Gcto

7 hours ago, JC in CA said:

Nope-  not open!  We didn’t open it till the block party.  (The bottle fit in the fridge). When our stewardess saw it had been used, she replaced it with another!

 

We are in category E. Wanted to share what we found in our cabin. We have not requested anything else. Plenty of places to get what we’d like to drink!

 

also wanted to mention, we are able to store 2 bottles of vero water in our fridge, fits fine on the bottom shelf. 

yeah, they have a "standard" fill which is added when cabins change (previous guests leave.....new ones come). Not necessarily the best choices for some (like Bud light..yikes). If you want something different, just let them know and they will change it. As other posters recommend, you can request items a few weeks before via website (C and above) or via Regent. But no worries, your cabin steward/stewardess will gladly do it...and a few hours later, all will be set. 

Regent is great with those requests. 

We usually unpack, then open the champagne and go to the balcony....if our "neighbors" are out, we invite them to a glass and meet nice people. 

Love the block party. Met some great people and it just adds to the "neighborhood". Last cruise though, out of 20 cabins, 4 couples showed up....  

2 hours ago, UUNetBill said:

I usually just ask our steward/stewardess when we board, if I even think about it.  I actually prefer to be in a lounge if I’m having cocktails, but then again I’m kind of social sometimes.

 

Although I did have our butler bring me a bottle of Indian single malt last cruise.  It was surprisingly good.

Now you mention you are social sometimes....hmmm. Hope to meet you one of those days on a cruise, swapping stories about old protocols etc. 

:-)

On 8/23/2019 at 9:34 AM, GOARMY said:

And, of course, if one becomes bored looking at yet-another set of locks--take a break and have a bagel. 

 

GOARMY!

 

(For context, see Roll Call for Splendor 03/14/2020 San Diego-Miami segment.)

 

but then you turn the bagel upside down and all looks different 🙂

1 hour ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

Since Regent docks in St. Petersburg, how did Regent stop people from disembarking the ship for their private tours?  This sounds a bit strange (but am not doubting your post).  How does the "port" now when Regent tours will be disembarking?

well, I assume Regent doesn't sneak into the port in the dead of the night 🙂 and the authorities know the time, then the ship gets cleared by the port authorities and until this happens, nobody leaves.  So the authorities at the port know the timing and I assume (again) that Regent is communicating timing to them. Then you have the destination desk people managing the flow off the ship. Now if you are on a private tour and really want to leave the ship, you might be able to....but according to the letter we received in our cabin, your private tour operator is not allowed into the area until 1 hour after.  

One more thing for St. Petersburg. 

The port has just recently changed their pickup times for private tours. A private tour operator (non regent organized tour) can now only pickup passengers one hour after the ship tours, to ensure that the "regular" passengers can get off in time and through the immigration process. On our recent visit we didn't see many private arrangements though and I'm not sure how exact they deal with the "one hour" limit. When we went through immigration aka passport scrutiny, there were private drivers waiting outside.

Plenty of Regent tours to pick from though 

Yes, ports can be canceled and will be canceled if there are security concerns. A few years back we were on a Med/Middle East Cruise with a planned stop in Haifa/Jerusalem. Until the day before, it was iffy if we would be able to stop due to concerns about rockets from Westbank and Gaza reaching the port. We made it and enjoyed Jerusalem and Masada. 

A few weeks later, friends of ours had their stop in Haifa canceled the night before because of active shelling and rockets. None of which reached the port, but....

Of course, while many passengers understood the decision, others were not happy about missing out and our friends reported that some passengers were quite upset and vocal. 

I'd rather act on the side of caution here and understand the decisions can be spur of the moment. 

Like Bill, I know my way around computers and usually have no problems with the internet on Regent ships (no, don't want to start a discussion here 🙂 )  However, the Digital Survey is a mess imho. On a recent trip it took me over an hour to even get onto the survey site. No, it's not via the internet, it's the intranet, so if you are logged on/in, you might or might not get to the site. I finally managed to get into it via the "free Regent site" you can get to without login on. Very difficult and time consuming. 

People in the Business Center (aka Computer room) had no problems, but there are only 4 computers (Explorer) and unless I have something really important to say, do I want to spend time standing in line hoping one of the machines frees up ? If it is really important, I will tell reception or GM or Ex Concierge... but to give feedback it has to be easy. 

I believe the digital survey is intended to make it easier to "read" the feedback. Remember, they like block letters, short info etc. 

I would assume that the number of people who are able to give feedback is prob less than 40 %.  

The mid cruise feedback is still "manual", but at the end, ...

On 9/18/2019 at 6:49 AM, rsail203 said:

I'm looking at the deck plan and I don't see a casino. Am I missing something?

you mean the "donate to Regent" room ? Yes, they have one

as they say: YMMV  or in this case...theirs.... :-)

We have taken advantage of the up-sales a few times, but only when it made sense to us. 

