¡Live! Regal 12 Night UK Cruise (6/25-7/7)

[KarmaCruisers]

That did it 

[skents]

Enjoying your posts. We are boarding the Regal next week on the 7th.  How has the weather been so far?  Our medallions arrived today and it is time for me to start packing.

[nini]

3 hours ago, Catchum said:

We also booked ahead - simply amazing to be in the presence of something so beautiful over 1000 years old. Also the library with the original Guinness harp is so cool.

 

I felt like I was in heaven in the "Old Library". I wanted to stay and soak it up.

[nini]

3 hours ago, KarmaCruisers said:

Even if we could have “walked right in” to the library, with all the other stuff we did..ain’t no way..something would have had to get dropped 

also, good luck catching DART back to the ship at around 5pm on a weekday..workforce crush crowd going home.

 

So true, it is such a great port. We returned fairly early to the shop so the train was not a problem

[mrmarklin]

6 hours ago, Catchum said:

Agreed - My Husband is from Alaska but has traveled all over the world - my old boss was from Belfast when he phoned me at work neither could understand a word the other said. Don't judge your fellow travelers too harshly.

US & UK. Two nations divided by a common language. 

[KarmaCruisers]

Lazy sea day today. 
Got up at 10:30 and went and had some lunch at the buffet.

Just relaxing in the room watching the Scottish coast go by.

gotta do laundry at some point today..we went after lunch but all the machines were in use with people sitting in there (I told my wife we should have done it last night at midnight when no one was around)

in other news; looks like major civil unrest in France large cities at the moment; hopefully it gets solved by the time our France port stop comes around!

[KarmaCruisers]

Just messed around the ship today doing nothing in particular, watching the piper in the Piazza and taking a nap in the room.

getting dinner now in Concerto dining room.

tonight’s speciality is Shephards Pie, and English Roast Beef (with Yorkshire pudding)

[Barbara B]

On 6/23/2023 at 8:28 PM, Fortunate 2 travel said:

Wow.  That is interesting.  Didn't know it would tell you to pick up at port.  Learned something new today.  Thanks for sharing.  Unbelievable they can't get them shipped in a timely manner.    Have a fantastic cruise.

 

On 6/25/2023 at 10:34 AM, Fortunate 2 travel said:

Did they arrive on June 23?

 

On 6/25/2023 at 1:01 PM, trishweber22 said:

You faired better than I did.  Our Medallions supposedly shipped on 6/20 but there has been no update to the tracking.  I chatted with Princess today and was given no other option than to pick up replacements at the dock--even when I asked for replacements to be sent.  It's a small thing but annoying.  I'd imagine there's a chance they might still arrive and that the tracking history isn't being updated, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

On 6/23/2023 at 8:13 PM, captain_hug99 said:

We are getting on the Regal the day you get off! I hope you have a great trip!

We are too! July 7! Regal.

[KarmaCruisers]

We will wave at y’all as we exit the ship (TBH; we’ll probably cross paths at the Southampton National Express stop haha)

[KarmaCruisers]

Finally at 11:30pm the laundromat on our floor opened up! (Was jammed with people all day) so I’m wrapping up drying our clothes now.

it’s just absurd; that even WITH StarLink, the internet is SO unreliable! I can sometimes get 3Mbps, but it’s not 100% consistent. I can run 10 speed tests in a row here sitting in my room and 5/10 will be 3Mbps and the other 5/10 will be 56Kbps! If I had to actually work from this cruise I’d be SOL!

Literally the only thing I’ve seen it be able to consistently do is my wife uses gChat (text chatting only, no images at all; just maybe the small emoji’s) and it hasn’t skipped a beat she said…but I’ve tried to watch YouTube videos and they default to the lowest resolution of 144p (which is basically so blurry on an iPhone XR I can’t even see the video) 

Also oddly I’ve noticed, on YT here in the UK, they jam a TON of ad’s in and they’re LONG 20 second ads!

[avs88]

Hello, thank you for your live report. I am thoroughly enjoying it and taking notes as we will be on Regal for a BI cruise in May 2024. Regarding the laundry, can you use the laundry pods or do we need powder or liquid?  I was going to pack some, so looking for guidance. We just plan to wash our undies and such. We will be travelling a week before the cruise so need to get some laundry done. Thanks in advance for your reply. Safe travels.

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by avs88

[rdsqrl]

40 minutes ago, avs88 said:

Hello, thank you for your live report. I am thoroughly enjoying it and taking notes as we will be on Regal for a BI cruise in May 2024. Regarding the laundry, can you use the laundry pods or do we need powder or liquid?  I was going to pack some, so looking for guidance. We just plan to wash our undies and such. We will be travelling a week before the cruise so need to get some laundry done. Thanks in advance for your reply. Safe travels.

 

You can use pods.

 

I've always found the best time to avoid crowds in the laundry is to do it late in the afternoon -- usually a good half if not more of the ship is already getting ready for dinner/beginning cocktail hour, so 4-5pm is quiet time in the launderettes. 

