papaflamingo

We were in an F-2 on Grandeur in Jan. The only time we heard our neighbors was when I was on the sofa and he was on his sofa (on the other side of the wall). We were traveling with friends on the other side of the cabin (TV wall) and never heard them, nor did they hear us. Anyway, it sure seems to be a problem. Have you mentioned this to your neighbors? Perhaps you could "ask" if they are hearing you as a lead in to letting them know that you hear them? Anyway, seems different cabins have different issues. It's too bad as Grandeur is a beautiful ship.

No. The letter that people got on the cruise before us was posted on a thread here. As I remember it specifically described the addition of the shore power mechanism. But, the cancellation of Nicaragua was 3 months before the cruise and stated "Due to current restrictions imposed on cruises into Nicaragua." I am just "internet savvy" enough to take about 30 seconds out of my day and see what is going on in Nicaragua and there was an Embassy alert for "political uprising" (or something similar) so I just and saw the travel advisory (it was really for unfair treatment of foreigners or something like that). So I simply assumed that was the reason. But further research (just a couple of minutes ago) said that last year Nicaragua closed for cruise ships. "Political uprising" was my term only because I actually didn't remember the wording of an email I received about 6 months or so ago a port I didn't care about, for a great cruise I completed 4 months ago. As for Acapulco, it wasn't much of a mystery. They were hit with a major hurricane in late Nov./early Dec. that destroyed the city. Mexico has spent Billions trying to get the infrastructure back up and the city open. So no surprise, nor explanation, needed there.

We stayed at the Keio Plaza Tokyo in the Shinjuku area and loved it! Had a "club level" room and gave us access to the club on the 19th floor and included breakfast either at the club or down in the restaurant and evening drinks and appetizers that we simply turned into dinner. Great location.

I don't believe that is correct. I believe you can cancel Regent Air prior to the 60 days as that is when they pay for the tickets. What you lose if you book Custom Air then cancel it is the $175 per person Deviation Fee. And the 60 days is mostly when 100% penalty for cancelling begins for cruise cancellation. The only risk you run booking 210 days out is the non-refundable $175 pp. But you have secured seats on flights you want so it is, IMHO, well worth it.

What you want to do is to Deviate your flight. You do that by contacting Custom Air. There is a $175 per person non-refundable Deviation Fee. When you call you will have a single $75 charge to talk to them, but that will be applied to one of the $175 Deviation Fees IF you accept deviation, so it becomes "free." Anyway, when you do this you can request any flight itinerary and go any day (up to 30 days before and after the cruise). So if you want to go a day or two early, or stay a day or two (or more of course) after the cruise you can. If you choose to do this, research your flights and itineraries and have a list of what you want. If Regent has "contract rates" on your requested flights then there will be no additional charges (other than the $175 pp). If they don't have "contract rates" you are likely able to book it for an up charge. It is up to you if the up charge is worth it or not. Anyway, Deviation can be done 210 days before your cruise, and IMHO, well worth it. If you go the same day that Regent would have sent you anyway, I believe you still get transport provided. If not, you have to find your own transportation to the hotel. But wisdom (and 29 years as an airline pilot) tells me NEVER GO THE DAY THE SHIP LEAVES!!!! Anyway, Custom Air is very easy to work with and will help you find routing (if available) if you don't want to pay the up charge and your desired flights aren't available. Of course the more you research and more flight options you find, the better chance you'll find one that has no (or very minimal) up charge. Once you agree on deviation they will send an email (to your TA if you used one). This email MUST be responded to as it is the actual acceptance of the deviation. Also on most airlines you will be able to choose your seats while on the phone with the Regent Agent. One more comment about Atlanta to Reykjavik flights. Not sure what you mean by "disappearing," but if you're looking at Delta, those flights may be seasonal and also NOT daily. So you may have to fly on a Mon. Wed. or Fri. for example.

The Concierge Cabin is the cheapest cabin where a night is included, so it makes sense that these cabins would be the first bumped. Then Penthouse, etc. in order of cabin cost. Like the airlines, the bumping won't start with First Class, it'll start with the lowest cost economy seats. Was it "every" Concierge Cabin? Who knows? If not, then could be date cabin was booked.

