cuddles115

Is there any provision for singles?

Smart and wise

On 2/24/2023 at 10:01 AM, bitob said:

Two cruises on regent

excursions awful

i don’t care 

I have 6 more Regent cruises booked

paying for private excursions 

Just now, cuddles115 said:

What a spectacular and simple idea.  Solves lots of problems.

28 minutes ago, forgap said:

Wouldn’t it be great if Regent implemented an easy rating system for excursions in each port?   Then, when booking excursions, we could look at the description and the ratings from passengers that have done the excursion, and make an informed decision.
 

This could be a simple star rating in several categories such as quality of the site, quality of the guide, and physical ability as described.  This could also be a way for the excursion desk to jettison the real clunkers as it seems that the menu of excursions for cruises stays the same year after year,  

22 minutes ago, forgap said:

Wouldn’t it be great if Regent implemented an easy rating system for excursions in each port?   Then, when booking excursions, we could look at the description and the ratings from passengers that have done the excursion, and make an informed decision.
 

This could be a simple star rating in several categories such as quality of the site, quality of the guide, and physical ability as described.  This could also be a way for the excursion desk to jettison the real clunkers as it seems that the menu of excursions for cruises stays the same year after year,  

Asked directions to the infinity pool from the Barista at Coffee Connection.He shrugged his shoulders and said the he never heard of the Infinity Pool. Another crew member pointed to the CC exit and the promenade on Deck Five. It was blocked  by a life boat. This seemed like a Stanley/Livingston moment and I finally went through the Spa to my final trek to the Infinity Pool. I suspect a map is in order unless Regent wants to keep it a secret from both the crew and passengers.

Most excursions are poor and not worth leaving the ship. You get what you pay for and Regent's free excursions are, for the most part, worthless.

3 hours ago, Boatmans Lady said:

Regent put a tour of Barcelona on for those with afternoon flights earlier in the year, but we didn't get notified until a few days before disembarkation. 

Thanks for the info.  Hopefully, we'll get the same in Amsterdam.

We're also on this cruise.  After debarking in Amsterdam, we have a late afternoon flight to LHR.  What do we do in the long hours before our flight?  Does Regent offer a tour after we debark?  I know that Seabourn has a tour of Barbados with lunch and drop off at the airport.

5 minutes ago, UUNetBill said:

Well, technically I’ve spent two days in Helsinki…and that was enough for us.

I also was in Helsinki twice. Spending  more than 5 minutes there is too long.

4 hours ago, islandchick said:

Both cruises are staggered boarding. Are they piling everyone on the bus and making them wait at the terminal?

Guess there are fewer sales because of Covid.  They had 2 large buses and the whole embarkation , including Covid tax, took no more than an hour. The whole process worked like a well-oiled clock.

As an aside, we were Seabourn loyalists for the past 15 years. We championed SB and became angry should anyone say a bad word about SB.  That changed this February when we first sailed on Regent. It was like "night and day." Anything and everything were head over heels over Seabourn. I realize that you may have some reservation about Regent.  FORGET IT!!  Enjoy your cruise and , hopefully, you will become a Regent groupie.

20 hours ago, islandchick said:

We are on Splendor for the TA cruise beginning of April. They are putting us up in the AKA Brickell. 

Stayed in AKA Brickell prior to Splendor cruise in February.  Nice, clean hotel in a good neighborhood.  You need 2 elevators to get to the lobby and room.  The breakfast buffet is poor.  They have 2 busses to the port.  Make sure you get on the first bus.  The second leaves about an hour later.

Stay away from them unless you want your luggage to go to Central America.  That happened to me as well as others.  This was on a December cruise so it's fairly recent. Google luggage companies.  I used a company starting with SHIP and they were great.  I ended my cruise on 2/17 in Miami and got the luggage today.

1 hour ago, DatawCruiser said:

Final Impressions - Part 2

 

I was on the same cruise as Macbest and we met a few times in the Pool Lounge, Meridian Lounge and even the Wine Connoisseur lunch.  This was my second Regent cruise and I have a few additional observations.  First of all, I promised to not reveal the secret Spa pool location to Macbest, but now, you all know.   

 

Here are my observations on the good and bad experiences we experienced.  We are a mid 60's married couple from South Carolina.

 

Housekeeping -  Superb.  Our Lead Housekeeper Sigit was spot on.  We had a PHC suite and it was like he knew our schedule each day.  The service was spot on and the room was perfectly cleaned every time we left, even if we came back 60 minutes later.

