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

[dance4fun]

@Carnevale. We have had a good time dancing to the various solo entertainers in the Piazza.  Alex Kovalenko (violin) has played in various locations.  He has done a good job of playing to the audience.  There have been a half dozen+ couples who frequently get up to dance, plus the the usual group of couples who do slow dances.  We had an excellent surprise last night when Roston Eleuthere played a number of popular songs on the steel pans for which there are line dances.  We never thought we would dance Jerusalema on the cruise.  He decided to see if we knew that one after seeing us do several other line dances.  The aft dance floor in Vista Lounge was moving too much to dance comfortably in last night.  The boat zigged when I was zagging and I stepped pretty hard on DW 's foot to retain balance.  We decided to move to a more stable mid ship location to dance.

Edited February 11, 2022 by dance4fun

[dance4fun]

7 hours ago, kb4683 said:

Thank you!  We are boarding Regal on Saturday as you leave.  Will be bringing a few N95’s, but was curious what they were handing out.

Our suggestion is to unwrap the Princess supplied KN95 a day or so before you plan to use it to allow it to air out and to try it on.  The ones we got had distinctive odors from their plastic wrapping.  The surgical masks didn't have an odor, in our experience.  One of the Princess supplied KN 95 s had a short ear loop (on the right side).  It kept flipping my ear forward and coming undone along with making my glasses fall off when the ear flipped.  The cabin steward readily supplied a replacement KN95. 

Edited February 11, 2022 by dance4fun

[dickinson]

We'll  be on the ship tomorrow and are bringing our own KN95 masks.  From the photos I saw the masks Princess supplies just say KN95 without the proper markings along with that.  They could very well be counterfeit as there are a lot of them out there.  I googled what markings should be on the mask.  This is from The NY Times on how to spot fakes: 

 

On KN95s

There’s no GB marking. The KN95 standard requires that masks made after July 1, 2021, be stamped with GB2626-2019, which provides reassurance that the manufacturer constructed the mask according to current Chinese respirator standards, Miller said. A mask with a GB number ending in 2006 was made according to the previous standard and is still legitimate if the expiration date hasn't passed.

 

Previously mentioned was also that the company name who made the mask should be listed too.  This is because legitimate companies advertise themselves.

[geoherb]

Here are the menus for lunch and dinner in the dining room today.

 

Menu 2022-02-11.pdf

[geoherb]

Here is today's Patter for my last full day. There are 320 passengers staying on for the next cruise.

 

[USCcruisecrazy]

On 2/5/2022 at 8:51 AM, geoherb said:

I am planning on getting an Uber to the port. If the ship had been docked where the Sky is, I would have walked. Terminal 21 is a little too far for me to go with luggage. 

 

Sadly, two more couples have announced on our rollcall that they're not going to make it. Their flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, kept getting changed to where it will not arrive until too late this afternoon for them to make it to the ship. Princess offered to switch their flight to ones that would have them meet the ship in Costa Maya. They decided it was not an easy itinerary and declined the offer. 

 

On my cruise on the Caribbean in December, I saw several people getting on the ship with their luggage in Cozumel. 

Thankfully, we drive down from SC the day before and relax for an evening.  I don't trust airlines to get me where I need to be.

[geoherb]

All five people who sat at my table at breakfast are continuing on next week. One couple has been on for several cruises. The other three are just taking the two cruises. They had appointment times for their Covid tests ranging from 8:15 to 10:30.

 

I went to the culinary demo after morning trivia. It was fun as usual. They prepared gnocchi with fresh pesto sauce, chili con carne, and tiramisu. The chef mentioned that pastry chef, who helped demo the dessert, had his team make a special pastry extravaganza for the buffet at lunch. I went to take photos but did not sample anything.

 

[geoherb]

I ate lunch at Alfredo's again. It was my third time eating there. I had the vegetarian antipasto every time. I ate a veggie pizza on Monday, the agnolotti on Tuesday, and a ham, artichoke, and mushroom pizza today. 

[geoherb]

I haven't tried the gelato on this cruise, but here's a photo anyway. The same six flavors have been available every day. My favorite flavor, zuppa Inglese, isn't one of them.

 

[greenie082756]

On 2/5/2022 at 12:35 PM, geoherb said:

And speaking of Princess Plus, the glass of wine I had at lunch appeared on my statement. I was checking to make sure my onboard credits had appeared correctly. The goodwill credit never showed up on the "Payments" tab of the Cruise Personalizer, but it was on the travel summary--and it's showing up on my account on the ship as well.

