Dolebludger

pappaflamingo, all I could find online about the Pacific Rim menu was a sample menu on Regent’s web site. Everything on that contained seafood. But it was just a sample, so thanks for the information.

Well, my wife did the specialty restaurant booking, and that is what she said was done. That’s all I know. And on our Explorer Alaska cruise last summer,I know we ate in Prime 7 twice. The upcoming Splendor E. Caribbean cruise caught us “between” TAs. We didn’t want to use the one we had before, and we hadn’t found another one. So there may be some confusion here. We are booked in a concierge suite, if that matters.

That is not really good for a tropical cruise when bathing suits need to be ready quicker. And concierge suites on O appear to be much smaller than concierge suites on Regent. To get the same space on O, we’d need to book a penthouse. Doing that would lose any price advantage from booking O. And what about mini fridge use on O? With Regent, we have it. And we have a bottle of spirits too..so when we return from an exhausting excursion, I can have a beer and wife can have a vodka 7 in the suite before we get dressed for something onboard. This is way off topic from food quality, but we are old folks, Wife is 71 and I am 80. Laundry is very important to us, because it means lighter luggage to haul around in airports (where did the sky caps go?). And in-suite beverages are important because sometimes we just want to sit on the balcony and enjoy a drink from the mini fridge — sometimes just a coke. And suite size is important to us. With anything under about 300 sq. ft. inside space, things get a bit crowded and messy, even with 2X/day room makeup. Back to food, we are booked on the Splendor next month in the E. Caribbean. Itinerary may seem a bit corny, but we haven’t done it for about 18 years. We looked at the specialty restaurant menus, which to some are great, but some feature food that we just don’t like. We booked Prime 7 twice and Pacific Rim once on a seven nighter, and will rely on the Compass Rose otherwise. I don’t know what I’ll eat in the Pacific Rim, as I don’t like seafood. Wife loves it, and we don’t get much of it here in Colorado. But I agree with the post above that the Compass Rose is the largest speciality restaurant at sea. Long ago, we used to cruise larger mass market ships, and grew to hate MDRs on them. But the Compass Rose is nothing like those. We just walk in, ask for a two top, and are seated. No lines, crowds, or noise. And many choices on the menu. So, for us, we are going to spend our “golden years” cruising Regent — when we vacation. We had a couple of nice cruises in Celebrity’s Retreat late in the last decade. But as mentioned in a post above, that option has gone down hill,— badly. Regent has not.

Yes, for whatever reason, the RSSC Voyager seems to be having problems. I think the S. American itinerary may be the problem with illness, though IDK. As I read of problems in this sip in other itineraries. Our recent are gent experience was on the Explorer last summer and it was outstanding. Better than our many pre- pandemic Regent cruises. We have two booked cruises on the Splendor. It and the Grandeur are sister ships to the Explorer. I’ve had problems with the Voyager shaking toward the stern. The Mariner suites below penthouse are just too small and the old Navigator has a bad case of vibration, and always had. But I predict that those who book the Regent Explorer, Splendor, and Grandeur (newest ships) will be happy.

It seems to be a rather standard policy among cruise lines to honor price reductions until (but not after) final payment. But, as mentioned above, there may be “strings” on the reduced price that make the original deal a better deal. Like, once (on another line) the original deal had a two cat. suite upgrade and the new “reduction” did not. Even though we saw the “reduction” before final payment, it wasn’t a reduction for us. It takes a Philadelphia lawyer or a good TA to sort this stuff out. I am only a Colorado lawyer, so I had our TA sort it out.

And further, along these lines, O suites seem to be smaller than Regent’s — in the same category. Also, I can’t find anything about included access to mini fridge contents on O. All levels on Regent have this. Upper O suites include 3 bags of laundry per suite per cruise. All suite levels on Regent have daily valet laundry service (except on the day before disembarkation, when there isn’t time to get the finished laundry back).

And, while this may be a bit off topic, Regent is inclusive of all beverages all the time. O is beer or wine only at lunch and dinner, and I don’t know how the O beverage package works. Also, valet laundry is included in all suites on Regent, while I don’t think that is true of O. These are important things to me. I guess I’m just a clean drunk!

