Saint Greg's Regal Princess - Live - November 12, 2023

[Saint Greg]

11 minutes ago, detroitavant said:

 Any chance you'll do the other lines at some point (e.g., RCL)?  

It’s possible. I almost booked Allure for August before I decided to go to Alaska. I was going to book one of those promenade balconies but the deck I wanted sold out before I locked it in. 

[detroitavant]

2 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

It’s possible. I almost booked Allure for August before I decided to go to Alaska. I was going to book one of those promenade balconies but the deck I wanted sold out before I locked it in. 

That was the first one we did after our Disney phase with the kids and it was our favorite ship so far.  Our sample size is much smaller than yours though.

[atakkat]

Hi Greg! I have followed you a long time on Carnival, nice to see you here. We are sailing in January on Regal so I look forward to your review. I have one of those interior staterooms like your original but we have a pending bid so we shall see.

 

We loved Allure, it never seemed crowded onboard even with all the kids we sailed with! 

 

Have a great week.

[texasparalegal]

Hope that you have a great time. I'm on Regal in January, my first time on Princess, it's been years for my mom. I'm hoping that you'll post the MDR menus if possible. Trying to decide what nights to hit the MDR, which to try for specialty and which to do the casual and buffet. I'd rather go for the menus that appeal to us the most so if you have that on your list to post, I'd really appreciate it.  Fair winds and following seas!

[Saint Greg]

They’re starting to fill out the events in the app. I’ll say this: nobody shows more movies than Princess. I do like that they have this out ahead of time. I started looking at it last week but it was pretty thin. It has a lot more now. I still don’t think they’re done yet. You select items you’re interested in just like the hub app. That bar at the bottom of each event shows how full they are.

 

It’s a little misleading like I can’t add the sailaway party because it says it’s full. But these aren’t official reservations or anything. I don’t think they’ll track down my medallion and kick me out of the sailaway party because I didn’t select it in the app three weeks before the cruise.

I don’t like that part. If it does reminders like Hub I won’t get reminders for anything marked full because I couldn’t add it. Only 118 people can add the sailaway party? Ridiculous.

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by Saint Greg

[Saint Greg]

I’m hoping there’s a glitch with steakhouse reservations. If not it’s already sold out for the entire cruise. If it is they need to get rid of that Italian restaurant and expand the steakhouse. The Italian place is available basically all dates and times.

 

If it is sold out that won’t stop me from walking up late and asking for a table. I’ve seen plenty of times on carnival when their app says they’re sold out but I walk up late and the restaurant is half full. They always give me a table. Happened at Il Viaggio on the Venezia TA.

 

[Saint Greg]

Shortest show ever!

 

[Saint Greg]

I think they’re still working out the kinks in this schedule.

 

[TxTeach79]

15 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

I’m hoping there’s a glitch with steakhouse reservations. If not it’s already sold out for the entire cruise. If it is they need to get rid of that Italian restaurant and expand the steakhouse. The Italian place is available basically all dates and times.

 

If it is sold out that won’t stop me from walking up late and asking for a table. I’ve seen plenty of times on carnival when their app says they’re sold out but I walk up late and the restaurant is half full. They always give me a table. Happened at Il Viaggio on the Venezia TA.

 

It’s pretty much the same for the week after. There are a few Crown Grill spots but they’re few and far between and not great times. When I try to book one, the reservation fails every time. Sabatini’s is wide open though. 

[spethstation]

@Saint Greg I look forward to following along your first journey on Princess. I am taking my first cruise with them in a month. 

Also, I just wanted to say thank you so much for your thorough reviews! I have been a follower for a while and I have used many of your reviews for recommendations for my own and other people's trips 😄

[FraudBroad]

5 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I think they’re still working out the kinks in this schedule.

 

Carlos Oscar is fabulous!! 

[Saint Greg]

Just now, FraudBroad said:

Carlos Oscar is fabulous!! 

 

Good. I wasn't too thrilled about the one I had on NCL.

[Dreamscaper]

5 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I’m hoping there’s a glitch with steakhouse reservations. If not it’s already sold out for the entire cruise. If it is they need to get rid of that Italian restaurant and expand the steakhouse. The Italian place is available basically all dates and times.

 

If it is sold out that won’t stop me from walking up late and asking for a table. I’ve seen plenty of times on carnival when their app says they’re sold out but I walk up late and the restaurant is half full. They always give me a table. Happened at Il Viaggio on the Venezia TA.

