loriva

DH LOVED the sound of the butter and ginger seared grouper on the Waterside lunch menu!  What are the chances past Crystal cruisers think that dish will show up on a NE and Canada itinerary vice Mexican one?

Since Regent opens up shorex reservations a year before the cruise, we have always sent in our form and proof of ownership a week or so before that.  And had them approved and applied to our account.  Then we can use them for Regent Choice (for-fee) excursions or the Culinary Arts Classes (which also fall under the Destinations department).

28 minutes ago, Gilly said:

Once again, it's the ground agency  staff who appear inefficient and unable/unwilling to communicate reassurance or explain what's going on.  Thank goodness we know Regent well enough to be confident that the minute we step on board Voyager tomorrow, all will be well. No, it will be even better than that!

Our checked bags also failed to show up in Venice last year for our sailing on Splendor.  In our case, staff at FRA decided our bags wanted some extra time in that city rather than moving onto Venice (although we had plenty of transfer time).  The bags were on the next flight that day into Venice, but then sat overnight at Marco Polo airport.  They did not arrive at the Molino Stucky until the afternoon of the following day.  Thank goodness for AirTags as we knew where the bags were and could advise staff of the same!  (And that we have adjusted our travel planning post-pandemic to arrive at least two days and nights prior to sailing.)

You may no longer have time given the time difference, but the restaurant La Palanca a few minutes' walk from the hotel was lovely.  But they only serve full meals through lunch.  You can get drinks (try a Select Spritz) and snacks after that.

We'll be traveling on Voyager for the first time in February.  Looking forward to the new experience after two cruises each on Explorer and Splendor.  Will be following here and on your blog (and look up your previous cruise on the latter.)

Many thanks,

4 hours ago, Kwaj girl said:

 

Not necessarily the case. We had them just 2 days ago for our walking tour in Bruges which was a Regent excursion.

As I said, they have the option to add them to the excursion.  It seems like sometimes they do and sometimes not.  I wonder if passengers asking for them at Destination Services would foster any change to make them standard?  I'd like to see them on every excursion that involves walking or inside visits.  The differing walking speeds of the groups ends up with them spread out and people away from the guide miss out.  Same within smaller spaces like castles.  We experienced the benefit of the QuietVox system on a tour with Viking River earlier this year where the group ended up spread out over multiple rooms within a castle--yet we could all still hear the guide.

Believe we were on the same post-cruise visit to Singapore.  Agree with the points made.

The Fairmont is also within walking distance of the Singapore Flyer.  If you do the trip at sunset, you'll get a great view of the lights coming on at the Gardens by the Bay over the water.

A local guide told us on one of our excursions on a Med cruise on Splendor last year that Regent has the option to have the local operator provide listening devices--at an additional cost--but chooses not to do so.

8 minutes ago, disgirl said:

I will be on the 08OCT24 sailing of the Caribbean Princess, which I have heard the one before she goes into dry dock.  We are also cruising on her 23MAR25.  It will be interesting to compare them.

Please let us know what you hear on board about what Princess is planning to do to the CB during the dry dock.

48 minutes ago, Nachosdelux said:

The pool grill on Crystal is slightly better than Regent.

But you can get the awesome ahi tuna sandwich at the Pool Grill on Regent as well as the lobster nachos ("extra lobster, please").  Those plus the Regent "cocktail of the ship" are our traditional lunch upon boarding.  We'll be trying the "Mariner" cocktail for the first time next February.

We'll be doing the opposite, @Blowfish64--taking our first cruise on Crystal Serenity in October after four cruises with Regent since 2021.  We are looking forward to making the comparison after reading all the rapturous reviews on the Crystal boards.

8 minutes ago, Keith1010 said:

My guess is that is correct given the itinerary.

 

Keith

Interesting the different definitions of "port heavy."  We really only have four ports in our 8-night cruise.  I don't count Quebec City as the ship does not arrive until 2000 hours the night before disembarkation.  So that day to me is a "sea" (really river) day.  We also do not arrive in Halifax until 1900 hours (and then leave early at 1500 hours the next day) so those days also have substantial time on board.  Given Crystal's reputation for enrichment, our offerings look light for so much time sailing.  I will go with an open mind, however, and hope to be delighted.

13 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

I have verified that there will be a magician (Doc Eason) on the August 27 Serenity voyage.

 

Keith

Thanks, Keith.  Mr. Eason shows up under the "Entertainment on this Ship" area on that sailing.  No magician is listed on our NYC-QC sailing in early October, so I guess that means we are out of luck.

Take care,

8 hours ago, May B said:

The Supper Club is no additional charge and a nice, unique experience. It requires an advance reservation, which you can request at Osteria or the hotel desk, on embarkation day (Serenity only).

When you say the "hotel desk" does that mean Reception?  Or the Hotel Manager of Serenity?

Many thanks,

5 hours ago, TWG_ag said:

In July 2025 we are scheduled to start our cruise at Trieste. 

We were initially scheduled to sail Splendor out of Trieste in October 2023.  They changed us to Fusina several months before we sailed.  So, watch for possible changes.  Sailing out of Fusina is exactly as @Hambagahledescribes.

38 minutes ago, chamima said:

Anyways, it looks like we'll be making the time to sit down with the consultants on board to make future cruise plans.

 

 

 

Hi Karen.  We're Elite on Princess who made the escape to Regent in 2021.  (Although we do have a booking in December on the CB just to see what it's like sailing from a port a 30-minute drive from our home.)  I hope you'll have as wonderful an experience as we have found on Regent.

