Regal Review 1/10-1/17

[m2inus]

About us: two early 30-something parents with their two-year-old daughter in tow.

 

We sailed with three grandparents as a family cruise. My wife and I have been on many cruises between the two of us, mostly Royal Caribbean, but with some Norwegian and Carnival sprinkled in. This was our first Princess cruise, as the choice of one of the grandparents. We quickly learned why…. as it appeared that more than 75% of the boat were AARP members. It made for an interesting experience and my daughter having an endless supply of surrogate grandparents.

 

Embarkation was quick and smooth. We arrived at the port around 11:30 (even though we were advised to arrive later), and found a short line for security. Once through that, we went immediately to be checked in, walked up the steps and were on the boat in less than 30 minutes total. Debarkation was just as quick.

 

The ship itself was both good and bad. The piazza area was nice and we enjoyed the nightly entertainment in there. Navigating around the ship was a pain. Some people seemed perpetually confused by the layout, and even though I quickly figured out where everything was, trying to get there was a challenge. Many areas of the boat are only accessible by walking through restaurants or venues, which was just a pain. As has been discussed many times, we knew there was no center stairs, so we tried to stick to either the forward or aft elevators. One problem with the center elevators is that pressing one of the call buttons did not call all the elevators, you would have to go to the two outer elevators to push the up/down button in addition to pushing the buttons on the center elevators. This was also a pain and added to the elevator wait time. We didn’t find that the wait for the elevators was excruciatingly long, but obviously after a show or other event it took a while to get through.

 

We had a mini suite on deck 10 forward. The location was good as the piazza took up decks 5-7 and the pool/buffet was on deck 16. The cabin was nice and an adequate size. The larger bathroom with a tub was definitely a benefit for having a toddler. The main bed had a curtain to separate it from the couch/desk area, which was good for when our daughter went to sleep before us. The balcony was much smaller than we’ve had before. With the two chairs and table out there, there was hardly any room to move around. The chairs had a reclining option which was pointless, because there was no way to lean one of the chairs back at all with the limited amount of room out there. The other awkward part of the cabin was the location of the closet and lighting. The closet was directly across from the bathroom door, and there was a standing shelving unit with safe that was behind where the bathroom door opened. The problem came with the lighting, the only light in the closet area/bathroom entrance only came on when the main room lights came on. And since the shelves were behind the bathroom door, there was no way for the bathroom light to illuminate this area. This led to some challenges when trying to get dressed when someone was sleeping in the other part of the room, there was no way to light the area up. Our cabin steward was great and the room was always clean and quickly made up.

[m2inus]

Other family members had an inside cabin and a wheelchair accessible balcony room (one was in fact in a wheelchair). Both of these cabins looked nice with similar features to ours.

 

Food was good. We made the mistake of going to the Horizon buffet once we boarded the ship and it was pure chaos. We walked through it twice and finally found some seats on the third try. Other than during this boarding feeding frenzy, we never had a problem finding seats. As others have talked about at length, the buffet is huge and has a ton of offerings. I didn’t find the layout to be that confusing, but did find some items repeated and others not (ie. there were whole pieces of fresh fruit in several different areas, two of the areas had cut up fruit salad, and only one area had grapes….my daughter loves grapes). The unknown of what was around the corner led to walking around the entire buffet multiple times to see and make selections. The servers in the area bring you drinks when you sit, but many times they seemed spread too thin and would either forget things or wouldn’t come back for a long time. There is a drink station on both the port and starboard side that has a water/ice machine, coffee, tea, etc. This was nice and I used it constantly. I did really like that the buffet was essentially open from 5 AM till 11 PM, and they would only shut down sections during this period to transition between meals.

 

We ate at almost every other venue on the ship as well. The main dining room was good, we ate there for breakfast one day and dinner all but two nights. The wait staff was great and went out of their way to try and take care of our daughter. The food was what was to be expected in the dining room, some dishes were really good, some were adequate, nothing I or anyone else at our table had was inedible or had to be sent back. As weird as it sounds, the fettuccine Alfredo was one of the highlights, and should not be missed.

 

We ate at the Italian restaurant one night and I was not that impressed—though everyone else in our group loved it. They only had a handful of dishes that I would really consider Italian, and it seemed on par with the food from the main dining room. We did the steakhouse another night and while the service was great, the steak was nicely cooked, the side dishes were lacking. The creamed spinach was more cream than spinach, the mashed potatoes were sad, and the garlic French fries seemed like something you could get by the pool. The desserts here were the best and I highly recommend getting the sampler to try them all out.

 

We did Alfredo’s for lunch one day and really enjoyed it. The pizza was good (think personal brick oven pizza) and the antipasto was pretty tasty. The only issue was we seldom found ourselves with time during the day to just sit and have lunch, we were either by the pool or in port, so while it was a good meal, we only made it there once.

 

I enjoyed the additional food options by the pool (the pizza and burger/sandwich/hot dog stations). They never seemed to get crowded (even on sea days) and made it easy to get some quick grub. As others have said, the pizza here was pretty good, with nice sized slices and a rotating pizza of the day. The only issue here was that this food (along with the buffet) closed by 11. So there were very few late-night (ie. after 11) food options on the boat.

