mj_holiday

Beside being able to book from the Compass Rose menu (when open) there is also a small, but nice selection on the room service menu.

We really enjoy the Compass Rose, there is good variety for us.  So, we will get one reservation with each specialty restaurant but not overly anxious to get more since the Compass Rose is so nice.

Who really pays???  

We had an issue last December when our flight home was cancelled.  For a while the only flight I could get was Economy which I would not take.  Our TA helped and found a BC flight.  We ended up having to pay for the flight as our TA said, let the insurance and Regent work on this later.

Our insurance claim was for extra night and meals, taxis, and the flight.  Our insurance paid for all claimed except unreceipted tips.  After we settled I informed Regent what the insurance paid.  I believe Regent then worked with the insurance and repaid what they had gotten reimbursed for the cancelled flight.

Regent then contacted me to say they will provide OBC to satisfy the unreceipted tips that we did not get reimbursed for.

As stated above, don't worry about who is paying whom, the companies have processes that work the issues.  If I would have demanded that Regent pay me for the flight or whatever; I would then need to file with insurance for the things that I did not get reimbursed for.

Keep it simple, work with insurance that you purchased, they have a process for making it all paid by the appropriate company.

Gilly, thank you so much for your helpful information. 

The dates for excursions, dining reservations and final payment will be found on your booking.  There has been alot of info on this forum about booking your flights with Regent or on your own.  The date for that is 210 days out.  Your travel Agent can help with that.  If you are in suites below the butler levels, you can email or call Regent a couple months before embarkation and let them know your desires for the bar in your cabin.  We usually ask for an after dinner sherry, a bottle of red wine, some beer (only cans fit in the frig) and club soda.  They will replenish as your cruise goes along.  If you have a butler, there should be a form someplace in your online account.

If you want breakfast in your suite before excursions, I would use the door hanger, and that arrives on time.  If just want coffee while getting ready, call room service and the coffee come very quickly.

Thank you Rkaratsu For the information on the Pre-cruise tour.  I have been hearing this and came up with the following plan.

We would maybe take one or two half day tours, but we want to get to the bullet train for a ride.  After hearing comments about difficulty with subways, I may need to rethink that and get a private tour for one of the days, and see if we can include learning how to take the bullet train.  We are again in Tokyo for two days before heading to Alaska and that might be the time to do the bullet train.

Jessandarnie - which cruise is this?

19 hours ago, rcandkc said:

I definitely don’t think room service should be delivered to a bar or observation lounge.  However, to a table outside on pool deck, I see no problem as long as the passengers ensure the dirty dishes are taken care of. 

People seem to be really worried about dirty dishes.  I would bet money, that the staff has a way of knowing where the room service deliveries have been made and a crew member is on the hook to pick them up in a timely fashion.

On some past cruises when we arrived at the closing of LA Veranda, the CD would be greeting us at the gangway to let us know that La Veranda was open for another hour or so and we could head up there to eat.

We like the pool grill when we embark if the weather is nice. You can get food from la veranda or pool grill and we try to get near a side so we can sit back and people watch until our rooms are ready. 

Put your phone on airplane mode and then in settings enable wi-fi calling. This will let you make/receive calls over the internet. 
Will need some kind of plan for off the ship like at the airport. 
I would think any calling on the ship phone would be some kind of urgent need. 

Rharatsu

Thank you for identifying Visit Japan Web site, that will help us get ready..

Much has been said about carrying prescription drugs in hand luggage. So, for those of you who have arrived in Japan for embarking on a cruise, how was the customs and immigration experience at either of the two airports?  

Why go to the compass rose to order. It is my understanding that you can order from the Compass Rose menu for room service. 
It is a shame that pool grill is no longer open in the evenings. When I first heard the pool grill was staying open I was anxious to try it. But when ever I went to check on the menu, there wasn’t anything there I cared for. 

When we did this cruise in November. We took rain ponchos and use those on a couple days when it rained. You should also have a hat. It was cool enough that we didn’t notice any humidity.

we really didn’t see any insects or mosquitoes, must be related to where you are and the time of year.

Two pairs of shoes that you use on excursions would be great to have so one pair can dry if you get wet. 
it was a great cruise and I’m sure you will enjoy it.

We use Regent Air for our cruises.  I have the 210 days before cruise clearly circled on my calendar so we can deviate and get our flights settled, our TA does most the interface with Regent.

We use Regent Air (thru our TA) for many reasons, luckily we have never been in a situation like the one this week.

