Starting second week on Regal Dec 23-Jan 6

[Colo Cruiser]

5 hours ago, geoherb said:

Thanks for posting. Have you tried the pizza at Alfredo's? I love eating there for lunch on port days. I do "Meatless Mondays" and have always found enough to eat from the menu in the dining room.

I will add that I love pool side pizza and not a fan at all of Alfredos on any ship!  

[Colo Cruiser]

5 hours ago, h-sar said:

 

Tiny (like minuscule) flitty little bugs are attacking me! Forgot the bug spray in cabin. 

No see um's except you can see um.   🙄

 

We dealt with them too last month.

[h-sar]

18.  Enjoying a beautiful sea day today after the New Yrs celebrations last night. Princess really knows how to throw a party! We have celebrated our last 5 New Yrs on Regal and can’t imagine being anywhere else! There was a very well attended, lively dance party in the Piazza, culminating with the balloon drop at midnight. On deck, the band Xcite and the DJ hosted a crowded and boisterous party as well. There was a midnight buffet available in Horizon, with a lot of little  intricate appetizers. Quite a a few seafood dishes,  including Oysters Rockefeller, shrimp, crayfish, etc. It was definitely a classy spread. The deck party did get a little bit windy and, as we are getting to the age where staying up till midnight is not easy to do 😁, we headed back to our cabin shortly after midnight.

 

I was able to call my parents and sister’s family back home and wish them a happy new year. Not sure what time the kids came back from the various parties and expect that I will not be seeing any sight of them before noon. They know that, regardless of where there are before midnight, they have to come join us at 11:50 in the piazza to ring in the new year together. After that, they disappear!  I was expecting the captain’s champagne waterfall to take place last night as well, but it is actually tonight. On last week’s champagne waterfall, they gave out free champagne, but I did not notice any being handed out last night, but expect they will be doing so tonight.  

 

The menu in the dining room last night was the New Yrs one, with the special being lobster three ways. I don’t even like lobster one way, so went for another option 😁.  I do not eat seafood at all, but the rest of the family said it was fantastic. I love whitefish with various sauces, but don’t cook much if it at home, so always tend to gravitate towards the fish option on the dinner menu. Last night was a beautiful

sole in an exquisite sauce. Gluten free friend is able to check out the next night’s  menu and place her order with head waiter Zaza. It also gives us a sneak peek at the menu, so that’s a bonus!

 

Right upon embarkation day of the first cruise, we went to Sabatini’s to sign up for the Lumiere Chef’s Table. It was sold out already for that week, but we were the first to sign up for this week. We opted for the non alcohol version. The Chef’s Table was a birthday gift from the kids to me and my husband, but we couldn’t think of going  without taking them with us (they’re definite foodies), so all of us are attending including BF. I’ve never done this before, so am really looking forward to the experience. Will give you a review after. 

 

Our dining room table is pretty close to a bit of a hall the servers bring the trays of food from the kitchen through.  We are starting to feel pretty badly for the servers as they are bringing out anywhere from 6 to 12 servings on large trays. There is a rush and urgency about everything they do and I wish Princess would hire more MDR staff to alleviate the workload. It truly seems back breaking work. Zaza has been a great head waiter, always cheerful, constantly helping out the servers. Thinking about our local Moxie‘s or Earl’s or any other restaurant servers...they all do a great job, do, but none of them would last five minutes in a cruise MDR. 

Edited January 1, 2019 by h-sar

[h-sar]

19 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

No see um's except you can see um.   🙄

 

We dealt with them too last month.

 

That’s what they were! So annoying. My husband is covered in bites today from various insects as we were on P Cays for a bit until the kids brought the bug spray. Pack it with you! 

[h-sar]

On 12/31/2018 at 3:09 PM, hllwdcruiser said:

I'm a little frustrated with the 7:45 late dining time. Like you, I changed to the 7:15 time and felt that it was ideal although I would have preferred 7. We've always had Anytime on all our other sailings and this was the first time we were going to try fixed. What time do you usually get done with dinner? Do you find the service better with the fixed dining as opposed to Anytime?

