Review and Travel Journal of Our Regal Cruise to England/Guernsey/Ireland/Scotland and Wales-A Crowning Achievement

[JimmyVWine]

So begins my Review and Journal of our family’s latest adventure, an 8 Day Cruise on Regal Princess, roundtrip to/from Southampton.  As in the past, my posts will be long (I fear), informative (I hope), irreverent (I promise) and accompanied by photos (where helpful).  Within the content you will get answers to many of the most oft-asked and burning questions that cause sleepless nights among the members here on Cruise Critic which will be answered so definitively that they will never need to be addressed again!  So with that:

 

Who: Me, my wife (K) and our daughter (S), age 25.  My wife and I live in New England and S lives in Edinburgh (which would balance out nicely if it were “Old England”, but one must be careful to never confuse Scotland for England.) 

 

What:  As noted above, a cruise marketed as “8 Day Ireland and Scotland” which only begins to describe the itinerary.  And as luck would have it, (well, luck for Charles that is, not so much for Elizabeth), the Coronation was to take place during our cruise in and around the UK.  So, between the ship itself and our various port stops, evidence of pride and pageantry abounded.  That gave the cruise an extra added touch that we won’t soon forget. This extra added bonus lend itself to the double-meaning of the title of this thread. 

 

Where:  A roundtrip cruise from Southampton, England with port stops at Portland/Weymouth, Guernsey, Cork, Ireland, Greenock (for Scotland) and Holyhead (for Wales), along with two Sea Days. 

 

When:  Embarkation date was April 30, 2023, and disembarkation was May 8, 2023.

 

Why:  Well, why not.  But more to the point, now that S lives thousands of miles away in Edinburgh, we do our best to plan family vacations where we can all be together, burdening S with as little cost as possible now that she is proudly earning her own way through life (mostly) but must remain cost conscious.  Having her fly from Edinburgh to Southampton would be a breeze and cost mere pennies, or in her case, pence.  And when Princess announced its “Kids Sail Free” promotion last summer, this became a no-brainer (which is right up my alley).   I found a great rate on this cruise and since she is still our kid no matter how old she gets, she qualified for the promotion and her share of the fare was zero, whether one is counting in pennies or pence.  I booked us in a mid-ship, extended balcony Mini-Suite and added the Plus Package, which at the time was $50 per person per day, hereinafter referred to as “Old Plus”.  S was not granted that package upon booking, but a quick call to my Princess Cruise Specialist Vacation Planner or whatever they call themselves these days, and $400 later I had purchased her birthday present, and she had the same Package as us.  To the extent that it matters at all in what is to follow, all three of us are Platinum with Princess.

 

How:  A series of posts that will chronicle our trip from start to finish, detailing and reviewing the ship and all its features, the itinerary, and our excursions.  While it may take the form of a travel journal, (a format I much prefer), it will no doubt serve as a Review as I cannot help but comment and editorialize about all that we saw, did, ate, drank, and experienced.  But you may have to stick around a while as things will unfold chronologically.  So if you are looking for a review of the disembarkation process, rest assured it will come, but not for a while.  I am still in the process of sorting through and uploading my photos, and I need to have each day’s photos completed before I can post about that day, so there may be some time lag.  But I promised myself that I would be quick about it and posting this Review/Journal incentivizes me to get that task done as quickly as possible.

 

So with that introduction, away we go.

[JimmyVWine]

Embarkation Day -2

 

Not much to say about Day -2.  We finished our packing and drove up to Boston for a non-stop flight on American to London/Heathrow.  Boston’s Logan Airport has terrible off-site parking options, so I opted to book a space in advance at the Central Parking Garage.  By booking and paying in advance, you get a significant discount and while the total cost is still around $10 per day more than off-site options, the convenience is worth it. 

 

I was so very glad that we had no connections to make, as our flight was over 3 hours late taking off and many of the people who needed to make connections in LHR were sweating it out.  K and I noted that had this flight been the day of the cruise, what would have been an easy journey from LHR to the port in plenty of time to board the ship would have turned into a fingernail biting, nerve wracking stress test.  Lesson to all who will listen: If your departure port requires you to fly in from where you live, always arrive at your port city the day before your ship leaves.  Stressing out over things that are out of your control such as airline performance is no way to start a vacation.  In any event, Day -2 ended with us securely on the 777 on our way across the pond.

[JimmyVWine]

Embarkation Day -1

S boarded a very, very early flight from Edinburgh to Southampton and arrived before around 8:00 a.m.  I had provided her with directions to our hotel for the evening, the Leonardo Royal Southampton Grand Harbour.  It is about as close to the port as one can get, right across the street from the Holiday Inn.  If you have seen the building by the port that has the big glass pyramid, then you have seen the hotel.

 

 

S took a taxi from the airport to the hotel, knowing that she was too early to check in, but was permitted to check her bags and roam around Southampton pending our arrival.

 

As noted, we arrived at LHR a few hours late, but that was of little concern to us.  I pre-booked tickets on the National Express bus which takes you from LHR to the bus terminal (called the Coach Station) just a few blocks from our hotel (and hence the port as well).  Our coach was to leave at 11:00 and arrive around 1:00, but the lateness of our arrival called that into serious question.  Thankfully I had researched what to do in the event that we needed to change our reservation and learned that that must be done on-line via the website and not via the app.  I had bookmarked the website just in case. 

 

Against all odds our deplaning, customs check and luggage collection went off without a hitch, but that still left us only 12 minutes to catch our bus.  If need be, I could re-book us on the next coach, but that involved a 2-hour layover in the Central Bus Station which I did not favor/favour.  As part of my OCD trip planning, I watched a YouTube video on how to get from Terminal 3 to the Central Bus Station and that proved to be worth its weight in gold, though I don’t think that YouTube videos weigh anything.  In case anyone is interested, here is the video, and there are others like it that will take you through the process of getting from any of the Terminals to the Bus Station.  I find it immensely helpful to have had a visual tour of something before striking out on my own, whether that be repairing a toilet, making a soufflé, or walking to a bus station.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBPJHS_oAfo

 

Armed with knowledge and rolling suitcases, we hoofed it from customs to the station and arrived with two minutes to spare.  A bit sweaty, but no worse for wear and way better off than having to endure a 2-hour layover.  At approximately 1:00 we arrived in Southampton with S at the station waiting for us, ready to help us take our luggage to the hotel.  It really isn’t far enough to warrant a taxi, though K swears that if we ever have to do that again, she is going to hire one, even if she has to pay 20 £ to travel 5 blocks as the sidewalks and her rolling suitcases were not getting along very well.

