Lots of bad reviews on CC for Regal

[Astro Flyer]

Spent TWO WEEKS on the same ship....

 

Would most definitely cruise Royal Princess again, and I am already looking at booking Regal Princess. Was Royal Princess perfect? No, but to me the MANY positives FAR OUTWEIGHED any negatives.

 

:D

I feel like you & after 27 days on two Royal cruises look forward to 17 days on the Regal in April. Those cruises were in deluxe balcony cabins but our next cruise is in a 'sideways' inside cabin (C419). It has nothing to do with the cabin or balcony but is a way to extend our travel budget. ;)

 

We missed too many things that are not on the older Princess ships so for us we enjoy the new ships. There isn't a perfect ship for everyone & it's good to have choices however like you there were many more pros than cons for us. :D

Edited January 13, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[skrodle]

So this is my thing with the center stairs.. I have not been on Royal/Regal, and started reading all these reviews of the horribleness of no center stairs and how it just ruined peoples cruises. Then I found out that the Grand has no central stair case either. I was on that ship for 12 days and never noticed. I find that cruise critic members like to *complain a lot over trivial and trite matters. I have had cruising buddies go on both the Regal and Royal and said they are amazing.

 

* I would like to use another word here for complain... its much more apropos, but my post might get deleted... if you know what I mean :)

[Compumom]

Fresh off the Regal (Sunday) and still walking with sea legs :D

 

We traveled with a large group (26 of us). I haven't spoken to everyone individually, however, the consensus of those I did (over half) did agree that either the staff was fabulous or incredibly rude. There was no in between. There is a bartender at the Outrigger Bar who managed to offend at least 4 people in our group at different times/days. Others in the area also said how rude he was. Then you have the servers in the Allegro DR (anytime dining), who are absolutely DELIGHTFUL. We wanted to take Ganna from the Ukraine home with us, she was so entertaining and wonderful! And the many, many bartenders/staff/front desk staff (Timothy at the front desk really went the extra mile to help out when we had an issue - he is A++ in my book). Our room sewards were wonderful and personable (we were spread out over 2 floors).

 

The bistro buffet is large and we never had a problem finding places to sit, no matter what time we were there. The food was really good with the exception (IMO) of the fish. I tried the grilled fish offerings several times and came to the conclusion that it just isn't conductive to put that type of food out on buffets under hot lights and not expect it to be rubbery. The workers in the buffet in every single instance were friendly and appeared happy and service oriented.

 

Anytime Dining is an annoyance IMO. You really do need to call ahead and make reservations if you don't want to wait. We didn't know this the first night and waited for about 30 minutes for a table for 4. This was our first experience with anytime dining. Our family decided we prefer assigned times and will go with that on our next cruise because we like getting to know our wait staff and their stories, and you really do get personalized service when you have assigned times (i.e. your preferred drink waiting for you). We dined in the Concerto Dining Room twice and both times had wait staff that either didn't understand what we wanted, or served us weird. The 2nd night we were with a large group and those who didn't order appetizers were served their main course when the appetizers came out. It was so strange. Half the group was finished with their entire meal way before the other half.

 

I heard from others in our group the Sushi Bar is not to be missed. A terrific place to eat on this ship. You pay per plate and it is very reasonable.

 

My daughters bought the booze package. They are 22 year old fraternal twins. One of my daughters repeatedly was asked for photo ID along with her room card when she went up for a drink. When you are 22 that is the end of the world! :rolleyes: One of the bartenders really gave them a rough time when my other daughter produced HER ID and they said they were twins. They wanted to mess with him for hassling my one daughter and he ended up being nasty to them both. Not cool. A way around this whole ID thing (Princess are you listening???) is to scan the room card for the beverage package with that hand held device used to exit the ship. That way the picture comes up and you don't have to ask repeatedly for ID, because ID has to be shown when the beverage package is purchased. She almost didn't bring her drivers license because she had her passport. I don't want passports being dragged around the ship and I'm sure nobody else does either.

