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On 8/11/2020 at 10:54 AM, Pcardad said:

Remember when Regent offered free internet to all and the bandwidth they pay for couldn't handle it? The internet went into the toilet.

 

Same thing will happen with the laundry. Regent won't increase the capacity and you will get 6 pieces every week or something ridiculous and those who had it for free will get a 3 day turn-around or will pay for same day service.

 

Unless capacity is increased - this is simply marketing nonsense.

This is not true. The ship offered this perk two years ago on certain Mediterranean cruises and the laundry worked flawlessly. Stop worrying. You are wrong. 

On 3/9/2020 at 5:09 PM, fudgbug said:

As a former wife of someone win the military, there are worst things than being quarantined for two weeks on some military base.

I was in the military, too. The difference is I had to be there.

We are fully paid for a cruise in May, but will probably need to change to a later date and a different itinerary. As an aside, this is our decision alone, it’s not a family or illness decision. Since it is our decision, our travel insurance will not reimburse us.

My question is, what is Regent’s policy?  Can we use the fare we’ve already paid for a different cruise, would we lose it or would we be penalized?

Even though we have taken many Regent cruises, we’ve never needed to make a decision like this. I’m hopeful someone has had a similar problem and wonder what the outcome was. Thanks everyone. 

We were on the Explorer when the documentary was filmed. It was Barcelona to London mid-May 2019. Great cruise, folks filming were very nice and unobtrusive. 

Bill, well done!  It does look better!

I’d suggest the Hotel Colon. It’s a very nice hotel with a wonderful staff. The location is great. It’s in the Gothic district and literally across a plaza from the old Gothic Cathedral. If you do choose to stay there, request a room facing the Cathedral. There is something special about opening the shutters in your room early in the morning and seeing the Cathedral all its glory. The plaza gets very busy during the day with tourists and buskers, but by 10:00 pm, all is quiet. Hotel Colon is in easy walking distance to La Ramblas and the market, but did it, saw it, that was enough. Spend your time in the fascinating Gothic district. Oh, they have a very good included breakfast, too. 

We docked in Southampton three weeks ago and then spent 4 days in London. We used Blackberry and dfound them to be excellent. Their office is extremely responsive and answers any email questions almost immediately. Not only are their prices very reasonable compared to some other companies we checked, but you can also track your driver as he is moving live on their website, so you know he is coming. 

Hi folks,

We just returned from a Explorer cruise, which was wonderful. As an aside, we had the same cabin stewardess, Mel, that we had on a Voyager cruise last year. She was wonderful as always and great to catch up with her. Love how this happens on Regent ships. 

We are booked on a 22 day cruise in May, 2020.  Explorer is, without question,  beautiful and with one more specialty restaurant, which are much larger than the other ships, we never had to wait for a table. Actually, we went to 3 of the restaurants multiple times. Never a problem getting a reservation. 

My question is: this will be our third cruise on the Voyager, once before its  2016 refurbish, and one after. We do know her strong and weak points (who thought it would be a good idea to eliminate all the drawer space?) but when is she do for a partial or full refurbish? How was her condition from someone on a recent cruise?  We were on Mariner just before her dry dock a few years ago and she was of course clean as a whistle, but pretty beat up. Any thoughts on how the Voyager is holding up?

A question about waitlisting. Do you get any choice of cabin number in the class you are waitlisted for, or does Regent assign the first cabin that becomes available in your class?  If Regent does just assign you a cabin you don’t want, can you still be on the list or do you just take what is offered. 

Thanks, folks. We will see some of you in a week on Explorer!

3 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

No they are not - not by Swiss standards anyway.  Filthy in fact.  paper all over the floor.  Very often toilets unflushed or stained.   I fly Business class and I grant it that normally in the Club lounges the toilets are OK.  But lord help you if you get off a plane and have to use one...also in a lot of restaurants (and nice ones at that because I don't go to fast food or cheap places) the toilets are really sub-par.   I dread using any public toilet in the US...

3 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

No they are not - not by Swiss standards anyway.  Filthy in fact.  paper all over the floor.  Very often toilets unflushed or stained.   I fly Business class and I grant it that normally in the Club lounges the toilets are OK.  But lord help you if you get off a plane and have to use one...also in a lot of restaurants (and nice ones at that because I don't go to fast food or cheap places) the toilets are really sub-par.   I dread using any public toilet in the US...

We want to thank TC and ME for this wonderful thread. Your information has been most welcome. We’ve cruised with Regent multiple times but never on Explorer. We will be rectifying that in May!

One comment - no crew member has ever volunteered where they are from. But, we usually ask and they are more than happy to tell you about their country and family. 

Last year was our 50th anniversary and our son’s and daughter-in-law’s 10th, which we celebrated on Voyager. Needless to say, we had a wonderful time and the Voyager crew outdid themselves to make our joint occasion special. We were a little concerned that two very-well traveled Milleniums might find Regent a little “staid” but nothing could have been further from the truth. They loved Regent and we are convinced with passed the Regent “gene” on!

As I mentioned in my post, we are on the Barcelona to London cruise, ending in Southampton. Then, we are going to London. 

Hi Folks,

We are on the May 20th Barcelona to London cruise. Usually we book our own air but this time we used Regent. We are going from Southampton to London for a few days rather than directly to Heathrow. Does anyone know if Regent would provide this transportation as they would provide our ride to Heathrow or would we have to make our own arrangements? Any suggestions on best way to provide our own, if need be?

I’m not sure if I’ve seen this question before. We’ve done galley and bridge tours, but can you do an engine or mechanical room tour? I have a feeling insurance might preclude this but worth a try?

Looking to meet other travelers onboard the SS Explorer for this cruise. This will be our second cruise with Regent. First trip was to the Mediterranean. My husband and I live in Summerville, SC outside of Charleston.

