labonnevie

2018 we took the Perth to Singapore segment. This was well into the world cruise itinerary. We are outgoing, social people and usually find several cruisers that we come to consider friends. This time it was clear we were not part of the “in crowd “ of the world cruisers, so were not worthy of investing time to get to know.

Having done this once, we would be very hesitant to do so again.

April 2023 pre cruise, at the Hilton, the breakfast was served in a separate ballroom, next to the ballroom where we met for our tours. Very efficient, no lines, good variety of offerings.

I would second this recommendation. During our 14 day cruise in April, we saw so many castles, gardens and shrines that they all ran together. Looking at pictures upon return home, it was hard to tell which castle/garden we were viewing. If redoing this cruise, I would look for other tours to break up the sameness.

If worriers can’t find anything to worry about, they worry about that.

We found it to be a very nice, busy big city hotel. Service was excellent and we really enjoyed both the Japanese and Chinese restaurants.

PS the overland tours from Safaga were all fully booked and waitlisted. Cancellation was not due to lack of demand.

In November, we were scheduled for the Luxor/pyramid’s overland tour. It got cancelled. Instead, we were offered an overnight in Luxor tour. It was fabulous. Day one we did three tombs, Nefertiti’s tomb and the Luxor Temple. Day two was the Karnak temple complex and the Luxor museum. The two days allowed us to see Luxor in more detail and was less hurried than the one day tour. While we were really disappointed to not go to Cairo, the alternative was very acceptable to us. PS read today of much increased Somali pirate attacks recently. Coupled with continued Houthi activity, I wonder how willing any cruise line will be to transit the Red Sea.

We did the Highlights of Osaka in April. It was a good tour, but be aware there is a long drive to/from the places visited. Recommend. The next day we did Glories of Mt. Rokko, which was just ok, so can’t recommend the Highlights tour pro or con.

Agree.

Narita is large. I personally would reserve a wheelchair, rather than wish I had.

😭

In the past 20 years, we have cruised on Seabourn five times, Regent 11 and Oceania once (in 2011). Also HAL and Windstar multiple times. While YMMV, that clearly shows that O did not win us over, despite a great itinerary.

Last November on Navigator we couldn’t get into Sette Mari about 8. Popped over to Prime 7 next door. We were immediately seated.

On Navigator last year, (we are gold), G suite, we asked for the WSJ and USA Today. No problem. The amount of paper, however, was staggering. We’ll just read online in the future. Just wish I could read my iPad in the sun.

Agree. Best I have ever had.

In our experience, 11 Regent cruises, new tours are rarely added, unless port changes are made. It is common for passengers to cancel their tours, up to the time to disembark for them. You can let Destination services know you are interested in a specific sold out tour and they will contact you if the waitlist clears. You can also go to the theater and check with Destination services as they are announcing the tour departures and ask if there are any last minute cancellations.

Amen to that. The Miami airport, in our experience, is a disaster. I have over 2 million air miles and our return from an Explorer Panama Canal cruise from Miami was as bad as anything I have seen. (Might have been the same AA flight schedule). Jams of people everywhere. If not for an alert AA employee that could see we were struggling, we would never have made our flight. Allow lots of time in the Miami airport, then add some.

As of last fall, Regent had a contract with Turkish Air. We flew them LA to Istanbul, business class, for no up charge.

The shore excursion description you download from the Regent website shows difficulty level for each tour. In my experience, dealing with a mobility issue, I have been able to do tours with the one walker icon shown with ease (as well as seated tours). Those with two walkers vary significantly and can be problematic. Once on board, you will find another list of excursions in your cabin. Read this list carefully. I have found the difficulty level shown in this list to be more accurate and have changed tours based on this information.

Got a couple of beautiful silk shirts at Jim Thompson’s. Still love to wear them. Too bad about Ayutthaya, it is spectacular.

Found these pictures. As I said, it was flooded. Everyone had to disembark over these walkways.

Not sure how relevant it is, but in October 2010, the Navigator docked in town. It was the final port on our 21 day Beijing to Bangkok cruise (one of our best ever). Bangkok was experiencing something like a 50 year flood and the crew had to build wooden walkways as the water was covering the dock!

It’s the same on Regent, both part of NCLH. Everyone always says about the Seabourn process of reversing the charge once onboard “oh, it’s easy”. Having done it the Seabourn way, I have to agree, it’s pretty easy. But it still makes no sense whatsoever. When your reservation has an OBC associated with it, why not just charge against it until it is used up? So much easier and it would free up staff time on board to do other things.