mom0f3

We are also having a wonderful time, with full schedules on the sea days!  Morning stretch, yoga, bridge lessons (my husband says the instructor is very good), and this morning learned some really useful things about photography using smart phones at a lecture by photographer Alan Feldman.  I need to sneak in a few relaxing hours on deck 11 to finish the large book I borrowed from the library.  Food, service, all great—a nice re-introduction to Regent after 5 long years 

We’ve had a relaxing and delightful first 2 days.   One of the lecturers is below par….he is supposed to lecture about technology and security (such as the CIA) but based on the first lecture we heard, we were underwhelmed, to say the least.  His “experience” appears to have been that he was “recruited” by the CIA and FBI and other federal agencies while he was in college, but never joined!  He also stated that he “inherited” a security clearance from his father, which was still active.  As a federal employee, I can assure you that this is not a thing!  On the other hand, we enjoyed a lecture by Dr. Howard Kramer, a physicist, and are looking forward to hearing his other lectures.  He also ran “science trivia” at noon, which was really hard!  Our team came in first, with only 9 correct out of 15.   

Son’s wedding was wonderful, but now need at least 4 sea days to recover!  Sitting in the Polaris lounge at IAH, waiting for our flight to Rio, which was delayed for 2 hours.  We have a tour of Rio booked tomorrow, and look forward to meeting everyone once we join Voyager on the 19th.  This will be our first Regent cruise since 2019, which was also on Voyager.  We are hoping things haven’t changed too much since the pandemic !  We look forward to meeting everyone.   Sue and Jack.  

Son’s wedding in New Orleans tonight, and then flying to Rio via Houston tomorrow.  We look forward to meeting everyone on board, and a fabulous trans-Atlantic journey!  Sue

It is.  We just got a letter from Regent stating visa requirement is postponed for 90 days.  

2 hours ago, Pies4u said:

Precisely! That is why the subsequent variations can’t possibly be related  to the dry dock period. The explanation provided by Regent is not logical.

 

The itinerary has been slightly varied for 2 later segments of the GV. Consequently, the relatively few guests booked have been inconvenienced for another reason.

 

The e.mail we received is either incomplete or simply inaccurate. The UK office are seeking clarification - they appear to have the same, limited information that customers have received.

 

It is, at best, a poorly communicated and badly thought out piece of communication. At worst it is just a case of upsetting a limited number of people in order to generate greater revenue.

 

If I’m offered the additional 3 nights at no extra cost, I’ll be pleasantly surprised but it won’t change my thoughts re: the overall strategy.

I spoke too soon...as of this morning, the Port Louis to Cape Town segment is also listed as wait-listed....

We are boooked  on the Feb 12th Port Louis to Cape Town 16 night segment, which still seems to be available.   

This is wonderful, thank you!   Regent should send this to everyone and pay you royalties.  

We did the “Better Moments” walrus safari in Svalbard.  Small boat with 12 people, and got up close and personal with the walruses—did a landing on the beach and walked single file with our guide to within about 10 meters of the walruses—amazing!

E sim with Airalo.  Inexpensive and easy to reload. It’s data only, but we used it with WhatsApp for calls. It worked great in Vietnam!  We plan to use it again for future international trips.

4 hours ago, Australia08 said:

Tuesday, January 31 - Iguazu National Park (Argentina)

 

Even though our flight was delayed by about 2 hours, it still seemed like an early morning departure for us.  We flew from the domestic airport in Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu Cataratas Del Iguazu International Airport.  We were met there by a guide who took us immediately to the hotel to leave our bags before heading into the park on the Argentinean side.  We stayed at the Gran Melia, right on the edge of the park. It’s a beautiful hotel - our room had a wonderful terrace with distant views of the Devil’s Throat.  

 

 

We spent the next three or four hours exploring all the open trails, getting soaked twice by brief downpours (hey, we are in a rainforest!), and getting acquainted with the toucans that seemed to be everywhere!

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was back to the hotel to shower and enjoy the rooftop bar before we headed into town to take part in what is termed “The Argentine Experience.”  This is a  3 hour culinary experience with meal and wine. It is hosted by a delightful group who met us with cocktails, taught us to make our own Malbec based cocktail, served with delicious appetizers.  Then it was on to learning how to crimp our own empanadas.  They provided the rolled dough, filling and instructions and we crimped away.  They took our empanadas to the kitchen then and baked them.  Of course, as I’ve mentioned before, no meal in Argentina seems to be complete without their famous grilled steak accompanied this time with a variety of roasted vegetables.  For dessert, we made our own alfajores, then learned how to properly prepare mate.  By the way, during the meal we could drink as much Torrentes, Bonarda, and Malbec (Argentina’s iconic wines) as we wanted.

 

 

 

 

 

What a fun evening!  We shared this experience with a couple from Australia who had been hiking in Chile and had just arrived in Argentina, and with two young women from London who were traveling through Central and South America.  

