Just off the Regal Princess 3/15 - 3/22

[AmberTeka]

Thank you for coming back and sharing some of the highlights and the not-so-good things.

 

Sorry to be "thick as a brick", but as for the comment highlighted above; was that in reference to the whole cruise, the ship itself, or your experiences in the MDR.

 

:confused:

 

 

Ron Goodman was supposed to be the Cruise Director of that cruise when I booked it. And of all the cruises we have taken ( retired. live in Florida. former Military. Senior Citizens. Past guests on most lines. Can sail last minute) he is the only Cruise Director i remember. I was lucky enough to have him twice. He was everywhere. In the elevator shaking hands. going up and down the rows at the theater. His exuberance seemed to be catching...as in Trivia. It was in costume one night...Western. Jeopardize Trivia was with real fake money......A Beatles themed trivia..where as this cruise seemed to be geared to Live TV presentations. And the Activities staff.some of them were hilarious. Very nice. I think I am saying ....it seemed disorganized.

 

My daughter and her husband did take the lessons on beating steel drums. They also went to the cooking demonstrations and enjoyed both.

 

A lot of people were sick on the cruise. Not Norvo. My husband had to see the ship doctor for a nasty cough...sinus and ear related. The cost was reasonable. Less than the deductible our travel insurance carried. He called the next day to make sure he was OK.

 

The shows were great. Really. The Unknown Boys who did the Four Seasons review....were fabulous. All were trained singers as they showed when they did a song from Les Miserable in the last song. Awesome voices. Funny dialogue. Fiera had a male singer that was fantastic. He was a little larger than the average singer..dancer and I wondered if that gave him the depth he had...and he was light on his toes. It was a great show. The MoTown review was shorter..but great. My four year old granddaughter was mesmerized.

 

AND we had a group of "Santas" on Spring break. They were in the front rows at every performance, and would pose with the few children on board after the shows. My little pumpkin............well, it was the thrill of a lifetime.

 

And I can go on and on about all of the good things.......and two things......stay in my mind. The Casinos was tight. tight. half empty most of the time. The roulette tables were not as my husband did OK there. Don't know about the poker. I heard someone won a big payout.....but no one I say by or talked to had much luck. After a few evenings..I quit going. As did a lot of other people.

Food in the MDR. At night. It was really bad. If I were doing the cruise over...I would spend the money and book Crown Grill. I would book Sabatini's. I would plan on eating at Aflredo's a couple of nights. Ditto the Harvest Buffet. Or the Crab Shack which is $20 per person.

 

With the reviews.........you know what you may get......so you should be able to plan around it.

 

And if you are booked in E 409..............You have a great cabin with a great view with a great room steward. Lucky you. I loved that cabin. And if it was obstrucked..then give me on of them every time. I loved the sofa in there. The showers are a little bigger and have a ridge to prevent flooding the bathroom. Storage space..lost some drawers on the desk...but we had enough for us and some to spare.

 

ENJOY.

[AmberTeka]

We loved the regional Caribbean cuisine menu items, but I can understand they might not be everyone's cup of tea. By the time we encountered them this winter, we'd been cruising for a while and DH kept saying, "This is like what we eat at home" (beans and rice predominant) and he was right and we were ready for a taste of home by then. And we were ready for a change from the Princess menu items we've seen for years.

 

I am sorry you didn't get to experience (based on other Regal reports) the Festivals of the World parties and activities. Did you at least get the Love Boat Disco Deck party?

 

I lov e your blogs. I hope you combine them one day and publish them. Amazon will do that for free, plus give you free advertising. I don't work for them or own stock, but I did enter their Break Through Novel Contest last year, and their Create Space on line publishing is available. You must have the technical knowledge to "do" your own title page, which I don't.....but I believe you have a winner on your hands. I would order it in a minute.

 

And you make sense. If they had dried lima beans, simmered for hours with ham hocks, cornbread pone ( no sugar), sliced white onions, home made sweet gerkins and Iced sweet tea............I would have been delighted. Most others would not have been.

 

It seemed to me that only one option each night was American. Canadian. English. European..none were Asian......and the Caribbean is a great mixture of peoples. Most of the grocery stores we saw in St. Martins seemed to be owned by ethnic Chinese citizens. I would have loved to have had some Asian-Caribbean. Some Dutch foods from St. Maartens. HAL does a Dutch..Indonesian buffet one night and it is well attended.

