Ladys Mom

We had several offers of upsell during the 2020-2021 season when the ships were mostly empty. I always would hear about them through my TA. I would definitely check with your TA to tell them you are interested in the higher suite. Your amenities from Concierge F to Penthouse C will be the same except for having a butler and more real estate.

We love Franck

Everyone who is in Concierge and above, has at least one pair of good binoculars in their suite.

We will be joining Paul and others on the Marina this Sunday. It has been a few years since we have sailed on Oceania. We upgraded to Penthouse to minimize some of our complaints in advance, e.g. tiny closet and no dressing table/second desk. We are going on with an open mind and see how it goes. Norma and Mitch

Paul we are on the same cruise as you. My husband wants to know the devices/system you use to improve the Marina's internet because he has business he needs to do while we are gone. Thank you in advance.

Looks like it will be a great cruise on the Splendor. Bon Voyage and stay healthy!

We also are on a Xmas-New Year's cruise and my husband is taking his tux with him. Because we are not on Regent this time (Boo hoo!!) he is bringing two tuxedo shirts in case one get dirty.

Has anyone taken one of the Bocelli Winery shore excursions in Tuscany? We are getting ready to book our shore excursions for the 2024 World Cruise and there are three different options. They look interesting, but are quite expensive. Are they worth the investment? Thanks in advance for any incites you can provide. Norma and Mitch

We will try to make the best of it. The ports and the great passengers we already have corresponded with, will make up for the bad apples.

And you wonder why my husband and I like Regent better than Oceania. On Regent you can have all the wine and liquor you want, whether a little or a lot. If you want liquor in your suite, they bring you a bottle not a glass. If you want to bring the bottle,, or several bottles, home at the end of the cruise no-one says anything. In fact, one night when we ordered room service for dinner and we asked for wine. The person taking the order asked which wine we wanted. I gave them a choice of two. The server brought us both. Gaming the system on Oceania is just an indication that people want luxury, but are not always willing to pay for it. I can understand if you rarely drink, but it you are a regular drinker just pay the price. When we calculated what Regent offers us, over Oceania, there was no difference. We are taking an Oceania cruise to use a FCC, but I am not feeling comfortable about what will be our experience. Don't get mad. This is just our opinion.

Which cruise will you be on in February? We will be on the Wind Feb 18-28.

As I have said in other posts, we have not been on Oceania for about five years. We are booked on the December 2022 Marina Miami to Rio. Since 2016 we have been on seven Regent cruises, and we have four more booked. We are not heavy drinkers, but we like our wine and an occasional cocktail. We like going on active shore excursions. We do not like paying extra for business class air, gratuities, alcohol, laundry, and shore excursions. We began cruising on Regent when my DH did an apples to apples comparison between the same cruise on Oceania and on Regent. When everything was added together Regent came out the same, or maybe somewhat less. We like Regent's affinity program much more than Oceania's. I want credit for the number of nights I am on the ship, not just the number of cruises. Why should I get one Oceania point for a 21 day cruise in Penthouse, when someone gets that same one point for a seven day cruise in an inside cabin. Even though we have sailed on Oceania close to 40 nights, we are treated like "newbies". We love the vibe on Regent. We have made many friends who we continue to correspond with and cruise with. Given that everyone is more or less treated the same, no matter what the level of suite, there is no hierarchy. Everyone is friendly no matter what their economic level is. Because of the small number of passengers on each ship, when we come on a Regent cruise the crew and the officers make us feel like we are home.

We have not been on Oceania for five years. Prior to that we were in both Penthouse and Concierge cabins. We checked out the lounges and found that they were sorely lacking for anything we needed, except for my DH occasionally needing to print something. Found that calling room service or going to Baristas had much more of what we were looking for -- whether it was a latte or a stronger drink.

When I knew that I would need my roots colored on a multi-month cruise, I spoke with my hairdresser at home and she gave me the formula she uses on my hair. When I spoke with the hairdresser on board I gave her the formula and my hair came out perfectly. Don't let them be creative. Insist they use the same formula you get at home.

If you are in a Concierge suite, or above, Regent automatically books your flight for the day before the sailing. They include the hotel the night before and breakfast the morning of the sailing. You pay a deviation fee if you want to fly out of an airport that is not one of their hubs, or you want a specific airline itinerary, or you want to travel even earlier or later. I hope this helps.

We also will be on the Marina Dec. 18-Jan. 8 segment. I would be happy to bring the name tags and pens that we used last fall when I organized a meet and greet on the Regent Splendor. If someone contacts Oceania ahead of time they will find a place, a time, and some munchies, so that you can announce the event. Norma

We have found if you will the bottles with ice most of the way from the ice bucket in your room, it will stay cold many hours. For the condensation problem, take a plastic bag from home and place the bottle in the bag. Hope this helps. We have been doing this on Regent since the Fall of 2021.

When we wanted to add two more couples to our dinner reservation, it still required our travel agent to get the other couples' reservation numbers and have the other couples remove one of their reservations. It took some doing but we got it to work. The ship looks far from full, so they could have made it easier to make a table for six.

We are booked at the Intercontinental Hotel for the 2024 World Cruise. Since it is so far off changes are definitely possible.

It seems that a number of the cruise lines are doing variations of the “ring of fire” itinerary for their 2025 world cruises. Some add portions of South America and some add in parts of Africa. Although this was the first itinerary of our ill-fated 2022 Regent world cruise, we much prefer an equatorial circumnavigation of the globe for a first world cruise. That is why we have booked Regent’s 2024 Miami to Miami.

You are right. When I checked the veranda suite is a little bit smaller. The Azamara suite just seemed smaller. Sorry.

For anyone who has been on the Mariner lately, do they now have French press coffee in Coffee Connection? They didn't when we were on in April and I asked for it frequently. I am about ready to take my own on our cruise in September, unless they now carry them. Norma

I would definitely recommend the Regent World Cruise. That being said, your idea to take a shorter cruise first makes perfect sense. Regent is what is described as "country-club casual". During the day, anything goes, while in the evening women wear dressier pants, skirts, or dresses. Rarely will you see women in sequins, except for the entertainers, of course! At night men are requested to wear a collared shirt (polo ok) and no jeans. Men may wear a sport jacket to the specialty restaurants and a tie on special evenings. Rarely, will you see men in a tuxedo. We have been on three Azamara cruises, the latest being in August, 2019. We found the crew to be extremely friendly and helpful. We were in a Club Continent suite which is even smaller than the Veranda and Concierge suites on Regent. It was comfortable for a couple of weeks, but not for a world cruise. The food was good, but did not have the variety or quality of Regent. On Regent you can ask for almost any dish and if the ship has the ingredients the dish will be presented to you the next night. The chefs are amazing and the wait staff are friendly and attentive. Our biggest problem on Azamara was with the entertainment. Neither the venue nor the entertainment itself were up to the standards of a luxury ship. We don't need a full Broadway show, but we need more than four singers and dancers and a comedian. We were booked on Regent's 2021 and 2022 world cruises. The first was cancelled and the second we cancelled when they changed the itinerary to circling the Caribbean. We now are booked on the 2024 world cruise and we are counting the days until we board the Mariner for an adventure of a lifetime.

Do you know if both insurance companies will be off on a single incident? That has been the reason we have not purchased both cards.

Hope you have a wonderful cruise. Not that many years ago we were on our first Regent cruise. We loved it so much we have never looked back, except for a couple of exceptions. We did Athens to Barcelona last fall on one of Regent's first cruises after the restart. Ports were changed, and ports were dropped, but we had a marvelous cruise nonetheless. Stay well. Bon voyage.