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Live from the Regal Princess - Jan 18th-25th

lor74

By lor74,
in Princess Cruises

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lor74

lor74

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Intro:

 

This will be our 12th Princess cruise, and 19th overall. Cruise #20 will be immediately following. It will be on the Allure, our first RCCL cruise. I am 40, and the DW is still 30 something....it is her birthday today.

 

We are currently at the airport waiting for our Westjet flight from Montreal to FLL. We are staying at the airport Holiday Inn Express tonight.

 

This will be our first time on this ship build, and I am looking forward to a new Princess experience. I am also looking forward to trying RCCL's mega ship experience, and the opinions and observations that I will have at the end of the trip.

 

I had booked a guaranteed mini suite, and did not receive a cabin assignment until late last night. I was shocked to discover that we were given a wake view Owner's Suite. OMG, I am so happy!!!!

 

More to come....

 

***please excuse any typos or grammar mistakes as I type this on my phone.

 

 

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lor74

lor74

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Our day of travel was great. We left the gate 5 minutes early, had a smooth flight, and landed 30 minutes early. I watched Dawn of the Planet of the apes, which was better than I thought it would be. Ro (DW) called the hotel to get the shuttle while waiting for our bags, and within 10 minutes we were on our way to the HIE west Davie road. We were the only passengers and had a quick drive. Check-in was fast, and we put our names on the list for a 10am shuttle to the port ($8pp). The room is big enough with 2 comfy queen beds (with soft & firm pillows), standard bathroom, lcd tv, 2 desks, sink, fridge, microwave, and coffee machine. The free wifi is working well.

 

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Goodnight to all, tomorrow we cruise!

 

 

 

 

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lor74

lor74

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The hotel was good, but I had some trouble on checkout which I am writing here so that I have a record for when I come back and might have to call HI. There was one girl at the checkout desk, and without really asking, she charged my credit card for the shuttle to the port. I was planning on paying cash to avoid a 20% conversion fee in the credit card. She couldn't do a return until her manager arrives, so I fully expect to be double charged for the ride. On top of this, she had no small bills in her cash, and there was one Stapler for a sold out hotel of cruise passengers.

 

The ride to the port went to smooth. They let the preferred passengers in at around 10:30, and it only took a few minutes to clear security, check-in and make our way to the elite lounge. Boarding is at approx 11:30

 

I will add pictures when I have a strong enough wifi connection. I am pleased to discover a Broward County connection that I have not seen before.

 

Here is the album in progress

 

 

 

 

 

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Woobstr112G "Live from...." Rare

Woobstr112G

Posted
Posted (edited)
Intro:

 

This will be our 12th Princess cruise, and 19th overall. Cruise #20 will be immediately following. It will be on the Allure, our first RCCL cruise. I am 40, and the DW is still 30 something....it is her birthday today.

 

We are currently at the airport waiting for our Westjet flight from Montreal to FLL. We are staying at the airport Holiday Inn Express tonight.

 

This will be our first time on this ship build, and I am looking forward to a new Princess experience. I am also looking forward to trying RCCL's mega ship experience, and the opinions and observations that I will have at the end of the trip.

 

I had booked a guaranteed mini suite, and did not receive a cabin assignment until late last night. I was shocked to discover that we were given a wake view Owner's Suite. OMG, I am so happy!!!!

 

More to come....

 

***please excuse any typos or grammar mistakes as I type this on my phone.

 

 

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Bon Voyage and Happy Birthday to your DW. You will love the huge balcony with your OS. make sure you take advantage of breakfast in Sabatinis it is a great perk. Looking forward to your reports...:):):)

 

Bob

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BlessedAZWife

BlessedAZWife

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Thanks for the great info. Hubby and I are doing a 60th birthday family celebration cruise in November on the Regal. This will only be our 2nd cruise. First was on Adventure of the Seas on RCCL and we fell in love with cruising. RCCL and AOS were above and beyond what we expected. We had the best mid-ship/hump balcony cabin location of our group, and debated long and hard about trying another cruise line for our next cruise, as we had such a wonderful experience with RCCL. However, we decided that we should at least try the only other line which was of interest to us, hence, November's Regal Princess trip. I look forward to your review and wish you a wonderful trip!!

