Starting second week on Regal Dec 23-Jan 6

[h-sar]

Chair hogs have now started hogging most of the bigger tables (seating for 6-8) on the pool deck. They put down towels and a few belongings. These have had no people since they were claimed about 4 hrs ago! very inconsiderate 

 

The ice sculpting demo started at noon at poolside. Happens once a cruise, so watch  out for it in the Patter. 

[coconut cruiser]

Thank you for answering my WiFi question.  You have been wonderful.  Have a safe trip home.

[TracieABD]

Ouch! The bites look very uncomfortable. I have had this happen there... Hopefully, they have healed by now.

[hllwdcruiser]

Still avidly following along! Thank you so much for all this helpful information and great photos.

I really wish Princess would do something about the chair hogs although I understand why they don't.  Why put the crew in direct line of a chair hog's ire? It is just ridiculous and irritating how often there are masses of empty lounges and chairs in all the prime locations.

Those bites you got on Princess Cays look awful. In SE Florida, in the early hours of the morning and at night we often get attacked by sand fleas on the beach. Your bites look like they might be from them. In the heat of the day they usually tend to not bite which is why those coming later in the day probably didn't get bit. If they are sand fleas, bug spray doesn't deter them but believe it or not, lathering yourself up with some sunscreen oil does. It's the "oil" that causes a barrier and stops them from biting so cream wouldn't work.

If you have a chance can you let me know what the menu theme is for each day? I know yours might be a bit different because of New Year's Eve but I'm trying to figure out what night we should book a specialty dinner. So far only the menus from the Eastern leg have been posted. 

Thanks again for this wonderful review! I'm looking forward to your Chef's Table!

 

Edited January 5, 2019 by hllwdcruiser

[Mom33]

24 minutes ago, hllwdcruiser said:

 

I really wish Princess would do something about the chair hogs although I understand why they don't.  Why put the crew in direct line of a chair hog's ire? It is just ridiculous and irritating how often there are masses of empty lounges and chairs in all the prime locations.

In our experience on the Regal and Royal, we saw a lot of lounges covered with used towels but no personal belongings on them. We would take the loungers and deposit the towels in the used bins. If there were personal items, we searched elsewhere.

A lot of lazy cruisers leave the towels rather then place them in the towel return and that makes the chair hogging look worse than it is.

[h-sar]

I’ve grown used to the chair hogs, but this thing about reserving big tables with masses of towels and a few personal items such as books and flip flops is something I just started noticing last year. Unfortunately, they all do have a few personal items left behind. Most of these families then don’t come out until almost noon to eat or play cards etc. This prevents larger groups from using those area areas for breakfasts. DH and I don’t have any problems finding lounging areas as generally it’s just the two of us lounging on decks and everyone else is doing their own thing. 

 

The sun started making an appearance around noon and it’s turned into a much better day! Not super hot and still a bit cloudy, but quite pleasant. 

[h-sar]

The once a sailing bar show happened around 2:00 at the bar by the fountain pool, Sea View Bar. Always entertaining. 

 

Those of you new to Regal, the buffet is divided into two parts - what I call the cream colour and the brown colour. The cream is closest to the pools and the brown to the very back of the ship. At lunch, The cream side always has: a fresh sandwich area; daily fresh guacamole, chicken and beef fajita fixings, taco meat, tortillas, salsa, chips; the hibachi grill which has the most amazing grilled vegetables, donair meat and fixings, and usually ribs or chicken; and a pastry shop which has amazing desserts all day which change over from lunch to dinner. They have two different cupcakes daily (very yummy). The brown side is much bigger and is the bulk of the buffet with more food than I can begin to recount, including multiple carving stations. It often has dinner themes, such as Italian, German, Mexican, etc. I wish the schedule  would appear on day 1 Patter as I end up missing some of my favourite ones. You just have to look for them. 

 

[hllwdcruiser]

Do they still have a large seafood selection at the buffet on the last day?

Edited January 5, 2019 by hllwdcruiser

[floridalover5623]

10 minutes ago, h-sar said:

I wish the schedule  would appear on day 1 Patter as I end up missing some of my favourite ones.

That would be a nice touch.

This way we would know whether to do to the DR or the Horizon on a particular night. 

[tartan cruiser]

Wow, thanks again for all the great information. I am for sure going to get those food truck tacos.

