Recent Regal cruisers

[dcruisers]

We (4 couples) are booked for February on the Regal.  We have all cruised many times ( DH and me over 30) but haven’t been on Princess for  8 years cruising mainly on Celebrity.

We are looking forward to cruising on the Regal and experiencing the Medallion class.

However, I am concerned about the negative reviews- especially about the food and service.

We are not difficult passengers- we appreciate not having to cook and clean,  being together and enjoy relaxing!

Is the Regal really that disappointing?

TIA

[jasbo49]

I'm not sure where you are seeing these negative reviews. If you're talking about the stuff in the "reviews" section of Cruise Critic, I've found those to be among the harshest reviews out there. A lot of people seem to like to drop a review there because they can rant and rave and no one can call them on their over-the-top diatribes.

 

I've been on the Regal three times in the last three years and have another cruise booked this year. I think it's a great ship. It does have a few things that are less than ideal or that some don't like. They are small balconies, lack of a round-the-ship Promenade deck, and trading in Explorers Lounge for the Princess Live theater is a sore point for some.

 

On the upside you have a buffet that's almost twice the size of most, with easy ins and outs rather than clogging lines. You also have an interactive TV with lots of options like dozens of movies you can start and stop at will. And I'm convinced the stage talent is better on the Regal and Royal. I once sat next to an understudy with the dancers in the theater and he said all the performers apply for the big ships. They have a certain draw to the performers at the top of the line.

 

In short, you can find negative reviews for every ship, and many of them are over-reactions to a single incident. There's nothing wrong with the Regal unless the lack of full Promenade deck and big balconies bugs you.

 

Jim

[Shelldor]

We've been on the Regal twice.  Once in July 2018 for a Baltic Cruise and then February 2019 Eastern Caribbean.  We absolutely love the ship.  We had no problem with service or the food.  Between the Main Dining Room and the Buffet, we were always able to find something to our liking.  The Pizza at Alfredo's is great!  Go and enjoy your cruise.

[skynight]

A few comments regarding dining.

The buffet is very large with lots of selections. It's open from 5am until 11pm, never closes. Walk through the entire buffet before you select.

Alfredo's is no charge  and waiter served. It's open from 11am until mid evening every day. Menu is individual pizza plus other related items.

The International Cafe is open 24/7 (just about).

Crown Grill and Sabatini's are nice alternate restaurants. $29/pp charge for the Crown Grill and $25/pp for Sabatini's.

There is a Crab Shack some evenings in the buffet area, $29/pp

On some sea days there is a Pub Lunch in the Wheelhouse Bar/'Crown Grill. No charge.

 

[kywildcatfanone]

1 hour ago, dcruisers said:

However, I am concerned about the negative reviews- especially about the food and service.

I've been on the Regal 3 times in the last 2 years and the food in the buffet area was good to very good overall.  Didn't do the DR, and the Crown Grill was good as well.  Pricey, but good.

 

We thought the Regal was fine, in good shape and all.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, dcruisers said:

We (4 couples) are booked for February on the Regal.  We have all cruised many times ( DH and me over 30) but haven’t been on Princess for  8 years cruising mainly on Celebrity.

We are looking forward to cruising on the Regal and experiencing the Medallion class.

However, I am concerned about the negative reviews- especially about the food and service.

We are not difficult passengers- we appreciate not having to cook and clean,  being together and enjoy relaxing!

Is the Regal really that disappointing?

TIA

Is June 01 - 12 recent enough?  We had the usual great service on board from friendly and accommodating Princess staff.  We had a fantastic waitress and room steward was really good too.  Food was fine (given we are all aware of cutbacks here and there).  I do not understand any overall negative reviews on Regal.  Sure, we can all nit-pick here and there, but please have a great time.  Regal is blessed with a good ED and CD as well.  Our main complaint was excessive noise levels of some of the entertainment scheduled in the Piazza.

