Gray Eagle02

There recently was a 2 hour PBS Frontline program about Amazon. Amazon was heavily criticized for not policing the site for third party vendors who gouged the public. Good for Amazon.

Yes they make surgical masks with face shields. They are exceedingly annoying to use and may not be widely available to the public.  Again, if you are that concerned about becoming infected stay away from crowds, wash your hands and avoid nonessential travel. 

There is no dispute that N95 masks are effective in protecting the wearer. They have been used for that purpose in hospitals for years. However hospitals require annual fit testing with a special hood, and training. Additionally, if worn properly they require a lot of effort to use. Unless you have the training and have been fit tested they will likely give you a false since of security. If you have been fit tested and are wearing them appropriately you will remove them as soon as possible as they require a great deal of effort to breathe through. As I said before if you are that concerned about becoming infected, especially if you are in a high risk group, the prudent choice is to avoid crowds and reconsider travel that is not essential. That, I think, would include cruises.

Please pay particular attention to the section on masks.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/26/how-to-prepare-for-coronavirus/?arc404=true

Surgical masks are to protect the patient. However N95 masks ( that have been around for over 20 years) are to protect the medical staff. They are also used in certain trades and, for that reason, can be bought in some hardware stores. All healthcare workers must be fitted and tested annually with a special hood. Beards are prohibited for those requiring N95 masks. These masks are very thick and breathing takes a real effort. These are the masks the Surgeon General has asked the public not to purchase. As am former NP (and infection control nurse) I always get a kick out of people walking around in public with surgical masks on. They provide little protection to the wearer. If you are that concerned about becoming infected the best policy is to wash your hands and avoid crowds.

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/cruise-ship-asia

We have been on RSSC ( all their ships), Seabourn  and HAL for ocean cruises and Uniworld and Tauck for river cruises. When our son was young we went on NCL and RCCL. We really love Regent and Seabourn was also nice ( love the caviar). We are cruising with friends in Jan on the Viking Jupiter . I really like the looks of the ship. However, I find the cost Is certainly no bargain when compared to Regent once the room is upgraded to Penthouse Veranda ( equal to the lowest category in Regent and Seabourn) and purchase the drink package, part of the fair in both Regent and Seabourn. The air fare was certainly no bargain and higher than I could have booked on my own.  This may be because Regent includes Business tickets in the fare and many Seabourn clients book Business class tickets so the the volume allows for lower prices. I no longer book flights as if there is a problem you’re on your own and we really can’t deal with traveling coach internationally. Additionally, our TA reports that dealing with Viking has been a problem. Regent and Seabourn are apparently much more accommodating to deal with. 

I have never had trouble with obtaining miles credit for any flight. Once I have a confirmation number I enter it under my airline account online and I have always been credited for the flight. This includes United, AA and Delta. When flying BA I get credit through AA, when flying AF I get credit through Delta. 

I would rate the Regent tour in Cartagena as the best of all Regent tours. It was a city tour did not include a long bus tour and the guide was exceptional. It included a Museum adjacent to the coliseum ( we were able to enter before it opened), and excavated  Roman Villa that was entered through a bank, and the old defensive wall. The guide was extremely knowledgeable and had a tremendous  love for the city. Of all the Regent tours we have done ( and we’ve done plenty), it was by far the best.

I haven’t booked on my own domestic leg because I was under the impression the flights had to be booked together for the entire booking to be linked. Additionally, if Regent books the flights they are responsible if problems occur. I booked my flights to Paris for a Uniworld cruise and the flight was cancelled. I learned from this experience to let the tour company book the flights and if problems occur they will rebook the flight. The alternative is that I spend many hours on the phone trying to clear up the mess. On a recent Tauck tour our tour had to be aborted. Tauck arranged our flights and with the assistance of our TA our flights were changed quickly. Those clients who booked their own flights had tremendous problems; some were delayed in Germany for days. This was particularly true of passengers who used their miles to book flights. One couple used miles to book business class seats and to get home after the tour was aborted  they had to cough up $2000.00 to fly economy. Trying to book last minuted business class tickets, or even economy tickets, can be very expensive.   I will always allow the tour company to book our flights. For me, at least, saving the money  by booking my own flights is a false economy.

