sharon2975

We are doing the crossing on the Scenic Eclipse in September. I will be happy to report back on how it is. We are very excited.

another vote here for Steve at the trip insurance store. they have lots of options and will guide you thru what is best for you.

would love to see the wine list as well. sharon2975@aol.com if you can't attach and have to send it along. thanks so much.

we never check bags. Have heard too many horror stories about lost bags. It is amazing what you can fit into a carryon if you try. Regent helps by supplying robes and slippers. Just saying!

I vote for a per bag price or laundry package. We travel in carry on only and that would be fantastic for us. don't mind paying, just not the per piece pricing that now exists. We have done our own laundry in the past, but if there was a "code red" we would be in trouble.

just booked the crossing in September 2018, with the airfare credit I could not pass this up. really want to try this ship. anyone else interested in this sailing? if so the credit is good till Dec 31.

Travelcat you are not alone in this. What if the cruise line allowed you to send someone else to fill your spot? you could either "sell" your reservation to someone else, maybe at a reduced price, or even give it to someone else. You can do this when you rent a villa and can't go, why not a cabin on a cruise ship? Just a thought.

we booked our classes with our TA for our cruise in February. We found the class to be a waste of our time and money (just saying) maybe they fired that chef and are making sure they have someone who can do a better job.

sounds like fun. They did NOT do this on the feb 14th explorer cruise. would have enjoyed it. we are doing the crossing in November, maybe they will do it then, sure hope so.

Thanks Sheila, I saw your post, we are on some of the same excursions as you are, no jeeps for us :)

me too: we have reserved 755

we are looking at "panoramas of west madeira and it includes time in porto moniz for shopping and lunch, now i wonder if there will be shops open and somewhere for lunch???? does anyone know????

In Funchal on Sunday, hope that is not an issue. and TC please do post details on your shore excursion.

Mudhen, we are on the November crossing and going to all three stops you mention, and information for excursions on these three would be very helpful. can sign up for excursions in a few days so trying to figure it out.

TC, i am not logged into our cruise. i am on the regent site and at the second stop Ponta Delgata. Did you stop there? if so what did you do there? Do you find that the Regent choice excursions are better than the free ones?

where did you go on the excursion that is no longer offered, if you don't mind my asking???

Do you think the excursion in Ponta Delgata Splendor of the Furnas is worth the extra charge? any suggestions for Ponta Delgata??? where did you go? how was it????

lets start with Madeira: which area would be most interesting? the descriptions all sound good, but first hand knowledge would be best.

could really use some help selecting shore excursions for our november crossing on the explorer. Have read about them on the Regent site and am confused. I know some of you were on the crossing in the fall. All suggestions would be appreciated.

Not sure who the teacher was as we were talking to chef Kelly when she was introducing herself to the class. We missed her introduction as well as the beginning of the recipe.

I got the feeling that she was very new to the ship and teaching this class. As I stated before, she demonstrated the preparation of gravlax including wrapping it in plastic wrap and said it was finished. I asked her if she was suppose to add in the vodka that was in front of her and she seemed embarrassed. she unwrapped the fish and then added the vodka. She did not tell us to refrigerate this to complete the preparation.

As to helping the students with what they were preparing, she did not do that at all. She appeared to be overwhelmed. She had several busboy type helpers that came around and delivered items to each student and took away dirty dishes. We only prepared 3 dishes, and two of those involved finishing or beginnings that we did not participate in. The rest were "demo only" and unimpressive.

It is correct that my main concern and complaint was with the class being misrepresented and my husband getting sick because his fish dish in butter sauce was finished in an oven with shellfish dishes that were uncovered and all splattered together.

That said, as a foodie and a cook, I felt this class and this teacher were a waste of our time, for all of the reasons I have already stated.

to be clear: Chef Kelly did NOT teach the class we took. The person who was the "teacher" seemed over her head. I love to cook and spend a lot of time in the kitchen, trust me when I tell you that this teacher should find something else to do as teaching cooking is not her calling. Her major concern seemed to be watching the clock to make sure she was running on time. She went so far as to assign one of the "students" the job of reporting the time to her all through the class.

We took the class hoping to come home with some new ways to prepare fish.

Last night I cooked Steelhead using one of my tried and true recipes. It was so much better then anything we had in the "class".

We are traveling on the crossing in November from lisbon to Miami on the Explorer. We will be in Lisbon for 3 days prior to boarding the ship.