 

The ship itself is beautiful. The Piazza - wow! It is really stunning, and a great place to sit and spend some time. Always something going on there, and it is a good meeting place on such a large ship (make sure you specify what floor - we always met our kids on the 5th floor, which is the bottom of the Piazza and has little tables and chairs all around the center). The Bellini Bar on the Piazza is wonderful and had some great drinks. Bartenders there were really friendly.

 

I think Princess could improve on the maps by blacking out the areas you can't cross by foot. Many times the first couple of days we ended up at dead ends where we had to go back up to go down because the theatre or the Piazza or just a wall was blocking the way through. I found the layout a bit confusing and at times frustrating. Some family members were really annoyed at the lack of a center staircase.

 

My big thing - and a sentiment I heard often - was the ship rocks. A LOT. Way more than any other ship I have ever been on. And it creaks! The staterooms make these strange creaking noises. It wasn't just ours. It was a topic of conversation frequently amongst others as well. Bring earplugs if you think you may need them and definitely your favorite seasickness remedy. There were days I had to take more than one Bonine. A fellow family member needed to get medical attention after a particularly rough night (the pools had to be closed due to the sloshing of the water all over the deck that night - why they didn't drain them I have no idea). The crew said the last two days sailing back to Ft. Lauderdale are always rough on this route.

 

The last night, sometime after midnight, my husband grabbed me and shoved me outside to see an amazing sight: Including us, there were TEN cruise ships in the area! It was like a cruise ship super highway :p We had an even numbered stateroom, so it was on that side of the ship (I am hopeless with starboard/port/forward/aft....whatever....LOL)

 

Embarkation/disembarkation were hands down the easiest we ever had, especially disembarkation. They really have it together there.

 

All in all - we were with family and making memories and had a wonderful vacation. Unfortunately we will not be sailing with Princess again, we feel some other lines have more to offer us at our varied age points.

[cruiserei]

We have cruised 55 times. 22 cruises on Princess. A variety of other lines for the other cruises. We have sailed the Royal and the Regal both on the TA and New Year cruises last year and this past year. We have loved everything about both ships. Sure, the occasional problem arises, but nothing to spoil our cruise. This last cruise on the Regal was by far the most relaxing and enjoyable cruise, from the ship to the crew to food to embarkation and debarkation. We are already booked on the Royal for April and on the Regal for New Years 2015/2016. We book mid hip and do not feel any shaking or noises.

Think positive and enjoy

[south fl cruiser]

I have cruised with my dw on different cruise lines and a lot on Princess. We were on the maiden TA on the Royal and accidently sat in the piazza among some negative cruisers. One man was very vocal that his pasta was too wet. After listening to all the negativity I could not help but say to my dw "aren,t we fortunate that they named 2 shipsRoyal and we are on the good one". Silence from the group. We recently did TA on regal and one woman at breakfast complained that she had to reach behind her for the toilet tissue. I mentioned to her if that was her problem to take another roll, take off cover and put roll on counter. Her reply to me was that she would not have anything to talk and complain about.

To all these complainers, why not stay home and allow other potential cruise passengers to take a happy cruise.

Book your cruise, enjoy, relax and ignore all this negativity.

Happy sailing

[Donald Keith Hill]

I can't speak to anyone elses' opinions. And I am still traveling post-cruise, so my 'review' is no where complete, I can say unequivocally that our 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Regal was the BEST experience we have had on our 8 cruises with Princess!

We never encountered one employee who was not friendly or helpful; we never encountered a meal that did not satisfy (with the exception of my DH "Kingklip" fish dinner that was a bit overcooked). Both our waiter and head waiter were VERY apologetic and eager to satisfy with a replacement meal. We had traditional early seating in the Allegro DR.

The entertainment was outstanding. We were so happy we got to see The Beatlmaniacs and Fiera. The stand up comedian, Steve White, had the entire audience crying with laughter!

The in stateroom TV took a minute to figure out, but then it was great. On Demand movies and TV shows, replays of game shows filmed live in the Princess Live theater.

CD Ron Goodman and his assistant CD, Ryan Adams, were EVERYWHERE on the ship and a delight to encounter. Ryan could have been a standup comedian on his own. You MUST go to the various game shows that he hosts!

