Regal Princess October 14 to 21, 2017 New England/Canada

[Bimmer09]

Norris,

 

Great narration, photos and story telling telling that leaves one wanting for more.

 

There is a certain intrigue and suspense even though it was just another in the annals of the beautiful Regal Princess bound for the Canadian maritime provinces.

 

This story touches all the senses of smell, the spoken word and feeling of sailing this 146,000 ton ship.

 

It's almost as I was there sailing with you, (perhaps I was).

 

Ron, thanks for the compliments and thanks for the Guinness on our last sea day!

Thanks particularly for adding pics and comments to this review and for the various threads you have added to the board which gives a fuller picture of the cruise.

Stay thirsty, my brother!

Norris

[Shadow9612]

Norris,

 

Great narration, photos and story telling telling that leaves one wanting for more.

 

There is a certain intrigue and suspense even though it was just another in the annals of the beautiful Regal Princess bound for the Canadian maritime provinces.

 

This story touches all the senses of smell, the spoken word and feeling of sailing this 146,000 ton ship.

 

It's almost as I was there sailing with you, (perhaps I was).

 

Agreed!

 

Norris, have you considered writing a book one day about your cruising experiences?? With such amazing photos, incredible story telling, fabulous sites and experiences,...it would surely be a success!

[Bimmer09]

With no high clouds to reflect the rise of the morning sun this was the sum of my sunrise photos

 

Disappointing to say the least and another example of Princess' penny-pinching. I wrote a stiff letter of complaint (on cardboard). What sort of compensation do you think I'll get ?

I strolled through the Piazza

 

It is a Home Run for the designers. A WOW factor when you step on the ship in New York and everytime thereafter. It draws people to the hub of the ship for indoor entertainment and shopping and dining experiences. The Regal looks more upscale than what has gone before.

I'll show you everything that branches off from it on another day.

Beautiful art installation

 

 

Lots more seating areas than before





 

I am going to meet Carol for breakfast in the Allegro dining room, deck 6 aft. There are some slideshow screens in some elevator lobbies...

 

 

 

[Bimmer09]

Bogdan shows us to a window seat

 

 



 

 



 

 

Double cappuccino, no card punching. Nice!



 

 

One thing leapt out at us from the menu-Fig compote. Don't often see that-but we wish we did!



 

 

I heard angels sing. So refreshing!

[BabySarge]

Loving your review, wit, pictures, and food porn. Is that a chip/missing piece in the cup your espresso crème brule came in or a shadow from the chocolate straw?

[scopewest]

Love your review, and funny enough, every cruise I take I stand on the deck and recite the same "I must go down to the sea again..."

[british lady]

Thank you Seafaring Gentleman, enjoying your Journal and the pictures are FAB.

We would love to do this cruise, but would have to look for a date in warmer weather conditions.

 

We bid the ABC cruise in June on the Equinox loved it which line are you going on?

 

Sara

[MisterMet]

Bogdan shows us to a window seat

 

 



 

 



 

 

Double cappuccino, no card punching. Nice!



 

 

One thing leapt out at us from the menu-Fig compote. Don't often see that-but we wish we did!



 

 

I heard angels sing. So refreshing!

 

 

Norris,

 

Those pictures are making me hungry! We truly appreciate your affection for photography as is really adds to your fabulous reviews. I finally started to post my review. Here is the link to the 12 night British Isles on the Caribbean Princess

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2563667

 

Keep up your fine work. Have a great rest of your weekend!

 

Trip

[BarbinMich]

. . .

I strolled through the Piazza





 

. . .

 

Norris, I felt similarly re the Piazza on our Royal cruises and got up very early one morning, to capture pix such as yours. ;)

[Bimmer09]

Continuing with breakfast in Allegro dining room....

Carol's James Beard Cornflakes encrusted French Toast without Maple Syrup (Gasp!)



 

 

My predictable repast with no lack of syrup on my pancakes, nicely absorbed



 

Served on hot plates and piping hot just the way I wish the buffet would be as the variety in Horizon Court is amazing.

It does take about an hour to eat but we are not rushing off the ship so I have time to take some pics up on deck 7....

[Bimmer09]

Loving your review, wit, pictures, and food porn. Is that a chip/missing piece in the cup your espresso crème brule came in or a shadow from the chocolate straw?

 

No missing chip-it was the ice cream melting over the edge of the cup. Not a drop didn't end up in my stomach as it was so delicious.

