Regent seven seas mariner cancels world cruise one day before departure

[GOARMY]

Based on previous pre-COVID cruises up the Amazon to Manaus--and return to Miami: 

 

Brazilian Visas are good for 10 years--once you have one.  Yellow Fever vaccination--the first-time around--was a requirement and documentation for same was checked before we boarded at Miami.  It was our understanding that a valid medical exemption Waiver--signed by a M.D--would obviate the shot requirement.  Unless protocols have changed--one shot is good for life.  

 

Given the hoops folks continuing on the WC have gone through who nonetheless remain onboard, I have no-doubt Regent will take care of these particular additional hoops, should one or both apply to a guest's particular situation.  It may require another line-up in the Observation Lounge for that particular shot.  

 

Let those hoping for Brazil be rewarded by that gigantic section (Amazon Basin) of the country being open to cruise ships by the time of Mariner's expected arrival.  It (The Amazon) is indeed the Greatest River in the World! 

 

GOARMY!

 

 

 

[BBWC]

18 hours ago, mrlevin said:

What is Regent doing for those that don't have a valid Brazilian visa? Or yellow fever vaccination?

 

thanks,

 

Marc

Brazil no longer requires a visa. I also don’t think they require yellow fever vaccination (some countries require it if you come from Brazil). Anyway, we needed to bring our yellow fever vaccination cards for one of the African countries.

[forevertravel]

BBWC you're right Brazil does not longer requires  a visa. That changed two years ago. However, places like St. Lucia require yellow fever vaccine. We couldn't get off in St. Lucia during our Amazon cruise because we were not vaccinated for yellow fever.  We were coming from Brazil, hence we needed to have yellow fever certificate per St. Lucia's requirement.

 

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Thanks for your answers. Solved my questions. Good that visa is no longer required. Will get doctors letter regarding yellow fever…. Can’t take the shot. 
sheila

[TWG_ag]

First, my heart goes out to the WC er's who just had their voyage cancelled. We had our long-planned Amazon cruise in Nov 2021, changed to a 20+ day Caribbean tour and opted out. We changed to a TA on Explorer with a B2B on to Venice. So, with the WC change, today I am moving my B2B Miami-Venice to the third segment of this WC do to the 25-day Amazon on Mariner that my wife and I wanted all along. I know that does not help you guys, but I can assure you that if this trip goes, I will dedicate a drink every evening to all of the WC er's who lost their dream. Take heart that there is another trip in your future and that in the crazy times we now find ourselves, we have to look for opportunities as they come to us and overcome the obstacles that come in front of us. God Bless you all.

TW

 

[labonnevie]

BBWC, could you please tell me if Regent plans to test passengers before you go ashore in Guatemala, I believe scheduled for 1/13. It appears to be a requirement from Guatemala.

Or are you skipping that port?

Thank you! Hope everything is going smoothly.

[BBWC]

12 hours ago, labonnevie said:

BBWC, could you please tell me if Regent plans to test passengers before you go ashore in Guatemala, I believe scheduled for 1/13. It appears to be a requirement from Guatemala.

Or are you skipping that port?

Thank you! Hope everything is going smoothly.

Guatemala has been cancelled. We are going to Puerto Chiapas in Mexico instead. Actually like the excursions there better - not such long drives.

Everything is going fine for us. We are enjoying ourselves and plan to stay on for the duration.

[Essiesmom]

In case anyone is following, here you are in the Panama Canal.  

Passing by Cocoli Locks on way to Miraflores

 

 

Ready to leave Miraflores

 

 

Ready to enter Pedro Miguel Locks

 

 

 

[cwn]

Thanks for the pictures. How is the cruise going? Would love to hear an update! It has been radio silence for a while.

[BBWC]

4 hours ago, cwn said:

Thanks for the pictures. How is the cruise going? Would love to hear an update! It has been radio silence for a while.

Sorry about not being a prolific poster. Life us good on the Mariner. We are having a great time. They had a deck BBQ on the evening of our Puntarenas port of call, and it was one of the best ever on Regent, possibly helped by the smaller passenger count. So far, we have made all of our ports except for the switch from Guatemala to Puerto Chiapas. We went through the Panama Canal today, and are going to Cartagena tomorrow for our technical stop.

 

We had a bit of a scare this afternoon though as Medical called that we were on the same excursion in Puntarenas as a positive case. We had to be tested, but luckily we were negative. We have decided to skip any further excursions for now, and just stay on the ship or go out on our own.

[cwn]

1 hour ago, BBWC said:

Sorry about not being a prolific poster. Life us good on the Mariner. We are having a great time……….……….We had a bit of a scare this afternoon though as Medical called that we were on the same excursion in Puntarenas as a positive case. We had to be tested, but luckily we were negative. We have decided to skip any further excursions for now, and just stay on the ship or go out on our own.

Thanks for taking time to post. We love the deck Bar-b-ques, but they are always popular and crowded. 

Good the hear about making ports. Good idea about the tours, not being closed up on a tour bus right now is probably the way to go.

Hope things continue to go smoothly.

[Essiesmom]

Late post of Mariner in Gatun Locks:

 

[mrlevin]

Did Jason get onboard today?  If so, are you going to have a town hall?  Did most of the full world cruisers decide to stay onboard? 

[BBWC]

I don’t know if Jason came on, maybe he is waiting for a cruise with more passengers. Will let you know if I hear anything. A number of the full world cruisers stayed on, but some left today. We are currently sailing with 180-200 passengers depending on who you ask.

