edgee

Yup, I'll say it again, a smoke free section of a casino is like a "no pee" section in a swimming pool.

None in casino on Zuiderdam, Westerdam, Noordam, Oosterdam, Nieuw Amsterdam. Others, some smoking in casino near slots.

Hide the ball. Give evasive answers. Give out as little information as possible. I like Oceania a lot and will continue to sail with them, but the corporate culture of minimized disclosure to guests seems to permeate the officer corp on every ship and is indeed frustrating.

Call one of the travel agencies that specializes in casino comped or discounted cruises. Cannot mention them here but can find without too much trouble on Google. They will verify your level of play at land based casinos and book you on any of a number of cruise lines where they have relationships. IME comparatively easy peasy as opposed to dealing with cruise line casino staff such as Blue Chip club team.

Well stated. I am somewhat less flexible and make decisions accordingly. For example, I am booked on the very popular trans canal cruise on Vista in November. Happy to have an A4 booked but have wait listed a PH. However, I have only waitlisted PH3 and PH2, categories, as most PH1s are beneath traffic areas rather than cabins and I would rather stay in a "regular" cabin than even be tempted to accept a PH in a location where I am not comfortable. In any case I know I will spend 16 wonderful days on the new Vista. Very excited!

Yes, but you still lose control of your location. IMHO the worst you could do is get a PH 1 under the pool deck, Waves, or the Terrace.

The use of the word "discriminate" can be done in a non pejorative way, as in "an act or instance of discriminating, or of making a distinction." Perhaps I should have used the words, "are more subject to downgrading due to the fare category of their ticket." The information in this thread has been helpful. Our 2025 Rio to Santiago cruise is showing a $5600 credit per person if one does not take Regent air. Currently business class tickets for that itinerary are showing a $5100 January fare for that route (in 2024.) So if fares remain similar for 2025, it will be a no brainer to purchase our own tickets and take the air credit from Regent.

Many!

Your post seems to miss the points that: 1. Regent guests are discriminated against by being among first chosen for the downgrade due to fare category Regent books them in. 2. Regent is not passing on to the passenger any compensation the company may be getting due to the downgrade. The first point is a fact folks should consider when considering whether or not to book cruise line air. The second point, if true, is more of an outrage IMHO. We have been planning to use RSSC air for our Rio to Santiago Antarctica cruise in 2025. We may now reconsider in light of this information.

Explora will definitely have a casino. I know that some high roller types are already being marketed to with offers of discounts or free cruises, although the required level of play will be pretty high.

Lots of beaches just south of Ravenna. Look up places to stay in Cervia.

Medjet is great. One limitation is that it only covers hospital to hospital transfers, so if you are going to a hometown hospital directly from the cruise ship or from an outpatient facility...no coverage.

Unfortunately annual travel policies are not available to residents of some states. Examples: Maryland and NY.

Big mistake not to insure every cruise, at least for medical evacuation. Even on a Caribbean cruise a medical evacuation back to the U.S. could cost $35K or more.

IME, having cruised Oceania and Regent more than ten times, I can tell you that this company is the most conservative in terms of missing ports. We have taken about 50 cruises. Only one of our ten cruises on Oceania/Regent has actually made every scheduled port in the itinerary planned at embarkation. Thus, a 90 miss rate on our Oceania/Regent cruises. Of the other 40 cruises we have taken on other cruise lines, only twice have we failed to make every port in our planned itinerary. Perhaps this is coincidence, perhaps Oceania/Regent captains are more cautious. If I really am picking an itinerary which has a port I really want a good chance of not missing, I do not book on Oceania or Regent.

Curious...on which cruise line did your bad experience occur?

And some think it is perfectly fine to ignore polite requests directly made of them and only adhere to those requests when they are "ENFORCED." As I said, that is unfortunate.

I think this is a lot different because they usually make an announcement specifically asking passengers not to go to their cabin until they are told that their category of cabins are ready. But, obviously case in point here...some tend to think rules/requests, even when directly expressed at the moment, do not apply to them. (Except passport rules, I guess.) Unfortunate.

Cruise line asks that you not enter cabin until announcement is made that you are free to do so. Why do you think it is okay to flaunt the rules just because you judge it to appropriate?

We cruised the Baja Ca. Itinerary last October and every port observed daylight savings time to match the comparable U.S. Time. For example Ensenada in Pacific time zone was on daylight time same as LA, Cabo was on Mountain daylight time, same as Denver, Mazlatan was on Central Daylight time, same as Chicago. Perhaps it will be different in 2023.

We are considering a cruise (Mariner trans Atlantic) which falls on the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. Does Regent generally have a Rabbi on the ship to conduct services during the High Holy Days?

I just disembarked Celebrity Solstice which has Starlink internet. It was wonderful. Similar to what one would expect in a U.S. hotel. I even streamed the Super Bowl on my computer so I could watch the hi def U.S. Fox broadcast with commercials instead of the international standard definition broadcast. A different world from internet on cruise ships I have experienced over the years.

Higher suites also get unlimited laundry.

We disembarked last Saturday and self luggage carrying folks were called about 7:15. First group with ship handled luggage was promised for 8 a.m. but were actually called at 7:40. We were headed straight for LAX. Saw Uber/Lyft lineup area seemed pretty mobbed so we went straight to taxi line with no wait. 65 dollar flat rate taxi to LAX..took 35 minutes on that Saturday morning.