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It has been our experience that the butlers do room service delivery duty for all of the stateroom categories, not just PH and above -- at least judging from the butler uniforms that all of our room service delivery persons have been wearing. We have had room service breakfast most days on our Regent cruises, and I agree with Poss that the service has been very prompt and the food always well prepared and just as hot as I would expect it to be in the dining rooms.

This thread got me started thinking about a somewhat different question: how does the cost of a Regent cruise stack up against doing a roughly comparable itinerary, but not on a cruise, rather as an independent traveler using air and land, and roughly comparable lodging, food and entertainment costs?

I hasten to acknowledge that this is apples and oranges, although there are some cost comparisons within the overall question that can be compared objectively. For example Regent's included business class air (as it is in our upcoming cruise) versus arranging our own, or the cost of a hotel providing comparable quality of accomodations and services, are not unreasonable things to compare. On the other hand, food and beverages are subjective and subject to individual tastes and preferences, and entertainment and excursions seem to me much harder to compare. And a real wild card is transportation. Regent includes moving you from one destination to another in the fare. On a land based vacation, I doubt anyone would be hopping from one port city to another every day -- we certainly wouldn't. On the other hand, some transportation cost internal to the land itinerary would clearly seem to be involved.

In my first effort at this, I used actual lowest business class air to and from the embarkation and disembarkation cities (not necessarily the routing I would choose and not what Regent arranged for us), actual hotel costs for hotels that I considered reasonably comparable in those cities, and estimates of daily allowances for food, beverages and "entertainment/excursions" based on what we know of Regent from past cruises, and other cost figures I was able to dig up with a brief bit of Internet research.

The result was quite interesting; using pure sticker price amounts for air, hotel etc. and Regent's actual, two for one fares -- the two trips were less than $75 apart, and Regent's was the cheaper. Of course that's no big bargain, but when I factored in the actual TA amenities we received, Regent was 10%, or about $2,000, less than a do it yourself land based vacation of the same length. The results might be quite different comparing a different cruise with different origin and destination cities, but I thought it was an interesting perspective on Regent's fares.

I think TC2 nailed it. If I recall correctly, there are lists at most bars of the extra-cost liquor, and dining venues will have a "reserve" wine list that entails extra cost as well. But there are multiple "premium" choices of liquor in most every category that are included in your fare, and there are usually a couple of choices in each varietal of wine, as well. While the day's featured wine in each dining room is offered as a default, you can ask for any of the other included wines that you might have tried and prefer.

The only extras you might incur are probably obvious: laundry and dry cleaning (the self service launderettes are free), spa services, boutiques, Internet access and ship to shore phone beyond what might be included as a promotion, casino, and the extra-cost excursions. We have never had a balance due at cruise end except for back in the day when Internet wasn't included in most of the fares.

I believe the term refers to the metal rack holding bottles of liquor that will be dispensed when no brand is called by the patron. The rack (well) is usually attached to a sink and ice bin and placed below the level of the bar, handy for the bartender, so labels are often hard to see, Well liquors are, as just noted, often inexpensive brands, and sometimes brands you've never heard of in less upscale drinking venues.

It does happen. On our 2010 Bermuda cruise a couple were left behind when they didn't board after repeated pages (they were making eyes at each other in a cafe and lost track of time). The ship left their passports and valuables from the safe with Regent's port agent and set sail. They rejoined at the next port (flying there at their own expense) and it was a topic of much friendly banter around the pool deck. I don't believe they were on one of the Regent excursions, but sightseeing on their own.

kmcqueen, my wife and I are on the same cruise, traveling with friends. We will be staying on in Istanbul post-cruise, but based on prior experience disembarking in Istanbul from our 2012 cruise, catching a taxi can be chaotic and time consuming if you haven't made prior arrangements. There was a taxi staging area just across the street from the point where you disembark, and on the occasion we used it, it was a bit of the wild west, with no organized queue, a dispatcher of sorts yelling at taxi drivers and passengers alike, and a rather considerable wait. It didn't matter much in our case because we were staying on for a few days on that occasion, too (I would not miss a chance to spend time in Istanbul).

You might want to consider arranging a car to meet you on disembarkation if getting to the airport on time is a concern.

In Compass Rose and Setti Mare at La Veranda, you do not need reservations, simply show up when you want to dine. In Compass Rose you'll usually be accommodated promptly, though a short wait may happen at peak times, depending on your seating preference. Setti Mare is a smaller venue and some wait time may be necessary, depending on when you arrive. In Signatures and Prime Seven, reservations are required. In addition to the one in each venue that you are "guaranteed" and can book online in advance or onboard, you can request additional reservations once aboard, on a space available basis. Success in getting additional reservations will depend on how full the ship is, and your flexibility as to time and seating arrangements. Making your guaranteed reservations as far in advance as possible is a good idea in order to have the widest choice of dates and times, but you will still be able to book onboard if you haven't booked online, just with a narrower choice of dates and times.

You have it exactly right. Choose your own time to dine, and tell the maitre'd how you would like to be seated -- table for two or sharing -- and you'll be accommodated according to your wishes.

On our cruises the champagnes have been either (or both) Montaudon and/or Jacquart. Both are "real" champagne, not French sparkling wine.

Espresso from the barista at the coffee lounge on Mariner (and I presume on Voyager, though I haven't experienced it) is quite good, and produced to order from a genuine espresso machine. There are also self-serve espresso machines nearby that produce a passable drink, but not as good.

Here's how it worked out for us, in what may be the same situation the OP is inquiring about. We booked Regent air with a deviation and BC upgrade to arrive early and stay on a few extra days post-cruise. We took the pre-cruise hotel offer from Regent, and booked our additional night in that same hotel at our cost, making sure the hotel knew we were part of the Regent group.

Regent did not provide airport to pre-cruise hotel transfers, we had to arrange that ourselves, no big deal. Regent did provide hotel to ship transfers for embarkation. When the cruise ended, we were on our own for transfers to our hotel and from there to the airport.

As of April 2010 on Navigator those rates look correct. As the connection is slow at best, a bulk purchase is the way to go. I got the 100 minute plan for a 10-day cruise, and that was just adequate to do a daily email dump, with outgoing all queued up and incoming downloaded and then signoff before reading, no web browsing. I kept about 10 minutes in reserve to print boarding passes on the last day, and it was barely enough time. If you plan to do any web browsing, take one of the bigger bulk minutes plans. Also, read the login/logout instructions carefully the first time you log in, and be sure you logout after each connection, it was easy to miss the logout link.