Glad to hear they taste as good as they look. Great prices too. Confirmed our choice of Paradise Beach over Mr. Sanchos this year. I don't mind the added 18% but good to check to make sure they get their tips. Taxi prices helped too so I know what to expect.  I've cruised Regal last year but you've added so much information I've seemed to have forgotten or missed. I'm getting very excited after reading your review. We love movies under the stars and most of these are ones we haven't seen yet. German night is our favorite night in the buffet. If you remember what night that was we would appreciate that also. Thanks again for doing your "live" from the Regal. Enjoy your remaining time and Safe Travels.

 

[h-sar]

1 hour ago, hllwdcruiser said:

Do they still have a large seafood selection at the buffet on the last day?

 

In fact, this next pic was lunchtime today. It was a pretty big spread. Shrimp and other seafood items. I will check at dinner, too.  Having an aversion to all things seafood, I try not to make too much eye contact with that part of the buffet, LOL. My friend is doing the crabshack feast tonight. Will get her opinion on that afterward.

Edited January 5, 2019 by h-sar

[h-sar]

Here are some pictures of the daily, ever-changing cupcakes in the lunch buffet. I do not think I managed to capture every day. I can attest, personally, that the icing on each was quite delicious 😉.  I believe they had 2 different ones per day.  The orange Mandarin at the very top was my favorite. 

[h-sar]

Went for our final tea time in symphony this afternoon. Asked to sit at a larger table, and my daughter, my husband, and I were seated at a table with a newly married couple from Idaho we had tea with a few days ago as well as twin middle-age sisters from London. The tea was excellent and the company was delightful. While we sit with our own family at dinner, because we are a larger group, I like to join a larger table at teatime because it gives us a chance to to interact with other passengers without having to commit to a huge amount of time. Best of both worlds. We have met some really interesting people at tea.  

 

They also had the Royal tea services in the raised level of the Piazza at the same time. It was jam packed. I don’t think I would ever do it. Perhaps if they change the venue, I might. However, I find teatime in the dining room to be absolutely wonderful, so don’t think I would pay the $10 for the other one. The venue just does not lend itself to a quiet, intimate tea experience, as far as I’m concerned. They should really move it into a small intimate venue, maybe club 6? I walked by and the  food didn’t look much different than what we had in the dining room, except it was served on a three tiered tray. I believe you also get your choice of many different specialty teas. 

[h-sar]

On 12/31/2018 at 2:15 PM, beachmets said:

Re internet minutes.  I just had a response from a Princess re our 14 day booked on Regal for Jan 13 (booked as a 14 day, not two seven days)

As platinum do we receive 150 min internet for the first 7 days and then 150 min the second 7 days or 250 min total? Thank you

 

PRINCESS RESPONSE

Yes, you do receive the internet credit for each segment of 7 days on your cruise.

 

Fantastic! I would really advise that you bring the email with you as what’s said by Princess and what’s done on board are often two different things 😡. 

[MrSchwump]

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences!

[cnd crsr]

Thanks for sharing your trip. Have really enjoyed your writing style. Have a safe trip home and hope Alberta isn't too cold.

[sinned19]

20 hours ago, h-sar said:

 

Happened only at dinnertime - once during this week, but possibly twice. Two nights ago, it became the soup station. The same noodles/rice/veggie/protein/condiment selections. Once you selected your items, you would hand the bowl over to the cooks and they would put it into a small individual pot of the boiling broth you had selected (chicken, beef, miso). The chicken and beef meat strips were already pre cooked. This would all cook in the broth for about 3 min (you’d get a number on a chit) and then they would pour it into a humongous bowl. Looked very cool, but I’m not an Oriental soup person (haven’t even bought into the pho craze 😁), so can't comment on taste.

 

At least 2-3 other times during the week, the area becomes a fresh pasta station. One night it was spaghetti bolognese, another night it was spaghetti olio (my favourite, that I sadly missed), and another might have been penne or bowtie in a delicious marinara sauce. Fresh garlic, fresh basil, condiments like great quality Parmesan, chili flakes, etc., pasta made right in front of you (they cook up a few servings at a time)...why would you possibly walk by that to throw some pasta, that was made hrs ago, onto your plate from a warming tray? 

 

Here’s my Mongolian grill dish, made with veggies and the translucent noodles. Make sure you’re very specific about your spice level; remember that most of the cooks are coming from a part of the world where low spicy doesn’t exist and they immediately start at medium 😀.

