Joanandjoe

One thing to check out before you buy trip insurance is the pre-existing condition waiver relating to cancellations for medical reasons. For most trip insurance, there is a waiver only if you buy the insurance within a short time after you make your initial deposit. CSA, and one or two other companies, have policies that will give you a pre-existing condition waiver if you purchase the insurance within a short time (I believe, a 24 hours for CSA) after making the FINAL payment. We use CSA, even though it costs more than some other insurance companies, because we don't have to buy it until we make our final payment.

We have a dissenting view.

It's a tough choice for people who, like us, much prefer baths to showers. The tubs are, in fact, too short, and perhaps too low for showers for tall people. On the other hand, when we've had shower only rooms (such as on the Wind Surf), we've really, really missed having a bath.

The lack of decent bathtubs is the reason why the Mariner is our least favorite Regent ship.

If you are not (like us) a bath person, I'd probably go for a shower - but it's not worth changing to a worse location that what you have.

(deleted-posted on the wrong thread)

Thanks. For us, it rules out the bottom 3 categories, which may put the Explorer out of our price range. Bad move by Regent.

It's true that Penthouse suites only have a large shower instead of a tub and shower. The explanation I've seen, is that Regent initially planned to have a tub and shower in the Penthouse bathrooms but that the size of the bathroom proved to be too small to accommodate both adequately.

 

Take a look at the digital brochure on the Regent website entitled: "Seven Seas Explorer Inaugural Season." At the bottom of page 30, it says: "All Penthouse Suites, Deluxe Veranda Suites and Veranda Suites have 1 bathroom with a glass-enclosed shower instead of a bathtub.”

 

Hope this helps.

We can't seem to find a link to digital brochures. Do you have one? Lack of a bathtub is a deal breaker for us: we take far more baths than showers when we're on a cruise, about 50-50 when we're home. We both love to soak in a tub.

If Penthouse, Deluxe Veranda, and Veranda suite how no tubs, what categories Do have tubs?

Slight 'geographical' issue - this is Holland America.;)

No geographical issue: albingirl has booked NCL instead of HAL because of the balcony smoking issue.

We continue to monitor this board, in the hope that the "smoking allowed on balconies" policy will change. No dice, and HAL is still the only (otherwise) acceptable line that goes to some of the places we want to go when we want to go. Last month's cancelled HAL cruise was replaced by a "land" trip, and I guess that situation will continue. The rooms without balconies on the Vista class ships are too small for us, and those are the ships that have the itineraries we want. We'll book HAL again when we can use our balcony without having to smell smoke.

Hope springs eternal!

It's back!

 

There is something else I want to exclaim about--tonight's featured performer, violinist Amy Lee. I don't recall a Regent performer ever having the trouble Amy had in making it to the ship. She was supposed to join us in Miami but because of what she termed "insane delays" out of O'Hare due to spring break she missed the Mariner. So on to Bogota, to catch the ship in Santa Marta. But then the call to Santa Marta was cancelled! Luckily, Regent was able to reach Amy before she boarded her flight from Bogota to Santa Marta. She was rerouted to Aruba, where she spent the last day and a half on the beach waiting for the Mariner to dock. (Hmmmm, hanging on the beach with nothing else to do--sounds like your dream Aruba scenario, Z!)

 

Rich

We don't know whether our story of entertainers having trouble getting on board tops yours; but our story involved the entire Jean Ann Ryan troupe. Our Monaco to Rio cruise was immediately after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and there was a snowstorm on the East coast the day after election day (our sailing was on Friday). With Regent help, we flew on Tuesday (election night), rather than on Wednesday night as scheduled (kudos to the Marriott La Porte de Monaco Hotel that arranged an extra night on short notice), and had an extra day in Monaco. The JAR troupe was not so lucky. Their Wednesday night connection from Florida to JFK was cancelled, and they couldn't get a Thursday flight. They ending up missing the ship, and I think they may have missed the first stop (Barcelona) as well. When they finally got to the ship, they needed rehearsal time; so the entire entertainment schedule had to be shuffled. When they did perform, they were one of the best JAR troupes ever, with both singers and the specialty dancers especially good.

