Wendy The Wanderer

17 minutes ago, dabear said:

Thanks to Wendy & cwn. Sounds as easy as the port in Ft Lauderdale where we also parked at a lot & just had to cross the street to get to our ship.

Good to know.  I didn't know there was dedicated parking at the Ft Lauderdale port.

35 minutes ago, dabear said:

Do you recall the terminal number? We will be driving over to the port from Naples & hope to park near the terminal like we were able to at the port in Ft Lauderdale.

The parking garage is right across from terminal J, literally. Just a note, however.  On our return to Miami, we were docked at another terminal (The NCL one, can't remember the letter), so had to take a shuttle bus from that terminal over to the parking garage at J.  Other than that glitch, parking was painless.

10 minutes ago, RELS said:

 

Seconded!

When we did Alaska we brought two pairs of binoculars so we wouldn't have to share.  That's when I bought my lovely newer binoculars, for that trip.  My 50+ year-old Bushnells held up, but the new optics were far superior.

I think that's true, Concierge only.  But the ones we've had a couple of times were really pitiful, so my advice is to bring your own.

22 hours ago, Sapphire45 said:

Monitoring the situation closely. We're flying to Calgary from the UK on the 1st Sept to hopefully join the Rocky Mountaineer on the 3rd. Our TA is going to speak with Regent daily to keep up with the latest situation.

Oh wow, fingers crossed for you. A lot can happen in ten days but it's not looking good right now.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if parts of the Trans Canada Highway is closed.  And the RM goes through Kamloops, which although I don't believe it's at risk, it must be darned smokey, and the route to the east probably go right through some of the areas of active fires.

I got a prescription mask years ago, and it's done well by me, worth it.

18 hours ago, cwn said:

Mass market lines do this and the TA will mark the reservation. Based on our past experience I don’t think this is something Regent does.

In the past we've told our TA that we would be amenable to an upgrade.  Got one once, a great deal, but rare.

On 8/9/2023 at 6:43 AM, ToxM said:

So a sort of related question - we have a booking in a cabin grade, and this grade is now waitlisted. We ticked the magic upgrade button to see if anything would happen. What happens in this case, do they move the booked cabins to make room for the GTY bookings first? 

 

I realise it is somewhat of a dark art and the peculiarities of it are not particularly clear, just wondering on people’s experiences. 

I admit I didn't even know there was an upgrade button.  As far as I know, you will never just be bumped from a booked cabin by a GTY.  In my small experience with upgrades, it's usually 2-3 weeks before the sailings that these offers are made, and you must accept quickly because they are popular. Presumably they might offer you a free upgrade if they really needed your cabin for a GTY, not sure about that.

We stayed at the Biltmore in January pre-cruise and loved it. It's about a 20 minute ride from the airport, so I suggest a cab or Uber. Ditto to the port.

45 minutes ago, Kwaj girl said:

 

We were advised that "Nonrefundable" OBC cannot be transferred to the Crew Fund...only "Refundable" OBC could qualify.  Have things changed over the last couple of months?

In January we did this, but it was refundable OBC.

I would make that assumption, yes. Wraps and sweaters for the ladies, a jacket for the gentlemen. My husband hates suits, but he wore a blazer every night on Splendor last winter and was very glad I packed it.

8 hours ago, lincslady said:

For Brits. Barbados is (for most of us) a better embarkation port than Miami, and certainly than other islands , as we have good direct flights.  I even prefer the disorganised but at least small airport!

I thought so!  I know Seabourn uses it a lot, and they seem to have more passengers from the U.K. Coming from Canada it may not be too bad either, in the winter, but from the States it looks like a real pain.  The lack of offered hotels I guess is a problem for everybody.

7 hours ago, jhenry1 said:

We too are most likely going to be looking at other options. We are both now 78 and the air situation and uncertainty and expense is just a lot. If you could just drive and board a ship it would be great. I guess we could just drive down to Galveston and get on a NCL ship which the haven suites are great and cruise around in the Caribbean ever so often.

We're still wintering in Florida, so can drive to Miami or Fort Lauderdale.  We did this last winter and did a wonderful Splendor Southern Caribbean.  My husband hardly set foot off the ship, so it could have been a "cruise to nowhere" for us.  No Air is important at this point in our lives. We did a wonderful Seaborn itinerary before Covid that was round-trip Montreal.  We took the train there and back. I admit we prefer Regent, and Splendor was absolute perfection.

