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

[Sadebud]

Hi again Norris!

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the pictures of your cabin...we are in that same cabin for our Southern Caribbean ABC Islands cruise Nov 2018. Will be interested to know how bad the soot is...please keep updating!

 

Cheers,

Tracy

[georgiacat]

Looking forward to more.

[vickila]

Looking forward to more.

 

 

 

Great, addicted. V.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[KYBOB]

Norris;

 

I am on board to the end. I have been waiting for your review, looks like you have a new camera or lens. The photos look great! I was on the Royal for 20 days this spring and 14 days on the Regal last year. So want to hear how you liked this ship over the Grand Class. We are booked on a B2B out of Vancouver to Alaska (a first for us) and I have read your reviews on Alaska, I have used them as a guide for our planning. Love your reports they are welcome respite to the blue bag saga.

[SuiteTraveler]

I was on this cruise too, and I just kept thinking how great all the ports were and how much fun we were having in port! We walked a ton and went on bus trips to amazing places, ate at great restaurants and just had a great time every single day. We slept in on the last day (sea day) until 11 as we were so tired but this was an absolutely great itinerary. The Regal Princess is a nice ship and we also had a Deluxe Balcony that was identical to yours in every way. I would definitely do another Canada/New England cruise that includes some of these ports and other ports and we were very happy with the Regal Princess. It was just a great trip!

[need2cruisesoon]

I was on this cruise too, and I just kept thinking how great all the ports were and how much fun we were having in port! We walked a ton and went on bus trips to amazing places, ate at great restaurants and just had a great time every single day. We slept in on the last day (sea day) until 11 as we were so tired but this was an absolutely great itinerary. The Regal Princess is a nice ship and we also had a Deluxe Balcony that was identical to yours in every way. I would definitely do another Canada/New England cruise that includes some of these ports and other ports and we were very happy with the Regal Princess. It was just a great trip!

 

Suite Traveler, I agree everything about our cruise just clicked. The food, ship, fellow passengers and entertainment was a 10.

[Henchild]

following

[Shadow9612]

Stopping by to say I'm following and also that I adore this photo. Can't take my eyes off it.

 

Same here. I'm following this wonderful review - at the edge of my seat anticipating your take on the Regal.

 

I too can't stop looking at the pic Thermo refers to!

 

I digress here, but I can't figure out how to extract 1 pic back into a post on cruise Critic, so if anyone feels like teaching me, it'd be appreciated! (eg when I 'quote' Thermy's reply, only his text is copied.... How do I get the text/pic that he was quoting in his reply too?)

Edited October 26, 2017 by Shadow9612

[Bimmer09]

Hi again Norris!

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the pictures of your cabin...we are in that same cabin for our Southern Caribbean ABC Islands cruise Nov 2018. Will be interested to know how bad the soot is...please keep updating!

 

Cheers,

Tracy

 

Hi Tracy! We are in the ABC islands in 11 weeks from now-aft cabin on the Crown. Tune in for that one.

The soot is probably in the ship's washing machines (Carol's investigative powers) as our duvet had black smears on it. It's unsightly and I missed the blue plastic matting on the balcony deck and imagine the steel will be hot on our feet when we sail the Regal in the Caribbean one day.

The funnel assembly sure looks sleek and aerodynamic but I think the exhaust pipes need to be a few feet higher still to let the soot fall way behind the ship.

Norris

[morbihan]

I am here. Not too late for a change.

[Bimmer09]

Norris! I finally did it! (Had to tell you since we’ve talked about it before...)just booked the Mediterranean for next fall...thanks in large part to your wonderful detailed reviews

 

Crystal, glad you took the plunge on a Med trip. Which ship/itinerary?

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Norris;

 

I am on board to the end. I have been waiting for your review, looks like you have a new camera or lens. The photos look great! I was on the Royal for 20 days this spring and 14 days on the Regal last year. So want to hear how you liked this ship over the Grand Class. We are booked on a B2B out of Vancouver to Alaska (a first for us) and I have read your reviews on Alaska, I have used them as a guide for our planning. Love your reports they are welcome respite to the blue bag saga.

