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Live aboard Mariner 12-27


chicagogal

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Outstanding! What time did you board?

 

Based on the prior reports we didn't rush to the ship. We had lunch on shore (at Bimini Boathouse next to the Renaissance Hotel) and got to the ship at 130. There were no lines and we heard no complaints once on board. Mant people were aboard having lunch. We dropped our carry on bags in our cabin (776) and met our friendly stewardess Farah. Then we toured the ship. Our bags were delivered and we were all unpacked prior to the lifeboat drill at 415.

 

We had a pleasant evening with the 5 pm block party where we met lots of guests and ship personnel, followed by the pool bar for a (slightly delayed) sailaway after the last 16 passengers arrived, followed by drinks at the Mariner bar pre-dinner (is there a pattern here) followed by dinner at Compass Rose. We both had cornish hen which was fine but nothing special. The service was very good.

 

All-in-all, very pleased with Regent so far. We are in Key West today with a sea day tomorrow.

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Great Patty! I was thinking of you all yesterday and hoping that the FLL staff would be more efficient!

Have a wonderful cruise and keep telling us about it!

Gerry

 

Thanks Gerry!

 

We had a cool day today in Key West. My husband's Regent booked (for an extra charge) deep sea fishing trip was cancelled with a lame excuse about "mechanical problems" (on ALL the boats?). So he and a bunch of others went ashore and booked a longer trip on their own, had a great time and caught a bunch of fish. I did a tour of Old Town and the Truman Little White House which I really enjoyed. After that I walked around town and had lunch ashore. Once back on the ship, I couldn't wait to have a latte on Deck 6.

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Glad to hear there were no problems boarding. On the Navigator on Jan 6. Boarding the Nav at FLL in April was a disaster. I think it has more to do with Port Everglades than anything else.

 

I consider us very fortunate. If we had not have had lunch before boarding I'm SURE we would have been delayed in boarding!

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We are also onboard and were among the last to board yesterday. We boarded a few minutes before 4pm and were told we were numbers 14 and 15. They actually counted us off as we came through the terminal. 13 and 12 came on right behind us. No confirmation on what the departure delay was about. But we were guessing those last 11.

 

Just pushed off from key west and we are looking forward to a smooth sea day tomorrow. The captain says the weather forecast looks great for us tomorrow. Today was a little overcast but the temperatures were perfect. And now we are enjoying a fabulous sunset from our veranda. The free Internet seems to be a bit spotty in our cabin, so we'll see if this ever actually gets posted.

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We are also onboard and were among the last to board yesterday. We boarded a few minutes before 4pm and were told we were numbers 14 and 15. They actually counted us off as we came through the terminal. 13 and 12 came on right behind us. No confirmation on what the departure delay was about. But we were guessing those last 11.

 

Just pushed off from key west and we are looking forward to a smooth sea day tomorrow. The captain says the weather forecast looks great for us tomorrow. Today was a little overcast but the temperatures were perfect. And now we are enjoying a fabulous sunset from our veranda. The free Internet seems to be a bit spotty in our cabin, so we'll see if this ever actually gets posted.

The internet is much better closer to the internet cafe so if you want a much faster connection bring your laptop down and sit in the library or coffee connection, I found that works the best!

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Unfortunately someone onboard has suffered a medical emergency so about 3 hours underway we turned back to Key West where an ambulance and the police met the ship. A gentleman was taken off on a stretcher. We pray he will get the care he needs and will fully recover. Our stop was a short "touch and go" no longshoremen, no docking. We are again underway and are hoping for only good things the rest of the cruise!

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Suzcruise --

 

I am curious - you boarded very late. When (about) did your luggage arrive in your suite??

 

Patty - how awful for the passenger who was taken ill. Let's hope he is OK. But I suppose with a sea day in front of you mariner will make up the time spent in getting him the attention he needed...

Loved you comment about having lunch before showing up at the ship. I think we will have a really good brunch on the morning we sail and therefore not have to worry about lunch!!

 

Gerry

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I'm on the 1/8 sailing & will bring my laptop if there's free internet. This is the first I've heard of it, what's the deal?

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

Internet is free to Seven Seas Members Silver and above. This requires 21 nites on Regent. For people who are new to Regent or have cruised less than 21 nites, there is a charge for Internet.

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Still having Internet issues, even while sitting in Club.com. We'll see if this goes thru this time.

 

Gerry,

 

Our bags were waiting for us when we returned from the lifeboat drill. The timing was perfect.

 

Food in all venues has been good, but not as great as we recall from our previous RSSC sailings. Room service breakfast was served warm. The waiter who delivered it evidently felt we over ordered. His grunting and groaning had be worried about his back and my butt :) while DH thought his theatrics were quite amusing.

 

Dinner in Signatures tonight and we are eager to find out if "the change" has occurred. Wifi willing, I will report back for anyone who is interested.

 

Today is a perfect sea day. Sunny and warm but not hot. Fabulous!

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SuzCruise, just curious: are you using a laptop or a tablet (iPad)?

 

Last week on Mariner, I found I had the best Internet performance I've ever had on a Regent ship. Not broadband speed, by any means, but faster than I've seen in the past. Late at night (when fewer people are using Internet), I was able to watch some YouTube videos without any skips or stutters; I remember past trips when downloading or uploading a simple still picture took a lot of time.

 

We were in 963, and I used my Mac laptop there most of the time. My father, in 961, had a new iPad, and had more connectivity problems than I did with my Mac laptop. It would connect, but then seemingly disconnect at random and require logging back in. (I know iPads dropping connections have been mentioned in otjer threads here.) I tried using both the iPad and laptop up on the pool deck, but found the WiFi signal too weak to use reliably. (When we were docked in port, and I tried using the laptop on the pool deck, I consistently got strong WiFi signals from the two ships on either side of us, but not our own!)

 

-- Eric

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Chicagogal, sorry your husband's deep sea fishing trip got cancelled. We did this excursion last year. They only have two boats, and the guys who do it are both in their 20s, remind me of my 2 sons. So I can understand why they might have mechanical issues. But it was a fun excursion.

 

We wil see how the wifi connectivity is next week with my new iPad.

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Eric & Rachel,

 

I've had pretty good results using my iphone and ipad on my last two cruises. Here are a few suggestions that have helped me.

 

First, have the computer room guy take a look at your settings. Your ipad will work better with the correct settings.

 

Second, with respect to loosing connectivity, Regent's system is set up to sign you off the system after four or five minutes of no internet activity. I was told that this was done to prevent large internet bills if someone forgot to logoff. The best way I've found to avoid involuntary sign offs is to run another iphone or ipad app in the background that will access the internet more frequently than every four or five minutes. It's not a perfect solution but it works pretty well. I use a free app called "5-0 Radio Police Scanner Lite." I turn the volume all the way down and listen to the police radio from one of the major cities.

 

On my last cruise, a strange thing happened. At times, I would get a login screen as though I had been disconnected from the internet. However, if I waited 20 to 30 seconds, my connection would resume from where it left off. It's worth a try if you appear to get disconnected.

 

Hope this helps.

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The wifi when you're in port is incredibly frustrating, it won't let you even onto the mariner one half the time, it'll take you to Holland America or Celebrity or whoever is with you, but yes, if you go on the internet late at night or mid afternoon it seems to be much faster. I also heard from a crew that (unfortunately for the crew...) they blocked Skype during the Christmas cruise for crew from now on because it took up too much bandwith. I don't know if that is a cause for the internet being faster but it definitely could be.

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