 

The international café was also good. We purchased the coffee card and got espresso and coffee drinks from here many times. As for the coffee, some people have suggested it was syrup, but in both here and the buffet it was definitely being brewed from coffee grounds. I drink many cups of coffee every day and I couldn’t tell the difference between the coffee from the International Café, buffet, or dining room. One thing I did think was odd is that there was no water out in this area for people to drink. I imagine you could go to one of the bars to get a drink, but being a food venue, I imagined there would be something out to grab. The chocolate chip cookies down here were also pretty good.

[m2inus]

Since we had the coffee card we got Gelato one night. The servings were plentiful and there were many toppings and sundae options to choose from. We also got coffee and some fruit to the room on several mornings. The service was always good and arrived almost at the beginning of the time window each time.

 

For entertainment, we only went to two shows (both comedians), and found them to be good. We did think it was odd that on the last night they had the comedian in the lounge, which was way too small of a venue, and led to people standing around the entire perimeter and sitting on tables.

 

We went to the pool on all of the sea days. We never had too much of an issue finding a chair, but the chair hogs were definitely out in force. One morning on my way to the gym at 7 AM people were just coming out to claim their chairs, when I left at 8 AM almost every chair close to the pool had a towel on it, even though there were only a handful of people on the deck. During the day when people would leave, someone else would almost immediately swoop in to take their spot. The movies on the pool deck were a nice touch. They showed the NFL playoff games when they were on as well, which was pretty cool. The pools themselves were small but the water was freezing, so it was never really crowded.

 

We went to the kids area a few times and while my daughter was too young to be left with the staff (she had to be 3), she was allowed to play there as long as a parent was with her. They had a nice indoor playground and some various toys. There were only ever a few kids in there, but the staff always seemed preoccupied with something other than the kids. One day it seemed like the staff was making their own art projects while the kids were off playing, another day they were discussing what movies were on their personal watch list. It didn’t seem like they were very interested in the kids they were supposed to be there supervising. I’m glad I didn’t leave my daughter there with them. The other weird thing was there was an outdoor playground that we didn’t use, but this was directly on the other side of the smoking area of the deck. Seemed like a poor design choice.

 

Now to my major gripe about the ship, the bathrooms. We were in the midst of potty-training my daughter, so I spent more time then I ever thought imaginable in the stalls of the men’s bathroom. I can tell you without hesitation, that I never want to see the inside of one of those stalls again. First, the doors are full-length, and the ventilation system is almost non-existent. This means that whatever odors occur in the stall, remain in the stall. The stalls are small, which is fine, but it feels like a coffin of poop. Second, the plumbing system. I know it’s a vacuum system, but never on any of my other cruises have I seen one of the toilets clogged. At least once each day I would unfortunately find a toilet clogged literally overflowing its contents onto the floor. And lastly, the overall cleanliness of the public restrooms, which was one step above a bus station. The bathrooms at Fort Lauderdale Airport were exponentially cleaner than on the ship. I cannot unsee what I experienced. I saw things inside of these toilets bowls that will be forever etched into my brain. I visited the main bathroom by the pool constantly and not once throughout the entire day did I see or find any evidence that anyone had cleaned it. It was beyond disgusting. On many occasions I would have to seek out other bathrooms, or use a female handicap restroom in order to find a place for my daughter to do her business.

 

Now onto the ports. Princess Cays was fine. The day we were there was kind of crappy so I think a lot of people stayed on the boat. There was no wait to tender and when we got there we went towards the right of the island (when looking at it from the ship). There were tons of chairs and we were close to the buffet. They had several “food trucks” in this area with tacos, BBQ, hot dogs, wraps….it was a nice touch and all included.

 

St. Thomas was fun, we did the shipwreck snorkeling tour with the Castaway Girl catamaran. This was a great tour and I highly recommend it. The boat and the crew were great. You leave right from where the Regal is docked and sail a short way to snorkel with sea turtles and see a reef, then a short sail to snorkel above a shipwreck, and then sail back. Definitely my favorite snorkel excursion of the many I have been on.

 

St. Maarten was as expected, one word of advice, do NOT go to the Zoo. We thought we’d try something other than shopping and beach and were greatly disappointed. We wound up in some industrial area at the saddest zoo I had ever seen. It looked like it took some hits from a few hurricanes and never fully recovered. I mostly felt bad for all the animals, they had many parrots, monkeys, reptiles, and a few other random things. All of them appeared OK (I’m no vet), but their habitats were all in rough shape. Also, getting a cab out of there required the zoo lady to call several times and a half-hour wait. Save your time and money and skip this place…..maybe just send them a donation instead.

 

On the last sea day they had to medevac a passenger off the ship via coast guard helicopter. It was an amazing thing to watch and I hope that everyone involved is ok. The evacuated the entire back of the ship and for about 30 minutes the coast guard helicopter hovered towards the rear of the ship performing the evac. I couldn’t see exactly what was happening but it was still an impressive sight. I was told they lowered a basket into the Aft pool and used that to secure the patient.