 

Butler - A little cold at first, but he warmed up after a few days.  We did not place huge demands on him, but he handled everything seamlessly.  We had room service several days before excursions and service was right on time and just as ordered.  He also handled all laundry requests perfectly.

 

Penthouse suite - I loved our suite.  The perfect layout for us.  We were in Suite 840 across the ship from Macbest.  The only problems we had were on two nights during high wind events, the dividing section between our balcony and the suite next to us blew open.  It began banging back and forth between suites,  I had to call maintenance twice in the middle of the night to fix the situation.  My wife was not happy.

 

Entertainment - We watched the Magician and Vegas singer, but were not impressed.  We did not watch the few Broadway shows due to our schedules.  Overall, I had no problem with the entertainment in the theater.  Boogie and Kashia are not for us.  Boogie is extremely talented and was very entertaining.  Kashia, not so much.  She tries very hard, but does not have a great voice.

 

Food and drink. -  I thought the food on this voyage was far inferior to our first cruise.  We often found ourselves wanting for something in La Veranda for lunch.  Dinners were hit or miss in all venues.  This was our biggest disappointment on this cruise, and we are considering cancelling our next cruise until we see better reviews.  The wine selections were marginal, and the wine service was hit or miss. We tried ordering a couple of bottles off the premium list, and both were not available.  Try updating your list?  The big exception was the Meridian lounge.  Nemanja and Victoria were the best with all the craft drinks.

 

Pool  - We typically hung out on Deck 12 above the pool.  We never had a problem getting a good spot and while there were a few apparent chair reservations, it was never an issue for us.  Drink service was a little spotty but acceptable.

 

Excursions - Again, hit or miss.  We went on 7 excursions and 2 were a complete waste of time.  Do not go on the Two Nation tour on Saint Maarten, or the Sunnyside Garden tour on Grenada.  The tour descriptions are totally inaccurate.

 

Splendor - The ship was incredible!  Beautifully decorated and spotlessly clean.

 

YMMV,

 

DatawCruiser

 

 

My DW and I are former Seabourn regulars( we're platinum and have cruised only on Seabourn).  Our last cruise in the Caribbean was a disaster to put it mildly. So, we migrated to Regent and were pleasantly surprised. The same hogs were at the pool.  The difference was that the loungers were padded as opposed to mesh loungers on Seabourn. One couldn't spend the whole day by the pool because of the uncomfortable lounger.  As for the food, Regent  Splendor was hands down better. The service was fantastic.....I thought I was dreaming.  DatawCruiser thought the food was inferior. I thought it was miles ahead of Seabourn. Of course, there  were little nits to pick.This happens on all cruises.  But, bottom line, Regent is head over heels better than Seabourn in all respects!!!

1 hour ago, shark b8 said:

If there's anyone out there still "keeping score"......there's now yet another "clearance delay", in Cincinnati.  Luggage has now sat there for 5 days. 

Yup, I'm still keeping score.  Take it from one who knows....this is absurd.  Although LF is the prime candidate to blame( you gave them  the $$$ and put your trust in them) DHL is the prime culprit.  Their Cincinnati hub is the pits. We sent a Christmas present the end of November to Sweden and it finally arrived via DHL today! Swedish customs was not involved in the delay. Moral of the story, be careful using LF unless you want your luggage to wind up  in Cincinnati or Central America.

As one  who has experienced these traumatic events and have been, unfortunately, in your shoes, I have come away from this dumpster fire with a number of rules.  Foremost, I will assume nothing and will not depend upon another company for advice and recommendation.  A BIG NO, NO!!!

We packed for air travel. That is no shaving cream dispensers, electrical chargers, etc.and, nevertheless, our luggage stumbled all over Central America. In fact, items were missing and, perhaps, they were being peddled on a Central American street corner. In my opinion, their concern is only monetary. I also heard from them that lost luggage was the result of Covid and supply issues. In grade school the excuse was, "the dog ate my homework"---rubbish to put it mildly.

There are many fish in the sea and many luggage forwarders.  My advice is to do you own due diligence and not depend upon others. I have found a forwarder who seems to meet our concerns completely. I appreciate everyone's sympathy and concerns. As I said at the beginning of this note, sailors who have not experienced should consider themselves fortunate and not act as a "Monday morning quarterback." Woulda, coulda and shoulda does not cut it.  Luggage forwarding  and cruising is the way to go and no one should be paralyzed by Covid  and its variants.  

