RJ2002

Great shots of the Volvo museum. Enjoying your reports.

We just disembarked Explorer on Saturday in Civitavecchia, and a passenger on our transfer to the airport said that a crew member told her that masking for crew was ending as of the next segment (Rome-Athens). Can't confirm if this is indeed true... watching for comments from those currently onboard.

I will also share a positive experience. Booked the recent July/August Explorer sailing - Barcelona to Rome. It was a last minute booking, just outside the 30 day window where Regent still provided air. The same day I booked, I was assigned American Airlines flights through Chicago. All the flights operated on time, and thankfully there were no delays with luggage for me. No extended connection times. I will state that up return, FCO-ORD, I likely would have missed the connection in Chicago on to LA if I didn't have GE. There was a line as far as the line could see for passengers trying to pass through immigration. Thankfully I had Global Entry and was able to walk straight through. AA personnel in the baggage claim area said that passengers where waiting 2 1/2 hours to reach a CBP agent.

Thanks for taking time to share. Looking forward to your reports. We just disembarked yesterday, so I can tell you from very recent experience that you are in store for a wonderful time onboard Explorer. BTW, there were 40 guests under 18 years of age on our sailing. Enjoy!

Our first Regent cruise was aboard Mariner. You are in for a great experience. No need for beverage package! 😉

On Explorer currently, some passengers are quarantining in their own suite. I have not asked if the block of designated quarantine suites is full or not.

The current Social Hostess onboard Explorer is Rachel. In the daily Passages, it shows she has a nightly 6:45pm cocktail gathering in the Observation Lounge. Not sure if they continue on to dinner.

I always like to read reviews from someone's first cruise on Regent. Brings back great memories of our first Regent cruise. It is easy to get 'hooked' on Regent. The way Regent handles the post cruise survey is a pet peeve of mine as well.

I mentioned this on the Regent Flights sticky thread, but will restate here since it is pertinent. We recently booked a last minute sailing, within about 35 days from embarkation. This was just within Regent's window for providing air. Our flight arrangements showed up on our RSSC account the same day we made our full payment - so it was really fast. I would agree with previous comments that Regent seems to be prioritizing air arrangements based on sail date. At least that was my experience.

Just took time to look at all your Flickr photos @eroller. Great! Thanks very much for sharing them all.

Agree @Dwtlion. We prefer to deal directly with the Air Department. Our TA is busy enough already, without having to be the go-between for air matters that we'd prefer to handle ourselves. @Mike Moore Hope Regent will consider this option.

Yes, there have been changes. Check out this thread for the latest.

I think this is a good suggestion. I was looking at the options on Google Flights and really don't see anything with just one stop that doesn't involve lengthy layovers.

I can respond to my own post. Our air was finalized the same day we made our booking, which required full payment for the cruise. The flights were certainly acceptable - no crazy routings or layovers. We were anxious about what we'd end up with for a close-in booking. We're quite satisfied, and the included air was a much better deal than points (which we usually use) or cash.

We are thinking about booking a cruise which departs next month. One of the determining factors will be if we can use Regent for the air. Has anyone had any experience with a close-in booking that included air? It appears they won't include air if it is within 30 of sailing. The cruise we are considering is more than 30 days out. I've got an inquiry out to our TA as well. Thanks for any input.

Very sorry to hear this news. Feel better soon and hope your quarantine is as short as possible.

Enjoying your posts, asnaleah. Glad to hear that your onboard service is good. When Regent has things in sync, it's a very nice experience. We would have been with you on these two segments (Barcelona-Bilboa-Southampton), but sadly had to cancel about 3 weeks out. We were also to be in a PH-C, up on Deck 10. Our suite assignment was 1055, one of the suites with the wraparound balcony. Perhaps we'll experience it another time. Casablanca would have been a new port for us, and we were looking forward to calling there. Too bad the immigration experience was a mess. If you have time, can you elaborate on the issues? Leading up to the cruise, it was looking as though there were some unsold suites. By chance has anyone commented on occupancy? Continue to enjoy your cruise and please continue posting when you can!

Enjoying your posts from Explorer and the stops. Keep 'em coming. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, thanks Wes for the update. We'll miss Captain Melani as well. She was Captain on our first Regent cruise, on the Mariner. We had a starboard PH on Deck 10 forward, on the same corridor as her cabin. She always had time for a quick hello. Delightful person.