 

We arrived at the hotel by 1:30 and our room was still not ready for check-in, so K and I checked our bags with the attendant and we headed off for a late lunch.  My research led me to a charmingly old structure with a modern, hip interior that would provide us with sustenance and locally brewed beer.  Pretty much what we all wanted and deserved.  Right along the waterfront you will find “Dancing Man Brewery.”  The menu is limited, but what they serve is quite good.  Lots of outdoor seating, but being a sunny April day, all tables were occupied when we arrived, but there was plenty of space inside.  Dark, old wood, exposed beams, leaded window, and lots of English atmosphere.  While this is not my photo, it does capture the interior from the exact spot we sat.

 

 

From there we walked to a wonderful little bakery/coffee shop (Edison’s) to refuel with espresso.  Edison’s was a brilliant idea.  (See what I did there?) 

 

 Sated with food, brew and espresso, we made the 5-minute walk back to the hotel to check in.  Our room was a “triple” which is hard to come by in many places, and we chose the hotel as much for that feature as for the location.  The beds were comfy and the room spacious with nice toiletries and a bath/shower which is another hard to find feature these days.  All in all, I was quite pleased with the hotel and the rate that we paid using an online travel site ($135). 

 

We find that the best way to adjust to the time difference is to press on and not give in to fatigue, so between check-in and dinner we enjoyed a self-guided walk through the old, Tudor style area of Southampton around the old city walls.  I must admit that I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed that area of Southampton.  Perhaps not a place that I will put on my long-stay itinerary, but if I ever sail out of Southampton again, I will be sure to build in some extra time before the cruise to see some more of that city.  Lots of wonderful architecture and history.  The Cunard influence is apparent, and that brough back memories, as my first experience with large ships was a roundtrip trans-Atlantic crossing in the summer of 1976 on the QE2.  Our family took the ship over to Europe (Cherbourg) from NY, followed by a month-long tour of many countries concluding with a westbound trans-Atlantic back to NY to end the journey.  As a result Cunard is always a positive memory for me.  Speaking of Cunard, when we arrived, we were surprised to see the Queen Mary 2 in port.  Thinking that it might be departing that afternoon, I did a quick search to check on timing, hoping that we might experience a sailaway of that fine vessel.  Unfortunately, her stay in Southampton was not a happy one, as it was held up there for repairs that were scheduled to take at least a week, causing the cancelation of at least one trans-Atlantic journey.

Having put some time and miles on our legs, it was time for dinner, and we had a booking at the Duke of Wellington, an out-of-central-casting British pub close to our hotel. 

 

The menu was simple but had what we wanted and needed.  Part of my BINGO card for this trip was to try several versions of fish and chips to get my fill of the real thing, as that is surprisingly hard to come by in our area.  I ordered their version and S and K had other types of traditional pub food, and we all had beers and ales.  The fish and chips were good, and the better on the fish gave forth an audible crackle when the fork tried to make its way through.  A good sign. 

By now, fatigue was setting in for K and I, so we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep in preparation for EMBARKATION DAY.  We view Day 1 of any cruise as a full day of vacation and try to maximize our time on board by getting on early and relaxing.  To do that, we needed to get an early start on the day.  

[JimmyVWine]

Day 1-Embarkation Day

Knowing that there would be at least one other ship departing on this day, I asked S to use her local knowledge to secure us a reserved ride to the ship in the morning.  Not that Edinburgh counts as “local” knowledge, but she was miles (literally) ahead of me when it came to arranging for a car service.  I really wasn’t sure if relying on the old-fashioned way of getting a taxi would comport with my obsessive desire to get on to the ship early and jump start my Old Plus Package.  She succeeded in her quest and we were reserved with “Southampton Taxis” for a 10:00 pickup to be taken to the Mayflower Terminal, Berth 106.  For those wondering, despite the proximity of our hotel to the port, one would not want to walk to the Mayflower terminal, especially with luggage.  I am not even sure if it would be allowed.  The route that we took did not look hospitable to foot traffic. 

 

Our diver called at 9:20 and said that he was running early and would be at the hotel by 9:30. We were ready to go and met him at that time.  We were dropped off right where we needed to be at 9:40 as people were still disembarking.  This was our first cruise out of Southampton, so perhaps much of what I am about to say is very old news to all but me, but I will repeat it here just in case there are any cruisers out there for whom Southampton will also be a new experience.

 

Unlike many other cruise terminals where you are met by porters who take your luggage, at Southampton there are conveyor belts much as you would see at an airport, albeit much shorter.  There are multiple such conveyors, each one dedicated to certain decks of the ship.  Though I do not recall the order exactly, one conveyor might be for Emerald, Baja and Lido; and another might be for Aloha and Caribe, etc.  So you read the signs and head to the conveyor that corresponds to your cabin’s deck.  The conveyors were not ready to take luggage yet, so the early arrivers all stood by their luggage near their conveyors waiting for further instruction.  At 9:55 a young man arrived at our conveyor and told us to place our luggage up against the wall next to the belt and once done, we could head over to the terminal entrance.  He assured us that he would not be leaving this station and that the luggage would all be minded until it went on the belt.  So we, along with two other couples did just that and joined the queue to enter the terminal just before 10:00.  I would say that we were about the 15^th people in line.

 

Doors to the terminal opened at 10:10.  Despite the fervent quest to achieve Green Lane status on the app months ahead of our cruise, and having succeeded in doing just that, no Green Lane was to be found upon entry.  Instead there were two lines to choose from, one for Platinum, Elite and Suites (PES) and one for everyone else.  The color of the lane on your app mattered not one whit.  Being so far ahead in line, and given the number of check-in agents there were at the ready, we were called to the front to be checked in without once putting on the brakes.  The agent scanned my barcode, (and here, the color status on the app probably would have mattered.  I am not sure what the process would have been had we not been Green, and hopefully I will never know.)  Our passports were checked and new security photos were taken and we were pointed over to the PES “lounge” to await the next step.  The PES lounge held about 20 people and obviously that would not do for this cruise.  So in addition to the seats in that area, the terminal had a few rows of “regular” seating roped off for the overflow.  But to be honest, at the pace of boarding, the need for this area seems to have lost its purpose as no one waits around long enough to need to use it.  Sure there is coffee, juice and some perfunctory pastries, but in mere minutes you will be boarding Deck 5, pointed directly at the International Café.  And that is exactly what happened.  K barely had time to take a sip of her coffee when we were told that boarding would now begin.  I do not recall any special order of boarding, such as Suites first, and then Elites, etc.  Instead, everyone in the PES area was told at the same time that boarding would begin now, and a line formed and was marched on to the ship.  As noted, the doors to the terminal opened at 10:10 and at 10:40 the three of us were sitting on a sofa and a side chair in the elevated area around the IC with our carry-on baggage and smiles on our faces.

