I just boarded Regal Princess in Galveston for a December cruise. I’m anxious to see how their December cruises stack up with the ones Carnival does.
They have a very tall Christmas tree that goes up to the second deck. That’s a good start.
I’m going to my muster station right away. It’s supposed to be in the theater.
It must be outside the upper level of the theater.
There it is.
I was standing here waiting my turn and this couple stepped in front of me. I guess they’re more important than me.
I’m sure this is the dining room (Concerto) where I ate lunch on embarkation day the last time I was on this ship.
They actually have lunch at a different dining room (Allegro) now. It turns out embarkation day lunch doesn’t start until 1:15. It’s 1:10 now so the line is backed up. If you want to know what a Carnival ship feels like, this is it.
Once they opened the doors the line moved quick.
I know him. He’s the Director of Restaurant Operations. He ran the Chef’s Table and took part in the cooking demonstration last time. He’s great.
Mixed greens with cucumber, carrot and red onion.
Avocado and bay shrimp
Broiled salmon with lemon and dill sauce
Orange souffle
The Wifi is pretty bad right here right now.
Rooms are ready at 1:30 so I headed upstairs. My bag has already been delivered.
I won an upgrade bid from an interior to a deluxe balcony for a total of $320. Let’s take a look around.
I had a regular balcony last time on this ship. The difference is the regular balcony does not have a couch.
The most surprising thing for me last time was the lack of USB ports in the rooms. They still have none here.
Someone online disputed my claim about no USB ports saying they added lamps with USB ports. Not in this room they haven’t.
Princess has the most comfortable cruise beds I’ve slept in by far. The second best was Carnival Venezia. I’m guessing they had different beds than regular Carnival ships since it had just been transferred from Costa.
I think this separate area for the closet and bathroom must be nice if you have two people in a cabin. It makes a nice, private changing area.
Let’s check out the balcony view.
It’ll be a better view after sail away.
Here is today’s Princess Patter.
I headed to the pool deck for the Sail Away Party.
This is Cruise Director Giuseppe.
The Princess singers performed.
I headed down to my balcony for sail away. We’re passing Carnival Legend.
The Harbor House Hotel is a great pre-cruise hotel. They charge more than I want to pay so I only stayed there once during COVID.
Bishop’s Palace
I’m almost directly under the bridge.
Last time I remember having to be in the room for a safety video on the TV so I’m going to get that started now.
The pilot boat is coming to retrieve the pilot.
Carnival Legend is out.
I have this problem with my TV where the picture is small and it just keeps playing this one video over and over. I can’t do anything. If I turn it off and back on, it comes right back to this.
That’s the Sea Walk.
On Princess out of Galveston the drink package doesn’t start until you reach international waters so I use the wine I can bring onboard to get me by until then. They do give you a $25 credit to buy drinks but if you don’t use it on that you can use it for something else. I’m saving mine.
I’m not going to have time to drink all 15 of my drinks today so I’m going to start stocking my fridge.
I tried resetting my TV and now it’s just doing this. I let guest services know. They sent my steward down here. He did all of the things I did and put in a service call to get it fixed. I told him I was leaving the room for the evening so no rush.
This is the breakfast room service menu. I probably won’t use it.
We have a time change tonight.
I messaged Guest Services and asked them to take my name off the door. They did it pretty quick. It does show your profile picture whenever you unlock it.
They have a band playing in the atrium.
I grabbed a beer at Croners to take to the magic show.
Cruise Director Giuseppe.
Illusionist Zander
They have an hour of Christmas music in the atrium.
It’s time for the tree lighting. The Princess singers are performing.
They got two kids to help with the tree lighting.
And they make it snow in the atrium.
After the tree lighting I went to the dining room to get dinner in before comedy.
Green chile and corn soup
Chopped garden salad
Red wine braised short ribs.
Chocolate hazelnut souffle
After dinner I headed to the comedy show. I missed the first half of it so I’ll catch that on the repeat later.
Comedian Brandon Vestal
After comedy I headed up to the room. The beer and water I ordered during sail away came while I was out.
The TV still isn’t working.
They have Boogeyman on up on lido deck but it’s cold up there.
I grabbed a Corona and headed back down for the late comedy show. I missed the first half of it earlier.
Comedy host Andrew
Brandon Vestal
After the late comedy show I headed back to the room and was pleasantly surprised to find my TV working. With the time change it’s almost 12:30am. I’m off to bed. Tomorrow is a sea day. Good night!
