COUNTDOWN to REGAL PRINCESS: News, updates, and general information!!!

[MarKay525]

Now that Regal Princess has set sail on her Maiden Voyage it's time for me to bid everyone a fond 'Adieu', but not before one final contribution...

 

Dave,

 

As so many have said before, a mere Thank You doesn't begin to express the appreciation and gratitude for another excellent thread. As with the Royal Princess, you've guided us to the pinnacle and now quietly step aside. :(

 

Thanks to everyone who has added to the discussion with facts & photos, opinions, experiences, etc. The past 90 days have been filled with anticipation, and now we have the thrill of following those who are actually on the Regal.

 

Bon Voyage to all who will be sailing on this beautiful lady. Kay

[patperry]

Just started a LIVE from Regal's Inaugural Cruise thread...

 

Will continue to update it and post here also as time (and internet minutes allow). Pictures when I can...

 

Paul......Thank You :)

[dalmation lover]

Thank you to the passenger who took precious time to tell us all about the shakedown cruise experience! Keep the accounts coming passengers!!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

 

Had a fantastic time on the Regal Princess. All Staff will go the extra mile and are happy in their work. My sister and I are looking to book the Regal for next year.

 

Two small hiccups, the sound of Music under the Stars was way too loud, left when concerts came on. We had deluxe cabin E222, right above Club 6. Music was very loud quite late.

[BugsyCruiser]

Dave thanks again for all your hard work. Looking forward to my cruise aboard Regal Princess :)

 

Sent from my HTC6600LVW using Tapatalk

[chamima]

Dave thanks again for all your hard work. Looking forward to my cruise aboard Regal Princess :)

 

Sent from my HTC6600LVW using Tapatalk

 

 

Chris

When do you sail?

I know we'll get lots of pictures from your cruise! :D

[cruisequeen4ever]

Thank you, Dave! You kept the excitement going!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[the kids]

We will miss you Dave. Many thanks for your excellent reporting. We raise our glass to wish you a happy life. You will always be remembered as we sail on the Regal.

'Sheila and Marty The Kids

[Kenosha Cruiser]

Dave, a big thank you for creating this thread. It was fun following along. Looking forward to boarding the Regal with the "2nd Bag of Nuts" November 9th. We have a good cruise critic roll call group waiting to cruise on this beauty. If anyone is interested, come join us.

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

Edited May 21, 2014 by Kenosha Cruiser

[BugsyCruiser]

Chris

When do you sail?

I know we'll get lots of pictures from your cruise! :D

 

Very first two Caribbean sailings from Fort Lauderdale on 11/06 and 09 :)

 

Sent from my HTC6600LVW using Tapatalk

[need2cruisesoon]

Dave, great thread and have enjoyed contributing and reading your informative posts along the way.

Hope to see you on the Regal soon.

Ron

[iamlin]

Now that Regal Princess has set sail on her Maiden Voyage it's time for me to bid everyone a fond 'Adieu', but not before one final contribution:

 

A picture of those aboard ship who contribute so very much of their life to make your cruise as special as it can be, and a memory that you'll always cherish...

 

The Crew of Regal Princess

(Credit MG Media)

 

This picture is very touching.....thank you to all of these fine people. We can not wait to board the Regal June 2nd in Venice to say "hello".

[CruzNut7]

Can anyone post a link to Av8tor's "live from" ... or tell me how to get there? Thanks.

[gailjen]

Can anyone post a link to Av8tor's "live from" ... or tell me how to get there? Thanks.

 

It had dropped down onto page 2.

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2045212

[#1winelover]

Can anyone post a link to Av8tor's "live from" ... or tell me how to get there? Thanks.

