Safari + 29 days onboard Mariner starting 11/21/2015

[Travelcat2]

barefootfantasy: We gave Risky a hug for you. She hopes to be on the Explorer so she can see you both again!

 

Tonight was "Krews Kapers" - wonderful as always. And, as always, it makes me cry....... my feelings for the crew are quite deep - they are very special people. When the song "The Impossible Dream" is sung, I realize that we are living the dream that I would not have thought possible when I was young. Every day I think of how blessed we are and are grateful for every moment.

 

I think I mentioned that there were 70+ doctors and their significant others onboard this cruise. They did not interrupt anything and were, for the most part, quite friendly. This has been a lovely group of passengers.

 

Tonight I told Veronika (possibly misspelled) how to get into CC. I want to mention what a wonderful human being and bartender she is. She is from St. Petersburg, Russia. We have had great conversations and exchanged thoughts of the situation with the U.S. and Russia. At the end of the day, the people of both countries have no problem with each other....... she is lovely, beautiful and intelligent - definitely an asset to Regent!

 

When we arrive in Cape Town tomorrow, we hope to go shopping. Shopping in Africa has been a challenge and we hope to find what we are looking for in Cape Town.

[Zqueeze1]

A little food porn from that saucy gal, Jackie.

 

 

 

 

z and TB

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Suite Travels]

Seventy plus doctors...wow! I would feel in good hands if I needed one.

 

Z, are you for hire? You are doing an excellent job with Jackie's photos. Please pass the tray of oysters.

[Travelcat2]

Miles, if you book the Rome to Miami transatlantic, Z and his wife will be on board, so will we and a really fun group of CC'ers. We will have an amazing time on that cruise. We've even tentatively set up a lunch or dinner when the ship overnights in Bermuda! Great food - great company -- what's holding you back?

 

P.S. The ship is pretty booked but there is bound to be cancellations.

 

Note: We are very excited to be able to book "Living Desert by Off Road" when we are in Namibia in a few days. The excursion was wait-listed, but since we will be on the next sailing, we checked with Destination Services and actually obtained tickets for the excursion ($129/ea).

 

Before we get off the ship in two hours, we have to do a "face to face" with South African authorities. As mentioned, much stricter security than we have seen in Africa!

Edited December 8, 2015 by Travelcat2

[Nigella]

TC2, once again, great photos thank you for sharing.

 

As for the margins issue, I use a browser to access CC and the sizing used above works much better than the sizing on earlier photos. I was struggling to read the thread previously, but this new size works perfectly in a browser. Thank you!

[Jeronimo]

Well we get off here in CP.

Been a good short cruise but two things stand out

Shortages - got on board to No perrier, no sauvignon blanc, no tawny port.

Now at the end Perrier has run out again, moutadon champagne gone and never been any tawny port.

 

secondly an increased number of crew from East Europe. many, but not all, not suited to the job as surely and arrogant. Give me the Indians and Philipinos any day.

[Zqueeze1]

Thanks, all. I appreciate the kind comments regarding my technical prowess for posting pics. But the credit goes to Jackie for her wonderful photos and to my folks for saying, "sign here, you're going to college." When I graduated, I gave them my diploma and they gave me my student loan paperwork I had signed. :D:D

 

Z and TB

[Travelcat2]

Z: You really make me laugh:D I could not have posted all of the pictures that you helped me with. Plus, there will be a few more (not a lot - don't worry).

 

Jeronimo, your post confuses me as I have had tawny port every night (including tonight). I am aware that they are out of Perrier and the Italian version (the names escapes me) for a few days but we had Perrier for at least the first week and a half. This says to me that your server was lazy and did not want to find it.

 

Your comment regarding the crew is sensitive. Hopefully I can post without making negative comments towards anyone. We love our Filipino and East Indian crew members. However, we are glad that Regent is giving people from other countries an opportunity to work on a cruise ship -- make money and send it home to their families. It does take a while for some of the newer crew members to warm up to us. I had a discussion with Veronika from St. Petersburg. She is lovely and does smile a lot. However, she told us that in Russia, if someone smiles at you, it means that they want something and it generally isn't good. IMO, they do not mean to be arrogant but are not as comfortable with the guests as the Filipino and East Indian crew members.

 

On the other hand, I do think that Regent needs to do more training with new crew members than they are doing.