Hi Folks,

We are on that cruise and the one following from London. We live on Dataw Island outside of Beaufort. Almost neighbors! This will be our 5th Regent cruise. Look forward to meeting you, too! BTW, we get to Charleston often. Great place with great restaurants!

Barcelona, ahhh Barcelona! One of our favorite cities. We last stayed at the Hotel Colon. A great location across from plaza from the gothic cathedral. It can be slightly noisy during the day if your room faces the cathedral but quiets down to nothing by 10:00 or so after the buskers call it a day. We’ve stayed facing the cathedral and stayed away from it where it is dead quiet in your room. The little noise is more than worth it to open the shutters in the morning and see the cathedral in all its silent beauty. Not the fanciest hotel in BCN but spotlessly clean, very nice and surprisingly large rooms, friendliest staff in Barcelona and a very nice included breakfast.

Travelcat2, if Regent doesn’t have any tours planned for us who are continuing, apparently there is an interesting and large naval base to see. I’m not a Navy man exactly, but a Marine that spent time on ships. Have you been there or know anything about it? Thanks!

Next May, we booked London to London on the Explorer. Then we decided to add Barcelona to London as well. Even though Regent offers these two cruises as one cruise, for various reasons, mostly cabin choices, we kept it as back-to-backs. In London, we have to change cabins and we will need new room keys. How will Regent handle this and will we have to disembark and the wait until the next leg is allowed on to embark? Thanks!

We did two tours with Barcelona Day Tours and they were great! Fantastic guides.

Agree about the infinity pool but the love the spa area on Explorer. It is so much better than on other the other ships. In terms of the regular swimming pool, In my opinion, it is gorgeous - love the layout.

 

In my opinion, there are two "design flaws" on Explorer: 1). Sight lines in the theater; and 2). Area by the aft elevator on deck 5 is too narrow -- difficult for people to walk by each other -- especially those that have walkers, wheel chairs, etc.

 

The rest of the things that people do not care for are really not "flaws" but design decisions that were made by the powers that be. While we kinda miss having an aft lounge, we love the Meridian and Explorer lounges and find their locations easy to get to.

 

It is great that Regent has four ships (soon to be five) so that there is something to suit most of us.

 

P.S. People do go to the infinity pool to get aft photos. While it may not be the most comfortable place to hang out, it is a great place for photos.

Thanks for the aft photo tip, TC. We will be on Explorer for the first time next year and am always looking for interesting shots.

With the proviso that no question is a stupid question, here goes. :D

Do the small tables on each side of the bed in Voyager concierge suites have electrical outlets? We aren’t new to Regent but I just can’t remember!:confused:

TC2. Thanks very much for your recent Voyager review. I get a kick out of how you defend your positions sometimes but I appreciate that they are always well thought out and respectful.

We are taking the Barcelona to Barcelona cruise in July with our son and daughter-in-law (our 50th anniversary, their 10th) so it should be a lot of fun. Your comments about the children on your cruise will probably be nothing compared to what we will encounter, but hopefully the 4 of us can soldier through,

I do have a question about Observation lounge and the theater. We’ve been on the Voyager before and thought both were fine. If they did make them smaller, who got the space?

Love your reviews. Good sailing ahead.

First time on a Regent Cruise and need to book excursions for May on the Explorer in Portofino and Marseille. Have no idea what to choose since some are "included" and some are not (and never been to either place). Any advice from others on excursions they loved or disliked from Regent in those locations? No problems with walking or lots of exercise.

Thanks for any help!

I wouldn’t spend a lot of time in Portofino. What I would suggest is taking s tour to Santa Maria Ligore, Portofino’s next door neighbor. It’s beautiful, one of our favorite places in Italy and doesn’t have the glitz name attached like Portofino. I would then come back to Portofino and take the hike to the lighthouse for wonderful views. We are doing a cruise this summer that stops in Portofino and can’t wait to see SML again.

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Great picture of the meeting of the waters. Had to look at it for a second to realize it wasn’t land. Really enjoying your thread!

We were also on this Montréal to NYC cruise and it will be our last Regent cruise (this was our third). Code Red and port issues can’t be helped. And because of very rough seas, the Corner Brook stop, which was a substitute for a stop we were really looking forward to, was canceled and we got an extra day in Quebec, so that was fine with us. Food was mostly very good, desserts were fabulous, cabin stewards were great as always but the service in the restaurants (all four) were amateurish and unprofessional. Compass Rose was terrible and embarrassing. Waiters rushing to take orders before drinks, food plunked down, trying to clear as soon as you put your fork down, waiters running (literally!) all over the place, clearing and serving from wrong sides consistently. Plus, the wait staff just looked unhappy. It was as unrelaxing as any poor restaurant in the US and most certainly Europe. I complained to the restaurant manager and asked what was going on? It seemed understaffed but he assured us that CR was staffed as usual. Well, then it must be inexperienced staff who are also badly trained and bad management. Each cruise we take, it got worse and worse. Two last things and then I’ll shut up...the cabins are really, really beat up. I know the Mariner is going in for a refit, but it is way past due. Spotlessly clean, though, due to our great stewards. And lastly, the wines offered at dinner were an embarrassment. One sommelier didn’t know if the Chardonnay was oakey or not. And when my wife didn’t like one white at dinner, the wine steward offered Bare Foot. I couldn’t believe it! If I want Walmart wine for $4.95, I’ll go to Walmart and buy it, not pay a lot of money for a cruise. And one last, last thing, the wine was very sparingly poured. (BTW, I don’t drink but even getting a ginger ale refill was impossible). It made us wonder if Regent’s sale was causing cutbacks. Next cruise for us? Some other line.