Kane

Here's an indirect answer to your question: I griped in the mid-cruise eval about the Regent "green" water policy with those refillable bottles both in the cabins and at the restaurants. I may be in the minority, but I just don't like it. As an unintended consequence, the "trickle down" ended up as blame of our cabin attendant, who was innocent and provided superior service. I went to see the General Manager to clear this up. He did provide a personal apology to our cabin attendant. The result: They started providing us with MANY bottles of Perrier. This was a by-product of my gripe, but there is no question in my mind that you can get Pellegrino/Perrier if you so desire. On one voyage, I got a bottle of Campari and got Perrier (screw bottle) instead of wasting cans of club soda.

Sounds like a bunch of fertilizer. IP addresses should have no effect on the phone OS. We disembarked Grandeur 8 days ago in NYC. I used the app for the 16 days of the voyage on my Android phone. The app still needs a great deal of work, but it did function to provide a few basic informational needs each day. 1. By mid-morning, it was able to provide a copy of the daily "Passages". Hard to view a .pdf on a phone, but the information was there. 2. The menus at the various dining venues were very basic an not up to date, but you could see the "basics". 3. The "Account" section needs a lot of work. You could NOT see your account balance. What was available was the excursions that you had signed-up for. The "pain" was that you had to input your credentials every time you wanted to see the info (it did not remember who you were). 4. There is a catalog describing details of ALL excursions being provided. 5. There is a directory of telephones of ship departments and Staff. 6. The "Art Experience" - description of art around the ship. The app needs a lot of work, but it's improved from the prior voyage we were on. There is hope.😁

Thankfully, the days of having to pack (and wear) a Tux has passed. My opinion: "Formal Optional" designation is made these days to permit folks to dress formally on such nights without being thought of as odd.

Speaking from experience: Panama Canal - The first time we made passage, we were in the cabin furthest forward. It was nice but not necessary. We have been thru the canal 2 additional times. The transit takes most of the day and you will most likely move around the ship to view the action from various perspectives. Repeat: not necessary to be in cabin with forward view. Amazon - cabin position irrelevant. The river is so wide, most of the time, while sailing, you will have only a distant view of the banks of the river. When you are sailing closer to shore, there is really very little of interest to see. I sure hope this doesn't surpress the excitement you may be looking forward to.

Wine lunch for Grandeur BCN-NYC starting today. Looks good.

On our very first Regent cruise on the Mariner, they featured a group that called themselves "Prtivate Reserve". They were a group of winemakers from Napa that gave high end wine tastings a few days at Sea, but played music in the Horizon Lounge each evening to a packed house. The group leader was Michael Martini of the Louis Martini Winery. These guys were the epitome of living the high life. It convinced us that Regent was "our" cruise line. Unfortunately, we were never again able to find Private Reserve featured on another voyage.🙁

Damn! That sure brings back memories ... it's also around the time those spherical soap balls vanished😁

This topic sort of went down a rabbit hole. The leader of the culinary arts class is probably a secret because they don't even know whom it might be. He/she is there as an entertainer, not to give any top Michelin chef competition. His/her duty is to get the wine flowing so that everyone will have a good time. Will you learn how to learn to cook something really great? Unlikely, as all ingredients are in pre-measured glass dishes ... you just throw them on the heat and have another glass of wine. Will it come out? ... almost certainly. Will you have a good time? Most likely, I did and made it back to my cabin o.k. since I wasn't driving. 😁

Response very heavy on the fertilizer.

I don't think you should be overly concerned about your boarding. Vancouver is the primary port for Alaska cruises and they know what they are doing. Of the 3 ships you mention, the Zaandam is the largest, and the only one with > 1,000 passengers (1,400). This is really baby stuff compared to when multiple 3,000+ ships are in at once. Read your documentation carefully and show up when and where they tell you.

The Venetians are trying to limit tourist visits, so it makes total sense to bring them all the way in on the causeway, perhaps charge them the day visit tariff, then send them back out the causeway. Truly bizarre, something that Caravaggio might have dreamed up.

When you board the ship, you are normally sent to La Veranda for lunch. The bar crew offers specials at this time. They usually have 3 offers: The wine lunch which is excellent, normally about $160 on a sea day A Champaign lunch, normally over $200 Sometimes a Cognac tasting ~ $90 The best value is the wine lunch. These items do occasionally sell-out. Edit: yes, you can use shipboard credits to pay

Read the scuba thread and it seems to be a bit marginally organized. I can understand how Seabourn would want to contract it out instead of doing it all on board. Snorkel excursions were not well described. On other cruise lines, I have experienced some pretty poorly organized snorkel excursions. Is Seabourne well done? The main issue we encountered is that the contractors do not provide fins. If you are flopping around in calm waters 4-5 feet deep, no problems. I have been on a couple of (harmless) shark viewing excursions in 40-50 feet of water with 3-5 foot seas and no fins. Maneuvering to get back aboard a boarding ladder that is rising and falling 3-5 feet with no fins can get dicey, especially for a bunch of geezers. What are the Seabourn snorkel excursions like?

