Half-Live: Regal Princess British Isles 27 May 2024

[Cloudyrain]

I am a Brit, travelling with a 7 year old son and my husband on our first Princess: previously we have travelled with NCL, P&O, MSC and Marella. We have cruised Britain before, albeit a covid-cruise when we couldn't really get off!

 

Pre-Cruise: We drove the day before and stayed in the Ibis Budget (£50 for a family room, parking £10 or free for those with Blue Badges). 5mins walk to the shopping centre, casino over the road, McDonalds outside, and bars at the Novotel and Ibis 3* across the car park. There is a TGI Fridays outside too, but it gets busy so have patience 😂

[Cloudyrain]

Parking and Embarkation: Super Quick! We arrived at 10.50 and parked via CPS. They take photos of the car, have a little chat, take your keys, and offer assistance with cases if required. They also keep track of docking changes so if we return to a different dock they will ensure our car is there. We have user them before, and it's worked well. They take your keys and move your car. We have also happily used Parkside Meet and Great via Holiday Extras, and Hotel and Parking at the Leonardo. All have been fine and worked ok, but Portside Meet and Greet, and CPS are certainly easier as you don't need to deal with shuttles or taxis. 
 

Kids Club: there are very few children on this cruise - a lot less than I expected! This meant that the first evening of Kids Club was quiet! However, having been with P&O and having to set alarms to book slots, this is a very different experience! We registered onboard and it was very quick and easy.

 

Arcade: I was really happy there was an arcade, but it's pretty rubbish. Actually that's an understatement - it's totally rubbish 😂 Great if you want to spend hundreds of dollars on fixed grabber machines.

 

Crown Grill: we like to avoid the MDR on the first night as it's usually chaos, so we booked the Crown Grill. It was very nice and service was brilliant. We don't actually eat a lot, but what we had was lovely. 
 

Buffet: we think this is great! We didn't really eat a lot, but our son liked it - which is a blessing!

 

Mini-suite: this is our cabin of choice and is spacious and clean. The balcony is smallish, but the rest is fine.

[Cloudyrain]

I have added some photos of the kids club details.

[Cloudyrain]

I have added the patter pages for today.

 

If anyone had any specific questions please feel free to ask. I will try and post daily 😊

 

Portland tomorrow for us: it's strange having a port day on day 2!

[sha1955]

We are on 14 July so thanks for sharing this . So interesting and useful 

[Wink87]

Ty for doing this. I have friends on this cruise and it is fun to imagine what they doing and seeing.

[ellp]

I'm currently on this cruise as well, and I'm traveling with my mum and 19yo daughter (Dd). Dd joined the unhosted 18-25 yo club and said about 12 people showed up, mostly Americans and 1 Brit. She was the only Canadian. 

[insidecabin]

On the 3-15 May they said they had 6 kids no idea ages not many sightings over  the 12 days.

[Pirateskigirl]

I just got off the May 15 sailing. We didn't have a large group of kids but there were probably 30 that I saw regularly around the ship. 

[beltsbear]

We are on this ship with you. Going to the Swanary in Portland in a few minutes. 

[Cloudyrain]

1 hour ago, beltsbear said:

We are on this ship with you. Going to the Swanary in Portland in a few minutes. 

I hope you had fun!

[Cloudyrain]

☀️⛅️🌧️ Day One (Emabarkation) Weather Report - Southampton

 

Morning: cloudy, occasionally sunny spells. (Hoody weather)

 

Afternoon: mostly cloudy, slight rain showers. (Hoody and light raincoat/poncho weather)

 

Evening: The sunshine finally appeared. (Sunglasses weather)

Edited May 28 by Cloudyrain

[phabric]

Following along.  Enjoy our cruise

[Cloudyrain]

Day 2: Portland

 

International Cafe: the pastry/cakes here acted as breakfast en route to the shuttle bus, and handily located close to the gangway.

 

Shuttle Bus: THIS IS FREE! Great, quick, no queues. Volunteer are cattle herding, and provide free maps. It is about 20/30 minutes, but mainly due to the stopping and starting. There are two stops:

- Portland Castle (and English Heritage attraction.

- Weymouth harbour.

 

D-Day Museum: this is excellent! Super close to the Portland Castle stop and really interactive and interesting. The staff/volunteers are very knowledgeable too.

 

Weymouth Aquarium: This is a taxi-ride from the harbour (2 miles). There are other attractions nearby too, and you can walk back along the sea front and experience a typical British Seaside Town. 
 