 

We just got off the Regal on Sunday.  You should have no problem getting a table at least for the later (7:40/8:00) seatings.  We had an 8 PM booked and changed that day to 7:40 and the restaurant was half empty.  They did say the earlier seatings were fully booked though.

[Dreamscaper]

5 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Shortest show ever!

 

This was a fun game show to watch!  They bring up the passenger contestants one at a time and the hosts question them for up to three minutes trying to get them to say "yes" or "no".  It sounds easy but apparently it isn't as most people slipped up within a minute or two.

[Saint Greg]

5 minutes ago, Dreamscaper said:

We just got off the Regal on Sunday.  You should have no problem getting a table at least for the later (7:40/8:00) seatings.  We had an 8 PM booked and changed that day to 7:40 and the restaurant was half empty.  They did say the earlier seatings were fully booked though.

 

That'll work. I've found I like eating later if my schedule allows for it.

[Saint Greg]

4 minutes ago, Dreamscaper said:

This was a fun game show to watch!  They bring up the passenger contestants one at a time and the hosts question them for up to three minutes trying to get them to say "yes" or "no".  It sounds easy but apparently it isn't as most people slipped up within a minute or two.

 

Looks like so far only one person got the joke.

[Dreamscaper]

3 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

That'll work. I've found I like eating later if my schedule allows for it.

Especially if it's a port day.. we were always back on the ship by 3 or 4 PM and that gave us plenty of time to relax, have a drink, shower and make the late seating.  Most people tend to book on sea days.

[Dreamscaper]

4 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Looks like so far only one person got the joke.

Oh I got the joke, I was just commenting on how fun it was *laughs*.

[Saint Greg]

I just went through the planner and book marked all of the things I might be interested in. I have to say it feels like they have a lot going on. There are probably 6 movies a day. Production shows, game shows. They have three comedians and an illusionist. It feels like there's a lot of entertainment on the ship.

[Saint Greg]

Another thing I see on the schedule a few times is Good Spirits Cocktail experience. It says it's based on the Good Spirits TV show..

 

There's a little crossover here because ever since Carnival cut back their TV stations to basically nothing, the default channel I've been leaving the TV on is Ocean View. That channel shows Ocean Treks, The Explorer, Vacation Creation and Good Spirits.

 

Good Spirits is about a bartender who travels around and collects local ingredients for a special cocktail he makes at the end of the show.

 

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by Saint Greg

[tonit964]

8 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I think they’re still working out the kinks in this schedule.

 

This comic is hilarious. Make sure you go see him and get there early. The venue will fill up for sure. 

[Saint Greg]

I'm going through and updating my Galveston parking prices as I look for where I'm going to park. This is the first time I've done this since the last time I cruised out of Galveston which was two years ago.

 

There are significant price increases. I'm thinking part of it might be a new local tax. I'm noticing a lot of the websites referencing a city tariff that seems to be about 10% on top of the state local taxes which are also 10%.

 

It used to be you could park uncovered for around $50-75 for the week. Covered would be $100 or so. Now it seems uncovered starts around 100 and covered can go up as high as 180.

[BohJang]

Hi Greg - I'm here and excited for this review.  I will also be getting on the ship when you get off. I haven't planned any excursions yet because I've been to all the ports a few times.  They will just be game time decisions because I don't really care.  This cruise is all about the ship because the only Princess cruise I have been on was the Ruby to Alaska about 15 years ago. 

[TravelGirlinDallas]

58 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

I'm going through and updating my Galveston parking prices as I look for where I'm going to park. This is the first time I've done this since the last time I cruised out of Galveston which was two years ago.

 

There are significant price increases. I'm thinking part of it might be a new local tax. I'm noticing a lot of the websites referencing a city tariff that seems to be about 10% on top of the state local taxes which are also 10%.

 

It used to be you could park uncovered for around $50-75 for the week. Covered would be $100 or so. Now it seems uncovered starts around 100 and covered can go up as high as 180.

We paid $87 to park in the garage across from Terminal 1 (or whatever it is now) for our 5-day this month. It's the one with the unused pedestrian bridge. It's a little higher since it's actual port parking, but it's worth it to me to be able to just walk across the street and not have to wait forever for a shuttle to fill up. 

[Saint Greg]

9 minutes ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

We paid $87 to park in the garage across from Terminal 1 (or whatever it is now) for our 5-day this month. It's the one with the unused pedestrian bridge. It's a little higher since it's actual port parking, but it's worth it to me to be able to just walk across the street and not have to wait forever for a shuttle to fill up. 

 

That one is coming up $89 for a 4-day, $111 for a 5-day, and $155 for 7-day now.