I’m confused. We have been cruising on Regent Ships since 2012.  We have always travelled first class to the gateway airport, usually JFK. Yes, we pay for it but it is always booked through Regent air. I’m just too old to fight for overhead space and my husband is 6’2” and is really crammed in economy. 

Last year we had to cancel a cruise on a Explorer Med cruise after my husband had an serious accident. We attempted to transfer the fully paid cruise to a future cruise ( which,incidentally, was a more expensive cruise); Regent refused and filled our room from the wait list. Good deal for them as they were paid for that room twice. However they were well within the contract. Fortunately we had insurance and collected on the policy. Regent, after initial refusal to credit us the days since we had paid in full, did call me and credited our Silver Seas account.

So I'm not optimistic your efforts to get your money back will be successful, but you may be credited the days.

I certainly have no fear of getting thrown off the ship. I got angry about poor service, vented to a waiter and then apologized. I would not put the episode anywhere near the "abuse" category. And why would Regent throw us off? They want us to keep booking cruises--we've taken at least one Regent cruise every year since my husband retired in 2012. We are the demographic they want--people in early retirement with many years left to cruise.

We have not discussed our unhappiness with room service with anyone on board, either staff or other guests.

Except under extreme circumstances, I would never go to management (Head Housekepper or GM) regarding service personnel. I understand the service personnel are generally supporting families and count on renewal of contracts for continued employment. And I have no idea of their overall workload. I'm sure they do not have the employment protections enjoyed in the U.S. Perhaps corporate Regent is aware many guests are hesitant to complain and monitors CC forums for frank discussions regarding passenger experience. If so, good for them.

After the incident not only was our room service improved, we got an invitation to dine with a senior staff member. It was an enjoyable meal; service never came up as a topic.

BTW, this the best WiFi we've ever had on any ship.

One final note. Room service began earlier the day after I posted on CC (day 12). Coincidental, I don't know but the timeing make me suspicious that someone from Regent may be monitoring this forum. Also the Maitre d' personnally abologized about the service on the pool deck. He also called this afternoon to apologize about morning room service, which was late this morning as 300 people ordered room service for 6:30- 7:00. This was completely unsolicited as we did not complain. Anyway it arrived at 7:10 and did not affect our departure.

Yes, the room service is routinely after lunch. Today (day 12) was the first day room service was completed before lunch. One night we arrived after dinner to find the evening service had not been done. We asked for a copy of Passages and told her to skip the service. We retire and rise early and on previous cruises the staff accommodated our patterns. I thought maybe the workload had increased dramatically but it is clearly a big change from the past.

I probably made a poor choice of words in my previous post. I was frustrated and expressed such to the waiter. I certainly did not publically chastise him. Clearly I was wrong, so I sought him out this AM and apologized. He seemed appreciative of my seeking him out and was gracious in his acceptance. I did find it odd that TC accepted my apology as it was not tendered to her.

And yes, I should have asked the stewardess a second time or ordered the olives from room service.

The events in the Veranda and Pool Deck were the sort if a perfect storm scenario-- we arrived late to port and were scheduled for mid afternoon departure. Almost all of the buses returned at the same. When I wrote hundreds of poeople converged on the 11th deck, it is no exaggeration. Management should have anticipated this event.

My husband and I are very low maintenance and have never complained about service on any cruise. I will certainly note the above on the cruise evaluation.

Room service has consistently been in the mid afternoon; once it was not completed when we returned from a tour. This was especially irritating since the weather was horrible and we were pretty much drenched. We requested olives from the room steward on the first day (we enjoy a drink prior to our evening meal)---this has not been a problem on previous cruises on the Mariner and Navigator. We never received the olives. Also after a cruise we found maintenance in our room making some repairs and there was a large amount sawdust scattered on the floor. Maintenance told us housekeeping would be in to vacuum the sawdust. After waiting an hour I called Reception and housekeeping was immediately in our room. These are not major issues, but not the type of housekeeping attention we have become accustomed to.

BTW, this morning I sought out the waiter I lit into yesterday and apologized and slipped him some cash ( I know, I know many of you object to this). It was wrong of me to vent to him, this was clearly a management issue. My husband spoke to the Maitre 'd and perhaps this will prevent future such occurrences.