Taxi Service: We got a local taxi company. They were very good, and happy to do shorter journeys which the taxi companies at the drop off point aren't willing to do! 
- Bee Cars 01305 775151: they accept Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and Cash. They also have a office just over the harbour bridge.

 

 

Edited May 28 by Cloudyrain

[Cloudyrain]

I have uploaded the map, the details provided by Princess regarding the port, and some photos of the dockside.

[treesah]

@CloudyrainThanks for posting.  We're scheduled to do the TA on the Regal in October so yours is a timely post.  By the by, I love your moniker.

[ellp]

2 hours ago, Cloudyrain said:

Day 2: Portland

 

International Cafe: the pastry/cakes here acted as breakfast en route to the shuttle bus, and handily located close to the gangway.

 

Shuttle Bus: THIS IS FREE! Great, quick, no queues. Volunteer are cattle herding, and provide free maps. It is about 20/30 minutes, but mainly due to the stopping and starting. There are two stops:

- Portland Castle (and English Heritage attraction.

- Weymouth harbour.

 

D-Day Museum: this is excellent! Super close to the Portland Castle stop and really interactive and interesting. The staff/volunteers are very knowledgeable too.

 

Weymouth Aquarium: This is a taxi-ride from the harbour (2 miles). There are other attractions nearby too, and you can walk back along the sea front and experience a typical British Seaside Town. 
 

Taxi Service: We got a local taxi company. They were very good, and happy to do shorter journeys which the taxi companies at the drop off point aren't willing to do! 
- Bee Cars 01305 775151: they accept Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and Cash. They also have a office just over the harbour bridge.

 

 

We didn't know about the D day museum, and did the castle tour instead. It was a good tour lasting about an hour. It came with a free audio guide and led us all over the castle and grounds. Tip: it was 10 pounds per person, but students get a slight discount, so make sure to mention it if you have teenagers with you.

 

Also, was there something about Portland having a "Bee" theme? We saw lots of "Bee" themed souvenirs, and "Bee" named businesses, eg. Bee taxi, Bee bakery...

[Cloudyrain]

1 hour ago, treesah said:

@CloudyrainThanks for posting.  We're scheduled to do the TA on the Regal in October so yours is a timely post.  By the by, I love your moniker.

It's a very relevant one this cruise I think 😂

[Cloudyrain]

1 hour ago, ellp said:

We didn't know about the D day museum, and did the castle tour instead. It was a good tour lasting about an hour. It came with a free audio guide and led us all over the castle and grounds. Tip: it was 10 pounds per person, but students get a slight discount, so make sure to mention it if you have teenagers with you.

 

Also, was there something about Portland having a "Bee" theme? We saw lots of "Bee" themed souvenirs, and "Bee" named businesses, eg. Bee taxi, Bee bakery...

 Yes, the Bee-prevalence is interesting: I will have to do some research when I get home as I study place-names at University and there is a town near us that has a lof of Bee's in their names and artwork etc. Although the name itself has nothing to do with Bee's at all 😂😂

[Cloudyrain]

Dockside Entertainment: Currently there are 4 ladies singing on the dockside 😊

[Cloudyrain]

As we departed there was a great cannon firing which was definitely worth being on the balcony for! 
 

So far it has definitely been worth picking a Starboard balcony! 😊

[Cloudyrain]

MDR: we have booked a table every night and have arranged to have the same table every evening. Service was good, the selection of food was varied, and the portion-size was great. I don't feel equipped to comment on food as I am not a foodie, but what we were very happy with it.

 

Wheelhouse Bar: so far this is my favourite place! The staff are great, the entertainment courtesy of Oliver Holland has been fab, and the location is great. I would highly recommend it 😊

[Cloudyrain]

Day 2 Weather Report: Portland

 

morning - cloudy, hoody and light jacket weather.

 

afternoon - cloudy and very light rain.

 

evening - cloudy and windy (too windy for the fountain show).

 

 

Edited May 28 by Cloudyrain

[Cloudyrain]

Door Decorations: this is a more American passenger thing, and to us Brits it's a bit unusual, but I know to those who care, it does matter. We have walked a few passenger decks and noticed very few doors decorated, but there have been some, so I take that to mean that tneu are not banned as we have seen them on various decks. Some are just posters or magnets, others are more elaborate.

[Cloudyrain]

Internet: we have Princess Plus and 2 days in, it's great! We have been able to log on really easily, and it's been very reliable. We have also been able to stream Amazon Prime and it's been really good with no buffering or need to reload etc. I know some people have quite a negative view of internet useage, but for work/study/entertainment purposes it has been brilliant and I have no complaints at all. So far..!