Live From the Regal Princess 11/6/14 Cruise

[taxatty]

Disembarkation went very smoothly this morning. I was in the Platinum, etc. lounge, was informed we could leave around 6:30 AM, was off the ship and in my car before 7:00PM, and home before 8:00 AM. A bunch of others that requested walk-off disembarkation actually were in line ahead of us. Plenty of customs/HS agents so all went smoothly. Anyone (at least this time) who needed to catch an early flight should not have had any problems.

 

There were quite a few I met on the ship who like me live nearby. I wish that Princess would have a ship do regular 3 and 4 day cruises locally like RCI does in Miami instead of just a few. The Princess ships are much nicer than the Carnival, RCI and other ships that have this short itinerary, and I think they would sell well, at least to those of us who live in the area.

 

Les

[rolloman]

Was on this cruise, just got home. I will agree the ship is beautiful, the food was fantastic. One of the best buffets I have seen since the 90's. I was in a standard balcony. The bathroom is small and has the ugly shower curtain but outside of this, the room was fine, plenty of storage areas, balcony large enough to eat breakfast comfortably.

 

Now a couple things I did not like at all, both theater areas are WAY too small, there was fighting every single night for seats. I witnessed some of the rudest behavior in a long time because of this. People were standing in the isles. You have a ship which has 3600 passengers and you make a tiny venue? The shows were outstanding but what good is it if you can't enjoy?

 

No stairs in the center of the ship? Aft stairs only go to deck 6. Elevators were crammed and I mean crammed with additional long waits. Again this caused issues and rude behavior.

 

This morning I was met with a surprise which spoiled my mood. As I was debarking the ship, my seapass card beeped and I was told to go to the pursers desk. The desk said my card did not go through ($100.00) and they needed to process it. Funny thing is both of their temporary charges went through on the 6th and the 7th and now on the 9th the card does not work for them? Somebody screwed up and I was the one who had to pay for their mistake by standing in the dreaded line for 45 minutes so they could fix their mistake. I told the guy out of all my cruises this has never happened and he said "first time for everything sir"....yeah uh huh...nice response.

 

Anyways, lots to like about this ship but there are some quirks for sure.

[Loonbeam]

As far as the card, you could have gotten caught in the repeat charge net some banks use. If they get pre-auths for the same amount repeatedly, the account is flagged. May not have been in Princess' control (though they could have responded better)

[rolloman]

As far as the card, you could have gotten caught in the repeat charge net some banks use. If they get pre-auths for the same amount repeatedly, the account is flagged. May not have been in Princess' control (though they could have responded better)

 

That is a thought but the first temp charge was 10.00 and the second was for 58.00....... I am confident somebody at 2 AM fat fingered the input and it got kicked back.

[shamda]

Do you happen to know if they implemented the princessmessenger@sea app onboard, the one where you can text people you are sailing with at no charge using your phone? I got an email last week saying that you can download it from the app store but apparently it wasn't available yet. Other posters mentioned it will be available on Regal. Any info on this would be appreciated

 

 

What is the exact name of the app! I cannot find it for my iPhone. Do not see it in the store.

[caribill]

 

Now a couple things I did not like at all, both theater areas are WAY too small, there was fighting every single night for seats. I witnessed some of the rudest behavior in a long time because of this. People were standing in the isles. You have a ship which has 3600 passengers and you make a tiny venue? The shows were outstanding but what good is it if you can't enjoy?

 

The Princess Theater on both the Regal and the Royal are larger than on any other Princess ship. However, it does take three performances to seat all of the passengers.

 

Aft stairs only go to deck 6.

 

There is nothing located on deck 5 aft that passengers would be allowed access to, so no reason for the elevators to go below deck 6 there.

 

 

See my comments in red

[rolloman]

See my comments in red

 

 

The fact that the venue may be bigger than other Princess ships means nothing, it is all relative......there are also 3600 passengers on the Regal, more than any other Princess ship. I have a 3 car garage...way bigger than my previous home which was only 2. I now own 4 cars......... If I need to go into the horrible behavior which this oversite fueled...I can do that.

 

The stairs in the aft, if you go to deck 6, lead you to nothing but the dining room. in order to proceed anywhere else, you have to take the stairs back up to deck 7. How about the stairs located in a few spots that actually go up into nothing.....it is quirky....beautiful ship...but quirky.

Edited November 10, 2014 by rolloman

[TJMK]

If you can, please us know what the costs are for the new chocolate drinks (see link below). Thanks.

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/food_dining/chocolate-journeys/

 

Chocolate drinks are $12.00 each and only available at the Wheelhouse bar (outside the Crown Grill). We tried almost all of them over the course of 3 days and the S'mores and Carmel Salted Hardshake were the best. The others are nothing to write home about. (In my opinion).

[HRPro]

We'll be on her in a week and really looking forward to it especially after reading your live from. Hope our weather is beautiful.

[SF]

What is the exact name of the app! I cannot find it for my iPhone. Do not see it in the store.

