Review: Regal Princess Feb 23-March 1 Western Caribbean

[mizLORInj]

Quick background.   We like to cruise most major cruise lines, especially if it goes from NYC or NJ and we don’t have to fly to a port.   Occasionally we will fly to FL, especially in the winter.   We had not been on Princess in quite a few years, and wanted to try the Royal class ships, and Regal was beautiful.     

 

Did our online check-in and got Medallions early February.  We flew into FLL Saturday and stayed overnight at Hilton beach resort.  Stopped at Publix to get one bottle of wine each to bring onboard.  We left the hotel around 11:30 Sunday morning and arrived to very heavy traffic into the port on 17^th Street by the bridge.   Fortunately we were the first ship (out of 7 that day) on the way in.   Arrived to a short security line and Preferred check-in went quickly after filling out a health form with two questions on it.  Onboard! 

 

Stopped at our aft corner suite to drop carry-ons off.  Very nice cabin although different in layout than the mid-ship port or starboard suites appeared to be, or aft one we had on Caribbean Princess.   Bedroom is separated by a curtain and the closets and second bathroom entrance are in kind of a hallway-type space, so it’s more like a right angle shaped cabin with the bathroom inside the right angle.   The cabin space seemed a little smaller, less deep than other suites, although the large wrap balcony was wonderful.  There was a slider to balcony access in the living room area and also the bedroom--so one on the stern aft-facing, and one on the side.  We did not really have a soot problem due to the direction of the winds.   Stocked mini bar, slippers and robes, some canapes the first night (not my thing so we did not reorder any for the week), bowl of fruit that was very hard.   One night we got a chocolate tray and that went very quickly.  Chocolates on pillows every night.  Bar soap was in the bathroom (though we needed to ask room steward for more at one point) and bottles of body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion.  Salt by the bathtub.  I thought the shower lacked power, and the tub water never got hot enough for me to bother wanting to take a bath.  Layout flaw is the only place for bath towels is by the tub.  So don’t forget to grab one before getting into the shower as it is NOT next to the tub.  Toilet and sink in a separate section of the bathroom.  Plenty of bathroom storage space.   Closets in cabin had plenty of space for our stuff.   No USB ports anywhere.   One thing we found out about this suite was that the bedroom had weird noises around it at night--not people noises--creaks, cracks, bumps, tapping noises. 

 

A friend who cruised with us had a balcony cabin on the Aloha deck and it was nice too.  I understand people’s complaint about sitting areas in the balcony cabins.  

 

We mustered in the Vista Lounge and they had songs about muster to the Love Boat tune.  It was cute.  And not too long, which is always good. 

 

Went to our balcony for sailaway.  Our ship was second to depart.  Made it onto the PTZTV Port Everglades webcam for a wave.   😎

 

Dining venues:    

Horizon Court buffet had very good food, yet I prefer the layout of ships where it is one large room with labeled stations.  On Regal the buffet is broken up too much.  When I'd get to our table, sometimes my plate was met with “Where did you find that?” by travel mates.  So you miss a lot by not going to each area to check out what's there.  Again, the food was very good there.  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Yes, it had its crowded times, especially port day mornings.  And it has a wonderful outdoor space all the way at the stern.  If you cruise some NCL Jewel class ships, think the Great Outdoors.  Anthem of the Seas also has this feature (although a much better buffet space layout IMO).   Service outdoors and at the buffet itself was hit or miss.  Sometimes we were approached and asked what we wanted to drink, sometimes we were totally ignored as employees walked around (doing what appeared to be nothing).  We watched one gentleman at the outside area give up and go get his own coffee after two people were supposed to be bringing it.   The Celebration of Chocolate did run out of items around 1:40pm so don’t wait to get your chocolate fix the last sea day.  It was amusing to me that lemonade had to be requested from a server; it was not available to get yourself.  Various tea options.  I love that they had veggies even at breakfast, and beef tenderloin at dinnertime two nights!  One particular chocolate dessert early in the cruise was outstanding.  Love the double chocolate cookies every day.   We had dinner in the buffet a couple times and we like the themed dinners.  If you check the back of the Patter daily, the theme will be listed there.  Only gripe is where was the sauerbraten for the Bavarian night!  Goulash does not count!  😉

 

We had 3 dinners in the Concerto dining room.  We were seated quickly and the food was quite good.   We were there usually between 6 and 6:30.  By 7pm there is a line for anytime dining seating, but not much of one for Club Class seating.   

