Emerald Princess vs. Regal Princess

[jlawrence01]

I am looking for a cruise to the Southern Caribbean, especially, the ABC Islands.  The best itineraries that I have seen are on the Regal Princess and the Emerald Princess.

 

We did a Western Caribbean cruise on the Regal Princess last spring and really enjoyed it.

 

What are the differences, if any, between the two ships?

[Wishing on a star]

Go with REGAL...   One of my favorites.  Royal Class, before they made the changes.   

I would love to book Regal again on that itinerary!

[EDVM96]

38 minutes ago, jlawrence01 said:

What are the differences, if any, between the two ships?

The Emerald is a Crown Class ship, somewhat older than the Regal (Royal Class).

It has more pools and tubs on the aft. And a full Promenade Deck, rounding the ship.

Emerald has no Alfredo's.

 

The Regal is newer, But only 6 years. It has more passengers.

Both are imho very nice ships,

 

Edited May 25 by EDVM96

[EDVM96]

8 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Go with REGAL...   One of my favorites.  Royal Class, before they made the changes.   

I would love to book Regal again on that itinerary!

I agree with you that the Regal is the best of all Royal Class ships in design.

 

[Thrak]

There are many (myself included) who would prefer Emerald. I like the Grand Class (GC) ships design better. I don't care for the overly loud Piazza on the Royal Class (RC) ships. I like the quiet of Adagio for reading during the day. I really dislike the original version of Princess Live on the original versions of the RC ships. (We found it vastly improved when we sailed on Discover Princess recently.) I love the extra large Caribe Deck balconies on the GC ships. I love the full Promenade Deck on the GC ships. I like having Skywalker's on the GC ships. (We did really enjoy Take 5 on Discovery Princess.)

 

It's a personal choice and many absolutely prefer the newer Royal Class of ships.  Many don't mind the lack of a full Promenade, the tiny balconies, the loud Piazza events that affect all the other decks that open on that area, etc. My guess is that you will have an enjoyable cruise no matter which ship you decide to sail.

[jlawrence01]

I really like ships where I can walk fully around a Promenade deck because I can get 3-5 miles a day walking in more protected environment.  I find walking on the top deck exposes me to too much sun and wind.

 

We have gotten into the bad habit of waking up at 6 am and walking a mile before breakfast on some of the HAL ships.

 

While I like FLL, cruising out of Galveston allows me to drive in from Tucson for the cruise and take a week on a road trip through the great state of Texas.

[canadarocks]

We really noticed that the Emerald was showing its age when we were onboard for 29 days a few months ago. Four different major public toilet issues, our shower that took FAR too long to get to work properly (multiple fix it visits) and the slowest elevators we’ve ever experienced. 
 

But the best MDR waiter we’ve ever had (shout out to Jefferson!), the restaurant boss Riu, and an amazing entertainment staff outweighed all of that.
 

But knowing how the Princess staff get moved around, it’s very unlikely that we’ll book the Emerald again.  

[JimmyVWine]

We book exclusively Mini-Suites. If we can snag a mid-ship extended balcony MS on any Royal Class ship other than Royal, we are very happy with that choice. Give me C414 on Regal and I will take that any day. But jostling for that “just right” cabin on a Royal class ship can be a pain. Whereas booking any MS on a Grand Class ship is fine with us.  Nice big cabin. Bathtub. Huge balcony. (We don’t mind that they are uncovered.). Everything we desire. So the bottom line is that we really enjoy the Royal Class ships when we can get that “perfect” cabin. Failing that, we prefer the Grand Class ships, especially the last several that rolled out. 

[dforeigner]

9 hours ago, EDVM96 said:

The Emerald is a Crown Class ship, somewhat older than the Regal (Royal Class).

It has more pools and tubs on the aft. And a full Promenade Deck, rounding the ship.

Emerald has no Alfredo's.

 

The Regal is newer, But only 6 years. It has more passengers.

Both are imho very nice ships,

 

I believe it is a Grand Class type ship.  

[EDVM96]

2 hours ago, dforeigner said:

I believe it is a Grand Class type ship.  

Grand class with two additional decks (Riviera and Star deck) is called Crown class.

That's the Crown, Emerald and Ruby.

 

Sapphire and Diamond are Gem class ships.

 

All based on the original Grand class.

Edited May 25 by EDVM96

[Princessfan20]

We like everything about the Regal and Royal class ships and find the Grand Class to be outdated and boring.  Two things we really like are the larger Piazza on Royal Class ships and also the gyms because you can work out at anytime but on the Grand class ships they open the gyms usually at 7:00 AM and they are poorly designed.

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, EDVM96 said:

Grand class with two additional decks (Riviera and Star deck) is called Crown class.