 

That's the problem, I couldn't find it either. I got an email since we will be on Regal soon telling about this app and how you can download it from the app store...but can't find it. When I called Princess they said it would be under princess messenger@sea but its not. Some posters have said it's not available on the ship yet so guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[taxatty]

The Regal Princess website home page you automatically get on the ship when you make a Wi-Fi connection by phone or computer (you don't have to download an app to do this) lets you check your onboard charges, view the Patter calendar and bookmark what you want to see, and has a link to make an Internet connection through the usual logon screen. It also has a "Messenger" link but I didn't use it so I don't know if it works. You can stay logged on to that internal website without using up your Internet minutes.

 

The Princess Theater was mostly full by a half hour before each show, some of which only ran once. If you must have a seat in the center section, consider getting there earlier than that. I sat up near the front on the right side for each show I saw and the sightline was always fine, except the one time I had to move when someone who must have been at least 6"5" sat in front of me.

 

As long as you stick to the forward or aft stairs and elevators, everything was OK. You may be better off on the Regal and Royal choosing a stateroom which is farther forward or aft than usual for this reason.

[dmwnc1959]

The stairs in the aft, if you go to deck 6, lead you to nothing but the dining room. in order to proceed anywhere else, you have to take the stairs back up to deck 7.

 

 

I may be mistaken, but isn't this exactly the same on ALL of the Grand-class and Super Grand-class ships?

 

:D

[dmwnc1959]

The Princess Theater was mostly full by a half hour before each show, some of which only ran once. If you must have a seat in the center section, consider getting there earlier than that.

 

One thing I noticed during the two weeks I was aboard Royal Princess last December was that of the three performances of a show in the Princess Theater, the earlier and late show seemed a lot less crowded than the middle show. Was it the same during your time on Regal Princes, or maybe because of the very special performances and guest star acts during this three day inaugural, that it would have been quite a bit more packed with passengers than under normal sailing circumstances?

 

:D

[dmwnc1959]

Now a couple things I did not like at all, both theater areas are WAY too small, there was fighting every single night for seats. I witnessed some of the rudest behavior in a long time because of this. People were standing in the isles. You have a ship which has 3600 passengers and you make a tiny venue? The shows were outstanding but what good is it if you can't enjoy?

 

 

I'm just curious, and I'm throwing this question out there for anyone who can actually answer it logically and statistically....

 

I've seen comments like this one quoted above, mentioning the number of total passengers in relation to the capacity of a specific venue, on several threads and reviews. My problem with quoting a ship's total occupancy in relation to the capacity of a specific venue is that there is NO large, mass market ship in the world that has any venue large enough to accommodate the entire passenger load in one sitting. Sure, some of the venues - showrooms, My Time Dining, pool deck areas, adult-only pools, Internet cafes - could be bigger to hold more people, and during my cruise last year during only one performance in the Princess Theater, that of the Beatlemaniancs, did I see it packed with Standing Room Only at the rear of the venue.

 

So, here's my question:

 

At what capacity should they have built the Princess Theater to accommodate the number of passengers you think should all fit in there at the same time on a ship of 3600+ passengers?

 

:D

[taxatty]

One thing I noticed during the two weeks I was aboard Royal Princess last December was that of the three performances of a show in the Princess Theater, the earlier and late show seemed a lot less crowded than the middle show. Was it the same during your time on Regal Princes, or maybe because of the very special performances and guest star acts during this three day inaugural, that it would have been quite a bit more packed with passengers than under normal sailing circumstances? :D

There were only one or two performances of each Princess Theater show on my cruise.

[ar1950]

I may be mistaken, but isn't this exactly the same on ALL of the Grand-class and Super Grand-class ships?

 

:D

 

You would be correct.:cool:

[sashas_mom]

We'll be on her in a week and really looking forward to it especially after reading your live from. Hope our weather is beautiful.

 

Hi! Have a wonderful cruise. I hope you will post. If there is any chance you can get a pic of the view from E505 that would be awesome! We will be in that cabin next year and it's an obstructed one that I hope isn't that obstructed. Wish we were sailing with you again:)

 

Happy cruising and regards to your hubby.

Eileen

[HRPro]

Hi! Have a wonderful cruise. I hope you will post. If there is any chance you can get a pic of the view from E505 that would be awesome! We will be in that cabin next year and it's an obstructed one that I hope isn't that obstructed. Wish we were sailing with you again:)

 

Happy cruising and regards to your hubby.

Eileen

 

Hi, Eileen. Good to hear from you. Yes, I plan to post some and will also try to check out E505 for you. Hope our paths cross again! Regards to Mark.

