the_dylaness

Yes, insult to injury for sure.

@KenzSailing Thanks for your thoughtful post. We are in a similar "boat". Getting 2.5 weeks off, at the same time (myself and DH), has been a huge challenge. We have school aged children and my mother kindly *offered* to care for them so we could celebrate a milestone birthday. Every grandparent hopefully loves their grandkids but 2.5 weeks is a long time for anyone. This cruise cost more than twice what my car is worth (I have my priorities straight 😉)! So, this isn't "just another cruise" for us- there's a lot the went into planning this for 23 months and it is not a small expenditure for us. We felt that Regent could provide the great experience we were seeking. But now, frankly, even if all goes well for us on our January 8 cruise, it's been a little bit tainted by the experiences of those on the sailing before us. Spending all this time wondering what will happen to our cruise instead of planning for it. And wondering if Regent really is a good choice for us.... (After losing over $5k we are a little unhappy with Crystal although we recouped much of this in bankruptcy proceedings.) If we were on the December sailing in question and offered $500 per person credit I would be annoyed beyond belief. (We could each get what, a mani/pedi? Exaggerating but not by much.) Also, not likely we would be able to do another Regent cruise in the next 2 years so the future credit would be totally wasted on us. Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Blow up social media. NYT and other major travel ombudspeople.

Not sure exactly what you mean, but we were pretty surprised how many people were willing to not only bring up but forcefully discuss political topics with unwitting fellow pax... I came to vacation, meet interesting people (any definition of "interesting" will suffice), have fun, and relax. I did not come to be subjected to political tirades in the pools, hot tubs, bars, at all hours of the day and evening! Of course no fault of Azamara's but we were quite amazed at how many people wanted to spark and then engage in this type of discourse. No thanks!

I see you were with us on the Azamara Pursuit back in September!

Perhaps someone on the roll call can share more information, but I wanted to express my concern to the broader Regent CC community about the recent changes made to the December 21 Grandeur sailing. As I understand it (please correct me if I am mistaken, Dec 21st sailors), first, Nicaragua was removed as a port of call. This also happened to my January 6th Grandeur sailing, on about the same day. Ok... I wasn't pleased, but things happen. Would've been nice to have a replacement port but, c'est la vie. Now most recent the final 3 ports of call were eliminated for the December 21st cruisers, replaced with 1 port of call (Puerto Vallarta) and an arrival into LA a day earlier than planned. For a total of 9 days of sailing on a 16 night cruise. (Again, if I got the details wrong, please correct me!) This is a substantially different cruise than people initially booked and paid for. I understand that this is not the first time recently that major changes were made to a Regent itinerary, but this is not suddenly a war zone, so why the changes? Acapulco, ok, I can maybe get with the recent issue there... but this is starting to look like a completely different trip. I am on the sailing immediately after which is essentially a mirror image of this cruise and worried that the same will happen to my sailing, as well as feeling very sad for the folks who have received only $500 OBC for this upheaval (I was going to say inconvenience but no, it is truly a significantly different cruise with many more sea days and a night in... LA?) If I wanted to spend 9 of 16 days at sea I'd book a far less expensive transatlantic. I am sure Regent is saving more than $500 per person on included shore excursions by canceling 4 ports.

1) Jack Daniels is not bourbon. It is Tennessee Whiskey. 2) Bulleit is a big upgrade from Jim Beam! ❤️ With regards, Your friendly native Kentuckian from the heart of bourbon country

<mic drop> I hope your spouse includes this feedback about the speaker on the post-cruise survey.

Maybe the replaced the whole cruise with sea days and then just gave up. I'm kidding... but see what happened to the December 21st sailing, gutted, with now (if I counted correctly) 9 sea days after dropping several ports while adding just one (Puerto Vallarta) and arriving to LA a day early.

I'd love to know more about the sea day activities, if you're able to post a daily? Especially interested in any "special activities" that may happen... (What, exactly, I'm not sure lol.)

Pardon my ignorance but this area with the three jacuzzis- is this part of some "pay as you go" spa experience (like Persian Gardens on Celebrity) or included?

Hmm... not sure I see it the same way. I went on my first Crystal cruise when I was 33. First SB was when I was 26... first Silversea I waited until my 35th birthday! 😉 Makes me recall those old Fancy Feast cat food commercials. "Good taste is easy to recognize!" I hope we all enjoy our sailings on any of these (or other lines), regardless of age. Happy sailing!

50 of them, even!

I work remotely about 80% of the time, and about 20% in person. I use a mouse whenever possible just due to the ergonomic improvements it offers over 8+ hours a day on a touchpad...

A few years ago on a Silversea cruise, we met a nice couple at the pool deck and chatted for a bit. The next day they approached us and asked if we would be on their trivia team- they'd been "scouting" various potential partners and for whatever reason, we made the cut! We ended up as a team of 6 and had a grand time.

Check received for $4450. We are approx 80% whole. A better outcome than I anticipated... My husband seems to think there's a chance we'll see the rest. Thoughts?

Thanks for your well thought out post, @papaflamingo! We are reasonably seasoned cruisers (this will be #27 for me) and have tried everything from an inside on Carnival (😵) to Crystal/SS/SB and mostly, a whole lot in between. Our most frequent cruises have been on Celebrity because they were a nice compromise between what WE wanted and what our KIDS wanted... but I am over their nickel and diming. Yes, I think you do know what I had read about the mobility concerns and accommodations for such. Your point is well taken; in general it does sound like Regent's shore excursion department is not their very strongest suit. FWIW we are actually typically looking for very active excursions. I know that we won't find the most active options "included" on Regent (on our Med cruise in Sept we did a lot of hiking, biking, and even some canyoneering and rappelling, if that gives you a sense of what we often look for) but we tried to choose well. This cruise is to celebrate a milestone birthday which gives a little added stress to "get it right". I definitely understand your point about value as well, having taken our children on Oasis of the Seas in Star Class this past January and spending most of the trip regretting it. Smooth sailing to you!

Probably the usual grumbles, but combined, it's enough to make you wonder... expectations track along with prices, and Regent is not inexpensive. Hearing about deck space/chair hog issues (is this ever fixable!?), concerns about availability of meals if arriving from shore excursions mid afternoon, just little things, really. I am thoroughly warned though of the shore excursions department which sounds abominable, really. We were able to secure spots in all of our desired excursions by being "on the ball" but I hope they are also good experiences. There seems to be some tension about activity levels and it sounds as though some more active participants were underwhelmed by the activity levels, while participants who may have mobility concerns were pushed too far or not well accommodated.

Light blue is Aqua Class...

I enjoy the solarium and the relative quiet too, but I also think it's unreasonable to not allow paying passengers (yes KSF sometimes but not always) to use these facilities if the weather is uncooperative.

Excited (and a little apprehensive, TBH, based on what I've been reading on the boards) to try Grandeur. Our first Regent cruise, Jan 8th.

I just want to say... peanut butter is a 'write in' on the breakfast menu? Probably because it is so expensive, I guess.

I am both a physician and a certified yoga instructor… I trained as a yoga teacher for my own enjoyment and do not teach- when people ask about this I joke that my “day job” pays better but I see that on EJ that is no longer true! Wow……

Only to retrieve the unshot skeets!

It took a few reminders but they sent me the menu today! I am happy I can try to purchase this wine (Michel Redde Pouilly-Fume) for my home enjoyment.