Welcome- you are a new name in one of my reviews and I am always pleased to see old and new friends pulling up a chair.

I'm glad you like what you see.

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Agreed!

 

Norris, have you considered writing a book one day about your cruising experiences?? With such amazing photos, incredible story telling, fabulous sites and experiences,...it would surely be a success!

 

Hi and welcome!

Thanks for the compliments but it's not something I can imagine ever happening and I can't imagine there are many people interested enough in a Cruising Coffee table book to make one viable. I am always taken aback on the ships when I mention Cruise Critic and get blank stares. I think most cruisers live for the moment when they are cruising and once the cruise is over they go back to normal life without wanting to read of other people's cruises. Writing about it makes my cruise experience to normal life a gradual experience, rather than a sudden drying up of the cruise juices.

That you enjoy reading these CC posts is icing on the cake for me.

More coming up soon as we go ashore in Bar Harbor.

Thanks again!

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Thank you for the Sabatini's photos. I'm sailing on the Crown in December for my first back-to-back, so to avoid same-menu fatigue in the main dining room, I'll be trying both specialty restaurants, also for the first time. The vitello con tonnato is tops on my must-have list, so it was great to see a photo. And that branzino looks amazing -- but so does Carol's shrimp . . . I may have to go to Sab's twice . . .

 

Annie, I am surprised to see that you haven't been to the Specialty restaurants before. We hit the Bayou Cafe on the Coral on our first night there as we wanted to start what might have been our only cruise with something "Special"and went to Sabatini's 3 times that week as it fit the special category too.

I know many folks may be tired of the same menu year after year and that compared to other lines Princess hasn't enough Specialties to offer a variety of choices on a long cruise. We only take two cruises a year and not both with Princess each year so eating in Sabs or the Crown Grill once or twice a year is something we look forward to. On the Regal it was easily the best food and service we have had in Sabatini's.

We are on the Crown January 12 and I am told that my favorite MD, the only one who isn't invisible, Neville Saldanha from India, will be on her at that time (and for your sailing) so I expect the restaurants to be well managed. He's very charming and witty too. We met him on our first two cruises on Coral and Crown.

The Branzino used to be baked in a salt crust but it required a waiter's time to cut the crust away ( I have video of that, I think it was on the Diamond) so now the prep is simpler. I stay away from their steak as each time I have had it, it had to be sawed through. Crown Gill is the place for seared meats but it's a heavy meal compared to Sabs.

Bon appetit!

Norris

[Bimmer09]

 

We were already anchored off Bar Harbor when we ate breakfast and we didn't need to be off the ship until after 9.45, mustering in the Princess Theater. I took some photos from deck 7 aft.

An offshore island. The skies were blue and cloudless and it was warm even though the ship's log says it was only 46 degrees. No fog, threats of rain, big waves that kept the Crown from stopping here recently.



 

 



 

 

This was one port I didn't want to miss-my first Christmas in America in New Jersey 1986 and I was given a coffee-table book I still have: America from the Road as it was known I loved to drive. It had a section on Maine and there was a photo taken from Acadia National Park looking down on a blue bay with a lot of green islands below. Eye candy! Today I would take that same photograph hence the excursion ticket.

I was guessing the photo was taken from up there

 

Cadillac Mountain is what it says on the ticket and at 1600 feet we can leave our pictons, ropes and oxygen masks in the cabin. We'll sit on a bus instead.

 

 

The fall color, as in Chicago and Michigan hasn't advanced much yet. That could just as easily be Cadillac Mountain in the back there. (?)



 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2017 by Bimmer09

[Bimmer09]

A closer look at the fall color

 

 

Tenders are already in the water on the port side

 

 



 

 

Bar Harbor awaits in the distance



 

 

The Promenade deck port side where the tenders live



 

[Bimmer09]

Nothing says Cruise Ship like a row of deck loungers!

 

 



 

At the appointed time of 9.45 we are in the Princess Theater, sitting in the first few rows after being accounted for and given a colored sticker. Once a tender is ready we are marched to midships and then down the stairs to deck 4 to board.

 

 

Top deck for me



 

 

 

[Bimmer09]

 

 

The Brand Identifier

 

 

A handsome tub



 

 



 

 

Yachts moored along the way to the tender dock



 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

 

We stepped ashore in Bar Harbor and ascended the long steep ramp from the tender dock. There's a gift shop and toilets at street level. Our bus was waiting and already loading but we held back. Just enough time to take a pic of a boat I liked the look of on the way in.

