Island Princess vs Regal Princess For UK Cruise

[Fouremco]

DW and I usually sail with HAL or Celebrity, but are considering Princess for a cruise in the summer of 2020 because of their UK itineraries. There are a number of possible cruises with minor variations in their ports of call, but the major difference is that one is on the Island Princess and the others are all on the Regal Princess. Unfortunately, we don't know enough about the two ships to make a valid comparison, and we are hoping that experienced Princess hands can provide their comments. The Regal Princess itineraries are all 12 days, while that of the Island Princess is 14 days. DW and I are both in our early seventies, non-smokers, prefer balcony cabins, aren't looking for active evenings but enjoy the occasional good show. 

 

[jasbo49]

I don't think you'll find many people recommending the Island Princess here. It had major surgery in dry dock a few years ago and much of the public space was converted into new cabins. So more people and less space for them to be out and about.

 

There's a lot to like about the Regal, though some will say it's too big. A real drawback is the small balconies for most balcony cabins, roughly 4 by 9 rather than the usual 5 by 9. If you book early enough, though, you can often find some of the extended balconies. The Regal is fairly new and has one of the best buffets you'll find.

 

Jim

Edited April 30, 2019 by jasbo49

[Colo Cruiser]

The Regal!!

[BarbinMich]

32 minutes ago, jasbo49 said:

There's a lot to like about the Regal, though some will say it's too big. A real drawback is the small balconies for most balcony cabins, roughly 4 by 9 rather than the usual 5 by 9. If you book early enough, though, you can often find some of the extended balconies. The Regal is fairly new and has one of the best buffets you'll find.

 

Jim

We haven't been on the Regal, but have been on her sister, the Royal, several times including in the Caribbean and on a TA.  We never book a balcony on the older ships, but it was a novelty to have one on our TA.  Not great for the rainy days we had while crossing, though ;-(  Since you're doing the British Isles on the Regal, balcony won't get used much I would imagine as I think you'll only have one sea day and otherwise you'll be off the ship sightseeing on the other days.

[nukesubsailor]

Not even close!  Take the Regal.  We did the 12 day British Isles cruise on the Royal in 2015 and loved it.  The only problem was that there was so many excursions we wanted to take but only had time for one in each port. And even that was exhausting. So we went back in 2017 and did back to back 12-day cruises. 

[voljeep]

12 minutes ago, nukesubsailor said:

Not even close!  Take the Regal.  We did the 12 day British Isles cruise on the Royal in 2015 and loved it.  The only problem was that there was so many excursions we wanted to take but only had time for one in each port. And even that was exhausting. So we went back in 2017 and did back to back 12-day cruises. 

regarding the Regal and excursions ... we have a neighbor that took the 12 British and did all Princess excursions

 

she stated they had to spend a 'significant' amount of time each morning in the Princess Theatre waiting for their excursion to be 'called'

 

you?

[Thrak]

Have yet to sail on Regal (or any Royal Class ship) but Island is my absolute last choice for a Princess cruise.

[fishywood]

A British Isles/Northern Europe cruise is 90%+ about the ports, with the choice of ship usually way low as a priority.

 

The Regal itinerary (8 Aug as example): embark Southampton/Guernsey/Cobh/Dublin/Liverpool/Belfast/Glasgow/

Invergordon/Edinburgh/at sea (only this one sea day)/Le Havre/disembark Southampton

 

The Island itinerary: embark Southampton/Guernsey/Falmouth/Cobh/Dublin/Glasgow/Lerwick/Kirkwall/

Invergordon/Edinburgh/Newcastle/at sea (only this one sea day)/Portland/disembark Southampton

 

I'm not at all saying that you are wrong to make choice of ship your primary deciding factor.

But unless your heart is set on the Regal Princess calls at Liverpool and Le Havre, the additional calls on Island in the isles off the north of Scotland and in two regions of England few ships get to, on the longer sailing with greater than 1200 fewer fellow passengers, puts me squarely on Island even with all her alleged flaws.

Edited April 30, 2019 by fishywood

[Potstech]

ROYAL Easy Peasy choice.

[nukesubsailor]

19 hours ago, voljeep said:

regarding the Regal and excursions ... we have a neighbor that took the 12 British and did all Princess excursions

 

she stated they had to spend a 'significant' amount of time each morning in the Princess Theatre waiting for their excursion to be 'called'

 

you?

I do not recall any significant amount of time spent waiting for our Princess excursions to be called on either the Royal Princess or the Caribbean Princess.

[nukesubsailor]

16 hours ago, fishywood said:

A British Isles/Northern Europe cruise is 90%+ about the ports, with the choice of ship usually way low as a priority.

