Regal Princess Live: April 16-23 Med Cruise

[patrickmoran]

Thought I would start this since there has been so little information about the Regal since leaving Florida. Fellow cruisers, please join in. 
I am traveling solo in an obstructed ( but not really obstructed ) balcony cabin, E420, which has a moderately extended balcony on the hump. Nice location and in good condition. 
First good news is the night lights are gone! I was on the Regal in late November, the Emerald in late December and the Majestic in January and all had those annoying night lights. 
I flew in today on Turkish Airlines from Miami through Istanbul. Flights went well. Long day though.
I got my Covid test at the pier. Took in total about 45 minutes. 

Dinner tonight was excellent. Previous post-Covid cruises, the MDR dinners were good but not as good as previously. Pea soup was tasty and super hot (Luke warm food is my pet peeve.) Surprisingly, the lamb shank was on the 1 st night’s menu. It was great and one of my favorites. I ate alone and was served quickly.  Dining room was pretty quiet at 6:30 pm but did get busier as dinner progressed. 
Tomorrow is a sea day and formal night. 

[dickinson]

Enjoy your cruise!  

 

Where did you fly into? (I don't know the itinerary of this cruise).  How much was the covid test at the pier?

 

We were on the Regal in February.  No night lights.

[Married15]

Thank you for this review. We sail on The Regal out of Rome next month so was hoping to see some reviews. So it took 45 minutes for the covid test, what time did you get on the ship? Did you have N95 mask in your cabin? Are people wearing masks? I will have more questions for you as your week rolls out. In the meantime, enjoy your cruise! 

[patrickmoran]

Oh, the bad news is the internet is slow. I doubt that you could stream anything. I could not use FaceTime to talk with my wife at home but could get Google Duo to work OK. It’s not quite as the old dial up days but no where as good as recent cruises!

[patrickmoran]

I flew into Barcelona. We sail to Gibraltar, Marseille, Genoa, Livorno and Rome. I’ll fly straight home upon debarking. 
 

N95 masks in cabin. Everyone is masked up. Good compliance so far. I haven’t been to any shows or bars though. 
 

No charge for Covid test. So the 45 minutes was from the start of the process to monitor telling the group that I was in that we good go. Waiting for the release took 30 minutes. We were not given any paperwork with our results. Something was entered into our file so check in took 30 seconds. 

[Ken the cruiser]

35 minutes ago, patrickmoran said:

I flew into Barcelona. We sail to Gibraltar, Marseille, Genoa, Livorno and Rome. I’ll fly straight home upon debarking. 
 

N95 masks in cabin. Everyone is masked up. Good compliance so far. I haven’t been to any shows or bars though. 
 

No charge for Covid test. So the 45 minutes was from the start of the process to monitor telling the group that I was in that we good go. Waiting for the release took 30 minutes. We were not given any paperwork with our results. Something was entered into our file so check in took 30 seconds. 

So, since you tested at the Barcelona pier, I take it (as of right now) there was no need for you to take an "observed" eMed test prior to boarding your flight to Barcelona. We're on a B3B in July on the Regal leaving out of Barcelona, so that's great news to hear. I'm sure we'll take a "self-monitored" antigen test before we leave home, but that's good to hear we don't need to take an "official" test prior to leaving the US. Have a fun cruise!!!

[CruzerDeb]

Thank you for providing a live review! Hope the internet is good enough for you to post as you go. Looking forward to hearing your experiences on the Regal; I’ll be boarding her in Rome in June. 

[patrickmoran]

Today was a day at sea. The weather was good and the sea calm. I attended the Fine Wine Tasting ($25). We tasted 6 wines and I thought it was a good value. 
The Club Class dining is in the dining room on Deck 5. Pretty dead at 7:30 pm; maybe 2  tables had diners. The MDR on Deck 6 was half empty at 6:30 when I ate. 
The functions in the Medallion app don’t work. I can’t use the Dining My Way function or order any drinks or food. I asked the guy at the Medallion desk tonight but he was clueless. 
Tomorrow we’ll be in Gibraltar. 

[Denise C]

Thank you for all the information Patrick, I hope you enjoy your cruise. Keep writing with your tips! I am cruising next month to Barcelona. Did Princess provide masks in the cabin? What do you think the percentage of passengers are? Can you share any of your experiences at your ports? I am in the planning stage. Happy Easter!

[S&DMOM]

If we do a antigen test here in the USA 48 hours before boarding do we have to retest at the pier?

 

And any information about antigen testing to return to the USA at the end of the cruise would be greatly appreciated 🙂

 

Thank you for taking time to post. 

[Carnevale]

14 hours ago, CruzerDeb said:

Thank you for providing a live review! Hope the internet is good enough for you to post as you go. Looking forward to hearing your experiences on the Regal; I’ll be boarding her in Rome in June. 

