pcsunlover

We're your mini suite rooms under the sea view bar?

Yes they were. We had B410 and B414. Great location and private. When I looked up, I couldn't see the bar so I'm assuming anyone looking couldn't see me. If my husband and I cruise on Regal again, I would choose B414 again. The balcony was a good size. B410 has an angled balcony so you can slightly see into the balconies next door when standing at the railing.

We (5 adults) had a fantastic cruise on the Regal Princess. Embarkation was smooth. We arrived at the ship around 11:45 and were onboard 15 minutes later at noon. For the first time ever, we were told that our rooms would not be available until 1pm. It wasn't a big deal, we just took our carryons up to the Horizon Court for lunch. We had minisuites at the bumped out area on the port side, so we didn't have any peeping Toms from the skywalk to contend with.:) Room looked good and the bed was the best we've had on a Princess cruise. Food was good everywhere we ate (diningroom, Horizon Court, Crown Grill, Alfredos, and the pool grill/pizza area), and we thought the service throughout the ship was excellent. It was a huge improvement over the Thanksgiving cruise we took on the Emerald.

We stayed on the ship at Princess Cay as we've been there many times. In St. Thomas, we took the Champagne Catamaran excursion to St. John. We had fun on the catamaran, but only saw a few fish. Personally I felt that the excursion was too expensive for what we recieved so I doubt if we'll do it again. We had the Orient Beach break w/lunch scheduled in St. Maarten, but all excursions to the French side of the island were cancelled because workers there were striking. We heard it was because of tax increases. We ended up taking the water taxi over to a beach on the Dutch side and although it wasn't as pretty as Orient bay, had a nice day anyways. The cost of the cancelled excursion was removed from our account immediately.

Sea days we spent on the top deck by the pool where we easily found seats every morning. We love MUTS and were a little disappointed that they didn't show more movies in the morning. The nightime MUTS movies during the week were: Spectre, Joy, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, The Martian, and The Hunger Games Mockingjay part 2. The daytime MUTS movies were: Star Trek Into the Darkness, Now You See Me, and The Italian Job. For some reason Now You See Me was the afternoon movie on two different days. :( The MUTS concerts shown throughout the week were Muse, Pink, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, The Killers, Take That Live at Wembley Stadium, Billy Joel, Elton John, Maroon 5, and Genesis. They also showed a few of these movies in the Vista Lounge one or two days and I think one or two of the evenings. The cabin tv's also had these movies and many more available on demand. I also thought it was a nice feature to be able to see some of the gameshows that took place at Princess Live venue on the tv the next day.

I've been pretty vocal about what I felt was disappointing nighttime entertainment on some of our past cruises, but have no complaints on this cruise. The cruise director, Martyn Moss, was very personable and humorous. The stage shows that we saw (Sweet Soul Music, Bravo,and Fiera) were professional and I thought the performers were the best we've seen so far on Princess. The magician was good and very humorous. I have no idea how he managed to do some of his tricks. For me, the comedian was just ok. Most of his act was him interacting with various audiences members. I prefer comedians with a set stand up routine and less depending on the audience for their jokes. But he was still entertaining. The Voice of the Ocean was also fun - on the last night the stage was set up just like the real tv show with guest judges. The 7 finalists got to perform in the Princess Theater in front of 900 people and the audience was given voting devices to choose the winner. :)

Disembarkation was very fast and painless. Our meet time was 8:05 and we made it to the airport (via cab) by 9:30. We then arrived back to reality at home of 40 degree weather and heavy rain, and I immediately began planning our next cruise!:D

If you have any questions I'll try to answer them as best I can.

I just got off the Regal yesterday. There were 5 of us and we had Anytime dining. We went to dinner around 6pm most evenings. Twice we made reservations but the rest of the time we just went there. We never waiting more than a couple of minutes to be seated.

I'm on the March 6th cruise so I can report back and let you know what was playing.

This is the first time in all of our cruises that we have not received emails about our cruise. There is nothing in our cruise personalizer either. :(

Post # 9 reported that a burnt pillow was removed from a cabin by a ship's officer and that a $250.00 fine would be added to their account.

 

In my humble opinion a burnt pillow is way past a $250.00 fine. That is a frog hair away from a ship's fire. The passengers in that cabin should have been put off the ship for safety of all the other passengers.

