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Regal Princess: Where the Love Boat's Promise Got Its Machine

No ship in the Princess fleet carries more meaning per ton. Regal Princess was christened in 2014 by the original cast of The Love Boat — Gavin MacLeod and company, the faces of a decade-long televised promise that someone aboard notices you — and in 2017 she became the first ship anywhere to carry the OceanMedallion, the device built to keep that promise at scale. The pledge and its repayment share one bow. She's otherwise a standard Royal-class sister: ~142,000–145,000 gross tons, ~3,600 guests, second of six.

2014Delivered — hull 2 of 6
Love Boat castGodparents, 2014
2017First Medallion at sea
~3,600Manifest at double occupancy
Price my Regal Princess cruiseSisters, side by side

No fee, no obligation·Seabound Journeys compares cabins, perks and dates for you

By Joey Boleslawski, Seabound Journeys·Reviewed July 27, 2026 · Regal Princess · 2014 delivered — hull 2 of 6

Sort yourself
01

Does the storied sister suit you?

One question sorts it.

The sixty-second sort
Be honest — what would you actually be booking her for?
Seabound Fit Profile · Regal Princess1–10 scale

Fit scores, not review scores — a lower relaxation number means she suits a quiet trip less well, not that she’s a lesser ship.

Families5
Couples8
Entertainment6
Value7
Relaxation7
Luxury6
02

Why Regal Princess, specifically

The Love Boat ran for a decade on national television, selling America a very specific fantasy: a ship where the crew knows your name and your trouble, and fixes both by the final act. That show made Princess famous and, as our Built to Solve essay argues, left the company a debt — a promise of personal attention made before most viewers had ever sailed. In 2014, Princess brought the original cast to a pier and had them christen this ship. The creditors, blessing the collateral.

Then the astonishing part. When Princess built its answer to that debt — the OceanMedallion, a coin-sized wearable that unlocks your door as you approach, summons drinks to wherever you've drifted and keeps families findable — it chose Regal Princess for the 2017 world debut. Of seventeen ships, the machine designed to manufacture attention was switched on first aboard the hull the Love Boat cast had named. Whether that was poetry or logistics, the result is the same: television's promise and the software built to keep it are christened onto one ship.

Strip the symbolism and she remains a thoroughly representative Royal-class sister — second hull of six, the ~142,000–145,000-ton, ~3,600-guest formula a year into its refinement. Which is precisely her appeal: the fleet's most storied ship charges no story tax.

Why this hull anchors the argument

If you read one Princess ship as an argument, read this one: the debt (godparents from the show) and the repayment (the first Medallion) on a single hull. The rest of the fleet inherited what she proved.

03

Rooms aboard the Medallion's birthplace

Room-picking advice for the Medallion's birthplace — where the technology reached every cabin grade first.

Grades & geometry

The democratic detail worth savouring: when the disc debuted here in 2017, its tricks — the self-unlocking door, delivery to wherever you are, the family map — arrived for the cheapest interior on the same day as the best suite. Choose your grade by budget and sleep quality, not by fear of missing the technology.

Standard geometry rules apply on a ~3,600-guest hull: midship for motion, a deck sandwiched between accommodation decks for quiet, and a balcony only if your itinerary gives it scenery worth sitting for.

Suite money, spent smarter

The suite-versus-package question tilts hard toward packages on this ship: her whole historical point is that attention stopped being a suite perk in 2017. Premier at $105 a day buys the un-rationed version — unlimited specialty dining, reserved show seats, four-device Wi-Fi — from any stateroom aboard.

If you do book suite-level space, treat published perks as perishable and re-verify at booking; hardware endures, benefit lists don't.

Sisters, side by side

The Royal Class ships, measured against each other

Every figure here comes from the ship pages: year, size, staterooms, and our dining and entertainment scores. Bars are scaled to the biggest sister. Where she sails is from Princess’s published schedules, checked October 2026.

Pick two:

Royal Class · 2013

Royal Princess

In service
2013
Gross tons
142,714
Staterooms
1,780
Seabound dining score
7.0/10
Seabound entertainment score
6.5/10
Sails fromSingapore to Sydney, November 2026; Sydney for the 2026-27 Australian summer

Royal Class · 2014

Regal Princess

In service
2014
Gross tons
142,714
Staterooms
1,780
Seabound dining score
7.0/10
Seabound entertainment score
6.1/10
Sails fromCaribbean, winter 2026-27 (her Galveston seasons are over)

Royal Class · 2017

Majestic Princess

In service
2017
Gross tons
144,216
Staterooms
1,780
Seabound dining score
7.5/10
Seabound entertainment score
6.4/10
Sails fromSouth America and Antarctica, November 2026 to January 2027

Royal Class · 2019

Sky Princess

In service
2019
Gross tons
145,281
Staterooms
1,830
Seabound dining score
7.5/10
Seabound entertainment score
6.4/10
Sails fromPort Canaveral, winter 2026-27 — 6- and 8-day Eastern Caribbean

Royal Class · 2021

Enchanted Princess

In service
2021
Gross tons
145,281
Staterooms
1,830
Seabound dining score
7.7/10
Seabound entertainment score
6.3/10
Sails fromCaribbean, winter 2026-27

Royal Class · 2022

Discovery Princess

In service
2022
Gross tons
145,000
Staterooms
1,830
Seabound dining score
7.7/10
Seabound entertainment score
6.6/10
Sails fromLos Angeles, October 2026 to April 2027 — 7-day Mexican Riviera

Royal Class · 2013

Royal Princess

The traveler drawn to the class opener and its royal backstory — Duchess Catherine's 2013 christening echoing Diana's 1984 — who is happy with the Royal-class template as drawn

Royal Class · 2014

Regal Princess

The traveler for whom symbolism counts — the Love Boat cast as godparents plus the OceanMedallion's 2017 birthplace on one hull — or anyone curious about MedallionClass where it started

04

Fed and entertained, 2017-style onwards

We skip the venue catalog — a 2014 ship's roster shifts with refits — and give you the operating logic instead.

