mrlevin

If you have never been to Seville I would go to Seville. If you have been before, not necessary. As for Gibraltar on your own, you can meet the monkeys and go to top of hill and maybe fit in a visit to the caves; that could wait for a future cruise that might actually stop at Gibraltar. Just me two cents, YMMV. Marc

WiFi calling (US providers only apparently) totally replaces cellular network. To avoid charges, you need to be in airplane mode. Wife's iPad is not cellular equipped and she is able to text just as if on a phone with wifi calling. WiFi calling is why you see (and hear) folks all over the ship FaceTiming with kids at home; definitely annoying.

Its now 5pm on Sunday in New Zealand and they are apparently still working on Explorer's hull. If they left now and went full speed to Wellington it would still be 3 or 4pm Monday before they arrived. Given they are scheduled to depart at 8pm, when will Regent just bite the bullet and cancel Wellington? Only reason I could see still going there is if there are crew or passengers or provisions to pick up; even then, its a lot of work to tie up a ship for just a four hour visit.

Not as bad as 855 but still not a great location; I would get a new travel agent. You paid for a Cat E when there are some fantastic Cat E on Deck 6 and 7 without the stern vibration issues.

You're not in 855 are you?

Looks like Explorer is meandering just off the coast near Tauranga waiting for daylight cleaning. No idea how long it will take but I wonder if Wellington is now in danger of late arrival. Wellington was probably one of my favorite stops in New Zealand.

We were on same cruise; yes sometimes texting didn't work but they eventually went through EXCEPT texts with photos; this was the first time that I have not been able to text photos to anyone on or off the ship. Only negative on my end of cruise comment card was about "abysmal" internet. You need to turn off sound as phone calls also come through; not good to talk on phone in lounge or restaurants.

Airpllane mode, connect both devices to wifi; enable wifi calling on both phones. Extremely easy.

If you want to know if they got your request for Red Bull just check the piece of paper given to waiter when you check into Compass Rose; it should be on there.

Has anyone noticed the same on the other ships? Looked at "plan my cruise" for a late 2024 cruise and was surprised to see additional Cat H availability; has anyone noticed that for the other ships, too? thanks, Marc

Sorry I haven't posted much (and I still haven't figured out how to post photos) but let me say that this has been a fantastic cruise. Learned today how much fun CD David's unique way of running trivia can be. On each of the sea days each team turned in their results so that an overall winner could be determined. In addition to ensuring good showing at trivia and keeping the teams cohesive, this led to great competitiveness. Ends up our team (three Americans, two Brits, and a Panamanian) easily won the overall competition. 50 tokens each! Given we have yet to be off the ship in 22 days, trivia (along with eating, drinking, and having fun) has been one of the highlights of the cruise. Hats off to David for a wonderful trivia experience. Marc

Explorer currently heading to Adelaide, Australia and will arrive morning of 4 January Australian time.

My experience has been the opposite; they almost always have local beers onboard; my current cruise on Splendor is first in memory without local beer. In Australia not only did we have local beer from the start but they also picked up new wines and beers in ports. marc

10 - 1

This morning at the Splendor Coffee connection I saw a man use his fingers instead of tongs to get some grapes. First he picked red grapes but then put them back and chose green grapes instead.

Tonight we had a wonderful anniversary dinner in Prime 7. This is the fourth (Voyager, Mariner, and twice on Splendor) anniversary in last six years spent in Prime 7 and our eighth or ninth overall on Regent. Made plans with Franck a week ago and everything was fantastic. Joey and Arriana and all the staff in Prime 7 were wonderful and Ali did a wonderful job on our cabin. Next two anniversaries will be on Mariner for, I’m sure, equally fantastic experiences. Again, special thanks to Franck and all the staff and crew in Splendor. Marc

You have to take photos through the glass where you often have a reflection.

I was told by Franck that it was “political.” Has regent ever been successful in stopping at Nicaragua?

There are no Owner’s Suites on Voyager nor on any other current Regent ship.

PLEASE NO!!!! Yes, I am shouting. If you need more emphasis, read my signature quote.

In addition to regent suite 700, 800, 900, 1200, and 1201 have forward facing balconies. As for the rest of us not having access blame FdR; he specifically designed explorer and splendor NOT to have outdoor forward facing areas. I strongly recommend to folks to take mariner to Alaska instead of explorer.

Fantastic trip so far! We boarded ten days ago and have yet to get off the ship (except for customs in Miami). Food, service, and drinks wonderful. Really love the F2 cabin and have one of our best room stewards ever. I have one very small pet peeve; very few officers, staff, and crew address me by name (Franck, Stephane, and Sweets being the exceptions). Hopefully by LA . . . .

I will provide our anecdotal experiences also. Table for two; three courses; out of Compass Rose in 45 minute. Two courses in Prime 7 and out in 45 minutes; three courses in Prime 7 and out in under an hour. Out of Johnnie Walker Black in Splendor Lounge two nights ago but Andrei tracked down a bottle in Prime 7. Yesterday all the bars restocked. One passenger really likes Hendricks Gin and Andrei showed that he had one hidden for her. Yes, supply issues persist (e.g., no king crab legs in Prime 7) and turnover day is notoriously bad (out of a lot of beers in pool bar) but Regent sure tries to make the onboard experience wonderful. Marc

If your phone is on ship's wifi it should cost. ZERO to post pictures. You are not using your data or your cellular or your wifi.

We spent 24 days in aft facing G2 on Explorer with three adults; definitely manageable. I agree that the bars are the primary issue on Explorer and Splendor. Meridian is no substitute for Horizon Lounge on Mariner and Voyager. In addition, Mariner has one more with Stars. As for hours, don't get me started on why on port days you have to go to Deck 11 for a drink before 4 on Explorer and Splendor. We have sailed a combined 126 days on Splendor, Navigator, and Mariner in last year. Regent has definitely had issues with staff and shipboard management knows it. We have been told a number of reasons; Regent later to get restarted so many staff have gone elsewhere, visa issues, and the odd one that failed COVID test prior to joining the ship. We have also seen a number of staff in multiple departments leave before their probationary period was over. I should have known how bad the bar service would be on Mariner when F&B on the fist day commented on "young bar staff." We have 23 more days on Splendor starting next week; I sure hope bar, waiter, and destinations staff are up to snuff and that the supply issues have been overcome; after all, we are paying a pretty penny. See you soon!