.I want as many people as possible to be able to help when flights get cancelled etc.

Other reasons for using RA

Flight doesn't get paid for until final payment

I still get miles

The flight is then clearly part of the package for insurance.

Appreciate the transfers from the airport, so I don't suddenly don't have to become coherent after a long flight.

It is just easier, especially when you consider a precruise trip and overnight flights, to make sure you get into the correct airport on the correct day.

The requirements come from the countries you will visit.  I bet Regent has a difficult time keeping up with them.

We did this cruise Fall of 2018 yes and many things have changed since them. Only one of our ports after the Amazon has required YF shot after being in an area with Yellow Fever.

We visited a Travel Doctor (Passport Health) for their recommendations and then took their list to our GP. Our GP made sure our tetanus shot was up to date and gave us a script for a typhoid oral vaccine.  He said he saw no problem with either of us getting the YF vaccine (ages 65 and 68).

We went back to Passport Health and got the YF shot and it is good for life. (Now we do not have to worry about it) We could have also gotten the vaccine at our county health department.

The Azamara web page has had a major reformatting since our cruise.  But the changes I found hard to keep track of included

1 When I booked the cruise there was access to the spa included.  When I started seeing on cc about it not being included I went to the web and it was no longer listed.  And today it is listed being included.

2. For spirits I do not recall what the web description had, but in practice as reported here the included spirits were 4 small bottles, then two bottles, then the one bottle we got with a bottle of wine after I asked, and then when DH got finished with the bottle of bourbon he got another one.  On the web today it just says minibar (which is no longer listed for Veranda). So now the question is, is the beer, small bottle of wine etc in the mini bar included?

We were on Onward last spring in a Club Continent suite.  In preparation for the cruise, I read several contradictory inclusions with the CC Suite.

We did have a very nice and professional butler.

We ended up getting two bags of laundry complimentary.  I think one came with the CC and one came due to our loyalty (???)

When we first arrived our butler met us with a list on spirits we could choose one from and DH chose a nice bourbon.  A couple days later I asked for a bottle of red wine.  (the last I had read said 2 bottles included).  Butler said he would need to ask his supervisor and a day later he showed up with a nice bottle of red.

We did get the wifi identified and I ran through mine in 5 days just trying to get something online.  Looking through brochures I saw that I could get another batch of minutes, wifi, which I got.  (don't remember the reason I got it, but look through all the brochures in your suite)

The size of the suite is just great.

We did not try the spa area, since the last I read it was no longer included with a CC suite.  (It was listed as included when we booked).

We have done two Azamara cruises and went with a CC suite because of the extra space.  We will do another one depending on the itinerary.  After reading the inclusions I had expected to take advantage of them.  Having some items change and change again so you are not sure what is included was frustrating to me.

Let us know what happens in the end.

During the pandemic Barbados did a lot of advertising about working from their island with good wi fi.  I also seem to remember that Barbados was one of the first cruise ports to open up and cruises started scheduling from there, revising itineraries.

There is a thread in this forum about Barbados not being able to supply hotel rooms for everyone coming in.  From what I remember on the forum, it came up as a surprise and Regent had to cancel hotels for some that had already had their cruise/hotel/air booked.  I bet no one has any kind of estimate when the very high occupancy rate will go down.

If you search for Barbados on this forum you will see where is it talked about this last spring.

We did the tasting of the included wines on our December cruise.  It was very well presented.  But as we were tasting, another passenger was there making sure to explain to the sommelier why a couple of the wines he had were not very good wines.  I made sure to ask for a taste of one of them and it was very good indeed. Which I made sure to vocalize.  I made sure to order it in the CR that evening. 

We have always enjoyed the included wines.

At the top of this forum you will see an topic on Regent flight with and without deviations.  That explains alot about the included air.

The $75 is recently new and not described there.

Short overview

Business Class flights are included with  the cruise and Regent will send you flight info about 90 days prior to flight.

If you want more say into what flights you take, then at 210days prior to flight you can work a deviation $175 per person, and there is usually a chance at better flights.

The $75 is to try to control the calls to Regent flight people with just wondering etc questions.  You will pay $75 to talk with an agent and then if you find a flight you want and take the deviation the $75 will be deducted from the deviation fee.

10 hours ago, fudge said:

on top of that no one from Regent or our TA informed us that we needed a visa for America

I think this is just starting up. Sounds like you were not the only ones that had to work the issue real time.

That is so much better.  I think (IMO) more people end up knowing what to do after the new type of "muster".