 

When we headed back to the hotel, we headed straight out to the terrace and were amazed by the sound of the falls and the star-filled skies.  

We did the Argentine Experience (sounds the same as yours) in Buenos Aires pre-covid.   One if our most fun experiences!  I highly recommend it.  

Two words:  Air Tags.  On our trip to Egypt, a carryon did not arrive in our cabin for our Nile River Cruise.  We were sure it had been put in the luggage hold of the bus that had taken us from the airport.   Our AirTag showed it was about a mile away from the dock, and personnel determined that was where the transfer bus had parked.  The bus driver looked, and insisted our bag wasn’t there.  We told him to look again, because our AirTag said it was.  Sure enough, when he climbed inside he found our bag lodged into a corner.   It made us true believers, and we’d never travel without them in our checked and carryon luggage.   

We had difficulty signing up for fitness class on Explorer—they were always filled! They put out a sign up sheet the afternoon before, and if we didn’t manage to get there early, all slots were taken. Sometimes we’d come down in the morning anyway to see if there were no shows, but that wasn’t common.  I’d say out of 10 times we wanted to go to Yoga we only got in 3.   We didn’t like their sign up method at all, as it required making a special trip to the fitness center and getting there at the right time before all the slots were filled.  We thought they could have developed a fairer way to provide access if the slots were limited and demand was high.  

So, I am booked on Saturn from Bergen to Reykjavik in July 2023, with included air.  Final payment due at the end of next month.  Imagine my surprise when I logged in to my United account today and saw that Viking had already booked my round trip air.  No notification of this from Viking, and it doesn’t show up on MVJ.   The flights are actually fine, except I’d like to come in a few days early and leave a few days after the cruise, which means a deviation.  Should I try to call Viking Air now to let them know we’d like to purchase a deviation?  I guess we could hold off on Air+ until we know what they book for us once we have the deviation dates booked.  Advice?  Thanks!

Thanks, FlyerTalker.  That was our plan but Viking is offering free air right now, and it’s hard to turn that down.  

Does anyone know if Viking contracts with Icelandair?  We will be on a Bergen  to Reykjavik cruise next summer and Icelandair flies nonstop to Reykjavik from our home airport.   I thought we might fly in a couple of days early and take advantage of a stopover in  Reykjavik before flying on to Bergen, and then just return home from Reykjavik at the end of the cruise.  Thanks!

On 8/25/2022 at 7:47 PM, FlyerTalker said:

 

Are you talking "stopovers" or "connections"?  Do you REALLY have two stopovers?

 

You might read this thread and post for more clarification of the difference between those two terms and how they are used in the airline industry:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2876144-connection-time-advice/#comment-63830231

 

Because you the layman may think they are interchangeable, but they are two different animals.

 

 

COVID testing for entry to Japan will no longer be required for vaccinated travelers as of September 7th

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-pm-kishida-brief-about-new-measures-handling-covid-kyodo-2022-08-24/

I got the offer.  But the fine print says you have to book through the amex website or phone number.  My booking is through my TA.  Otherwise, I would pay some of my balance early even though it’s not yet time for my final payment just to get the points.  

Refund for deposit on our April 2021 cruise was requested on 3/31 and posted today (June 6)

Sail Date. Explorer 4/20/21

 refund of deposit requested via my TA:  3/31/20

No refund as of May 10

3 hours ago, christieSF said:

I wish they were tabulating the cases from the past sailing of the Grand.  Living in San Francisco, I would really like to know what the numbers look like.  So far, it seems like 2 in Placer, 2 in Santa Clara, 2 in Toronto, 1 in Alberta, and now these 2 new ones in Contra Costa.  I have yet to find a single source so I've been trying to keep track on my own.  

ChristieSF, maybe 3 in Maryland--although they haven't said which ship exposed them to the coronavirus, we haven't heard about any others!

https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs-hs-coronavirus-friday-20200306-tzmaqfm7bvbpvox6qdvdwha5te-story.html

Don Bosco does great work.   You can donate money to provide a scholarship for one of their students, as we did after we visited.   Might be a really nice way for passengers or Holland America to thank Sihanoukville for their hospitality in allowing the ship to dock there.   

I agree, and we sent an email to Jason Montague stating this.   If they are willing to alienate their most loyal customers over what is a small amount of money considering what we spend over the years, I suppose that is their business decision.   Too bad.  

We are also considering other cruise lines after cruising Regent exclusively with 8 cruises over 7 years.    This whole experience has us feeling very negative towards Regent.  In addition to expressing our displeasure to our TA (who books MANY Regent cruises) we will also use the contact information kindly provided by a previous poster to contact Regent leadership directly.  I think what annoys me the most is the disingenuous suggestion that we are somehow getting “price protection” because the cost of the cruise went up after we booked, when the reality is that we are not getting the cruise we paid for due to Regent’s cutting the cruise length by one day.  Who came up with that explanation?  Do they think we are stupid?