This was our 2nd NE/Canada cruise with Princess. We did the same cruise 2 years ago on the Caribbean Princess, although the itinerary ran in the opposite order (NYC-Newport-Boston-Bar Harbor-St John-Halifax-NYC). That time, our 1 sea day was the Friday prior to the return to NYC. This time, the itinerary had the sea day at the beginning, then Halifax-St John-Bar Harbor-Boston-Newport-NYC. I much prefererred the previous route. The last day (being a pack up day, as well as a tendered port) felt too busy. I don't know the reasoning for the route change, but I think Princess should go back to what they did before.

Embarkation - We had our son and family travel with us down to Red Hook to participate in the BVE. They've never cruised and we wanted our 2 young granddaughters see what the ship looked like (NOT the same as the whale watch ship in New Hamphire from a couple years ago!) I knew enough that they should be processed in the Priority boarding line (as DH and I are due to our Platinum status). We'd arrived by 11:10 (before the 11:30 time given the BVE participants). Luggage was quickly taken care of by the porter, we quickly made it through security and headed to the Priority line with virtually no one ahead of us. I told the woman in charge we were there for BVE. She sent us to an open window on the entirely opposite side of the terminal. The agent there processed my husband and me and then said she had no clue about BVE and to wait while she found out. She came back to say we were in the wrong line (I figured that) and sent us back to the Priority line, which was now significantly longer. I again tried to tell the woman directing the lines we were BVE and she just kept saying to get in the back of the line! It was now 11:30ish. Finally, the Regal Princess Future Cruise Consultant saw my frustration and directed us to the front of the line. It seems she'd been waiting for us and couldn't board with the rest of the BVE people until we were processed. FINALLY, we finished and we followed her on board. By a show of hands, we all (about 24 people) said we'd like to do our own 'tour'. We got on board and headed to the MDR for the lunch. The choices for lunch seemed much less than what I recall on the Regal from last January. 2 appetizers, 2 entrees and 1 dessert.

Ship - this was our 2nd time on Regal. The cruise was sold out and with the cooler weather, the interior public areas seemed busier and more crowded over the course of the week. The Cruise Director, Martyn Moss and his staff did a fantastic job of providing many activities and we really enjoyed the shows in the theater. The first "Voice of the Ocean" was performed on this cruise and it was great fun during the finals on Friday evening. I know people complain that there aren't enough seats in the theater for everyone (1000 seats/3600 pax), but we never had a problem finding seats. Like anywhere, if you wait till 5 minutes prior to show time, you might not find one. The staff implored everyone to consider the 2nd performance of the evening where seats were plentiful. Read more