Ron is onboard until Jan 25 and then after his vacation, will be headed to the Sapphire Princess as it deploys to Asia. Ryan is on until June and will be making the TA to Copenhagen.

I understand that a large number of staff who have been on board will be leaving in the next couple of weeks, so I can't definitely say that staff coming on board will be the same. But, I've never had any issues with any Princess staff on any Princess cruise we've been on.

The ship is large. Wear walking shoes! We had a mid-ship "obstructed view" deluxe balcony (no, there is no real obstruction). Being one deck up from the Promenade deck, we would have appreciated the mid-ship stair case, but the forward stairs were really not that far forward (as opposed to the CB or Ruby).

With the exception of the first day, I never found the elevators to be overly crowded, and when they were, I never found it long to wait for the next one.

There never seemed to be a crowded fitness center and we never had an issue getting a table in the buffet for breakfast. Speaking of the buffet - it is GORGEOUS! I had a freshly made omelet each morning and there was a waffle station in the Pastry shop.

Well, I said my review isn't finished - but you can see from the above what to expect from it!

Happy to answer any specific questions if I can.

Look for the positives on the ship and you will see them everywhere - look for the negatives and the same theory applies!

Thank God for your review, my wife and I are booked on the Feb 1st sailing and with all the "bitching" I have read lately, got me nervous. I sort of figured that most people use the forum as a way of "getting something off there chest". I on the other hand report on all vacations good or bad. Reading your review gave me back my perspective.

 

Thank you

 

DD&J

[COMBOY]

I am booked on Regal in April. Under the reviews page there is one bad review after another and another. Each one all commenting same thing...bad customer service, bad dining room service, crew seems unhappy and just going through the motions and so on.

 

I usually pay no attention to the ridiculousness of the outlandish complaints but when everyone is commenting on the same things you cannot help but wonder. I know it's a new ship and they need to work out the kinks.

 

I had such a positive experience on the Ruby in November and also saw the Regal at Port getting ready to be christened that I decided to give her a try.

 

Would love to hear some positives about her.

 

I haven't been on the Regal. I just off the Golden, but according to the Cruisecritic the Regal got a 71% approval rating. 55 rated it Excellent; 15-Very Good; 12-Average; 6-poor; and 6-Terrible. So I don't think the Regal is some horrible ship. What I think is going on is the Regal is still having teething problems with the crew. This is not untypical of most new ships. Sometimes management can fix these problems faster; sometimes like in the Regal-a lot longer. There is a learning curve with the crew and as new crew rotates on board and the kinks get worked out; the ship will get better and better reviews. I think too if someone has a bad experience (let say with their dining) then they are more app to come to CC and write a bad review.

 

I thinks with any new ship under a year in service you just have to have realistic expectations. People paid top dollar for a new ship and they expect a top dollar cruise. Well, as you can see with the Regal-Princess still can't always deliver that experience to every passenger. Unfortunately, you will find that with any ship on any cruise line. I would just avoid the reviews for now and make your own judgement once you sailed on her in April. I can assure you that if there is any major issues going on with the Regal - management is fully aware of it and trying to fix it ASAP.

[Astro Flyer]

Any ship can "rock & creak" depending on the conditions...sea & wind...and during a 17 day Med/TA cruise from Venice to Fort Lauderdale & a 10 day cruise from NYC to Fort Lauderdale via the Caribbean it was very smooth on the Royal. In fact it was so stable that some passengers who enjoy gentle rocking said that it felt we were at the pier & that it was "too smooth".

 

Let's face it, opinions are not always facts & if we based our decision on what ship to cruise on what's posted on CC then not many of us would cruise. ;)

Edited January 13, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[naderchaser]

Was on regal in the corner aft suite over thanksgiving, and will be again in essentially the same suite on Royal in 2 weeks.

 

I decided I had to reply because someone above mentioned these suites were overpriced, not big, and sooty.

 

1. Price, yes they are more than the suites on older princess ships, but less than similar sized suites on celebrity. We were in a Royal suite on celebrity and though it was technically bigger, we both enjoyed the princess room more due to the balcony.

