seasickphil

When we were in Halifax we took an excursion to Peggy’s Cove,( not on Cunard ) this is one of the most popular excursion’s from Halifax and in our opinion well worth doing.

Exactly as hamasgirl say, it disappears on website when you can no longer customise your account.

We got an email from Saga regarding shore excursions on June 22nd, our cruise departed on 21st August. So you should get an email sometime soon, regarding shore excursions.

4 hours ago, vitacura said:

There are two guest lecturers on board, Terry Bishop and Douglas Nelson. They do record the lectures so you can watch them in your suite later on.

We were on Navigator with Douglas pre Covid, he is a very entertaining speaker so well worth trying to catch some of his talks.

His energy while on the dance floor will make you feel tired just watching him, well it did me and i am several years his junior.  

13 hours ago, Pcardad said:

watch the stars wearing shorts.

@Pcardad

Where were you sailing when you saw that, would love too see stars with shorts on.😉😉

On Splendor around the British Isles recently you would have needed a coat on after 6.00pm, if you were out on deck.

13 hours ago, richstowe said:

 

Fair drink prices - So fair . Fine British 500ml beers at less then $6 . Wow !

What beers were less than $6 please. Were they a special as i can't remember any being that price.

Glad you had a lovely time, we will be on her again next month.

6 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Yes, we brought one with us 😉   (We did not book a suite grade that included a complimentary bag)

@flossie009

That would be the reason we didn't get one then. 🙂

We got one on our previous two cruises, therefore just thought everyone got one.

On 8/30/2023 at 8:52 PM, flossie009 said:

Were the bags supplied when you requested them? or had they run out?

@flossie009

No tote bags on Splendor 26th July neither, was one available on your Navigator cruise earlier?

@Brummel

It's a shame that after spending more than 70 nights aboard Cunard ships this cruise has made you so negative towards them. Will you now cancel your next 2 cruises on Cunard? hope not.

6 minutes ago, Brummel said:

Of course, he got a standing ovation,  from an audience that would have given a standing O to card tricks.

@Brummel

So he was obviously liked by some of the audience, just not by you.

6 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Absolutely which is why, in order to be able to evaluate opinions, it helps to have some background experience of those giving of their opinions.

 

Those of Cunard 'old school' experience are possibly not going to be as appreciative of the tweaks now apparent, post Covid and before, and opinions  might well be coloured by their reminiscences and regret of changes on present day Cunard.

 

Most people do not like change especially if it's for the worse, this is certainly the case for us as we get older.😅

We are on the sailing commencing the 9th Oct and this change is good for us as we have not been to La Spezia before but have been to Livorno many times, this will not be the case for everyone we know. What puzzles me is that Cunard has lost it's berth on the 26th Oct, when according to CruiseMapper MSC Magnifica is the only other ship in port on that day but there are 3 berths in Livorno.

It just shows you, how two people on the same cruise can have completely contrasting opinions. Most things in life are subjective and this seems to be the case here. As part of the quote says, you can please some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time.

34 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Saga is the only cruise line I’ve been on where they seat you in the buffet. As I’m serving myself in a buffet, it shouldn’t matter where I sit 

@Dermotsgirl

 You are right, we got off Adventure yesterday but we never ate in the buffet at lunch we only ate in the dining room when we were on board for lunch. I misread your post so please accept my apologies.

On 8/26/2023 at 4:56 PM, Dermotsgirl said:

During the day, the seating was also a problem, as the waiters actually show you to your seat at a   table.  One of the key features of a buffet, for me, is choice, and that includes where I sit, so I was quite fed up that the choice had been taken away from me, even at breakfast and lunch.  In the end, we had to get assertive and say 'we'll sit here' when we saw a decent table, rather than go where the waiter wanted to put us.

 

There are teams of waiters & sommeliers at different stations in restaurants, therefore you are placed in certain areas so as one team are not overrun and another team are standing around doing nothing, therefore enabling service to be more balanced. Placing people in different areas of the restaurants is common practice during the day and this is not just confined on Saga cruises either.

3 hours ago, cwn said:

That is my biggest complaint about all the speciality restaurants on the new ships. One of our favorite wines is now only offered in Chartreuse…..fine when we are eating there. When we had asked for :it earlier in CR were told it was unavailable,  but when we discovered that it was served Chartreuse we asked  for some to be brought to CR for us. They did but….

Interesting, we got off Splendor just 2 weeks ago and when dining in Chartreuse we enjoyed a nice Sancerre, a couple of nights later in Compass Rose i asked the sommelier for this wine, he told me that it was not in Compass Rose but would get a bottle sent down from Chartreuse, two minutes later we were enjoying a glass and eventually the whole bottle was polished off. 

