Voyager Restart.

[Boatmans Lady]

All tucked up in the Holiday Inn at Heathrow ready for our flight to Rome tomorrow before boarding Voyager for her restart cruise on Saturday. 

Doing our tests today for boarding the ship was stressful as so many people are testing positive at the moment with no symptoms. 

Mother Nature has blessed us with beautiful spring weather this past week so we have kept ourselves busy redesigning one side of our garden. That kept us away from people. 

I won't promise to do a live report, but will add bits as we go and hopefully others on the cruise will chip in. 

[Huggsy]

I'm very envious. Enjoy!

[Zqueeze1]

Have a wonderful cruise and enjoy every bit of it. Let us know how the Voyager is looking. 
Z and TB

[RJ2002]

Safe travels on to Rome and thanks for posting.  Looking forward to any 'bits' you or others can throw our way.  Hope the restart goes smoothly and that you enjoy your cruise.

[asnaleah]

Following along. Enjoy!

[Juno1956]

Hi, we would have been joining you at the Holiday Inn en route to Rome if I hadn’t tested positive yesterday! 
Absolutely gutted! 
Hope you have a great cruise and looking forward to your posts.

Maybe Regent will have another sale soon! 

[1982CruzStart]

have a wonderful cruise and thank you in advance for any posting you do. 

[scottie920]

2 hours ago, Juno1956 said:

Hi, we would have been joining you at the Holiday Inn en route to Rome if I hadn’t tested positive yesterday! 
Absolutely gutted! 
Hope you have a great cruise and looking forward to your posts.

Maybe Regent will have another sale soon! 

That must be awful for you. So sorry. There is so many cases, but with little /no symptoms. Almost like a cold. Perhaps cruise lines need to accept the risk. Will you get a full refund from Regent?

[Juno1956]

24 minutes ago, scottie920 said:

That must be awful for you. So sorry. There is so many cases, but with little /no symptoms. Almost like a cold. Perhaps cruise lines need to accept the risk. Will you get a full refund from Regent?

Thank you scottie920. So far Regent have said contact your insurance company, our insurance company have said contact Regent! They have repaid the port taxes. I’m reluctant to go for a FCC as this cruise was such a bargain, we couldn’t afford a full price cruise! 
Being a Crystal refugee I was really looking forward to experiencing Regent ! 

[daetchief]

22 hours ago, Boatmans Lady said:

All tucked up in the Holiday Inn at Heathrow ready for our flight to Rome tomorrow before boarding Voyager for her restart cruise on Saturday....

Hope you have a wonderful cruise.   

 

Pulling from our experiences on the Mariner resumption cruise last December, you will likely have three types of Hospitality/Hotel staff members tending to you;  a.) Seasoned Regent staff who have served recently on the active Regent ships;  b.) Seasoned Regent staff who are returning after a long hiatus and lastly, c.) Staff who are seasoned; but new to Regent.

IF you can sense that a certain staff member isn't necessarily in that 'Category A',  - reserve judgement for about 48-72 hours.   After about that period of time, the returning staff members were close to their previous efficiencies and the new staff members had not only received instructions - but were able to practice them.  By by Day 4, all were "Regent Staff."  And you started to ask them: " How long have you been with Regent?"

 

Try the 'Voyager' Signature drink in the Meridian Lounge.   And have a 'Mariner' - for Me!

[Boatmans Lady]

11 hours ago, Juno1956 said:

Hi, we would have been joining you at the Holiday Inn en route to Rome if I hadn’t tested positive yesterday! 
Absolutely gutted! 
Hope you have a great cruise and looking forward to your posts.

Maybe Regent will have another sale soon! 

So very sorry to hear this and our anxiety rates were through the roof leading up to our test. I hear they are calling it the stealth omicron as so many are positive with absolutely no symptoms. 

I hope you stay symptom free. 

 

[Boatmans Lady]

Our travel day started well but Heathrow was busy. Queues for bag drop (no documents needed as all uploaded for online check in) very slow moving queue for security but we eventually arrived at BA's lounge (I have been in much better) Flight was full and slightly delayed but we made most of the time up. 

Once landed we were directed to the E gates and onto a very silent immigration official who only wanted our passports for stamping. 

Cases were already going round the luggage belt and the Regent Reps were there to meet us before customs. 

