lisajltx

On 3/4/2024 at 10:32 AM, Noggins said:

Hi Chris & Heather. Goodness, and I thought we had moved a long way from 'home'! Yes, let's meet for a drink. It's not unusual for us to be found in a bar... As for trivia, we have a phenomenal amount of knowledge across a wide range of subjects. Unfortunately we have yet to stumble across a quiz master that recognises that these particular parcels of knowledge exist. Consequently we have come to spare ourselves the inevitable embarrassment. 

 

Hi Terry - thanks and I will speak as I find - promise! As for kilts, my less formal 'country casual' kilt requires braces - an odd look - and thus will not travel with me. I'll stick to my plus fours. Incidentally, my mother's side of the family were Grants - Clan Grant could be quite a feisty lot (and possibly explains one or two of my own characteristics...). The Grant tartans are very fine.

 

Hi Colin - thanks. Shirt sleeves and sunshine here today. You've got quite the wrong idea about Scotland! We're looking forward to meeting our butler and room steward.....
 

Folk have reported various issues regarding the EJ website / booking process etc. We too have had a few issues, in particular at the check in point. Our ever helpful TA untangled that but we still ended up with an unexpected telephone call with EJ. That said they did efficiently organise our 2 pre-booked dining options. I know it is the modern way but I do still miss the executive style box arriving in the post with a wonderful zipped wallet containing lots of nicely published documents and personalised luggage labels. (some of the old robust Silversea boxes now sit proudly in my workshop marked up 'spanners') I managed to print off the EJ documents twice. First off was after I had finally checked in and then again a few days later when our TA reported that we had been moved from the OT we had booked to four doors down and to a GT version (low slung bed and stripes on the walls?). Once I had completed the second printing I realised I had failed to notice reference to a different room number to the one booked the first time of printing. 🤦‍♂️

The only other comment I would make about the booking is that when we booked it was not a cruise with a 7/10/17 day set of options. Yes, a bit like B2B's but will we pick up the feel of significant numbers 'already there and in the groove'? 

 

So there we are, time to think about packing. The cat used to pick up very quickly on the emergence of suitcases. Unfortunately he's not too well and doesn't seem too bothered about anything. Because of that we cancelled the house sitter and family members have taken on the role of being his carers whilst we are away. (Is it futile to hope they will be as willing to adopt such a role when I'm the one needing it.....?)  

 

Oh, quick question. As UK citizens we need an ESTA to enter the USA. Our current ESTA's are good until 11/3 (3/11), so fine for entering the USA in Miami on the 7th. Is it possible EJ will take an interest and require us to have an indate ESTA through until the end - even though we don't re-enter the US at any point? Anyone have any thoughts?

 

Adrian

We must be distantly related! My mother is a Grant and the tartan is lovely!

On 1/26/2024 at 10:54 AM, ToxM said:

Seasoned Oceania cruisers try out Regent. How did it go? 

 

It was an adventure. 

 

We are seasoned Oceania cruisers, and seasoned transatlantic cruisers. We booked our own flights and took the transfer from the airport to the Southern Sun and joined the 4 day/3 night precruise. The hotel is fine, in a great location, and the staff could not be nicer. 

 

The precruise tour was exceptional, our guide was excellent, there was a small problem with the air con on our coach back from the game drive, but apart from that everything went smoothly. Anyone who complains about the picnic lunch at the winery is deluding themselves and the buffet dinner and breakfast at the hotel was more than adequate. South Africa is beautiful, the game drive was wonderful and lunch at Aquila was again more than adequate. 

 

First Regent problem of the cruise - we never got tags sent to us, and the company dealing with the precruise tour had not been given any by Regent either. I marked our cases as best I could and hoped the AirTags would do their job. How difficult would it be to make sure there are spare generic tags available? 

 

Voyager is a lovely ship, embarkation was easy and swift (although to be handed a glass of champagne then practically ordered by a member of the entertainment team to go straight to muster was a bit of a dampener on what should have been a special moment!). Muster done I had to pop to reception to ask if the hose lift for my cpap machine could be fixed by someone - after a little bit of negotiation this was done and an excellent job was done as well. 

 

Our cabin was available very quickly and after a rather sparse lunch (more on that later) I had got us an extra reservation at Chartreuse for the first night and we were off to get settled. Lovely cabin, the walk in closet is such a nice little touch, I loved the bedding and enjoyed the bed. 

 

Luggage arrived 20 mins before we sailed. This was unnecessary stress. Could have been sorted very easily. 

 

We were in Code Red for the duration of the cruise.  Partly due to infection (Noro) from the previous cruise, and I think we added some covid and increasing infection during the cruise. I heard the number 80 quoted by various people - and we were a little over 500 on board passenger wise. This meant no place settings, asking for sugar, milk, salt and pepper, sauces, and meant considerable burden on the crew and a disruption to the way they are used to doing things. 

 

We had a wonderful pool BBQ one evening early on - it was truly amazing, and held great promise for the rest of the cruise, but sadly that was the high point.

