sierrafloridacruiser

2 hours ago, Mr Rumor said:

Franck, those Baggo Regent Rewards Points are not for you—give them to me!

 

Deck Cadet Luis demonstrates his innovative behind the back Baggo toss.  

 

Passengers eked out a victory in the Baggo officers’ challenge today.  Captain Serena and team will get a chance to even the score tomorrow.  Baggo’s on the schedule every day while we’re at sea!

Is Baggo the same game as Cornhole? 

7 minutes ago, lesliebe said:

Portolan, just help my poor brain understand.  When you put in the special request for beer, do you PAY for that?  Still hoping the wine is better than we think/not excited with the list/offering I was given by Regent for the CA red wine I can have in suite that is being served in restaurants.

If not too late would love if someone posts the Red Wine lists of bottles available for upgrade..

I would like to see the upgrade wine list too if anyone has something current. 

Have loved following your trip!  It has gotten me super excited to finally board Explorer in a little over seven weeks!  I didn’t know about the outside dining at Sette Mari but we will definitely be trying that option. 

The bourbons listed on the online request for butler service for the cabin are:

Woohoo! Thanks to Toseaornottosea we are going to tour Alhambra with Federico. Thrilled that we will get to have this experience!  And I love this message board and all the helpful Regent cruisers. 
 

Any suggestions at the other ports on this cruise (Funchal and Alicante) would be welcomed!  We did not choose it based on port stops but more as our transportation to Europe and the timing of it, and to experience a crossing and a Regent Explorer cruise. After the cruise, we are staying in Barcelona for five nights and then flying to Budapest to meet up with two couples and do a Crystal River Cruise on the Ravel.  We have hotel reservations in Barcelona at the Cotton House and a list of suggestions from family and friends for tours and restaurants etc while we are there, but other than the hotel, I haven’t finalized any plans yet. 

Thank you for all the great suggestions!  Toseaornottsea, I’ve sent Federico a message to see if he can accommodate us on that date. Fingers crossed. And Emdee, thank you for the suggestion to join y’all - if we can’t get the Alhambra tour worked out, that’s an option we would love. 

2 hours ago, wishIweretravelling said:

Alhambra is one of the few excursions that you are unlikely to get from being waitlisted. Regent is allotted only a certain number of tickets, and they can't use many different entry times because of the length of the drive from Malaga (I'm assuming that's your port). So, they can't just add another bus. And this is a tour much in demand. So, I'd recommend getting that private guide lined up asap rather than just hoping for for a call from the wait list.

 

I didn’t even bother waitlisting it because I’m sure this is true. 
 

Now I’m not even sure if we can go at all. The private tours I’m finding either can’t guarantee the ticket time or they are late afternoon ticket times which won’t work with drive back to Malaga for the ship departure. 
 

I am consoling myself with the fact that Malaga is on a whole lot of cruise itineraries (particularly the TA crossings) and that we have just started what I hope will be a frequent cruising career (God willing!). This is our first cruise to the Mediterranean and basically to Europe (We’ve previously only been to England and Scotland on land trips). And we wouldn’t have to spend four hours r/t on a bus, which my husband wasn’t real keen on. So now I’m looking at the alternative excursions in or around Malaga. Doesn’t have to be with Regent necessarily as we are ok doing private things or even exploring on our own if it’s not too complicated. Any suggestions welcomed!  

2 hours ago, toseaornottosea said:

We were on Voyager 3+ years ago, Barcelona to London and stopped in Malaga.  We prefer to use private guides so we took the Granada on your own coach.  We had previously booked a guide using Tours By Locals.  We arranged to have the guide meet us at the drop-off point for Granada on your own excursion.  From there we went to the Alhambra.  The guide took care of all arrangements at The Alhambra.  We had a great tour.  We made a brief stop for lunch before the guide returned us to the drop-off point for the bus for the return trip to the ship.  Easy-peasy.

 Thank you so much for this information! 

