Regal Review Jan 10-17 with DM menus

Regal Princess Jan 2016

We had a great cruise on the Regal Princess. This was our second time on the Regal. The ship is lovely and despite her faults, no center staircase, no forward viewing and a very small promenade deck, we would definitely sail on her again. There are many things we really like about the Regal. The large buffet area has so many food choices and plenty of seating. There is a very nice outside dining area to the aft of the buffet. We ate breakfast there almost every day. The dinner menu, for the main dining room, is posted at breakfast time right as you walk out of the buffet to the rear of the ship. Our cabin steward and dining room waiter were both very good. Almost all the staff were very welcoming.

We enjoyed the entertainment very much. There were too very good entertainers , Carl Strong and Tom Franek , who each did a show. There was also a comic magician who played in the Vista Lounge two nights that we didn’t see. We have seen enough comic magicians. There are three production shows but we only went to Brovo as we had seen the other two last year and really didn’t care for them. We actually went to see Bravo twice. It was one of the shows they had at 8 and when we went 20 minutes early we had to split up and my DH landed up on the very far left lower seat and couldn’t see half the show. We really enjoyed it so we went back at 10:15 which wasn’t as crowded and had much better seats. They only had two shows a night which could make the theater very crowded. The times varied and when there was an eight oclock show you had to get there really early to get a seat. We also enjoyed the entertainment in the Piazza. The band Rhapsody did a good job for dancing. The lead singer was really good.

This was an eastern Caribbean cruise with ports at Princess Cay, St Thomas and St Martin. Princess always handles tendering well with everyone who is ready to go ashore meet in the dining room to get a tender ticket. If you have a wait you can sit comfortably at a table until your number is called and then the group is escorted to the next tender. The day at Princess Cay was a bit overcast and windy so we didn’t go snorkeling but there were plenty of people in the water. There was a buffet lunch with ribs, chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs with all the trimmings. There were also some food trucks on the smaller side of the beach to the left of the tenders.

In St Thomas we were docked at Crown Bay which makes it a little more difficult to use the two dollar safari taxis. We walked out to the main road and caught a safari taxi to Sapphire Beach. It took almost an hour to get there. We were able to snorkel on the left side of the beach but it was too rough to snorkel to the right. Visibility was poor but we saw plenty of fish and a little nice coral. Sapphire Beach is beautiful with views of St Johns across the bay. We had to walk back up the road from the beach to catch the safari taxi back to the stop near Crown Bay. The two dollar safari taxis are not for everyone. You need to have a sense of adventure to use them. In St Martin we rented a car and drove to a couple of beaches. We have been to St Martin a lot so we have our favorite places.

We thought the food was OK. There were only a few dishes that made me say “ this is really good”. We had fettuccini alfrado almost every night and it was really good. I found out that If you get the appetizer size you don’t get it in the parmesan cheese basket. It only comes with the basket as the entrée. My DH and I would split the entrée size. We did the Crab Shack one night. On this cruise they had the Crab Shack on the two formal nights. The crab was so good and there was plenty so we didn’t have to ask for seconds. We did ask the server for extra crab to begin with and I don’t know if he added extra or not.

We had a great cabin on deck 8 with a large balcony. E409 is listed as an obstructed view balcony. The only obstruction is the promenade deck. The balcony is about twice the size of a regular balcony because of the way the ship juts out. Also this balcony cannot be seen from the skywalk so it is pretty private. It is also a deluxe balcony so there is a small couch.

Embarkation and debarkation was pretty painless. The only hold up was getting to the ship. We arrived at about 12:30 and the actual road to the ship was really backed up. We always park at Park and Go and it took about 45 minutes to get to the ship. Of course anyone arriving at the ship had to wait in that long line up. Other than that it took only a few minutes to get on the ship. We chose an 8:30 departure time and that worked well. It was about 10 minutes and we were out at the curb.

I will try to get the menus posted tomorrow after I download the pictures to an online site.

Thanks for your review. Can I ask if there were any shops, restaurants near Crown Bay, or did you need to take a taxi. We are going on the Regal in March and St. Thomas is the one port where we haven't decided what we want to do.

Looking forward to your menus!

Thanks for your review. Can I ask if there were any shops, restaurants near Crown Bay, or did you need to take a taxi. We are going on the Regal in March and St. Thomas is the one port where we haven't decided what we want to do.

We were on the same cruise this week. I agree with all of what the OP said.

In Crown Bay there are a very few of the "normal" cruiseship stores - a Diamonds International, maybe a Cariloha, and a small convenience store. Otherwise you are 1.5 miles away from downtown Charlotte Amelie. We chose to walk to Emerald Beach which only took 10 minutes (or is a $4 pp cab ride)

We were on the same cruise this week. I agree with all of what the OP said.

 

In Crown Bay there are a very few of the "normal" cruiseship stores - a Diamonds International, maybe a Cariloha, and a small convenience store. Otherwise you are 1.5 miles away from downtown Charlotte Amelie. We chose to walk to Emerald Beach which only took 10 minutes (or is a $4 pp cab ride)

Thanks for the Information... greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the review! Glad you enjoyed your cruise. We are going on the Royal in February and have e409 as a cabin. So excited that we made a good choice. Liked your recommendation for Crab Shack and will definitely try to eat there.

Thank you for your review.

Keith

Has anyone stayed in mini suite L-105?

I got the menus uploaded. Here are Sunday and Monday.

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Tuesday and Wednesday

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Thursday and Friday

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Saturday

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These are the menus from the Jan 10 2016 Regal cruise. I don't know if other cruises will have the same menus.

Thanks for your review and menus.

Great review menu looks a little different then the one we went on Jan 3

Thanks for posting your review & the menus. I enjoyed reading them.

Thank you for sharing! I'm going to go daydream about rum-infused soup while I eat this sad bagel... :D

Thank you for your review. My wife and I were also on this cruise (R428). We are long time cruisers on another line and this was our first Princess cruise. OP your review is so well written that I have little to add. In regards to the Production Shows we saw all three (3). By far the best entertainment that we have experienced in all our other cruises. My advise to those future cruisers is to get to the Princess Theater at least 1/2 hour earlier than the start time. The shows (seating) fill up quick.

bob

Doing a B2B on the Regal on 2/28. Many of my favs from the older menus remain. Good thing. AA menu has gotten considerably smaller. I think my 90 y/o DM may have a few issues - we'll see.

Great review menu looks a little different then the one we went on Jan 3

Do you recall what was different?

Thank you for posting the menus. A lot of things have changed. We've read that the buffet is great. We may eat many meals there.

I do have to have the bow tie pasta with veal so have to go to the MDR at least once.

Another thing we enjoyed at night is the Trident Grill becomes a smoke house offering ribs and beef brisket one night and pulled pork and chili the other. They alternate nights. The ribs were real tasty. You can pick up a plate of ribs then head to the Horizon Court for the rest of your meal. They serve the BBQ until 11 so you can also get an after the show snack.

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts and the pic's of the menus.....:):):)

Bob

Thanks for posting the menus. I was able to find something that I would like each night without having to default to the Curtis Stone menu.

Thanks for the incentive to get on the treadmill today in anticipation of my TA cruise in April. Very nice of you to post these.

Thanks for posting. We board the Regal in 9 days. It will be our first time on the Regal but we have sailed on the Royal, her sister ship. We are looking forward to this cruise.