Regal Princess Review
Elegant Regal Princess on amazing Baltic itinerary
Rating by category
Additional details
The Regal Princess is beautiful - elegant and classy but not overly pretentious. The food was delicious; we chose anytime dining and never had to wait more than a few minutes, whether at 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, or 8:30 (there were only 2 of us in our party, however). We ate at our own 2-person table every night except once; we really enjoyed meeting other people from around the world that night, but it was an amazingly slow dinner - it took at least 2.5 hours, with really long waits between courses. One night we at at Sabatini's (we had a free 'specialty dining' credit), which was delicious but we didn't think it was much more special than regular dining. We ate pizza at Alfredo's multiple times, and many breakfasts/lunches/snacks/desserts at International Cafe. Avoided Horizon Court (Buffet) because it was so chaotic and obnoxious. We thoroughly enjoyed the elegant Afternoon Tea, which we made almost every day.
At not-quite-40 we were definitely some of the youngest pax, but there were a lot of family groups that included people our age or younger.
The entertainment onboard was definitely the best we've seen at sea - great comedian, fun "Fiera" production show, fun 'newlywed' game, and loved the Beatlemaniacs! The 'house band' playing in the Piazza every day was fairly awful, but it was a lot of fun to stand near one of the balconies and watch people below dancing their hearts out!
Cabin Review
Mini-Suite with Balcony
Our room was very nicely appointed, very clean, and the bathroom was a decent size for a ship. We never used the tub but it was nice to have the extra space in there. The showerhead was very nice, though water pressure was a little low.
The bed was very comfortable, and our steward provided a top sheet (as requested) for us Americans. He also brought us wine glasses when he noticed we were drinking out of the tumblers in the room!
We had one of the angled balconies; it was plenty of room for us, since all we did on this cruise was walk out there and take pictures occasionally. There was ample room for suitcase storage under the bed, as well as many drawers and shelves in the room and closet. For some reason there were about 50 hangers in the closet.
We could occasionally hear our neighbor's TV but otherwise noise was minimal, except at night when the ship was moving really fast and rocking a little - then the hangers in the closet would swing and hit the wall. Simple solution was to squeeze them all together so they stopped swinging.
The in-room movie selection was very good; we enjoyed watching several fairly new films.
Port Reviews
Oslo
enjoyed the Viking ship museum (took the public ferry); it was raining hard so didn't go to the other museums. Not much to see in town, food and shopping very expensive as everyone warns you. We docked right in front of city hall, which made it easy to pick up the ferry but also go back onboard for lunch and save a lot of $$!
Aarhus
thoroughly enjoyed Den Gamle By, the open-air museum! Very easy DIY port.
Berlin
The ship doesn't actually dock in Berlin; it's supposed to dock in Warnemunde, 3 hours away by train/bus. We actually docked in Kiel because weather prevented us from reaching Warnemunde. We took a 1-hour train to Hamburg and enjoyed the warehouse district and "Minature World", supposedly the world's largest model railroad. The people on the Berlin excursions had a really hard time rescheduling, and it made it even worse because now it was a 4 hour one-way trip. Also, there were people boarding in Warnemunde without a Princess transfer who had a hard time getting information on embarkation.
Tallinn
possibly our favorite stop! Another very easy DIY port. We walked around the old medieval town, happened to get to the orthodox church during a service and heard the beautiful singing, climbed another church's bell tower just as the bells rang (cover your ears! but worth it for the view), and did a lot of shopping (much cheaper matroshyka dolls, sweaters, linen, etc. than other ports on our itinerary)
Helsinki
we took a $10 shuttle from the port into town, and it was worth it. We enjoyed the harborfront market, and saw a free concert going on in front of the Lutheran cathedral. We went to the rock church (Temppeliaukio) - it was interesting, I suppose. We enjoyed the art nouveau architecture all over.
Copenhagen
embark/debark port; we stayed here a few days before sailing, really enjoyed the city. Tivoli is the most beautiful amusement park we've ever seen! Rosenborg palace was lovely; we also enjoyed taking the train to Frederiksborg and Kronborg castles (explore the casements beneath the 'hamlet castle' (Kronborg), it's fun!). This city was the only place we had trouble with our old American mag-stripe credit cards.