Mary Ann 2

Since there will be no more Reserve mini suites or Reserve Cabana mini suites, it seems like the new Sanctuary mini suites and Sanctuary balconies would eat in the Reserve Dining Room, not the Signature Dining Room.

I sure am glad that I am booked in a Reserve Cabana Mini Suite before Oct. 14 as having the Reserve dining was an important part of our decision to go with this category of room.

9 hours ago, luvseaside said:

Went to see comedian in Vista Lounge-pretty funny.  He got 5 minutes of material just out of the fact he was supposed to board in Cozumel. 😆. 
 

Because we had snacked most of the day, we just couldn’t settle on dinner so had another nibble at IC while having wine and finished night sharing a burger from the pool grill before bed.  
 

Musical choices around ship were plentiful. We’d seen Fiera before so did not attend show.Also played slots for a little while and am up $100 so no complaints.  

 

Have a private snorkel/kayak excursion this morning in Roatan but weather looks a little dreary. We shall see how that works out.  
 

Attached is pics of todays patter

 

What day was Fiera? I looked at the Patters and didn't see it. It was supposed to be performed when we were on in December, but also never found it in the Patter. We will be back on in March, so I need to know where to look or expect it to be listed. Thanks.

On 1/5/2024 at 4:01 PM, azbirdmom said:

 

Thank you!  I saw that one but nothing is posted beyond January.  Will keep an eye on it.

I looked at this within the last 2 weeks and it showed at least through March when our cruise is. Funny that it is blank now!

5 hours ago, vjmatty said:

See that I don’t understand. Why do that when no balcony has ever needed double-height glass before, in fact no other balcony cabins on this ship will have it. 

I'm guessing they have the high glass just because the other parts of that deck (outside dining areas and the Cabana deck) need them and they think it will look better with continuity.  Not that I'm very happy about it, but that's my guess.

53 minutes ago, fpsphil said:

We are booked all the way forward on the reserve deck. Our rooms don’t have anyone walking in front so you aren’t necessarily locked into having that occur by booking one

Exactly! There are more of the Reserve Cabana mini suites that don't have anyone in front of you than those that do. I think there is a lot of speculation without any real information. We really won't know anything about the Princess Cabanas until the first cruises!

12 minutes ago, shamrockace said:

Beginning Jan 1, Princess is using Stockperks for your stock holder credit. They requested my finance company, the sign on for my stock and everything. Is this safe?  I feel this is very evasive and yet another way for Princess to make it hard for loyal customers to get perks. 

I was not required to give my sign on, but my stock is at Fidelity which is one of the choices. I have read here that you can pick one of the choices (but I can't remember which one) and just submit your proof of stock ownership without giving sign on. I imagine some one will shortly explain that for you.

8 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

The suite hosts on the newer Royal class ships are a joke. They say they will do things for you but are basically inept. Asked me if I wanted some reservations in the Sanctuary upon embarkation said “perfect, I’ll go up there later today and see what I can get”. Um, they will be sold out in the next 30 minutes. You don’t know your own ship?  
 

And every single cruise I have to tell the dinning room staff that if I order wine to eat with my meal, don’t bring me my appetizer until I get the wine. Again, these things don’t ruin my cruise but frustrate me from a service perspective. We will see if The Signature Restaurant comes close to the premium suite dinning rooms on other lines. 

We had the most awesome "suite host" on our recent Regal cruise this month. He organized a bridge tour for us and threw 3 parties! He remembered our names and often was out looking for suite guests in the evening to be sure they were having a good time!! He told us to meet him at Alfredo's the last morning and walked us off past everyone else inside the ship at disembarkation. WOW! Incredible service!! It really made our cruise very special even though we had been on that itinerary so many times. We loved it so much, we booked onboard another cruise before spring after making sure he would be onboard still. 🥰

On 12/4/2023 at 10:59 AM, helenb said:

Thank you so much for this report! I would also appreciate a report when you disembark, to see if they have resolved those issues as well.

So we were the first off after walk-offs at about 8 am, and we just walked down the ramp with no stops and got our luggage and right up to immigration. We were done in like a half an hour!

On 12/3/2023 at 5:03 PM, texasparalegal said:

Hope that we hear from people who arrived a bit later, like 11:30 or 12:00 and how long it took them to get into the terminal. My mom will need a wheelchair to board since the gangway goes back and forth, and standing outside in a line for an hour is not something she can comfortably do.

We met a couple who arrived more like 11:30 and she needed a wheelchair or somewhere to sit and they were told there were none available.  Be sure you have reserved that ahead of time. I was not happy to hear that it took them 1.5-2 hours to board!!

45 minutes ago, texasparalegal said:

Hope that we hear from people who arrived a bit later, like 11:30 or 12:00 and how long it took them to get into the terminal. My mom will need a wheelchair to board since the gangway goes back and forth, and standing outside in a line for an hour is not something she can comfortably do.

They had benches for anyone with disabilities up at the entrance where it says welcome. Just take her up there first thing. It didn’t seem like they joined the first in line but maybe waited there for the rest of their party. No sure. 

We boarded today and stepped on the ship at 10:44!! We dropped off luggage about 9:45. In line around 10 and were on the outer side next to the first two queues. No waiting anywhere once they let us inside before 10:30. Great embarkation!!

18 hours ago, TxNight said:

I'm on the Regal now.  Nov 26th sail date. Embarkation issues were the same as TxTeach reported.   We arrived at 12(came a little bit later hoping to avoid crowd some). The line went back and forth under a covering so if it rained there was protection.  We were on ship at 1pm. Left port sometime after 3:30. I wasn't watching the clock so don't know exact time. 

