Aralim

Glad to have found this thread, as I've been trying to figure out what my family and I should be packing for formal nights on our upcoming 2-week (two 1-week segments) Mediterranean cruise on Regal Princess. The photos that have been posted certainly help!

If I've understood the thread right (and please correct me if not):

- The written guidelines from Princess are not strictly enforced, but being in the Mediterranean we should probably expect to see a generally higher level of dinner dress overall

- Proper dresses -- cocktail dresses, ball gowns -- are not at all required for women, and "evening wear chic" with nice blouses and skirts is totally fine

- But, to be safe, it might be a good idea for the ladies to pack one dress just in case our cruise ends up being more strictly enforced for dress code

- For the lone guy in this family, a light-gray suit I own should be fine, packed with a few ties and dress shirts for variety

9 hours ago, John Bull said:

A sea-day after Gib then four port days in succession?

Portugal & Spain?

Or the Canary Islands?

None of the above. 🙃

Marseilles, Genoa, Florence (Livorno), and disembark in Rome (with overnight stay and exploration before flight home)

And before Gibraltar we have 2 days pre-cruise in Athens. Then Santorini, sea day, Kotor, Messina (Sicily), Naples, sea day, and Barcelona.

Very packed schedule, definitely a bucket list level trip for us.

Thanks again for all your help!

18 minutes ago, John Bull said:

Cablecar tickets include admission to the Reserve. I don't think they include admission to St Michael's Cave, but that's pennies.

Forgot to say -- the description of the "Cable Car Return + Nature Reserve" ticket explicitly says:

"Nature Reserve includes access to: St Michael's Cave, Skywalk, Windsor Suspension Bridge, Great Siege Tunnels, City Under Siege Exhibition, Moorish Castle, 100 Ton Gun and various Footpaths within the Upper Rock Nature Reserve.Nature Reserve includes access to: St Michael's Cave, Skywalk, Windsor Suspension Bridge, Great Siege Tunnels, City Under Siege Exhibition, Moorish Castle, 100 Ton Gun and various Footpaths within the Upper Rock Nature Reserve."

So it sounds like it's all-inclusive.

And regarding any value in buying the tickets ahead of time, I just noticed that the very first footnote says that the tickets must be redeemed at the Cable Car ticket office before traveling on the cable car. So definitely no "skip the line" access. But I had seen a video where the person had pre-bought and there was a separate line for those cable car passengers, so maybe it's more of an "express line".

But that warning about the wind is good to know. Is wind worse at some times of year vs others? We'll be there during the last week of July.

5 minutes ago, John Bull said:

To use the cablecar I suggest you take (probably be able to share) a taxi from the cruise terminal direct to the bottom cablecar station (it's about 1.7 miles, 35 minutes on foot). Do it pretty early. No guarantees, but if you're there before about 10am you'll be ahead of the hordes of day-trippers from the Spanish resorts. After that, lines can be long - and if your ship is in port only for the afternoon you'll need a re-think .

I just re-checked, and we're in port from 7 AM to 5 PM, with no tendering. So getting out early and beating the crowd should definitely be workable.

Even better is that we have a sea day before and one after Gibraltar, so there will be time to rest up on either side. As we're in Barcelona before Gibraltar, that'll be especially important for me as we're looking at a full-day third-party private tour that includes Parc Guell and Sagrada Familia. That'll be a loooong day of walking and standing for me, and I'll definitely need the sea day before Gib. to recuperate. (and the one after Gib. to get ready for the 4-port-day marathon that finishes the cruise)

4 hours ago, jwattle said:

A tip to the OP, as you are on a two-segment trip; on either the last evening of the first leg or EARLY morning of turnaround day, call guest services to request Chef's Table for the second leg; almost a

guarantee!😃🥂

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

If you don't make it the first segment, speak with the Maitre d' during the first segment to be put on the list for the second segment. Skip dealing with guest services.

Sounds like a good plan all around! I assume they let you know early on if you made the cut, so I will keep this in mind should my daughter and I be denied.

1 hour ago, XBGuy said:

As has also been reported the wines that are served are perfectly fine but they are not great.  They aren't going to offer Petrus or, even, Luce della Vite.

