Gcto

54 minutes ago, Portolan said:

Have used Kindle Fires for years on Regent (most recently January 2024) with never a problem in downloading books via Amazon from our library (using Libby and Overdrive earlier).

 

1, Hope this isn't a new thing

2. Perhaps a Kindle and not Kindle Fire issue

 

yes, the Kindle Fire is pretty much like a tablet computer... with Kindle features. The "regular" kindle is more an e-reader with a very limited browser. I have a Kindle Fire and no problems downloading...my wife's Kindle Oasis is a no go....thus...the steps outlined above. 

On 4/21/2024 at 7:58 AM, jjs217 said:

Nor do you have to be as good looking, slender, beautiful or stylish as those in the pictures.

but....we all are...aren't we 🙂

it's a Kindle issue which can't login as a device into the ship's wifi... you can enter all the info, name, date of birth etc...but then the last step doesn't work. The kindle browser is very limited and flakes out (technical term). 

What you can do is:

1. Establish a personal hotspot on your laptop (if you have one). Settings, Network and Internet, Mobile Hotspot

2. Create a mobile hotspot on your phone (which is connected to the ship's wifi)

3. Mobile Hotspot on your ipad. 

Once you created that on either device, you connect your kindle to the hotspot and you circumvent the necessary login... your pc/phone/ipad connects to the ship's wifi and your kindle connects to that hotspot without having to login to the ship. 

It is not region dependent, I did it in Japan, Caribbean, etc. It's the limited browser on the Kindle. 

7 hours ago, Paul Renye said:

Zqueeze1, now you can sit at the pool bar with Nancy drinking those non alcoholic umbrella drinks🤯. Stay well and hello to the bride. Scooterman!

he'll skip the umbrella... one has a reputation to uphold...no matter what's in the glass. But Cy (Sikumar ) will take care of him (and us)

2 hours ago, forgap said:

 

 

 

PS - in my mid cruise comment card, I noted there wasn’t an orchid in our suite.  Look what appeared!  RSSC is the best!  

and remember....when the orchid is placed on the ground....rough seas ahead....  🙂

3 hours ago, Johnthesailor said:

This fits the description perfectly an individual  on the Grandeur cruise from Miami to New York a few weeks ago.  Was he on another Regent cruise as well?  Interestingly, his companion dressed fine.

nope, same cruise...Miami to NYC....   described outfit to chatgpt and this is what it came up with :-)

I personally think the regent dress code makes sense as it ads to the overall cruise experience. Yes, one can argue about little things (dress jeans, no collar shirt under a jacket, turtle neck etc), but overall it all makes sense. 

On our last cruise however, we had one "gentleman" who decided to dress in tie dye shirts and MC Hammer pants only... during the day, during dinner etc. Asides from other antics he showed, it was quite ...sad. He flaunted his looks and it was kind of "in your face"... here's a close resemblance of what he looked like...just not as slender. Not pretty ...

On 4/10/2024 at 6:05 PM, Zqueeze1 said:

GMIAC:  have a wonderful cruise and safe travels.  Please say hello to Cy the bartender from Roberto.  Thanks. 
 

Z and TB

Same from me... and in case anyone cares...there is a great Pastis in one of the left side fridges... Cy knows 🙂

Back home now too.... caught up on the "blog" to see what I was missing. Enjoyed the trip and it was great getting to know you. Hope to see you again. 

from what I was told a while ago, this is the process (pls correct me if I'm wrong). 

1. You get a 2 cat upgrade when booking. So if you book PHB, you pay D price, or PHC, you pay F

2. If you already made final payment.... tough... you are out of luck...but...you are cruising soon 🙂

3. If you are already booked and your booked category is waitlisted, Regent will not honor the new price, as "rebooking under the new offer" would not get you the category you are already in. 

4. Any previous offer you got (flights, pre cruise tours etc) will disappear. 

All good info from GoArmy and LewiLewi. To add to it, I would suggest to let the ship know that you have to leave early in the morning and ask them to call a taxi or have one waiting. Assuming the ship docks in Yokohama at the cruise terminal Pier 6 or so... at that time in the morning I doubt there are taxis waiting for passengers (like they might during the day or afternoon). It is not at a main street, so the taxi has to get there. Also, as the ship is behind a security gate/area/etc, there might be a security process to go through (passport etc). Ship can give you info. 

Time to Haneda should be about 30 to 50 min and based on the distance, a taxi would be around 10000 yen (about 68 US dollar), plus minus a bit.   

