Surprised that Regal Princess only gets a 73% rating

[Bently57]

I am not new to Princess. I have cruised many times, on the Grand, the Coral, the Crown, the Caribbean, and the Golden. However, when the Royal came out with their tiny balconies, we went back to Celebrity S-Class...which is where we've been ever since.

 

We thought we'd try Princess again for a change, even with the small balcony issue, but I am alarmed that the Regal and the Royal do not fare well on this site under "Ship Reviews." The Royal's 66% is very sad!

 

I knew that Regal had made a few changes, but 73% is still not that great. We are re-thinking our decision, and quite possibly will go with Celebrity S-Class once again...unless someone out there has some really great things to say about the Regal that we will not find on Celebrity S-Class.

[Potstech]

I have sailed on the Royal and have my own opinions of it. The only way to truly find out what it is like is to sail on the Regal and find out how it fits YOUR opinion. I am currently scheduled to sale on the Regal late next year and I am looking forward to it. I like to form my own opinions after experiencing the ship.

 

Take a chance, have an adventure and sail on her to get the true feel of the ship. How do you know if you do not try it, you might like it.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Potstech

[klenklen]

Have taken one Royal cruise, two Regal and going on third Regal next month. Wonderful ships, delightful cruises, take negative reviews with skepticism and compare your own experiences to the negative people. What's not to like about a cruise!

[Bently57]

Well...I do thank you for the responses. Having cruised Princess many times, I know it would be a good trip. But specifically, is there anything about the Regal or Royal that I would not find on other Princess ships? I guess that is what I am asking. Because we are the kind that DO use the balcony quite a bit. So something would need to make up for that.

[cruzsnooze]

I sailed the Regal and would never sail on her again. I didn't like her at all. So there are many different opinions and you'll have to form your own.

Edited September 12, 2016 by cruzsnooze

[pablo222]

Well...I do thank you for the responses. Having cruised Princess many times, I know it would be a good trip. But specifically, is there anything about the Regal or Royal that I would not find on other Princess ships?

 

The lido selections on Regal/Royal are much broader.

 

There is also a station that makes specialty coffees.

[John Reid]

I know there is a concern on this board (and the RCI board) about the public's reception of the new builds of those lines. And I know some suggest trying the experience. But that can be an expensive experiment.

 

We all make purchases that are based on quality and features we like and expect. Cars, houses, televisions, smart phones - all decisions based on personal choice and research. I'm not going to wing it and buy a TV to see if I might like it when I know there is another model I favor more. And cruises can't be returned.

 

I know I like Ruby, Golden, and Caribbean. Because of similar features, I believe I will enjoy my next cruise booked on Emerald.

 

I'm not going to risk Royal or Regal. I MIGHT like it, but I know I like Ruby.

 

You will have to decide what features are important to you. An outside promenade to walk and sit is important to me. Regal doesn't have one.

 

For a Caribbean itinerary. I prefer the pool layout on the previous ships. Regal has an entire extra passenger deck and does not seem to have additional pool space. This is important to me.

 

And I am much too used to the large mini-suite and balcony cabin balconies available on the other ships.

 

If these features are not important to you, Regal could be wonderful.

[Bently57]

Thank you John Reid. Someone else mentioned specialty coffee is a nice plus, but I am one of those that likes my coffee plain, so it is of no benefit to me. I am not a pool fanatic, so that makes little difference to me one way or the other. I appreciate all the information! I like the Grand Class. This new version for Princess sounds like they took out the private spaces to make more room for public spaces. Makes sense, in that they can get a better return on the dollar. I know so many people that say, "Well we only used the room for sleep, there was so much to do!" And while I am not a hermit, I am kind of a balcony nut. Also, the S-Class has lots of smaller public deck space, where you are not right next to the pool...but still out of the room. Lots of time spent there and on the balcony on our last cruise. More and more I see that this new class of ship is probably not for me.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Bently57

[JimmyVWine]

Newer builds are simply getting more tepid responses. It's not just Princess. Look at RCCL:

Anthem=49%

Harmony=53%

Quantum=46%

Ovation=59%

 

And HAL:

Konigsdam=57%

 

And NCL

Breakaway=60%

Getaway=68%

Escape=64%

 

These are all at or below the two new Princess ships.

 

Now, to be fair, Celebrity's newest ships are doing really well in the "Loved It!" percentages. But they seem to be a bit of an outlier. The people traveling on the newest ships from PCL, RCCL, HAL and NCL just aren't as enthusiastic about those ships as they are about the predecessors. Could be a resistance to change. Could be a resistance to more passengers on board. Or it could be that it takes a long time to get the percentages up past 75%. For example, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas are up at 79% and 80% respectively. Are they that much better than Anthem, Harmony, Quantum and Ovation, or have they been around long enough to bump their ratings up? Don't know.

