SWFLAOK

And note that this article from The Points Guy was posted in April 2023, and says that this is something new that European airlines started doing recently. We flew Emirates in December 2019, returning in January 2020, and we had no restrictions on our Business class flights.

Thanks for the explanation. It makes sense to see what's available from your winter home (although I might have checked from Canada as well since you never know what flights they might find). If we had contacted Qatar Airways ourselves by phone, we would have asked why we had to pay for our seats, and they hopefully would have told us we were in Business Lite. And we would have asked what else that didn't give us, and they would have told us. But our TA was told by Regent that we had to pay to hold our seats after we found that our seats did not show up as reserved on Qatar Airways website. When signing in on the airlines website, we did not see anything other than Business Class indicated. When we checked in at Qatar in Miami, they told us we had lounge access, and pointed us to the closest lounge. The lounge showed us that our Qatar ticket did not have lounge access. I'm not sure at this point how to guarantee that we have lounge access. The last time we flew out of Miami back in earlyn December, we had booked our own flights on American Airlines to Panama City where we stayed 3 nights in the old town, and boarded a Viking Ocean cruise back that returned us to Fort Lauderdale. We booked First Class seats, and got them for only 800 dollars for both of us, including a 10 percent senior citizen discount. If we had booked them earlier, or booked the flight for the next day, it would have been 1800 dollars each. Strange, but we obviously had lounge access, and to the First class lounge rather than Business class. We spent about 90 minutes there, and it suddenly became very crowded, with people looking for seats. We had 30 minutes before boarding, but decided to head toward our gate about 15 minutes away. When we got down to entry lobby for the lounges, there was a huge line, going out the door. The same line was for First and Business, and they were announcing that both lounges were at capacity. Hmmm. Maybe nothing can guarantee access to the lounges in US airports, where an AE card is good enough.

Rather than ask every few hours, you might want to start a new topic for your question if you need answers soon.

In our experience with Regent, they have never booked us in Restricted Business class before our recent cruise. We have always paid the deviation fee, but nothing more, until our recent flight. We have always had seats assigned that we have been able to verify on the airline's website, and did not have to pay extra for them. We have always had access to lounges when on international flights until this year. If Regent has "always booked Restricted Business Class", then why would they answer an FAQ with "Due to recent airline policy changes". That means it's a recent change. And the recent change was not a change to the airlines "business class'". It was the availability of "business lite", or whatever other airlines call it. And it was Regents decision to book their customers on the lower level of business because that became available. I usually ignore your posts since they are mostly biased toward Regent, but I had to clarify your post on this.

I forgot to mention that you need to check if Regent is booking you on Restricted Business class flights. They did this to us on our last trip, but did not tell us this. When we paid Regent to get flights at 210 days, they gave us flights and told us our business class seat assignments. We had a long layover, on the way to Bangkok, but they said the lounge in Doha was available to us. A few weeks later, we signed into the Qatar Airways site, and found that we had no seats assigned on 3 of our 4 flights. We contacted them and found out we had to pay 200 dollars for each seat to reserve it. Otherwise, it would be assigned when we arrived at the airport. Obviously, we paid the additional 1200 dollars. What we didn't realize was that Regent had booked us in Business Lite which is Restricted business class. That meant we had no access to lounges. That included the long layover on our flight to Bangkok. We were allowed to pay for 6 hours of access to the lounge in Doha. It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it. On our return trip, our 1 hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Doha was in First class since there was no Business class. There were 8 seats in First class. They were very comfortable, and had great service. And best of all, it gave us access to the First class lounge in Abu Dhabi (which Regent made sure we reached several hours before our 6 AM flight), as well the lounge in Doha because we arrived on a First class flight. We booked B2B cruises for next year while we were on our recent Regent cruise, and noticed that it clearly states that they include Restricted business class in the price. Since we need to fly to Paris, and back from Amsterdam, we will take the air credit if they can't give us decent flights from MIA without a large additional payment.

Just wondering why you're trying to fly on an international flight out of RSW since you are from Toronto. We live in Fort Myers, and we never, ever book flights from Regent, or any other cruise line out of RSW. We made that mistake on our first cruise on Regent. They gave us a Delta flight to Atlanta with a 30 minute connection to a flight to Vancouver. We complained about it, but they would not change it. As it turned out, the same flight crew was connecting to the Vancouver flight, so once we boarded they assured it we would make the flight even with a short delay in our arrival. But that's not something I want to worry about when going on a cruise. Since then, we have never asked any cruise line to book flights for us out of RSW. We would rather drive to MIA or FLL, and get a direct flight that gets us to our destination with as few connecting flights as possible. We just flew to Bangkok from MIA with one stop in Doha, and returned from Abu Dhabi to MIA with one stop in Doha. On a Regent cruise pre Covid, we flew from MIA to Dubai to Singapore, and returned at the end of the cruise from Sydney to Dubai to MIA.

