jeb_bud

Concierge and up.

I don’t think the app would block texting, but not having cellular might. If you could set up a peer to peer WiFi network with your group you should be able to text. Or you could leave cellular on, pay the international connection fee and text to your heart’s content. On a recent cruise I stayed connected for business reasons and was able to use maps and browse the web while listening to the guide. I’m sure I could have texted too. If Jamariner’s info from Splendor is correct for the fleet then this is all moot of course.

What ATM card do you use? My bank charges a foreign transaction fee(and an out-of-network fee).

We had some issues, similar to Scenic, but so much better hearing the guide with some drop-outs than not hearing them at all because we weren’t Siamese twins.

I think they also keep track of some preferences, such as whether you have expressed a preference for shared tables. Maybe if you like a particular section.

What did the Regent agent say when you called?

Yes, please keep us posted. I am planning a similar family cruise situation in 2024 and would love to learn about the intricacies of the process.

On an earlier cruise I had a problem booking excursions that seems similar to yours. Look on the excursion booking page for a rather inconspicuous red error code. In my case the only way I found to book excursions was to call Regent and have them do it for me. Mike Moore said they were working on it, maybe the fix wasn’t perfect.

We were disappointed in July when PR did not have a gewürztraminer on Splendor. It did not occur to me to request it for our upcoming cruise. I think I’ll give that a shot.

We were in a Penthouse on Splendor in July, and there were binoculars and a speaker in the room. While I was in COVID jail my wife was moved to a Concierge suite. When I was released I went to her room to let her know I would be joining her on the day’s excursion. I noticed the binoculars on a shelf. You should be good to go this winter.

I think the Gold status benefits go to the occupants of the room and not the booker, so you would still receive “entry level” benefits in your room even if your mom booked it. You definitely want to make use of the Ambassador program to get some discounts on your fares. Most of the Penthouse suites on Voyager are larger than the Concierge suites, which might be the biggest selling point for the three of you. We have been on two cruises in Concierge and one in a Penthouse. We found that the value of the butler is dependent on how much “use” you make of his services. The room stewards in a Concierge suite provide almost all of what we got from our butler, but then we didn’t ask for many services beyond what we had on the earlier cruises. we have only cruises Regent so we can’t compare it to mass market cruising but I suspect the difference between your other cruises and Regent will be bigger than between categories on Regent.

Don’t know about AAdvantage but we do get mileagePlus miles for our United flights. When you log into the airline website to select seats make sure to add your frequent flyer number.

Last time I checked the Suite Amenities list for Concierge included binoculars. The Bluetooth speaker doesn’t appear until Penthouse. We upgraded to Penthouse in July and never used the speaker. We usually had the TV tuned to the bow cam or map and just listened to the Muzak.

We normally self-insure too. Before our Splendor cruise in July I bought a partial-cruise policy to get some medical coverage along with trip interruption coverage in case we tested positive at disembarkation and had to quarantine before returning home. Not long after the disembarkation testing requirement was discontinued. I did come down with COVID and was prescribed Paxlovid along with cold/allergy type meds. The cost was $800 for the Paxlovid. No charge for the medical service or OTC pills. So assuming insurance eventually comes through with reimbursement I paid $600+ And the hassle of dealing with the insurance company to get back $800. I did not submit a claim for trip interruption. I knew the risk going in and still made the final payment. My wife tested negative and with my encouragement moved to another suite and enjoyed solo cruising until I was cleared.

Thanks for the link Lonedaddy. The site says I need 60 minutes for the connection. I'm not sure I completely believe that but with a scheduled 135 minutes I should have some leeway.

The itinerary I’m looking at is Turkish Air into LHR and United from LHR to DEN. I will have to do a little research on which terminals will be used. We will be in Business Class which should help a little. the good news is that it will be a homeward bound trip so I really don’t care if our luggage arrives with us as long as it does eventually arrive.

We're booked on an Athens to Istanbul cruise in May. We have a use it or lose it air credit that we don't want to lose so we'll be taking the Regent air credit and booking our own flights. Getting from home to Athens is looking pretty good with reasonable connection times in Denver and Toronto with a good arrival time. My favorite flight home is through LHR with a 2.25 hour connection. We don't put anything in our checked luggage that we need at home right away so I don't mind if our luggage gets waylaid, but of course I don't want to miss our connection during that long trip home. What experiences have y'all had connecting through LHR lately? Thanks for any wisdom you can provide.

We found both the bottles and the ship’s water to be just fine. It’s clearly a matter of personal taste. Our Baltic cruise was in cool weather so our water didn’t have a chance to get hot. We might feel different on a tropical cruise.

Hence the quotation marks.

Is the $29.99 for an extra login or the "High Speed" service?

On the Explorer class ships the balconies in Concierge suites are much larger than the lower suites. We book Concierge primarily for the multiple logins. And DW really likes those cashmere blankets.

On the other hand if you have to spend five days in quarantine and can’t leave your room, and your wife moved to another room with the MacBook, that TV becomes a dear friend.

That looks like a pretty tight shot. I wonder what a wider angle photo might show. Regent is putting us there for our pre-cruise night before our May 14 cruise Athens to Istanbul. I’m generally most concerned with the inside of a hotel. I’m very interested to hear about the experience of anyone who has stayed there.

The Verizon plan covers the United Arab Emirates, which contains Dubai. While an eSIM plan with voice, data and text might be less expensive than Travelpass(probably depends on how many days you use it), the convenience of using your own phone number might be worth the difference.

From the room.