 

I am a very patient person, I don’t get upset, but when every meal becomes an adventure between asking for something and what you receive - well it becomes tiresome. Every single order for room service was wrong - Regent Club and Cheese plate became a Regent Club and a Cheese and Ham toasted sandwich, hot chocolate arrived without cups! The buffet was in chaos - we had to be served (quite right too, Oceania does it with no problem!), and this slowed things down, egg orders were misplaced, never came, or came wrong. In the dining room I ordered pancakes with a side of Canadian Ham, I received 1 square of thin ham a quarter of the size of an iPhone screen. My husband ordered Eggs Benedict - was asked how he wanted his gags done - lightly - one arrived barely done the other was hard boiled! We did politely point this out to the restaurant manager. We heard a lot of complaints around us during dinner - people having to move because an area was boiling hot, then not getting their food, then getting it cold, which they sent back, and when it returned it was the same dish dried up from being in a microwave! As I said every meal was an adventure in how much the staff listened to everything you said or just the first few words of your sentence - they were overworked. 

 

We enjoyed both specialities, and enjoyed Sette Mari once they had appeared to send away our waiter who was not really in the game that night - his assistant stepped up very well. I appreciate the concept of SM, but would have appreciated a more casual dining venue for the evenings. It was difficult to get in there unless you timed it just right. 

 

We missed Luderitz, and made it to Walvis Bay. We missed St Helena, no issue with Mother Nature deciding our fate, but we had three ports (overnight in Walvis Bay) and we made one of them. You would hope the entertainment team would step up and provide some extra activities? There was no block party (due to Noro and probably Covid), they started the boat building competition - but that never had a finale, no country fair. Krew Kapers was great and well attended.  Entertainment was sparse - thank goodness for our afternoon poker tournaments!

 

We had great weather during most of the crossing - it was very hot - there was no regulation of chair hogging - this elevated itself too an Olympic sport with people on the deck at 6am to bag something in the shade!

 

There was something missing from this cruise - a staff member confirmed that Voyager is understaffed, and I would imagine they lost some more staff due to Noro or Covid (there were more than a few staff wearing masks for periods of time). It was chaotic and unsatisfying at times, despite the crew trying to do their best. A can do attitude helps nobody if the do is wrong. It was sloppy at best. The food was all over the place quality wise and never excelled Oceania. 

 

At the start of the cruise we wanted to go see Sweet the cruise consultant to get a future cruise certificate, we decided that we didn’t want one in the end. 

 

This all sounds terrible and I am sorry Regent fans. I wanted to love Regent, and given normal circumstances, I probably would, but this was - for the price point - not the greatest experience. I will try them again if a good bargain comes up, but the experience I had (and talking to others they felt the same) was not what I feel Regent sells

We were on the same cruise, and I agree with everything you said. I will add that the Voyager is really showing its age, was dark and dingy in the hallways. Our bathroom smelled of mold, and I had a cough when in our room. Service was poor, food was main line cruise ship quality. We were very disappointed especially after our great experience on the Explorer right before Covid. We just booked our next cruise, not on Regent but on Explora Journeys.

Looks like the Brazilian government is working today. My husband just received his visa and my status has changed to “Under Check”. Progress!

37 minutes ago, scorpiony3358 said:

The frustration continues as I can't get straight answers from Regent. Each person one speaks with has a different answer. I leave on Dec 26th for the Capetown to Capetown sailing on the Voyager and I am going on the Capetown to Rio leg as well. 

 

I've wasted many hours on the phone with Regent and many hours on my computer trying to get my visa. The fact that one cannot speak directly with a representative of the company is beyond me. Yes, there is a phone number to call, but it is a recorded message which is useless. 

 

I've now sent an email to my TA to ask what happens if I can't get the Visa. When I sailed on Oceania thru the Amazon in 2016 I received my visa without a problem. 

 

One would think that Regent would be more helpful regarding this issue.

 

I read one post that said that Regent was allowing passengers without a visa on board, but one first must be allowed into the country and without a visa how does that happen?

 

Good luck folks. 

 

 

 

 

Is your 2016 VISA still good? It looks like Regent is becoming more proactive by requesting that passengers forward their application emails to them. Check your email for the message.

51 minutes ago, awhfy said:

That’s still around??  I used to work there in Boson in the 60s when I was in college

Still there.  www.bostonproper.com 

Boston Proper

Thanks, that is what I thought too. Below is the response from the agency help desk.

Dear Lisa,

Thank you for contacting the Brazil E-visa Helpdesk.

Please note that the visa must be in a valid passport.

Best Regards,

Brazil E-visa Helpdesk

Too risky to take any chances, I don’t want to risk being denied boarding. 

12 hours ago, SusieQft said:

I have one of the old 10 year visas that will expire in 2027.  I assume I won't need to get the new visa also, but I have not seen this specifically addressed.  Does anyone know for sure?

The visa must be in a valid passport according to the evisa help desk.

27 minutes ago, moknows said:

Can anyone who has successfully used the new evisa process tell me how to get past the page 5.

i have inputted my permanent address and my address in Rio but it wont accept it.  Very frustrating.  I go past the uploading of all the docs and now I am stuck on the easy page!

You don’t need your address in Rio. That may be why you are stuck. Can you edit to remove it?