We,ve not cruised Oceania and we aren’t foodies. But we know people who have and are, and have also cruised Regent. Oceania’s food rates very high with them. I don’t think you can go wrong, food wise, on either line.

Well, my food preferences never interfered with a Regent cruise. On some lines (that I define as lesser) the MDR is an overcrowded “wait in line” thing to be avoided. But on Regent, we have always liked the Compass Rose. Go in anytime (when it is open) and be seated. A bunch if dining options there. For our cruise next month, we decided to select the Prime 7 twice. It’s only a 7 nighter, and I think we’ll be fine.

All I know is that business class on all domestic flights I’ve been on has been little more than “coach” used to be. Of course, I accept that there are exceptions to this, and I haven’t been on all domestic flights. We need more business class seats, because some of us can’t fly economy for medical reasons.

papaflamingo: And, oh yeah, another question. We were able to choose a non-stop on United Denver - London (not knowing what Regent’s alternative would be) for the deviation charge only. So my question is, how much was your up charge for Delta direct?

Papaflamingo, just a question. On your flight, I understand that economy on Jet Blue is not what most of us Regent cruisers would like. But in addition, would you have to claim and recheck your luggage when you changed from JAL to Jet blue in Boston? We find that to be true often when connections involve an airline change, and that is a “deal breaker” for us.

On our near future cruise to the Caribbean on the Splendor. We took the credit and booked our own flights. We don’t want basic economy. We don’t like connections (we have been stranded too many times by connecting flights that didn’t connect). We want business and as few connections as possible. Even with all that, we still have one flight leg (Miami to Denver) where business class was full, and we had to take premium economy. We are wait listed for business. News at 11. our Regent cruise after that is a London to London cruise, and we need air from Durango to London and back. We knew it would involve a connection in Denver (United) or Dallas (American). But we wanted as few as possible connections, other than in one of those hubs. We researched and found a direct Denver to London and back on United in business. Other airlines from our accessible hubs had no such thing. Several connections within the US that we knew would be basic economy as soon as we cleared the “pond”. And we know the more connections, the less the fare. We feared Regent would put us on that type of routing. So, without no knowing that, we had our TA request a deviation that would United’s direct Denver to London in business, git it, and paid the deviation fee. But we’ll never know what routing Regent would have chosen for us. And he we waited to find out, the business class seats on our preferred direct flight might well have been sold out — as was on our Miami to Denver flight mentioned above. Airlines simply have too few business class Sears on their planes. And they have crammed economy so much that demand for business exceeds supply. And that perhaps is the problem here.

I think that cruising in a CS (or above) is what one must do to avoid the impact of most of the cuts. CS still has a butler AND a room steward. Anything below that lacks the butler, and on X the steward’s duties are limited. It seems that in a CS, included access to the mini fridge isn’t provided now — and it was on our 2018 cruise in a CS. But in a CS, the butler will bring in soda, water, and beer after he clears the “extra cost” contents out. Not so in any level below CS. We would gladly cruise again in a CS IF the cost were not more than one of the lux lines. Even lux cruisers watch their budgets!

Has anybody taken the “free intercontinental business class” without deviation and request for a certain airline and route? I ask because we never have done this, and we are just curious how good or bad the flights are this way. On such flight itineraries, I’d like to know if there were additional connections, inconvenient times, and such

Along these lines, I got an interesting email ad from Regent a few months ago concerning intercontinental flights with “free business air”. It offered a discount for those willing to fly premium economy instead. I wasn’t interested, and I have heard nothing about this option since. Just curious, as it seems that Regent’s air program regarding business air is having problems. It has gotten to the point that we check business air availability before we put down a deposit on a cruise.