 

Getting back to the present....... some of you have been following the saga of my DH's tooth. His "gold onlay" fell out and we had been searching for a dentist. Although we had an appointment with a dentist in Cape Town for tomorrow, we stopped in his office and he had a cancellation. Although Dennis had a dentist visit right before the cruise, they did not discover the "hole" in the gold and the decay underneath. I can not say enough about the warmth and caring that we received from this dentist and his staff. I wish we could find it in the U.S. Anyway, the dentist needs to make a gold crown for his wisdom tooth that will be ready tomorrow afternoon. Gold is less expensive here than almost anywhere in the world (which makes me wonder why I am not looking for a gold chain or something). Anyway, the crown cost approximately $650 (U.S.) - totally amazing. I cannot express how wonderful the people of South Africa are. We normally are ready to go home after our cruise but tonight, with all except 75 or so passengers packing to go home, we are thankful that we will be on board another 13 nights (leaving Rio one night early).

 

Tomorrow is a shopping day (an embarkation day for new passengers). We change suites in the morning and shop in the afternoon. Thursday we will do a wine tour again (same as we did four years ago).

 

Anyway, enough babbling for the night. Almost forgot to mention that we dined at P7 tonight (absolutely delicious and we typically do not like that dining venue). The 14 layer cake has returned in a new form -- all chocolate. Very rich but I shared with my DH. Now I need to be good for few days.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Travelcat2

[RachelG]

Wow, Travelcat, that is a great deal for a gold crown. George needs a new one, and they quoted him $1800 here in the US.

 

I agree with you about the staff from Eastern Europe. It takes some effort to get them to warm up, but once they understand that you are just trying to be nice and friendly, they are fine. I too love the staff from the Phillipines and India as I am used to them, and most are outstanding.

[Eager2Travel]

Hi Jackie. I have been following along and enjoying your trip.

 

Am sorry to hear about Denis's tooth situation but glad to hear about the lucky solution with great and inexpensive dental care in South Africa. Shel had a similar tooth experience while on the Voyager last month. His tooth broke while eating a hamburger of all things. He needed to tough it out as there was not an easy solution in the Middle East.

 

Maybe the key is to fly to Capetown for a lovely vacation and quality, inexpensive dental work.

[Travelcat2]

Love the thought of flying to South Africa to get dental work done:D They do wonderful work but the cost of flying here is probably cost prohibitive:-)

 

Unfortunately, I lost my Kindle this morning while shopping. So, any photos that I take will be with the camera and will not be posted until I get home. I am 99% certain that the photos that I took are in the "cloud" and will be retrievable when I am home with my other two Kindles and the one I just ordered.

 

Switching cabins was a breeze. We went shopping and returned to the new suite with everything moved. Definitely happy that we are continuing our journey. I learned this morning that Compass Rose is open for "transit guests" for lunch. It was very calm and relaxed there and I was able to make new Prime 7 and Compass Rose reservations to replace the ones that suddenly disappeared on the computer. We were able to book tonight and the the last night that we are on board which was better than what we originally had.

 

Tomorrow is a a tour we have done previously which includes wine ..... anything that includes wine is good for us:-) Going to the library to find a real book (haven't held one in a very long time )

Edited December 9, 2015 by Travelcat2

[Travelcat2]

They (whomever "they" are) say that you should say nothing rather than say something negative. However, the new passengers on the Mariner are so grumpy that I cannot help myself. I felt overwhelmed with negativity and was expressing it to my DH when a women said "there are 700 passengers on this ship that are blessed to be here. If they are not happy here, they will not be happy anywhere".

 

Enough said. I am still loving the cruise, the crew and officers, food and service (but, not the passengers too much).

[Mudhen]

In the same vein, my mom used to say "some people are not having fun, unless they are not having fun"......sounds like you've got a bunch of them on board.....so sorry to hear.

[BeginTheBeguine]

TC2,

 

I have enjoyed all your posts. So happy to hear you are continuing with your journey.

 

It's amazing how the people you cruise with can change everything. We have done back-to-backs in the past and had the same experience you have had with the second group being a bunch of grumps.

 

Just sit back - enjoy the crew and I hope there are some good people in the group somewhere.

[old grump]

Careful! my wife says I resemble that, not.

