Just Back from Regal 7 day. March 18-26 with St Kitts.

[k9hndler]

This is my review of the Regal Princess sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, on March 18-26, 2023, with stops at Princess Cay (canceled due to swells), St. Thomas, and St. Kitts.

My wife and I originally booked an inside cabin for a quick getaway, but we were (unsolicited) seriously upgraded to a deluxe balcony on deck 8, albeit with an obstructed view. We have never been upgraded before; this was a delightful surprise. 

Our cabin, E521, was perfectly located; it was very roomy, with a nice bathroom, sitting area, and a clear and decent view above the lifeboats.  Again, having been upgraded from a basic inside cabin was amazing! 

 

Overall, we had a very enjoyable cruise, with many good people on board, and the staff did a wonderful job. 

 

My wife reached Elite status (Black Medallion) at the beginning of this cruise, which made it even more enjoyable. Thanks to a girl's cruise years ago, my beloved MIL brought her on; I’m only one cruise behind her, so it's all good. 

There were a few hiccups and some things Princess could do a little better, but that does not detract from the fact that we had a wonderful time.

 

Below are only my observations; others on the same cruise may have different impressions and experiences. My thoughts are simply on the Pros and Cons we experienced sailing on the Regal during this cruise. 

Pro’s 
    1.    Service on Lido/Horizon was very good. The crew members were quick to pick up a plate and bring you a drink, and they always offered smiles and pleasant demeanors. 
    2.     English Pub lunch in Horizon was one of my highlights on the cruise, and it was offered in the Lido on the specialty side of the Buffet during one lunch early on in the cruise. They had fish and chips, mushy peas, and even Scotch eggs.  The Pub lunch was offered in the dining room on Enchanted and at the Crown Grill on other ships. 
    3.    Kids Corner.  This was an additional station on the main line side of Horizon and had multiple items for kids that rarely varied. Fish fingers, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, and hotdogs. I saw many adults eating the fish fingers and the chicken nuggets. They were very good.
    4.    The deserts on this cruise were an upgrade from prior Princess cruises. Some highlights included the oatmeal raisin cookies, the “puddings,” more like bread pudding, and even the sugar-free desserts.  
    5.    Cabin coffee service in the morning was great, on time, with hot coffee and danishes; a wonderful way to start the day. Overall, Room Service was excellent; sometimes, we got our food within 10 minutes of placing an order! 
    6.    Our Room Steward, from Ukraine, was amazing, but I don't recall ever having a bad Steward on a Princess cruise. The twice-daily service is a cruise highlight for us. 
    7.    Although we selected “anytime” dining, we settled into The Allegro dining room in the rear of the ship on the 6th floor. The Dining Room is closed off, meaning guests must take the elevator or stairs down from the rear-most elevator bank; the Allegro cannot be accessed via walking over while elsewhere on the 6th floor. Our Dining room crew was amazing, especially Crispin Oanes from the Philippines, and we requested him every night. We were never disappointed; he anticipated his needs and was extremely attentive.
    8.    Fresh Popcorn was available at the ice cream stand (Swirls) on the Lido deck for every movie and nighttime event and was good. It comes now in tinfoil bags which helps retain the heat and allows you to add salt as needed, and it does need it.
    9.    Crepes station is located on the Lido Horizon specialty side and was available most nights. They had multiple ingredients, and you could build them as you like.  
    10.    Also available on the Lido deck was soft butter at the waffle station for breakfast rather than those hard little blocks of butter that tear the bread. Lido also had large dispensers of ketchup and mayonnaise to pump your own. Big upgrade. 
    11.    Embarkation was smooth, and we were on the ship by 10:30. My wife hit Elite status on this cruise, and we waited in the Elite lounge and were put on the ship first.  Good stuff. 
    12.    The Grand Atrium and Piazza is a great place to grab a coffee and watch the ships complement walk by. It’s spacious and beautiful and has lots of seating. Many events are held at this location, including line dancing, special events, and nightly music.   Great place to read a book and people watch.
    13.    Waffle station every morning. Big Belgian-style waffles with all the fixings, including whipped butter.  Delicious as they are made to order. 
    14.     The hamburger/Hotdog grill stations begin giving out pagers/buzzers for lunch. At first, I didn’t particularly appreciate having to wait, but then I realized the beauty of the system as you can go back to enjoying the sun and the movie in the pool and get your food when it’s ready. The french fries at the station are particularly good; hot, fresh, and salty with as much ketchup, mayonnaise, or other condiments, as you can wish.
