papaflamingo

We had multiple at sea days in 2018. There's always some activity going on. We had interesting lectures, the casinos were open, and they played various games around the ship as well as other get togethers like Trivia. But for us, we would get up, have breakfast, sit by the pool, have lunch, take a nap, cocktails before dinner, dinner, show, after dinner drinks, then bed. Repeat as necessary. 😎

Are you required to do a test to board?

We pre booked 2 cruises (did it on the ship). What was explained to us is that when you pre-book, you are actually putting your name on the waitlist. When they open bookings up, they clear the waitlist and you have a set amount of time (I think 48 hours) to accept the clearance or reject it. So get your TA to get your name on the pre-booking waitlist and when you clear they'll let you know.

Just to answer... the shore excursion is FREE only to Regent Cruise passengers, just like a free drink at a club is only available to those who are members. And since you get zero cost reduction in your Regent cruise fare if you don't go on any excursions, don't drink, don't eat in any specialty restaurants, by your definition of "free," those items would be "free" because they don't cost you anything. The fare to get on the ship is the same whether or not you use them. Now pre cruise hotel and airfare are "included" as you can get a refund for not using them. 😎

We missed Martha's Vineyard, both Greenland stops (Nuuk and Paamiut), but they added St Pierre a French Island off Eastern Canada, and Akuryri in Iceland, we also missed Eskifjordur, Iceland. All the missed ports were due to winds and weather. Regent did a fantastic job of adding St. Pierre and Akuryri, both interesting stops. Our total cruise was 40 nights and was port intensive.... 32 ports in 40 nights! So personally I enjoyed the added sea days. 😎

We used the Emed testing but bought our tests from Optum Health (as recommended by Celebrity). We chose to buy through Optum as at the time Emed had a supply chain issue. Anyway, it was very easy. BUT, we had one test where the fluid was dry and it was unusable, so make sure you have a backup test available. My advice to you is to watch YouTube videos of whatever test you choose. I watched about 3 of them (one was actually pretty funny as the guy kept "hitting" on the monitor 🤣). The advantage to the videos is that the monitors we had were likely in India and had an accent. I'm hard of hearing anyway, but since I had watched the videos I was fully aware of each step, so it made it a very easy procedure.

You misunderstood me. I never said marketing classes teach that "free" and "included" are "just a word,." I said using the term "free" is a marketing strategy. As to the words being "NOT interchangeable," I would say that "included" indicates to me that if I choose to NOT include something I'd get a refund of that portion of the cost. If something is "free," I have a choice to participate or not but there'll be no refund or rebate, I simply choose not to use it. Is that more what you meant by "NOT interchangeable?"

We were on Navigator from May 28-July 7 (did a B2B that included the first 20 days of the Grand Cruise). It was an absolutely wonderful cruise (in spite of some rough seas and missed ports). I absolutely loved the Navigator for it's amazing intimacy and it's outstanding crew. Will be following your posts (completely envious of course). Hope you have a great cruise.

Yes, I would have to agree with you, you may be petty. But I suspect you're going to find similar "pettiness" on most other cruise lines, and that their deposit is greater than $100 and does not become FCC like at Regent.. But good luck in your future cruising.

Your wife is much nicer than mine. My wife won't pack for me, instead she stands there and tells me how I'm "doing it wrong." 😜 Thanks for a wonderful review and great pics!!!!!

You're going to "... hold a grudge..." over a $100 per person admin fee that is available as Future Cruise Credit because Regent has followed the lead of most the rest of the cruise industry, and you call Regent "petty?"

Apparently few, if any, on here has every taken any Marketing Classes. It's just a word y'all. Does it really make a difference to you if they interchange them?

"For all voyages, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA) and/or World Health Organization (WHO) authorized single brand vaccination protocol will be accepted, with the final dose having been received 14 days or more prior to embarkation. Vaccines include J&J Janssen, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca/Oxford (also known as Covishield and Vaxzervria), Sinopharm BIBP, Sinovac and Covaxin. These vaccines are listed as examples. Refer to FDA, EMA or WHO websites for full approved current list. A mixed vaccination combination of two doses of an FDA or EMA approved/authorized or WHO Emergency Use Listed (EUL) COVID-19 two-dose series with a minimum interval of 17 days will also be accepted. Note: individuals receiving a Janssen COVID-19 vaccine before or after another COVID-19 vaccine are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 14 days after receipt of the single dose of the Janssen vaccine. For sailings in Mediterranean, any guest who’s primary COVID-19 vaccination will be beyond 270 days at the time of disembarkation from their voyage must have a COVID-19 “booster” dose prior to embarkation. Guests who currently do not meet the EU Healthy Gateways definition of “Fully Vaccinated” should ensure they receive their “booster” prior to travelling to the ship or you will be unable to board. The EU Healthy Gateway considers the “booster” effective immediately, so it may be administered as late as the day of embarkation, though we strongly advise to have it completed before traveling to the ship."

