Gcto

:) Thanks for your help Wes. Had a great time on the Navigator. Will post more later on overall experience. All is well

Sorry don't have pictures of the computer area empty and don't want to post with people in them. Computer area is now smaller than I remember, but nicely refurbished similar to the library.

Bathrooms haven't changed. You still have a bathtub and a separate shower.

Following a few pics of the new Suites. Size hasn't changed, bathrooms and closets neither. New furniture on the balcony. The main change is in the layout and functionality of the sitting area and desk. Where we were used to a good deal of storage space above the desk with cabinets etc, the wall is now filled with a larger TV and the rest is empty. Desk space is limited and the espresso machine takes a good chunk of it. Bar Setup is now under the desk which makes it hard for the "less limber" to get glasses and other things. Cabin stewards are not happy with the layout either, but such is life they say.

Table in the room though is much better now than before and usable for breakfast or lunch. Night stands are fine with two drawers.

Table in Room

Where once was a cabinet ....

Night Stands

Sitting Area

and the Bar Setup

Here are some of Compass Rose. Overall a great layout, plenty of space, new plates etc. The mood lighting is a bit funky at first, but they seem to keep it at the blue-ish ;-) special most of the time.

Galileo Lounge, heavy chairs, hard to move if you have to.

Library

Stars Lounge

and the Pool area...new furniture and new "towels"

Room pictures next

Thanks Wes, this seems to work. So let's start.

The Navigator refurbishment turned out to be successful imho. Carpets are new, all looks fresh and new. As usual, crew is still updating paint etc. Not everything though was replaced. Balcony doors still have some needs in some cabins etc.

Here are a few general pics.

The Reception Area looks brand spanking new (at least from what I remember)

The new Navigator Lounge on Deck 6

Casino

More pictures in next post

5th Avenue (Shopping Area on Deck 7)

working on it....

the attachment option allows only small pics...what is the best way to post pics ?

just a short note on this...I will write a review later when I have more time

But here are some comments to clarify.

1. Coffee...still bad, but the various coffee machines can make a better coffee than what's served. Again, it's a matter of taste, travelled with some people who liked it.

2, Espresso machines are great to have, but the illy coffee is truly not what it used to be.

3. Loved the small portions and the possibility to order more

On the ice and other issues :-). Normally Regent has a larger group of US guest than any other nationality. This time, the Navigator had approx 175 US residents and 280 from The UK and Scotland (I mention both as I stepped on a few toes when asking whether they were from England or the UK...and got the correction of people being from Scotland :-) ) Now, without implying anything negatively :-), I had a hard time understanding some :-), my Scottish is very rustic :-). Now consider a new crew member from the Philippines, Rumania, Thailand, etc trying to understand a new "language" ;-). For example, we played trivia with various UK guest and had a blast, but not always were clear on everything. Add to that speaking quickly, many servers had a problems understanding everything. I have to say I can't blame them. As some staff was new, this added to the confusion. :-)....Again, not implying anything, but it added.

Was everything perfect...no, but all small stuff....like all the British food at breakfast....:-)

We had a great time, and met a few new friends from all over (including Scotland )

More later

will try to post more about my impressions later. If there is one thing which doesn't work as it should is the internet...even close to midnight, speed it ...slow as we are used to. I don't see/eel/realize any improvements.

Took a few pics of the new refurbishments and rooms and will post when I have access to faster internet.

Overall, it's a great experience again, staff is friendly and helpful as before, a lot of new staff though with less experience, but all are working hard to catch up.

More later

Thanks Wes and Ida...having a great trip...

hope to see you again in the future...

My signature shows 'sailed', but we are on Navigator. I am meeting with the GM later to discuss my concerns. I'll keep you posted.

Are we on the same cruise Tim?

Having a blast, staff is great and friendly. Yes portions are small (which is good) so we can order a second one if we like,

more later

:-)

Thanks Bill, I'll check out the vapporetto schedules etc. JW has last years shuttle schedule online, but I assume the 2016 is the same or not much diff. Question is how much luggage the travel partners will want to carry with vs leave with the hotel and Regent to be transported earlier :-)

Thanks...yes, we are currently staying at the JW which is a bit off the beaten path. So if I understand you correctly the only day for sightseeing would be the arrival day as the second day (the day the boat leaves late in the evening) is pretty much shot with just the transfer to the ship and then staying on the ship because of drill etc.

on an upcoming cruise leaving Venice we'll be arriving the day before fairly early. The ship will leave the next day late in the evening.

Fellow cruisers, does anyone have some idea or past experience on how Regent will handle all this.

