SWFLAOK

4 hours ago, Pcardad said:

Due to people in this age group often having foot issues, the crew is understandably lenient with footwear. The shoes you describe are fine.

I think the people who consider leather sneakers appropriate for elegant casual, and wear them with suits at work are not part of "this age group often having foot issues". It's the younger people who would rather not wear leather dress shoes under any circumstance, and certainly don't want to bring them on a cruise.  And even though I'm in the older age group, I agree with them.

If your shoes don't attract everyone's attention in the dining room, then they should be acceptable. A pair of dark leather sneakers will blend in nicely with elegant casual attire on the cruise.

There are, however, always a few old men that wear old white sneakers to dinner, and I don't think it has anything to do with foot issues. They usually also wear a hat. White leather sneakers work well for walking excursions, as well as on flights.

But, there's only so much room in your luggage for more shoes, and as you get older, it's harder to manage a lot of luggage. We haven't gotten to that point yet.

On Grandeur there are 3 specialty restaurants. You can make a reservation for each of them before the cruise. If you want another reservation while onboard, you can ask your butler to make those reservations. Also, if you decide to eat dinner in your cabin with room service, your butler can arrange that, and will serve it to you in your cabin, course by course if that's what you want. They will also shine your shows, have a few items pressed on boarding, and even unpack and pack for you if you want that. We really haven't asked much of our butler in the past, but one time we asked him to look into the excursion we had already booked the next day since we would be off the ship that day, and he found out what we needed to know. If there's any way they can help you, they will.

12 minutes ago, cqtiger said:

I can not work out why it isn't assigned at time of booking like most other lines. Often you may pay a premium but it takes out the worry of being given a location you dont like

Regent doesn't assign GTY until a week or 2 before sailing. I can't imagine any cruise line assigning a guaranteed cabin at the time of booking. If you want an assigned cabin, then you have to pay for it at the time of booking. GTY gives you a chance to be upgraded at no cost, but the downside is that you have to wait until the last minute to find out where and what your cabin is.

My brother is not fussy about his cabin being anywhere on the ship since he doesn't get seasick, and noise in his cabin doesn't bother him. He still is bothered by not knowing what cabin he's been assigned until the last minute, but so far he has gotten a veranda cabin when he paid for a window cabin. It doesn't make up for paying a 100 percent single supplement, and I'm sure all solo travelers feel the same way.

On 2/13/2024 at 5:17 PM, Sunprince said:

OskiBear, sorry to read of your less then satisfactory experience on the Voyager.  This might not be a helpful comment, but here it goes…you paid a high price to sail Regent in Antarctica on a non-expedition ship that cannot do “landings” on the continent.  For that itinerary, it’s best to do a true expedition ship, offered by Seabourn or other cruise lines specializing in Antarctic expeditions.  They have far better trained expedition crews and  captains, and know the waters much better.  This does not excuse poor service or standards on the Voyager, but for the same price, there are some much better luxury options, with a much better expedition experience.  

I was thinking the same thing. We have been on Voyager a number of times, but I would not take that South American cruise on it. It's not the right ship for it.

We did have a problem with the Captain of Voyager a few years ago in Southeast Asia, who would not allow us to tender to shore when numerous large tenders were brought out to us for tendering in to Ko Samui. We had previously tendered into ports in the Marquesas and Cook Islands from the Paul Gauguin on much smaller tenders, in much rougher seas. Instead, we sat for 6 hours, rocking and rolling, enduring seasickness, until it was time to sail to our next port. This was the Captain's decision, and he never communicated well on the entire cruise, nor did he interact with the passengers.  I don't know if it's still the same Captain or not.

1 minute ago, Pcardad said:

You will find any children...if there are any...to be extremely well behsved....possibly better behaved than the adults. 😉

That's not what we found on Regent cruises in the summer when there have been plenty of kids. Both a Mariner Alaska cruise in August, and a Voyager July cruise of the Med had enough kids that they traveled in groups, taking over areas that they enjoyed (the pool in July for example). They were mostly from big family groups (which Regent started marketing to a few years ago, apparently with discounts offered). There were no adults from their family groups keeping them in check. They also disrupted excursions, chasing each other and pushing their way through the tour groups.

After the second cruise, we stopped taking cruises during the summer since that limits kids to those less than 5, and those that are home schooled.

1 hour ago, mrlevin said:

It is interesting that other cruise lines seem to be avoiding the Strait of Hormuz in addition to the Gulf of Aden; yet Mariner and Navigator are completing their voyages, as scheduled, in Abu Dhabi.  I hope that doesn't come back to bite Regent.

Cruise mapper has shown plenty of cruises coming out of if ports in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai, going through the Strait of Hormuz to Muscat, making a stop and returning back through the strait to the Persian Gulf ports. There are 3 currently in progress; MSC Aida and Costa.

