Just back from the Regal March 11-18, 2018

We just arrived yesterday on a week long Western Caribbean on the Regal Princess. The ship is beautiful, was kept very clean.

We arrived at the port last week around 11am. I had upgraded us to a suite and didn't tell my husband until the night before. When we arrived at the port, there was hardly anyone there, we went up to the line for suite passengers, was booked in right away, and then escorted onto the ship. I didn't realize that they escorted you. We were taken to the concierge lounge to wait, but as we were in a suite across from the lounge I thought I would check the room and it was already done.

What can I say about the suite, it is beautiful, I loved all of the room, the separate bedroom, and the tub was too die for, very deep, but it was slow to fill up. Joy was our steward, and he kept the room very clean, no complaints on that part. Angelica(?) was the concierge, and she was a real sweetheart, always pleasant and would love to talk. Loved the suite, I would book one again if it was at a deal, I don't think I would pay the full price for one, couldn't justify spending that kind of money. But the free laundry, liked that idea!

We both ended up getting massages on the ship with Ewelina (sp?) She is from Poland, and very nice and had great hands for a massage. She did not overly push the products, she mentioned them but that was it. Although, I was tired of the push for the Lotus Spa throughout the week.

We did go to Sabatini's one morning for breakfast, but my husband didn't really like it there, thought it was a bit too snooty for his taste. We had breakfast twice at Horizons as we didn't get up early enough. The buffet was bright, lots of food, but as a preference, we do not like the buffet. Too many people crowding around, trying to find a table to sit, and by the time you get to sit, your food is stone cold, we like being waited on. We did Club Class the other mornings and for dinner and there was no problems, we were seated right away, never a wait. We would go for dinner around 7 - 7:30, and the area wasn't even half full. My husband did miss meeting other people, though we did speak to other couples that were next to us. Camilla was the lovely young lady that would greet you at the door, again very pleasant and always had a smile.

We had dinner at the Crown on the first nite as it is complimentary for suite guests, and it was probably the best meal we every had at the CG. Our steaks were very tender and cooked to our preference. We did not order the lobster tails, we are on the west coast and prefer crab.

We went to Born to Dance and Fiero for the production shows and they are wonderful. The dancers and the singers were excellent, you could tell that they spent a lot of money on the shows. We went to the 10pm shows and never had a problem getting a seat, there was always seats left over. One night it was funny, the room upstairs must of either had a pipe that broke, or overflowed the tub, as soapy water was coming through the ceiling. I was actually quite surprised on how long it took someone to finally show up with a bucket, and they never put up tape on that row.

One show was the Beatlemaniacs, they were not bad, did a lot of the standards. The last nite on the ship, they played in the Piazzo for 45 minutes or so and it was great to dance to.

The first stop was Princess Cays, it was quite choppy so they had a hard time with the last couple of tenders coming back to the ship. The Cays was the same as last time, although it did appear to be larger in size.

In Jamaica we only went into the port area, it is not a country I had much interest in visiting, and the tours did not sound that interesting. Where we live are lots of falls, and we can climb them at any time without holding strangers hands and being hassled by vendors.

The Grand Caymans were beautiful, we did the highlight tour, went into Hell, The Turtle Sanctuary then out to Stingray City. It was very chaotic at the port, there were 5 ships in that day, and they diverted two of the ships to a different area for tendering. They did not have enough buses as I guess one or two went to the trong area. Our guide kept saying we were behind, so we only had 12 minutes in Hell, and perhaps 20 minutes at the sanctuary. The water was beautiful in the Caymans, said it looked like a swimming pool as it was so clear.

In Cozumel, all of the tours taking the ferry were cancelled. We didn't have any excursions planned, we just took a cab into the town and walked for a bit and had lunch. We ended up walking on the beach side cause we couldn't take the vendors. We did go in a store called Spice World, lots of different spices, they have them bundled up for marinades for different meats, lots of different teas. The store is very clean and the workers were knowledgeable, if you are in the area, pop in.