 

Jane! I just tried to find a "live from" by Av8tor and came up nill! Be sure you have your title correct, or you will need to search using the Roll Call tool on the main page. (gray bar just below the CC logo and ads). Click on Roll Call Tool, then narrow the search down by making additional selections as needed. Scan the list of results and start with the most logical "hits." As I said, I didn't find a "live from" in the list of hits that I got that looked reasonable, but perhaps they got fancy and opted OUT of the normal Roll Calls and put it another category. If you find it, post the link. Thanks. :confused:

[Jojiboy]

Jane! I just tried to find a "live from" by Av8tor and came up nill! Be sure you have your title correct, or you will need to search using the Roll Call tool on the main page. (gray bar just below the CC logo and ads). Click on Roll Call Tool, then narrow the search down by making additional selections as needed. Scan the list of results and start with the most logical "hits." As I said, I didn't find a "live from" in the list of hits that I got that looked reasonable, but perhaps they got fancy and opted OUT of the normal Roll Calls and put it another category. If you find it, post the link. Thanks. :confused:

 

gailjen posted the link in the post above your's.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Jojiboy

[SeaTheWorldBySea]

Jane! I just tried to find a "live from" by Av8tor and came up nill! Be sure you have your title correct, or you will need to search using the Roll Call tool on the main page. (gray bar just below the CC logo and ads). Click on Roll Call Tool, then narrow the search down by making additional selections as needed. Scan the list of results and start with the most logical "hits." As I said, I didn't find a "live from" in the list of hits that I got that looked reasonable, but perhaps they got fancy and opted OUT of the normal Roll Calls and put it another category. If you find it, post the link. Thanks. :confused:

 

Just a FYI - Much easier - click on Av8tor (on any of his posts). There will be a drop down menu. Select: Find all post by Av8tor -- you will find all of his posts and you can click on the one you are looking for.

 

You can do that for anyone who posts on cruisecritic.

[caribill]

 

 

 

There are three real criticism of the room. The first I believe is the same as the royal. There is no way to turn the dressing area light on without turning the main cabin light on too.

 

I want to let you know that you can control the lights that come on with the dressing room lights. All you have to do is turn them off at the source. If you turn off the light switches behind the pillows and on the lamps, the dressing area light will remain on. After you turn the dressing room light off, you can put on the other lights independent of the switch for the dressing room area.:D

 

The question is having turned off the room lights with the switches behind the pillow and on the lamps, if you turn the dressing area light off and then on again, will the other lights remain off?

[Mom33]

The question is having turned off the room lights with the switches behind the pillow and on the lamps, if you turn the dressing area light off and then on again, will the other lights remain off?

 

Yes! If you want another light to come on with the wall switch, just turn it back on and leave it in the on position.:D

[SeaCBear]

As promised, I'm writing a little review of our time so far on the brand new Regal Princess. As I type this, we are enjoying a gorgeous sunny day and beautiful views, on our way to Istanbul. So far we've had a great time.

 

I'm not going to write a lot about the ports, but if you have any questions please ask! We loved Venice, and would highly recommend the Hotel Gorizia if you're able to get it for less than $200 a night. We paid about $185 on LastMinuteTravel, a couple of months ago. Our day in Corfu yesterday was lovely, and the highlight was a drink at a bar overlooking Mouse Island - fantastic view. Royal car rental, right at the port, was great. Very friendly, helpful staff and a clean new car. We booked online and paid 40 Euros for the day, including insurance.

 

So, on to the ship. I cruised on the Royal with our son last New Year's, so I've noticed a few changes that I'll report here. As you would expect from a brand new vessel, the ship is very pristeen. It is also quite empty. The cruise on the Royal, at New Year's, was absolutely full and there were lots of kids. This ship is half empty. The buffet, the dining rooms, the pool areas, the Retreat - all are uncrowded and finding a chair in the sun or shade is not a problem. The manager of the Sanctuary, Ilarion, confirmed what we suspected, which is that Princess has deliberately undersold this first 'real' cruise to give the new crew a chance to hone their skills with fewer passengers. Anyway, it's very nice for us.

 

Before we left I was asked to report back on the the soot issue and the Retreat. Well, the Retreat area is still very windy, but they have added glass panels to the cabanas, on one side, which may be helping. We haven't spoken to anyone in an aft cabin, but we've spent quite a lot of time enjoying the views from the Horizon Terrace. From there you can look down on the aft cabins, and we didn't see a lot of soot - just a few specks. And people are definitely out on those balconies and enjoying the fine weather we've been having, and the wonderful views.