We are currently on the Voyager Hong Kong to Beijing cruise. The refurbishments are really beautiful and we have really enjoyed the menus. The service in the Compass Rose has been wonderful. Room stewards not so much. Service has been late virtually every day and a simple request that was honored on previous cruises was ignored.

I was particularly unhappy today on the pool deck. We arrived late to Hiroshima due to strong currents. Because of this all the tours were delayed and returned after the Compass Rose had closed. This required that literally hundreds of people converge on the pool deck and/ or Veranda at the same time. We actually arrived in time to get a table; many people from both the pool deck and the Veranda could not find a seat. My husband does not like the buffet and we ordered sandwiches. Well, we waited for nearly an hour and watched while other tables that arrived after us received their orders. We spoke with the waiters then the head waiter and were told the orders were stacked up. We finally left and cancelled our orders.

I found the entire situation completely unacceptable and should have been foreseen by management. The Compass Rose should have extended its hours to accommodate the crush of diners all arriving at the same time. This type of service is not what I expect given the price of this cruise.

We just received our China visa from CIBT ( we paid Regent). The CIBT customer service personnel were very helpful over the phone; the directions to the form were very confusing. Our passport with the visa were returned within two weeks. I would not hesitate to use this company again.

I have never made a TFL claim but we did have a friend who, while on a cruise, was hospitalized in Italy. TFL did reimburse him for the costs. I carry all of the Tricare overseas numbers (Europe, Pacific, Latin America and Canada) in my phone should I need them while traveling. While I believe we are eligible for the military medivac system, you must be in a military hospital to qualify and this would only be space available. I never travel without substantial medical and medical evacuation coverage, despite my TFL coverage. That being said, when my husband and I were active duty ( we're both retired USN) I never gave travel insurance a thought as I knew the military and/or US Embassy would always take care of us in the event of any medical problems.

I have always used Travel Guard and am presently making our first claim ( cancellation). I always get $500,000 evacuation and repatriation of remains coverage ( I erroneously noted $100,000 in my previous post). A number of years ago I got HAL insurance when sailing on the Eurodam. The coverage was okay except for unacceptably low medical and evacuation coverage. I was able to purchase additional AMEX coverage for medical/evacuation for about $35.00pp. I don't remember the amount of coverage but it was significant. It was really good as you could pick and choose exactly what coverage you desired; cancellation was by far the single most expensive item. Since that time AMEX no longer offers travel insurance, at least not for those that have not booked trips using the AMEX travel services.

As an RN and ARNP with ER experience I have heard many horrific stories regarding med evacuation costs. I always contract insurance ASAP after booking a cruise tocover pre-existing conditions. I always increase med evacuation coverage to a minimum of $100,000. The most expensive part of coverage is the cancellation coverage, med evacuation is relatively inexpensive. However, should either party need med evacuation the cost could be astronomical. We are fortunate that we are retired military and Tricare does provide worldwide coverage, including medical evacuation. This, however, is on a space available basis and not guaranteed. On the cruise that we just cancelled I expect to recover the $25,000 cost of the cruise. The cost of the insurance was nearly $2000. So for us this is well worth the cost of insurance. However, I always purchase the insurance for the medical evacuation coverage, which is relatively inexpensive. The loss of $25,000 is not insubstantial but the cost of medical evacuation could be financially catescropic.

Got an immediate response from Jason O'Keefe and our account has been credited with 14 days. Thanks so much for the advise.

Thanks. Just sent him an email.

Already checked and we don't' get society credit despite having paid in full for the cruise. I checked because this cruise would have put us in the gold category.

We were Concierge level which I knew was wait listed so I thought they would have no problem filling the room. My husband suffered multiple complex facial fractures and a partial right thumb amputation. He subsequently had Plastic syrgery for facial reconstruction and hand surgery for right thumb stump revision. He's lucky he wasn't killed. He will never again do any pool maintenance-- this occurred when the pool filter casing cap was not correctly secured and hit him at very high velocity.

He is actually doing remarkably well but really is not up to a 10+ hour plane, even business class, or lengthy tours. These factors plus his significant dietary restrictions made the cruise out of the question.

I too questioned 65% booking, hence my post.