Live report—Miami to Miami Jan 6-13, 2022–splendor –back to cruising Regent

[Lilith]

5 hours ago, califsealion said:

 

Now I know why the cookies I attempted to bake last weekend were a failure - thanks!

 

Thanks also for the live updates, I'm enjoying reading along.

So I always use my great grandma's recipe for cookies with sweet (unsalted as it is !mostly known now) .  she was born in 1875 so that gives you a clue as to how long I have been baking her Austrian cookies

[RachelG]

10 hours ago, ABLAN976 said:

[RachelG]

January 12,2022–Key West, Florida

 

We had received a notice that everyone would be going through customs onboard the ship as soon as we arrived in Key West, with the people on tours being called first, starting at 8:30.  So no sleeping late.

 

We were instructed to wait either in our suites or public areas but not come to the theater till our group was called in order to prevent too much crowding.  We waited and waited, patiently.  There was an announcement that there was a delay.  I could have slept another hour.  Finally, they called our group which was the first one as we were on the earliest tour.  We immediately went down to the theater, and there was a huge line and mass of humanity, so clearly a lot of people are not good at following simple instructions.  

 

Once up to the stage area, there were 3 customs agents who looked at the passports and our faces, and that was it.  They put a sticker on the room key to prove we were checked off the list, and we went out on the pier to meet our excursion.

 

An aside, funniest thing I heard while waiting in the line.   A lady was complaining to her friend that she didn’t like the Italian restaurant because it was too Italian.

 

We have been to Key West several times, most recently a year ago, so have been to most of the tourist places.  The one excursion that I could find that we had not done was going out to the reef in a glass bottom boat.  

 

We walked over to the boat with our group.  It is a nice catamaran, very stable and with plenty of seating areas and space to spread out.  They enforced mask wearing inside. There was lots of room for everyone to see through the glass bottom, and the viewing was pretty good.  Water was a little cloudy, but we saw lots of fish and coral.

 

Once back on land, we went to lunch at one of our two favorite restaurants in Key West—Duettos pizza.  It is basically a hole in the wall, but with some of the best pizza I have ever had, mainly because the crust is perfect.  Our other favorite place, Meatburger, is currently closed because of covid.  I hope they reopen.

 

We walked around some.  The weather was perfect with temp around 72F and sunny with a light breeze.  But eventually we had to return to the ship to start packing.

 

There was another 2nd place at trivia.  I knew which country had the longest coastline, but no one else believed me.  The Regent rewards were actually pretty nice this time.  George got a logo long sleeve nylon t shirt.

  

There were several people openly flaunting the mask requirement this afternoon.  Really annoying.  I guess they figure they won’t get kicked off this late in the cruise since tomorrow is the last day, but personally I think they should be put on the no cruise list if they refuse to wear the mask.

 

Another great dinner in Sette Mare followed by the show Crossroads which was a fusion rock and country show.  Not really to my taste but very high energy and GE and Anna loved it.  They went to dance with Kasha and Boogie while I decided to sleep.

[physadv]

Thanks Rachel for preparing us to resume Regent sailing on Feb 3.

A crew question - were they allowed to get off at the different ports?

Thank you.

[RachelG]

11 minutes ago, physadv said:

Thanks Rachel for preparing us to resume Regent sailing on Feb 3.

A crew question - were they allowed to get off at the different ports?

Thank you.

Crew is not allowed to get off ship. Currently 

[crispy46]

Just saw FDR walking around the pool deck...wonder if he was tested like the rest of us. BTW, cruise has been great and to my knowledge not a single Covid case.

 

[RachelG]

January 13, 2022–Miami Florida—disembarkation

 

Sadly, the final breakfast arrived.  We had put out our large suitcases last night and met up in La veranda.  Everyone had to be out of suites by 8 and off the ship by 9.  Having previously had issues with disembarkation in Miami, our flight was not till 1:40 pm. Turns out, we had plenty of time, but I wouldn’t ever book a flight out of Miami earlier than noon if disembarking from a ship.

 

We walked off at 8:45.  The customs agents looked at our passports again, but it only took a second.  Luggage was waiting for us, and there was no taxi line at all.  Previous disembarkations in Miami, the port has been chaos, but today Splendor was the only ship in port. We were at the airport and sitting in the admirals club by 9:50. 

 

All flights were on time and without incident, and we were back in Tulsa at 6:30.

