We had been dedicated to the Princess Cruise line after a great experience with them. This 10-day, 3-port cruise was expected to be more of that same great experience. However, it was NOT! The food was horrible, the crew was in a bad mood/attitude and it showed. It was bad enough that we are probably going to cancel the cruise that we already had booked for 2020. Princess is no longer worthy of any attention. The low quality food extended to the formal dining room for dinner. They were unable to properly prepare any of the types of fish that they served (from one night to another). Terribly overcooked. Some nights we chose to skip it, due to the menu choices. Can you imagine Spaghetti being the featured special? Yes, that was their idea of fine dining. Princess cruise line has, in our view, dropped from Excellent, to Poor quality. They are no longer a good vacation option. Read Less

Wanted to try leaving from New York. We left from Brooklyn and it was virtually effortless. We left on Halloween so lots of creative costumes on board. Did not want a lot of stops. There were 3 exceptional ones.This cruise served both purposes and was priced right. We usually prefer ships with fewer passengers but the on-board entertainment and venues more than made up for the size. Incredible shows. Comedians who were hysterical, the ventriloquist was amazing, musicians who could really play, and star gazing opportunities made for fun evenings. Movies on demand were great for late late nights. Days at sea filled with plenty of activities: trivia, Princess Pop Choir, Karaoke, sports challenges, book club,game shows, shopping or just lounging at the pool. Alfredos Pizzaria was the hidden gem with unique and fresh pizza toppings,antipasto plates, soups and desserts. As with any Princess cruise we have been on the service was impeccable. Excursions were all well received. Zip lining on St. Maarten, swimming with the stingrays in Antigua (staff here really loved the animals and enjoyed sharing them with us), and the submarine experience in Aruba were all top shelf. The ship docked in Ft. Lauderdale which is also an efficient terminal. The only thing wrong with it is the airport which is undergoing renovations which we hope will make it more passenger friendly. If you are looking for a relaxing cruise put this one on your list. Read Less

This was my 68 cruise with Princess and my third time on the Regal. Here are my top Pros: 1. Arny Galoyo in Crooners. He is the best Crooner entertainer by far!! and a reason alone to cruise with Princess. We have cruised many times with Arny and are still amazed at his versatility (sings in 9 languages!), his ability to take requests from passengers (knows thousands of songs, across multiple genres), his talent and wonderful personality (greets all passengers, speaks to them during breaks to find out what kind of music they like, always smiles and welcomes passengers to Crooners, makes us feel like family), and his ability to draw a big crowd (Crooners was always standing room only and when he was in the Piazza there were crowds on all three levels watching, and a full dance floor of passengers dancing.) 2. The production shows. We were fortunate to be on a "handover" cruise, meaning that two production teams were on at the same time, and we saw two shows performed by each of the teams. All of the singers and dancers were amazing! So talented and hard-working. A special shout-out to the dancers on the departing team who performed my favorite show "Born to Dance". Their energy and enthusiasm, after being on the ship for six months already, was outstanding. Made me break into a big smile. 3. Medallion. I had set up our medallions ahead of time at home, and we breezed through embarkation. I loved the fact that the medallion opened our cabin door. So much easier when my husband was carrying two coffees and danishes in the morning and could get the door opened quickly using his elbow! 4. Horizon Court. The variety was truly amazing. Mongolian buffet, Asian buffet, Italian buffet, Indian buffet, along with voluminous salad fixings, 3 carving stations per night, lots of breads, pastries, fruits, etc. It was so easy to eat most of our meals there since we never got bored and always found plenty to please us. 5. Cruise director Dan Falconer and staff. There was a great variety of game shows and different trivias on this cruise. Something that is not true on all Princess ships. Sometimes it is just "trivia" for example. Here we had music trivia, movie trivia, general trivia, geography trivia, etc. Never boring. As well as all of our favorite games shows. 6. Alternate dining venues. Alfredos (great pizza except the Margherita needs more basil), International Cafe (delicious hazelnut stollen at breakfast), Crown Grill (fabulous service and delicious sea bass and black and blue onion soup), the outdoor grill (love the cheeseburgers and fries) and Vines (great wine selection and delicious tapas). 7. Crew. In particular, our room steward and the bar wait staff in Crooners. Always smiling. Always helpful. Always greeted us by names. The crew on this cruise in all my interactions were friendly, courteous, smiling.....great representatives of Princess. 8. Entertainment. We were fortunate to have 3 prior Entertainer of the Year performers on board. So, the entertainment in the Princess Theater, between the production shows and these guest entertainers, was outstanding. Special shout-outs to comedian Carlos Oscar, and ventriloquist/singer Michael Minor. Great shows. We went on this cruise to relax after a few months of exceptionally stressful issues at home and work. The cruise did the trick. We LOVED our time on board, just relaxed and walked around in the ports (have been to all of these ports many times and have done many of the excursions. We just wanted to enjoy the sun, shopping, drinks and sights.) Thank you Princess. Read Less