 

Yes, I have a new camera and lenses but still take along my old cameras and used them a lot on this cruise.

Alaska? We can't get enough of it for the reasons you would have seen in my 3 reviews there. I'm glad you found them helpful in planning for your Alaska cruise. Thanks for the compliments and for letting me know. I'm not sure what a Blue Bag saga is.

Cheers!

Norris

[senior lady]

looking forward to your review.:D I'm heading to the Royal in 10 days.

First time on this class of ship. Living on the West Coast I usually cruise on the older ships. Our itinerary has been changed so many times because of Hurricane damage I'm calling it the " Magical Mystery Cruise" Doesn't matter where I go as long as I"m on a cruise ship:ship:

Edited October 26, 2017 by senior lady
double sentence

[Jase0581]

Hi Norris,

I made it, not too early and not too late. Have been waiting months for this report, should bring back good memories as I spent my college years in Providence and traveled all around this region.

And thanks to your previous reviews I have booked a 2019 cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette, of course next year will be yet another great Princess cruise on the Diamond to New Zealand.

I am buckled in and coffee IV attached for this wonderful adventure.

Thank you!

[Bimmer09]

THIS JUST IN.....BREAKING NEWS....

I got a late start this morning due to sleep deprivation catching up and wasting an hour wrestling with Apple's iMovie program trying to put up my first video to Youtube.

Now Flickr is offline (I've tried both Safari and Google Chrome) so I can't upload my photos this morning.

We have only been aboard the Regal for 20 minutes and this happens? It would never happen on a Grand Class review!! I will never cruise Princess again and will seek compensation.

(I will keep trying to link to Flickr in the hour that is left to me before going to work)

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Back again!

In the cabin is where I left you. I had a task to do while Carol set about wiping down surfaces we would touch (don't forget the phone) but the task had to wait for a minute once I stepped onto the balcony to see where we were....

(there was a photo in this space for about 3 minutes....DOH!!)

 

Bummer! I got one photo from Flickr and then it crashed again and Yahoo is sorry etc. So I'll continue this after work when I get home at 11pm CST.

Thanks for your patience!

Norris, in the techno weeds

[Jasperdo]

Bummer! I got one photo from Flickr and then it crashed again and Yahoo is sorry etc. So I'll continue this after work when I get home at 11pm CST.

Flickr has been wonky all morning. I can't even access my own photos right now.

[lola2013]

Bimmer,

So glad I found this review. I followed you from Celebrity! My mom and I did three Princess cruises before heading over to Celebrity for four cruises. Now my friends and I will be heading back to Princess in March. We did the Canada/New England itinerary on Caribbean Princess in 2009 and look forward to being back on that ship (for 14 nights...woo hoo) after the recent dry dock. I'm anxious to hear how you feel about going back to Princess after your recent Reflection cruise.

Susan (from Schaumburg)

[Bimmer09]

Photos from our balcony....

 

 

Some low cloud there, adding to the drama but not a drop of rain fell. It had drizzled in the night before I hit the streets of Manhattan. I sacrificed my last chicken (actually a couple of McNuggets as I hate cruelty to animals) to the gods and prayed that the rain would stay away.

And it did and would- for the whole week. Thank you Princess!

That's Governors Island

 

 

The wider angle look-see



 

Carol and I are both fond of Industrial ports that service container ships and although there are none under the cranes we will see many on our cruise. With no ships unloading it was very quiet back there on our balcony and we are both fans of silence and calm serenity

 

 

What about the task you had to do Norris? Yes- I hadn't forgotten. I had to go to the Sanctuary, a pay facility unique to Princess and it lives up to its name. Adults only, peace and quiet and wonderful hand and foot service. We had decided, as we were ashore every day to just book the one sea day-our last full day on the ship. I will tell you about our best-ever Sanctuary experience later in the cruise. Two hand-picked, curated (modern pretentious buzz-word now that "organic" has lost it's appeal) lounge chairs were reserved from 8 am to 5.30 pm on Friday for $40 per person. A steal compared to Celebrity's $150 alcoves which offer no peace and quiet in comparison.







