The good: Fast embarkation, very clean, good food at main dining rooms and buffets, attentive stewards, good comedians. Some good shows which included an excellent singer. The bad: Awful ship layout, the balconies are flushed and bellow you can see the life saving boats instead of the water. Some rooms have the “magic carpet” bar passing in front of their verandas invading their privacy. The balconies at the left of it looks toward your veranda. I had one of those cabins even though I payed full price for balcony. Food in main dining takes long. At the gym no special protein shakes available like other ships. No greeting upon entry the first day, just ugly wooden statutes at view. Some ports are bad unless you are there for excursions. San Juan, and St Martin were good. I have been in 20+ cruises and this one stood out for boring, and for its bad layout. 85% of passengers were 65+. Not many activities or amenities around. Not recommended for kids our the young. Read Less

This was an experimental cruise for us. We have taken 10 cruises and normally book a Jr Suite, or a balcony. This time we decided to go with an outside cabin with an eye toward saving some money. Right up front, I must admit I really really enjoyed this cruise. First of all, the boarding in Galveston was fantastic!! We normally have priority boarding because we usually book a Jr Suite, but this cruise was an Outside room, which would have meant long lines and slow processing. I can honestly say we boarded just as quickly on this cruise as any other cruise we have ever taken. We showed up at noon, walked right in and was promptly processed. No lines at all, no Disney World serpentine shuffle!!! The hardest part was just walking up the gang plank! Galveston and Carnival have figured it out!!! As a military veteran, I was overwhelmed by the attention Carnival has given to Armed Forces Veterans. Not only did we have daily teas and gatherings, but there was an awesome Veterans Salute in the Victoriana Theater. It was truly the highlight of our cruise. Every serviceman and woman should experience this. We decided not to take any organized tours of Key West, Freeport or Nassau, but rather, to walk around and shop. No one we talked to really like the hop on-hop off trolley, because of long lines and long wait times. Walking was easy for us, as everything we wanted to see was close at hand. We had no complaints about the food, entertainment or service. We were told we had 3330 passengers on board, but never felt crowded or uncomfortable. I will say that if you are not a smoker, stay clear of the casino, as the smoke is so thick in there, I found it hard to breathe, even as I walked by. We were very pleased with all aspects of the cruise and will do it again. Read Less

Our mini suite was nice , but the bathroom was outdated and rusty. Deck chairs were old and dirty. The ship seems to cater to the 70 plus crowd. I did not have a lot of fun on this cruise . If you are under age 60, I would suggest Royal Caribbean for a more upbeat lively time and more activities. For the prices of a princess cruise , the rooms should be beautiful as well as the bathrooms . The pool area is small and lacks enough seating I will say the food is excellent and staff very nice . The World Market where the breakfast and lunch buffet is lacks seating during peak times . The elevators are slow at best and you can barely hear the chime if someone is talking . The layout of the ship is confusing. As a passenger , I should not have to walk to the other end of the ship to get to the 15th floor Read Less

To get away with my mom and sister. The cruise was nice but things on the ship or dirty. All of the people that worked on the ship were so nice very helpful and just great overall. The ships furniture was dated and old our cabin was grimy with the couch that was worn, had holes in it and just needed to be changed and updated. Stateroom attendant worked hard and was great. The entertainment was great and the destinations were wonderful. We loved our balcony and seeing the sun rises in the morning. The excursions were nice and the locals on the islands we visited really try hard to please the tourists. We didn’t want any excursions that were too physical because our elderly mother was with usWe were very pleased with that. Overall it was a nice cruise. I would like to see the rooms updated for the money you pay for that cruise. Read Less

We chose this cruise because it worked out as a back to back cruise after we got off the Regal Princess at the same port. Also, we were on the Koningsdam (sister ship) last year and we liked the ports it was going to. As always, the food was excellent in taste, quality and variety we experienced before on Holland America. The ship was extremely clean in the well appointed cabin as well as all the common areas. Staff, crew and officers were so very friendly, courteous and helpful. The entertainment in BB King's lounge and the Rolling Stones lounge were very good but so disappointed in the piano lounge duo who sang off key and their voices did not compliment each other. We saw such a better duo on the Koningsdam last year. We enjoyed the entertainment in the main theatre but it would have been so much better if there had been more use of the theatre throughout the week. The movies under the stars and in the staterooms were recent and a good variety but there really wasn't a lot doing after 10:45 pm unless you went to the Casino, which we did not. We were disappointed in the embarkation procedure in the terminal waiting room, which appeared to be quite chaotic with older staff not knowing what to do and not agreeing with other staff. Even though Holland America has a very good product, we have decided that we will probably not be sailing with them again as we found the cruise to be too boring for us. Read Less