 

There is a thread floating around asking what the first thing you do when you board the ship is.  The answer is actually quite simple.  Get your device connected to MedallionNet.  While seated in the IC area we dug out the instructions that we had saved from our last cruise (which we knew would be in our cabin, but why wait?) and all got connected.  It was quite easy.  And a word of note for those who continue to fret over Old Plus versus New Plus.  Many have noted that on the app their package shows that they are entitled to drinks up to $12.  Mine did too, as I checked it the day before boarding.  But the instant that I hooked up to MedallionNet on the ship and checked my package status, it magically showed that I was entitled to drinks up to $15.  So there it was.  Hard evidence of the new price structure to rub in the face of the first person who tried to charge me $3.54 for a $15 drink.  I never needed to do that.

 

With late breakfast in hand and peace in my soul from having boarded another cruise, it was time to relax and get a few items taken care of that required some adjustment.  First, I had guessed wrong about which day would be our first formal night and accidentally made a reservation for Sabatini’s on that night.  I took a family vote and the consensus was to try to move the reservation so that we could dine in the MDR on Formal Night.  So Sabatini’s was my first stop.  I had tried to change the reservation on the app many times after learning our true schedule but the app showed no availability for any other evening.  The Captain at Sabatini’s would be my best hope.  I made the short walk over there and sure enough there was a hostess with an i-Pad ready to assist.  I explained what I wanted to do and she said that there would be no problem.  With a few clicks of the i-Pad we were switched over to the night after Formal Night to everyone’s satisfaction.  The lesson here is not to trust the app when it shows no availability.  She said that there was plenty, and on the evening we dined there, the restaurant was more than half empty.

 

My second task was to get the e-Gift Cards that I had purchased loaded onto my account.  Since there was no one at the Guest Services Desk I opted to do that now as well.  While I was eventually successful, it took almost 15-20 minutes to get this done.  The first agent I spoke with knew what I wanted to do but had no idea how to do it.   The second agent thought that he knew how to do it, but soon proved himself wrong.  He had a supervisor come over and provide a tutorial and ultimately my goal was achieved.  But this turned out to be a bit more of an adventure than I had anticipated.  All’s well that ends well.  (I can quote Shakespeare since we are on a UK cruise.)  By now it was time for our traditional first day lunch at Alfredo’s and the first opportunity to put Old Plus to the test.  Discussion and review of Alfredo’s to follow.

[Almagetty]

I’ve been looking forward to your review since you posted about it yesterday, and it’s gotten off to a great start! Lots of good information ahead of our cruise on Regal next month. I can’t wait to keep reading! 🙂

[azbirdmom]

Appreciate that you are taking the time to provide such great detail on the boarding process.  We will be embarking from Southampton next month and while we've cruised out of there a couple of times, this will be our first time since the Medallion was released.  Looking forward to reading about the rest of your adventures.

 

PS - Our embarkation lunch tradition is Alfredo's too.

[nini]

@JimmyVWine

Thanks for thinking of all of us and detailing your adventure. We loved the Regal when we were on her in September 2018. I trust you and family will also enjoy.

Thanks for sharing about the distances and practicality of getting to the port. We will now for sure be getting a cab when we board the Sky this June.

You know we are looking forward to your wine adventures!

[G&Gcruisers]

Thank you so much for the travel details. I’m taking notes for our trip next month on the Regal.

[JimmyVWine]

Day 1 (Continued)

No announcement had yet been made regarding cabin readiness, so we opted for lunch in Alfredo’s, a tradition of ours since the introduction of that venue.  We were shown to a table one level back from the windows as most of the window tables were set for two people.  No worries, as there wasn’t much of a view to begin with.  When the server came to take our drink order, we figured that this would be a great time to stress test the Old Plus Package. S ordered a generic Sauvignon Blanc from the “Plus” side of the menu and we knew that this would be included.  It was decidedly New World, with notes of tropical fruit and cut grass.  We never did see the bottle from which it was poured, but I would guess that it was Kim Crawford or something similar.  We all tasted it and declared it perfectly fine if your tastes lean toward New World Sauvignon Blanc.  If you are more of a true Sancerre lover, this might trend a bit sweet for your tastes.  K ordered a glass of Frescobaldi Nipozzano Chianti, a typically trustworthy Sangiovese that is often served in the Wine Tastings that Princess holds.  The price was above $12, but below $15, so we would see if that showed up on her account.  One whiff from her glass and she knew that something was off.  She tasted it and furrowed her brow.  She asked me to give it a taste to see what I thought.  She didn’t think that it was corked, but still found something off-putting about it.  I put it through the swirl/sniff/sip test and concluded that the wine had been exposed to heat.  It could have just been a stale bottle, sitting in untouched for a week, but on a cruise ship with constant turnover I find that hard to imagine.  It wasn’t corked, (I don’t know for sure but I would guess that this wine is bottled under a synthetic or composite cork), but it wasn’t right either.  Poor storage condition is my guess.  Perhaps kept too close to the volcanic pizza ovens.  Drinkable, but not enjoyable.  I urged her to trade it in, but she didn’t want to start off the cruise by being “that person.”  I get it.  I ordered a Whispering Angel rose at the price of $16.  So here I would get the full measure of how Old Plus would be treated on the ship.  Would I see a charge of $1.18 on my account, or $4.72?  Time would tell.  Cut to the chase, after a few minutes, our accounts showed no charges for either S or K and a charge of $1.18 for me.