Glad to hear at least the line wasn't all the way to the other terminal as our cruise will have a Carnival ship at that terminal. I also was interested in hearing if anyone had tried later, so you answered that! I still can't figure out why it is taking them so long for embarkation. Out of 33 cruises, we have never had really long lines like reported lately in Galveston. 

Guess everyone's busy having fun? No one aboard to reply??

1 minute ago, TxTeach79 said:

yeah, it was definitely in front of the other terminal when I got to the back. I really hope/assume that didn’t happen today, because Carnival Dream was there today. It was empty last Saturday. 
 

it moved relatively fast, but we were so far back that part still took an hour. 

A Carnival ship will be there this coming week also, so yeh, what then? And if it's raining??

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

I would ignore all that and either show up early or late to avoid lines.  I am always at the port before 10am waiting for doors to open and among the first to board the ship.  Others choose to show up at 12:30, 1:00pm and waltz through and onto the ship.  This seems pretty universal from reading many posts covering various ports.

We are also usually early and waiting for the doors to open. Someone said last week I believe that when they were allowed to go inside, they had to wait for the x-ray people for like 30 minutes to stop talking and open up!!

3 minutes ago, TxTeach79 said:

for what it’s worth I talked to people onboard who said they never had any issues on Ruby out of Galveston. Debarkation today was fine once we were off the ship, but they’re not using the facial recognition now. Reason why is subject to rumors, who knows? Embarkation was about an hour line outside (arrived around 11:30), but smooth and walked right on once inside. I went blow by blow in the LIVE, but that’s the gist of it. Sure, there were some annoyances with it, but I wouldn’t hesitate to sail Princess out of Galveston again over that. Cheers!

I had wondered when you arrived as I didn't see if when I read your LIVE, but may have missed it. The week before the line went all the way to the other terminal. I'm guessing if it only took you an hour, it wasn't that long?

Just now, Steelers36 said:

From my memory, ships weren't sailing as full back then.  Also, this past week would not be a good indicator of this coming week or early Dec since it was Thanksgiving holiday.  

It was pretty full in March. I agree that last week would have been much fuller, but the week before was a puzzle why it took so long. I think it also may be the difference between passenger size of the Ruby in March and now the Regal which I believe holds more passengers, but Galveston has big ships sail out regularly on RCC and CCL so they should know how to handle it. Just rumor, but there are rumors of port versus Princess personnel at odds.

5 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Did you see this lengthy "Live From" thread which is most often on Page 1 of this forum since it is getting a lot of posts.  I have not read it, but I would expect the OP mentioned the check-in and boarding process (Nov 12).  You could try posting a question to him and he will probably respond. 

 

(I would think anything out of ordinary that may happen can affect check-in and boarding process, so be aware of that)

Yes, I saw both of those and read them. That's why I am asking as both reported long lines and waits to board. When we went out of Galveston in March this year, there was nothing like what is currently being reported. I would like to think it would be sorted out, but hasn't been since returning. It is supposed to be raining the coming week, so I'm wondering what it was like this week and how to possibly prepare for that situation with rain.

Anyone that can report what embarkation on the Regal in Galveston was like today? What time did you get there? Did the line go all the way back to the other terminal this week?  How long did it take to get on the ship? Did you leave on time at 3pm? There have been really long lines since it got to Galveston, and I am just hoping that they worked on improving that this week as we board soon. 

How was the traffic leaving Galveston? A friend knows that I will be sailing on the Regal out of Galveston soon. and she sent me a story she saw online about huge delays on 45 going north out of Galveston. Hoping that isn't a long term problem.

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

Asst waiter recommends the round bread. It’s pretty good.

 

Those round swirls are the best! 

13 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

I think carnival had the overall experience. A more thorough galley tour. A break for a pastry demonstration. A

break for a magician. We met the entire team of chefs that worked on it.

 

Princess was fancier. Higher level of personnel running it. Carnival was a sous chef with an appearance from the exec. Princess had Individual photos instead of group. Multiple wines instead of one. Lobster instead of sea bass. But $40 more as well.

 

I'm very surprised that you didn't get individual or couple pictures as well as the group pic. We have always had both for the Chef's Table (we've been to 4 in the last 2 years). They used to have the first course and champagne in the galley before COVID. It didn't look like you did even though you had a galley tour (which has been added back in since we last went in May)?

2 hours ago, beshears said:

The different ones that have posted about different places to get food really helps me. Now one of my questions is, do I have to Google, or whatever the "name" of the "specialty restaurants" to find out what kind of food they serve, or how do I go about to see their menu?
 

They are on the Princess website with pictures of the Crown Grill and Sabatini's. It even has a sample menu that is pretty close to what it usually is. Scroll down this page: https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/ships/gp-regal-princess

7 hours ago, beshears said:

It just dawned on me to ask. I know down through the years with most of my cruises, they generally have a $10 - $15 sale close to the end of the cruise. Is that being done on the Regal ship?

I hasn't been on either of the cruises we took this year. One was on the Ruby out of Galveston and one was a California coastal on the Emerald. I can't remember the last time I saw one. It may be because Princess is not doing the store anymore ;some other company is in charge.

9 hours ago, Dreamscaper said:

Casual dining options on the Regal are Alfredo's and Ocean Terrace (sushi).  I *think* Vines also had a casual dining option but we didn't investigate as we only got the two included meals.  I'm unclear if Vines is tapas, charcuterie, or sushi now (I MAY have read somewhere that they switched from one of the former choices to sushi now, although that puzzles me as there is already Ocean Terrace).

I've seen pictures of amazing charcuterie boards with accompanying veggies/fruit and truffles at Vines for the Casual Dining option. I can't wait!!