New York to Montreal 21st September Mariner

Note duly taken! I think we've signed up for the Tall Ships trip in Halifax in 4 weeks. I may reconsider. Enjoying your reports, thank you for taking the time.

The Titanic Museum and graveyard were worthwhile when we went to Halifax.

Another cold day, about 10 deg C today.

We had a nice sea day ( inside ). Used the time to book a future cruise with a welcome on board discount and OBC. It really is worth it currently to book on board.

Lunch in CR as a treat, we forget what a good choice there is at lunchtime but rarely get the time to enjoy it with tours.

Dinner was with the HR manager. Very good company and we learnt a lot about the recruiting, training and welfare for staff on board. We have to say that the crew seem very happy and we have not experienced any case of bad service. Everyone speaks when we pass in the corridors and elsewhere. The service is as good as we have experienced in the past.

Very busy in CR early tonight and a sparse attendance at the show...Trump and Clinton were an attraction.

Tomorrow is Charlottetown Prince Edward Island, we will wrap up well!

The Internet has been sporadic and its pot luck if we can connect.

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...and a sparse attendance at the show...Trump and Clinton were an attraction...

Ugh...had I been on board, I think I'd have preferred the show. :p

Charlottetown today. Another 10 deg day with wind and latterly rain.

The tour we did was ok and we saw something of the very pleasant Prince Edward Island.

I have to register the first disappointment of the trip. Our tour was due to start at 12:15 but as we were tendering it was 40 minutes later when we boarded the tender. As the ship had been in port since 8:00 am I wondered why they hadn't got the tenders ready for what were 4 bus loads on the same tour. Those on the last bus must have waited an hour and we all missed lunch because of the timing. ( La Veranda didn't open until 12:00).

There were two other ships in port, Norwegian Dawn and Veendam. The former was docked and we and Veendam were tendering. On our return there was one line for the tenders with certainly about 200 people and we were all mixed up and no one from either ship was on hand to sort things out. It was 4:30 and our last tender was supposed to leave then so there was some concern. All ended well but should have been better managed. I did see some Regent passengers heading for the Veendam tender...I hope they didn't manage to get on!

Had a really nice meal in CR tonight with good company followed by the show. Cirque du Rock and Roll with the new cast. It was good.

Have cancelled the next tendering port trip, so an extra days 'sea day'.

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Swansong, we will be on the October 11 departure for this cruise. Do you know if Regent is offering a Montreal city tour with airport drop off to departing passengers with later flights?

Yes, we have been offered a tour in Montreal with free time later and a 4:00 pm departure to the airport. Our flight is at 22:00. If your flight was after 2:30 but before 19:00 there was a shortened tour. No cost if you had Regent air and transfers. All dependent on numbers though and we haven't heard yet.

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Gaspe today, freezing cold but at least the sun came out later and warmed things up a little.

We went on a paid extra trip today to Forillon national park which was very scenic and also saw some of the wonderful countryside around Gaspe. However I don't know why there was an extra charge and we were told by someone who had been before that lunch used to be included for the same price and that had been dropped. There did not appear to be much to justify the extra expense.

I have to comment on the tendering again, we have cancelled our trip tomorrow, I don't think we will miss the goat farm and glass blowing, or the long wait in the theatre. We may independently go ashore.

Today we had a supposed 8:00 am start along with six other tours at the same time. We got up at six to ensure breakfast and were in the theatre by 8:00. We left the theatre at 8:45 and the bus eventually left the dock at 9:30 for a supposed 5 hour tour. The ship was due to leave at 2:00 so the tour was now 4 hours.

It is surely obvious that 400 pax as it turned out could not be tendered all at once so why was everyone asked to be ready for the same time? The tenders had a 25 minute turnaround time. This organisation, or lack of it, is not luxury as far as we are concerned.

Returning, as everyone was late back, the tenders couldn't cope and Norwegian Dawn who were also in port lent us a tender to help get the 400 back. We eventually set sail half an hour late. Thanks to the captain for organising the extra tender.

La Veranda fortunately extended the lunchtime session for us all to have lunch.

It's crew capers and the captains farewell tonight although we have a further two nights on board but tomorrow we have a late departure so I guess that's why it is when it is. The show was superb as usual and a credit to all the amateurs who made it special.

(Just had a letter refunding part of the excursion so that's fair enough.)

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In Saguenay today after a very picturesque journey up the St Lawrence river similar in someways to a Norwegian fiord. ( the waterfalls were dry at this time of year though)

The weather is cold but glorious sunshine.

Last nights show with Lovena B Fox was outstanding and she had two unprepared for encores, the first time I have seen this on Regent.

We are in Signatures tonight and looking forward to that.

This will be my last post on this cruise as we have a heavy day in Quebec tomorrow, then packing. We have an extended tour in Montreal on our leaving day as our flight is not until 22:00.

Hope that some have enjoyed these ramblings and my summary is as follows:

Mariner is in excellent condition throughout with the minor exception of some rust on the balcony, I am sure it will be touched up soon.

The service has been as good as we have experienced in 150 nights over many years. We have not come across any one other than pleasant, welcoming and helpful.

One or two of the ports had little to offer but they did their best. One gripe I have has been with the tendering for tours, it could have been better organised and reduced hanging about.

My only other gripe has been with the Internet. It has been sporadic and unstable. The best times have been before 7:30 or after 23:00. Any other time was difficult or impossible.

The food and service has been consistently good in CR in spite of my initial thoughts. The wine service seems to have been stepped up with more sommeliers than we have experienced in the past...our glasses were never empty!

Overall a great cruise, it met and sometimes exceeded expectations and looking forward to the next on Voyager.

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So good to hear the positives! Thanks for taking the time on your vacation to share your thoughts with us. Safe travels home...

Thank you again! Really looking forward to our Montreal to Miami journey in 3 weeks. And you have prepared me for the cold. Safe journey.

I will reiterate the last posters views as is seems we will also be on that cruise in 3 weeks time.

Thank you for sharing as i'm now having to buy more cold weather clothes but wouldn't have known without your input.

Hope your last few days are memorable and now very much looking forward to being back on The Mariner.

Pam.

Swansong enjoyed your daily posts, thanks for taking the time to report. Enjoy your last day, and the tour of Montreal. Safe travels home, weather here in Scotland is now cold and windy and heavy rain past few days, so enjoy that lovely Canadian sunshine. Thanks again, Jean.

Thanks for the review swansong, and safe travels.

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed your trip-looking forward to our trip coming up.

Trunkabella, just so you know, the pre airport trip was a disaster everyone agreed. The guide just wanted it to finish. She didn't show us much and blamed it on the traffic. She abandoned us at mid day. Never even counted how many were on the coach until after the first stop and couldn't remember the number at the next. Initially she thought we were French and started off in French! Luckily there were only 15 of us so we checked ourselves at each stop. There were some elderly slow walking ladies and she didn't slow down for them, we had to keep an eye on them. When the driver picked us up at 3:00 she wasn't there and he didn't speak English. So we had a 6 1/2 hour wait at the airport. If a late flight happened again we would book a room at an airport hotel. We can't blame Regent as they organised the trip in good faith and I guess the guide knew we wouldn't be complaining. One of the party did give her a few words and we think that's why she left us.

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Thanks for the information, swansong. I appreciate the follow up. I think that we may try to get a day room at an airport hotel.

Thank you for your review of the cruise, also. We are very much looking forward to our departure. Safe onward travels!