Just off the Regal 9-11

[SaylorGirl]

Just got back about an hour ago from the Regal Cananda/New England cruise. I must say I had been worried about the Regal being an older ship but she was wonderful. The layout of the ship is terrific and I have never seen a cleaner ship. The crew was fantastic.

We sailed out of New York harbor and it was so beautiful sailing past the Statue of Liberty. What a breathtaking sight. We had no problems boarding the ship or any delays which we had been afraid of considering the date of 9-11.

The ports were fantastic. We especially liked Bar Harbor and Quebec City. St. Johns the people were so friendly. They greet you with a roses and treat you like old friends.

It was a wonderful cruise. This was our 12 sailing and Regal is right up there with my favorite ships. Any questions I'll try and answer. I will try and do a review after I get caught up at work.

[HighRoller]

SaylorGirl, how were the cabins overall 'cause they sure look tired in those pictures online? And also, how was the Personal Choice features incorporated on such an older ship? I am considering doing a cruise on the Regal for South America in the winter of 2006. Please answer when you get a moment afterall, you just came through the door!

[bdjam]

[font='Bookman Old Style']Great to hear you had a good time. I felt my Regal cruise in August was right up there with the best of my Princess experiences. I think Princess is really trying to make this ship a standout in service and quality. [/font]
[font='Bookman Old Style'][/font]
[font='Bookman Old Style'][/font][font='Bookman Old Style']If anyone is interested, a link to my review of my [/font][font='Bookman Old Style']8/14/2004[/font][font='Bookman Old Style'] sailing is below. [/font]
[url="http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=72529&highlight=Regal+Review"]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=72529&highlight=Regal+Review[/url]

[Beryl]

It is wonderful to hear such glowing reports of my all time favourite ship! I'm so glad you enjoyed your cruise on the beautiful Regal Princess.

[dosi]

It is my understanding the ship is due for a multi million dollar refurb in November....o' :D course by the time 2006 rolls around we may have messed up all the new-ness for you!!

[HighRoller]

Dosi really?...It's my understanding that they plan on mothballing her after the Spring of 2006?....wonder why they would make the $$$ investment?

[dosi]

Well I have read several times on this board that past cruisers were told, while on board, that she was going to be refurbished. Also if you look at her sailing schedule she has a big ole gap in November that is unaccounted for. I don't know how to do a quote but bdjam did a review on this Princess board of an August sailing and mentioned many proposed changes and quoted the figure of $35M for the cost......guess we will say what folks say after they cruise is late November?!? :)

[HighRoller]

Wow thats a lot of $$$ to refurbish because she went through a refurbishment a couple of years ago for the Lobby and Palm Restaurant from what I heard...stay tuned I guess.

[dosi]

Well stranger things have happened. I think when the folks from the Thanksgiving cruise get home we will know for sure....sheesh, first I have to wait for my Star cruise, then wait for info on the Regal, then wait to take the Regal. Freakin' rough life I have eh? :)

[twocats]

A friend just got off the Regal on 9/11 in New York, Panama trip and she said the Regal was being refurbished and in the future will be sailing around South America. Rumor or fact, not sure. When I was on the Regal to Alaska 3 years ago, serveral cabins that I was invited into were a bit used looking.
Carpets quite old, cigarette burn marks on the bathroom sinks, sort of tacky. The public areas had been refurbished and were quite nice. A comfortable ship all in all. Anxious to try the Coral next though.

[HighRoller]

twocats, you are correct the Regal is schedules to debut on South America sailings on Jan 8, 2006 until April 2006, however there are no further itineraries posted on Princess.com for any ship sailing past April 2006...so I guess we will have to wait and see next year what is announced for the Regal...I see a lot of people are very found of her.

[SaylorGirl]

HighRoller, The cabins were in very good shape. Ours was very clean the carpet was in good condition. The furnishings were very nice. And the size of the cabins were huge. I have never had so much storage. The bathrooms were very large and . . . . the shower was big enough for two people or to pick up your little bar of soap!

They have an evening Bistro everynight. It uses a seperate menu from the dining room that is changed every 5 days. They also serve a pasta dish and a main entree from the dining room. They have a excellent piano player in the evenings. We felt it was the best place on the ship to dine. In fact we only used the dining room on one occassion.