Hmm. I had the Luce della Vite at my Chef's Table on Royal Caribbean in 2018, and it was by far my favorite of the wines we were served; I probably had 3 glasses of that by the end of the meal, as our sommelier was perfectly fine with allowing everyone extra glasses of whatever wine(s) they liked most. A close second (which I bought by the glass at dinners in the MDR, and a few times from the Vintages wine bar), was Tennuta dell’Ornellaia's “Le Volte” (like others here, I'm partial to Tuscan wines). If they don't serve that level of wine at the Princess CT, that is disappointing; and also surprising when Princess is supposed to be a Premium mass-market tier line compared to Royal. I'd expect the Princess CT to consider that the minimum level to offer, especially when there's a higher price for a Royal class CT.

My daughter wouldn't particularly care or even notice, since she's never had wine. But now that I've experienced very good wines on special occasions with corresponding prices, I would expect this to be something on par.

@John Bull, thanks for your detailed post above; I was searching for info on Gibraltar and this was perfect!. I'm on a Med sailing this summer with a stop in Gibraltar, and this is excellent information. I've seen a couple videos about the specific sights available in Gibraltar, enough to know that there are basically just a few things my wife and I really want to see: The "top of the rock" area (I guess this is what you referred to as The Pillars of Hercules?), the nature reserve/sky walk, and the St. Michael's cave. From your description, the cable car is actually the exact option we want given the short walking distance to the cave from the cable car. While I am mobility-limited, a 10-minute walk to the cave (or longer at a leisurely pace that's easier on my feet) and back is very doable for me. My limit measures around 2 miles in a day, rather than a few hundred feet, due to having one foot fused and a bit gimpy after multiple surgeries. It just gets painful after that long and I need to take some Advil and rest afterward.

I did see that it's not at all necessary to go to the official "Monkey Feeding" area to actually see plenty of the Barbary Macaques, since they're all over the place. So I'll be happy seeing whatever I see on my "partial" exploration and just breeze through the feeding area on the way to St. Michael's cave.

How long a walk is it from Casemate Square to the tram car? A post before yours said it's long, but if it's the same kind of 10-15 minutes I can deal with that at the start; especially if a cab can get me from port to square and back. And if I pre-purchase the tickets online, how long a wait can I expect before I actually get on a car and ride up?

Lastly, I did see ship excursions offered that visit all the main area by mini-bus / van, but I got the impression from their short (2-1/2 hour total time) that I'd be rushed through everything. From your post, sounds like that is incorrect and even 100% by foot it's only a few hours to explore everything? I don't particularly care about the WW II tunnels or Moorish Castle, but if it really is that short of a trip when vans are involved and it would spare my feet much of the walking, then I'll go back to looking at those options (as much as I want to ride the tram to the top).

9 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

I don't think they have the Chef's Table on formal nights.

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Most of the time it is not on a formal evening, but I have seen it offered on a formal evening a couple of times.

Do they tend to schedule it more on sea days (or a night before a sea day)? Before I knew that it was only offered on one night, I was hoping to book on a sea day so I wouldn't have to worry about being back on the ship early to get cleaned up and changed into my suit. And with most ship-hosted excursions leaving at 7:30 AM, it would be tough to have it the night before a port day where I'd scheduled a ship-hosted outing and was dealing with food coma. 😉 

I understand the galley tour omission due to Covid. I didn't have that on my Royal Caribbean formal night, and honestly that was fine by me. I'm mobility limited, and doing a lot of walking and standing around in the galley for an hour or so beforehand would get painful for me. But if it happens to be restored as part of the package by the time we sail in July, I'll go since I know my daughter would get an absolute kick out of seeing all the hustle and bustle. For a time in her early teens she was thinking about becoming a chef / going to a culinary school.

And I'm on a Royal class ship (Regal Princess), so thanks for the heads-up about the slightly higher price. Still worth it in my book, and it's our last vacation as a whole family before my older daughter goes off into the wide world post-college and the younger one starts college. So I'm willing to splurge on things like this for the extra memories we'll get.

@Donyb, thanks for that info. I certainly hope that it will be offered more than once for our cruise, as it's a two-week itinerary covering two 7-night "legs" of Regal's 3-week Mediterranean rotation. If it's not offered ahead of time, will definitely speak to the head maitre'd when we board.

EDIT -- Or, based on what @taxmantoo just posted, will go to Guest Services when we board.