[Travelcat2]

TC2,

 

I have enjoyed all your posts. So happy to hear you are continuing with your journey.

 

It's amazing how the people you cruise with can change everything. We have done back-to-backs in the past and had the same experience you have had with the second group being a bunch of grumps.

 

Just sit back - enjoy the crew and I hope there are some good people in the group somewhere.

 

Good advice - thanks. We still have smiles on our faces!

 

old grump - nothing personal intended:D

 

mudhen: Wish you were here - we could do a lot of laughing together.

 

I'm determined that this will be a great day. There is a lecturer on board that is right up my DH's alley. He will do daily talks about space missions, Mars, lots of "spacey" stuff that I don't understand. This afternoon is wine tasting, the Meet and Greet, the Captain's reception, etc. The lunch buffet on the pool deck in Indian -- I never tire of the flavors and aromas of Indian food.

 

I'm trying to figure out Destination Services in terms of what they are thinking. We are going to a "new" port (new to us -do not think that Regent has made many port stops here. We booked late so we were wait listed on everything. In Lulderitz, Namibia, there was the wild horses excursion where you get in a bus around 3 hours round trip and spend 1/2 hour looking or watching horses. Still, it could be a nice drive. The other excursion is 2 hours in a ghost town - this is the excursion that we cleared.

 

Last night we received Tickets for the Wild Horses excursions. In another envelope was a letter explaining that there has been no rain for the horses in 2 years and, if we see any, they would not be in good shape.

 

This isn't reading well. Basically, they were sending everyone on an excursion to see dying horses. We got off the wait list because everyone is cancelling. IMO, Regent should have cancelled the excursion. We cancelled within minutes of receiving the tickets!

 

Tomorrow is Luderitz and I will take my phone and camera but won't be able to send "Z" pictures.

 

With all of my Destination Services bashing, the people in charge back in Florida did (and continue to do) an amazing job with the pre and post cruise safari's. They are absolutely.

 

Quick "heads up" about the internet once we get into Brazillian waters, it will get s l o w e r!!!!! And, if I hadn't mentioned it earlier, everything you buy on board has a 25% Brazillian tax (there is a thread about this topic on this.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Travelcat2

[Zqueeze1]

Jackie:

 

No worries about the pics. I can always upload them for you after you get home if you'd like. Enjoy the cruise. When life presents you with grumpy people, order a pitcher of margaritas and share it.

 

Z and TB

[Travelcat2]

Jackie:

 

No worries about the pics. I can always upload them for you after you get home if you'd like. Enjoy the cruise. When life presents you with grumpy people, order a pitcher of margaritas and share it.

 

Z and TB

 

Do I have to share?;)

[Travelcat2]

Tonight I am hissy-cat instead of Travelcat. New rule (hoping it is temporary) - bartender and servers can not ask people wearing shorts or jeans to leave after 6:00 p.m. (usually they ask after you finish your drink) because some passengers were upset.

 

Why would Regent ignore 99% of their customers that have no problem putting on a pair of slacks and shirt and cater to the "slobs" (sorry - this is my opinion). I'm talking about western hats, t-shirts and jeans and baggy shorts. Tonight is the Captain's Reception...... the night when we meet and show respect to the Captain. I am obviously really upset (furious would be a better word). The lack of respect is not tolerable.

 

On a more positive note, met lots of nice people at the Meet and Greet. Really was happy to meet Snackdaddy and his wife -- what a lovely couple. Hope to spend more time with them.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

They (whomever "they" are) say that you should say nothing rather than say something negative. However, the new passengers on the Mariner are so grumpy that I cannot help myself. I felt overwhelmed with negativity and was expressing it to my DH when a women said "there are 700 passengers on this ship that are blessed to be here. If they are not happy here, they will not be happy anywhere".

 

Enough said. I am still loving the cruise, the crew and officers, food and service (but, not the passengers too much).

 

Hi TC

We arrived home yesterday and immediately went to dr.. More about that in a private email. Soooo sorry to hear that your new travelers are "grumpy". Wish we were there to continue the cruise with you. I miss you and Denis. You were certainly one of the highlights of our journey.

Your photos are wonderful and I re-lived every moment of the last few weeks.

Herb and I were so lucky to have the opportunity to see and experience South Africa. Thanks for the memories!!!