This was my first time on Holland America and it will be my last. Not because of anything the cruise line did but because of the caliber of cruiser on board. If you are a senior citizen, you will love this cruise, it seems to be geared more toward an older crowd. Shipboard activities leaned towards retirees I think. Games were bridge, majong and bingo. We played team trivia one day only to not play it again. The old crotchety lady who joined us and 2 other older cruisers, complained and shushed and berated us the whole time for being too loud and giving other teams the opportunity to hear our answers. And, she didn't contribute a single answer just bitched to us about,,"that's probably not right" Hello, our team got 12 out of 15 no thanks to her. The ship itself is absolutely beautiful, the artwork throughout the ship is sublime and we were always finding something new tucked away in another area of the ship. I am not sure if this is the norm for HAL but there were an awful lot of cruisers who were pushy, entitled, elitist and generally rude on our sailing. I saw several times where people with walkers or wheelchairs pushed there way into an already crowded elevator and push a floor several floors away so that the people already on the elevator had a difficult time getting off. When asked to let them through, the former, scoffed and got upset as though they were the only one on the elevator and it was for their own private use. I also witnessed at least once a day, someone berating or belittling the staff with very stupid and rude questions at the Lido Market. One lady got mad at the pasta server saying" Do you even know what your doing? You ARE going to cook that?!" Even the older gentleman in front of me rolled his eyes at the comment and said that "These are the things that give my wife and I comic relief over the next few months." The staff on board went above and beyond with their kindness and generosity and overall friendliness when ever you came across them. Half Moon Cay was gorgeous but...there were 2 HAL ships there on the same day and probably around 3000 people on the beach. Too overcrowded. If it hadn't been so overcrowded I would have spent the entire time on shore instead of just an hour. America's Test Kitchen was a fun experience and I wish they would would do it everyday instead of just twice during the cruise. Entertainment wise- the dance troupe I felt did a beautiful job, the magician was very funny and the comedian was not. I was disappointed with the Main Dining Room food. I felt that the 2 times I went there my seafood and poultry were both way overcooked and under seasoned. My creme brulee (my favorite) did not have a hard shell and barely any sugar to make it the hard shell. Tamarind is a must to anyone going on this ship. It was delicious and the servers and staff went above and beyond to make it the best dining experience we had the whole time. Read Less

We choose this cruise since it was leaving from Baltimore, which is only 3 hours from our home and we wanted one that went over Spring break Our Steward, Rowena, was wonderful and had such a sweet personality. She was so very responsive to our every concern. We were in room 6246 and 6252 on the Carnival Pride the week of 3/31 to 4/7/19. The ship was very clean and everyone was very helpful both times we went to Guest Services. The food was delicious and my grandson ate more than he needed to from the Pizza shop and Guys pizza. He was a little better with the ice cream but not by far. We also went to the clinic for help with sea sickness and they sold us pills for $1 for two of them and they worked wonders on my daughter. Dramamine was not helping her or her wrist patches. It was very rough. The dining room service was exceptional. I am allergic to MSG and they gave us the menu for the following day so that I could place my order and they would ensure that it was MSG free. Our head waiter, Oliver, took great care of all of us and just had a delightful personality. Dr. E was such a joy. He was so funny and so energenic and talented. The dance and singing group was excellent. The male lead was so convincing as the nerd that he played that I laughted all the way through it. We enjoyed all of the ports. I was glad that it was highly suggested that we take an excursion in Freeport so we took the Garden and shopping tour. The garden was very lovely and we enjoyed it a lot. My daughter and grandkids went on the Dolphin Encounter and loved it. In Half Moon Cay, we enjoyed the barbeque and the beach and in Grand turk, we stayed on the beach and shopped in the stores. We bought smoothies in the smoothie shop and my Grandson thought it was the best he ever had and I would highly recommend them, too. I believe it was one of the first few weeks for the crafts activities. As far as I noticed, there was only one activity. It was a travel journal notebook and you were to place stickers on it. It was obvious that this was new to everyone involved but the stickers did not stay in place on the notebook. They really needed to have glue guns or additional glue. It was obvious that noone had ever tried to put these together. A lot of people showed up for the activity and the person had to go back and get more supplies. The area that was used for the activity was just an open seating area. Additional tables to work on the craft would have been helpful. I hope to get to cruise on the Carnival Pride again or somewhere else out of Baltimore, Bermuda or the NorthEast. I would definitely love to do this again. Read Less

