Arlopop

On 3/11/2023 at 5:38 PM, SWFLAOK said:

We're on the same cruise, and I was also wondering about an engine issue. Our TA called us last week about the changes, which always delayed our arrival port later. We have an excursion in Grenada that starts at 2:30, and that's when we're now scheduled to arrive. I think most of the excursions were 2:30 or 3:00, and ours still was listed at 2:30 when I looked yesterday.

Based on our last Regent back to back cruises on Splendor starting last September, during the Queen's funeral, I don't expect destination services to make any plans with the tour providers to adjust the times. Just as on those Splendor cruises, I expect them to tell us that they're cancelled, with an envelope in our cabin, when we board. There will be big lines at destination services after that, and they will have nothing other than a map, and possibly a shuttle bus, to replace our excursions. And if we're even more unlucky, we won't find out until we look for our excursion bus to find that it's not there, or that it's going to someplace other than we expected it to go. We experienced all of that on Splendor and gave Regent our feedback on the poor service provided by destination services. We had many great cruises on Regent pre-Covid, without this type of problem. I hope they get they're act together since we travel to experience the destinations, and not to stay in a floating hotel.

I’m sorry they haven’t adjusted your excursion time.  I checked ours as soon as I got the port arrival changes and the only conflict with an excursion of ours was one originally scheduled at 11 am, and it had been changed to 2 pm. So I assumed all the excursions were being adjusted. 

21 hours ago, doncarlos said:

  I can think of a few reasons for all the recent iten. "adjustments" . a] the original planner was a lousy navigator b] new whale type speed restrictions [ doubt it Charleston to Hamilton crossing ]  c] engine room issue such as one diesel down thus reducing cruise speed  d] new idea how to lower vibration by adjusting RPMs down .....

We are on the upcoming 2 week Southern Carribean on Navigator leaving end of April. We received changes in port arrivals and departures 2 weeks ago, and although it didn’t substantially affect our plans (it pushed one excursion back a couple hours) I did wonder if it had something to do with an engine issue that will require substantial maintenance, or perhaps squeezing some diesel savings ($) from slower speed. In any case I’m hopeful there are no further surprises.

2 hours ago, forgap said:

I did post on the SS board,  I wasn’t attacked per se but countered pretty strongly.  The FaceBook page, on the other hand, was venomous.  They have a “no complaining” rule which is liberally interpreted as no negative comments.  Someone said I should build my own ship so I could be completely satisfied.  Gee whiz - tough crowd.  

The SS FB page is pretty much a cheer section for Silversea. It can be difficult to actually have a conversation that even hints at flaws.  That said, I’ve seen posts there that were genuine tirades about how the ice in their drinks was sized inappropriately (too small and melted too much) 😂.

9 minutes ago, Joanandjoe said:

Did you post your review on the SS board?  Of so, I wouldn't be surprised to find people attacking ("flaming") you for your unfavorable review.

I certainly hope she isn’t getting attacked.  It was a fair and consistent review of her experience.  I felt the review hit on things she found good and not so good.

There is no reason for the OP to be attacked at all.

1 minute ago, forgap said:

Yet, as I said in my review, with all the guidance about dress codes it was not enforce - even on formal nights.  I saw men in short sleeved, open neck shirts, no jacket, stroll right on it, led by whomever was assigned to escort them.  give me Regent any day!  
 

 

That’s been a major complaint from longtime SS cruisers over the last year - that the dress code has fallen by the wayside.

I suspect it will be changed at some point.

4 minutes ago, Gpilon said:

Unfortunately, it was not posted 4 years or so ago as we always read requirements beforehand. Regardless, staff were just rude on that cruise. An anomaly……perhaps but it strayed with us to the point of never wanting to sail with Silversea again.

Maybe it was more than four years ago because this is a thread from Cruise Critic from 9/25/18 that quotes the same criteria from their website.

I’m sorry you had a rude experience.  I’m inclined to believe it was anomalous, but I understand how it can stay with you and sour any other thoughts of trying it again.  I’m glad you’ve found Regent to your liking.

4 minutes ago, Gpilon said:

It should have been announced prior to booking, paying and sailing. Then, one can make his/her choice as to how formal they want their cruise to be, or not to be.

It actually is - on their website.

https://www.silversea.com/travel-informations/general-information.html

Clothing Suggestions – Shipboard Attire

Shipboard attire ranges from casual to formal. Casual wear is appropriate for daytime aboard ship or ashore and consists of standard sports outfits as worn at five-star resorts. Shoes should be flat or low heeled for deck activities. Evening attire falls into three categories: casual, informal and formal. On casual evenings, pants, blouses, skirts and casual dresses for ladies; open-neck shirts and slacks for gentlemen are appropriate. On informal evenings, ladies usually wear dresses or pantsuits; gentlemen wear jackets (tie optional). Appropriate formal evening wear for ladies is an evening gown or cocktail dress; gentlemen wear tuxedos, dinner jackets or dark suits. Tie is required.

