CruiserFromMaine

Not sure what happened to my first reply… Yes, this video was well done and really a compendium of the week as others pointed out. They do a nice job and they’re generally quite positive about all their cruises.

I suspect they don’t actually eat and drink all that they show. I’ve thought the same thing about them and others with cruise videos.

You can ask for other brands. Maybe they have an alternative you’d like better.

When we went to Turkey last month, we were advised to bring “letters of medical necessity” from our doctors for all prescription drugs, which we did. The letters were easy to get. I will add that nobody ever asked for them or even looked to see what we had for drugs. But, I realize that’s just one data point.

Hope you never need one again! We got ours through Amazon. It wasn’t expensive.

I bring an eyeglasses repair kit and an emergency dental repair kit. True confession: haven’t done a world cruise but did a 54 night river cruise vacation.

Portland Lobster is very good with outdoor seating. Everyone has their favorite place, though. Lots of people like Luke’s Lobster. Both are within easy walking distance of the terminal and right on the harbor.

So, I just did some more digging. I don’t know how accurate this source is but it provides some more information. https://www.cruisehive.com/faulty-safety-materials-may-put-dozens-of-cruise-ships-at-risk/105929 This guy blames cruise lines for everything but here is his take. https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2023/07/articles/fires/the-launch-of-mscs-newest-cruise-ship-explora-i-delayed-due-to-faulty-fire-resistant-panels/ And one more article. https://www.ft.com/content/8cfa4fdf-6d8d-486f-8be9-e14cafb36a43 The manufacturer lost its certification which should’ve been good till 2025. It’s unclear why. All the ships passed certification when launched, obviously, but I don’t really know what that means. If it means reviewing the certification of providers, then maybe no more testing was conducted. It appears that ships with panels used before 2020 are ok. This will be a busy weekend for many cruise line execs I imagine. The lawyers will have to clean up this mess too.

We live in Portland and have done the mail boat run a few times. Play it by ear and see what the weather is like. I don’t think it sells out. It’s about 3 hours (a three-hour tour🎶). You can get off briefly at the outermost stop. There’s a general store there to get a snack or an ice cream. As other said, a short ferry ride to Peaks Island is a good option too. You can walk around the island or rent a bike, or get lunch near the ferry terminal. The ferries run frequently during the day and it’s a 15 minute ride or so. The ferries run regularly and reliably. Eastern Cemetery is interesting. But I’m biased, our son gives tours there in the summer!

We did that tour earlier this year and enjoyed it. Wasn’t too long of a bus ride and the ride was interesting.

I sent an email to SS Guest Relations on Tuesday afternoon highlighting the exposure of people’s’ information. I got this email from them yesterday afternoon. We’ll see what I get back from the so-called privacy team. Dear Mr. XXX, Thank you for raising this issue to our attention. The issue is being investigated internally and I am informed that the issue has been contained. I have shared your email with my colleagues in the data privacy team who will come back to you as appropriate in due course. Best regards, Guest Relations Team Silversea Cruises

I agree totally, there is no reason at all to put a passport number on the room key card.

Happened to us too, in the US. I logged on with my account and my wife’s and we got the same wrong person. Very bad security. This is a breach. I believe this needs to go into an SEC filing too. Here’s the definition of a Personally Identifiable Information (PII) breach in the US. PII Breach means the loss of control, compromise, unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized acquisition, unauthorized access or any similar term referring to situations where persons other than the authorized users, and for other than authorized purposes, have access or potential access to PII, whether physical or electronic. https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/pii-breach I can no longer log in, so that’s better.

@Bellaggio Cruisers if Franck the GM is still on the Splendor, please have a visit with him to explain your situation. That was poor treatment on Regent’s part; I’m sorry to read about it.

I’ll just say that your impression of the Splendor is far different from mine. We loved it and booked another on board and another one since. No, it wasn’t perfect there’s a thread I started here about our cruise. But it was overall excellent. We’re not big pool people and eat earlier so that’s part of it. Enjoy the other lines.

Here’s a video review. I’ll wait awhile till they get the kinks worked out.

We were on that cruise with you, and the one right afterwards that was 7 days. And, yes, a *much* different, livelier, vibe on the 7 day cruise. Enough so I’m not sure I’d book one again on a high-end line like Regent.