CruzerDeb, if you can post about your experiences boarding Regal from Rome we will really appreciate it.  We do that in October and are wondering if COVID testing will be required and, if so, how it is handled at that port.  Hopefully it will be as smooth as the OP’s experience in Barcelona.  In advance, many thanks!  And thx to the OP for the information being shared about Regal’s sailing in Europe.

[caribill]

It has been posted that on at least one Princess ship although the ;laundry list includes laundry, cleaning and press options, that "cleaning" is no longer offered. (That is the option equivalent to "dry cleaning" on land.)

 

I would appreciate it if you cam find out if the "cleaning" option actually is available as what it says on the laundry slip may not really be available.

[theborders]

I am also on the cruise, we arrived at the port at 11am did the free Princess test at the port and we were on board by 11:40am. We had a lovely lunch in the MDR. We are in a suite and ate the first night in the Crown Grill. I was very surprised that out cabin steward delivered a kettle with tea & coffee didn't have the heart to say I never drink tea or coffee.  Last night we ate in the club class restaurant it was only club class quests in the whole restaurant. The ship seems very empty plenty of loungers everywhere. Had a letter in the cabin that says suite guests can use the Enclave went down there boarding day and they confirmed it was true although they gave us a quick tour they didn't seem impressed that they could not sell us anything.🤣 Internet is very slow and the medallion app does not always allow you to order from it but the crew are walking around on deck taking orders so not really a problem.

[CruzerDeb]

7 hours ago, Carnevale said:

CruzerDeb, if you can post about your experiences boarding Regal from Rome we will really appreciate it.  We do that in October and are wondering if COVID testing will be required and, if so, how it is handled at that port.  Hopefully it will be as smooth as the OP’s experience in Barcelona.  In advance, many thanks!  And thx to the OP for the information being shared about Regal’s sailing in Europe.

I will try to post in June! Maybe I’ll attempt my first ever “Live From” review. 😃

[Coral]

4 hours ago, theborders said:

= I was very surprised that out cabin steward delivered a kettle with tea & coffee didn't have the heart to say I never drink tea or coffee.  

You are from the UK and don't drink tea or coffee? Do your friends make fun of you????? 🙂  Sort of a rarity in your part of the world. Enjoy your cruise.

[RNRcruisers]

Sounds like a fabulous cruise! I'll be following. 

 

We were on the Regal and internet and Medallion worked mostly fine, maybe it is because of the slow internet that it isn't working well?

 

[Steelers36]

8 hours ago, Carnevale said:

CruzerDeb, if you can post about your experiences boarding Regal from Rome we will really appreciate it.  We do that in October and are wondering if COVID testing will be required and, if so, how it is handled at that port.  Hopefully it will be as smooth as the OP’s experience in Barcelona.  In advance, many thanks!  And thx to the OP for the information being shared about Regal’s sailing in Europe.

No one can tell you what the testing situation will be in October.  We are sailing then as well and I expect things will be better in terms of Covid situation and protocols will be much more relaxed.  But that is just a prediction based on trends.

[traceytd]

Hi,

We will be on the Regal at the beginning of June. I was wondering if you could find out what work will be done on the ship when it dry docks next week.

Thanks in advance

Have fun 😎

[dickinson]

4 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

No one can tell you what the testing situation will be in October.  We are sailing then as well and I expect things will be better in terms of Covid situation and protocols will be much more relaxed.  But that is just a prediction based on trends.

 

I am supposed to sail in October too but I am expecting things to be worse because people will now be mostly indoors and Covid spreads more then.  I hope you are right and I am wrong!

[phabric]

Following along.  Enjoy your cruise

[traceytd]

I forgot to ask, how many passengers are there on your cruise this week? Do you know if and how much they charge for an upgrade of cabin? (Inside to balcony or balcony to mini suite etc..,)

😁

[patrickmoran]

23 hours ago, S&DMOM said:

If we do a antigen test here in the USA 48 hours before boarding do we have to retest at the pier?

 

And any information about antigen testing to return to the USA at the end of the cruise would be greatly appreciated 🙂

 

Thank you for taking time to post. 

You will have to be tested at the pier. I’m hoping debarking testing info will be available soon so I know what to expect on our last day when we are in Livorno. 

[patrickmoran]

Today we visited Gibraltar. I took a ship’s excursion, Stroll the Upper Rock. It was an excellent tour. We started early, 7:30 am, and were one of the 1st groups up on the Rock. We took the cable car up and did lots of walking and stairs. We had an excellent guide and was in information overload by the end. The tour lasted longer than advertised so no time for lunch before the dolphin watching tour with Dolphin Adventure that I had booked once it looked like the weather was going to be good. (We had great weather today. ) We saw lots of dolphins and had great views of the Rock. 
I had a great day in Gibraltar and would like to come back. 

[patrickmoran]

Today the forward half of the port side of Emerald Deck has become the quarantine ward. My cabin is close to the exclusion zone but not too close hopefully. 

[patrickmoran]

I got the app functioning. I logged out and then logged back in. We’ll see if it’s working properly tomorrow. 🤞