BTimmer's Almost Live First Princess Cruise (6/1-13/23) on the Regal Princess

[Btimmer]

We're long time 5 star cruisers on HAL and decided to try Princess for a cruise through the UK.  I'll be doing one of my Almost Live threads with pictures and commentary about our time on the ship and the itinerary.  For the most part we are planning to self explore in the ports we are visiting as we've visited many of them via our motorcycle.  We're leaving Seattle on 5/28 and plan to spend a few days in Southampton pre-cruise and after the cruise we've booked 4 nights on a canal boat near the London theater district (we have reservations for 3 musicals in the West End area). Feel free to post questions and I'll try to give an honest answer.  We travel in inside cabins, so that'll be our perspective.  There are only 2 sea days on this 12 day cruise. Two of my favorite cruise vloggers are on this cruise and I look forward to meeting them.

[DUCHESSRN]

Have a great trip ,I look forward to traveling with you from my armchair .

[sunviking90]

I’ll be following along. I’ve always enjoyed your live posts on the HAL board. Enjoy your cruise!

[Ken the cruiser]

It will be interesting to hear about your adventures on your first Princess cruise. We were 4 star on HAL when we made our jump over to Princess and Celebrity, and have never gone back. For us one of the best things about Princess is their usually very funny and engaging cruise directors and their supporting entertainment staff of usually 4-5 members! One suggestion if you like to laugh. Check out the game shows in Princess Live that follow the early main theater shows. They are usually very engaging and as well as very funny! 😂

 

Have a great cruise!!

[nini]

I am.looking forward to your comments. We were on the Regal in 2018 and really enjoyed that ship. The British Isles are fantastic!

[snoozecrooze]

...do they happen to be ParoDeeJay? 😊😊 so excited they're finally traveling across the pond this summer!

 

Please have tons of fun! The itinerary is one of my favorites even though there's barely any time to catch your breath, and I hope the Regal also treats you well. Looking forward to reading the rest and welcome to your first Princess cruise!

[phabric]

Enjoy our cruise.  Following along.

[taxmantoo]

We are also HAL 5-Star Mariners who have been slowly moving over to Princess since the end of the pandemic.  Our next Princess cruise in February will qualify us for their Elite status. Just disembarked recently from the Regal Trans-Atlantic and British Isles cruise so will be very interested in your comments.  The lack of entertainment, or repetitive entertainment, on HAL was a major factor in our decision to mover over.  We really enjoy the variety of entertainment offered by Princess in the Piazza, the Wheelhouse Bar, the Vista Lounge, Princess Live, Crooners and the main show theater.  We will still cruise on HAL when an itinerary attracts us but otherwise will likely cruise more on Princess.  I hope you enjoy your Princess cruise and look forward to following along.

[Dreamscaper]

Oh, so happy to get to follow another Regal vlog!  We will be sailing on our first Princess cruise - aboard the Regal - when it returns to the Caribbean at the end of October, so I'm stoked to read more about this ship (especially from another new-to-Princess cruiser)!

Edited May 25, 2023 by Dreamscaper
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[Btimmer]

6 hours ago, taxmantoo said:

We are also HAL 5-Star Mariners who have been slowly moving over to Princess since the end of the pandemic.  Our next Princess cruise in February will qualify us for their Elite status. Just disembarked recently from the Regal Trans-Atlantic and British Isles cruise so will be very interested in your comments.  The lack of entertainment, or repetitive entertainment, on HAL was a major factor in our decision to mover over.  We really enjoy the variety of entertainment offered by Princess in the Piazza, the Wheelhouse Bar, the Vista Lounge, Princess Live, Crooners and the main show theater.  We will still cruise on HAL when an itinerary attracts us but otherwise will likely cruise more on Princess.  I hope you enjoy your Princess cruise and look forward to following along.

We, too, are bored with the HAL entertainment.  We liked this Princess itinerary (we are itinerary driven cruisers), so it appears to be a good start.  I haven't been real thrilled so far with the Princess APP, their website or their non-responsive customer service. But we're willing to give Princess a fair try.

[Lady Arwen]

We’re 3 star Mariners on HAL and we also cruise Princess and Celebrity (which is still our #1 go to line).  We love the Pinnacle class ships, but have found their itineraries to be same old, same old.  We’re also sailing on Regal in September in the British Isles and I know we’ll love it.  Liking forward to hearing your perspective!  We’ve always enjoyed the Royal class ships and I’m sure you will, too.

[Btimmer]

Well, we're packed up, checked in to the airline, and ready to head out tomorrow for arrival at Heathrow on Monday.  We're certainly ready to go cruising.

