mdgary

We are home after an excellent cruise and wanted to recap from day 3 to the end and also give some of our impressions and thoughts about the ship and Princess. While the cruise wasn’t perfect we did have a wonderful time and would definitely recommend the Regal Princess.

After missing Princess Cays due to high tides and making a emergency stop in Grand Turk due to a medical issue we enjoyed a nice and calm sea day. While deck chairs fill quick and may be “used” for hours we could still find a couple open without to much difficulty. Daily breakfast or lunch in the Horizon Court/Bisto  was always enjoyable and they usually offered a good selection of choices. The Pastry Shop had a nice selection of deserts daily but surprisingly didn’t offer any cheesecake item until the last night of the cruise. We did go to the Allegro dining room on two nights so they might have slipped them in those nights as well. With regard to the main dining room menus and service this is one area where Princess seems to have taken a step backwards. Partly due to Covid it’s been nearly 6 years since we have sailed on Princess but we did notice a big change in the quality and choice on this cruises menu as compared to previous years. We would check the menu each evening and for the most part nothing stood out or sounded that good so we just opted for diner in the Horizon court. Maybe its just the Executive Chef onboard or maybe it’s just us.

In San Juan we did the History and Cuisine of San Juan on foot. It was a very enjoyable tour with about 2 miles of walking. We had a very good tour guide as she gave the history of old San Juan with a stop along the way for some delicious Limbers. The tour concluded with having a lunch of mofongo and mojitos. 

Day 5 was a we arrival in Amber Cove, Dominican Republic. This was also a new port for us and we had booked the Eat, Drink, Dance – Dominican Fiesta tour. Although the rain downpour continued throughout the morning it wasn’t a problem as we boarded a very nice tour bus to make our way across the island for the 45 minute trip to Las Catalinas Ranch for lunch, dancing and plenty of Dominican rum. Lunch was “sancocho," a traditional meal full of vegetables and plantains and also avariety of fresh fruit. Once again another good meal. We were at the rqnch for about 2 hours and then made our way back to the ship with a brief stop in town for some quick shopping. Would highly recommend this tour.

Last stop on the cruise was in Grand Turk. Again another new port for us and this time we did the Junkanoo Party Bus, Rum Tasting and beach. We didn’t know how small Grqnd Turk actually is but found out quickly on his tour. You get a couple of rum punch drinks while making your way across the island to see a couple of sights.The tour does include about 1 ½ hours on a beautiful beach but wouldn’t recommend this tour. You can literally just walk off the shop and be on a very nice beach in 5 minutes right at the port.

Day 6 was also the last “formal” night of the cruise and the offering of surf and turf for dinner. Once again I have to admit to being disappointed in quality of the meal I don’t care for lobster myself but my wife does enjoy it. We both ordered the steak and lobster and gave her my lobster and she gave me most of her steak. She said the lobsters were ok but didn’t really have much taste. As for my steaks neither was the best of quality and seemed very tough. Service was excellent but again the food quality was very lacking.

Most of our evenings we wound up in either the Wheelhouse or Crooners. We enjoyed listening to all the entertainers but really liked Gold Strings Duo and guitarist Christian Bispo. Bar service around the ship could at times be a lengthy wait but the staff at Wheelhouse (Ryan, Maja and Valery) were superb. They were always very friendly and took excellent care of us.

The ship will be doing a TA later next month and believe they will be doing this itinerary 2 more times before the move. Overall the ship is always clean and well maintained inside but it looks like they have been skimping on upkeep on some of the exterior of the ship. Didn’t see much of the usual painting, etc. going on. The railing on our balcony was rough and completely worn down and in much need of sanding and varnish. Again just something you don’t normally notice on a Princess ship.

Also want to give a thanks to our cabin steward Stephen. Aways super friendly and kept our cabin spotless throughout he cruise. Also want to mention MedallionClass service. For the most part it works very well but it was still shaky at times. Depending on where you are on the ship seriously affects using the service to order food/drinks for delivery. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. After day 5 I couldn’t get the app to work at all even and doing the old uninstall/reinstall. Luckily it was working fine on my wife’s Ipad so it wasn’t a big deal.

And one final shout-out to the room service folks. We ordered several times from room service and we were amazed at how fast they were. Also definitely check out Alfredos. Excellent pizza and service.

