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Princess Regal - Photo Review (11-16-14) + BVE


WinksCruises
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After muster, and now liberated from our BVE guests, we headed back up to settle into - and explore further - the amenities of our new living quarters for the coming week - Stateroom R730. The aft-facing Verona Owner's Suite on the Riviera Deck (Deck 14).

 

Now, you say Owner's Suite to me, and I'm picturing doorbells, cherry wood cabin doors, walk in closets and a baby grand piano in the separate living room. I'm still not sure what we got here and why it was called an Owner's. To me, it seemed more like a practical family suite. The cabin was basically comprised of two standard rooms, separated by a narrow walkway and pushed apart by the generous-sized bathroom. It definitely missed the open-room design - and relative spaciousness - you get with most suite's. This felt more like two standard cabins - joined at the hip.

 

01Room.jpg

The living room with half bar - Small couch, that I'm sitting on to take the photo, featured a pull-out bed

 

Was it a bad cabin? No. It actually suited us just fine, even though we often felt a bit separated. The real plus was the bathroom... Maybe too big. And I often think the separate bath and shower is a space glommer. On RCI, for instance, the tub and shower are combined with no noticeable drawbacks. But then, being a guy, what do I know of such things, really?

 

02Bathroom.jpg

Bathroom... with separate lavatory. Toilet opens onto the living room. Shower/bath room opens up onto the bedroom.

 

One note about the shower, the drain was running a little slow. It was something we kept meaning to report to our cabin steward, but in the end, never did. Wasn't a big deal...

 

Here's the bedroom. Again, not a very large space. And one drawback was the vanity was situated in the narrow walkway between rooms (where the closets were) so when my wife and I were getting ready for formal nights (especially) there was a lot of squeezing by and "Oh, can you move? I have to get into the closet." I know that's to be expected in a cabin... but this is a friggin' Owner's Suite! Who designed this mess?

03Bedroom.jpg

The bedroom... notice the tightened egress to the living room and imagine someone sitting at the vanity. Traffic snarl at sea.

 

But if there's a bain to Regal cabin life.... no matter what your statesroom status... it's the new cabin lighting system. This system requires a key card (or any magnetically striped card) to be in the light switch by the door. If it's not there... the lights go off in a matter of seconds. That gets real annoying, real fast! We ended up just placing one of our old Princesss sea passes in the slot for the entire trip - thus defeating any energy savings had we simply turned the lights on and off ourselves. And the room lighting fun didn't end there! In the middle of the night, if you fumble for the light switch, chances are you'll be putting on lights all over the cabin. It's a very aggravating system, with virtually every light in the room having a switch by the main door. Even after 7 days... we still didn't have it down correctly!

 

04Light.jpg

The dreaded light guardian fixture with our work-around.

 

If I'm moaning a bit too much about how miserable life is being in an Owner's Suite, I'm sorry. It really wasn't a bad room. Just not what we expected, having been in regular suites on both Royal and Princess. Where this stateroom really shined was outside.... on the balcony. Most of the square footage our old Ruby cruise was paying for was out on aft-facing deck. It was large and wrapped around the corner of the ship for access to the bedroom and the living room.

 

So as the Regal Princess horn blasted out the opening bars of the Love Boat theme song, we pulled out of Fort Lauderdale (and yes, there is some noticeable room vibration when that happens) and headed out for the high seas.

 

06SailAway.jpg

The aft-facing balcony and apartment dwellers in Ft. Lauderdale giving Regal a "big hand"!

 

And then we noticed the soot....

 

more later...

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05Balcony.jpg

While waiting in Port Everglades...

 

 

Balcony01.jpg

Sailing Away...

 

 

Balcony02.jpg

But with an aft bar located right above... sorry, no topless sunbathing!

 

 

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A lot of time for this, though....

 

 

Balcony04.jpg

Morning coffee out on the veranda...

 

More about the ship proper (and the soot!) later... Thanks for your patience and continued readership!