I find a comfort zone in many places...even some I will not mention publicly! 😱 🤣

Yeah...heard about this on the news so....just couldn't resist. I figured it would be a lot more exciting than "gee my Prime 7 steak came out medium not medium rare...not a luxury experience" threads. 🤣

Just a couple of comments.... There has been enough discussion regarding the comment that the Captain "refused" to answer both the Coast Guard and the Harbor Master, and discussion of airlines leaving people at the gate for me to comment. I am both Retired U.S. Coast Guard and a Retired Airline Captain. Let me say this. No Professional Ship's Captain would EVER "refuse" to answer either the Harbor Master OR the local Coast Guard!!!! I can't stress this enough. A ship's captain simply DOES NOT ignore the local authorities, at least not if he wants to keep his job. It would be like an Airline Captain ignoring and refusing to answer an FAA Controller. SIMPLY NOT DONE! As for Airlines leaving people at the gate. What you may or may not know.... for an airline to depart a Weight and Balance must be generated and on board. In order to make an "On Time Departure" the flight is "closed out" around 5-10 minutes before departure and the Weight and Balance is generated. ANY change, even adding 1 person (or removing 1 for that matter) requires a whole new Weight and Balance to be generated. This is done (at least at the airline I flew for) by the Dispatchers in an office at the airline's headquarters so it isn't a quick thing. THAT is the number one reason that Agents don't let late passengers board. And to add to that, airlines are ranked by on time performance, something that the traveling public demanded, so the days of waiting have come and gone. And just for perspective of how critical Weigh and Balance is, when I flew the L-1011 (a very large plane weighing over 400,000 pounds), we took a Football Charter out of Florida. We had to remove ONE 180 pound Charter Rep. in order to have the "numbers" for takeoff. Imagine a 180 pound person being "critical" to an over 400,000 pound aircraft! So Weight and Balance is no joke. My point is, there is a lot in this story that is not exactly correct, and there are a lot of dynamics in place that make something that seems simple, like waiting, very difficult and costly. But before judging anyone, it's imperative that all dynamics are understood and the entire story is known.

Actually, we were on the cruise immediately after the one you are referring to. And the reasons were clear. Nicaragua was cancelled due to political uprisings (this was done on our cruise too). Acapulco was cancelled because of a hurricane that pretty much wiped out the city a month before (this was cancelled on our cruise too). And Cabo and Ensenada were cancelled and substituted with Puerto Vallarta and an overnight in Los Angeles. This was done so that the ship could be in LA a day early. Grandeur has an ability to hook up electrically to the port and completely shut down their engines for environmental reasons that will become a requirement in ports like LA. The "mechanism" for this hook up was not completed before her first sailing so they had to do the work in LA and finish it, thus the extra night in LA. It was pretty clearly laid out in the letter posted on an earlier thread here. So, in fact, the guests WERE told the reasons.

Don't panic, they'll let you know. We got our assignment on our Preliminary Cruise Summary that came about 60 days prior to the cruise.

We've been on over 40 cruises on multiple lines including over 120 days with Regent. In my experience, we've always been able to find out why a port is cancelled if we ask. Mind you, I don't really ask as in most of our cruises we've had cancellations for pretty obvious reasons or "heard" a reason. So maybe that's why. But for me, as a former Airline Captain who dealt with issues my whole career, I tend to accept that there is a legitimate reason for any cancellation and whether I know it or agree with it as a passenger, is irrelevant. So that could be why I haven't really noticed a lack of information.

Actually I believe it will depend on when they segment the World Cruise. As mentioned Formal Optional is only on cruises of 16 nights or more. So if no segment is 16 nights or longer then there will be no formal nights.

Wow! THAT'S a "weird" routing. When we tried to get to Sydney they couldn't put us on Delta at all! So it looked like it was going to be Atlanta-Doha-Sydney on Qatar. 28 hours airborne and about 5 hour sit. in Doha! We ended up cancelling the cruise (not for that reason), but if you're headed to Sydney via Atlanta, you may end up with something like that. The good news is Qatar is rated as one of the best Business Classes in the world.

We were on Grandeur in Jan. and the food was excellent. Some of the new dishes were great, others... total miss, but I simply read the descriptions and if it didn't sound good I didn't order it. But Prime 7 was great. No problems at all. But I don't usually order lobster on a ship as I know they're frozen and just not a fan. Having said that, the Tempura Lobster in Pacific Rim is great! Anyway, that was my experience.

We pre-registered for a Grand Cruise in 2022 and from what I understand, what the deposit does is puts you on a "waitlist" for the cruise. When they opened the cruise they first cleared the "waitlist" first and then put remaining cabins up for sale. We got exactly the cabin we wanted. Since you "waitlisted" for a Penthouse A on a World Cruise, I would expect it extremely likely you'll get the cabin you chose. Generally, from years of checking out cruises, the Penthouse C or B go first as they're cheaper. Of course I really don't know, but I'd be surprised if you don't get what you want. I'm jealous, by the way. Would LOVE to do the World Cruise, ESPECIALLY in a Penthouse!!!!!

