Welcome to Your Favorites, where you have the opportunity to share your travel experiences with fellow Internet Travelers around the world.

Princess Cruise Line

MS Regal Princess

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Vincent Rogers
# previous cruises: 1
Date of Trip: July 6, 2001
Itinerary: Alaska-Inside Passage

All in all, we couldn't have been happier with our trip. We chose Princess Lines on the advice of our travel agent at the local American Express office. The Love Boat connection also added a interesting, and somewhat corny, allusion for the second honeymoon theme for the trip. The 7-day Inside Passage itinerary on the Regal Princess suited our idea of a cruise perfectly: plenty of sights to see, 3 relaxing days at sea, and 3 days of shore excursions to a part of the world we had never seen. Since we were not entirely sure that we would thoroughly enjoy a cruise, limiting the trip to a week seemed like a good idea. The cruise turned out to be the most enjoyable and memorable vacation since our honeymoon. We are looking forward to our next cruise, and will definitely check with the Regal Princess, or the other Princess ships, first.

As an architect, I was intrigued by the idea of a cruise ship designed by Renzo Piano. The profile of the ship is very distinctive, and, I believe, quite striking. The interior of the ship is very subdued: pastel shades of mauve and teal with plenty of light-colored wood, no Las Vegas flash and excess. Combined with liberal use of stainless steel trim, the overall impression of the interior is an updated version of the classic Art Deco ocean liners. The ship had plenty of lounge areas, including comfortable seating in oversized galleries. With the exception of a few ship-wide parties, the Regal Princess never felt crowded. Several passengers on the ship complained about the lack of a wrap-around exterior deck. We never missed it. The Regal Princess has exterior port and starboard promenade decks, plus a top level central deck, several open decks aft, and two forward viewing deck areas. I took plenty of photographs from the ship and never found that views were obstructed. The Regal Princess is very well laid out with a three-story atrium in the center as a focal area for orientation. As advertised, the ship is full with first-rate, museum-quality contemporary art. We found the Regal Princess to be a delight.

As an architect, I was intrigued by the idea of a cruise ship designed by Renzo Piano. The profile of the ship is very distinctive, and, I believe, quite striking. The interior of the ship is very subdued: pastel shades of mauve and teal with plenty of light-colored wood, no Las Vegas flash and excess. Combined with liberal use of stainless steel trim, the overall impression of the interior is an updated version of the classic Art Deco ocean liners. The ship had plenty of lounge areas, including comfortable seating in oversized galleries. With the exception of a few ship-wide parties, the Regal Princess never felt crowded. Several passengers on the ship complained about the lack of a wrap-around exterior deck. We never missed it. The Regal Princess has exterior port and starboard promenade decks, plus a top level central deck, several open decks aft, and two forward viewing deck areas. I took plenty of photographs from the ship and never found that views were obstructed. The Regal Princess is very well laid out with a three-story atrium in the center as a focal area for orientation. As advertised, the ship is full with first-rate, museum-quality contemporary art. We found the Regal Princess to be a delight. Food & Service : The Palm Court Dining Room was wonderful; the Cafi del Sol was disappointing. Princess Lines has seemingly invested a lot in Personal Choice Dining. Our choice is the traditional, formal cruise line dining room, and the Palm Court seemed to fit the model to a tee. We selected the second seating, a wise choice since I have no idea how we could have managed to make it to the dining room by 6:00 PM. We were rewarded with a table for six next to a window with two outstanding couples; our dining companions couldn't have been better if we had selected them ourselves. The waiter and assistant waiter were professionals, but also very friendly and helpful. Dinner each evening was an exciting event. Actually, we found all of the food in the Palm Court to be very good, sometimes outstanding . the dessert souffles were the best we have ever had, sometimes unusual. Zucchini and pear soup is not a taste for the timid, but the food was always served with style at dinner. Breakfast and lunch offered excellent choices, but the service seemed rushed and impersonal. The food, decor, and service in the other dining areas were pretty basic by comparison.

Since we expected dramatic scenery along the Inside Passage, we reserved an outside room with a balcony, Baja Deck, starboard side, fore. We were not disappointed. The balcony, although small, was perfect for two people. The view provided by the large glass window and door to the balcony was worth twice the price we paid. The decor of the cabin was a little overly neutral, beige-on-beige, but the room did feature three well-executed and signed lithographs. The cabin had plenty of storage space in built-in drawers and a closet with 30 hangars. My wife appreciated the safe in the room, since she brought all the jewelry that she owns; I found the refrigerator to be very handy. Our steward kept the room and bathroom spotless with visits several times each day, we never found a wet towel in the bath when returning to the room. We also enjoyed the fresh fruit in the room, replenished daily. All of the service was performed without a single intrusion; it seemed as though the steward knew when we would be out and finished everything without being seen.

Variety seemed to win the day. We sampled most of the offerings; we avoided only the country-western review and anything that promised karaoke. The production shows were spectacular: singing, dancing, and costumes were first-rate and thoroughly entertaining. The comedian, magician, and acrobats were fairly mainstream and could be missed if the views from our balcony were more compelling. The several bars around the ship offered a variety of live and recorded entertainment. Our two favorites were the Stage Door disco - popular tunes at high decibel delivery, and the Dome Room - a light jazz duo singing above the background of the casino - very sophisticated in a Harry Connick kind of way. Needless to say, there were plenty of places to dance, whatever the mood . black tie or casual. Since we enjoyed getting dressed up, we tended toward the Dome Room.

We were not expecting much from the towns that we visited in Alaska: Juneau, Skagway, and Sitka, yet we probably overestimated their charm. None of the three have any charm. All three are located in arrestingly beautiful natural settings, but the towns are composed of cheaply constructed wood framed buildings without any visual appeal. The town of Juneau did have a small town square right at the cruise ship dock, which featured live music during the entire day of the ship's stay. The Mendenhall Glacier is also right outside of Juneau, so there is plenty to see in the area. Skagway does have a fairly good National Park Service Visitor Center with a couple of buildings restored to Gold-Rush era condition. The Park Service displays gave us a pretty good idea of the Yukon Gold Rush history. Sitka is the most visually appealing of the three towns. We visited the Raptor Center on our own; the center is small, but very interesting. It was a good half-hour walk outside of town, but we didn't mind since we don't go on trips to shop. I think that I would have preferred to go to Ketchikan instead of Skagway, but most of the Princess cruises seem to include Skagway and Juneau, and offer a choice of Sitka or Ketchikan. The Princess Inside Passage Cruise visits the Hubbard Glacier in the summer instead of Glacier Bay. Although I was disappointed initially about the choice, I must admit that the Hubbard Glacier and surrounding Yukatat Bay were the most impressive sights that we saw in Alaska. The Hubbard Glacier is quite active, so there was plenty of calving to keep everyone excited.

Many of the passengers on board were from the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. My assumption is that the Princess Alaska cruises are marketed through the parent company, Peninsular and Orient Lines, in those countries. Without exception, we found all of the passengers from other countries to be wonderful companions on shore trips and as breakfast and lunch table mates. It was a bit like visiting those countries to talk with them. Our experiences with passengers from the US was more uneven; I thought that some of them should have spend more time playing bingo.