RachelG

2 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

Rachel, we never encountered anything. Ann did her due diligence and warned us too, so we brought along our good bug spray. But we never needed it. Can't say whether that's typical, or an anomaly.

I suspected that would be the case in dry season, but just wanted to verify.  Thanks!

Another question: have you encountered many biting insects?  I have my sunscreen supply, but need to know if I need to bring a big supply of bug spray.

Good to hear standards are fine regarding the food.

I also am really glad about Vigur Island.  We have visited there a couple of times, but it has been before 2019.  Last time we were there, the couple who owned it were getting pretty old, and I wondered what would happen. 

7 hours ago, paddingtonbear said:

Hi 

I was wondering if you actually did the tour and the walk afterwards? Where did you get info about the walk close to the port?  Thanks. 

We ended up doing the ship tour in Saguenay but not hiking.  It was a very cold, windy, foggy and damp day, so we were pretty much ready to just warm up after the morning hike, plus we had a guide who let us go off on our own, so we had a proper hike. 

Looks like the pasta choices are much reduced.  I bought extra sunscreen yesterday!

Have a great cruise.  Glad your excursion thing worked out.

1 hour ago, Emdee said:

At least on an expedition ship you can enjoy the expedition part even when everything else is a bust. Hope you can eat the bread on the Cloud. When we were on it it was inedible. Fortunately a lot of our ports were in Brittany so we were able to pick up some excellent bread ashore. Even the executive pastry chef said he was unable to bite into a bagel…was like a hockey puck. 
 

Well, I am probably better off if the bread is terrible.  Then at least I won’t be tempted.

So sorry for your experience.  I agree, if this happened to us, we would not be sailing Silversea again.  There is no excuse.  They should have given you a complete refund.  
 

we board Cloud in one month.  Hope things are great—my husband has very high standards.

JP , pics are awesome.  Question: the Wi-Fi must be at least adequate since you are able to post videos, correct?  

1 hour ago, lesliew said:

Did you fly out same day in Istanbul?  How was your airport transfer? 

We have a flight departing at 1:30 on arrival day so not super tight but want to be as early as possible + least amount of hassle.   We are doing our own transportation (meaning it's not included) so wondering if we should use the Regent Transfer or book our own.

Super easy to get a taxi at the port and not expensive.  We did book a transfer on our own once in Istanbul.  The driver never showed up.  We waited and waited, tried to call him.  Finally it was getting too close to flight time for comfort, so we grabbed a taxi and the driver drove like a crazy person, but got us there in time

Laughing about your inflated life vest incident as the same thing happened to me in the Galapagos. Got a lot of jokes from the crew.

George will be excited about the snorkeling.  If there is a strong current, I will probably give it a pass. 

On 6/10/2024 at 5:59 PM, jpalbny said:

 

I've not seen the series.

 

The late boarding was due to biosecurity inspections at the start of the season. It shouldn't affect your cruise. 

You MUST watch it.  I despise most medical shows produced in the US as the medical stuff is ridiculous, but this show is really good.  Whoever their medical consultant was knew their stuff.

JP, the RFDS museum looks interesting.  Have you watched the series on PBS?  It is very good and the medical parts are really quite well done.  They deal with a lot of airway issues!

Do they normally have you board this late on embarkation, or was this just an anomaly??

We have been there 3 times and we always tendered to the dock in Amalfi.  

JP, direct flight from Sydney to Darwin on Qantas.  We arrive after midnight but it is direct

1 hour ago, minotaur said:

I'm not sure what the problem about riding in a bus with 'a bunch of other people' is? After all, they would be fellow Regent passengers, there would have been a much bigger 'bunch of people' on the ship, and you would possibly have been on excursions with a similar bunch of people.

Just easier to deal with luggage with taxi or uber

11 minutes ago, PANK of Three said:

jpalbny, wondering if you can tell me if Silversea is providing a charter flight from Broome to Perth.  I will be on the Cloud at the end of the month and my confirmation shows only the transfer from the pier to the airport and from the airport to the hotel in Perth.  It doesn't indicate how we are getting from Broome to Perth.  I seem to be missing some information.  Hope you are enjoying your trip!  Thanks.

