irishwitchy

17 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

But in reality if you deviate you basically have control over your flights, at least with Delta and United. 

That may be true, but I don’t want to call Regent or my TA to play wack a mole with them to determine which flights they like best, won’t cost me more money, etc.  I find it easier to do my research, book the flights and track them accordingly.  I normally can pocket a savings, also.  Wuth AA maybe not awarding points, if United starts this, I would never let Regent book my flights.   I like my United status.  

This is the reason,  I book my flights.  It may be a control issue, but the person that cares the most is me! Not Regent, your TA or god forbid the airlines! 

On 5/2/2024 at 12:15 PM, Lonedaddy said:

We should bring back Hooped skirts corsets and petticoats for the ladies and men should were laced ruff or jabot and lace shirts though it might be hard to navigate the halls in hooped skirts let alone compass rose.    But it would be cool if they had a masquerade night during carnival.  

I was thinking the tights on the men would be entertaining! 

I have Marriott Lifetime Titanium status and did get access to the lounge and a better breakfast the last time Regent booked the room - as did quite a few others that we met.  However,  not all of the hotels will honor.  

20 hours ago, mrlevin said:

As I stated earlier, this is purely conjecture based on my time onboard, my observations, and comments I have heard over the years from both crew and fellow passengers.  We sailed Voyager a number of times including twice in its maiden year.  I have definite opinions regarding the three older ships based upon my time aboard. 

I normally respect your opinion and thoughts, but next time a better sentence maybe-  I hope, I think, I believe, I’m guessing that the voyager will be gone in 2026.   Your statement only generated some panic, instead of the discussion you were looking for.  

Always enjoy your reports and pics of TB!   This Jersey girl got engaged on a Central Park carriage ride and 40 years later we still take one once in awhile, so not just a tourist thing!  

Was it possible, that someone at the loud table was hard of hearing? Just a thought. 

You may get a few side way looks because of the kids,  but as long as they aren’t shooting water guns at guests in the pool or throwing a ball around,  you should be good.  
 

As for things to do,  I know my 11 year old grandaughter could spend hours working on a puzzle, loves to curl up with a good book, do a scavenger hunt,  add some youth knowledge to the trivia team, eat ice cream and pizza for lunch and than go have a medium rare steak for dinner.   Add a virgin strawberry daiquiri to the mix and she would be one happy kid.  Funny,  sounds like the same thing many of the adults enjoy doing!  

Yes,  you may need really review the excursions,  to avoid the long boring bus trip -  haha I hate them, also.  
 

Where are you thinking of going?  Good luck!    

I agree on the amount of wine being poured during the cooking classes is a bit disappointing.  Like,  none of us cook and drink at the same time when we are home!  

1 hour ago, GMIAC said:

We'd better get that $200 onboard credit

Oh,  that would be the deciding factor for many!  Lol. 

3 hours ago, Wuzzle10 said:

We were on Explorer jan 2023, not a good experience , first time with RSSC and last, cancelled our South Pacific cruise 2024 as to risky , lots of reasons for a bad review but Regent handled it badly and never got back to us so we have gone back to Seabourn which has been great for us 

We were on this cruise and Regent didn’t really handle the problems well, but it wasn’t really the fault of the Explorer (the problems could have been any ship).   Did it sour me a bit on cruising - it did.  However since I cruised with them four times before the bad, disappointing cruise I’m giving them another chance later this year.  Good luck. 

I’m going to jump on this thread, we are cruising from Istanbul to Trieste (not Fusina), in August.  Would they change this?  Any idea what that transportation looks like at Trieste and is there an option to get dropped off at the train station or someplace else in Venice proper?   

2 hours ago, Gilly said:

A fun and interesting activity this morning, out on the top deck, where Giacomo, one of the senior officers, demonstrated the use of a sextant to identify the ship's position.  When he'd completed the process, he offered a young colleague a chance to practice whilst he answered our questions. 

Just a brief announcement from the Captain intitiated what seemed to be a spontaneous activity, quite the highlight of a quiet morning at sea!

 

 

Now that sounds like interesting activity!  Need to have more stuff like this.  

2 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

There are 4 security officers on board. The question is not how to enforce but making the choice to enforce at all.

Valid point!  

I love to read your reports, always fun.   You should have added a couple of extra days in NYC -  rather nice in the spring!  I hope you clear your wait list excursions.  

I will make an assumption that the ship has folks that are security, not just staff.  Put them in a red shirt with the word security on their back in big letters and folks may actually follow the rules!  Just a thought.  

Love the whale descriptions from papaflamingo and cwn.   The only person that knows what you can actually do is you and maybe a wise spouse!  Honey,  not sure you should try that! 

14 minutes ago, CruzaCazza said:

I was able to scan the QR code you posted and view the itinerary.

Worked just fine.    No prices.  

On 3/12/2024 at 1:52 AM, Dirtygerty said:

We were onboard Navigator 17 Feb to 4 March 2024, Papeete to Auckland, weather was absolutely perfect as was the weather for our 3 days pre cruise at the intercontinental Tahiti. 

No missed ports? 

Since you start and end in CapeTown, why not go spent a very nights in the wine region and enjoy a bunch of vineyards?   I Will make one comment, as much as I was there in October one year for multiple nights (we had a driver),   I have no idea if the vineyards close down around the holidays.  

We really like the jumping crocs and the mushroom soup! 

2 hours ago, bitob said:

Relevant article from today's NY Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/travel/american-airlines-loyalty-program-changes.html

 

I also read this, I’m expecting we will see more on this.   I always book my own tickets directly with the airlines.   No major issues to speak of, except misplaced luggage.  

At this point,  you won’t see much change on the website.  However, once you get in the room and before you unpack.  Locate your excursion  tickets and the descriptions.  Do a very quick review and run to destinations  services to modify, change, etc.   There will be a line,  but getting yourself added to a waitlist is helpful. Check back a day later also.  
 

You may also find that the 9:30 departure has turned into a 7:00 departure,  which is not to your liking! Also, these description have much better details than what you read online.  Good luck.  

It would so useful to everyone if the descriptions of the excursions that you finally get on the cruise, were the ones you see on the website.  
 

The website descriptions sound like AI wrote them and seem to rather vague in many cases.   

Interesting comments from all.   I was thinking the average may have been a bit lower, because of the location or at least only the fit would get off the ship!  Guess we need to roll the dice!