Edited by WinksCruises
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Wonderful information for those preparing for a future cruise! And so fun for those of us who have sailed on this beautiful ship already! We sailed October 5th Barcelona to Venice and loved it! Thank you for taking the time to do this report!

 

As a person who did do several loads of laundry, I thought I might clarify the mention of quarters for the laundry soap just to help future cruisers. Each laundry room has a machine for tokens that is easy to use via a touch screen and is paid for with the cruise card. There are two different tokens to purchase using the cruise card - detergent or machines. Only these tokens are accepted by the various machines.

 

I smiled about your comment on the lighting system. We too found it helpful to work around this requirement when in the cabin. Before our cruise, I had read on CC a suggestion to take along a simple playing card. It worked great after I folded an edge in slightly. Our goal was to ensure we didn't leave the cruise card in the stateroom, so we always removed our playing card from the slot when we left. We just pushed it into the do not disturb sign slot on the back of the door. Worked great!

 

As one of those who frequented the Deck 16 aft outside bar seating/viewing area, I definitely understand your comment about the people above being able to view down onto those balconies. We made a concerted effort not to intrude but it was very easy to see someone on their deck. This viewing area was PACKED coming into Venice and it would be a good-to-know for future cruisers. Same story with the balconies under the skywalk. Although we had a port side mid forward balcony, I am curious to hear the soot story.

 

Thank you for your efforts! This forum was a wealth of info before our trip and truly enhanced our adventure.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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So here are some pictures from around Regal herself. We'll start on the top deck since most people always seem interested in what the pool situation is like.

 

Overall, there didn't seem to be a fight for chairs. I'm sure flags were placed in the sand and chairs were toweled, James Pattersoned and hogged. But if there were any knock down / drag outs, we missed them. As per usual, real estate around the pools was the most coveted, but there were plenty of seats up on the surrounding sunning areas and overhangs.

 

Here's the Sanctuary area living up to its mellow and tranquil nature...

 

01Sanctuary.jpg

Here's the main pool with the Movies Under the Stars screen. One of the funniest things I witnessed was, mid day, they were playing "Mrs. Doubtfire". Young and old, eyes were glued to that screen and there weren't many dry ones. First time I've seen a film run at daytime so totally absorb the fun in the sun crowd.

 

05Pool.jpg

 

Below is a shot of the whirlpool tubs hanging out up over the pool area plus, in the center of the shot, the planked area where, at night, there's a short dancing waters, fountain show to a mix of music. We watched it once. Color water shooting up to music cues. Cute. Not quite the fountain show you see outside the Bellagio in Vegas and it just didn't seem worth sacrificing all that premium top deck space for, in my jaded opinion.

 

04Jacuzzi.jpg

 

Also, located towards the aft is the outdoor sport courts. There's basketball courts, a jogging track (7-laps equals a mile), a place to play foozball, a inside target practice range, and up above a putting course. For people who always ask, yes there is Zumba offered (see picture below). Probably the nicest innovation is little cross-training exercise stations along the jogging track. You can take a break from walking/jogging to do some simple resistance exercises. (I'm still sore!)

 

02Exercise.jpg

 

Also on the upper deck is the new Sea Walk, a lane that bows out from the ship complete with glass floor panels from which you can look straight down to the sea below. Whose idea was it to put a bar there!!?? We've been to the glass walkway that overhangs the Grand Canyon.... this isn't quite that. But it still evokes vertigo and primal urges step back. I can just imagine what this is like to stand on during rough seas!

 

03SeaWalk.jpg

 

Finally, there is the aft-pool. This is one of those areas that the smokers commandeered.

 

06RearPool.jpg

 

Thanks for hanging in there. Still more to come...

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So here's the answer to the 64k Question: Is there a soot problem on the Regal aft-facing balconies?

 

After being assured by Princess customer support that the soot issues - that plagues Royal - had been addressed and remedied on Regal, we sent our crack investigative journalist (my dw) in to get the dirt, yuck yuck, on the issue.

