Live from the Regal - July 2-23 - Med Cruise - R/T Barcelona

[dreaminofcruisin]

40 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just to add a few more thoughts on how we try to improve our odds of staying safe during our cruising adventures since the restart last summer. Now, this may not work for some people, but it seems to work for us. BTW I’m 70 and my DW is a few years younger FWIW. 

Speaking of the buffet. When we do eat up there, usually on port days for breakfast and/or lunch, we always find a place to eat outside in the aft. It’s amazing how few of people even think to go out there. 
 

 

That has always been our favorite place to eat also---even pre-covid! 😁

 

Question for you...

It seems you are always in Princess Live in the evenings. What is your strategy in that venue? Pre-covid we had a problem finding seats anywhere in these type of venues...so there would be no choice of socially distanced ones. Are there that many fewer passengers on the ship now? Or what is your 'avoid covid' strategy for them?

TIA

Thanks for your Live from.....It helps as we await our next cruise!

[jasbo49]

5 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

This afternoon after an early sailaway, we went to Beat the Cruise Director, which was totally fascinating and not what we expected. I’m not going to say how, but I highly recommend you go to see it if Dan France is your CD on an upcoming cruise. I’ve got say, Dan has been one of the most multitalented CDs we’ve ever had the pleasure of sailing with. 
 

 

 

Then, on the way to watch another lecture by Angela Kelly, we saw a few of the The Real Love Boat actors taking a selfie!

 

 

But understandably, you can definitely tell this is a younger crowd on this cruise by the attendance at her lectures reflected in the below picture. All totaled, there may have been around 20 or so there. 
 

Her lectures are interesting for us old folks, but not all that exciting if you’re a younger person who is on vacation!

 

 

 

It's disappointing to me that Angela Kelly's talks were so poorly attended. I've always found the enrichment lectures one of the things that made Princess stand out among mid-priced lines.

 

Jim

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just to add a few more thoughts on how we try to improve our odds of staying safe during our cruising adventures since the restart last summer. Now, this may not work for some people, but it seems to work for us. BTW I’m 70 and my DW is a few years younger FWIW. 
 

First, we’re pretty much anti-social with other passengers when we’re on a cruise.  I love talking with people, but we love cruising more and don’t want to accidentally catch something to spoil our fun of being on a cruise. 
 

However, we have a blast with the crew we meet and always try to make them laugh, especially the washy-washy ladies up at the buffet who get to deal with all kinds of attitude as one might imagine. 

 

Speaking of the buffet. When we do eat up there, usually on port days for breakfast and/or lunch, we always find a place to eat outside in the aft. It’s amazing how few of people even think to go out there. 
 

In the theater we plot our seat locations ahead of time for places where people won’t be sitting directly behind us. We also arrive 20-30 minutes in advance and bring a deck of cards and play Gin Rummy to pass the time until the show starts. 
 

Hope this helps! 😁

We have only done three cruises (42 days) post covid. Ironically, we caught covid on the cruise with the lowest number of passengers,  the most severe mask wearing protocols, and extra social distancing. We were diligent mask wearers the entire cruise. 

On the similar Regal cruise you are on, we only wore masks on two private tours. Apart from that, we flew on unmasked flights, from unmasked airports, and never wore masks on the ship. No covid.

It really is the luck of the draw. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by wowzz

[dreaminofcruisin]

38 minutes ago, jasbo49 said:

It's disappointing to me that Angela Kelly's talks were so poorly attended. I've always found the enrichment lectures one of the things that made Princess stand out among mid-priced lines.

 

Jim

 

Sometimes these are shown on the cabin tv later, I believe. Perhaps that is the case and some people are trying to avoid what they thought might be crowds? in the theater. It also sounds like a port intensive cruise....sometimes people just need to crash....

[wowzz]

Just now, dreaminofcruisin said:

Perhaps that is the case and some people are trying to avoid what they thought might be crowds

Crowds - for a port talk ! 

If the audience exceeds 100 the speaker is doing well.

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

On this cruise I believe deck 8 and 9 forward on the port side are the areas that have been blocked off. But the only reason I’m saying this is because the hall entrances at those entrance locations when we walk down the stairs have been closed pretty much since we boarded back on July 2. 