A better system could be put in place as they checked us off, told us to wait over there. Porters with big carts arrived to take our luggage, but didn't put our cases on one, but split them. 

Then called for people with their luggage on this cart to follow as they were going on bus 1 and you needed to be with your luggage. Swapping of luggage ensued but we made it to the coach. (there were 80 Regent passengers on the flight) 

Arrived at the Westin Excelsior, checked in and told to identify our luggage to the porters where we discovered that one of our cases had gone awol. (we knew it was unloaded from the coach as we had seen it as we exited) 

Eventually there was a knock on the door and the case had been tracked down, a lady had identified it as hers (we have straps with our name on!!) 

Panic over and we went out to see some sights and to eat. 

On arrival back, we had been left a bottle of wine and some cheeses as an apology from the hotel. 

Was an unexpected gesture and much appreciated. 

Rooms here are very nice and it's an easy enough walk down to some of the main sights, but what goes down must come up. Our steps were very much boosted by our romp out but our bodies thanked us for walking and not getting a taxi back. 

One last thing for those worried about full buses, they split us between 2 so about 40 people on a coach that holds 55 people. 

There are lots of us in the hotel and they have 10 coaches going to the port to join Voyager later this morning. The coaches are staggered at 20 minute intervals. 

Can't wait to be back on board. 

 

 

[Medeba]

4 hours ago, Boatmans Lady said:

Our travel day started well but Heathrow was busy. Queues for bag drop (no documents needed as all uploaded for online check in) very slow moving queue for security but we eventually arrived at BA's lounge (I have been in much better) Flight was full and slightly delayed but we made most of the time up. 

Once landed we were directed to the E gates and onto a very silent immigration official who only wanted our passports for stamping. 

Cases were already going round the luggage belt and the Regent Reps were there to meet us before customs. 

A better system could be put in place as they checked us off, told us to wait over there. Porters with big carts arrived to take our luggage, but didn't put our cases on one, but split them. 

Then called for people with their luggage on this cart to follow as they were going on bus 1 and you needed to be with your luggage. Swapping of luggage ensued but we made it to the coach. (there were 80 Regent passengers on the flight) 

Arrived at the Westin Excelsior, checked in and told to identify our luggage to the porters where we discovered that one of our cases had gone awol. (we knew it was unloaded from the coach as we had seen it as we exited) 

Eventually there was a knock on the door and the case had been tracked down, a lady had identified it as hers (we have straps with our name on!!) 

Panic over and we went out to see some sights and to eat. 

On arrival back, we had been left a bottle of wine and some cheeses as an apology from the hotel. 

Was an unexpected gesture and much appreciated. 

Rooms here are very nice and it's an easy enough walk down to some of the main sights, but what goes down must come up. Our steps were very much boosted by our romp out but our bodies thanked us for walking and not getting a taxi back. 

One last thing for those worried about full buses, they split us between 2 so about 40 people on a coach that holds 55 people. 

There are lots of us in the hotel and they have 10 coaches going to the port to join Voyager later this morning. The coaches are staggered at 20 minute intervals. 

Can't wait to be back on board. 

 

 

Thanks so much for the updates you are doing.  Hope all goes well today with the transfer to the ship.  At least you won't have to do another Covid test prior to boarding like we will when we join Voyager after you.  More anxiety!  Enjoy your cruise.

[Gilly]

Sans, I'm reading your report in detail - we're joining Voyager in Rome later in the year!  Your description of the "fun" of arrival and transfer is remarkably similar to our experience in November last year - we felt it was poorly managed and could have been done better for the benefit of all (but I guess it's all in the hands of local agents)  Forewarned is forearmed though, and for that I thank you for taking the trouble to share!

How lovely to think of you sitting with champagne and petits fours this afternoon - which will obliterate all the scuffles of the journey, I'm sure.  Bon Voyage!

[Tudorcruisers]

21 hours ago, Juno1956 said:

Hi, we would have been joining you at the Holiday Inn en route to Rome if I hadn’t tested positive yesterday! 
Absolutely gutted! 
Hope you have a great cruise and looking forward to your posts.

Maybe Regent will have another sale soon! 

So sorry this happened to you. I’m going out nowhere this week in the hope we get on voyager very soon.   Boatman’s Lady, thank you for the update.  We hope to be on ship after you, fingers crossed.  