Are the game shows in Princess Live during your dining time? What about Voice of the Ocean? We've always eaten late and have never made it to any of those shows and I'd really like to try to see them this next time. 

Thanks again for taking us along ~ enjoy the sea day tomorrow!

 

(The next few posts are copied/pasted from my notes and I am unable to reduce the font size.)

 

Dinner usually takes from 7:45-9:20. We are 5 people, each having a starter, a main, and dessert, but no coffee. The waitstaff is doing their best, but they are definitely kept busy and dinners are not a quick affair. During our dinner seating, all of the staff is in constant fast motion. However, I do enjoy the consistency of the service and the building of relationships far better in the set dining then I do in anytime. In ATD, we might be changing waitstaff multiple times over the course of the week and they never really get to know us and we never really get to know them. Regardless of what I do and where I go, the interactions with other people are key to the experience, even if it’s just during a taxi ride. It adds to the experience immeasurably and the people we get to interact with are often what I remember most. 

 

The Yes or No show in Princess Live started at 9:00 PM, so even had we wanted to go, we would have had to miss dessert to do so. On the other hand, Karaoke Madness in Princess Live was at 10:00. Will check on the Voice and get back to you. For anything starting at 9:00 that you cannot miss, skipping dessert would be the way to go. Mind you, it still doesn’t give you much time to go and get a decent seat. Yes or No was standing room only when we walked by after dinner. 

[h-sar]

On 12/31/2018 at 3:12 PM, Host CJSKIDS said:

Any idea who is playing in Crooners?  I’m hoping we have someone great there in 2 weeks.

 

Main headliner in Crooners seems to be pianist/vocalist Funch, but Ella Ryan, a lovely Irish lass with a beautiful voice, has been there with her guitar at certain times. She was on last week, too. She did part of the New Yrs show in the piazza where she performs regularly. She’s also been at the Wheelhouse. Before the champagne waterfall (which oddly did not fall on New Yrs Eve or on the upcoming formal night), her set consisted of an eclectic mix of Springsteen, Shania, Stevie Nicks, the Beatles. I really enjoy her voice. 

[h-sar]

(This post was written up last night, but not posted until today, so just pretend it’s still Tuesday 🙂

 

There are many things that I love about Princess, not the least of which is their daily 3:00 pm tea service in the dining room. I don’t want to get into the debate of real high tea vs. this particular version (that’s already been done multiple times on other posts!). I’m just glad Princess does it, whatever form it takes! It’s such a quiet, elegant reprieve from the enjoyable mayhem of a typical cruise day. I come from a culture (born in India, raised in Canada), where taking time for a tea break has always been an integral part of family connectedness. I guess Commonwealth influences run deep in both parts of my background 🙂

 

Ran into my daughter and her new friend from England having tea today and the English friend said the scones were not a bad rendition at all, but that the jelly and cream were nowhere close! 

 

It’ll come as no surprise that DH and I ended up at Alfredo’s for lunch again today. At 1:00 on this sea day, it was the busiest I have ever seen it. There was not one free table and for the hour that we were there, the line outside was about seven or eight deep at all times. There were 5 cooks behind the counter and they were churning out pizzas like crazy. 

 

For those of you who like to dance, the piazza is always the place to be in the early and late evening. Xcite always keeps the dancers on the floor, as do the other entertainers, such as Orphea. We have been fortunate on both legs to have couples for whom dancing is more than just a past time and they have kept us well entertained with their skill set, not to mention their nightly matching outfits. Something not to miss for those of you who like live music is the Princess World Orchestra which features the main band (in this case, Xcite) and many of the other musicians. Tonight, it occurred at 9:00 in the piazza and was a powerhouse performance. Not to be missed. Think it only happens once during the cruise.

 

The pastry shop in Horizon has had the chocolate fountain at lunchtime on multiple occasions these past two weeks. And the chocolate that they use is of  pretty good quality. However, after standing in line behind some unsupervised younger children, and seeing their lack of hygiene in serving themselves, I might just plan to forego it from this point on. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss, but now that I’ve seen the behaviour with my own eyes, it can’t be unseen ☹️.

