Aubie59

1 hour ago, papaflamingo said:

If you're "dreading the transfer from the hotel to the ship" why not simply set up private transfer? 

Yes we considered that, but decided we didn't want to spend the money for the extra cost when we already paid the money for Regent to provide that service.  Would rather use that money for other things, like a nice dinner in Rome.  So we will just have to grin and bear it 🙂

6 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Well,you are paying for it indirectly as Regent is paying for the hotel from money you pad Regent, the thing is, Regent doesn’t seem to always do a good job in selection. Perhaps it used to be a good hotel, but due to delayed maintenance and understaffing, it isn’t anymore. Lots of hotels like that now. If Regent wants to offer real luxury hotels it needs to conduct periodic checks, to ensure things haven’t gone downhill..The same with the included transfers. They used to be pleasant.Now too many have all,the luxury of a military induction. No doubt, for what we pay, we deserve better land accommodations and transportation than we often get.

I totally agree with you, they need to do more quality checks on their hotels and land contractors. I am actually dreading the transfer from the hotel to the ship, as it is has not been a good experience on our last few cruises.  

On 9/22/2023 at 9:39 AM, jet65 said:

We just got back from cruising aboard the Mariner, which began for us in Rome.  We also opted for the Regent hotel program.  They used the Westin Excelsior, near the Spanish Steps, which was a convenient location.  At one time this hotel was probably very nice.  Unfortunately the rooms were in terrible shape.  Damaged furniture, stained worn out carpeting, threadbare drapes, and rusted bathroom fixtures, some falling off.  Fortunately there were good restaurants within walking distance.

 

the transfer to the port was just as chaotic as described above.  There were at least 5 buses used that we had to wait for to return from the port which is about 90 minutes away.  Needless to say we boarded an hour later than our scheduled time.

I really do not care for the "cattle calls".  Was so sorry to hear your review as we are staying for a one night pre-cruise at the same hotel in November.  Fortunately we will not be there that long...

Maybe I am thinking back to the Radisson days.

I may be wrong, but once upon a time didn't  the "no tipping necessary" policy included shore excursions as part of Regent's all-inclusive package?  We do tip tour guides and bus drivers, but along the same guidelines as we do with the ship's staff.

Can you go casual, ie, jeans or shorts at the Pool Grill for dinner?

Yes I have given up on the idea of live streaming.  Really appreciate the information!

1 hour ago, RachelG said:

I am not an electronics expert, but I examined the tv’s (yes, there are 2) and could not fine one on either.

Thanks!

Just now, Aubie59 said:

Thank you Rachel

18 minutes ago, RachelG said:

Don’t know but will find out

 

yesterday in Miami, we just left our phones on.  But while cruising, input mine on airplane mode normally.  I forgot to last night, and this morning I had a text that said I could get 50MB of data for $20 while on board if I added intl trvl 1mo and that without it calls would cost $2.99 per Minute and texts would be 50 cents to send  and 5 to receive.  This is with Verizon.  So I am going to airplane mode and George is doing the intl trvl option.  He gets way more messages than me.

Thank you SO much Rachel for your live reports as we are on the March 7th sailing.  Will be curious to know about the port situation.  Do you happen to know if the cabin TV's have an accessible HDMI port?  We are thinking about bringing our Roku stick to watch NCAA men's basketball tournament.  

39 minutes ago, cwn said:

You must not have sailed with Regent. There are no inside cabins. The lowest grade suite on all ships are very nice and around 270- 300 sq ft. The Navigator is the only ship that has a few window suites, all the rest have balconies. Very different from main line cruise ships with inside cabins of 110 sq ft! Granted moving would still be a pain.

39 minutes ago, cwn said:

You must not have sailed with Regent. There are no inside cabins. The lowest grade suite on all ships are very nice and around 270- 300 sq ft. The Navigator is the only ship that has a few window suites, all the rest have balconies. Very different from main line cruise ships with inside cabins of 110 sq ft! Granted moving would still be a pain.

I am a Gold member and have sailed many times.  But I believe someone posted they had converted crew cabins for quarantine rooms and maybe even a laundry room.  

2 hours ago, FengShui@Sea said:

 

Absolutely.  For us it would mean moving from our 1,000 sq. ft. Oceania suite to a 240 sq. ft. 'isolation' cabin, having our meals left outside our door, and not having any cabin attendant visits for at least 5 days.  Having spent 3 nights in a quarantine hotel in Vancouver last May I know first hand how much that sucks.  

 

However, out of an abundance of caution we decided at the beginning of this 12 night cruise that we would not go ashore in any ports.  We often wear our masks even when it's not required, use new masks daily, and we disinfect our hands probably 30 times a day.  By contrast, from our balcony we were watching several bus loads of passengers return from their visit to Barbados yesterday, and at least 50% did not bother to sanitize their hands before stepping onto the gangway.  My favourite was one woman who 'pretended' to use the sanitizer but clearly hadn't.  WTH?  I think if fellow passengers were a little more considerate and diligent it would go a long way to help protect the rest of us.  But since they aren't all we can do is be super cautious.  

 

If I was put in an inside cabin with no means for fresh air, my claustrophobia would kick in and I would probably feel like jumping overboard.

We tripled checked with Regent and TA  Only offered to transfer credits to other family members

16 hours ago, dvalentine823 said:

We were paid in full when Regent cancelled our March 2020 cruise due to Covid.  We were offered a full refund or a future cruise credit. You may want to double check on that!

It is glaringly obvious Regent has lawyered up and those of us with future cruise credits are at high risk of losing our money. We have been cancelled twice and because we were paid in full we could not get a cash refund. Now we are 2 years older and my husband will be 85 when we are scheduled to cruise early 2022.  Plus no one knows about booster shot requirements now that most of us have reached our 6 months since fully vaccinated. What a mess and I have a feeling Regent will wind up with all our money and we will have no cruise.