Regal Princess - Impressions so far

[hllwdcruiser]

Living near Port Everglades we are in the fortunate position to be able to snag some last minute deals on sailings to the Caribbean. This year we are on the beautiful Regal Princess in one of the Deluxe Balconies all the way forward.

 

Cabin L103 - Can I just say, "Amazing"? I am sitting right now on my extended balcony, which is huge, enjoying the balmy Antigua sea air with a steel band playing somewhere in the distance. We have the normal balcony furniture with the foot stools. The doors are never locked and we've been able to use the balcony every day. Our steward is friendly and efficient. The only negative being noisy neighbors who seem to think they are the only ones on the ship. When they are out on the balcony they talk so loudly they are literally yelling. Fortunately, they are not outside too often so it's been tolerable.

 

 

Food - We've eaten at Anytime every night except one when we went to Alfredos. Thank you to those on this site that recommended going to the restaurant that is half early traditional and half anytime. We have arrived every evening at around 7:15, been seated immediately and have had great service. The food has been very good (I'm not expecting NYC Chef's Tasting caliber) and they've been great at accommodating special requests. There are some of you who will be happy to know that they turned away a gentleman wearing shorts yesterday. Alfredo's was delish - those of you who know Dragan from the Crown Grill won't be surprised to learn that he just got promoted to supervisor at Alfredo's. A promotion well deserved.

 

Club Class dining is in the Concerto dining room, the same one we have been eating in every night. It's been pretty much empty when we've passed by and has not effected our wait times at all. Like I said, service has been fantastic and couldn't be more attentive so I am not quite sure whether Club Class is worth it or not.

 

Drinks - It's a party every night at Club 6 for the Platinum and Elite drinks. Jonathan has been our bartender and a group of regulars joins him every night as he serenades us whilst playing his ukulele. It is such a fun group and it's a great way to start an evening with a ton of laughter and good cheer.

 

 

By the way - our idea to buy liquor bottles from room service along with the soda and more package has worked out great. We just carry the small bottles in our beach bag and add a shot to our mocktails. Love me a Pina Colada (or two or three) on those hot Caribbean days! It really works out better for us than the UBP - we just can't drink that much and we have enough OBC to purchase whatever mixed drinks (or Steve's double scotches) we want.

 

Coffee - we have a new Grounds coffee card and an old Cafe Selects card. We've had no problem using the old card for punches but they are looking at the back of the new one before they will give you fresh ground. One guy was pretty rude about in at the IC on 5. C'mon, Princess! We are talking about a cup of coffee here, lighten up! Clearly I've spent over $60 on just the two cards alone - isn't that enough to get a free cup of decent coffee without you instructing your employees to scrutinize the back of my card?!?

 

 

Entertainment - we've seen the production shows before so we haven't been to any this year.

Phil Tagg, the comedian, is tears running down your face funny. We had seen him before several years ago and were worried his show would be the same but he had all new material. He is super fast at improv and was great at interacting with the audience.

 

 

Nathan Foley gave a great performance yesterday - really talented - and was voted Princess Entertainer of the Year in 2016. He performed hits from the 50's, to the 80's.

 

 

Kory Simon is at the piano in Crooners. He definitely gets the crowd wound up - he doesn't have the best voice (imho) but he makes it up with charisma and personality.

 

 

Billy Hygate is the CD - he does a great Tom Jones impression. I haven't seen him around the ship at all but when he's on stage he is definitely entertaining.

 

 

A side observation- I think if you take all the things they are trying to sell you out of the Patters it would only be a one sided page and only half full at that.

 

 

Ports - Being SoFL spoiled, we are not beach or excursion people so I can't comment on much. We did take a $25 pp island tour with Brenda and Franco tours on St Thomas. It was actually pretty darn good. Franco picked us up on the street and we couldn't say no! They are a super nice couple and did give a decent overview tour.

 

 

Just some other info -

Most of the staff I have met will be onboard for the transatlantic and at least for a month or two in Europe.

Captain - Craig Street

Hotel General Manager - Richard Harry

Executive Chef - Florin Dragan

Matre d'Hotel - Nicola Furlan

 

 

If you have any questions, ask away - I still have two days and an evening to go.