Oh - oh --- getting closer.  We are in a mid-ship Inside Starboard on Regal.  Not liking seeing Q cabins on same deck (I had read mostly Dolphin in the past for these ships.  Although they are welcome to move us to a Suite.  Ha, Ha.

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

This afternoon after an early sail-away, we went to Beat the Cruise Director, which was totally fascinating and not what we expected. I’m not going to say how, but I highly recommend you go to see it if Dan France is your CD on an upcoming cruise. I’ve got say, Dan has been one of the most multitalented CDs we’ve ever had the pleasure of sailing with. 

 

He'll probably be on a leave by October.  Sads.....

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, LibertyBella said:

Hello Ken,

 

...........................

 

................. By the way, I also always book all the Princess shore tours, and I have always found them to be well organized, comprehensive, enjoyable, and worth the cost.  If I am traveling all that way I want to see as much as I can as well as I can, and my goal is not to try to get a bargain basement local tour to save a few bucks.

 

I know touring every day can be exhausting, but it is well worth it for all the memories later.

 

........................

Look, first I have no issue with guests who prefer to go with Princess.  But I do not at all agree with your characterization of doing a local tour (more correctly, a private tour). 

 

Sure, I have seen low-cost tours posted by others, but most of us booking our own tours are looking for a small-group QUALITY experience and we may pay the same or less than PCL charges, but we get a better experience, seeing more and having more attention from a guide than with a group of 25/30/40 guests.  

 

Yes, touring is worth it to see and learn more.  But it is certainly not necessary to do it with Princess in order to have a quality experience. 

 

[Steelers36]

On 7/12/2022 at 3:46 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

Day 12 - July 13 - Kusadasi, Turkey

 

 

Just checked the Patter and saw "Dress to Impress" (which I have been aware of).  Just wondering if they have re-labelled all Formal Nights this way, or did they name one "Formal" and one D-T-I each week?  Thanks.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

We have only done three cruises (42 days) post covid. Ironically, we caught covid on the cruise with the lowest number of passengers,  the most severe mask wearing protocols, and extra social distancing. We were diligent mask wearers the entire cruise. 

On the similar Regal cruise you are on, we only wore masks on two private tours. Apart from that, we flew on unmasked flights, from unmasked airports, and never wore masks on the ship. No covid.

It really is the luck of the draw. 

I am sure it is quite random.  I have read most/all of @Ken the cruiser's protocols.  I never wear a mask and no Covid here.  (Vaccinated with Pfixer 3x, but last one was early Dec).  Even so, we will be doing a 4th shot in August so we are good for the Europe 270 day rule.

[karabear15]

8 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

This afternoon after an early sailaway, we went to Beat the Cruise Director, which was totally fascinating and not what we expected. I’m not going to say how, but I highly recommend you go to see it if Dan France is your CD on an upcoming cruise. I’ve got say, Dan has been one of the most multitalented CDs we’ve ever had the pleasure of sailing with. 
 

 

Do we know how long he is on the ship for? Hoping to have him for our Aug 20th sailing.

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in Istanbul!! 😁

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

9 hours ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

That has always been our favorite place to eat also---even pre-covid! 😁

 

Question for you...

It seems you are always in Princess Live in the evenings. What is your strategy in that venue? Pre-covid we had a problem finding seats anywhere in these type of venues...so there would be no choice of socially distanced ones. Are there that many fewer passengers on the ship now? Or what is your 'avoid covid' strategy for them?

TIA

Thanks for your Live from.....It helps as we await our next cruise!

We go in the back entrance and sit on the far left side. That area doesn’t seem to fill up as fast as the near side and center sections.

[Ken the cruiser]

7 hours ago, jasbo49 said:

It's disappointing to me that Angela Kelly's talks were so poorly attended. I've always found the enrichment lectures one of the things that made Princess stand out among mid-priced lines.

 

Jim

I think it’s mostly the demographic on this cruise as over 75% appear to be 40 yo or younger. Remember, these are 3 very cool port intensive Med cruises, each 7 days in length during summer vacation. On our recent 18 day PC cruise in May, the average age was well over 60+.

[phe8800]

Does the Regal Princess still have a deck (or partially) blocked for cabins to be used in case of guests in need of COVID quarantine? 

[Ken the cruiser]

16 minutes ago, phe8800 said:

Does the Regal Princess still have a deck (or partially) blocked for cabins to be used in case of guests in need of COVID quarantine? 

