slidebite

lol HAPPY <WRITE OCCASION HERE> !!

I did an included Avignon tour with Regent a couple years ago and it was excellent. A ton of walking around on your own time after the guide did the initial introduction. Almost too much free time lol.

LOL I'm gonna bring a full ghillie suit and just loiter around during the day, see if I can be mistaken for a potted plant lol

Might sound obvious, but possibly a staff member? Someone in Maintenance?

I think many is relative 🙂 I work in and with industrial production and manufacturing facilities daily. It's literally been my entire professional career since I was a young man. I have been to many industrial facilities in North America and Europe over my 30+ years in industry. I'm actually leaving in 20 minutes to go to one as I type this 🙂 And many of them are fascinating and I'm sure would be very interesting for some to go to. But, public tours are just not as prevalent as you seem to be under the impression that they are. Maybe a little more so just 10 years ago when things were a little more laissez-faire than now... but today with safety, security and liability in the western world, it's just a can of worms most places have no interest in dealing with. Perhaps some places in Asia (as you mentioned) that maybe don't have the safety mindset? Maybe? I genuinely don't know about there but I can't help but think even there in the technology sector the bar is going to be fairly high with safety, proprietary IP and contamination worries. I'm on side with you, I think it's a nifty idea but the type of tours I think you are looking for is just not something that places are set up for, nor would they have much interest to do so. There are several very good reasons not to and only a couple of small, limited reasons they would. Exposure and marketing products to small groups of people is just not that great of a "pro." Places that even deal with consumer goods generally don't want the consumer visit their facilities. They are just are not set up for it. Setting up to be suitable to the general public/cruise crowd (including senior citizens) would require significant investment to keep everyone safe and not interfere with the facility. There are exceptions, especially those in places without strict laws (or with lax enforcement), those would be interesting to include and it's a great thought. A consumer direct "factory" - like jewelry, alcohol or some type of collectible (for example, the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa was kinda neat as was Murano Glass in Italy) but I don't think that's the kind of thing that is being discussed here? And in all fairness, once you've seen one or two distilleries or breweries, they're not that different. In a modern production facility, it's really just not that common unless it's designed for it. Now, with that said, even if there were just 1 at a port that they could arrange something to get into, I do think that would be a worthwhile and would be something different than the norm.

Absolutely true, but with the typical Regent clientele, that's a very small list lol

Thank you so much for the review! It was well written and easy to follow. We're leaving for 2 weeks on voyager in (checks calendar.....) 2 Weeks! Even more looking forward to it now. She was my last Regent cruise as well (staying 2 doors down from our old cabin) and so very looking forward to getting reacquainted. I'm actually glad they're changing up the entertainment. I always found they old entertainment formula to be a weak point. And I absolutely concur about dining. I actually was just speaking to Mrs. about this the other day that we really need to make a point of dining more at Compass Rose. Her reasoning against it is that it takes so long, but I am pretty sure we can speed that up a bit if she doesn't want to make it a 100 minute+ dinner. Chartreuse was easily my least favorite venue but we'll try it once. I kind of wished they changed that up to something different, maybe next refit to a Pacific Rim?

As someone that works in industry as my day job, with everything to food production to resource extraction equipment, I think its great idea and I'd be 100% on board because that would be right up my alley. But I think the practicalities of most commercial operations (especially a large one) that simply are not already designed for public tours might make it challenging. Liability aspects, proper PPE that is pretty much universal in most "factory" operations (safety equipment like proper closed and steel toe footwear, eye protection, head protection, hearing protection, long sleeves) and potential liability aspects would probably make it unpalatable to most operations. Many commercial operations (especially in Europe in my experience) do not even like photographs to be taken. I was in Germany for a business meeting back around 2008 and I took my camera out for a photo at a V-belt manufacturer I was visiting and I thought the Spetznatz were going to rappel out of the ceiling for me lol. Would it be possible? As mentioned, some facilities do allow for public tours but I don't think the cost/benefit would work to their benefit 99% of the time for those that aren't specifically built for that purpose with dedicated walkways and infrastructure, away from the "floor" of the operations. I can say that the factories I deal with, while some might allow for public tours, they are very few and far between with very, small numbers. But heck yeah, going to the Ferrari factory in Italy would totally be my thing and potentially visiting factories that are set up for it would 100% interest me for sure!

