patrickmoran

Oh, the bad news is the internet is slow. I doubt that you could stream anything. I could not use FaceTime to talk with my wife at home but could get Google Duo to work OK. It’s not quite as the old dial up days but no where as good as recent cruises!

Thought I would start this since there has been so little information about the Regal since leaving Florida. Fellow cruisers, please join in. 
I am traveling solo in an obstructed ( but not really obstructed ) balcony cabin, E420, which has a moderately extended balcony on the hump. Nice location and in good condition. 
First good news is the night lights are gone! I was on the Regal in late November, the Emerald in late December and the Majestic in January and all had those annoying night lights. 
I flew in today on Turkish Airlines from Miami through Istanbul. Flights went well. Long day though.
I got my Covid test at the pier. Took in total about 45 minutes. 

Dinner tonight was excellent. Previous post-Covid cruises, the MDR dinners were good but not as good as previously. Pea soup was tasty and super hot (Luke warm food is my pet peeve.) Surprisingly, the lamb shank was on the 1 st night’s menu. It was great and one of my favorites. I ate alone and was served quickly.  Dining room was pretty quiet at 6:30 pm but did get busier as dinner progressed. 
Tomorrow is a sea day and formal night. 

On Royal, except a few cabins forward on Emerald deck and the aft cabins, all balconies are covered.

On Majestic, pretty much the same except some cabins on Dolphin deck are only partially covered. Those cabins are fairly obvious on the deck plans.

How's the wifi performing in the Med? Good connectivity? How's the food in the buffet? When we were on in December, the desserts were horrible.

Thanks

The menus do not change.

Do a mock booking and see if E407 is still available. If it is try to put a hold on it until you can talk to your PVP. If it is not in inventory, you are probably hosed. Decide what cabin would be acceptable

I faxed mine in for an April cruise last week. It took about a week to post to my account.

That's possible but it will give one a sense of how full the ship is.

Taking food back to your room from the buffet, Slice (pizza), the grill and the International Cafe is pretty common. Taking a meal from the main dining room or one of the specialty restaurants is something I've not heard of. Room service is ordered through the Medallion and has a limited menu. I seldom tip the person who brings room service. Others tip nearly every time.

We were on the Regal around Thanksgiving and the buffet for lunch and dinner was pretty substandard compared to our experiences pre-Covid. (Emerald in December and Majestic in late January weren't any better.) The desserts were horrible; nothing but sheet cakes and pudding cakes. I chalked it up to the low passenger count and start up from lay off. Fortunately, the Main Dining room food was good though a lot of favorites never showed up on the menu.

Has it improved? Are they using the Horizon Bistro? Pastry shop?

Start a new booking for your cruise and select Choose My Location for the various cabin categories. A bit tedious but you can get a sense of the number of cabins still for sale.

Post-Covid, cabin changes are frequent and little one can do. Pre-Covid, P would give you a chance to turn down an upgrade.

The thing to keep in mind is that we are still dealing with the "COVID world'" Next year could bring a whole different approach. Does the virus fade for good? Do cruise lines return to past practices? My crystal ball is too hazy to tell.

The change now is that your tablemates would probably change every night.

Because my wife is recovering from surgery, I will be cruising solo. I've been looking at a variety of itineraries this week and none have a single cruiser supplement. I'm booking a Regal 7 day Med cruise in mid-April. My PVP got me an obstructed balcony cabin for $429 plus taxes and extras. That rate is at least $170 pp less than the website price. Crazy great rate! Airfare is pricey but Turkish Air roundtrip from Miami is $780 with selecting seats for the 2 long haul legs.

My PVP posted the Diamond's new schedule. On 11/27, she does a 20 day cruise to Central America and Mexico. No price or itinerary details available yet. New cruises will be available to book later this month

The overhang from the Lido deck is quite large, probably 6 to 8 feet beyond the edge of our balcony. I liked it because it protects the balcony from the weather.  It does keep the cabin a bit dimmer. If you want more light, you might want to move down a deck or two.

Go to baggage claim. I go to the terminal where ever Southwest flies into. Probably doesn't make any diff.

5 hours ago, Basilon said:

If I use FCC to pay balance of already booked cruise and then cancel under "Cruise with Confidence", what happens to FCC?  Is it refunded to my account or lost?

Cancelled a May cruise and booked a September cruise yesterday under Cruise with Confidence. Most of May cruise was paid for with FCCs. The FCCs and all cash payments except those covering the cancellation fees (deposit and insurance (~$1,200)) were immediately transferred to the new booking  The cancellation fees will be converted to FCCs. The last time they were available in under 3 weeks.

One thing I learned was if you used a Future Cruise Deposit and cancel after final payment, you get the $100 as FCC but no OBC when applied to a new cruise (boo hoo).

Chocolates went the way of the towel animals

I don't think this will be P thing. NCL large ships have more dining options than P's ships. As NCL reported, the average NCL cruiser only eats in the MDR twice on a cruise. A lot of their sales include specialty dining options. Thus a menu with say 8-10 entrees would work. On P, not so much

I don't think P is restricting the capacity of their ships due to COVID. Other than cabins set aside for quarantining P will sell all the cabins. I don't think this happening yet. 

The cruiselines tried adding fuel surcharges in 2007/2008. Turned out to be a PR disaster! All got sued by NY and Cal AGs and rescinded everything. 

Chill out! You will get on the included tours that Viking advertises. They will add the necessary buses and guides. Remember Europe is just opening up from COVID. The tourism industry has been devastated. People who had been guides had to find new jobs and may not return. The infastructure has 8-9 months to rebuild before you cruise. Panic in October; won't make any difference to getting your money back.  For your free time plans, read the reviews beginning in the Fall and get a feel for times in ports. Research your stops on travel sites and then come back here and ask specific questions about the ports.

We done 3 Viking cruises and enjoyed every one. We've done 50+ ocean cruises and river cruises are different.

I think you are referring to the obstructed balcony cabins on the Royal-class ships. Also great values.