 

When my son and I boarded the Royal in December we headed straight to the Sanctuary. We were the first in line, but all weekly bookings were gone. We were able to book the Santuary for the following day, and loved it. But to book any other day required lining up each day (to book for the following day). I did line up at 8 (the booking desk opened at 9), but there were already 20 people ahead of me and all I could get was a cabana in the Retreat area. That morning people were swearing at Ilarian, the Sanctuary manager, and I really thought a fist fight might break out amongst some of the passengers. It was madness. Well, they system has now been changed and it's possible to book multiple days at the same time. So we were able to book the first and last sea days when we boarded. Ilarian (who remembered me, and we I sat, and what I drank on the Royal last New Year's!) seems to feel this is working better. It certainly must be less stressful for him!

 

We have the All Inclusive plan, and for us it is good value. We're enjoying our capuccinos, espressos, bottles of water and more martinis, glasses of wine and scotches than we probably should :-) On board however there is considerable confusion as to what is or is not included. On the first day we had a gelato. The nice young man said our AI packages definitely didn't include gelato, as has been reported here on Cruise Critic. So we headed over to Passenger Services to enquire. The young woman at the desk said she didn't think gelato was included but she called Beverage Services to check. They told her that yes, it was. Yesterday we were again charged for gelato. Back to passenger services. A different woman told us that gelato was definitely NOT included with the AI package. She couldn't get through to Beverages to ask, but is apparently going to look into it. But my husband also needed to get a new card (his had stopped working for our cabin door). We were told to go to the International Cafe to get a new AI sticker. When we did that, I asked if gelato was included. Absolutely we were told.

 

There is now also a $10 cover charge for Alfredo's. Ilarian told us, however, that this charge would be covered by the AI plan. Great! So, we went to Alfredo's - they informed us before we were seated that there was a $10 charge per person. I asked if our AI package covered this and was told yes. Well not only was it covered, but for some reason we were credited with $9 and $1 from Alfredo's after our lunch there. We were never charged a cover. However, at our daily visit to passenger services we were told that the cover charge was NOT covered by the AI package - the package only covers drinks. Confused yet? So are we! The moral of the tale is that you must check your on board account each day and report any issues immediately to passenger services. The exasperated woman at the desk told us she's tired of having to fix all of these issues. Well, we're tired of spending half an hour each day at passenger services resolving all of these mistakes too. Clearly Princess has not done a great job communicating what is covered by the AI plan.

 

Most of the staff on board have been great, and I recognize many from the Royal. There do, however, appear to be a few food and beverage issues. A few minor irritations: I really enjoyed the dry French rose wine on board the Royal Princess. It's listed on every drinks menu on board the Regal too, but none of the bars or restaurants actually have it. When I ordered the Italian Treat wine flight in the wine bar, I was told I couldn't have it because one of the three wines was not available. I asked if they could just substitute a different Italian red - ANY Italian. The server just said "No.".

 

At our first dinner on board, in a dining room that was only about a 1/3 full, we spent some time reviewing the menu. My husband decided he would order the Louisiana crawfish etouffee. The wine steward came over to recommend wines for the food we were planning to order. He suggested a Chablis for my husband, and he ordered it. Then the waiter came to take our order. When my husband ordered the Louisiana entree, he said "Oh, we don't have that tonight. We have shrimps and scallops in a cream sauce instead." It would really have been helpful if he'd told us that before we ordered the wine, and before we spent time studying the menu. So we both ordered the Prime Rib instead, and sadly I have to report it was the worst meal I have ever had on a cruise. The beef was just awful - it had a gelatinous texture, and absolutely no taste. We both abandoned it after one bite and just ate our baked potatoes. We couldn't order another entree as people were now arriving all around us in the dining room, wearing their life jackets, in preparation for the muster drill. The dining room staff were also wearing their life jackets. It was a very strange meal!

