taxare
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Posts posted by taxare
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Similar to others, I had posted earlier about the disappointing Vibrant Tokyo pre-cruise. However once we got on the Explorer we had an excellent voyage. We had one issue come up, we noted it on the mid-cruise comments and during dinner at Pacific Rim one of the officers came up to our table to apologize and to thank us for our constructive comments. We have sailed on Regent twelve times and unless there is an itinerary they don't offer, we will continue our ocean cruising with them.
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Sunprince, the voyages for this "deal" go through November '24.....
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I suppose with Cancel for Any Reason insurance this may provide a hedge for this "deal"?
However, I can't imagine with how Regent is recently treating passengers with its changed itineraries
and other factors that one would book one of these fares.
"Full payment is due at the time of booking. Cancellation will result in forfeiture of entire
purchase under this non-refundable fare offer."
I hope our fellow Regent guests are reading the fine print or using a good travel agent!
Happy holidays and safe travels to each of you! I am appreciative of the many things I have learned on this Board!
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Hello, I would suggest you look at the "SuiteGuru" thread by UUNetBill for the same suite number of the Splendor and Explorer. Since the layout is basically the same, those reviews should be similar. Its pretty early to be seeing a lot of specific suite reviews for the Grandeur.
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Effective as of midnight April 29, 2023 (Japan time), all travelers arriving in Japan will no longer need to present proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test certificate. For more info: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/covid-19/bordercontrol.html.
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czardas, In April it was an independent contractor in charge of the tours. So, a Regent representative will be looking for you at the airport, and you will check-in to the hotel with your bus. As DeepFreeze says, it can't hurt to let the contractor know you are not going on a tour and make sure he/she keeps you in the loop for luggage pickup and time of your bus on the third day. As noted earlier, the last half day tour (which I thought was worthless) was the same bus that took you to the ship.
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Kaori Yogi-Tours By Locals-
We found her to be a delightful young woman who was very flexible in what we wanted to see.
As I mentioned taking the subway with her was a terrific experience and no Tokyo traffic (you will need
Yen for the subway tickets)
A couple of blocks from the Hilton is the metropolitan government building with a free observatory at the top. She dropped us off there at the end of the tour and it was worthwhile going up.
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I had posted a few months ago a thread about the Vibrant Tokyo tour and our significant disappointment. I agree with rkaratsu that the hotel and transportation made it worthwhile (it was no extra charge for us). I'm not sure if we are allowed to give specific recommendations. We used a young lady through "tours by locals" that was excellent. She did not have a car, so she took us by subway everywhere and that was an experience in itself. Even though we are experienced travelers I don't think we could have navigated the subway. I don't know if we are allowed to give specific names on these boards (her name starts with K). The pricing was reasonable and her English was perfect as she studied in the US. If you are at the Tokyo Hilton and tired, we were very surprised that we had a good and reasonably priced meal in an Indian restaurant (YES INDIAN!) in the basement of the Hilton (there is a small shopping arcade there). On our private tour, our guide took us to a small local restaurant that does a great lunchtime business. No English spoken and picture menus. It wasn't a great meal but it was a GREAT experience!!! Outside of our Vibrant Tokyo tour we loved our Regent Japan cruise and highly recommend it!
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Just received this email (Monday October 23):
Dear Luxury Traveler,
I am pleased to announce that guests can now stream, share and surf the internet while at sea with unmatched speed and reliability thanks to Starlink’s high-speed internet aboard Regent Seven Seas Cruises®.
Guests sailing on Seven Seas Mariner® are already enjoying Starlink internet, allowing them to stay connected while traveling like never before, something that Regent world cruisers will surely enjoy when setting sail in January 2024. Beginning in November, Seven Seas Grandeur™ elevates every aspect of luxury cruising on her inaugural voyages, including Starlink’s next-level WiFi. And by the end of 2024, all our ships are expected to have Starlink high-speed internet available.
The World’s Most Luxurious Fleet™ is sailing full speed ahead into a new era of connectivity at sea, from real-time moments shared mid-voyage to improved onboard services and beyond.
We look forward to welcoming you aboard for An Unrivaled Experience®.
