Flgreg

Really not too many real guarantees. We've used custom air on both Viking and Regent. Got the exact flights we wanted. Both times on morning of departure our flight itineraries blew up, giving us an extra connection, tight connections, etc.

Go to the official website for the port about a week before leaving and there will be an updated calendar showing which ships are at each terminal for your embarkation day.

Regent put us in Le Meridien for the one night stay before the cruise. Great location, right on Las Ramblas. Not sure if they would switch you if you asked.

Thanks for the responses.

Hello--we're considering taking the Viking Homelands cruise next year. Can anyone advise which is the better side of the ship (if there is one) for this itinerary in regard to booking a cabin?

Thanks very much for any insights.

19 minutes ago, mdunne48 said:

It seems that you may have gotten the last bottle! No bars that we have been in so far have any Makers Mark. Maybe you could sell it back to Regent🤣🤣🤣

I’ll give it a try. Nothing ventured nothing gained!

16 hours ago, mdunne48 said:

The more, the merrier! Welcome aboard! I hope that the casino is kind to you over the next fortnight! 
 

We are dining in Pacific Rim, also at 6:30. 
 

Great service and food this afternoon in La Veranda. Ran into Ko Ko, a very good man, who remembered us from the infamous Greenland adventure. I think he has been promoted since his Voyager days. Almost ready to leave Barcelona. They are still loading more supplies. As a side note for bourbon drinkers, Makers Mark is no longer available. I wish they had Angel’s Envy but alas will have to settle for Woodford Reserve. 
 

The Mediterranean Sea beckons, in about a hour. Right now it is a lake with hardly a ripple. Enjoy your evening. I know we will.

 

Interesting as we requested a bottle of Maker’s Mark prior to boarding this cruise and it was in the cabin when we arrived. We haven’t asked for it in the bars or Compass Rose.

Thank you.

As usual, the search function isn't working very well for me. Are there set closing times for La Veranda and the Pool Grill or does it very from day to day?

Thanks.

1 hour ago, crusin7 said:

Hi Flgreg.  We ate a burger at the pool grill yesterday.  Service was excellent.  Burger and fries were good.  Dinner in Chartreuse last night. Service was excellent and food very good.  We tried lunch in La Veranda today. The pasta was not good.  It tasted like they opened a can of tomato sauce and poured it on.  The service was excellent.  The ship was not crowded because most people were on longer excursions.  I had a drink in the Meridian Lounge last night.  Service and drink were excellent.  Compass Rose tonight.  We always eat breakfast in our room.  It was good.  Got what we ordered.

Thanks for the response.

@crusin7  Thanks for posting. We're joining in Barcelona. How is the food and service at the buffet, in the restaurants, and the bars/lounges?

It's been quite a few years but we had a very nice stay at the Hyatt Regency Nice Palais de la Méditerranée. Good location, very walkable. Large room, beautiful breakfast venue overlooking the sea. Very accommodating staff.

I believe it's 75 days before departure if you didn't use air deviation.

7 hours ago, Mike Moore said:

For the sake of clarity and to pull the curtain back a little - the boarding times available to choose from are setup based on a certain number of guests arriving during each block of time, to keep the boarding time as short as possible. If the time block fills up, it becomes unavailable in Online Check-in.

 

If you arrive at the ship during a time outside of your boarding time, we will of course welcome you on (so long as it isn't too late) - there is just an increased risk that if too many guests do the same, everyone arriving at that time may start their cruise waiting in a bit longer line. But there is an actual reason why we do what we do. 🙂

Just out of curiosity, what constitutes "too late"?

2 hours ago, BBWC said:

I have never been asked for my boarding pass, so the time on it does not matter.

22 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

This. They don't even look nor do the buses from the hotels deliver you at the time on your boarding pass.

I think we'll just leave them the way they are.  Thanks very much.

25 minutes ago, pingpong1 said:

Thanks for this, Mike!  I was also having difficulty in "figuring out" how to do this (select another check-in time). My continuing Thanks to you for being so pro-active.  Best Regards.

Same here, thanks Mike.

Hello---We are boarding Splendor Nov 20. When we completed online checkin Regent emailed us Boarding Passes with a boarding time of 11:30. Today we received an mail stating "Seven Seas Splendor will be ready for your embarkation based on the time you choose in My Account. You can adjust this time up until three days prior to sailing."

We have tickets that morning for a tour of Sagrada Familia at 9:30. After the tour we'll need to take a cab back to Le Meridien (assigned to us by Regent for the night of Nov 19) to pick up our hand luggage then hopefully get something quick to eat then take a cab to the cruise terminal. So we're wondering if we should check in at the terminal around 12:30 or 1:00.

However when I go into My Account I can't determine how to change the time on the Boarding Pass (I haven't had any problems accessing anything else in there) so does anyone have experience doing this online who can provide some guidance? If we just show up an hour or so after the time on the Boarding Pass will it cause significant problems?  I'll just call Regent if necessary.

Thanks.

We're doing the reverse next month--Barcelona to Miami. 2 stops in the Canary Islands, a stop in St. Maarten and a final port in San Juan PR.

The luggage tags provided by Regent to get your bags to your cabin don't look very sturdy to me. I found some very inexpensive clear tags on Amazon where you insert the Regent tags and they seem pretty durable.

Any problems with using those?

Thanks.

While it applies to sailings between Oct 1 2023 and June 30 2024 I think it needs to be booked by Dec 31 2023.

We received a promotion in the mail a day or so ago. If sailing between Oct 1 2023 and June 30 2024 if a new suite is booked by a guest you invite (Ambassador Program) then you each receive a $1000 shipboard credit.

Not sure what limitations may be involved.

We did one on the Explorer in 2019. I was apprehensive as I have no knife skills and almost never do any real cooking. It was really easy and we hac a great time. We made a salad dressing and salad, a shrimp and scallop appetizer, a steak and a crepe for dessert. Everything was portioned out and just needed to be assembled and cooked. They served wine. It was 2 hours from about 3:00 to 5:00.

We're doing one on Splendor next month. It's from 10:00 to noon.

Thank you cruiseluv!

20 minutes ago, cruiseluv said:

That’s what I think but the uncertainty is holding me back from buying tour tickets for la Sagrada Familia. However, a very recent Splendor cruise Southampton to Barcelona disembarked in Tarragona recently, I think last week. Don’t know if that was the original disembarkation port on the itinerary 

The email was sent directly from Regent to us. I did find the below on Regent's website which makes me think it is, as pingpong1 said, fairly standard and it is just about 30 days prior to sailing. 

• Subject to local requirements, all guests are welcome with no tests required, regardless of vaccination status.
• Specific requirements, if applicable, will be sent to all guests approximately 30 days prior to sailing. For sailings outside of 30 days, as the entry requirements by country continue to evolve, we encourage all guests to consult with local government websites to determine any additional requirements that may be required to travel.
•  

As far as the Splendor cruise that recently disembarked in Tarragona: I had been watching that for at least 2, probably 3 months and it was always listed as Tarragona on the website.

Thanks pingpong1. We were on Viking Ocean last November and up until a couple of weeks before we left they required documentation of vaccination, pre-cruise testing and daily (!) testing. We were glad they stopped the testing requirements by the time we boarded although we were prepared for it so we'll just roll with whatever the requirements are next month with Regent but we hope it's the same as it is now.

We received Johnson and Johnson initially, then Pfizer for 4 boosters and just had the new Moderna about 3 weeks ago as well as flu and RSV.