Just came back from a Baltic Tour and the SmartGuide was pretty much a disaster imho. 

1. As it is new, not many people knew about it and tried to download it. As the app is close to 60 MB, one can imagine the difficulty this created over the ship's wifi/internet. Most people gave up. 

2. Passages mentions which tour will be guided through this app. Well, more than 2/3s of the guides never heard of it and didn't have a setup. Some had the old audio devices handy, others just walked in front and talked to the people who were able to stick close, others (elderly mostly) were left in the void. 

3. Of the guides who had the setup, all assumed that all passengers on their tour had the app, so they didn't provide alternatives. So if you had the app (and got it working), you had some audio, if not, tough luck. 

4. The app connects via wifi and audio is acceptable. No data plan or cellular data is needed. 

5. You are required to bring your own phone and headphones, make sure it works and you can handle the app setup and use. Again, we saw difficulties and the guide was no help. 

The old fashioned audio guides worked better imho. 

35 minutes ago, UUNetBill said:

Well, all of the Regent ships I’ve sailed are all still in the fleet and I can honestly say I’d sail on any of them anytime...

Absolutely. Same here

On 8/17/2019 at 7:51 PM, 1985rz1 said:

Has anyone had experience with Regent booked air on American Airlines without a deviation.  Did you get miles?  How about with a deviation?  I've seen references to Delta and United, but not American.  My understanding is that miles or not depends on the contract between Regent and the airline.

on a recent trip with Regent, we were booked on AA (domestic) and received FFM on the trip to Miami, but the return trip was a different code (not that I saw a diff) and we received no miles for the return. 

In the past, Delta, United, all provided the FFM...this was the first time. But as they say YMMV

36 minutes ago, UUNetBill said:

Check Passages onboard, or even better, make friends with the sommelier.  😁👍

LOL

or for the "older generation" 

7 hours ago, UUNetBill said:

Like Eno-Bob said, finding a current, accurate wine list is like finding a photo of Bigfoot riding a Unicorn while lassoing Nessie before a UFO beams them all up.  In other words, not likely.

 

The included wines are good, sometimes very good, occasionally damn good - but IMO always very drinkable.  If you don't like the daily selection, ask the head sommelier for another option (you can get any of the included wines at any time, or you can ask for premium wines at a fair upcharge).

 

I also highly recommend either the included wine tasting or the extra-cost premium wine tasting (great use for OBC if you need to burn some).  Also, attending the included wine tasting early on gives you an idea of what they have stocked. 

couldn't agree more. There is always a good wine available and if you find a favorite, you can always ask for it or even have it delivered to your cabin. 

The premium wine tasting lunches (on sea days ) are a great way to try new things, find out pairings you might not have thought about and … use ship board credit. We've done it a few times and it was very enjoyable .

Enjoy the trip

of course, ask Regent for a discount as you are creating new customers

LOL  Great way to do it. They don't know what hit them :-)

yes, some are selling out early because they are unique (like the one from Tokyo to Vancouver)...but that doesn't mean that there is no chance...booking early and then canceling is not that expensive and I assume that's why some do it. We are on this cruise because it's something we wanted to do for a long time...

On 6/10/2019 at 3:51 AM, Snore42 said:

On board Voyager now.   Titos is very available and I spoke to a few bartenders and they said there were no plans to stop having it.  They did say a few changes are coming soon, and Beluga Vodka will be added as well as a few other liquors.   Also said a few craft beers are going to be added soon.   I’m not a big beer person so I don’t remember the names.  If anyone wants, I guess I could ask again and take some notes.  

yes, pls ...ask what types of "craft" beer they will get.  Would appreciate it. 

We've been on two cruises during Super bowl Sunday and Regent had it in the main theatre each time.  Nice display of team colors, stadium food etc... great display.... and if your team wins...even better. 

Go Hawks :-)

On 4/29/2019 at 2:22 AM, Hambagahle said:

What a terrible "first world" problem to have!!    If they haven't re-stocked those brands why not try a Bellini or an Apérol Spritz instead?

:-) Absolut(ly)   

Brunch ? We just left the Voyager a few weeks ago and while the Sunday "breakfast" had champagne and caviar...it stopped at 10 am....no brunch....ok, lunch started 2 hours later...but now brunch from 10 to 2 ….did I miss something ? 

4 hours ago, flossie009 said:

 

I can just imagine guests' reaction if Regent ships kept running out of alcohol and the excuse given was "We are trying our best but every time we load more cases, people drink it" 🤨

 

 

 

true...but if that happens...there should be more internet bandwidth 🙂  Sorry, couldn't help myself