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Princess Cruise Line

MS Regal Princess

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Reviewed by: Kitsy Seveland
# previous cruises: 5
Date of Trip: July 25, 2004
Itinerary: Alaska

This is our second trip on the Regal Princess. While it is an older ship, it is still in good shape. They only offer traditional dining, but food can be found at all times on the ship. This is a smaller ship that is fairly easy to navigate. The rooms are a decent size. The shows are typical cruise shows with dance productions, comedians, jugglers, & singers. The food is hit and miss. The dining room food is good, while the buffet food is typical buffet food. Definitely not the same quality as in the dining room.

There is no walk-around promenade on this ship. You can go to the front of the ship on a forward deck by going to the starboard side of the Baja (10) deck and going all the way forward. It is a great place to watch whales. Most of the bars, dining room, show lounge, and shops are located on deck 7. We spent some time up next to the casino where they have a game room that looks out on the ocean. You can ask for free Princess playing cards from the bar there.

The Palm Court dining room probably had the best food. The soups and dessert souffles were probably our favorites. The cakes often seemed dry. Beef was good also. Some people said the fish was dry. We had swordfish one night and it was wonderfull. The Cafe Del Sol buffet was our least favorite place to eat. It is typical buffet food like you would find in any restaurant. Nothing special. Bravo Pizza is good, but you have to eat it there. You can't take it out. My husband and brother loved the hamburgers and fries at the hamburger bar near the pool.

Our cabin was a balcony cabin on the Baja Deck right near the elevators and the laundromat. We never had any problems with noise from either. The balconies are fairly small, only about 4 feet in depth and the width of the room. It fits a small plastic table and 2 plastic chairs. The bathroom is fairly comfortable. My husband is 6'5" tall and 450 lbs and he fit in the bathroom and in the shower. In fact, the shower head was high enough for him, which is rare, even in hotels.

We attended most of the shows in the International Lounge. We enjoyed the dance & singing productions, but then we love musicals. The comedians were pretty funny too. They did have a singer one night that was kind of boring, but mostly the shows were fine. The onboard naturalist, Alan Cortash, was informative, but nothing to write home about. We did hear Libby Riddles talk while in Juneau and she was interesting.

We stopped in Victoria, Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. In Victoria we went on the Orca Jet boat excursion. While we saw some Orca, I would never recommend this tour. They pack way too many people on the boat, which makes it difficult to maneuver around to see the whales. In Juneau we went whale watching with Orca Enterprises and saw lots of whales bubble-net feeding. This is a must-do excursion in Juneau if you like to see whales. In Ketchikan we did the Wilderness Exploration and Crab Feed. I was a little unsure about paying so much to just eat crab. It was a wonderful excursion. We enjoyed the boat ride to see and pull up the crab pots. The scener was gorgeous. Then we went back to the George Inlet Lodge for fresh Dungeness crab. It was the best crab I have ever had.

This is our second time on the Regal Princess and this time the passengers seemed older. Most seemed retired. We had 4 different emergency evacuations of critically ill passengers during this 11 day cruise. It didn't really affect our cruise at all, but it was noticed.