Loved the Ship and all the Stops

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 26

Review summary

If you are wondering if you should take a cruise, you can read my two cents here. For more detail on the cruise particulars, skip down a couple paragraphs. Cruising in general: If you have never done it, go for it! It is a unique experience you won't get anywhere else. Watching the ships maneuver in and out of the ports is awe-inspiring. You get to visit a few different countries in one trip, so it is an excellent way to get a little taste of each one. Entertainment abounds on a cruise. Options include games, movies, dancing, contests, and vegas-type shows with comedians and musicians. If eating is something you enjoy, a cruise is the place to find food! Buffets, grills, ice cream, several restaurants, and 24 hour room service are all included. Evening dining is always a highlight. If you choose traditional reserved dining, the menu changes each night and provides a 3 course meal. The best part is that you will have the same server each night, who will get to know what you like and recommend foods certain to win you over. Oh, and, totally don’t be afraid to order 2 meals if you can’t decide on one! Expect some negatives, too, though, cruising isn’t perfect. Drinks: there is access to water and iced tea all day and night. Other drinks are extra. It can add up quickly. Gratuities are always added at the end of the cruise, over and above the cost of the cruise, so read the fine print of whichever cruise you plan to travel with. The other big negative for me, while cruising, is the people. If you want to get a nice chair on the deck, plan to get there early. People will place their belongings on a lounger, and by 8 or 9 am, all the good ones are gone. By 10 or 11 am, there will be no deck chairs anywhere. When you cruise, there are times you will feel like a steer in a herd being moved. This is because 1) everyone is trying to get to the same place at the same time, and 2) people are animals (well, not you or me, but other people). My mom is in a wheelchair and you would not believe the number of times people with perfectly good legs would rush past, around, over, under, and through her to beat her into the elevator. If you want to be the first to get off at any port, know that about 2,999 people have the same plan. They will all go to the buffet at the same time (shortly before port arrival time). Again, you will feel like a steer, or maybe a hog amongst the masses. There will be a long, long line that will form to disembark at every stop. If you don't have a schedule to stick to, just wait an hour and it is very likely you will walk right off the ship without feeling like any type of animal at all. Think about what you want to do, and then realize that everyone else wants that too. Then, change the plan ever so slightly. Get up just a little earlier than you want to and get to the buffet. On port days, sleep a little longer and saunter in when the rest of the herd is waiting in an absurdly long line to get off the ship. Princess Regal Specifics: Entertainment: the entertainment crew is excellent! Plenty of planned activities include dancing lessons, lots of audience participation games like trivia, family feud, newly-wed game, etc. Live music is everywhere and each evening provides a vegas style show with comedians, singer/dancers, and an INCREDIBLY AMAZING orchestra. The crew on Princess regal are friendly and fun and do all they can to make your trip pleasant. Room specifics: I personally wouldn't consider a room without a balcony. Trying to fight for a nice place to sit can sometimes be tiring, so your own balcony (though small) is a welcome retreat. On the Regal, we chose a Jr Suite, which turned out to be a decent size (for a cruise). There are 2 single beds and a sofa, which is made into a 3rd single bed if there is a 3rd person in your room. For a 4th person, another single will be lowered from the ceiling. Storage: The closet rod is about 5 feet in length (again, pretty decent for a cruise) and there is a floor to ceiling cabinet about 2 and a half feet wide with shelves for other clothing items. Other storage includes 2 bedside dressers (2 drawers each) and a desk/vanity area with 3 drawers. More: Our room had only ONE spot with 2 outlets for electronic devices, hair dryer, curling iron, sleep apnea machine, etc. BRING AN EXTENSION CORD AND POWER STRIP! The bathroom is tiny (as to be expected), but the shower/tub is surprisingly nice sized (deeper than mine at home, and a touch wider!) The towels, bedding, and pillows are nice and soft and cozy and there were no complaints about the beds, either. There is a small fridge, which is not very cold. There are plenty of mirrors and the lighting is fair. For make-up application, lighting at the vanity and in the bathroom are perfect. I did not bring shampoo and conditioner and ended up with a tangled mess if hair because they provide a 2-in-1 conditioning shampoo. There is also shower gel and the obligatory travel size lotion. Automatic gratuity: Gratuity amounts depend on your cabin type. The