Swelldame

LoonCall, do ask if a visit to the Plaza de San Nicolas is included at the end. It's a spectacular view of the Alhambra and a great way to finish a visit. We had a guide who added that on, plus a walk down the hill through the winding, cobblestone streets for some tapas before heading back to the ship. If you have time I'd highly recommend it.

I'm thinking my original suggestion of Seven Seas Shippy McShipface won't make it, either. Even if I change it to Seven Seas Shippy McShipfacer to better meet the rules...

Reading the fine print: "As an incentive to participate, Regent will randomly select three people from among the entrants......." and, "The name Regent ultimately selects for the ship will not be impacted by the names suggested by the three random cruise winners."

Go for it, Bill!

Eager2Travel, I'm enjoying your posts. What was the illness that prompted the code red?

I read somewhere here on CC once that one of the mass market lines (RCI?) had the deck staff putting a little cardboard clock or similar sign on lounge chairs with items on them. The time displayed was 30 minutes from when the sign went on. If the "owner" wasn't back by then, his items were picked up by the staff, and the chair was then free for someone else to use.

On a past Voyager cruise, there were 4 friends who each had two chairs occupied. One in the shade, and one in sun. After watching them switch back and forth for several days, another passenger got fed up and just sat down on the one she wanted. The chair hog confronted her saying, "That's my chair!" The answer was, "No it's not - that one over there is. I just saw you sitting in it." End of discussion.

Every time we book a new Regent cruise, we start getting the snail mail brochures from O, usually to two different addresses. However, if you use this link: https://www.oceaniacruises.com/changeofaddress/ it all stops immediately.

I was reading in the Miami Herald earlier this week that I am not welcome on the Explorer; Mr. Del Rio said the ship was "for the one per centers;" and I don't qualify. :(

You'd think Mr. Del Rio would know the one per centers have their own yachts. ;)

Might need to look a bit closer at some sailings on other lines. What's next? Preferred seating in the theater? Reserved computer time? Hints at trivia? Litter bearers to excursion buses? It's a slippery slope...

Long overdue in my thanks to you, Bill, for always giving me a giggle. Thanks!

In my view, Regent's ships are far too small to be making any areas of them unavailable to most passengers. This concept of making every square foot income-producing starts to backfire after a certain point. I get the whole "pay more to get more" concept (and sometimes I appreciate having the choice myself), but it has to be balanced with not making the majority of your customers feel like they're paying the same and getting less.

Lagavulin!

Yes! Times 2!

It previously was the opposite. Several years ago they flipped the category of the two deck levels and what was originally better became the lower category.

Thanks Frantic! I thought I was completely losing it there for a while.

The lido deck chair noise must've been more of an issue than I suspected.

Swelldame, You fill out a form enumerating each item and total it up. I will always love you for a term I have never heard before "boulder-holders"

Huzzah!!!!!!!

I was using the short name. Formally, it's: Over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder". :D

That's what I was thinking, Denise; certainly have experienced the chair-scraping noise before. On the other hand, the ones under the lido restaurant should be fine, and they're all rated the same.

Does anyone know why the SS suites on the Zuiderdam are on Deck 6, while the lower-rated SYs are on Deck 8?

Hi Merly,

Was the wait list option showing when you booked your excursions online? I seem to remember having that the first 2 times I cruised with Regent, but for this last booking it wasn't showing. I called Regent and asked to get on the wait lists for the excursions I wanted, which was done easily. The person I talked to seemed puzzled that I couldn't choose the wait list myself, so it may be either a mistake or something new. Call right away and tell them which excursions you want to be on the list for.

The specialty restaurant reservations are tougher, and my only real quibble with Regent in general. "I'm sorry, Madam" is usually the answer for changes unless you're at gold level or in one of the top suites. But ask the same day and see if anything has opened up.

Also if you are concerned about laundry methods or cost, there is always the halfway-house option i.e. do the laundering yourself and then send shirts, jeans etc down to the laundry for pressing

What's the routine then for sending out laundry? Do you fill out a list item by item, or do you fill a bag and pay one fee?

Many thanks.

So they don't do laundry by the bag if you're less than "gold" status, and as Flossie implies, it's a per-item charge? That'll add up quick; back to the laundry room at least for the tighty-whities, granny-pants, bloomers, knickers and boulder-holders! ;)

How does sending out regular laundry (not dry cleaning) work? Is it a charge per item, bag, day, cruise? I'm thinking this might be the best way to use up that shipboard credit and spend less time running up and down looking for a free washer on sea days :D

If you mean, "Insuremytrip", yes, I have. I did find one who would do this trip, a US carrier, travelguard I think. But it was outrageously expensive. The problem is that we're Canadian but we're not leaving from Canada, so Canadian insurers won't cover us. This because we live in Florida in the winter.

 

And now last week I did the unthinkable and had my doctor change one of my medication dosages, so now I'd be scr**ed anyways. So for the first time, we're "self-insuring", yikes!

 

Luckily we don't need medical, just cancellation.

