Regal Princess--Not worth the extra $$

[Jimmy Geegitz]

We loved it. Our new favorite ship. But have not been on any other Princess ship. As far as price goes we paid less for Regal than we pay for a Carnival cruise.

[rockdoctor]

Princess charges what they can get. RCL charges a premium for the new mega ships because they can get it.

[Sincity]

Taking another trip on the Regal this weekend. IMO, I think it is worth it.

[baldercash]

Taking another trip on the Regal this weekend. IMO, I think it is worth it.

 

What type of cabin did you book and how far out did you book it, did you pay full price or a discounted price?

[Sincity]

What type of cabin did you book and how far out did you book it, did you pay full price or a discounted price?

 

I don't remember what type but it was mid-ship and if IIRC, it was on the 10th deck at a discounted price. This upcoming trip we booked a GTY this past July (cabin not yet assigned) at a discounted price.

[jpj39]

I paid $539 for a BB balcony, sailing 1/3/16 :D

is that $539 per person for (# please)

certainly not for a single

[MSR74]

Overall, I was disappointed and expected more overall because our first Princess cruise was on Golden several years ago. With that said, I don't think I'd sail on Regal Princess again unless it were free.

Edited December 1, 2015 by MSR74

[kenorus]

We did the repositioning from New York on the regal this october! I was not a fan at all, staff were not as friendly especially at the bar on deck 5, absolutely no service all they did was walk around with empty trays! Compared to the royal last october it was a huge dissapointment! Will be giving Princess a break for awhile!

[MSR74]

I guess, I should explain my position a little more thoroughly to put into context. I selected anytime dining which on Golden (several years ago) was efficient. Very short wait times, not more than 10-15 minutes in my recollection. The first night I waited about 30 minutes. Not too bad and still reasonable for me. The second (first formal) I waited an hour and 45 minutes. The line from the dining room was backed up into the atrium. Probably about 50 people waiting in line. Thinnest night was an hour and 1/2. When I commented to the head waiter, he posted a reservation following that and we were seated relatively quickly on remaining nights. I did hear other peoples comments about waits be excessive and unacceptable and that was a theme for those standing on long lines, likely hundreds of guests each night.

 

The rear of the ship walking from the buffet to the aft bar smelled heavily like urine. Like a public toilet wherever USA, or wherever that wasn't cleaned properly. It continued and worsened as the week progressed. Other toilets smelled similar in various areas of the ship. They appeared clean but a Princess rep said it was an ongoing maintenance issue that was scheduled to have warranty service to repair. Ok.

 

I have never seen so many public bathroom toilets and sinks not working in various public area bathrooms in my cruise history (this was my 8th). Every public men's room had one or more sinks or toilets out of service and many continued for the duration of the cruise. At one point, I visited the toilet outside of the Forward show lounge and all one toilet was working and then became inoperative before I had the opportunity to use it. I searched for another toilet two flights up.

 

The toilets were in strange locations and not accessible to all restaurants. I never found on near my dining room and when I asked about one, I was told by Princess crew to go to the next deck up. Strange.

 

The layout was poorly designed, and stairs to nowhere without any indication that passengers were proceeding to nowhere. Elevators were small and inefficient.

 

Decks were never power washed once on my cruise. On other lines I have seen multiple power washes in one week. With that said, debris (Princess Patter from days prior and other debris) collected in side returns by the main pool on the sun deck. Cups and glasses sat under our chairs empty for the entire day and were not removed. Finally, I took them back and placed them stacked on the bar so the wind wouldn't carry them off.

 

Stateroom bathrooms were way too small. I am an average 5'8," 155 lb male and I had a difficult time turning in the shower. The door of the bathroom met my knees when I sat on the toilet (I know TMI), but you get the idea.

 

The balconies were small but were adequate for us.

 

The room was well kept and stateroom steward great, no complaints.

 

Crown Grill was boring, service and food just ok. I expected more from their premium steakhouse. In comparison, Fahrenheit 555 on Carnival Breeze was outstanding. A real unique experience.

 

Sushi Bar was awful. Lack of variety and poor quality at best. Not even supermarket quality.

 

I left survey after cruise. No response from Princess. Wrote a letter, took two months for a response and it was a phone call. I called rep back and there was 0 empathy and a lot of excuses. I don't even recall an apology. Take it or leave it attitude.

 

Entertainment except for a couple of acts (husband/wife team from Philippines and A young African American lady who reminded me of Tina Turner) was cheesy and boring. I almost fell asleep during one of the main stage performances and we always left early when we weren't held back from attending a show because of dinner disaster.

 

Only one type of beer, Stella or nothing on tap, especially with craft beer popularity was surprising, otherwise it was necessary to purchase bottled beer. I prefer tap.

 

Overall cruise was very low key and quiet which was a plus for us. Very few children and I wouldn't recommend a family trip with children on this ship.

 

With all combined I have had much better experiences on many other cruises, including Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. And there were probably other issues that I can't recall but I just remember coming off of the ship feeling underwhelmed, not looking to book another Princess cruise until I hear service and product improves and dealing with the customer service rep at Princess Corporate put icing on my cake.