 

Maybe Princess will read these boards and Please........The sliced fruit with that delicious rum sauce...bring it back. The wonderful cold fruit soups..peach and mango and cherry..bring a few back. And Salads. Lettuce. any type. Tomatoes. Cukes. Radishes. peppers. please...one a night. And I loved the spring rolls they used to serve as starters,

 

I imagine they will fine tune it. I did enjoy their desserts.

And the tight casino kept my rear end out of there which was a win win for me.

 

I would also advise everyone to bring a sweater. I thought it was cold, but then we lived in Jacksonville, Florida. Lots of Canadians on board. What delightful people they are .... I love being around them. They are so happy to see the sun......that they make me enjoy it all the more.

[FritzG]

Thanks for your review. I had my first towel animal on a Princess cruise last month on the Grand after almost 400 days sailing on Princess. I've had really bad experiences on RCCL where the steward went through my drawers to take out personal items to put on the towel animals so I'm not a big fan of them. Felt violated.

 

There's steak on the Always Available side of the menu. If you wanted steak other than that, all you had to do was ask the night before. Very easy.

 

Having the steward take things out of the dresser would upset me, too, and I've never understood the love of towel animals. Do you take them apart and then use the towel that has been handled so much by the steward? Do you just stack them up day by day somewhere in your cabin? We've never had them on Princess, and I'm glad.

[AmberTeka]

One last great note about Princess Regal....

 

We were at the last Trivia. Which was one of the silly ones. As in " It is illegal to change your last name to Smith in Canada because they have too many Smiths already, and it causes confusion." Etc.

 

So my daughter took it very seriously. She was concentrating away, while we were more silly than anything. Quietly silly. An Indian couple was sitting in the area with us. So when finished we exchanged papers. She told us that as she was not from the USA, she hoped her questions were not all wrong.

 

So...she and my daughter tied. Instead of a play off..they were both given the pens at my daughter's insistence that they be given the prize. She wanted them to remember the USA warmly. And to congratulate them on their common sense, when her own Mother..me..only got 9 right.

 

And it was a small, unexpected very nice moment for all of us. I loved meeting the couple. Moments like that, which happen so quickly..are often the memories you carry in your mind for a long time. Nice young people. on their honeymoon, thrilled that they won the contest. I loved it. I think the Activities staff member enjoyed it too. It was just a very pleasant moment in time.

[JoAnneNYI]

And if you are booked in E 409..............You have a great cabin with a great view with a great room steward. Lucky you. I loved that cabin.

 

We have that cabin 4/12 and my sisters have the ones on either side. Hopefully we can open the balcony divider unless there is a fire door from what I have read. Thank you for your review.

[happy cruzer]

So are the menus lacking the always available choices that most love? Pasta Alfredo, french onion soup, salmon, chicken,two kinds of beef? Was there not prime rib the first night, beef Wellington one night, surf and turf another? Pasta selections including veal rustics, osso bucco?Sounds like they did have the New York strip with a sauce. The menus that have been posted have the same choices with the Caribbean added that I can tell...

 

I am sorry you were not pleased, it happened to us years ago on one line and I can'tget dh to give them another chance.

Edited March 23, 2015 by happy cruzer

[andyc222]

We got a kick out of the Santa's obviously they were into it and were having fun. Passengers were enjoying them also and they played right along with everyone. Posing for pictures, belting out the odd carol. I agree with the dinning room food not being the best. We have been on well over 20 cruises and I would have to say the dinning room food on this one would rank in the bottom five. The first night I ordered the ribs and they came back and said they had none left. Not the best start and it was only 8 pm. I survived it. The anytime dinning worked okay. We waited a little bit the first night but that was it. I very much enjoyed the steak and kidney pie from the International cafe and my favorite was the peanut butter cups with my black forest coffee.

[lcpagejr]

Happy cruzer... below is excerpts from another poster who cruised on the Royal and Regal in February... It appears the poster commenting on poor dining room food (just caribbean style) didn't give us the complete story or had difficulty reading the menu....

