SellaVee

This has been my experience in the past on the two lines I mentioned, but in each case there has only been a handful of children. To suddenly market a cruise as a family experience with kids sailing free and heavy discounts on the adult fares, could change the experience. I may be worrying unnecessarily, but even the best behaved children behave differently "in quantity". That's encouraging. Our cruise is 18 nights. Still being marketed as a family cruise though. I like children, but I agree with you. I wouldn't chose Regent for my grandchildren. When my own lot were younger we always went on holiday with them, and we always went to hotels with many other children. That was the stage we were at. We've even taken our children's friends away with us, and we've also taken groups of children away for the weekend. In each case the trips were child centred. I don’t think Regent is.

I think you're probably right, and that's what worries me. On both Windstar and Oceania, we've encountered a few very well behaved children, but this new marketing suggests Regent is trying to attract more families with children, which will change the experience. I'm concerned that they've just announced it after a lot of people have booked.

I've just read this on Facebook: "This summer, embark on a family adventure across Europe in unparalleled luxury with our NEWLY ADDED Kids Sail Free voyages." I wish I'd known they were going to do this before I booked. I don’t know what made me think I was going on a adult orientated voyage. I adore children and we spend a fair bit of time looking after our grands, but I was looking forward to some grown up time. Looks like my first Regent cruise will be my last.

Charltonkerry, I understood exactly what you meant. I've used fish sauce myself to flavour non fish dishes when experimenting with Asian cookery. Paul Gauguin cruises were helpful I but I found Oceania to be exceptionally careful when dealing with allergies, which makes for a much more relaxing cruise. I ordered my evening meal in advance so that it could be adapted if necessary. I enjoyed dining in the main dining room on Marina, so I expect I shall enjoy the Compass Rose on Splendor too. The good news was that on O cruise my allergy information followed me to each of the four speciality restaurants. Since Regent is part of the same group I’m anticipating the same level of care, and really looking forward to enjoying some great meals.

Thank you, charltonkerry, I am allergic to nuts. Previously I have had a great deal of help on Oceania. Our next cruise will be on Regent, so it's encouraging to know th ey can cope.

I always felt that Oceania had three great things in it's favour. One was the itineraries, and another was the variety of cabins. One year we had a few land based holidays booked when I noticed a Baltic cruise with 3 nights in St Petersburg. Rather than miss it we travelled In one if the lower deck porthole cabins, which made it affordable. It was great, and being the Baltic I didn’t miss the balcony. We'd previously sailed on Wind Surf so portholes weren't a problem. The third thing was the à la carte nature of Oceania's product. I could book my own flights and hotel and arrive early without paying deviation, I could bring on my own wine and pay corkage if I wished, and I could book my own excursions via the roll call, or independently. Last year, we spent 15 nights on Marina, and had a wonderful time. I was toying with booking the follow on cruise this year. Then along came Simply more. By giving a credit amount of say $1000, but not providing enough excursion places for everyone, Oceania is making it very transparent to folk just how much money they are wasting. On last years cruise we took the O life excursion credit, but then found that the excursions we wanted were full, so we switched to the drinks package. Many regulars have said it's simply a price rise, get over it. Instead, I've jumped ship, to a fully inclusive line with newer vessels. I'll be interested to see how we get on. The increase in price made it much less of a jump. I don’t know if this is a positive post or a negative one!

Were you given the menus for each venue the night before, so that they could check ingredients and adapt or suggest an alternative, if necessary? Or did you always choose on the night, with the aid of the waiter?

Can anyone who has allergies tell me what Regent's system is for dealing with this?

We're due to join Splendor in July. It will be our first time sailing with Regent, so I'm looking forward to your posts.

Same experience here last August on Marina. We got the tote - although it was more like a messenger bag, but no cap. Our letter told us to ask for one on our next Oceania cruise, but I'm not happy with the excursion credit idea in Simply More, which is why I'm browsing the Regent Board. I know they have included (ie paid for) excursions, but since Oceania is no longer à la carte, I'm looking elsewhere. They’ve lost their USP.

People do take things by accident quite often. We stayed with friends of ours and my DH tried to take her shoes thinking they were mine. To be fair we do have similar tastes.

Common sense tells me that it is very unlikely that two people would get a cruise for 4 people free. Why would Oceania do that?

I don't think Windstar includes shore excursions either. The extra cost of unwanted shore excursions will indeed lead us to consider other inclusive lines that we've previously not considered. It may not show them, or it may.

I'm delighted to hear this. We've never taken an O excursion in 5 cruises. We did consider it on our last cruise, but, guess what, the ones we were interested in were fully booked. Under O life we were able to change from "free excursions" to the drinks package or SBC. Under Simply More It looks like money down the drain. Since O excursions are seriously overpriced paying up front for excursions is poor value even if they are available.