 

Generally we have not found the food on board to be great, but we're not starving! Lunch in the buffet today was probably the best meal so far, with a very nice salad bar. We love the outside seating area there for meals and drinks. On the Royal, my son and I loved Alfredo's and ate there a few times. We've only been to Alfredo's once on the Regal, and my pizza was soggy and undercooked. Tonight we're looking forward to dinner at the Crown Grill.

 

We've enjoyed some of the entertainment. The Venetian Orchestra that played in the piazza on the first night was good. We enjoyed a brief show by a Hungarian BMX stunt bike rider, also in the piazza. We have only been to the theater once (still no cup holders :-( ), to watch Annette Wardle (I think that's her name), a British opera singer. We both quite like opera, but we left after the second song. An opera singer singing Elvis just seemed wrong! We just didn't enjoy it. The piano player in the Wheelhouse bar is quite good. Orphea (I may have that name wrong) are also on board. I enjoyed this band on the Royal, and also now on the Regal. We went to a port lecture by Julio Delgado (again, I may have the name wrong) and found him to be charming and informative. We missed his talk today about Mykonos, but we'll watch it on the TV in our cabin before we reach that port.

 

Our cabin, Caribe 626 is fine - no complaints at all. The bed is very comfortable, unlike the beds my son and I had on the Royal, which were as hard as concrete. I think that my be because we had twin beds and perhaps they don't put any sort of mattress topper on twin beds? Our cabin attendant, Pratchley, is very good.

 

The drinks have all been good (except I miss my French rose!). We forgot to buy wine before we boarded in Venice, so we picked up a couple of bottles when we went back in to Venice later that day. No one commented on our bottles of wine when we reboarded, so obviously we could have boarded with bottles both times. (Even though we have the AI package, sometimes it's nice to be able to enjoy a glass of wine on the balcony without having to fetch it from a bar).

 

I do hope I'm not sounding too negative. I certainly understand that this is only the first cruise and I'm sure many of these minor issues will be resolved and things will improve. The ship is lovely, the weather has been perfect, and we are certainly having a wonderful time.

 

One last point that might be of interest. The captain told us on the first formal night the top ten countries for passengers on board. I can only remember 8 - #1 is the US, and #2 is Canada. The other countries include Australia, the UK, Italy, Brazil, Japan and Mexico.

 

If anyone has any questions at all, please let me know and I will answer before we leave the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[#1winelover]

Just a FYI - Much easier - click on Av8tor (on any of his posts). There will be a drop down menu. Select: Find all post by Av8tor -- you will find all of his posts and you can click on the one you are looking for.

 

You can do that for anyone who posts on cruisecritic.

 

Thanks for that tip, Julie! After you mentioned it, it flooded back to me. Just to many bells and whistles on this forum! :D

[JPEvans]

As promised, I'm writing a little review of our time so far on the brand new Regal Princess. As I type this, we are enjoying a gorgeous sunny day and beautiful views, on our way to Istanbul. So far we've had a great time.

 

I'm not going to write a lot about the ports, but if you have any questions please ask! We loved Venice, and would highly recommend the Hotel Gorizia if you're able to get it for less than $200 a night. We paid about $185 on LastMinuteTravel, a couple of months ago. Our day in Corfu yesterday was lovely, and the highlight was a drink at a bar overlooking Mouse Island - fantastic view. Royal car rental, right at the port, was great. Very friendly, helpful staff and a clean new car. We booked online and paid 40 Euros for the day, including insurance.

 

So, on to the ship. I cruised on the Royal with our son last New Year's, so I've noticed a few changes that I'll report here. As you would expect from a brand new vessel, the ship is very pristeen. It is also quite empty. The cruise on the Royal, at New Year's, was absolutely full and there were lots of kids. This ship is half empty. The buffet, the dining rooms, the pool areas, the Retreat - all are uncrowded and finding a chair in the sun or shade is not a problem. The manager of the Sanctuary, Ilarion, confirmed what we suspected, which is that Princess has deliberately undersold this first 'real' cruise to give the new crew a chance to hone their skills with fewer passengers. Anyway, it's very nice for us.