 

""We have been on both the Regal and the Royal as well as the Caribbean Princess in the past six months. We found the new menus with the Caribbean entrees to be quite different from the ones on previous Princess cruises. I tried quite a few of the Caribbean style entrees; my wife did not because she does not try "new" foods. I found the items I ordered to be quite tasty.

 

While the menus had two or three Caribbean style items each night, there were also the standard entrees on the left side of the menu that have been there on almost every Princess cruise we have taken. Also, on the right side of the menu were many of the familiar items that have been on prior cruises in addition to the Caribbean style "specials". There was much to choose from if one did not want Caribbean style cuisine.""

[Maraprince]

As far as a plain salad, could you not request plain lettuce and tomato with dressing on the side?

 

I always ask the waiter to leave off sauces from my food, especially the steak, as I want to taste the food I am eating and not a lot of sauce.

 

MARAPRINCE

[UpcountryTravelers]

Having the steward take things out of the dresser would upset me, too, and I've never understood the love of towel animals. Do you take them apart and then use the towel that has been handled so much by the steward? Do you just stack them up day by day somewhere in your cabin? We've never had them on Princess, and I'm glad.

 

Agree!! Towel animals are so "Carnival" (and RCC) to me. Seems Princess is a notch or two above that.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I love your blogs....If they had dried lima beans, simmered for hours with ham hocks, cornbread pone ( no sugar), sliced white onions, home made sweet gerkins and Iced sweet tea............I would have been delighted. Most others would not have been.

Thank you!

 

Are you my mother in law? ;) Because that's how she cooked every time I visited her in southern Virginia. Sweet tea is DH's idea of heaven on earth.

 

There is a plain garden salad (made with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber) available everyday on the kid's menu. DH is suspect of any lettuce whose name he can't pronounce, and ordered it often.

[AmberTeka]

And if you are booked in E 409..............You have a great cabin with a great view with a great room steward. Lucky you. I loved that cabin.

 

We have that cabin 4/12 and my sisters have the ones on either side. Hopefully we can open the balcony divider unless there is a fire door from what I have read. Thank you for your review.

 

I would imagine you could open the dividers. Without opening them, you will have a very wide, very long balcony. I loved it. The view straight out was perfect. when you look down you see a bit of the deck by Facets, but it is very quiet. I saw feet from people sitting in the deck chairs out there, but never heard any noise.

 

The little sofa and table in the cabin is nice if you order coffee in the morning, or just sitting and watching TV. It has a large screen ( 30 inches?) and the movies on demand ( free) are good. The new Hobbit Movie. Battle of Five Armies. I started watching Interstellar, but my grand daughter was with me a lot so we watched Frozen at least eight times. She never tired of it.

 

I can promise you........You will love that cabin. And your room Steward....is wonderful.

[happy cruzer]

Happy cruzer... below is excerpts from another poster who cruised on the Royal and Regal in February... It appears the poster commenting on poor dining room food (just caribbean style) didn't give us the complete story or had difficulty reading the menu....

 

""We have been on both the Regal and the Royal as well as the Caribbean Princess in the past six months. We found the new menus with the Caribbean entrees to be quite different from the ones on previous Princess cruises. I tried quite a few of the Caribbean style entrees; my wife did not because she does not try "new" foods. I found the items I ordered to be quite tasty.

 

While the menus had two or three Caribbean style items each night, there were also the standard entrees on the left side of the menu that have been there on almost every Princess cruise we have taken. Also, on the right side of the menu were many of the familiar items that have been on prior cruises in addition to the Caribbean style "specials". There was much to choose from if one did not want Caribbean style cuisine.""

We would be like that couple, me trying all the new items, dh going with the standards he enjoys.

 

Have a great cruise, it's getting closer.

[AmberTeka]

Thank you!

 

Are you my mother in law? ;) Because that's how she cooked every time I visited her in southern Virginia. Sweet tea is DH's idea of heaven on earth.

 

There is a plain garden salad (made with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber) available everyday on the kid's menu. DH is suspect of any lettuce whose name he can't pronounce, and ordered it often.

 

I will remember that! thanks

 

Sweet Tea is the official wine of the American South.