 

If you have younger children, check out the daily(?) cupcakes in the pastry shop at lunch time. Yesterday was a delicious orange flavour. Heck, even if you don’t have kids, check it out! 

 

Yesterday was the first Norman Love of this leg, the hazelnut one. I was informed, ever so sadly by a crestfallen Zaza, that there will be no Norman Love coconut mousse dessert on this sailing, something I’ve been pining for since I had it last two years ago. However, she’s going to bring us the Norman Love Rocher dessert from the Sabatini’s menu! An unexpected delightful surprise!

 

Edited January 2, 2019 by h-sar

[h-sar]

[h-sar]

Wasn’t able to insert comments under the above pictures. 

[h-sar]

41 minutes ago, h-sar said:

Wasn’t able to insert comments under the above pictures. 

 

So, here are some descriptors.

 

Tea time - always a nice quiet break. 

 

There’s always one rice biryani dish (lamb, chicken, or veg) in the buffet. Extremely flavourful and has a real kick. 

 

Paying my yearly homage to my 70’s life! 

 

A highlight of the cruise - 200+ crew members singing Christmas carols in the piazza for over 1/2 an hr. 

 

One of the best meals I’ve had on a cruise ship, Italian pot roast (Brasolo? Brasoto?)

 

Santa and his elves (both of whom I think were really a present for the mums and dads!) handed out wrapped gifts (penguin stuffies) to all those under 12 on Christmas morning at 9:30. Line stretched all around the perimeter of the piazza. Photographer took pics of each child with Santa. 

 

One of of my favourite sail ins - St. Thomas during leg 1. 

 

Great to see Orient Beach in St. Maartin coming back to life. This is the area known as Bikini Beach. Leg 1.

 

My filet mignon at the Crown Grill. That’s bernaise and peppercorn sauces at bottom - something new. There was a third sauce I didn’t try. I had the dessert sampler. I think the lemon tart is my favourite. Don’t really care for the s’mores one at all. Excellent meal as always. Sides were divine. I will have dreams about the creamed spinach. 

 

Norman Love pistachio dome in the MDR leg 1.

 

The baked Alaska parade was a dud. All talk, no action. I know they can’t use real candles, but this one consisted of one person waving an electric candle and a couple of people carrying the desserts followed by other staff in the dark. Princess, put this to bed already. 

 

Alfredo’s. The vegetarian assortito salad. Roasted veggies, shaved fresh Parmesan, greens, fresh mozzarella/tomatoes with a pesto sauce. Divine! And the pizza loaded with all things veg. 

 

What P Cays looks like at 9:00 am. An hour of bliss before rhe masses descend. 

[TracieABD]

 

Thank you for the review and the pictures. I love a little food porn early in the morning!

[h-sar]

21 hours ago, h-sar said:

 

That’s what they were! So annoying. My husband is covered in bites today from various insects as we were on P Cays for a bit until the kids brought the bug spray. Pack it with you! 

 

He actually hasn’t slept well the last two nights with all the itching. Today he counted 47 bites on his legs and 12 on his arms. To my horror, I discovered yesterday that I also had been bitten and have a number of bites, especially on my legs. We have the biggest mosquitoes one could imagine in our particular part of the north. Their bites pale in comparison to the ones from these tiny pests. 

[h-sar]

Surely, I can’t be the only one who thinks that princess needs to put an individual overhead light that illuminates only the closet area. It’s annoying when all you want to do is get dressed, but you have to turn on the brightest lights of the entire cabin and wake up your roomies. Even having the bathroom light on doesn’t help as you have to shut most of that door to access the closet area. Anyone found a work around for this? 

[WisCruiser2]

32 minutes ago, h-sar said:

Surely, I can’t be the only one who thinks that princess needs to put an individual overhead light that illuminates only the closet area. It’s annoying when all you want to do is get dressed, but you have to turn on the brightest lights of the entire cabin and wake up your roomies. Even having the bathroom light on doesn’t help as you have to shut most of that door to access the closet area. Anyone found a work around for this? 