 

Before we left I was asked to report back on the the soot issue and the Retreat. Well, the Retreat area is still very windy, but they have added glass panels to the cabanas, on one side, which may be helping. We haven't spoken to anyone in an aft cabin, but we've spent quite a lot of time enjoying the views from the Horizon Terrace. From there you can look down on the aft cabins, and we didn't see a lot of soot - just a few specks. And people are definitely out on those balconies and enjoying the fine weather we've been having, and the wonderful views.

 

When my son and I boarded the Royal in December we headed straight to the Sanctuary. We were the first in line, but all weekly bookings were gone. We were able to book the Santuary for the following day, and loved it. But to book any other day required lining up each day (to book for the following day). I did line up at 8 (the booking desk opened at 9), but there were already 20 people ahead of me and all I could get was a cabana in the Retreat area. That morning people were swearing at Ilarian, the Sanctuary manager, and I really thought a fist fight might break out amongst some of the passengers. It was madness. Well, they system has now been changed and it's possible to book multiple days at the same time. So we were able to book the first and last sea days when we boarded. Ilarian (who remembered me, and we I sat, and what I drank on the Royal last New Year's!) seems to feel this is working better. It certainly must be less stressful for him!

 

We have the All Inclusive plan, and for us it is good value. We're enjoying our capuccinos, espressos, bottles of water and more martinis, glasses of wine and scotches than we probably should :-) On board however there is considerable confusion as to what is or is not included. On the first day we had a gelato. The nice young man said our AI packages definitely didn't include gelato, as has been reported here on Cruise Critic. So we headed over to Passenger Services to enquire. The young woman at the desk said she didn't think gelato was included but she called Beverage Services to check. They told her that yes, it was. Yesterday we were again charged for gelato. Back to passenger services. A different woman told us that gelato was definitely NOT included with the AI package. She couldn't get through to Beverages to ask, but is apparently going to look into it. But my husband also needed to get a new card (his had stopped working for our cabin door). We were told to go to the International Cafe to get a new AI sticker. When we did that, I asked if gelato was included. Absolutely we were told.

 

There is now also a $10 cover charge for Alfredo's. Ilarian told us, however, that this charge would be covered by the AI plan. Great! So, we went to Alfredo's - they informed us before we were seated that there was a $10 charge per person. I asked if our AI package covered this and was told yes. Well not only was it covered, but for some reason we were credited with $9 and $1 from Alfredo's after our lunch there. We were never charged a cover. However, at our daily visit to passenger services we were told that the cover charge was NOT covered by the AI package - the package only covers drinks. Confused yet? So are we! The moral of the tale is that you must check your on board account each day and report any issues immediately to passenger services. The exasperated woman at the desk told us she's tired of having to fix all of these issues. Well, we're tired of spending half an hour each day at passenger services resolving all of these mistakes too. Clearly Princess has not done a great job communicating what is covered by the AI plan.

 

Most of the staff on board have been great, and I recognize many from the Royal. There do, however, appear to be a few food and beverage issues. A few minor irritations: I really enjoyed the dry French rose wine on board the Royal Princess. It's listed on every drinks menu on board the Regal too, but none of the bars or restaurants actually have it. When I ordered the Italian Treat wine flight in the wine bar, I was told I couldn't have it because one of the three wines was not available. I asked if they could just substitute a different Italian red - ANY Italian. The server just said "No.".

 

At our first dinner on board, in a dining room that was only about a 1/3 full, we spent some time reviewing the menu. My husband decided he would order the Louisiana crawfish etouffee. The wine steward came over to recommend wines for the food we were planning to order. He suggested a Chablis for my husband, and he ordered it. Then the waiter came to take our order. When my husband ordered the Louisiana entree, he said "Oh, we don't have that tonight. We have shrimps and scallops in a cream sauce instead." It would really have been helpful if he'd told us that before we ordered the wine, and before we spent time studying the menu. So we both ordered the Prime Rib instead, and sadly I have to report it was the worst meal I have ever had on a cruise. The beef was just awful - it had a gelatinous texture, and absolutely no taste. We both abandoned it after one bite and just ate our baked potatoes. We couldn't order another entree as people were now arriving all around us in the dining room, wearing their life jackets, in preparation for the muster drill. The dining room staff were also wearing their life jackets. It was a very strange meal!

