MisterBubba

The policy regarding opening the balcony dividers seems to be fluid depending on who you ask, what ship you're on, and how insistent you want to be.  We've successfully have the balcony dividers opened three out of four times we've asked.  Twice on the Explorer and once on the Navigator.  It's not the full divider, it's just the bit near the railing which allows people to pass through.  If you're comfortable with the people you're travelling with, it's a lot easier than having to ring the doorbell any time you want to have a chat.

If you have an iphone you may want to consider adding an IC card to your wallet prior to arriving.  While mainly used for transit, the IC card is accepted at a lot of places (including those neat vending machines) as payment.  It's easy to reload your IC card with whatever credit card you have in your apple wallet.  

Here's a guide on how to add the IC card: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207155

Here's a guide on how to use it: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207154

8 hours ago, maja651 said:

 We also ordered from just about every restaurant on the ship, sometimes multiple restaurants for one meal. We paid for the specialty meals as required, but everything else was included.

This is the relevant part for the specialty dining package question. If only three people want mains from a specialty restaurant and all others want mains from the MDR then only three credits will be charged. 
 

We found the easiest way to get organized was to write down your order and from which restaurant it should come from so it could just be handed to the butler. All in all we probably only ate three or four meals not in our room when we stayed in the Star GV and the sailing was 14 days. 

We stayed in the Star GV last year and hooked a laptop to the TV in the living room without a problem via HDMI. The remote allows for input selection because it’s also connected to the DVD player. 

I searched through the air deviation threads but couldn't find any relevant posts regarding the topic. Has anyone -- via the air deviation -- turned a long layover into a multi-day stopover (if the airline offered a free stopover)?

And, how did Regent handle the airport to pre cruise hotel transfers, assuming one arrived to the destination airport at the time one would have as if the stopover never happened.

TIA

We stayed on the 18th deck and had noise problems from the sun deck above on the port side. It took 3-4 days of consistent phone calls to the main reception (concierge is closed after 8) after 9:30 pm and then informing Concierge during day about night noise. Eventually was resolved but took some persistence.

We just got off the Escape today and were in a 2 bedroom on deck 18 port side. We had a terrible time with deck noise late into the evening and night from the public sun deck above. It was eventually resolved by the concierge but it took multiple days and lots of late night calls.

Not to troll, but zOMG the pearl clutching over child seat laws in Florida (which is where I assume most people will be cruising from) is pretty hilarious, given that Florida has the most lax child seat laws in the US.

Here's the law: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0300-0399/0316/Sections/0316.613.html

(1)(a) Every operator of a motor vehicle as defined in this section, while transporting a child in a motor vehicle operated on the roadways, streets, or highways of this state, shall, if the child is 5 years of age or younger, provide for protection of the child by properly using a crash-tested, federally approved child restraint device. For children aged through 3 years, such restraint device must be a separate carrier or a vehicle manufacturer’s integrated child seat. For children aged 4 through 5 years, a separate carrier, an integrated child seat, or a seat belt may be used.

Here's the comparison to other states: http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/childsafety_laws.html

Essentially this says, if your kid is younger than three you need a car seat of some sort. 4 and above you can use the seat belt. We were just in Florida with a 4 and 7 year old, we brought a booster for the 4 year old just for our own piece of mind even though Florida law said he'd be okay with just the seat belt.