travelwell

We are booked on the 2021 WC. We have cruised  both Oceania and Regent along with a bunch of other lines.  We found Regent enough of step up not to consider Oceania. I did not consider Viking as my sister-in -law was very disappointed in the same things you read about under Viking on cruise critic. She felt a lot of bus tours and inexperience with destinations.

As for Regent, i have heard  WC’s have bridge classes for all  levels. From this forum I hear the craft classes with June are great. Example  Regent supplies some 1600 orchids to make lei’s. Apparently her classes are quite popular. I suspect our lecturers will be very good on our cruise. From other people blogs I hear there are exercise classes. I will be hitting the gym.

To find examples of excursions go to the actual Regent 2021 World cruise website. Then click on itinerary. When you click on actual place you will get list of excursions. Regent is still tweaking 2021,. You can do the same with the 2020 World cruise website and get an idea of the excursions closer to date.

You are correct, Wendy is an influencer. Although we were hooked on Regent prior to consistently reading her posts, she tends to asks the same questions I am thinking. She and I have similar feelings on Oceania and Viking, I am looking forward to meeting her.

i

Wow, I was planning on taking my normal purse, a cross shoulder purse and a light weight back pack. Regent should give us a tote. I doubt I will  take a purse to dinner. DH has pockets . I hope  I am not thinking too small. I guess I have 23 months to worry about this. As a nurse with a closet full of scrubs I am starting to really think about clothes. This is going to be my biggest challenge.

We are thinking less is more. My husband is planning on one sport coat that he will wear on the plane. We are on Regent so resort casual. He will probably bring 3 pairs  of nice slacks and several shirts. Then casual shorts/slacks/ jeans and shirts. I am more of a challenge as I am 5’2” tall and can put on weight by just looking at food. 5 pounds can increase my pants size. I am going to have to watch what I eat/ drink and exercise every chance I get. We are hoping for 2- 3 bags plus carry ons. My tech husband is planning on his computer and camera gear  I am going to make a Walmart or Target run in Miami for things like sunscreen etc. We are traveling with our best friends and she packs light. She is planning on 1 bag and a carry on. I have seen her pack and I believe she will do it.

We have been through several storms, surprising the worst were in the Med and Asia. Anytime the captain warns we will be in rough seas I take 1/2 a Bonine. Bonine is a double edged sword for me as it makes me sleepy but I do not get seasick. Surprisingly the cheap over the counter sea bands work amazingly well. I always tell sceptics  just try them, super cheap. I will be wearing  these things for moderate seas and bus trips. For the WC I will probably bring 5 pairs as they are easily lost and make such a difference in my quality of Cruise life.The key for is to treat  before you are motion sick. It is hard to treat once seasick. People swear by ginger also.

Wow, shows that I should read things prior than posting. This water system sounds awesome. I goggled Vero Water and what this company is doing is pretty neat. I hope if Regent does this they individualizes the water bottles to avoid mixups:). As per my previous ignorant post shows, passenger education will be key to the success.

I too am jealous of Canada's recycling. Our recycling bins allow less and less. A few months ago we were told no more glass. This is metro Atlanta. Our best recycling experience oddly was in a very large subdivision in rural north Georgia where every thing easily recycled.

Interesting topic. If this was for our everyday use at home it is great. We do not buy bottled water at home. My issue is my DH and I started drinking only bottled water several cruises ago at advice of travel doctor as our feet were swelling on ships. He felt probably a combo of ships water and salty food. Since that time we ask for sparkling water or still bottled water at meals, use bottled on shore excursions. Gone are the days of feet swelling. We do get ships water in coffee and tea but have greatly decreased drinking ships water. I do know ships water is controversial and for everyone who feels as we do there are others who feel ships water just fine. Of course a happy medium is to provide option of large containers of bottled water that we can feel our individual bottles with.

Wendy, 

Yes, we passed by you on the way to Sarasota and brought with us the rain and cold weather. We are heading back to Atlanta tomorrow and it looks like we will be taking the cold air with us.

I may have to retract the recommendation of looking at Seabourn as we were on the much smaller Seabourn Pride that is now a Windstar ship. I am not sure what ports Seabourn’s other ships go to. Still worth checking.