Now wait just a minute. Regent just booked us in a non-stop on United from Denver to London and back, with only a deviation charge. Iceland Air goes there too, with one connection in Iceland, and it is much cheaper than United direct. And it’s not quite (just almost) international business class. `Now, if out of necessity or otherwise Regent books a guest on “not quite international business class” when it advertises “free intercontinental business class”, don’t you think some sort of compensation to the guest is in order? Now I am not disrespecting Iceland Air. If I needed to go to Northern Europe and pay for air, I’d book it - as we did a couple of times. It’s a good deal. But it isn’t quite what we think of as “intercontinental business class”

To answer the question about Iceland Air business class, it is the same as business class on domestic flights, while some other international lines have upgraded business class to include among other things, lay flat seats. All Iceland Air flights have a connection stop in Iceland — as of a few years ago. With that in mind, we found it to be a good airline, substantially less expensive than other lines’ business class. That is why I say, if Regent is providing international business air, they should credit the guest if it books Iceland Air. But if one is paying the fare, the savings would pay for a short stay in Iceland before continuing on, which Iceland Air allows at no cost, and which we did and enjoyed.

We have been on Regent more times than I can count. In fact we cruised it back when it was Radisson. We have never tipped anybody onboard. We never use the Spa, where tips are mandatory, which is not run by Regent. When you pay your fare for a Regent cruise, you ARE tipping. Many other lines don’t include tips in their fare, but add them on in some fashion. Regent’s program is more honest

I have the same problem. I’m more allergic to seafood — I just don’t like it. I looked at a sample pacific rim menu on the web site, and couldn’t put together a meal,I would eat because it is all sea food of some sort. There are many Asian dishes that do not contain seafood, and I gladly enjoy many of them.

I know of no ships currently doing itineraries totally in FP with a passenger load of much over 300. Silversea will start doing these itineraries in 2026 with close to 400 passengers. We did an itinerary on Regent that was partially FP in a ship of about 700 passengers. We have been to FP about ten times. Based on what we have experienced, Bora Bora is not capable of handling n more than 1200 cruise guests. In fact, that number should be set much lower. Not only for the benefit of the islands, but for the benefit of the passengers, who would not like being in paradise with a mob.

No sir, not discounting the Star Breeze at all. It may well host our next cruise in FP. And what are the other small ships planning cruises in FP in the future? And what alternative iteneraries you would like?

So, you are saying that Delta is declining to sell open business first seats to Regent on a flight by flight basis — not refusing Regent on all flights? And was there ever a contract in this regard between Delta and Regent. Sorry to be a pest, but we are booked by Regent on a direct flight Denver to London and return this August. This thread raises concern that somehow this may change to a flight with two or more additional connections, in which case we’d want cancel the whole thing, but probably couldn’t. Difficult position for the elderly.

I don’t understand many things about airlines — except that all need to improve! In booking our own, we have always just booked business, and the selected our seats among those available in that class.we have never encountered any “fare buckets”which I assume means different prices among business class seats. So I don’t understand “fare buckets”. But from what I read here, it seems that airline policies are interfering with Regent’s advertised “free business air”. It may be asking too much, but I wish we could get some word direct from Regent with details if the problem, so we would know the situation. Now, as for Iceland Air, it is true that there are no lay down seats in business, and there is no first. Seating is similar to business on domestic flights. Much like economy but with more space all around, and 2X2 seating instead of 3X3. In about 2018, we took Iceland from Denver to Reykjavik to get to a river cruise. Can’t remember the flight length, but it was doable for us, and cheaper than other business class. But if you have flight legs on either end, you may have to claim and recheck your luggage in route. Bottom line, if Iceland air is the only business class available to a guest, I feel that Regent should give the guest a partial credit/refund, as it is not quite international business class. But, on a positive note, Iceland air allows you a “stay over” in Iceland before continuing your journey, at no extra cost. We did this for two days and enjoyed it.

Just for information, Silversea is bringing its Silver Whisper to French Polynesia with cruises beginning in 2026. So then there will be three smaller motor ships operating there. We have cruised on this ship in the past and it’s a good one. The base suites are 285 sq. ft. Interior — a little larger than the Star Breeze and considerably larger than the Paul Gauguin. Announced itineraries look familiar, from all our past Paul Gauguin cruises. The amount of local culture that Silversea will offer is, of course, yet to be seen. But competition is a good thing