MadMarine

22 hours ago, wine-wine-wine said:

Our next non-Viking cruise is on Sea Cloud Spirit in September 2024. Spendy but beautiful. Will report back. ⛵️

Loved Sea Cloud II.  We were 2 of 5 with English as the primary language.  74 pax mostly German, Swiss and Austrian.  Very posh, as they say.  Included excursions were a crap shoot, but mostly good.  Enjoy your cruise with them. 

On 4/22/2023 at 2:31 PM, KBs mum said:

Billy the Konk is generally thought to be the start of the English (Angles and Saxons) hating the French. 😁

The Normans introduced (or made it the default) feudal system that ultimately lead to the subjugation of the British Isles, and the system of recent (since the magna carta) democracy and reduction of power of the monarch. The Isle of Man still has the traditional pre roman conquest system of government. 

The tapestry was made by Norman nuns somewhere near Oxford, some years after the event, hence the inaccuracies. For this Brit the victory of one lot of invaders over another is nothing to get excited about

Still, your last conquest was 1066, despite several attempts.  Not bad IMHO.  The Normans of Normandy didn’t fair so well in comparison.  

1 hour ago, KBs mum said:

I have not heard of Tommy Bahana, nor do I know what clothes they produce. 'Hawaiian shirt' usually (over here anyway) refers to a multicolour pattern, often incorporating parrots or flowers, not a designer or style of cut. 

 

A silk (or any other material) shirt of any solid or subtle pattern would just be 'a shirt' regardless of brand or where it was made. 

 

Have we been talking about different types of garments? 

Here is an example of one I might wear to dinner. Note these shirts are intended to be worn outside the trousers.  I’ve worn this shirt on a Silver Sea Med cruise to dinner with a pair of khaki trousers.  I might appear to a European traveler as a typical American uncultured rube, but apparently some Europeans are unfamiliar with Hawaiian sartorial splendor. 😊

9 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Tommy Bahama silk shirts are not all made with Hawaiian themes. They make beautiful silk shirts in long and short sleeves that are without all the flowers and surfers. The quality is lovely and worn without ‘comic relief’, but rather acceptable in elegant settings. 

My description was perhaps a little misleading, well maybe a lot! 😬. Mine are very muted without the “loud” displays of flora and fauna or surfers.  I’ve worn them on Regent and Silver Seas cruises with nary an evident frown.  Perhaps I was simply delusional and the nice folks were laughing behind my back enjoying my contribution to comic relief?

5 hours ago, KBs mum said:

Main thing is if there is a dress code in/for an establishment or occasion  follow the spirit as well as the letter of it. It's easy and good manners to your hosts and fellow guests. 

Lost luggage being the exception, the guest can only do their best, the hosts and other guests should be understanding

 

So, I’m guessing my silk Tommy Bahama aloha shirt somehow offends the spirit because it doesn’t break the rules?

On 1/24/2023 at 4:58 PM, FlyerTalker said:

 

No Maker's onboard.  It's the bar equivalent of vaporware.

Knob Creek?

On 3/7/2023 at 10:00 AM, Jim Avery said:

Same here Andy.  As to the few who might need to keep heads covered, seems a more appropriate medical head covering than a ball cap would suffice.  My English mother imparted the same rules as yours..  But then so did my teachers.  I bet just about everyone wearing ball caps in restaurants had mothers that at one time told them to take their hat off at the table....🍹

I learned that from Dad and my years in the Marines,  Covers are to worn outdoors not in!

On 3/8/2023 at 2:17 PM, KBs mum said:

We joined in with the Sweet Caroline singalong. It is an ashes year, and rugby internationals were on. Americans nearby were aghast when told that in the UK it's usually only sung by well lubricated crowds at sports events

 

 

Saw and heard this last year, when the US NFL, had an American football game in Berlin.  I loved it. And they still like cowboys and Indians, as I remember from my far distant youth!

I canceled a world cruise, voucher moved to Medieval cruise, moved to world cruise, moved to Polynesian cruise.  All vouchers transferred and applied to the Polynesian cruise including insurance.  Ended with cruise and insurance being paid in full.  Received the difference in paid to applied in cash deposited to my checking account.  Canceled the Viking air on this trip with difference deposited as well.  I use a TA, It helps.

8 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Sure. I'll do that. It's actually arrangements of Christmas pieces I recorded on cassette using a 4-track Yamaha back in the 90s (with the intention of sending some demo stuff to Windham Hill since, as you might know, they were always releasing those "Winter Solstice" albums - but, they weren't accepting many new submissions, so that, as they say, was that. Most recently my daughter wanted a digitized version of it, so it has all been resurrected. Now that it has been converted to digital, figured might as well proceed further. Very new-agey and so likely not your thing!  

New-agey is my thing along with JS Bach of course.

21 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

MadMarine since you are currently on the Sky, can you ask around to confirm or deny the rumor that the Sky now has the 3 drawers in the DV closets.  I posted a separate topic on this but since you are now on the ship...

Hi TayanaLorna

We are not currently on Sky.  We’ve booked the 2024 WC.  Sorry I can’t help help with the drawer question.

Mad

12 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Even the Sky will only be 7-yrs old, which is still new for a cruise ship. Tough question to answer, as I believe they are both on the same itinerary, only a few days apart.

 

Based on reports from Viking Star, on the current WC, they have many of the Officers & crew from the original WC ship, Viking Sun. We are hoping to see many of them switch to Neptune in 2022/23 for her 1st World Cruise.