On 8/11/2019 at 2:55 PM, BettyDol said:

Hi Snorkel lover,  We will be on the Apr 3, 2020 Explorer cruise, Miami to Barcelona.  If this is the same cruise you will be on, I was able to book our excursions a few days ago and I have some info about the available Granada tours officially offered.  No.1: Granada and the Alhambra.  It cost $179.00, is 8 and a half hours long and includes lunch and guide.  80 mile ride.  No. 2 is: Granada on your own. It is free, 7 and a half hours and does NOT include entry fees or lunch.  The third option is Granada:  the soul of Andalusia.  It is free, 9 hours long and does NOT include the Alhambra.  There are 21 shore excursions offered.  One we have taken before was one of my most favorite excursions ever.  It is Picasso's Malaga.  I am not an art expert or particularly a Picasso fan and maybe it was the excellent guide we had, but it was a great tour.  I have also been twice to Granada and the Alhambra and both times it was a great experience.  Long day, but worth it!  I hope this info is helpful >

I am bumping up this thread with some questions about excursions to Alhambra. We are booked on the TA in April, our first Regent cruise. We didn’t book until Christmas time and by then the Option 1 listed above was already sold out. I have booked the free excursion that takes you to Granada but then you are on your own. I know we need the advanced tickets, but I would much prefer it to be a guided experience so I’ve been looking on Viator. Lots of options that include the admission already but I’m not sure what the “must see” parts are because every tour seems to offer different parts of the complex. Also hoping we won’t have trouble connecting with the tour when we get to Granada. I’d much prefer to do the whole thing with Regent but at this point, not an option. 
 

Any tips or advice appreciated! 

This is wonderful!  I have never followed a maiden/inaugural voyage and I’m sure this one will be full of detail. We are on our first Regent cruise on the Explorer TA in April and then spending five nights in Barcelona, which is a first visit there for us. Have not planned a lot of that part of our trip yet, except the hotel, so I will appreciate all the Barcelona related content you want to include!  

49 minutes ago, Camillus112 said:

 

Thanks all for the information.  Now, since ships and most hotels have not installed the newer waterproof electrical switches in the bathrooms, in order to use hair blowers I assume there would be standard switches near the room mirrors, especially the vanity mirror.  BTW, I recently stayed at a 5* hotel in London with no vanity mirror nor usable switch... Ah, men architects!

I am assuming there is an included blow dryer in the suite but would like to hear about the quality. 

10 hours ago, wishIweretravelling said:

Yes, there are pods--both espresso and brewed. But I also dislike the illy coffee, and prefer the french press in the Coffee Connection. I can't recall if there was tea.

Thanks! 

4 hours ago, Bellaggio Cruisers said:

All penthouses have a light up mirror on a stand sitting on the vanity/desk. There is no wall mirror. This is my favorite suite. 
sheila

thank you for the info Sheila. These suites look gorgeous. I keep watching the virtual tour in anticipation!  

From looking at the virtual tour, there doesn’t seem to be a mirror at the small desk next to the bed but I feel like I’ve seen a light up make up mirror in pictures or maybe video, that I’ve seen of this suite. Can anyone tell me if there is a mirror, because I will want to bring my own if there’s not. 
 

Also the amenities list an illy® Espresso Maker.  Does this have pods, where one can make a regular cup of coffee, and perhaps even tea?  We have a Keurig, and I’m not familiar with the illy brand. 

Following along as I want to hear all things related to the Explorer!  Have a wonderful cruise! 

3 hours ago, slidebite said:

Thanks - that's very helpful I'll try it!

 

That's actually the cruise we're looking at as well. If we do we'll probably run into each other.

 

It's hard to believe such a high end cruise line can have such an unbelievably unbearable website that wouldn't be accepted in 1996, let alone 2020.

Frustrating, but they are definitely not the only company. Disney’s cruise line website and even their Disney World website, is very glitchy in my experience. 
 

We are very excited for the TA! All the ports are new to us and it has lots of sea days, which we enjoy. Hope you book so we can meet on board! 

It’s definitely the website and not just you. We are booked on first Regent cruise - the TA from Miami to Barcelona April 3rd. I keep having problems logging into my account (the site wants me to create a new account and doesn’t recognize my password - this has happened multiple random times). And then when I am logged in, I have problems checking out with excursions in my cart. I finally was able to successfully add an excursion the other day but then it dropped all the other excursions I had already booked. The Regent rep I spoke with could see all of them but I could only see the latest one. Extremely frustrating!  

