Live from Splendor, Southampton to Reykjavik

[Gilly]

It's our first back-to-back cruise and it feels really strange to not be putting out luggage out tonight - though I'll admit, it's a pretty nice feeling and one I could get used to 😎.   Whilst I'm looking forward to meeting new friends, we will miss the lovely people from this one for sure.  Anyway, in similar vein to my previous thread, I hope everyone will feel free to chip in here with their thoughts as we sail towards Greenland.

[HonTri]

Hi if you meet David & Susan from Milton Keynes say Hi from Ron & Gail.

[cwn]

Gilly enjoy your next segment. We love doing B2Bs and long voyages….the Bears do too!. Things are always changing 🙂. And sometimes things can get really interesting!

Enjoying your reports. We will be doing the Grand Arctic in ‘25 for our 60th anniversary. We will visit some of your ports so making notes!

 

[gabelle]

Gilly- Looking forward to meeting you this evening. We did a b2b in January. It is a different feeling, but wonderful to know you have more pampering to come.

[Gilly]

Sadly we didn't manage to identify you @gabelle last evening, but we have time!!  Yes, there's a very different feel to the ship, I agree - only to be expected really, but it will take some getting used to 😉  I don't think we're sailing full on this cruise and Margaret announced last night that there are over four hundred first time Regent guests (which might account for the different atmosphere?)

We have a new Captain, Ubaldo Armellino and a new GM, Anatoli Makaev as Captain Felice Patruno and GM Franck Galzy left in Southampton.  Oh, and just spotted a new Food and Beverage director too, in Luca Pezzolla.

This morning, we have smooth sailing for our first sea day.  Here's hoping that continues!

[Gilly]

Re the number of first time Regent guests in my post above....my dh thinks I'm mistaken and the number was two hundred and something.   One of us might be correct!!

[lprp]

2 hours ago, Gilly said:

Re the number of first time Regent guests in my post above....my dh thinks I'm mistaken and the number was two hundred and something.   One of us might be correct!!

Methinks it’s all the G&T’s 🍸🥴

[pappy1022]

It is interesting that Regent is attracting so many new people even with their high cost of cruising. I would guess that this is more true on shorter itineraries since the total cost is a little more palatable.

[Gilly]

@pappy1022 this one's 16 days, so not so short.  

[rcandkc]

Lots of people want to go to Greenland.  That’s why we did similar cruise last year.  Hope you don’t encounter lots of fog like we did. 

[pappy1022]

1 hour ago, Gilly said:

@pappy1022 this one's 16 days, so not so short.  

Well, that blows up my theory. 😀

[Redking]

8 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

It is interesting that Regent is attracting so many new people even with their high cost of cruising. I would guess that this is more true on shorter itineraries since the total cost is a little more palatable.

Falling standards on other Cruise Lines? I'm lurking on here because we've been considering a change to the ultra luxury lines for the past few years. We weren't however sure that we would enjoy the feel of a smaller ship. Our recent experience in a top end suite and soaring suite prices on Celebrity have been the impetus to make the change. We're prepared to pay more for a better experience, including a decent G&T 😀.

 

 

[Gilly]

Sadly, the Captain just announced that it's not safe to tender into Kirkwall today because of the swell and the high seas.  Disappointing of course, especially since we were sitting in the theatre, ready to go with tickets in hand, but never mind.  These things happen as we all well know.

Fingers crossed for Torshavn tomorrow!!

 

@Redking the G&T situation continues to improve with renewed Fevertree stocks since Southampton!

[cruiseatc]

20 minutes ago, Gilly said:

Sadly, the Captain just announced that it's not safe to tender into Kirkwall today because of the swell and the high seas.  Disappointing of course, especially since we were sitting in the theatre, ready to go with tickets in hand, but never mind.  These things happen as we all well know.

Fingers crossed for Torshavn tomorrow!!

 

@Redking the G&T situation continues to improve with renewed Fevertree stocks since Southampton!

Yes. We were expecting that announcement as we noted the ship was already moving away, disappointing though. Pity the Carnival had taken the jetty space. 😕

[papaflamingo]

22 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

It is interesting that Regent is attracting so many new people even with their high cost of cruising. I would guess that this is more true on shorter itineraries since the total cost is a little more palatable.

