RachelG

Short answer—can’t do online. You or your TA have to call.

Good to know.

Portolan, we have that same excursion booked in Nagoya. What is lunch like?

Thank you, thank you, Portolan for all your valuable information as we embark on March 28. I am hanging on to every word! any information about the ports is also appreciated.

We also didn't have to produce printed copies. I had the original vaccine certificates with me, but I don't think they even looked at those either.

What you are having to deal with is ridiculous and a perfect example of why D2D is just a bad idea. You aren't getting what you paid for if they refuse to transport you from Seward to Anchorage. But if all else fails, there is a car rental place in Seward. My husband and I have disembarked from a ship there, gotten a rental car and driven to Anchorage. It is a very nice drive and a good way to spend the day.

Good review. Fortunately different strokes for different folks. A lot of issues you mentioned aren't a problem for my husband and me because we generally eat early and we definitely are not pool deck people (though chair hogging should NOT be allowed). But I do agree with you about the difficulty opening the door to the balcony--on our previous cruise on Splendor, I was never able to open it. My husband could do it with difficulty. As far as Pacific Rim, it is totally inconsistent. Some great meals there but others very similar to what you describe and like I said, we eat early so the time of the meal isn't the solution.

I just finished filling out the Japanese government website form. It is ridiculously confusing. But now done, I think> But I have a probably stupid question. How does one time stamp a photo on an iphone??

They are only on certain cruises, usually those with more sea days.

I wear a cocktail dress to dinner almost every evening when onboard.

I heard about the crab moratorium too, but then saw the crab on offer at Costco. Didn’t check the price though. Dave, I have thought of trying that. I still like the big once a year catalog with all the cruises though. Just wish they would stop the every week mailings.

I can answer a couple of these. People who did the evening tour defintely were back in time to go out to dinner. Remember, this is South America. They typically eat dinner later than we are accustomed anyway, but if you are wanting to make reservations, I think 8 pm would be safe. We ate at the hotel restaurant which was quite good. We had plenty of time on Saturday afternoon to walk around in Guayaquil. In the afternoon, it was fine. We walked over to the Malecon and all around there, and there were families, etc. But at night, the area around the hotel is full of prostitutes--did not feel safe at all.

Totally agree. If they would stop sending me brochures every week (and sometimes more often) I would really appreciate it as they go right in the recycle.

yes, crab generally seems to have gone missing, except for the crab salad in Chartreuse which was my least favorite of the crab onboard.

we have done plenty of SS excursions and plenty which I booked myself in advance or where we just did our own thing once in port. The SS ones have mostly been fine, some great. The problem with ones that you book on your own in advance is that if the port is missed for whatever reason, if it is a prepaid tour, you may not be able to get your money back. So make sure upfront before you book, that you will be able to get your money refunded if the port is missed.

Some good new options here, but I am disappointed that the crab cakes are gone from Prime 7. But agree all menus were in need of a refresh.

looks beautiful and just the sort of place George and I enjoy--not overly touristy, lots of natural beauty and white sand.

Can’t change excursions on the website. Old fashioned but true. as far as waitlisted excursions clearing, we are about 50/50. It kind of depends on the type of excursion. If there is a big demand and it is a situation where they can just add another bus, those usually clear. If it is a small excursion with limited availability, not so much. Someone will have to cancel and turn in their tickets. I have had some luck with just showing up at the departure time for the excursion and waiting for a no show. The excursion desk will advise you to do this if there is something you want that isn’t available.

I received the instructions from Regent yesterday and they are pretty clear that self testing (a test you do yourself, not a proctored test) is acce

Sad to see the cruise and commentary end!

if your preferred tour is full, asked to be placed on the waitlist. It most times will clear, particularly on the longer tours.

We did a great evening pub crawl tour with Regent in Belfast. This was years ago and my husband still is talking about it. There were about 20 on the tour. We went to 3 different pubs. Also did good regular Regent tours in Kirkwall--an archeological tour and a hiking tour. In Waterford, we did the Regent tour to the crystal place. Could have easily done on our own, but we pretty much just used Regent to transport us there and back. Once we got there, we did our own thing. We actually tend to do that a lot--let Regent transport us but do our own thing once we get there. l

Also no restrictions on bringing toiletries. I used regular sunscreen like I always do. And my normal skincare products, etc.

They gave us very nice super high quality masks and snorkels, which you get to keep.

What happened to you is my big worry. Don’t want to be stuck away from home and having to quarantine.