 

 

SPOILER ALERT!

As some of you are interested in my opinion of a Royal class ship which I booed from the sidelines upon the launch of the Royal in 2013-and I will single out a good cyber friend called Chris (CRless) as one such interestee I will tell you now that this will be a largely POSITIVE review with a few rag-doll beatings for the Princess Board thrown in to keep it real. Would I sail on this tub again??

 

YES!

Ok, so the Sanctuary is arranged and now we can turn our attentions to the matter of lunch. We will go at 1pm as it closes 1.30 in the MDR. The room in question is Concerto, midships deck 6. Just outside the elevators on that deck there are staff directing passengers to the Horizon Court for lunch but we ain't falling for that. "Can I help you Sir?" said one of the three. "Nope-we're going to the MDR!". He stepped aside.

We entered the non Club Class side (which was signed as such.) "Table for two only" Said Carol The Wise and we were led in.





Norris





COMING UP....FOOD PORN!

[CRLess]

 

SPOILER ALERT!

As some of you are interested in my opinion of a Royal class ship which I booed from the sidelines upon the launch of the Royal in 2013-and I will single out a good cyber friend called Chris (CRless) as one such interestee I will tell you now that this will be a largely POSITIVE review with a few rag-doll beatings for the Princess Board thrown in to keep it real. Would I sail on this tub again??

 

YES!

 

 

Seeing is believing!

[Bimmer09]

Not at all crowded in the MDR and we were given a table near a window but not at a window as those were taken.

My cruise really begins when the last mooring line splashes into the harbor but Carol's really begins when the welcoming waiter lays that napkin on her lap. Menus were provided which is good as I hate guessing.

 

 

 

 

Carol wants a Club Soda to drink so she has to buy a nonalcoholic beverage package costing $7 per day plus gratuity. I peruse the wine list looking for my old standby Oberon by Robert Mondavi and seeing it not there choose a Malbec called Decero * from Argentina but the waiter didn't have to go all the way there to get it, thankfully. I asked for a Riedel glass to drink it from as the glass on the table had a tiny bowl and the glass was thick

* Cost was $37 but after add-ons was $42.55. There was also a NY tax of 60 cents added to individual bar drinks while in port.A $6.95 Guinness was $7.76 before this tax.

 

 

 

Tuscan chickpea soup for me, enjoyed with a fresh crispy crust bread roll



 

 

For Carol, salami with roasted vegetables



 

So far, so good-delicious food piping hot, graciously served. Next up for me the always reliable beef tenderloin with smashed red potatoes and recognizable vegetables. Tasty gravy!

 

 

After Carol had her salami she had a salad course with baby oak leaves and Limestone red onions (no idea what the Limestone refers to)



 

More to follow....

[Bimmer09]

Carol's entree was spinach and ricotta ravioli

 

She declined a dessert but I welcomed an orange souffle with open arms

 

My wine bottle was removed at the end of our excellent first meal onboard to be stored for later.

We left without paying and went our separate ways- Carol to our room where the luggage arrived at 2pm and I went in search of the aft smoking section on deck 17 which I had been alerted to in Cruiseking's excellent LIVE report from a few weeks earlier.

There weren't many reviews of this itinerary when I searched but I had bookmarked HeatherC230 (?) and her friend Alainamarie's from a year or more ago as appetite whetters and the itinerary looked as yummy as that lunch we just had. If this is the first Regal photo review to these places then I hope you will find it useful.

Norris

[jakey2004]

Norris,

Loving the review! You are getting me thru a very long week!

[lilfish7]

Loving this review, and your humor! I sure hope the Mrs' tiara is safe and sound! I'm glad to know the safe isn't big enough, so I'll make sure to leave my tiara at home! ha!!

[Host CJSKIDS]

Enjoying the review and the pictures!