We're glad your entertainment has been terrific. Let's hope we do as well on our 9/3 Mariner cruise from San Francisco to NYC.

Here is a link to Regent excursions in Panama for their cruise next month. http://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR160420/activities/regent-choice-plus-free/day-6/default/default.aspx#Activities . Hope this helps!

Those are excursions for ships that have a port stop in Colon. For crossings such as our 9/3/16 San Francisco to New York cruise, with no stop in Colon, there do not appear to be any excursions for the Canal.

Perhaps I misinterpreted, but after the poster made it clear why she and many others do not want to change cruise lines to accommodate the smokers, you invited her to try Azamara.

Joanandjoe posts are mostly by me, Joe, and there was nothing wrong with suggesting Azamara. Probably Joan's posts are less than 10% of our total.

Okay, I am really puzzled. I was trying to be helpful. Is suggesting the consideration of a line that seemed to be omitted a bad thing? :( The poster mentioned twice that they like smaller ships and since they had tried Oceania, I thought it was a logical question..... Is there more smoking on Azamara?

 

What did I do wrong?

You've done nothing wrong. I'll admit we haven't considered Azamara, since we think of it as an adjunct of its direct parent, Celebrity, on which we've had bad experiences on both cruises. Also, although the 8 former Renaissance ships (now owned by Azamara (2), Princess (2), and Oceania(4)) have a nice 700 passenger size, the rooms are mostly quite small, and most of the larger rooms are over or under noisy areas. Maybe we should reconsider.

The discussion of alternatives to HAL is a logical consequence of HAL's smoking policy, which causes people who otherwise would love HAL to look elsewhere. Hopefully, Host Walt will not delete these rather civilized posts.

At the moment Hal is my favorite line. It's easy for people who don't like the line or have no loyalty to say to go elsewhere. That would be super easy for me if it was celebrity. In my mind that is a worst line afloat. Now I'm booking oceanview cabins and if Hal offers me a reasonable upsell I will consider going to a balcony. Let smokers pay a premium.

We agree with Cruz Chic, which is why we're on this board, even though we cancelled our Caribbean cruise on HAL (for next month), and are taking a

"land" trip instead. If the smoking policy changes, we'll book HAL again.

We've been on Celebrity twice, and didn't like the food, the lines for everything, and the fact that we usually were unable to get into the show room despite leaving our cabin in plenty of time. Now their ships are too big for us, anyway. We're very unlikely to cruise with X.

Our one cruise on Oceania was a disaster: 3 Mondays in a row when ports were virtually closed due to Monday holidays (poor planning by the cruise line!), two skipped ports (the ones we most wanted to see) with no compensation,; norovirus, and bad weather that somehow did not cause the line to open up indoor dining areas when the weather was too bad to eat outside. Cross that line off our list.

Princess is not a choice: their ships are too big (other than the R ships, which have no itineraries we like). Thus, in the "premium" class of ships, it's HAL or nothing. Right now, it's "nothing", which means vacations other than cruises. We're used to suites, but HAL's smoking policy means that anything with a balcony is a non-starter, and rooms without balconies are to small.

"Lots of other choices"? No.

Cabs in San Francisco? I really recommend Lyft or Uber. Public transit from Pier 39 to GG Park is doable, but it will take at least an hour for a trip that would take no more than 30 minutes by car.

If, like us, you don't have a Smart phone, is there any real alternative to cabs?

What I don't understand is why they can't make Port side balconies smoking and Starboard non smoking. Give 6/8/10 months notice so people can switch sides and keep everyone happy. It makes zero business sense to me to alienate the majority of cruisers from your product. No wonder I'm getting super cheap rates, everyone has flocked elsewhere

Interesting comment. We thought that "smoking on one side of the ship only" was the policy when we booked our cruise for next month. When we heard that smoking was allowed on ALL balconies, we cancelled and booked a land tour.

