princess...

 

 

[dmwnc1959]

Regal Princess at Kotor....

 

(Credit Vlad F)

Edited May 18, 2014 by dmwnc1959

[h3rjp]

So this is neither a full review or a live from thread, but I know a lot of you are keen to know everything you can about the Regal; so here goes the observations so far.

 

Quick bit of background about me. This is my 6th cruise having been on Star, Ruby (twice), Crown and recently p&o's Ventura. The last ship has some relevance here; as it essentially a Ruby / Crown etc ship with different decor. To my taste it was a lot more modern that that of princess ships. I saw one reviewer describe Princess's decor as something of the era of the Golden Girl's; painted palm trees and sea foam... Which from a design critic point of view is a little harsh but not entirely inaccurate.

 

As I said it's not a full review; otherwise I'd bore you are silly with the various tales of our journey from hell actually getting on board, which needed up coming right down to the wire.

 

We made is onboard about 2 minutes to 5pm. Just in time to hear the general emergency signal announcing passengers to their muster stations.

 

We quickly took the lift up to our cabin grabbed the life jackets and assembled in the casino without even giving very much a second glance at all.

 

What was clear was the fact that the ship is very new indeed. The smell of fresh carpet was quite noticeable in the corridors, but everything looks more or less finished.

 

The first thing we noticed during the muster was the fact the the public address system needs work. It was almost impossible to hear what was being said from our position a few feet in front of the bar, next to the area that is open to above. It was also pretty hard to hear any announcements around the main pool area too; but they appear to be working on this with various people plugging laptops into the hidden panels around the ship and tweaking things.

 

So after muster we got to have a look around the cabin properly. A first glance it seem lovely. The decor is certainly more modern than the previous princess efforts and the addition of a small sofa in the deluxe version certainly added and nice place to sit down without laying on the bed.

 

The TV does appear to stock out slightly into the room, but having said that this proved a plus point as it means you can access the sockets on the back of it. I'm the melee of repacking 3 bags into two in the airport car park (we had to get a last minute ticket on another airline) we neglected to bring uk to USA plus adapters, which meant my iPhone was 3% away from dying completely and I had seemingly no way to plug it back in. Apart from the fact that the TV has a USB socket and that did the charging trick much to my relief!

 

For those wondering about electrical outlets, there are 2 American ones on the desk and a 220v round European one too.

 

On the balcony I was expecting to see almost no space as everything I reds lead me to believe that they were terribly sized. Erm, no. They are not. Sure if you are used to booking a grand class caribe balcony they are a * lot * smaller but they are perfectly useable and still nice to sit out on.

 

I think the bathroom is a major improvement. It is larger for a start with a better shower (that has a hose) a nicer sink and a little more space. That's not to say it is perfect but it is better.

 

There are three real criticism of the room. The first I believe is the same as the royal. There is no way to turn the dressing area light on without turning the main cabin light on too. This is difficult if one of you is am early riser and the other isn't; as simply opening the bathroom door does not give sufficient light to find things. This is quite annoying, but I guess it was too late to change the specification.

 

I second is the odd placement of the toilet roll. It is hidden under the vanity unit, meaning it's very difficult for a gentleman to get at it if standing up. I'm at a loss why it isn't on the wall between the toilet me the shower?

 

The final thing is the TV. When you first turn it own you have to sit through a safety video which is 7 minutes long and there is no way to get past it. Yes safety is important, but it is the same information as the muster drill just overlaid on 10 year old stock princess footage featuring an array of smiling extras that look as though their last gig was in Dynasty and they kept the same clothes (watch it and tell me that's not true!)

 

But taking everything's together the cabin is better than the previous generations. It has the more modern feel of that of the Ventura but is still very obviously princess.

 

8/10.

 

We took some time to explore the rest of the ship, and it really is quite nice. I mention the Ventura again here as the decks are very similar in design. The use of plants, woven furniture and general betting zoning of space is a big improvement. It just looks so much more up market and is all the better for it.

 

I did try the sea walk and it is a nice novelty feature, but lady's please be aware that anyone sat on the promenade deck below can see straight up your dress...

 

I wanted to touch on the pool issue. There is not doubt that for a ship of this size it still doesn't have enough pools or hot tubs. The only real pools that are suitable for swimming is the retreat pool on 17 and the back half of the main pool. And while it is lovely it's not enough compared to the older ships. Both were also pretty damn cold. For those that are wondering about the new terrace pool it is 4 feet deep.

 

Also while we are on the open decks I can confirm there is a wind break between the sanctuary and the retreat. It seems to work too as the wind was a little cold today and I didn't real feel it as I got out the pool.