 

Soot_1.jpg

 

Upon entering our cabin, we did find it funny that all the balcony furniture seat cushions were wedged between the end table and the sliding door - but we didn't think much of it. Later, we found the evidence of soot on these cushions. This was most notable when there was a dining cloth on the table, or someone sat down in light colored shorts.

 

And it only took a few moments of parading out on the balcony barefoot to reveal what was really going on. Yes... there is a fine layer of sooty residue out on the balcony, every time the ship's exhaust plume flies overhead and aft.

 

Soot_2.jpg

 

To combat the soot, every morning, one of our cabin steward's chores was to mop down the balcony and wash all the night's residue into the drainage gutters.

 

Soot_3.jpg

 

Soot_5.jpg

 

After discovering the issue, we took some night shots, when it was clear the exhaust flume was trailing back behind the ship. Okay, so the photo's are right up there with UFO and ghost lights in terms of quality, but we witnessed this with the naked eye... very small particles were trailing out and falling from that flume, onto the balcony.

 

Soot_6.jpg

 

Did it ruin the cruise and was it a hardship? No, not at all. It was pesky. But the crew did a good job of making sure the balcony stayed relatively clean. And there were times when the wind was blowing port or starboard and we didn't get a "dusting" at all.

 

That said, we are sure this might be a concern for other passengers. And who knows what health problems it might produce... so we felt we should show these pictures and describe what our experience was.

 

Soot_4.jpg

 

Stay tuned... Still more to come.. believe it or not!

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Don't fret too much about the soot. Chances are, if you weren't aware of it as an issue, you probably wouldn't notice it, he said Pollyannishly. It's not a big deal. The aft facing cabins are a real treat and the balconies are probably the most spacious on the entire ship, so enjoy!

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Have I been subliminally swayed by the slew of recent Cruise Critic posts in which fellow reviewers complain that the food quality on the ships has gone down? I don’t think so. My wife pretty much agreed that the food in the main dining room was not only bizarre, it just wasn’t very good.

 

One evening, for instance, the menu featured dining selections from previous decades of cruising. You could choose from plates they typically served in the 60s and 70s. Cute gimmick, but squab and caviar and duck pate just weren’t appealing coming off a day of beach and umbrella drinks. We weren’t alone in that assessment. The couple just finishing up at an adjacent table, overhearing our dismay, claimed they had witnessed similar reactions from guests all night, and that most people were just ordering from the “always available” menu page.

 

This disappointment with the MDR food (not service, btw, which was exceptional) began with our first meal at Bon Voyage lunch. I was surprised by the limited choices offered and then the mediocre quality of what was served. In the end, we only dined in the MDR two nights out of the seven, opting instead for Alfredo’s (twice), Chops once and even the Horizon Court one night - rather than returning.

 

While the main dining room elicited tepid reviews from us, Alfredo’s always seemed to hit the spot. There was no upcharge and the food was great. (Interestingly enough, it never seemed to be busy). The specialty restaurant Chops was good, with excellent service and food. And as suite guests, we took advantage of first night’s perk of being able to dine there without the usual upcharge. We also enjoyed the Wheelhouse Bar right outside of Chops. Here, we ran into an amicable bartender we'd previously met on the Ruby. We remembered when he whipped up a chocolate martini with the same panache he'd done earlier in the year. Turns out we had pictures of him from Ruby, so we jotted down his email and will send him pictures of our meeting him twice now, on two separate ships, both times in the Wheelhouse Bar, both times with a chocolate martini.

 

Alfredos.jpg

Chocolate Martinis at the Wheelhouse Bar followed by Alfredo's for dinner.

 

Then there’s Horizon Court, which has really ramped up its evening ambience. Tables are set with “silverware”, the lights are dimmed and they offer wine service. We were pleasantly surprised on the night we dined there after once again finding nothing captivating on the main dining room's menu. Don’t get me wrong…. It’s still “the buffet”. And morning, noon or night, there’s still a lot of hit and misses - and food that’s dried up in the warming tray. But the layout is nice and the choices plentiful. It was interesting to dine there in the evening, the first time we ever have done so on a ship. Also, as a side note, there are now several hand-washing stations at the buffet entrances - in addition to the usual Purell dispensers.