Hi Wendy. Reading your post last night was timely; we're in the same boat as you (if you'll pardon the pun) and I had just gotten an online cancellation quote from Travelguard in Canada, which was reasonable. I called them just now and they confirmed that they'd have to insure us from when we left our home province, not just the dates of the cruise in March. Of course, this makes the "interruption" risk very high and the price ridiculous. They suggested I call the US side, as we'll be leaving from and returning to Florida. I did, and found it to be reasonable for their "Basic" policy. We're paying US$1,300 for a trip worth US$30,000. There is a little bit of medical overlap which is secondary to the travel medical we already have.

By the way, for the medical insurance I found Tour Med was much, much lower than any other for my husband who's in a higher age bracket than I am with a stable, pre-existing condition. Might be worth a call: 1-844-412-4636

Thank you to the posters that have pointed out that this information should be kept private. A while back someone came on here and gave specific interline pricing. It's supposed to be confidential and best kept that way.

All this information (regarding HAL or Interline) is now readily available to anyone, online. It's just not a big, state secret anymore and there's no need for it to be kept private. Qualifying for it is something else, and procedures are put in place to ensure it's not taken advantage of by unqualified people. As you can see by my original post I was more curious about the logistical issues and was not asking anyone to quote prices, just their experiences. I certainly wouldn't be so gauche as to run around onboard bragging about the "deal" I got through my friend.

In this case, the extra last-minute flight costs would far outweigh the moderate friends and family discount offered. End of thread. :rolleyes:

Thanks, WeLoveCruising; right you are. My employee friend was busy working, but I found the particulars and FAQs with Google, and he just confirmed the link. Not sure if the logistics will work for us this time, but what a sweetie he is to offer.

Does anyone have experience booking with HAL's Friends and Family rates? Is it basically standby, like Interline rates? Can you choose your cabin category or even cabin? Will HAL book the airline, or is it all cruise only? Any insight would be appreciated :)

Most people still have enough common sense to dress appropriately for the venue and the occasion. And, most of us feel uncomfortable when we're not dressed appropriately.

I think a big part of the problem with HAL's dress code now is that the venue, and the occasion (i.e.: "formal night"), has been eroded to the point that formal wear is a bit ridiculous. HAL is no longer like The Ritz, but more of a Holiday Inn. Stringy meat, slow service, and all the other cut-backs we've seen come in over the years have reduced the left-over Rosenthal china and the odd tuxedo to being nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig. It all looks classy in the brochures to add refinement, but it's only marketing. HAL is mainstream now, and just can't pull off a formal atmosphere.

Regent's dress code is always "smart casual". Jackets and/or ties are never required, but you see them all the time because the venue and atmosphere can support it. HAL wants to give the impression they're still providing a high-end product by continuing their formal night sham while delivering low-end goods. If the target market really was the type of person you see in the brochures, the maitre d' wouldn't need a supply of loaner jackets.

What kind of excursion are you wait-listed on? If it's the kind of tour that they can add more busses to, you'll likely be fine. For example, a city tour that stops at churches and museums. If it's something like a glass-bottom boat tour that has a finite number of seats, then you still stand a good chance as you're first on the list. Destination services is likely working to increase availability to accommodate everyone who was on the cancelled tour.

Our first Voyager cruise was in a PH cabin near the forward elevators (721), and our second was in a D concierge, just forward of the aft elevators (953).

Being close to the elevators in either location was very convenient for popping back to the cabin quickly. Highly recommended.

We preferred being close to the aft elevators, as that location is also closer to the laundry. It cut way back on the time spent doing laundry, being able to just pop around the corner and not having to haul loads the length of the ship. DH liked the convenience of being above the Coffee Connection to bring a cappuccino back to the cabin and found he was able to just as easily use the Lido deck's machine when we were in 953.

The vibration issue wasn't an issue for us, perhaps because we were far enough forward in 953.

I also chose to be on deck 9 as opposed to 10 due to noise from the deck chairs on 11.

An interesting note if you prefer forward cabins: I noticed on the deck plans that there is an empty space between for example penthouse 721 and 719. You'll see this occurs all the way across and all the way up. Curious, I looked at these cabins from the dock and it appears the extra couple of feet is added to the verandahs of the "Verandah" or "Concierge" cabins next to the Penthouses.

There are some pics of the aft cabins on halfacts.com Just check out the Vista ships - don't worry if it is a different ship. As long as they are the same class (except the Noordam perchance), they should be the same.

 

The link to halfacts.com is in my signature as well as in a sticky at the top of the HAL board

Hi Jacqui, and thanks. I had a look at Halfacts, and google, and, and, and.... ;) While from the pictures of the Vistas aft it kinda/sorta looks like the balcony depth is the same, it's really hard to tell with the stair-stepping shape of the stern. And it definitely looks smaller according to the deck plans, but you can only kinda/sorta trust those.

IF I can convince DH (aka: Mr. Fiscal) to go for it, I'll definitely take pictures and make notes for halfacts upon our return.

As I recall, deck 5 has the largest balconies with deck 4 below it being smaller.

Thanks, Dave! There appears to be one available on deck 8..... any idea how that compares?