Vandyv

Z and TB, bon voyage, have a wonderful sail!  Crisi and I will be following your travels and always wish you two the best!  Vandy

The 2025 World Cruise sounds like a partial re-do of the original 2022 itinerary.  Does anybody have an idea of when it becomes available for booking?  Thanks, Vandy 

We were on Millennium in October for two weeks and loved Blu for breakfast and dinner.  Great staff (Linda at check-in stand, waiter Juan and assistant Mika, if still there...really outstanding).  Just about all our meals were very good IMO (but we're not foodies). We liked the quiet atmosphere.  As noted above, you can also order from the MDR menu, as well as the children's menu, which has a small filet my wife ordered several times.  We also had dinner at the Tuscan Grill once...also very good.

Hi Z.  We get to Fort Lauderdale on November 11th, so you’ll still be at sea when we fly home.  Sorry we’ll miss you two again.  Love your thread so far, though the picture of the pool bar was surprising.  On the other hand, there’d be more room for me to fall when I tried to keep up with you!  As for your boarding, ours was on the other end of the spectrum.  We walked over from the hotel, dropped off our bags, showed our paperwork at two stops, and were on board in 15 minutes, max.  But then we had to test two days prior, so that was already taken care of.  Please say hi to Pam for us, take care, Vandy

Hi Z and TB.  Glad to hear you two are getting back in the swing of cruising, and look forward to your thread.  Crisi and I boarded a non-Regent ship yesterday in San Diego, heading through the canal to Fort Lauderdale.  Finally able to do that trip we had to cancel last minute on Regent in 2018.  Anyway, hope you two have a wonderful time and please say hi to the boss for us.  Your bud, Vandy

We too will be following this thread, as we board Millennium after the second half of your b2b.  Looking forward to cruising again..it's been two and a half years since our last onboard adventure, and we sorely miss it!  Crisi and Vandy.    

Z...we're waiting on you and TB.  Once you choose what you're going for, the rest of your friends will see if we can make it.  Hopefully we can finally rejoin you at the pool bar!  Vandy

We switched from the 2022 World Cruise to this one, looking forward to meeting everybody.  

Hi NavyCruiser.  I guess I should start off with Go Air Force, Beat Navy, but since we're all in the same boat (or is it a ship), I'll just try to answer your questions.  Gate 1 offered, as you know, to take the cancelled cruise credit and rebook within 18 months.  After coordinating with the couple we plan to travel with, we decided to do the same trip a year later.  We did not use Gate 1 air; we booked separately straight with United.  Since I (foolishly) bought non-refundable tickets, as I understand their rules, I can rebook with no penalty but must still fly within a year of original purchase, July 2019.  I have not yet talked to United...our flights are still a month away and I'm sure they're swamped at this point.  I can only hope United relaxes the one year time frame, since I doubt with our current situation we'll try to fly anywhere before July.  When we do air for next April I'll apply my lesson learned.  Everybody out there take care.   Vandy

We rebooked the same river cruise for April 2021.  Easy to do via phone, very nice customer service.  We didn't book our air through Gate 1, so unless United relaxes their "use by" rules, we have to fly to/from somewhere by July 2020 or lose the funds.  Not a lot of time for things to resolve themselves.  Wishing everybody on these boards continue good health.   

I saw this on their Facebook page about an hour before getting the official e-mail.  We were supposed to be on their April 28th sailing, Regensburg to Budapest.  I commend them for putting their customers first!  Vandy and Crisi, Monument, Colorado

Thank you Rich for allowing so many of us to travel with you on the beautiful new ship. We enjoyed every post and photo. Travel safe and healing thoughts to Ginny.

Great thread and thank you for all the pics.  Looking forward to enjoying the Splendor ourselves...we were on the first transatlantic on the Explorer and had a wonderful time, meeting some very fine people.  Thank you again.  Vandy and Crisi V.

My wife and I were on the same cruise as carlsbadguy. I agree with all of his points, so hopefully he doesn't mind if I throw in a few observations. Overall, we had a great cruise, with just a few misses.

Embarkation was great. Pick up at hotel at 10:02, onboard by 10:53, and 20 minutes of that was the van ride. Disembarkation was also smooth. Our group was called a bit early, U.S. customs basically checked your face against your passport and we didn't have to stop walking. However, the pier 91 pickup area was a zoo; handling two cruise ships at the same time maxes out their traffic capability. It took our van service quite a while to get to us. We would have been toast if we had an earlier flight. As we departed, the uber/lyft area had very long lines, and it is a bit of a hike to get there from where we were picked up. FYI.

