The Baltic itinerary, with a continuation to New York, on Princess was fantastic. It should be noted that we were blessed with fantastic weather. The ports were great and all of the Princess tours and tour guides were outstanding. We think Princess does a great job with their food service and the food on the Regal Princess was outstanding. The bar service and housekeeping were, as usual on Princess, outstanding.

It is unfortunate that it must be added here that the Regal Princess is a downgrade from other Princess ships. It isn't just that the ship is bigger (it is) but it has fewer entertainment venues. Experienced Princess cruisers will note the absence of the Explorers Lounge and Skywalker's Night Club. The new Princess Live and Club 6 are horribly poor substitutes. They will also note the reduced size of the Wheelhouse Bar. There is no center staircase. The result is that there are a lot more people with fewer avenues to get around this ship. Finally, there are still only 2 access points when returning from shore excursions. If you're on a popular tour or just returning near the re-embarkation deadline, you'd best be patient as the lines will be very, very long.

It will be noted below that the "embarkation" is rated "terrible" and that is because those passengers with "preferred" boarding passes were forced to wait while those without "preferred" status were checked in. A rather curious situation. Read more