Edited March 30, 2017 by hllwdcruiser

[GweninTX]

Thanks for the info. We will be on her next January. I was treated the same way recently on the Island Princess with an old coffee card. It is just coffee and I too had a New and an old card. The Coffee ****s at the Coffee bar were rude and hateful ! I took names and wrote them up in my online email review after the cruise. Hope you do too!

 

 

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[plan09]

Thanks for the update and all the great breakdown of FAQ's here.

 

 

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[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your update!

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the info. We will be on her next January. I was treated the same way recently on the Island Princess with an old coffee card. It is just coffee and I too had a New and an old card. The Coffee ****s at the Coffee bar were rude and hateful ! I took names and wrote them up in my online email review after the cruise. Hope you do too!

 

 

I hope you addressed this onboard when it happened.

That works much better and the F&B manager needs to know what's happening.

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for posting your thoughts. I want to be on the Regal right now. I love that ship. I'm hungry :):):) and wish I was at the buffet.

[hllwdcruiser]

Thanks for the info. We will be on her next January. I was treated the same way recently on the Island Princess with an old coffee card. It is just coffee and I too had a New and an old card. The Coffee ****s at the Coffee bar were rude and hateful ! I took names and wrote them up in my online email review after the cruise. Hope you do too!

 

 

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I just heard the same guy "snapping" at another passenger so I think I will get his name. It really is unnecessary to be rude. I was in sales and customer service my entire career - this fellow wouldn't have lasted one day working for me. Not only is he rude but I haven't seen him smile yet...

Enjoy your cruise in January!

[hllwdcruiser]

I thought I would add a few more observations before we depart tomorrow:

 

Chair Hogs - they are out in force and I haven't seen any Princess employee do a darn thing about it. There is one couple who continually hogs four loungers (although there are only 2 of them) and will go out on an excursion all day only to return for an hour or two later in the day. They have hogged the chars every single day - easily recognizable by their bags and books. They are not the only ones - by 8 AM on a sea day every single lounger by the pools are claimed. I just wish Princess would start enforcing their own rules and remove the towels once the chair is empty for over 1/2 an hour.

 

Whip me with a wet fettuccine alfredo noodle - the drinks at Club 6 were apparently too good because I didn't realize that we were actually arriving at the Concerto restaurant closer to 8 than 7. We tried to eat around 7:15 the other night and couldn't get into Anytime Dining until 7:45. Folks were pretty angry at the Symphony restaurant - especially since there were so many empty tables being held for the 7:30 reservations. Same thing up in Concerto - tons of empty tables - both Club Class and reservations. Meanwhile, lines of hungry passengers at the doors. The system is definitely broken and needs to be fixed somehow. The problem with late dining is you miss a lot of the entertainment.

 

Shape of Ship - is it ship shape? Pretty much - although there are some areas that need some repair. The Teak Loungers on the Promenade Deck need some help and the cushions are in desperate need of replacing. Other than that - I think the ship looks fabulously maintained and will only need a little sprucing up when it goes into drydock after the transatlantic.

 

So today we have to pack :( but at least we aren't returning to the cold like so many of our fellow passengers. We've already put in our FCC so I guess it's time to start planning our next adventure.:D

[castle12]

...Alfredo's was delish - those of you who know Dragan from the Crown Grill won't be surprised to learn that he just got promoted to supervisor at Alfredo's. A promotion well deserved.

 

Thanks for the note re Dragan. He was a favourite on our recent cruise!

[riclop]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[mthomp5]

Thank you for your review. We'll be on her in about 6 months and looking forward to it. Glad to hear she's still in good shape.

[Lucky TGO]

Thanks for all the info. Enjoy your next two days.

Tony

[MJSailors]

Good to hear about the promotion for Dragan.

He gave us excellent service at the Crown Grill during our cruise on the Regal last November.

I have also read that the CD on that cruise ,Martyn Moss, has been promoted to Entertainment Director on the new Majestic Princess.

Good news about good Princess staff members!!