I have a consular visa issued in 2015. It is in an expired passport, can I use it for entry into Brazil?

Thanks!

19 hours ago, ysolde said:

The website indicates they want you to upload all these documents. We need to hire someone to do that for us, as neither one of us is technically savvy enough to do all that on our own.  At some point, we are going to have to decide when the stress and expense of all of this is enough and just cancel the damn cruise.  FTR, I am in a wheelchair and wonderful though Brazil may be, none of the excursions there are available to me, so I will be spending the Brazil portion of the trip on board the ship.

I have a regular visa that I obtained a few years ago and I don’t remember sending a bank statement. Have you thought about using a visa service? It is a little more expensive, but you just overnight mail the requested documents (the documents may be different than the ones required for the evisa) and the service expedites the visa and mails it back to you. 

Beautifully done, thanks for sharing!

On 10/20/2023 at 10:30 AM, Steve Q said:

We are booked on the Rio to Lisbon cruise in March 2024. This will be our third Regent cruise. With our travel agent, we spent 35 minutes on the phone yesterday with a Regent Air service representative trying to arrange our flights. There were no available one stop flights from DFW without an additional cost of several thousand dollars (she even quoted us an additional $4,000 for just the DFW-RIO flight on one particular flight). The only flight available without an additional fee departed from DFW to Miami to Lima to Rio. The Lima leg would also  have been in coach. We were shocked as Lima is on the West coast of the continent! Lima is almost 3,000 miles from Rio! While we paid our $75, we were very surprised and disappointed. We have decided to just wait until 70 days from our cruise date to have them assign our flights. It is difficult to believe that they could be any worse than what they were offering.

We ended up on United from Rio to Houston, then connecting to DFW. No Upcharges.  There were no scheduled direct flights from RIO to DFW.

Hi,

 I know that I can’t ask for a direct referral, but how do I find a reputable agent for Regent that offers further discounts.

Thanks!

Lisa

On 11/23/2021 at 12:43 AM, baloothecat said:

@lisajltx When We did this excursion twice in October both times the tour operator Marie  collected our water shoes and snorkeled with them then distributed them back to us at the end of the drift to take the path back to do it again!

That’s good news, I hope our tour does the same thing. I didn’t want to stuff them down my suit!

Thanks!

Quick question, where do you put water shoes when wearing fins? 
 

Thanks!

13 hours ago, Petoonya said:

@lisajltx

It's been about 8-9 years since we've done it but Moorea Miti Tours does cat tours if that interests you. They are a big operator so hard to say how many will be with you, but they are nice people and will show you a good time. Book on Viator, My MOST favorite in Moorea is spendy, but amazing.Mermaid Private tours. Just maximum 4 people and might be just the two of you Christmas Eve. ayou do what you want to do but it's a plain boat. No lunch on the full day- they drop you off at a terrific restaurant. But they make it a VERY special day. $200pp for the day. The owner is "Luna" a real sweetheart.

https://mermaidprivateboattours.com/

Merry Christmas!

 

Thanks, I will take a look at both of those!

3 hours ago, Mocamps said:

I've just booked mine through Voila Moorea and they are going to wait for us.

That was the same company that we were booking through Trip Advisor. I wonder if they didn’t want to wait because it was Christmas Eve? Did you contact a specific person? We had communicated with Liza.

On 11/2/2021 at 6:57 PM, Petoonya said:

@lisajltx

Really surprising! Can you tell me what tour company it was?

The booking was through Trip Advisor.

On 11/3/2021 at 3:10 AM, Mocamps said:

That might be the same problem I’m having. Was it a sailing company? If so, the one I’ve contacted is willing to do an afternoon tour starting at 12 if I can get more people. What date are you looking at in Moorea? 

We were looking for 12/24/21. We were booking through trip advisor.

I tried to book a tour from Moorea a couple of days ago and they (the tour company) would not take our booking because the tour started at 8am and they wouldn’t wait.

Hi,

We are doing our own thing while visiting Bora Bora.  We always enjoy a beach day.  Are you able to rent beach chairs and umbrellas on the public beach side of Matera?  Is there any beach service? Are taxi's readily available?

Thanks!

Lisa

We are on the same cruise as you and also staying a few days before and after.  We are planning to have our COVID test locally at CVS a couple of days prior to departure. I am not sure what is available at LAX. 

Currently from the trip advisor Tahiti forum, COVID testing is also done when you arrive at the airport.  You will also be tested by Windstar before boarding.

You can purchase departure testing through Windstar, it needs to be completed within 3 days of departure to the US. Depending on how long your your post stay is, this may work for you. 

There are several options for the required testing for travel to the US.There is a home test that you can purchase through emed. There is also testing available at the airport for a price. I don’t know too much about that option.

Remember, we are several months away, and the testing situation is very fluid. I would expect that there may be changes to the arrival and departure protocols.

5 hours ago, r&rd said:

Premium suites are: owners suites, deluxe suites, bridge suites and all suites on the Wind Surf

What about Classic Suites?

And....A negative test is currently required within 3 days for international travelers returning to the US. How is this going to be accomplished?

Lisa