Just as another data point, our ill-fated 2021 WC was going to cost us just under CAN$160,000, for a standard balcony cabin (not concierge.) Plus a non-use air credit of $3,800, which brings it to close to $165K.  It was going to be 119 days long.

Just looking at the 2024 WC, which, granted, is longer, 132 days.  Standard G cabins is ~CAN$122,000 per person. I.e., over CAN$240K.  To be fair I'm not factoring in any discounts for SSS or other special offers.  But still, that's ridiculous.  And too long, btw.

13 minutes ago, pappy1022 said:

The reality is that the cruise industry needs to make more revenue because of the increased expenses as a result of massive borrowing during COVID with no revenue during those 2 years. That doesn’t bode well for anything but more price increases. Maybe Regent will be back to just catering to the wealthy.

Yes, agreed.  Glad we got our 'licks' in when prices were more reasonable.  I remember one particular cruise we took several years after 9/11 when the per diem for our standard balcony cabin was about $400pd/pp.

Granted we're at or near the end of our cruising "careers", but I find Regent's latest prices just breathtaking. Regardless of whether or not one can afford it, I can't get my head around this level of spending. I frankly wish they would take excursions out of the equation, but that's obviously not going to happen.  Haven't done SS, but too bad they've gone the same way.

8 hours ago, frantic36 said:

A quick question that hopefully won't offend anyone. When I board Regent I will have my sent out luggage tags with suite # attached but will also have my old Seabourn leatherette tags that I just leave on my luggage with name, phone # etc for years now, will that cause an issue? Just for the record Seabourn no longer sends out the fake leather pouches either. 

No.  In fact your luggage should always have those tags on wherever you travel.  These paper things are just like the ones you get on your luggage when you fly. 

1 hour ago, Pcardad said:

If it makes you feel any better, we have always had to fill out our own luggage tags.

I was going to mention that.  I'm pretty much done cruising I think, but frankly I found the waste of all those pleather cases and cloth bags kind of offensive.  I'd prefer everything to be electronic, including printable luggage tags.

(Guess I could have complained about the Radisson/Regent pins--they used to give them out to all repeat cruises, you know. Another big waste.)

Somehow I've often thought that it would be nice if the activities were more diverse on TA's.  But I'm not sure what I can imagine.  Ballroom dance lessons come to mind. Wine or food tastings?  Anybody got any suggestions?

11 hours ago, Twitchly said:

Trying to imagine how much someone would have to pay me to get into one of those things …

Especially right now.  Although I admit we got into a submarine in Aruba with no qualms (other than a bit of claustrophobia).  Plus I've been in several semi-submersibles with no fears. Not sure I'd do either now.

On 7/8/2023 at 10:37 AM, MSEm said:

Thanks to all for the dive information.  If you dive or hear anyone talking about their dive location, please post the mini review.  Also please post any good or negative mini reviews on the other shore excursions.

Question on the bicyle tours:  Flat land or hilly?  Also how long is the actualy ride?

 

Where are the bicycle tours operated?

As for submarines, the best diving conditions to see wrecks that I know of would be in Georgian Bay, since the waters are very clear.  But still, obviously no reefs or such.

But the scenery in Georgian Bay is spectacular, so I would try to find some kind of excursion either on the water (canoeing?), or hiking.  Killarney Park has great hiking trails.

22 hours ago, Gpilon said:

We were up your way 3 weekends ago. 2 nights in Vaughan then 2 in Burlington. Great weather and time spent with family and friends. 

You were lucky then.  Weather so far this summer has been up and down like a roller coaster.  Hot and muggy, rainy and cool, smoky as all get out.  It's nice now, but getting hot again.

6 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

"G" is a Deluxe Verandah, and the second cheapest category ("H" is the cheapest).  "GS" is a Grand Suite.   And you are correct, "RS" is the Regent Suite.

Sorry, that was a typo.  I meant a GS, the suite the OP mentioned.

1 minute ago, Gpilon said:

We are in a Grand Suite. The post from Vertygo references the Regent Suite. 

Yes, and the big penalties were clearly only for the RS.