[HighRoller]

SaylorGirl, thanx for getting back too me so quick...great to know about the cabins and restaurant feedabck you provided....there seems to be a lot of die hard fans out there of the Regal just as the Royal...Now you've all got me reconsidering these older ships as a choice for possible sailings....thanx again!

[questor]

The service was excellent and we enjoyed the food, but I doubt if I would choose the Regal again (I am looking for a ship for an Alaskan cruise) I just don't like the recessed windows (the glossy Alaska book says it is a picture window) - we were on Dolphin Deck. There aren't many balcony rooms, so upgrading to a balcony is a lot more than on most other ships. (I loved the NCL Dream which is also an "older" ship - we had a table right in front of a large picture window and could view the Swedish Archipelago right there while sipping a very early morning coffee)

We didn't get to the Bistro as we enjoyed our table-mates so much. I am a fervent believer in free style dining so that is saying a lot. Of course, had we been upstairs we would have missed the white clad staff with goggles sanitizing the adjacent tables (not a pleasant experience) after someone got sick at dinner. That morning it had been announced that some passengers had reported Norwalk. We never did find out how many, but the staff did intensify the cleaning of railings, etc. and more hand sanitizers were made available.

For the first time I was near the stern, instead of midships (mdh warned me - I should have tried to changed cabins when we were booked) Every port (and there were 7) was five minutes of early morning vibration and racket.

We were first off the ship at 6am as we had an early flight. It was a good vacation, but I wish I had more time to "recharge" after spending most of the day travelling.

[Druke I]

My wife and I have been on the Regal Princess twice, and both times she was in very good condition.

We are booked on Regal Princess, 'round the Horn, March 06, and looking forward to it, particulary with the improvements planned that BDJam mentioned in his review of his Aug sailing.

[SaylorGirl]

Questor, I'm glad you had a great trip also. We had in inside cabin so I don't know how the windows in the cabins were, but we spent almost all our time on the decks, we would get our coffee early and just stand by the rails and watch the ship come into port. That is always my favorite part of any cruise while the sky is getting pink and standing at the rail with a hot cup of coffee. And by the way I felt the coffee to be not bad. Especially on deck 5 it was great.

I felt they did an incredible job in cleaning the ship after they had some cases of Norwalk reported. You would see them cleaning the rails, the elevators, the dining areas constantly. They also made very good use of the hand sanitizers. I was impressed on how dilegent they were, they obviously had a plan and implemented it quickly.

[bdjam]

[font='Bookman Old Style']Thanks all for the references to the review I wrote on Regal Princess…it was an act of love.:rolleyes: :o :rolleyes: [/font]
[font='Bookman Old Style'][/font]
[font='Bookman Old Style'] In the meantime, Regal Princess is – with its refurbishment – being geared to be the connoisseur ship of the fleet, picking up where Royal Princess leaves off when she goes to P&O.[/font]

[questor]

Although I did not like the vibration from the anchor, we really enjoyed being close to the fantail. Took out the binoculars and watched our departure from almost every port from that location.

I thought Princess did well once they discovered the Norwalk. I am sure that Norwalk is is why they no longer do receiving lines at the Capt. party, etc. (that's why NCL Dream discontinued it after a bad outbreak that included the crew) My husband wasn't feeling too well when we disembarked (at 6am who does feel that well) Since his cancer surgery we are use to GI upsets, but he has been nauseous & sick to his stomach once. Hopefully, he will be better tomorrow as the symptoms usually only last 1-3 days.

[ghgeckos]

Glad to hear the Regal has a good ship. We just booked today for Alaska next year. Hopefully they will upgrade any worn looking cabins by then.

[Sweetie60s]

SaylorGirl:

Thanks for the great review. We will be leaving on the Regal on Friday, 10/1/04 for the 10-night trip NYC to Montreal. Sounds like you had a wonderful time and that everything I have read about this ship will be fairly favorable. We have always preferred the smaller ships on Celebrity and NCL, so I think we will be happy with the Regal.

We just want to keep hoping that Jeanne will stay way out in the Atlantic and away from the Northeast.

Sweetie60s