 

The Regal itinerary (8 Aug as example): embark Southampton/Guernsey/Cobh/Dublin/Liverpool/Belfast/Glasgow/

Invergordon/Edinburgh/at sea (only this one sea day)/Le Havre/disembark Southampton

 

The Island itinerary: embark Southampton/Guernsey/Falmouth/Cobh/Dublin/Glasgow/Lerwick/Kirkwall/

Invergordon/Edinburgh/Newcastle/at sea (only this one sea day)/Portland/disembark Southampton

 

I'm not at all saying that you are wrong to make choice of ship your primary deciding factor.

But unless your heart is set on the Regal Princess calls at Liverpool and Le Havre, the additional calls on Island in the isles off the north of Scotland and in two regions of England few ships get to, on the longer sailing with greater than 1200 fewer fellow passengers, puts me squarely on Island even with all her alleged flaws.

Having done both Kirkwall and Liverpool, I would much prefer Liverpool.  Not having ever been to Falmouth, Lerwick,  Newcastle or Portland I cannot make any recommendation other than to do back to back cruises so you can see as much as possible with only one airfare expense to get to the UK.  When we did our back to back on the Caribbean Princess, the first leg went to Kirkwall and the second went to Liverpool.

[nasa1974]

We sailed on the Island before her drydock upgrades and Regal's sister ship Royal. We loved both ships. My personnel opinion since you haven't sailed Princess before, I would choose the Regal. I have heard that the Island's sister ship Coral did not get the same upgrades when she went to drydock that the Island did. I have read that after the drydock some folks weren't real happy with the upgrades. Again we all have our personnel likes and dislikes for certain ships.

A suggestion would be to pull up the deck plans for both ships and do your own comparison of likes and dislikes. Keep this thread on the first page and you will continue to get opinions.

Good luck.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Regal. :)

[amfc_lenny]

I Think it depends if you want to do

 

If you have your heart set on visiting the Scottish islands (Hebrides its clear cut), if not then for me I think the Regal ports of call is slightly better.

 

Just be aware that some of the ports, could be quite far from where you want to visit, (i.e quite a lot of tourist sights are quite a way from some of the ports) i.e. if you want a day in Paris, from Le Havre its quite some distance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fouremco]

Thank you all for your thoughts. Regal certainly seems to preferred choice based on replies to date, but we are keeping an open mind.

 

The comments made by fishywood and others with respect to itinerary versus ship are well taken. We are looking at a Regal July 27 itinerary which includes the same ports as the Island except Falmouth and Lerwick. We've visited Falmouth previously while on holidays in the UK and, while we would like to visit the Shetland Islands, Orkney will give us a taste of the Northern Isles.

 

London (Southampton), England

Guernsey (St. Peter Port)

Cork, Ireland (Cobh - For Blarney Castle)

Dublin, Ireland

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Glasgow (Greenock), Scotland

Orkney Islands (Kirkwall), Scotland

Invergordon, Scotland

Edinburgh (South Queensferry), Scotland

Paris/Normandy (Le Havre), France

London (Southampton), England

 

 

[Fouremco]

After further deliberation, including another review of all the comments here, we booked today on the Regal. A big "thank you" to all who contributed! 

[Ofmyheart]

I have been on the Regal twice and the Island twice, once before the 2015 refit and just recently. I am going to say it is going to be a personal preference. Regal is much bigger ....by 1500+ passengers but has more food options and newer amenities. However I think the musical coordinated fountain is a huge waste.

 

The Island has less dining choices, but nice straight inside access, a covered pool (the Lotus Pool is our favorite of any ship) and far less passengers, often under 2000.

 

Guess you will just need to try both!

[antsp]

As far as I’m concerned, the Regal isn’t part of the Princess fleet. 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, Ofmyheart said:

Regal is much bigger ....by 1500+ passengers but has more food options and newer amenities.

Having treated our kids and grandkids to a spring break family cruise aboard the Allure of the Seas two years ago, I don't think that the Regal's size or passenger capacity, roughly half of that of the Allure, will be overly problematic for us. New and small would be our ideal choice, but in this case, the Regal is our preference. 

[fishywood]

1 hour ago, Ofmyheart said:

I have been on the Regal twice and the Island twice, once before the 2015 refit and just recently. I am going to say it is going to be a personal preference. Regal is much bigger ....by 1500+ passengers but has more food options and newer amenities. However I think the musical coordinated fountain is a huge waste.

 

The Island has less dining choices, but nice straight inside access, a covered pool (the Lotus Pool is our favorite of any ship) and far less passengers, often under 2000.

 

Guess you will just need to try both!

While I appreciate someone else coming to Island Princess' defense, the cruise in question is round trip Southampton from August 24 to September 7. The absolute zenith of summer vacation in the UK. Even a two week cruise will be full of families. Count on a complete sellout including every third and fourth berth made available.

 

Since the OP has been on an Oasis-class RCI ship previously, that Island Princess cruise could feel to them like 2400+ crammed into a dinghy. Again not a knock on Island but a case of "once you have gone floating-city, smaller ships may seem...." 

[Ofmyheart]

Which is why a avoid shops with a capacity larger than our hometown!!