LIVE from the Regal out of Galveston, TX. January 14th - January 21st

[Crookshanks]

3 hours ago, Coolmama_1 said:

Are you in East Tennessee? We are near Nashville and the wind has been wicked 

Actually West Tennessee. Flying out of Memphis now! 

[Coolmama_1]

2 minutes ago, Crookshanks said:

Actually West Tennessee. Flying out of Memphis now! 

Safe travels

[like2cruise]

On 1/12/2024 at 6:12 AM, CC Rider 69 said:

Goggle Victor Bodden Tours for Sloth/Monkey encounter.

I agree...loved the Sloths and tour that we could pick what we wanted to do from a variety of experiences offered!  

[Crookshanks]

I’d like to say that we have boarded the ship, after breezing through everything and I’m sipping a delicious beverage next to the pool. However, I can’t. 
 

A combination of weather, malfunctions and human error have delayed our enjoyment. 
 

My mother, flying out of Central Oregon, waited 5 hours to start boarding her flight. The plane needed some kind of repair and it took a while. She ended up missing the second flight and had to spend Friday night in Denver and catch another flight on Saturday to Houston. Not too big of a deal there. 
 

My best friend had a 3 leg flight. Southern Oregon to Portland Oregon to Seattle and then Houston. First leg was good. After boarding in Portland, the de-icing of the plane took a while and a passenger had a panic attack and they had to return to the gate to let them off. Then they allowed the passengers that arrived late to board. They had to de-ice a second time and they finally took off 2 hours late. She was able to run through the Seattle airport and make the last flight with 2 minutes until they locked doors. She arrived in Houston on time. Sadly, her luggage did not. Baggage attendant stated that her luggage was expected to arrive at 12:15am. Awesomely enough, on the flight my brother, coming from Seattle, was on!

 

 We go back to airport to get brother and all the luggage. Best Friend’s luggage…. No where. Brother’s luggage also not there. Hunt down more help. BF’s luggage wasn’t put on the second leg of flight and was still in Phoenix. My brother’s luggage was put on a plane to Miami. 
 

Went back to airport at 5:30 this morning to get updates. Brother’s luggage was expected from Miami at 11:07am. BF’s not arriving until 5-6pm, maybe.

 

 Off to the stores we went. Got the necessities for BF so she’d have something to wear. She was finally able to connect with airline person to start a lost luggage claim. They are hoping to fly her bag to one of our ports, but couldn’t guarantee anything. 
 

Thankfully brother’s luggage did show up at 11:30 and we were able to grab it. Now we are driving to Galveston to get on the ship. ETA is 1:06. Cutting it close for me, but as long as I get on the ship, I’ll be good. 
 

I’ll still share how the boarding goes for us late arrivals!  😜

[Marion B]

Crookshanks,

   You, your family, your friend and luggage deserve better and I hope things turn around for all real soon and all this will be a distant memory.

   Take care.  Sending positive thoughts,

Marion

[cruisinsince75]

Hopefully, everything else will go smoothly.  We are on the Regal this coming November, so will be following along.

[nini]

May I ask, what airlines were involved with these luggage issues?

Thank you for sharing your cruise adventure with us!

[sternfanla]

Thank you for sharing.

[starvenger]

That's a crazy amount of luggage woes! Hopefully your BF is not decked out head to toe in Bucees gear.

[dog]

Thanks for sharing. Convinced me to go carry on only.

[Crookshanks]

1 hour ago, nini said:

May I ask, what airlines were involved with these luggage issues?

Thank you for sharing your cruise adventure with us!

Both of them flew Alaska, though it was airport personnel at Phoenix who didn’t load BF’s bags. 
 

Alaska is doing their best to help, I think. But the proof will be in the pudding. 🤷‍♀️

 

We arrived at the port at 1:05pm. Dropped bags off and walked right in. No lines, no issues. In our cabin by 1:30pm. 
 

Guest services was very quick on getting BF’s incident report logged so airline can try and get bag to the port. Points there. 
 

Buffet after safety video and muster station and now heading out to explore. 

[nini]

22 minutes ago, Crookshanks said:

Both of them flew Alaska, though it was airport personnel at Phoenix who didn’t load BF’s bags. 
 

Alaska is doing their best to help, I think. But the proof will be in the pudding. 🤷‍♀️

 

We arrived at the port at 1:05pm. Dropped bags off and walked right in. No lines, no issues. In our cabin by 1:30pm. 
 

Guest services was very quick on getting BF’s incident report logged so airline can try and get bag to the port. Points there. 
 

Buffet after safety video and muster station and now heading out to explore. 

 

Yes, the Pacific Northwest is currently experiencing crazy frigid weather, even next to the ocean. Our bay has lots of ice and snow.

[Baby0530]

OMG I just ordered the grilled cheese sandwich to be delivered to my room. It was so good. not to soft not too crispy. I think I am going to like this place! I can't wait till we hit international waters and I can get some drinks!

[Baby0530]

2 hours ago, Crookshanks said:

Both of them flew Alaska, though it was airport personnel at Phoenix who didn’t load BF’s bags. 
 

Alaska is doing their best to help, I think. But the proof will be in the pudding. 🤷‍♀️

 

We arrived at the port at 1:05pm. Dropped bags off and walked right in. No lines, no issues. In our cabin by 1:30pm. 
 

Guest services was very quick on getting BF’s incident report logged so airline can try and get bag to the port. Points there. 
 

Buffet after safety video and muster station and now heading out to explore. 