 

It made me very happy to know that my dear Whispering Angel would cost me but $1.18 for each glass I ordered.  Very long story short, I was privileged to be part of a tasting panel for marketing purposes after Sacha Lichine acquired Chateau d’Esclans in 2006 and strove to introduce high end, high quality Rose’ to the United States.  It would be a tough sell to convince White Zin haters that Rose’ is a wine worthy of their attention, but that is exactly what the Chateau set out to do.  At that time, they were testing to see if they could market “luxury” Rose’ from Provence to select markets and get it to take hold in a way that would make the masses long for the product.  Kind of an obnoxious concept if I am being honest, but I was honored to be included in the tasting and evaluation of their new products that would hopefully (for the Chateau) be marketed in Newport, RI, The Hamptons, (as in Southampton NY, not Southampton UK), Palm Beach, Aspen and Beverly Hills.  That was pretty much it.  At the time they were producing three wines: Whispering Angel which would hit the market at around $18; Chateau d’Esclans with a price point of around $45 and the top-of-the-line “Garrus” at $75.  Skipping ahead because none of you probably care about any of this, I thought all three wines were wonderful, but seriously doubted if America was ready for a $75 Rose’, especially when the quality was (IMHO) only marginally better than the $18 version.  My scorecard showed that I thought that the Whispering Angel was better than the d’Esclans, but that the Garrus bested them all.  But when voting with my wallet, I would only buy the Whispering Angel, and would do so with gusto.  Of course, I don’t live in any of the test market areas, so I don’t run with a crowd that downs $75 Rose’.  Anyway…..Whispering Angel has been a personal favorite of mine since that day, long before it became ubiquitous and product-placed into Bravo reality shows.  But truthfully, at its current price point of around $24-$26 per bottle, I find many other Rose’ from Provence that enjoy almost as much at half the price.  So even though Whispering Angel is the “entry level” wine from this producer, (actually, that isn’t right—they have since introduced some lower end quaffers called “The Beach” and one other that I am forgetting that are just OK), it is still a “luxury” Rose’ for me, and at $1.18 per glass, we would be drinking a lot of it I suspect.  And so should you.

 

So the takeaway here is that Old Plus works as advertised. Wines up to and including $15 will cost you nothing.  That was a long way of getting here, but there it is.  Now on to the food.  We ordered a starter of “Antipasto Mari e Monti”. Literally translated as a first course from the sea and the mountains.  Well, they can pretty much toss this one into the sea or bury it beneath the tallest mountain.  The “mountain” was three sad little half-slices of salami, mortadella and Parma-style ham. Not sure if it really came from Parma, and it certainly wasn’t Proscuitto di Parma. S decried that it looked like an unpackaged “Lunchables.”  Alongside the meats was a few pieces off lettuce dressed with a balsamic dressing.  About one bite at best.  But the shocking part of all of this is that this was the best thing on the plate.  The meats took second place.  As for item cast as the “Mari” part of the performance, that was a horrid looking salad of mostly mayonnaise with a few micro-shrimp tossed in that looked like they have been extracted from a dissected eggroll from your nearby take-out stand.  It honestly looked like the disemboweled innards from an alien autopsy.  S said that she would take one for the team and give it a try.  She tried a small forkful and sweated out the process of swallowing it.  She said: “You know me.  I can eat pretty much anything.  But that is the closest that I have come to spitting food back onto the plate in a very, very long time.”  No further convincing was necessary.  The rest remained untouched.  Not sure if this was a new recipe, a bad batch, or the same thing that many others love.  Either way, it was not for us.

 

Next came the stars of the show and the reason we were here in the first place—the pizzas.  Terrific as always, we polished off a “Capricciosa” topped with artichoke hearts, ham, mushrooms and olives, and one of the pizzas that is usually sold under the name of the ship that comes with cherry tomatoes, ham and shaved Parmesan.  The crust on these was not quite as crisp as we have had in the past, and I probably should have told our server that we prefer our pizzas cooked a bit more than perhaps the masses do, especially in the UK.  Where I hale from, the food is known as “apizza” (pronounced “ah-beetz”) and the crust should be charred to the point where a typical Midwesterner might say that it is burnt.  Trust me.  It’s not.  Either way, the pies were tasty and devoured.  As we made our way down to the coffee station at the IC for our after-lunch espressos, the announcement was made that the cabins were ready so soon we would be enjoying our home away from homes.  Coming next: Luggage delivery and cabin review.

[Lady Arwen]

Thank you for taking us along on your adventure!  Our turn is in September, so I’m living vicariously through you til then.  I’m a Rose lover and I’ll be ordering Whispering Angel a lot!  Waiting patiently to read your next instalment, Jimmy!  

 

[JimmyVWine]

Day 1 (Continued)

 While sitting in the IC we heard the announcement over the PA system regarding the need to complete the safety protocols, and we were informed that we could tap into our muster station before watching the safety video, so that is what we did right outside of the Concerto MDR at the entrance on the Alfredo’s side.  Since we were already at Alfredo’s, this was easy and convenient.  From there we went to the IC for espresso.   Seeing how we were at the IC and cabin was just slightly forward of mid-ship, we had the option of taking either for forward or mid-ship elevators with our carry-on luggage to get to our cabin.  People were still pouring on to the ship, and the gangway led them directly onto the ship at the point where the mid-ship elevators are, so we assumed, rightly, that the forward elevators would be the better strategy.  Well, it’s a jolly good thing that we made that choice elsewise we might not have found our luggage for hours.  On all past cruises, our checked bags have been taken to our cabin door or lined up against the interior wall directly opposite our cabin door. Not so this time.  As one walks through the hallway from the forward elevators to the mid-ship cabins, one encounters a 90-degree zigzag where the balcony cabins give way to the Mini-Suites forcing the hallway to jut out several feet more.  As we took the turn at this point, we were confronted with a large mass of luggage stuffed into the bend in the road, much the same way you encounter luggage in the terminal at the end of the cruise.  A mass of bags from which you must play “find my bag”.  At first we giggled and thought that the poor souls who own those bags will have a hard time finding them, but then we noticed that our three bags were among the hoard.  Maybe this is the standard operating procedure, but it was certainly new to us, and we had been on this same ship a mere 6 months ago.  So we pulled our bags from the pen and rolled them to our cabin.  However, had we taken the mid-ship elevators to our cabin and approached from the opposite side, we never would have passed the bag bullpen and never would have known that our bags were not going to be delivered to our door.  Perhaps this was just a temporary holding area, and our bags were indeed going to be delivered to us, but that remains an unknown. 