Just out of curiosity, I went to one of the boards that is more known for "Get aboard, get drunk, stay drunk" and queried "Dress Code". 😁🙃😀

It mystifies me why Regent is unsuccessful in providing a simple working app for daily use by passengers. Yes, all sorts of wonderful (future) capabilities could be provided, but most of us have a few basic things that we want to know (and won't be required to remember): What is on the menu at each of the dining venues today? What are the times that this food & drink(s) will be available? What are the scheduled events of the day and their times (from the newsletter)? Deck plans would be helpful. Directory of departments and important phone numbers. Most of us geezers have a phone and are capable of using a simple app.

Spot on observation 😁😁😁 One guy we occasionally cruise with is a clinical psychologist. Fun guy but, even over cocktails, impossible to get a psych opinion from. Basically, no opinion without direct examination of the subject. (I hope he doesn't keep private notes on me 🙂 Closing note: Skill beating upwind wins races; sailing downwind with a Mai Tai in hand is a lot more fun.

I've always wondered what a psychologist would have to say about people who prefer aft-facing vs. forward-facing suites. A/B, Venus/Mars, left/right brain, etc.

Crystallites can be a bit pedantic about dress codes. If you are feeling a bit rebellious, jacket/tie or not, you could just go commando and quietly sit there with a smile on your face enjoying yourself. 😁

Just a question about scuba certification: Decades ago, I did a lot of scuba, was certified, and had my own equipment. Career basically brought this to an end. Got rid of my equipment and lost track of my certification card. The question is: How do the cruise lines handle the issue of certification in conjunction with scuba excursions?

I really hate it when folks "spill the beans" on the great advantage of the forward staterooms. 😬 There are only 2 elevators serving the aft end of the ship. Largest crowds are right after the evening show, but even then, one never seems to have to wait more than the 2nd car.

Ah yes, the good old days aboard Crystal. I definitely recall packing Tux, Business suit, and Blazer for different dress evening standards. Cummerbunds, bat wing shirts, and other neckwear gee-gaws along with the three padded shoulder jackets required two suitcases (steamer trunk?). Apologies, but I'm glad those days are in the past.

I will agree that, until final payment day, I did not have a ticket. I guess somehow, by luck or magic, on final payment day Flight Ease was able to fashion tickets for us that exactly matched price, schedule, and seats that were quoted to us more than 6 months earlier. Seems like more factors may have been involved.

No disagreements here. If you travel enough, discovery that air arrangements occasionally go haywire is more something that will eventually happen. One just needs to be prepared to adapt. The cruise line we most frequently sail has their own air department. They do a great job, but you don't see online instantaneous results. Carnival lines seems large enough to provide Flight Ease as a way to get around having their own air department. If you are lucky enough to find a good routing, it's a pretty painless process, and everyone is happy.

We have only used Flight Ease once before but found it to be a pretty useful tool. It's not a magic solution that will get you the lowest fare possible, but (up to final payment) provides a free tool to get confirmed bookings while you research better and possibly less costly alternatives. Basically, you can "book" confirmed air travel on almost any airline and route at no additional cost. You will have a confirmed bookings that you can modify daily, if you wish, up and until final payment date. You can change or cancel at any time up to that date. In the meantime, you can be trying to better the deal with your airline loyalty program and miles. You just have to make a final decision on final payment day. The rest of the story: We ended up doing the Flight Ease deal on our Seabourn Antarctica voyage. Unfortunately, United screwed up in Newark and we missed the embarkation, not Flight Ease's fault. Whatever the case, Flight Ease is basically a free tool that you can use. I will definitely try it again if the opportunity arises.

From discussion, Crystal seems to be the holdout for the good old days. I always thought the ambassador hosts were a good idea, even though I had (and still have) my wife to dance with. Ballroom dancing seems to have pretty much vanished everywhere else ... swing or stay seated.🙁 I am, however, really glad the "Tux era" has gone by the wayside. I was really surprised to hear that staff photographers were still going strong on Crystal. Maybe the art auctions will make a comeback. It seems casinos have. 😁