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As I have said before if you really want to visit a place, do a land trip. You can t really see a place in a few hours on a bus or van tour or even with a private car and driver. Cruising is a wonderful way to to have a relaxing vacation and maybe get a taste or a neat site or two but making that special port always comes with sone risk. Sibce we retired we have traveled around the world twice, once for 5 1/2 months and once fie 4 1/2 months. Both times we patched the weeks long land sections with connecting cruises of 2 to 3 week cruises. I really don’t like flying given a choice so we drove ourselves or had a car and driver for the Asian countries. In 2018 we did the WC and had a ball visiting favorite sites or places we had eaten again during the port stops. We missed several special ports due the accident and weather which was disappointing because we will never get there again, never the less the cruise wasn’t ruined and we had a good time.

You are so right🤣

We were on in Dec/Jan, they kept that deck 6 area roped off to passengers except a small part by the elevators and there are no suites there. Did the same thing during our 137 day 2018WC. Only people allowed on the part of the open deck along the suites are crew and it is not a passage way for them. Only see 1or2 if working on the deck. But the windows were cleaned off and on. You do not have to worry about a peeping Tom😮.

When we went a few years ago in March we had some rain showers. Took a light weight poncho rain thing. Tried to wear one day during a rainy tour. It was so humid I got wetter using it than I did later going without during the rain. The humidity is terrible and I am from the Texas Gulf Coast. We are going again next Nov with out rain gear other than a light folded up pocket poncho. We had no bugs!

We have had deck BBQs on cruises but not every cruise. Same with the County Fair and some of the other special deck events. Our experience has been with a port every day or all but one day there has not been as many ship side events both pre and post Covid. I do feel that there are less longer cruises with a nice mix of sea days and port days. Yes we have made port days a sea day but it is not the same…. If it is a real sea day you have lots of things going on out side the suite to do… lectures etc. I have no proof and only the bean counters know for sure but I feel it is really cheaper for Regent to do all port days . Less daytime drinking, Less nighttime Drinking because people are tired from a day of touring and need to get up early for another day of touring, at least some people. So no real need for a lot of night time entertainment. Less demand on the restaurants for big meals for breakfast and lunch because people are off the ship. Granted they have port charges based on per person, but if you have ever had those refunded by a ship you know that does’t buy many drinks. Regent says they put Up to $125 -50 on the free tours…. but this is retail rate and I am sure that they get a reduced rate buying in bulk and many free tours have a retail cost less than their allowance. And with people off the ship there is less need for extra entertainment Just my feeling after many days on Regent pre and post Covid with more booked. Even with the seeming changes. Having sailed with both Seabourn and Silversea we will stay with Regent, so far, because their caring crew and especially the smaller ships makes all the difference and worth every penny for our vacation dollar!

Din’t ever remember a deck Event on an overnight. Flip side of that….Some people would complain about wanting to go ashore for dinner etc and many times tours are night time ones for late sailings or overnights.

Seems like there are more 7 and 10 port intensive cruises post Covid and now 3 new bigger ships. That draws a different crowd therefore a different vibe. People are tired after long flights and there isn’t enough time to recover from that and really enjoy the cruise before the cruise ends. And they get even more tired going on tours all the time. Also less time for ship events. We experienced this over our last three cruises. A port a day … people are going all the time and more things can go wrong especially with the tours making some really cranky. There isn’t enough time just to have and enjoy ship events. The ship life was always what was so special on Regent. They have really lost some of that with the bigger fancier new ships. Same thing happened years ago on Seaboune and sent us to Regent.

Probably the contract is similar. Hind sight is always 20/20. It is your choice who to sail with, past and future. We have sailed with both lines. We have picked Regent over Celebrity for a number of years now. So far in our experience Regent is a better experience for the money when apples to apples are compared which is hard to really do between a line carrying 100’s of passenger compared to 1000’s. Regent is sailing to all but 4 original ports on this cruise. They have replaced the missed ports with others. They are fulfilling the contract for this cruise. One can decide to go on the cruise Regent is now offering due to the conflict and have a great time on a great small ship with a great caring crew sailing in a beautiful area or go and be miserable or cancel lose the money and complain about how poorly Regent is treating one. I do agree with you that it was nice when one always could count on the personal service as you describe. Unfortunately and sadly as businesses have gotten bigger personal service has become less and less. We were on the WC mentioned earlier. We missed ports that couldn’t be replaced with another. We were confined to the ship in Bali the first day after the accident day, but we were let off the ship on the second day. We missed a World Heritage Site that many included me, wanted to see. Regent did offer a percentage of the fare paid for that segment of the world cruise as a FCC. Regent has done this before for missed ports that couldn’t be replaced by another port. But the situations are not actually apples to apples. The ports were replaced and the replacements are nice. Regent does take care their passengers . As a previous poster said …. If you plan on seeing the world on a cruise ship you have to be flexible…. Lots of things can go wrong. Unfortunately this is the worst case.

Regent is doing the cruise….. there was never a guarantee that you would get to any port per the contract you agreed to. Regent is providing a cruise it is now your choice to go are lo go or forfeit your money. Time will tell whether Regent made the right choice but they had the right.