Susan

[dmwnc1959]

You would be correct.:cool:

 

 

The aft-staircase-Deck 6-complaint was one I had read quite a bit by some forum members, but maybe they were just first-timers on Princess Cruises and didn't know any different. Another complaint was that the 'layout' of the Royal-class was just so 'different', to which I countered with an extensive reply, here...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=43625816&postcount=193

 

:D

[rolloman]

The aft-staircase-Deck 6-complaint was one I had read quite a bit by some forum members, but maybe they were just first-timers on Princess Cruises and didn't know any different. Another complaint was that the 'layout' of the Royal-class was just so 'different', to which I countered with an extensive reply, here...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=43625816&postcount=193

 

:D

 

I am well aware other Princess ships as well as Carnival have the deck 6 layout. You seem to be missing the point......when you build something new, you should improve upon it. There are now 3600 passengers, more free flowing space should have been taken into account, not taken away. Dead end stairs and removal of stairs on this ship created elevator madness. One other item of note, when you are in the elevator area you have 3 seperate banks of elevators you can push the button for. This is what everyone does. So basically, because of this, you have crammed elevators stopping at every single floor on a 16 deck ship, often times with no one getting off or on. It is not fun and a bad design.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

I am well aware other Princess ships as well as Carnival have the deck 6 layout. You seem to be missing the point......when you build something new, you should improve upon it. There are now 3600 passengers, more free flowing space should have been taken into account, not taken away. Dead end stairs and removal of stairs on this ship created elevator madness. One other item of note, when you are in the elevator area you have 3 seperate banks of elevators you can push the button for. This is what everyone does. So basically, because of this, you have crammed elevators stopping at every single floor on a 16 deck ship, often times with no one getting off or on. It is not fun and a bad design.

 

Since the whole Princess fleet has their elevators banks programed to be linked together (as far as I know) you would think on the Regal & Royal they wouldn't have made it even worse by separating them even further, especially with no stairs being present.

They don't leave much of an option especially when going to dinner only 2 or 3 decks away and your waiting only to find one elevator after another filled with people- it forces everyone to ride to the top, stopping at each deck only to travel 2 decks down. :(

Has anyone figured out why segregating any of the elevator banks makes more sense. :confused:

[Elizabeth K.]

I was also on the Regal for 5 nts, Nov 4-9, for the naming ceremony and then the 3 night inaugural cruise so I thought I'd throw my 2 or 3 cents in:) I've been off the boards for a while but I am Platinum with with Princess and last cruised 3 years ago on the Ruby. I was lucky enough to be invited by a relative who was invited with a media group. The naming ceremony was great fun and a more entertaining than I expected. I was a teenager in the 70's so I fondly recall the Love Boat series. To have some new venues and features on board was fun too. Overall we had 5 fun days with great weather to boot.

 

A few observations—first the things that could use tweaking. Chair hogs as mentioned before by other posters, are in full force. I just don't get how people justify this to themselves. It would have been nice to enjoy the new retreat pool area for an hour but it was impossible. 25 -50 % of chairs are being used, the others are being saved for hours on end with a book or a shoe. We thought we'd try the cabanas in that area but couldn't find an attendant to inquire. I hoped to try the new Seafood Terrace venue in the piazza but many of the nights they had the house band playing in the piazza and this band is really more suited for the pool decks or a more party oriented area of the ship. They were way too loud for enjoying a meal. So not sure what's up with that. Be sure to check the patters if you plan to eat at Alfredo's or the Seafood Terrace in the evening and prefer other kinds of dinner music. Lastly, I thought the service in the dining venues was on the slow side and waiters most nights seemed rushed and impatient. We ate in different dining rooms each night with the media group, as well as Sabatini's and Crown Grill and noticed it across the venues. Once the crowds thinned out they seemed to relax a little and were more friendly.

 

On the positive side the food overall was very very good across all venues. The new partnership w/ Norman Love the chocolate guy is brilliant. I think he even improved the Love Boat dream as it seemed creamier than I remember. Alfredo's is delicious and fresh-great salads too. The Outrigger lounge area in the back is attractive and uncrowded. The room TVs are great with many more options on demand. Some of the outdoor areas on the decks have been redesigned and are terraced in a nicer way so that you can see MUTTs more easily on the upper decks. The elevator and layout issues didn't bother me because I can use the stairs and find walking good :) But I do understand those that find it problematic. The lack of mid ship elevators does make for a gorgeous piazza though. I look forward to a longer sailing on the Regal in the future.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Elizabeth K.

[minabruuke]

The lack of mid ship elevators does make for a gorgeous piazza though. I look forward to a longer sailing on the Regal in the future.

 

I am confused...what happened to the mid ship elevators? They were definitely present on the Royal and are shown on the Regal deck plans.

[Elizabeth K.]

Sorry I miscommunicated that. There are no stairs from the mid ship to the upper decks. You can take the panoramic elevators but they're slow.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

 

A few observations—first the things that could use tweaking. Chair hogs as mentioned before by other posters, are in full force. I just don't get how people justify this to themselves. It would have been nice to enjoy the new retreat pool area for an hour but it was impossible. 25 -50 % of chairs are being used, the others are being saved for hours on end with a book or a shoe.

 

This sounds like a problem that has only been made much worse than ever on the Regal and the Royal. From what I'm reading which may or may not be totally true, the chairs in the shade are at a premium on these ships. :confused:We do not tolerate full sun well & in order to get a chair in the shade we'll now have to join the hogs to get one at or not get a seat at all. :( We don't normally keep a chair when not needed but it seems they don't give us much of a choice on these ships.