 

Not sure how Viking will crew the ships in 24, but based on the potential for more of the experienced WC crew being on Neptune, I would probably opt for that ship. The WC experience is so different from regular cruises and the crew can really make a difference.

Great input as always, many thanks.  We’re currently in 5088 a PV1 on Sky.  The currently available PV1 on Neptune is a guaranteed room.  Don’t think there are any “bad” PVs so we could take our chances.  
 

Thanks, Andy.  We’re currently scheduled to do LA to London on Sky in 2024. I am torn between this and Neptune’s WC in 2024.  Just thinking about the age of ship and last retrofit.  As always, I would be interested in your take.

Mad

Does anyone know where you can find a schedule for retrofit of the Sky?

1 hour ago, Portolan said:

 

Today we received 4 separate refunds for culinary kitchen classes, shore excursions, deposit and (presumably) cruise fare which was also 13% short.  I'm assuming that might be port fees and taxes.  It is ridiculous for Regent to be doing their bookkeeping in public.  Port fees and taxes aren't broken out on our guest statement.  They should be refunding the total stated amount for the cruise fare as one refund payment...it certainly was when we paid them.

 

From the spreadsheet it appears that it took Mad Marine 10 more days to receive the missing portion of their refund!

Not quite 10 days.  Processed on the 8th,  increase in credit noted on the 10th, transaction posted on the 11th.  Still a delay.  I have no idea how they broke it down.  I had a total of 11 payments across two credit cards.  I recognized the excursion costs, the installment payments(mostly) and the initial payment.  The rest?  A mystery.  Still the total received = the total payed.  Took time.  All is good!

10 minutes ago, Portolan said:

 

Really?  The refund isn't processed until it shows up, at least as a pending transaction, on your credit card.

 

I expect many, like me, download their financial transactions daily using Quicken or the like and will know immediately when the refund has been registered with the credit card company.

 

If the statement that refunds have been processed means that Regent folks have calculated and approved the refund and now it's with their accounting department, then it hasn't been processed by Regent.  It's "processed" when it hits the credit card, and nothing less.

 

This entire thread would have been irrelevant if Regent had just said up front that times were tough and that they would make full refunds "within 75-90 days" rather than "within 90 days" which was obviously never the intent or capability.

 

Small disagreement.  In my case, I was told the balance of my refund happened on the 8th.  When it finally showed on my cards was today, the 11th.  My credit cards show processed on the 8th.  So, there was a delay in posting by the credit card companies the way I see it.

Mad

Refund for our 4/27 Barcelona to Southampton is now complete.  We received two more installments on the refund this morning.

Thanks SusieQft for all your hard work in organizing this thread.  Big shout out.

Mad

I received partial payment, 87% so far.

scheduled cruise: 4/27, Barcelona to Southampton

requested refund for canceled cruise:  3/30

partial refund:  6/2

Mad

31 minutes ago, Portolan said:

 

No problem with using this thread for anything anybody thinks of.  The original focused intent has long since been co-opted.  After hundreds of posts, I'm still waiting to hear of someone (other than those on or embarking for a cruise) whose cruise was cancelled by Regent after they had paid in full and opted for a cash refund.

 

Also cannot understand why someone who is offended by the stated goal of a thread (and who has started threads with a stated intent) has to post in the thread and not just start their own.

Portolan, I asked for a cash refund from Regent for my Regent-canceled Barcelona to Southampton that you were scheduled for the Lisbon to Southampton, end of Apr.  So far no joy!

Mad

Thanks, SuzieQft,

MadMarine

scheduled sail date 4/27/20
cancelled excursions 3/30/20
cancelled cruise 3/30/20
no refunds as of 5/9/20

2 minutes ago, SusieQft said:

I could give people editor privileges, but I thought it better to use UUNetBill's model and input the data myself.  Just post the information in that thread and I will enter it.

Got it.  Will do.  Thanks for your great help!

Mad

29 minutes ago, SusieQft said:

Okay, the new thread is open and ready for input.

 

Thanks for doing this.  I wasn’t sure how to proceed using google sheets.  It looks like you will have to give folks editor permissions to add to the sheet.

Thanks again,

Mad

53 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

Edited to say that if you only want to know if a person has received their check, it may be simpler to start a poll that could include how long it took "under 30 days", "31-45 days", etc.  This would alleviate unwanted comments.  Just a thought.

Or you could just honor the request of the OP.  Just a thought.

23 minutes ago, CBWIR said:

First, you have said you have never sailed on Regent. Perhaps you should have said as a potential customer. Earlier this week, you predicted gloom and doom and when it was explained what was going on, you continued to post until you were proven completely wrong. You talk about your Big 4 experience but you were not on the core of the business (audit practice). Now it is public relations expertise. Please explain your experience as you asked someone else about their experience and they responded.

Thank you.

In another thread?  Thank you!

Mad

On 4/17/2020 at 9:26 AM, Portolan said:

I politely suggest that everyone reread the stated purpose of this thread and move the general discussion of refunds and how long they take elsewhere.  I think we all agree on the points raised.  But, the goal of this thread was to gain actual data points about how long between a Regent-cancelled cruise full refund request has taken between the request date and the actual receipt of the money.  Only one relevant post about this to date.  

Seriously folks, was the ask of Portalan too difficult to understand?   If you want to discuss the vagaries of the refund process or your complaints about it, how about starting your own thread!

Mad