PaulMCO

There are certain Captains that I will not sail with -- why because they lie. One such was in the Falklands where we could not tender because of weather. Called our private guide Patrick who said "today was the best weather all year." Next stop was Montevideo where we witnessed the crew welding on a new anchor. Weather hmmn... Lost an anchor so we could not tender. Real issue yes. Honest with passengers -- no.

When were on Regent we both caught COVID. Doctor prescribed Paxlovid -- bill was $900 pp for the drug -- at home it was zero. Our cruise insurance covered this after much prodding.. We now carry a kit for each of us, just in case. We know the meds we have to stop 24 hours before our first dose.

There is no class system on Oceania... But then again the stateroom cards are white - silver- gold and black... And some get to make bookings to the specialties earlier... LOL. We have 14 cruises on Oceania and our last cruise was on Marina in January. We had a number of issues with food, service and our stateroom. Oceania acknowledged these and gave us an $800 FCC which likely will never be used. We did a 3 segment 7day total 21 days on Encore in May. These are meant to be tied together and doubtful that SB would cancel a segment. We loved these Greek and Turkey port stops and plan to do another on Encore in the Dalmatian coast and Greece

Outbound -- I would try for LH or LX through FRA or ZRH. Once you get to the EU even if you miss the connection there is always a later flight. Presume you will go at least 1 day early. I tend to avoid the the US connections on the outbound. Coming home is different. Return -- If you are departing directly from the ship and not staying over, you are limited as most of the connecting EU flights must leave by 10am. Exceptions are Air France and LH that have some late direct flights through CDG and MUC to SFO. You are obviously doing your homework and did a general search and AF and SAS are generally the cheaper biz class fares I am finding. Of the two I prefer AF. I do not like AC and they are the worse for misconnects, I saw the AC flight FCO-YUL-SFO. I do not know if Regent will put you in FC for the domestic segment which is over 6 hours, If you stay over in Rome -- you would have a better choice of flights the next days with some direct EU to SFO legs and a short EU domestic leg. Use ITA Matrix web site to locate the best and cheapest flights.

Post 17 shows the Restaurant hours. There technically is no MDR/GDR restaurant. The Med Yacht club is 1900h and Fil Rouge is 1830h

Yes - they are allowed. You can bring your own. Or use a rental firm. If you are going to rent one why don't you call them. This is their preferred supplier. You do not have to use them, they are just a vendor and you deal with the vendor and not Regent.

Point 1 -- I highly doubt they will do the free ones to TA's in January. They have already done the pre and first cruise full of TA's another set is on the Canadian cruises (my TA has a Penthouse cabin). Yes they may sail 1/2 full, doubt at all they would cancel ports as these take time to set up. Point 2 -- Sakura and Marble are the ones you need a reservation. They open 60 days prior to sailing. Yes one advance per sailing. Booking best by a phone call directly or through your TA. As far as FB reviews and posts all of the ones so far are from TA's. Some of the sites are sponsored by TA's. So the likelyhood of an Objective review is ZERO.

It is one of my favorite hotels in AMS -- BUT Do you know that the Renaissance is undergoing a massive reconstruction. Many bad reviews on Trip Advisor. Just a heads up.

The key is to avoid Santorini in the summer. We were there in May and we were the only ship in port and we had no lines at the cable car, in fact both times we were the only one in the car. The Greek isles are more civilized in the spring and fall as these are the best times to visit.

Spirits -- see post #107 for the main lobby bar Wines -- yet to see a shipwide list. They tend to spread them out among the various food venues.

Yes Case by case. On Regent for Japan I have a mix. Where I can get a great guide and do a tour at our own pace -- it will be Tours by Locals. For the same port where everyone goes to the same attraction we use the Regent "free" tour. As far as safety -- where terror is concerned there is no safety in numbers. The bad guys want to make a splash. Two people plus guide on a tour is not a splash. And yes our Luxor private 12 people tour in a small van had an armed guard. Safety on cruise tours -- Look at the SS cruise excursion in Durban this year that were all robbed and had their passports also taken. .

Definitely interested too - we are not going until January.

