Regal Princess Review, Dec. 4 - 9, From Port Everglades PLUS An Upgrade!

[Guardsy]

Just returned last night from our cruise on the Regal.  Some observations.

 

We sailed at about 25% capacity, 946 passengers.  1,300 crew on-board.  The "extra" crew were almost too much at times; 4-5 waiting on you in the buffet, lots of wandering servers in the lounges, etc.  That said, room service was almost instantanious!

 

The Medallion.  I am not a techie, and I was leery of all the medallion posts.  Frankly, from the start, ours worked GREAT, then had issues.  First, good luck getting and staying connected to "medallion.net".  It would drop most of the time and seemed worthless.  The "search for your companion screens? on the ship worked about 50% of the time.  The other 50% of the time it just told me I did not have any traveling companions.  Fail.  Trying to order room service through the TV.  Yeah, needs a lot of work.  So simple of a system, yet so lacking in abilities.  Better off calling the order in.

 

Food.  We both thought it was great.  Options plentiful, but just normal Princess menus.  Servings were plenty large enough.  We used the MDR (loved it each night), the buffet for some lunch/breakfast and all was good there.  Tried pizza on deck (was ok) and pizza at Alfredo's (Wonderful!).  Ice cream was always fun on hot days.  Buffet bars..........why does Princess not have them?  If I had one criticism on service in the buffet it would be that it can take literally 10 minutes to get a bottle of beer.  

 

We did get upgraded.  We had an inside ADA room (E321) which was wonderful, except that the plumbing (toilet) didn't always work and the A/C did not seem to function.  It was very warm at night.  On the second day I went to the front desk prior to dinner to ask about repairs to the A/C so we could sleep.  The staff told me they would notify the engineer, but that "I know how long it will take, so let us see if we cannot get you moved to a different cabin".  I told him we were in an ADA cabin and that we were told that they were all sold out, but he grinned and said that he might have something.  After a few minutes he changed our Medallions to C435, a generous outside ADA with balcony, compliments of Princess.  I was astounded.  After dinner they even sent staff to move all of our belongings to the new cabin.

 

All parts of the ship we visited were in good shape, no complaints.  I did get a pass to the Enclave and enjoyed it.  Some parts are just "eh", but the pool was relaxing and the scented steam room was beyond wonderful.

 

Embarkation was quick and efficient.  Disembarkation was as well, but we had a 2 PM flight so we rose at 7 AM, had a leisurely breakfast in the MDR and left the ship about 9 AM.  Would have taken less than 5 minutes, but we had to wait 15-minutes for someone to escort my wife down the ramp in her scooter.  Virtually no luggage left in the warehouse, so five minutes after stepping on the ship ramp, we were getting into a taxi.

 

All in all, a wonderful vacation.

 

[caribill]

3 hours ago, Guardsy said:

 

All in all, a wonderful vacation.

 

 

Thanks for bringing us along.

[Coral]

Thanks for the review! Glad they upgraded you.

[I object 2]

Thanks for your review.   The Regal is a lovely ship. We board her in 3 weeks....can't wait.  I'm looking at the snow outside our window and dreaming of warmer weather and adult beverages.  🙂

 

 

[californiagirl]

946 passengers!!  The ship must really have felt empty.  Thank you for your review. 😊

[guy44134]

We were on this cruise, too. It was kind of eerie with so few passengers on board. I think we had other people in our elevator maybe 3x during the cruise, and we never had a problem finding a seat in the theater. We were happy not to feel crowded but wonder how much money Princess is losing currently! Our Medallion worked pretty flawlessly, apart for a bit of a slowdown in internet speed at the very end of the voyage for some reason. All staff abided by masking rules as did most passengers, which made us feel safe onboard. However, there were a few passengers I'd see walking the ship with masks down below their face, including one gentleman in particular, who I'd see around the ship frequently. I wish staff felt more empowered to remind passengers to wear masks properly. Overall, it was a great return to cruising. 

[Tak8]

Thanks for the review.  Sounds like a great cruise. 

[RNRcruisers]

We are on this ship in a month. That sounds really empty! Glad to hear that you had a good cruise. 

[Guardsy]

5 hours ago, RNRcruisers said:

We are on this ship in a month. That sounds really empty! Glad to hear that you had a good cruise. 

Not really "empty".  It was very comfortable.  Still lots of folks in the public areas, but not over run.  Have fun!

[BettyCruiser]

I was on this cruise also. Most folks wore masks when not required. If just walking around most places it’s not required. I wore my mask when required and don’t wear a mask when not required. 

[DrSea]

I was on the Regal on Thanksgiving. We have 1.5k pax, and even then I thought it was almost too overwhelming the number of staff vs pax. I would be asked 5 x if I wanted a drink (I don't drink water when I eat) but could never get anyone to get me utensils.