Just back from Regal - New England ( Oct 20-27 )

[CintiCruzer]

Just got back from visiting New England - missed a port due to weather conditions and was late into another... these things happen at this time of year. The Regal disappointed my wife & I this trip - we are Platinum members with Princess and have become used to a certain level of service - This trip, we seemed to be waiting in line too many times, making compromises we don't normally have to make. The worse deal was the wine... my wife only drinks Pinot Grigio... they were OUT of it!!! we had a drink package and she just didn't drink too much as they ran out of other selections on the trip as well (riesling and pinot noir were not available either)

 

The food selections in the main dining room (Concerto w/anytime dining) were lacking  - believe it or not, hamburgers are listed on the menu as available anytime!!! - there were some items that were very good, but the selections were not what they used to be - I think princess is pushing people to the alternative dining options - there were options available , like prime rib, or steak for an up charge... what's up with that??  In Concerto, the wait staff was outstanding - Enrique and Astrid were marvelous... the table captains were very good as well... their service levels were what we have come to love about Princess.

 

We did have the Crab Shack meal one evening and it was VERY good - a huge amount of food for the two of us - really enjoyed that meal

 

Horizon Court now is something to be avoided  - VERY crowded, people pushing and cutting in the lines and you have to hunt down certain selections - finding tables is nearly impossible at certain times (9:30am) - a few days I found a table and waited for my wife - 20 minutes later she returned, then is was my turn  - she was completely finished when I got back... just not relaxing at all...

 

Our Room Steward was very good as well... my only complaint was he was too early - usually we like to have a cocktail at the end of the day (5 o'clock ish), then come back to the room to change for dinner (7:45 dinner reservations), the turn down has already happened... so we did not get clean towels for the morning.. not a big deal, but i suspect our guys has so many rooms to care for, he needs to get started much earlier that they used to... the room (deluxe balcony C507) was OK - the couch is worn and the cushions will not stay in place, the carpet was very stained and the fridge door would not stay closed tightly... then there are the beds - just plain uncomfortable - I know these are due to be upgraded but... Our Steward (Sonny Tu) did a very good job in keeping it clean and orderly

 

Like I said earlier, the Regal (and Princess service) seems to be compromising on certain services - such as food and bar service - Now my wife and I will undoubtedly look at another line for the next trip... Does anyone have any thoughts for Us??

Thanks

CintiCruzer

[JF - retired RRT]

Thanks for the review.

Too bad about the wine selections.

A suggestion...if the steward is too early for the way you like to get ready for dinner, ask him to leave extra towels.

[CintiCruzer]

Yes, I agree... did that the second last night, typically of a good room steward they are invisible, so they are difficult to find... they do their job without interfering... I appreciate the way they do their job...

 

[firecrewcapt]

Totally disagree with many of your comments, you're entitled to your opinion and likewise I am too, with that said we were on the Regal for the TA to Copenhagen in April and on her for the TA back to NYC in Sept. We've been on the Regal 4 times on TA's and only complaint we've had is the uncomfortable beds. We don't do the Horizon court because what you said, line crashing and very rude people, we do ATD and never a complaint with plenty of selections and our server, Dan Lee, is wonderful and his dinner recommendations always spot on, wine is subjective to taste, I love reds and DW loves whites, we order the wine we enjoy and do explore many choices and vintners, and I do agree the furnishings are showing their age, and wear and tear, we've noticed this from one cruise to another on the Regal. Overall service has never been an issue. We'll be on her again in the future, we are trying a TA on HAL next April on their new ship Nieuw Statendam and it will be our first time with HAL so we'll see what a different cruise line is like on a TA.

[1emerald1]

we are Platinum members with Princess and have become used to a certain level of service.  I don't understand this comment.  I have been Elite for 20 years and would expect the service to be the same regardless of status.  Outside of loyalty perks, the service for Blue members should be exactly the same as for Elite, or Platinum.

[HleeCruiser]

We have been on both the Regal and Royal recently and have found the food and service in the MDR to be very good.  As for the Horizon Court and Bistro, I really have a difficult time understanding the complaints.  The selection is better than any other line or ship we have been on and the quality is consistently good.   Never experienced the crowding mentioned.   The buffet is a huge space and one can avoid crowds by choosing the time they dine.

 

We love Alfredo's and the International Cafe.   .

 

We always do at least one night at one of the specialty restaurants which are always excellent.

 

BTW we are on the Regal again in Jan.2019. 

 

Just my humble opinion.

[Daniel A]

1 hour ago, 1emerald1 said:

we are Platinum members with Princess and have become used to a certain level of service.  I don't understand this comment.  I have been Elite for 20 years and would expect the service to be the same regardless of status.  Outside of loyalty perks, the service for Blue members should be exactly the same as for Elite, or Platinum.