 

I stopped by guest services about the charge. Guess what the answer was? She's going to have to check with her supervisor. She said she could see that I had the beverage package but did not know why it was not activated correctly. She told me not to worry about the charge. It would come off when they fixed the problem. She jotted down a note about it.

 

Here are photos of the wine list showing what's available. The online version is slightly different. I noticed some things are on it that are not on the ship's wine list and vice versa in terms of being available by the glass. The online version also has descriptions of the wines. I think the dining room has a larger version that includes them.

 

 

 

Thanks for doing this ~

I am noticing most are by the bottle and not priced by glass. Is it what you see is what you get?

[dance4fun]

11 hours ago, dickinson said:

We'll  be on the ship tomorrow and are bringing our own KN95 masks.  From the photos I saw the masks Princess supplies just say KN95 without the proper markings along with that.  They could very well be counterfeit as there are a lot of them out there.  I googled what markings should be on the mask.  This is from The NY Times on how to spot fakes: 

 

On KN95s

There’s no GB marking. The KN95 standard requires that masks made after July 1, 2021, be stamped with GB2626-2019, which provides reassurance that the manufacturer constructed the mask according to current Chinese respirator standards, Miller said. A mask with a GB number ending in 2006 was made according to the previous standard and is still legitimate if the expiration date hasn't passed.

 

Previously mentioned was also that the company name who made the mask should be listed too.  This is because legitimate companies advertise themselves.

Agree, the Princess supplied masks are not marked as NIOSH certified. However, the percentage of people on the cruise wearing these masks covering their noses and mouths indoors while not eating or drinking is extremely high compared to our experience off-ship.  There is a very small percentage that are not wearing a mask correctly in the evening show or walking in public areas. We feel much safer here than at home in grocery stores or at restaurants.  The Princess supplied masks are comfortable enough to be worn by virtually everyone on the ship when not outside.  We have chosen to wear the Princess supplied KN95 masks versus our NIOSH approved N95 masks with dual headstraps because of comfort - the KN95s are comfortable enough to wear all day long.

Edited February 11, 2022 by dance4fun

[geoherb]

3 hours ago, greenie082756 said:

 

Thanks for doing this ~

I am noticing most are by the bottle and not priced by glass. Is it what you see is what you get?

 

You are right. Most on the list are by the bottle. But I haven't made it through the ones available by the glass that come in at $12 or less. I keep drinking Conundrum for my white wine choice in the dining room and between the Decoy Merlot, Meiemi Pinot Noir, and Footbolt Shiraz for my red. I had the glass of Gloria Ferrer for my sparkling wine choice at Vines. 

[memoak]

4 hours ago, greenie082756 said:

 

Thanks for doing this ~

I am noticing most are by the bottle and not priced by glass. Is it what you see is what you get?

Just like most stateside restaurants most wines are by bottle only. Otherwise they would have tons on bottles opened at a time mostly for 1 glass. Can you imagine opening a &100 bottle of wine for 1 glass ?

Edited February 11, 2022 by memoak

[avonlady6390]

Geoherb your picture of the pastry extravaganza made me realize it's been a week today I was there and I did have samples.  I was on for the 4 night and 5 night right before your cruise.

[Donyb]

To Geoherb -Thank you so much for taking us along on your Regal cruise vacation. I loved reading your observations and impressions. It was kind of you to share with all of us.

 

Wishing you a safe journey home.

[culvercitycruiser]

On 2/9/2022 at 12:40 PM, geoherb said:

 

Here it is.

Thanks so much!

[geoherb]

Last night. I played trivia with two of my teammates and then went to dinner with them. It was nice. I had the surf and turf. Afterward, two of us went to see the Toms perform--the comedian and piano player from earlier in the cruise. Both were great. I enjoyed the comedian's set more than I did his first performance. 

 

I had a toasted almond at Club 6 and am now watching the U.S. and Canada play hockey. 

[Carnevale]

21 hours ago, dance4fun said:

@Carnevale. We have had a good time dancing to the various solo entertainers in the Piazza.  Alex Kovalenko (violin) has played in various locations.  He has done a good job of playing to the audience.  There have been a half dozen+ couples who frequently get up to dance, plus the the usual group of couples who do slow dances.  We had an excellent surprise last night when Roston Eleuthere played a number of popular songs on the steel pans for which there are line dances.  We never thought we would dance Jerusalema on the cruise.  He decided to see if we knew that one after seeing us do several other line dances.  The aft dance floor in Vista Lounge was moving too much to dance comfortably in last night.  The boat zigged when I was zagging and I stepped pretty hard on DW 's foot to retain balance.  We decided to move to a more stable mid ship location to dance.