    15.    The music played during sea days, including some life, at the main pool deck was excellent, with many hits from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. There were a lot of kids on the cruise; they enjoyed the music as much as the “mature” folks like me. That’s hard to do on any ship, but they did well on Regal.
    16.    The Retreat pool on deck 17 forward is amazing. It’s adults-only with bungalows you can rent from the Sanctuary, but all of the chaise lounges around this pool are free for the taking; they do go quickly on sea days. 
    17.    I am very fond of soups and chowders, and Regal had some really good ones. The New England clam chowder and the Chesapeake crab soup were particularly good.
    18.    The last day afternoon cake and pastry bar in the main Buffet was a madhouse.  Guests repeatedly broke the line to get a piece of the many cakes offered.  Still, the cakes were top-notch and worth the wait.
    19.    As always happens during a cruise, we had some incorrect charges to our account, but the guest service desk crew on five quickly took them off without any argument or issues.
    20.    You can download your photos now through the Princess App, making it easy and painless. Since we usually take the hard copies and scan them in digital format anyway, this saves us a step, and we don’t have to carry hard photos off the ship.
    21.    We love the ship's Laundromat and use it at least twice on a seven-day cruise. Although free laundry is an Elite perk, we did not want to wait two days for its return and opted for self-service at $6/load. This allows us to pack lightly and only bring a carry-on, which makes things so much easier at embarkation, de-embarkation and even at the airport. Not all cruise lines have this option, and we appreciate that Princess still offers it.
    22.    Regal still has a Library, a quiet place to exchange a book or get a game or the daily Suduko puzzle.
    23.    Many kids were on the cruise, including a large high school marching band from Minnesota. For the most part, they were all very well-behaved and well-chaperoned.  The marching band even performed once or twice during the cruise in the Piazza.
    24.    The Cruise Director did a good job of keeping us informed, via the PA system, of daily changes, updates, and highlights. Not too many, not obnoxious, and just right to keep us informed. She was excellent.
    25.    I loved that the Horizon Bistro, next to the bakery section, had tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, and taco fixings daily. A day with a taco in it is a good day. It also featured sandwich fixings, barbecue, and other daily goodies. Don’t sleep on the Bistro.
    26.     Besides coffee, my wife and I enjoy a nightly cup of hot tea, and the ship is well equipped with lots of different flavors and brews of tea. On the Horizon deck, you can get unlimited coffee and tea, make your own, or have the staff bring it.
    27.    I am an admitted foodie, so please indulge me in all the Horizon comments, but here are a few of my favorite things about this amazing piece of the Princess team (the Horizon Buffet). Several times had a baked potato bar with all the fixings. They had a Ramen soup night twice with all the fixings. They had German night with my favorite schnitzel. They had an amazing fruit and salad bar open almost all the time; with every salad option, they had a cheeseboard open continuously with good quality hard and soft cheeses from around the world, served with crackers or hard freshly baked rolls.  They had a chocolate fountain with all the fixings multiple times when crêpes were unavailable, and they had a pasta station almost every night; choose your pasta and sauce made for you as you waited. They had carving stations every day, and every night, with juicy turkey, tender roast, leg of lamb, and rack of beef.  I can’t even list all of the things available. Just an excellent experience.
    28.    Some rude, oblivious, and inconsiderate cruisers were detected from our great overall experience. This included ignoring pleasantries, crowding others in elevators or lines, shoving onto elevators before others had a chance to get out, gleefully not allowing others into elevators, brushing past others for better seats, and leaving bulky personal items (walkers, strollers, etc.) smack dab in the middle of walkways.  While many of these behaviors are unfortunately normal on cruises, they haven't, for us, been common on PRINCESS Cruises. 
    29.    Movies Under the Stars (MUTS) was great, with the first run of movies including the new Top Gun movie. They also played a part of March Madness (American college basketball tournament) on the big jumbo MUTS screen with free popcorn and blankets.  Princess cares for sports fans during hockey, basketball, and especially (American) football seasons. 

 

And now the things Princess could do a little better on.

 

Disclaimer, All “FIRST world” problems.