Repositioning cruise from NYC to Port Everglades. We're from the Tampa area. We bought our TPA-LGA flight from Princess EZ Air. Excellent price, and excellent flight, transfer and embarkation experiences. The Brooklyn port was one of the most efficient that we've ever experienced. The ship was great as always....our third time on Regal. The first three days were at sea. First day was a bit choppy, but really fun to watch the seas. The remainder of the cruise was dead calm! Notably good points: Ample sunbeds despite it being perfect weather and a full cruise. The Retreat area is always great. Buffet was very good. We're early risers, and wish they'd open prior to 5am. Crooners was wonderful. Eunice and Benny took great care of us. The international café was always a delight in the early mornings. Notably no so good points: MDR....Slow, disorganized service. We ordered wine by the bottle. One night, they served us someone else's wine, another night they lost our bottle. Wrong entree's served one night. We just lost trust in them. MUTS daytime entertainment. Old, rehashed stuff. Crazy Rich Asians (they played this back in January!) Sheryl Crow concert from 2002 (also played back in January), Cirque du Soleil played at least three times. There was a guy playing steel drums occasionally. He was all right. Disembarkation was the easiest ever. We had transfers to FLL airport. Our disembarking group was called, and we just walked right off. No lines, no nonsense. The 10 minute bus ride was great, too. In all, a really nice experience. Read Less

We chose the cruise due to hearing such great things about princess. There was absolutely nothing to do onboard besides shop... As two 30yr olds on our honeymoon it was completely boring on the days at sea. We found ourselves in our extremely warm cabin since the a/c didn’t seem to work. Even after complaining it still wasn’t fixed. Staff for the most part was great but doesn’t make up for the lack of things to do onboard. Food was excellent both in the dining room and in the buffet and restaurants. Entertainment was basically nonexistent unless you wanted to watch the same people play music all day or pay to play bingo. The ports were amazing. All of them were extremely beautiful. Although princess failed to offer many excursions that weren’t overpriced tours. Honestly very disappointed with princess and would definitely think twice before going on another princess cruise. Read Less

We chose this cruise with friends of ours. We enjoyed our friends and the cruise very much. Our eating was scheduled for 5:30 pm at the Allegro dining room in the evening and Janice Sandoval was our waitress and Jeffrey Maderazo was our assistant waiter and they were the BEST!!!!! We never had to wait for anything and they were very easy to talk with and also very knowlegable about the food and answered any questions that we had. The only time we felt any movement of the ship was on our first night and second day, but with patches ready to use we were fine. It seemed that the elevators were always busy when we wanted to use them but I guess getting that amount of people around on the ship would be a problem for anyone. The debarkation went fine for us although we didn't use the medallion as much as we could have. The internet was slow and I guess we are impatient as we didn't use it hardly at all. Read Less

We chose this cruise for the length and where it left from. Overall, it was disappointing. My wife is used to being wow'd by the bartenders and they were very matter of fact and unwilling to try to make any drink that was not on the menu. The dining room menu was also subpar with Tilapia and spaghetti and meatballs in the main dining room. Best part of the trip was the entertainment. The cabin steward was very stealthy as we can't even tell you their name. Getting on and off the ship was the best ever experienced. Despite a lot of effort to fight rust, there was a lot of rust on this ship. We would not consider another Princess cruise. It was definitely below expectations in many areas. My wife ordered hot tea in our room and the status made it to "being prepared". She never received the tea and when we attempted to contact room service, no one could tell us anything. Read Less

This cruise was a 13 day repositioning cruise to the Caribbean, from NYC to Miami & not the five day Canada cruise, as stated! We chose this cruise because it left from our home port of NYC, eliminating on air fare, plus the cost was low, i.e. $499. per person for an ocean view room! The ship was opulent & the shows presented were beautifully staged, with the digitally changing backgrounds better than anything that I have seen in my 62 cruises! However, my estimate of MSC cruises changed on Nov. 7th when my wife experienced a heart attack on board! After spending a day in the ship's somewhat limited infirmary, & a $1,800. fee, we were forced to leave the ship on the island of Jamaica ( an originally unscheduled port) & taken to a "third world" very poorly equipped clinic/hospital in Montego Bay, for two days of observation & care! (only 2 days before cruises end!) After having to pay a $1,000 ambulance & a $11,000. hospital bill (out of pocket)we were air lifted to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. where my wife had quadruple by-pass surgery. After 16 days recuperation in Fla. we were again air lifted to a REHAB center near our Long Island home. Not once in this nearly one month ordeal, did anyone from MSC contact us to see how my wife & I were coping with this totally unexpected "nightmare"! So, the lesson in this is if you cruise with MSC & get sick, be prepared to deal with it on your own! Read Less

