Interactive Review of Regal Princess June 25 - July 6 2016

Hi everyone! I'm Pokopo, and I will be starting an interactive review of Regal Princess June 25 - July 6. Basically, everyone can join in and ask questions or post their own opinion.

 

Currently, it is June the 15th, so I will be going in ten days. Sadly, I wil not be buying internet onboard for quite obvious reasons, but I will do a "day-to-day" kind of review after the cruise is over. Anyway, the cruise will be on Regal Princess, and we will be going to Scandinavia and Russia(I think thats what its called) for a 12 day cruise. We will be flying from Toronto to Reykjavik on IcelandAir, then from Reykjavik (Boy thats a hard to spell name) to Copenhagen on IcelandAir as well. This will be our 10th cruise in total, and 3rd with Princess. The three of us - my father, mother, and I are very excited to be going on a European cruise as it will have been our first one.

 

We have booked one shore excursion, since we felt that there was no need to waste money on bus drives when instead you could be buying drinks and all:D.

 

Since this is my first time posting on cruise critic, I would love some tips and constructive criticism (but just criticism is okay too). Also, I do not really know about the whole "roll call" thing, so if I could get a few tips on that it would be very much appreciated.

 

Otherwise, I'll be posting more in the near future. Take care and cruise away!

We were on this cruise last month and had a wonderful time. you do realize that you cannot get off the ship in Russia if you do not have a tour booked. They can be through Princess or another tour company, but with nothing you will not be allowed off the ship.

 

Where the ship docks and where the cities are is sometimes quite far away. What are you planning on doing at the stops?

Looking Forward to your report!

I'm looking forward to your review!

 

I hope your one excursion is in Russia. As previously mentioned, this is one country where you cannot do your own tours...on your own. I do hope you get to see Russia as it is a fabulous stop and unique in many ways. You can always get drinks, but visiting Russia, not so much!

 

Have a fantastic trip!

What a fun idea! I will be on the Royal in the Med. when you are in the Baltic on the Regal!

 

I hope that you get lots of participation. You may be able to get a bit of free or lost cost internet while in port, so you could update us then!

 

Happy packing and planning!

 

Tracie-Lynn

Hi everyone! I'm Pokopo, and I will be starting an interactive review of Regal Princess June 25 - July 6. Basically, everyone can join in and ask questions or post their own opinion.

 

Currently, it is June the 15th, so I will be going in ten days. Sadly, I wil not be buying internet onboard for quite obvious reasons, but I will do a "day-to-day" kind of review after the cruise is over. Anyway, the cruise will be on Regal Princess, and we will be going to Scandinavia and Russia(I think thats what its called) for a 12 day cruise. We will be flying from Toronto to Reykjavik on IcelandAir, then from Reykjavik (Boy thats a hard to spell name) to Copenhagen on IcelandAir as well. This will be our 10th cruise in total, and 3rd with Princess. The three of us - my father, mother, and I are very excited to be going on a European cruise as it will have been our first one.

 

We have booked one shore excursion, since we felt that there was no need to waste money on bus drives when instead you could be buying drinks and all:D.

 

Since this is my first time posting on cruise critic, I would love some tips and constructive criticism (but just criticism is okay too). Also, I do not really know about the whole "roll call" thing, so if I could get a few tips on that it would be very much appreciated.

 

Otherwise, I'll be posting more in the near future. Take care and cruise away!

 

Sounds like a fun cruise. Me? I love excursions! I book them and leave all the work up to someone else. I can drink at home!:D

 

As for roll call, it's for people going on the same cruise to kind of do a meet and greet online to see if you want to meet up on the ship. I did my last cruise and made some great friends. Give it a try!:)

Really looking forward to your review. We are doing the same cruise at the end of July.

We plan to use the hoho buses in most ports except of course St Petersburg. We have a couple of tours booked there.

Remember that food and drink are very expensive in Scandanavia and they all have different currencies. We have bought some Danish Krone for Copenhagen as we have a couple of days before the cruise but plan to use a credit card for anything else. We also have some euros to use in Germany and Estonia.

Enjoy the cruise. :)

We were on this cruise last month and had a wonderful time. you do realize that you cannot get off the ship in Russia if you do not have a tour booked. They can be through Princess or another tour company, but with nothing you will not be allowed off the ship.

