Live on Splendor - London to Barcelona

[forgap]

I know, I know, not ANOTHER alive thread on Splendor!  After a summer sailing around Scandinavia, Splendor is now going to go south for the winter.  Want to come along?  

 

We left Atlanta on a direct flight to London on Virgin Atlantic.  The flight left about an hour late with a garbled announcement from the caption about something, something and paperwork. But, the jet stream was on our tail and we arrived at Heathrow 15 minutes early.  

 

We were about an hour getting to and through passport control and picking up our luggage.  Upon exiting customs, I found a man with a Regent placard with our names on it!  I was expecting to gather with other Regent ducklings and wait for stragglers before heading to a bus.  This was different though…..a Mercedes six- passenger van for just us!  It took about 1.5 hours in morning stop and go traffic before we reached the May Fair Hotel.  We checked in, and, thank God, there was a room available at this early hour and we dragged ourselves and our luggage to the room.  We managed an hour nap before heading out to lunch with old Regent friends who are doing a tour of the UK and not sailing with us. This is the beauty of sailing Regent.  You can meet lifelong friends!  In fact, we met standing in line at the chaotic airport in Siem Reap.  We recognized each other as kindred spirits and have visited each other many times in the last six years. 
 

Please chime in if you are on this cruise (Rachel, I’m talking about you!).   First days are always a bit of a blur and I feel another Power Nap calling my name!
 

[1982CruzStart]

Thank you to bringing us along. Can't wait to follow your adventures. Have a wonderful druise. 

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Excited to see this!  I love reading live threads!  Yay!  Hope you have a wonderful time!

 

Joanie

[Jlhalldc]

Can't wait for the juicy updates. I know these live feeds are time consuming and thanks in advance for taking us along on your cruise. Be on the lookout for Jim and Jane Stoddard, who are on the Grand Voyage on Splendor. He's famous for his hilarious postings on Facebook. 

[Redking]

Thank you, can there ever be too many Live threads!

 

We've just booked our first Regent cruise and the Lives have been very helpful. We don't sail until 2026 on the Grandeur, Transatlantic. Eager to live vicariously in the meantime.

[RachelG]

Jumping in here, George and I will be flying out tomorrow afternoon.  See you soon!

[briar14]

This is such a good itinerary. We enjoyed it on Splendor in September 2021, when Regent returned to cruising. Looking forward to reading your reports. Happy sailing!

[Gilly]

16 hours ago, forgap said:

I know, I know, not ANOTHER alive thread on Splendor!  After a summer sailing around Scandinavia, Splendor is now going to go south for the winter.  Want to come along?

 

Yes please!!  I'm with you all the way, wearing my mask, washing my hands and on best behaviour (of course!)  Please say hello to Billy and Jesus in CR and just wait till Ikon starts to sing 🥰

Edited September 22, 2023 by Gilly

[kjbacon]

Looking forward to traveling along with you, bon voyage!

[2012_Alaska_bound]

I don't board until October 30th so happy to join along with you!

[-Lew-]

Have an excellent cruise!

 

We're doing this itinerary as well as the previous one next September / October on Splendor.  She's a beautiful ship...enjoy.

 

I would be interested whether you booked one of the chateau tours with dinner in Bordeaux and your opinion if you did.  Thanks...

Edited September 22, 2023 by -Lew-

[newlondon]

I have done the Chateaux tour with dinner in St. Emilion. Well worth it although it was 1yr pre-covid.

Can't imagine a tried and true formula has changed much.

[forgap]

1 hour ago, -Lew- said:

Have an excellent cruise!

 

We're doing this itinerary as well as the previous one next September / October on Splendor.  She's a beautiful ship...enjoy.

 

I would be interested whether you booked one of the chateau tours with dinner in Bordeaux and your opinion if you did.  Thanks...

Re:  vineyard dinner…..seemed too pricey for me and more of a banquet situation rather than a romantic dinner.  Also, my husband is French so we can navigate without any problems.  I would rather use this kind of money for a special dinner without a bunch of new Regent friends tagging long. 

[newlondon]

Forgap, You are right it is more of a banquet than a romantic dinner. Still a lot of fun if you know what you have signed up for. I would never expect to have a romantic date on a shore excursion, jmo.

[forgap]

We had our first full pre-cruise day with a visit to Hampton Court, lunch, a Thames river cruise, and then a panoramic return to the hotel.  I don’t quite have my excursion legs yet as an eight hour tour with constant guide patter while jet-lagging was a bit much.  We were a group of 24 on a standard size coach, so lots of room to spread out.  

We have opted out of today’s marathon to Bath and the Cotswold.  We decided a leisurely day was in order.  So, we will take in Churchill’s war room and either the Tate or the British Museum. 
 

Dinner last night was at a wonderful Indian restaurant,  the Darjeeling Express.  It was a convoluted walk from the hotel (thank you Google maps) which brought us to Kingly Court on Carnaby St.  Kingly court is a food hall, very hip, and very crowded with young people with disposable income.  The restaurant is a prix fixe with limited but delicious choices.  We had a blast.  