 

I agree, having a light in the closet/dressing area would be nice but I don't think I've had any problem accessing the area with the bathroom door open. Enjoying your review!

[h-sar]

Have always appreciated  that Princess puts cutlery on the buffet tables so one does not have to juggle food, napkins, and cutlery while searching for a table. Now, they’ve started placing the cutlery servings in little caddies on the tables which means there’s less of a chance that all of the cutlery servings will get messed up and need to be replaced when only one or two out of the four or six at a table are being used. It’s a cool little idea. 

[h-sar]

My husband and I were gifted Enclave passes for Christmas for the two weeks of the cruise. I am not much of a spa person, but my daily visits to the enclave over the last 10 days are quickly turning me into one. This gift might end up costing me money in the long run over the years, LOL. 

 

Between the aromatherapy pool, which has water that is just under 40° and exactly on the side of hot that it should be (rather than the lukewarm water of the deck hot tubs), the large faucet like things which dispense jets of water with such pressure that one gets the most awesome head or back massage, the three saunas and steam rooms, the warm (not hot) tile loungers, and the two water beds, the Enclave is a little bit of heaven. 

 

My husband is having the same issue he had with the enclave last year. He’s finding that chair hogs have infiltrated. People are saving the tile loungers or the water beds with their personal belongings while they are spending half an hour or more in the pool.  Last year, he complained all the way to the spa management, but nothing was ever done. I even wrote a letter to Steiner, the German company that runs the spa, but the same issues have arisen this year. In my 10 visits to the enclave on this cruise, I have yet to see a single spa worker come in to monitor or check things out. The only people coming in are the cleaners or the ones who check the temperature of the pool. Princess really does need to get a handle on this if Steiner will not. I have repeatedly told my husband to just simply remove the belongings while the person is not using that section and he is finally starting to listen. Given that the cost of the enclave works out to just under $20 a day, one should not have to deal with chair hogs. I find it something that I can easily tolerate on deck, but one should not have to do so in a paid facility.  Hate to point the finger at my lovely senior friends, but DH said it’s mostly the older folks who are doing this. On the other hand, I go to the spa when there is absolutely nobody there. In 10 visits, each lasting about an hour, I have seen only one other person there and they were coming in as I was leaving. And no I will not be sharing what time I go to the Enclave on social media! There is some intel that is better left private. LOL. 

 

Some pics from my last enclave visit. As you can see, I have the whole place to myself. (I wouldn’t have taken pictures if other guests were in the facility.)

 

Yummy orange and cucumber infused water in the Enclave. 

 

The women’s changeroom also has two makeup style desks with hairdryers and two humungous private showers with rainfall type showerheads. I always end up showering there after my visit rather than using the minuscule shower in our cabin. 

[h-sar]

A few times this week, including yesterday, I’ve had a hard time getting on to the Princess board. I could get into all other cruise line boards, such as Regent, Pullmanter etc, but couldn’t get into the bigger lines, Princess, Carnival, or Royal C. This happened all afternoon and evening yesterday. The message below kept popping up every time I tried to go into those line’s threads. Is it because those particular boards are too big? Early morning (before 9 am) is no problem, but the rest of the day couldn’t get in. This happened last year, too. Maybe one of the mods knows? 

 

Whenever I tried to get into Princess, this would appear 

“We’re sorry, but a temporary technical error has occurred which means we cannot display this site.

MySQL server has gone away.”

[h-sar]

On 12/31/2018 at 12:14 PM, tartan cruiser said:

 

Great review. Looking forward to your port reviews also as this is the itinerary we will be doing on our Regal cruise end of January. I was wondering about the 25% platinum discount. I don't see it listed under perks of the Captain Circle. Is this new? Do you have to ask? I was thinking of booking unlimited internet but will wait until onboard if an additional 25% is available. Thanks for your help. Enjoy your 2nd week!