[COMBOY]

I wouldn't consider CC reviews/ratings scientific by any means. Only a small faction the cruising public knows about CC and even a smaller portion actually writes reviews and gives ratings. Out of 407 reviews - 185 voted it excellent; 114-Verg Good; 71-Average; 20-Poor; 20-Terrible. So although 73% may not seem all that great I won't make that my decided factor whether to cruise the RP. 407 reviews out of the thousands who sailing on the RP isn't that great. For those that rated it "Poor" or "'Terrible" you'd need to read those reviews and see why they rated it so poor. Even the "best" ships (like shore side hotel and restaurant) can get poor reviews for many reasons. A lot can be based on subjective feelings, or opinions; not on fact. Also, there is no verification of these reviews and rating - it's on the honor system and anyone or any reason can write reviews or give ratings. I always take all reviews/rating with a grain of salt. I'm not saying anyone is being dishonest, but who knows.... Ultimately it's up to you (the consumer) to make the final decision.

Edited September 12, 2016 by COMBOY

[moki'smommy]

In response to this post, I looked at the review scores for several of the ships we've sailed. Suffice it to say that my ratings would not have agreed with the masses. My favorite ship scored lower than some others in the same line. Looking specifically at Princess, the ship that I preferred (out of those I've been on) scored 5 points lower than the one I liked least!

 

On another line, 2 identical ships scored 5 points apart and both scored higher than my favorite on that line! I DO understand why that probably happened as I prefer the smaller ship with less "stuff" while most reviewers probably go for "bells and whistles."

 

Comparing one line to another was crazy, probably due to different clientele. It might make sense to compare Princess and Celebrity ships or to compare Disney to Royal Caribbean....but to compare Royal Carib to Princess didn't make sense to me.

 

So...based on my review of the reviews, your opinion of the ship matters a whole lot more than that of the reviewers.

Edited September 12, 2016 by moki'smommy

[JimmyVWine]

I wouldn't consider CC reviews/ratings scientific by any means. Only a small faction the cruising public knows about CC and even a smaller portion actually writes reviews and gives ratings.

True. Especially the "non-scientific" part. But you have to concede the relative nature of the reviews. The same people who are rating the ship that nets out at a 63% are the same people who are rating another ship out at 87%. So if Ship "A" has 407 reviews of which 185 are **** and 114 are ***, and Ship "B" has 407 reviews of which 240 are **** and 135 are ***, while not being scientific, it is hard to make the argument that the results are not meaningful. Simply put, the people who take the time to vote liked Ship "B" more. All too often people want to discard low reviews or argue that "only the people who want to complain write reviews." But this is at total odds with the fact that there are ships out there with 80+% ratings. Those people didn't write the review just to complain. And when one chooses a ship with an 88% rating, it is hard to justify grabbing hold of those reviews while at the same time wanting to disregard the ships with low reviews.

[Bently57]

Thanks, COMBOY. I do agree with what you are saying, for the most part. I did delve into the ones with the lower marks to see what their issues were. Not categorically...but many were about the smaller balconies. I looked at the ones with higher marks as well. Their raves were pretty much about everything, so they were harder to pinpoint as to exactly what made the difference for them. And that is good news, for sure. I would go with Regal if it was taking a unique itinerary I could not get with another cruise line. However, in this instance, that is not the case, so this time out...we will go with Celebrity Silhouette.

[FlorenceItaly]

Lately we have been cruising Celebrity, and the smaller M class. We prefer the smaller ships. In September 2015, we cruised on the Caribbean Princess, and thought she was too big. Also, we didn't care for the lay out. Next month we are cruising on a Celebrity M class again, in December, the Regal Christmas cruise. We will leave the Regal on the 29th, and board our first Celebrity S Class ship on January 2. The comparison will be interesting. We are very much looking forward to our Regal Christmas cruise. It will be a nice change. It seems many on CC love her.

 

 

Marie

[goofy559]

Well...I do thank you for the responses. Having cruised Princess many times, I know it would be a good trip. But specifically, is there anything about the Regal or Royal that I would not find on other Princess ships? I guess that is what I am asking. Because we are the kind that DO use the balcony quite a bit. So something would need to make up for that.

 

On the Royal and Regal folks who don't like the ships tend to be put off by three main things: smaller balconies, no central stairs above deck 7 and no walk-around promenade deck (it only goes part way)

 

For me, none of those things matter. I book forward or aft, don't have an issue with the balcony size (and know where the bigger ones are if I want to book one) and don't use the promenade deck for walking. What I love is the larger atrium area and the number of activities/entertainment that take place there, the amazing buffet and the aft pool on the Regal.

