Regal Holiday Cruise: Notes and Review

[Coral]

I was so sick, my oxygen intake was at 80%. I've never been that sick in my life, thankfully I was on a Princess ship because they have great medical care. I took antibiotics because I got a secondary respiratory infection, a girls gotta breathe! I also took Tamiflu, as did my husband although he did not have to flu and never got it. We both had bad colds as well.

 

I was tired for much of the cruise, maybe that made me see the ship as tired. Projection happens!

 

Wow - that is low (80%). No wonder you felt awful.

 

I hope you are back to feeling better!

Edited January 16, 2017 by Coral

[Mom33]

The Regal "tired"? You lost me there...

 

 

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Me too!:confused:

[ibfern]

Amelia,

Thanks for the review.Happy wedding anniversary.

We are boarding the Regal end of next week so this held our interest.

We were also on a Christmas cruise with our family. Noticed how well behaved all those 700 plus kids were on the ship (including our 4 teens). I still have visions of that Star Princess cruise to SA at Holiday time with those kids running wild.

I too noticed that the dining room food (we were on the ruby) was lacking . We had the opposite on our early fixed dining experience. Our wait staff served so fast, we felt like we were being thrown out.

The last night the waiter served my grandaughter's main course while we were eating our appetizers.

My husband and I plan on visiting the Regal's dinner buffet often. Will try the dining room and see what kind of service we encounter.

Thank you again for the wonderful review (sorry you were sick).

G:D

 

Wow - that is low (80%). No wonder you felt awful.

 

I hope you are back to feeling better!

 

Thanks very much Coral, I am much better, and have a nice Cruise Gloria, say hi to the gang from us. :)A

[lovevacadays]

I find your characterization of the ship as "tired" to be so mystifying as to cause me to wonder if you were actually on the Regal Princess and not some other ship named Regal. I was all around the ship and never saw carpet in bad shape or well-worn furniture. If you think a two-year-old ship is worn and tired, then clearly your standards are far too high for mass market cruising. Have you considered a private yacht?

 

The Regal "tired"? You lost me there...

 

 

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It is always interesting to read reviews. I respect everyone's view point and opinion. But, I did have the same reactions as you both did. We sailed the Regal in December. I remember thinking how beautiful, shiny, and new she looked. I thought she was a beautiful ship and that the decor was above and beyond the other ships. I do think other Princess ships are beautiful as well but just thought the Regal was superb.

 

We all have different experiences and thoughts about our cruising experiences.

[ibfern]

The Regal "tired"? You lost me there...

 

 

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I'd never want to lose you! :)

[Colo Cruiser]

It is always interesting to read reviews. I respect everyone's view point and opinion. But, I did have the same reactions as you both did. We sailed the Regal in December. I remember thinking how beautiful, shiny, and new she looked. I thought she was a beautiful ship and that the decor was above and beyond the other ships. I do think other Princess ships are beautiful as well but just thought the Regal was superb.

 

We all have different experiences and thoughts about our cruising experiences.

 

 

I agree, the Regal was wonderful.

[ibfern]

I agree, the Regal was wonderful.

 

Yes the Regal was nice, well parts of it. The MDR food not so nice, and the decorations were tired. Maybe because I was on a Christmas/New Years cruise the carpets got soiled, and there was always food left around the Vista lounge, and Club Six.

[geoherb]

The Head of excursions is Glenda and she is a doll. I mentioned our bad experience and of course so gave us a partial refund, Princes is always good about that and they rely on feedback to weed out the bad vendors. Nothing makes me happier than being able to book a ship excursion (so easy) and have a great experience.

Thanks for posting your review. I'm glad you easily got a partial refund on board. I had a more difficult time on one of cruises. I finally got satisfaction after getting home. On our excursion, a major part of the description (time at a beach) was not fulfilled. If the shore excursion manager had offered me a 25 percent refund, I would have been happy. But when he was not forthcoming on the ship, I asked for and received a 50 percent refund after our cruise.

 

As for dining, the meal we had on the Regal last month was terrific. We were just on for lunch on a Bon Voyage Experience package after a cruise on the Caribbean Princess. I've noticed from our other holiday cruises that service isn't always as good as it should be. But I would have asked for a different waiter or a different table. There's no reason a passenger should have to suffer through inattentive service.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Thank you for sharing your experience! Your cruise was one we had considered, but we ended up doing the Pacific Princess. We saw an amazing full rainbow the same timeframe you did, and others on another ship mentioned the same thing. We too ended up spending the cruise in the buffet. In our case it was because we couldn't get a table for 2 in the dining room, but we ended up preferring the buffet because we didn't have to sit there for 2 hours waiting for our food and potentially getting too much or too little of something. Princess should improve the pacing of the dinner experience; we have had some wonderful servers accommodate our pacing, but others take forever. That really sucks you ended up sick! Did they offer you normal foods while quarantined, or was it heavily restricted? Kelly Rose was the Assistant CD last summer on our Royal cruise; she was OK. I wonder if she was just temporarily filling in as CD. Have a majestic cruise this spring!

 

 

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[iTownPrincess]

Thanks for this review! I love reading all reviews whether I agree with them or not. Often, reviewers have visited parts of a ship I did not, and I'm always interested in what they have to say.

 

Like one or two other posters on this thread, I was on the Regal for the last cruise to Canada in October 2016. I am an experienced cruiser, but this was my first time on Princess. I loved the ship, the crew/staff, the entertainment, our balcony cabin on Aloha deck, and the food. I know there was a major turnover in crew once the ship headed to Ft. Lauderdale, and I'm sorry Amelia had an unhappy experience. We ate only two meals in the MDR (formal & one other night) but enjoyed the food and DR staff.

 

I plan to cruise Princess again this year (possibly the same itinerary) and in the meantime, thank you, Amelia, for taking the time to share your review.

[easyboy]

Thank you for your review.

[ibfern]

Thanks for this review! I love reading all reviews whether I agree with them or not. Often, reviewers have visited parts of a ship I did not, and I'm always interested in what they have to say.

 

Like one or two other posters on this thread, I was on the Regal for the last cruise to Canada in October 2016. I am an experienced cruiser, but this was my first time on Princess. I loved the ship, the crew/staff, the entertainment, our balcony cabin on Aloha deck, and the food. I know there was a major turnover in crew once the ship headed to Ft. Lauderdale, and I'm sorry Amelia had an unhappy experience. We ate only two meals in the MDR (formal & one other night) but enjoyed the food and DR staff.

 

I plan to cruise Princess again this year (possibly the same itinerary) and in the meantime, thank you, Amelia, for taking the time to share your review.

 

I depend on other cruisers and their opinions and feel like I am grateful for others perspectives because they always are enlightening.

 

I am done cruising over the holidays, I am convinced that the staff are stressed and probably a lot of my bad experiences are due to this, especially in light of others positive ones on this ship a few weeks/months earlier.

 

I am ready to cruise the Majestic in May, can't wait to compare it to the Royal and Regal and maybe even a life from as we travel from Rome to Singapore!