Wendy, Yes I do not get my husband at times either! We have turned into Uber fans as I do not even have one drink and drive. I am a pretty cheap date. We are in Sarasota Florida now and will be Ubering to dinner shortly. For those who think meeting at bars is all about alcohol I often just get sparkling water. I do think when comparing  premium to luxury cruises you may just have to try it. The only opinion at the end that counts is really your own.

Total agree to look at ports. If Regent does not go to closer ports I would look hard at Seabourn. Oceania’s standard rooms very small and ship crowded. David is right about vibe at bars etc, great way to meet interesting people and go on to supper or meet afterwards. As I am from the suburbs I am not sure I get David ‘s analogy but then Atlanta’s northern suburbs are their own little cities...

I saw this also. I like to lurk at the CDC website. Lots of information on a variety of topics. In terms of cruise ships you can search your individual cruise ship. Regent Mariner and Voyager look good. Navigator had an outlier of a 79 score in 2013. You can see what the individual issues are. It does makes you wonder if there is a correlation between older ships and health score as Oceania's older ships are having the issues. I image new ship kitchens are designed in a way to reduce cross contaminations etc. Regardless, I am always more interested in issues like raw fish in refrigerator over sandwiches then a pipe not draining correctly from clothes washer. This is poor timing for Oceania.

Just a word of advice that we discovered upon booking our 2021 WC on Regent. Let your travel agent know your interest. We use a high volume agent whose agency books a lot of cruises. The agency and many others get around 3 days ability to book prior to general public. In spite of booking day one, we still had to negotiate a few cabins. As this is our first long voyage we were glad to talk to our travel agent a month or two prior to booking and glad not surprised by % required down, the need to buy insurance the first 10 days to cover pre existing conditions (insurance is expensive) and the need to insure the deposit.

As for segments, I do not know about Oceania, but we have had friends that have done several Segments on Regents WC and were treated wonderfully and had a great time.

Beautiful photography. Norway could use this for a tourism ad. Thanks for sharing!

The note from Regent nice for those who are not well traveled. My 30 year old kids might not think of this. 

Our American Express seems to be fine where ever we go. Our credit union that our ATM is associated with requires a day to day itinerary. This is a real pain for long trips, I dread the form for long cruises.

We have good friends who have done two segments of two different Regent world cruises. We actually asked them this question as, at the time, were debating WC vers segment. They strongly felt we would be comfortable either way. They stated they could not have felt more welcome on the ship.

Glanced at Regents website, segments now available for 2021 World Cruise. Regent divided the segments nicely I think.

I guess 2/3’s better then nothing. I have been lurking on the Viking boards, although all cruises can have mishaps it makes you wonder if Viking Ocean cruises growing too fast.

We like shared tables at dinner. There is always a chance of being seated with someone incompatible but it is only a couple hours and you can almost always finds something to talk able that is comfortable for all. That being said, our last cruise we were seated at a table the first night with a couple from the Lake country of England. After we said they lived in a really lovely part of the world the husband asked where we were from and we said out side Atlanta. With that we hear a 10 minute lecture on his horrible Atlanta visit many years ago and his negative in his view of Atlanta. We could not change the subject and left dinner chalking it up to our first ever bad companions. Funny thing, a week later we asked to join a table and we were put with the same couple. As if he did not remember, the husband once again asked where we were from and we got the same response. This time we were saved by another lovely couple who helped us change the subject. We still laugh about these two dinners. 

We stayed at the Hilton prior to our Seabourn cruise last year. Easy cab ride and nice pool, just okay beach. If you just want to relax not bad.

We did the around island tour when we debarked, really to pass time as we had a 4 pm flight out and we correctly had heard the airport beyond nuts. In other words 6 -8 hours in airport beyond bad. We had low expectations of. Bus tour and were pleasantly surprised by an excellent bus guide. Barbados is a beautful and diverse island and we really got the flavor.

Yes, there are the shower/ tub combos throughout the higher levels of the ship. If you go on Regents website and look at deck plans the rooms marked with a star are shower only. Our travel agent pointed this out prior to booking so we would have options. We choose shower only. 