We're on the last Navigator cruise before they head around Africa. We could end up with a few extra nights in Mumbai at the end of the cruise. Silver Moon is adding hotel nights in Mumbai to start their next cruise since their around Africa cruise from the Med without passengers is taking extra days.

Our problem would be that we're flying Qatar Airways via Doha to Bangkok to start the cruise, and flying back from Abu Dhabi to Doha to MIA. If Qatar Airways could get us a flight from Mumbai to Doha to catch our already booked Regent flight, that could still work, but might be hard if Regent decides to do this at the last minute.

I remember when I used to look forward to our cruises, but every since Covid, there have been too many things to worry about. Driving vacations, even with all of the traffic, has become less stressful.

4 hours ago, Whinenowine said:

Thanks, @pingpong1.  I had replied to @vistaman before I saw your response above...but it's good to see that great minds think alike!  Yeah I may do that, though as DW barely drinks, that's a lot of extra wine/booze for me to imbibe.   I think I'm up to the task!

We did a 2 week Caribbean cruise from Miami to Miami on the little, old ship, Navigator. I don't mind the older smaller ships, but this cruise was considerably above the normal max passengers. We had 3 cabins for the 4 of us, and we are SSS gold members. Both of our Regent newbies in their own cabins (paying 100 percent single supplement) asked for bourbon in their rooms, and did not get it. At the bars, the best they had was Woodford, but it only lasted for the first week of the cruise. One of our newbies was able to get a bottle of Woodford in her Concierge level cabin, but the other, in a Veranda suite, had to settle for something other than bourbon.  For our 2 bottles in our cabin, we hadn't asked for bourbon (we already knew they wouldn't give us Blanton's), and got what we ordered online before the cruise. Our newbies were tempted to buy something more to their liking when stopped in ports, but since they had already paid the 100 percent single supplement, and there are other drinks that they enjoy, they went with other options. We did, however, buy some small bottles of curacao from the distillery, and had it for after dinner drinks a few times while onboard.

And I loved the cronuts, and ate 1 every morning at the Coffee connection with my cappuccino. I gained 5 pounds on the cruise, and I blame the cronuts.

I really don't know why the newer cruise ships are keeping the bath tubs. We have 2 bath tubs at home, and only use the large one once in a while. On cruise ships, if there's a shower that's what we use. The bath tub has a laundry line over it, and we hang wet swim suits and hand wash on it. But we find it a waste of space. 

Two trying to get ready at the same time are likely to bump into each other on the bath mat between the standalone shower and the tub shower. In some of the higher level suites, the tub and shower might be in separate rooms, and would allow 2 people to get ready at the same time.

We have about 100 nights on Regent, and another cruise in April. We've never experienced a theme night. I would ask Regent.

Theme night's aren't our thing, and we would want to know how to avoid it rather than what we needed to bring to participate. Our suitcases are already full enough without having to bring something special to wear for a few hours.

3 hours ago, cruiseluv said:

Not correct, in our December Splendor cruise San Juan was just a stop. It could have been because it was our last stop before Miami and its a US territory we had to do immigration there. Maybe thats the only place where they have such facilities

We have taken several cruises on Sea Dream Yacht Club. Their 2 ships are quite small, with 112 passengers max, and about the same number of crew. They offer cruises in the Caribbean and the Med. In San Juan, they have always docked at the Old San Juan port, at dock 1.

They do customs and immigration there. We did back to back cruises, and had to leave the ship, go through immigration, go to shore, and wait until everyone had left the ship. After that, we passed by immigration and returned to the ship, along with a number of new crew. The new guests came onboard mid afternoon. There were 4 of us on the back to back, and we ate lunch together by the pool. The service and food were exceptional.

When we ended our cruise at the same dock after our second cruise, we passed through the same immigration desk at the dock, and after the transportation provided by the cruise took us to the airport, we only had to go through security at the San Juan airport.

38 minutes ago, Bruce61 said:

 

Yes Mahogany, we are on the same voyage but we did not book the air with Regent.  Look forward to meeting you on the cruise.  On our only prior Regent cruise (Alaska on Explorer) we could not disembark until about 9:45 am.  Not sure how long they usually need from docking to disembarkation but we were directed to leave in groups and ours was not called until at least 9:00 if not later.   I also am a bit wary of airport crowds and cancellations as coincidentally the Olympics end in Paris the day before we disembark.

 

Jim and Flossie, we will just be finishing three weeks away from home and really cannot extend it due to very hectic schedules (still about five years from retirement).  Otherwise a stay in London would be nice.  

