1 hour ago, captjohn said:

Yes. Actually picture was taken a week ago. The fire has now coverer the entire Mountain.They have over 1100 fire fighters working on it. Very hard if not impossible to do anything because of the steep terrain. As of today 45% contained and covering over 100,000 acres.

We live south of Tucson and you can sure smell the smoke down here.  My dad was a catskinner for L.A. fire department and worked some of the major fires there.  These type of fires are hard to get under control,  with dry, hot and windy conditions.  Really feel for the fire fighters, it has to be tough.

Just checked my points for our cancelled May cruise and we were not given credit.  We took the FCC and immediately booked  a cruise for November 2020.   Regent told my travel agent that we would be getting the credits since we took the FCC and had made the final payment.  Thought the points had been listed at one time, but I guess I was dreaming.

Our TA called Regent this morning, we took the FCC of 125% and booked a new cruise for November.  TA said Regent will holding everything until FCC is processed and at that time they will apply it to the new cruise/air.  Does anyone have an idea how long it take for the FCC to be processed?  

Found it.  It is on the U.S. website under: 

Regent Seven Seas Cruises , General COVID-19 Coronavirus Travel Advisory 

Updated as of Apr 24, 2020

GENERAL TRAVEL ADVISORY

Mrlevin,

Just saw your new post after I posted mine.  Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Regent has not posted the information to their website in the U.S. yet or I just haven't found it yet.  But I will pass this information onto my TA so she can contact Regent and inquire.  

Just checked my Regent account for our May 18th cruise and discovered some of our information missing.  Our May trip no longer lists our suite and deck numbers nor our category.  In addition, all our tours and dining reservations have been removed.  Checked American Airlines account and flight is still listed as Pending.  Think our TA should be hearing from Regent fairly soon.  

Booked the flights for May cruise through Regent, as of today the flights are still pending.  But when Regent does cancel that May cruise, I have asked our TA so switch everything (cruise & air) over to a November cruise.  Regarding the July cruise, the final payment was due today but with the new 100 day "No Sail" order we decide to cancel.  The air for that cruise we did on our own so I simply logged into my American Airlines account, located "My Trips", clicked on change flights and switched our flight to our January 2021 Regent cruise.  It was very easy, no cancellation or change fee. 

From what I have read so far, the CDC did withdraw the paper but only to make some corrections for clarification purposes.  It is suppose to be resubmitted this coming week.

I hear from my TA all the time, at least 10 times since this whole thing started.   The TA calls  us when they receive email updates or information from the cruise line, just letting us know what they received.  We discuss possible options and questions we may have with upcoming cruises.  They have been very good about keep us informed.

Update:  American Airlines did cancel our flights, we are now flying out of DFW which I much prefer.  But now there is a new problem, the flight they now have us booked on (according to their website) does not fly the DFW to LHR route on that day.  In addition, they have assigned us seats D & G in business class, but there are no G seats on that plane.  

When I checked our return flights I found they had also changed them.  They now have us leaving LHR about the time we get off the ship and obviously that is not going to work.  You would think they would know that cruise lines require return flights be booked later in the day to accommodate disembarkation, travel to airport and check-in.

Checked with Regent and they have removed our old scheduled flights and replaced it with:

Your trip includes:  Round-trip airfare for two

I know most likely the cruise in mid-May will be cancelled, therefore I really don't need to worry about the flights.  But as I stated before, check your flights for cancellations or changes.  Our flight for a cruise out of MIA in mid-July has also been changed and once again our return flight leaves before we even get off the ship.   The airlines are really struggling right now and seemed overwhelmed, thus the many mistakes.

Was reading an article about airlines scaling back most of their international flights, and that American Airlines was only flying 3 international routes for April & May.  Concerned I decided to check my Regent cruise flights for May and it looks like our nonstop flight from LAX to LHR on American no longer exists.  Checked my booking on Regent's website which still shows the flight good.  Checked the flight on Google Flight which don't show the flight existing.  Checked "my trips" on my American account which shows the flight pending.  Obviously there is a problem somewhere, which will have to be corrected.

I just want to warn those individuals who have international flights that their scheduled flights may no longer exist if they are cruising in May or possibly June.  You might want to do a new search for flights on the days you plan to travel.  That is how I found out about the problem.    

The Miami New Times has an article titled "After Leaked Emails, Florida Attorney General Investigating Norwegian".  It deals with internal emails 

obtained from Norwegian Cruise Line directing salespeople to mislead customers about the risks of coronavirus to protect the company's bookings.

Since Regent is part of the Norwegian Line, I wonder if this will affect Regent?

Thank you..

Source??

Sure hope this "Medical Form" goes away for a couple of reasons.  Getting an appointment with a doctor is nearly impossible, especially right now.  They are only seeing medical emergencies and even if I got an appointment for our May cruise, I'm not sure we want to sit in a doctor's waiting room.  In fact, we had a doctor cancel my husband's appointment yesterday because he did not want us in the waiting room because we were over 70 yrs old.

Talked with a family member who is a doctor, told him about the medical form being required to cruise.  He said he would be surprised if any doctor would sign a form like that.  Said he could for see a lot of problems, for doctors and cruise lines.  Plus doctor's are going to consider this medical form a waste of their time.   

