DavidTheWonderer

In case one has trouble getting hold of 'The Wide Wide Sea', which is brand new, I also enjoyed and learned from Christina Thompson, 'Sea People' (2019).

I've used some of my time in FP to learn a bit about the Polynesian culture, especially pre-contact and the early days of contact with Europeans. If you are similarly inclined, I highly recommend a new book by Hampton Sides, "The Wide Wide Sea" (2024). The primary focus of the book is Captain Cook.

If you drop by one of the speciality restos at, say, 6 PM, sometimes reservations have been cancelled and you get the slot. If not, then you will have to settle for the gruel in Compass Rose.

There is a vibration issue aft on Navigator. It bothers some more than others. I think Steve mis-typed. Voyager and Mariner are almost identical in size and number of passengers. Navigator is significantly smaller than either of these two. The main differences between Voyager and Mariner are that Voyager's cabins are a bit larger and Mariner's public spaces are a bit larger. The newer ships, Splendor etc., are a bit larger still both in size and number of passengers.

This thread is about a "price comparsion" and many people have posted their excellent calculations. But, as flossie009 points out, there is more to it than just dollar amounts. The size of the cabin is relevant, and has been discussed here. But also relevant is the overall space per passenger on the ship. You can find a rough estimate of this by dividing the gross tonnage by the number of passengers. The higher the number, the less crowded you will be when out and about on the ship. Also relevant is the number of passengers per crew. The lower the number the better. All these numbers can be easily found with the assistance of Captain Google. And Regent fares very well using these criteria. Note that both space and crew are costs that the cruise line must bear.

The submarine in Aruba is on my short-list of best excursions ever.

We also don't use butlers when we have them. Different strokes for different folks. Once, our not-used butler pleaded with us at the end of the cruise to give him a good review. That was fairly disgusting.

Different people have different sensibilities about vibration, so I can't definitively advise you. For me, vibration on Voyager is trivial, but I know of some folks for whom it is a problem. Now, if you were considering a cruise on Navigator, she has a much more serious vibration issue aft. It didn't significantly bother me, but I would advise you to me even more cautious about that ship.

And the incessant quacking in the middle of the night!

Totally agree! For me the interior of Sagrada Familia is easily one of my top experiences ever. When I first walked in I had a quasi-religious experience, despite the fact that I am not religious.

Barcelona is fabulous, and getting around on your own is easy. I've not been to Madrid, so can't compare the two cities. But 3 - 4 days in Barcelona is sort of a minimum for me. I can imagine 3 - 4 months, but "your mileage may vary." One tip: get your tickets to Sagrada Familia in advance: the lines for those without tickets are sometimes horrific.

Not quite related to your questions, but we are in Dunedin and found that driving to Miami and staying overnight in the Regent hotel (the Biltmore) and then in the morning driving to the port and parking in the long-term lot just across from the dock was really seamless. Sarasota is even closer, and you will probably be able to avoid the packed-bus crowd on embarkation. Regarding the issues that you did mention in your post, as you will see from my signature below, I have a lot of experience with Regent and some with Seabourn. I think you will find that your anxieties about pre-dinner cocktails, seating in the main dining room, etc. will not be an issue. If anything, Regent handles these things somewhat better than Seabourn, but both do really well. Just don't try to go to the main dining room (Compass Rose) just after the end of the night of the captain's reception.

I am obviously not a connoisseur, since on land my go-to bourbon is Jim Beam. When we were on Splendor in January, our stewardess asked about our in-suite setup, and I asked for Jim. She came back an hour later all apologetic: they didn't have Jim Beam but she did have in her arms a big bottle of Bulleit. I assured her that I would make do. Sniffity sniff! In fact, if Bulleit were the same price as Beam, I would switch loyalties. But on Splendor all is included so on board my loyalties does switch. Back on land my inner Scrooge has me back to Jim. When I finished the bottle of Bulleit, she brought me another one.

I hesitate to post something not serious, but will anyway. As you know, there is usually a jigsaw puzzle or two in the common areas of the ship, and people work on them. Completion usually takes a few days. A 7-something girl saw a partially completed puzzle and thought it was obviously messy, so put all the pieces back in the box. I thought that was sort of cute. The children-haters were outraged.

There are a significant number of passengers for whom the ship it the destination. These folks tend to stay on board always. Even for those who do an excursion, many are a half day and doing two half day excursions in one day is somewhat rare and sometimes impossible. So ... if you stay on board you will find lots of people on the ship and a generally convivial atmosphere with almost all venues open as usual.

Sometimes there are cancellations. So if you drop by a resto a little before when you wish to dine, they may be able to accommodate you. I only share this with select people like Cruise Critic members, so don't spread this information around to the riff raff.

It depends on this ship and the particular cabin. When booking, this is an issue that you and/or your travel agent should check if, like me, the combo tub-shower doesn't work any more.

Of course Regent used to be named Radisson, and changed their name so they wouldn't be associated with the Radisson hotel chain.

We have something like 50 - 60 nights on the Paul Gauguin, going back to 2000 when Radisson owned her. Radisson, of course, became Regent. After Regent there were various changes in ownership, but the experience remained generally outstanding. Then Ponant bought her. During the pandemic, cruises were cancelled but people who had given Ponant money, either as payment or as a deposit, were out of luck: Ponant refused to give refunds. Despite the fact that the PG remains my favourite ship/destination, I will not consider her as long as Ponant is the owner. For comparison, we had a world cruise on Regent Mariner booked. When it was cancelled because of the pandemic Regent promptly refunded our rather large deposit. Incidentally, Splendor is my favourite ship that isn't the PG.

In January we sailed Splendor out of Miami and the included hotel was the Biltmore. Fabulous in every way. The 1920's vibe made me start looking around for Greta Garbo. We drove to Miami from our winter home in Dundedin. Then we had the hotel ship our bags to the ship, and we drove over and did long-term parking at the dock. Everything about the experience was splendiferous. It was our first time on Splendor, which is now our favourite ship that isn't the Paul Gauguin.

No. "Premium" means the ultra-expansive wines and spirits.

One lasting image from this wonderful excursion was that transportation by the indigenous folks was by canoe. Children barely older than toddlers had their own child-size canoes which they freely used to get around, including paddling out to our speedboat to see if we had any presents for them. With nary a supervising adult in sight. Or lifejacket. And the school was really inspiring. The tuition had various forms, one of which had the dads doing physical work to maintain the buildings.

We were in 1022 on the other side of the ship in January. Great cabin and balcony, really convenient to the aft elevator. The only down side, and it is really minor, is that as opposed to some Regent ships, the aft elevator doesn't go down to deck 4, which is where the main dining room, Compass Rose, is located. So to get there you have to go to the forward elevator, then down to deck 4, then walk aft to Compass Rose. As I said, really minor.

Once again I post here about the crew fund. This is not to criticize those who don't know about it (yet). As an alternative to tipping individuals, consider donating to this crew fund instead. This is used to fund perqs in the crew areas, parties, emergency transport if a family member gets sick or dies, etc. etc. It benefits all the crew, including the "back of the house" staff who we don't see but are vital in making our cruises so wonderful. We tend to benchmark something like $20 / day for our contribution. Personally I like the fact that the process is sort of anonymous, but some would find that a negative I guess.

For those folks who may be put off by the "Dear John" post that started this thread, we've been sailing with Regent (formerly Radisson) for 23 years. We're certainly not in the super-elite status, but do have considerable experience with the product they offer. Our recent Caribbean cruise on Splendor was as close to perfection in every respect as I have any right to expect. I sure felt that they still love me.