LIVE: Regal Princess, February 5-12, 2022: Geoherb goes solo again

[geoherb]

I ate dinner in the Concerto dining room with the solo guy from the first night, his sister and her husband, and a woman from the Seattle area. She's traveling with her 20-year-old grandson. He'd rather eat pizza by the pool than sit down to a long dinner. 

 

It was the first formal night. Many people dressed up. I did not see anyone wearing shorts in the dining room. I did see one many who had on jeans. My estimate of the men in the dining room is that 15% of the men wore tuxedos or other true formal wear, 30% wore suit and tie or sports jacket with a tie, 20% wore a suit or jacket without a tie, 20% wore a dress shirt with a tie but no jacket, 20% wore a dress shirt without a tie or jacket, and 10% wore a casual shirt with long pants.

 

I enjoyed the shrimp main course as an appetizer. It was just a little mound of rice with five grilled shrimp on top, a mini bok choy, and a little sauce. I knew it was not an entrée size portion from past cruises. I had the lamb as my main course. It was the opposite--more meat than I could eat. Everyone else at my table at the medallion of beef. They said it was good. I had one of my favorite desserts, the chocolate-hazelnut bar with citrus cream. It was as good as I remembered.

 

The Yes-No game show was fun as always. The first passenger up made it through without saying yes or no. According to the CD, he has been on for the four previous cruises and had failed on his four previous attempts. The rest of the contestants failed to make it through, including the first man's wife. I later saw them in the corridor. They're staying in the suite next to my cabin. They said they've been in it for all five cruises so far and will stay on for one more week after this cruise. 

 

Another fun contestant in the show was one who looked like Santa Claus. He wore a red suit. He said he was putting CD Aaron on his naughty list. After the last passenger failed, Aaron gave one a chance to question him. He also went down in defeat.

 

The production show Bravo was good. It was strange to see such a small cast--four principal singers, guest soprano, and four dancers. I sat in front of Tom Franek, the comic pianist who performed on my last cruise in December. He said his show is coming up later. I'll go. He was very entertaining. The magician who will be performing later sat beside him. His name is Neil. The guest soprano will perform her solo show tonight.

 

I went to the Broadway trivia after the show. I came in second with 19 out of 25. The winning couple had 21. I missed two multiple choice questions about how many Broadway theaters there are and the minimum number of seats a theater has to have in order to qualify as a Broadway theater. Most of the questions were just snippets of a song where we had to identify the show.

[geoherb]

Olympic coverage is available on the cabin TVs. It's overcast and drizzly right now as we come into Costa Maya. I'm not planning to get off the ship today. I saw it in December and did not see any excursions that I wanted to do.

 

I'm glad I was already awake, because the vibration from the thrusters would have wakened me. It's like a bed with magic fingers. 

 

Yesterday afternoon, I watched a movie (Dumplin') on the TV while sort of napping as well. I also enjoyed reading on my balcony. It was great that it had shade even though it's not covered. The chairs are comfortable.

 

Here is today's Patter. There are not many activities going on while we're in port. I'll go to the two trivias and eat lunch at Alfredo's. It's going to be a relaxing day. I'll try to finish the first novel I started on the flights down. There are a couple of other movies available on the TV that I'd like to watch sometime during the cruise.

 

My hockey team is playing Toronto tonight. I ran into two Canadian couples after trivia. They're Toronto fans even though they live in New Brunswick. 

 

[geoherb]

And here are the breakfast and dinner menus in Concerto for today.

 

Menu 2022-02-07.pdf

[dance4fun]

36 minutes ago, geoherb said:

I ate dinner in the Concerto dining room

We had the Orange duck.  It was good.  Serving size larger than one would get at a restaurant.  Since this trip was a last minute tack on to the very short previous sailings, we didn't have the tux.  Wore suit & tie.