 

 

Look for the fresh pasta station in the MDR on Italian night as well. Tonight, Zaza was cooking up some penne and shrimp in a marinara sauce in the MDR. I asked for an appy sized portion - without the shrimp, of course! I don’t have allergies (just an aversion!) so wasn’t worried that the shrimp was cross contaminating the pasta. I just can’t have it on my plate when it’s served to me. If I can’t see it, it was never there 😁. Fortunately, the shrimp was not chopped up, so was easy for them to remove.

Thanks h-sar, Carnival had a similar grill for lunch in the buffet along with Indian food it was something different for lunch.

[tillys mom]

Thank you so much h-sar, I have really enjoyed reading your reports and dreaming about getting onboard in just a week. You have been great to answer our questions- hope I can return the favor sometime.

Have a safe trip home!

[h-sar]

The chef‘s table was on Thurs night. Well, what can I say. All words will fail to fully do justice to this experience. I don’t think I will ever again experience this calibre of service. It was well worth every penny. We took the non-alcoholic version and it was $100. 

 

All five of us attended and we were joined by an older German-speaking couple from Serbia and their very charming adult daughter (who translated for them) from Switzerland. We were given white coats to wear for the galley portion so that we would not contaminate the kitchen and were led to the galley which is in the middle of Concerto and Allegro. We were led through Concerto into the galley and led out of the galley into Allegro later, so drew a lot of interested stares! Maitre’d Ignacio and executive Chef Florin Dragan conducted the event. Chef Florin provided a lot of interesting information about the dining rooms, galleys, food prep etc. Wish I’d taken notes! 

 

We started in the galley with a number of hors d’oeuvres being presented to us, by the end of which we were feeling a bit full already! I’ll post pics of the menu so won’t go into what we had. All of it was exceptional. I didn’t take many pics in the galley as I wasn’t sure we were allowed to and knew my children would give me death glares if I over did it! I got up some courage later 👍🏼. 

 

From the galley, where we left the white coats, we went to the Lumiere chef’s table in Allegro. The Lumiere, with the crystal curtain which slowly descended to encase us in a bit of an ethereal cocoon, has to be a one of a kind thing, on any ship or on land. Chef Florin would come in an explain the courses (too many to count!) and then would depart, leaving us with Ignacio and Iliana (sp?) who is a Ukrainian hostess in Allegro. 

 

Our dishes would be served to us with a flourish by 8 waiters or headwaiters, bringing in dome covered dishes for every course. They would place and uncover each dish in unison, under Ignacio‘s order. It was quite a sight and I lost any hint of nervousness about pulling out my camera, Especially when I saw that the kids had their’s out, too! 

 

While we had let them know on the day of booking about my aversion to seafood and my friend’s gluten-free status, we also let them know that we were willing to eat anything that was put before us and were not expecting the chef to make any changes on our behalf, because it is a set menu. However, we were pleasantly surprised to be accommodated in a number of different ways. For example, the main course consisted of beef, pork, lobster, and crab. I was given a lovely sea bass in place of the seafood. My friend had gluten-free versions of everything. This went above and beyond what we had expected, knowing the time and effort that is put into preparing a menu like this. This is the kind of service which has us back on the Regal for our 6th holiday cruise.

 

The first few pics after the menu were taken in the galley. It was really interesting to watch a working ship’s kitchen. So much bigger, spacious, calmer, cleaner than I expected. 

 

The Murano hand blown glass sculpture in the middle of the chef’s table was exquisite. 

 

The orange sorbet intermezzo in the glass was truly one of the most delightful things I’ve ever tasted. So light and refreshing, but all the elements in must have been painstaking to create. 

 

The warm camembert tarts (with the bread and fig and date squares) were incredible. The mushroom risotto dish with the prawn and the main course with the lobster are my daughter’s dishes. The presentation and taste of every element of every dish was beyond compare. I didn’t eat anything all day prior to the dinner and was so glad that I had not. We were seriously stuffed by the middle of the meal and I knew I was not able to do justice to the last couple of courses. The main course, particularly, with four different meats and seafoods could have had much smaller portions. 

 

For anyone who drinks, they should definitely select the alcohol version of the chef‘s table. Can’t remember if it was $115 or $130. Might have been 115. The other family hard alcohol and they were being poured drinks left and right throughout the meal. 