Since making the switch, we have tended to do our research some months before we cruise.  Then we are ready to contact our Regent TA at the 30-day mark before our cruise.  We receive the full booking onboard benefits from him and then transfer the booking to our big box TA.  Based on advice from these boards we take the booking onboard OBC for the CURRENT cruise rather than have it be applied to the newly booked one.  As others have said, this uses the value at current prices not future, where it may be devalued.  (The wine lunches are our favorite way to spend it.  Or you could try the Culinary Arts Kitchen.)

8 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

I was told that the magicians would be on cruises with at least 3 sea days. 
 

Patty

Thank you, Patty.  Will be interesting to see what Crystal does for the NYC-QC (and reverse) sailings in September and October.  We only have one official "sea" (really St. Lawrence River) day, but two days where we do not put into port until 1900 hours or afterwards.  I would consider the latter two as sea days as well, bringing us to a total of three, but we'll see.

Thanks to all for your responses and take care,

Thanks again, Keith, for your information and posting.

Something I do not see in the Reflections (and perhaps it never appears) is the magic show.  Is that still being offered?

Enjoy the rest of your time at home,

On 8/5/2024 at 10:42 PM, Dolebludger said:

We are going on this one, and spending two nights at JW Marriott Governsor (sp?) hotel pre boarding. My question is about restaurants/pubs in the area.

We are not into fancy dining. We are interested in pub food where locals go. We will have all the up scale dining we want while onboard the Splendor (we hope). So we are asking here about restaurant/pubs in walking distance from this hotel where the locals go. Any advice?

Inquiring minds want to know--did you find what you were looking for in dining pre-cruise?  Any you would recommend?

19 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

You can't upgrade just 1 person before the cruise, but you can once onboard. Many people wait until Day 3.

https://oceaniacruises.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022271234-Do-both-guests-need-to-upgrade-the-beverage-package

What is the reason for waiting until Day 3?  Do drinks purchased before then stay on your folio or be folded into the package price?  (I guess that is more a question of whether the $20 upcharge is retroactive to the day you board?)

23 hours ago, TheShag said:

Secondly, although the 1st leg is on ANZ, the rest of the flights are UAL. I have a copy of a text conversation stating that we could spend the [10 hr!!] layover in LAX in the Polaris Lounge. I then texted back [to a different agent] to also ask if I could access the Polaris Lounge in EWR. She advised that we could not as our flights were 'domestic' and further, the access to the LAX lounge was also not possible. What are the odds of obtaining lounge access [clutching my text printout!] to these 2 airports? Any tips? Given the 10 hr LAX layover, we might plan on getting out for a bit.

We flew a partner airline (ANA) from Tokyo to ORD as one of our legs returning from our Sydney to Singapore sailings on Explorer in January.  We were refused entry to the Polaris lounge in ORD eventhough our ANA was codeshared with UAL.  The agent said we would have had access had we been on UAL into Chicago--but not when on a partner airline.  It might depend on whether UAL has its own flight on the itinerary or not.  (We had passes to the normal United Club from one of our credit cards and had to use that instead.)

5 hours ago, AlpacaBag said:

Good evening all. Hope you're well.

 

I recall reading on several threads that cruisers sailing with Princess were able to phone the kitchen after they boarded and request that they be served and Indian style of dinner one night in the main dining room. It had to be done several days in advance.

 

I'm curious if this is still something Princess is doing and if anyone has opted for this lately, if so, I would love to know what your experience was like.

 

I know it could change between now and our sailing in December but I figured I'd ask.

 

Thanks! 😊

Depending on your definition of "recently..."

We did this on the Caribbean Princess two years ago (August 2022).  We asked the Head Waiter in the Coral dining room the day before, he asked us what we liked (meat or all vegetable, spicy or not, etc.) and we had it served the next day.  Many of the cooks are Indian, so no problem at all--or at least did not used to be a problem.  We did it just for the two of us, but have heard of people planning it for their trivia teams or others they have met.  The more people you have at a table, the more different dishes you can get to share. 

Realize that this thread was started over a year ago but hope this is one of the things that will be addressed during the dry dock of the Caribbean Princess in October.

The Chancery Rosewood is scheduled to be opened next year.  https://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/the-chancery-rosewood

The USG initially wanted to move the eagle (although it does not fit with the architecture of the new embassy) but the old embassy is a Grade II listed building so limited in the amount of change can be done to its exterior and the eagle was deemed integral to the building.  (And it was also part of the name of the pub located in the basement of the old embassy, the Regal Eagle.)

9 hours ago, BentPicketRanchGirl said:

We cruised on CP in June in Norway for 16 days and it was wonderful. Yes the ship is showing its age but staff and food were very good. I was told the dry dock would be between Oct 20 and Nov 10, 2024. The transatlantic starts Nov 10.

Did the person who told you this say what was to be done during the dry dock?

There used to be a wonderful Italian restaurant on the west side of North Audley Street between Grosvenor Square and Oxford Street, but I'm not seeing it on the map anymore so it may be no more (even the Starbucks at North Audley and Grosvenor appears to be gone.)

If you haven't already, you should also check out the food hall in the basement of Marks and Spencer at the corner of Audley and Oxford.  Lots of cool British products to discover and a wide selection of ready-to-eat food.  You could always gather supplies for a picnic in Grosvenor Square.   (The big building on the western end of the square used to be the U.S. Embassy.)

Our locals were a bit north of your hotel--in the Marylebone area, not Mayfair.  The Volunteer and the Allsop Arms.  Also went to The Grazing Goat, a gastropub, which is closer to your hotel.

@scubacruiserx2 noted in her review that crew on the CB confirmed a dry dock occurring in October before its TA.  Anyone on board now or recently have any details on what Princess is planning to do during this?