 

I need to touch on the smoking issue here as people find it important. But firstly I should clarify that the vast majority of people on board today are Europeans. Mostly Italians too and I would guess the ship is about a 1/3 full. They seem to love smoking.

 

The 2 outdoor areas are deck 7, starboard aft which has a shortage of seating, but it otherwise a nice area. The second one is 17 aft, the same place as the terrace pool. Now the space they have created is lovely. Behind the pool under the overhang of the deck above is a seating area which all of it seems to be for smoking. Also the sun loungers on the starboard side are also smoking areas and this whole place was packed. The whole time. It is a lovely space but if you are planning to use the new pool this may be an issue for you.

 

Last 2 times about the deck is the new jogging track / walking track on top. This is nice but a little exposed and although there are signs telling you which lane is for which activity this is only written in small English text on a few signs. It could really do with being painted on the deck with symbols and the addition of directional arrows to keep the walkers and joggers happy.

 

Lastly the promenade deck. I said in my quick first impressions that you could not walk in the area under the lifeboats. This isn't entirely true. Although there are gates which separate the wider deck 7 areas from the narrow bits by the boats, there is no sign telling you not to go down there and today they were open. Obviously you still can't get around either the front or the back but you could walk the deck length of you felt like it.

 

Also another quick observation. They must have changed how the balconies comply with the fire regulations as other than above the lifeboats they now longer have heat detectors or sprinklers. I guess the removal of all the combustible plastic and banning of balcony smoking has significantly decreased the risk of an externally fed fire. They may also have been other design or regulation changes. However I'm alway weary that when a previously learnt lesson is changed, for whatever reason.

 

But anyway overall I'd still give the public decks a good 8/10.

 

Onto food, drink and service now. It's odd. As I said the ship isn't very full at all. So when we went down to the main dining room on deck 5 last night it was very quiet. So much so I guess there were no more than 30 people in the whole place. And only 8 in our section.

 

Menus are pretty much the same as before (apart from I noticed they have switched from referring to items as "entrees" but now the more universal "main course"). We did have to ask from bread, but I think that was only because it wasn't worth putting it out of 100s of tables that were not going to get sat at. The food was the same as normal princess stuff. Pretty good, nice choice and good flavours. The only exception was the home style fried chicken which was dry and tasteless (and was quickly replaced by something else).

 

Service, as you might expect was attentive and professional. It was odd using cutlery that had clearly never been used before.

 

As it's just a short cruise we purchased the unlimited beverage card at $49 / day each. We did buy one each although I didn't think there was any compulsion to do so. They credited back all our drinks purchases from day 1. I think we'll end up more or less even on the deal but it is nice not having to keep a mental tally.

 

The horizon court was the first I have have seen of this design. It is enormous. There is a very good choice of food and again the quality seems high. The only reservation I have about this version is the fact that plates are much smaller and there are no trays (as there are on P&O) and some of the items are a long way from each other. If you like pancakes with your breakfast they only seem to be in the pastry shop section which seems about 10 miles away from the rest of the buffet, by which time you are running short of hands.

 

 

 

The burgers from the poolside grill were as normal but the only criticism I have here is that the bread wasn't very good quality and could have been better.

 

Now a quick word about the service in general. It is impeccable. Every member of staff seems happy and engaged with their work, they always say hello and nothing seems too much trouble. It being a quiet ship, it does give time to find out a little more about them and where they are from. I guess being a new ship, they are never going to fill it with the bad ones, but I can probably assure anyone that has booked this maiden season you will not have any issue with the service. Contrast this again to P&O where the staff were probably the most miserable bunch of people ever to sail the earth and passengers just seem to be a general distraction to their shared, perpetual bad day at the office.

 

Food, drink and service 9/10

 

Public area are the last item on the list for this review, that's not a review but is getting quite long. I appreciate you have stuck with it and read this far down.

 

There is no mistake this is a princess ship. While the position of some things have changed greatly, it does not take very long to find your way around if you are familiar with the other ships.

 

We have been to the theatre yet as I think they have still been working on it all week. The "world premier" of the new show, Fiera! Is tonight. I don't really like that sort of thing, but I'll go along anyway to see what it is like. The rest of the public areas seem lovely. The layout is nice, they have a nice intermit feel and the expanded piazza is a design triumph.

 

Again, talking about design; this afternoon a lady was busy instructing staff on the layout of the area of 17 aft. Swapping sofas in and out, moving planters around. I asked he if she worked for princess, as I recognised her from YouTube. It was none other than the president of design (I haven't googled her name, but someone can probably tell me). After see finished none other than Ray Calori (sorry about by spelling) was inspecting the new aft pool and telling the person he was with that "royal will be getting the same in dry dock". I did congratulate her on the design as it is an overall triumph.