Is it possible to book the spa and salon treatments online so that we can see availability? 

Roy, thank you for the review of Puerto Chacabuco and your excursion. Will be there soon, and looking forward to it. The rough seas are giving me a little anxiety. Have never experienced rough seas in the ocean before and hoping it’s not bothersome for us!

Please post a review if you can.  We are signed up to do this excursion right after your date. The video looks amazing!  

I haven’t taken any pictures yet (ugh I’m such a bad photographer) but to the poster who wants pictures of the Celebrity Suite, I will take some in the morning when we have some good light and try to figure out how to post. I really do like the Suite and love the balcony but I do wish they had done a few things differently. I skimmed  another review about the shower/tub with the panel and wow, what a fail. It’s about 1/3 of the whole tub, and the entire bathroom floor was wet (along with the bath mat) after my husband took a shower. They are going to have to rectify that somehow. I also noticed the mirror in that bathroom and the adjacent half bath got majorly foggy and took a long time to unfog. Very minor quibble but just trying to post the smaller details. 

We ate at Luminae - no reservation required and we arrived about 8:00 pm but had only a couple of minutes before we were seated. The menu is fairly limited but everything we ordered, from the bread and butter and a ham croquette amuse bouche, to our filet entrees was very tasty and the service was good.  We skipped dessert but there is a coffee/and dessert bar in the grand plaza that has delicious cookies and other treats. We brought some back to the room and are having an early night.

Tomorrow we are also staying on board. Have been to Nassau and the Bahamas numerous times and the Edge Spa is calling our names!  

Adding my first impressions to Amy’s. 

We arrived at the port (driving from Tampa) at 1:15 and luggage drop, parking and check in were a total breeze!  I was super impressed considering the fact that  I couldn’t get anything to print out from home and so we had no luggage tags or even a single piece of paper with any info with us. We were on board and on our way to our room before 2 pm!  

The Celebrity Suite is lovely!  Very nice layout and roomy balcony with a table for two on one side and two club armchairs on the other side. I really love the balcony! 

There is a nice living room area with a couch, ottoman and coffee table across from the tv. Weirdly, they have a rocker type chair right in between that space that I whacked my toe on right away so we have moved it back towards the balcony. The bathroom has a nice split plan with the toilet and a sink when you come in the door and then a connecting door with another sink area and shower/tub that is off the bedroom. We are still trying to figure out the lighting and can’t get some of the lights to turn off at all. 😳

We’ve been all over the ship and it is amazing!  

We went to the bar at Eden and there is an upcharge for their specialty drinks even with the premium package. I loved the drink presentation but taste wise I’m not sure it’s an $18 drink. We also had drinks at the Martini Bar and there was no extra charge. I loved this space and the all-female band. 

So far, the Suite Class service has been a little underwhelming. I had ordered bar set up for my husband (I brought wine for myself to have in the stateroom) and we literally just had it delivered at 6:30,  after several calls about it. They were all out of the brand we had requested but he’s not picky so it’s all good. We are looking forward to trying Luminae for dinner and then checking out some of the nighttime venues. 

Amy, we have your same minor complaint that we can’t get the game!  Our favorite teams are Auburn and whoever is playing Alabama,  so go Georgia. 🤣

Hi Amy and fellow Edge fans. I am Bet and my husband (Tom) and I are from Tampa. We also booked this cruise kind of last minute. We are pretty new to cruising, but catching on fast. We did Crystal to Alaska in 2016 and took our daughter, oldest son and DIL, and 2 year old grandson on a short Disney cruise in April. Our daughter is 25  and now back home in Tampa in her first post-college job and she still loves Disney as much as she did when she was 5!  We do mother/daughter Disney trips as often as her busy work schedule will allow and will be going next weekend to do all of our Christmas favorites. 

I’ve been dying to try Celebrity and a newer ship. As much as we loved Crystal (and have B2B cruises planned on Symphony for February) I would really like to have more options and itineraries to choose from. 

We are staying in a Celebrity Suite on Deck 11 and I can’t wait to see it. I will try to post some pictures but I’m not very good at picture taking or posting. Any specific questions folks have I will be glad to try to provide info.