Closing out. We decided to try doing walk off for the first time and will plan on doing it on all future cruises, We had requested 7:00 walk-off time and made our way down to the Symphony dinning room around 6:30 figuring we would have to wait around for a few, As soon as we walked up they indicated the gangway was open and go ahead and proceed off the ship. 5 minutes later and we are through customs and heading to the parking garage. Probably 10 minutes from leaving our cabin and we are putting our bags in the car. Amazing way to end the cruise.

4 minutes ago, voljeep said:

too bad ... I may have missed it, but what did you do in Grand Turk?  I would have rec'd Jack's Shack - and many still may go - but it's not the same, at least for us, since Jack and Janet 'retired' and their daughter is running the bar ... quite well, just not the same

We just did the Junkanoo party bus tour. Wasn’t much of a party but we enjoyed the tour and beach time. Had never been to Grand Turk before and didn’t know how small the island is. We are already home and I will give a recap of what tours we did and some observations about the ship.

1 hour ago, Stampeder said:

Just curious if you know the names of the bartenders in Vines? We are on in a month and wondering if Ron is working there, we believe he should be. 

Sorry but didn’t go to Vines while onboard.

On 3/16/2023 at 3:06 PM, LImom said:

@mdgaryIf you get a chance can you please post a picture (even if you cant post until after your  cruise is over) of the disembarkation groups/times. I would be greatly appreciated. Hope you are still having a great time. Thank you.

Here is the disembarkation information

2 hours ago, DLA57 said:

Hi 

Thank you for your posts.  Can you tell me if they have a juice bar and do they serve smoothies there?

Thank you

Sorry but they have neither onboard 

2 hours ago, Dukgirl22 said:

We are sailing this itinerary on April 9th, all excursions we wanted in Grand Turks were booked and nothing available. What can you suggest?  It seems to be a small island so maybe we will just find a local that can take us around, what do you suggest? 

We have seen a lot of people doing the golf cart rentals to go around the island. It is a pretty small island

On 3/12/2023 at 8:52 AM, beachme said:

Hi mdgary,

 

We will be sailing on the Regal in about a month. If you could post current Movies Under the Stars and theatre shows that would be great. Have a fantastic voyage!

On 3/12/2023 at 8:52 AM, beachme said:

Hi mdgary,

 

We will be sailing on the Regal in about a month. If you could post current Movies Under the Stars and theatre shows that would be great. Have a fantastic voyage!

Here is whats played through Friday (Day 6]
 

MUTS

UB40 Concert

Moribus

The Greatest Showman

Encanto

The Bad Guys

Thor: Love and Thunder

Cinderella (2021)

Top Gun: Maverick

Free Guy

Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Vista Lounge

Space Jam - A New Legacy

Bullet Train

Jurassic World - Dominion

Princess Theater

Ambulance

Dead For A Dollar

I Care A Lot

Production Shows

Showtime with The Uptown Boys

Bravo

Sweet Soul Music

15 hours ago, just G said:

I have not cruised with Princess in many many years. Can you explain the “extra charge” please? 

I’m not quite sure what your asking but can tell you that the Specialty restaurants (Crown grill, Sabatinis and Seafood bar) have a “extra charge” which I think is around $30 or so. And if you have the plus plan/drink package any drink over $15 you are charged the balance of the cost over 15. Hope that helps.

2 hours ago, kitiara said:

 

Did you like Anthony Michael in Crooners?  

He was ok. There was a loud group sitting a couple of tables over and made it kind of hard to hear him good. Will go back for another try

Woke up around 7:00 here on day 3 to a surprise. Woke up and looked out the balcony door and noticed that the ship was stopped. Went out on the balcony to look around and all I can see is a small sliver of land. It wasn’t long before an announcement was made on the passageway speakers (couldn’t hear it though and didn’t feel like wandering into the passageway) but came to find out there was a medical emergency and the Captain pulled the ship in to Grand Turk to get medical assistance for the passenger. Hopefully the individual will be ok. We wound up pulling back out of port around 9:30 to continue our sea day toward San Juan. After breakfast in the Horizon Court we went to our nice morning spot to lounge in the sun on The Sun Deck back by the Terrace pool. It gets a little crowded as the day goes on but hasn’t been to overcrowded so far. Last night we caught the production show Showtime with the Uptown Boys. As usual you need to get to the theater about 30 minutes early as it gets full quick. We both enjoyed the show and the 3 singers were all pretty good. Will finally get to check out Anthony Michael in Crooners piano bar tonight. First formal night tonight but we are staying casual and just doing Horizon court or Alfredos for dinner tonight.

