annapolitan369

I'm glad that I reserved Solis on our August Quest cruise for the 3rd night of the cruise, rather than our usual pick of the first night for a specialty restaurant.  We will certainly need to spend some time the first 2 days to study the menu!  Does seem unduly complicated along with trying to be too "fancy".

We have also used Welcome Pickups several times from the airport to hotel and back to airport in Athens and other cities.  They cost about the same as a taxi and will be there waiting for you after you have your baggage.

We have done several driving vacations in GB, which was great when we were younger.  More recently, we have done an around the British Isles cruise.  If driving around isn't an option, a cruise such as you are considering could give a much better appreciation for the variety of England, Scotland and Ireland, as long as you chose your tours carefully.  flying between the big cities would be our last choice.  IMHO, take private tours rather than cruise tours, and take advantage of being able to design them to meet your wishes and needs.  Enjoy your trip!

One suggestion in Bangkok for something that is not usually seen on regular tours.  See if you can find a tour that can take you to the Prasart Museum.  It is privately owned, lets only a small amount of people there each day and was a high point of one of our trips to Bangkok.

We have cruised Hong Kong to Singapore starting in Hong Kong on April 2.  The first 3 days were cool with some light rain and a light jacket was needed.  After that, it was extremely hot, particularly in Bangkok and Singapore.

@where-to-next:  We will be in 918 later this year.  How did that Penthouse live for you?

Hi Artlee.  We are in 918 in august, Montreal to NYC.  A very handy bar.  Would be interesting to know the hours it is open.

If you want to consider a modern hotel in located in the area of upscale shopping and walking distance of several Guadi houses, take a look at the Alma Barcelona.

We also miss a lounge chair in the Concierge suites on Explorer and Splendor.  There is certainly enough room and I have yet to be on a couch in any ship that is really comfortable for sitting and reading, when the weather doesn't allow use of the veranda.

We have been on both Splendor and Explorer, including a transatlantic, and no problem with suites on Deck 6.

PaisleyMello, I booked this flight myself, it was very reasonable priced.  In fact, the roundtrip Dulles, Istanbul-Athens was priced lower than the round trip just to Istanbul on the same plane.  I don't know if Regent contracts with Turkish Airlines.

Gray Lady,

It's a short flight from Istanbul to Athens, but much longer to Barcelona.  I would't take that long route to Istanbul if I were going to Barcelona.  Also, in Istanbul, if you are going to take advantage of the business class lounge, it is really a long walk from most gates used by Turkish Air, both ways when you are changing planes. 

We flew Turkish Airlines Dulles to Athens for our Regent cruise.  The Turkish business class was excellent, the lounge in Istanbul is great, but it is a long walk from most of the gates when changing planes.  I would take the longer flight thru Istanbul on Turkish again, rather than have the chaos of most major European airports if going to Athens.

We were recently in 662, above the restaurant, and did not hear anything

We have used Welcome Pickups with good service and reasonable pricing

I agree with Texasatty (although I hate agreeing with a lawyer).  We have enjoyed cruises on both Azamara and Regent but they are not comparable.  I also enjoyed driving an Austin-Healy 3000 and a Jaguar XKE and in the same way not exactly comparable.

We also used taxiinvolos when on the Journey last year and concur that it was the best tour of our cruise.  Highly recommended and I think very reasonably priced.  Don't mis Meteora.  We are not the most mobile anymore but were able to visit 2 of the monasteries and drive as near as possible to several others.  Don't miss it!

Papaflamingo, your "logic" is "illogical".  If you bought 3 items as a package online and only received 2, would you not expect to be compensated for the missing item, although you didn't pay "extra" for it.  The items were bought, not free.  What if Regent decided that they would not serve food while a ship was in port and everyone had to eat on their own in port.  Would it be wrong to consider some compensation for this, unless it was due to an accident beyond Regent's control.  Nothing is free on these cruises, all the items are bought.  Obviously, one would not expect to everything to be perfect but major lapses should be addressed by Regent.  Even if you don't agree with this, please respect other's opinions on the subject.

They will usually have a wine tasting of all the no-charge wines early in the cruise.  Worth attending so you can know what to ask for.

Our TA does all of the above for us as well as requesting what spirits we would like to have in the suite.

Should be no problem.  We took Regent Air to Lisbon for our TA and declined the domestic air coming home from Miami.

In the US, the amount that shows on the website is the actual amount you get if you decline Regent airfare.

We have received our first choice the last two times, for just the $175 deviation fee.  However, I research the available flights before submitting them to the flight department and give them several ranked choices which I know have seats available at the lowest business class rates.  That seems to work.  We had one stop flight from DC to Lisbon and now non-stop to London.  If you do your homework in advance, you should be able to get decent flights.

On our upcoming May cruise on Splendor, the air allowance was $2,500.  The least expensive comparable flight I could find from Washington, DC was $4,000 and now the flight that we are on is over $5K.  I think that $2,500 would just about cover Premium Economy on our flight.  We have also found that for domestic flights, we can use points and fly first class, so we do not take Regent domestic flights.

I agree that if one feels that the device is not up to standards one should consult with a supervisor.  However, it is incorrect to think that one should not rely on what is told by a butler, or that Regent is not responsible when one of their employees gives incorrect information.  Regent hires and trains their employees and, in any other business situation, a company is responsible for the actions of their employees, unless that employee goes way outside of their authority.  If a butler didn't know when laundry would be done, all he had to do was use his phone to call the laundry and ask them. before answering the question.  If the butler doesn't know an answer, just say so.  Otherwise, it is a failure not just for that employee but also for Regent.  Again, in order for Regent to correct the problem, the appropriate supervisor need to know about it.