 

As folks have said, you really need to sail one of them once to form your own opinion (but go with an open mind). Just for context, we've sailed on everything from really old ships with shared showers to the Allure of the Seas (with 6000 of our closest friends) and can honestly say that we've enjoyed every trip and ship for different reasons

[Bently57]

No central staircase above deck 7 would not faze me one bit. I do like a good promenade deck, and I've already mentioned that I prefer a decent sized balcony. So Regal is not entirely out of the running for us, but since the Silhouette is basically doing the same itinerary (and we love Aqua Class and nice sized balcony) we will go with it this time.

 

And looking at cruise reviews overall for any cruise line, 73% is not terrible. It is just that I had expected it to improve since the last time I checked it out. But I doubt I would ever go with the Royal.

[FlorenceItaly]

No central staircase above deck 7 would not faze me one bit. I do like a good promenade deck, and I've already mentioned that I prefer a decent sized balcony. So Regal is not entirely out of the running for us, but since the Silhouette is basically doing the same itinerary (and we love Aqua Class and nice sized balcony) we will go with it this time.

 

And looking at cruise reviews overall for any cruise line, 73% is not terrible. It is just that I had expected it to improve since the last time I checked it out. But I doubt I would ever go with the Royal.

 

Understandable! We love AQ. Our January cruise is in AQ. We got an incredible deal on a balcony for the Regal Christmas cruise. I couldn't touch a 11 night Celebrity Holiday(Dec. 18-29) cruise for what we are paying for the Regal. It is what gave us the push to book it.

 

 

Marie

[IECalCruiser]

As for the Royal/Regal, balcony size doesn't bother me because I know which cabins have large balconies. No center stairs doesn't both me because I can't walk up and down the stairs all day and I book forward cabins and use those elevators. As for the lack of a full Promenade deck, I never liked having to walk up a flight of stairs at the front of the Grand class ships. The current sections of Promenade deck have nice seating areas, especially all the way aft with very comfortable lounge chairs giving you a comfortable way to view to the side and even part of the aft wake view that isn't possible on the Grand class ships. The main negatives mentioned may be deal breakers for some but not us. The main issue I had is with the noise volume in the Atrium. On the Regal the volume of the entertainment was so high that you could hear the music plainly in the shops above the Casino that are not directly open to the Atrium [emoji45][emoji45][emoji45] The food in the Horizon Court is fantastic and we only had one lunch (embarkation day) and formal night dinners in the DR.

 

 

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[sallybrown2012]

I was so surprised by this thread that I had to read it! I've gone on many cruises, including several on different Princess ships, and the Royal is by far my favorite. We're signed up to try the Regal this winter. I love the pool areas, including the adult only pool area, which is always peaceful and has plenty of space to stretch out and relax. And the movies under the stars are fantastic. No complaints about balconies or food or entertainment. I loved all of it!

[Stumptowngal]

Interesting comments and looking forward to forming our own opinions after our first two Princess cruises in the next year and a half.

 

I read lots of reviews of the Regal before booking that cruise. Knowing how much I love balconies, we booked an aft balcony which is super large. Love to walk so the absence of a central stairs doesn't bother me. Plus figure we will be working out in the fitness center and using the track on the upper level so lack of a full promenade probably won't matter too much. All that said, you just can't know the ambiance of a ship until you actually experience it.

 

We've sailed three times on a Celebrity M class over 15 years ago and really enjoyed those experiences.

[umuva]

Sailed six times on Regal with more booked. Staff and activities have been fantastic. Food in the buffet excellent with so many choices. Private adult pool forward. Love the tv system in the cabin. Can stop a show and come back to it later.

 

 

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[iceleven]

Since the OP seems mostly concerned with the size of a balcony, it should be noted that there are many cabins with larger balconies and without an additional premium rate on both the Royal and Regal. One simply should research the ship's layout or allow their TA to help them find one.

[shredie]

I don't put much stock in reviews. It's usually the grumpy people who do them. Lol.

 

 

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[islandatsea]

We sailed on the Regal Princess once and coming up in November a 14 day cruise on the Royal Princess. We really like the buffet, Atrium, Lido Deck, cabin tv system etc.

[Murphey]

After sailing on the Regal there were things we liked. But we too are cabin/balcony dwellers and to say we are never in our cabin is just wrong and the balcony was indeed tiny. So when we ventured to the Mediterranean, the Royal was really our only choice (with Princess). So, we booked an aft balcony. It totally changed my perception of the ship. The balcony is important to us and it was wonderful. I would only book aft balconies on these ships or simply not go. Oh and all the soot brouhaha , nada, not an issue....Now other than getting a fair amount of exercise going from one end to the other (and this is a bad thing?) the ship is great!!