Live from the Regal: Christmas Edition!

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

Dinner tonight (or last night) was good but it was so rich and heavy. I didn’t get a picture of the goat cheese soufflé, but it was amazing. 

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

The first picture is of the chocolate lovers dream (I think that’s what it was called).  After dinner, we sat on deck 5 and ordered some drinks as we played cards. The show times were different tonight (7 and 9), so we missed the first show. Tonight was Born to Dance, and I can honestly say it was the best show I have ever seen on a cruise. Please don’t miss it! 

The ship is really rocking tonight. It was slightly noticeable at 9:00 in the theater, but now at 3:00am, it is rolling back and forth, causing me to stumble on the way to the bathroom. My whole cabin is creaking. I can imagine people are going to start being seasick. Hopefully things will calm down soon. 

[tawlaw1526]

Have the seas calmed down for you?  I sure hope so.   Thanks again for all the wonderful photos.  

[Hav2cruise]

Thank you for posting 

We get on the Regal February 3rd

Tom

[GSLMOM]

By any chance, do you know if they offered spin classes in the fitness center?

[sunsetbeachgal]

What a great thread, thank you.  Your pictures are beautiful, what a great day at Princess Cay!  also Loved the candy cane dresses!

 

Question and sorry if you have answered it already, you talk about poor service in MDR, are you on Anytime or Traditional dining?  We always do Anytime and service can definitely be uneven.  We have a group of 7 for our upcoming cruise on the Royal and with the earlier dining times we chose late traditional.  Hopefully having the same wait staff will make service better.....hopefully!

[Host CJSKIDS]

Hope all is going well and that the seas have calmed down for you.  Waiting for your next group of pictures!!

[beckntom]

Thanks for the candy cane dresses picture!  I know the family issues must be disappointing.  It's all about expectations, isn't it, and we don't "expect" such things to happen.  But they do, and I'm glad you have such a good attitude about it all.  I hope the fun parts have continued and that you will soon be back to tell--and show--us more!

[metairiegal]

Hey there!  We were on this cruise, too.  We saw you getting your jammie pics by the tree in the atrium.  I went up and asked if you guys wanted a pic with the whole group, but someone in your group said you already had one.  So we sat for awhile in the atrium watching everyone getting their pics.  Dh and I got ours, too! 

 

BTW, everyone looked very happy to me! 

[Host CJSKIDS]

5 hours ago, metairiegal said:

Hey there!  We were on this cruise, too.  We saw you getting your jammie pics by the tree in the atrium.  I went up and asked if you guys wanted a pic with the whole group, but someone in your group said you already had one.  So we sat for awhile in the atrium watching everyone getting their pics.  Dh and I got ours, too! 

 

BTW, everyone looked very happy to me! 

 

Welcome home!  How was the cruise?!

[winncruiser]

We were also onboard this cruise and it was WONDERFUL!!  Everyone we encountered was fabulous. We dined in Concerto every night and had first rate service.  We booked a cabana at The Retreat Pool and enjoyed having the greatest server, Diana, spoil us!  Crooners was great!  Christmas Eve carols in the atrium and the Christmas Eve service in Princess Theater were both lovely.  The four of us had a ball!

[Mayo21]

On 12/23/2018 at 10:16 PM, releck97 said:

Thank you so much! Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks for all the good info! Curious about what draft beers there are on tap?? Continue making all those memories!🙏🏼

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

On 12/29/2018 at 10:30 AM, sunsetbeachgal said:

What a great thread, thank you.  Your pictures are beautiful, what a great day at Princess Cay!  also Loved the candy cane dresses!

 

Question and sorry if you have answered it already, you talk about poor service in MDR, are you on Anytime or Traditional dining?  We always do Anytime and service can definitely be uneven.  We have a group of 7 for our upcoming cruise on the Royal and with the earlier dining times we chose late traditional.  Hopefully having the same wait staff will make service better.....hopefully!

We were initially Traditional, but they moved us to the Anytime MDR when some people in our group thought that 7:45 would be too late for dinner.  (we were scheduled for 7:15, but once aboard it was 7:45) We had a 5:30 reservation for 2 tables. Someone mentioned that the  Anytime dining room is where they "train" staff before they are ready for the "real" dining room.  I'm not sure if that's true, but we only had good service the first night.  I hardly ever miss out on a MDR meal, but we ate in the buffet twice for dinner this trip.  Our next cruise will be traditional MDR only and hopefully it will be better.  

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

On 12/29/2018 at 4:22 PM, Host CJSKIDS said:

Hope all is going well and that the seas have calmed down for you.  Waiting for your next group of pictures!!

The seas were wild all day Saturday! I will finish the report now that I'm home...I took the last two sea days easy and didn't post so I could relax completely.  

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

15 hours ago, winncruiser said:

We were also onboard this cruise and it was WONDERFUL!!  Everyone we encountered was fabulous. We dined in Concerto every night and had first rate service.  We booked a cabana at The Retreat Pool and enjoyed having the greatest server, Diana, spoil us!  Crooners was great!  Christmas Eve carols in the atrium and the Christmas Eve service in Princess Theater were both lovely.  The four of us had a ball!

It was a great cruise! The food and cocktails were the best we have ever had on any past Princess Cruise.  I felt that the entertainment was top notch too.  

[sunsetbeachgal]

I wish they would just announce a dining time, and then stay with that!  We signed up for Traditional at 7:15 and also have a group.  I won’t be too happy if we get on board and the matre d changes what was published. 

 

Gkad yoy are home safely! Happy new year 

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

10 hours ago, Mayo21 said:

Thanks for all the good info! Curious about what draft beers there are on tap?? Continue making all those memories!🙏🏼

I'm not sure about the beers, but I think there is a post somewhere that lists the new bar menus...I'll try to find it.  