 

As we approached our cabin we were able to give our medallions their first test.  One of the three of us was “recognized” by the sensor and the door unlocked.  Funny thing about this.  Every time that the three of us approached our cabin together, and I do mean EVERY TIME, it didn’t matter if I was first in line, in the middle position or holding up the rear, my medallion was NEVER the one that was recognized to trigger the unlocking mechanism.  K or S could have been 10 feet behind me and the screen would show “Welcome K” or “Welcome S” and never “Welcome J”.  If I approached the cabin all alone, say for instance, if I had run down to the IC in the morning to get the girls their coffee, I was recognized and welcomed.  But never if I was in a group of two or three.  It didn’t really affect anything, but I just thought that this was weird.  We wondered how that would have impacted my chances of winning “Prizes” had we opted into that gimmick, but I suppose we will never know. 

 

Our cabin was exactly as we expected, seeing that it was a mere 4 cabins away from the one we had 6 months earlier.  We have sailed on Regal three times now and have progressed from a Mini-Suite with a standard sized balcony to one that is slightly extended to now one with the most extended balcony available (in this location).  I liked this one best of all.  The carpet was showing a bit of wear, and the mattress, while still firm enough, seemed to bend to and fro a bit more than necessary.  It wasn’t concave in a way that would steer you toward the center, rather it was more convex, steering me toward the outer edge.  Not enough to draw a complaint, but enough to suggest that replacement should be close at hand.  Same goes for the carpet.  The sofa cushions were definitely in need of replacement, though the mattress within it was perfectly fine.  As it so happened, the tiredness of the sofa did not matter for the rest of the trip as our steward never returned the sofa to its sofa-state after his first conversion into a bed on that first night.  The sofa remained a bed for the entire journey.  Not my preference but given the condition of the sofa and the amount of time we spend outside of the cabin, I wasn’t going to make more work for the steward by requiring that he flip and flop the sofa bed twice every day.

 

As K began her unpacking process, (only she knows where everything is packed and where it will live), I engaged in the process of disabling the dreaded nightlights with the small roll of black electrician’s tape that I stuck in my carry-on.  I succeeded in blocking the sensors on the refrigerator (that annoys the person sleeping in the sofa bed), the two on the nightstands (that annoy the people sleeping in the bed) and the one on the ceiling outside of the closet/bathroom area (that annoys everyone.)  This worked like a charm for all of the lights except for the one outside the bathroom.  While that one never went on when someone walked past it (suggesting that my “fix” of the sensor succeeded), it did have the nasty habit of coming on randomly two or three times each night when all three of us were in our beds.  Not sure what was tripping or tricking the light, but it was a bit annoying to have the light come on for no apparent reason.

 

The bathroom was in fine shape and the test that I apply to all showers is: “Is the water pressure better than what I have at home?”  As has been the case on every Princess cruise, the answer here was “Yes.”  So I am good.  On our cruise 6 months ago Regal must have been doling out the last of its round bars of soap as we got a new one each day.  But here, the soaps appear to have gone the way of the Dodo Bird and there was nary a single one to be found in our cabin.  Fare thee well old friend.  I suspect we shan’t meet again.  Our steward apparently never got the memo that we would be traveling as a party of three as there were only robes and towels enough for two.  Or perhaps the “Kids Sail Free” promotion was being marketed as: “You get what you paid for.”  We wanted to make a note of what our cabin needed to give to or leave for our steward, but pen and paper were nowhere to be found.  I find the lack of paper to be an odd cutback.  If I can steal paper pads from various Westins around the world, why can’t Princess employees do the same and reposition them on their ships??

 

But the note proved unnecessary as our steward soon knocked on our door to introduce himself.  We were expecting that at this time we would be greeted with our complimentary glass of warm Champale, but none was offered, either then or ever.  Is this gone forever too?  Honestly, I could not care less since we have Old Plus.  But I was unaware that this “perk” had been discontinued.  Or maybe our steward didn’t get that memo either.  We provided him with our list of needs and they were all met by the time we returned from dinner.  Our steward also gave us a sheet of paper explaining that we would be required to turn in our passports in advance of our stop in Cork and would get them back after we left that port.  So if Ireland is on your itinerary, be prepared for that.  We always travel with a color copy of our passports, so we had some form of backup just in case. 

 

Our balcony was large and in good condition.  Large enough for the two chairs and table provided, and to move the barrel chair out there if needed if all three of us wanted to enjoy time outside.  As I stood outside to take in the view, such as it is, K had uncovered my camera equipment from its secure spot in one of the bags so I could finally start taking some photos.  Here is the first one of the trip.  Many more to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

Watching the safety/muster video was next on our list, but we could not get that to function on our televisions.  Not sure what the issue was, as the TV seemed to have all other functionality.  But the muster cartoon would simply not start for us.  Luckily that requirement can be met by watching the cartoon on your phone once you are connected to MedallionNet.  Unluckily, if you do it this way, each person must activate the video separately on their own device to register that you have completed the task. So while we were unpacking, we used each of our phones to play the video once and with that, we had all the checkmarks we needed for a safe, enjoyable adventure.  Coming next, our first visit to Vines and the MDR.

[Emmandjay]

We were on this cruise, trying out Princess for the first time - very impressed!

Our luggage was delivered to our mini suite door with no searching for it.  We also had a problem with the television in the room, but our steward got it sorted on the next day.

Looking forward to reading your review day by day - hope you had as good a time as we did.

[phabric]

Following along.  Our tradition also is to eat at Alfredo’s after getting on the ship.

[JimmyVWine]

2 hours ago, Emmandjay said:

Our luggage was delivered to our mini suite door with no searching for it.

I suspect that what we stumbled upon was a holding area of luggage intended for further distribution and beat them to the punch.  But I've never gone to my cabin after the "Ready" announcement and not had the luggage waiting for us at the door.

[nini]

Thanks for the clue regarding the Whispering Angel Rose'. We also have the "Old Plus" for this June on the Sky and I will be trying it. It is currently at our Total Wine in Olympia, WA for $17.97.

[JimmyVWine]

Day 1 (Continued)

With unpacking out of the way, it was time to get on with the fun.  We changed for dinner and made our way down to Vines with about an hour to go before our MDR reservation.  Vines was well attended, but we were able to find three stools at the bar.  We introduced ourselves to the staff there and warned them that they would be seeing a lot of us, which proved to be true.  The staff was friendly and efficient.  So now a review of the venue itself and the answers to some burning questions.  As with all other venues, there is a QR code that you can zap with your phone which will open up a menu in a browser on your phone.  There is also a printed menu housed within a heavy wooden tome that is supposed to resemble a wine barrel.  Neither drink menu should be taken as gospel.  Sometimes they don’t have what is printed on the lists, and sometimes they also have many more options.  The only real way to know what is what is to ask.  For what it’s worth, here is what showed up for us when we zapped the QR code on Day 1.