From what we’ve been able to tell Deck 8/9 forward on the port side have been blocked off. There may be others, but those are the ones we’ve noticed. 

[Esprit]

7 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Just checked the Patter and saw "Dress to Impress" (which I have been aware of).  Just wondering if they have re-labelled all Formal Nights this way, or did they name one "Formal" and one D-T-I each week?  Thanks.

Correct. One Formal the other DTI

[Esprit]

We were speaking with some fellow Brits yesterday and was told some 75 passengers from Manchester via Paris still haven’t received their luggage.

Air France cocked it up and Princess are saying apparently that it’s not their fault. As a result the passengers have to make their own way to Istanbul airport to retrieve the bags!

Sounds unbelievable but the source of this was regularly talking to some of the affected passengers.

[Peggy and Mossey]

On 6/30/2022 at 2:49 PM, phabric said:

Looking forward to any reviews you do

 

 

 

Yes please, looking forward to your reviews 🙂

 

[Peggy and Mossey]

16 minutes ago, Esprit said:

We were speaking with some fellow Brits yesterday and was told some 75 passengers from Manchester via Paris still haven’t received their luggage.

Air France cocked it up and Princess are saying apparently that it’s not their fault. As a result the passengers have to make their own way to Istanbul airport to retrieve the bags!

Sounds unbelievable but the source of this was regularly talking to some of the affected passengers.

 

This is very strange isn't it ?

Are you sure about this ?

Edited July 14, 2022 by Peggy and Mossey

[wowzz]

7 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Even so, we will be doing a 4th shot in August so we are good for the Europe 270 day rule

The 270 day rule only applies to the initial vaccination programme, not to boosters.

If you have had a booster, there is no expiry date, so you do not require a additional booster. Indeed, in most of Europe,  the additional booster  is not generally available anyway. 

[wowzz]

26 minutes ago, Esprit said:

Correct. One Formal the other DTI

On the similar cruise a few weeks ago, the DTI was far less observed than formal night. The first DTI night I wore my tuxedo, but so few people made any effort at all,  the second time around I didn't bother.

[Megabear2]

16 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

On this cruise I believe deck 8 and 9 forward on the port side are the areas that have been blocked off. But the only reason I’m saying this is because the hall entrances at those entrance locations when we walk down the stairs have been closed pretty much since we boarded back on July 2. 

I see no mention of its occupancy. I travelled the Barcelona to Rome leg and for different reasons discovered a large number of luggage awaiting their owners to be offloaded into Italian quarantine hotels.

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, wowzz said:

On the similar cruise a few weeks ago, the DTI was far less observed than formal night. The first DTI night I wore my tuxedo, but so few people made any effort at all,  the second time around I didn't bother.

Do they provide a description of DTI on-board?  I have been aware of this change of pace, so to speak, because of Cruise Critic.  But PCL has not put any information on their website as to what they consider DTI to be versus Smart Casual and Formal.  For example, I would not see tuxes as falling under DTI, although IMO tuxes are welcome anytime at dinner.

 

I imagine many folks on board see DTI posted in the Patter and have never heard of it before with Princess.  Having no pre-cruise preparation, they probably revert to their Smart Casual for dinner.  It is what I would do.  I am curious to read how Princess describes DTI.

[wowzz]

3 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Do they provide a description of DTI on-board?  I have been aware of this change of pace, so to speak, because of Cruise Critic.  But PCL has not put any information on their website as to what they consider DTI to be versus Smart Casual and Formal.  For example, I would not see tuxes as falling under DTI, although IMO tuxes are welcome anytime at dinner.

 

I imagine many folks on board see DTI posted in the Patter and have never heard of it before with Princess.  Having no pre-cruise preparation, they probably revert to their Smart Casual for dinner.  It is what I would do.  I am curious to read how Princess describes DTI.

I can't remember if there was a description or not. As you say, Princess do not elaborate on their website.

My thinking was that as it was a non casual night, DTI would imply shirt and tie, or tuxedo etc. However, I seemed to be very much in the minority, and to be honest, the vast majority of pax wore the same style of clothes as they did on any other night.

The whole DTI just seems a bit of a farce. Either have a formal night, and everyone knows where they stand, or have a casual night. DTI is neither here nor there.