Do not know what the fixation about the Crystal Tours are?? A&K is not in every port and they are using the same guides and companies other ships use. Just a higher mark up and maybe less persons (still to be proved). But certainly a 1 to 1 private tour by such reputable firms like Tours by Locals or those *5 Trip Advisor reviewed companies can much better. Share with 1 or 2 other couples and you have a quality small group tour. That will beat any regular Crystal or A&K Tour. We even do this many times when we have included Regent tours. Ships tours IMHO are meh... And to answer @Leejnd4 you can do private tours from any of the Egyptian (Safaga/Luxor, Cairo) or Jordan (Petra) ports. If you do a Nile River cruise -- Uniworld is one of the better and most experienced companies and knows how to work in Egypt. Private tours -- Is not that what the roll calls are for??? 🙂

Having been to Egypt many times on both business and cruises (ocean and river), it is really a magical place. That land overnight is definitely worth the price and certainly seems like A&K set that up. Visiting the Pyramids before it opens -- priceless. It is better than a tacky Sphinx light show that normal tourists go to. Instead of that you will have a private reception and dinner in the new Cairo museum hosted by Dr. Zahi Hawas, Yes the day trips are a little high. The delta depends on the amenities we did a semi private tour in a large van for $250pp. I highly recommend the overnight in Luxor. The balloon in the morning dawn was just amazing.

Ouch... Things are getting hot here. I do not think you can even compare prices for 2020/2021 to Crystal now. When you are in financial trouble as Crystal was coming out of Covid and pre COVID, you lower your prices to fill the ships and cover costs. That is what Crystal did and while it did introduce a lot people to Crystal it was ultimately the death of OC (along with other circumstances). At that time you could could get a Sea Breeze PH for the same price as Oceania was charging for a PH on Marina -- we did same on Symphony and followed Marina on the Amazon. Good deal no. Great deal yes! Was Crystal making money -- no way. As Mr. Keith stated -- want big cabins - Go to Regent, Seabourn, or SS. What I will state -- want an older ship with some old time amenities (and clients) - like a real promenade, personal service, and not totally regimented (like Regent and SS) with inclusions you do not want and gimmicks like "free business air" or "port to port service" -- then NC are your ships. One point from a non NC fan (I cannot be a fan yet, as I have not sailed them and nor have most of you). The ships are old and there are many better ships on other cruise lines like Regent, SS and Explora, but I do hope NC survives and gets its new ships because Manfredi can design them and watch out when he does.

Yes and they run this also for Oceania and Silversea too.

In USA Amex is offering 5X point with a cap at 50,000.

you can but if you have round trip air that can be the cost basis.

As someone has yet to post here and is enjoying his Serenity cruise says -- choice is good. We agree and chose to cruise based on good choices -- there is no one best product. There is so much good product out there and so much new product out there that has yet to prove itself in the long term (I include NC and Explora here). Lots of new ships coming from most of the luxury lines with larger staterooms. I love my Corvettes and a C2 is nice but a C8 is awesome. For us it is about the itinerary. So we will try Explora, and retry Silversea (post Covid and RCCL). We like Regent, but their prices can be out of sight. Like Seabourn but only for special unique cruises. May try NC if a good itinerary presents itself. As stockholder of several of them -- right now it is about maximizing profits. Revenue is good but profits are low because of higher costs. Expect service and reductions on all these lines from small to the ridiculous - like SS raising La Dame surcharges on Nova from $60pp to $160pp. Things like this will influence our decisions.

Are the Shorexs that you have booked sold out?? What if you cancel them and rebook using your OBC..

The site has only been up for a few months. It is the MOFA that is doing this -- it is visa.mofa.gov,sa How many stops are you making in KSA. The maritime visa provides a 96 hour transit for single entry visa. The visit saudi evisa is a multiple entry for 90 days tourist visa. You need to submit proof of a cruise with your "cruise ticket" for the maritime visa.

But then again you and Venture were probably the only ones using the available bandwidth. No locals using it as no ground stations In Alaska you have residents plus other ships that have been outfitted with Starlink. Regent Encore outfitted plus other NCL and RCCL ships too.

You just have to look at the coverage and the number of sats over Alaska. Near ZERO (the long string are recently launched but not yet operational) Spotty coverage and of course everyone trying to use the same one when there is coverage.

You will need a visa for India. That can be done electronically... https://visacentral.com/tourkits?bookmark=1&login=oceania As Lynne (LHT28) stated call guest services. Generally except for China and India, Oceania will do them or they are not required (transit) and bill your account.

Do not know who designed the bathrooms.. Even in the Cove Residence there is no inside tub. Yes there is one on the veranda, but still it is visible from above OT1's and shore. No double sinks anywhere. Maybe they figured we will just make them small so no room for two people and that is just what they did.