 

On the bus I would use my little Canon pocket camera for reasons already explained. I would take pictures as we drove from town up into the mountains. Here's the gift shop at the tender harbor.

 

 

and a whale watching boat

 

 

'Ere long we are heading away from the coast in an upwardly direction



 

 



 

 

 

 

A guide narrates...rocks, ice age, glaciers, lakes, trees as we climb ever higher

[Bimmer09]

Norris,

 

Those pictures are making me hungry! We truly appreciate your affection for photography as is really adds to your fabulous reviews. I finally started to post my review. Here is the link to the 12 night British Isles on the Caribbean Princess

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2563667

 

Keep up your fine work. Have a great rest of your weekend!

 

Trip

 

Trip, I have already visited your review and left a comment as the Photobucket Phiasco has cursed your pictures. I'd advise stopping and switching to Flickr-just sign up and let the rest of us enjoy your always stellar photos!

Norris, heed my sage counsel

[MisterMet]

Trip, I have already visited your review and left a comment as the Photobucket Phiasco has cursed your pictures. I'd advise stopping and switching to Flickr-just sign up and let the rest of us enjoy your always stellar photos!

 

Norris, heed my sage counsel

 

 

 

Norris my friend,

 

You are indeed a lifesaver! I have heeded your message and ditched the Bucket for Flickr. I have uploaded the missing photos and will post them again for everyone to see later. Thanks for your help. Bucket had too many pop ups that almost gave me a nervous breakdown and it was really slow.

 

Love the pics of you and Carol when you get off at each stop. We have every one of them from all our ports. They are must haves for us.

 

Have a great day and thanks again for your help and this great review!

 

Trip

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Bimmer09]

 

The bus will stop here for 20 minutes. My advice, borne out by the pictures from the bus on the way back down, is to rent a car and drive up yourself. There are many spots as we descend where I wish we could have stopped and breathed the air and savored the tranquility. There are a lot of people at the top.

 

THIS IS A HANDSOME PROFILE

 

In the video I incorrectly guess that there is an Oceania ship in town with us. It is actually the Crystal Serenity when I looked at the stern through my zoom lens on the Canon 3Ti as we tendered back later in the day.

 

 

TWkJK7kHoSE

 

 

 

[Bimmer09]

Norris my friend,

 

You are indeed a lifesaver! I have heeded your message and ditched the Bucket for Flickr. I have uploaded the missing photos and will post them again for everyone to see later. Thanks for your help. Bucket had too many pop ups that almost gave me a nervous breakdown and it was really slow.

 

Love the pics of you and Carol when you get off at each stop. We have every one of them from all our ports. They are must haves for us.

 

Have a great day and thanks again for your help and this great review!

 

Trip

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Oh Happy Day!!!

I am always disappointed when I click on a Photobucket photo as it doesn't tell you anything about the photo-Flickr tells me which camera and lens I used and the settings I used to get the picture. Indispensable! You can also click on the Camera model and it will take you to photos shot by Flickr users using that camera-and in my case it is always a case of "I must practice and learn how to use this thing". Other people, if you set your privacy to public, can comment on your photos and give them a thumbs-up which is nice to see.

Great decision! Now we can see what you saw on your 12 day cruise!

I'll be following along.

Norris

[jlf1]

Hi Norris,

 

I'm very late to this party. Only been home for 1 week after 25 days on the Royal.

 

Now to play catch up. I'm only on page 4.

 

Judy

[vplsh]

Hi Norris,

Just wanted to thank you for the review and pictures, of this cruise and your others! I'm an avid reader!

We're off on Silhouette for the second time this Christmas and plan to re-read your review to refresh hubby's memory!!

Thanks again!

[Bimmer09]

Hi Norris,

 

I'm very late to this party. Only been home for 1 week after 25 days on the Royal.

Now to play catch up. I'm only on page 4.

Judy

 

Judy, Judy, Judy-how I envy you the time to spend 25 days on a ship!

Never too late to catch up. Even people who are in the back seat saying "are we there yet?" can drop out, remodel the house, start a family, learn calligraphy and then pop back in a few weeks later and see if I have stopped posting, then can read at their leisure.

As long as they get my message of Peace Love and Understanding (and Guinness)

What's so funny about Peace Love and Understanding?

(Who sang that?)

Great to see you here!

Norris, with lots of the Food Porn, that I know you like, still to come