Our b2b cruises now show up as deposit received, but Regent told our TA that if we tried to do anything to manage our account for these cruises, we would not be able to, and it would be reset to indicate that the deposit was not received. They said they were working on it, and it should be fixed by the time we can reserve excursions in August.

I've never even been tempted by Regent's cooking classes. We're amateurs, but I've taken a few evening classes at the CIA in Hyde Park, and an evening class offered for a semester by a community college that was taught by a CIA Professor. We also had a friend who went to the CIA during the day, and worked second shift with my husband. We had many shared dinners where we competed to make the best course. We sometimes won. We're both retired, and I make almost all of the meals. My husband has a some specialties that he makes, and he does all of the baking. His coconut bread, lebkuchen, and creme brulee are the best. I love cooking, but on vacation (from our retirement life), I love to order my meals from a menu. On a few cruises, we've attended cooking demonstrations from the executive chef onboard, and have found them interesting. But I don't want to cook on a cruise. I've always assumed that it will be something that I already know how to make, or could easily figure our how to make by looking up recipes online.

On the older ships it's all one room with a curtain. On Splendor it has sliding doors to separate the lounge from the bedroom. The cabins are larger on the newer ships.

Wendy, I wasn't familiar with Brics at the time. But my favorite ever was a Fossil bag that I had bought many years ago, when I was still working. It was on sale, but still expensive. I loved that handbag, and used it for many years until it got worn around the leather edges. The Brics handbag was exactly the same configuration as my old Fossil bag; relatively large with 2 outside pouches with snaps, and an inner part with a zipper compartment inside, and a zipper across the top. But only the trim is leather, and the rest seems to be a heavy nylon in Navy. I would rather have had black, which they had in other styles. But it seems to be well made and I've been using it for over a year. I had enough cruise credit to pay for it, and it cost less than my Fossil bag many years ago. I'm happy with my purchase.

I totally agree with you for both NCL and airlines. And don't get me started on allowing people with an American Express card access to airport lounges, and then turning away business class passengers for our airline's lounge.

No, you do not have a separate lounge in a Penthouse Suite. It's all one room with a curtain separation. On some of the older ships, it's the same size as the Concierge/Deluxe Veranda suites. If you want your tea made with boiling water, I would order it from room service, or go to one of the restaurants (or lounge at tea time, or Coffee Connection at breakfast) and order it there.

There is clothing available, but no underwear, so make sure you have at least one change in your carry-on. Sometimes I have onboard ship credit left and have bought clothes onboard. Regent T-shirts are often on sale toward the end of the cruise, but aren't my favorites. They should be free. My favorite thing to look for are Joseph Ribikoff clothes. I first bought dress pants and a matching top on sale for a good price when we were on Voyager in January 2020. I found another pair of dress pants that matched the same top on our Splendor cruise in September 2022. They're very comfortable and I wear them to dinner at Compass Rose, as well as cruises on a few other cruise lines, and I've always gotten compliments on them. Last year on Navigator, they had a sale on some Brics handbags toward the end of the cruise, and I found one that was exactly the type of handbag I normally buy. I had just enough onboard credit to cover it, and I've been using it since as my everday handbag. I have seen the used purses for sale, but they were still more expensive than I wanted to pay for, even if I was using onboard credit.

The butler should definitely be able to assist. I would additionally check with the maitre'd at the restaurants as he goes for each meal. And if he can find the executive concierge at their desk, or locae the restaurant manager on board that will help.

That's what we use at home, and I haven't noticed any fragrance in our laundry on Regent.

We had the same problem with "deposit needed" for the cruises we booked while on our April cruise. Our TA called Regent, and they said they would work on it and it should be fixed by Tuesday. The Regent website now shows that we have no future cruises booked, rather than our 2 back to back cruises that had indicated we not made a deposit for. We did make the deposit onboard our April cruise. We'll see what happens on Tuesday. We hope to be able to book a pre cruise stay/excursion in Paris, but nothing was available from the Regent rep onboard.

I would check with Regent before your cruise rather than waiting until you receive your disembarkation questionnaire a few days before you disembark. If you arrive in Barcelona on Friday, and disembarkation is the next day, I'm sure that you've cleared customs and immigration on Friday. If your flights were booked through Regent, they should provide you with transfers, and I would expect them to be available at 6:30 AM since you dock the night before, and I would expect them to bring your luggage to the transfer (bus or taxi) that they provide. However, if you have booked your own flights, then you are responsible for the transfers. You might be able to pay Regent for them, since the disembarkation form that we have always receive in our cabin mentions this. Otherwise, you should be able to arrange your own transfer from the ship to the airport, and if you give offer an extra tip to your butler or room attendant to help you with the bags in the morning when you disembark, I would expect them to do so. But as I said, the disembarkation details are left until you near the end of your cruise, and I would definitely ask for the details to be clarified before boarding so you can plan accordingly.