We chose this particular cruise because of free gratuities, new ship (to us), new ports (4), and considerable cabin credit we received. This was a "back-to-back" cruise that first transited north to Canadian ports and then southbound to several southern Caribbean ports for a total of 15 nights aboard. Ship was repositioning for the winter from NYC to Fort Lauderdale. We flew into New York the night prior to embarkation, staying at the Hampton Inn at LGA. UBered to the Brooklyn cruise port. The embarkation system there seemed to be in need of better direction. We had set up our "medallion" disc prior to leaving home, so we popped right up on their system on the first effort. Being Elite passengers, we were able to by-pass the standard line, but here is where it becomes confusing. We had wine we were bringing on board to declare, but there was no table/staff to declare it to.....at least not very visible with hundreds of people milling around. There was a table we found by chance that had a form required by Canadian authorities we needed to fill out, with no signage about it. We were directed by one staff member to proceed in one direction, only to be told by staff at that direction to turn around and retrace our steps. Eventually we found the right staff person whom could process our account and sent us onto the ship....whew!! The ship itself is nicely laid out. The Piazza seems wider than that space on other Princess ships. All the inside activities occur on the 5-6-7 decks, as is standard on Princess. Regal is a big girl, almost 1100' long, and has a capacity of about 3,600 passengers, but we sailed with about 3,000, as we were told. Our Balcony cabin felt spacious, and the bathroom space is improved. Sound blockage is quite good between adjoining staterooms....never heard our neighbors through the walls. The medallion "stateroom door unlock" was convenient when you approached with items in your hands. We choose late "traditional" dining so that we can develop a relationship with our wait staff over the course of the cruise. We chose a table for two, surrounded by like tables of two around us. Our waitstaff, Victor and Jay, were professional, with excellent English skills. The MDR (Allegro) is nicely laid out at the stern of deck 6, and it never seemed overly loud in there. Food and beverage orders were quickly dispatched to our table and presented well. The majority of foods presented were delicious, with a few "unknowns" we experimented with, we scratched off the "must-try" list. The ship itself is in good shape. Despite round-the-clock maintenance, there will always be a scrape of rust here and there.....just the nature of ships in a marine atmosphere, they work hard at keeping it up. The dedicated walking/running track located aft on deck 17 is a better fit for the active set avoiding the "strollers" on the old promenade walkways. The water feature is entertaining. Food is available everywhere on the ship...burgers, hotdogs, pizza, cocktails, ice cream on the pool deck. Alfredo's pizza was good for a generous pizza and beer during the day. Pub lunches in the Wheelhouse bar were well attended. The Princess theatre located forward is well laid out, with plenty of exits, allowing rapid entry/exit into there. Perfect sightlines throughout. Casino is quite large if that's your thing. The internet speed on this ship was the fastest we have experienced on Princess ships....hope it spreads to the rest of the fleet! We had a lecturer on board (Franz Schneider) who knew all things about ships and seas and provided excellent information on these topics during his lectures. Activities throughout the ship were constant from sunup til night owl hours, offering something for everyone. We had two different ship Captains during this voyage (Captains Stringer and Maresca) whom kept us highly informed about the ship itself. The new medallion system in place on this ship does expedite the purchase of goods and beverages on board (more about medallion later in this review). The cruise director Dan, and asst CD Kyle were funny, energetic, quick-witted, and fun to be around. Entertainment on board was top shelf....funny comedians, song/dance performances, Opera, etc. Princess offered a "rock-n-roll night" one evening in the Piazza base, composed of performers mingled together from all the bands/singers on board, and we feel it was the BEST live musical performance we have ever encountered on a Princess ship!.....we hope it goes fleetwide. Easy on-off access in all ports we visited. Used Princess excursions for Antigua and "Bernard's Tours" on St Maarten, (highly recommend Bernard's….have used them before with great results). All crew members were pleasant to us, always a smile. One bar waiter offered us a way to purchase ship wine by the bottle, which lowered our per-glass expense. Disembarkation in Ft Lauderdale was super-smooth.... the time it took to exit the ship was dictated by how fast you chose to walk. 90% of our cruise experience was positive. Now, we'll mention a few of the "speedbumps" we encountered.... 1. Sauna and steamroom …. these offerings have been "standard complementary" on the grand class and other class Princess ships, and located adjacent to the fitness center. On this ship, they have been moved to the opposite end of the ship and placed in the "Lotus Spa", requiring you to purchase a spa package to utilize these functions which are free on other ships. Left a bad taste in our mouth with the new "nickel and diming" policy. 2. The "medallion system" …. the jury is still out on this one. It opens your stateroom door for you upon your approach, which is good. We could never get the app to do a food order through our stateroom smart TV. It would routinely boot us off after a few hours, requiring input of your personal info multiple times over the day. It knows where you are at all times, which can be a little too-much big brother. It does expedite the purchase of beverages, goods, and services on board, because the staff member you are interacting with already knows your name, your face, and room number as they interact with you. No signing for anything anymore aboard this ship. We think the system needs a lot more tweaking to make it user-friendly/foolproof, especially for the senior crowd. 3. Noticed in several of the men's restrooms in the public area's that the floor layout/design prevents rapid use of these facilities...… paper towel dispensers located directly in front of a swing-in door, one sink for 3-4 simultaneous guests, just poor design flaws. Other than these few "speedbumps", the Regal is a classy, elegant, ship that we wouldn't hesitate to call a temporary home, sometime again in the future. Sorry to disappoint the "Debbie-downers" we encountered on this ship, but you will have fun on a cruise ship if YOU choose to do so. Hope this review helps! Read Less