 

Finally, on the early morning of departure (around 5 AM), the alert for the PA system (the tone that comes on before they make announcements) came on continuously for about 10-15 minutes at full volume inside all the cabins. They later announced there was some kind of fault while they were navigating into the dock, so they couldn’t immediately correct it. Whatever the issue was, there were a lot of tired and pissed off people getting off the boat. I know these things happen, but then the coffee machines in the buffet were broken after that, so not a good lasting impression.

 

Overall, the boat was nice but I think it’s more suited for an older crowd without kids. I can tell you that I will not be planning any future Princess cruises anytime soon.

[Eppe4]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. I really hope you filled out your e-mail survey when you got home. There is NO excuse for dirty bathrooms anywhere and again, hope you reported it to someone at Customer Service.

 

We're boarding the Regal for 2 weeks on 2/21 and we know it will be an older crowd. That being said, we take our family on a Thanksgiving cruise each year and there were many

kids this past Nov.. With school in session, the only time for families to cruise are the holidays and the summer schedule.

 

We took our family on a cruise when our first grandson was only 18 months old and it is a challenge to cruise with a little one. We were 4 adults and one 18 month old, not sure who really got a vacation out of that trip.

 

Again, thank you for taking the time to write an informative review. This is not the norm for Princess, something went very wrong with staff. If you reported this on your survey, it will be addressed.

[Northender]

Thank you for posting your review. :)

[pcsunlover]

Thank you for your review. I agree that the average Princess passengers are 40+, but the time of year you went has a lot to do with the age demographics too. We cruise the caribbean primarily in March or April and have always had a wide range of ages on board.

[GWM907]

Interesting how people on the same cruise can have different experiences. I was on the same cruise and never saw a dirty bathroom or a clogged toilet I found the ship relatively easy to navigate. I do agree that the lack of center stairs is a major design flaw, very frustrating, and results in slow elevator service. I generally agree your comments about the food. I found it to be good in all venues except Sabatini's. I also had a terrible Curtis Stone dish (pork) from the MDR menu. Hopefully his restaurant will be better when it becomes available. Otherwise all the food was good to very good. I won't hesitate to book Regal again.

[cruiseintoheaven]

Thanks for your review. We love the Regal, sorry you did not. The demographics vary but Princess is decidedly a middle-aged and up crowd for the most part, which frankly as 50'somethings we like. Perhaps if we were once again traveling with kids or grandkids we'd feel differently. Regarding your comment on the bathrooms, that's hard to comprehend as the women's rooms are continuously kept clean. Did you report this to passenger services? I sure would if I saw what you described. Hope your next cruise fits the bill. [emoji4]

[Mom33]

Thanks for your review. Sorry you had some problems.

May I inquire as to why you took your daughter to the mens room? I would take my granddaughter to the ladies room before letting my husband take her to a mens room.

 

I'm sorry that you had problems with dirty bathrooms, but the people that use them are the ones that leave it a mess, stuff things down the toilets and create backups, and then don't report the problems in a timely manner.Did you report the bad conditions? They would have perhaps been rectified sooner if people just spoke up at the time instead of here on CC. The rest rooms have cleaning times and what transpires in them between checks is more the fault of careless cruisers than Princess cleanliness.

[m2inus]

Sorry if my view offended anyone, just wanted to share my perspective. I'm sure when my wife and I are in the Princess age group we would be delighted to sail with them again...it just won't be for a while.

 

As I mentioned, this cruise was centered around family time with our parents/grandparents, so that's how we ended up on Princess. Having an older crowd on the ship was never a problem for us and my daughter loved the extra attention. But as a reader of the forums, I never knew the age demographic, as I had never seen anyone mention it in a review, so I figured I would share.

 

As for the bathrooms, a few times there were crew members in the rest room and I would alert them to the issue. Several other times I saw the bathroom completely shut down shortly after I left, so they learned about the issue quickly. But honestly, after chasing around a toddler all day the last thing I want to do is track down a crew member to alert them there's crap spewing onto the floor.

 

And as for why I took her to the men's room, my wife was under the weather for the the majority of the trip, and I always try to take an active dad role, so I never have a problem helping her take care of business.

[arb18]

I too, love the fettuccine alfredo. I have gone on 2 RC and 3 Princess cruises about to go on a third in a month. I started cruising in my late 20s and now in my late 30s I think I'm still gonna love it. I do travel during spring break time so the ages are all over the place, but being a teacher you have to travel when you are off!

[floridalover5623]

 

Overall, the boat was nice but I think it’s more suited for an older crowd without kids. I can tell you that I will not be planning any future Princess cruises anytime soon.

 

Have a good time on RCI or Carnival. I'm sure you won't experience any of those problems on their ships. :rolleyes:

[riclop]

Thanks for your review but we have been on the Regal 2x and the bathrooms by the pool have been very clean so maybe you had some slobs on your cruise.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your review.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts.....:):):)

 

Bob