 

In any event, I thought it worthy to post this response, although it may not be the correct page to do so and I will move it if others/admin feels it better suited for another location. But I just wanted to leave some feedback on my experience.

 

M.

[Linerguy]

We did the repositioning from New York on the regal this october! I was not a fan at all, staff were not as friendly especially at the bar on deck 5, absolutely no service all they did was walk around with empty trays! Compared to the royal last october it was a huge dissapointment! Will be giving Princess a break for awhile!

 

We were on the same cruise, and had a completely different experience. We did not find one crew member who wasn't friendly, and didn't greet us with a smile. If someone passed you with an empty tray, and you wanted a drink, why didn't you say something? They're damned if they do, and damned if they don't. They get accused of either pushing drinks or ignoring people; they can't win. The only bar on Deck 5 is Vines, next to the Gelato place. We were there nearly everyday, and were never ignored. Sorry 'bout your luck.

 

For us, it was one of the best cruises we've taken....far from a huge disappointment.

[Linerguy]

The toilets were in strange locations and not accessible to all restaurants. I never found on near my dining room and when I asked about one, I was told by Princess crew to go to the next deck up.

 

Then you didn't look very hard. Fact is, there are restrooms right outside the entrance to all three dining rooms...and they're marked plain as day. If you ate in Sabatini's, there are restrooms across the Piazza, next to the International Cafe. If you ate in the Crown Grill, they're located right around the corner.

[kenorus]

We were on the same cruise, and had a completely different experience. We did not find one crew member who wasn't friendly, and didn't greet us with a smile. If someone passed you with an empty tray, and you wanted a drink, why didn't you say something? They're damned if they do, and damned if they don't. They get accused of either pushing drinks or ignoring people; they can't win. The only bar on Deck 5 is Vines, next to the Gelato place. We were there nearly everyday, and were never ignored. Sorry 'bout your luck.

 

For us, it was one of the best cruises we've taken....far from a huge disappointment.

 

Actually vines was good, it was the bar where the international cafe was. Sorry when they see you sitting at a table most staff would ask you if you would like something. One bartender was actually rude we put a formal complaintbin which we have never done, princess did call and offered us an onboard credit and is going to deal with a certain person! After sailing 40 days on the royal i can say for us a bitter dissapointment!

[Linerguy]

Actually vines was good, it was the bar where the international cafe was. Sorry when they see you sitting at a table most staff would ask you if you would like something. One bartender was actually rude we put a formal complaintbin which we have never done, princess did call and offered us an onboard credit and is going to deal with a certain person! After sailing 40 days on the royal i can say for us a bitter dissapointment!

 

Again, it just goes to prove they can't win (at least not with some people). For us, and, judging by how much fun people seemed to be having, a majority of the other folks, they did a great job.

[CineGraphic]

is that $539 per person for (# please)

certainly not for a single

$539 each for two of us.

[stoneharborlady]

Yes linerguy, people have their opinions, no one said they did not like the regal, i did not like a certain area whefe we got no service. You really need to learn how to comment on people posts appropriaretely.i really hope you never have a bad experience on a ship!

 

 

No one here should ever be bullied or attacked for giving their opinion or experience of a cruise or ship. Not everyone's experience is the same, and we need to remember to be respectful of each other. To be anonymous on the internet does not always lend itself to that end.

[karena1]

We booked Regal for next Dec 2016 for 2 reasons - wanted to try a bigger Princess Ship (been on Crown/Dawn/Ruby) and it offered a free bev pkg and a boatload of OBC. So looking forward to seeing what Regal offers. We would have done Regal last Dec but Ruby went to Roatan and we really wanted to go there (and we LOVED it there). So next year we decided the itin did not matter as much as getting on Regal and having the free bev pkg.

[Lucky TGO]

Just off the Regal Princess-5 day Caribbean cruise Nov 3. Always loved the Princess Experience-ships beautiful, lots of entertainment, good food-best pizza afloat, MUTS!!!. We were excited to sail the Regal because it supposedly had bigger better features-Biggest Atrium afloat- Biggest Buffett afloat- See down to the sea cantaliever walkway. We decided to try the Regal even though it cost a little more then the other ships. Overall we enjoyed the experience but did not feel the extra amenities were worth the extra cost. The ship did seem more crowded then the Emerald Princess. Buffett had awesome salad and soup but entrees were overcooked and unimpressive-bigger was just bigger not better in terms of buffet. Pizza, burgers, MUTS and entertainment were as good as other ships. Overall thought Regal was just as good but not worth paying more for.--Wondering what others think.

 

My friend just came home he was on the Regal. " Anytime dining service was awful. "The Piazza "was so loud you can't hear each other talking."

 

I was on the Royal Princess for a B2B in Jan. I loved it so much that I am going back for 20 days in Jan. 2016. Now I know why Howard Johnson's had 31 flavors. You just can't make every one happy. :eek:

Tony