On 3/12/2023 at 1:22 PM, LImom said:

Bon Voyage! If you have time can you post pictures of the new dinner menus. Hope you have a great cruise!

 

Here are the menus for the week. They might be out of order but the cruise days are,on each picture.

Day 2 of our cruise brought some bad news as due to swells/tides we would not be able to stop at Princess Cays. Could not hear the Captain very well when he made the announcement but did hear something about swells for the shuttle boats. Not really a big deal for us as we had been several times prior and planned to stay on onboard. Had dinner last night in the Allegro dining room and we were somewhat underwhelmed. We had 6:00 reservations and seated right away but service was a bit slow. My wife had the seafood stew and I opted for the additional charge filet mignon. Both meals were good but not up to the usual Princess standards. The medallion app is good but for drink orders it seems to be kind of hit or miss. For those asking about the price limits on the plus package it does appear that it covers drinks up to $15 regardless of when your purchased it. We payed for our plus package before the recent change and to test it out went to the medallion app to order a $16 drink and it covers $15:and a dollar whatever would be added to your account. Attached (hopefully) is last nights dinner menu. Also one other brief item. It’s been a few years since we cruised with Princess but what the hell happened to the Loveboat Dream?

Here are the ships officers

On 3/12/2023 at 9:35 AM, Jersey42 said:

Would you mind posting a picture of the senior officer's (see sample from the Emerald below).  It is normally in the Piazza, typically on deck 6.   Either post it here or on this sticky thread.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2724695-princess-senior-ship-staff-inc-cruise-directors-entertainment-directors/

 

Just a very quick update and will try and give first impressions and try to answer some questions tomorrow. We drove to the port and arrived around 12:45 this afternoon. Dropped our bags off with the baggage handlers and then went in search of a parking spot in the garage. The garage was pretty full but didn’t have too much trouble finding a spot. We gathered our carry on items and proceeded to the terminal. Basically no wait at all and we were walking onboard within a few minutes and proceeded directly to our cabin to drop off the carry ones. The only issue we have been having is with connecting to the internet. Woks sometimes and then drops out. Hopefully connection issues will resolve tomorrow and I will try and give some updates and answer some questions.

Boarding the Regal Princess this afternoon and will provide updates and answer any questions that I can throughout the cruise. First time on Regal and really looking forward to it.

What is the capacity in GB (gigabytes) of the USB drive you get with the photo package?

I checked the ship USB they gave with the package and it iis 8GB.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Do you know by any chance what the current price is of the tour and how long it is?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Its been several years since we did it but looks like the prices is still $150. This is from the Princess website: https://www.princess.com/news/backgrounders_and_fact_sheets/factsheet/Ultimate-Ship-Tour.html

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Can the Ultimate Ship Tour be purchased with onboard credit? Also, where do you go to sign up? Guest relations or excursion desk or???

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Yes it can be payed for using OBC and they have the signup sheet at Guest Relations.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thanks for the live thread. Enjoying your review and pictures. You mentioned that you had a coffee card and on another thread it was stated that ship marked the ship name/date and also had a expiration date. Is your card marked this way and if so could you provide a picture?

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thank you for a wonderful review. The pictures were great and and enjoyed the captions.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Canadianburger did a great live from the Caribbean Princess review and included the following room service menu pictures. And while room service may be included in the tip pool I feel MOST people do tip a couple dollars for these hard working folks.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

LOOKING for smoking areas on Caribbean Princess

When last onboard earlier this year:

Deck 7 - Starboard aft

Deck 16 - Portside forward (by Tradewinds bar)

Deck 6 - Churchill Lounge

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Maybe its just me but after spending a couple thousand dollars for a cruise I don’t see the value of saving $10 by buying the card on Ebay and maybe/maybe not being able to get a cup of brewed coffee.

Sent from my iPad using Forums