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dabear

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  • Posts

    3,291
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About Me

  • Location
    Northbrook, Illinois & Naples, Florida
  • Interests
    travel/sports/collecting
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Oceania/Regent/Azamara/Celebrity
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    The next one
  • If you have a personal or hobby CRUISE or TRAVEL BLOG, include the url here:
    7/18 Eclipse- Baltic and SPG;

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3,000+ Club (3/15)

  1. Nice to see you back. Apart from multiple cancelations due to covid, we've also been cruising on other lines with more upscale, smaller ships, great food & service. While we often are itinerary driven, we're planning an end of summer European cruise on an X S class ship . E class ships have too many negatives for our taste. Reading recent posts has reduced my expectations sadly.
  2. Totally agree. dining in one of those specialty restaurants with the artifacts was great. We dined in all of them. Frankly, every time we've dined in Tuscany we were disappointed.
  3. We've taken a number of Med cruises, both eastern & western, Agree, best time in these areas is fall, September or October. Temperature is moderate. Also agree to do research to decide which ports interest you the most. 10-14 day cruises make the most sense since it takes you a long flight to get to/from Europe from the US. We recommend taking a cruise with at least a few seadays for relaxation since you probably will be touring on most port days. Definitely fly in at least one day before the cruise in case of flight problems as well as adjusting to the time changes. We prefer arranging for private tours over ship tours (unless long tour with tight return before ship departure), since smaller size of groups & often less priced. Enjoy
  4. We had an outstanding meal in Pacific Rim, especially the miso glazed black cod. We also had an excellent meal in Prime 7 and Compass Rose. Sete Mara was good. Chartreuse was disappointing & a large number of pax had the same comments.I recognize that food is subjective, but when a lot of pax have the same comment, things need to be improved.
  5. We're also on this Dec 14th cruise. we arrived about 11:20 for 12 checkin & while busloads of PAX WERE ARRIVING FROM THE HOTEL. WE FLEW THROUGH checkin in about 10 minutes. We have cruised with Regent before although we've traveled mostly with Celebrity Oceania & Azamara. Service & friendliness of the staff has been excellent. A few minor glitches include, my lobster at Prime 7 was a little overcooked, a baked potato was cool and this am in CR our swedish pancakes were only so-so. Other meals & food have been very good including my dw's filet was excellent. It appears there are a lot of Regent newbies as well as many prior R pax. Overall, cruise has been very good but not outstanding as of yet. Most staff trying. One other incident. My wife slipped & fell by the pool today The medical staff were outstanding. Fortunately, she is fine with just a bruised knee.
  6. We did this cruise in late 2019 on Azamara. It was a great cruise but shore excursions are definitely a must since the ports as away from the sites in most locations.. Only in Singapore and Hong Kong the ports are adjacent to shopping centers, but again you would want to take tours to see real highlights.
  7. We've been on a number of elite & above cocktail hours & don't recall ever seeing liquors offered. Usually basic cocktails, beer , wine and hors d oeurvres.
  8. we were on the Equinox in 2018 doing the World cup in Russia. It was broadcasted .
  9. When comparing X to RCCL perks & policy changes don't forget there both owned by Royal CC Line. Perhaps they are trying to position X as a near luxury line. If so, they have a way to go to compare to Oceania, Azamara ,Windstar, etc;
  10. You can always go to the shops on board, spa or salon .
  11. Not sure but I think it’s only refundable credit
  12. Tiips are included with Regent. I believe there now is a service charge for using credits in the casino
  13. While we have cruised on Celebrity for many years, we also have cruised on smaller ships in the near luxury or luxury class (Regent, Oceania & Azamara). Not only are those smaller ships service & food better , it's a different experience, whether in regular balcony or suite. Agree, that the shows & glitz are also different. We're often itinerary driven with certain cruise line limitations. One other thing to consider is that smaller ships can sometimes dock in town as opposed to miles out in larger ships with much more costly tours due to transportation. We've experienced this in Stockholm and upcoming cruise with a stop in Bordeaux, (the latter has tours more than triple the cost vs docking in town). The increased fares on X are also disappointing. we had a cruise planned for 2023 that we had to cancel. We booked a similar cruise this year at substantially higher fares. If all the cuts we've read about are true, it may be our last X cruise.
  14. I actually did before I posted this & it wasn't much help. Pauillac is a very small town. Also only in French.
  15. Thanks for responses. We had an infinity veranda on a river cruise and that was enough! Doesn't feel the same.
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