Great weather and ports but there were a few shipboard issues
Regal Princess Cruise Review to Caribbean
14 Night Caribbean East/West Adventurer (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 03, 2019
Ship: Regal Princess
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: R429
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
Princess has been talking about the Medallion experience for the last few years and this was the first Medallion cruise I have been on. The concept is a good one, however this program is still in it's infancy. Princess is still giving out both a cruise card and the medallion because I just don't think they trust the system yet. Many staff, e.g. bar and food staff, still don't believe that the system works (either a training issue or based on their experience with it) and still write down food/drink orders on paper. We got the medallions shipped to us ahead of embarkation and it speeded up that process, but onboard, all four of us had to have the ship replace the Medallions with new ones because they were not working properly (IDs, opening cabin door, ship locations, etc). The smartphone apps (OceanReady, OceanNow, OceanCompass, OceanView) are all immature and should have been combined into one single app rather than four different ones (I didn't even download the gambling or other game apps). Location seemed to work once the medallions were replaced but some of the drink and food ordering capabilities did not work in most locations on the ship --- those were supposed to make cruising easier.. Just order where you are and someone will bring it to you. Ooooops!!! My final comment on the apps is that the whole idea of a vacation like this is to be able to get away from things - to quote Princess: "Come back new". Carrying my smartphone around on the ship to fight with these apps isn't something that makes me come back new!!! I was also hoping to be able to have a silicone bracelet that I could wear around my wrist so I didn't have to wear a card around my neck. Instead, I ended up wearing a medallion (in a two inch square case) and a card around my neck. And by the way, you can't simply put a hole in the cards anymore to put them on a clip because they now have an embedded chip in them. Princess offered $50 and $60 metal bracelets and necklaces or fancy clips to hold the medallion but where was the $5 silicone bracelet? That would have made my life better.Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Sabatini's Italian Trattoria
In and of itself, Sabatini's is a nice place to have an Italian meal. Having said that, most people have a favorite place where they live for Italian food. There are many nights when Sabatini's is nearly empty (as opposed to the steak house). My own thought is that Sabatini's should be converted into a multi-use restaurant... a few nights as Italian, one night the Crab Shack, another night something else....another night something else... I dont have the statistics to show Princess, just my observations from being on a number of cruises but I think that might drive up usage, and ultimately, that is what they are looking to do.
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
Princess Cays (Cruise Line Private Island)