Wendy The Wanderer

Btw, as to the vibe in our mid-aft concierge on deck 10. It's hardly detectable unless you're lying in bed with your ear to the pillow, and then it's a mere flutter really. Seas are quite calm as we chug south around Haiti heading for Curacao.

That was a Covid thing, back to normal now.

Dinner in Sette Mare tonight to avoid the CR crush after Captain's Welcome. The staff seemed rushed and made missteps. Took forever to get wine. But our waiters were eager to please. Food very nice, including the antipasti, but the buffet was sparse. The salad offerings were meager in the extreme. The desserts listed tiramisu but there wasn't any--waiter offered to go to another restaurant and get me some. I declined and settled for a divine panna cotta. Internet decent most of the time, but spotty at peak hours, which seem to include 4 a.m.

We drove to the port and thus got aboard fairly early. There were logistical problems land-side so didn't get to our suites until 2:30, so we enjoyed the Pool Grill. I must admit this is a very, very nice cabin, Concierge. Very lovely dinner in Prime 7. Huge compared to the older ships, and beautiful, plus great service. Haven't explored much yet since we're kind of slow. Got separated at muster drill and we both thought the other was missing. Turned out we'd been sent to different rooms. Their scanning system didn't seem to be able to be able to tell me that David had already checked in. All was well in the end. Had a wonderful sleep in our huge bed. Looking forward to enjoying our large balcony which must be almost twice the size of ones we've had on Voyager, Mariner or Nav. So far everything is perfection!

On Splendor now. No testing on boarding. They did ask our vaccination status, but didn't check.

No. Although I will confirm that in a couple of hours. We did a proctored test prior to leaving home as insurance, and we board Splendor this morning. Tests are mandatory if you've been to China recently.

I checked on my Android phone (on a Canadian network albeit I'm physically in the States right now), and there is no Wifi Calling option in settings. Guess it's a network-provider option that my provider just doesn't offer. Funny since WhatsApp uses the internet, right? All this being said, if I have to text my husband onboard, I can just send him a text message. So what if it costs $1.50 per end? Not a big deal. (Ah, just checked, we have free text messaging in the Caribbean per our travel package to the States, so no prob.!)

If you're going to stop at Aruba, I would suggest the submarine. My husband used to enjoy snorkelling but doesn't any more, and he loved this excursion. (I found it a bit claustrophic, but only a little.)

I'll contribute once in a while, I hope. That depends on bandwidth and the fact that I won't have a keyboard, just a phone. We're on the 21st - 1st trip. We also have not been on a ship for a long time, since 2018. We put off cruising in 2019 to save up for our big adventure to be, the WC of 2021. Obviously that didn't happen. Then we cancelled a Baltic trip this last summer, 2022, because of the risks and hassles of air travel, and the limits of our own stamina, frankly. This may well be our last cruise. First time on one of the newer ships. Never thought I'd be excited about another Caribbean cruise, but I am, very. Just being at sea again will be thrilling. Seen some of the islands before, hope to see a few more sights this time. Driving down to Miami from Dunedin, FL on Friday, staying at the Biltmore Hotel. On the agenda for sure: buying fresh spices in Grenada. We've run out of nutmeg!

Thanks. Coming from the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, do you recommend taking US-1 and I-95 to I-395, or getting up onto 836 sooner and going that way? Don't mind about tolls, we have Sunpass.

I'm looking at Google Maps and having trouble figuring this out. Google wants to take me via I-395 but off at Biscayne and across the bridge on Port Blvd. Our terminal J is quite near there, northwest corner of Dodge Island. Sounds like you're telling me to proceed over the MacArthur Causeway and then exit at 887. That would take us on a circuitous route all around the port to get us back to J. Is the construction really that bad that we should do that? (Edited to add, ah, I see, 887 IS the tunnel.) Thanks.

Thanks for the tip!

The answer is complex. Depends on where they're going, how they get there, what kind of restaurants they like, the size of their homes. Things like that.

Holiday Inn Port of Miami. An easy cab ride to the ship.

My opinion is that age shouldn't be a problem if it's not a problem for you and your brother. That is, if you're open to being around people who are for the most part considerably older than you. Most of those people (me, for instance), enjoy engaging with younger people, and some may even take you under their wing. If you're down with that, then it's all good.

I feel for you! Our last cruise was 2018, on Mariner, and we've been on Voyager a few times. We'll be boarding Splendor in a little over two weeks and really looking forward to cruising again, and it was nice to be able to try one of the new ships, I admit. But for me, I'd probably choose Voyager because it's cheaper, but it might depend on what cabins were available. It would also be a toss-up to end in Barcelona or Lisbon, love both cities.

I was just going to ask that question! I see some posts on the "other" place, but would like to see people posting here, if they have time with all the fun they're having.

I would talk to an agent at Regent, if not a TA. Regent will get in touch with you to do this, if you don't want to find a TA right away, and then after booking, you can still transfer to a TA if you choose.

That sounds pretty reasonable to me, actually. One might want or expect more of course, but... I would rather say, "I don't fly half-way across the world for a cruise to stay on the ship". That's the tough part I think.

Yes! I'll be one of the ones hobbling around the ship, possibly with a cane. My back/hip problems have quantum-leaped and I may not even be leaving the ship (which is fine with me, since I've been to four of the islands before, although I do want to get a supply of nutmeg in Grenada!) We loved our single Azamara trip. Ship tours were pricey, but there was the option of shared private tours, and we had one of our best experiences doing that, something that I miss on Regent. What we liked most about the Azamara cruise was the casual friendliness of everyone, including the senior staff, and the fun atmosphere. I must say that Regent's "included" Business Air has been a big incentive for us in the past. Hardly can beat their prices, unless you have points to burn.

There is definitely an element of feeling at home with one line. Our first Radisson cruise was in 2000, on the Paul Gauguin (still our favourite ship.) Our first post-pandemic cruise is coming up in three weeks on Splendor. We may find that ship too glitzy, we'll see, but I doubt it. Aside from the non-Regent Paul Gauguin, we've done one Seabourn, one Oceania and one Azamara, all nice, but on Regent all the buttons are pushed, including great cabins, wonderful service, small quiet ships, a wide variety of cuisine, and best of all, an interesting and varied passenger mix. (I must say this last was true on the others, except for Oceania.)

Yes, but there used to be. In any case, the Master Suite.

There's always one. We had one once who I called a "captain of industry", i.e., A-type personality. Had an Owner's Suite on Voyager. He ended up decking another passenger and being confined to his cabin by the security staff. Another one (a female this time) sniffed at us and looked down her nose every time we saw her--she was offended that we too were in a PH suite. Her husband dressed in nautical attire, we nicknamed him Popeye.

Isn't it a bit late for that, Marc?

Having been on the ship twice before, what changes, if any, did you notice under the new regime? Were there any staff from the past that you recognized? How, in general, did the staff morale seem to you? Same as always? I'm very glad to hear you had a great time. We did the 2-weeks Marquesas in, hmm, 2008!