 

Edited June 21, 2019 by steelers36

[dcruisers]

Thank you all for the information and positive feedback.  I have read reviews on ships we have sailed and loved and couldn’t understand the negative comments..... I would think.  “were they on the same ship??”!

You all have made me more excited about our decision.

Another question...What time are shows in the theater and are they given 2s a night? 

Thanks again!

Edited June 22, 2019 by dcruisers

[Lucky TGO]

Not at all. We had a great time on the Regal Princess. The food and service was very good.

Tony

[Belle2416]

We also loved the Regal.  B2B in March.  Our shows were generally 8 and 10.  Occasionally that varied so read the patter.   Have a great time.  Wish I was going again!

[Paula_MacFan]

We were on the Regal in October 2018 and thought it was great.  We have another cruise booked on her January 2020.  We really liked the piazza area and associated entertainment (which we initially thought would be *meh*), and we loved Alfredo's especially.  The buffet is much better than the old Grand class ships.  I agree with many others that the Princess Live area is a waste of space, but still overall, we think it's a great ship and are looking forward to our next cruise on her. 

[modes]

The only problem we had was the terrible service in the MDR.

[mevs904]

We will be sailing on the Regal for the first time in August.  We have previously sailed on the Royal and were generally pleased with everything, particularly the expanded Horizon Buffet.  The MDR and service from the crew was also good.  We are expecting that the Regal will be similar.  We are cruisers who love a full promenade deck on a ship, so that dissuades us from booking the Royal class ships.  In the case of our August Regal cruise we relented because we really wanted the Baltic itinerary.

[JoRoy218]

9 minutes ago, mevs904 said:

We will be sailing on the Regal for the first time in August.  We have previously sailed on the Royal and were generally pleased with everything, particularly the expanded Horizon Buffet.  The MDR and service from the crew was also good.  We are expecting that the Regal will be similar.  We are cruisers who love a full promenade deck on a ship, so that dissuades us from booking the Royal class ships.  In the case of our August Regal cruise we relented because we really wanted the Baltic itinerary.

We’ll be on the Regal for the second time, also for the Baltic itinerary in August. I thought she was a beautiful ship, especially the Piazza. We too were disappointed with the Promenade deck. Not only the wrap around missing but some areas were so tight you had to step aside so an oncoming person could pass. There is also minimal seating around the deck.  And yes, the balconies were a big disappointment as we enjoy time out there to start and end our days. We too miss the Explorers Lounge.  Honestly, it would take much more than the above for us to not cruise a particular ship. 

[windsor26]

For those very recent cruisers can you remember on sea days what time they scheduled trivia and bingo as I want to organise a slot p[ull and do not want to clash

[Gracie115]

19 hours ago, dcruisers said:

We (4 couples) are booked for February on the Regal.  We have all cruised many times ( DH and me over 30) but haven’t been on Princess for  8 years cruising mainly on Celebrity.

We are looking forward to cruising on the Regal and experiencing the Medallion class.

However, I am concerned about the negative reviews- especially about the food and service.

We are not difficult passengers- we appreciate not having to cook and clean,  being together and enjoy relaxing!

Is the Regal really that disappointing?

TIA

 

 

We are also long time Celebrity cruisers but tried the Regal last fall on a 10 night cruise and really enjoyed it.  We thought service was very good in the dining room, although we did have Club Class Dining which was great.  We enjoyed the Piazza, Vines wine bar and Crooner's was great.  Liked it so much we've booked a couple more cruises on the Sky Princess, which is Regal's sister ship coming out this fall.  

[MissP22]

Aside from some of the downfalls that people have mentioned, the Regal & Royal ships have consistently had the best food & selections of the fleet. 

We cruise on the Royal class ships quite often & they haven't failed us yet.

I only wish they would do something about the overly loud music in the Piazza.

It's quite unnecessary at times.