2 hours ago, pingpong1 said:

Hi Jim - We did exactly the same thing the last time we sailed into Manhattan. Our "Limo Guy" waited for us on a nearby side street, and as soon as we came out of the terminal on the second level, we called him and he drove over and  picked us up right where the taxis drop off passengers.  It worked out perfectly for us.  👍

that's New York....you know a guy who knows a guy 🙂

19 minutes ago, jhenry1 said:

I just read that if you are in a Master suite you can dine in the the speciality restaurants every night. My question how do you make more than 3 reservations for those restaurants prior to boarding.

you don't have to. You just decide in the morning where you want to eat and what time and tell your butler. He will arrange for it. Spec restaurants keep a few tables free for guest in Master etc. You can only "reserve" on night in each restaurant before the cruise (in general, depending on length of cruise etc), but there is a reservation desk where you can see what's available should you not be in Master suite. 

2 minutes ago, Mike Moore said:

No change in the cost of that, but there was no reference to the cost the way pricing was displayed previously, so this change had no impact to that. And there is also no change to our all-inclusive offerings. Everything is the same as it was before, we are just doing the math now.

Mike, my question was targeting a slightly different scenario. So let me try to clarify what I meant and how I interpret the offering and your reply. 

1. Option Cruise only is Cruise only and does NOT include Flight, Transfer and Hotel. 

2. Option "All inclusive" includes everything from Cruise, Hotel, Regent Flight and transfer. 

So I can no longer choose the all inclusive option, but do my own flight. I will either have the full package or, be totally on my own. I see the "math", but it's all or nothing as it seems. And if I want to have a hotel, I can book it as part of a "pre-cruise" option for an upcharge.

2 minutes ago, pappy1022 said:

So that begs another question ……. Do concierge and above suites still get an included 1 night pre cruise hotel with the cruise only price? Do you see how specific and clear information on the website would help the potential customer to understand what they are getting under each option? A vast majority of the people cruising with Regent are not on these boards and they don’t get this type of clarification dialog. And, Regent is still advertising all inclusive so that in itself can be confusing. 

my points exactly!! I find this either confusing or... not clear. We have lately booked our own flights in the US, but always chose the hotel options due to travel needs etc. You got flight credit and hotel and transfer to ship was included.  Will this now be (as Mike stated), "Cruise only" or "cruise and flight and hotel" option ? And should I decide to get the Regent included Hotel, would that be an extra much higher charge than before ?  So it's confusing. And hopefully not some other reason for this. I was perfectly fine to see the prices listed and then at the bottom...air credit. 

If Regent continues to claim that they are an all inclusive cruise line, this will take the "all inclusive" away imho.  

12 hours ago, Pcardad said:

If it makes you feel any better, we have always had to fill out our own luggage tags. They always arrived blank and I am Titanium and a TA with 5 million in bookings. I am not trying to discount your feelings, just providing some factual perspective. Covid came THIS CLOSE to wiping out the cruise industry....

I agree with you in some things, but as you know as a TA dealing with clients on a daily basis... Perception matters.  And the new way does not meet that. I don't mind filling out my own tags...but the material needs to be something durable, surviving the porters at the port and the luggage cart. If your tag is gone... how will they find your room ? Paper tags are just...paper and easily ripped of. Do we need faux leather...no...but it provided some "class". Do we need leather luggage tags ? No.... but it distinguished from other lines. I'm sure there is a golden middle which still gives clients what they need and is cost saving ... Email is fine...and yes, I can print out things. But... perception matters and if we go too cheap... it sends the wrong message.  So add a buck to the cruise price... and go on with it 🙂

maybe this was the prequel to the upcoming Musk Zuck cage fight 🙂   

Wonder what the Code was on board via Intercom. Code Purell, Code Purell...cleanup in public area 🙂

On 4/8/2023 at 9:35 AM, Eno-Bob said:

 

From our experience, you will not be contacted by Regent in advance.  In the past we have submitted some advance requests to Regent through our TA, but that has been kind of hit or miss.  I believe any special requests like that have to be submitted at least 60 days before the cruise.  We have found that letting your Butler know exactly what you want after you get onboard works the best.  They take care of everything without any problems.

Correct... we've been in 784 before and all we did was fill out the butler form. When getting to the cabin, nothing had been done...Butler claimed he had never seen the form (but then he claimed a lot of other things during the trip). But between him and cabin steward, things were done quickly. Cabin attendants were fantastic and made up for lack of "enthusiasm" of butler 🙂  Not a big deal, but unusual considering the standard. 

21 hours ago, Pcardad said:

Yep, I wouldn't be good with that either. Washington State is so progressive that people are now running from it and the eastern part of the state wants to split off and join Idaho.

For now it's easter Oregon wanting to join Idaho, but I can see that eastern WA might not be far behind 🙂  On the city ordinance lrlp mentioned: No there wasn't an ordinance or law, but various restaurants started to add a "living wage adjustment" to the bill. Just showed up either as a flat rate or some percentage. And yes, rather than explaining it was just another quest to raise prices (for whatever reason, even to support staff), some wait staff or managers rather "blamed" the city of the state for this. Made the complaints or questions go away as it was "big bad government".... 