 

I checked with the fellows at the Internet café about the weekly package. If you book on embarkation day, on board, it is 50% off, so 9.99 a day for a total of $70 for the week. However, if you are platinum or elite, you get a further 25% off on embarkation day only and it becomes $52 for the week. So not sure how we ended up paying only $90 as that should work out to $104, but I’m not complaining! I specifically asked if there was any benefit to booking it pre-cruise online, and he said definitely not. But you do have to get in there on embarkation day or all bets are off and I’m not sure if this is a temporary promo or will be around for the long haul. 

Edited January 3, 2019 by h-sar

[h-sar]

Wednesday

 

We ported in Jamaica at 8:00 along with Harmony Of the Seas which had been travelling with us last week as well. Was very sad to hear about the 20-year-old dance performer on the Harmony who took his own life in the middle of last week’s cruise. Was thinking about their crew and how they must be feeling as they pulled in alongside us. 

 

The kids were both booked on a private excursion to the Blue Hole through Peat Taylor Tours. They met Peat and the rest of the group, which consisted of 12 people from the same family. So, 14 of them on a small bus as opposed to 40 or 50 on the larger Princess tour buses. There’s a reason we try to do private tours wherever we can. The cost of the excursion was $55 or $60 per person. They spent about an hr to get to Blue Hole. One of the greatest frustrations with the Falmouth port is the distance to any activity or excursion.

 

On arrival, Peat handed the 14 of them over to two guides who work on tips and the two spent the next three hours with them, guiding them through all of the different waterfall areas from where they could jump into the lagoons, walk through waterfalls, swim, etc. Fortunately, they had read enough reviews on trip adv to know to bring water shoes. Very glad that I did not go along as, judging from the go pro footage, I would’ve been terrified for them the entire time and probably annoyed the heck out of them. It was perfectly safe, but I’m not a fan of watching my kids jump from high places into anything other than a pool! 

 

They said the guides were very good, leading them through all of the different parts of BH, and even taking their individual cameras to take footage of them making the dives. Their photography skills were very good and they knew the best places for great shots. Afterwards, the larger family continued with Peat to Dunns River Falls, and my kids returned to the ship with Peat’s son in a brand new minivan. They said he provided a nice commentary about life in Jamaica on the return and showed them the Marley family weed farm, LOL. It took about an hour and 20 minutes to get to BH  from the port. They were gone for about 5 and 1/2 hours in total. The kids highly recommend this tour. They said it was for less crowded and far less commercial than Dunn’s. If you want more information about it, look up Blue Hole on trip adv, as well as Peat Taylor reviews. 

 

My friend opted to stay around the inside of the port area as the heat was overwhelming for her, but my husband and I chose to walk out into the city past the security gates. We have been here a couple of times before, so I knew what to expect. Keep your wits about you, keep your possessions close at hand, say no to drugs 😁, don’t go down dark alleyways, and don’t follow the locals who’ve suddenly all earned travel guide certification and want to generously guide you around their city. And, most important of all, go with an open mind devoid of ethnocentrism. This part of Jamaica is very poverty ridden and if we go in expecting first world conditions, we will be sorely disappointed. Yes, it is chaotic, it doesn’t have the smell of our sanitized cities, but it’s also one of the most authentically colourful ports and so unlike  what we are used to. But, how boring the world would be if every place we went to was a slice of home. And, really, what would be the point of travelling? Where else but Falmouth are you going to find a fruit vendor holding up a ripe mango ready to slice open for you in one hand and a ziplock of weed in the other?!! Pick the mango every time 😁😁, kids. I have a slight addiction to mangoes. Manna from the gods. 

 

We went to Donna’s for some jerk chicken and then DH went on to search for cigars and locally made alcohol for some of his buddies while I checked out some markets. And once again, DH was waved  through with his alcohol even though he went to the desk on deck 4 to try to turn it in. The girl actually told him to keep it. I can’t count the number of times this has happened to us, where they have not taken alcohol we’ve tried to turn in. This is totally wasted on us, of course, being complete non-drinkers. 

