CJANDH

We stayed at the Oriental last time we used a Regent hotel. Nice hotel but not a great location for walking to town for dinner. We now pass on the Regent hotel and stay at the Intercontinental. Great hotel with views of the cruise port. Short Uber to the ship, bypassing the Regent bus transfer and all the crowds and wait time.

You are right. Sorry. I was looking at the regular train from Sannomiya Station; not the shinkansen. The bullet train is about 23 minutes. Shin Kobe station is about a 15 minute cab ride from kobe port.

You would have to be very lucky with the traffic. Another option is to take the bullet train from Kobe to Kyoto. Takes about 90 minutes.

You missed the best part! 😁

How do you know all this?

That doesn't explain all of the toilet failures over the last few cruises. On our cruise the engineer fixing the problem said that the vacuum pipes are weak and leak too often. BTW do you work for Regent? You seem to have a lot of insider knowledge.

This is a pretty good FAQ page. Pity that they don't promote it more clearly on their website.

This is good advice. You may have the financial strength to absorb the loss of a trip cancellation or trip delay, in which case paying a premium to cover that potential probably will not be a good investment over a long period of cruising. However, the cost of a medical emergency while travelling overseas, especially if it involves evacuation, could be catastrophic. We are in that position. We purchase an annual plan from Allianz that provides high coverage for medical and evacuation and only token amounts for non-medical losses. It is very inexpensive (around $500 p.a.) compared to the thousands we used to pay each year to cover individual trips with coverage for all risks.

Agree. Well past its use-by date. We were on the Christmas cruise too and there were toilet issues. The vacuum tubes leaked on a couple of decks and the toilets wouldn't flush. Problem fixed in a couple of hours. But still a sign of an aging ship.

We use Allianz Travel.

You may recall that there were some issues with fireproof insulation not being up to spec at Fincanteri. Maybe the substitute material was not as soundproof.

For me, losing the money paid for the cruise would be painful, but not catastrophic. Having to pay for major medical and perhaps evacuation would be a disaster. So we buy an annual insurance policy that covers nothing much more that medical and evacuation. It costs only about $500 a year and covers all the trips we take each year. If I had to suck up the losses from a cancelled cruise, it would be less than I have saved from not insuring every cruise individually at thousands at a time.

Getting out of Miami airport takes quite a while, especially if the inter terminal train is still not running as it was over the holidays. However, traffic will be light at that time of night so I would guess you will be at your hotel by 10:30 pm.

And share drinks?

I never questioned that you were being truthful. I simply pointed out that your experience seemed to be different from most posters.

Great!

Have a great trip. Looking forward to any observations you can find the time to share wit us. We board Grandeur in June for a Greek Isles cruise. Anticipation!!!!

I would advise that you read the comments/reviews of Explora 1 on the Explora Journies board before making that decision. The one posted here by vistaman is by far the most negative one of all I have read. While not all the reviews are 5 star, they are generally positive, especially about the food and ths service. A common complaint is the size of the bathrooms, but not much else. I am boarding Explora 1 for the first time in March and am expecting a superior experience versus the Christmas cruise I just did on Mariner, which was a major disappointment.

Does the $30 upgrade also give you access to a better wine selection at lunch and dinner?

If you buy the $30 a day premium drinks package do you get better wines at lunch and dinner plus unlimited drinks at the bars?

That's the attitude that makes any cruise a great vacation. 😁

Sorry. My bad.

Agree. We stayed there for two nights in December. We booked an ocean view on the club floor with access to the lounge for breakfast and evening canapes. The lounge was closed for renovations so they gave us free breakfast in the dining room and $100 food and beverage credit for drinks, etc. Pretty generous I think. We are booked again for a March cruise pre-night.

These are guests from Texas. Regent offers business class for US guests.

Thanks for that Paul. I have been trying to get information via My Account website. It lists the details of our booking but the links to destination services, etc. are not working. I have now contacted Explora to get that activated. Hopefully, I will get the help I need. Now, thanks to you, I at least know what I am entitled to: car from airport to my hotel in Miami and car from pier to my hotel in Bridgetown. Thanks again for your help. Chris.