Lady Meer

We had tour tickets in our room when we boarded. No app as far as I remember with Regent last month!

kjbacon - when you get onboard, check your tour tickets! On our W Africa cruise last year all of our tours had a time change. Some were 30 to 60 mins different but 2 were changed from afternoon to morning - one to 6.30 am 😡.

Which country do your parents live in, if it’s the UK it could affect their travel insurance.

Our room steward changed the wine. Agree with Cajuntraveler about the canapes!

Our TA got us a reduced fare on our next cruise [2 reserve mini suites) after the prices fell considerably, so it is possible.

Turkey and Eastern Med - April. Standard room B deck is now less than we were offered. i see a well known TA already has 2025 cruises in their brochure which we received last Saturday!

The room we enquired about (pre-registered) is actually cheaper on the website than we were offered.

Wow - that’s going to be costly. I wouldn’t want to send my passport out of the country either. There were a lot of Australians on our cruise - it’s a pity no-one has commented.

We did this trip in November 2023 and (as DaveFr says) only needed a visa for Ghana which Regent did onboard. I checked with all the Embassies in the UK myself before we travelled. Just a note - you may want to take copies of your passport as Regent kept them for the whole cruise.

Not HAL but have just been to Japan on Regent. Everyday we were reminded to carry our original passport ashore at all times as it is a legal requirement - copies would not be acceptable.

Sadly, not in March this year.

No side room this year for breakfast for our Regent tour..

We got off Explorer last Monday - our experience was exactly the same as yours. Couldn’t get into the Business Centre (too many waiting) so didn’t get the survey done.

We’ve been on Voyager and Explorer recently and haven’t been able to do the online survey due to poor internet service ☹️.

I think people who smoke go in expensive cabins too………

In Belfast, the queue for the shuttle was very long so we took a taxi with another couple for 20 euros (fixed price). We were dropped at the City Hall. We asked the driver for a card to call for a return trip. This was on a meter and was 10 euros! There is a service bus which stops just outside the dock gates - quite a few people used that. If anyone is interested, The Duke of York pub is very interesting and worth a visit!!

We had more than one bottle of spirits in our suite which were replaced when empty by the butler. Not emptied by me, I’m a wine drinker! No faff at all!

That's disappointing. When is your cruise?

Just applying for ours - did you get yours in pounds or dollars? We’ve always had dollars in the past. Thanks

We were on the 28 day Voyager cruise in November from Barcelona to Cape Town and fully agree with ToxM. This was our first Regent cruise and we expected better. Our room staff and butler were excellent, as were some of the restaurant staff but on the whole they definitely lacked training. Service for both food and drink was very mixed - sometimes great but in the whole, not so good. The food, on the whole was very good. We had a lot of sea days, 12 I think, which we normally enjoy. Like ToxM we had a deck BBQ but no country fair. There was a crossing the equator ceremony (with the biggest swordfish I have ever seen) but nothing else. We had the same 3 speakers for the whole cruise, one (very good) wild life expert and 2 port speakers, one covering history and one current info. One was good, the other not so. We were not notified of any Covid or Noro onboard. On the positive side, we really enjoyed the African ports and the Regent tours we took. Some guests moaned about the poor a/c on the buses, bathroom facilities and understanding the tour guides but, as one guide told us ‘TIA - this is Africa’ ! We really enjoyed the trivia sessions, which were very popular, there was one ‘name that tune’ quiz which was good and thought there could have been more! The wait staff on the deck were very efficient and friendly, as were the staff in the bars. We did some bean bag tossing and other deck games which were fun. Did we enjoy the cruise? Very much. Would we cruise with Regent again? Yes, as we had already booked Japan on Explorer in March. We are looking forward to comparing the 2 experiences, but whatever happens we’ll have a good time.

Just looking at cruisemapper and vessel finder, it seems that SoA has turned around.

You’ll be fine in a skirt and nice top, I don’t own a dress so always wear trousers and nice tops (sparkly on formal nights). DH wears a suit on formal nights, he never takes a DJ now, other nights he wears trousers and a shirt (no tie).

A few years ago, on Oceania Insignia, on the penultimate day we were all given the bathrobes! The ship was being loaned to Hapag-Lloyd at the end of our cruise. It was a real challenge to get them in our cases but we coped!

We often cruise in British waters including the English Channel, the only port we have missed is Guernsey, Channel Islands. This is a tender port and the pilot was unable to board due to a strong wind but the sea wasn’t ‘rough’.

It gives me something to do on a cold, dreary day 🤔. Too many Midsomer Murders, methinks!