Jr suite gratuity is $14.50 per person (yes, children too) per day. Gratuity is automatically charged to your credit card at the end of your cruise. If you REALLY don't think your crew people deserve that, you can go to guest services and have the amount adjusted, however, I discourage that because the people who serve you really do deserve (and depend on) the tips. Just make yourself aware that it is a part of the cost of cruising. Finding a lounge chair on deck: Regal warns that any belongings left on deck chairs unattended for more than a half hour will be removed and turned in to lost and found. I saw deck loungers that seemed unattended for hours on end, so we got up early one morning and put towels on loungers. Our stuff got removed. Oh, well, had to try. I think it is kinda the luck of the draw. Moments like this will make you glad you booked a room with a deck. Food and drink: We ate at the buffet and the pool side pizza place. The pizza was yummy and the buffet offered a huge variety of main dishes, sides, salads, and desserts. There are other restaurants available, but the only one we utilized was our pre-assigned evening restaurant. Our server was wonderful, as was the food. Some of the dinners I ordered included: a giant gourmet burger with onion rings and the whole works, steak, chicken fettuccini, and my favorite - lobster. I usually selected cheesecake for dessert, but another favorite was creme brulee. Water, iced tea, and coffee are available 24/7. Other drinks cost extra: juices and lemonade were less than $2 and cans of soda were $2. Non alcoholic tropical beverages like daiquiris and pina coladas were $6, the same beverages with alcohol were $8. An automatic 18% gratuity is added to those drinks. A note about drinking: If you are under 21, and expect to drink on the ship, think again. The drinking age on Princess Regal is 21, not 18 like some other cruise lines. They are VERY strict and will stalk you once you get caught trying to buy a tropical drink for your 19 year old son. No, seriously, they stalk you. When you use your medallion to purchase alcohol, they can locate you, and they will come find you and make sure the drink is in YOUR hand. Excursions: We booked one excursion through Princess and it was really pleasant, but that was only because we got lucky. Only 8 people booked it, so it was really nice. Most times, you will NOT get lucky and have to be in a group of 30-50 people. You will wait in the heat for the group to show up, then be herded to busses. Then wait 30 minutes for stragglers. And it will be like this for most of the excursions. I don't tell you this to discourage you from taking excursions, because all of the ones I've done are amazing, but so you will know what to expect. Cruising is a lot of “hurry up and wait”. The excursion we did through the ship was Explore Park in Cozumel (well, Playa del Carmen, really). We did it about 10 years ago and knew our kids would love it, so we did it again. The princess Island in the Bahamas, Princess Cays) was very enjoyable. What to bring on your cruise: Nice clothing for evenings. We even bought formal dresses for the gals and the guys rented tuxes via a link from the Princess website. That is quite handy, the tux is delivered right to your state room. A basic tux cost us around $105 each and was available to us all week. An extension cord or 2 and a multiple outlet device. There was only one outlet in our Jr Suite, and it wasn't near any of the beds. Sunscreen and aloe. You will want them and they are about $25 each in the gift shop. And don't tell yourself that you won't need them because you never burn. That is a lie. Hat and light shirt or sweater to protect your already fried and blistering shoulders from the Carribean sun. And don't tell yourself that you don't need them because you never burn. That is a big FAT lie. Workout clothes if you're one of those jerks that want to make the rest of us look bad by going to the exercise room or running track while we are pigging out at the buffet. Hair ties or clips. It is often windy on deck and hair gets stuck in your ice cream cones. Sweatshirt or sweater. Depending on the time of year, evenings on deck can get cold. Water bottle. You can fill it with ice water at the buffet. Cash and credit card for shopping. All places you will visit will take US dollars and almost all accept credit cards. There is no need to exchange your money. Try to book all excursions in advance, but try to leave at least one stop just to wander around. We planned an excursion at every stop and it was quite exhausting. Sometimes, just shopping and a beach are enough. Sunglasses Flip flops You will not need any towels You may want to shop Amazon and buy those handy little beach towel clips. I was kind jealous of people who had them. They clip your towel to the top of your lounger so it doesn't slide down whenever you sit up.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Princess Cays (Cruise Line Private Island)

Falmouth, Jamaica

George Town, Grand Cayman

Cozumel, Mexico

Disembarkation

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