 

Horizon.jpg

The new washing stations and Horizon Court set for dinner.

 

 

Okay, despite my heft proportions, I’m not a big sweets fan. But even I have to admit that Princess has really gone above-and-beyond with its pastry selections on this family of ships (there’s a whole aisle at Horizon Court devoted to it!). Our concerns about the MDR food quality simply vanished. The sweets were just incredible… way superior to anything we’ve had on other ships!

 

Pastry.jpg

Pastry row at Horizon Court. Non stop decadence.

 

One amenity that we only took advantage of the final evening on board was the Elite Lounge (located in Club 6). Each night, there were free hors d’ouvres and a drink special for Elite, Suite and Platinums. Now, some of these lounges (like the Diamond Lounge on RCI) make being trapped in an overcrowded zoo cage come feeding time look relaxing! But Club 6 seemed a bit more reserved, quiet and civil. And now we wish we had visited it more often.

 

Club_6.jpg

Club 6 Elite Lounge with its menu of offerings that week.

 

Though other guests raved about the production shows, as jaded New Yorkers we probably mistakenly pass on the opportunity to see them. We did attend a comedian’s set in the Princess Theater one evening. It’s a great venue… except for its lack of cup holders. Come on Princess! You’ve invested in this grand show place, why not protect it from inebriated slobs like me who flail their cabernet every time the comic nails a one liner! It was a real nuisance not to have a place to park the glass. As a side note, I was surprised one sea day to find they were playing Boyhood, an indie film, which I’ve wanted to see for some time now. If its running time didn’t clock in at close to 3-hours, I would have stayed and watched, but I couldn’t see spending 3-hours of our final sea day in a dark theater. Still, it was interesting to see they were playing it. Nice alternative to the Hollywood hits up on MUTS.

 

Theater.jpg

The Princess Theater

 

Just wanted to make one additional mention about the Sky Walk which we covered earlier in the review. Here’s a shot of it from the Promenade deck below and I just wanted to bring your attention to the cabins located underneath the outcropping. Not sure I would EVER want to be stuck in one of these puppies, having curiosity seekers gaping in at our cabin at all hours of the day. Maybe spitting too! Just a head’s up for those yet to book on Regal.

 

SkyWalk.jpg

The Sky Walk from the Promenade Deck

 

Thanks for your comments and readership. If you can bear to hear more.... there's still more to tell!

Later...

Edited by WinksCruises
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I am really loving your review and pictures. I hope there is a lot more to come.

 

Question for you. In the aft pool area is there stairs that lead up to another deck that has loungers overlooking the wake? Many of the Grand Class ships have a set of loungers that are on the deck right above the aft deck bar area.

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I was on her the same week. Quite a few people mentioned that they wouldn't want to be in balcony cabins under the skywalks both sides of the ship. You could see everything going on the balconies and for cabins immediately below, you could see through the glass doors into the cabins if the curtains weren't pulled.

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I was on her the same week. Quite a few people mentioned that they wouldn't want to be in balcony cabins under the skywalks both sides of the ship. You could see everything going on the balconies and for cabins immediately below, you could see through the glass doors into the cabins if the curtains weren't pulled.

 

I could see the closest couple decks being at risk of "window peepers", :rolleyes: but below that wouldn't one need to stop on the walk to purposely look to spy on deck sitters? Doubt you could see into those rooms.

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And now for something completely different…

 

In our myopic rush to trash the MDR food quality, coat our feet (and lungs) with aft-balcony soot and blather on endlessly about the hardships of suite living throughout this review, it’s true; I’ve totally dropped the ball on enlightening you as to what complete nut jobs my DW and I are when we’re on a cruise. So, welcome to The Wake Show.

 

We’ve always enjoyed watching The Wake Show on other Princess cruises. This is the morning show they broadcast on the stateroom televisions. It’s usually hosted by the cruise director and staff. The point of the show is to run through the ship's various activities for the day and offer up a heaping side helping of humor, cruise-related trivia questions and the occasional door-prize to reward the faithful viewership. All 10 of us.