    1.     No more Daily East Indian food options on Lido Buffet.  This entire station has been removed and is now only an occasional specialty item. This was especially disappointing to my DW, who loves Indian food and enjoys Princess for this very reason. For those unfamiliar, Princess always offered Indian food as its sub-section of the Buffet. It was tasty and tempting and always fresh. I spoke with a chef who commiserated the crew was similarly disappointed, as it was a very popular feature, and started the decision came from Corporate to discontinue Indian in lieu of other items, except as a stand-alone entrée on occasion.
    2.    Omelet station.  Only offered on the specialty side of the Buffet and was always busy with long lines and long (15-20 min) waits. Many ordered 3-4 omelets which slowed it down further. 
    3.    Princess no longer offers a coffee card option. Other than upgrading to the non-alcoholic beverage package.  Previously you could purchase 15 Specialty coffee drinks for approximately $30, which also came with unlimited brewed American-style coffee. My wife and I often purchased this card, as we do not drink sodas or alcoholic beverages. The non-alcoholic drink package for one person for the entire cruise was $300 and ridiculous.  Princess needs to bring back the coffee card option. Very disappointing.
    4.    No PRINCESS CAY. Due to weather concerns, Princess Cay was canceled the morning of, so many people were already suited up and ready to go when they made the announcement. This is a con for me for two reasons; since my wife and I had planned to enjoy the nearly empty ship, we had instead to deal with many people on the ship complaining, fussing, and moaning all day about missing a beach day. Brutal. 
    5.    Upcharges on food and beverages. The dining room experience has become quite bland, with many of the regular Princess fare being an upcharge now. Lobster, good Steak, and Prime rib (only offered on the last night as a regular item) all cost extra in the regular dining room, and meat options are limited and medium/low quality when they are offered. Our lamb was extremely fatty, and the Beef Wellington and veal scallopini were tough and chewy. The old everyday options of shrimp cocktail, steak, and salad were noticeably absent.  My wife asked if they were dumbing down the menu to force us to pay more for better food or specialty dining. That is a fair question.
    6.    Food, beverage, and specialty package-up charges around every corner. Has Princess morphed into their parent company, Carnival? I hope not, but its clear profits are driving the machine more and more. 
    7.    The Crepes station often had no bananas and never had Nutella.  Instead of stuffing the crepes, they laid ingredients on a flat pre-cooked crêpe, taken out of a warmer.  This is the second cruise in a row where this technique has been used. I’m sure it saves time and the wheel cleaning, but it’s far from the original crepe, which is usually stuffed and served hot. 
    8.    The production Shows were not as good as Enchanted and very average as a whole. 
    9.    Once again, a mad rush to book the Sanctuary when first allowed on, and even with my wife being the 2nd person on the ship, we were fortunate to get a spot during sea days (port days were still open). The back-to-back cruisers book most of the spots before regular boarding even begins.  If you enjoy and love the Sanctuary, you better get on quickly and then beeline to it to get the few spots left. 
    10.    The Sanctuary still offers free teatime at 3 PM. Initially, the staff seemed distracted and inattentive. The manager mentioned one staff member was on their 1st cruise. Assigning a new team member to a Premier experience indicates staffing must be short-handed. After bringing it to their attention, the service improved 100%. 
    11.    Alternate sugar options, for us, Splenda (yellow) and Equal (blue), are difficult to find and are now strictly rationed. They are no longer left out, must be specifically requested, and are dolled out sparingly.  The line had 75% foreign and 25% brand-name sugar subs. Sugar caddies were nonexistent on the tables, but each table did have a white sugar dispenser in a glass ball.  Had I known this ahead of time, I honestly would have brought my own with me. 
    12.    Chair hogs. No surprise; it happens on every cruise, unfortunately. On every sea day (and there was four plus), multiple families were observed saving chairs to which they never returned, used for bags and gear, or gaming back hours later to use. One family saved chairs in the sun AND the shade nearby, which they would occasionally switch between. As every chair on every deck was taken, and people were looking for one, this highlighted the behavior as rude or ignorant.
    13.    Formal night on this cruise was not very formal. Most men wore shirts and ties, with the occasional suit coat and a rare tuxedo. Ladies wore simple dresses and shoes. On last night's formal, one couple turned away while trying to get into the main dining room wearing shorts.

So, to sum up, Regal is still a great ship and a wonderful experience with an excellent crew.  My wife and I had a refreshing and delightful cruise and met some nice people worldwide. Princess continues to be an attentive service-focused line and makes every effort to make cruisers feel special and Loved! 

The Love Boat, indeed. 

My wife and I booked Enchanted on a repositioning cruise in November, and I will certainly post a review when we get off.

