mj_holiday

Specialty Reservations.  I just finished our reservations for the Apr 1 - May 1 "Magic in the North Pacific"  and I encountered some of the things people have asked about.

It wasn't until Jan 2 that I got the link for dinner reservations.  And the link in My Account said how many reservations we were able to make.  For us it was 6 since this is a two segment sailing.

I got our reservations just fine.  When you select a date there will be an annotation regarding any shore excursions you have and what the times are.  After you make a time selection for the restaurant you will then see Reserved next to the time.  Below that you will see two links, one is for "New Reservation" and the other is for a "Cancellation"  I hit the Cancellation to see what happened.  I cancelled the second  Chartreuse reservation to see what would happen. I was able to cancel it and rebook it with no issues, or so I thought.  As I was leaving the site I noticed under My Account it stated I had made 5 or 6 reservations.  Further research showed that cancelling the second Chartreuse really cancelled both of them.  I quickly was able to get our reservations back the way I wanted them.

In summary:

Your will get a link for reservations when it is time for you to make them

When looking at a specific date you will get info about any excursion you have that day.

If you have 2 segments on the cruise, you will be able to make reservations for both.

You can cancel a reservation without calling Regent to cancel (as with excursions) and book what you want.

You will get an email for each reservation you make.

We have always found the servers and the runners in LaVeranda and the pool grill very observant and helpful. They could always find our table to deliver our food. When DH serves himself from the buffet line they noticed him right away and come and carry his plate to our table, we enjoy eating at LaVeranda and Pool grill. 

Thank you for all the time involved in giving a review of you preparation for your trip and your day to day experiences.  Anxious to read about the remainder of your trip.

I appreciate your difficulties in your trip preparation.  I am also relatively new to Azamara.  Great itineraries attracted us to Azamara. I also had concern  about the items that you could not do until onboard, afraid I would forget something or just miss out if I was delayed getting in line. While I headed to get specialty reservations I sent DH to get a drink upgrade. We both accomplished what we set out to do, but did not realize that as second time on Azamara we got a small discount on the drink package.  I would have thought that the crew member that sold DH the upgrade would have asked any questions that could have resulted in a discount.  I really just want to get on board and go sit down for lunch and know we are on vacation.

On 12/26/2023 at 1:15 PM, lprp said:

She does seem a little unsure of everything, I wonder if she was drafted in from NCL. This was her second attempt at making a booking for us , she got the first one completely wrong 🤨

What ship are you on right now?

For room service, use the door hanger and circle the time slot you want your order delivered.  It has been our experience that we get our order at the beginning of the time slot.

8 hours ago, gcorgain said:

Thanks. That is interesting. In many cases this type of itinerary would appeal to me, particularly if the evening immersive experiences were special. I’ve never cruised on Azamara, but I’ve heard great things about their azamara evenings. 
 

That being said, I was really looking at a Japan focused cruise and this is no longer really that. 

We have done Azamara 2 times, and it definitely was for the itinerary.  Caribbean - had 5 port days there and two overnights at one island.  The immersive experience was a performance at the Tropicana.  Spain - had an overnight in Seville and the experience was a performance of Flamenco dancing

Regent is still our first choice and will be interesting to see what types of overnights they come up with.

I recently saw a you tube video on Japan cruise trip (cannot find it now) and the narrator stated that in Japan being a tour guide is not considered a profession, trying to let us understand what not to expect.

Our TA always gets us seat assignments at time of booking.

We have been on a Regent ship over Christmas, do not remember anything extra on the tables (no room) but the ship is very festive with decorations throughout.

We sure didn't know this automatically.  I think I noticed a crew member bringing in a nicely garnished hot dog and found the lady that had ordered it.

You note your table number if you already have a table and they bring the order to you.  My husband is a little unsteady walking especially with a plate. After the first day in La Veranda he didn't carry a plate.  A crew member would always spot him as he was getting ready to head to a table with a plate and they  would take it from him and follow him to our table.  This is pampering.

Thank you for your review.  And looking at your comments it is a shame you hadn't seen someplace that Hamburgers and hotdogs (quite good ones) are available every day at the pool grill.  And for room service during the times the Compass Rose is open you can order from that menu shown on the TV.  Our first cruise with a cruise line also ends up me not understanding some of the perks for things I like until afterwards.  There are so many options.

I really appreciated you detailed explanations of the various aspects of your trip - embarking and your cabin details, the various specialty restaurants and especially the arrangements that you made prior to the cruise.

When , we were making plans for our first cruise on Regent. I was reading reviews in Cruise critic, some of the not so good reviews were ridiculous and what they complained about were pitiful. I try to balance the bad with the good. The good has always been part of the trips we have been on. 

50 minutes ago, LovesPurple said:

It is more about the time than the money for us - two extra nights away (one on each end) is often not manageable for us.  