Bruin Steve and Scottca075 (and anyone else who wants to comment), we appreciate your interplay regarding the benefits and detriments of staying in the FW area. We'd appreciate your input on the two hotels for which we have reservations for 8/31 to 9/3, before our 9/3 cruise: Holiday Inn Express FW, and Hilton San Francisco Financial District (Kearney St.) All other things being equal, the Hilton Reservation is more than $100 per night more than the Holiday Inn reservation, because it's on an executive floor. Obviously, we have to cancel one of the reservations.

For what it's worth, it's been 40 years since our only trip to SF; and then we had an infant in tow. We do NOT eat at chain restaurants if we can avoid them, but prefer local restaurants. That's one of the reasons why we love living within 10 miles of Times Square.

Thanks.

There are two things we don't understand about Uber. The first is how we contact them, since neither of us has a Smartphone or plans to get one. The other is reliability. Taxi drivers are at least regulated by their locality. How do we know that our Uber driver (if there's any way of using Uber without a Smartphone) is a safe driver in a safe vehicle?

I've read some success stories on CC about using Priceline or Hotwire for good deals on SF hotels. ... We sail out on Sept 3, 2016.

We suggest that you get a cancellable reservation now, since it's apparently too early to use Priceline or Hotwire. That way you know that you have a hotel. If you decide to use one of the bargain sites, you can always cancel your original reservations.

As far as I can tell, the only SF sailing on 9/3/16 is our ship, the Regent Seven Seas Mariner, SF to NYC; but I don't see you on the roll call, http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2257082 . Please join the 5 or 6 couples, including us, who are on the roll call. Thanks.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Fisherman's Wharf last time we were in SF. It was great near the touristy Fisherman's Wharf spots. We took a taxi to the ship less than a mile away. From the airport we took an express van which was not bad. We did stop at a few hotels of course as they let pax off. We love going to SF and sailing under the GG bridge. Our second favorite port is NYC when we sail in/out past the statue.

We're planning on staying at the same hotel in late August. What was the name of the express van company?

This will be our first time sailing from SF, so it's nice to know that it's beautiful. On the other hand, we've sailed to and/or from a NYC port (Manhattan or Bayonne) 5 or 6 times, and taken various harbor cruises. The Lady in the Harbor is lovely, and it's sobering to think that our ancestors had to stop at Ellis Island before they could land in this country. We also love sailing under the Verrazano Bridge. On our next cruise, we'll see both cities - SF to NYC through the Canal on 9/3/16.

Agree Rachel. Also, there is the issue of not enough computers. I know that we all have laptops, tablets, etc., but there is nothing like a keyboard with a printer available.

 

Assume that the unlimited free Wi-Fi is one log-on per suite unless you already have reached the loyalty level that allows each person to have their own unlimited free Wi-Fi. This brings up another question...... when a person reaches "gold" level, they still be able to receive the current benefit?

As a clarification of Jackie's question, Joan and I will reach gold status on our next cruise. Does that mean that we will have two logins, and be able to use computers at the same time? That would mean a tablet for Joan, ship's computer for me.

We were on the cruise with TPA, and couldn't agree more. The cost was worth it, and Svalbard was a fascinating port.

One caveat: never book a cruise with the feeling that: "if I miss a particular port, it will ruin the cruise." With that in mind, the cruise that includes Longyearbyen is fabulous.

We mentioned in our last post that we had sent an email to Guest Relations sating that we had canceled our March, 2016 cruise on the Oosterdam due to the smoking on balconies policy. We received the following response last week:

"Dear ***

Thank you for your email regarding your canceled sailing aboard the ms Oosterdam, scheduled to depart on March 11, 2016.

We understand your concerns regarding smoking on board, and truly regret that this has caused you to decide to cancel your cruise holiday. We endeavor to balance the needs of both our smoking and nonsmoking guests. Currently, our policy is to allow guests to smoke on their stateroom verandahs and designated areas on deck, as well as in the casino on select evenings each sailing; cigar and pipe smoking is restricted to outside decks and verandahs. However, guest input is always welcome and thus we appreciate your comments. They have been forwarded to appropriate management and as attitudes toward smoking continue to change we will revisit this policy with comments such as yours in mind.