I'd just call regent yourself unless you're really wanting your ta to do it. It's a 5 minute phone call. They also have different info than the website. I called a couple weeks ago and they told me an excursion showed wait listed online actually was not and booked it for me.

100% agree. A shirt with a collar (short shirt sleeves is fine) and some sort of slacks he will perfectly fine and perfectly blend in with anonymity.

I think papaflamingo's point regarding income bracket is more along the lines of if you can afford a Regent cruise, you can probably afford to have clothing which fit the dress code. Not that resources = courtesy and respect.

I just did a quick check with a mock booking for our TA cruise next month and there were approx ~50 cabins still available, vast majority concierge+. Only a couple others at the extreme bow/stern for <=Deluxe But, I also understand that TA isn't necessarily a super highly sought after itinerary for many.

Doh! I had CD on my mind - of course, I agree.

As long as they are clean and not offensive, I personally don't care what anyone wears. But I admit I'd probably do a double take with a sweat pants/hoodie in Chartreuse... especially given the typical Regent demographic! Although to be honest I find nice shorts less casual than jeans, so if they allow jeans they should allow nice shorts... but that's starting down another path.

This just sounds awful. As someone that's not mobility impaired (yet, my sport of choice my yet change that for me!) it sounds like you could not have done much different. If you book the excursion with no limitation concerns given on mobility, you should have been able to go. Even if they should have and made a mistake, they need to man up and admit to it in a respectable, appropriate way. I do think you should track down the CD and explain the situation. It shouldn't take you days to track them down. Leave a message that you need to speak to them about an important matter and leave it to them to track you down. They should know about this. If you can get it off your chest it might make a world of difference with how you feel. Just my .02 Good luck and hopefully this doesn't ruin your cruise.

Antarctica and Galapagos are both on sort of a bucket list, but Panama Canal is something I hope to do in the medium-term. Been to Panama before and the miraflores locks, but never "thru" it 🙂

Panama Canal cruise is definitely on my list. Aboard any regent ship would be great, but the newest one would just be icing on the cake. Looking forward to more of your videos Gary. I am especially curious to how you compare Regent to other higher-end, luxury offerings.

Nice. Thanks for the clarification. I thought they likely would but that's not something I've tried.

Question about room service (since this is a dining clarification thread I thought I'd ask here, I found this from a search). I've only done Room Service once or twice for breakfast, I don't recall doing it for dinner off the top of my head or it was 2008 if I did. How does it work for alcohol? I know you have your "in suite" bar/setup, but let's say you do not have any wine in your suite (or appropriate wine for that matter) but would enjoy some with your meal. Will they bring a bottle if you ask? I am thinking specifically of the non-premium ($$) offerings.

I did not know the Compass Rose menu was available for room service during dinner - is that fleet wide? Good to know.

I have been waiting for him to put up this video for a while now. I think he has the best general cruising channel, most others are quasi cringeworthy IMHO. His presentation style and production value are very good. I think his take was interesting (and I was looking forward to seeing it) but since Navigator is a bit of a unicorn I'm curious to see others. Either way, he seemed to be very skeptical (a reasonable position) of the value of all inclusive cruises in the past, I'm interested to see how his thoughts are as he starts to compare to other lines.

Sounds like a great move!

What a fiasco. It's things like that is why Regent needs to have it plainly signed everywhere and enforced. I'm sorry you had to endure that.

In all reality, it's literally the same idea as someone not moving a food tray off their table at a food court table in a shopping mall. "Oh, my apologies, I simply mistook your rudeness and entitlement by taking something for hours on end as simple laziness. No problems and rest assured, it will happen again! 🙂 " I've personally never really run into a big issue with it, but if I do I sincerely hope they enforce it fleet wide.

Never been on Navigator but I believe the super-automatic espresso machine is always available at the coffee connection, barring it being serviced in the middle of the night or something. So if you get up extra early you should be able to get your cup of coffee/espresso/late. I think (and this is going back 5 years) Voyager had one up on deck 11 too for people going on an early morning walk topside. But I might be confusing it with another ship.