Regal vs. Royal Approval %'s

[StanLaurel]

I am curious as to why there seems to be such a substantial difference in the CC reviews section between the Regal's approval rating (76%) and the Royal's (68%). What few differences there are between these two beautiful ships seem too inconsequential to account for such a difference in approval ratings. Any speculations?

Edited June 2, 2015 by StanLaurel

[HUNKY]

I think people compared Royal to previous Princess cruise liners while Regal is compared to the Royal ship. There are some small, but for previous Princess cruisers significant changes. For instance, the aft pool, the wind blocker at the retreat pool and the somewhat promenade deck.

[Colo Cruiser]

I take all reviews with a grain of salt. :)

[Mom33]

The Royal was a new ship that had changes to it's design that some cruisers couldn't adjust to. The Royal had the usual new bugs to contend with in its first season also. These problems lowered the Royal's percentage rating in the first season. Once the bugs were ironed out and the Caribbean season got under way, the Royal began to get better reviews and it's at 68% today.

 

The Regal is the same design with and added dipping pool that debuted a year later. It had less problems in it's first season and attracted a lot of new cruisers. The design was now known by Royal cruisers and accepted by most people that booked the ship. It sits at 76% approval today.

 

It should be noted that there are 494 reviews for Royal and 173 reviews for Regal.

Of the 494 reviews on the Royal, 65 reviewers rated it poor or terrible.

Of the 173 reviews on the Regal, 17 reviewers rated it poor or terrible.

 

The bar graphs give an additional perspective on the approval of both ships also.

New ship designs can take awhile to catch on. For example, Quantum of the seas is at 49% with 341 reviews in its first season and Brittania is at 42% with 85 reviews in it's inaugural season.

 

There have been many cruisers that have reviewed both ships in the forums instead of on the CC review board. These reviews are more important because you can discuss the reasons for the positive or negative reviews with the cruiser and gain a better understanding of the actual cruise experience.

[Maraprince]

After Royal came out and some passenger were not happy with the "new" design and "improvements", TAs actually discouraged their clients from booking Royal. My TA at the time told me that one of his best clients made a point of stopping in and personally giving him a list of all the things he did not like about the Royal. This client was on the initial voyage and 2 subsequently sailings...more than enough days to get a good feel for the new ship. Biggest complaints centered around the lack of mid ship elevators and not enough staircases and/or staircases that did not go to certain areas of the ship, the amount of walking from the front to the back or back to front of the ship.

 

Also while it is nice to have so many balcony cabins, there are no outside cabins unlike other Princess ships.

 

Regal seems to have fared better with passengers to be recommended by TAs to their clients.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

Edited June 2, 2015 by Maraprince

[susancruzs]

All this talk about the central staircase seems silly to me, plus the walk from forward to aft for the Deck 6 dining room. Having to walk to find a less busy elevator, big deal.

 

I was on the Emerald Princess for 25 days and never used the staircases in the center of the ship. However, I'm not an elevator person and will walk the length of the ship two or three times over rather than using an elevator. I read the reviews and complaints more for amusement or entertainment, than to be taken seriously. I cannot wait for April 2016and my 25+ day Regal cruise!

[Colo Cruiser]

All this talk about the central staircase seems silly to me, plus the walk from forward to aft for the Deck 6 dining room. Having to walk to find a less busy elevator, big deal.

 

I was on the Emerald Princess for 25 days and never used the staircases in the center of the ship. However, I'm not an elevator person and will walk the length of the ship two or three times over rather than using an elevator. I read the reviews and complaints more for amusement or entertainment, than to be taken seriously. I cannot wait for April 2016and my 25+ day Regal cruise!

 

I never even paid attention to the lack of stairs on any ship. I forgot all about it on our Regal Med cruise. Makes absolutely no difference to me. :rolleyes:

[UpcountryTravelers]

After Royal came out and some passenger were not happy with the "new" design and "improvements", TAs actually discouraged their clients from booking Royal. My TA at the time told me that one of his best clients made a point of stopping in and personally giving him a list of all the things he did not like about the Royal. This client was on the initial voyage and 2 subsequently sailings...more than enough days to get a good feel for the new ship. Biggest complaints centered around the lack of mid ship elevators and not enough staircases and/or staircases that did not go to certain areas of the ship, the amount of walking from the front to the back or back to front of the ship.

 

Also while it is nice to have so many balcony cabins, there are no outside cabins unlike other Princess ships.

 

Regal seems to have fared better with passengers to be recommended by TAs to their clients.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

 

Pardon me, but I have sailed both Royal Princess and Regal Princess, and BOTH DO have mid-ship elevators. All the way up. Six of them.

[Meanee]

I don't know why Royal gets so much bad rap.