[BarbaraP]

Chair Hogs - they are out in force and I haven't seen any Princess employee do a darn thing about it. There is one couple who continually hogs four loungers (although there are only 2 of them) and will go out on an excursion all day only to return for an hour or two later in the day. They have hogged the chars every single day - easily recognizable by their bags and books. They are not the only ones - by 8 AM on a sea day every single lounger by the pools are claimed. I just wish Princess would start enforcing their own rules and remove the towels once the chair is empty for over 1/2 an hour.

This has become so abused IHMO, that I have thought of not even cruising anymore. Last month on the Regal, I saw a man save 7 loungers and 6 were unused all day. He also chased another couple away who had the audacity to try and sit in 2 of them:mad: Yet the Patter stated 15 minutes only.

[Lucky TGO]

Chair Hogs - they are out in force and I haven't seen any Princess employee do a darn thing about it. There is one couple who continually hogs four loungers (although there are only 2 of them) and will go out on an excursion all day only to return for an hour or two later in the day. They have hogged the chars every single day - easily recognizable by their bags and books. They are not the only ones - by 8 AM on a sea day every single lounger by the pools are claimed. I just wish Princess would start enforcing their own rules and remove the towels once the chair is empty for over 1/2 an hour.

 

I was on the Royal Princess in January on one of the sea days. I went to the adult pool (8:30 am.) there were 41 chairs taken :( They all had either books, hats, towels, flip flops, bags and t-shirts and no one was there. :mad: :mad:

If Princess stops the Chair Hogs by enforcing their own rules!!! Maybe the Chair Hogs will know they can't get away with it and stop. HOPEFULLY

" OK this is just my opinion Princess is NOT going to enforce the rules "

 

TONY

[lescas]

Just got off Regal today. It was a great cruise, with great weather and great entertainment. I had the same problem with the coffee card, ok we paid 2k plus for the cruise, 7th time on Princess, can't they just give us the complementary coffee??? that's all we ask. Two staff at IC turned card over and looked, and one wrote the voyage number on it. What's wrong with these people? Will definitely get a comment in the survey. DH misplaced/lost the coffee card on Friday, asked at IC and CS and no one had turned it in, so paid 4.00 for two cups the rest of the days. Had only used one punch :) We have four previous cards with plenty of punches left.

[Hoosier-Cruiser]

We were your neighbors next door in L101. I hope we weren't too loud when we had the whole group out for sailaway from St. Thomas. We were sailing with a group of 17, which, amazingly, fit on the huge balcony.

 

I agree that some of the staff seemed off, especially the coffee baristas and some of the dining room and bar staff. I don't know if it was because of the upcoming transatlantic voyage and dry dock. I did hear that a good portion of crew were nearing the end of their contracts, but that is only a guess.

 

Phil Tag was great. Yesterday, when I dropped some of our group at the airport, I asked which airline they were flying, they all responded in unison "not Delta".

 

And you are absolutely right about buying bottles from room service to "enhance" the Soda and More package. It worked out well for us too.

 

 

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[floridalover5623]

Yet the Patter stated 15 minutes only.

Wow. They've reduced to 15 minutes!

Now if they can only enforce it effectively.;)

[mom22busygirls]

Just got off Regal today. It was a great cruise, with great weather and great entertainment. I had the same problem with the coffee card, ok we paid 2k plus for the cruise, 7th time on Princess, can't they just give us the complementary coffee??? that's all we ask. Two staff at IC turned card over and looked, and one wrote the voyage number on it. What's wrong with these people? Will definitely get a comment in the survey. DH misplaced/lost the coffee card on Friday, asked at IC and CS and no one had turned it in, so paid 4.00 for two cups the rest of the days. Had only used one punch :) We have four previous cards with plenty of punches left.

 

 

I was also on that cruise and had same issues with older coffee card. Some punched it and others didn't. Depended on who was working I figured. Also had the same issues with the pool- I was out before 7:30 am and most chairs were taken. Most of them stayed empty for a while too. No one was enforcing the chair rules! Other than that, no complaints. It was a wonderful cruise!

 

 

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