Wendy The Wanderer

Sure, I understand. Yes, the itinerary is very attractive, it's just getting back and forth from Barbados that is not. Are you booking your own air and hotel? We winter near Tampa so would have to fly thru Miami or Charlotte to get to Barbados, in Coach. Driving to the Port of Miami is much more convenient for us.

I looked seriously at those itineraries in and/or out of Barbados, and I have to wonder why they are doing this. Limited, horrifically expensive hotels, limited and annoying air routes from many parts of North America, and on top of that, they get to give you Economy Air because they consider the Caribbean to be "domestic" (I believe.) I hope that in terms of itineraries, this is a mistake that Regent won't repeat. (I guess it may be different for those from the U.K.--it may be dead easy to fly into and out of the Barbados, so maybe that's who Regent is targeting?)

Regent was all-inclusive long before they added excursions to the mix. And it was quite different from Oceania even then. No carding, no happy hour crowds in the bars, better food, better service. I like that Regent is all-inclusive, and that's despite that I don't drink alcohol any more. I also don't go to many of the big shows, preferring listening to musicians in a bar. The inclusive excursions was something Regent tried, probably to enhance the "all-inclusive" identity. It worked for a while, but right now it's failing, perhaps mostly because of Covid. On the other hand, we've had some wonderful private excursions organized with small groups of fellow travellers in the past; on Azamara, Oceania, Seabourn, and yes, even on Regent. So this is different, I believe, than the other included amenities because it materially affects your trip in many cases.

That's the one huge benefit of Oceania, in my view. I wish Regent would stop including tours, frankly, then that roll-call model would come into play.

I was with David, above, in 1022. Form me the only slight downside was occasional noise from the pool deck when they were setting up. You may want to look at where your cabin is, ours was right under the area near the ice cream parlor, and we did hear chairs being moved a couple of times. As I said, really minor.

As someone else has said, there's a secure check-in onboard for carry-on bags--they discourage you from trying to drop them off at your suite, although that worked sometimes in the past. What is a sea pass card? If you mean your ID card, you get it when you check in.

In my experience, they don't impact on dining times, but you might want to consider not doing a specialty restaurant that night, since depending on how much you eat at your class, you may not be that hungry.

Make sure to look at the fine print. It often ends after a certain age.

I've read on FB that they have Starlink internet up and running. Would be interested to hear any reports on this.

Nerves of steel indeed. Along about 2015 I thought that I would have been way ahead if I hadn't bought cancellation insurance for our cruises since 2000. By then, we were too old and decrepit to risk it. As they say, hindsight is 20-20. Made it out alive so far, only one cruise without insurance, no cancellations for cause, so no experience with the process, fortunately.

In our experience, tables for 6 are quite common. It's our favourite size, if we are in the mood to share. Small enough to have conversations around the table, large enough group not to feel trapped with another couple with whom you're incompatible.

Hmm, well I wonder what people are saying. I haven't been on Voyager for quite a awhile, but she was always a lovely ship. The only thing I would say is that there's a vibration aft, so some say to avoid aft cabins, especially on lower decks. But this is similar to Navigator.

If you have an H GTY, you might get an upgrade. No, I haven't seen those (smaller) cabins myself, but they are probably about the same size as a standard balcony cabin on Azamara. Outside of your (very nice) small cabin, Splendor is a simply glorious ship. Wonderful service, great food, bars everywhere, what's not to like? We did do one Azamara trip and really enjoyed it, mainly because of the friendly attitude onboard (andwe did it in a Club Continent Suite, but saw the standard balcony cabin and thought it was adequate. I think you'll be happy with Regent.

I agree that's a bummer. Doesn't sound like a good business decision. I realize they don't want people booking these big cruises on a whim, but still, making it transferrable once would still make it much more palatable.

Well, when you say "same cabin category", that doesn't tell the whole tale I think. Look at the square footage of the cabins, and the layouts. I just looked at a Concierge Veranda on Vista and it looks tiny by comparison with the standard cabin on, say, Splendor. No walk-in closet either.

Commiserations, everyone. Our sole Azamara cruise was in 2016 and we were just talking about how it might be nice to try another one, since Regent seems to be pricing itself out of our budget. Oh well, sure not going book any time soon.

I have been curious about this too. Flying from Tampa, we'd have to connect through either Charlotte or Miami. One hour from Tampa, four hours from Miami, and the aggravation of Miami airport. Six to nine hours overall if we're lucky.

Our TA always does it in reverse--books us on cruise only, and then we can add the air later if we wish. It makes the deposit a bit smaller that way. We have used Regent Air, and have rolled our own. By all means use points or miles if you have lots and you can find the flights you need. Always deviate and fly in the day before the cruise. The times we have used Regent Air is when we could not find a Business fare comparable to what they could offer (deviation fees included)--they can often do much better than paying those fares. But if I have the points, I will use them.

Our waitlist deposit was $1000 I believe.

We waitlisted for our Splendor cruise this past January. We waitlisted in June and cleared and booked in July. Paying the deposit allows you to book up to three categories. We jumped on the first category that came, but presumably if you didn't like the first cabin that came up, you could decline it and still be on the waitlist. Perhaps someone can confirm that.

Kathy, I'm betting you'd love Splendor (and therefore probably Grandeur.) When did you last sail Mariner? We were on her in 2017 and she was in fine shape then.

For real?

Why the heck would they start a voyage in Mauritius?

In the tropics, yes absolutely. Then again, somewhere cooler, the sunny loungers might suddenly be at a premium.

I like being mid-ship and low. So 755 would be my choice, plus it's near an elevator. Both cabins are shower instead of bath. Of course, if you're young and agile, you might choose a bath/shower combo and leave the shower-only cabins for us old fogeys for whom the bathtub is a showstopper. 🙂