ChatKat in Ca.

Jackie - Frank Galzy came from Oceania to Regent. His first cruise with Regent was the first after the last big dry dock

Tina, We have cruised many times with Frank on Regent; He was with us in 2006 on Navigator and 2007 on Voyager. He was F and B Manager before moving up. He did the Crossing with us in 2007. I don't remember which other cruise he was on in that time frame - but while it was still Radisson!

I do the schedule of appointments in Excel or in my Google Calendar depending on how complex I need to track information.

I save all the emails for flights/tours in Google Drive and create a label by trip. I can access that from my phone or any desktop computer and I can share it as well.

I print what is most important and I have a small expanding folder that is plastic; It has tabs for Air/Hotel/Cruise Info/Ports/Tours/Insurance/Passport copies/ I fold the documents in half or in thirds and it fits in one of my carryons perfectly; I have original correspondence that way and it never fails me.

On one cruise we were all checked in for our flight. We overhead something about a strike and so I asked. We were using Air France and we were going on Regent; We were chatting with people going to Barcelona on Oceania - they use the same air department; Proactively I called my TA and the Air department; We had to uncheck our bags and claim them, change terminals and wait at the airport for 8 hours but both of us got re-routed via Switzerland on Swiss Air. We would have missed our flight from Paris to Barcelona because of the strike and would have missed the ship because Air France told us that we could not leave Paris until 2 days after the ship had sailed.

We were very lucky to get the rerouting with seats in Business Class as were the travelers on Oceania. We needed the extra day to travel on our next flight. We would not have been so lucky without the deviation. We planned two days in Barcelona and only got part of one.

We were very gratelul to have taken the deviation and selected our airline planning to go in TWO days early.

Destinations is headed up by a single person for both cruise lines and they seem to be getting closer and closer to the same in several areas.

The ships have different brand names on their mastheads. As we have heard here many times there will be no merger. :rolleyes:

Our first visit there, a resident friend met us at the ship and took us by tram to Dam Square and we walked all day. We saw much of the city sans museum and including a traditional Dutch lunch. He was formerly a tour guide in his home country and while you can do it on your own there is much to be missed. The streets are not in a grid pattern and it would be easy to get lost. Our 2nd time there we also had a guide who walked us around for a couple hours. We felt it was worth while. I love the offbeat nature of the city and would happily visit again.

The best cameras around still need to have a user who understands how to create a good photograph. Everyone has a different bar as to what is a good photograph. Just like food.

Have sailed in 733 with no problems.

I make my living with photography ...and I hate the photographers on board ships. It's not them. They are not really well trained; They are forced to have a quota so they are pushy. The photographers on Regent were a money losing activity and were a leased department. On the Carnival ships including Princess - they own the photo centers.

We toured with Aziz Benzavi. We found him because someone on our roll call booked him and he was great. One of the best tour experiences we've had. I reviewed him on Trip Advisor and he had many good reviews there.

I saw them and rummikube too.

The backgammon needed dice. We had to raid the Yahtzee game for some dice for backgammon in December.

They are probably still getting over jet lag but not to worry they will have their opinions :D

As someone who cruised Regent almost exclusively for 10 years, I have jumped ship to Oceania; I think it's a lovely line. Food is very good, well presented with options to select anything I want in terms of services and amenities on board. I can eat when I want without fixed seating - a priority for me.

Ambiance does not require coats/ties and formal wear; Passengers are well educated and fun to be with - and without a snob factor. Ship's activities keep me entertained - if I want them.I once read that most people will choose a vacation based on the level of luxury in which they live at home. The ships are quite comfortable - the old and the newer ships. The art is lovely - some of it not my personal taste - but well appointed. The crew gets it's mission of wanting to have passengers satisfied.

I have only heard one person not be able to order something onboard she wanted - a grilled cheese sandwich.

We sailed in the Penthouse for 28 days last month. When I walked in the cabin took my breath away - I thought it was lovely.

I am sure you will find something wrong if you want to nitpick. On any line, in any travel venue. Nothing is perfection all the time. For me, our last cruise was pretty close to it. (except for the part where I thought I sprained my ankle and have come to find I broke it - but that was out touring on my own)

We had Dominque as Hotel director last month on the Riviera. He remembered us from Regent sailings. He is quite lovely.

You are correct...

 

I always wonder why people pay multi-thousands of $$ to cruise and relegate so much of their time to reporting on the current state of how fluffy the cheesecake might be or who the pastry chef might be on a particular segment or if a certain bartender might be around.

 

No matter how helpful I would want to be, I wouldn't spend so much my time posting full menus every day.

What ever happened to sitting and relaxing and reading a book?

 

I know the responses to this will be that people want to know what's going on, but to offer so much personal detail seems like a bit of overkill to me.

Got to be some more interesting things to do with one's life....but the more I read Cruise Critic, I suppose not.

 

I imagine that the social networks have pretty much intruded into everyone's lives, but the difficulty is to avoid them....

 

Facebookers, etc., flame away..

I am an avid facebook poster - mostly for business. But when I travel - I don't want to have my customers knowing that I am gone. And when I am spending $$$$$ on a cruise - same thing. I want to enjoy the time onboard.

