Wendy The Wanderer

On 9/5/2024 at 12:45 PM, cAPS lOCK oN said:

We are on Grandeur leaving from Miami in March, cruising with our daughter and son-in-law. We're all in concierge rooms and are getting the pre-cruise hotel. However, our hotel is the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables while theirs is the Biltmore Coral Gables. The two hotels are just far enough apart to make it difficult to get together.

 

Has anyone ever tried to get the pre-assigned hotel changed? Were you successful?

 

Gee, I would take this up with your TA or your Regent rep. Sounds easy to solve.

4 minutes ago, RachelG said:

oh, the stories I could tell.  Worst was a sharing table with another couple in P7.  And the reason we no longer share tables with people we don't know.  ...

We stopped sharing a table for four years ago for this type of reason. Still like tables for 6.

On 8/20/2024 at 3:33 PM, Kane said:

On our very first Regent cruise on the Mariner, they featured a group that called themselves "Prtivate Reserve".  They were a group of winemakers from Napa that gave high end wine tastings a few days at Sea, but played music in the Horizon Lounge each evening to a packed house.

 

The group leader was Michael Martini of the Louis Martini Winery.  These guys were the epitome of living the high life.  It convinced us that Regent was "our" cruise line.  Unfortunately, we were never again able to find Private Reserve featured on another voyage.🙁

I remember these guys. Can't remember what cruise it was.

14 hours ago, snorklelover said:

We will be at the Hotel Intercontinental Montreal.

 

That's a nice hotel in a good location.

We're done cruising, but back in the day, my husband never even took a sports jacket (except for one early cruise on Diamond that demanded a suit on formal night).  But the last one we took, I brought him a sports jacket because I knew he's be cold in the lounges and dining rooms.  It was very helpful to have it.

Has anyone confirmed that Regent is in fact not offering help to those customers stuck in this situation?

58 minutes ago, frankpc123 said:

Now the three or so Viking marketing mailings that arrive each week are deposited in the recycle bin before entering our home.

I don't blame you.  That kind of thing really leaves a bad taste in your mouth, for sure. I myself always shied away from Viking simply because of the early payment issues.

In early 2020, we watched the Paul Gauguin (owned by Ponant), deny people cash refunds when they stopped sailing due to covid--that turned off lots of loyal former cruisers--we vowed we'd never go back, despite it being our favourite cruise ship.  So I can totally understand.

On 8/20/2024 at 5:46 PM, frankpc123 said:

 

Exact thing happened to us on our last DeltafFlight.  The FA noticed the Viking tags on our rollaboard during boarding. She asked - "Did you like Viking?"  My standard answer - "The actual cruise itself was very good but I believe Viking is ethically challenged in supporting their pre sailing commitments"

Perhaps not what Torstein had in mind .... 🙂

 

Frank

Are you referring to their payment policies, or something else?

Splendor is an amazing ship, btw, and the S1/2 or concierge cabins are generous in size.  Haven't been on Insignia but it is smaller and older, with much smaller standard cabins. Fewer specialty restaurant choices too.

I just noticed that the Paul Gauguin has some great zero single supplement specials right now.  Not sure how they're faring under Ponant ownership, but despite the small size, I will always consider this ship to be luxury (first sailed her in 2000.)

13 hours ago, MrBill923 said:

WaggesAZ: Thanks for posting PG response. It's a typical polite response. I'll find out this weekend first hand about the ship....if the PPT strike doesn't cancel my flight in. 

We're counting on your review, bon voyage!

So Richard, are you having a good time yet?

I'm very jealous, Richard. Have a great trip!

I also would choose 721. Great location.

Yes, they have several sets. I believe there might have been a couple of photocopied cards, but bring your own for sure. It's just a pickup game, not organized.

I'm kind of surprised they would specifically target "luxury" cruises rather than mass market.  

2 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

At least since 2018 Regent "base" fare was NOT inclusive of business air.  It was shown in the price posted for the cruise, but at the bottom of the web page it showed the "air credit" if you chose to book your own air.  You could (and can) get a "hotel credit" if your fare included a hotel night, and a "pre/post excursion credit" if your fare included "free" pre/post cruise excursion and you chose not to take it.  Then a year or so ago they broke out the cost of the cruise showing side by side on the web the cost with or without air.   

It was all marketing.  Regent marketed it as "including business class air" but, in fact, it was always an optional add on.  

...

Yes of course, you could get an air credit, which was handy, but rarely equivalent to the price of booking your own business air flights.

11 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

Why should Regent "compensate?"  They're in business to make a profit, so it's obvious that they're going to charge what they are charged for a flight.

I'm talking about the base cruise fares. I.e., they used to be inclusive of business air (in North America), now they're not.

5 hours ago, BitburgBoy said:

As I’m looking at future cruises it appears that Regent has removed BC from transcontinental flights? 

Included Biz, yes. Those halcyon days of a great deal on included Biz air are over. Cruise-only fares are still high, but adding air, even coach, seems very pricey. I think we can blame the airlines and mass travel in general for this change, but I suspect Regent is not reducing base fares in any way to compensate. Just my opinion.

P.S. I wonder if they'll quote on Premium Economy now?

7 hours ago, Techno123 said:

I have been educated now but as Vancouver is in Canada I thought it would be classed as international 😁

They lump us Canadians together with the Americans.  We get mostly the same regs and perks.

3 hours ago, mrlevin said:

Andy announced at the brunch a very special group of entertainers coming on for a pre-dinner pre-departure show next Sunday.  If you track our itinerary, you could probably figure out who these entertainers might be.

Oh, do tell! How could we possibly figure that out?

23 hours ago, GMIAC said:

How so? I can't tell much from the (computer-generated) long shot of the ship.

Mostly I'm reacting to the marketing language. The ships are all fine as they are, in terms of luxury, although I admit I like the newer ones. But they just don't need to get any more luxurious (or expensive.)

Ick, glad I'm going to miss all that. It's all so over the top.

No disrespect, but I'm trying to picture bringing garlic powder and tabasco into Compass Rose. 🙂 My experience in the past requesting less salt has not been good, but perhaps they handle special requests better now. My ankles always swelled after a couple of days onboard.

On 6/12/2024 at 7:49 PM, Emdee said:

We were once in 426. Yes, the water pipe runs through the wall and the sound is awful.

 

We were upgraded one year to Deck8. Great investment for the cruiseline as once we stayed near the pool we never went back to Deck4.

We got upgraded to 8 once as well. It was divine, but only at the discounted price. Ah, those were the days!