I am interested in what Wendy is asking. I perhaps wrongly think of Viking RIVER Cruises as the ultimate “safe choice River cruise” that my coworkers are steered to when  seeing Europe for the first time. A good bit of handholding and a great experience.  Viking  has a great reputation and seems to have a solid product as shown by the popularity of the Viking OCEAN cruises. 

Viking  certainly appears to be a big jump from mainstream and the ship is obviously beautiful. But when comparing the culture of the ships how does it compare to Regent? My husband worked internationally and we are quite used to people of all cultures and love being surrounded by diverse people. We like ship excursions but think nothing of booking our own or exploring on our own. The Regent cruises we have been on have been full of interesting people of all backgrounds and many have spent time in a different countries. All this adds to a unique fabric of the cruise. For a short cruise diversity does not matter as much but for a long cruise a highlight for me is meeting different people of different backgrounds, sharing meals and time. 

I keep wondering who Viking is marketing to for their long cruises. Obviously no kids and is destination oriented. Educated and history minded as evidenced by their ads prior to PBS’s masterpiece Theaters Victoria. What are the people like on the cruise? Friendly, interactive, well traveled? Do you find people bonding. Do people meet in the lounges prior to dinner and strike up conversions and end up going to dinner together? I only know one person who went on Viking Ocean and said only okay experience but her weather was horrible and it was only one week. Both will certainly impact cruise.

Thank you for taking the time to post. We are booked on the 2021 WC so I am really enjoying hearing of your experience.

Wendy,

I am sorry you are missing the fun of imagining the cruise, this is obviously stressful. You are right though, you do have time to find what works.

lisa

Wendy,

When Regent Mariner adds segments in 2021 is it possible to buy WC in segments and spread insurance risk with different insurers. Long shot but wonder.... 

Aqudessiac,

We have covered ourselves with Travelex insurance, cost wise it helped for me to be under 60 and husband under 65 at time of booking. We are in the states, where you are from changes the insurance you need or can get. You have to buy trip insurance with in 10 days of booking to cover pre existing conditions.The 20% deposit for the cruise was significant so we have insured our deposit. We used a travel agent who is very familiar with booking extended and world cruises. She has been invaluable. I would not do it yourself or use an ordinary travel agency.

My parents are all in independent retirement communities that have assisted living, memory care and nursing home available if needed. I have siblings that know we will be out of

commission for 4 1/2 months and have agreed to cover. But, I am the nurse and usually one everyone turns to for health issues. At moment they are healthy but 2 years is a long time. Biggest concern is something happening to one of my parents and other left alone. My husband will be 66 and me 62 at the start of the cruise,  the age things start to happen. Yes, we want to be at our best also, we have many days in middle of no where. 

The dog is actually a big concern. He will be a 7 year old spoiled Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I have family willing to take him. I’d really like him to stay at the house and have some one house sit but they must be dog lover.  It is too far away to decide. I am playing with idea of trusted house sitter. May try them for a week later this year.

As for kids, my daughter, son in law  and grandchildren 1100 miles away and a son 900 miles miles away. We see them a couple times a year, thus it will not feel different. As my husband and I still work we are not much help to them for the minor emergency’s. We will be retiring right before the cruise.

Do not let alcohol throw you off one way or the other. Wine glasses set up at the table and if you do not drink the glasses will be quietly removed. We often go to the lounges prior to dinner, nice way to meet up with people. I often get a seltzer with lime.  I will say there are extra drinks you might enjoy that will cost you on other lines. Speciality coffees, virgin daiquiris made with real strawberry’s etc. When you look at cost per drink many of virgin drinks more expensive then wine or beer. 

The Navigator is for this years (2019) WC. The Mariner is the ship for the 2020 and 2021 WC. As per Wendy, it is an all veranda ship. Google Regent 2021 World cruise. On Regent’s website you can see what is included. You can click on individual locations the cruise is going and see examples of excursions, free and otherwise. We do drink alcohol but that was not the reason we choose Regent. Actually less alcohol consumption on our lux cruises then on mainstream cruises. For us picking Regent it was the whole package including a well thought out itinerary and we are very comfortable with the pulse of the ship and people. We like Seabourn but ship smaller and itinerary not as nice to us and very long. We are holding our breath as my parents will be in mid 80’s and mom in law mid 90’s. Then there is the dog😳.