[mrlevin]

Thanks!  Regent has almost 3,400 berths and it sounds like there are less than 1,000 sailing across the three ships that are actually carrying passengers; not a good situation.  Hopefully, Mariner picks up a lot of Crystal Serenity passengers in Aruba next Sunday.

[Pcardad]

Splendor anticipates 425 on board - depending on how many don't pass the test. Explorer has less than that?

 

[mrlevin]

1 hour ago, Pcardad said:

Splendor anticipates 425 on board - depending on how many don't pass the test. Explorer has less than that?

 

Post 58 on explorer thread says 395. 

[BBWC]

Just experienced the downside of having so few passengers. We were denied entry to Great Stirrup Cay this morning because of the number of Covid cases on board. The problem is that with fewer than 200 passengers, even two positive cases will put you over one percent, a number a lot of ports seem to be using. Right now we are awaiting instructions from Miami on how to proceed.

[Ladys Mom]

42 minutes ago, BBWC said:

Just experienced the downside of having so few passengers. We were denied entry to Great Stirrup Cay this morning because of the number of Covid cases on board. The problem is that with fewer than 200 passengers, even two positive cases will put you over one percent, a number a lot of ports seem to be using. Right now we are awaiting instructions from Miami on how to proceed.

I feel bad that you may have to miss your second or third day at GSC.  However, having been two of the passengers who chose to go home, rather than pay more that $100K to cruise the Caribbean, I blame Regent.  Whatever their reasoning for changing a perfectly good world cruise that more than 400 guests were eager to embark on, even if some ports had to be moved or missed, they chose to change to this ridiculous itinerary that even most diehard Regent cruisers were not interested in sailing.  It really bothers me when I read that Viking and Silversea are continuing their world cruises with some changes but basically a true world cruise.

[BBWC]

3 hours ago, Ladys Mom said:

I feel bad that you may have to miss your second or third day at GSC.  However, having been two of the passengers who chose to go home, rather than pay more that $100K to cruise the Caribbean, I blame Regent.  Whatever their reasoning for changing a perfectly good world cruise that more than 400 guests were eager to embark on, even if some ports had to be moved or missed, they chose to change to this ridiculous itinerary that even most diehard Regent cruisers were not interested in sailing.  It really bothers me when I read that Viking and Silversea are continuing their world cruises with some changes but basically a true world cruise.

You still seem to be quite upset about the world cruise cancellation. We have decided to go with it and enjoy the ship, excellent food and service. Would we have booked this cruise if it was advertised this way - no, but now we are here and enjoying time away from home. There are quite a number of diehards remaining. 
We are not sorry about missing GSC, as we were there just a couple of days ago, but we would have gone ashore just because Regent put on a lot of effort for the barbecue. To be totally frank, I would rather be in Aruba than India.

We used our refund to book a 22 day cruise in the Mediterranean on the Explorer this August, and are looking forward to it. So yes, we plan to stay on until San Francisco and plan to have a good time.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

4 hours ago, Ladys Mom said:

I feel bad that you may have to miss your second or third day at GSC.  However, having been two of the passengers who chose to go home, rather than pay more that $100K to cruise the Caribbean, I blame Regent.  Whatever their reasoning for changing a perfectly good world cruise that more than 400 guests were eager to embark on, even if some ports had to be moved or missed, they chose to change to this ridiculous itinerary that even most diehard Regent cruisers were not interested in sailing.  It really bothers me when I read that Viking and Silversea are continuing their world cruises with some changes but basically a true world cruise.

I commiserate with you,  I would never have stayed for such a long slog around the Caribbean, but I might have stayed for part of it.  I love sea days as much as the next, but those island ports would get tired pretty quick. 

 

But... I fail to see what route that they could have taken that would have resulted in a decent WC itinerary, given existing and new countries closing their doors. It might have been better if they'd just cancelled the whole thing, but then they are getting a revenue stream out of this, albeit diminished, and keeping the ship and crew in service.  And it seems like many pax are continuing to enjoy themselves.  Having so few onboard would be a real treat, for me.

[cwn]

I don ‘t blame the die hards, they were already packed and at the ship! Why not get on? They got some refund with several options to stay on…part of the time or for the whole time. Most important to me would be the fact that they are cruising and doing so close to home since Covid is raging right now.
I would not like to be in a far off place. We would have stayed at least for the first segment or two. But we love sea days where ever they are. 
Think Regent did the best in a bad situation. In reality a true 2022 WC has been a gamble almost 2 years. At least they tired….

 

 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by cwn

[BBWC]

Just an update - drink service resumed in the theater last night.

 

In addition to the lunches, they now added a wine tasting dinner. We signed up for it since we prefer not to gave multiple course meals in the middle of the day. Just hoping that there are more takers given the lack of passengers. The sommeliers are heavily promoting it.

 

Last night at 6:30 in the Observation Lounge, there were six guests, including us. We were attended by three bar servers plus the bartender, as well as two canapé servers. It

was rather surreal.

[merlot101]

My friends are going to join the cruise in Aruba.  They are currently on the Crystal Serenity.

[BBWC]

3 minutes ago, merlot101 said:

My friends are going to join the cruise in Aruba.  They are currently on the Crystal Serenity.

Yes, we just had a letter in our cabin from Jason advising us of the Crystal cruisers joining in Aruba. We are looking forward to some company.

Jason will be joining the ship on February 9 on Antigua and stay until Miami.