Chose this cruise because the dates and destinations fitted, and we quite like the sea days. Took advantage of the coach from Birmingham Airport direct to Southampton, bit chaotic with people pushing in the queue but got us there efficiently and embarkation was excellent. The ship was larger than we normally go for and a bit confusing to get around sometimes. I think that even after 2 weeks people were getting lost. Our cabin, an inside one on deck 10 was fine, seperate area for hanging clothes, enough hangers etc and a comfy bed. We chose set dining in the Oriental Restaurant, we had a good table and enjoyed it. The food was a bit 'samey' though. We were quite interested in the ballroom dance lessons, but so was everyone else. Although the dance teacher was excellent the lessons took place in the atrium-far far too small, so we dropped out. We joined the guest choir, an excellent experience and met some lovely people. Having been on this ship for a long weekend previously I was keen to see how the Manhatten lounge would cope on a longer voyage as it had been inundated by the groups of hen parties on board. As previously, if you didn't get there over an hour before any entertainment you hadn't a prayer of getting a seat. The main theatre was fine, that too got full, especially when the resident 'headliners' were performing. I must say that they were very talented, just not enough of them-they didn't join in any other activities, were seldom seen around the ship and did 4 shows in 2 weeks! the other entertainment ranged from Beatles tribute, excellent Song and dance man, a couple of typical cruise ship singers and a mind reading act from BGT, and a Freddie tribute act that only performed in the Manhattan-so we never got to see him. Generally the drinks service was poor-cutbacks were obvious throughout the ship. Why did I entitle this review 'clash of cultures' ? I shall explain. There was one group who took no notice of the rule not to reserve sun loungers, took no notice of smoking restrictions, and let their kids run riot. I know that is a sweeping generalisation but the same people were in the pool area day after day, the kids were either dive bombing in the pool or frequenting the spa pools, they were in big groups, very loud and, as I say, smoking (or vaping) all around. Unfortunately, and this is my big criticism THERE WAS NO POLICING OF THE SUN LOUNGERS, THE SMOKING/VAPING, OR THE KIDS. Putting signs up just doesn't cut it. I know that they are on holiday too, but the rules are there so that everyone can enjoy themselves. Although the excursions were generally fine I would like to draw your attention to one of the Antigua trips. Party bus to private Red Bus Rum punch beach, private facilities, price included transport with guide, party bus, free drink (plus opportunities to buy food and drink if you wanted) and 3-4 hours on the beach. £45-£50 each. In reality, 14 of us were crammed into an old transit van with no suspension and inefficient AC, a Bob Marley tape and just dumped off at the afore mentioned beach. You then could hire a gazebo & Sun bed (if you were quick enough-short supply). We were told that as they only given a few quid per head from P & O that it no longer included a drink-which were expensive). We had paid £100 per couple for an old van taxi to a beach. I was also appalled that you had free drinks in the casino whilst you gambled. Did we enjoy the cruise?-yes, would we go again? yes. Was it value for money,?yes What could be done to make it a better experience? Police the Sun beds, the smoking, the kids and start looking at a bigger venue for the ballroom lessons-a massively increasing sector. Read Less

Our first Viking ocean cruise and it lived up to all expectations. We loved the "smaller"ship feel and all crew members we encountered went above and beyond to make sure everything was perfect. I also loved the more casual atmosphere as opposed to other cruise lines. .When we arrived at the airport Viking representatives were right there to greet us and embarking the ship was seamless. Also disembarking was very well organized. I also like that Viking includes complimentary shore excursions in all ports. the "no charge" specialty restaurants were excellent. In fact, my husband had one of the best steaks he had eaten in the specialty Italian restaurant. There was never an "push" to sell things to you...photos, drinks etc. We did a both a galley and bridge tour that was very informative We have sailed with Princess over 32 times but I hope to exceed that with Viking. In fact while on board we booked another cruise for Oct. 2020. The only comment would be more transfers to the airport. Our flight did not leave until 3:00PM but we were shuttled out by 8:30AM which meant a long time at the airport not a great way to end your vacation. Read Less

This was our 4th NCL cruise, and 7th overall cruise. It was an enjoyable experience and we saw many Caribbean islands we had never been to before. The ship was clean and had enough public space that passengers could spread out in. It's a nice sized ship (2400 passengers) which is manageable - and our preference over the huge ships. It was easy to find your way around, although the only small challenge is that the 6th deck doesn't run straight through. So if you want to access the Summer Palace main dining on the 6th, you have to go up to 7, to go back down to 6. It's a beautiful dining room, and worth finding! Our balcony cabin was perfect for 2 people - lots of storage, a small couch and decent sized balcony for a cruise ship. We unpacked for our 11-day cruise easily finding space for everything, and stowed our luggage under the bed. The only small issue was that the lighting was not great after the sun goes down, so for women getting ready for dinner, it was a bit of a challenge to see in mirrors. A big thank you to Rommel, our awesome Cabin Steward, for doing an excellent job! We found the main dining rooms (Summer Palace and Indigo), and specialty dining were wonderful - we experienced great service and delicious food! Le Bistro and Teppanyaki were our favourite specialty dining venues, and Cagney's and Moderno were really good as well. The Lotus Garden, which is NOT a specialty dining venue, was great - don't miss out! However, we were less than impressed with the quality of food at the buffet, and at O'Sheehan's Pub...yuck. We ended up going to the main dining rooms for breakfast/lunch instead. We spent some time at the casino and experienced the best service from all staff: special mention - Eka, Carlver and Hong Wang were amazing, we really appreciate their hard work. The casino has a good variety of slots machines and tables, it got busy after the shows finished, but was always well-managed. We never had to wait for drink service, and the staff was always friendly and accommodating. Embarkation was quite easy and much faster than anticipated - the lines were very long, but we were on the ship within an hour of arriving at the port in Tampa. Our rooms were ready by 1:30 or 2pm, and luggage was promptly delivered to the cabin that afternoon. Disembarkation in NYC was not quite as smooth, but overall not bad. We only docked at 10am to even begin the disembarkation process, but had to be out of our cabins by 9am. The only food option available at that time was the buffet - so 2400 people waiting in public spaces for hours to depart, and food/coffee on only one deck. We booked shore excursions only after we got on the ship - and managed to get every excursions we wanted except for one - but there was another decent option available and we took that one instead. I would recommend however that you book excursions (and speciality dining reservations) before getting on the ship to be sure you are not disappointed. The excursions were very well-run and organized, we enjoyed all of them. Overall, this was a very good cruise experience. What made it extra enjoyable were the staff who work on the ship - they all work so hard and such long hours, we truly appreciate them! Read Less