[nini]

Thanks for sharing. We LOVED the Regal in the Fall of 2018. The buffet was the best of any Princess ship we had been on and we very much enjoyed sitting outside (aft) and able to run back inside to grab another snack.

[Paula_MacFan]

Thanks for the nice write up!  The Regal is one of our favorite ships and we have another upcoming cruise booked.  I also agree that any day with a taco is a good day 🙂

 

[jaycruising]

Thanks for the review… I definitely agree that something needs to change with the sanctuary booking, not sure why they can’t just allow bookings online. 

[tml1230]

GREAT review! thanks very much!

we board the Regal in 3 weeks for the transatlantic crossing and your thoughts are very helpful to us.....

all the best and stay safe at work!

[Steelers36]

9 hours ago, k9hndler said:

Upcharges on food and beverages. The dining room experience has become quite bland, with many of the regular Princess fare being an upcharge now. Lobster, good Steak, and Prime rib (only offered on the last night as a regular item) all cost extra in the regular dining room, and meat options are limited and medium/low quality when they are offered. Our lamb was extremely fatty, and the Beef Wellington and veal scallopini were tough and chewy. The old everyday options of shrimp cocktail, steak, and salad were noticeably absent.  My wife asked if they were dumbing down the menu to force us to pay more for better food or specialty dining. That is a fair question.

We found the food quality noticeably lower during our time on Regal last October.  Immediately after, we were on the Island for first two weeks of November and the food was noticeably better and just fine.  Recent reports from other ships indicate to me most folks reporting on here are quite happy with the food on other ships - with the almost universal exception of lower grade/quality beef cuts served in the CG than we have been used to in prior years.  IDK if REGAL still has most of same galley staff and senior chefs as it had back in October, but I am thinking just not the best team and standards on the ship compared to other ships in the fleet.  This is a non-scientific observation.

 

[KYTess]

Thank you for your excellent and thorough review! After reading I am more prepared & excited for next week’s cruise on the Regal. Appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences! 

[kywildcatfanone]

We have quit going to the DR for dinner because of the quality, and the time it takes. We are on now, and at least last night, the buffet had many good options, including Prime Rib, Pork Loin, Roasted Chicken, Ham, and Mahi Mahi. 

 

 

[KYTess]

Good to know! Thanks from a fellow UK fan 💙

[Thrak]

On 3/26/2023 at 9:55 AM, k9hndler said:

3.    Kids Corner.  This was an additional station on the main line side of Horizon and had multiple items for kids that rarely varied. Fish fingers, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, and hotdogs. I saw many adults eating the fish fingers and the chicken nuggets. They were very good.

 

I've never seen this but you can bet on it that I would be one of the folks eating the fish fingers and chicken nuggets. 😁 (I really hope they have this when we sail Discovery Princess next April. Not only would I like to nosh on those we will also be sailing with our son, his wife, and our granddaughter who will be 6 at that time. I'm sure she would love to have those options available.)

[Thrak]

On 3/26/2023 at 9:55 AM, k9hndler said:

13.    Formal night on this cruise was not very formal. Most men wore shirts and ties, with the occasional suit coat and a rare tuxedo. Ladies wore simple dresses and shoes. On last night's formal, one couple turned away while trying to get into the main dining room wearing shorts.

 

Happy to hear it. Whether one considers the Princess dress code a "rule" or merely a "suggestion" it most surely is at least a "request" and I see no reason not to honor the request of our host.

[coo359a2]

K9handler - we were on the cruise with you and the one the week before.  Agree with your pros and we enjoyed the cruise.  Ate in the buffet and enjoyed the various selections offered each day.  I was one adult that enjoyed the chicken fingers and even a few hot dogs.  I believe this was set up for spring breakers.  Have never seen a kiddie section on the buffet but have never been on a March (spring break) cruise before.  I heard there were 700 kids on the previous cruise but found they were for the most part well behaved.

 

For the con's, we were lucky and only had about a 5 to 7 minute wait on omelets.  We did arrive early - about 7:50.  I'm a pink sugar person and no problem being brought that.    For the production shows, we only went to Bravo which is a big favorite of mine.  We too were looking forward to having an empty ship and first choice on loungers on Princess Cay day.  We missed Princess Cay on the previous cruise also.  Not a con but this was our first cruise to see bikini clad young people dancing on lounge chairs around the pool.  Wish we had their energy.  

 

Just wish the weather was a little warmer though.