Can someone give us some tips as to what to pack and what the weather may be like???? Sure hope to hear from Travelcat and anyone else who did the first crossing in November. We only pack in carry on so this is critical. thanks in advance for all help.

We took the fish class on the Explorer last month and were very disappointed. The "chef" who taught the class was very disorganized. As an example she made gravlax, (not exactly what we were hoping for) and forgot the vodka and then failed to mention that it had to be refrigerated. Most of the time was spent with her doing demos. The food network does it better. I was hoping to learn some recipes to take home and enjoy. Instead, we left the class feeling like we had wasted our time.

For total disclosure: my husband is allergic to shellfish and we were told the class was "fish only" no shellfish. two of the recipes contains shellfish. Based on our experience I do not recommend the cooking classes on the Explorer.

dont remember the name of the chef teaching the class. Chef Kelly was in the cooking school office and she is the person we spoke to about the shellfish. I agree that I should have taken this further on the ship. It was the last day of the trip and I just wanted to enjoy the little time we had left. Everything on the ship was so hassle free that the issue with the cooking class really stuck out like a sore thumb, that is why I thought it must be a concession since everyone else on the Explorer went way over and above to make sure the passengers were happy. Thanks JPR for understanding our frustration.

So glad that our review was well received. Here are some followup comments: Travelcat: as to the refund of the cooking class, We both wanted to not take the class since it was mis-represented as "fish only" Chef Kelly would only refund Bob (since we stayed there was NO refund) and not me, since I did not have an allergy. In retrospect, since Bob got sick, the money should not have mattered and we should have left the class. As to reporting this, it was the final day of the cruise and we had filled out our forms and placed them in the box prior to taking the class, so we did not report it to the ship. Do you know if there is a way to report it to Regent now? We have told our TA.

As to the the shore excursions: Costa Maya, we signed up to snorkel and took the tram to the beach. The beach was unappealing and we got right into a cab and returned to the ship. those that stayed reported seeing no fish in the mirky water. we visited the ruins in Belize. from what we heard the ruins in other stops were better. As snorkelers we felt that the shore excursions did not identify the best options and maximized the water time. We loved our day in Cozumel where we arranged our own snorkel trip, well worth the cost and time to arrange.

That said: We LOVE the ship, the food and the STAFF. Cant wait to return. We will not take another cooking class, and will carefully consider the shore excursions.

We just returned from a 10-day Western Caribbean journey on the explorer. For anyone considering sailing on this ship, our suggestion is to not hesitate and go for it.

This was our first Regent cruise and will not be our last. Our concierge level stateroom was spacious and had more storage space then we could fill. The bathroom was large and had drawers and shelf space to hold anything we could bring. We liked having 2 sinks, a tub and a shower. Having the laundry right down the hall was very convenient for washing swimsuits after snorkeling. The food was amazing. Our favorites included: Pacific Rim and Prime 7, don’t miss the 14 layer chocolate cake, trust me you will love it. The pools were heated and well used; we were concerned that they would be too cold for us, not an issue. Bob enjoyed the lectures, and we found the evening entertainment to be excellent. We laughed to Bruce Smirnoff’s humor, swayed to Doug Camron’s melodic violin, danced to the Broadway and 60’s music and swooned to Tammy & Andy’s beautiful singing. Each night we listened to Tim’s excellent piano playing and enjoyed “Name the Tune” with friends until the wee hours.

The staff was very caring, sweet and helpful. Anything we asked for was delivered without hesitation. For example, Bob requested IPA beer and the next day a supply was in our cabin. We found out later that it was not carried onboard and someone went to port and purchased it for Bob. Just one example of how above and beyond everyone goes to make sure the passengers are taken care of.

I could go on and on, but I think you have the gist. We have booked another trip on the Explorer.

There were a few areas that need improvement.

* The Internet connection was iffy at best.

* We did not enjoy the shore excursions that we took from the ships offerings; this may be because of the itinerary, however at this time it is our only means for comment.

* The cooking class was a huge disappointment. Bob has a shellfish allergy and we checked prior to booking the cooking class that it was only “fish” and no shellfish. The class began with scallops and then moved to shrimp. Although they switched to fish for Bob, there was serious cross-contamination in the ovens and Bob got quite sick. We requested a refund and wanted to leave the class. The head chef would only refund Bob. We missed two of the recipes because of the time spent talking to her. We stayed even though we did not want to. It felt like the cooking school was a concession that was not run by Regent. Their main concern was the money; not that the passengers were taken care of. Also but not as important, the chef teaching was not good. She forgot steps and the food was not great.