Paula_MacFan

Good to know! We disembarked Regal 1/28 but haven't gotten ours yet. Our refund was due to missed port so we had cancelled excursions and port fees.

Ha! That was back in the early 2000's when Princess allowed you to bring on a 'reasonable amount' of beer and wine. A luggage tag worked on probably 3 or 4 cruises from Galveston and then they changed the policy. We still had a decent bar bill so it wasn't like we didn't purchase any onboard as well 🙂 We typically just put the carry on beer in our fridge for balcony consumption. Now we just get the Plus package. Although on our Island cruise last fall they ran out of our preferred beer on day 2 of a 12 day cruise. That was a fail by Princess.

We were on the Regal the week of Jan 21 - 28 and the same thing happened to us. From reports it's happened quite a few times. Our port was replaced with Belize which IMO was even worse that Coxen Hole. Belize is a tender port with no easy beach access contrary to Mahogany Bay. To make it worse we missed Costa Maya too due to high winds. So we only got 2 ports, and only 1 was on the original itinerary (Cozumel). There have been a few threads with upset people about this 'port congestion' excuse, wondering the same as you -- how does this happen when the schedules are published months in advance.

Same here. Sometimes I think people don't factor in potential time differences from their origination point and length of daylight too. We don't worry about mealtime reservations but rather eat when hungry wherever it's convenient. If it's a beautiful evening we will stay in port and/or enjoy the scenery from our balcony. Sitting inside in a MDR or game show is not how we want to spend precious daylight hours in Alaska. Different strokes for different folks.

That happened to us 2 weeks ago in Galveston. Opened up our 2 12-packs of diet Pepsi, took out every can, put them back in the box, and re-taped it up. We had the plus package so no reason to smuggle anything on, we just prefer Pepsi to Coke. Speaking of back in the day, when we first started cruising we could put a luggage tag on a case of beer and have it delivered to our cabin 🙂

I like your attitude and feel the same way! We did a round trip Alaska from Seattle 10 years ago and now we are doing a southbound 15 night cruisetour on Sapphire at the end of May/first week of June. When people ask about ship entertainment etc in Alaska I sort of cringe, because for us the entertainment and whole focus is Alaska. I couldn't care less about the spa, worrying about dining room reservations, etc. I want to soak up as much scenery, wildlife, and Alaska experience as possible. You're right, this is unlike any other cruise 🙂

Thanks for reporting your experience. For us it wasn't the music, it was the games and other activities. There was one member of the cruise staff in particular that seemed to have the mic turned up to 11 and then screamed into it. I really think it depends on the activity and who is involved. I would welcome Frank Sinatra-type music during a meal, especially at a reasonable level! 🙂

We booked it on Princess several months ago for $299. It's now wait listed only for $409 😮

No worries! I didn't take your comments as contradictory at all 🙂 I just wanted to share that info with others as it had never happened to us before either and we've sailed from Galveston many times since 2004.

Yes, we got it as part of the Plus package 2 weeks ago.

We did a whale watch last January from Maui and it was spectacular. We have another whale watch booked for Juneau in June and joked maybe we'll see some of the same whales 🙂

https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/bus-tours.htm

We were on the Regal 2 weeks ago which used to be a favorite. We were dismayed when we entered our room and compared it to the prior condition we had found. Here's a couple pictures of rust on our balcony, which was not like this the last time. I have a folder of pictures from our room of things that were shabby and/or needed attention. It made me think if I was a first time Princess cruiser it wouldn't have made a very good impression. I know surface rust happens in a salty environment and they do continuous maintenance, but this rust doesn't look like it happened overnight. And this is just a couple -- I have a several others of more rust.

I think I may the 'lady' that said they actually opened my soda in Galveston 🙂 We were on the Regal 2 weeks ago and I reported that upon boarding. We completely agree with you about the Princess Live venue being horrible and that Explorers is sorely missed. The Vista Lounge isn't used to its full potential on the Regal which is a shame. Also agree with the volume in the Piazza during the day for games and activities, and missing Skywalkers like the Grand class ships. Overall it sounds like you had a good cruise and thanks for taking the time to write up your review!

Our food was delivered quickly and hot. Coffee table worked just fine. We're low maintenance people and rarely eat in the MDR. Enjoying our aft balcony view is just fine with us.

I haven't done those excursions but when I was researching our upcoming cruisetour I looked for reviews and found many on TripAdvisor which is a sister company of Cruise Critic. You might check there.

If it's as big as the ones we had 2 weeks ago on Regal then it was huge and much bigger than MDR. Ours were huge and our neighboring diners stopped eating to watch the server de-shell them, then said 'wish we'd ordered what you guys got, we're coming back later in the week for surf & turf now'.

We ordered Crown Grill room service on the Regal 2 weeks ago. We'd eaten there already in the cruise but were tired and didn't want to schlep down there again. Same pricing as MDR add on plus service charge. Steaks were just as good as dine in.

We did this same thing on our NE cruise in 2018! They were all different but delicious in their own way. One of my favorite memories of that trip. We also really enjoyed the Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park excursion from St. John. Long day but amazing sights with the tides, guided tour with ranger, and pretty fall colors. We were there in early October.

Does anyone know if they still offer the photographs as part of the package? One photo used to be included but on the Princess website it doesn't list that as a perk anymore. Also does anyone have experience with the UBD on embarkation day? I was thinking that it typically wasn't offered the first day, but for our upcoming Alaska cruise it lists day one as an option. We don't leave until 8:30pm so I was thinking that might be a good night to do it. We'll be coming from our 8 day cruisetour so doing UBD on embarkation day might be a nice way to kick off the cruise if they actually will do it then. If anyone has recent experience or feedback I'd appreciate it.

We've also sailed on the Caribbean, Grand, Crown, and Golden. While we enjoy some of the features on the Royal class ships, we see the value in the older designs as well (Explorers etc as noted). We have upcoming cruises on Sapphire and Caribbean so we are looking forward to those 🙂 Three times on the Regal was probably enough for the time being.

We missed Costa Maya due to wind 2 weeks ago, but our refunded port fees didn't show up on our accounts until a few days later. (Costa Maya was supposed to be our first port so our itinerary was slightly different than yours).

We booked Princess transfers ourselves from Southampton to LHR last October. It was $59 per person then, but I've heard it may have increased. I was able to book it myself by logging into the Personalizer, but it may be different for you since you're not based in the US? Also here in the States if you use a TA then they have to book the transfer for you, the option isn't available online. It's only available to book yourself if you've booked the cruise direct with Princess. Sorry you are getting the run-around. I would be very surprised if Princess wasn't offering the transfer service. Maybe try calling Princess directly?

Here's the Alaska schedules for 2024. If you click on Skagway you can see the calendar, and the berth codes will tell you which specific location. https://claalaska.com/?page_id=1551

Agree 100% We were just on Regal the week before last and even though we did attend a couple things in Princess Live we really do not like that venue and miss Explorers! That is one of our favorite venues on the older ships. We were on the Island in Sept/Oct and found ourselves comparing her to the Regal a lot on our recent cruise. We had been on Regal 2X before so we did know what to expect, but after having recently been on the Island we realize how much we enjoy Explorers, a full-sized Wheelhouse and not the one cobbled onto the front of the Crown Grill like on Regal, and Crooners which had actual live music on the Island but not on Regal. The Vista seems criminally underused on Regal and has been relegated to live sports broadcasts, movies, bingo, and the occasional comedian. Back when we started cruising you could find live music in Vista but not anymore apparently, as everything is more focused on the Piazza.