 

 

 

 

 

On Day 3 I asked for a glass of the Red Burgundy (Bouchard Hautes Cotes de Nuits) and not only did the bartender not understand my (correct) pronunciation, he swore that they never had that wine.  I showed him my phone with the menu in the browser telling him that I grabbed that screenshot on the first day and his response was that the menu changed earlier today.  So I zapped the QR code again and lo and behold he was right, and the wine list was very different.  Very frustrating. 

 

Another frustration was the inability to get certain wines by the glass even though the full bottle price fit right within that parameter.  For example, I asked if we could get the Vall Llach Priorat by the glass and was told “no”.  I pleaded that if we ordered 5 glasses we would drain the whole bottle, and if they priced it at $15 per glass, the ship would take in $75 in drink credit instead of the $65 that the full bottle cost.  Didn’t work.  There were also some discrepancies in pricing.  I won’t provide details because I don’t want people running in to Vines screaming that some guy on Cruise Critic said that such-and-such wine cost “X” instead of “Y”, but in Vines we were charged $2 less per glass for one particular favorite wine of ours as compared to all other places where we ordered it, even though the price on the Vines menu correctly showed the higher price.  Not sure what the deal was there but beware that pricing can be inconsistent. That said, we were never charged more than the price shown on the menu, only less on a few occasions.   All in all, we drank more than our share of Whispering Angel, Chocolate Block (don’t let the name confuse you—the wine has nothing to do with Chocolate.  The name derives from the vineyard block of vines), Promis, Parallel 45 and Belle Glos Pinot.  At the end of this Journal I will recap our drinks scorecard to show how we made out with Old Plus.

 

As for glassware…I neglected to mention above that in Alfredo’s we were each served in different glasses.  We brought our own glasses with us on this trip and used them 95% of the time when drinking wine, but in Alfredo’s we did not break them out and used what we were provided.  K, with her off-tasting Chianti was served in a Riedel red wine glass.  S and I were each served in more standard Princess stems, albeit hers and mine were slightly different.  And one time when I went to Vines after returning from a day on shore and with our glasses still in our cabin, I was served in a puny little glass because the server knew that I would be taking the wine over to the sofa in the IC area of the Piazza.  He saw me walk in from there and asked where I would be consuming the wine.  I pointed to the sofa 25 feet away and he whisked away the Riedel glass and served me in a wedding reception stem.  I had no need or desire to raise a fuss.  Just thought I would pass that along as there has been some debate as to whether one can get a nice Riedel glass “to go”.  I could not. 

 

As for pours, on the very first day the server at Vines poured our glasses of wine into standard Princess glasses and then poured those glasses into our own stems.  Both he and I could tell that his pour was right on the mark, and from then on, when we took our glasses into Vines, he poured our orders into our own stems, knowing exactly where on our stems the proper pour should land.  And on most occasions, we ended up with heavy pours, especially when he drained a bottle and had to open another.  And that happened a lot.  We probably drank through a case of the Chocolate Block.  A pretty nice wine within the $15 price allowance.  The bottom line is that Vines is pretty much a “must-have” venue for us. Vines has many wines that are simply not found elsewhere on the ship.  Do the ships that omitted that venue recapture the varied wine offerings in some other venue?  If not, that is a big loss and would be a reason for me to steer my bookings elsewhere.  Happy to answer any questions that anyone has regarding Vines.

[YummyCruise]

Would you possibly consider posting pictures of your food please? 😋😊

[JimmyVWine]

Day 1 (Continued)

After several glasses it was time to make our way to dinner.  We had a “Same time each night” reservation at Concerto on Deck 6 mid-ship at 7:20.  We arrived on night one and found no line whatsoever.  When we tapped in and were greeted by the hostess, was asked if we could be seated in Arthur’s section.  Arthur was our lead waiter back in October and told us that his last week onboard would be the first week of May, and we promised that we would look him up.  The hostess sighed and said that Arthur ended his contract yesterday, so perhaps he had his dates mixed up.  Not to worry, she said that she would find us a table in the same general area with servers she knew we would enjoy.  I said that was fine, as long as the table was toward the back of the restaurant, away from the front door.  She walked us to a table toward the back left of the restaurant, four tables away from the starboard side windows.  All of the tables closer to the windows were set for two.  We had a lovely dinner and wonderful service, and when the hostess came to check on us, I used that opportunity to tell her that we were very satisfied and would love to have that table for the remainder of the cruise.  She said that she could do one better and push two of the tables for two that were closer to the windows together if we were willing to move our reservation to 7:30 and we agreed.  So for the rest of the cruise, we had the same table and same servers, one table away from nice big windows.  

 

Now a word on Dine My Way.  There are lots of complaints here.  But it could not have worked out better for us and everyone around us.  By night 4 we came to the realization that every single table within eyeshot of us was occupied by the same people at the same time each night.  Tables for 8, 6, 4, 2, our group of 3 and the 3 ladies next to us all had the same tables and same servers for the whole cruise, and no one waited in line for as much as a minute.  One night I walked by both the Symphony and Concerto dining rooms at 6:15 just to gauge how the crowds were faring and neither restaurant had so much as two people waiting in line.  And then the same night at 7:30 when we arrived, it was the same thing.  On the first Formal Night I took out my phone and took this picture just to capture the “longest” line that I had seen the entire trip.  5 people in the No Reservation line and 2 people in the Reservation line.  And it wasn’t as if they were stagnant there.  All groups you see were seated within seconds of me snapping this shot.   

 

 

I cannot tell you how other ships are handling crowds, but I stand by what I said in October and it was even more evident on this cruise.  Regal knows what it is doing.  Perhaps part of this is due to so many people asking for the same table each night.  If everyone has the same table at the same time each night, then everyone just bypasses the check-in area and heads straight to their table which is exactly how Traditional Dining used to work.  I maintain that Dine My Way can achieve the same result, and no one who was on this cruise could contend otherwise.  There simply were never any lines that I could see.  [Caveat:  I never checked the lines between 5:00-5:30.  We were off doing other things.  So I suppose the early diners could have encountered something that I did not see.  But from 6:00-8:30 each night, no lines gathered that would cause anyone any concern.