Since you are booking your own return flight, Regent will not be providing you transportation to LHR from the ship. During your cruise, they will give you a disembarkation questionnaire and include options for paying for transportation Regent. Based on your answers, they will schedule your disembarkation time.

Rather than book your flight before seeing Regent's airport transportation offerings, I would book my own transportation to LHR so choose a time to be picked up. 

As far as needing to disembark only when Regent has scheduled you to, just keep all of your luggage in your cabin rather than putting out anything the night before. When the port clears the ship, independent travelers who have nothing but carry ons are allowed to disembark. If you can carry your carry ons and roll your suitcases, you can just leave the ship. We've seen people do this on Regent and Viking, and will do it ourselves if we have our own transportation when leaving the ship since we've been delayed by hours a few times in the past just to wait for all of the suitcases to be sorted in the port.

2 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Yes, I think the ducks were and are sort of a children's game. Regent doesn’t attract many children, though children are welcome onboard. And to my observation, the kind of children who do cruise on Regent are interested in things other than rubber ducks

We have a Jeep and bought it without knowing that ducks were a thing for Jeep owners. They're a thing for Jeep Wrangler owners, but we luckily haven't had to deal with it for our Grand Cherokee.

We once received a cute little duck on our bathtub in a motel along I-26 going back North from a family wedding many years ago. There was a note that said please take me home if you smiled when you saw me, with no charge. That duck still sits on the edge of my bathtub 25 years later, and still makes me smile.

On the other hand, we recently stayed at a very nice boutique hotel in Panama City, Panama, where we really enjoyed our stay. There was a duck in the beautiful upscale shower. There was a menu of ducks available for purchase. We didn't buy one for 25 dollars. 

We haven't seen any ducks onboard Regent, and won't be bringing any in our luggage.

From our experience on Regent (Navigator, Mariner, Voyager, Splendor) we have always had a tub with a laundry line. We never use the tub, but we always use the laundry line. Regent has free laundry for everyone post Covid, but there are still things we want to wash and hang. Not all cabins are the same so you need to check if you have a tub or not. Most cabins have a tub on Regent and other cruises we've taken. We really wonder why since we could still find a place to hang the few things we hand wash without the tub, and the tub is a large waste of space if you only take showers onboard.

We are booked on Silver Dawn for the 2025 World Cruise. If they have a ship's dog assigned officially onboard, and are welcoming passengers to bring their dogs, then we will most likely cancel. I've had some bad experiences with dogs in the past, starting as a child, and would not feel uncomfortable having to handle this for almost 5 months.

5 hours ago, SellaVee said:

People do take things by accident quite often.  We stayed with friends of ours and my DH tried to take her shoes thinking they were mine.  To be fair we do have similar tastes.

We had dinner at a friend's house, and my DH wore our friend's sneakers home. The next morning, I noticed them, and pointed out that they were not his. DH called his friend, and he had already worn them that morning, and hadn't noticed. They did, however, exchange them later that day.

23 hours ago, DeepFreeze63 said:

On the Grandeur, Regent provides detergent BUT it is not automatically added to the machine so maybe you could use the Tide modules.

I am, in no way, obsessed with environmental issues, but if Regent provides a detergent, you should use it. The wash water goes into the ocean on a cruise ship, and Regent has had to investigate what is safe for overboard discharge, and what isn't. A quick search on Tide pods brings up a number of concerns with them. I would go with the Regent's choice.

I do use the bathrobe onboard, but never at home. I think it's the chance that a room steward will come to the door as soon as I get out of the shower.

I could never take the bathrobe with me since there isn't any room for something that bid in my suitcases.

1 minute ago, SWFLAOK said:

It was Qatar Airways. They told us we had seats assigned, and we checked online, and the seats appeared to be assigned. But it did not show as ticketed our outgoing flight. A few weeks later, we checked on the Qatar website again, and the seats were no longer assigned. We talked to our TA, and she found that we would have to wait until check-in for our seat assignments unless we paid an upcharge for seat assignments. We will be checking regularly on our flights until we leave.

But on the up side, we were able to enter our Jet Blue numbers on the Qatar Airways website and it accepted it.

On 1/12/2024 at 8:06 PM, Lonedaddy said:

What airline did they book you on without seat assignments ? BA?

It was Qatar Airways. They told us we had seats assigned, and we checked online, and the seats appeared to be assigned. But it did not show as ticketed our outgoing flight. A few weeks later, we checked on the Qatar website again, and the seats were no longer assigned. We talked to our TA, and she found that we would have to wait until check-in for our seat assignments unless we paid an upcharge for seat assignments. We will be checking regularly on our flights until we leave.