 

Bob

I agree! And giving them 2 warnings is ridiculous. After being told once and getting caught again they should be fined. If it happens again after being fined, they should be removed from the ship at the next port. Personally, I'm sick to death of people who think the rules apply to everyone but them.

We just got off the Regal yesterday. It's funny how perceptions differ. I found Martyn Moss to be not very present at onboard activities, and when he was there I found him long-winded and irksome. I wasn't knocked out by many on the CD staff. Simone, the deputy CD seemed most concerned about being coy and cutesy. Ronaldo (?) from Mexico was the dullest witted person I've ever seen in a CD staffer.

Commodore Romano was personable and a great communicator.

Tom Skavitt (?) the comedian was not very funny but comedy magician Christopher James was excellent. He's someone I'd pay to see. Get there early for a seat if he's on your cruise!

I've never had Martyn Moss as a cruise director. I know in December/early January it was Paul Chandler Burns. We loved him on one of our cruises last year. Kind of disappointed that he isn't going to be on our cruise. Keeping an open mind for Martyn though. :)

Thank you all so much! I'm really irritated that Princess is not sending me emails with all this information.

Isn't there anyone who can tell me who the captain and cruise director is or will be on the March 6th Regal cruise?

We are leaving March 6 and haven't received anything but a boarding schedule.

Yes, we're on the same cruise - March 6th eastern caribbean. This is the first time we haven't received any information about the captain and entertainment.:(

If they were sent.... pre cruise emails can also be found in your personalizer/booking, although there was talk over the last month or so that these were not showing up at all for some people either in their email or personalizer.

I've looked and I don't have any in my personalizer. I received one email 4 to 6 weeks ago about dining. That's it. Usually they send something about the entertainment on board and a few of the MUTS movies to be shown. I'm kind of disappointed. We're taking new Princess cruisers with us this time and I wanted to get them pumped up about some of this.

Our cruise leaves in less than 2 weeks and so far I have only received 1 email from Princess with updates on what to expect on board. I was hoping to receive something telling us who the captain is, booked entertainers, and possibly what movies may be showing on MUTS. It seems to me that on our past cruises we received emails with this information. Are there any recent Regal cruisers who can tell me their experience?

Thank you!

I was on the Caribbean Princess for a 7-day cruise in March and didn't see anything crazy going on. There are several pools on the ship; the one in the video may be a little livelier at times because it's where the band plays in the afternoon.

But, you can purchase bottles of liquor from Princess and have them delivered to your cabin to drink there if you want, correct?

What is even included in the all inclusive drink package?

From the Princess website -

All-Inclusive Beverage Package

Take advantage of our All-Inclusive Beverage Package which includes any individual beverage item, such as soda, water, cocktails, spirits, wines, beers, coffee and tea, up to $10 (retail value). Bottles of wine are NOT included in the package; however, when purchased in bars, dining rooms or specialty restaurants, will be available at 40% discount from the menu price. Applicable to all bottles below $100 retail. Note: This package is available for consumption at all bars, public areas and dining venues (not room service and excludes mini bar items). Terms and conditions may apply.

Item #0525 $56.35

per person/

per day

If you wait until Day 2 to purchase the AIBP Princess neither pro-rates nor retroactively applies it. The only line I know of that even does the former is RCI. You must pay for every day you are onboard.

 

Beyond not using the drink package for your morning latte I don't see any less value in it for embarkation day. Even if you don't make it onboard until after lunch there is still the sailaway festivities, dinner and whichever showroom or lounge you hit afterwards. If you don't think you will get full value between them maybe the package just isn't for you.

Ok, thanks. In that case, I doubt if we will get the package. We probably wouldn't get our money's worth on embarkation and port days. I guess we'll get coffee cards and pay as we go with the other drinks.

How soon into your cruise do you have to purchase the all inclusive drink package? I don't think we'd get our full value from it on embarkation day, so I want to know if we can purchase it on day 2 (or even day 3) and just pay for it for 6 (or 5 days) of our 7-day cruise. Is this possible?

to: pcsunlover

 

Thank You that would be great if you could let me know about the spring breakers.

Hope you have a wonderful cruise.

Thank you! I will try to remember, but if I forget, feel free to remind me! Our cruise is the week of March 6, 2016. :)

Go to the main Cruisecritic page. Next to the tab for "Reviews" is a tab "Find a Cruise". If you input the info for the cruise you want, it will give you options from various travel agencies. You can then compare prices between them and Princess. You can also google the cruise you want to take and you will get options from agencies that way too.

