Lonedaddy

Seems like there are parents that don't watch their kids either. I don't mind kids, but if you Bring them on aa line like regent make sure they are well mannered. And yes if you sail over xmas, thanksgiving and august(especially in Europe) there is a strong probability there will be kids and of course some unruly ones. Reminds me of the time we were in Munich in August, and the Saudi's take their government subsidized vacation with Nannies. The kids were spoiled unsupervised brats racing in the lobby on wheeled shoes and when the hotel manager asked them to behave they just ignored him and told them he wasn't their boss. Never again!

Having been on one Regent cruise so far, I would say there were a few mistakes in service and quality, but I expected that after covid. What I do appreciate is that when there was a mistake made the staff that made the error or manager apologized and corrected the situation. To me the fact that someone is striving to be excellent and acknowledges a mistake is the difference for a person or company that just doesn't care. Really how many on this board can say they never made a mistake at work or could have done it better throughout your career or personal life. The key is to own it and strive to not repeat it. I sincerely believe that most if not all of Regent's staff and on-board managers are trying to follow that rule. So I had to wait 10 minutes longer for my meal, but I had good drinks, great company and on a beautiful ship in an exotic location, better than a day working. "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus

We were tendered in May. you could do the castle tour which is fairly short and then take taxi to Britannia and then back to ship. They had the Britannia tour on our splendor trip so as you said hopefully, they may add it.

not sure what program you are in but have you looked at booking main cabin (coach) tickets for both and using miles to upgrade to business. But not sure if regent will book you in coach at a lower price.

Does SS have pre or post cruise land packages available particularly on the South African cruises? If so, where do you find them as I tried the booking engine and there was no option for them.

I believe that was the canyon ranch list that included grats. The serene spa prices had 18 % added. I believe the list in post #5 is the most updated and the one they used on splendor in May.

Wicked was a great show at the Apollo Victoria theater.

We found the hair and nail services are reasonable for a ship, but the massage and treatments were way too much. DW tried two massage treatments and I did a deep tissue. The therapists were decent but nothing special, the facilities were nice but the prices were very expensive and the pushing of products afterward was extremely annoying. That said we will use the salon services but not the spa treatments on our next cruise.

I assume the cruise director has a say in the locally booked shows and the flutist, comedian and the Dublin Irish traditional group and dancers were all a hit. I would say David has a good eye for talent.

I enjoyed David very easy to converse with about shows and suggestions. Always said hi to me and conversed as I was usually in the seats on the right side of the theater where he enters to speak. But he did say hello whenever he saw me on the ship and asked if I was enjoying some of the shows.

If you are a history buff the tank museum near Bovington is fantastic

It was discussed on an older thread where they cancelled a couple of Alaska cruises for needed repairs. And as you said there she is!

Hopefully, they will see what is popular and add some more of those segments

I brought my Nikon with me but dragging it on shore excursions was a pain so I basically left it in the room most of the time. The iPhone make it much simpler and less baggage to take. Now I will bring my SeaLife dive camera when I go in January to Australia and Bali!

I see Regent does S. African cruises as well as the east coast repositioning, but I haven't seen any that go up the west coast (Madagascar, Mauritius Seychelles...) Have they ever done that? I see Oceania has some and Silverseas, But I'm kind of hooked on Regent. I was hoping to see one on the upcoming 24-25 schedule especially with another ship operating. Any speculation or insight whether they might do that route?

you should book now if they offer a better deal such as the 2 cabin upgrade your TA should be able to rebook you at the lower fare. You should also book so you get pick your shore excursions rather than wait and find out they are unavailable.

Great review, looking forward to boarding her in January !

I always try to have at least 2 nights prior on international flights and sometimes 3 e.g. New Zealand. Delays ,luggage issues, jet lag… most of the departure cities internationally are nice with lots to see so well worth the extra nights to me.

I would do the 12 or 14 PH. The rolling would be negligible unless you are sailing in really rough seas and then it would most likely be everywhere. Just depends how sensitive you are.

Just get online when dining opens up of PH and you should be able to get dinner on the night you want. We ate at 630 every night. As we just completed our first cruise on Regent I was anxious too but online I booked Pac rim on the first night, prime 7 the third and chartreuse fifth. We had the CR captains dinner the second and setti the fourth. After the Pac rim and Prime 7 we knew we like those and asked our butler to get us additional reservations on a couple of later days on the trip ( when we didn't have long shore-ex) He secured dining for us at both. Ours was a 12 day cruise. I must say while the specialty dining was wonderful CR and setti were also great so don't worry too much as you will be fat and happy no matter where you eat.