We always pay a deviation fee on Regent since we don't want to wait until the last minute to get a good flight. We've done that for all of our Regent cruises, and we have never asked for a specific flight or airline, only a flight from the 2 closest airports near us (FLL or MIA), with direct flights outside of the US nearer to where our cruise embarks.

If you wait until Regent will book a flight without a deviation fee, there won't be any good flights or any seats for 2 near each other. We don't want that.

However, on our upcoming cruise, after paying for the deviation, and receiving flight confirmations (with business class seats assigned) that we accepted, we later found out that no seats were assigned in business class on out outgoing flights. Everything was as expected for our return flights. A few months later, we found out that Regent would not pay to assign our business class seats, and that we would have to pay 400 dollars to have business class seats assigned for our outgoing flights assigned. We found that out earlier this week, and by that time, only the least desirable business class seats were still available. We took them anyway since there's no chance any business class seats would still be available at check-in 3 months from this week. We consider this an upgrade fee since we were told we had business class seats, and they weren't booked for us without us paying for seat assignments.

On 1/7/2024 at 8:11 PM, drron29 said:

It’s a pity that many don’t do that.

 

As in many places tipping wasn’t the culture until large scale American tourism began that tipping was introduced because they did not do as the Romans did. 
 

Luckily we found out from our tour guides in Australia that they make a very large salary, and pay very little for food and housing than we do in Florida. I think they were surprised to find that out from those of us on their excursions, where we only gave a tip for excellence, and told them why we were giving a tip. After what we were told about tipping in Australia by the locals, we didn't feel that we should give a tip at bars or restaurants, but we still did  give a small tip if we were given excellent service. If Australians do the same visiting the US, where our cost of living is high compared to salaries for a tour guide, then they may not be welcomed if they don't tip. Salaries in the US in the food industry have gone up a substantial amount since Covid, and the percentage of tip has increased along with that.

And yes, we did tip at an Italian restaurant when our tour guide suggested a local restaurant in Florence for lunch. Three couples went (and not the tour guide), and we had a wonderful time, with great food, 3 dollar glasses of wine, and we enjoyed everything for a very low price. The service was excellent even though none of us spoke Italian, and even with a tip, it was a bargain.

We put our Verizon phones in airplane mode for most days on our recent cruise. But on 4 days when we wanted to use the phone, and took it out of airplane mode, we were charged 10 dollars per day.  This was on Viking Ocean last month, and the days that we used our phone were in Panama and Costa Rica. We had access to both internet and cell service for 10 dollars. I think there are some countries where it is 15 dollars a day instead of 10. Since we don't need to use it everyday, it's not excessive for access to our Verizon home plan when out of the US.

On 1/5/2024 at 12:05 PM, UUNetBill said:

No reviews in yet on 800 on any of the three Explorer class ships, unfortunately - but from looking at the deck plans it appears to have a smaller balcony.  And other front-facing cabin reviews have complained about the wind, which I personally think would be a definite issue.  If you plan on using the balcony, especially if you have a lot of sea days, I'd probably opt for a standard side-facing PH cabin.

The 700 and 900 cabins appear to be the same as 800 on the three Explorer class ships, and there is a review for both 700 and 900 on Splendor. There are some interesting comments for both of them.

From having just taken a cruise on Viking Ocean in cabin 4000, which is a large front cabin on deck 4. There are only 2 cabins in the front, with no access to the front "balcony" for the front cabins on Viking Mars. Access is only allowed to the side balconies (unless you want to open a small port in a bulkhead, and are small enough to make it through). On ships older than Mars, there were sliders to the front balconies, but now there are fixed windows.

We had to close all of our front curtains before it got dark at night to allow the bridge to not be disturbed. We heard the anchor extremely well when it was deployed. And on the days when seas were rough, we spent as much time as possible near the back of deck 1. We just changed cabins on one of our future cruises from near the front to mid ship to avoid a future problem. I would not book 700, 800 or 900 on any of the Regent  Explorer class ships.

It's hard enough to trust cruise lines that have not gone out of business while they have passengers onboard, but there is no way I will ever book a cruise on a cruise line that had passengers onboard and additional bookings when they ran out of fuel and had no credit to pay for more. What kind of maintenance were they doing since they had no money for fuel?

I don't know how you can get insurance for cruises on Crystal, since its previous owner could not make it work financially even with a substantial capital backing from other cruise ships in China, and when a non cruise travel company purchased Crystal, minus 1 ship bought by another company since it must have been the best deal from a business point of view.

3 hours ago, traveljkkk said:

We received AA miles for the AA portion of the trip and the JAL portions that were booked as AA flight (operated by JAL).

How were you able to get you AA frequent flyer number associated with the flight that Regent booked? We tried doing this and were not successful. Regent told us we needed to do it through AA, and AA told us we needed to do it through Regent.