I am so glad you made it ! what an ordeal to get here . I hope the rest of the luggage is found and dropped off at the port in 2 days!

[nanarena]

Baby0530 - how was your boarding experience?

 

[helenb]

I hope that they find your friend's luggage. Experiences like that are why I am terrified of checking a bag. I am Team Carry-on all the way, no matter how long the trip. Hopefully, Alaska will make good on the missing luggage and your friend can still enjoy the cruise. At least you found out in time for her to buy some necessities onshore.

 

Now that you are there, relax and enjoy!

 

[starvenger]

1 hour ago, helenb said:

I hope that they find your friend's luggage. Experiences like that are why I am terrified of checking a bag. I am Team Carry-on all the way, no matter how long the trip.

 

I hear you. Last year we did a 2 week trip around France with just carryon, and did the same on the NYE cruise on Regal. With that said, if there were no laundry facilities on board the Regal, I think we would've went back to checked baggage.

[Beav1279]

This is why AirTags (or the android equivalent) are so important!

 

This summer, my DH and I flew from Austin, TX to LAX on Alaska Air with a plane change in San Jose. One of his bags got left in San Jose - and we knew it as soon as we landed. We went straight down to baggage claim to get our 3 other bags then went and made a claim at the counter. We kept an eye on our app and as soon as we saw it touch down at LAX we called for the update. The luggage counter person had no idea that our bag was there! I guess someone didn't scan the tag so they never would have known it had arrived and gotten it to us in Long Beach before our cruise.

I won't travel without Airtags ever again.

[Paula_MacFan]

38 minutes ago, Beav1279 said:

This is why AirTags (or the android equivalent) are so important!

 

This summer, my DH and I flew from Austin, TX to LAX on Alaska Air with a plane change in San Jose. One of his bags got left in San Jose - and we knew it as soon as we landed. We went straight down to baggage claim to get our 3 other bags then went and made a claim at the counter. We kept an eye on our app and as soon as we saw it touch down at LAX we called for the update. The luggage counter person had no idea that our bag was there! I guess someone didn't scan the tag so they never would have known it had arrived and gotten it to us in Long Beach before our cruise.

I won't travel without Airtags ever again.

Don't want to hijack the thread but we are also huge fans of smart tags! You can see bags at all times and when they get loaded on the ship it looks like they are floating in the water on the map 😀

 

I also recommend using the airlines apps as you can track your bag there too and see as soon as it's loaded on the plane.

[beshears]

Crookshanks, I'll be looking forward in reading your information in regard to the photo package. Also the medallion clip even looks (for me) better than the bracelet. If you had the bracelet before, which one would you suggest?

[beshears]

I'm sorry to read of the BAD ordeal with the luggage, and it "reminded" me 😞 😞 of what my friend and I went through several years go. We DID have our luggage with us when we got off the airplane, but the Taxi's, etc. that pick us up at the airport and take us to the ship, some way or another, they LOST (our luggage in one cab, and we in another one, etc.) all of our luggage other than what we were carrying with us. It did NOT arrive back until 2 days before we got off the ship. To say the least, there were a LOT of tears, buying clothes, etc. I hope the rest of your trip (we are to do the Regal the 25th of February) goes more smoothly. That grilled cheese sandwich sounds right up my alley! 🙂

[h20cruzer]

Looking  forward t your review. I will be sailing the. regal 4/5/24 16 nights

[h20cruzer]

Looking  forward t your review. I will be sailing the. regal 4/5/24 16 nights

[h20cruzer]

Looking  forward t your review. I will be sailing the. regal 4/5/24 16 nights

[Crookshanks]

20 hours ago, beshears said:

Crookshanks, I'll be looking forward in reading your information in regard to the photo package. Also the medallion clip even looks (for me) better than the bracelet. If you had the bracelet before, which one would you suggest?

I have multiple options for different situations. Clip is great for clothing or even clipping on a crossbody strap. 
 

I’ll move it to a keychain AirTag holder when we get off ship as there’s less chance of it falling off. 
 

I also have one that attaches to my watch band, which is nice if you don’t want to carry a bag. 
 

 

On 1/15/2024 at 3:03 PM, Beav1279 said:

This is why AirTags (or the android equivalent) are so important!

 

This summer, my DH and I flew from Austin, TX to LAX on Alaska Air with a plane change in San Jose. One of his bags got left in San Jose - and we knew it as soon as we landed. We went straight down to baggage claim to get our 3 other bags then went and made a claim at the counter. We kept an eye on our app and as soon as we saw it touch down at LAX we called for the update. The luggage counter person had no idea that our bag was there! I guess someone didn't scan the tag so they never would have known it had arrived and gotten it to us in Long Beach before our cruise.

I won't travel without Airtags ever again.

 

I have the AirTags so I can watch them move at airports. But the other now know to get them!!

 

BF’s bag has officially made it to Houston, but she’s opted to just get by with the clothes we bought for her there and what’s in my bags. Just afraid to send it internationally since things haven’t worked out well. 
 

Onto ship news! Great time so far! Trivia has been fun. Playing board games and casino also enjoyable. My brother is teaching me craps, though I still don’t grasp it well. Up on slots for the moment, but there’s time to lose the rest. 😂

 

We had the Voice of the Ocean auditions and I was lucky enough to end up being a finalist!! Super excited!  Gonna be a great show! So much talent! 
 

Chocolate cake at the International Cafe as Premium Dessert was wonderful and 4 of us couldn’t even finish it!! 
 

Mint Chocolate martini is a great nightcap!