 

Since we had seen Bravo on the last two sailings, we went to the Vista Lounge for the first two sets by Project 5.  Early set was lightly attended.  2nd set (after Bravo performance) had good attendance (given number of passengers on ship).  Nice to see dance floor fill up to a socially acceptable level during Covid.  Between the two sets, we listened to Dan play guitar at the Wheelhouse bar.  We alternated sharing the hallway dance circle with another couple, only possible because most passengers at Bravo.  Finished the night at Crooners.  Nice crowd mostly left at break before final set by Kevin.  Mostly had dance circle there to ourselves, but several times others joined for slow dances (or we sat out to let them have the floor)

Edited February 7, 2022 by dance4fun

[chubbypiggy]

11 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

Yes. I walked up by the pools today and saw most of the hot tubs had 4-6 people in them. I was trying to decide if it was shady enough for me to go swimming. I was too early.

Thank you for the information!

[CruzinNoony]

16 hours ago, avonlady6390 said:

If tonight was formal or dress to impress night that is why you received the cream puffs I received them on last cruise.  I guess that is what the elites are receiving for those nights.

We are elite and have been on 9 cruises since the start up and we have never received cream puffs.  We got the card and when I remember, I order the appetizers that they offer.

[CruzinNoony]

19 hours ago, sirclean said:

"They have taken away the loyalty OBC, along with the free wifi.  "

 

I noticed that when they went to the Medalian that they eliminated the free wifi in exchange for 1/2 off, but I thought that was just a matter of the different services offered... unlimited access versus a 'free' time allotment.

 

However, this is the first I have seen about the Loyalty OBC.  I have 22 cruise credits, which means that I had recently been getting a $25 credit when I sailed.  Is this no longer the case?  

 

IF so, then this just compounds the problem of 2 missing drinks and 2 beer in the mini bar.  In all that would be a $50 swing.  I agree that relative to the cost of the trip that is a small percentage, but I have generally been taking the shorter trips and as a percentage, it starts to add up!  

IF Princess is not going to take care of its 'most loyal customers' how long will it be before that loyalty is transferred to a line that does?

 

Anyway, I wish everyone great luck on their trip!  I am scheduled to sail in April for 5 days, so I am trying to live vicariously through your experiences until I get to enjoy it myself!!

 

We were receiving $100.00 per cruise and I miss this.  I'm hoping that they bring it back when cruising is up to what it was before the shut down.  We can only hope!

[CruzinNoony]

19 hours ago, geoherb said:

The Horizon Court held the pub lunch today. It actually looked a lot better than the previous version in the Wheelhouse Bar on another ship because of the variety of items they had prepared. Here are pictures. I did not eat any of it because I like the vegetarian burritos they served in the dining room. The dining room won't be open for lunch again until Friday.

 

The last photo is a plate of cream puffs that appeared in my cabin. I'm not sure why. It was a nice surprise to find them there.

 

The only thing I recognize from Pub Lunch days is the mushy peas.  Where are the fish and chips and the bread pudding???

[CruzDayz]

21 minutes ago, CruzinNoony said:

The only thing I recognize from Pub Lunch days is the mushy peas.  Where are the fish and chips and the bread pudding???

They are in the flower pots on the first photo. The bread pudding is on the right of the same photo. 

[CruzinNoony]

49 minutes ago, CruzDayz said:

They are in the flower pots on the first photo. The bread pudding is on the right of the same photo. 

Thanks for pointing that out.  I'm wondering if it was in the patter.  I really have missed the Pub Lunch and now I am thinking I may have missed it because we never went to the buffet or lunch on our Hawaii cruise.

[azbirdmom]

Thanks for the info you've been providing!  Another question... My DH hates the liquid soap and likes the little bars.  I know that on some ship they've stopped providing bars of soap but what's the situation on the Regal?  Also anxious to hear how "dress to impress" differs from "formal" on the Regal.

[Donyb]

42 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

Thanks for the info you've been providing!  Another question... My DH hates the liquid soap and likes the little bars.  I know that on some ship they've stopped providing bars of soap but what's the situation on the Regal?  Also anxious to hear how "dress to impress" differs from "formal" on the Regal.

I also have that same question. In November on the Enchanted, I brought my own bar soap for the shower and my own liquid hand soap for the sink. I didn't need the soap for the sink because there was liquid soap provided in a dispenser on the sink. I will bring my own bar soap for the shower just in case, but is a liquid soap provided for the sink?

[wowzz]

58 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

Thanks for the info you've been providing!  Another question... My DH hates the liquid soap and likes the little bars.  I know that on some ship they've stopped providing bars of soap but what's the situation on the Regal?  Also anxious to hear how "dress to impress" differs from "formal" on the Regal.

