Just got home after Regal Princess cruise

[OceanPrince]

Here are some quick thoughts and reviews. But first some background info. This is my 6th cruise with Princess, 3rd 7-day Eastern Caribbean, 2nd on one of the new ships. The main reason for this cruise was that my friends saw my pictures from previous cruises, particularly the airplane landings at Maho Beach, and they wanted to go. We decided that we disembarked at St Maartens on the 5th day of the cruise and spend the weekend there.

 

The Ship: I was on the Royal in March and really enjoyed the beauty and elegance of the ship. The Regal is basically the same gorgeous ship. Every time I walk thru the atrium, I'm in awe.

 

Food: This is a subjective topic. Not sure if it's psychological bit I enjoyed the dinning room food on the 2 new ships the most. The buffet is definitely better.

 

The IM system: Since it's web based, it doesnt have alerts and often lags. You would need to open up the browser on your smartphone periodically to see if you have any new msgs. Overall, it's better than nothing. Maybe the app will eventually come out and it'll be flawless.

 

Happy hour: From 11pm to midnight, drinks are buy one get one free at the club. This was great. Not only cheaper drinks, but people actually going to the Club.

 

Crown Grill: first time trying Crown Grill after 6 cruises. It was one of the highlights. Totally worth the $25 cover. I rarely eat at fancy restaurants but my friends do. So I asked my friends how much would the same food, same decor, same service be worth if we move Crown Grill into the middle of LA as a stand alone restaurant. The consensus was about $150 per person.

 

Toiletries: Seems like everything is "by request" now. It started with the conditioner, now even lotion. I had dry skin for the first day until I realised this.

 

Entertainment: First half of the cruise had comedian Adam Ace. I find all comedians good. Adam Ace is good but probably the least 'good' of all the comedians I've seen. As mentioned, I disembarked on day 5. The patter that day has the Beatlemaniacs that night. They are possibly the most enjoyable act I've seen on a cruise. Very bummed that Adam Ace was during first couple nights and Beatlemaniac was during last couple nights.

 

Production show 'Fiera': I usually dont care for the song and dance routines. But since Fiera is exclusively on the Regal and got great reviews, I went to check it out. It was terrific. (1) The production and choreography was amazing (2) the popular songs they sang were from the 80's thru Present. Finally!

 

Time change: my stateroom attendant did not give me the slip of paper informing of time change. I didnt see anything on the patter either. During the 3rd and 4th day, I was constantly asking crew and other passengers what time is it. (once you turn cell phone on land, it resets to local time)

 

Ping Pong: I play lots of table tennis during cruises. But the location of the tables on the new ships makes it impossible to play at sea. It's in the middle of a wind tunnel!

 

Movies under the Star: Sun and Mon (football). Tues (the Giver). Wed (Guardians of Galaxy). The screen on the new ships are noticeably more clear than the other ships

 

Anguilla: A 25 minute ferry ride from St Maartens is the island of Anguilla. It's roughly the same size as St. Maartens but has 1/5th of the population and much fewer tourists. It has very nice secluded beaches with the softest white sand. Shoal beach is rated one of the top beaches in the world and Rendezvous Beach is just as good. If you want to avoid the crowd at St Maartens, Anguilla is an alternative. If you want to go during St. Maartens port day, it's doable but you would need to have 4-5 people to make it cost effective and you need to hustle (be first off of ship, taxi to Marigot port, clear customs, get on ferry ($30 rt ferry plus $13 tax), rent a car in Anguilla ($65 total), drive to beaches, then repeat everything in reverse before 2PM). I visited after disembarking so I had plenty of time.

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for your thoughts. I'd like to try the Regal and Eastern Caribbean.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[pusywillow]

Thanks for the review. I'll be doing the Royal to the Eastern Caribbean. I always wear a cheap watch to keep track of time on a cruise and in ports. Anguilla sounds nice but not on a short port day. IMO too little time and too much money. It's nice you had a weekend to enjoy it.

 

Did you take off from that cool airport? Was it as amazing as watching it from the ground?

 

Sue

[bulldog on water]

how did you arrange to get off and stay in St. Marrtin in middle of cruise?

very interested, did not know you could do this.

Did you have any trouble getting back??

[RickEk]

how did you arrange to get off and stay in St. Marrtin in middle of cruise?

very interested, did not know you could do this.

Did you have any trouble getting back??

 

This is called a route-sector request in Princess parlance. You have to contact Princess and they have to get clearance from the local authorities for you to disembark mid-cruise. You do, of course, have to pay for the entire cruise... it's not pro-rated or anything like that.

 

Some folks did that on my cruise last week on Crown Princess. They disembarked in Cabo San Lucas.

 

FYI, It's not possible on some itineraries, like the 15-day Hawaii cruise. You can't embark in LA and get off in Honolulu. That's a violation of the PVSA. Princess will advise if it's doable.

Edited December 23, 2014 by RickEk

[OceanPrince]

how did you arrange to get off and stay in St. Marrtin in middle of cruise?

very interested, did not know you could do this.

Did you have any trouble getting back??

 

Yes, I had to contact Princess for approval first. As previous post mentioned, I have to pay for entire cruise and all the port taxes. However, I closed out folio on day 5 and saved gratuity for the remaining 2 days. Also, I had to hand over my passport the night before disembarkation so that the ship people can do the immigration paperwork for St. Maartens.

 

I flew into FLL and flew out of SXM. Really enjoyed my 3 days in SXM. Once the cruise ships leave, it's a nice chilled vibe. Was able to visit Anguilla and St. Barts as well, though the ferry rides were not pleasant.

[sunsetbeachgal]

We stayed in Anguilla in a fabulous hotel once and flew into SXM and took the ferry from Marigot, as I am afraid of small propeller planes...my husband said after the terribly bumpy ferry ride that no plane ride could have been that bad...:p

[eandj]

We stayed in Anguilla in a fabulous hotel once and flew into SXM and took the ferry from Marigot, as I am afraid of small propeller planes...my husband said after the terribly bumpy ferry ride that no plane ride could have been that bad...:p

 

Which hotel in Anguilla? DH has this island on his bucket list.;)

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting your review and mentioning new possibilities for us to consider.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review of your cruise.

[OrcaGirl]

 

Movies under the Star: Sun and Mon (football). Tues (the Giver). Wed (Guardians of Galaxy). The screen on the new ships are noticeably more clear than the other ships

 

 

How was the audio quality for the screen? My last few cruises, I've ended up leaving partway through the movie because the audio was so bad, you couldn't really follow along with the movie.

 

Erin

[OceanPrince]

How was the audio quality for the screen? My last few cruises, I've ended up leaving partway through the movie because the audio was so bad, you couldn't really follow along with the movie.

 

Erin

 

Hmmm.. the only time I watched movie was when I was sitting in Hot Tub, I remembered I can hear it but barely, but it probably cuz of the hot tub jets.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Which hotel in Anguilla? DH has this island on his bucket list.;)

 

Cap Juluca. ;)

 

Really perfect but very expensive. I was a travel manager at the time so got discounts, no more! Anguilla is quiet and mostly just nice beaches and a few nice resorts unless it has changed.