Regal Mistake

[rogerdawhip]

I was on the Regal for it's recent Transatlantic crossing from Copenhagen to NYC. I booked this cruise because I've had not been on a Royal class ship yet and the itinerary looked fantastic.

 

I delayed booking a Royal class cruise because the ships did not have a promenade deck. This is only one of the many reasons I disliked the Regal. They have a walking/running track on deck 18 but cannot be used when raining or in heavy winds. I usually spend 5-6 hours a day on the promenade decks walking laps and just reading.

 

The Horizon Court and Bistro were a disaster. Even after 14 days it was confusing as to what was where. The had to much Asian and exotic foods and not enough "normal" food options. The only good meal was breakfast. I normally eat later than most, 2 PM for lunch and 9 PM for dinner. At those times most of the better food items were gone and the rest was cold.

 

The Piazza atrium was one of my favorite places on Grand Class ships but on the Regal is was very noisy due to aerobics, line dancing, and loud music/dancing each night. These activities ware usually done in the Vista Lounge where they didn't bother anyone on the Grand class.

 

I was upgraded to an aft balcony but this was mistake. There was always soot on everything and the steward only cleaned it once in 14 days. Both chairs were broke. I let housekeeping know immediately and they were not fixed until the 10th day.

 

The only good thing I found on the ship was Alfredos. The pizza and calzones were fantastic. But even Alfredos had an occasional glitch. I travel solo and a couple times I have to wait 15 minutes for a table even though it was only 25% full. Couples were seated much quicker.

 

I'm not a novice cruise having been on over 40 cruises, 30 with Princess but from now on I'll stick with Grand Class ships.

[mrpayroll]

O.k..

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for taking the time to post comments on your cruise.

I agree with you on the Promenade deck or lack thereof.

I think the Royal class buffet's are the best!

I agree with you on the noisy atrium. It is commented here on CC frequently.

I also agree with you about the soot issues aft. We had terrible soot problems on the Royal last year for our 3 week cruise. Even with intervention (scrubbers) on the Royal it is still bad.

Alfredos? Not a fan.

Edited October 8, 2018 by Colo Cruiser

[SimonaD]

I was on that sailing with you. Alfredo’s pizzeria is truly outstanding. We ended up going there way more than we’d planned. Yum.

 

Lack of promenade deck is very annoying, agreed. Also the horizon court is crazy confusing. It’s like, you see something you maybe want on a salad bar. Keep walking. Then you pass 5 more salad bars and it’s not on any of those. So you have to back track through all the aisles. It feels like they don’t put out enough unique items to fill all the stations, so they duplicate here and there but with no rhyme or reason.

 

We LOVED the active piazza. There was always something going on. This was a major positive for us.

 

Can’t please 100% of people 100% of the time, can ya?

 

We will AVOID this class of ships because of the limited itinerary and the commercial ports we got stuck in, due to its sheer size. That’s the main reason for us.

 

 

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[Griller]

We were on that voyage and actually we thought the food was the best we ever had on Princess, specially the buffet but of course we like exotic and Asian food...……….indeed there was a lot of it.

 

Yes the buffet is confusing as to what is where.

 

I wonder if they fit scrubbers to these Royal Class ships to comply with emission control so they can continue burning bunker fuel whether it will fix the soot problem.? It should.

 

Yes it was somewhat lively out and about on the ship but not if you compare it to an NCL ship.

[Colo Cruiser]

 

I wonder if they fit scrubbers to these Royal Class ships to comply with emission control so they can continue burning bunker fuel whether it will fix the soot problem.? It should.

 

 

They Royal was upgraded with these scrubbers during a DD last year.

In our experience it made no difference. :rolleyes:

[lhsail]

We were on the same cruise and I'm sorry to hear you were so disappointed. We also had some service glitches in Alfredo's. Service seemed unusually slow and my husband ended up grabbing our bottle of wine out of the bucket as we couldn't get anyone to refill our glasses. Also found the dance classes, etc. distracting while trying to enjoy a nice lunch. It's a shame as there is so much to like about Alfredo's.