The itinerary caught my eye, embark Tampa , visit 6 Caribbean ports, disembark NYC.We arrived the evening before the cruise, ate locally and got a good night's sleep at the Quality Inn. Arrived on Sunday at the port with everyone else going on the cruise ( or so it seemed) ,boarded about 1 hour 15 minutes after arriving. The Pearl is an older, smaller ship but in my opinion a nice ship to spend 11 days aboard. An adult pool as well as a children's pool is always a nice touch. The chair hogs were out in force & policing was near non existent which takes away from those fun in the sun sea days by the pool. We found ourselves hiking up to the sun deck to find chairs,ok but not easy to take a dip in the pool. The bars ,restaurants and public areas were all enjoyable.Getting reservations in the specialty restaurants was a challenge. We were forced to take an early evening dinner reservation toward the end of our cruise, either hat or a 9-10PM seating,no thanks. Indigo & Summer Palace were excellent food & service ,only one night were we made to wait for a table. The cabin was on deck 5,outside window, noise level, very quiet ( restaurant above so no noise at night).We saw several shows, all good, Stardust Theater seats were not comfortable for any length of time. The lounge entertainment was good. Casino , only one roulette table & it was always crowded.The service throughout the ship was exceptional, thank you to the crew for a great time aboard The Pearl.Loved the ports with the exception of St. Lucia ,nice Island but the excursion detoured us to a beach that was over run with locals in your face selling booze & trinkets,sometimes uncomfortably, almost threatening. Don't do the St,Lucia Beach break. We loved the other ports and the excursions chosen, all professionally run, We will sail with NCL again. Read Less

I had a cruise credit with NCL that was expiring. I selected this cruise for itinerary. The price was fair for two but I feel it unfair to double the rate for one person. I do not eat or require twice the food or service. The ports were good, service was very good. Shows were good since I rarely attend them, I managed to go to 4 out of the 10 and was surprised. The crew dance group were very good.. The food was good and open dining was quite easy with good selection of restaurants to choose from. The staff was very nice and always helpful. 80 countries represented. I have to comment on the room service charge ($7.95). This was a first for me, as in the past breakfast delivery has ALWAYS been free. I would recommend bringing a wrap as most of the time the public rooms were chilly. Overall it was a good cruise. Read Less

Everything was incredible!! They make you feel like family and you never want to leave the ship! The food was world class and the service on the ship was otherworldly, the drinks on board were incredible and allowed you to venture into a whole other culture and a whole other world of excitement! It is a wonderful mix of people and every passenger on board was so fun and excited and so sweet to everyone else. The stage shows that they put on our like a broadway musical and the performers can sing with the best of them! They have a full range of things for you to do whether it’s hanging by the 5 pools and jacuzzi’s they have, learning about the many secrets of pirate treasure, world class shopping with incredible deals, or anything else you can think of, there is never ever a dull moment. Everything was so smooth especially with their new medallion you use for everything!! It is the best thing out there!! 100% recommend!!! Read Less

Great Premium flight from Birmingham well worth the extra though why you should have to pay on top of £175 surcharge to reserve a seat baffles me. Smooth transfer to cruise terminal then super quick boarding less than 5 minutes after getting off coach. Found cabin nice and spacious with large balcony. All ok there, luggage arrived within an hour or so. Muster drill delayed until a18:30 by late arrival of another flight so first evenings dining was a bit chaotic, no ones fault but quality of food was a sign of things to come unfortunately. Apart from Beach house (which we visited twice - very good) the quality of both MDR & buffet was underwhelming. Menus read well but failed to deliver most of the time. Entertainment. We like to see production shows and cabarets but except for 2 nights when a 7pm show was put on we had to choose one or the other as were on late dining. We’d book early or free time dining if booking P&O again though we did enjoy the company on our table. Ashore. Booked 2 excursions through P&O and 2 independently. St Lucia northern tour was very good with varied stops and good value. Taste of Antigua was poor value for money at £45 each for 20 minute bus ride to back street garden restaurant to tast 3 small nips of rum and a small selection of so so food. Did our own thing at St Maarten & Ponta Delgada. Tried most bars - planet was our favourite and felt prices were reasonable. Cannot see point of introducing package @ £40pppd unless they are going to boost bar prices to encourage take-up. We do not hold back but only spent around £350 on wine and bars in 13 nights. We tend to select cruises by itinerary so won’t say no to P&O again but we’re not sold on the brand yet. Read Less

As one of the smaller Royal Caribbean ships, this was perfect for a 4 night cruise. There was enough to do but not too much. All the staff I encountered seemed friendly and committed to helping us have a good time. As a smaller ship, the pool areas were not as crowded as other ships which was nice. However, the hot tubs tended to be a little more crowded. I spent half a day at sea sitting out working on my tan. The water in the pool was chilly so I only stuck my feet in. I was in a junior suite which was large and had a balcony that I enjoyed sipping wine on before heading out for dinner in the main dining room. The food and service was very good in the dining areas. I wished for more food availability in the common areas after 9:30 pm but service at the adult pool was decent. Overall, it was a fun and relaxing trip. Read Less