[KarmaCruisers]

Yup, +1 to pods. The cost is $3 per load (wash or dry), we had two loads, so all in our cost was $12

[Scottygirl1]

3 hours ago, KarmaCruisers said:

Yup, +1 to pods. The cost is $3 per load (wash or dry), we had two loads, so all in our cost was $12

I just read that some cruisers on other Princess cruises found that the laundry was free!  They had been putting in tokens only to be told that the machines worked without them.  I wonder if that will be the case when we cruise next month 🙂

[Jadn13]

On 6/28/2023 at 5:50 AM, KarmaCruisers said:

Ahh ok; maybe my eyes deceive me then and what I’m thinking are different colors are just blue sea witch’s…

You aren’t, the white were introduced for inaugural year  and the Sea witch color displayed your status…I have a bunch from Enchanted and I’m elite. 

[KarmaCruisers]

1 hour ago, Scottygirl1 said:

I just read that some cruisers on other Princess cruises found that the laundry was free!  They had been putting in tokens only to be told that the machines worked without them.  I wonder if that will be the case when we cruise next month 🙂

I mean…I didn’t TRY to use them for free; but last year on our 10-day Alaska cruise on carnival; you tapped your card on the machine to start it; and I looked at our bill and I was never ACTUALLY charged, so; who knows.

 

on another note; I came to Loch Ness..only to find (and buy!) one of the most rare whiskeys from the US! Haha

[KarmaCruisers]

And that wraps up our day in Invergordon!

We got up at 8, cleaned up and went down and ate and met our Princess Excursion in the Symphony Dining room at 9:45.

A short one today, with just a bus ride over to Loch Ness, coupled with a 55-minute boat ride around the Loch. (Which basically was a cruise over to Urquhart Castle, and back to the Clansman dock). Then they drove us through Inverness proper (which the high street looked like a cute little place to walk around), and back to the ship by 3pm.

We grabbed some lunch in the buffet when we got back; then took a nap, lol.

Just woke up for sailaway, and we’re going to go down to the main theatre at 7:30 to see the Illusionist they have.

Man, we’ve taken a few Alaska cruises..but they’ve always been around this same time (July 4th) and they’ve always been hot as hell! (Like literally hitting 90*!) but THIS cruise has been the coldest one we’ve ever been on! The ship is so cold I have to keep my hoodie on, and out on the balcony..forget it! Blanket too!

I think, if we get a “bounce-back” offer, we’re going to try to book it as far out as we can (as we have a cruise booked for October, November, and December); so we can hopefully book it in January or February..and we’re thinking about either doing a Norway/Iceland cruise or maybe a Greek cruise. (Although we know the flight tickets will again be suicidely costly)

[Barbara B]

 

Thanks so much for posting these. We board our flight Thursday evening! Three days to go till we leave! Packing for chilly weather and warm weather--and rainy weather. Ya just never know!

 

On 6/23/2023 at 8:13 PM, captain_hug99 said:

We are getting on the Regal the day you get off! I hope you have a great trip!

We are too! July 7! Regal.

[Barbara B]

Oops, didn't finish my message. I'm basically packing the same way we did for Alaska if that makes some sense 🙂😍

[KarmaCruisers]

3 minutes ago, Barbara B said:

Oops, didn't finish my message. I'm basically packing the same way we did for Alaska if that makes some sense 🙂😍

For sure it does! The only place it was “warm” was in London and Southampton..Guernsey was either/or shorts/pants..but for the rest of the ports, for sure pants and a hoodie.

[Joy_K]

Enjoying following along on your post!  Could you please see if you can find out about the Winemakers dinner?  Is it available on the Regal and if so is it the $40 dinner in the dining room inside the "wine cellar" or is it the new $140 Caymus wine dinner in the Crown Grill?  or is both available?

 

Thanks in advance if you can find out for us.

[Derbie]

Good morning. We are on the same cruise. I just wondered if you were exiting the ship to travel to Paris? We are supposed to leave the ship a day early and take a train over to spend 2.5 days in Paris. There are five of us. My sister is very nervous about us going as well as for the rest of us. We have until tonight to cancel our hotel. Our museum passes and other items we pre-paid for it would be a loss for us if we don’t go also, it concerns me about trying to change our flights. Just curious if you know anyone that were planning went on going this route?  Also, we did asked at the guest services desk if they would bypass the French port if the trouble was going on there or continuing in Paris?  They pretty much answered it was yet to be determined, but it didn’t sound very confident in their answer. 

[KarmaCruisers]

We booked the Princess Paris tour…so if it cancels then we won’t go..but we’ve been watching the news pretty closely..seems like the riots calmed down a lot last night, and we still have tonight and tommorow..so; fingers crossed; but I think it should be fine. 

Now, for YOU, I’d just recommend the advise by the French government..just stay alert and don’t go out late at night.

[kttraveler]

Just got an email from Timberbush Tour letting me know the Outlander tour from Edinburgh I had paid for has been cancelled (I will be on the regal in a couple weeks). If anyone following this thread did or has planned an outlander tour with a different group please let me know since I am looking for different options now.

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, kttraveler said:

Just got an email from Timberbush Tour letting me know the Outlander tour from Edinburgh I had paid for has been cancelled (I will be on the regal in a couple weeks). If anyone following this thread did or has planned an outlander tour with a different group please let me know since I am looking for different options now.

You should post this on your roll call board where others on your sailing would be interested in arranging a new excursion.  Good luck!