But that is the risk you willing assumed. You booked a cruise that you didn’t or couldn’t take out cancel for any reason insurance. You willing assumed the risk that it may not be the cruise you signed up for. Right or wrong that it the current bossiness model. Granted this is an extreme case.

Not everything one reads on CC is actually what happened.

You have a good point but I wonder if all the FCC that was given due to Covid hasn’t made the companies approach to that choice more cautious? Things aren’t the same post Covid for many businesses. Cruies are dealing with tour issues, Ports access is changing, Airlines are a mess and the supply chain is still not what it was. This is pointed out in our area every time we go to the grocery store!

All travel companies and insurance companies have T and C contracts which the customers agrees to when they purchase the companies service. You bought the service so it is assumed you read the contract. Insurance, who ever sells it, state what is covered. if it doesn’t meet your needs don’t buy it. Regent is sailing they cruise on the 15th. Up front they stated that if you had custom air that charge would be refunded and you would be rebooked. They have changed the ports out of the troubled area per the TandCcontract you signed. You may not like what the company did. It is now your choice.to go or stay home, the company made theirs. It is also your choice to find another company to sail with in the future. And it is also a chance for disappointment to take a cruise because one or more ports is a must see port and the only reason that you take the cruise. You set yourself up for disappointment from the start because the port stop is not a guarantee.

There are some unspoken rules about cruise vacations. Don’t plan to arrive on the day the ship sails, you risk missing the ship due to airline problems. Don’t take a cruise where a port/s are the only reason for the cruise. You risk all kinds of reasons that may make the ship miss the Port and especially a cruise to an unstable area. Sounds like it was an interesting land program though. Hope the missed ports are replaced with other places of interest….there are many in the Med.

A church group from the Houston area just arrive home safely Mon or Tues. They were on an overland bus tour and were evacuated through Jordan after the airlines stopped flights Israel.

Hope you have a good cruise. We live Istanbul!

No these are two cruises are on a large ship, very short ones that are round trips from Haifa like the round trips RCL and Carnival do out of US ports. Where as Regent and others are much longer cruises. And only requiring a port change or like Regent one change involving air for many less passengers.

I agree with your statement. At least from what I can find out Regent is really doing what most cruise lines that have port stops in Israel are doing…. Rerouting the port stop which has been standard policy in past. The only ship that I found that had canceled and Refunded money was a RCL ship the had two BtoB cruises of 4 and 5 days each that embarked and debarked in Haifa. They had no choice as I can see. The others that have port stops in Israel changed the port and in some cases to Egypt. In my 12+ years sailing with Regent, Regent has never stopped at a port that we felt unsafe and we have sstooped at Acapulco .Ports have been canceled during the cruise because they were suddenly unsafe. There is no reason to think that they have changed their policy. After all Egypt was on the itinerary to begin with.

Maybe a UK member will chime in but this has been a source of complaints over how the countries laws affect the businesses’ rules. UK has heavy duty customer protection laws, the US doesn’t. The Brit’s complain that our deposits are refundable until a few months before sailing and are less. Their deposits are non refundable and more, also the cruises are more also. As I understand from friends.

Really enjoyed reading both reports and pictures! Thanks so much. We will do many of the same ports as part of the Grand Arctic in ‘25 so I made notes! (Rachel thanks for insight on tours that we need to avoid, but your pictures felt like we were there.) Carolyn

I didn’t mean that what you said was a problem and this is scary time over there. We stopped taking insurance about 15 years ago except medjet or the like. Just too many seeming outs for refusing to pay. That works for us and the savings now pay for any money lost

Yes the even# cabins on deck 6 are very spacious feeling and look out into an open deck that has most of it is blocked off from passenger use. Though in the middle of deck 6 by elevators you can get out on the deck and get some fresh air or a better look at what is going on on the dock. The ship is small therefore it is not far to any thing on the ship. Enjoy your cruise.

It is nothing new for cruise lines to not give future credit or otherwise give refunds when something happens to change the cruise itineraries be it weather or political unrest/war. As long as the cruse sails the line leaves it up to the passenger to make the cruise or not. Passenger choice. This is a risk that has always been born by the passenger. If you can’t insure for the risk and are not willing to self insure or go where the cruse takes you, that cruise is not for you. We have missed ports and had cruises rerouted before the cruise started or after we boarded. Regent or any other cruise line has never taken us to a truly unsafe place. Egypt has always been iffy. We have always traveled in bus/van convoys with armed guards in the bus and police blocking traffic for us. When we have done private tours there, the driver was armed and he had a armed to the teeth wingman riding with him from the ship. Then we have met the guide once we got to Cairo or Luxor. This cruise was always going to Egypt, the only change is to the first two ports. It was always a cruise to places that could sink into chaos overnight. Regent strongly suggest insurance because the risk is unfortunately the passengers.

Any suite window or balcony on deck 6 is a great choice. Very central to everything on the ship! We always try to get a balcony on that deck on the Navigator. The ship is our favorite Regent ship!!

We have been to YF area with Regent twice. Get the shot or a YF waiver letter. Your Dr can give you the letter or a travel clinic does the shot. The CDC does not recommend the shot if you are over either 60 or 65 and maybe some other reasons also. We are doing the Amazon again with Regent inNov 24. We had the shot almost 15 years ago. as Pacadad says first stop is to see your Dr.