[Mom33]

I would imagine you could open the dividers. Without opening them, you will have a very wide, very long balcony. I loved it. The view straight out was perfect. when you look down you see a bit of the deck by Facets, but it is very quiet. I saw feet from people sitting in the deck chairs out there, but never heard any noise.

 

The little sofa and table in the cabin is nice if you order coffee in the morning, or just sitting and watching TV. It has a large screen ( 30 inches?) and the movies on demand ( free) are good. The new Hobbit Movie. Battle of Five Armies. I started watching Interstellar, but my grand daughter was with me a lot so we watched Frozen at least eight times. She never tired of it.

 

I can promise you........You will love that cabin. And your room Steward....is wonderful.

 

More like 40 inches. :D

[Aquahound]

Thanks for the good review. I'm getting very excited to cruise this ship in a few weeks, so I enjoy reading these. I hope the Unexpected Boys are still around. I saw them on RCI and loved their act. :)

[Paticakes]

So are the menus lacking the always available choices that most love? Pasta Alfredo, french onion soup, salmon, chicken,two kinds of beef? Was there not prime rib the first night, beef Wellington one night, surf and turf another? Pasta selections including veal rustics, osso bucco?Sounds like they did have the New York strip with a sauce. The menus that have been posted have the same choices with the Caribbean added that I can tell...

 

I am sorry you were not pleased, it happened to us years ago on one line and I can'tget dh to give them another chance.

 

No surf and turf. Lobster with prawns was very good. Beef Wellington the same night. Prime rib the first night but I missed it. The first formal night there was no traditional Princess selections. Not sure if the menu was left out. The food did not spoil our cruise. Just an observation. Sounds like many people loved the new menus. I am just used to seeing more beef choices. we don't have steak a lot at home, usually when we dine out. The Regal is a great ship and one of the best we were on. Will sail it again I am sure.

[Paticakes]

Agree!! Towel animals are so "Carnival" (and RCC) to me. Seems Princess is a notch or two above that.

 

Actually had very few on the Carnival cruise. Celebrity does them on formal night. Just an observation...doesn't make or break the cruise.

[Paticakes]

We got a kick out of the Santa's obviously they were into it and were having fun. Passengers were enjoying them also and they played right along with everyone. Posing for pictures, belting out the odd carol. I agree with the dinning room food not being the best. We have been on well over 20 cruises and I would have to say the dinning room food on this one would rank in the bottom five. The first night I ordered the ribs and they came back and said they had none left. Not the best start and it was only 8 pm. I survived it. The anytime dinning worked okay. We waited a little bit the first night but that was it. I very much enjoyed the steak and kidney pie from the International cafe and my favorite was the peanut butter cups with my black forest coffee.

 

Loved seeing the Santas also. Looks like most people enjoyed seeing them around the ship.

[Paticakes]

Thanks for the good review. I'm getting very excited to cruise this ship in a few weeks, so I enjoy reading these. I hope the Unexpected Boys are still around. I saw them on RCI and loved their act. :)

 

They really put on a great show. Hope they are on your cruise.

[Oxo]

No surf and turf. Lobster with prawns was very good. Beef Wellington the same night. Prime rib the first night but I missed it. The first formal night there was no traditional Princess selections. Not sure if the menu was left out. The food did not spoil our cruise. Just an observation. Sounds like many people loved the new menus. I am just used to seeing more beef choices. we don't have steak a lot at home, usually when we dine out. The Regal is a great ship and one of the best we were on. Will sail it again I am sure.

 

Not trying to be a defender or cheerleader. However, just got off of Celebrity and their menu is about the same as Princess. No surf and turf. Lobster with prawns and Beef Wellington the same night. Steak on the menu every night, but would not recommend it as it is very tough. All cruise lines are getting to be the same. Regardless of what the cheerleaders say. Things are changing and cost is going up. So, expect less or pay more.

 

Each cruise line has their pluses and minuses. That is why we do more than 1 cruise line. JMHO!

[cpcanuck]

Thanks for your review. I had my first towel animal on a Princess cruise last month on the Grand after almost 400 days sailing on Princess. I've had really bad experiences on RCCL where the steward went through my drawers to take out personal items to put on the towel animals so I'm not a big fan of them. Felt violated...