Disembarkation was the typical breeze, although the Port of Los Angeles is better than Port Everglades, in my opinion. On the last nite I was having problems falling asleep, I was just starting to drift off around 1:30am, when I realized I hadn't heard anything about our bus to the airport, and realized I threw out our tickets, so I was at customer services there at 2am or so, good time to go.

I found the WiFi to be extremely slow, was not happy about it at all. You could load one page, but if you wanted to read comments, or go to a second most likely would not load. I honestly did not find it to be any different then what they normally have. The concierge did say they were having problems with it one day, but I found it to be bad the entire week. This happened at all times of the day and in different areas.

I did find the service generally on the ship not to be great. Although the staff was not rude, I did feel that there was a bit of a lack, although I can't put my finger on it. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all, and the ones mentioned above were very good.

My other complaint, is when did they change the carpets in the hallways, it was the same color for both sides. It took us days before we finally were able to figure out what was port and what was starboard :D

The elevators were typically slow, and when you were on one, they invariably stopped on each floor for those ghost passengers, but at least they didn't try to cram into one.

Overall it was a pleasant cruise, I made platinum after this one. The ship is beautiful and hope to sail on her again or one of the sister ones in the future.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Love the Regal. I totally agree about the carpet, it’s so much easier on the ships that have the colored borders.

Thanks for the reviews.

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Regal in 13 days for an Eastern Caribbean cruise. Was there a Pub Lunch and/or Crab Shack during your cruise? From all the recent reports I have read the Happy Hours have been discontinued, but I will ask any way - were there any BOGO1$ on your cruise?

Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Love the Regal. I totally agree about the carpet, it’s so much easier on the ships that have the colored borders.

Thanks for the reviews.

In addition to being different colors on each side of the ship, there used to be fish swimming along in the patterns, and the fish were always swimming towards the bow of the ship.

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Regal in 13 days for an Eastern Caribbean cruise. Was there a Pub Lunch and/or Crab Shack during your cruise? From all the recent reports I have read the Happy Hours have been discontinued, but I will ask any way - were there any BOGO1$ on your cruise?

the last sea day they had the Pub Lunch, not sure what days the Crab Shack were on, never noticed that. No, did not see any BOGO. The coffee card did have an expiration date, we gave our 2nd one away as we wouldn't be using it, and I bought someone and his wife a coffee as I still had punches left over

What nights were the formals? Thanks!

Thanks for the review. I was on the Regal January 2017 and she instantly became my favorite ship. I board in a few weeks, doing the same itinerary as you did.

What nights were the formals? Thanks!

First sea day (Tuesday) and Grand Cayman night (Thursday) .

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First sea day (Tuesday) and Grand Cayman night (Thursday) .

 

 

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Thank you!

Thank you!

Keep in mind that was for our Western Caribbean and it may be different for the alternative itinerary.

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Keep in mind that was for our Western Caribbean and it may be different for the alternative itinerary.

 

 

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That is what I am on, in two weeks. :)

According to the Princess website, Suites receive all of the Club Class perks which includes 2 half bottles of wine. Did you receive wine in addition to the mini-bar option that you changed for coffee cards?

Thank you for your nice review.

According to the Princess website, Suites receive all of the Club Class perks which includes 2 half bottles of wine. Did you receive wine in addition to the mini-bar option that you changed for coffee cards?

We had two small bottles of sparkling wine which we never drank. I put them in the fridge and forgot about them, shows how much I drink. We had two bottles of water in the fridge, but I had purchased 24 bottles of water so I never had any more delivered.

Thanks for sharing nice review.

Tony

Great report. Congratulations on making Platinum and thank you for taking the time to write this report.

Keith

We had two small bottles of sparkling wine which we never drank. I put them in the fridge and forgot about them, shows how much I drink. We had two bottles of water in the fridge, but I had purchased 24 bottles of water so I never had any more delivered.

Thanks for responding so quickly. We haven't sailed on Princess since CC was initiated and we're sailing next month. Enjoyed your review!