Love and Hugs---

Sheila

[RachelG]

Too bad about the grumpy passengers. If I were there, we would be having FUN.

 

I would be "hissy" about the lack of enforcement of the dress code too. George wears a cowboy hat all day to keep the sun off his head, but never at night.

One thing I didn't like about Oceania. In the evenings in the more casual restaurant, you would see t-shirts and jeans, shorts and flipflops. Granted, it was on a Caribbean cruise, but still. If you can afford to pay for the cruise, I think some small effort to dress appropriately for dinner is warrented.

I am taking my youngest son (age 25 and very casual as far as dress) to the Caribbean on Navigator in March, and I will be making sure he dresses appropriately in the evenings. Or he can stay in the room.

 

I hope your excursion goes well. Seeing starving horses sounds awful.

[mariners]

TC2, I remember posting about the change in behaviour of passengers from one segment to the next on our Mumbai to Miami cruise (at least I think that was the one) quite a few years ago. We had one segment where people wore t-shirts, work out shirts, jeans, etc. to the dining room. Deck chairs were saved before I went for my morning walk which was before 7 a.m. There were numerous issues onboard. However, everything turned around the following segment, and all was right in "my world". The one thing I learned from the experience was that "management" did not want to create issues by confronting or talking with the passengers. I presume it was to increase the passenger load for future sailings, or some similar reason. You have obviously been having a wonderful cruise, and on a fabulous itinerary. Being the "hissy-cat" is just posting how things are onboard for you, and that is something I think is important. IMO, it lets people know if something is an ongoing trend, or just a blip. I've always used CC to help me determine whether I would possibly enjoy a cruise line, or to return to a previous cruise line that I have sailed. Your extensive posting and photographs are appreciated. It's brought back great memories for me as we met so many wonderful people. Wishing you calm seas.

[Travelcat2]

Sheila - glad that you are home safely -- please rest and take care of yourself.

 

Rachel - you're right -- if you and George were on board, we would be having fun. Good to hear that your son will be joining you on the Navigator. BTW, George's cowboy hats are classy and he doesn't wear one in a lounge before dinner with a t-shirt and jeans:-)

 

An interesting tidbit -- there is no Cruise Consultant on board (think there is an issue - this isn't a permanent change). If you book within 30 days of the cruise, you get $200 OBC plus the normal discount for on board bookings.

 

Dinner was delicious. Still find the food and service exemplary. Not sure about the passengers yet....... the passengers from the previous cruise that are still on board are delightful (as are the CC members that we met). IMO, there is nothing to complain about (except dress code which is my issue).

 

The ship is not as yet decorated for Christmas. My "guessitimate" was that it would be done tonight. However, that did not come to pass so my next "guessitimate" is the night of the Seven Seas Society Event (December 15th) -- will let you know.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Travelcat2

[IndiTravler]

Just back and awake -- I didn't read or comment during the cruise due to the fact, I have little patience waiting on internet pages to load.

 

For the most part had a great time. Service and on-board experience as usual was simply outstanding. However, Destinations remains is the one thing Regent simply can't get right consistently (per my usual experence). My hubby picked out and booked another cruise while we were on board, but I'm really second guessing it based on Destinations. Since I have 30 days to cancel I'm going to crunch some numbers based on a new cost assumption of mostly private tours against some lines.

 

I'll see if I have anything to add besides what has already been said.

 

-The Independent Traveler....

[IndiTravler]

Hi TC2,

Could you please expand on the Mozambique visa problems. We are currently on the Voyager and will be arriving there in not too long. It would be helpful to know what we can expect.

 

Hopefully, this info is timely...

 

We did the Legends of Kruger On-Shore Adventure -- got off the Mariner in Maputo, spent two nights at a lodge in the Kruger, then rejoined the Mariner on the second Durbin day. We got the full Mozambique visa experience. The group of 8 of us were taken to the small building dockside. We had a our photo and a finger print taken. A formal visa was printed on the spot, added to our passports and then we got entry stamps on the opposing page. As we left on the Mozambique / South Africa border (about 3 hours after we entered Mozambique), we went thru Immigration for both countries again. We stood in line to exit Mozambique receiving an exit stamp on the visa. Going about 50 yards to stand in line to enter South Africa with more stamps Each of the three queues took about 30 minutes between waiting in line and processing us.