 

It was a super windy day around the port yesterday, but inside the city, no wind at all. So, so hot. The heat in the city was oppressive at times. We were actually an hour delayed leaving the port due to rough waters. Did not delay us getting to Grand Cayman this morning, though.

 

[Host CJSKIDS]

42 minutes ago, h-sar said:

A few times this week, including yesterday, I’ve had a hard time getting on to the Princess board. I could get into all other cruise line boards, such as Regent, Pullmanter etc, but couldn’t get into the bigger lines, Princess, Carnival, or Royal C. This happened all afternoon and evening yesterday. The message below kept popping up every time I tried to go into those line’s threads. Is it because those particular boards are too big? Early morning (before 9 am) is no problem, but the rest of the day couldn’t get in. This happened last year, too. Maybe one of the mods knows? 

 

Whenever I tried to get into Princess, this would appear 

“We’re sorry, but a temporary technical error has occurred which means we cannot display this site.

MySQL server has gone away.”

 

 

The majority of the boards were having the same issues.  Sorry as you were trying to do a live from.  Glad you came back!

[h-sar]

3 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

 

 

The majority of the boards were having the same issues.  Sorry as you were trying to do a live from.  Glad you came back!

 

Sorry you guys are having problems, but good to know that it is not just on my end.  Makes it way less frustrating. Thanks for the update! 

[h-sar]

Outside the port. There were quite a few police officers (incl females) right outside the port in the city. I just found it reassuring. Mostly they were pushing the very aggressive vendors away. 

Pics look very picturesque, but cropping took away some of the gritty street scenes 😀. 

[h-sar]

Dinner on Wed night. The goat cheese soufflé! Yay as we missed it last week going to CG. BF’s gluten free scallops and ratatouille, my salmon from the every day menu (which I’ve used for the first time in 12 Princess cruises as they stuffed the white fish with....

SEAFOOD! 

I really don’t do seafood and I especially don’t do one type of living thing stuffed inside another once living thing. Even seeing the word turducken fills me with the heebie jeebies!). 

 

 Intermezzo (DD used to call it a tongue cleaner when she was 7 😆). The ginger lemongrass one-yummy. 

 

Salmon was very good and saved me room for dessert. 

 

Kids had Curtis Stone’s beef pie. Basically the inside tasted a pretty good beef stew. Biscuit was ho hum. 

[h-sar]

So far, over the course of the last couple of years, we have tested three Curtis stone dishes. This beef pot pie, the pork belly last week, and the chicken pot pie a couple of years ago. We've not really enjoyed any of them.

 

The  chicken pot pie was pretty much like anything I’ve ever had in a middle level diner and was incredibly salty on the night we had it. The pork belly last week, which the kids had, just looked, to me, like a big hunk of fat, Which I guess it’s really pretty much what it’s supppaed to look like. The kids said that’s what it tasted like as well. They only took a few bites. I’m sure it’s more that they are simply just not used to eating pork in a form other than ham or bacon LOL.  However, they are both foodies and have very adventurous palates. They love trying new things, but this just did not do it for them. My son had pork belly in the summer at a very high-end restaurant in downtown Vancouver on a visit and raves about it to this day. He was really disappointed that the Stone dish was not even close. Maybe we have just had three off meals. Don’t let my observations prevent you from trying his menu. 

 

Inside of the Stone beef dish. 

[antmaril]

2 hours ago, h-sar said:

A few times this week, including yesterday, I’ve had a hard time getting on to the Princess board. I could get into all other cruise line boards, such as Regent, Pullmanter etc, but couldn’t get into the bigger lines, Princess, Carnival, or Royal C. This happened all afternoon and evening yesterday. The message below kept popping up every time I tried to go into those line’s threads. Is it because those particular boards are too big? Early morning (before 9 am) is no problem, but the rest of the day couldn’t get in. This happened last year, too. Maybe one of the mods knows? 

 

Whenever I tried to get into Princess, this would appear 

“We’re sorry, but a temporary technical error has occurred which means we cannot display this site.

MySQL server has gone away.”

I had that exact same problem.    I am glad to know it wasn’t just me.  

Edited January 3, 2019 by antmaril