 

As for the food, rest easy folks, as the Fettuccini Alfredo was on the menu every single night.  Sometimes it was in the main menu area and sometimes it was listed as a Princess favorite.  A note on the favorites.  In the past, Princess had a more or less stagnant set of “Available Everyday” options.  This has changed to “Princess Favorites and the dishes rotate.  But some things were there every day, including the Fettuccine, the French Onion Soup and the Strip Steak.  So if you are fearing the demise of those, rest easy as they were available every single day.

 

I had the Fettuccini the first night as I did not know that it would be available every night until later in the cruise. Thinking that this might be my only chance, I jumped on it.  I had it once more during the cruise and S had it once or twice as well.  On this first night, rather than receiving “al dente” pasta, mine was “al crunchy.”  Still, the sauce was spot on and it didn’t stop me from devouring it.  K had the Romaine and Kale Caesar salad and S had Peroshkies as her first course.  Everyone gave a thumb’s up for their choices. 

 

For Mains, I had Short Ribs, S had Seafood Stew and K was brave and tried the Cajun Fried Chicken.  My meal was tasty although the tough membrane that connects the meat to the bone was left on and presented a challenge.  I always cut this off in the kitchen when I prepare short ribs as no diner should have to navigate that inedible mass.  That said, the meat itself was excellent.  S enjoyed her seafood stew, but K regretted her choice of the fried chicken.  The flavor was fine, and the meat was tender. But there was no crunch to the skin which is a hallmark of fried chicken.  With our meals we ordered glasses of the Silverado Cabernet which was priced at $18 per glass. The servers brought the pours in standard glasses, and we transferred the wine to our glasses ourselves.

 

On to dessert.  K had cheesecake which she enjoyed, and S had “Banoffee” cake with which she was familiar but was new to me.  Two winners.  I had to see what all the clamor was about and insisted on seeing for myself what the fuss was with the new “Love Boat Dream.”  Take every negative thing that has been said about that abomination and multiply it by 10.  It is now known in our household as the “Shipwreck Nightmare.”  The raspberry mousse was tasteless; the chocolate layer was a gelatinous mess; and it sat atop a “biscuit” that could only be described as hardtack suitable for a deckhand aboard a whaling ship.  One bite was all I could stand, and I left the rest visibly present as a sign of protest.  When the table of 8 got up and left that night, I say 3 uneaten orders of the Shipwreck Nightmare, so clearly many messages were being sent to the kitchen.  We were able to laugh about it, but honestly, somebody has got to get through to HQ and get this fixed.  I say this not as someone who abhors change and is disappointed only in the new recipe (which honestly, I thought was the cause of most of the angst).  No.  I say this as someone who has fully operational tastebuds.  To get this foul taste out of my mouth, we needed to head to a lounge or entertainment venue and order more drinks.  That will be the next installment.    

[JimmyVWine]

27 minutes ago, YummyCruise said:

Would you possibly consider posting pictures of your food please? 😋😊

Sorry.  When S was younger, she insisted that phones should never be taken out at the dinner table and photos should never be taken of food on a plate.  That is a rule we have honored forever.  Besides, many people think that they take great shots of food on plates and most of them are wrong.  I've got the equipment and lighting to take credible food shots, but that does not travel with me to the dinner table.  But I promise that with Day 2, there will be many photos of our days on shore and some on the ship as well.  I just didn't break out my camera on day one.  

[dreaminofcruisin]

On 5/10/2023 at 4:13 PM, JimmyVWine said:

If you have seen the building by the port that has the big glass pyramid, then you have seen the hotel.

 

 

 

How was the hotel? We have reservations there in August, so just wondering what your thoughts on it were? In the past, we have stayed at Room2, but sadly they went to a 2-night minimum...   😔

[JimmyVWine]

12 minutes ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

How was the hotel? We have reservations there in August, so just wondering what your thoughts on it were? In the past, we have stayed at Room2, but sadly they went to a 2-night minimum...   😔

Thought it was perfectly fine, especially for the price paid.  (We booked through that travel website whose name I don't know I can use, but they handle reservations "expediently".)  The only issue is that it only has one dining venue and that is a pricey Michael White establishment.  But casual dining is a short walk away. 

[Host CJSKIDS]

Absolutely loving your travels and can’t wait to read the rest of it!

[nini]

@JimmyVWine I am loving your posts, especially #18 on many points!

I know at least 2 wines that I will be trying. And I laughed out loud regarding the "Shipwreck Nightmare". DH and I are in total agreement! Truly, what we're they thinking? Oh, clearly they were not thinking.

Please share how you pack your wine glasses, as well as how you convince staff that they are yours.

[Guest ldtr]

16 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

Day 1 (Continued)

 While sitting in the IC we heard the announcement over the PA system regarding the need to complete the safety protocols, and we were informed that we could tap into our muster station before watching the safety video, so that is what we did right outside of the Concerto MDR at the entrance on the Alfredo’s side.  Since we were already at Alfredo’s, this was easy and convenient.  From there we went to the IC for espresso.   Seeing how we were at the IC and cabin was just slightly forward of mid-ship, we had the option of taking either for forward or mid-ship elevators with our carry-on luggage to get to our cabin.  People were still pouring on to the ship, and the gangway led them directly onto the ship at the point where the mid-ship elevators are, so we assumed, rightly, that the forward elevators would be the better strategy.  Well, it’s a jolly good thing that we made that choice elsewise we might not have found our luggage for hours.  On all past cruises, our checked bags have been taken to our cabin door or lined up against the interior wall directly opposite our cabin door. Not so this time.  As one walks through the hallway from the forward elevators to the mid-ship cabins, one encounters a 90-degree zigzag where the balcony cabins give way to the Mini-Suites forcing the hallway to jut out several feet more.  As we took the turn at this point, we were confronted with a large mass of luggage stuffed into the bend in the road, much the same way you encounter luggage in the terminal at the end of the cruise.  A mass of bags from which you must play “find my bag”.  At first we giggled and thought that the poor souls who own those bags will have a hard time finding them, but then we noticed that our three bags were among the hoard.  Maybe this is the standard operating procedure, but it was certainly new to us, and we had been on this same ship a mere 6 months ago.  So we pulled our bags from the pen and rolled them to our cabin.  However, had we taken the mid-ship elevators to our cabin and approached from the opposite side, we never would have passed the bag bullpen and never would have known that our bags were not going to be delivered to our door.  Perhaps this was just a temporary holding area, and our bags were indeed going to be delivered to us, but that remains an unknown. 

