Regal Princess - 10 day trans-canal

[Conanc]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with either the Regal itself or sailing on a trans-canal cruise. We are also looking at a newer ship and larger ship -- the Coral which does a partial Panana Canal this fall.

 

All opinions would be very much appreciated as we have not sailed on a Panama Canal sailing before and we tend to gravitate towards the larger and newer ships. Thank you!

[crusdiva]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with either the Regal itself or sailing on a trans-canal cruise. We are also looking at a newer ship and larger ship -- the Coral which does a partial Panana Canal this fall. All opinions would be very much appreciated as we have not sailed on a Panama Canal sailing before and we tend to gravitate towards the larger and newer ships. Thank you!

Conanc,

Well let's see - I've sailed the Coral and the Regal's sister ship the "old" Crown twice. I have done a full transit (on the Dawn) and a partial transit.

I love the Coral, she's a near perfect ship. The full transit -IMHO - is the way to see the Panama Canal - I think the r/t is nice, but it's basically a western caribbean with Gatun locks thrown in.

I have pictures of both - and all the ships - if that helps. Let me know if you have specific questions.

[mii]

O.K. I have done the both the p/t and full transit on the Coral. I thoroughly enjoyed both. The Coral is also my very favorite ship just because of its size. If you are leaning toward the p/t the Coral is for you. I did not think that the REgal did the partial but maybe it does now. Ask any questions that you may have.

 

marilyn

[partybarbie]

I have done two full canal transits on the Regal and thoughly enjoyed both of the them. The last one was in May 2006. The Regal is my favorite ship, but she is older and smaller than most of the fleet. She provides the "traditional cruise experience". If you like "big and new", you might be disappointed. I am not a fan of "big and new" so the Regal is the perfect ship for me. Have you tried a smaller ship? The May 2006 cruise was the 4'th cruise for my DH and he preferred her to the Diamond, the Star and the Grand. I have done one partial, but preferred the full because of the extra ports.

[LARGIN]

We have been on 2 full Panama transits on the Regal and two on the Coral. You cannot go wrong with either, however I would pick the Coral. Personal choice dining tipped the scales in her favor as the Regal does not have it.

[JerseyGem]

We are also considering the Regal's 10 day (in November, 2006) using Princess' air package. Has any one used this package? If so, would you recommend it? It's certainly cheaper than arranging the flights on our own, but I also worry that they'll give us a package that involves multiple connecting flights (as has been our experience on RCCL and HAL). We would be flying from BWI to Acapulco, then back to BWI from San Juan.

 

As far as partial versus full transit, we decided on the full only because the other ports (on this 10 day) are new to us. On the p/t, we've visited the other ports several times. We wanted a change!

[Druke I]

We've done the full transit of the Panama Canal twice - a wonderful trip.

 

We've been on Regal Princess three times, most recently 3-09/22-06, 'round the Horn, Buenos Aires to Valparaiso. She remains a fine ship.

[CO Cruzer]

We just got off the Regal doing Alaska and are booked for the Panama Canal in Dec. We loved the ship - the "small" size was perfect! We can't wait to get back on board!

[CPT Trips]

I was wondering what time the canal transit began? Was it published and announced the day prior? While we have an outside cabin, I would like to be up on deck while going through the locks - I expect that I will have plenty of company.

[retta]

I am booked for Regal in Nov. with air and hotel with Princess. I paid extra to pick my flights, so I have my flight schedule and seats on the plane all set. It cost $50 per person, but I felt this was worth doing because going in a day before I did not want to get in late at night, but have some daylight to enjoy the beach and hotel. This way the insurance covers the whole trip, I always buy Princess insurance, but first time with Princess air.

[crusdiva]

I was wondering what time the canal transit began? Was it published and announced the day prior? While we have an outside cabin, I would like to be up on deck while going through the locks - I expect that I will have plenty of company.

Not to worry - you will have plenty of notice as to the approximate time to the entrance into the canal. It will be in the Patter, the cruise staff will mention it during show introductions as will your wait staff.

You don't mention whether you are doing a partial or full transit (or from which direction) but we got up VERY early on our full transit and there were tons of people already on deck.

[CPT Trips]

Thanks Crusdiva . . . I ssort of figured that, but why not ask?

We are doing a full transit from Pacific to Atlantic - strangely enough East to West :)

[cruisinfromcanada]

We recently did a full transit on Celebrity and had no regrets. It's a great way to see the best of both worlds. If I had the choice between a p/t on a big ship or a f/t on a smaller ship I would choose the f/t. The big ships are great but the small ships tend to be a bit more personal. As you can see below, we've tried both big and smaller and will not hesitate to sail either way again.

 

As far as the flight go, we went with cruise air for both of our cruises. It was much cheaper and the flights were as good as what we would have been able to book ourselves. We even had a direct flight from Ottawa, Canada to Fort Lauderdale.

 

Happy sailing

[sailinsal]

Three years ago did 17 days................and it was terrific on the Regal. We went up to Deck 10, Baja at 4:30 in the morning to begin to watch the transit, by 11 am we then went to other areas to get views........even balcony of new found friends. We did not complete transit until the late afternoon sailing under the Bridge of the Americas and then a tender port stop in Panama at night,,,,,,,,,which was weird but we did it in the dark! I would do this again on the Regal if we could...........we just completed a 10 day Alaskan cruise out of San Francisco on the Regal and enjoyed every minute.................terrific ship..................great to get around easily. Bon Voyage............................sailinsal

[JudiinMt]

We have just booked the Regal for the express purpose of the full canal transit and the "smaller" ship experience. We did the partial a few years ago and enjoyed it but are looking forward to the full monty! We booked air with Princess also - the first time I have done that rather than make my own arrangements. Just curious about paying an extra $50 to make our own choices on air...how does that work and is it too late for us to do that? We are sailing 12/7.