 

Royal was my first cruise with Princess and I loved the crap out of that cruise. Royal got me hooked on Princess as my "go to" cruise line. Booking my 3rd one for September in Crown (but would be better if it was Royal)

[dmwnc1959]

When Royal Princess debuted, and prior to her actual maiden voyage, there were two 2-night Preview Cruises from Southampton. At that time the ship was brand new - straight from the shipyard - and she was of a new design with lots of new technology aboard her that wasn't on other ships in the Princess Cruises fleet. Royal Princess unfortunately was also experiencing a variety of technical difficulties with some of the hardware and software when she arrived in England. To compound those problems, the shore-side staff and embarkations were a bit of an unmitigated disaster. On the second Preview Cruise the only port of call, St. Peter Port on the Channel Island of Guernsey, was missed due to inclement weather, and being as most of all the passengers aboard were from the UK - and they had really, really, really wanted to see Guernsey - there was a small uproar. The port-day turned into a sea-day, and the Cruise Director and ship's staff aboard Royal Princess were completely unprepared. Once she set sail on her maiden voyage the technical difficulties remained, including almost non-existent internet service. Eager to spread the word on this new ship, we had three sailings of very unhappy people who came back and simply hammered the ship to a pulp. Some of these problems even continued through her first cruise season, a summer in the Mediterranean: most of us that have been here for a while will remember Royal Princess breaking down mid-cruise due to a faulty generator, then having to disembark her passengers in Naples, Italy several days before the cruise was supposed to end in Barcelona. It was going from bad to worse with lots of upset passengers, even though Princess Cruises gave them a sizable compensation package. But that didn't make up for missing Rome, Florence, and Barcelona.

 

Now. Being that Royal Princess wasn't a carbon-copy of the Grand-class ships in their decor - even though the layouts of the two classes of ships are very, very, similar - it threw a lot of people for a loop. Some of their favorite venues or spaces had been eliminated and replaced, the balconies were smaller than the corresponding equivalents on the Grand-class, and it was just 'too weird' and 'too different' from the much loved class of ships that came before Royal Princess. And, even though those of us on Cruise Critic had the (somewhat) benefit of an extensive thread documenting her interior and public spaces, there was still quite a bit about her that was relatively unknown to the general public at large.

 

So, with all of this disaster and nightmare and change and horror, Royal Princess started her life on the Cruise Critic Member Reviews board at an abysmal 32%. And that's a really tough number to climb up from once your'e down there.

 

 

Regal Princess, on the other hand, hit the scene roughly a year after Royal Princess and the 'crapstorm' (I wanted to use another word but wanted to be gentle) had somewhat subsided. Also, some of those design and structural deficiencies that could be corrected from the Royal Princess were changed on Regal Princess. It didn't make her perfect, but a tad better.

 

Therefore, with that in mind, Regal Princess benefited from being the second ship, and started at a much higher percentage than that of her sister. People were also now mostly aware of the differences between the Grand-class and the Royal-class, and had moved on, although you'll occasionally see a thread pop-up with an "OMG the sky is falling" revelation that most of us here already know about - or at least bothered to do our homework before sailing these new ships and knew in advance what to expect.

 

 

And that is why Royal Princess and Regal Princess have such different 'Loved It' ratings.

 

The End

 

:D

[insidecabin]

Just off Royal, round Britain.

 

The weather and itinerary on round Britain impact outside and casino/shops so those not aware may reflect this in the reviews.

 

The move to Atrium(plaza) based entertainment impacts other areas, Crooners has to fit in between atrium acts.

 

To see stuff unless on deck 5 you have to stand at railings.

 

Pre dinner dancing was pre recorded in Live, empty every time I went past.

 

Wheelhouse is small and really just a crown grill bar so limited choice of entertainment suitable for a dining venue.

 

The seating in Vista is terrible and no bar area and very low ceiling.

 

The theatre design has large area of potential premium seat occupied by the access corridor double stairs.

 

There seems to be a lack of places for people to sit an read near windows, crooners it was often difficult to get sets due to people just reading.

 

The layout of the buffet means multiple stations to get a starter main meal not a problem except when packed.

 

The starter mains are at one end and the deserts only in the pastry shop meaning walk or change of table, if they want people to have dinner at one end and desert coffee at the other they need to make this clear.

 

Elevator scheduling seems to be suspect you get the feeling they just sit at a deck and don't move, there does not seem to be any priority on port days to get people on/off the ship this may be part of the complaints of lack of stairs mid ships.

 

Nothing is a deal breaker, ship is nice crew try hard some are really good, you don't get the feeling of a lively ship passengers just seem to wander about trying to find something interesting/entertaining to do.

 

For northern Europe you really need ships with covered pools to get the extended season, retreat and sanctuary just a waste of space.

 

Even though outside areas were not usable on this trip the ship did not feel crowded even on sea days, buffet got a bit busy breakfast and lunch(sea days) but always found a seat.