 

I'd give the public spaces a good 9/10.

 

So sorry for not answering people's questions directly on this thread. I am composing offline so I don't eat into my free internet minutes. Also sorry for iPad autocorrect spelling.

 

But in summary when I read the review of the royal you think it featured structures of dead kittens and tears of orphans it was so badly received. I honestly don't see it myself. This is a lovely ship. My favourite to date. Yes it has a few minor issues, but then nothing in life is 100% perfect.

 

I guess the big question for me if there were two identical cruises, one of another princess ship and one that was on this; I'd pick the Regal. If the regal was slightly more expensive my answer would still be the same.

 

This is a brilliant ship and I'd urge you to try it.

 

I'll attempt to upload some pictures when I have a decent 3G reception upon my return to Venice. Thanks for reading :)

[Shogun]

Hi There

 

Thanks for posting brought back many memories of the Royal

 

quick questions in front of Sabatinis is there still a large round water feature

 

and at the aft dinning room is there still a statue out side the

 

dinning room doors, crew were requesting both be removed to easy passenger flow.

 

As to cabins with baths if you pull the curtain over to get a shower are you left in the dark, as the lights were on the other side

 

As to Rai Caluori very nice guy to chat to, knows more about cruising that anyone I have come across.

 

yours Shogun

[chamima]

Thanks for the great, thorough review.

Are you staying on board for the inaugural cruise?

I expect that smoking area on 17 will be moved and other things will be tweaked when the ship is full.

[bermudiana]

ENJOY that mini-suite!!! You should be able to watch Regal Princess arrive into Venice on the 29th and cruise down the main canal around noon. THAT is an impressive sight, at least on a web cam. ;)

 

:D

 

Dave, I plan on it :) I gave up watching the webcam and went to bed. Great screen shots! Our first stop is Kotor and it looks beautiful!

 

h3rjp...thanks for taking the time to share your observations. Thoroughly enjoyed your review!!

 

Elaine

[dmwnc1959]

[Colo Cruiser]

Dave, I plan on it :) I gave up watching the webcam and went to bed. Great screen shots! Our first stop is Kotor and it looks beautiful!

 

h3rjp...thanks for taking the time to share your observations. Thoroughly enjoyed your review!!

 

Elaine

 

Love Kotor! The sail in is beautiful. Like a Norwegian Fjord.

Our Lady of the Rocks church is really cool sitting out in the middle of the water.

:)

[loma linda ca a & j]

So this is neither a full review or a live from thread, but I know a lot of you are keen to know everything you can about the Regal; so here goes the observations so far.

 

 

This is a brilliant ship and I'd urge you to try it.

 

I'll attempt to upload some pictures when I have a decent 3G reception upon my return to Venice. Thanks for reading :)

thank you so much for taking the time to write such

an excellent descriptive review - can hardly wait for

next year's 17 day TA in april !!!

Edited May 18, 2014 by loma linda ca a & j

[#1winelover]

Thanks but by the time we arrive in Ft. Lauderdale on Nov. 3 we will have been on the Regal 29 days.

12 days, Barcelona - Venice, 17 days, Venice - Ft. Lauderdale...both with active roll calls.

 

The Regal will have several inaugurals including our Transatlantic inaugural and the Caribbean inaugural Nov. 6

 

Funny how that works (multiple INAUGURAL sailings), isn't it? :rolleyes: Oh well, I guess one for each "port" isn't that bad! Enjoy your many days at sea and DO post your impressions and observations, if you can. Thanks!

[Mrs Monkey]

Thanks for the great review. We are due to sail on the Regal on 9th June. Having cruised on the Royal last year we were interested to hear about the terrace pool, disappointing to hear its near a smoking area so we will stick with the retreat pool.

 

Thanks again :)

[#1winelover]

So this is neither a full review or a live from thread, but I know a lot of you are keen to know everything you can about the Regal; so here goes the observations so far.

 

.... snip ....

 

I'll attempt to upload some pictures when I have a decent 3G reception upon my return to Venice. Thanks for reading :)

 

An excellent "not a real review" if I do dare to say so! :p Very enlightening viewpoints and pick-ups on the finer points of design, both structural and cultural. Keep it coming!!! :)

[cruisequeen4ever]

Thank you to the passenger who took precious time to tell us all about the shakedown cruise experience! Keep the accounts coming passengers!!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[TorontoTL]

h3rjp, thank you for taking the time to post your comments.