 

As we approached our cabin we were able to give our medallions their first test.  One of the three of us was “recognized” by the sensor and the door unlocked.  Funny thing about this.  Every time that the three of us approached our cabin together, and I do mean EVERY TIME, it didn’t matter if I was first in line, in the middle position or holding up the rear, my medallion was NEVER the one that was recognized to trigger the unlocking mechanism.  K or S could have been 10 feet behind me and the screen would show “Welcome K” or “Welcome S” and never “Welcome J”.  If I approached the cabin all alone, say for instance, if I had run down to the IC in the morning to get the girls their coffee, I was recognized and welcomed.  But never if I was in a group of two or three.  It didn’t really affect anything, but I just thought that this was weird.  We wondered how that would have impacted my chances of winning “Prizes” had we opted into that gimmick, but I suppose we will never know. 

 

Our cabin was exactly as we expected, seeing that it was a mere 4 cabins away from the one we had 6 months earlier.  We have sailed on Regal three times now and have progressed from a Mini-Suite with a standard sized balcony to one that is slightly extended to now one with the most extended balcony available (in this location).  I liked this one best of all.  The carpet was showing a bit of wear, and the mattress, while still firm enough, seemed to bend to and fro a bit more than necessary.  It wasn’t concave in a way that would steer you toward the center, rather it was more convex, steering me toward the outer edge.  Not enough to draw a complaint, but enough to suggest that replacement should be close at hand.  Same goes for the carpet.  The sofa cushions were definitely in need of replacement, though the mattress within it was perfectly fine.  As it so happened, the tiredness of the sofa did not matter for the rest of the trip as our steward never returned the sofa to its sofa-state after his first conversion into a bed on that first night.  The sofa remained a bed for the entire journey.  Not my preference but given the condition of the sofa and the amount of time we spend outside of the cabin, I wasn’t going to make more work for the steward by requiring that he flip and flop the sofa bed twice every day.

 

As K began her unpacking process, (only she knows where everything is packed and where it will live), I engaged in the process of disabling the dreaded nightlights with the small roll of black electrician’s tape that I stuck in my carry-on.  I succeeded in blocking the sensors on the refrigerator (that annoys the person sleeping in the sofa bed), the two on the nightstands (that annoy the people sleeping in the bed) and the one on the ceiling outside of the closet/bathroom area (that annoys everyone.)  This worked like a charm for all of the lights except for the one outside the bathroom.  While that one never went on when someone walked past it (suggesting that my “fix” of the sensor succeeded), it did have the nasty habit of coming on randomly two or three times each night when all three of us were in our beds.  Not sure what was tripping or tricking the light, but it was a bit annoying to have the light come on for no apparent reason.

 

The bathroom was in fine shape and the test that I apply to all showers is: “Is the water pressure better than what I have at home?”  As has been the case on every Princess cruise, the answer here was “Yes.”  So I am good.  On our cruise 6 months ago Regal must have been doling out the last of its round bars of soap as we got a new one each day.  But here, the soaps appear to have gone the way of the Dodo Bird and there was nary a single one to be found in our cabin.  Fare thee well old friend.  I suspect we shan’t meet again.  Our steward apparently never got the memo that we would be traveling as a party of three as there were only robes and towels enough for two.  Or perhaps the “Kids Sail Free” promotion was being marketed as: “You get what you paid for.”  We wanted to make a note of what our cabin needed to give to or leave for our steward, but pen and paper were nowhere to be found.  I find the lack of paper to be an odd cutback.  If I can steal paper pads from various Westins around the world, why can’t Princess employees do the same and reposition them on their ships??

 

But the note proved unnecessary as our steward soon knocked on our door to introduce himself.  We were expecting that at this time we would be greeted with our complimentary glass of warm Champale, but none was offered, either then or ever.  Is this gone forever too?  Honestly, I could not care less since we have Old Plus.  But I was unaware that this “perk” had been discontinued.  Or maybe our steward didn’t get that memo either.  We provided him with our list of needs and they were all met by the time we returned from dinner.  Our steward also gave us a sheet of paper explaining that we would be required to turn in our passports in advance of our stop in Cork and would get them back after we left that port.  So if Ireland is on your itinerary, be prepared for that.  We always travel with a color copy of our passports, so we had some form of backup just in case. 

 

Our balcony was large and in good condition.  Large enough for the two chairs and table provided, and to move the barrel chair out there if needed if all three of us wanted to enjoy time outside.  As I stood outside to take in the view, such as it is, K had uncovered my camera equipment from its secure spot in one of the bags so I could finally start taking some photos.  Here is the first one of the trip.  Many more to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

Watching the safety/muster video was next on our list, but we could not get that to function on our televisions.  Not sure what the issue was, as the TV seemed to have all other functionality.  But the muster cartoon would simply not start for us.  Luckily that requirement can be met by watching the cartoon on your phone once you are connected to MedallionNet.  Unluckily, if you do it this way, each person must activate the video separately on their own device to register that you have completed the task. So while we were unpacking, we used each of our phones to play the video once and with that, we had all the checkmarks we needed for a safe, enjoyable adventure.  Coming next, our first visit to Vines and the MDR.

Having been on that cruise and the previous transatlantic, the luggage would have made it to your cabin. After the luggage was brought up by the crew elevator, it was unloaded from the cart and placed outside of that room in the area you described. Then each steward would retrieve it from that space and move it to the space just outside of the cabin. Basically it was in mid process when you spotted it.

[JimmyVWine]

4 hours ago, nini said:

Please share how you pack your wine glasses, as well as how you convince staff that they are yours.

It's not difficult.  K uses a "beach bag" style of bag for her airline carry-on "personal item" allowance, stowing her purse in her rolling carry-on.  In it she carries reading material, a collapsible bottle for water that is filled up at a bottle filler, and that still leaves room for 3 nice glasses, each wrapped in a tea towel placed at the top of the bag. This bag stays under the seat on the plane, and is carried on her shoulder as she boards the ship.  As long as you remember that there is glass in there and handle the bag accordingly, all is well.  We have been taking glasses with us on all of our cruises.  We used to buy them at our embarkation port and then donate them to the ship upon our departure, but we decided to give transporting them a chance and that has worked out well. This is a shot of one of our glasses that we are now using to give some perspective to the size.  We bought them in Athens a year ago and they have been back and forth across the Atlantic twice now.