On 3/15/2023 at 7:55 AM, fudge said:

They always say "if you dont mind me asking what did you pay we might join you?"  Not everyone asks that question but we have been asked. 

Another question if you dont mind. We are sailing with Regent in September, I was going to book the 2024 cruise on board assuming I get the extra 5 percent discount, all three TAs said "do not wait, it will be more expensive and you may not get the suite you want"  Is that statement generally true in your opinion.

yes, if you want to book the trip you think is right, book when you see it. On board, or with your TA. I don't always find the CC on board completely forthcoming with all the info, but it might also have to do with the questions I ask or not. But what is important is to have a great TA and your on board booking is transfered to this TA. The TA will then take over and can make sure they get you the best possible deal. And if later Regent has special offers, the TA can make sure that you can use it. Ours does that automatically and checks. Sometimes we got great savings (great is a relative term ) and sometimes, Regent had increased the prices so even with applying the "new offers" we'd not get the savings.  

Always frustrating to me (or more to people we cruised with) to see the difference in offers between the UK or Europe and the US. Can be confusing. 

8 hours ago, Techno123 said:

Whilst my hubby and I like the smaller luxury ships (Seabourn was our first) my 'little' sister still has teenage children and is considering her first (the short Disney one not included) Med cruise. For those of you who worked your way through the bigger ships when your children were younger (or who still cruise them) which lines would you recommend for good service at a reasonable price that cater for 12 to 18 year olds. Thank you in advance for your advice.

I would second Celebrity. RCL's super ships have plenty of options, but we found that Celebrity offers enough for the youngen's while nice for the adults... but...those times are gone and done with...now we take care of us adults 🙂

3 hours ago, jjs217 said:

Thinking about booking.  Does the Voyager still vibrate in the aft or has that been resolved?  If not resolved, can you feel it on deck 8?  Thanks.

depends how many "martini" you had.  Sorry ..not helpful...I know 🙂

what pcardad said. Usually about 2 weeks before... but no guarantees 🙂  What will happen is that upper cabins will be upsold first and then things will get assigned. 

On 10/24/2022 at 5:45 PM, DDDDale said:

I asked for a list of included wines on two separate nights of two different wine pourers and was told such a thing did not exist.  Things change and unfortunately rarely for the better.

There is a wine list and the head sommelier can usually produce it quickly. Or "create" one. However, most wine stewards either don't know about it, or are told not to mention it. Head Maitre D can also help (Jason in this recent matter). But we stopped asking for it as it's a hit and miss. We always try the wine of the day to see if we like it (it's listed on the menu). But when we don't like it ...we tell the wine steward what type of wine we like...  red, syrah, full bodied etc... and usually within a short time, we get a great recommendation ... we we like it (and usually do), this becomes our go-to stand by for the next nights. I usually works out. I say usually, because the wine staff on the mariner on your trip and the trip before (we were on that one), was less than "stellar". New, unexperienced and frankly overwhelmed I guess. So they just walked around with red and white and were engaging. Only one or two. I even talked to the Beverage Manager about it and he acknowledged a training issue. Also seems that the Head Sommelier was not on board or unavailable. Never saw him or her. A person I thought was it, told me she was trying to fill in as much as possible. So in short...this was not the normal situation in the wine department.  You already figured out the other routine for CR. Find a section and waiter you like and things relax. Joseph is a great example as GoArmy mentioned. Unfortunately, his section also had the less stellar wine servers.... Win some, lose some 🙂

23 hours ago, Eager2Travel said:

I am looking for some upbeat help if it exists.

 

We booked a cruise while onboard the Mariner.  After arriving home I went to the roll call and learned that a travel agent was escorting a group of her clients on this back to back cruise of 21 days.  We were disappointed to learn this as the large TA escorted group on our recent cruise was a distraction in several different ways.  We are now reconsidering the future cruise we were excited about booking.

 

Does anyone have a positive slant or experience they can relate that might encourage us to not cancel this cruise?

 

 

Based on comments above it really depends on the group and the size. We just came back from a trip on the Mariner where our TA was "hosting" ag group. It was done very classy to say the least. A get-together at the Stars Lounge at 5 during a sea day to meet and great and then individual lunches with clients etc. Some of the group knew each other and had dinners together, but it was very low key and didn't occupy any space. Well done.  

Then we've been on a trip with a larger group where most people knew each other and hung out together constantly. Was a "rewards" cruise for a sales organization, all drinks included if you get my drift. Not good... 

Then...we were on a cruise where a larger group had all booked together. Most were part of a Baptist Gospel choir and they had fun, dancing in the evening, giving impromptu concerts... it was great. But while "visible" they did not impose or assume that their group had special times etc. We enjoyed it very much because it was a group of great people, not a group of... see above. 

So in short... it can be hit and miss. The hosted trip... if you weren't part of it, you wouldn't even notice. The sales group.....run...don't hide.  The choir.... great. 

It all depends on how the individuals and the "leadership" handles it.