It doesn't mean I won't peek every few days.

As I have been around CC for over 10 years, I have watched the nature of the Radisson/Regent board change a great deal. I don't post a whole lot any more. I am not fond of change - most of us like the familiar. This isn't the same old friendly place it once was.

Another very good and fairly inexpensive option is to use your own cell phone to make the call directly. Oceania participates in the Cellular at Sea program. All of the major US mobile phone carriers also participate, as well as some of the Canadian carriers, including Telus Canada. The charge for using our AT&T cell phones is about $2.00 per minute, thus pretty much the same as using the VOIP approach that ChatKat described above. You can get more info at http://wmsatsea.com/roaming-partners.html. There are links on the WMS at Sea website to determine whether your mobile carrier participates, as well as to find out the per minute cost. Generally, this option is dramatically less expensive than using the phone in your cabin as suggested by the gentleman from Hawaii.

The $1.99 Wifi Connect at sea was less expensive than using the cell via my cell carrier. It gave you a permanent phone number and app to use. Using my own cell to call home was $2.99 a minute on Verizon with international plan PLUS roaming charges. I believe skype was blocked onboard.

We were on the crossing with Orv.

In the internet cafe they had a VOIP phone you could use with your own smart phone or with the computer cafe phones. They were $1.99 a minute.

If you used it from a desktop you needed a speaker/handset device.. Otherwise you used your own phone via wifi and the app installed.

We were clearly told what time to be back and a foursome was a no show. Even if the bus driver had been willing to wait the rest of us were not having it. You must have had a calmer group of passengers. Was there an emergency?

On a cruise tour, that would be the norm to wait about 10 or so minutes for a straggler. On a river cruise, we had late people - and they waited. On a private tour with a cab waiting and paid for by the hour we had that happen years ago. We were just on Riviera with all private tours and I can say that every single person was so lovely as to be back on time - or early. It was a pleasure.

I hate to tour with people who set a meeting time to return and then are late - not by a few minutes but by half an hour or if on a cruise tour keep a whole bus load waiting for them.

People who twist everything you say to suit them and discredit you

I honestly don't find much difference in the Regent and Oceania experience other than alacarte beverages and tours. And on HAL you can pay for it by being a suite passenger if you want it.

Almost all the men wore ties in La Reserve the night we went. All the women were pretty dressed like they'd go to a nice restaurant; Another night we walked by and we saw capri pants on a few ladies and no ties for men.

Either is suitable.

We accepted an offer thinking we could just do the same cruise the next year. We couldn't - it wasn't offered. We did get our money back and did an alternative cruise with a credit. We still haven't done the original cruise.

I have been on all three lines.

No different than paying for the privilege of having a butler, or penthouse suite on Regent or Oceania, on HAL, I would not go if I could not dine in the Neptune's Lounge. I like that it's a small intimate place to dine. It's not anything to do with snob factor; No more than the Business class Lounge at the airport or the Executive or Concierge lounge on board the O class ships. I won't sail on any line with fixed time seating. Regent lost me on the quality of included excursions but Oceania for me is ideal where just like Burger King, I can have it my way.

Different strokes for different folks. I was on the same ship as the HAL passenger who was on Oceania and is going back to HAL; We dined together a few times. A huge complaint for her was that she could not get a grilled cheese sandwich. I love a good grilled cheese sandwich myself but for me - not a breaking point. We all want things that are in our own comfort zone and what defines our likes/dislikes - and whether or not we can pay for it as it all comes down to choice/financial ability and what we are comfortable with.

We have friends onboard not on cruise critic and they are having a very nice time.

We are currently booked into the Intercontinental Tahiti for 2 nights pre cruise !

We stayed at the IC in an overwater bungalow for 5 nights. We could see Moorea from our bed and there was a glass window to see the water underneath. We had room service breakfast one morning dubbed Breakfast by Canoe. We spent much time just lounging on our deck watching the canoes go by, swimming a bit from the deck, and we enjoyed walking the grounds. There were two restaurants - the upscale fish venue was wonderful although pricy. We caught Le Truck right at the entrance of the hotel to go into town. We did take a taxi back. The Polynesian dance show was very nice.

There is a lot to know about getting mileage award tickets. I was told that mileage to Australia is some of the hardest to get. I tried several times and no tickets were available - 330 days out. Buying them in business class with miles on the Amex site was over 700K miles. I was able to book two business class tickets by transferring Amex miles to Delta who code shared with Virgin Australia. 160K miles per person round trip and non stop.

Last year I tried and tried and ended up changing my cruise to leave from Istanbul instead of Barcelona. By doing a B2B, getting air credit for the 2ndcruise, a back to back discount, we actually got business class on KLM, A credit and the 2nd cruise and doing a back to back - with the air credit and the air special - the fare was greatly reduced because of air credit for non use.

One thing to think about: 2 years ago we were flying using Regent Air - same as Oceania Air. Air France was going on Strike and while we would arrive - our connecting flight was going to be cancelled and they would not get us to Barcelona in time to make the cruise. One call to the air department we were rebooked on a flight with no connection on Swiss International. If you book your own air - you will not get assistance for this kind of situation.