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Hope the testing goes well, and sorry to Juno that your plans fell apart.

 

I'm wondering if Regent has provisions in place yet to accept "prior positive" tests, i.e., a positive test that persists for weeks or months after first detection. Anybody know? If not this could ruin plans for many people.

[CJANDH]

22 hours ago, Juno1956 said:

Hi, we would have been joining you at the Holiday Inn en route to Rome if I hadn’t tested positive yesterday! 
Absolutely gutted! 
Hope you have a great cruise and looking forward to your posts.

Maybe Regent will have another sale soon! 

Sorry to hear you are going to miss the cruise. One question: How did Regent handle the news that you tested positive? Did they give you rebook options, cash refund, future cruise credits, etc? Or did they tell you to submit a claim with your insurance agent? We are boarding Voyager on April 15 and are concerned about what happens if we test positive before leaving home. Thanks.

[Juno1956]

2 hours ago, CJANDH said:

Sorry to hear you are going to miss the cruise. One question: How did Regent handle the news that you tested positive? Did they give you rebook options, cash refund, future cruise credits, etc? Or did they tell you to submit a claim with your insurance agent? We are boarding Voyager on April 15 and are concerned about what happens if we test positive before leaving home. Thanks.

Regent were not that helpful, told us to contact our insurance company who then told us to contact Regent .They did repay the port taxes immediately but that’s only a drop in the ocean! If our insurance company do not assist then we’ll go back to Regent. I hate having to go through all these hoops! 

[Medeba]

20 minutes ago, Juno1956 said:

Regent were not that helpful, told us to contact our insurance company who then told us to contact Regent .They did repay the port taxes immediately but that’s only a drop in the ocean! If our insurance company do not assist then we’ll go back to Regent. I hate having to go through all these hoops! 

Really sorry you didn’t make the cruise. Did Regent refund the air passenger duty as well as the port fees? 

[Juno1956]

1 hour ago, Medeba said:

Really sorry you didn’t make the cruise. Did Regent refund the air passenger duty as well as the port fees? 

Thanks Medeba, I’m not sure. I’ll have to check. 

[Juno1956]

Hi Boatman’s Lady, sorry for hijacking your story! I’m looking forward to hear what I could have had! (Reference to Bullseye for English viewers) . 

Have a lovely time. 

[Medeba]

1 hour ago, Juno1956 said:

Thanks Medeba, I’m not sure. I’ll have to check. 

I only mention it because I got back APD recently from an all inclusive cruise that we decided not to go on but the cruise line point blank refused to return the port fees. I was just told that port fees were non refundable. Well, clearly they were in your case.

[Stefken]

21 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Hope the testing goes well, and sorry to Juno that your plans fell apart.

 

I'm wondering if Regent has provisions in place yet to accept "prior positive" tests, i.e., a positive test that persists for weeks or months after first detection. Anybody know? If not this could ruin plans for many people.

I’m wondering the same. No mention at all that I can see, that Covid Recovery certificate will be accepted. As traces of Covid could still show up  on antigen tests. we have a covid recovery certificate valid until July 3rd. May have to ask RSSC  I guess.
 

[Boatmans Lady]

Gilly, just to add, some passengers were saying that there wasn't enough porters to handle the luggage so they had to get their own luggage to the buses which were a fair trot. 

 

I think from other posts you get the impression that things weren't great yesterday. 

We were totally underwhelmed and left wondering if we really were on a Regent Ship. 

There are lots of niggles but let's  concentrate on the good. 

We had a very good tour to Herculaneum and an extremely good meal in Chartreuse with attentive staff.

 

Under current European guidelines, your vaccination certificates have to be shown to enter places and if you can't show it, you are denied entry. So carry a printout incase you can't access your digital one. 

 

No sitting at the bars and you can only do trivia in your travelling group. 

Very few staff can join you for dinner, exceptions made for the GM, F&B manager and hotel manager. 

 

Any questions, please ask away. 

[mrlevin]

1 hour ago, Boatmans Lady said:

 

No sitting at the bars and you can only do trivia in your travelling group. 

Very few staff can join you for dinner, exceptions made for the GM, F&B manager and hotel manager. 

 

Any questions, please ask away. 

Those are the rules today?  I thought those were the rules last September.  I thought Europe had opened up.  I sure hope restrictions are a thing of the past when we get there in June.