 

Princess pizza is still the best at sea.   Soft ice cream machine at the aft area. 

 

We ate at Crown Grill once and it was fantastic.   The servers were very good, and Zaza (I think hostess?) was great too.   I did buy the $3 souvenir shot glass with the homemade lemoncello in it and it was delicious.  IMO Crown Grill is much better than Cagney’s on Norwegian.  

 

Entertainment:

 

We only made it to the theater for the broadway show (Bravo?) which was excellent.  The second show was full already upon our arrival, and the third one, I think we watched a MUTS (Movies Under the Stars) movie instead.   Comedian was entertaining and there was an illusionist in the Vista lounge too.  Theater not large enough for a ship this size.  9 rows are flat on one level, then they start to become more stadium seating upwards.  Various entertainers around the ship were good but we didn’t watch any of them for long.   We did enjoy watching the dance classes in the atrium. 

 

Speaking of the atrium, Princess does a beautiful job in their ship atrium areas.  Very attractive and appealing space.

 

We did a $25 wine tasting in a dining room which was the first sea day, and it was enjoyable.  I think it was 5 different wines along with some snacks.  There was another one scheduled for later in the cruise too. 

 

Remember to use your medallion app to order one free drink onboard!  People aren’t using this feature as we learned in the platinum/elites Captain’s Circle event.  Only 4 of us in the whole room had redeemed our free drink and this was on day 5 or 6 already.   Your cabin door also will unlock as you approach it and your photo will appear.   Note that erroneous charges may appear on your bill so check it regularly.  One in our party had a gift shop charge on her card and she did not buy anything there.  Though it was removed when challenged, the cashier said “but I asked if you were [her name] and you said yes.”  Um, shouldn’t you be asking the purchaser to verify their name and not assuming that people will be honest and say, "no, that’s not me.”  So way to go, Princess cruiser, who agreed to charge to someone else’s portfolio.   Tsk tsk. 😠  

 

We LOVE the MUTS feature on Princess (and other) ships.  I don’t know what it is about a movie outside under the night sky in warm weather, but we love it.  We watched Judy and also Ford vs. Ferrari. 

 

We played the trivia game of 70s songs which was fun.  I hope they change things up next time I play so the songs aren’t the same so it can be a challenge.  Some hosts want you to switch papers to “grade,” some don’t.  They did an 80s rock tune trivia later in the cruise but we arrived late to that one.  Why are these scheduled at 7pm?!  dinner time!  Ryan was funny as host of some games, but he made cracks about not needing to switch papers to grade because we weren’t on Carnival (yet Princess is owned by Carnival Corporation).  And he obviously has not read various threads on CC Princess board about people cheating at trivia, yes, on Princess.  I’m in favor of trading papers—regardless of cruise line.  And some of us take our trivia seriously!  I do have this gripe as we arrived late to watch the answers to the “where in the world” trivia game.  One of the last pictures was the Pyramids (known as Pyramids of Giza).  They are in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, therefore Giza should be accepted as correct.  Google it.  Ryan said the couple who put Giza were wrong and the pyramids are in Cairo.  I did later challenge him and tell him they are indeed actually in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, but he did not agree.  So arm yourself if you’re going on Regal and join me in telling Ryan that Giza should be accepted as a correct answer—because it is!  

 

What was with all the news channels on the tv?   Don’t plan to watch TNT or other channels because you won’t have the option.  Some reruns like Cheers and a few The Love Boat episodes were available.  Bow cam clarity was not good.  We like the bow cams because we are facing aft and can then see what we’re approaching on the cam.

 

Because we were in a S3 suite, we had access to the concierge lounge on this Royal class ship and Magdalena the concierge was wonderful.  And I hope she reads this!   😄  A new suite perk for 2020 is open bar from 5-7 in the lounge!   Did not know this before arriving on the ship.  There are snacks all the time, and a wonderful machine to make cappuccino.   We enjoyed this perk a lot.  There were some yummy (and not sweet) yogurt parfaits in the concierge lounge in the morning along with muffins and donuts and other stuff that I don't recall right now.   We ate suite breakfast in Sabatini’s once and it was good but if I’m going to have breakfast, I prefer to go to the buffet and pick a little of this and that.  

 

Room steward was ok.  We saw that a perk for suites was shoe shine service.  So my man put his shoes in the “shoe shine” bag and left it out.  The shoes were returned (don’t think they ever left) with a shoe shine sponge in them to do it yourself.  So if that’s their shoe shine service, should it really be on the perks list?  I think not. 