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As a frequent Regent cruiser and someone who five days ago was blessed to safely return from Israel after a very short land tour cancelled due to the hostilities I find this thread very interesting and I am sorry that Regent and the situation has caused so much angst and disappointment. I just saw this in the news, and while I personally would not sail on Royal Carribean I congratulate them on this effort by them:
A Royal Caribbean International cruise ship helped evacuate U.S. nationals from Israel on Monday.
The line’s Rhapsody of the Seas vessel had been sailing in the region but canceled its itineraries in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
“Now, with enhanced safety precautions in place, our ship is providing free passage, including accommodation and food, for Americans in the region wishing to leave and find safer ground,” Jason Liberty, president and CEO of the line’s parent company Royal Caribbean Group, said in an email to employees that was shared with USA TODAY.
The evacuation was conducted in partnership with the U.S. State Department, Liberty said. The U.S. Embassy in Israel said in a security alert Sunday that boarding would begin in order of arrival on Monday at 8:00 a.m. local time, and the ship would sail from Haifa to Limassol, Cyprus.
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We did the Pre-tour in late April of this year. Except for the crowding indicated above we found the Hilton totally satisfactory and the breakfasts which were in a separate room for Regent was slow but good.
Japan had just opened up to visitors earlier this year. They were not prepared for the number of tours that Regent were providing and a number of tour guides had left the profession during COVID to make a living. Our friends and others that used the Pre-tour four weeks before us were provided a credit from Regent due to the poor quality of the tours. Most of our tours were poor-fair due to logistical issues and primarily poor tour guides. On the second day we ended up hiring a "Tour By Local" who saved the day for us. The last day with the transportation to the ship was a wasted day as we spent way too much time at the television tower. After outlining our concerns to the excursion desk, we received a letter from Miami apologizing indicating that the pre-tour was not up their standards. The excursions once we sailed were very good-excellent. Since the pre-tour was included, using the Hilton as a paid for base with breakfast and the included airport/ship transportation made it worthwhile especially with a private tour the second day and we were over our jet-lag. Perhaps they have their act together by now. We have been on 12 Regent cruises so we have been on a number of their excursions. The Tokyo pre-tour was the worse we have ever experienced.
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It may have to do with the level or whether you book an additional night on your own. I am Hilton Gold. When we checked into the Tokyo Hilton in April they said since it was a group rate they couldn't add our Hilton number. We were there three nights as part of the included Regent pre cruise land trip. When I returned I wrote a note to the Hilton Honors help desk and they said they same thing. When we were on our Lisbon-Barcelona cruise in September I added a night on my own to the Regent night. This was a Marriott and I am lifetime titanium. They gladly put our number in for both nights and ensured we could stay in the same upgraded room even though I paid for the first night and Regent the second. As RELS noted the hotels get a manifest from Regent but they don't assign "normal" reservation codes. I hope you have better luck with Hilton than I did.....
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Army,
Particularly in light of Independence Day this week thank you to you and your family for serving 28 years in defending our great country. We owe you and all of our service men and women a debt of gratitude!
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On our July cruise we received our cabin assignment three days before, and were very pleased with the suite we received.
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Dolebludger, the prices are online now. Go to the cruise and click on view itinerary. I'm not suggesting you will like the prices, but they are there for your consideration 😮
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I was on a Japan cruise in April and have the handout. The font is so small I need my glasses and my phone light 😂. The $500 PP generally applies to Penthouse and below. 7.5% deposit applies to categories above Penthouse. 10% deposit applies to the World Cruise. There are all kinds of differences for the named suites which are too long and complicated to list here. It's truly too small to post a picture. There are some differences for named suites on the Grandeur inaugural season as well. I hope this helps a bit.
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Sorry, I'm an accountant. so....On our recent cruise my wife had a massage. As Kwaj girl states they fully disclose the additional 20% service charge/gratuity to the brochure price listed for that particular treatment. On my statement (which I am looking at now) the charge is the combined amount. The OBC was applied to the combined amount.
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Bill, sorry for the extra work, I thought I had properly saved and posted......