I think a lot were in bed by 10:00 quite port intensive.

 

Princess are supposed to be fixing some of the issues on the next one and the stairs from shops/casino are going to make way for more shops. mid ship stair case and toiler roll holder in a more convenient place(why they have not added one on the royal is a mystery).

 

One final point

 

The balcony viewing platform(sky walk/bar) was great idea.

[sammybonny]

Just off the Royal

 

Hi insidecabin

Sorry to hear you didnt get very good weather. It has been awful for all of May here.

 

Will you be doing a full review? We are on this cruise on 26th June and really looking forward to it and would be grateful for any info re ports etc.

 

I see you mentioned on another post that the ship docked in Dublin instead of tender - do you know if this is going to be a regular thing.

 

thanks

[insidecabin]

Just off the Royal

 

Hi insidecabin

Sorry to hear you didnt get very good weather. It has been awful for all of May here.

 

Will you be doing a full review? We are on this cruise on 26th June and really looking forward to it and would be grateful for any info re ports etc.

 

I see you mentioned on another post that the ship docked in Dublin instead of tender - do you know if this is going to be a regular thing.

 

thanks

 

Might do a reflective review we have done this trips a few time.

 

re Dublin:

The ship is tight for the dock in Dublin, requires a reverse(captain said 5 miles!) and a tight reverse turn, coming out we had two tugs hovering around the ship and the pilot boat watching the stern on the turn it I quite tight.

 

This was the first time the ship has been in and it will be determined on a case by case depending on weather(wind/swell).

 

The captain did say this had been tested on the simulators and that they had shore side operations on board to evaluate the docking and set parameters for future visits.

 

Make plans for both options.

[scotslizzy]

I did write a review when we came back from our Caribbean cruise in Feb but thought I would add a couple of points .

 

We did not compare Royal to other Princess Ships as it had been 4 or 5 years since our last cruise with Princess . So after stating that and having read all the negatives before the cruise we boarded with some trepidation.

 

I was really impressed with the décor and the general layout of the Ship . Our comparison was with Celebrity Solstice class Ships and I remember thinking I had worried needlessly about issue's I had read on Cruise Critic . That is not to say that everything was great . I don't think there is a Ship afloat that can please 100% all the time.

 

We enjoyed greatly the entertainment in the Atrium plus the speciality dining. Not so good was the food in the MDR ( but subjective I appreciate ).

 

Bottom line is we never got upset about the lack of a main stair case, exits in the Theatre and smaller venues elsewhere . Towel quality very poor.

 

I am not one to state that any ship is a great ship as we work hard for our money and will complain about any issues that arise but I would definitely consider another cruise with Royal Princess if the price is right etc .

 

 

Scotslizzy

[insidecabin]

Towel quality very poor.

 

I suspect this was an attempt to reduce cost and laundry loads.

 

They are small and low quality, every one we had was fraying and often had holes in, I could only just dry myself with one, making them single use.

 

The larger fluffy better quality on most ships we will use at least twice often more(hang and they dry), I guess many have them changed every use.

[Woobstr112G]

Pardon me, but I have sailed both Royal Princess and Regal Princess, and BOTH DO have mid-ship elevators. All the way up. Six of them.

 

6 very small elevators who seem to have a mind of their own....:D:D:D

 

Bob

Edited June 3, 2015 by Woobstr112G

[dmwnc1959]

6 very small elevators who seem to have a mind of their own....:D:D:D

 

Bob

 

 

They were only small at the end of the cruise! ;)

 

All kidding aside, I'm 5' 10" and (at that time) 180-ish pounds and the elevators weren't horrible for me. But they did seem to whiz by the floor I was waiting on, prompting me to take the stairs (two at a time) and getting to my destination much quicker than waiting on the next one. I probably needed the exercise anyway with all of the food I was eating!

 

:D

[PescadoAmarillo]

But they did seem to whiz by the floor I was waiting on, prompting me to take the stairs (two at a time) and getting to my destination much quicker than waiting on the next one. I probably needed the exercise anyway with all of the food I was eating!

People quip about the crowded elevators forcing them to take the stairs, or say the elevator situation on the Royal doesn't bother them because they only take the stairs, but that's little consolation for those who simply can't do the same. I stayed in the elevator lobby with a woman who used a walker on the Royal, just to give her a fighting chance to actually get on an elevator. People were pushing past her and elevators were passing by our deck, and, when they did arrive, they were full of people going the other direction just to get a space. We probably waited close to 8 minutes before she was able to get a spot on an elevator. Luckily, her walker had a seat and I encouraged her to sit on it while we waited.

 

I have spent nearly two years of my life on crutches, and have helped senior parents with mobility issues. I guess it makes one aware of what others go through even if they are unaffected.