Crystal had a very good app, and Celebrity does now that shows activities, bar hours, etc. I like having that option. Otherwise, I’d like a printed copy so I can take a photo of the hourly schedule, on board time, etc. As another alternative, they could post the full issue each day by reception for easy access, without having to ask someone to pull one out—like posting the daily menus. maybe SS has an app, too, I don’t recall.

I think that’s a great idea!

Interesting discussion on music. It’s like food, in a way—very subjective. We’re in our early 60s and really enjoyed the American Songbook repertoire of Gino’s. But we also enjoyed the Beatles show in the atrium and the dance party on deck. All great music, and a nice mixture. The Lemon Duo was good for a change-up for us, but we didn’t love her voice; the guitarist was very good though. Not saying I’m right, just offering another view for anyone reading along.

We just walked through the spa and said we were going to the infinity pool. Nobody bothered us either coming or going.

That sounds like Grenada. Sorry to hear that. I had one good and one great meal there on our last cruise. And the good I’ve was mostly due to me ordering outside my comfort zone. Service was excellent. Strange it changed so much.

@GeorgiaPeach51 I’m glad you got moved, hopefully our comments to Regent helped them see the light. I’m glad you liked the thread! I enjoyed yours from a couple months ago. @cAPS lOCK oN we were supposed to be on the 11:30 shuttle but it left about 12:20. Then a long wait at the terminal. We got on about 1:10. I’d just take an Uber or Lyft the next time.

I’ve been delinquent in sharing my final thoughts on our wonderful Splendor cruise (Jan. 21 to Feb. 8, really a back-to-back cruise). We loved it! It was our first Regent cruise after trying several luxury cruise lines such as Crystal, Seabourn and Silversea. The crew were superb, somehow they knew our name wherever we went, and knew that we were staying on for a second voyage. The entertainment was very good and better than expected for a smaller ship. In particular, we really enjoyed listening to Gino in the Observation Lounge. The productions shows were very good, although largely repeated on the second cruise. The guest comedian on the first cruise was excellent. The food ranged from good to excellent, with very good to excellent being the norm. One beef dish was warm but not hot and a couple things just weren’t to my liking, but they were also a little outside the box for me, too. We were in Suite 871 (a concierge suite), which was an ideal location; three decks up to the pool deck/La veranda/Observation Lounge and three to four decks down for the theater or Compass Rose. Our suite itself was very nice, with lots of outlets by the very comfortable bed. I liked how the bed faced the window. The sitting area was quite comfortable. The balcony was large with two chairs, a lounger and a table; the downside was that the furniture and floor often seemed salty from the spray. The bathroom was a nice size with a double vanity, a tub and separate shower. We never used the tub. The TV was nice, and we appreciated having the menus available on the TV. One thing we missed that we’ve had on other cruises is a nice app that would show menus and the daily activities without having to carry around the daily Passages or taking a photo of it. We enjoyed the infinity pool area as a relaxing place as opposed to the pool deck, which could get quite busy. We did try the hot tubs a couple times and the temperature was nice and hot. The included excursions were OK, but frankly we didn’t go on a Caribbean cruise to deeply explore the ports, most of which we’ve been to several times. The ship was the primary destination. And the ship itself is gorgeous. The public areas have a very nice color palette and are well-designed and laid out. Unfortunately, my wife needed to visit the medical center. The doctor was efficient and provided the necessary prescription for a burn suffered in an excursion involving a cooking class. There was no charge and when the doctor saw her the next day by chance around the ship, he asked how she was. Some people have experienced difficulty completing the post-cruise survey. My wife completed it on board and I asked for an email link, which I got a couple days after I got home. One negative experience on the cruise was the pre-cruise assigned hotel in Miami, the AKA Brickell. It is still under construction and not up to Regent standards. The hotel shuttle to the ship was disorganized and behind schedule, and there were long lines at check in at the cruise terminal. One thing we learned, too, was that the passenger mix on seven night cruises is much different than on longer cruises. Our first segment was an eleven night cruise, the second was seven nights. It’s a noisier crowd on a shorter cruise, with some groups on board. I will say, though, that the “exuberance” decreased after the first day or so. But it’s something to keep in mind. We enjoyed this cruise so much we booked another on the Grandeur for next March. If you haven’ttried Regent, you definitely should; and if you haven’t tried the Splendor, you definitely should!