Wendy The Wanderer

Hi, we were in 829, which is the same suite, in the same position, one deck down. We'd never been on Mariner before, so I can't much compare it to the standard suite, which of course is smaller than the other ships like Voyager or Navigator. That being said, it felt more spacious than the standard probably would have, mainly because there's no walk-in closet I guess. The bathroom had a walk-in (wheel-in) shower, with just a bit curtain around it, and the mods that you would expect. The shower was messy, i.e., lots of water spashed around, but the stewards took good care of that. There was a small closet built-in and then a wardrobe as well. Plus some drawers. There was plenty of storage, we found (for an 18-day cruise.) There were ramps everywhere, into the bathroom, out to the balcony, for instance. Other accommodations perhaps that I've forgotten. We were content, it worked decently for us, but then we weren't disabled at the time, so not sure how it would work if you were. (In fact, with balance issues now, we might find those ramps to be challenging.) Hope this helps.

We really enjoyed the Biltmore last January, lucky you.

We enjoyed all of them, Sette Mare least of all. I think this was a post-covid staffing/provisioning issue. Surprisingly, I liked Pacific Rim best. It all comes down to service that night, and what menu choices you make.

It is a terrific auditorium indeed!

If you're talking about the coloured paper tags for boarding, it's not worth it. They're only on your suitcases for a couple of hours. I.e., you don't put them on the cases until you're about to board the ship.

Well, I'm betting that $750 is close to the actual wholesale value of the tour? That would be my guess. These things tend to be hugely expensive (overpriced?), if you're paying for them.

You know, in the "old days", there used to be always a galley tour at least (in the really old days, the bridge too!) But last January on Splendor there was nothing. Guess times have changed.

We were able to use the stools at the back on Splendor. We chose cooking stations in the back row, so it was convenient. We really enjoyed the two classes we took.

Oh, okay, I misunderstood--thought you meant a Regent cruise. We've done a Nile River cruise with Uniworld. It was wonderful.

So, as an outsider looking in at this situation, is it the case that the "free", included pre-cruise packages that are offered from time to time are of lesser quality than than paid pre- or post-cruise packages? Or are some paying for this Vibrant Tokyo tour? (We've never taken a pre-cruise trip, but almost did once, and it seemed to be chocked full of sights and activities.) I certainly would never pay those prices for what the OP described.

I would worry about the excursion availability for sure. I'd also deviate for sure, and go at least a day in advance if you're no Concierge already. Lateness definitely has a downside I guess, not sure what I'd do.

By "on the Nile", what do you mean? You mean a two-days stop in Safaga?

We were in a Mariner accessible cabin, 829 I think, and there certainly was no closet, just a wardrobe. But there was a small closet as well as I remember, and some drawers. I found I had plenty of room. There's a ramp out to the balcony, and one into the bathroom, but they don't get in your way generally. And yes, the bathroom is larger. The shower stall is a bit messy, since there's a system of curtains instead of a door. The stewardess will spend some time each day mopping up water. All in all the room felt a bit roomier than I think the standard Mariner one would feel.

Lucky you guys!

I'm about the most casual person in the world. For my first Radisson cruise I bought a couple of glitzy tops (in the thrift shop), and some black velvet pants (I lived in jeans at that point of my life). That was 23 years ago, ha ha. Since then I've branched out to nice tops, not necessarily glitzy, but nice-looking and comfortable to wear. I have a selection of nice, stretchy pants, often black or beige. Assorted fairly simple jewelery, and some evening sandals. A shawl or two.

My advice is to bow out of the included Air, take the credit and book your own air. Since your cruise is next year you should have plenty of time for that.

I've seen it confirmed on the "other" site that Starlink is in fact up and running on Mariner. This was confirmed by Mike from Regent (can't remember his last name.) He said that Grandeur would have Starlink running from its first cruise, the rest of the fleet sometime in 2024.

is the tram open? If so you can take it to the Sultanahmet and then just walk around to the sites.

Agreed. I also think that the PG cabins are perfect. Very well planned and laid out.

They've been doing it this way for over 20 years. We have taken their air a few times, not many, but only with a deviation to fly in the day before. For example, if we had been flying from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale (back in the day when Radisson sailed from there), I would look at the cost of flights, then look at the air credit, and factoring in the deviation fee ($75 then), we would decide what to do. Or when we were flying one way home to Florida from Ecuador after debarking in Lima, we found that Regent got us good Biz seats that couldn't be beat privately, so we did that. Have also done a few points flights. That being said, to the OP, live and learn, but how awful for you. In retrospect, you could have just refused their flights and booked your own, and swallowed the air credits they wouldn't give you. Sorry it left a bad taste in your mouth--Regent is wonderful in many ways.

A local dive shop would be best, then you can try on the masks. Years ago I got one that had two different lenses, a plain one and a different one for my single myopic eye--worked out great.

It's been a weird year. Lots of very warm weather, and dry. The wildfire smoke apparently has also affected the trees' cycle.

Us to Richard. Sad, but then not sure we'll cruise again anyway.

The first PG we did was a 7-day, but we did a 4-night pre-cruise to an island. That's a compromise. I do like the 10 and 11-day itineraries, however. Or you could do a b2b with 2 7-day cruises (something that we've done.) The Society Islands as a whole are the most interesting and satisfying, and can be done twice easily (we've done 4 7-nights over the years). The Tuamotus are good for snorkeling and diving. The Marquesas are very remote and are beautiful and mysterious, but hard to get to. Almost all the cabins on the PG are small. Most cabins are the C balconies, just marginally larger than the window or porthole cabins, so we tended to do the window cabin. They are very well laid-out. Bathrooms are small. The A and B penthouses on the same deck as the pool deck (8?) are nice, a wee bit bigger, but otherwise probably not worth the price except for the location and the butler, and the few "named cabins" are bigger but probably underwhelming to anyone used to a named suite on Regent. Frankly, we spent very little time in the cabins on the PG, because there's nice outdoor common areas on the ship.

I think doing FP on Navigator would be pretty nice. I'd miss the Gauguines, of course.