 

Formal nights were Tuesday and Thursday.   

 

Dining room attire.  Varied.  Not sloppy when I looked in our immediate area, and many men did have suits on, maybe 2 tuxes.   We were not in formals and we did not see anyone turned away.  So just look nice and you won’t have an issue.   Cruising attire has become more relaxed—just go with it.  🙂    

 

I like that there are launderettes to do your own laundry.  I prefer to do my own vs. ship washing everything in hot.  $3 per load for washer, $3 for dryer, $1.50 for detergent.  You use your cruise card to choose # of loads, then a coin is dispensed to put in the washer/dryer/detergent machine. 

 

Lotus Spa.  Didn’t use massage or other services.  The stunning Enclave shower pool never showered after the first afternoon…and there wasn’t a way to trip the bubbles to come on…at $149 for the week, the Enclave is not a good value. They have one dry sauna that is not very warm and 2 very similar hot steam saunas which are nice.  Won’t buy it again on this ship.

 

Why pay for gelato?  Seems like wasted space off the atrium.    

 

I did occasionally smell cigarette smoke on the balcony.  Especially late at night.  While I mentioned it to the cabin steward, I doubt he did anything about it.   

 

Why are they still printing photos?  Modern ships let you scan your card and then your photos come up on a screen and you buy digital or prints from there.  Unfortunately one nice casual shot of us was not clear enough to warrant purchase.   It would be smart business if you could still buy photos after your cruise; I would think some people would like this feature.  We were told we could buy a memory stick sort of thing for $15 and all future digital photos would be free—not sure exactly how this works.  We didn’t do it.

 

Ports:

 

Princess Cays.   Please clear the beaches of some of the rocks.   Wasn’t a favorite private island when I was first there 10 years ago, and still isn’t on my list of “must go back to.”  Forgot my water shoes on the ship.  Food was good.  Plenty of loungers and shade.  Tendering isn’t a favorite event of mine even though we had priority tendering.  We stayed (with the remaining maybe 5% of people) on the island until 3:30 or so, then headed to the tender, and they waited to get as many on it as possible so we headed back to the ship at probably 4:10, which I’m assuming was the last tender before the rest of the employees left on the other tender.   

 

Jamaica.  We bought (ahead of time) a day pass at Royalton White Sands.  Was a beautiful time there.  Getting a taxi wasn’t too simple as they wanted to group us with others and we ended up waiting a bit.   But the return taxi was there on time as requested and we were back at the port in 10 minutes or so.   

Grand Cayman.  We have done the Stingray City tour, and also went sailing here once.  So this time we were going to 7 mile beach.  After tendering (joy of joys) we took a taxi to the public beach for $6 each.  Was $20 for 2 chairs and an umbrella.  Lovely beach.  Was really perfect.  Taxi’d back.  We were grouped with others who wanted a 2pm return to the ship.  Got good ship pix here, and also on the tender back we got great photos.  We were with one of my other favorite ships, Celebrity Equinox.  Also Carnival Glory which we’ve cruised on when it was home ported in NYC, and a Regent ship.

 

Cozumel.  We pre-booked Nachi Cocum.  Wow, there were a lot of ships in port.  We were the 6^th to arrive, and Carnival Glory came in behind us.  So good photo opportunities if you like ships.  Like us.  Your bags will be randomly searched as you enter Cozumel.  Nachi Cocum was not too crowded and we enjoyed our time there.  $18 taxi ride each way for 3 of us.  Dropped our stuff off on the ship and came back out to check shopping at the port.   Got a nice, blue leather bag at Rogers leather goods.  They have very nice shoes, boots, bags, and belts.  Meant to buy some rum cake but forgot.  We left port at 10pm. 

 

Next up was a glorious day at sea to enjoy our loungers on our balcony.  And we did for sure.  The pool areas were crowded on sea days, as on most ships.  

 

Debarkation is simple.  We had flights from FLL so we walked off with our one suitcase around 7:30am.   Didn't even need to use mobile passport--just showed them our passport.  Very easy.  Got Uber quickly.  

 

We enjoyed our cruise on Regal.  It was relaxing and fun. 

 

Happy to answer any questions.   

[travelhound]

Thank you for the detailed review! We are leaving on the 22nd and working on getting everything together now. I was happy to hear you can get tokens for laundry on your account. Is that in the laundry room or do you need to go to the purser?