Now that this fiasco is in my rear view mirror, I can laugh and joke about it. I hope and pray that no one has the same experiences in the future.

On 1/26/2022 at 9:26 AM, Lois10028 said:

After reading the posts about Luggage Forward I am very concerned.   My luggage (2 bags) are due to be picked up next week.  The bags are booked roundtrip NY-Miami   Monaco-NY.  It is difficult for me to handle the baggage due to lack of porters at the airport.  Any advice?????

Sorry to bother you.  Got a notice from the luggage carrier( they're in West Palm Beach, Fl) as to when  the luggage will be delivered, the tracking number and the carrier who picked up my luggage.  VERY IMPRESSIVE!!! This negates the "game" that I played as to where my luggage would be and was it delivered.to the ship.  I can't use names, etc. on Cruise Critic.  But you can find them by their location in WPB, Fl.

1 hour ago, Lois10028 said:

THANK YOU !

My pleasure. Be smart and avoid anything that smells---luggage wise

5 hours ago, Lois10028 said:

After reading the posts about Luggage Forward I am very concerned.   My luggage (2 bags) are due to be picked up next week.  The bags are booked roundtrip NY-Miami   Monaco-NY.  It is difficult for me to handle the baggage due to lack of porters at the airport.  Any advice?????

The above was for  you

Google "luggage forwarding" and you should find a number of companies.  In fact, there's one on East 45th street in NYC. Happy hunting.

4 hours ago, Mauzac said:

 

Please do start a thread, I will follow it avidly!

We have been offered a Luggage Forward service as part of the SB World voyage segment we are on in the Autumn.

I was wary of this service to start with, I'm even more wary now!

DON'T

We had the same problem with Luggage Forwarding as shark b8 had.  We left  Barbados on Odyssey without our luggage.  After one week, we got 1 bag(out of 2) in St. Martin. Although we disembarked in Barbados on 12/18  we finally got all our "lost" luggage on 1/4/22!!! That is after the luggage made a tour of Central American cities including Panama, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico. It was NOT enjoyable to wear the same clothes for 2 weeks.  A while back, I suggested, on this forum, that luggage forwarding was the way to go.  I've got to rethink what I said after this ridiculous "catastrophe." I side with shark b8 and anyone else who has lived through this disaster. My advice to shark  b8,  do more reattach as to what company you chose.  We did and are leaving February 2nd.

I'm weary  and nauseated for the continuance of this conversation. I am one of those who choose to cruise and there are those who will not. This is their prerogative. I look forward to cruising and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow cruisers. But, to try to convince "cruisers" borders on the insane. It's the same folks, over and over again, who tell us why they won't book a cruise.   Covid will be here for some time and we all have to get used to it. News media is full of items related to Covid and to regurgitate what we already know is a disaster. Yes...we all have our opinions and I respect it. Enough already...That's mine.

2 hours ago, GrandCru said:

@Borna,  Did Seabourn actually stop at Jost Van Dyke?   My husband and are confused because the only two excursions offered during that stop is to Norman Island and Virgin Gorda which is on the other side of Tortola from there.   Was this your experience?  Were you allowed on the island of Jost Van Dyke on any type of excursion?     I appreciate any information you can offer.      

 

Or if anyone else who has been on this cruise can answer my questions, I would be so grateful

Thank you so much!!  

We  were  on a SB cruise two years that stopped at Jost Van Dyke.  We  had to  tender in to the dock.  There were cars that brought us to White Beach..gratis.  The lounges and chairs were gratis and it was a great time.  We've taken many SB cruises with stops at the BVI which save for Jost, in MHO,  were a complete an utter waste.

I realize that this question has been hijacked immensely and that I am just as culpable as everyone else.  I I know the cost of forwarding luggage is not cheap.  But, you pay for convenience and ease of traveling.  I will use them  for the SB cruise in a few weeks...Athens to Athens. The most expensive was JFK to Athens  and the Dubai to JFK. Tucson Guy's AZ to Dubai and the then back to AZ reflects this.The cost is determined  by the mileage from destination to destination.  The forwarders all have a 100% guarantee that the luggage will arrive safely and on time.  It's  a pleasure to find our luggage awaiting us in our suite and just to leave it in our suite and to never see it again till we arrive home. You're on vacation and part of the experience  is to take it easy and not have to worry about lost baggage, delayed flights and LBDs. You've spent big money to be on a luxury cruise such as SB and now to "suffer" on shore is crazy.

.