Bad food, judgmental elder, negative energy crowd

Regal Princess Cruise Review

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 5
Helpful Votes: 52

Overall rating:

2.9 out of 5
Regal Princess

8 Night Eastern Caribbean With St. Kitts (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 03, 2023

Ship: Regal Princess

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: B237

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

Good Eastern Caribbean itinerary, terrible food and crowd.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
The quickest and most efficient check in.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
Food is one of the worst I’ve had at sea. Low quality, flavorless food. Meat tasted and looked fake. Included Restaurants: The buffet is a step up from the main dining room when fresh. There are 2 main dining rooms and Allegra seemed to have better tasting, more fresh tasting food than Concerto. In the pizza sit down restaurant, Alfredo I had a server sneeze and hand me my utensils immediately after. Room Service: It’s free, so you can’t complain too much. The 1st evening, my room service was 2 hours late and cold. Speciality Dining: Was not impressed with speciality dining restaurant, Crown Grill. The lobster had rubber like texture and service seemed rush. I has to ask for things multiple times.

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5
The daily itinerary onboard lacked: bingo, trivia, low budget shows targeted towards a late boomer and elder crowd. Movies playing during sail away when there should be a DJ playing moderate-high energy music. The comedian jokes targeted an older demographic, talked about dating younger women, etc. I enjoyed Tyrone the steel pan drums musician as well as his music lesson class at the end of the cruise. During the Whitney Houston tribute show, they decided to show a clip of her talking about the Bodyguard movie sound track, only problem was that she was high during the interview. Poor choice.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
Staff: Morale seemed low, not a lot of crew showed personality, some of the staff in the casino were confrontational. A lot of crew I had encountered particularly in the dining areas, seemed overwhelmed and rushed. Did not take time to get to know guests or remember preferences. When I would engage in lengthier convos, the crew member would look around to see if a manager was around. I believe they are limited to socializing. I saw this during my Carnival cruises as well. Crowd had a percentage of decent people with manners but not a lot of diversity. Experienced low, negative energy. Lots of shaming, dirty looks, casual racism, gossiping .

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
The flow of the ship is odd, to get to one of the dining rooms I had to take 2 separate staircases or elevators to get to it. The ship is 9 years old and I have found the look and decor already dated. Did not like the location of the gym, it was in the aft, away from spa. Some of the gym equipment seemed outdated, the treadmill I used was unstable and skipping. Track needed to be realigned and oiled up. The Enclave Spa was small, too crowded and was not clean. There was about 2-3 inches of water flooded in the sauna, trash and empty cups laying around everywhere. Floor was always wet and slippery. There was only 1 spa attendant looking over the area and they did not mop at all. - [ ] Jacuzzi on lido deck and adult area were always full - [ ] Lots of chair hoggers

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
I received an upgrade for my inside cabin. It was spacious enough for a solo cruiser. There were issues with red and yellow stains on sheets and beach towels. The restroom smelled like sewer 24/7.

Ship tip

If you are a millennial or younger, avoid. If I were a child with family I would be bored out of my mind. There are way better options out there for on board activities and crowd vibes in general. There is nothing wrong with an elder, retirement home like crowd. There is an issue when a good amount of them are acting like a ethnic, young woman doesn’t belong on a cruise ship with them! Ladies, I’ve done way better and probably have seen more of the world than y’all. 🤣

Ports of call

San Juan, Puerto Rico

4 out of 5
You’ll be able to get US cellular service here and regular taxes apply on all purchases here. Not as cheap as I thought. It was actually quite expensive. If you do your research prior, you should be good for cheaper eats. I took a $25 city tour for 1 1/2 hours, walked around Old Town and ate at the restaurant where they claimed they invented the Pina Colada. After souvenirs and restocking my mini fridge at CVS, it was a very expensive day. Same as Miami prices.

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

3 out of 5
Nice, but nothing compared to the Virgin Islands. Was overcharged $30 for a chair on Great Bay Beach, compared to the couples and groups who purchased. Be sure to low ball these vendors and tell them you are going to keep looking if they don’t work with your price. The same goes with the souvenir vendors as well. Try to avoid their scams and sob stories. They will ask for your medallion when leaving the water taxi back to the port. When I misunderstood an employee, very rudely and with huge attitude she asked, “Do you know English? Do you not understand me”. Ignorant.

Basseterre, St. Kitts

3 out of 5
I took the Nevis tour and beach break, I enjoyed my excursion and the tour guides on the boat there and shuttle. Also, the bartender, female manager at Lime Restaurant on the beach took her time checking me out, gave major attitude and added BS charges to my drinks bill. Just watch out for vendors and scammers, there is a heavy presence on the beach. There was a tall male, vendor at Pinneys Beach with fedora who said I can pay for my souvenirs through the bar since I didn’t have cash. They would just require me to get him a drink as well. 🙄🙄🙄 As far as St Kitts goes, I didn’t explore much of it but the port, which seemed run down with tacky souvenir shops, bad food and local teenagers running around as if this was their local mall. Hi

Grand Turk Island

4 out of 5
The water near the pier is not the cleanest and the beach is very rocky. There is still a cute charm about the island. It’s not a private island, so watch your belongings because vendors selling things are walking up and down. There are security, but just be aware. The blue chaise lounge chairs with no umbrella/shaded shells are complimentary to Princess guests. I wanted to try Jack Shack’s down the beach but settled for Margaritaville Restaurant instead, it was decent but overpriced. The venue also has a nice, big pool that the cruisers can use. Go to Caribbean Outlets for cheap souvenirs.

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

3 out of 5
Like a maze, rideshare drivers will easily get lost. Baggage assist agents will not help you without a tip when departing. Rude.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
The medallion (cruise card) is awesome (not referring to the app.) The app was trash and on demand services didn’t work that well, especially towards end of the sailing. It’s a good idea but I don’t think they have enough staff to cater to all of the requests. Also, the app is slow to load. Does not include basic things like spa services menu, info, full daily itinerary or any type of reservations system.

Traveler Photos

Prime Rib Fried Chicken & Potatoes Meatloaf covered with Beacon
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