 

Boy I know that feeling! I also discovered on a HAL cruise that they stuff filthy, dirty old towels that they pull out day after day from one of the room drawers to make those silly towel animals. Lord only knows how long those towels had been in that drawer, nor how long they keep re-using the same towel. Yuck!

 

I am relieved to hear that I won't have to endure this kind of thing on Princess (hopefully)!

Edited March 23, 2015 by cpcanuck

[Mackenzie1]

Balcony Deluxe E 409, which may be the favorite balcony we have ever had. And we have sailed in everything from a suite to a cove balcony. ( as well as some insides, ocean views....whatever we could afford at the time) I loved the balcony. It was wide. It was long. It was mid center. It looked down on the Promenade Deck, but you only saw feet , sometimes, and never heard any sounds.

 

 

I'm so excited, because I've booked E409 on the Regal for an upcoming cruise! Thank you so much for letting us know it's a winner!

[AmberTeka]

The first formal night was the 50th anniversary dinner. Popular dishes from each decade ( starting in 1965) were served. I am misspelling it but Osso Bucco was one of the entrees. I think escargot was on the menu as an appetizer.

 

I don't remember much else....They did have a Norman Love Chocolate creation. I ordered it and it was delicious. All of their desserts were good, I thought.

 

Lobster and giant prawns were served on the second Formal Night.

 

I should mention...embarkation was easy. We were given our Platinum pins at the end of this cruise, so we went through the Non Priority boarding. We had driven down on Saturday, spent the night at the Hampton Inn on Commercial Blvd in Fort Lauderdale and had an emergency with my grandchild the next morning. A pesky sinus..ear infection. We had to take her to a Urgent care Center. She was seen very quickly. prescribed meds and after we had her decongestants, we went out to the port. We were in line for a short time outside. It was about 11:30. By 12:11, we were in our awesome cabin E 409, daughter and family in cabin C 249 The only problem they had was that when my grandchild learned how to operate the lights..put the S and S card in, she did it a lot. There was some being left in pitch dark until they got that straight. After a talk, She put the card in when they came in...then did not do it again. She also put our cards in when she came in our cabin with us. Something about sailing with a small child, their delight in small things...is very special. End of story. We were eating lunch in the MDR by 12:30. That is not bad at all.

 

Disembarking.........we were told to report at nine. I went to passenger service and asked if we could get off when my daughter and her family did as they had never been on Princess before. Immediately I was given new tags. So we were scheduled to get off at 7:55. But it went so well that we were off at a little past 7:30. We had our luggage, had it taken to our car, paid our parking ticket...and were on the road headed to Jax by 8:11. Again. That is not bad at all.

 

I think Princess has......getting on the ship and getting off of the ship.down to a science. I greatly appreciated that.

 

We also visited the gelato shop twice. Very satisfactory both times. My grand child had strawberry and chocolate mint chip. I had chocolate. Very good. small price. We also visited the soft serve on the Lido which was free. It was also good.

We visited the Celebrations Shop. I wanted to get a few presents. They had boxes of Norman Love Chocolates. A few other types of expensive chocolates. Some smaller gifts. Things for children. I bought my grand daughter a sucker which had four marshmallow like fish on a stick. She was enchanted by it. I bought one of the 50th anniversary tins of toffee. they had a map of the globe on the top, and I liked it. And the price did not make me swoon.

 

We also visited the shop which sold small toys and such. We did resort to bribery a few times, and one staff member in particular was very nice. My grand child must have looked at every rubber lizard up there before picking one, and she was ever patient. We went back three times, so I guess we repaid her kindness.

I always go to the soap and cologne (French) shop in the Mall of the West Indies in St. Martins. It was upstairs. It was still heaven. I could have spent hundreds of dollars, but I did not. Two big lavender soaps. Two colognes.

Other than that.......I didn't shop. I did look in the windows and if I had been just with my husband, I would have spent more time looking around.

Edited March 24, 2015 by AmberTeka

[ar1950]

No surf and turf. Lobster with prawns was very good. Beef Wellington the same night. .................. The Regal is a great ship and one of the best we were on. Will sail it again I am sure.

 

There was surf and turf, you just needed to order it in the proper manner. I ordered the Beef Wellington and asked for a lobster on the side without the prawns, rice and whatever else came with it. Delicious!

 

And we also thought that the ship was great. We booked it again this coming December.