Last month we turned up at Copenhagen without luggage tags. The guy there asked for our stateroom number and wrote it on the tags needed for our luggage. It was no problem. Luggage made it to our room without a hitch. Unlike the time on Windstar when we arrived to find our stateroom full of suitcases. A couple of fellow cruisers mistakenly wrote the number of their hotel room on their tags, and by coincidence, it was the same as our stateroom number. This meant we got our own luggage and theirs too.

Another vote for White Zinfandel.

I was surprised to be offered an 11.30 check in time and it turned out to be perfect given our early morning arrival. We went straight through security, but were then split into lines according to category. We'd checked in online and sent in photographs so our own progress, like most others, once at the head of the line was quick, although one couple ahead of us brought the line to a standstill for a while and seemed to need several members of staff. We didn't have our photos taken again, thank goodness. Once on board we went straight to The Terrace for lunch and were called to our stateroom according to category. We usually fly in early and stay ashore for a day or two. In those circumstances we turn up in the afternoon.

This is in the By the a Glass menu. Our private shore excursion today was held up by a medical emergency and we returned to the ship a few minutes after 4. We'd had a very early breakfast and a mid morning snack ashore. This plus a late dinner reservation meant I ordered room service lunch. I was told that if I wanted a glass of wine with it, it would be chargeable as we're on the House Select package. This reinforces the wine with meals only during restaurant hours.

The current offering on Marina is Heidsieck Monopole Champagne. There is also a Prosecco and another sparkling wine, the name of which I can’t remember.

We're on Marina now. We changed from SBC to the House select package of wine and beer with meals after I worked out that we only needed to have fewer than 2 drinks a day to come out ahead. I've been very impressed with the service from the sommeliers on board. Our glasses are kept topped up and always with a smile. I ordered a glass of Pinot Blanc which had just been restocked and wasn’t chilled. The sommelier said she could chill it for me in 20 minutes and would I like a glass of something else in the meantime. Today I went to an enrichment lecture that ran on, and we were too late for lunch at the buffet. We were able to order from Waves grill and eat indoors. The wine service was closing so the sommelier suggested we had two drinks, which, for me, meant a large glass of wine. That was thoughtful. The problem with the Happy Hour is the 2 drinks have to be the same, and I doubt I could manage 2 cocktails before dinner.

@pinotlover It was in the Grand Dining Room, and has happened on more than one Oceania ship. You make an interesting point about conditioning to eat quickly. We've been to places in the UK where we've been told that we have to be finished by a certain time because the table is already booked and if we only plan to have one course we don’t mind. We never have just one course on a cruise, as each meal is "an event". @HartersWe, too, always choose a table for two unless we're invited to dine with an officer. So it's not as if there are a lot of plates to clear, and I think that's what makes it seem particularly rude to me. If we were both finished I’d be happy for them to be removed swiftly. @LHT28 In the UK there's an etiquette around dining that says if the knife and fork are place together in the 6 o'clock position, the diner is finished. If the knife and fork are apart, the diner is still eating, so don’t remove that plate. @Clutj I think you are right. It's a cultural thing, and we have to adapt.

We've sailed on Regatta, Insignia and Nautica, as well as Riviera, and the size of the bathrooms hasn't bothered me. I think it's because we've sailed both sailing yachts and a sports cruiser. When you're used to those bathrooms, or heads as they're called, anything the R ships have to offer is a delight. I've been in a hotel room in London where I did have to leave the door open to use the loo, and I'm not tall. @Harters I agree with you about training. It seems to leave no room for thinking. One thing I found odd was my husband's plate being cleared away while I was still eating. When I mentioned it in passing to a friendly maitre d' I was told that that was what they were trained to do. I thought it was a bit rude that we were interrupted during most of our main courses while someone removed a dinner plate. On more than one cruise I've seen managers criticise a staff member in full view of passengers. Once it was a staff member who had gone to get me something that had run out. That doesn't encourage initiative. We're about to go on our first cruise post pandemic. I'll be interested to see how we get on.

Humble apologies, I did mean Windstar and Oceania as you correctly thought. We did a longer itinerary, so I didn't compare prices with Windstar (or O). Value for money, and itineraries are the things I look at most. One of the things I like about O is that I can choose the itinerary, then pick a stateroom to fit my budget.

You know the bit where I wrote "I will say that I found the passengers on board a good bit louder and more exuberant than on either WS or PG. This is not meant as a criticism."?

Good luck with that. I’ve seen cruise passengers that don’t even know how to turn taps off, and lots of people don’t bother to wash their hands.