[nini]

10 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

Well, we're packed up, checked in to the airline, and ready to head out tomorrow for arrival at Heathrow on Monday.  We're certainly ready to go cruising.

Happy and safe travels! We arrive at Heathrow on Friday for departure on the Sky on Saturday.

[Dreamscaper]

20 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

Well, we're packed up, checked in to the airline, and ready to head out tomorrow for arrival at Heathrow on Monday.  We're certainly ready to go cruising.

Travel safe!  Looking forward to your from-sea reports!

[Btimmer]

We enjoyed a wonderful overnight flight on a Virgin Atlantic 787 Dreamliner from SeaTac airport..  Caught up on a couple of movies.  The plane was only 1/2 full. Very friendly staff. 

 

We're now on a National Express bus to Southampton which will arrive around 2pm local time.  It cost 43£ for the two of us.  I  purchased the tickets at the terminal 3 Central bus station.  I booked an AirBnB yesterday for the pre-cruise stay In Southampton. It appears to be walking distance to the port.

Edited May 29, 2023 by Btimmer

[tml1230]

 Very much enjoying and following  your reports! we got off the Regal a a few weeks ago and LOVED every minute of the cruise.we too took the national express bus, back to London, and  were very satisfied with the cost and service....

the staff on board the Regal are incredible...after 22 days on the ship we felt like we were leaving family behind!

Thank you safe travels!

[jimbri]

Have a great time!

 

[nini]

8 hours ago, Btimmer said:

We enjoyed a wonderful overnight flight on a Virgin Atlantic 787 Dreamliner from SeaTac airport..  Caught up on a couple of movies.  The plane was only 1/2 full. Very friendly staff. 

 

We're now on a National Express bus to Southampton which will arrive around 2pm local time.  It cost 43£ for the two of us.  I  purchased the tickets at the terminal 3 Central bus station.  I booked an AirBnB yesterday for the pre-cruise stay In Southampton. It appears to be walking distance to the port.

 

Great to know. We also fly on Virgin Atlantic from SeaTac, but this Thursday.

Enjoy!

[beshears]

I will be looking forward to reading your review on the Regal, as at this moment, I think the 8 of us will be doing it in February next year.

[georgemoe]

Will be on the Aug 24 sailing so following. Enjoy the adventure! 

[Btimmer]

Today on our first full day In Southampton, we used an App GPS MY CITY to do a series of self guided walks on themes of History, the City, and the Waterfront.  We walked over 11k steps in wonderful weather before enjoying another pub meal at The Red Lion. We also figured out how to walk into the Ocean Terminal which we'll do on Thursday.  
 

We highly recommend a stroll down High Street taking in the history and reading the sidewalk imbedded historical plaques. It's also called the QE2 mile.  Below are a few pictures.

 

[RCTennessee]

Following!  We will be on Regal for June 25 sailing and our first time on Princess. Have a wonderful trip!  🙂

[kttraveler]

Thank you so much for reporting as you go. My parents and I will be taking this cruise in July and I plan to venture out on my own as well. I've done a lot of online research but I hope to learn from you as well. I had the chance to wander around Southampton last time we cruised and enjoyed it. If you have time check out the titanic museum (and make sure you go to the bathroom).

 

I have a strange request. My mother uses a wheelchair. On this cruise some of the excursions are listed as handicap accessible. I am hoping this means there will be buses she can access without steps (most of the time an excursion means steps). If you by chance see excursion busses that appear to have wheelchair access I would love to know they exist.

 

Thanks and have a great cruise!

[Btimmer]

3 hours ago, kttraveler said:

Thank you so much for reporting as you go. My parents and I will be taking this cruise in July and I plan to venture out on my own as well. I've done a lot of online research but I hope to learn from you as well. I had the chance to wander around Southampton last time we cruised and enjoyed it. If you have time check out the titanic museum (and make sure you go to the bathroom).

 

I have a strange request. My mother uses a wheelchair. On this cruise some of the excursions are listed as handicap accessible. I am hoping this means there will be buses she can access without steps (most of the time an excursion means steps). If you by chance see excursion busses that appear to have wheelchair access I would love to know they exist.

 

Thanks and have a great cruise!

We're visiting the Titanic museum today as part of a Titanic walk.

 

We don't have any Princess shore excursions yet booked, but I will make inquiries of the shorex staff.  If you don't see an answer, please remind me again.

 

 Thanks for following along.

[Fortunate 2 travel]

I'm enjoying  your trip report.  It will be interesting to see how the check in process goes and if they use the boarding times from the app.    Have a wonderful time on the Regal.