The feeding logic

Her dining pattern is the class standard: main rooms on rhythm for the many, casual venues that make Plus's four included meals feel generous, specialty tables where Premier's unlimited access quietly becomes the best-value line in the bundle on longer sailings.

This is also the ship where ordering food to your exact deck chair stopped being science fiction — OceanNow's first home. Use it once mid-afternoon and you'll understand the whole corporate strategy.

Nights, run on software

Evenings aboard carry a pleasing irony: the ship named by television's most famous cruise crew now runs its nights on software — the drink arrives mid-set, ordered without leaving the music.

Show seating at ~3,600 guests is manageable with modest planning; Premier's reserved seats convert planning into strolling, which on a history-soaked ship somehow feels appropriate.

Standard, Plus or Premier?

What each Princess fare really buys on Regal Princess

Pick your nights and your cabin tier. The tool prices the two packages for two people against the à-la-carte items they replace, using Princess’s rates as published on 14 October 2026 (Plus and Premier rose $5 a day on 13 October). Verify the rate in your own booking.

StandardPlusPremier
DrinksPay as you go, plus a 20% service charge on each one15 a day, each up to $15; specialty coffee and tea unlimitedUnlimited, each up to $20
Wi-FiFrom $27.99 a day for one device, bought aheadOne deviceFour devices
Crew appreciation$18 to $20 a day by cabin tierIncludedIncluded
Casual diningPay per mealFour meals per cruiseUnlimited
Specialty diningPay per mealNot includedUnlimited, one specialty meal per mealtime
OceanNow delivery$14.99 one-time activationIncludedIncluded
Photos, reserved seats, excursion creditNot includedNot includedDigital photos plus three prints, reserved theater seating, $100 to $300 excursion credit by length

Pre-cruise rates for guests one and two; bought on board, add $5 a person a day. Sun Princess and Star Princess carry a $5 a day premium on both packages. Source: princess.com packages page, 14 October 2026.

05

The relics worth photographing

Her assignments rotate with the seasons and we won't pretend otherwise — check current schedules for your window. What doesn't rotate: wherever she is, you're sailing the vessel where MedallionClass began.

An OceanMedallion disc resting in an open palm
The coin that changed the company — first carried at sea aboard this ship in 2017.
A ship's bow dressed for a christening ceremony
Her 2014 naming, performed by the original Love Boat cast — the promise-makers themselves.
06

The reckoning, both sides

The case for her

  • The densest backstory in the fleet: Love Boat godparents and the Medallion's 2017 world debut, one hull
  • Longest-serving MedallionClass ship afloat — the crew culture around the disc matured here
  • Standard Royal-class scale and fares; the history costs nothing extra
  • Packages un-ration the premium experience from every cabin grade — her own historical point

The case against

  • 2014 hardware beneath 2017-and-later software; the retrofit seams exist here as on all her sisters
  • Second-eldest of six — travelers chasing young metal have three better-dated options
  • If symbolism leaves you cold, she's simply a competent sister with famous friends
07

Point-blank answers

Who are Regal Princess's godparents?

The original cast of The Love Boat, including Gavin MacLeod, who christened her in 2014 — the actors whose decade on national television built Princess's public identity.

Was Regal Princess really the first OceanMedallion ship?

Yes. The wearable debuted aboard her in 2017 before rolling out fleetwide — keyless entry, OceanNow order-anywhere delivery, the Shipmates locator and expedited boarding all went to sea here first.

Why do people call Regal Princess historically significant?

Because the two halves of Princess's identity share her hull: the cast who made the televised promise of personal attention named her, and the technology built to industrialise that promise launched aboard her three years later. No other cruise ship pairs its line's founding myth and flagship innovation so literally.

How large is Regal Princess?

Standard Royal-class dimensions — roughly 142,000–145,000 gross tons carrying about 3,600 guests at double occupancy, the second of six sisters delivered between 2013 and 2022.

Do I need the app to get the Medallion experience aboard her?

For the full experience, yes — the disc pairs with Princess's app, wants a charged phone in your pocket, and asks you to share your location with the ship. Most guests shrug and enjoy the magic; some reasonably bristle, and a traveler who keeps the phone in the cabin safe will meet the ship largely as she operated before 2017. Worth deciding which camp you're in before booking the birthplace of the whole system.

08

Put the Regal question to us

The promise-keepers named her. Should you sail her?

Tell us whether you're chasing the lore, the Medallion, or just a sailing that fits — and who's coming — and we'll give you a straight verdict on the fleet's most storied hull versus her plainer, younger sisters.

Is Regal worth it for the history?Regal vs the 2019–22 sistersWhat did the Medallion change here?Plus or Premier aboard Regal?

Sourced from our own verified pages · re-confirmed with Princess line by line before any booking.

Tempted by the hull where the promise met its machine?

Ask Seabound about Regal Princess
Before you buy Plus or Premier

Princess sells three fares, not one package. Price all three before you sail.

Standard, Plus at $70–$75 a day, or Premier at $105–$110 a day — each bundles a different mix of drinks, dining, Wi-Fi and crew appreciation. The Princess Add-On Value Evaluator prices all three against what you’d actually drink and eat, then values the Premier upgrade over Plus on its own.

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