Lady Meer

No side room this year for breakfast for our Regent tour..

We got off Explorer last Monday - our experience was exactly the same as yours. Couldn’t get into the Business Centre (too many waiting) so didn’t get the survey done.

We’ve been on Voyager and Explorer recently and haven’t been able to do the online survey due to poor internet service ☹️.

I think people who smoke go in expensive cabins too………

In Belfast, the queue for the shuttle was very long so we took a taxi with another couple for 20 euros (fixed price). We were dropped at the City Hall. We asked the driver for a card to call for a return trip. This was on a meter and was 10 euros! There is a service bus which stops just outside the dock gates - quite a few people used that. If anyone is interested, The Duke of York pub is very interesting and worth a visit!!

We had more than one bottle of spirits in our suite which were replaced when empty by the butler. Not emptied by me, I’m a wine drinker! No faff at all!

That's disappointing. When is your cruise?

Just applying for ours - did you get yours in pounds or dollars? We’ve always had dollars in the past. Thanks

We were on the 28 day Voyager cruise in November from Barcelona to Cape Town and fully agree with ToxM. This was our first Regent cruise and we expected better. Our room staff and butler were excellent, as were some of the restaurant staff but on the whole they definitely lacked training. Service for both food and drink was very mixed - sometimes great but in the whole, not so good. The food, on the whole was very good. We had a lot of sea days, 12 I think, which we normally enjoy. Like ToxM we had a deck BBQ but no country fair. There was a crossing the equator ceremony (with the biggest swordfish I have ever seen) but nothing else. We had the same 3 speakers for the whole cruise, one (very good) wild life expert and 2 port speakers, one covering history and one current info. One was good, the other not so. We were not notified of any Covid or Noro onboard. On the positive side, we really enjoyed the African ports and the Regent tours we took. Some guests moaned about the poor a/c on the buses, bathroom facilities and understanding the tour guides but, as one guide told us ‘TIA - this is Africa’ ! We really enjoyed the trivia sessions, which were very popular, there was one ‘name that tune’ quiz which was good and thought there could have been more! The wait staff on the deck were very efficient and friendly, as were the staff in the bars. We did some bean bag tossing and other deck games which were fun. Did we enjoy the cruise? Very much. Would we cruise with Regent again? Yes, as we had already booked Japan on Explorer in March. We are looking forward to comparing the 2 experiences, but whatever happens we’ll have a good time.

Just looking at cruisemapper and vessel finder, it seems that SoA has turned around.

You’ll be fine in a skirt and nice top, I don’t own a dress so always wear trousers and nice tops (sparkly on formal nights). DH wears a suit on formal nights, he never takes a DJ now, other nights he wears trousers and a shirt (no tie).

A few years ago, on Oceania Insignia, on the penultimate day we were all given the bathrobes! The ship was being loaned to Hapag-Lloyd at the end of our cruise. It was a real challenge to get them in our cases but we coped!

We often cruise in British waters including the English Channel, the only port we have missed is Guernsey, Channel Islands. This is a tender port and the pilot was unable to board due to a strong wind but the sea wasn’t ‘rough’.

It gives me something to do on a cold, dreary day 🤔. Too many Midsomer Murders, methinks!

Why would you have your cases out during a storm?

In the picture from the DM, why are there 2 suitcases in the room?

That’s a pity - if we got credit for using our own flights we would consider doing this as we usually arrive a few days pre-embarkation. We have loads of air-miles! If P & O did a cruise only deal maybe it would ease the pressure on the charter flights.

Now, there’s an idea 😉!

We can see them.

Sounds good. We didn’t book anything - we fancied the Caribbean trip on 6/1/25 but we get off SoD that day!

We received the email for 2025 on Tuesday and had a call from Saga this morning.

I was called to the naughty room in the bowels of the ship on a Celebrity cruise - I had a travel iron 😳! In my defence - we were going on a land tour after the cruise. It was confiscated and I collected it at the gangway at the end of the cruise. Fannny-Liz - We use travel padlocks marked TSA which can be opened by security in the USA - yes, that’s happened to me as well! They leave a nice little note inside your case to say they’ve had a look! You’ll have a great time,

We always lock our bags for the reason stated by Windsurfboy. FannyLiz - is this your first cruise?

That’s an excellent service.

We arrived at about 1 pm at Southampton and our driver went straight off to pick up 2 more passengers before returning to Leicestershire.