Will they put you on a "weird routing" because it's cheaper? Yes. But it's less likely it'll be a 12 hour layover. I tried to get a 13 hour layover in SFO on our flight to Hong Kong and Regent stated they can't route that way as the layover was too long and it would be considered a "stop over" with an additional charge. BUT, the cutoff could be 12 hours, I don't actually remember. But the "sticker shock" isn't always that bad, you have the option of booking independently if the cost is too high, and they'll work with you to find cheaper flights. Lot's of examples, but here's a couple of recent ones. We are going to London in June (not on a cruise). I live in Atlanta and am retired Delta so get an Employee discount. It was over $2000 LESS if I booked ATL-BOS-LHR. So that would be a route that Regent might book for you. As to our ATL-HKG flight.... when we first booked it with NO up charge on United, it had a 4 hour layover in SFO. About a month later United changed the schedule and we ended up with a 1:40 layover in SFO and since it was Feb. we decided it was too short to risk. I talked to United and they couldn't do anything as, it turns out, Regent doesn't actually pay for the tickets until about 60 days out. So I called Regent and wanted to change to a scheduled connection on United's website that was 13 hour layover. That's when they told me it they won't book any layover's that long so it would have to be a $500 stopover. We opted no. Anyway, they did tell me they would pay for the ticket on Dec. 20. Further discussion of a change would have resulted in cancelling and re-pricing the flight and another $175 pp fee, etc. So...nope. Then on Dec. 22 I called United and told them my requested options to go a day early with a 13 hour layover, and arrive in Hong Kong same day as before, but 12 hours earlier. They looked at the flight and since it was a schedule change on the original, and the new flight was the same price (on their website) they simply made the change and it all worked out great. So sometimes you just have to try all options. 😎

Seems that Regent has contract seats with most airlines, just not every flight. For example, a couple of years ago we could NOT get Delta to Australia at all for the beginning of the cruise! Not even with an up charge. However we had zero problem getting Delta from Tokyo at the end of the cruise with NO up charge. So the best thing you can to is research flights on airline websites and find the itineraries you most want. Then, if the airline shows more than one rate for business class, i.e. one refundable and a lower one as non-refundable, then it is more likely Regent will have contract rates on those flights. You can really get a pretty good idea, for example if the fare is $6500 on airline A but $4500 on airline B it's more likely you can get airline B. I always find at least 3 itineraries before I call. Then when I'm on the phone with the agent I have the airline web page open to the flights and I can look at the options as we discuss them. The agent also will tell you of other options if nothing you pick will work. Not sure this answers your question at all, but it's been my experience. The Custom Air Agents are remarkably helpful and easy to work with, but you DO need to "do your homework" and know what you want before calling and also have an idea how much of an up charge you may be willing to pay to get a better flight.

Ok... You're right, you shouldn't have to explain it. I apologize for asking, although YOU were the one who put it out as "disturbing" on social media. Just seems like an extremely small thing to be "disturbed" about since there is an easy "work around" as you stated. Again... sorry for asking.

Thanks SWFLAOK, appreciate the info.

Just so I understand, you're "disturbed" that you MIGHT someday have to make a phone call from the ship and it won't work? If it's an emergency, I'm pretty sure that the crew will make sure you get through. Or.... just use your cell phone in wifi calling.

This might have actually been a case of "lost and found." I agree, I'd never leave my cell phone for hours to reserve a chair. It's very possible it fell out of someone's bag or something and they didn't notice. At least if I felt so inclined to turn it in, that sure would have been my excuse as I went back to the chair. 😎

We were on Explorer from Feb. 21-Mar 6, Hong Kong to Tokyo. We had absolutely no issues with Destinations Services. We had one port where the excursion had cancelled and we waitlisted for a different one and didn't clear. We went to Destination Services as soon as we got on board and they quickly and cheerfully put us on the one we wanted and on another excursion in a port where we forgot to book anything. And they were very easy to deal with when asking about town shuttles, etc. So really no problems when we were on board.

Do you mind me asking, what is the price and perk difference between a world cruise on Regent and world cruise on Silversea? Not asking actual cost as that's none of my business, but was it significant if you'd booked the cruises at the same time? Also is there anything one or the other includes that's different? Just wonderin' as Regent is getting pretty pricey.

We just finished Hong Kong to Tokyo including a 3 day pre-cruise tour. All our guides were good to great (mostly great). We sailed Feb 21-Mar. 6. Plus we did a full day tour in Tokyo to Mt. Fuji through Viator and had a great time in spite of cloudy and cold weather. Only saying this as it's a recent experience, so hopefully the tour guide issue has worked itself out.