whenyoudream

Ron/Rick -

Thank you for taking the time to post about the Mariner and your cruise. Your perspective as well as some of the other comments were insightful and I'm sure they will help make our July voyage that much better.

If you liked the dolphins, you may get a kick out of the hundreds of sea lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco. Here's the webcam.

https://www.pier39.com/the-sea-lion-story/sea-lion-webcam/

Cheers!

We once went on a 3-day Carnival Cruise to Mexico from L.A. They thrust a cheap free drink upon everyone as we arrived on the deck for the bon voyage party (it was "red" and "tropical"??), and people of all ages and from all walks of life were having the time of their life. The food, cleanliness and safety were all below adequate, but no one seemed to notice! Carnival is the FUN ship!! Wasn't our thing.

May I say we are very much looking forward to our first Regent cruise! Really enjoying your posts and your relaxed cruising style. We would like to be far away from the madding crowds of L.A., no hoopla, no hassles.

I never expect perfection with group tours. But being put in an unsafe vehicle is unacceptable. It appears the Regent ship was the only cruise ship in the port on April 29. What was the excuse for that switch of vehicles and-or tour operator?

Our first cruise on Regent will be in July for Alaska, having traveled the Alaska interior by car on our honeymoon back when we could not afford a cruise of any price, so now going to see the glaciers and coastal cities in style 32 years later. We presume we will be fine with the run-of-the-mill excursions that are available to all ships, but expect the transportation to be SAFE, for crying out loud.

I've just joined Cruise Critic specifically to follow this blog! We will be sailing on the Mariner in July in Alaska and it will be our first "luxury" cruise.

I've tried to discern through Regent's advertising the extent of suite refurbishments, but the only thing that seems to be specifically noted is new bedding. It hasn't been clear to me that suites were entirely refurbished.

In any case, we are experienced travelers and know that nothing, not matter how much you pay, will ever be perfect. We are just really looking forward to our dollars going towards a peaceful, grownup, reduced-hassle cruise and appreciate that ronrick1943 is someone who enjoys the cruising itself.