That's the Crown, Emerald and Ruby.

 

Sapphire and Diamond are Gem class ships.

 

All based on the original Grand class.

All that said, these ships have far more in common than they have differences. And are these sub-classes “official” Princess terms or are they Cruise Critic lingo?  Seems odd to call Sapphire and Diamond “Gem Class” ships and exclude Ruby and Emerald from that title. This se are gems too, no?  All in all, ships with a full deck of uncovered Mini-Suites, two distinct Lido Deck pool areas, and Skywalkers can be viewed together when comparing them to Royal Class ships. 

[Lady Arwen]

Regal for us, too.  Emerald is fine, but Regal is, in my opinion, much nicer.

[EDVM96]

9 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

All that said, these ships have far more in common than they have differences. And are these sub-classes “official” Princess terms or are they Cruise Critic lingo?  Seems odd to call Sapphire and Diamond “Gem Class” ships and exclude Ruby and Emerald from that title. This se are gems too, no?  All in all, ships with a full deck of uncovered Mini-Suites, two distinct Lido Deck pool areas, and Skywalkers can be viewed together when comparing them to Royal Class ships. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand-class_cruise_ship

 

[lovevacadays]

13 hours ago, Thrak said:

There are many (myself included) who would prefer Emerald. I like the Grand Class (GC) ships design better. I don't care for the overly loud Piazza on the Royal Class (RC) ships. I like the quiet of Adagio for reading during the day. I really dislike the original version of Princess Live on the original versions of the RC ships. (We found it vastly improved when we sailed on Discover Princess recently.) I love the extra large Caribe Deck balconies on the GC ships. I love the full Promenade Deck on the GC ships. I like having Skywalker's on the GC ships. (We did really enjoy Take 5 on Discovery Princess.)

 

It's a personal choice and many absolutely prefer the newer Royal Class of ships.  Many don't mind the lack of a full Promenade, the tiny balconies, the loud Piazza events that affect all the other decks that open on that area, etc. My guess is that you will have an enjoyable cruise no matter which ship you decide to sail.

I agree with you. I enjoyed the Regal but missed so many things about the Grand and Crown class ships.

[JimmyVWine]

58 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand-class_cruise_ship

 

Wikipedia? Really?  Is there any Princess literature that can be cited to?

[EDVM96]

4 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Wikipedia? Really?  Is there any Princess literature that can be cited to?

Look, even cruisecritic uses this classification.

 

"Grand class (Grand, Golden and Star Princess), Crown class (Crown, Emerald and Ruby Princess), Caribbean class (Caribbean Princess) and Gem class (Diamond and Sapphire Princess)."

 

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles/princess-cruises-grand-class-cruise-ships?stay=1&posfrom=1

 

[eclue]

On the Emerald now….everything is great….we go on the Regal more often…like both of them I would choose by the itinerary.

[memoak]

We prefer the Crown and Grand class ships. The Royal class just have too many people and too much noise in the Piazza.  We do take Royal class if the itinerary is something we really really want  and can get an aft wraparound suite

[dforeigner]

On 5/25/2024 at 6:48 AM, EDVM96 said:

Grand class with two additional decks (Riviera and Star deck) is called Crown class.

That's the Crown, Emerald and Ruby.

 

Sapphire and Diamond are Gem class ships.

 

All based on the original Grand class.

Wow, thank you.  Learned something new today.

[In Toronto]

On 5/25/2024 at 11:09 AM, eclue said:

On the Emerald now….everything is great….we go on the Regal more often…like both of them I would choose by the itinerary.

eclue:  a question not related to the subject of this thread but since you are currently on the Emerald, could you please tell me if this ship's cabins have the annoying light that is triggered when you approach the bathroom.

Thanks.

[canadarocks]

Not eclue, but our balcony cabin on the Emerald not only had the bathroom light, but under each end table in the bedroom there were also motion triggered lights. 😠

[Spudd]

25 minutes ago, In Toronto said:

eclue:  a question not related to the subject of this thread but since you are currently on the Emerald, could you please tell me if this ship's cabins have the annoying light that is triggered when you approach the bathroom.

Thanks.

They do, but you can fix it by covering the sensor (it's a little clear plastic bubble on the side of the light) with electrical tape or wet some toilet paper to make a paper mache cover for it. For the bedside table lights, the sensors are on cords and you can flip them so they face the table instead of the room, which stops them from working.

[nini]

We have been on both. For us, it would be the Regal!

[jlawrence01]

We decided to take the Regal Princess as the timing of the cruise would be better for other legs of the trip that we are planning.  In addition, we found a great B@B cruise that leaves Miami the day after the Regal Princess arrives back in Fort Lauderdale.