Embarkation – When our taxi arrived at the road that leads to the terminal in Red Hook, the line of personal vehicles and taxis was incredibly long, so we got out and walked most of the way. No biggie. Once we handed off our luggage to a porter, in took about twenty-five minutes from the time we entered the terminal until we boarded. Although we would have been able to use the check-in line for Elite passengers, the regular line was shorter and was moving faster, so we went that route. Interestingly, they don’t take your photo to embed on your cruise card until you’ve enter the ship’s Piazza. This caused a bit of a backup in the gangway, but, again, no biggie. Overall, it was a pretty easy embarkation.

Cabin – Originally, I had booked an inside room, but, as an anniversary surprise for my wife, I upgraded to a balcony…category BE, cabin C136 to be exact. She didn’t find out until after we boarded, when she tried to open the door of an inside room, which was directly across from the balcony room that was actually ours. When the key card didn’t work on the inside room, I turned around and said, “Let’s try this one”, and opened the balcony room. She was happy. The room itself was fairly spacious, with plenty of storage space, a big open closet, and a flat screen television. I’ve read some negative comments about the size of the REGAL’s balconies, but, to be honest, I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. We could both sit out on the balcony, or stand and look out…that means it pretty much did what it was supposed to do. On the other hand, the size of the bathroom was a bit shocking. It was probably the smallest bathroom on a ship we’ve ever had. Still, it served its purpose, so the size was no big deal. However, I imagine someone with substantial girth might have a problem. One thing my wife loved was the small step molded into the shower stall; it made shaving her legs a lot easier than normal.

The Ship – Without a doubt, REGAL PRINCESS is one of the most beautiful ships in which we've ever sailed. The attention to detail, aesthetically that is, is remarkable. The passenger flow is very good; we never waited in a long line for anything; and there are so many places for people to spread out that it never felt crowded. That is, except for the Princess Theater. For some reason, most people seemed to gravitate to the 10:15pm show, so it was always packed. One night we went to an earlier show and it was much better. Read more