 

Where the ship docks and where the cities are is sometimes quite far away. What are you planning on doing at the stops?

Yes, thanks for the reminder. We have the one excursion booked in St. Petersburg with Princess. While we were booking the cruise, we found out that you either goon an excursion, or you need a visa in order to exit the ship. As for your second question, we did some research and found out most excursions were very close to port and that the majority of what you do in an excursion can be easily accessed without one.

I'm looking forward to your review!

 

I hope your one excursion is in Russia. As previously mentioned, this is one country where you cannot do your own tours...on your own. I do hope you get to see Russia as it is a fabulous stop and unique in many ways. You can always get drinks, but visiting Russia, not so much!

 

Have a fantastic trip!

Hi Nina. Yes, our one excursion is in St. Petersburg. I was wondering if you have any tips on what to do on the second day. Since Regal Princess will be staying at St. Petersburg for two days, We're not sure whether to just stay onboard or book another excursion. Thanks for the reply!

What a fun idea! I will be on the Royal in the Med. when you are in the Baltic on the Regal!

 

I hope that you get lots of participation. You may be able to get a bit of free or lost cost internet while in port, so you could update us then!

 

Happy packing and planning!

 

Tracie-Lynn

Hello Tracie! I got this idea from a friend of mine. And yes, I do hope that there will be some free/low cost internet at the port of call since we all know how annoying and costly cruise internet can be. Thanks for the reply!

Sounds like a fun cruise. Me? I love excursions! I book them and leave all the work up to someone else. I can drink at home!:D

 

As for roll call, it's for people going on the same cruise to kind of do a meet and greet online to see if you want to meet up on the ship. I did my last cruise and made some great friends. Give it a try!:)

Thanks Mya for the tips on the roll call! As for the excursions, we didn't book as many as we sometimes do because the majority of them can be down without going with an excursion. I hope I can give you a bit of info on Regal Princess for your upcoming cruise on her next year!

Really looking forward to your review. We are doing the same cruise at the end of July.

We plan to use the hoho buses in most ports except of course St Petersburg. We have a couple of tours booked there.

Remember that food and drink are very expensive in Scandanavia and they all have different currencies. We have bought some Danish Krone for Copenhagen as we have a couple of days before the cruise but plan to use a credit card for anything else. We also have some euros to use in Germany and Estonia.

Enjoy the cruise. :)

Thanks for the tips on the currencies! We're not really sure how the whole money situation for the cruise will be. Hopefully, someone onboard can help us figure all this out. I hope you enjoy your cruise too!

Edited June 16, 2016 by Pokopo

We did the 2 day tour with the night tour thru Princess. It was awesome and worth every penny. Our guide spoke great English and was an historian. We were exhausted but well worth it.

Hello, my family and I are going on the same cruise and we are looking forward to it! The roll call thread is here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2303071

 

There are discussions there about forming tours for St Petersburg so maybe you can find something for the second day?

Good evening everyone, I'm back with another update on the cruise . It is currently 8:00 P.M in Toronto, and my family and I will be leaving the the airport tomorrow at around 11 AM. The airplane leaves Pearson International (YYZ) at 2:25 PM and we should be arriving at Copenhagen at 6 AM the next day (June 25). Really hoping to be able to see the Aurora Borealis, otherwise known as the Northern Lights. We even had to book our seats at the very back in order to be able to be on the left side of the plane, which faces towards the northern lights.

 

First thing that we will do at Copenhagen is dropping our luggage off at the port, before walking/taking the bus to different places, like the Little Mermaid. Of course, we have to try their famous hot dogs and danishes that reside in little polsevogns (hot dog wagons) and bakeries. Hoping to be able to be back at the port at around 10 or 11 AM. No one wants to endure the disaster called "the line at 1 PM" when there are hundreds, if not thousands of people in the line.

 

As for the pre trip packing, I have packed my clothes using the "bundle wrapping" strategy. If you haven't heard of it, you could type in "bundle wrapping" on youtube, or just click this link

(Note: I do not own the video, all credit goes to CruiseTipsTV). My family has just packed theirs by folding (lame). After dropping the dog off at a friends house (he is a miniature schnauzer called "Max" if anyone is wondering) and charging all our devices, we should be ready to go. So excited! Really getting into the vacation mood!:D If you have any tips or helpful information for either cruising or writing reviews, it would be greatly appreciated if you could send me some!

