Review: Princess Cruises - Regal Princess - [July 02 , 2004]

[Net Reviews]

Review By:

Reviewer Comments:

Ports:
San Francisco, CA
Victoria, B.C.
Juneau, AK
Skagway, AK
Glacier Bay
Sitka, AK

My husband and I took a shuttle van to Pier 35. What a mess down by the
pier! The ship had arrived that morning and the Crystal Harmony was also
next door. The traffic was horrendous. It took longer for the van to go
from the Bay Bridge to Pier 35 than it did for the van to travel from my
house (Concord) to cross the bridge. I'm glad I didn't have to drive,
though.

Embarkation:
Surprisingly, this didn't take too long. We arrived at the pier at12:15,
handed over our luggage, stood in a fairly substantial, but moving, line and
were in our stateroom by 1:05. The only problem was with one suitcase which
didn't show up until long after dinner that night. Everyone was friendly
and organized. I couldn't have asked for more.

Room:
Baja Deck 305 is an outside room with a porthole. Perfectly adequate and,
what I liked best, was the last room before the back deck. This came in
handy later. The room was clean and well appointed. Two nice robes were
waiting for us and plenty of towels and complimentary shampoo, etc. It took
me a while to find the hair dryer, hmm ... by the window and not in the
bathroom, but, ah well. Our cabin steward, Angelina, was charming and quick
to respond to requests. The room, although small, was well designed.
Throughout the cruise, I never heard any noise from the hallway or the
neighbors. The ship was sold out, from what I understand. The only
annoyance came from a lack of communication from the purser's office. We
weren't told until 9 p.m. the night before that the Laundromats would be
closed while we were in Glacier Bay. In principle, I have no issues with
that; I understand why they don't allow it, but for those of us who had
planned on doing our laundry that day, we would have appreciated a bit more
notice so we could change our plans. Some of us were running out of clean
clothes.

Food (main dining room):
The Palm Court Dining Room is, as I expected, elegant and well run. Our
first night we received a nice surprise. We were asked if we would be kind
enough to move our table of six from the middle of the room to another table
right by a window! Apparently, a party of seven could be better
accommodated at our old table. Oh, we didn't mind one bit! Our waiter,
Sorin, and our assistant waiter, Andres, were always friendly and accurate,
even considering one of my table mates (an older, rude, clueless person) was
constantly making rude remarks about where her next course was. Everyone
else at the table was delightful and, luckily, she didn't show up much at
dinner. Andres learned quickly that I like iced tea and my husband likes
milk with dinner. We never had to ask, after the first night. The head
waiter came to us to go over dietary issues and was charming. The main
entrees, every night, were excellent and diverse. I always found something
from the primary menu that I liked. Most impressive was the soups. I'm not
much of a salad person (which is a good thing, considering what happened at
the 'salad bar'), but the main dining room did a good job with having
imaginative salads (not just the lettuce/tomato/dressing stuff). Deserts
were always amazing. I don't even want to know how much weight I've put on.
:) The Baked Alaska presentation was charming and delicious! They
celebrated my birthday very sweetly, which I appreciated.

Food (buffet and alternative dining)
I found out quickly that, for the most part, the buffet serves pretty much
the same food as the Palm Court. The difference was presentation. The
salads were pitiful: tomato, iceberg lettuce and...onions? The pasta
salads were....okay. On the second morning, I discovered that they had a
nice cook who would make eggs to order, which is great because I don't like
scrambled eggs. Breakfast, which I admit is my least favorite meal, had the
least variety. Lunch was usually good and dinners were quite often very
good. Deserts were pretty predictable, but good. The Salad Bar
(alternative on the Lido deck) was very sad. I took one look and walked
away. The Hamburger/Hot Dog place was okay (hamburgers way too small). One
major issue arose: My husband watched as the young cook took his gloved
hand that had just handled raw meat and picked up cooked French fries with
the same glove! Um, no. My husband brought this to the attention of the
manager who immediately "re-taught" the young cook. Issue taken care of,
but, yuck! And the ships wonder why people get sick? The Bravo Pizzeria
was very good. Classy, small and very well done. We bought a soda card,
which ended up being a very good decision.