 

2. We are a fairly young couple (38,30) with a baby: the suite was perfect to put the crib in the living room and still have privacy. Bathroom very nice.

 

3 Soot, Yes there is soot on the balcony but I din't find it a big deal as the steward hosed it off every day. The balcony is AMAZING, literally the best cruise balcony I have ever seen (except maybe on some old-school celebrety ship that probably doesnt exist anymore).

 

The regal was my favorite ship to date given the improvement in MDR and buffet food over prior princess models.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Thank God for your review, my wife and I are booked on the Feb 1st sailing and with all the "bitching" I have read lately, got me nervous. I sort of figured that most people use the forum as a way of "getting something off there chest". I on the other hand report on all vacations good or bad. Reading your review gave me back my perspective.

 

Thank you

 

DD&J

 

Sure, there are lots of good features about the new ships but there are also the bad points that myself & many others have found. If you can live with those negative items then you'll be among those that praise the new designs but we'll continue with the older proven ships as long as they're around.

 

Adding to Woobstr112G comments in post #23 we also found the annoying things not present on other Princess ships;

 

No pull out trays in the show lounge to place books or tablets whip waiting 30 minutes for the show.

 

Shade is limited at the Retreat pool with only a perforated covering to block the sun. It's also very windy unless in port. Of course you can go to the main pool where there are decent seats but you'll have to put up with MUTS, pool games or a band blasting music most of the day.

 

You can no longer use the TV's for review of you video's or DVD's but the improvement of on demand movies is a big plus as is the larger clearer screens.

 

Only 1 coffee/tea station in the buffet area on each side of the ship as compared to multiple ones on all the other ships.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MauiLvrs]

Would love to hear any other positives from those who would like to share.

You don't have to worry about how to find time to walk around the promenade deck.

[key east]

We just got off the 1/4 cruise and really enjoyed the ship. Would really recommend it.

[ar1950]

We did a B2B in December. Thought the ship was GREAT. We will be back. Service, food, cabin, entertainment, all excellent in our opinion.:cool:

 

As always, YMMV

Edited January 14, 2015 by ar1950

[Daisyloo]

We did a 7 night on the Regal in November and we loved her.

Is she perfect? Maybe not, but what is. We had an awesome cruise. The ship is beautiful. The food was very good, the crew was amazing, welcoming and friendly. Service was excellent. The entertainment was very good. We loved our balcony cabin even though the balcony was small: it was big enough to sit out there with a drink and watch the waves, or read a book, which is all we ever do out there. Loved the interactive TV.

We loved it so much we are now booked on the Royal for the end of March. Can't wait.

[Sam.Seattle]

We have cruised 55 times. 22 cruises on Princess. A variety of other lines for the other cruises. We have sailed the Royal and the Regal both on the TA and New Year cruises last year and this past year. We have loved everything about both ships. Sure, the occasional problem arises, but nothing to spoil our cruise. This last cruise on the Regal was by far the most relaxing and enjoyable cruise, from the ship to the crew to food to embarkation and debarkation. We are already booked on the Royal for April and on the Regal for New Years 2015/2016. We book mid hip and do not feel any shaking or noises.

Think positive and enjoy

See you on board in December! Come join our roll call...

[Host CJSKIDS]

We did the 3 day and the 7 day in November and I just booked the 3 day in April on the Regal. I loved the crew on the ship, they were as always just outstanding.

 

The ship itself is stunning. The service was fantastic. The food was great.

 

There were things that I didn't care for and things that I missed from the other ships, but there are always things that I like on one sailing compared to another.

 

I did miss the center stair case, I really disliked the Princess Live theater and the fact that they now had the "game shows" in there. For the first time in 15 cruises, I didn't go to most of them because of the set up at all. I also didn't like the wheelhouse bar being near the Crown Grill. it great takes away from the atmosphere at the Crown and makes it bothersome to get in and out of the Crown Grill if the bar is crowded. I really disliked the new balconies.