 

I took that statement about being Platinum to mean the OP has significant experience with other sailings on Princess thus giving the OP a basis for comparison of the quality of Princess cruises.  I didn't read it to mean that Platinum passengers should get a higher level of service than other passengers.

 

If Princess ran out of the type of wine one drinks does that make a basis for a refund of the cost of the Premium Beverage Package?  I would imagine you would need to document the lack of your beverage during the cruise and not make up for it by settling for something else.

[CintiCruzer]

1 hour ago, 1emerald1 said:

we are Platinum members with Princess and have become used to a certain level of service.  I don't understand this comment.  I have been Elite for 20 years and would expect the service to be the same regardless of status.  Outside of loyalty perks, the service for Blue members should be exactly the same as for Elite, or Platinum.

I did not mean to imply that service is better with the different levels... I meant to say, we have been on 8 cruises with Princess and we have experienced GREAT service on all of them - until this voyage... little things, like getting nuts or snacks without repeatedly asking, servers remembering what you are drinking, and not waiting in lines... I know to some, these are petty items, but these things are what set princess apart from Carnival, Royal Caribbean, & Disney for us...

 

[1emerald1]

9 minutes ago, CintiCruzer said:

I did not mean to imply that service is better with the different levels... I meant to say, we have been on 8 cruises with Princess and we have experienced GREAT service on all of them - until this voyage... little things, like getting nuts or snacks without repeatedly asking, servers remembering what you are drinking, and not waiting in lines... I know to some, these are petty items, but these things are what set princess apart from Carnival, Royal Caribbean, & Disney for us...

 

I apologize for misinterpreting your comment.  And it's a shame about the dining and wine.  I did a 10 day Caribbean on the Royal in 2017 and the food was the best on any Princess ship I've been on.  I went to Horizon Court for lunch and never had a problem finding a table.  Perhaps that was due to the itinerary.  Hope your next cruise works out better.

[luvseaside]

4 hours ago, CintiCruzer said:

The worse deal was the wine... my wife only drinks Pinot Grigio... they were OUT of it!!! we had a drink package and she just didn't drink too much as they ran out of other selections on the trip as well (riesling and pinot noir were not available either)

Thanks for your feedback.  Being a wine-drinker, I was curious about how they were going to transition to the new wine offerings.  Looks like they're trying to clean out the old wines by the glass before they start serving the new offerings by the glass.  We are boarding in 2 weeks and were going to get the beverage package.  Mind you, I like all kinds of wine but its disappointing to hear your experience.  I'll cross my fingers that they'll restock when they get to Fort Lauderdale.  Otherwise, I guess I'll go to Vines more than usual.  

 

Haven't cruised in 2 years so I'll be glad to get be on the ocean.  

[CintiCruzer]

i am disappointed with the way the bartenders handled the situation... maybe they could have offered a "discount" for bottle purchases from Vines, maybe they could have "shared" resources with the dining room... somehow solve the situation...

  I understand servers not handling these situations, but the bartenders are in charge of the bar, they should be able to handle the problem...

[Colo Cruiser]

4 hours ago, CintiCruzer said:

 

The food selections in the main dining room (Concerto w/anytime dining) were lacking  - believe it or not, hamburgers are listed on the menu as available anytime!!! - there were some items that were very good, but the selections were not what they used to be - I think princess is pushing people to the alternative dining options - there were options available , like prime rib, or steak for an up charge... what's up with that??  

Thanks

CintiCruzer

A hamburger has been on the always available side of the menu for a couple of years.

What do you mean by the comments above in red?

[PEB]

I have cruised Princess many times and I am booked on the Regal for next year. I also cruise on many other lines and one thing you will find on all the lines, such as Princess, HAL, Carnival, NCL, RCCL and Celebrity is that they are all cutting back on staff and they are all focusing their best service on the extra pay restaurants. I cruise frequently and I also take long cruises the majority of the time and service for the included areas has dropped on all the lines. For me I don't expect a lot of extra service because I cruise to just relax and meet people. I also understand what service use to be because I have cruised for many years and I also worked on cruise ships for several years. 

 

I say there is nothing wrong with trying other cruise lines just do not expect that service will improve because it is on a different cruise line. There is great staff on all cruise lines and bad staff on all cruise lines. One thing I have learned especially because I worked on cruise ships is if you treat the staff with respect and be nice to them the majority will do everything they can to make sure you have a great cruise. If you do not treat the staff well they will not treat you as well and every crew member will know who you are real fast.

 

I know Princess is the line I like as the best for me because I do cruise other lines but I always come back to Princess.I just pick the line that serves me best when I want to cruise to a specific location.