I haven't been on a Regent cruise out of Papeete, but we have been on 3 cruises on the Paul Gauguin before it was bought by Ponant. For those 3 cruises, we stayed at the Intercontinental for all or our pre cruise and post cruise stays. The owner of the PG at that time was the same owner of the Intercontinental Hotel Group, so it was a no brainer. They also provided airfare, so we normally had a day room included depending on what time the flights arrived/departed. We often paid for an extra day before and/or after, and rented a car at the hotel to explore Tahiti. We were always happy with our stay. They have a beautiful pool, and a lagoon full of fish that you can snorkel in. I would, however avoid their over water bungalows since they can be quite noisy when the wind blows under them.

Our first cruise on Regent was an Alaska cruise, and we were prepared for the dress code which was described as Country Club Casual (now Elegant Casual). On our cruise, well fitting jeans not made of blue denim, and a sports jacket would have been much better than what almost all men wore to dinner. They were still allowed into the dining room for dinner, but they had to remove their caps. And their dirty white sneakers that they had worn on their excursion that day were acceptable. There wasn't a formal optional night due to the length of the cruise. I think we might have been the only ones onboard that could have met that dress code. On all of our Regent cruises since then, I wear a dress or a blouse and fancy pants (most of which I've bought in the boutique on Regent), and he wears a tropical shirt and dress pants on some nights, and dress pants with a dress shirt and sports jacket on other nights. On the last night, a polo shirt and shorts are allowed, but I still wear a pair of fancy pants, with a more casual matching silky t-shirt. We took a cruise on Silver Sea back in 2018, and it required much more formal wear. While we never did the tux and gown, a suit and cocktail dress were expected on formal nights. As an alternative, we had a Silver Suite where we could comfortably be served dinner, which we did a few times since my brother was with us in his own cabin, and refused to wear a suit since he was on vacation.

That was what we did in the past, and only a few times have we been disappointed by a regular tour bus or 2 arriving at the same time at each of our stops. But on this cruise, there were very few popular excursions, so there were many large buses for the same 3 or 4 excursions that we paid a significant amount extra for. We have still booked 2 back to back cruises on Regent for next year, but we will not be paying for any small group tours.

On the small group excursions on our last cruise, we stopped at exactly the same drop off points as the big bus version. Every stop was the same. What cruise were you on that where the small group stopped at a closer spot, and on what excursions? I plan to give details on our latest cruise to Regent, which was the worst example of paying for the small group and getting the worst excursion to exactly the same places as the free excursion. It's not the first time this has happened on SG excursions, but it was definitely the worst since our excursions were much worse than the free excursions rather than just the same.

Good for you! But our experience says that this cannot be relied on, so plan accordingly.

We just finished our 8th cruise on Regent Seven Seas, with 4 pre-Covid and 4 post. We haven't been on Explorer, but 2 of our post-Covid cruises were on Splendor. We found the food and service to be excellent in Compass Rose, the main dining room, both before and after. We found the internet to be very good on our most recent cruise on Navigator, Bangkok to Abu Dhabi. In the past, we have had some cruises with poor internet access. It will only get better as they move to Starlink. We aren't big on entertainment, but we heard it was excellent. It was offered both before dinner and after dinner. We attended a pre-dinner magic act where the magician explained how to do his trick. It was very interesting. And as for excursions provided by Regent, they were hit or miss, as we have often found in the past. Some are really good, and others are disasters. And you might take an excursion that's great, while others on the same excursion find it a total failure. For each included excursion, there are many buses following the same route. And there is no attempt by destination services to make this a smooth experience by scheduling them with time in between, or having buses visit the stops in a different order. We have found that the extra expense for the Small Group excursions are not worth it because you are on a small bus in between the large buses, visiting the same sights (and often leaving later because the guests arrive later). If your small group bus is the 5th bus to arrive at the toilet stop, you will be there for a long time. Taking your own excursion outside of Regent gives you the risk of not getting back on time. On our last cruise, we got back late twice from a Regent excursion and they waited for us. We had only had that happen to us once before on the previous 7 cruises, but that could have been due to the destinations rather than any change by Regent.

We have always used the laundry service extensively, and have never included any special instructions. I am very fussy with our laundry at home, and hand many items after briefly drying them in the dryer to prevent shrinking in a hot dryer. I have only ever had 1 item that came back damaged, a bra that I left hooked, and came back unhooked with the hooks all bent. Since then I hand was my bras and hang them on the line in the bathtub, since we have never used a bathtub on a cruise ship for anything other than the clothes line (for swim suits, stockings, and my husbands support socks). On our last 2 Regent cruises, the turnaround time for laundry has gone from 24 hours to 48 hours, which is understandable since everyone now has included laundry rather than having it based on cabin and/or status. This was on Navigator, and we did ask if this was a change, and they said yes.

Is your father in law in Penthouse or higher cabin? If not, he doesn't have a butler to take care of his dietary restrictions. Otherwise, he might need to go to the Restaurant Manager rf the Executive Concierge to arrange for a very restrictive diet.