minidonuts85

I was gonna say, I wanna do the waterspouts platform!!! Foxys is def a great spot especially at night, it’s the happening place to be on island! It’s a bit more of a walk now from the tender because they drop off over at the ferry dock in Dog Hole instead of the central customs dock in Great Harbour. Still manageable. @MarLieb not sure what your hours are in port but if you’re there during the evening hours, su-Arizona makes a good suggestion in Foxys as a night time spot for dinner. Great lobster!

My pleasure and feel free with any other questions. 🙂 We got home last night at 10:45pm and already missing it.

Hi! We actually just spent a week on Jost Van Dyke. Definitely take a taxi to White Bay where there are a few beach bars including the famous Soggy Dollar bar where you can try their painkiller drink. But also check out the others bars, all maybe a hundred yards from each other. Gertrude’s is our fave hangout and you can pour your own drink and enjoy Chef Olgas island cuisine. No need to book the expensive ship tour. Safari taxis will be waiting at the tender pier ready for you all. $5/pp each way plus a couple bucks tip. Here is a pic of white bay. Our guesthouse is on the far right. St Maarten- Great Bay/Philipsburg beach is very close easy to rent beach chairs and umbrellas. The Holland House Hotel has a great bar/food and $25 for chairs/umbrella with shower and bathroom facilities. Attached a pic from our room at the Holland House and you can see the port. Have a guavaberry colada! St Thomas- taxi to Sapphire or Megan’s Bay Beach or if time permits, check into a ferry over to St John to the national park beaches like Trunk Bay. There are a couple of craft beer spots near the port that we hit up when we are on our way to the airport- Tap and Still and Leatherback Brewing. Gustavia and Little Bay we haven’t been to.

We just left the BVI and spend a lot of time there. If you haven’t been to The Baths before it’s quite nice and interesting to see. In the past they’d tender into the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour. But they have also resumed the beach day bbq at Prickly Pear Island which is on the other side of the island in the north sound. Not sure if your itinerary specifies prickly pear?

@Leejnd4 hello again! Thanks for this post! We are on the 7night August 26, 2023. With work and the desire to extend a land trip on Moorea, we only have time for a shorter cruise but would like to return for a longer one next time. We are quite new to diving; just got certified in Dec 2021 in the British Virgin Islands and getting ready to head out to a dive in a few hours. We’ve only done 15 dives so far and it’s the best thing we’ve ever done. Our dive computer logs our dives; we will have it anyway but I guess if PG wants to see a log we will have it anyway. Our gear fits into this and we always carry on. To your experience, no way I’d want someone going through my gear without me watching!

Oh boy! I would have done the same and surfaced. That’s a long time to buddy breathe! And agree that issues can definitely happen even with your own gear but with the piece of mind that we are meticulous about our gear (service, rinsing every time). Not saying shops aren’t but we were once given a second stage with a zip tie holding on the mouthpiece. Yea no thanks! We’ve got our little save a dive kit with O rings and such that we just picked up. Heading to the USVI/BVI for some diving this weekend!

@Leejnd4ugh that is terrible to hear about the rental gear! Last time we rented a regulator got stuck on free flow at 65ft. Scary! We bit the bullet and bought our own gear including great travel BCDs that fit into a backpack (included) as well as our reg kit, mask and snorkel. Our next two cruises will be on PG where we can store our gear on the WS area and then Regent but we will have a veranda. Looking at Windstar Red Sea in March 2024 as it stops in Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada. Thinking we will do what you mention and rinse/hang the gear in the shower and then maybe hang the dry gear in closet. We have these great folding scuba hangers that work like a charm for BC and Reg kits.

Hi, We are bringing our own gear to FP and when I called windstar and when my TA called to ask about storage and possible rinse facilities, we were told no. This was about 6 month ago and since then we’ve switched to PG (scheduling reasons) who has a PADI center on board and will store gear.

Yes they can sell out and yes you can wait until you’re on board to book. If there is something you see that you’d really have your heart set on doing, book it in advance. Once on board, you can also be added to a wait list for a sold out excursion.

Thank you!

Hello, Is it still possible to debark in Moorea the evening the PG sets sail back to overnight in PPT? Thank you.

Great info here! Anyone have a list of what liquors are included vs a surcharge for top shelf? I am a grey goose drinker and wonder if it is included. Thanks!

This is insightful because I am listed as “passenger 1” on the invoice. After seeing your reply, I got curious and up an account for my fiancée. Low and behold, all of our info is listed under his account! I manage all of our travel anyway so as long as I can access it one way or the other I’m good. Thank you!

I created an account, was given a passenger number but it says we have no cruises booked (we do have one booked) and I dont see an option to add a booking number. In past experience, would the cruise just eventually show up or would this require a call to PG? Thanks!

Love the sound of that! Thank you! 🙂

We are new to Regent and our first cruise will be on the Explorer. Thank you for sharing your pictures and including wonderful food pics as well! Is it typical for a bottle of champagne to be waiting in your suite upon arrival or does that need to be pre-arranged?

Disappointing to hear. Used to be able to get the “perk” on top of the loyalty discount off of the price.

Yep…me and my TA were surprised given past experiences. When she called me back to deliver the news, you could have knocked me over with a feather. Definitely something to be keenly aware of and another date to manage to (penalty and FP) on future bookings that I may make. After 3-weeks of calling WS and finally being told no transfer to another sailing, my TA gave some additional perks on my other existing bookings (non-WS). Good times!

Yes I am aware of what the policy says. In the past, our final payment dates did align at 120-days because I’ve cancelled many times at FP with no issue. C’est la vie.

@flygod the same exact thing happened to us for our mid-August Tahiti cruise. Somehow the final payment dates aren't aligning with the penalty start date; I’ve not had an issue in the past cancelling right before final payment date. Except Windstar would not transfer our deposit to a new cruise; our TA made several calls and no luck. Really bummed. Glad it worked out for you!

@cwn We’ve had some pretty dodgy loaner gear as well. On our first day of OWD courses I had a zip tie on my mouthpiece, my BCD was way too big (was given their smallest one) and my boyfriend had “purge button gremlins” where his second stage would just spontaneously purge without even touching it. Very bad. We had better equipment for the rest of the course thank goodness. After we splurged on our own gear it was like a dream come true. Fits perfectly and we know it works! Thank you for sharing your experience on connecting with providers on private dives. Will likely go this route!

Thank you @cwn We’re stopping in Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia and would love to get a few dives in. Bringing our travel gear (BCD and regulator kit) that fits into one backpack each. Couple of the trips offered by local shops return after our ship departure time; I’d likely reach out and see if they can take us privately on our schedule or if they can customize for us.

As a newbie to Regent, thank you tremendously! Question about excursions. Is scuba diving ever on offer as a Regent excursion? Free or otherwise and of course, in ports where scuba can be done. Thank you!

Starting Sunday! https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/06/10/politics/us-to-end-pre-departure-testing-requirement/index.html

That does seem odd to me. If I paid it out of pocket I’d expect it back same as my cruise fare.