 

Wake_1.jpg

The Princess Live! Studios - Home of The Wake Show

 

Unfortunately, The Wake Show on Regal has basically become an infomercial for the spa, the casino and the other upcharge amenities. And if the show’s editorial itself isn’t enough to sell you on the onboard services, the related commercials, now inserted between segments, will help make sure you get the message. Holy sell out, Wake Show!

 

On Regal, The Wake Show is videotaped in the Princess Live! studios using the time honored Johnny Carson motif; Ron the cruise director sits at the desk with a phony, over-sized microphone interviewing an endless parade of “special guests” (the spa manager, the photo manager, the specialty restaurant manager, the casino manager, the future cruise manager, etc.).

 

Wake_2.jpg

Ron interviewing the cavalcade of guest stars

 

Nonetheless, as Wake Show aficionados (the Asst. Cruise Director plays a hilarious foil to Ron’s straight man approach), we decided to attend the special live taping of the show they held one morning - as members of the studio audience. And to show our appreciation, we utilized our stateroom stationary and some markers we borrowed from the concierge to create a fan sign. I told you we were nuts!

 

Wake_3.jpg

Our crudely constructed signage... and the prize it won us (above).

 

Once at the show, when Ron cued for the audience applause, we whipped out our homemade sign (ala Monday Night Football) and wowed them with our pathetically conceived creative effort. Scoff all you want; this signage won us a door prize – a 4-DVD package of Discovery Channel’s LIFE mini-series. Okay, truth be told, we were really in it for the bottles of champagne Tony, the Hotel Services Manager, brought with him… but a prize is prize, so we took it. (If you hurry, you can still bid on it over on my eBay page before the auction closes!)

 

After the show taping, we grabbed a picture with Ron and, as you can see, we became his devoted fan boys for the rest of the cruise – especially after seeing him successfully sing the “sits and stich” tongue twisting song at the Ye Olde Pub show; a vaudeville act the cruise director’s staff performs on one of the last nights of the cruise. It’s so bad, it’s good!

 

Wake_4.jpg

We love Ron!

 

We also made fast friends with some other crew members including Tony, the Hotel Services Manager, who we then met again at the Captain’s Circle event. Remembering us from The Wake Show audience, he pulled out his smart phone and had a bottle of his door-prize champagne specially delivered to our cabin - where it was waiting for us upon our return that evening!! WOW! What a guy!!

 

We also met Captain Perrin (seen below with DW), one of the most entertaining and well spoken ship captain’s we’ve seen.

 

Wake_5.jpg

Captain Perrin

 

In addition to the officers, we took great pleasure in asking the ship photographers to be in our photos, insisting they assume the same ridiculous poses they’re always wrestling us into! They were good sports about it!

 

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Harassing the Photographers... What do you think? Worth $24.95 a shot, right?

 

Well heck... we haven't even talked about any of the ports-of-call. But seriously, there's so much happening on the ship, can Maho Beach be anything more than an afterthought at this point? Let us know if you want to step ashore and take a peek at Princess Cays, St. Thomas or St. Maarten... otherwise, it's on to more ship shots. Later...

Edited by WinksCruises
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Question for you. In the aft pool area is there stairs that lead up to another deck that has loungers overlooking the wake? Many of the Grand Class ships have a set of loungers that are on the deck right above the aft deck bar area.

 

Pretty sure the sports deck and jogging track are located above the aft pool. So, no, not a lounge deck like we've seen on Ruby (where an upper tier of loungers and even Sabatini's is located). There are loungers around the aft pool - but on the same level. And as I noted earlier, this was a popular area for smokers.

 

You might want to verify by looking at the deck layouts, but pretty sure that's the case.

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Absolutely loved your critique and your tongue in cheek comments. Read all your reviews.

The great thing is that you give some splendid advice in-between the running jokes.

 

Never been to Jamaica but will def not do a tour to the dreaded DRF !

 

Cheers

 

Scotslizzy

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