 

Otherwise, two more nights until VACATION TIME!

 

Take care and cruise away!

 

-Pokopo

Happy and safe travels to you!

Hi everyone! I'm Pokopo, and I will be starting an interactive review of Regal Princess June 25 - July 6. Basically, everyone can join in and ask questions or post their own opinion.

 

Currently, it is June the 15th, so I will be going in ten days. Sadly, I wil not be buying internet onboard for quite obvious reasons, but I will do a "day-to-day" kind of review after the cruise is over. Anyway, the cruise will be on Regal Princess, and we will be going to Scandinavia and Russia(I think thats what its called) for a 12 day cruise. We will be flying from Toronto to Reykjavik on IcelandAir, then from Reykjavik (Boy thats a hard to spell name) to Copenhagen on IcelandAir as well. This will be our 10th cruise in total, and 3rd with Princess. The three of us - my father, mother, and I are very excited to be going on a European cruise as it will have been our first one.

 

We have booked one shore excursion, since we felt that there was no need to waste money on bus drives when instead you could be buying drinks and all:D.

 

Since this is my first time posting on cruise critic, I would love some tips and constructive criticism (but just criticism is okay too). Also, I do not really know about the whole "roll call" thing, so if I could get a few tips on that it would be very much appreciated.

 

Otherwise, I'll be posting more in the near future. Take care and cruise away!

Looking forward to it.

Thanks for the packing tip, let us know how your clothes end up. Looking forward to your review, we'll be on this Baltic sailing in a couple months!

Pokopo,

Thanks for posting. Just booked the same cruise for next year and thinking about a stop over in Iceland, too.

Happy travels.

Hello everyone! I'm back with another update. I am currently in Terminal 3 of Pearson International, and will be boarding the plane in around 5 minutes. Instead of parking at the airport, we had a friend bring us over to here, which saves on parking fees.

 

It may or may not be a while until I can write another review, depending on if I can get internet while in Copenhagen, and if I have the time to do so. Its really going to be a jam packed day. Really looking forward to the cruise, as I have heard some amazing (and not so amazing) review about Regal Princess. Although we have only gone with Princess twice before, once to Alaska and the other to Panama Canal, it is my family and I's favourite cruise line, even though it may be a bit on the pricey side.

 

Anyways, we really want to be able to see the Northern Lights, but most importantly, I'm sure everyone just wants to get on the cruise and start their vacation! Aside from that, looking forward to meeting everyone on the ship, and exploring the wonders that Regal Princess and Europe has to offer.

 

Just finished eating my Tim Hortons, and a giant bell just rang, so I guess I got to go now! See you all in a few hours!:D

 

P.S I will be releasing a giant compilation video or several smaller videos about our adventures when I either have access to the internet or arrive back home.

 

Take care and cruise away!

 

-Pokopo :cool:

Hope you have a safe trip and an excellent cruise.

 

It sounds exciting! I will be following :)

Hello Everybody! I have just arrived at the Keflavik Airport in Iceland. It is currently around 11:45 in Iceland, and we will be boarding the plane to Copenhagen in around 45 minutes.

 

I don't have much to say, so here's a picture of our food at the Airport! If anyone asks, I do not recommend buying the food at the airport as a lobster pizza and the shrimp sandwich thing costed us around $45 Canadian. It did taste fairly good though, especially the lobster pizza!

 

 

Take care and Cruise Away!

 

-Pokopo

We will enjoy reading your review when you return as we are on the same voyage at the end of August and then back on the ship for it's transatlantic to NY by way of Norway and the British Isles.

 

Our excursion strategy is to do most ports on our own with the exception of Berlin (Rostock), St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Copenhagen on turn around day, Glasgow, Dublin and Cork. Other than the Berlin and St. Petersburg tours, the tours were Princess tours.

 

Monetary decisions are still being worked out, but we have 9 weeks until we leave and who knows what the exchange rates will be then. Packing is another issue since we are gone for 27 days including the two days in Copenhagen before we embark for the Baltic portion. Fortunately we are Elite so some articles will be done for free and there is always the self laundry on board.

Hello everyone! As of the time I am typing this, we are cruising along the sea and heading towards Oslo, Norway. I guess this will be my first real review, so I hope you enjoy reading it (It is very long)!