Thank you for your review. I agree that the average Princess passengers are 40+, but the time of year you went has a lot to do with the age demographics too. We cruise the caribbean primarily in March or April and have always had a wide range of ages on board.

We cruise the caribbean in March every year with Princess (7 day cruises) and have never had a problem with springbreakers or rowdiness. We're going on the Regal this March on an eastern caribbean cruise, so I can report back if you want.:)

There is a reason why each passenger's cruise card show which type of dining they have chosen ... because that is the dining room they are supposed to go to, unless you elect to dine at the buffet, at an alternative restaurant or other non-dining room venues. Just popping into one of the Anytime Dining dining rooms when your cruise card indicates you should be in the traditional dining room really is not appropriate just because you get back late from shore or took a too-long afternoon nap, and is unfair to the passengers who opted for Anytime Dining or those who get there by default because they could not reserve traditional dining because all the spaces were already spoken for by the time they booked. The Anytime Dining rooms are for those whose cruise cards specify Anytime Dining.

I agree! I think it's rude to take essentially take two spots. I shouldn't have to have a longer wait for a table in Anytime dining because someone with Traditional dining decided they want to eat whenever they want.

In comparison to the Royal, there were plenty of drink servers & if they asked once they would remember you & not bother you again. Since they work mainly for tips it's to their benefit to sell as much as possible.

In the Horizon you could hardy sit down before someone was there to get your drink & they were always asking if you want a refill.

Well I hope the service we experienced was just a fluke, and you have the same great service on your Emerald cruise that you had on the Royal. :)

And I hope we get that same great service on our Regal cruise. We are cruising with family who are only experienced cruising other cruiselines. They are only going on Princess based on our recommendations!

Not to say you didn't find the crew unhappy but we'll be on the Emerald shortly & I'll be vigilant to see if I find things similar. We were on the Royal during Thanksgiving & found the crew to be very friendly even though most of them were going to be there for the Christmas holidays.

Our room steward was wonderful - friendly and competent.

We spent most of our days out on the pool deck. We were approached only once on the entire 5 day cruise to see if we wanted something to drink while we were in our lounge chairs. Not a big deal to go to the bar to get our own drinks, but the lack of staff on the pool deck was obvious to us. On previous cruises there have been servers walking around all day asking if you would like anything to drink. Not so on our last 2 cruises.

In the morning in the Horizon Court we either were never approached with offers of coffee or juice, or we were completely finished with breakfast when we were. Many of the staff in that area just did not look happy. Again, not a big deal to get our own drinks, but definitely a change in service of the past.

I don't know, maybe the stars weren't aligned for us on this cruise, or maybe it's that it was only a 5-day holiday cruise right before the ship went into drydock. Some people we spoke with (while waiting 2 hours to disembark) had a fantastic cruise, and others, like us, felt the changes. No cruise is bad to us (heck we had a flooded cabin on the cruise before this one!), but we have been noticing the little cut backs that Princess has been making lately.

I should jump in here. The cruise was great. Our meet and greet and the staff attending were great. Overall the crew was great. I agree with 90 percent of every positive review. I will cruise and continue to cruise Princess. Its because I care that I'm willing to detail those things I saw that Princess didn't see. This cruise was expensive and we are asked for our opinions, I'm not trashing Princess.....just helping make it better!

I feel the same way about our Thanksgiving cruise on the Emerald Princess. We are very easy going and I think undemanding passengers, but in our case, we ran into so many crew members around the ship and especially in the Horizon court who were down right surly, that I had to mention it in a review to our TA who forwarded it on to Princess. I also mentioned it, the disembarkation fiasco, and the lack of dress code enforcement on the end of the cruise survey. We aren't looking for any compensation, but rather want the powers that be know that our last couple of Princess cruises have not been up to the standards we've experienced in the past. I'm really hoping to see a huge improvement on our cruise in March or I will be hard pressed to get DH on another Princess cruise again soon.

Just to let you know there is no "dress code" in the dining room for breakfast or lunch minus walking in in your swim wear. We roll in there in workout gear right after we getup for breakfast. But you do have to get there in time for breakfast, which we do find difficult some days [emoji41]

On our Thanksgiving cruise on the Emerald there was a shirtless man eating in the Horizon Court. No one said anything. I also saw men in shorts and sandals eating dinner in the Anytime dining room. I wish Princess would either enforce the rules, or do away with them. There doesn't seem to be much consistency from ship to ship.