Again, thank you for your detailed feedback. We do hope to have the opportunity to welcome you on board in the not-too-distant future.

Best Regards,

Karla Haigh

Special Advisor

Office of the President"

There's certainly no indication that HAL is contemplating a change in its smoking policy. Note, however, the casino smoking policy. As stated in some posts that were heavily disputed, smoking is allowed in the casino on some nights, not allowed on others.

I am hoping for a British Isles itinerary on Voyager again. My granddaughter will be graduating from college 12/16, and I have told her I'd look for a cruise for us to take; her biggest love is Britain.

Those cruises usually start in June or later; so they should be available with the next release of voyages for Spring and Summer, 2017.

Too bad they didn't pick Princess to keep the stinky balconies, since we really don't care so much for Princess. We love just about everything about HAL except their smoking policy. For now, we just book outside window cabins on HAL.

You've hit the nail on the head. As we've stated in prior posts, HAL (other than the smoking policy) is a much better fit for us than Princess, and no other line seems to have the itineraries that HAL has. I would love to go back to HAL; but the smoking policy caused us to cancel a lovely cruise, and we'll not book another HAL cruise until the smoking policy changes.

PS. We sent our comments on why we cancelled the cruise to the HAL customer relations people about 12 days ago, and have gotten no response other than an automated "we'll get back to you" email.

I suppose I shouldn't still be on this thread, since I cancelled my cruise due to the "smoking is allowed on balconies" policy. Some people solve the problem by having an outside room with no balcony. However, switching to a category without a balcony was never a possibility. On my last cruise, on the Oceania marina, I paid for a balcony, but couldn't use it because the weather on our transatlantic cruise was too cold. That wasn't the cruise line's fault; but I still missed having a balcony, and felt cheated not being able to use the balcony. If smokers on HAL would have made me unable to use the balcony (I'm hyper-sensitive to smoke), I would have been very angry indeed. I couldn't risk having my cruise spoiled by smokers.

Everyone has put in his or her two cents regarding smoking, with one very notable exception: HAL management. Where are they? Do they have nothing to say? For as long as I can remember, possibly dating back to my first cruise on what was then Radisson Seven Seas Cruises, management people from Radisson/Regent and Oceania were active participants on the Regent and Oceania Boards. In the 500 or more posts since I first noticed this thread, no one from HAL management has spoken on the issue. Why not? Perhaps Host Walt can explain this.

At best, CC can be an important tool for cruise line management in measuring cruiser wants and needs - but only if management actually reads what's posted on CC. It's not as if reading CC is a dead end job for management. The person who initially responded to CC posts for Regent was Frank Del Rio. Now Mr. Del Rio is the head of NCL, as well as the head of Regent and Oceania. He knew what cruisers wanted, and has been rewarded for giving cruisers what they want.

We have reservations at two hotels, the Holiday Inn Express, Fisherman's Wharf and the Hilton San Francisco Financial District, before our cruise next Labor Day weekend (9/3/16), and obviously will need to cancel one or both of them (most hotels aren't available for booking that far out). We also need to decide how many nights we want to stay (1, 2, or 3) before our 18 day cruise, so we can book our flights when they become available in the next two weeks.

It's obvious from the discussion here that, for one night, the Fisherman's Wharf hotel would be preferable. What about for three nights. Is Fisherman's Wharf too out of the way for seeing the best sights of San Francisco?

Thanks.

Have you communicated your concerns to HAL?

How does communicate one's concerns to HAL?

It's obvious, from some of the above posts, that HAL is attracting smokers who switch to HAL so that they can smoke on their balconies. Even a small amount of second hand smoke makes us feel ill. Therefore, we cancelled our cruise yesterday, and replaced it with a "land trip" to St. Augustine, FL, where we'll attend a Road Scholar course. The hotel, of course, will be 100% nonsmoking.

We wanted to cruise to Curacao in March, and HAL had the only acceptable (other than the smoking policy) ships, date, and itinerary. That ruled out a cruise for us. We'll reconsider HAL and Seabourn if and when they eliminate smoking on balconies: for now, they're both off our list.