On formal nights, guests may dine in La Terrazza and choose to dress informal; dresses or pantsuits for ladies, jackets for gentlemen (tie optional). This option also applies to Seishin and Stars on board Silver Spirit. Dining at The Grill is optional casual
all nights. Following dinner, all guests are free to take advantage of any or all public spaces, however, jacket is required. Sailings of 9 days or less typically feature 1 formal night, while longer voyages usually have 2-3 formal nights. Details will be provided in your final cruise documents, but the chart below provides a basic guideline to assist in packing the proper attire.

Please note: On 7 day sailings in the Baltic, Mediterranean and
Alaska, formal night is always optional; guests may choose to
dress informal, a jacket is required for gentlemen.

Evening Dress Code*   
Number of Cruise Days -> Formal -> Informal -> Casual
4 -> 1 -> 2 -> 1
5 -> 1 -> 3 -> 1  
6 -> 1 -> 3 -> 2  
7 -> 1 -> 3 -> 3
8 -> 1 -> 4 -> 3
9 -> 1 -> 5 -> 3
10 -> 2 -> 5 -> 3
11 -> 2 -> 6 -> 3
12 -> 2 -> 6 -> 4
13 -> 2 -> 7 -> 4
14 -> 3 -> 7 -> 4
15 -> 3 -> 8 -> 4
16 -> 3 -> 8 -> 5
17 -> 3 -> 9 -> 5
18 -> 3 -> 10 -> 5
19 -> 3 -> 10 -> 6
20 -> 3 -> 11 -> 6

46 minutes ago, Gpilon said:

Our last Silversea cruise (Muse) was when the ship was basically new and sailed from Venice to Barcelona. Every dining venue save for the deck required men to wear jackets, and was very much enforced, even though it was never announced beforehand. One of the first nights on board, I ventured into the main dining room without a jacket, and was promptly (and fairly rudely) told I could not enter until I put one on. I did and went back, was seated, and did as most men at the restaurant did that evening, removed my jacket and put it on the back of my chair. Where is the sense in that? We found Silversea too formal and “stuffy” and agreed we would never sail with them again. We did our third Regent sailing March this year and are now committed to the Brand.

Totally understandable - some people prefer a less formal atmosphere, while some like something more.  It’s nice to have a choice.

It is interesting that you say it was “never announced beforehand” as Silversea always lists the dress code for the evening in the daily Chronicle that is distributed to each cabin, and throughout the ship.

I include an example:

On 9/14/2022 at 11:24 AM, forgap said:

I hope that my less than wonderful ship experience was limited just to Whisper.   Sometimes cruises are jus one off fo what ever reason.  

We did 15 day Carribean last December on the Whisper.  As far as entertainment goes I agree entirely - it was not very good.  Fortunately for us it isn’t high on our list of expectations.  The serving and bar staff are superb. They knew exactly when to check on us without ever hovering, and there wasn’t a single crew member who didn’t give their all if one had a request or question.  They are simply the best.

We found La Terrazza to be perfect.  We kept going back.  The main dining had one single hiccup in terms of food quality (a dish arrived a little cold) and was easily forgiven.

We didn’t encounter any provisioning problems at all and we were actually surprised at what they had on hand when we asked.

We had one excursion, sailing, that went awry when the boat we were to board broke down on the way to get us.  We were told it could be an hour or more by the ship rep before they got it fixed. When we said that we would pass and take the tender back to the ship because, as my wife said, “How do we know it won’t break down again while we are aboard?”, the rep mocked my wife and said, “You’re being ridiculous.”  That left a sour taste in our mouth and we reported it.

Overall, our experience on Whisper was wonderful, and we were quite pleased.

For our Southern Carribean next April I used my iPad and no problems at all. Just went down the list, port by port, and booked.

At one point changed my mind and had to call to remove the previously selected excursion. Got right through and it was dropped in less than a minute on the phone.

18 hours ago, Avidtravler said:

We just found out that we have been assigned by Regent to stay at the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables for our pre-boarding night in Miami. This is for our February cruise on the Splendor. Also was surprised to  learn that the hotel has no dinner restaurant. Has anyone stayed at this hotel? Would appreciate your comments about the hotel and it's location. Would also appreciate any suggestions on a restaurant not to be missed for dinner nearby the hotel. Not choosy on the type of food.

I just looked and they actually do have a dinner restaurant- Bar 50.

