labonnevie

I’m pretty sure I can’t thank you for sharing that!

Thank you GP for your great reports and pictures. They are getting us even more excited for our 21 nights on Navigator this November. And an even bigger thank you for your personal reminiscences. Memories do, indeed, make us rich!

To paraphrase Crocodile Dundee, "That's not a snake. This is a snake!"

On our many Regent cruises, I don’t recall ever hearing ABBA played anywhere. I, for one, would love it! The more the better. IMHO the only thing better would be wall to wall Eagles! But we can certainly agree on the brownies!!

Second this. Used Image Size daily on our recent Explorer cruise (the internet was terrific most of the time) to text a couple of photos to family. It’ll take a 1.8mb picture down to 350kb.

Just got off Explorer, 14 night Tokyo rt. Made our first three specialty restaurant reservations online for early in the cruise. We were able to get a second reservation for Prime 7 and Chartreuse. Tried too late for Pacific Rim, but we were ok with that. Key was being willing to share.

Any chance Ray will be back on Navigator in November/December?

First day on board, ask the sommelier to send a list of all the included wines to your cabin. You will quickly determine which your favorites will be for the cruise.

We got off last week. Had the same thoughts.

Agree, we try to name as many staff as possible in our post cruise survey.

No, and I don’t tip the waiter in Compass Rose either.

Then there was the woman on the elevator that told me I was standing too close to her, with three people total on the elevator.

You can book with Regent air and later remove it. You can book without Regent air and later add it. Usually, business class airfare increases as you get closer to the flight (supply and demand), so if you do your own flights, booking as early as possible is the way to go. This is sometimes reflected in the Regent air credit increasing as the cruise gets closer.

They’re the ones that are all excited about wearing “elegant” you know what’s to the MDR, because they can.

We just returned from a two week cruise around Japan. At every port, and we went ashore eight times, whether on a tour or independently, you had to pass a face to face inspection with Japanese immigration officers. The actual passport (not photo, not passport card, not paper copy) had to be presented. This was a Japanese requirement not the ship’s. So sometimes you have to do what the country you are visiting requires if you want to see anything other than shoreline and docks. Now, wrt concerns about crime, that’s a whole different discussion. You could drop $1000 on the ground in Japan and five people would rush to give it back to you, bowing all the while.

Yes it is pp and you get the full amount, at least in the US. Just returned from an Explorer cruise where we took the credit of $5500 pp. Booked our own bc flights for $4300 pp. We have used Regent air in the past as well as booking our own. We have used miles, paid cash and even a combination of cash and miles. If you do your research, usually it’s pretty obvious which way to go.

Deposited $1000 in April 2022 for Explorer April 2023 Tokyo rt. Cleared in August 2022. On cruise now. Everything worked well.

To add to the above, none of the tour descriptions provided by Regent noted the construction at the Shuri Castle.

We arrived at Manhattan cruise terminal last September disembarking a Seabourn cruise. Unfortunately, a gigantic Princess cruise was also disembarking. I don’t believe I have ever seen such utter chaos. The cabs and car services were all across the street, hundreds of them. Suggest you check the port schedule for your arrival date. If another large ship is disembarking with you, IMO I would go with the Regent transfer and let them take you by the hand to get on your bus.

We have taken maybe 10 tours on our current Explorer cruise. None used the method you reference. Maybe 3 or 4 of the guides used a speaker system that helped immensely.

Today we took a tour from the Naha, Okinawa port that included the Shuri Castle. We did this in 2010 and it was quite impressive, quite different than the true Japanese castles in Nagoya and Osaka for example. Okinawa was not part of Japan when Shuri Castle was built. However, be aware that a major portion of the castle was destroyed by fire in 2019 and it is being reconstructed under an aluminum building. While the castle remains interesting, it is not nearly as impressive as before and the tour does little interior viewing. Also many steep steps, often without handrails should be considered if you are interested in a tour including Shuri Castle.

As in many things, YMMV. We like the options Regent provides wrt air. With the air credit plainly spelled out, you can do your own research and decide whether to book your own or use Regent air (with or without deviation and or upcharge). For our current Tokyo rt, we made our own flights and saved $1200pp. Believe this did reflect, in part, that we were flying from the west coast to Tokyo. For our upcoming Navigator Istanbul to Dubai, we could not come close to matching Regent air allowance so we booked through Regent. We deviated to get to Istanbul three days early and they booked us nonstop LAX to Istanbul on Turkish Air. We were more than happy to pay an upcharge to return nonstop to LA on Emirates. This saves us over six hours on the return. Overall happy with Regent air options.

Actually, our cruise disembarks in Yokohama not Tokyo so the taxi is about $200 to Narita per Google. Tokyo cruise port to Narita is, as you say, far less.

Laundry update. Currently on Explorer. Laundry out at 6:30 pm (Cabin steward always freshens the cabin when we go to dinner) back at 2 pm next day. Large bag done perfectly.

Currently on Explorer, Tokyo rt. Couple of updates: Near perfect weather through Busan, day 7. Unfortunately, day 8 we are paying the price as high winds (15 - 35 mph) scrubbed Jeju Island port today. As shame as we were scheduled to see the Women Divers, an expected highlight of the cruise. On to Nagasaki. Regent has added disembarkation day options for those with late flights. Transport to airport only is $89. Transport to airport with day room at Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo is $100. Transport to airport with Tokyo tour (mostly drive byes with stop at Tokyo Tower/Eiffel) is $139. Flights must be after 5pm for the later. In our case, this will help us use up some non refundable OBC.