What kind of floor surfaces are you dancing on?  I tried looking at photos of the Vista and it looks like wood and the Piazza seemed to be some kind of stone which looked like it might be slippery.  How are you faring on them?

 

 I had to laugh at your zig-zag dance challenge….sounds so familiar!  We either end up stepping on each other or inventing odd running steps when we suddenly go downhills unexpectedly.   Part of the fun!

[dance4fun]

16 minutes ago, Carnevale said:

What kind of floor surfaces are you dancing on?  I tried looking at photos of the Vista and it looks like wood and the Piazza seemed to be some kind of stone which looked like it might be slippery.  How are you faring on them?

 

 @Carnevale

Vista Lounge, Club 6, and Princess Live (line dancing instruction) have nice wood floors.  The Piazza, Crooners, and the dance circle in the hallway by the Wheelhouse bar all have a tile based floor. We experienced more issues at the Vista Lounge with both the ship movement (extreme aft location) and inconsistent polish on the floor.  Princess addressed some of the polish issues by the end of our b2b2b.  We didn't find the Piazza (or any of the circles) slippery and the midship locations eliminated much of the ship movement. The Piazza was a nice big floor.  Crooners was much tighter - 2 couples could dance patterns of restricted sizes if both were considerate.  With the relatively low passenger count (this week roughly 1/3 full, other voyages less crowded), the hallway dance circle by Wheelhouse bar was actually useable by one couple.  Club 6 had a nice rectangular wood floor, generally not what we were looking for in terms of music.

See our note in the quote...

Edited February 12, 2022 by dance4fun

[geoherb]

It's time for breakfast. I'm packed and ready to sign off from here. I had a great cruise, met lots of fun people, enjoyed good food and drink, went to all the shows, and enjoyed three out of four ports (treating the other one like a fun day at sea). I made sure to check my stateroom account to make sure there were no last-minute charges like I had in December.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Safe travels home and thanks for taking us along on your sailing! 
 

i forgot to ask if there are bar stools at Crooners!  Didn’t know if due to covid they didn’t have them there. 

[loge23]

15 hours ago, memoak said:

Just like most stateside restaurants most wines are by bottle only. Otherwise they would have tons on bottles opened at a time mostly for 1 glass. Can you imagine opening a &100 bottle of wine for 1 glass ?

Well, "tons" yes, but it would be nice if Princess could open more a few more of the many inexpensive bottles on their list. After all, Brand X does this very well.

On the Enchanted currently, there are a whopping two (2) cabernets by the glass offered in the MDR and one of those wasn't available last night. It was available oddly at Crooners later on. 

But I'll save my wine (whine?) rant for post-cruise.

[azbirdmom]

2 hours ago, geoherb said:

It's time for breakfast. I'm packed and ready to sign off from here. I had a great cruise, met lots of fun people, enjoyed good food and drink, went to all the shows, and enjoyed three out of four ports (treating the other one like a fun day at sea). I made sure to check my stateroom account to make sure there were no last-minute charges like I had in December.

 

Thank you SO much for answering my questions and for sharing all of the wonderful info with us.  Safe travels!

[dhdoug]

22 hours ago, We_like_to_cruise said:

Hi everyone.

 

Just booked yesterday, can't believe the pricing !

See you in a few weeks.

😁😁

Andy and Bonnie from Tampa

Hello, Doug and Patty from Pittsburgh here.. We are looking into relocating to the Sun City area and would love the opportunity to touch base and hear your thoughts on the area.

thanks

[XBGuy]

2 hours ago, loge23 said:

Well, "tons" yes, but it would be nice if Princess could open more a few more of the many inexpensive bottles on their list. After all, Brand X does this very well.

On the Enchanted currently, there are a whopping two (2) cabernets by the glass offered in the MDR and one of those wasn't available last night. It was available oddly at Crooners later on. '

 

Over the years there have been multiple reports here on Cruise Critic of specific wines being available in some venues but not in others on Princess ships.  Speaking personally, we have encountered that on multiple cruises.

 

2 hours ago, loge23 said:

But I'll save my wine (whine?) rant for post-cruise.

 

Absolutely, that is the way to do it.