Royal/Regal Princess

[stickey_mouse]

I've never sailed Princess, but I can't help but notice (after viewing pictures and video) that the new Princess ships have some of the most beautiful interior spaces I've seen. I was wondering if any frequent Holland customers have tried these new ships, and if so, how they compare to HAL (other than size, obviously).

[taxmantoo]

We were on the Regal Princess last year and absolutely loved it. Beautiful interiors, lovely mini-suites, superior entertainment compared to HAL and similar food-wise in the MDR but superior and many more choices in Sabatini's , Crown Grill than HAL's Specialty Restaurants. Alfredo"s Pizza is also much better than NY Deli on HAL.

 

The ship is a bit bigger than Eurodam or Nieuw Amsterdam but we never really felt crowded or had to wait for anything.

 

We would go back anytime given an itinerary we were interested in. I keep checking :-)

[mllewis48]

Been on both in the last year or so and I would concur with taxman. They are sisters and very similar. In fact we’ll be on the Royal again this year for the holidays in the Caribbean. Love Crooners, The Vines, and Crown Grill.

 

One other comment would be that we have had both a Balcony and Mini Suite, I would go with the Mini, however the Verandahs are very small compared to HAL

 

 

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[OlsSalt]

VSP Vessel Sanitation Report - Princess Royal - Score 93

https://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionDetailReport.aspx?ColI=MTkzMDAzODc%3d-AkCS%2fbTA65s%3d

[sananda]

Been on both Regal and Royal and enjoyed them very much. Like the ships when traveling with my kids. Very good family ships. Food is subjective, but they are similar to what I have experienced with HAL NA. Similar cabins are usually larger on HAL if space is important to you. I usually find that similar cruises on HAL are less expensive than on Princess.

[Jeremiah On a Cruise]

The Regal is pretty great. I did a ton of research on her before sailing, and loved every minute of the cruise. The comments mentioned above seem pretty similar with both my experience and my research - though just a few things to add:

 

The Regal offers some outstanding dining options. The buffet as among the best out there, both in terms of options, food quality, service, and space. And, the Regal offers super-duper special dinners that don't have an equivalent on HAL (Chef's Table, Ultimate Balcony Dinning); these are spendy, but if you can swing it, I would highly recommend both.

 

She's a big ship, and we did run into several bottlenecks on our cruise, including getting on/off at the piers (especially, but not exclusively when tendering), waiting for food, and even not getting into popular shows in the main theater as several were full well in advance to the show. With that said, our experience on these seems to be atypical.

 

The biggest downside to the Regal is that the balconies are notoriously small, and occasionally not private due to the SkyWalk. We had a hump cabin on the side opposite to the SkyWalk, so these were not issues for us, but these are typically the two big drawbacks to the Regal.

[bennybear]

We have had aft balconies on both Royal Princess and HAL. Both had above average balconies, worth the extra money IMO.

Liked the royal but it lacked a promenade that went around the ship. Food good and similar to HAL. A beautiful ship.

[bluegiraffe]

We've been on the Royal twice - in fact, we enjoyed our first cruise on the Royal so much that we immediately booked the second cruise afterward.

 

The balconies are smaller than what we're used to on HAL, except for the few at mid-ships that curve slightly - they're larger and that's what we had on our second cruise. There's no promenade deck as we've known in on HAL, but plenty of loungers where you can relax, read, or enjoy the sea (including some in the shade on 17 - from the aft elevators go forward through the fitness center and out the door). It's a larger ship than most HAL ships, but it never felt crowded to us with the exception of the theatre - we always found quiet spots to enjoy. Service was excellent, food was very good with a great deal of variety. We wouldn't hesitate to cruise on the Royal again.

[Tennessee Titan]

Royal twice. Ship is lovely, but just too big. Elevators are crowded at peak times, food in the MDR is just so-so. Have to get there 30-45 minutes early to get a seat at a show.

[luvn2cruzzz]

We sailed on the Regal two years ago and we liked some aspects that HAL lacks such as the large Atrium where passengers can dance each night and the International Cafe that is located adjacent. We thought the layout and choices of their Lido were superior. The ship is about 100 feet longer than the Konigsdam and the verandas as stated above are tiny— no couch unless you book a mini suite which is similar to a HAL basic verandah. The food was mediocre at best in their MDR and we had a disappointing meal in their steakhouse—can’t remember the name. We did love Alfredo’s and went their often for lunch and a few dinners. Would we book it again? If the itinerary was such that we couldn’t get with HAL. And we are in love with the Konigsdam and can’t wait to sail on the Nieuw Statendam.

 

 

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[rkacruiser]

Royal twice. Ship is lovely, but just too big. Elevators are crowded at peak times, food in the MDR is just so-so. Have to get there 30-45 minutes early to get a seat at a show.

 

Arriving at the Theater early on Royal Princess, are Stewards available to take drink orders? (I'm asking this because I am booked on Royal Princess later in 2018 and am thinking about going to an early show before going to dinner. I'd like to be able to enjoy my pre-dinner drink then.)

[cruisemom42]

I can't put my finger on it, but I didn't like Regal Princess. We booked her for a 10-day New Year's cruise, and my son and I have enjoyed Princess cruises for many other voyages. The buffet gets rave reviews from most but I found all the little areas to be confusing and most ended up having the same items, so choice was less than I'd been led to think. (I prefer the buffet layout on the Celebrity "S" class ships...)

 

I thought the Atrium was quite nice -- enjoyed the International Cafe (delicious snacks, bakery goods, and small sandwiches available free throughout the day, next door to the premium coffee bar). Always something going on in that area.

 

And we also liked both specialty restaurants -- Sabatini's and the Crown Grill. But did not care for the MDR. Part of our dislike was the result of the ship being very crowded for the holidays and not doing a good job of managing the "anytime dining" option. Waiters seemed to be run off their feet and we occasionally had VERY long waits for our order to be taken and between courses.

 

Entertainment had high spots and low spots. There were too many similar "musical review" shows and not enough special performers. However, the amount and variety of live music around the ship was great -- steel drum band on deck, classical trio in the Atrium and at special performances, two pianists, a small orchestra for shows. Other than music, I feel Princess relies too much on their parodies of game shows with passengers serving as contestants. The Royal and Regal have a lounge purpose-built for this kind of show and it seemed like there were several of them every day.

 

But something about the ship just put me off. It was very large, very impersonal. At times I felt like I was in a Las Vegas resort (which is totally NOT my thing). I won't be going back.

 

Arriving at the Theater early on Royal Princess, are Stewards available to take drink orders? (I'm asking this because I am booked on Royal Princess later in 2018 and am thinking about going to an early show before going to dinner. I'd like to be able to enjoy my pre-dinner drink then.)

 

Based on our experience yes. But once the theater starts filling up, it can be hard to get someone's attention.

[sammiedawg]

We think Princess has some of the most beautiful interiors at sea, as opposed to Holland America’s dark interior spaces featuring gaudy blends of orange, purple, red, etc.Princess has greatly improved their product over the years. Staterooms are smaller. Food is fairly good for a mass market line.

The Royal is moving to Alaska next year. We love their Alaska product and hope to do it with the family.