[CintiCruzer]

There was an insert in the daily menu in Concerto (about a 2in x 2in card) that listed a few other items such as steak & prime rib and a couple other things that were available for an up charge - 

 

[Lynzchat]

1 hour ago, Colo Cruiser said:

A hamburger has been on the always available side of the menu for a couple of years.

What do you mean by the comments above in red?

I was on the same cruise. The items in red are items typically available at the Crown Grill. They give you the option to order that item while in the dining room....for the up charge price.

[firecrewcapt]

58 minutes ago, CintiCruzer said:

There was an insert in the daily menu in Concerto (about a 2in x 2in card) that listed a few other items such as steak & prime rib and a couple other things that were available for an up charge - 

 

Guess that's something new. Our TA's both in Apr. and Sept. on Regal we never saw anything like that and had steak/prime rib at least twice each with no upcharge, just saying.

[Colo Cruiser]

9 minutes ago, Lynzchat said:

I was on the same cruise. The items in red are items typically available at the Crown Grill. They give you the option to order that item while in the dining room....for the up charge price.

Its not new........

 

Ok, thats what I thought. I saw that on the Ruby DR menus in March 2017. It had since disappeared from all of my cruises after that.

I thought that it was a test run and they decided to get rid of it. smh  🙄

[frugaltravel]

On my recent cruise on the Royal the Prime Rib in the horizon court was significantly better than the Prime Rib I had in the main dining room several days earlier.

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[figment9999]

Great review, Thx for posting. We had gone on the Regal Sept 29; great cruise. One item you mentioned about the wine gave me a smile though. I'm usually a beer drinker, but on the last night I decided to order a glass of wine with dinner. I ordered a Pinot Noir, the waiter came back sorry we're out; so I ordered a different vineyard's, sorry out. OK ordered a Riesling, out. Ordered a Merlot , out. He advised at that point the wine steward offered to open a bottle of pinot noir; I declined and ordered a Grolsch; which they brought; and we all relaxed. We had a great cruise, sounds like Princess needs to get it's wine act together though.

Edited October 29, 2018 by figment9999
wanted to chg notification, guess can't.

[capriccio]

4 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Its not new........

 

Ok, thats what I thought. I saw that on the Ruby DR menus in March 2017. It had since disappeared from all of my cruises after that.

I thought that it was a test run and they decided to get rid of it. smh  🙄

The new Ruby Princess menus on her Alaska cruises this summer included the Crown Grill selections for an additional charge. No one in our group of 7 (6 adults) felt the need to order from the CG selections since we found plenty to enjoy on the new menus.

[need2cruisesoon]

What a difference a years makes we did the same cruise 10/20/17.

 

Everything ran like clockwork and the service was great.

 

Had no issues with wine as we brought 6 bottles onboard.

[geoherb]

Thanks for your review. We've never had the drinks package. We bought a wine package last month on the Royal and never had a problem of them not having what we ordered with it. I would have been very disappointed if they did not have any of the ones we wanted.

 

I thought the food was as good as it's been. We had a very good waiter. Our cabin steward also made our room early, usually before we went to dinner. But it was after we had showered, so we had fresh towels for the morning.

[tomb73]

We did a crossing a couple of years ago, and were big fans of the 'split' of Prosecco they had in one of the bars.   We essentially drank that one out of their splits, and they scrounged around the other bars to find additional inventory for us.   Just saying that while at sea or on the cruise it is difficult to restock, so some wines that end up being popular may or may not have sufficient stock for the entire voyage.   At the same time, we never found the diversity of options to be an issue...   Your mileage may vary, of course.

[nini]

We were on the Regal September 22 (East Coast) for 7 nights and on the Celebrity Reflection October 12 (Italy and Greece. for 10 nights.

Wow! We are now die hard fans of the Regal Princess! We have been on the Golden 3 times, the Crown one time and the Coral one time. This was our second Celebrity cruise (the first one was in 2000 on the Galaxy which is no longer with the fleet.

We had high expectations for the Reflection due to doing intensive research and the comments on the Celebrity board.

 

We LOVED how open and bright the atrium and public areas were on the Regal- so enjoyed relaxing in Vines with our adult beverages and playing games. And the buffet food, variety and service was amazing. The International Cafe did not disappoint with the 24 hour food, pastries and delicious coffee. Wine could be challenging since they were in the midst of changing their wine menus. We never waited in line, however, we had Anytime dining and waited once for about 15 minutes for a table.

 

On the other hand, the Reflection was dark and felt closed in. Their coffee bar made crummy coffee so I would just ask for 3 shots of espresso in a cup and fix it up myself. They only offered pastries and cookies. We had Classic beverage packages and basically could only get a VERY limited wine selection which was pretty cheap wine.

But our Room Steward was fantastic!