I think a lot of the shift to Regent, etc. is that more and more avid cruisers are reaching "maturity" and have the time and resources to do these "destination" cruises.  Plus as we age and increase in our ability to afford cruises we go from the inside cabin to the outside cabin to balcony, junior suite, full suite.  Regent is full suite, full inclusion.  I have loyalty points on Royal Caribbean (even have an open booking I got many years ago).  Because of Regent I'll not likely sail in anything less than a suite anymore.  But comparing prices for a suite on Royal Caribbean to a similar cabin on Regent, it isn't really all that much more.  Main stream cruises are from pretty expensive to insanely expensive.  I looked at Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas (new mega ship due out this year) and it's INSANELY EXPENSIVE!  For fun, I looked at a New Year's Cruise for Dec. 2024 and it prices from $3763 per person for an INSIDE cabin to $40,709 per person for the Icon Loft!  And that's a Seven Night Cruise.  That averages from $537 per night per person Inside to $5815 per person for the Icon Loft!!!  AND for everything under the Icon Loft (I believe) you have additional costs for drinks, specialty dining, gratuities, shore excursions.  Compares to any Regent cruise cost over the same dates.  

[cruisevirgin24]

1 hour ago, Gilly said:

Sadly, the Captain just announced that it's not safe to tender into Kirkwall today because of the swell and the high seas.  Disappointing of course, especially since we were sitting in the theatre, ready to go with tickets in hand, but never mind.  These things happen as we all well know.

Fingers crossed for Torshavn tomorrow!!

 

@Redking the G&T situation continues to improve with renewed Fevertree stocks since Southampton!

Thank you for your onboard G&T training. Dare I ask about tea making? I apologise for raising this very controversial British topic!

[Gilly]

2 hours ago, cruisevirgin24 said:

Thank you for your onboard G&T training. Dare I ask about tea making? I apologise for raising this very controversial British topic!

Strangely, @cruisevirgin24 I just left the afternoon lecture thinking that a cup of tea would hit the spot perfectly right now. Perhaps I will see if I can find a decent one!

[RachelG]

Glad you are doing a b2b.  We have only ever done one and loved it. Hope to have more in the future after retirement, but that will be a while longer. 

[Gilly]

Today we made it into Torshavn, Faroe Islands where we have the company of the Fred Olsen ship Bolette and the Norwegian Royal Yacht, Norge.  We've enjoyed a walk around the city this morning and look forward to a tour into the countryside later.  The best thing is the weather is fine!!  (phew)

[forgap]

Curious whether the rumored avalanche of young people materialized for the Southampton segment?  

[Mudhen]

1 hour ago, Gilly said:

Today we made it into Torshavn, Faroe Islands where we have the company of the Fred Olsen ship Bolette and the Norwegian Royal Yacht, Norge.  We've enjoyed a walk around the city this morning and look forward to a tour into the countryside later.  The best thing is the weather is fine!!  (phew)

So very glad you're having good weather. We've only been to the Faroes once, Torshaven. It goes down in our books as one of the coldest places we've ever been. Damp, cold and wind that was blowing the dog off the chain!

When we tried to buy some hats, scarves, there was a problem with our credit card, as it didn't have a chip. Wound up in the local bank getting Faroese krona (?). Got our hats (OMG, bring money and lots of it!!) but later found that we could not use "their" money in Denmark....go figure that one. 

Anyway, once warm, loved the place!

[Gilly]

4 hours ago, forgap said:

Curious whether the rumored avalanche of young people materialized for the Southampton segment?  

Not that I've noticed....🥳

[Gilly]

@Mudhen Torshavn was great, even if the weather did "come in" during the last half hour of our tour.  I'll blog about it during the next couple of sea days - like you, we loved the place.

 

Incidentally,  this morning I said to Glen, our lovely butler ( @liptastic ) that perhaps we'd seen the last trees for quite a few days now.   His answer came with a wink and followed up with two bottles of FeverTree tonic this afternoon!!  (The bottle of Mermaid gin was brought yesterday!) 

[liptastic]

Gilly that’s something that Glen excels at. He seems to anticipate everything before you can  😊 I lost count of his gracious touches.  I asked him if he could be our butler next year on Grandeur, we hope he can .  Jean x

[cruiseatc]

On 8/9/2023 at 11:25 AM, Gilly said:

Sadly, the Captain just announced that it's not safe to tender into Kirkwall today because of the swell and the high seas.  Disappointing of course, especially since we were sitting in the theatre, ready to go with tickets in hand, but never mind.  These things happen as we all well know.

Fingers crossed for Torshavn tomorrow!!

 

@Redking the G&T situation continues to improve with renewed Fevertree stocks since Southampton!

Yes. We were expecting that announcement as we noted the ship was already moving away, disappointing though. Pity the Carnival had taken the jetty space. 😕