 

Generally we have not found the food on board to be great, but we're not starving! Lunch in the buffet today was probably the best meal so far, with a very nice salad bar. We love the outside seating area there for meals and drinks. On the Royal, my son and I loved Alfredo's and ate there a few times. We've only been to Alfredo's once on the Regal, and my pizza was soggy and undercooked. Tonight we're looking forward to dinner at the Crown Grill.

 

We've enjoyed some of the entertainment. The Venetian Orchestra that played in the piazza on the first night was good. We enjoyed a brief show by a Hungarian BMX stunt bike rider, also in the piazza. We have only been to the theater once (still no cup holders :-( ), to watch Annette Wardle (I think that's her name), a British opera singer. We both quite like opera, but we left after the second song. An opera singer singing Elvis just seemed wrong! We just didn't enjoy it. The piano player in the Wheelhouse bar is quite good. Orphea (I may have that name wrong) are also on board. I enjoyed this band on the Royal, and also now on the Regal. We went to a port lecture by Julio Delgado (again, I may have the name wrong) and found him to be charming and informative. We missed his talk today about Mykonos, but we'll watch it on the TV in our cabin before we reach that port.

 

Our cabin, Caribe 626 is fine - no complaints at all. The bed is very comfortable, unlike the beds my son and I had on the Royal, which were as hard as concrete. I think that my be because we had twin beds and perhaps they don't put any sort of mattress topper on twin beds? Our cabin attendant, Pratchley, is very good.

 

The drinks have all been good (except I miss my French rose!). We forgot to buy wine before we boarded in Venice, so we picked up a couple of bottles when we went back in to Venice later that day. No one commented on our bottles of wine when we reboarded, so obviously we could have boarded with bottles both times. (Even though we have the AI package, sometimes it's nice to be able to enjoy a glass of wine on the balcony without having to fetch it from a bar).

 

I do hope I'm not sounding too negative. I certainly understand that this is only the first cruise and I'm sure many of these minor issues will be resolved and things will improve. The ship is lovely, the weather has been perfect, and we are certainly having a wonderful time.

 

One last point that might be of interest. The captain told us on the first formal night the top ten countries for passengers on board. I can only remember 8 - #1 is the US, and #2 is Canada. The other countries include Australia, the UK, Italy, Brazil, Japan and Mexico.

 

If anyone has any questions at all, please let me know and I will answer before we leave the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

 

It's disappointing to hear Alfredo's now has a cover charge. I enjoyed it several times on the Royal.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ethel5]

So sad that Alfredo's has a fee.:(

[SeaCBear]

We were certainly surprised to find out there was now a fee, but the Sanctuary manager told us it was just getting too popular.

 

 

QUOTE=Ethel5;42859522]So sad that Alfredo's has a fee.:(

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Astro Flyer]

We were certainly surprised to find out there was now a fee, but the Sanctuary manager told us it was just getting too popular.

 

 

QUOTE=Ethel5;42859522]So sad that Alfredo's has a fee.:(

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Well that may be true for the sanctuary but even there since doubling the price I haven't seen the sanctuary busy.

 

I think the excuse that it's getting too popular is just a way for Princess to try to rationalize why changes are made & to me is a bunch of garbage.

[IECalCruiser]

It's disappointing to hear Alfredo's now has a cover charge. I enjoyed it several times on the Royal.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We enjoyed the Alfredo's pizza on the Sapphire and the Grand earlier this year but I won't pay $10 for the expanded menu on the Royal/Regal. Shame, Shame on Princess :( :( :(

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Edited May 23, 2014 by IECalCruiser