 

I loved the new Crooners and Vines, I loved the Sanctuary, I loved the cabin, loved the crew, loved both dinners in Sabitinis and it's not usually my favorite at all, loved the new on demand tv. I could go on with others.

 

The crew at Vines and Crooners were fantastic. The crew in the Sanctuary was honestly the best in all of our cruises. Loved Ron Goodman and his staff. Our cabin steward was fantastic. The service in Sabitinis was fantastic.

 

I'm so looking forward going back on the ship!

[sbflcruiser]

We spent 3 weeks on the Regal in May, loved the ship, the staff was great. Since this was also the maiden voyage, there were a few glitches nothing truly note worthy. We have again booked for 3 weeks in April of this year. We heard complainers but some people must have something to complain about. Never had a bad cruise on Princess some have been better than others. Our cruise on the Regal is in the top 2.

[kkay1958]

I'm glad to hear that, overall, the reviews here are pretty good. We just booked for a March cruise and I was getting worried about some of the posts.

 

We also booked the Hard Rock Hotel off of Hotwire - I am sort of wishing I would have booked something else closer to the cruiseport. And I can't tell if they have any airport shuttle. Should we just booked our transportation between airport and ship via goshuttle or something?

[umuva]

Did three cruises on Regal: the TA and two seven days. Never a trivia shortage. Three to four a day. All the asst cd's are young-on every Princess ship, and we have cruised 27 times with them- and from whatever country they tend to mispronounce words because they are young. I even heard some of the trivia mavens mispronounce and not speak clearly. Those kids on the Regal are some of the hardest working, nicest people you will ever meet.

They made our days fun filled and our nights wonderful.

 

 

 

 

 

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[cruiseintoheaven]

We were on the Regal inaugural Caribbean cruise in April and had a great time. The ship is beautiful, staff helpful and friendly, food wonderful and entertainment very good. Was it perfect? What is)? Our first Princess cruise was on the Ruby - and we fell in love, the Regal was equally enjoyable, though admittedly in different ways. It took our third Princess cruise on the CB for DH and I both to agree that the new builds have some quirks that some may not care for, but we enjoyed so much about the Regal

 

 

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[cruiseintoheaven]

Sorry - November - anyway - we loved the Regal - have her booked again this coming November - can't wait!

 

 

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[RyanMFitz1]

I am booked on Regal in April. Under the reviews page there is one bad review after another and another. Each one all commenting same thing...bad customer service, bad dining room service, crew seems unhappy and just going through the motions and so on.

 

I usually pay no attention to the ridiculousness of the outlandish complaints but when everyone is commenting on the same things you cannot help but wonder. I know it's a new ship and they need to work out the kinks.

 

I had such a positive experience on the Ruby in November and also saw the Regal at Port getting ready to be christened that I decided to give her a try.

 

Would love to hear some positives about her.

 

I am putting my 2cents in here and going to say that there are those people who do nothing but look for something to gripe about. Who spend all that money to pick apart everything.

 

Of course there are things that can't be overlooked, however set short from the boat sinking I don't see why anyone would let minute things "spoil" a vacation. The people of this world have turned into the #entitledgeneration.

 

I would say that if people went through life looking for things to be grateful for rather than what is wrong, they would be a lot happier.

[kendon]

Your review could have been written by me. I agree 100% with your comments about everything...however the pros so far outweigh the cons that I can't wait to be on it again this March. Wonderful ship, service, and decor. Love Princess!

[catlady1]

The Regal is one of our favorite ships. We did the maiden TA from Venice to FLL 17 days. We were back in Dec. for a Carib cruise.

I wont restate what others have said. In addition, nice gym. Supposed to open at 7AM but the doors are always open. Deep pool from 7.5' to about 6'. Great to swim laps in. Bring you goggles. Best buffet on the sea for breakfast and lunch. Hot casino, more so on the TA then the Carib.

Enjoy!

Mike

[sunsetbeachgal]

For us the pros of this ship FAR outweigh the few negatives. We cruised on the Royal right after she came out, and just returned from a fabulous week on the Regal. There are a few positive small changes, and it is even better! We had a great week and would go out of our way to sail on either ship again.