 

Now the big question:  was it worth it!?  My answer is yes, despite all the stress leading up to the trip, once we were on the ship, I felt like I could breath.  Wearing a mask is to me not a big deal as I do it every day at work.  George was even compliant without complaining most of the time.  The service and food were outstanding, as to be expected when the ship is only half full.  The ship is beautiful.  And the crew seemed to be genuinely happy to be back.  

 

Our next cruise scheduled is in June 2022, from Haifa to Venice.  Now we will just have to wait and see if it happens.  I got a message today to final payment had been delayed.

[Pcardad]

How many people did you have on board? There are just over 400 who boarded today

[RachelG]

12 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

How many people did you have on board? There are just over 400 who boarded today

403 passengers,  553 crew

[physadv]

11 hours ago, RachelG said:

Crew is not allowed to get off ship. Currently 

Thanks again for all your posts and especially the crew information at the ports.

Hope it was a safe trip home.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

16 hours ago, RachelG said:

 I got a message today to final payment had been delayed.

Oh, that's good news.  Hope our Baltic/Fjords trip in July gets postponed soon as well.  But then maybe Israel is a special case--I read today that someone cancelled because their third shot (booster) was too long ago for Israel's rules.

Edited January 14, 2022 by Wendy The Wanderer

[RachelG]

Just now, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Oh, that's good news.  Hope our Baltic/Fjords trip in July gets postponed soon as well.

I think they have finally come to the realization that taking final payments then having to refund them is way more labor intensive (and costly) than just waiting till closer to the cruise. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

46 minutes ago, RachelG said:

I think they have finally come to the realization that taking final payments then having to refund them is way more labor intensive (and costly) than just waiting till closer to the cruise. 

Hope that's true.  How close was your final payment when they told you?

[UUNetBill]

@RachelG - thanks for posting all of this - I always say I'm going to and then I get sidetracked.  🙂

 

It was nice meeting you and your family, however briefly, and it sounds like your experience mirrored ours pretty closely.  It was great to be back on board, even more great to see old friends and new, and like George I have to agree that the mask wearing wasn't nearly as onerous as I'd expected.  I was especially surprised to see the jigsaw puzzles out (I finished off the wooden one on the last day) and the buffets being self-serve, but I was happy to see the crew enforcing hand-washing and sanitizing at the restaurant entrances (not always, but very often).

 

The whole cruising experience was subtly changed by the Covid restrictions but we still had a fabulous time on board, and I'm confident that things will shake out soon enough.  Here's hoping that 2022 is better than 2021!

[RachelG]

1 hour ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Hope that's true.  How close was your final payment when they told you?

well it was Wednesday this week for a cruise which starts June 5

[Caro.H]

Thank you for posting - great info for our cruise leaving January 24. This is our first Regent cruise - did you have any formal nights and if so, how "formal" were they? Any tuxedos/long dresses around? Thanks in advance!

[RachelG]

5 hours ago, carolinehuddart said:

Thank you for posting - great info for our cruise leaving January 24. This is our first Regent cruise - did you have any formal nights and if so, how "formal" were they? Any tuxedos/long dresses around? Thanks in advance!

no formal night.  No tuxes at all, though I did see a couple of women wearing long dresses one night, but very few. My daughter in law and I wore cocktail dresses the nights for Prime 7, Chartreuse, and one other night.  Otherwise a sundress.  On the fancier nights, my son had sport coat and tie.  My husband just did his usual dress shirt and slacks every night. 

[Brownie54]

Formal nights (optional) only occur on sailings of 14 days or more. Of course, you can always get dressed up if you want! 

[flossie009]

13 hours ago, Brownie54 said:

Formal nights (optional) only occur on sailings of 14 days or more.

From the RSSC website FAQs: "On sailings of 16 nights or more, Formal and Semi-Formal attire is optional on two of the evenings"

 

Experience on our recent cruises:

Splendor, 9 nights, Caribbean: No formal optional nights, a smattering of jackets; a few couldn't guests couldn't be bothered with adhering to the elegant casual evening dress code 🤨 (some shorts & T shirts in the lounges)

Mariner, 18 nights, Panama Canal, Holiday cruise: 2 formal optional nights (one on New Years Eve); many ladies wearing more formal dresses & gowns, and men sporting DJs/Tuxes, suits, jackets & ties.

 

 

Rachel, Thanks for your interesting posts from Splendor 😀

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by flossie009

[UUNetBill]

I did see more guys wearing jackets on our last Caribbean cruise earlier this month, but in hindsight I think it might have been the fact that the ship was sailing half full and the restaurants were a bit cooler.  🙂

 

I've never taken a tux on a Regent cruise, and frankly haven't taken a suit since about 2011.  Tie?  Nope, sorry.