Looking for people's experiences with the Chef's Table on Princess. My younger daughter and I are major foodies and I'm also a wine lover. I did one of these on Royal Caribbean by myself and loved it, both the food and the company. Would like to book this for myself and my daughter for one of our nights on board if it's good. She is 18 and the cruise is in the Mediterranean, so she's of age for this sailing and will be able to try the wines if she wants.

So far it's not showing in the Medallion app, but our sailing isn't until mid-July. I see bookings available for Sabatini's and Crown Grill, so I'm hoping it's just that they don't make those reservations available until closer in, and not they have scrapped it for the sailing due to Covid.

15 minutes ago, Roberto256 said:

Absolutely no offense intended, but when I first read "private photography session",

I didn't think it was something for a family-friendly forum.  🙂

 

Princess used to have a 'Platinum Studio' ... and I don't know if it has returned since covid.

 

But, it was a package with an exclusive private time with a photographer,

and then an opportunity to purchase pictures.

 

My observation was that it was usually a very experienced photog, often the photo manager.

 

The intent was to be much higher quality that the candids taken around the ship.

 

Here is a thread about it.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2575443-platinum-studio/

No offense taken! 🤣 I guess I should choose my topic name a bit more carefully in the future. 😉

Read the entire thread, posted a question there but will re-post it here in case some following this topic also want to know / answer.

Platinum Studio only offers B&W prints / photos? They don't do color at all? I know that B&W is often considered more striking and compelling (when done right) vs color, but I find it surprising that color isn't even an option.

Makes me think the right call here from both a budget standpoint and interest in color photos of at least the kids might be to go with the Platinum Studio to get one really nice shot of my wife and I, and then ask my older daughter (who is the booked name on the second cabin) to purchase the "pick 5" photo package so she and her sister can get some nice photos on formal night or around the ship that they can pick and give us copies. And maybe I also purchase the "pick 5" or "pick 10" for myself, to allow for some full-group and various pairings with me or my wife.

Formal night pics are less candids and more posed, yes? (if still done fairly quickly) That's been my recollection on sailings I've done on Royal Caribbean, where people will step aside entering the MDR or going down one of the fancier staircases and wait in a designated photo line. But this is my first time on Princess, so it'll be good to know if they operate differently.

My wife hates having her picture taken, so if the pro from Platinum Studio is someone who can put her at ease and tease out a good photo, that'll be worth the money for one good shot.

Just got referred to this thread, thanks for the info here. I'm sailing on Regal Princess for 2 weeks in the Mediterranean this summer, and really want to get a photo shoot with the family since it will likely be the last big vacation we take all together for many years. (kids are both adults now, one graduating college and the other starting in the fall)

So with Platinum Studio the only option is B&W prints / photos? They don't do color at all?

Makes me think the right call here from both a budget standpoint and interest in color photos of at least the kids might be to go with the Platinum Studio to get one really nice shot of my wife and I, and then ask my older daughter (who is the booked name on the second cabin) to purchase the "pick 5" photo package so she and her sister can get some nice photos on formal night that they can pick and give us copies. And maybe I also purchase the "pick 5" or "pick 10" to allow for some full-group and various pairings with me or my wife.

@justafem, thanks for the info. That's concerning that they kept rescheduling on you until you just gave up. Hopefully they won't pull that if I book with them on this cruise.

When you say $90-$150 per sheet -- so if you got an 8x10 of one pic (I assume a single sheet) and a sheet of say two 5x7s for two other pics, that would be $180-$300, even though it was 3 pictures on 2 sheets? And if you liked four pictures and got all four as one sheet of 4x6 or 3x5 pictures, they just count it as one sheet and only charge $90-$150?

I was figuring if it wasn't some kind of hourly rate that they would be charging by the picture, then some nominal amount per sheet of the picture, regardless of how many were put on one sheet. Which at least would be in line with how the land-based photography studios we used when our kids were little would operate.

2 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

The evening before disembarkation they tend to get busy.

24 minutes ago, PurpleHays said:

The evening before disembarkation I'm packing them dirty and washing at home.

I'm on board with this! Since our sailing is 2 weeks, I figure we'll pack for 10 days and wash what needs it on day 8 or 9, which IIRC are both sea days before a marathon of port days.

Thanks a bunch for all the helpful replies! We do plan to wash any delicates in the cabin's sink and hang to dry in the shower or on the balcony (with clips!), and just do the undies / socks / t-shirts / other durables in the self-service. And by the sound of it, we should have no problem with crowds or with needing to keep too close an eye on it.

