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Live diary from the Regal Princess - Jan 14-28, 2018


lor74
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I cannot believe that it has been a full year since our last cruise! Ro & Lor once again sailing on the Regal for 14 nights of much needed relaxation. It has been a very long work year, and the early Winter season has been brutal! On one hand I would like to sleep as much as possible, while on the other I want to stay awake as long as I can to make every second of this trip count...I guess it will even itself out in the end. This will be our 3rd time on the Regal...and we have also been on the Royal once. I chose to sail on her again because it was the best option when it came down to price, value, timing, etc... As a frugal person, I would like to share the specifications of this trip:

 

I used a popular quoting site to get my starting point for the booking. In the end I went with my usual TA whom I first discovered via this site, as they always offer me the lowest price for Princess. I do a lot of research before making my decision, and as a Canadian with a high exchange rate, this American TA still gives me the better deal. I used my FCD from my prior sailing for the deposit. I wanted a balcony, but also wanted to keep the cost as low as possible. I used a fellow cruise critic members site to select an obstructed balcony which does not actually have an obstruction. I cannot remember the address of the site at the moment, but it is an amazing resource which I have bookmarked at home. Next I booked my airfare through Westjet. Having the WJ MasterCard, I used my WJ dollars and companion ticket. For the hotel I chose the Radison Cruise Port. I used points via the Marriott Visa for this booking. Best value, points & credits are the name of the game....here comes the fun stuff! I was already quite happy with how everything mentioned above had worked out, then I was browsing my Cruise Critic roll call, where I saw some people had mentioned calling in to get free gratuities added to their accounts. It was already past final payment, but whatever the promotion was at that time, was able to be applied regardless. I got very lucky with my timing on seeing the posts, as I called in on the last day of the promo and received the gratuities. This was amazing, but it gets even better! Shortly after that, I was browsing the Princess thread where I saw some people talking about the medallion class not being offered to everyone on board, and being able to call in and get additional credits. I had received an email stating that my cabin was not included, and after 2 calls did indeed receive extra OBC.....keep calling till you speak to the right person! On top of this, I bought CCL stock and got that OBC as well ( I have had CCL stock for many years, but had actually finally sold it to claim the profit, on top of all the OBC that I had received). All of this makes me very happy! It does take time & effort to maximize the value, but I preach very strongly paying attention to forums and using points/loyaly programs to their fullest. A big thank you to all the people who took the time to post helpful information on these and other forums! I try to pay it forward as much as I can!

 

With all that out of the way, let's cruise!

 

*** I had started preparing the beginning of this thread a day in advance. Now that our actual travel day is here, [emoji33], it is not going so well. The weather in Montreal went from basic Winter, to Spring like, followed by a brutal Winter storm in a period of 48hrs. Our direct flight was cancelled the night before, and we were switched to a connection via Toronto. The ride to the airport was basically driving blind, and after our lift ended up stuck over a median, had to bail and grab an Uber the rest of the way.....only to finally arrive and discover our Toronto flight had just been cancelled. With not many options, we switched to a Delta Detroit->FLL flight. It has been a very long day, but the Delta portion went smooth. We are 12 hrs late from our original schedule. It sucks to have lost a full day in Florida, but at the moment we are very happy to at least be here! We landed just in time to still be able to use the hotel shuttle service. Check in was not great as our room was given to the wrong person. There was another available in a different category...at this point who cares...does it have a bed and a shower...sold! This is a very expensive nights sleep....at least it is only points, and not the crazy rack rate for this hotel. I already ran to the gas station and picked up a couple bottles of wine. In a few hours we cruise ☀️ [emoji568] [emoji41]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Oh my goodness! Good for you with getting all the extra perks! It does pay to keep reading and checking! Sorry your journey to FLL was so long and tiring...but you made it! That’s most important! Bon Voyage!

 

 

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Happy to see you arrived safe and are on board. Enjoy the voyage and one of our favorite ships in the fleet. We will be on her again for the fifth time at the end of Feb. and then over New Years.

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The hotel stay has not been great. First we had the check in issue and did not get the room we had booked. The room was set to 65 degrees and was freezing! The compressor for the system was right in front of the bed and was very loud. It kept me awake. I got very little sleep, and at 6am the flights started taking off right above us. I took a much needed shower and went to speak to a manager. I was quickly offered some points for the room mixup, but I asked for and received a full points refund. After that I took a look at the free breakfast...standard hotel offerings. I grabbed a coffee and went for a walk through the park across the street. It is a nice morning. The cool air is refreshing. I am looking forward to a better day today!

 

 

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Is that 2 and 4 shown? - we will be going out of 4 and coming back into 2 on our Crown cruise in March. Look like we can drop off our luggage at 4 , go across and park at the main parking garage across from 2 , and then walk back over to 4 terminal to board. May be a little walk going in, but we get there way early anyway.

 

And easier to leave at the end of the cruise

 

Thanks

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Wishing you a wonderful trip. We will be on the Regal in April! If you are ever in the area, would you mind looking at L206 to see if it is equipped with the ***** screen for the door lock. Hope you have a great embarkation!

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We checked out early and took a Lyft to terminal 2. The hotel offered a shuttle for $8pp. The Lyft was $12. I was aware of the upgraded terminal, but WOW, what a difference from last year!!! Instead of waiting in line outside for a hour, we walked straight into the terminal, checked in, and are now in the elite lounge. I have my donut, the vacation has officially started!

 

 

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Looks like you should get a reward for all of that difficult travel. We too are boarding the Regal this morning and we can see it from our room at HB Marriott - it's a great site.

 

We are on Lido forward so I am thinking that we may be offered the Medallion but not sure if I want it - we will see. We are in a mini suite on Lido.

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Ro & Lor, have a great trip. You pre-cruise "adventures" are a good reminder to plan on arriving at the departure port a day early. We board next week, also in a Balcony Obsructed cabin but still unassigned :(.

Glad to see the Carnival Corp is using berth 4. When we return the 28th on the Regal we are going to jump on the Crown. Maybe we will get lucky and we can just walk over.

Tim & Mary Lou

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We boarded at 10:57am!!! I immediately went to the CG to make a reservation for Ro's birthday on Thursday. I then called room service to change our mini-bar offerings. We are now eating at Alfredos. The Elite wifi is now unlimited. The speed test is great, but it is barely working. I assume it will get better at sea. The obstructed balcony is awesome!

 

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