 

I see you took an Uber off of the ship. Did you take an Uber in too? If so, any problem with security and an Uber driver? We are in Hollywood Beach from Wed-Sun without a car and we'll need either taxi or Uber to get to port.

[mizLORInj]

18 minutes ago, travelhound said:

Thank you for the detailed review! We are leaving on the 22nd and working on getting everything together now. I was happy to hear you can get tokens for laundry on your account. Is that in the laundry room or do you need to go to the purser?

 

I see you took an Uber off of the ship. Did you take an Uber in too? If so, any problem with security and an Uber driver? We are in Hollywood Beach from Wed-Sun without a car and we'll need either taxi or Uber to get to port.

No problem with Uber getting into port--other than the traffic.  Was easy both to the port and from it.   Many people using this method these days.  I witnessed no issues.

 

You get the coins in the laundry room.   

 

Hope you have a great time!

[MrSchwump]

 Lori I’m with you on the trivia!  The CD staff person was running the contest we did and she gave first place to another team. She announced the winning score and ours was higher. I take this stuff seriously too so we were hacked off!

I agree with your other comments, we had a blast!

[mizLORInj]

6 minutes ago, MrSchwump said:

 Lori I’m with you on the trivia!  The CD staff person was running the contest we did and she gave first place to another team. She announced the winning score and ours was higher. I take this stuff seriously too so we were hacked off!

 

WHAT?    😲 That is just wrong. 

 

I wonder what was in that black Princess bag the winners got?    

[MrSchwump]

27 minutes ago, travelhound said:

 

I see you took an Uber off of the ship. Did you take an Uber in too? If so, any problem with security and an Uber driver? We are in Hollywood Beach from Wed-Sun without a car and we'll need either taxi or Uber to get to port.

Ask the Uber driver to use the Eisenhower St gate off 17th. If they enter via SR 84/Marina Blvd it can get really backed up with shuttle buses from hotels west of the port.  

[mizLORInj]

If Eisenhower St gate is the one by the Walgreen's, that's the one we were delayed at--backed up onto 17th by the bridge.   

7 ships were in port on the 23rd. 

 

[travelhound]

I should look and see how many ships are in port. How much time do you think we should allow?

 

We haven't been on Princess for several years. Are you assigned a boarding time? We have done that on other lines, but not Princess.

[travelhound]

Just looked it up. 5 ships in the 22nd.

[mizLORInj]

16 minutes ago, travelhound said:

I should look and see how many ships are in port. How much time do you think we should allow?

 

We haven't been on Princess for several years. Are you assigned a boarding time? We have done that on other lines, but not Princess.

 

Yes check your date to see how many are in port.  I use cruisetimetables site for that.  I think Port Everglades has a site too.   I would suppose if we had headed to the port earlier than 11:30 from Ft. Lauderdale beach area it might have had less incoming traffic, but we were walking on the beach and enjoying the morning.  I would say it took us 30-40 minutes after being backed up in traffic and w/ no traffic should have been 15 min ride to the port from the beach hotel.   Or maybe something else was going on. . . this is the first time out of Port Everglades we had such slow-moving traffic.  

 

No boarding time was assigned for us on Regal Princess.   And it wasn't bad at all once we got to the terminal.  Maybe 15 minutes from leaving the car to boarding the ship.  

[travelhound]

Thanks for the info. We probably won't leave our hotel until checkout, maybe 11ish. We're a little farther in Hollywood, but not much. I heard they stop all of the cars going in and ask for documentation and that makes it slower. They don't do that in Miami.

[mizLORInj]

23 minutes ago, travelhound said:

Thanks for the info. We probably won't leave our hotel until checkout, maybe 11ish. We're a little farther in Hollywood, but not much. I heard they stop all of the cars going in and ask for documentation and that makes it slower. They don't do that in Miami.

 

We have seen that at Port Everglades but we weren't asked for anything this time before arriving at the ship itself.   I think there was a booth beyond where we turned left, so maybe that's why it was so backed up.  Not sure.   Police were also directing cars at the traffic light in there (not the light by Walgreen's).

 

Hope you have lots of fun.   

[travelhound]

We're just going to get in an Uber in plenty of time and go with the flow. 🙂

[Dawniepoo]

15 hours ago, travelhound said:

Thanks for the info. We probably won't leave our hotel until checkout, maybe 11ish. We're a little farther in Hollywood, but not much. I heard they stop all of the cars going in and ask for documentation and that makes it slower. They don't do that in Miami.

