nigellabiscuit

We sail on the Explorer this Thursday, and I am very happy with this addition to the dining choices. Thank you very much Regent - your timing is impeccable!

As a Portsmouth resident, I can thoroughly recommend visiting the Naval Dockyard, your visit includes Nelson's flagship, the Mary Rose which is beautifully presented, and quite awe inspiring and a boat trip around the harbour plus lots more besides. If you had time there is also a very good and newly refurbished D Day Museum, but to be honest the Dockyard itself is likely to take all your time.

Bruges is very beautiful, and would probably be my choice. Horse drawn carriage ride and canal cruise were both highlights for us.

For our cruise on Explorer in September/October, as someone living in the UK, I got up at 5.00 am to coincide with midnight in Miami to book our excursions and do dinner reservations. Worked a treat - got all the excursions we wanted and a dinner reservation for two at each of the three speciality restaurants.

Great to see people recommending some of the great attractions of my home town Portsmouth. If anyone is interested in Second World War history the D Day Museum on the seafront is also excellent. However if I only had time to see one thing it would be the Mary Rose, which is outstanding.

Absolutely loving your posts and photos really cheered up my lunch break. The sail in to Kotor, followed by our own exploring of the town was one of the highlights of my life, I am sure you will love it.

We did a cruise a few years back with stops in Koper and Bari, and did tow very enjoyable excursions which I think are on offer on your cruise.

In Bari we did Enchanting Alberabello, which included a short stop inside one of the trullis. Seem to remember quite a long drive to get there, although driver took a different route back to the ship, which made it more interesting. Worth it to see Alberabello which was lovely and very interesting.

In Koper we did the trip to Lake Bled, which was a very long day but again very enjoyable - the boat trip across Lake Bled was enchanting, we had a really good guide and an enjoyable lunch

Our experience of cruising is extremely limited compared to others on here, whose posts I always read with interest. But here is a point of view from someone who has done one Regent cruise in the Med and has another booked on the Explorer in September. The included excursions were a huge draw for us, as newbies - and we enjoyed all of them, though obviously some more than others. Some of that was down to the quality of the guides, some down to the places we visited and some down to the other passengers we travelled with. We got all the excursions we wanted, although had to clear the wait list for one. For me, the magical memories from those excursions will never be forgotten - in ten days to have seen trullis in Italy, visited Pompeii, sailed on Lake Bled, seen the waterfalls in the Krka National Park, explored Taormina, shopped in Sorrento - wonderful. Not to mention the places which we explored on our own - Amalfi and Kotor. Can't wait for September.....