Will medical insurance pay for the doctor's visit and blood work, if needed?  A lot of questions and problems are going to arise from this medical form requirement.  This wasn't very well thought out.  

We have a May 2020 cruise on Explorer.  Have been following port closures in Europe, beginning to think if our cruise does sail Regent would have to change the itinerary to accommodate these closures.  With many Mediterranean, Baltic & Canadian port closures wondering where Regent cruises might sail the months of May & June?  Thoughts!

On 12/29/2019 at 5:22 PM, fredflint said:

I also look at when the ships have been refurbished

We also look to see when the ship was last in dry dock and what was done to the ship.  We did the first Pacific Princess cruise after dry dock in 2017 and they did a great job. Though not everything was completed when we embarked.  

I think I would hesitate to book on a cruise that was getting close to its dry dock date.  Have heard people complain that they stopped maintaining the ship because they knew it was going into dry dock fairly soon.  Also heard complaints that they started doing some prep on the last cruise before dry dock which was pretty irritating.

Great feedback, really appreciate the comments.  We have been looking at the Crown and the Sapphire so it was helpful to hear comments on these two ships.  Our favorite Princess ship is the Pacific Princess but have read some comments lately about it having plumbing problems so a little concerned.  Coral was our second favorite Princess ship but the last time we sailed on her the ship wasn't in good shape, balcony was filthy/disgusting, worn furniture and rust everywhere, so a little leery now.  Still love the feel of the older ships but also like that new clean feeling of the newer ones.  Would appreciate comments on the Diamond, Sea or Sun?

We are really torn between taking a cruise on one of the older ships or one of the newer ships.  We have cruised on Princess over 30 times so are familiar with many of the ships.  We have definitely noticed a decline in the conditions on the older ships lately.  The newer ships are definitely in better shape, nicer and clean, but way to crowded for our likes, though not too bad when in a Suite.  We much prefer the smaller ships over the newer larger ships regarding passenger size but also prefer being on a clean well maintained ship. The problem is we have found some cruises we would like to take but are hesitant to sign up because of being on older ships and none of the newer ships are cruising to these places.  Is anyone else having this problem between the older and new ships?

interesting conversation about new crew.  We were on the Explorer cruise from Barcelona to Miami this last November - December.  When we reached Lisbon a lot of the more experienced servers got off the ship and new ones got on, service really changed.  Some of those leaving the ship told us that they were going on holiday for a month or so then were being reassigned to the Splendor.  

It was somewhat fun to watch the new servers the first few days (some first-time on a cruise ship), they were totally lost.  But over the course of 14 days we watched them improve (some quicker than others) and become efficient.  Although there were a few that were just overwhelmed by the whole thing and had to be moved elsewhere, felt sorry for them but smart move. 

Believe a lot of the problem, besides getting to know what they needed to do, was a language problem.  You could tell that some of the new servers were having a hard time understand the guests, thus the many mistakes.  Most guests were understanding of the situation with the new servers but a few did get upset.

In the past Princess has mentioned breakfast in Sabatini's or Crown Grill.  Since it wasn't mention in the Suite section on amenities that I read, I wasn't sure they were doing it anymore.  Like I stated, it did mention breakfast in Club Class but not the specialty restaurant.  Thanks for the feedback, hubby will be happy to hear about your comment.

We sailed in a Suite as recently as June 2019.  As a suite passenger, we have had breakfast each morning in Sabatini's which has a more extensive menu than Club Class.  We really enjoyed this Suite perk.  We are currently looking at a cruise in a suite room in 2020but the information for Suites states breakfast in Club Class dining room.  Question:  Has Princess stopped doing Suite breakfast in their specialty restaurants?

Regent contacts quite often after checking their website page for cruises.  If my husband finds a cruise he is interested in he will usually save it, thus the phone within the next day or two.  We usually tell the Regent agent that we are just looking and have a travel agent we will contact if we wish to book.  

Except on one occasion.  Husband was very interest in a cruise because of one of the tours they were offering, however that tour suddenly disappeared.  We told the Regent agent that since the tour disappeared we were not that interested anymore.  He said he would get back to us and when he did he found out the tour was still being offered.  It was just a couple days before the prices were going to be increased (it was advertised) and that if we put down a deposit he would guarantee that tour for us.  I asked about our travel agent getting credit and he said they would, which they did.  He simple booked it for us then transferred it to our travel agent.  If he had not called we would have most likely not have booked that cruise, so it was a good thing for us and our travel agent.

1 hour ago, Travelcat2 said:

Good morning from somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

Laughed when I read this, since the ship is in the Atlantic. Maybe you were hoping we were in the Pacific Ocean, might be calmer and warmer.

Agree that service has improved over the last week but there are still a few new servers that look lost.  Had one this morning, she was clueless on what she was suppose to be doing even though others where trying to direct her. She couldn't follow directions on the simplest things like getting coffee.  Felt rather sorry for her but she just wasn't understanding.

Tried to use the Canyon Spa this morning, first time ever on any of our Regent cruises.  Didn't work out well,.  Made an appointment for this morning, I confirmed it verbally, they confirmed it verbally, even said see you shortly.   I showed up and they didn't have me down for the time confirmed.  Tried to stick me in at another time, but I had other plans... oh, well!  Just as well, their prices are to high.

Looking forward to Explorer's 1st Mini Thanksgiving Day Parade tomorrow.  Should be fun to watch.