 

If you are going to terminal 2, it is best to take the 17rh St. entrance since you enter before the security check point. I've never seen a large back up there, so maybe something was going on near the convention center or something. 

[travelhound]

How do you know which terminal?

[mizLORInj]

Travelhound, If you are the only Princess ship in port that day, it'll be #2.  the one perpendicular to the bridge.    We've always gone out of #2 on Princess at Port Everglades, but have always been the only Princess ship there those days. 

[mizLORInj]

Just remembered a few more things.

There was a nice game room/library on deck 7 (I believe) and many books to choose from that guests left behind to use as well.  I borrowed one myself and then put it back the last sea day.

 

There were also games in the concierge lounge in a cabinet.  

 

Regarding using the Medallion for locating fellow travelers.  So we were going to meet up but did not select a time, but we figured we would find our friend using the app.  It showed her in Horizon court in various places, but we wandered the whole place and did not find her.  I'm figuring the timing may have been slightly delayed in transmission?  But it did not work for us the couple times we tried to use it to find her.   So don't count on it 100% to find your fellow travel companions.  Maybe the technology will get better.   

 

[NRWPA]

23 hours ago, travelhound said:

 

I see you took an Uber off of the ship. Did you take an Uber in too? If so, any problem with security and an Uber driver? We are in Hollywood Beach from Wed-Sun without a car and we'll need either taxi or Uber to get to port.

I'm also sailing the 22nd. I use Uber almost every cruise I take. I've never had a safety issue and have sailed solo several times. You may find that the cost of the ride is cheaper on the way to the port than it is on the way back. This is because of the number of people requesting it at the same time (surge pricing).

Edited March 6, 2020 by NRWPA

[travelhound]

Thanks for that. We used it all over Disney but haven't with a cruise. I figured security at the port may be a hang up but it sounds like it's not.

 

What ship are you sailing on the 22nd? We're on Regal.

[NRWPA]

23 minutes ago, travelhound said:

What ship are you sailing on the 22nd? We're on Regal.

Me too!

[travelhound]

See you there with your extra $200 OBC! Maybe we'll have the whole ship to ourselves.

[MrSchwump]

On 3/5/2020 at 1:27 PM, mizLORInj said:

If Eisenhower St gate is the one by the Walgreen's, that's the one we were delayed at--backed up onto 17th by the bridge.   

7 ships were in port on the 23rd. 

 

Yes, that’s the better of the 2 gates, IMO.  No checkpoint unlike the other gate. No check for documentation.  We got to PE at 10:30 and were on board by 10:45.

[WISH84]

We loved our corner suite (B734) but didn't use the balcony nearly as much as I would have liked.  We are in that same cabin again this December but on the Enchanted.  Two week Western/Eastern and I plan to use the balcony so much they may have to rename it in my honor.  LOL.  

I may have missed this (didn't read through everyone's questions.. sorry if you've covered this) but did you enjoy breakfast in Sabatini's or have dinner from the MDR delivered to your suite?  Two awesome perks of those suites.  

 

They did not have "Happy Hour" when were  in the suite but that would be another great perk to have.

 

The shoeshine issue must be a "steward" thing.  I put my shoes out after the first formal night only to find them sitting on the bed the next day looking better than the day I bought them.  Go figure.

[mizLORInj]

7 minutes ago, WISH84 said:

. . .

I may have missed this (didn't read through everyone's questions.. sorry if you've covered this) but did you enjoy breakfast in Sabatini's or have dinner from the MDR delivered to your suite?  Two awesome perks of those suites.  

 

They did not have "Happy Hour" when were  in the suite but that would be another great perk to have.

 

The shoeshine issue must be a "steward" thing.  I put my shoes out after the first formal night only to find them sitting on the bed the next day looking better than the day I bought them.  Go figure.

 

Yes, the balcony is awesome.    

 

We had breakfast in Sabatini's once and it was good.  If I eat breakfast on a cruise, I prefer to pick a little of this and that from the buffet.   We didn't do dinner in the suite; knew it was an option but didn't do it. 

 

You should have the happy hour if you're in a suite on Enchanted.  I was told it is new for suites for 2020.   Princess needs to update their perks list, or they're just trying it out.   

 

Yeah, we kind of figured the cabin steward just didn't want to be bothered shining the shoes.    

[MaryBethV]

Wonderful review - thank you! *Agree that Crown Grill on Princess is better than Cagney's on Norwegian! Also, loved the review of your aft suite. 🙂