No soap bars on Sky in November. I think they have disappeared fleet wide. 

[californiagirl]

We had bar soap at the sink on Regal in November.

[coo359a2]

13 minutes ago, wowzz said:

No soap bars on Sky in November. I think they have disappeared fleet wide. 

Round soap bar was on the Caribbean Princess in November and Emerald Princess has them now.  Probably left overs.

[CruisinChris]

I had bar soap on Regal at Christmas.  Sorry to hear they're still having difficulty supplying the minibar set ups.  Had problems with this in December too.  No problem with it on Sky in November.  Is this just a Regal thing, or are other ships sailing out FLL have the same problem?

[Kmkub]

28 minutes ago, CruisinChris said:

I had bar soap on Regal at Christmas.  Sorry to hear they're still having difficulty supplying the minibar set ups.  Had problems with this in December too.  No problem with it on Sky in November.  Is this just a Regal thing, or are other ships sailing out FLL have the same problem?

 

On our Enchanted 10-day (we disembarked 1/29,) they ran out of Fosters cans and Heineken bottles.

[Loucat]

We are scheduled to sail on Regal 2/19. Sorry to read of all of the issues. Mini bar shortages, changes in many perks and benefits as detailed in posts here, now SOAP problems?

Chip, chip, chip, chip away....

Hello Princess? Anyone home?

[reedprincess]

7 hours ago, CruzinNoony said:

Thanks for pointing that out.  I'm wondering if it was in the patter.  I really have missed the Pub Lunch and now I am thinking I may have missed it because we never went to the buffet or lunch on our Hawaii cruise.

Yes, it was listed right in the Patter. You can see it on the post Geo made of the Patter for yesterday..

1 hour ago, Loucat said:

We are scheduled to sail on Regal 2/19. Sorry to read of all of the issues. Mini bar shortages, changes in many perks and benefits as detailed in posts here, now SOAP problems?

Chip, chip, chip, chip away....

Hello Princess? Anyone home?

Bar soaps (well, the round soaps) are available aplenty aboard Regal. We have them, along with extras, etc right there at the sink 

Supply issues are a real thing - at Christmas, there was a severe shortage of cream cheese - no cheesecake on the dessert menus.  It didn't get delivered in time.  And so forth. There's only so much they can do when suppliers don't get the items in time.  

[reedprincess]

On 2/6/2022 at 8:23 PM, avonlady6390 said:

If tonight was formal or dress to impress night that is why you received the cream puffs I received them on last cruise.  I guess that is what the elites are receiving for those nights.

Three cruises and counting this year, two last year and no cream puffs in any of the cabins on formal night. Or any other.  FWIW.  (Onboard Regal currently)...

[avonlady6390]

I received cream puffs last week on the regal for formal night.  On the subject of soap had bar soap at sink but I brought my own bottle of liquid soap which is what I prefer.

[capriccio]

6 hours ago, wowzz said:

No soap bars on Sky in November. I think they have disappeared fleet wide. 

On the Caribbean Princess last month we had to request bar soap but once we did, our steward made sure we had bars for the sink and the bath/shower.

Edited February 8, 2022 by capriccio

[capriccio]

5 hours ago, CruisinChris said:

I had bar soap on Regal at Christmas.  Sorry to hear they're still having difficulty supplying the minibar set ups.  Had problems with this in December too.  No problem with it on Sky in November.  Is this just a Regal thing, or are other ships sailing out FLL have the same problem?

The mini-bar setup on the Caribbean Princess last month was missing gin and one of the other alcoholic offerings (don't remember which) so we ended up just changing all the alcoholic bottles to vodka.  There were no little tonic waters so they substituted two large bottles. 

[geoherb]

On 2/6/2022 at 4:39 PM, 1emerald1 said:

If you have the chance, could you ask the CD if he knows who the CD will be on the Discovery?  Thanks so much.

 

It will be DuVaul Gamble. He was the CD on my Panama Canal cruise on the CB back in 2019.

[geoherb]

I have a little round bar of soap for my sink. I could use it in the shower as well, but I brought along a full-size bar to use there. My only problem with it is that it's too slippery to stay in the soap holder. 

Edited February 8, 2022 by geoherb