[JimmyVWine]

The Royal was a new ship that had changes to it's design that some cruisers couldn't adjust to.

I don't think this is really fair or accurate. Some cruisers simply don't like the changes. There is a big difference between "not liking" the changes and "not adjusting" to the changes. Your post suggests that the reason for the current percentage is a failure to adjust. This completely discounts the fact that some people honestly don't like the changes. For example, if one loves Explorer Lounges and dislikes Princess Live, there is no blame to cast if that person can't "adjust".

 

 

There have been many cruisers that have reviewed both ships in the forums instead of on the CC review board. These reviews are more important because you can discuss the reasons for the positive or negative reviews with the cruiser and gain a better understanding of the actual cruise experience.

The ability to discuss doesn't make one review more important than another. Some people enjoy posting reviews on chat boards and some don't. There is nothing that can be read into any of this. The New York Times doesn't post its book, restaurant or movie reviews on chat boards. But I don't think that these reviews are "less important" than reviews on Chowhound or IMDB, for example.

[Mom33]

I don't think this is really fair or accurate. Some cruisers simply don't like the changes. There is a big difference between "not liking" the changes and "not adjusting" to the changes. Your post suggests that the reason for the current percentage is a failure to adjust. This completely discounts the fact that some people honestly don't like the changes. For example, if one loves Explorer Lounges and dislikes Princess Live, there is no blame to cast if that person can't "adjust".

 

Excuse me! You are going to pick on the phrase "adjust"? I think readers understand what I said .

 

The ability to discuss doesn't make one review more important than another. Some people enjoy posting reviews on chat boards and some don't. There is nothing that can be read into any of this. The New York Times doesn't post its book, restaurant or movie reviews on chat boards. But I don't think that these reviews are "less important" than reviews on Chowhound or IMDB, for example.

 

I have read many reviews on the Member Review board that left me wondering about something the reviewer said. There is no response for these reviews. When that happens here on the forums, I can ask a question of the reviewer and have my question answered. This way I have more confidence in what I am reading in the review.

Thanks to the forums, I cruised the new ships and enjoyed them. I have found many pictures and posts on the forums of great value.

[Astro Flyer]

People quip about the crowded elevators forcing them to take the stairs, or say the elevator situation on the Royal doesn't bother them because they only take the stairs, but that's little consolation for those who simply can't do the same. I stayed in the elevator lobby with a woman who used a walker on the Royal, just to give her a fighting chance to actually get on an elevator. People were pushing past her and elevators were passing by our deck, and, when they did arrive, they were full of people going the other direction just to get a space. We probably waited close to 8 minutes before she was able to get a spot on an elevator. Luckily, her walker had a seat and I encouraged her to sit on it while we waited.

 

I have spent nearly two years of my life on crutches, and have helped senior parents with mobility issues. I guess it makes one aware of what others go through even if they are unaffected.

Knowing that sometimes those midship elevators can be difficult to get on, we usually walked from our midship deck 9 cabin fore or aft to take the stairs. Thankfully I do not have any mobility issues & why not burn off a few calories but more importantly to have those with mobility issues to more easily use the midship elevators on ships lacking stairways above deck 7 (Grand, Royal & Regal).

 

Hopefully the existing stairways on the Royal-class ships will add carpeting & paneling so passengers can use them in the future. Based on the engineer lecturer on the ship they were not completed to avoid any cost overruns. :(

Edited June 3, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[kendon]

They're both fabulous and any differences are extremely minor.

[riclop]

Love the Royal/Regal , we will not sail on no other Princess ship.

[dmwnc1959]

I have spent nearly two years of my life on crutches, and have helped senior parents with mobility issues. I guess it makes one aware of what others go through even if they are unaffected.

 

 

And for the past 10 years I've worked with mentally challenged (MR) adults, many who have other physically complicating issues and are in wheelchairs, motorized scooters, use walkers and canes, or are assisted with gait belts. I know what they go through just having to use the restroom, take a shower, get in and out of cars, wait for elevators, and do the simplest of tasks such as lifting a fork.

 

I too have stood there in the elevator lobbies of not just Royal Princess, but Ruby Princess as well, waiting on elevators next to someone in a motorized scooter, taking the time to ensure they got on ahead of a pushing crowd. So I KNOW how those with mobility issues are affected by things we ourselves take for granted or have alternate paths to take, when they cannot.

 

:D

[PescadoAmarillo]

I too have stood there in the elevator lobbies of not just Royal Princess, but Ruby Princess as well, waiting on elevators next to someone in a motorized scooter, taking the time to ensure they got on ahead of a pushing crowd. So I KNOW how those with mobility issues are affected by things we ourselves take for granted or have alternate paths to take, when they cannot.

 

:D

So you're very well aware that, just because the Royal/Regal elevator situation works for those who don't need to use them doesn't mean it works for everyone. :)