Ace_Caliente

Regal in early July for a two week cruise starting in Barcelona and ending in Athens. Family of 4 (38, 38, 11, 16). We all had a great time. The itinerary was great, the service was great, and everything went smoothly. We felt the crew worked really. We had booked an inside cabin but were upgraded to a balcony obstructed cabin - though the obstruction was very minor and we had a great view as we were at the very back of the line of life boats, so there wasn't a lifeboat in front of our cabin. I can't comment on the "kids club" as my two didn't want to participate. They always found lots to do on the 3 sea days we had. There's a good chance my wife and I will cruise with Princess again this year for our anniversary.

We sailed on Regal in the Med in July and really enjoyed the aft dining room. We often eat early so the dining room was pretty empty until just as we were finishing up. Anyway, on Regal, the windows at the back of the aft dining room look out the rear of the ship and on one occasion we saw a small group of dolphins playing in the wake.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Definitely an eye opener. We'll be celebrating our 20th anniversary and taking basically our first trip away from the kids in over a decade so we don't want to rush to book something.

I see NCL is running a 40% off sale, and it appears it was just extended a few days. Anyway, my question, are the prices listed particularly good? As in, unusually good? We're looking at taking a cruise in June or July, but aren't yet sure exactly what we want. We're leaning towards Caribbean, but we're not sure. I've heard a lot of good deals usually come late winter or early spring ("Wave season"?), and since we're not really yet ready to book I'm wondering if I'm likely to miss out on a good price if I wait too long or if this is one of those "revolving sales".

Have there been any match plays or other promos on recent cruises?

The whole thing is absurd at this point. There are so many points of contact that aren't testing at all from air travel, pre hotel stays, shore excursions / diy shore visits, etc. People live and work in close proximity all of the time - I don't have to get a COVID test to go to work where I interact closely with dozens and dozens of people every day. People who go to stay at an all inclusive resort don't need to test, the list goes on. At this point I would say that at least 50% of everyone I know has gotten COVID at some point, and that's only the people who had symptoms or close contacts and tested - I bet the number is much higher in reality. We'll all triple vaccinated at this point, can we just give up on this testing charade already? From the article linked above "Yet, since the phased restart of cruise travel in July 2021, there have been no critical emergency situations where any ship has been overwhelmed with the need to evacuate guests due to a crippling outbreak of COVID-19."

My family of 4 is taking our first holiday to leave North America to visit Europe in a couple weeks. We're very excited. We'll be on a cruise in the Med for 2 weeks and then have 3 weeks in a various parts of Europe. I'm bringing my EOS RP full frame mirrorless camera, a 16mm 2.8, a 50mm 1.8 (the RF mount cheapy lenses, but I really love them), and a circular polarizing filter. I'm also bringing along a very small P+S Nikon AW100 underwater camera that's almost 15 years old but is fun to play with. We are traveling very light (a single "personal item" size backup each to take advantage of cheap RyanAir and EasyJet fares after the cruise). As such I have to leave my film cameras at home 😞 Anyway, my question for experienced travelers who enjoy photography is: do you find it useful to bring along a hotshoe flash? Do you use it much? My EOS RP doesn't have a pop up flash to provide fill light. My flash is a fairly small Godox TT350C, but it is still one more thing to pack. Do you think I'd get a lot of odd looks from people with a flash attached to the camera hanging around my neck?

Pretty much every embarkation city has labs that do this. So unless your itinerary is very tight just walk into a local business that does it and have it done there. They would be generally much cheaper or at least on par with paying the cruise line to do it from what I've seen online for pricing.

I got an upgrade notice via email a few weeks ago. Moved us from our inside cabin to an obstructed balcony on Emerald deck. I took the upgrade after doing some web research on the new room.

I wonder if the tv show is the reason for cancelled cruises starting July 30 caused by a full ship charter referenced on the princess site: https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/plan/impacted-and-cancelled-cruises/cancelled-cruises-mediterranean-on-regal-july-2022.pdf

So, what happens in Barcelona if you test positive with a paid for test? Do the Spanish officials then make you quarantine? I know Princess will deny boarding and offer a future cruise credit, but what happens to you other than that? I know the country doesn't require testing so I'm hoping if it happens to us we could just carry on doing something other than the cruise since we're across the ocean already.

I've been going back and forth on whether it makes sense to shell out $10 USD / day for so so when I know we'll have data on land almost every day. Is it usually easy to get free wifi while in European ports?

That's good info about the museum - I didn't realize it could sell out. I know it is open until 8pm so maybe the line isn't too bad around 5 or 6pm.

I've been trying to figure out what the deal is with the "Skip the Line" tickets for the Acropolis for a bit here and I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. There seems to be a number of offers that all sound similar but I can't find a clear description of how the queues actually work. Has anyone purchased skip the line in 2022 for the Acropolis? What about the combined ticket? Does the combine ticket provide skip the line? Are there multiple "lines" and does, for instance, a getyourguide.com ticket get you through them quicker than just buying a combo ticket at the Ancient Agora and then the next morning showing up at the Acropolis with it? We're in Athens right after our cruise so are planning to visit on a Sunday morning right away at 7:30AM, so I'm not even sure if the skip the line matters. I think our default plan right now is to do a walk around to the less busy sites on Saturday and buy a combo ticket at the first one we need to buy a ticket into so we have it for the next morning to see the really busy Acropolis site.

What even happens when you show up at the pier - do you just hand over printed test results and they look at them as part of everything else at check in? What about the emailed message on your phone?

How much information is given ahead of time regarding the terminal/pier/etc that the ship will dock at? How soon is it posted? For example we sail in early July - when would that information typically available? That info is helpful for planning transport for third party excursions/transport for example. I've never cruised before so I'm not sure what to expect in this area. Obviously some ports are larger than others, so it matters more in some ports than others.