Carlsbadguy's comments on the food mirrored our thoughts. I really liked the MDR's french onion soup, but their red meat was only so-so except for the short ribs, which were very good but kinda fatty. We had also pre-made MDR reservations, but we stopped by once onboard to check our times. The anytime dining maitre'd said our 6:00 to 6:15 times wouldn't work, so we changed all of ours to 5:15. A bit early, but it worked out for getting to the 7:00 shows. The buffet was very crowded for breakfast and lunch but OK for the couple of times we ate there after late excursions. We always found something we liked; the omelet station was very good. My wife enjoyed having chicken breasts cooked to order at one of the buffet stations. The young lady who served at the ice cream station was always smiling and helpful.

We too had problems with room service, though carlsbadguy at least got his order in. We couldn't figure out the TV interactive menu to order, and there was no written menu in the room we could find. We just went to the cafeteria.

The Martini bar was awesome, but for a quieter atmosphere we liked the ensemble bar and the sky lounge...when we could get into it, as it was frequently closed for "private events", day and night. And having to be out of the sky lounge by 9:30 when we were sailing up to the glacier didn't please us.

We booked this cruise through Costco travel, and there were supposed to be Costco provided amenities and events - didn't happen.

Worse, there was nothing in our cabin about our cruise critic roll call party, and customer relations knew nothing, though we checked a few times on day 1 and 2. After we got back home, somebody on the roll call said it happened, but we were never notified so we missed it.

The lectures by Mr. Nixon and Miss Amanda were outstanding. Unfortunately, we had to leave two of his lectures early in order to make our MDR reservation. Hopefully Celebrity can schedule them sooner as to not run into dinner reservations. If you get a chance to hear them, I wouldn't miss their talks...both are very knowledgable and enthusiastic.

Sorry we missed you, carlsbadguy, and thank you for your review.

Hi everybody. I can see that many people are following this thread, hoping for more pictures as well as following the progress. Responding to Roberto's earlier message, I hope to help him with the April 18th Mariner blog...as soon as he shows me how to do Tapatalk (sp?). On another subject, has anyone heard who the senior crew will be on Mariner after the dry dock? Or did I just miss seeing it somewhere on the Regent board? I'm kinda hoping for Lorraine as CD; we had dinner with her on a previous cruise, and she's a charming lady with, in my opinion, a very nice voice.

29 days until we board! Vandy

Thanks for the photos! Crisi and I join Z, TB and Ronrick onboard in Miami on April 18th, so we're greatly interested in the whole process. Hopefully they'll be lots more photos as the schedule unfolds. Vandy

While the article says that the refurbishment is in April, per the Regent website, the Mariner arrives in Barcelona on March 14th and sails out again on April 4th. I hope that's still right, since we plan to board her in Miami on April 18th! And like everybody on this thread, we sure hope we're not going to need one of those portable storage units for our closet or elsewhere in our cabin. Everybody take care, Vandy

Rick and Ron - we really liked your reviews and comments on your voyage. Your opinions seem to match ours from the several Regent cruises we've been on, especially the great crew and their efforts to give you a wonderful cruise. I think you two are on the cruise we take next April on Mariner, through the Panama Canal, and we look forward to meeting you. Vandy and Crisi

Z - loved your thread so far! Oh, and feel free to visit us when TB reads your comments on some of your pictures...ya think Colorado is far enough away when the sierra hits the fan? Sorry to see your trip ending...see you two (well, maybe just you) next year! Vandy

Roberto - wishing you and TB a great cruise! Looks like your itinerary is close to what Crisi and I do after you two leave us in San Fran next May off the Mariner, except we do Skagway vice Wrangell. Looking forward to your stories on this cruise and next year! Vandy

Rats. My post above was supposed to go on another thread that Roberto (Zsqueeze) started. Not sure how I ended up here...Mr. "Low Tech" strikes again. Sorry all... I couldn't figure our how to delete it. Vandy

Hi Z and TB - Have a great time on your cruise! Your itinerary looks like what Crisi and I do after dropping you two off in San Fran next May...though I think we see Skagway vice Wrangell. You can't top Alaska. Wishing you two good weather, Vandy

Since I only mentioned a couple of hundred times that I had purchased three cases of wine while in Italy, I'd thought I'd share this pic with wines from Ferenc Mate wineries. These little guys have 30 other friends.

Z and TB

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Z - a quick question...is any of that great looking wine left? After all, it has been almost a week since you posted the picture. Hope you and TB have a wonderful Christmas and that your foot is all better. V and C