We chose this cruise because of the itinerary and it right after the holidays. It was two family members in our party, previous cruisers with NCL. We embarked in Miami, excited we were able to cruise through the line and get onboard. However, at the entrance our keycards didn’t work. That was the beginning of one issue after another, we spent 7 of 10 days at the front desk feeling exasperated attempting to find staff who could fix the issues without explaining the inconveniences multiple times. Lets start with the new keycards didn’t work to unlock the cabin-exchanged 3 sets of keys in a 4 hour period. Thankfully our Steward let us in our cabin, who ultimately became the only excellent interaction/service in addition to dinner at Cagney’s. The next days were uninadated with errors to discounts for shore excursions (we did tours at each port, 6), refusals to apply excursion credits appropriately, smells of bowel movement coming through our walls, no working water during the night on entire ship, lack of service in the restaurants, and a horrible disembarkation (waited in line for over two hours for easy walk-off). The overall condition of the ship appeared clean, but the decorations for Christmas were dismal (lights on trees and wreaths surrounding the atrium area were rarely on). Our biggest complaint was no running water and poor toilet pressure. The need to choose between holding your bowels/urination or smelling the disgust of toilets unflushed shouldn’t have occurred. No notice from customer service advising they would be turning off the water everywhere in the ship, we had to call to find out what was going on. The cabin was an inside room on the 4th floor, we didn’t feel congested as we had plenty of room to move around. The new position of the television and the ability to pull it out and adjust the tilt made for easy viewing. We weren’t too sure about the lower level aft as our previous cruises had been higher levels mid ship. Dining was below par, service was slow and the menus rarely changed. A ten day cruises having to flag down staff to get service and eating the same food over and over again wasn’t ideal. The last two days of the cruise we received service after our issues were addressed with an apology about the service. It was clear we had not received adequate service as one of the managers in the dining area noticed we had been sitting over 45minutes waiting on a salad. We ate at two specialty restaurants, Cagney’s and LaCucina. Cagney’s was superb, the best food and service of the 10 days, it has value as an specialty restaurant. LaCucina didn’t have much of a variety, I ordered a meal with chicken (not tasty) and my sister ordered a pizza. The pizza was delicious, much better than pizza in the buffet. I was happy to see my favorite dessert on the menu (tarimusu) as Cagney’s didn’t serve it as one of their options on our chosen night. The complimentary restaurants, Alizar, Grand Pacific, and Jasmine were mediocre after ten days of repeating meal choices. However, the breakfast in Grand Pacific was better than the buffet, I loved the golden waffles and hash browns. In Jasmine’s a good dessert was the green tea icecream, nice to have a different choice than machine in the buffet. I had been accustomed to the icecream station on the larger ships, multiple choices for some of the best flavors (I wanted ice cream, so I bought a cone off the ship in port). The entertainment didn’t appear to grab my attention, the descriptions weren’t detailed enough to decide to spend hours in the theatre when I could be exploring. Multiple activities were scheduled throughout the day, the population of the ship was older couples, so not too exciting as I’m sure they were catering to that genre. We attended two events in the theatre, which was Elements and a comedy show. I’d seen Elements before, but the show I would advise one to see and rate as good (however, I was tired and dozed through the show). The Hot White Party was a party, we enjoyed the music and seeing the cruise staff in their Angel wings and costumes. The old and young partied into the night together, it didn’t matter if you didn’t have on white to join in the fun. Service was excellent from our stateroom Steward. He had a friendly personality and knew us by name. Each day he wore a smile and wanted to know about our day and how he could be of assistance with any needs with the room. Customer service was poor, we received mutiple answers to the same issue, their lack of knowledge/understanding was unacceptable. The overall feeling was they had our money, and trying to nickel and dime you for more is all that mattered. No customer satisfaction, we left the ship with inaccurate Billings. The ports were a great choice, however the itenary changed from our original booking. There was no explanation, we just received an email after we had paid off the cruise two ports were switching. We had Martinique and Dominican Republic, again we choir this ship for the itinerary. Some ports didn’t have a variety of chooses and they were over priced for value. However, selecting the port excursion as a “free at sea” choice offsets the costs....make sure to check your bill daily for discounts and credits. The companies chosen as affiliates to handle the tours cause some hiccups. Drivers and tour guides didn’t speak the best English, making it difficult to understand information about the points of interest. Additionally the roads on the Islands are very narrow and driving occurs on the opposite side of the road compared to the U.S, safety can be a concern. On our tours exploring the Islands drivers drove fast, with the narrow roads the boisterous plants and tree limbs were against the buses (open safari style), easily injured by the foliage if you’re sitting on the outward seats. Out of six ports we had rain on one day, the excursions did allow for various photo ops and overall we enjoyed all six (beach breaks, Island tours, rum factory, and exploring). We didn’t travel with any children, and there weren’t many on the ship. Primarily retirees/older couples. I would go again for an itinerary, but not on this ship. We were scheduled to disembark at 6:15, it was almost 8:00 A.M, caused us stress over possibility of missing our flight in FLL. We are thankful in all of the chaos for an awesome Steward who helped us to remember we were on a vacation inspeight of the difficulties, he added value to the ship. Overall average cruise for the value of our purchase. Read Less