 

Chef Florin and the waitstaff truly outdid themselves. I will never forget this experience and a huge thank you to our children who instigated this experience as a birthday present to us. 

Edited January 6, 2019 by h-sar

[h-sar]

My friend was at the crab shack for dinner tonight. Her seating was at 6:30. She said they seem to stagger the diners a little bit so that the waiters are not overwhelmed with everybody coming in at the same time. She said it was really good and they accommodated her gluten-free status. She did say that it was not as good as Joe’s Crabshack which she has been to in Fort Lauderdale a few times now. She said the service was good and it was attentive. As a party of one, she was seated at a small table by herself. While very enjoyable, she said it was a one and done experience. 

[Lucky TGO]

Great review thank for sharing.

Tony

[h-sar]

We docked in Port E just before 6:00. Our flight is at 12:10 with a first layover in ATL, so will be in the later group to leave, ubering around 9:30 to FLL. 

 

DH left the cabin around 6:20 for his final workout (he always showers up there which frees up the bathroom in the cabin. The showers there, like in the Enclave, are huge). 

 

Stayed up way too late last night, trying to make the last day stretch as long as possible. Had intended to see Beatlemaniacs for their second performance, but just wandered around instead. Their first performance on Thursday was in the piazza. The number of people on the stairs,  hanging over the railings, in the piazza, and in the bar areas almost rivalled a New Year’s eve party in its earlier stages. I have never seen the area that busy other than a New Yrs. It was a terrific performance and they had the dance floor hopping. I regret having missed their other performances on past sailings. Fortunately, the performance last night was moved to one of the larger venues, maybe Vista? 

 

Our internet is still working and it says that it will work for another 15 hrs. Have to say, the $90 was well worth it for the two weeks, especially as 3 of us were using it. Worked well for me, because I wake up much earlier than the kids and was able to use for a good amount of time before one of them woke up to kick me off! 

 

Some regrets from my two weeks on board: didn’t visit the Retreat pool more than once this trip. It was a couple of days ago and my friend and I had the loveliest conversations with people in the pool. I keep forgetting how quiet and relaxed that area is and how calm the pool atmosphere is. I love kids (raised two of my own), but a reprieve from their liveliness as well as from some of the larger groups around the main pools was something I waited too long to do. I also regret not getting to the Pub lunch this trip and not making it to the dining room for lunch, something I’ve only ever done once. I come from a city that is landlocked and faces about 5 months of winter. On cruises, I want to spend as much time outside in the warm sun as possible and so spending an hr having lunch inside seems an hr wasted from that goal. DD had lunch in the MDR yesterday with friends and, between all of them, pretty much ordered the entire menu. She had a taste of a number of dishes and said   they were all pretty fantastic. Spaghetti olio was the pasta. Drat, I missed out again 😕.

 

Debating walking over to Ross by myself at 8:00 and then meeting the fam outside the terminal. DH has his final workout goals, I have mine 🤣. 

[h-sar]

Forgot to mention that the swirly yellow item in the middle was the crab leg rolled in delicate strands of phyllo. Was very pretty. Can’t comment on the taste as I had the sea bass instead. And Bernnaise sauce in the side dish. I also had tartar for my sea bass. 

 

This was in the dinner buffet yesterday. Was seriously one of the biggest hunks of meat I’ve ever seen. Picture can’t possibly capture the immensity of it! 

Edited January 6, 2019 by h-sar

[h-sar]

A couple of pics from the Blue Hole excursion from Falmouth which the kids absolutely raved about. Pics show just two of the many areas they went through with their guides.

 

All the other pics are on DS’s go pro as well as the ones from Stingray City so I don’t have access to them yet. They had a great time at Stingray city in Grand Cayman and the snorkeling which followed. Said the water was very clear and they saw a lot. There were many other Ship tours around them for the stingray part, but each guide had a stingray which each group was able to interact with. For the 1/2 hr snorkeling, their group was alone in the area. Well worth the $60ish excursion cost. 

Edited January 6, 2019 by h-sar

[h-sar]

Cruise critic, I absolutely LOVE how easy it is to now insert pictures from my phone.  This would have been so laborious before  and I would not have had the patience or time to add pictures to my words in the middle of a cruise. Thank you for all the great changes!