Entertainment:
First: I'm a musician and very picky. The shows (I went to only two of
them) were okay. The two lead singers were decent, but it was obvious that
the canned music had been "sweetened." In other words, the dancers, who
were not miked, were lip-synching or just not singing very loudly. The two
shows I saw (both Broadway revues) were okay. Only one arrangement really
got my attention because of it's complexity. Otherwise, it was mostly
unison and I got bored pretty quickly. The other shows (Two showcase, a 50s
night and a country western night) I didn't go to. I didn't go to the
comedian's show either. The bar pianists were good, but one was extremely
good. I always made a point of sitting in the bar, listening to him play
every day. The small combo played a couple of times (the champagne water
fall night, for example) and they were pretty good. They had the expected
karaoke night and a Princess Idol night, which were fun. I love it when
people are fearless. Some were good and some were really bad, but everyone
had fun. The bingo was fun (my husband won!) and some of the other trivia
games, etc., were enjoyable. Lots to do or nothing you had to do: your
choice. Most enjoyable was Alan, our naturalist, who I always found
informative and interesting. While in Glacier Bay, we had a couple of park
rangers on board, explaining what we were looking at. Very good.

Amenities:
The pools, not surprisingly, didn't get a great deal of use on this trip.
They had two fresh water wave pools and four hot tubs. Everything was kept
extremely clean, but this is a pretty old ship and some things need to be
replaced. Little things, really, like some chairs that are threadbare and
rugs that have seen better days, but nothing major. I liked the colors and
the artwork. The colors were not garish and the art work was varied and
appropriate. The shops were okay. I wanted a children's size t-shirt with
the words Princess Cruises (long story as to why) for my granddaughter, but
had a heck of a time finding anything close. Although there were quite a
few children (more teens than little ones), they weren't really much of a
problem. The ping pong table was on the back deck, which could get pretty
raucous, but other than my asking a teenager to turn down his boom box (no,
I don't like rap), I didn't have any problems while sitting out there
resting or reading. Side note: I was surprised as to how many of the
employees (especially in the food services) were Italian. I was having fun
with this since I speak the language a bit and have traveled in Italy. By
the way, the galley tour and kitchen demonstration was first rate!

Ports:
Victoria:
We did the Buchart Gardens/High Tea tour. We had a bit of time to wander
downtown and shop, but I would have liked more time at the gardens, which
were spectacular. I hadn't been there in 30 years. I had forgotten how
glorious it was. The High Tea was quite good, which sort of surprised me.
The bus driver was interesting and lots of fun. I felt this one was a good
tour choice. Interesting note: The winds were pretty fierce. Although the
Crystal Harmony was also supposed to dock, her captain decided that the
waters were too rough and they skipped the port. I never saw them again
after that.

Juneau:
We took the Mendenhall/Fish Hatchery/Salmon Bake tour. Mendenhall was
rushed, but I saw what I wanted to see under the circumstances. The Fish
Hatchery was interesting, but I felt could have been skipped. The salmon
bake was delicious, but the theme was a little too canned for my taste. I
should have chosen another tour. My biggest irritation was the driver of
the salmon bake bus back to downtown. She was rude and was more interested
in flirting with some young co-worker than in keeping to their posted
schedule and taking her passengers back! We rushed a bit through the town,
but again, I saw what I wanted. I wish I had had more time. We saw the HAL
Volendam in port. Actually it seemed to follow us. :) We also saw
another Princess ship, but I don't remember the name.

Skagway:
This was the only rain we found, other than Glacier Bay. We took the bus up
the Yukon Pass, had a chicken barbecue and took the White Pass Railway back
to Skagway. I was cold, but the scenery was fabulous! The barbecue was
pretty good, but we actually spent a little too long there. The train was
wonderful. I picked the right tour on this one. I'm glad I didn't miss it.
We had time to shop and I actually felt I wasn't too rushed this time.

Glacier Bay:
My favorite spot, without a doubt. I took my borrowed red plaid blanket, my
hooded sweatshirt and my toasty warm jeans to the top deck and pretty much
stayed there all day. Thank goodness for the hot chocolate! As if the
magnificent glaciers weren't enough, we saw a pod of a dozen humpback whales
on the way out of the bay! They were spouting and diving all around us.
One baby humpback was having a blast breeching out of the water for what
must have been 15 times! At one point he landed about 20 feet from a very
surprised kayaker. That suddenly wet guy got out of there in a hurry! Our
naturalist said he had never seen so many whales in a small free area like
that. We had seen something very special and unusual. Wow!

Sitka:
Taking the tender was fun! We took the Raptor Center/Museum/Russian Dance
tour. I loved the Raptor Center. I really wish we could have stayed there
much longer. The museum was interesting but, again, too rushed. I could
have skipped the dancers. They were far too community theatre (by that I
mean non-polished and improvised) for my tastes. I enjoyed the town, but
again, found the time way too short.

Disembarkation:
We were up early, had breakfast and waited on the seventh floor for our
color to be called. We were off the ship by 10 o'clock. It took longer to
find our shuttle van driver than it did to disembark. :) Everything went
well. The suitcases were found easily and we came home heavier, relaxed and
a bit tired. I'm ready for another cruise now!