All went wrong from the flight we took 7 hours 30 mins to get to Malaga we sat on granada runway for over two hours. We have not long come back from this ship Marella Celebration well where do I start the ship has paper thin walls I could here the people in the next cabin snoring it was so bad and you can imagine what it was like when people came back from the casino or late night drinking. Also you sat in theatre/ show and you can watch everything vibrate It’s so bad people say you get use to it you don’t the ship is so old her sister ship has been scraped off I wonder why do not take children on this ship for me I would worry about them all the outside steps are so steep. You could not get a sun bed unless you get up at 6am just not enough they say they remove towels but they don’t Food very basic in self serving restaurant. Safe in room £35 for holiday I have never paid for safe on any cruise I’ve been on before WiFi nearly £50 which most of the time it did not work Another thing i was not feeling well at the end of cruise found my blood sugar very high (34) can’t be certain but I don’t think I was getting Diet Coke Good bit is the staff sorry not for me would try the newer ships but not this boat you will be sorry if you book look at newer ships this one is over 35 years old and her sister ship was scrapped I wonder why Read Less

Arrival at Gatwick did not go according to plan as there was conflict regarding checking our bags in the night before. ON FLY CRUISES YOU CANNOT DO THIs Otherwise embarkation and disembarkation was speedy and efficient This cruise came up to all our expectations with one major exception that is the volume of the entertainment on deck 9 and in the Atrium. In the afternoon on deck 9 it was what they call Trivia which was quizzes, music etc. The compare had the microphone on full volume, to the extent it was difficult to talk to people and too read. The same applied to the music in the atrium in the evenings. In our case there was a guy with a guitar playing and singing. The volume was such that you could not carry out a conversation, we along with others had to move.Again in was a case of the volume being turned up too loud,Music in cases like this should be back ground you should not need to compete with it to talk to people a few feet away. I hasten to add the guitarist was really good. The bar staff on deck 9 in particular Jodi and her brother Christopher was excellent, super efficient and very happy people a real pleasure to be served by them. The classic car trip in Havana was good but Havana itself did not impress us. Would recommend the panama canal excursions,In Montego Bay. I did the Chukka Zip Wire. Superb fun and the instructors in particular namely Gray Goose Oka and Gossy Vernon. Excellent at their jobs. All in all everything about the cruise was superb in particular the food and our cabin boy Ikhsan, he really looked after us.My wife would have appreciated an Act of Worship on Sundays as practiced on other cruise ship. Finally talks or discussions would be appreciated as and alternative to going ashore or in addition too.sea days Read Less

The Bad : Ship shakes under sail and unbelievably worse in port, especially annoying when you are dining. Common areas good condition but we had hit and miss cabins this fall and winter, some ok and some awful condition. Ship staff said they can’t update the rooms without a dry dock and the company keeps putting that off. Personally had and witnessed some negative interactions with the Guest Services Staff. As typical of the brand no built in activies for active adults and children. Just off a Christmas cruise on another ship of the brand, many families cruising and the young people were bored out of their minds. Royal Caribbean, Carnival or Norwegian would have been a better choice for a family vacation. The Good: The company has invested in Internet upgrades for this ship. Room and Dining staff generally excellent as is usual throughout the brand. Food quality and selection was on par with the brand and far superior to Royal Caribbean. Read Less

This was my 1st cruise in over 30 years, and the 1st with my husband. We decided on this cruise because of the length (10 days) the location (Brooklyn) and the ports (Aruba, St. Maarten, and Antigua) We live in NJ and used Princes's shuttle service from EWR airport. We were told to meet in a certain palce at a certain time. We arrived a little early and sat and waited. Someone arrived on time to gather us and bring us to another location. It was at that location where we found out we culd have gotten on an earlier shuttle if we had been told the correct meeting place. She told us she has told Princess a number of times, but they continue to tell people the wrong location . The shuttle from EWR to Brooklyn was great, we arrived abut 1 and there were no lines. We were on board by 1:30. We were they only ship so I'm sure that helped. At 3 pm we went to our cabin A503. It was clean, cool, and very nice. We unpacked, they provided many hangers, a safe, and plenty of drawer space. I had ordered a Bon Voyage package and expected it to be in our room at least by 5:00 when we sailed. It never showed up and had to go to front desk to ask about it. After a few phone calls the front desk told us that they didnt deliver it because they had run out of strawberries. That was a vey interesting excuse especially since the package did not include strawberries. They finally arrived about an hour after we sailed. I think this kind of defeated the purpose but ok. We chose 8:15 dinner time prior to sailing. We were assigned to the Allegro dining room and a table of 6. Two people walked over and said they hadrequested a table for 2 and never returned, the other couple was a lovely older couple who became like family to us over the 10 days. This is why we like sharing a table. Dinner had a pretty good selection of choices each night and the food ranged from just ok to great, for the most part falling in the good range. The mushroom tart was one of our favorites. We had dinner in both specialty dining rooms Sabatini's and the Grill. We had great meals at both and the service especially in the Grill was wonderful. The beet risotto was the best thing I ate all week. The lamb at the grill was the 2nd best hing had. My one issue with all the meals were the potatoes. They were always cold, and a lot of time way undercooked. We brought 6 bottles of wine with us. We paid the $15 corkage fee on 4 of the bottles. It was worth it to have good wine without paying a fortune. We did buy the juice and soda package, which I really didn't use too often, and probably wouldnt do it again. On the 2nd day I ordered room decorations and champagne for our Anniversary. It was another Princess package I pre paid for. Guess what? No show again, another trip back to the front desk. I wasn't so happy this time. Do you want to take a guess on why they didn't deliver it? Those damn strawberries again. This time I asked to speak to a supervisor. She was very nice and listen to my complaints. She sent us a bottle of wine to make up for it. I will never again purchase a Princess package. The entertainment was pretty good, the shows every night were decent. We really enjoyed the movies under the stars. The blankets, popcorn and special chair cushions were great. As usual there were plenty of chair hogs, you know the people who put towels down and leave for 4 hours! This is a big pet peeve. They grab the best spots at 7 am and dont come to the pool until 3. This is so rude and I wish there was a solution. The Regal is a beautiful ship, the elegant design, ease of getting around and beauty make it a gem. Every single person who works on ship is helpful, polite, and always welcome you with a smile. Princess definitely is a leader in this area. We did an excursion in each port. In Aruba we did the butterfly farm, rock formation and aloe factory. I could have spent much more time at the farm and rocks and totally skipped the aloe factory. They need to drop that part of the tour. It is just a sales stop. The bus driver was great and gave us a lot of information. This wasmy favorite of all our toursand would definitely suggest it. When the tour was over we were dropped off at the ship and decided to grab a cab to a beach. We decided on reflextions beach. The cab driver tried to insist that we go to Eagle beach trying to tell us that Reflextions had no chairs, the water was shallow and the beach not that nice. After I told him he was wrong that I had been there before he took us where we requested but was not happy about. He was only 1 of the very few rude people we encountered in 10 days. Swimming with the stingrays in St. Marteen was a great excurtion and oh what fun. We have done this before on another island and just loved it, we highly recommend it. Catamaran snorkling in Antigua was nice. Our favorite evening activity was in the Princess Live, the games, and trivia were so much fun. My only wish was if they would do a game for early seating and then again for late. With out late seating we missed a lot of the fun. Everyone work very hard and Princess seems to treat their employess well which for us is important. Disembarkation was easy and stress free. The organization and smoothness of it all amazes me. We had no issues and were on the bus within half hour. We had an amazing experinece and look forward to our next cruise which will be to Alaska. My husband is hooked! Read Less