We fly out of Dallas.  And we just find it better all around.  We don't take any commuter/regional flights which are crowded/small/don't have room for our carry-ons.  We do Park, Sleep and Fly at a Hotel at the Airport and considering the costs of parking, this works for us.  We leave a clean set of clothes in the car, so we have comfy things to wear.  Since we no longer have to count vacation days, this just works for us.

We haven’t had any issues with transfers. But you do need to make sure you know which parts of your trip have included transfers.
When we travel a couple days before the cruise and stay in our own hotel, we don’t get transfers to the ship or to our hotel. But we still get a transfer to the airport at the end of the trip.

Just finished a you tube video of a tour of the Explorer.  We have only been on the Explorer once so I have some questions about what is included in the Spa.

I am sure that Hair dressing/cutting/styling is extra.

Mani and Pedis are extra.

Massages are extra.

But what about the cold room, or the room with the heated reclining chairs, the sauna or the shower experience? Are any of these things included?

Now for more sun

Also please tell me what is your favorite dish (besides the ice cream sundae with choc, peanuts and caramel corn) onboard the Explorer.

frantic36

- As others have said before, there is no way of telling about the boarding since the port authorities are involved.  We are always excited to get onboard, that is really the start of the trip. We plan on getting on anytime after 12 noon, because that is when transfers usually show up.  After we get on we head to the Pool Grill and take up residence at a table off to the side, and order lunch.  If it looks like all the tables have filled up we will either ask someone to join us or decide to walk around the ship. But suites are usually ready shortly after we are finished with lunch.

As mentioned quite a bit, the port authority seems to set up the structure of the check in process.  We boarded Onward this last spring at the Canary Islands.  We had a transfer that picked us up at noon and right to the port.  We got our baggage taken care of quickly and we were ask to sit in a staging area.  Before I even got a cookie, we were called to board.

The cookies and water refreshments in the staging area is a nice thing that Azamara does.

We were in concierge our last cruise.  I do not believe there is a set time for concierge to board.  The Regent transfer was a full bus with all different levels of suites and we all waited until the Names suites got checked in.  This was the only time I remember as being chaotic, and think it had a lot to do with the port itself.

Except for this last time. those with Regent transfers get to board when they arrive.  It is usually timed at the hotel to keep them spread out.

Last sailing we had, could use OBC (any type) to play BINGO and if you won, you got cash put on your account.

Wine on Regent - There Usually is a wine tasting (in the open area outside a lounge, the first or second day.  This will be of the Included wines that are common on all ships and always available.  There are other included wines that will not be part of this.  We have always enjoyed the wines we select with our dinner.

Sette Mari - for dinner the La Veranda turns into Settee Mari and Italian.  No reservations, just come when open.  If there is a wait, you may go to the Observation lounge and they will call you when a table is ready for you.

Read the stickies at top of this forum that talk about Deviating for your flight.  That is if you want to choose you own flight, this can be done starting at 210 days prior to cruise. This is talked about in several topics along with the sticky.  There are positive and negatives to this.

So now there is a way to book specialty restaurant reservations on line before you board?

We did Cape Town to Cape Town last year. I seem to remember reading the limitation, but it didn’t impact me. I looked at an upcoming Cape Town itinerary and saw for an excursion to an elephant park, t Food hat guest should not use cell phones. What do you think would happen if the cell phone started ringing, while you were next to a herd of elephants, I think that’s the reason you’re not supposed to use cell phones, don’t want to disturb the animals. 

LaVeranda is the buffet for breakfast and lunch. The Coffee Connection has some fruit, pastries etc. The Pool Grill has healthy continental breakfast. Some days the Compass Rose serves breakfast. For room service if you use the door hanger to order breakfast the night before you can identify a delivery time frame. Check the daily newsletter for the times of service at all the different venues. 

What surprised (really impressed) me on Regent - The lectures.  They are not just port advisors on where to shop.  On the cruises we have been on with lecturers there has been one that talked about the places we are visiting (history, geography, nature, people etc) If there is a second lecturer they will be talking about an interesting subject, but may not be about where we are going.  Concierge perks - better location on the ship, booking excursions and specialties sooner.  And yes, many times you can handle the transfers and book a hotel, but sometimes it is just good to let someone else be responsible.

The pre and post cruise trips are a great thing. On our very first Regent cruise, I went to book a cruise through Suez canal and at that time I learned there was an included post trip - 3 days in Cairo.  Booking limited to max number.  They seem to have expanded this quite a bit, some included and some with add on.

Don't know how to categorize the guests.  Part of it depends on the length of the cruise.  We have met some really nice people and also some that I started avoiding.  Basically all are friendly and it is just fun to meet people with different experiences.

A lot has been posted about the service and food since COVID.  We have been on one Regent since COVID and the service and food were very good.  The contracted port services were lacking.

And you will get spoiled by the included Business Class air for cruises that start/end out of North America.