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mistyann

mistyann

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Wow what a great upgrade! Wonderful birthday surprise for you! We will be on the Regal in April and have an aft cabin for the first time. Would love to see pics of your balcony, we'll have one of the large balconies on Baja deck.

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long cruiser

long cruiser

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Boy are you lucky.We paid an up sell charge for a mini to the owner's suite.

Make sure you use the private suite lounge on deck 14 next to the wedding chapel on the port side.we are sailing again the day you get off the cruise.

Have a great trip.

long cruiser

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lor74

lor74

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We boarded at exactly 11:30am. My first impression was "wow, it is so different and modern". The atrium is beautiful, and we were just taking it all in when Ro spotted Alfredo's. We decided it would be the perfect opportunity to try it out while there was nobody around. Ro ordered 2 different salads, and I ordered the veal stuffed ravioli and a margheritta pizza for us to share. We both enjoyed our items. The pizza was a test to see if it was different than on the lido deck. I would say it was slightly better because of the smaller size and sauce distribution. While waiting for the food, I went to the Crown Grill and made a 7pm reservation. After eating we made a pit stop at the IC, where I had a small plate of Waldorf salad. It was yummy. We then went up to our cabin. It is a similar design to the penthouse suite that we had on the Star Princess. There are 2 rooms, with the entrance having a desk, mini-bar, couch, tv, door to the toilet, and door to the balcony. The bedroom has a queen bed, desk, pair of night tables, closets, door to the shower/bathroom, and a door to the balcony. The "bathroom" is two sections, with one room having a sink and toilet, with the other room having a big tub (not jacuzzi), a shower big enough for 2 with doors, and a sink. The balcony is humongous, and has a table, 4 chairs, and 2 loungers. It wraps around the side and can hold dozens of people. The room contained a big bowl of fruit and a plate of canapés. The minibar had an assortment of 40 items with little bottles of alcohol, soda and water. We exchanged it all for a bottle of wine, diet cokes and water. When the exchange was made, we also received a big bottle of champagne. After dropping of our stuff, we went to the lido deck. Walking through the buffet to get to the pool, the design made me think of my recent trip to Vegas, and the layouts of those massive buffets. I avoided temptations and didn't sample anything. My first thoughts on the pool were "this water fountain is a huge waste of space, what were they thinking, I hate gimmicks!" & "at high noon, there is zero shade available by the pool". Ro made herself at home next to the pool, and I went to try and find some shade. This only took a few seconds, as I walked upstairs and discovered a large overhang directly facing MUTS. I was going to do a little exploring, but then Ro had an accident. She was sitting on a lounger and put both hands on the sides, and somehow it closed on her trapping fingers from both hands. Luckily I was there to release her, but a finger on each hand had instant bruising and she was in a lot of pain. I got glasses of ice, and we made our way back to the room. She was then able to use the ice bucket that the wine had come in. It was a very stressful and painful way to start the trip. One fingers was cut and swollen, but she will be ok. We relaxed until the muster drill then made our way down for the standard safety routine. We had to bring our life jackets with us, unlike our previous cruise on the CB. After the drill, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the balcony with the setting sun on us. At 7pm we went to the CG for dinner. I had a Caesar salad, onion soup, filet mignon, and lobster. Ro had a Caesar salad, shrimp appetizer, and lobster. Our sides were the mash, fries, and mushrooms. Coffee and dessert, which was a cheese plate and the s'mores. It was a great meal and I was stuffed! She walked around a bit afterwards, while I relaxed on the balcony before calling it a night.

 

* The welcome aboard show had a comedy magician. The wifi is weak throughout the ship, and we barely get any signal in our cabin. One would think that a suite on a modern ship would not be lacking on something which is so easy to setup. The free intranet is a nice feature, and I was able to verify that all our credits have been applied. The new tv system is very nice, and there are many movies to choose from. The a/c is working very well in our cabin, and I even had to lower it when we went to sleep. I am taking pictures of everything I see, but will only add them to my Flickr when I have a strong enough upload.