I believe the flight from Broome to Perth is included only if you are getting air through Silversea.  JP and I had discussed this previously.  On our trip, my TA has a large group going, so she negotiated with Silversea to include this flight, but normally it is not included if you do your own air is my understanding. 

SO excited your trip has begun, not just because I always look forward to reading your trip reports, but also because we are doing the exact same itinerary in July, and because I know that the stuff you all enjoy is the same stuff that George and I like.  So I am awaiting all your advise.

I thought our trip was long, but you have us beat.  We fly Tulsa to LAX then LAX to Sydney, spend 2 days in Sydney then on to Darwin.  

Have a great time!

On 6/3/2024 at 7:11 PM, BBWC said:

And what does Covid have to do with hand washing/sanitizing? I thought we had finally learned that it is an airborne disease.

exactly correct--I was just fixing to write that when I saw your post. 

Uber is super easy to use.  Much less expensive than the Regent transfer and you don't have to ride in a bus with a bunch of other people. 

Glad you took over with the trip reporting as I am having withdrawal.  I like the smaller portions too.  But I have not seen any scales in the suites.  Is this something in the upper category suites?  I have always thought that if I were to go on a cruise longer than 2 weeks, I would have to bring my own, as I am now working on losing the 5 lbs I gained in 2 weeks. 

1 minute ago, papaflamingo said:

Excellent!  We originally booked this cruise for Israel and Egypt, because (long story short) we were booked on the "ill fated" Voyager cruise last Oct.  Well, I woke up on the day we were to leave for the airport with the dreaded Covid!  Turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we had to cancel and I had insurance.  A week later Hamas attacked Israel and the "rest is history."  

Anyway, found this cruise starting in Haifa, looked at the previous cruise, started in Istanbul, so what the heck..why not?  Then saw the one before started in Barcelona and by the time we were done we'd booked 3 B2B cruises for a total of 32 nights!!!!  😱

Anyway, not surprisingly, the third cruise changed completely, but all three have amazing itineraries with a few repeats in some beautiful ports.  😎

I too had looked at it when it started in Haifa and was just waiting to book until onboard to get the benefits.  But as time passed, with current events, I knew the itinerary would change.  Which is fine.  The nights in port are a bonus.

4 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

If that's on Mariner we will likely be there.  We booked Barcelona to Barcelona a few months ago as the last leg (cruise you have booked) was scheduled Haifa, to Barcelona via Egypt.  Obviously that changed, so now it'll be Barcelona to Istanbul to Trieste to Barcelona.  Still, like you, the overnights they've added sound really interesting in order to really see some of the beautiful ports.  

One comment....if you don't know this.... the Trieste to Barcelona cruise is the last cruise for Mariner before she goes into major overhaul.  So one wonders....what will the condition of the ship be?  

Anyway, may see you on board. 😎

Yes, that is it.  We will look forward to meeting you.

April 24, 2024–disembarkation in Barcelona, Spain

We had to be up early as our flight was to leave at 10:15.  Cutting it close I know, but we had flown out from Barcelona a couple of times previously, and I was confident we could make it.  
 

We were first off the ship, through customs, and in a taxi by 7:15.  Checked in at the BA desk, went through security and customs again, and were sitting in the very nice lounge by 8:30–no lines anywhere except a short one for checking in with BA.

Flights were uneventful.  We had a very tight connection in LHR, but no issue making it. 
 

We had a good trip.  George didn’t like all the sea days, so we probably won’t do a trans Atlantic trip again anytime soon, but it was great seeing all our friends.  I did book a cruise for October 2025 while onboard from Trieste to Barcelona.  The draw is that every port is an over night, which I quite like the sound of.  And we have several other cruises planned in the meantime.  Next up will be the Kimberley in Australia in July on Silversea.

2 hours ago, Redking said:

Out of interest, where is the trivia quiz held? We're not quizers and on our most recent cruise (another cruise line) found that we couldn't enjoy a quit pre-dinner drink because the quiz was held in the only lounge bar at the same time. Being much larger ships, I'm sure this won't be an issue on the Explorer class ships but we're curious newbies to Regent.

Trivia is in observation lounge deck 11, but it is at 4:30 and always ends by 5, We generally went up at 5:30 to 6 for pre dinner drinks, but there are 2 other large bars on decks 4 and 5 as well, and small ones outside of Prime 7 and Chartreuse.