Caribbean v Regal Princess

[dread_pirate]

We've sailed on the Caribbean Princess and loved it. Wondering if we should try the Regal.

 

Thoughts? Comparisons? Thanks.

[cruiseintoheaven]

Don't know yet - but was on the Regal a few weeks ago and will be on the Caribbean Princess next month

 

 

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[BRANDEE]

We've sailed on the Caribbean Princess and loved it. Wondering if we should try the Regal.

 

Thoughts? Comparisons? Thanks.

 

I've been on the Caribbean Princess and the Royal (Regal's sister ship).

 

The Regal and Royal are a different class of ship than the Caribbean Princess. There are some extras and new designs and , of course, she is brand new.

 

There are design features on the Caribbean Princess that were eliminated on the newer "royal class".

 

You said you loved the Caribbean Princess. I would suggest you look over the Regal's deck plans and determine if the new design's will add to your experience and if the eliminated features will take away from you cruise.

 

Take into account the weather, itinerary and traveling with children. Some differences include number of pools, size of balconies, high speed internet, size of Atrium, additional eateries, to name a few.

 

I would suggest you read the members' reviews of the Regal and Royal. Some people loved them and others didn't. A lot has to do with your expectations of what makes a great cruise for you.

 

You asked for "thoughts". I prefer the older Princess ships (esp. the Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, Golden, Island, Caribbean)..some of what was eliminated on the Royal and Regal took away from my cruising pleasure.

 

Most important is what you want on a cruise ship.;)

[more cruises]

We were on the Caribbean Princess for 16 days in September and just returned from a week on the Regal. While our time on Caribbean Princess was wonderful, we fell in love with Regal. Yes, the pools are lacking and the balconies are small but the other new things more than made up for it.

 

We loved the buffet - so many choices! Loved the piazza area - so big, so pretty, so much going on!

 

The shows are great, nice to see new shows for a change. We had some guest lecturers onboard that made sea days extra fun. Ron Goodman is the CD right now and he made a noticeable difference in the quality and frequency of activities.

 

About the pools- I just read another review that said there were no lounge chairs available. We were on the same cruise and were amazed at how many chairs were available in the middle of a nice, sunny, sea day. No, maybe not right around the pool but it's a big ship and there are lots of areas for lounger. Besides, it was a Caribbean cruise with 3 glorious beach days so we had plenty of time to get wet and sunbathe.

 

Princess is really proud of their newest addition and now is the time to try it while everything's new and they're going the extra mile to show it off

[dread_pirate]

Thank you, everyone! It looks like the timing for the Regal will work out better for us, so I'm going to shoot for that one. I like shiny new things, so it'll be nice to compare!

[OceanPrince]

No comparison, Regal is an absolute step up. People that dont like it are so fixated on certain things that are not there and choose to overlook all the improvements.. other than smaller balconies and maybe lack of central staircase, i would scoff at all other complaints.

 

summary of why Regal is better than Caribbean Princess (CB).

 

The entire ship is so much nicer and doesnt look dated like the CB. Atrium is bigger and absolutely georgeous (see my Royal pics below). To me, this is enough to offset all the negatives. But here are other improvements:

 

- buffet is so much bigger and better, much better salad bar.

- retreat pool is georgeous (makes up for lack of aft pool)

- Alfredo's specialty pizza

- real basketball court with real leather balls that doubles as volleyball court. CB has rubber pebble flooring and rubbery basketballs.

- Upperdeck is nicer with seawalk and fountains (makes up for small promenade deck)

- Free IM system with your smartphone, leave your walkie talkies at home

- Free movies on demand in your stateroom, can watch many new movies anytime. you can just turn tv off and then resume movie later.

(I think the last two are slowly being rolled out to older ships)