Overall ok and like most cruises still very relaxing, but very disappointed with Princess over other lines like Celebrity. Small, very small staterooms with low ceilings and very, very poor food choices and quality. Went to steakhouse, and the steak could not be eaten as it was so tough and fatty. Main dining room also was mostly poor, with the hamburger probably the best option for lunch at least. Some nights you could not eat what they served. Maybe because they were using up all the old food on the transitional cruise. However did have nice music in the lounges, which we enjoyed most evenings. The boat is newer and adequate overall and had nice swimming pools. Movies under the Stars was ok, but most of the movies were very old and not what you wanted to see. I would not given a choice go on Princess again, except if it was a much better value than other lines. Read Less

Once again on a Royal Class ship with princess, we were not disappointed. We had a Club Class Mini Suite on Mariner deck 15. The room was clean, and comfortable. The bed swallowed us up when we went to sleep, and we slept great. Our cabin steward was very good, although we came and went at different times, throwing him off a few times, but he was extremely friendly and accomodating. We ate at the Club Class dining room each evening. All the wait staff addressed us with professionalism and remembered our names after only a few meals. The food choices were ample, and we sometimes ordered an extra plate as an appetizer in the middle to share and sample a little more than we could actually consume. I enjoyed the Casino, playing cards. The dealers were friendly. Thankfully the casino gave me a few dollars to take home with me this time. If you'r shopping for Jewellery, and going to St. Maarten, then visit Joe's Jewellery and ask for Cash to serve you. He'll strike a great price. Once off the water taxi from the pier to town, just walk up to the main street and the store is to your left. In Aruba, we took a taxi up to Palm Beach from the Pier, $14 to $16.00 each way depending where you need to be dropped, and a $2.00 tip. ($1-3 tips are standard for Aruba cabs) At the beach, you can rent a locker if you need one, and beach chairs or just lay on the sand. Lots of places to eat and drink. One of the safest islands I've ever visited. The beach is much wider between the Marriott and Ritz, but the lockers are at the south end of the Marriott on the beach. Read Less

BACKGROUND: DW and I booked the 10 day Regal repo from NYC to FLL to grab a bit more warmth and sun before a New York State lake effect winter. We flew into LGA and took the Princess shuttle to the pier. Here are some of the positives and negatives from the cruise. POSITIVES: Cabin: R729 (DD category) – actual room area is a bit roomier than regular balcony cabin and not far from elevators and stairs. Fairly smooth sailing except for the first 1 ½ sea days. Like the sailing, the weather also improved on day 3. Cabin steward: Michael who was quick and unobtrusive like a Ninja. Fairly easy to navigate the ship. A lot of movies and shows on in-cabin TV. Internet speed was good and we had unlimited access. Entertainment: So much to do that we often pooped out early and didn’t get to do any of the late-night activities. Food: Ate practically all meals at the buffet with occasional snacks (pizza, burgers, etc.). We did the Crab Shack and were overwhelmed by the amount and quality of food. We found the overall food quality to be quite good and were able to sample some food we normally would never order. Shore excursions: St Maarten, Antigua + Aruba (more info under shore exc. reviews) PA announcements: Few announcements except for the captain’s noon status report. Value: Had several price reductions before the cruise allowing us to “spend” more on our shipboard account without killing our budget. Debarkation: We went to the Platinum waiting area and were off the ship close to the scheduled time AND had no customs forms to fill out. We had booked with All Stars to take us to the airport. NEGATIVES: Embarkation: Our flight landed at LGA at 7:30 AM and had to wait for 3+ hours for the bus to the pier. There were no places to sit except on the floor and/or a luggage cart. Cabin balcony: The balcony itself is definitely smaller than those on most other Princess ships. You can’t comfortably sit and face the water. But at least you can sit there and relax/read/watch the waves. Read Less