No one really likes change especially when it changes for the worse, for us in the UK and Europe the times to make our reservations (1am and 2am respectively) are not good but if it really means so much to someone then staying up late for one night is the only option, I myself have always made reservations the next morning and have never had any problems in getting our desired excursions/dining times. While it might be so that Regent have many east coast customers, they also have many that do not live there. So if this change means so much to anyone living there then they might have to put themselves out once in a while (so hopefully getting what they want) just like people not living on the east coast have had do in the past.

5 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

Navigator will be in dock for a refresh from September 09 to 21.

Mainly technical work but also some carpets being replaced and the teak planking on the Pool Deck will be spruced up.

 

We were also glad to see that Regent are progressively changing the balcony door mechanisms to make them easier to open.

 

 

Having suffered sticking and/or whistling doors in the past on other ships (especially Explorer & Splendor) we hope this retrofit is introduced fleet wide.

 

 

 

@flossie009

Balcony doors are indeed a challenge to open, my wife still has a rather large bruise on her arm after losing her balance when trying to open ours on Splendor last week.🥲

In the UK we can get travel insurance that covers you for missed ports of call.

5 hours ago, exlondoner said:

So now I will come to the topic that exercises so many who post here: dress. My experience is mainly confined to the QG restaurant, but over the years I have not noticed that the inhabitants dress much differently from those in other restaurants. The first night almost all the men were wearing jackets and a surprising number of them ties - and this on a cruise where the average age of passengers is lower than often. Last night was Gala Black and White night, and everyone I saw was dressed smartly and appropriately. Hope that pleases everybody.

 

Now two niggles about lighting. The Q4 cabin has lights everywhere, good enough to read by, which is brilliant. But there is none over the bath, making one of life’s pleasures quite difficult. Also, the bedside light ares fixed in such a position that there is no room for anything else, either a book or my glasses, unless I fold them up.

 

Having got that off my chest, I look forward to a beautiful day in Coruña.

@exlondoner

The first night almost all the men were wearing jackets and a surprising number of them ties - and this on a cruise where the average age of passengers is lower than often.

I always wear a jacket for dinner, it was after all a requirement after 6.00pm not that long ago. Occasionally i will also wear a tie, its nice to know that i will not be alone.

On their website it still state that in QG A bottle of Champagne and box of chocolates to celebrate your arrival is provided.

@BeachTunes

We have been to Livorno several times, the train to Pisa runs frequently and only takes about 15 mins so it is very easy to do on your own. There is not a lot to do in Pisa apart from the leaning tower. [ although it is certainly lovely to see ] In the past we have combined visiting Pisa with Lucca [a beautiful walled city ] but i believe that there is some maintenance work being carried out on the line between Pisa and Lucca, so i don't know if this would have any impact on being able to do that on your own.

Gilly,

Glad you are continuing to have a lovely time. I must thank you for telling Mudhen about Mermaid Gin, i have not heard of that brand before myself so i thought it only right that i should try a couple for myself on our last night aboard, you are indeed correct, it certainly is a very good gin. Just a pity there was only one night left for me to enjoy it, still there is always the next time, that is if they have it on Voyager.

1 hour ago, flossie009 said:

A new design of Regent pen that we have not seen before

 

 

That might fall in to our luggage at the end of the cruise 😉

 

 

I saw my wife using a very similar pen yesterday, she informed me that it must have fallen into her handbag last Saturday when the storm in the Irish Sea hit us while we were aboard Splendor. 😉😉 

39 minutes ago, Gilly said:

Hopefully @seasickphil , you didn't have too bad a night as we rocked and creaked our way towards Cork though we had a rude awakening when one of our french windows came open and a blast of air roared in!  (Probably my fault for not securing the door properly when I'd gone out earlier 🤫 )

 

Anyway, this morning, we heard that we won't make it into port today because of the storm, so we'll continue on towards Falmouth tomorrow.  It's always sad to miss a port of course, but these things happen, as we know.  Here's hoping the storm passes through and that we return to smooth sailing before too long.

Thank You Gilly.

I was awake from 2am what with all the creaking going on but didn’t feel unwell at all (am I now developing some sea legs after 25 years of cruising or is that just wishful thinking) no medication needed at the moment but will see how things go throughout the day. Nothing planned at all for today, probably the sea conditions will determine what we eventually get up to throughout the day.

Just been on the balcony, it’s a trifle blowy out there so everyone take care.