A link to their menu:

https://www.hyatt.com/content/dam/hotel/propertysites/assets/regency/coral/documents/en_us/dining/bar-50/Bar_50_FULL_M.pdf
 

Hi,

We have never sailed Ponant, but have worked our way through Silversea, Regent, etc. Ponant’s itineraries, particularly the ones off the beaten (to a pulp) track have intrigued us and we find ourselves tempted by them. We love small ships and that is part of the appeal of Ponant.  
We are considering a test voyage and are looking at a TA or Oceanic to try out.  Since Ponant makes no port stops on those voyages it is essentially nothing but sea days.  We actually LOVE sea days, but are concerned that 10 or 11 in a row (or more) could wear even us out.  What kind of sea day activities are offered by Ponant?  We aren’t looking to be distracted constantly; just hoping there’s an occasional shipboard offering to break up the long string of ocean loveliness.

How long was the cruise originally?

On 7/9/2022 at 7:07 AM, Arlopop said:

Thanks. There isn’t a hotel listed in there yet - only “TBD.” I’m sure it will be updated. I will keep checking.

And today the hotel assignment appeared: Intercontinental Miami.

Was hoping for Mandarin but Intercontinental is fine. 

Does anyone know if Regent has completed the transition to facial recognition for passengers on all ships instead of cards to reboard in ports? It’s my understanding they did a trial run, but I haven’t heard if they’ve adopted it or, if so, whether they are using it fleet wide as yet.

1 hour ago, Pcardad said:

Of course, they aren't. Summer cruises to Alaskan, Northern Europe and the Med are very expensive....most of the other stuff can be as much as half those prices. Enjoy your trip! 

The Med and Northern Europe pricing climbs because of business air. Whether you’re pricing Regent, Silversea (included economy air), or Seabourn (no air included), once business class drops in they all hit roughly the same price point.

Alaska is just Alaska, regardless of the line.

8 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

We get a couple of Regent ads in the US mail each week. No problem for me, except that all advertised cruises are priced over $1K pp/per day — except for a few window rooms on the Navigator. I don’t know of a way to opt out of advertising material in the US mail. But email ads are required to include an opt out link.

Wow! But to be honest, my wife and I just booked 14 days, ABCs and Southern Carribean next April, concierge, for less than $580 pp/per day, so they aren’t ALL priced over $1k pp/per day. 

3 hours ago, mrstanley said:

How did you end up with so much OBC?

In our case Regent offered a 2 suite upgrade and $1000 OBC recently and we took advantage of it.  Our agent added another $200 OBC.

We’ve looked at the excursions for our two weeks and to be honest the ones with out of pocket costs aren’t that interesting to us. 
I guess we’ll just hit the wine cellar.  Lol

Mighty interested in this thread.  Our first Regent Cruise is April ‘23 (we previously cruised Silversea), and we too have an abundance of OBC ($1200).  Being new we feel inadequately prepared for options regarding its use.  So, keep adding ideas for us.

4 hours ago, Roccaforte said:

We’re sailing on Splendor in January to ABC  islands.  According to our TA we got one of only two remaining Concierge cabins. I don’t think they’ll cancel a fully booked cruise.  On the roll call for this  cruise people are wait listed and hoping for a cancellation.  Since  flying to Europe to meet a cruise ship is not very appealing these days, the Caribbean is a good alternative for people who just want to get back to cruising.  We’re driving distance to Port of Miami so a nice luxury vacation works for us.

Our ABC/Southern Caribbean (14days) is April on Navigator, and every cabin class is still available. So maybe everyone booked for your January and no one is left for April. 😂

My fear is that there seems to be an abundance of availability left for the cruise (strange, because it’s a nice 2 weeks through the ABCs and southern part of the Eastern Caribbean) and they could possibly cancel it. Thus, the lack of hotel yet.

I’m probably worrying for nothing. Lol

23 hours ago, Brownie54 said:

 

Did you look at the calendar version of your trip in My Account? That is where it will show up.

I can’t remember when they let you know about your hotel, but I do know we have known our hotels for awhile for both a October 1 and a January 7 cruise.

Thanks. There isn’t a hotel listed in there yet - only “TBD.” I’m sure it will be updated. I will keep checking.

6 hours ago, Brownie54 said:

If you have already set up your My Account on the Regent website, then there’s not much more you can do but continue to check or ask your TA.

My account is set up, but by your answer does that mean the hotel should be assigned by now?  I assumed it isn’t assigned this far out (9.5 months away) and was just asking how far out it is usually assigned. If, however, it is usually assigned immediately upon booking, then yes I will check on it with my TA.

Quick question from a Regent newbie: we are taking our first Regent cruise next April (2023), Caribbean, out of Miami, Navigator.  When can we expect our hotel designation to appear?  I wouldn’t imagine it would be this far out, but being new I don’t know when we should expect to know.

Well, terror averted.  Airline finally got our baggage to us.  We were sweating it out.

Can now head to port with that anxiety lifted.

travel yesterday was a nightmare, but smooth sailing from here on out (🤞).