 

Due to the weather we didn't spend much time outside. However, the promenade is not a make or break for us. Personally, I like the layout and options of the Horizon Court, but can see how others might find it disjointed.

 

One thing I would have liked to see on this cruise were additional enrichment programs/talks. There were a lot of sea days and the daytime entertainment options felt very much like what is offered on sea days for your basic Caribbean cruise.

 

We find there are many things to like about the Regal and Royal. That said, our next cruise will be our 7th time on the Caribbean. Fortunately, Princess has many options.

[Guest arowe6]

I'm sorry your cruise wasn't the best. Been there done that...

 

While I quite like the buffet on the Regal, I agree about the difficulty in finding things. It's kind of all over the place.

 

Curious... what cabin did you have? It's always been hit or miss with the soot issues for us.

 

Thanks,

Andrew :)

[Husky61]

I guess your post is one reason we NEVER eat in the buffet.:):)

[antsp]

The buffet can be a bit overwhelming, but to say there is no regular food is nonsense. I think it’s probably to good, you end up wondering around struggling to make a decision and you end up eating to much. I’m not a Royal fan bout I would continue to sail on that class.

[stevenr597]

We have been on both Royal and Regal Princess. Like any ship, there are plus factors as well as negatives. My biggest complaint is that unlike the Solstice Class on Celebrity there is no indoor or covered pool. For some reason, Princess did not feel that they need one. The results is during days of bad weather, everybody is forced inside and the ship, especially the Horizon Court and Bistro can become very crowded.

 

I also agree that the atrium or piazza is used too much for dancing and related activities, other than being a relatively quite place where one can sit, possibly listen to some classical music and have an espresso.

[Griller]

They Royal was upgraded with these scrubbers during a DD last year.

In our experience it made no difference. :rolleyes:

 

That's not good, you would think that particulate filters would be part of the retrofit, diesel cars now in UK cannot have ANY visible smoke, are strictly tested annually,and most are now fitted with particulate filters to trap the carbon particles.

 

I once walked past a small Seabourn ship which was emitting a lot of smoke at the quayside and shouted "Oi mate you'll never get that old banger through an MOT"

British readers will understand what I am talking about.

Edited October 8, 2018 by Griller

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. Hopefully your next cruise will be better.....:):):)

 

Bob

[chengkp75]

That's not good, you would think that particulate filters would be part of the retrofit, diesel cars now in UK cannot have ANY visible smoke, are strictly tested annually,and most are now fitted with particulate filters to trap the carbon particles.

 

I once walked past a small Seabourn ship which was emitting a lot of smoke at the quayside and shouted "Oi mate you'll never get that old banger through an MOT"

British readers will understand what I am taking about.

 

Well, as there are no particulate limits on marine engine exhausts, particulate filters are not installed. The scrubbers are to reduce SOX and NOX emissions, and while they will reduce particulate emissions to a degree during normal operation, I believe that what is being seen on nearly all ships as soot particles (since they are large, 3-5mm diameter, flakes), is what I've always been saying they are. This is from the nightly "cleaning" of the engines and boilers. The boilers are cleaned to remove soot from the heat exchange surface to improve efficiency, and this is done nightly by injecting steam into the boiler to blast the soot off the heat exchanger tubes and carry this soot up and out the stack. The diesel engines tend to build up soot on their turbocharger blades, and so this is cleaned off using ground walnut shells to "sand blast" the soot off the turbocharger, and the soot and the burnt walnut shells are taken up out the stack, and are not affected by the scrubber's water mist spray. Most ships will have the engineers communicate to the bridge when this cleaning is to be done, and the bridge will alter course to place the apparent wind on the beam, so the soot blows quickly over the side of the ship, and not along the longer stern area.

[Ombud]

Royal class ship... The had to much Asian and exotic foods and not enough "normal" food options.

