Fairgarth

Here's another suggestion. On our last cruise out of Civitavecchia, we did not want to stay in Rome. Been there. So we took out a map and followed the railway line up the coast from Civitivecchia. Not too far, you come to Tarquinia. So we booked into "I Tre Camini" for three nights. Federica picked us up from the train station and then gave us a ride to the port, only about twenty minutes. Tarquinia is an attractive old Tuscan town, just exactly the kind of thing we enjoy. Your choice, of course, but we would certainly do that again.

Good luck with that one. On a ten day cruise we could not get any specialty reservations so cannot offer an opinion on any of them. We were offered 8:30pm at Chartreuse but did not want to finish eating at 10:00pm.

Oh my, are they ever! We flew back from Heathrow last month. Taxes were $405. Each.

I suspect it goes back to the early days of computers when storage was limited and expensive. So don't enter the year. But it actually has one major advantage in avoiding foul-ups. If you want a flight on 17th June, for example, there is only one 17th June in the res system. For a cruise booking, in contrast, you would have to specify 17th June 2024 or 2025 or even 2026. Given Murphy's Law, how many customers and agents would get that all screwed up?

Sorry, my bad, incomplete reporting. Yes, our carry-ons contained laptops, meds etc as required by the airlines. We had to take those out and hand carry on board. In what, exactly? And for years now, we never board an aircraft without carrying enough essentials to keep us going for 48 hours if our checked baggage gets lost. That's what worried me.

Here's another approach that we had not seen before. We had a very unfortunate experience on British Airways last week. We were flying from Heathrow to Venice on an A320. As we waited in the departure lounge, a smiling agent approached and asked us what group we were. We were group 4. Would you like advance boarding? Come with me. So we did and only then realized we had been mightily conned. Oh dear, such naivety and innocence for world travellers! They absolutely insisted on taking away and checking our carry-ons. Too big, they said. Outright lie. They have been on aircraft all over the world and you could see what all other travellers were carrying. But, but, we said, they are full of valuables, medications, essential documents, lithium batteries and enough stuff for us to survive 48 hours if our checked bag got lost. So what if they now lost our carry-ons as well as our checked bag? See if they cared. So if you are caught in that situation, my advice is to lie in your teeth. If asked, of course you are Group 1. Get lost, sunshine.

This was at the Fincantieri shipyard in Ancona last week. Looks good! Grandeur on the left and the ship on the right not yet floated out is, I believe, Viking Vela. I was familar with Fincantieri at Marghera (Venice) but did not realize that Fincantieri has eight shipyards, two naval and six civil. Ironic really, Venice builds these huge ships, chases them away and says "don't come back". One of the cranes was loading a lifeboat on board as we watched.

Good point, I agree. In fact, for our next cruise out of Venice, we start with four days in Padova. We were there a few years ago and loved it. It also has the advantage that you can get a taxi for yourself and all your baggage right to the door of the cruise terminal. You can't do that from Venice itself.

Regent is doing itself no favours. Flying in on day of departure is a no-no. How could they not know that? (I've said it before - your faith in the airlines is touching and entirely misplaced.) Further, there are non-stops between Chicago and Vancouver. I suspect they have 'arrangements' of one kind or another with various airlines so you end up with an itinerary that you would never choose yourself. Very sorry you had such a miserable experience. We get older, sadder and wiser so I'm sure that will never happen to you again.

Antigua got hit by TS Phillippe yesterday. A number of businesses were destroyed and there is widespread damage and flooding. Anybody arriving soon might want to check that your planned itinerary is not affected.

A further complication, of course, would be if you had booked prepaid, non-refundable flights/hotels, VRBO/limo etc.

It's counter-intuitive, of course, but actually it's not. In the early days of Covid, one of the U.S. universities (Johns Hopkins maybe?) borrowed two aircraft from United (which were sitting on the ground, doing nothing) and set up a series of scientific tests. I'm quoting from memory so stand to be corrected here. They set up a dummy on a seat spewing micro particles just like the Covid virus and then located dectectors around the seat in various locations. Then they moved the dummy to a different seat and did it again. And again. Then they took the aircraft to 35,000 feet and did it again. Turns out your chances of catching Covid on a flight are very slim. The air comes in above you and is extracted at floor level by your feet so the air current is downwards and the particles did not spread through the cabin. As for airports, however, that would be a different story I'm sure.

Sorry, no beach within walking distance. The closest would be at Fort James. Anas on the Beach is on Dickensen Beach, a bit further north, one of the better ones but usually busy. Sorry again, no point in walking around town and nothing to explore. Lots to do on Antigua but you need to head out on wheeled transport from the port. Check out the 'Antigua Nice' website for ideas.

To respond to the original question, as I see it FWIW for gentlemen (can't advise the ladies). Smart casual would be dress pants with a crease, dress shirt with long sleeves and a collar. French cuffs, maybe? Shoes, not sneakers. Tie and jacket not required. Casual would be none of the above.

They are not that stupid! Some years ago, Northlink Ferries ordered three new ships - two from Finland and one from the Clyde. Then the Clyde came back and said they could not do the job. Right then, three from Finland, nae problem! How the mighty are fallen.

Thank you, kind Sir, for your reports on the voyage. I was interested for two reasons. First, the Panama Canal is on my bucket list. And second, having done crossings on the QM2 I was dubious if the other Queens would measure up. Those fears are now put to rest.

...and now for something completely different... Last time we sailed out of Civitavecchia we stayed at a B & B in Tarquinia for three nights (I tre Camini). We got the train from Fiumicino airport to Tarquinia (one change) and the owner met us at the station. When we checked out she gave us a ride to the cruise port. Tarquinia is a lovely, medieval hilltop town. We enjoyed our stay.

Thank you for the feedback, we appreciate it. All's well that ends well. Having cruised 21 times on seven different lines but never Regent, we are following your reports with great interest so thank you once more.

Yelp! This is a looming disaster! DW and her sister love rose de Provence. We are booked on Splendor in a few weeks - our first cruise on Regent. Our last trip was on Koningsdam where they had plenty of Whispering Angel so the sisters were happy. So please elucidate - is this a purely temporary, highly unusual situation for Regent? Or if not, should we contact them and request that rose be boarded for our cruise? Can that be done?

I flew out of YVR last month. They insist I take off my shoes. This was the second time it happened, and I find it most irritating. I'm over 75 so when I go through security at a U.S. airport I can keep my shoes on. But if in Canada, flying TO the U.S. why on earth would it be different? Other than total incompetence and a stubbornly contrary bureaucracy.

I would be very surprised if there are no empty cabins on a ship that was fully booked. Over the last dozen years, we have been no-shows on three cruises we had booked and paid for. Last minute family emergencies prevented our travel. We can't possibly be the only ones. So on a ship with 1000 cabins, even a 1% no-show rate would release 10 cabins.

Or to re-phrase that: you can learn from other people's mistakes. You haven't got time to make them all yourself.

Aha! Volume. I didn't think of that, thank you.

We sailed on her in early June. The beer list in the bars was almost entirely 'out of stock'. However, they did have lots of craft Alaskan from Juneau which were not listed. Which was fine, much enjoyed. However, again, there are lots of craft beers in the Vancouver area but none on board. Why not? Price? Taxes? Buy American?

We boarded Koningsdam in June. Check-in with HAL was very quick and slick. The line-up for security was not too bad. But then we had to line up for an hour and a half for U.S. Pre-clearance. Nobody can jump the queue as far as we could see. Vancouver port and Canada gets the bad reputation but c'mon folks, the problem is U.S. Customs. Just a thought - can anybody recommend arriving very late after all others are processed?