Help me decide! Holiday cruise 2018

[nattie]

So in preparation to our grand adventure next year to Australia (cant wait!!!), we need to knock out 2 trips for the coveted "Elite" status. I was thinking about doing a regular 7 day caribbean in suite, BUT came up with a better idea of B2B holiday cruises. For the price of 6 vacation days I get 2 weeks of cruising with no cooking or party hosting or presents buying!

 

Here comes the dilemma. There are 2 sets of cruises available on Royal and Regal Princess. Royal Princess Sat-Sat-Sat with Western first and Eastern second and Regal Sun-Sun-Sun with Eastern first and Western second. Eastern itinerary is the same, Western is superior (in my opinion) on Royal. Besides,we just did the Western on Regal in April.

 

I LOVED Regal, even though I though that I wouldnt being a huge fan of Grand Class ships before. Is inferior itinerary on part of the cruise worth not dealing with "deficiencies" of Royal? I am most worried about theater seating. We didnt use aft pool on Regal, but with less pools overall will main pool area be even more crowded?

 

Second dilemma. We need 2 cabins next door to each other. I am currently looking at obstructed balconies on Emerald. How bad are they in terms of obstructions? It looks like that the only view blocked is view down?

 

Please help me decide!

[EastBay Cruisers]

Any cruise to the Caribbean over the holidays sounds wonderful. Yes, I think you are correct -- with an obstructed balcony on Emerald, the only view blocked is downward. Have a great time, and enjoy the cruise.

[geoherb]

Are the theaters different between the two ships? We sailed on the Royal in December and on the Regal in February and did not notice a difference. The Promenade Deck open between the outcroppings on the Regal is nice but not nice enough to pick it over the Royal. (We'll be on the Royal next month.)

 

I'd go with whichever is the better bargain.

[JF - retired RRT]

Second dilemma. We need 2 cabins next door to each other. I am currently looking at obstructed balconies on Emerald. How bad are they in terms of obstructions? It looks like that the only view blocked is view down?

 

Please help me decide!

Have you seen Remnar's "obstructed view" pictures? The link to Royal/Regal/Majestic: https://sites.google.com/site/royalregalprincess/home/8-emerald

Scroll way down to see the pictures.

[jb008]

Have you seen Remnar's "obstructed view" pictures? The link to Royal/Regal/Majestic: https://sites.google.com/site/royalregalprincess/home/8-emerald

Scroll way down to see the pictures.

 

I'm looking at a 7-day on those same ships. Wow, that site is an amazing resource!

 

We don't need to notch 2 sailings though, so I'm eyeing the 10-day Crown sailing as my first pick but waiting to see if prices drop. I'm also cross-shopping on another line since I'm betting they'll have a fire sale on their cabins after final payment (90-day mark for them) since casual inspection has them with availability across all categories for their holiday sailings.

[nattie]

Booked yesterday :)

Thank you all for replies.

I heard there is no cross in the Princess theater on Royal, so if you enter on port side, you are stuck there, cant switch to starboard side?

Thank you for amazing pic resource JF!

We ended up with E437 and E433, which are smaller than my original choices (Deluxe obstructed) in size, BUT have much better views