Hi all,

My family and I will be sailing Regal Princess for a 2-week sailing in the Mediterranean this summer. One thing we're debating is whether to use the self-service laundry room to take care of our clothes sometime after the first week, vs just using the official laundry service.

I know the cost of the self-service will be a lot less compared to using the regular service, especially if we bring some laundry detergent and softener pods of our own. And we know better than to wash/dry anything delicate or important in those machines. But since we'd be doing it on a sea day, will we be fighting with tons of other people all trying to do the same thing, and spending most of a sea day cooped up in the laundry room waiting for an available machine? And with the dryers in particular, do they truly get the job done with one 30-minute run or do they typically require buying multiple tokens to get a single load properly dry?

Hi all,

My family and I will be sailing Regal Princess in the Mediterranean this summer. We are expecting that It will be the last vacation we take together, as my older daughter is graduating college and going off to start her life, and my younger daughter will be starting college. So I want to have a private photography session while we're on the trip, and have some nice portraits taken of us all as a family, plus some individual photos of my kids and some pics of my wife and I.

On the Princess web site, the "Photography" section of the "On Board Services" page just lists a 5-picture and 10-picture package. Based on the description, this sounds more like a package to choose photos taken from random photographers as we embark, go to formal nights, etc., which is not what I'm looking for.

Do I have to wait until we are on board to book a private photography session? If so, can anyone who has done this before give me a ballpark of what it will cost and what we can expect in terms of where photos will be taken, how many pictures we can expect to get, etc? Since we'll be in the Mediterranean, I'm hoping to get at least a couple of pictures taken outside on the Lido deck or another area, hopefully with some of the local scenery / towns visible in the background if we're close enough to shore on whatever day I book (maybe late on a port day, before we go to dinner?)

On 8/10/2021 at 7:17 AM, Esprit said:

Pleased to see Regal scheduled for a refit next April. We are on board for two weeks in July and it did look a shade tired in Southampton last week.

I'm on Regal with my family for 2 weeks in July (16-30), will be our first Princess cruise. Have you heard if this scheduled dry dock is purely for routine maintenance, or if there will be any basic "freshening up" applied to things like carpeting, decor, etc? I'm assuming a two-week dry dock is too short for anything more significant than that, but I'd also hope that after 7 years in service they'd give her a bit of a facelift.

Thanks, all! The specific port I'm concerned about is Akureyri, which will be a docked port. Our port time is 11 AM to 5 PM, and there is a whale-watching excursion via Saga Travel that leaves at 1 PM and returns at 4 PM. If all aboard will be 4:30, then I'm confident about being able to make it back to the ship on time since the tour operator confirmed via email that it's something like a five minute walk from ship to whale watching boat. Even if the tour gets back a little late, like 4:15, we can make it (at the cost of being a family of pier runners).

I was worried that all aboard would be 4 PM and that there would be no way to book any third-party excursion since there are few that fit within our port window. If Celebrity offers this trip themselves for that day without a ridiculous premium, then I may well book through them for the security of knowing they'll wait for us if we're late. But I want to still have the option to book directly with a third-party if that works out better.

Hi all,

Really basic question, I know, but I did a search of this forum and found only a few mentions of all aboard time. I'm used to sailing on Royal, where all aboard has been 30 minutes before departure time at all of my ports on all of my sailings to date. But the few posts I found here that mentioned "all aboard time" all gave times a full hour before departure.

Is that the standard on Celebrity? I'm trying to work out excursion windows for an upcoming sailing, and one of the days has an already short window that will be even shorter if I need to be back on the ship 30 minutes earlier than I'm thinking I do.

18 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

The techno re-mixes of "Silent Night" and "Frosty the Snowmen" were particularly hellish.

Yeah, that's a boundary that even I will agree should not be crossed! 😨

49 years old here, soon to be 50. And techno is one of my favorite modern genres. Been a fan for almost 20 years now, and I’ve even written a song in that genre. Heard a great techno beat approaching Tobacco Bay beach in Bermuda and couldn’t have been happier. I find it energizing and love to play it as a pick me up at work if I’m in need of one. I’m actually glad to hear that they play it on Celebrity ships at times. And for what it’s worth, I find 90’s pop and hip-hop soundtracks annoying in the way you found the techno. And while I’m no stranger to the 50’s and 60’s music my dad listened to all the time, and have bought copies of several popular 60s songs for my library that I really like, I’d go nucking futs if I had to listen to it all day, every day.