Ship-Explorer
Cabin-931
Category-PHB
Reviewed by-taxare
Date reviewed-04/23
Side-Port-Mid
Tub/Shower-Shower only-Very large
Noise Issues-None
Recommend-Absolutely
Comments-
This suite was an upgrade and a treat for us. Very spacious, quiet, large balcony
Being mid-ship it was easy to get anywhere on the ship. Would highly recommend.
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Jhenry, If they change our embarkation/debarkation to San Juan like they did for the 2025 cruises, we will cancel. I haven’t looked into transfers yet. We can cancel our hotel three days before arrival. We used miles for our air, so we can cancel anytime. We really like Regent, but every once in a while they do something stupid, this is one of those times……
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Thank you for the detective work, although I am sorry for our friends in the EU. IMHO, they should be adding benefits not deleting!
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On page 173 of this brochure there is a summary of the Seven Seas Society benefits. Since we are getting close to Platinum one of the few benefits we were looking forward to getting was the included "air deviation". They don't list this as a benefit in this new brochure. It is still listed in the current website. I am wondering whether it is a typo or whether there is an upcoming change in benefits? I apologize if this has been discussed in another thread and I missed it.
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6 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:
Sure, I understand. Yes, the itinerary is very attractive, it's just getting back and forth from Barbados that is not. Are you booking your own air and hotel? We winter near Tampa so would have to fly thru Miami or Charlotte to get to Barbados, in Coach. Driving to the Port of Miami is much more convenient for us.
Hi Wendy,
I acknowledge we are luckier than most when it comes to getting to Barbados. We are only a 2.5 hour drive to Miami and have booked coach seats (3.5 hour flight) on one of the two daily AA flights and booked a hotel for the night before embarkation.
As noted above I still believe this is a BAD move by Regent, and based on the comments thus far they may have trouble filling the ship once people realize they are on their own for hotels.
Fizzy, I'm sure you have already seen there is a nonstop on Jet Blue out of JFK. It's nice coach but it's still coach..........
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We are on this cruise but booked an F2 so this change does not affect us. (JHenry, we believe we have been on other cruises with you!) The cruise online still shows the hotel package as included for Concierge and above. Looking at the Hilton where some of the previous cruises stayed one can book a room for around $600US. Regent was obviously paying much less than this with their group rates. Even if Hilton or one of the other properties changed the terms of their group contract, IMHO Regent should eat the additional cost of the room rather than causing the ill will created by this change (especially for one booking a Splendor Suite!) Wendy, I respectfully disagree with you as this itinerary was attractive to us as we will go to ports that we usually wouldn't enjoy sailing out of Miami.
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On 4/1/2017 at 4:31 PM, UUNetBill said:
To submit your rating and comments, please use the following template and paste the information in a reply - I'll paste the information into the master listings as time allows. Remember, the more folks contribute, the more useful this will be!
PLEASE BE SURE AND SPECIFY WHICH SHIP YOU WERE ON! I could probably figure it out but it's a LOT easier to know up front!
Bill, This is for Explorer, thank you!
On 4/1/2017 at 4:31 PM, UUNetBill said:
New Regent Promotion - upgrade your Horizon
in Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Posted
Well, who am I to disagree with the famous UUNetBill..........But I do respectfully disagree Bill. First this is from the website:
Indulge in all the amenities that come with your FREE 2-CATEGORY SUITE UPGRADE and 50% REDUCED DEPOSITS on every ship and across every destination. Be it the FREE 1-Night Pre-Cruise Hotel Package that comes with your Concierge Suite or the personalized attention of your butler in a Penthouse Suite, relish the incredible experience of awakening each day in your elegant accommodations as you sail the world in all-inclusive luxury.
Yesterday I did the upgrade on a 2025 Voyager sailing from a G to an E. On my online itinerary it added the additional night indicating the pre-embarkation hotel. This was a change from an onboard booking in which you are able to make one change to your booking (One get out of jail free card)
I agree 100% with your comment if you are offered or purchase an upgrade shortly before sailing. In those situations I have only done an upgrade to a PH to take advantage of the larger suite and they were clear it didn't include the pre-cruise hotel night.