 

We woke up today at 7:30am to a warm sun shining in. We went to the pool to grab some chairs, but today being Princess Cays, it isn't really necessary. From there we went to the spa to check out the enclave and inquire of anything that might be included with our cabin. The answer was nothing because there is no thermal room on this ship. The enclave in $149pp and is quite nice. Breakfast followed at Sabatini's. I love this perk! Our collective meal consisted of pastries, lattes, bowl of bananas/berries, oj/grapefruit juice, poached eggs, omelet, French toast, potatoes, and bacon. The next stop was the pool. Ro got comfortable in the sun (it is a nice day with some clouds), while I did 50 laps in the pool all to myself. I am now relaxing in the shade. We are not getting off, and will fully enjoy the quiet pool deck.

 

 

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lor74

lor74

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My

normal routine on the other Princess ships during lunch time, was to have a sample of the buffet, not be impressed then go get a burger or pizza. I just had my first Regal buffet experience, and all I can say is WOW! It is on a completely different level, and if it will be like this everyday, I do not expect to have any burgers or pizza on this trip. I started off with salad, and quickly discovered there is a learning curve to this setup. At first I found a salad station that had some very clean looking lettuce and peppers, which I topped with ranch dressing. After adding a roasted potato, onion ring and bit of pasta, I found another salad station that had cucumber and the Italian dressing I was expecting to have, then I found another station that had Caesar salad and Parmesan & bacon bits. I sat down and had my 3 salad first course with those few other items. I then went to the bistro side, where I had roasted peppers, a bbq rib, lamb doner, orange chicken, pulled pork, a self made beef taco and an already made beef pita. I didn't care for the pita, and I went back for more lamb which surprisingly tasted like Montreal Kojax meat. I then made a plate of carrot cake, chocolate tart and some cookies, which I brought out to share with Ro. All the items were better than on previous cruises. I am going to need to work out a lot more if I am going to be eating like this everyday! The dinner menu is not of interest to me tonight, so I expect to be having dinner in the

buffet.

 

It is a hot beautiful day 😃

 

 

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sunsetbeachgal

sunsetbeachgal

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We just got off the Regal, and Echo your comments about the buffet...we ate dinner there twice and really loved the variety and quality. It is a nice atmosphere to have dinner in and so much quicker if yiu are not in the mood for the dining room experience. We also had dinner twice at Alfredo's.

 

Enjoy your winderful upgrade and the fabulous Regal!

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searoses

searoses

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We got off on sunday....if I am eating salad and bread the food is mediocre.....a whole week and no salad or bread.....the buffet is extraordinary.....not even the old days could top this area.....many of the dishes could easily be served in the dr....ate there once and it was just ok but tried it the last night....seated with lovely table mates and the meal was much better.....walk the whole area....pastry aisle ,cheese and bread nook....and towards the end were terrific ethnic foods....the best thing I had all week

was Jerk short ribs....should have been spicy but weren't but delicious....plenty of seating at dinner..,we discovered the aft outdoor seating and sat there most of the time...enjoy!

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lor74

lor74

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After lunch, I went back in the pool and did another 50 laps. There is normally no entertainment in the afternoons on port days, but we got lucky today as the band, singers and dancers were training for their first outdoor disco night, which will be on Thursday. They were practicing at the pool for hours. I am now relaxing on the balcony, listening to some of my tunes. All I see is ocean, paradise!

 

After relaxing for a bit, I got comfy in the bed and watched Lucy while Ro was at the gym. It was not a good movie. For dinner we went to the buffet. There was a stir-fry area, and an assortment of other food items. I ate enough but enjoyed the lunch buffet more. We had a look at the shops, and the went to see the show which was The Surfer Boys. They have a beach boys act, which I did not care for much.

 

Tomorrow is a sea day. G'night.

 

 

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