We used Luggage Forward both directions on our May-July cruise from Montreal to Southampton. We simply read the instructions and abided by them. We carried all our toiletries, etc. Everything went extremely smoothly. These regulations affect all luggage forwarding companies. They aren't the choice of Luggage Forward, but individual national customs laws. As jmalux says, " please pay attention." Always... ALWAYS read the instructions carefully and if you don't understand, email them and get a clear answer.

I tend to agree, but if they cut a stop out and gave you longer at each stop someone would surely say that the tour wasn't worth it because "too long at each photo stop and they skipped the museum, view point, etc." I, for one, am fine not going to museums unless they are remarkable (Louvre, Hermitage, etc). And if the museum is that good, then it should be a separate tour. P.S. Your photos and write-ups are outstanding! Thanks for taking us along.

Funny you should ask. We are the ORIGINAL Flamingo Club (not the one's "claiming" to be "Flamingos" that you elude to). We. started a party group in 1991 and have done a number of cruises together. All other "Flamingos" are simply imposters. 😜

I book early because: 1. I get the cabin I want. 2. Prices can (and usually do) go up as the cruise gets closer 3. The cruise can sell out 4. I've locked in a price I am willing to pay Example.. a few years ago I booked a Southern Caribbean cruise. Some friends wanted to go but decided to wait until their cruise a few weeks after I had booked, so they could book on board for the perks. By the time they boarded their upcoming cruise, the cruise I was on had gone UP almost DOUBLE and there were very few cabins left and those were undesirable. We cruised the Southern Caribbean, our friends stayed home an read my social media posts about the cruise. THAT'S why I book early.

We did b2b where the changeover was in New York City. No requirements to leave the ship or anything. We got off at our leisure after everyone else had departed (about 8 of us were staying on board) to mostly get out of the way of the busy crew. Walked off and back on with no interruptions or delays. No need for us to go through Customs or anything else. I will add that we had already made 3 U.S. port stops on the first leg so that may have been a difference regarding Customs.

WAIT!!! You mean that WASN'T the shoe shine bag??? 😱

EXACTLY!!!

If you can't find a pharmacy, consider testing on the internet with Emed or some other company. RCCL will accept the results and you can do the test in about 30 minutes from your hotel (assuming you have a good enough internet). We used them for a Celebrity cruise back in Dec. with no problem at all. Simply order some tests and take them with you (take 2 extras in case there's a problem with one of them).

You are likely correct. It does seem a bit weird to only drop the requirements on short cruises. Regent Cruise Line has dropped testing requirements on Aug. 1 unless the country. of origin requires it. So I think we are slowly coming out of "Covid mode."

The problem with going into MTD an hour late is that it will likely run you into the second seating. That's why they likely won't allow it. They only allot 2.5 hours for dining so a 1.5 hour dinner would be rushed at the very best. Your safest bet is to plan dining somewhere else that night. We did this in 2017 when we did a family cruise. We were in suites so had access to Coastal Kitchen. We fed the kids (all under 12) with room service that night and we adults had a great late dinner. I'd simply plan an alternate dining experience, either specialty dining or Windjammer. That will take all the stress out of it.

I wouldn't worry, Embassy Suites always includes breakfast. I imagine the voucher you received is a standard voucher good for any hotel that they might book you in, so of course it would state "hotel, tax, porterage only." I've been to many Embassy Suites, including Ft. Lauderdale, and have NEVER been checked for room number. No worries, enjoy the breakfast. I think it's great! Eggs to order, lots of bacon, sausage toast options, cereals, etc. 😎

You don't need insurance....until you do. In 2011 we had a cruise booked out of Venice. My mom passed away and we had to cancel. The Cruise Insurance paid out and the amount we received (full cost of cruise, air, etc.) was way more than ll the premiums added together that I had paid in the past. Another story... recently I read a FB post by someone on a Luxury cruise line who broke her leg on day 2 and had to be hospitalized and sent home. She didn't have cruise insurance and wanted the cruise line to refund her the balance of the cruise. She was another "don't need insurance" type until she needed it. Now she wants the cruise line to refund her cost. Use your best judgment. If you can afford to lose the money you spent on the cruise, and afford the cost of any medical issues, then "self insure." IF not, get a policy.