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

On 12/30/2018 at 8:31 AM, beckntom said:

Thanks for the candy cane dresses picture!  I know the family issues must be disappointing.  It's all about expectations, isn't it, and we don't "expect" such things to happen.  But they do, and I'm glad you have such a good attitude about it all.  I hope the fun parts have continued and that you will soon be back to tell--and show--us more!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....I have two more sea days to post about that went well, and we are now all home and safe. My husband and I have plans for two more cruises in the future that don't include any family at all,  just the two of us! 

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

On 12/30/2018 at 3:08 PM, metairiegal said:

Hey there!  We were on this cruise, too.  We saw you getting your jammie pics by the tree in the atrium.  I went up and asked if you guys wanted a pic with the whole group, but someone in your group said you already had one.  So we sat for awhile in the atrium watching everyone getting their pics.  Dh and I got ours, too! 

 

BTW, everyone looked very happy to me! 

Oh my goodness! I'm glad we looked happy...I think you probably asked to take our picture after one or two kids in our group stormed off.  There was such a cute baby in the piazzza that morning that was bringing tears to my eyes because I could remember when the my kids were little and holidays were more simple and attitude free.  Lots of emotions that day!! 

[Host CJSKIDS]

21 minutes ago, Nee Nee and Biddy said:

The seas were wild all day Saturday! I will finish the report now that I'm home...I took the last two sea days easy and didn't post so I could relax completely.  

 

I figured it was, I’m in Miami and it was rough over here with high winds.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed your last two days and can’t wait to read your report and see the rest of your pictures.

[hllwdcruiser]

1 hour ago, Nee Nee and Biddy said:

Oh my goodness! I'm glad we looked happy...I think you probably asked to take our picture after one or two kids in our group stormed off.  There was such a cute baby in the piazzza that morning that was bringing tears to my eyes because I could remember when the my kids were little and holidays were more simple and attitude free.  Lots of emotions that day!! 

I just want to say how much I appreciate your honesty. We are traveling (with trepidation on my part) with my BIL, SIL and two good friends. We always travel alone since a disastrous vacation with friends in Vegas 13 years ago, so this will be our first time "dipping our toes back in that water". I know now that if it turns out less than perfect, I am not alone!

And to your point of holidays being more simple, Steve and I have 6 kids between us, ranging in age from 22 to 36. I promise you, you get a do-over with the grandkids and at about that same time your own children actually begin to appreciate you. Miracles of miracles!

I'm looking forward to the rest of your review - don't hold anything back!

[MJSailors]

Hi NeeNee and Biddy-

I hope you do continue to post about your cruise experience.

Family-friend vacations do not always turn out as we may expect.

In the early 80s, my DH and I took a cruise with his sister and her hubby.

It was not the best experience. We never vacationed with them again.

This past Summer,we cruised with friends. Again, not all I expected it to be.

We have come to the conclusion that we are better in taking vacations as a couple.

After 35 years of marriage, we know each other very well. We have developed the art of compromise which works well on vacation and everyday life.

Wishing you good days in 2019 and happy future cruising !

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

On 12/31/2018 at 5:43 PM, hllwdcruiser said:

I just want to say how much I appreciate your honesty. We are traveling (with trepidation on my part) with my BIL, SIL and two good friends. We always travel alone since a disastrous vacation with friends in Vegas 13 years ago, so this will be our first time "dipping our toes back in that water". I know now that if it turns out less than perfect, I am not alone!

And to your point of holidays being more simple, Steve and I have 6 kids between us, ranging in age from 22 to 36. I promise you, you get a do-over with the grandkids and at about that same time your own children actually begin to appreciate you. Miracles of miracles!

I'm looking forward to the rest of your review - don't hold anything back!

 

On 12/31/2018 at 11:04 PM, MJSailors said:

Hi NeeNee and Biddy-

I hope you do continue to post about your cruise experience.

Family-friend vacations do not always turn out as we may expect.

In the early 80s, my DH and I took a cruise with his sister and her hubby.

It was not the best experience. We never vacationed with them again.

This past Summer,we cruised with friends. Again, not all I expected it to be.

We have come to the conclusion that we are better in taking vacations as a couple.

After 35 years of marriage, we know each other very well. We have developed the art of compromise which works well on vacation and everyday life.

Wishing you good days in 2019 and happy future cruising !

I’m sure that many of us have these kinds of experiences. We are a close knit family that almost always vacations together. We also fight a lot and don’t learn lessons quickly.  You know what they say about the definition of insanity...

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

I’m sorry it’s taken me a while to complete the last two sea days! I got my customary “just got home from a cruise” illness and stayed in bed for three days not doing anything. The upper respiratory junk got me! I was going to mention that I didn’t see hardly any sick people on the Regal, which is surprising at this time of year. I always get sick on vacation, and I was pleased that it hit me on traveling home day instead of the first day! 

 

Friday was was a lazy day. The boat was REALLY rocking pretty much all day. A couple of times I did feel a bit queasy but it wasn’t too bad. People were stumbling a bit but mostly it was just an adventure. We started with breakfast in the MDR. Clint got soft boiled eggs and I took a pic because I haven’t seen those on here before. Breakfast was always excellent and hot. 

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

Basically we ate and drank all day long. A perfect cruising day!! It was very relaxing. We had lunch at Alfredo’s and I wish we would have been able to do it more than just once. The veal ravioli (but it’s not called that) were so delicious. After lunch we had a little rest and then went to afternoon tea, which was also very good. TOO MUCH FOOD!!