But I get where you’re coming from. Music is constantly changing, and those changes will invariably upset one group or another used to the older styles. But  places that play music meant to cater to a wide range of humans have to change with it or their customers are going to age out and never get replaced as word gets out that the place is “old style” / “square” / “uncool”.

34 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Edit:  I see if I select a Veranda stateroom I can choose 6,7,8,9,10.

I’ve noticed the lone cabin on deck 10 that shows up, and it’s weird because that block of rooms are the new AQ cabins that were installed on the refurb. No idea why that one cabin shows as Verandah instead of AQ

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

After exploring the little village we climbed the hill to the old abandoned church and went to Tobacco Bay which had been recommended to us.   Absolutely beautiful. 

So glad you were able to go there, and more so that you enjoyed it! I'm curious -- did they have techno music playing there at a good volume? That was blasting out when I was there last, but I happen to really like techno so I was enjoying it!

2 hours ago, LuAnn said:

Jim...how difficult was the walk to Tobacco Bay? Was it up and down a hill?...any other way to get there besides walking from St George? Thanks!!! LuAnn

LuAnn, I did this walk last October. It's about 1/2 mile each way from the center of town. There is a modest (to me, at least) hill to climb in the beginning as you make your way out of town and past the church. It's maybe the first 1/3 of the walk, but except for one or two very short stretches I didn't find it very steep and none of it was impossible for me to climb. I say this as someone with lifelong mobility issues that, as I've gotten older, make it hard / painful for me to walk more than 2 or 3 miles in a day, even with daily walking exercise at home, and never all at once. But I was able to do the walk to Tobacco Bay and back with no real problems; even after a day wandering around St. George's and the Crystal Caves, I only needed 2 Advil when I got back on the ship and 2 more when I went to bed.

Jim, did you feel differently? I gather from your other posts here and other blogs I've read that you're a pretty avid walker, so curious to hear your perspective on the walk.

Jim, if you and Iain plan to spend the day in St. George’s, and like sea glass, there’s a very nice shop in the center section of town with all the art galleries and craft stores. Sign on the road points it out, as the building is set back and halfway up the set of stairs in the middle of the cluster of shops. Very nice lady who runs the place and has lived there her whole life, and her daughter makes all the jewelry / works as co-owner.

If you decide you’ve seen enough of town but aren’t ready to return to the ship, its a very easy walk from the center of town to Tobacco Bay Beach. I’m somewhat mobility limited and even I had no problem doing it. If you make your way from town center to the abandoned church mentioned earlier, and walk past it with it on your left as you continue down the road, it’s basically a straight 1/2 mile down that road to where the beach is. Keep to the left side of the road where is splits into two one-way lanes, there’s more shade and not as much of a hill to deal with.

Heres a picture I took when I got in full sight but wasn’t yet at the beach entrance. As you can see it’s a small beach, but few people go there and it’s a nice spot to relax for a bit, have some food and a beverage:

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Regarding Chef Daniel Boulud Dinner. 

 

$199 with Wine Pairing

$139 without 

 

How much was Chef’s Table prior to this change? My younger daughter is a foodie but underage, so having a no-pairings price is a nice new option on one level. But $200 to have it with pairings is more than I’m willing to pay unless this is a Michelin-star-level meal I’m getting.

I did Chef’s Table on Freedom of the Seas by myself for $90, and felt that was a bargain after the wines and food we were served; I would say the food was on par with a land restaurant I’d been to that cost me $75 for dinner with no alcohol. I know Celebrity is a cut above Royal for food, and wouldn’t object to paying a bit more; let’s say $150 for a round number, assuming the wines are also a cut above.

But $200 for me and another $140 for my will-be-16-year old daughter is just too big a pill to swallow on a trip that’s already going to be stretching all kinds of budget boundaries. Maybe they’ll adjust the pricing over the coming year as they get guest feedback, but I’m not holding my breath.

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

😲

Is this just the sort of thing that happens when you reach Zenith on X?!? I've clearly gotta start sailing 3x a year, find the budget to do it in a suite every time, and get myself to Zenith!! What a great opportunity to just have happen while at sea!