Actually I should probably try it bc "Asian" & Italian are my normal. Just 1 question: Japanese (as in I can make my own sushi, I like my own) / Chinese / Vietnamese / or Korean?

[mevs904]

Interesting. I can agree with some of the points on this thread, particularly the lack of a promenade deck on Royal class ships. Accepting the fact that the buffet on this class of shipmmight be confusing, we appreciate the variety and quality of the food that is offered. Although we are not Asian or Indian we like the inclusion of these foods on the buffet and think that the use of the term “normal” referring to American food is unfortunate and can be construed as offensive. We have not been troubled by the activity level in the atrium, but understand the concern of those who do.

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

Our last four cruises (44 cruise days) have been on the Regal and Royal. By far our favorite ships. And the buffet is the best I’ve had with Princess. Just goes to show how everyone likes something different.

[AF-1]

Do all Princess ships have soot issues with aft cabins; or just the Regal and Royal?

[firecrewcapt]

We were on the same cruise. We've been on 4 TA's 3-Regal 1-Royal and have to say the only negative we have for both ships is the "slop" trough also known as the buffet, it is big and spread out but we're not the buffet type of eaters, way too many hands in the food that aren't clean/washed, they use to have a person standing at the doors making sure you washed your hands, didn't see anyone on this cruise, but then again we would only walk through to the back of the ship. Weather doesn't really matter to us, cold or hot we enjoy the fresh air and even been the only people watching MUTS on a windy cold night-just get more blankets/towels, atrium is a great place to people watch, promenade deck is there it just doesn't go all the way around. So, that's my opinion and we'll sail with her or her sister anytime anywhere, just saying.

[bobby3334]

I have heard a lot of complaints on all the Royal class ships..just off the Royal...about using the atrium for noisy and specialized events. Instead of strings and classy music now seems to be used as a free for all. Would hate to have to work in the shops. Put the noise and exercise classes back in Vista.

Seems like they want to show everyone the staff is working. Mike

 

 

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[sunsetbeachgal]

Our last four cruises (44 cruise days) have been on the Regal and Royal. By far our favorite ships. And the buffet is the best I’ve had with Princess. Just goes to show how everyone likes something different.

 

 

 

Amen! Love the buffet, and in addition to the quality of the food, love the service and how much seating there is. I’ve never seen a buffet that comes anywhere close. A cruise a couple of years of on the Regal was followed two weeks later by a cruise on Oasis of the Seas, and I was flabbergasted as the difference in the buffet. Oasis buffet was smaller with less selection, not kept as clean or replenished, very difficult to find seating and tables were not cleaned and you had to get your own silverware, drinks, etc.

 

 

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[Roses2]

Totally agree with the OP. We have cruised on the Regal and the Royal and as Princess cruisers with well over 50 cruises we now avoid the class ship completely.

 

Our last cruise was on the Caribbean Princess and in a couple of weeks we will be on the Crown. It appears those who do not care about the loss of space in all cabin classes and the unusable balcony may forgive the trade off for a bit more glitz.

 

As for us, we find the new builds a step down rather than up.

 

P&J

[Shaver John]

We were on this crossing also and had an AFT suite and really had no real problem with the soot. Yes, one day I did wipe the banister off, but it was their towel and took me a total of about 15 seconds. Guess I just didn't mind very much. We were on Marina deck so very close to the top ship. For the food, oh my goodness, there were folks standing around helping you find a specific items, yes, spare rids and pecan pie if you looked lost. These kids were great, even walked me over to the place to get the ribs. The cute girl at the dessert table even helped me with the pecan pie so I could take a couple of slices back to the room. I guess everyone is different, but this was our 52nd cruise on Princess and this ship had the best food ever.....Even gained 3 pounds. Sorry you did not enjoy, we had a total Blast....

[BigGuy25]

We were also on the 14 day transatlantic and had a great time. Yes, the buffet was laid out a bit differently, but we figured it out the first time we dined there.

[jean s]

I have to agree with the OP. I am not impressed with the Royal class of ship. Too many people, no promenade and too small balconies.