[dcruisers]

Another question..... has Princess finally gone none smoking in casino? That is one plus for Celebrity!  We enjoy the none smoking policy.

also- disappointing to hear that the shows ( which we all enjoy )  in the Princess Theater are 8 and 10.  On Celebrity  the shows are 7 and 9.  Our  group of 8 will usually do select dining at about 6:15 with  plenty of time to go to the 9 pm show. 

We use to do late seating and would go to shows at 7 - before dinner.

 

I appreciate all your information!

[Sam.Seattle]

Hi Dcruiser - 

 

We will be returning to Princess on the Regal in August after a great run of sailings on Celebrity. look forward to a first hand comparison.  

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, dcruisers said:

Another question..... has Princess finally gone none smoking in casino?

Not yet. It's still as smokey as ever except for formal nights but it still smells of stale tobacco. 

[Rusty10]

DH and I really enjoyed our Western Caribbean in February on the Regal. We loved the expanded Buffet area.  We had no problems with the food or service. I’ve read the reviews for the cruise I was on and I was surprised by some of the harsh reviews so I take them with a grain of salt. 

 

We thought the Regal was wonderful. We have  never had any interest in the Caribbean but I thought it was the most relaxing vacation I’ve taken. 

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[MixerDave]

On 6/21/2019 at 6:15 PM, kywildcatfanone said:

I've been on the Regal 3 times in the last 2 years and the food in the buffet area was good to very good overall.  Didn't do the DR, and the Crown Grill was good as well.  Pricey, but good.

 

We thought the Regal was fine, in good shape and all.

You may consider Crown Grill pricey at $29 p/p, but compared to Celebrity and RCCL, it is a bargain.

[hobbyfarmer2]

We have cruises Regal 5 times in the past 2.5 years.  It's a great ship with a great crew.  The buffet is huge, the huge Piazza is a central fun spot and the drinks are cold.  There are always miserable people around us - the trick is to politely avoid them with a pleasant smile on your face and the experience the  moment of profound thanks you feel for not being that way yourself.

[Triptkr]

We've sailed the Regal once and the Royal twice.  Really like both ships but as some have mentioned before the generalized small balconies are a sore spot for us.  Knowing this ahead of time we have made sure to get staterooms with larger balconies.  On the Regal we had an aft balcony D730---loved it!   On the Royal we had a mid aft angled balcony and then also a forward facing very large balcony.  But the food?  We really enjoyed it!  We are usually the type to get dressed and always eat at the MDR.  But there were several times we chose to eat at the buffet for dinner due to the unique choices.  And if you enjoy making your own salads the choices are really great!  I haven't found the choices to be that diverse on other Princess ships.  AND if you love desserts then you'll love the section dedicated to the desserts!   I think you'll be just fine as far as the food goes.  From the International Cafe to Alfredo's, The Trident Grill, the buffet...we never went hungry.

[Steelers36]

On 6/23/2019 at 10:28 AM, MissP22 said:

Not yet. It's still as smokey as ever except for formal nights but it still smells of stale tobacco. 

I disagree if the topic ship is still Regal.  Older ships, yes, but Regal seems to have much better ventilation and on our recent trip, I hardly noticed smoke (never was right beside a smoker, but I mean did not notice stale smokey smell nor was irritated in breathing as had happened on older ships.  Perhaps fewer smokers???  IDK - hard to say.  It was Europe and I had more issues trying to eat outdoors on land as we traveled around as most countries allow smoking in the outdoor portion of cafes and restaurants.

 

[MissP22]

43 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

I disagree if the topic ship is still Regal.  Older ships, yes, but Regal seems to have much better ventilation and on our recent trip, I hardly noticed smoke (never was right beside a smoker, but I mean did not notice stale smokey smell nor was irritated in breathing as had happened on older ships.  Perhaps fewer smokers???  IDK - hard to say.  It was Europe and I had more issues trying to eat outdoors on land as we traveled around as most countries allow smoking in the outdoor portion of cafes and restaurants.

 

You mat very well be correct.

I've only sat there long enough to open a casino account & occasionally walk past & on those times it seemed just as bad as all the other ships.