 

 

Our hotel is the May Fair.  It is a lovely hotel, very well positioned in London, with a great breakfast.  On our first night we decided to get an apéro in the lobby bar while we waited for friends to join us for dinner.  It looked lovely but as soon as you walked through the doors, the music was deafening.  We had our drinks and speculated about hearing loss in 20 something’s.  My ears are still ringing!  

 

[Gilly]

@forgap Bravo for finding Kingly Court!!

 

 A shame you're missing Bath and the Cotswolds on a beautifully fresh and sunny morning, but I agree, it's a bit of a stretch for a "day out"!  Never mind, come and see us next time 🙂

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Thank you for taking us along and posting your memories. Have a great time and please post food pictures lol!

[RachelG]

September 22, 2023–en route

 

In the family tradition of drama before a trip, we were on the way to the airport when I received a notification that our AA flight from Tulsa to Charlotte was delayed 45 minutes.  This would be a big problem as we had only 30 minutes in Charlotte before our flight to JFK was to take off.  Then from there we were to be on BA to LHR.

 

I had a moment of panic and started researching options.  You might ask why we are on a such a convoluted route—money.  I had searched and searched for flights in business class using miles.  I could find options from Tulsa to LHR but nothing at all coming back from Barcelona for any reasonable amount of miles.  I considered using Regent air, but they wanted an additional $1000-$3000 per person depending on the route. So with major research, I finally found tickets for approx $3500 per person, and took the air credit, making it not so bad, plus we earn the miles.  Most other flights I found were in the $6000-$7000 range, so I was happy.

 

 

Anyway, while I was frantically searching,I received another message from AA that we had been rebooked and would now be flying to Charlotte, but then to Cincinnati then on to LHR.  This was actually a better option for us than the original as we avoid JFK and we would get to LHR an hour earlier.  I quickly emailed the driver we had booked with the change in arrival time, and we were set.

 

Flight from Tulsa to Charlotte was fine, except that the plane’s temperature was that of a meat locker, and I am not joking.  Even George, who never gets cold, was shivering.  The flight from Charlotte to Cincinnati was only refrigerator temperature.  I should have brought my parka.

 

The Cincinnati airport was deserted with the BA flight being one of the few left to depart, a much better connection than JFK. I will keep this in mind for the future.

[Gilly]

@RachelG Cincinnati is a relatively new destination for BA from LHR but it sounds like it was a timely introduction for you!  Here's hoping all goes smoothly from here onwards.🫰

[forgap]

@Gilly  I know, I know that we should have made the excursion.  The UK just screams for a land trip to appreciate all the beauty.  We managed to get to Churchill’s War museum (fantastic!), the Tate Modern, and the Tate Britain.  It was somewhat a comedy of errors.  I had gone to the Tate probably 40 years ago.  Who knew that the Tate has split into several museums.  I love the pre-Raphaelite paintings and Tate- Britain had a Rossetti exhibit ….but, sold out completely.  However, it was not a huge disappointment as we took in the Turner collection, and other mesmerizing paintings. 
 

Lunch with a view at Tate-Modern:

[minotaur]

I know that view very well! We were less than half a mile away from you - we have an apartment at Borough Market, just before London Bridge (it doesn't have such good views though!)

[RachelG]

September 23, 2023–LHR to Southampton 

 

Our flight landed at LHR early, but you know what that means.  We had to wait for a gate, so we arrived right on schedule.  Getting through immigration and baggage claim only took about 30 minutes, so our driver wasn’t there.  I called him, and he was actually in the car park, so turned up quickly.

 

It was a pleasant bright sunny day, a little cool, but nice.  This meant very heavy traffic on the freeway heading south as, according to our driver, everyone was headed to the seaside.  A bit chilly for the beach IMO, but I’m not British.

 

After 2 hours, we arrived in Southampton. I had booked a room at the Hilton at the Ageas Bowl which is a cricket pitch.  The hotel is actually built into the stadium, and our room has a big balcony which overlooks the field.  It would be very cool to stay here during a match, even though I know virtually nothing about cricket. Unfortunately, no match was on for today.

 

The room is large and comfortable but no USB ports, and I had forgotten adapters. The front desk kindly loaned me two.  While things recharged,we took a nap.

 

We went down for an early dinner to the restaurant, Beefy’s.  It is, as expected from the name, a steak place, but has a lot of other options.  We had drinks at the bar first along with some of the best hummus I have ever eaten, and good pita bread.  I am somewhat a hummus connoisseur, and this was really good.

 

Then we moved over to the restaurant.  We started with splitting a pomegranate and quinoa salad which was spectacular.  All the stuff I love.  George even commented to the waitress about how this was something I would make.  George ordered a filet, while I had the fish of the day.  My fish was excellent, perfectly cooked.  George had ordered the steak medium rare, it came out raw dripping blood in the center.  They were apologetic, took it back and cooked some more, and the second round was good.  I had a bite, and it was a perfectly acceptable steak.  Probably not as good as ours, but close.

 

Then an early night in watching movies on tv as we were still tired from the journey.

[RachelG]

View from our room 

[Zqueeze1]

So excited to see another “Live” report!   We look forward to reading about your adventures and cruise.   We wish you all a great time and a wonderful cruise. 
 

Z and TB

[Jlhalldc]

I'm looking forward to joining you on your cruise. This live report is a real bonus. A duet! Thanks for all of your posts. We will live vicariously through you two!