I have cruised on Carnival 9 times and this was the 2nd to worst cruise. The activities were lacking, the assistant wait staff was poor for the first few days and one Alchemy Bartender was really rude and not customer friendly. On the other hand our cabin steward Rommel was an awesome professional, our waiter Mehmet was the saving grace and the lobby bartender Katherine was the best bartender ever. The food was not of the normal quality and they did not offer escargot on this trip. The entertainment after dinner shows were bad talent and they need to find a better way so all passengers can enjoy the Captain's cocktail party. With all the competition among cruise lines Carnival needs to step it up. Further like Princess Carnival should consider allowing individuals to sign up for the Cheers Program. My wife does not drink and I don't think it is fair to require her to sign up just because I sign up. Also need to figure out a way to allow passengers to get to the dining room without walking through a smoky casino Need to step it up. Read Less

We booked this cruise because the price was awesome and the ship was new - in hindsight, a brand new ship with crazy-low prices should have set off warning flags. First the good - the ship was NEW! We had an aft-facing balcony - room was very nice, room attendants were friendly and great. Sea Days around the pool were not stressful - complete opposite of Oasis, or any other ship we've been on. No militant record keeping on towels, food on the Lido deck was not bad, Tamarind ($25) was excellent. Not good or bad - the average age of passengers skewed toward over 65. I believe there were 200 or less, kids on the crew - I'd prefer a younger crowd - maybe that would have given us more activity options? The bad - Dining Room - everything about this was bad. Food was mundane, service was horrible - they have, what seemed to be, thousands of servers running around like bees in a hive, but for a normal sitdown dinner, it was a 1.5-2 hour process. We ate in the dining room the first night and one formal night, then avoided it at all costs. Embarkation - this was horrible. They checked you in, then they gave you a boarding group card with a number on it. Our number was 26, when we sat down, they were on number 6. So after having checked in, we sat in the terminal and waited for about 45 minutes. Half Moon Cay- we were one of two ships hosted that day- and it was obvious that they were not prepared for more than one. Full disclosure - we had a villa with a butler and were able to avoid the food lines - but we went to look and it was nuts. At least 100 people in line, and it looked like something out of a prison camp. To get back on the ship, we left at 130 (final tender was supposed to leave at 230) - from the time we left our villa to the time we got back to the ship was 1.5 hours! During this time, we stood in a line that envied a Disney Park line, with zero information from the crew, no offers of water or anything else - just a freaking nightmare. No mention of it that evening from the Captain or Cruise Director. Cruise Director - the running joke was whether he was even on the ship! We saw him one time over the 8 days we were on the ship. He came on with messages that seemed to be pre-recorded - and offered virtually zero information. On the last day, we signed up for early walk-off Disembarkation - since we had an early flight. We sat in our room until 715 with absolutely no information from any of the crew - went down to the second floor at 730 and found 90% of the passengers in line to get off the boat as well. It was a huge mess. At 745 the Cruise Director finally came on and said that they would begin Disembarkation soon and in the meantime do not congregate near the exit - we all laughed, because there were over 1,000 people listening to that directive congregated near the exit. It was fun to be on a new ship - but there are too many better choices for us to ever sail on this line again. Read Less

The Regal is a Beautiful Ship, great places to get out of the sun and relax. We have been cruising for 15 years. Until now we have only cruised with Carnival. We have found a new love for cruising with Princess, and we will not go back to Carnival. This is our second cruise with Princess. the Regal Princess is elegant and sophisticated, tablecloths in main dining room EVERY night! Princess is what Carnival used to be when we first started cruising. Princess has fun activities and parties but they are not wild drunken events you will find on a Carnival ship. Nothing against Carnival but our wild party days are gone, now we just want to relax and have fun without all the excessive drunk people, unattended children running in the hallways and loud music everywhere you turn. We have already booked our next cruise with Princess, 15 days to Hawaii. Read Less