 

Summary of the Day

 

First of all, the flight arrived in Copenhagen at around 7:00 AM. This meant that since we were flying from Toronto, we slept for around 2 hours the entire night due to the difference in the time zones. Sadly, we did not see the Northern lights as number one, we spent around 6 minutes flying through the clouds when we were landing at Reykjavik for our transfer. No way we were going to see the lights with all that fog and cloud. Number two, for some odd reason the sky was completely dark at 12 AM, and then at 1 AM, it suddenly brightened up. Probably just due to where we were (Artic Circle).

 

Anyways, after landing at Copenhagen, we had an easy taxi drive from the airport to the cruise terminal, where we promptly gave them our four suitcases (two large, two small), before buying a two hour city transportation pass. From there, we landed in a mountain of confusion, but eventually made it to the Rosseport Station and then to Stroget road. One con about what we did was that we toured around in the morning, and almost no shops are open and that time. I recommend going on the hop-on hop-off bus if you are going from the cruise terminal, or the yellow bus, #26. There is a little shop next to the cruise port that is farthest away from the city (there are two cruise ports) where you can buy a two hour city transportation pass for $4 US per person.

 

After eating some delicious Danish pastries and another savory but pricey polser (hot dog – I highly recommend getting this. It is a must have in Copenhagen), walking down the streets of Copenhagen, and taking several pictures, we made our way to the “Little Mermaid”. Since there were so many people, we hastily took a few quick shots, then left for the cruise terminal. If you decide to wait and push your way through the crowd, you can do so, but keep in mind that you might somehow manage to push someone off the edge and into the water ☺!

 

Now you get to the part where lots of mistakes were made. First, we decided to walk to the cruise terminal, since it only looked around 3-4 km away. Following the coastline, we strolled down the sidewalk, and eventually found us at a dead end… If any of you have ever been to Copenhagen or seen a map of it, you may know what I’m talking about. Basically, our path to the cruise terminal that our ship was in was cut short by a giant canal (I’m not sure how we missed that), and so we ended up having to walk back towards the Little Mermaid, since we were enclosed on three sides by water, leaving backwards the only choice. From there, we decided to continue walking since it didn’t seem very far.

 

After several kilometers of walking, running, and lots of resting, we could finally see the goal that we thought we would have gotten to a long time ago. After one finally sprint, we arrived back at the cruise terminal, having walked a total of 17 km that day. If only we had went on a bus, or taxi, or even bicycle. What makes me shake my head in disbelief was that an old man was dragging his luggage along and walking in front of us, and even he managed to walk to the cruise terminal faster then we did, with no luggage.

 

First thing we did was check in, and limp our way to the buffet, since our rooms we still in the process of cleaning. We quickly refilled our famished stomachs, and wandered around the ship until our room was open, where we immediately fell asleep, partially due to the immensely long walk, and partially due to not sleeping much the past night. I would suggest booking a hotel a day or two earlier to explore the city longer if this is where your cruise starts, and so you can adjust to the time zone change if you are from somewhere like North America, like us.

 

We were forcibly awoken by the loud sound of the captain telling us about the muster drill, and so we again limped over to the “Princess Live!” and listened to the drill. That was at 5 PM, and by the time the drill was finished, it was already 5:40, and we were “late” for our dinner at 5:30. Quickly, we walked over to the Concerto Dining Room and ate up. Try to not eat so much when you are at Copenhagen since it is fairly expensive and you will need some stomach space for your first lunch and dinner on the cruise.

 

Later on, we explored the ship some more, before watching the Welcome Aboard Showparty in the Princess Theatre, which is equipped with full LED light walls and 956 seats. Definitely enjoyed watching the show, especially because there was a magician. Another cool fact is that if you go to Alfredo’s, a pizzeria on deck 6, you can order the “Pizza Regal Princess”. They are handmade pizza’s made fresh where you can see them toss the pizza dough up and down.

 

Overall, I think Copenhagen is an amazing place as long as you don’t make as many mistakes as we did. The hot dogs, although delicious, can sometimes be small depending on where you buy them. I highly recommend the Danish pastries that you can find at just about any store, along with walking down the Stroget road.

 

Will be posting more when I have an internet connection! Currently sitting in front of the Warnemunde Cruise Centre for wifi.

 

Take care and cruise away!

 

-Pokopo

Enjoying your review. Have a great time!