There are lots of things to do. I would suggest something like Viator to get an idea but hiring a private car for the day is inexpensive maybe 100 bucks depending on where you go, but you can basically customize your itinerary

A few from David Nevin. I enjoyed his show. IMG_9491.MOV IMG_9490.MOV IMG_9488.MOV IMG_9489.MOV

Finally some entertainment videos from the ship IMG_9597.MOV IMG_9595.MOV IMG_9597.MOV IMG_9595.MOV

I would like to add after the cruise we stayed at Ashford castle in Cong near Galway. It was started in the 1200’s and is a former residence of the Guinness family. It was at or above regent standards. The have golf equestrian archery falconry (we did this and it was one of the best experiences we have ever done) fishing and walking with the Irish wolfhounds in the morning . The are wonderful and the food spectacular. The quite man was filmed here. King George V, Reagan Kennedy and several other dignitaries have stayed there. If you like regent you will love it here. IMG_9974.MOV IMG_9929.MOV IMG_9903.MOV IMG_9982.MOV

Finally getting to this. My first regent cruise and first in about 5 years. Overall, I was very impressed by regent and while some seasoned regent cruisers on board said it wasn’t quite up to regent standards pre-covid. I seemed a little overwhelming at first with all the grandeur and service and first trip post-covid, but once we settled in I could appreciate the details. I believe there were about 620 passengers aboard. There were a lot of new crewmembers on board as their first regent job, and at times in compass rose there were some delays, but they apologized and got right on it and fixed it. The passengers on board were friendly polite and would engage in conversation. There were some that had a first in line attitude, but you get that anywhere. Whether I had a table for breakfast right on the window or in a row didn’t matter to me, as I was glad to be on board and enjoying myself and the view is still the same. Many passengers were older than us and a few had grownup (20’s) grandkids accompanying them. I was surprised so few people used cruise critic nor ever heard of it. My biggest disappointment was the internet since most everything is included why not offer high speed. The spa facility was beautiful, but very overpriced and I didn’t like the pushing of products. As it was our first cruise on regent, I couldn’t say how splendor compares to other regent ships but to us it was stunning, it was a big step up from Celebrity in elegance. I enjoyed meandering around on sea days to admire the art, architecture, flowers, and décor. The staff were top notch across the board, I was intrigued by the sense of pride and duty from the officers to the staff that cleaned the railings lounges and always greeted you with a smile. The facilities were immaculate especially the bathrooms all decked in marble and fresh towels to dry your hands. I had a future cruise booked and the future cruise lady gladly booked my shore excursions for me instead of me struggling with the internet. Southampton embarkation was fairly smooth, we arrived 40 minutes earlier than our 1:00 pm slot but they sent us in. Some confusion with the queue and the process. Told several times we didn't need our vax card or test anymore but the next person down the line asked for it. I was like "???" but ok most of this is new to many. Once on board we enjoyed some food and strolled though parts of the ship checked in at the muster station and before you know it room was ready. THE ROOM The ship and our PH-B 1017 were very roomy even with my sister-in-law on the sleeper. The doors closed off to the bedroom and there was a separate entrance to the bathroom so that worked perfect. However, the night we had rough seas the sliding doors would open and slam closed as we rocked. They should consider a way to secure them better. Closet had ample space and room for smaller suitcases to be stored up top and the larger ones under the bed. Shower was spectacular and had great water pressure. TVs on both sides were large and nice to watch a movie. We had a larger deck unlike explorer the overhang goes most of the length of the ship, but on this itinerary, it wasn’t like we were out there a lot. A nice touch was you can select what hors d’oeuvres you would like, and the butler brings them around 5 pm. The girls liked bloody Mary’s in the morning and with not many bars open the butler brought an extra bottle of grey goose and mix so they could make them when they wanted. Our butler also booked us in prime 7 and pacific rim a second time each and arrange a birthday cake for my wife’s 60th in prime 7 and decorated our room with balloons, a nice touch. The Girls are smokers so being on deck 10 was nice as it is only one deck up to the cigar lounge and enclosed pool lounge. I sat with them on several occasions and didn’t smell smokey afterwards as there was very good ventilation there. Several of the ship’s officers smoke so chatted with the captain in there a few times and the new captain who was taking over on the next leg also was in there as well as several other officers. The service in the lounges was good also as they would bring drinks and snacks. I had many good conversations with fellow passengers in the smoking lounge. It would be nice if they had a small lounge on deck 5 so one could be close to the theater, pacific rim and compass rose for their post dinner pre dessert smoke, but it certainly isn’t a showstopper. Below the itinerary and a sample daily planner IMG_9355.MOV