I assume that after being picked up at the airport, Regent would get us to the hotel (early check-in maybe ?).

But would about then...we would be on ourselves until the next morning. With the ship leaving late, how does Regent handle transfer from hotel to ship and then, if the normal check-in time is noon to 1 pm, what would one be able to do then ? Stick around on the ship or are there possibilities to get back into Venice for more sightseeing ?

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

If you are being told it's the Hilton, then it looks like Regent is using both. I have friends who are booked on this cruise and their info lists the JW, hence my message re JW.

;-)

looks like it will be the JW Marriott on Isola della Rose.

no worries TC and no harm intended.

Yes, for most instances Regent air is still better than finding your own flights especially over to Europe. I was just wondering where this "new" fee all of a sudden came from. We've used Regent air for many trips and paid the deviation fee...but this stop over fee is new. Just trying to figure out where it's coming from and why and if other people have experienced it. If it's a charge by Regent for ...something....they should just say and explain it

Thanks TC but I'm not sure this answers the question. As Gnomie further up already states even staying in an already established hub (All flights from the US to Europe by BA go via LHR) still would cause the stop over fee. There is no other airport involved, just a stop over at an airport the airline is already flying to towards the final destination. Or in our case, (see case above), if we pay our own way from end of cruise to stop over destination Z, there is no stop over fee. So flying from the US to port X (start of Cruise) then back to the US from Port Y (end of cruise) at various dates would require Dev fee, but if we'd stop over at Z we have Dev and Stop over fee. Flying ourselves to Z would not require Stop over fee.

Worse, we fly from Y home to the US via Z for no fee, but if we stay in Z for a few days (stop over) Regent charges 350. It's not that we are staying in Timbuktu :-)

Thanks for the replies so far. Yes, one can come up with various explanations for the extra stop over fee, but as we had never come across this (and have made stop overs many times in the past, albeit not in the last 2 years), this was odd. Especially when it was on top of the deviation fee which we are all used to.

My TA says it's Regents fee for "monitoring" the flights after stop over as they are still responsible to get us home. Again, a possible reason, but a new fee.

And if we consider this an open jaw ticket, most cruise air tickets would be open jaw or multi-city by default. You fly into, let's say Barcelona and fly out from let's say Rome. Not a standard round trip, but multi city. And the fun continues when the city you want to stop over is actually on the Regent flight schedule. (let's say back from Rome via LHR and you want to stay in London). So I think it's a Regent fee (add-on) not an airline fee.

In the past, when we used Regent Air, and decided to stop over at a place on the way home, we usually payed a deviation fee and all was well. Same when we decided to stay a few more days or arrive early (let's say in Rome).

Now, Regent is charging an additional stop over fee for when you "stop over" at a destination somewhere between end of cruise port and Home.

So for example: Cruise leaves on 6/1 in port X and ends on 6/14 in port Y. On the way back, you want to stop over in town Z and stay for a week.

Regent now charges you

a) Deviation fee of 175 because you fly back on a different day and

b) a stop over fee of 350 pp because you "stop over" in town Z.

In the past, the deviation took care of it. Now the stop-over-fee is another way to make money ? Has anyone encountered this over the past 2 years ?

Thanks

Thanks Dave

Dear Fellow Cruisers,

do any of you know the latest numbers for the Hotel and Air credit should I choose to get my own air etc.

I perused the board but found conflicting info.

What is the current Hotel credit Per person (is it $300, $250 or $150) ?

What is the current Air credit for domestic flights and for, in the case of European cruises) the International Credit.

I believe domestic is now $350 per person, but again, I'm not sure.

Thanks

F

sorry, not possible in an easy way... The items on the RSSC website are just plain HTML entries and to import it into apple calendar or any other calendar you would have to convert them into a calendar format...

Best is to just manually enter them into your calendar.

Wes, and where is your suggestion for new "Dubliners" to take the almost poured glass of nectar (Guiness) and take a premature sip.... :-)

I actually had a bar tender whack one of my colleagues hands with a stick more than ones...

:)

I have not seen Global Entry Kiosks at any Cruise Port, only at the airports. Yes, Miami Airport is part of it, but the Cruise Port is not (I doubt they would install it there as it doesn't really save time as all is dependent on how fast luggage is removed, ship is cleared etc. ).

I would suggest to leave the ship as early as possible and then take a taxi to the airport.

from the schedule it seems Navigator is off between Jan 6 and Jan 10 2016 in Miami. They could either use that time to refurbish her to some extend or it will be booked for a charter during that time. (Yes, there are companies booking the whole ship and even making the "captain" move.

I'd hate to see her go...always had fun on board and will again soon.