mrlevin

Has anyone noticed the same on the other ships? Looked at "plan my cruise" for a late 2024 cruise and was surprised to see additional Cat H availability; has anyone noticed that for the other ships, too? thanks, Marc

Sorry I haven't posted much (and I still haven't figured out how to post photos) but let me say that this has been a fantastic cruise. Learned today how much fun CD David's unique way of running trivia can be. On each of the sea days each team turned in their results so that an overall winner could be determined. In addition to ensuring good showing at trivia and keeping the teams cohesive, this led to great competitiveness. Ends up our team (three Americans, two Brits, and a Panamanian) easily won the overall competition. 50 tokens each! Given we have yet to be off the ship in 22 days, trivia (along with eating, drinking, and having fun) has been one of the highlights of the cruise. Hats off to David for a wonderful trivia experience. Marc

Explorer currently heading to Adelaide, Australia and will arrive morning of 4 January Australian time.

My experience has been the opposite; they almost always have local beers onboard; my current cruise on Splendor is first in memory without local beer. In Australia not only did we have local beer from the start but they also picked up new wines and beers in ports. marc

10 - 1

This morning at the Splendor Coffee connection I saw a man use his fingers instead of tongs to get some grapes. First he picked red grapes but then put them back and chose green grapes instead.

Tonight we had a wonderful anniversary dinner in Prime 7. This is the fourth (Voyager, Mariner, and twice on Splendor) anniversary in last six years spent in Prime 7 and our eighth or ninth overall on Regent. Made plans with Franck a week ago and everything was fantastic. Joey and Arriana and all the staff in Prime 7 were wonderful and Ali did a wonderful job on our cabin. Next two anniversaries will be on Mariner for, I’m sure, equally fantastic experiences. Again, special thanks to Franck and all the staff and crew in Splendor. Marc

You have to take photos through the glass where you often have a reflection.

I was told by Franck that it was “political.” Has regent ever been successful in stopping at Nicaragua?

There are no Owner’s Suites on Voyager nor on any other current Regent ship.

PLEASE NO!!!! Yes, I am shouting. If you need more emphasis, read my signature quote.

In addition to regent suite 700, 800, 900, 1200, and 1201 have forward facing balconies. As for the rest of us not having access blame FdR; he specifically designed explorer and splendor NOT to have outdoor forward facing areas. I strongly recommend to folks to take mariner to Alaska instead of explorer.

Fantastic trip so far! We boarded ten days ago and have yet to get off the ship (except for customs in Miami). Food, service, and drinks wonderful. Really love the F2 cabin and have one of our best room stewards ever. I have one very small pet peeve; very few officers, staff, and crew address me by name (Franck, Stephane, and Sweets being the exceptions). Hopefully by LA . . . .

I will provide our anecdotal experiences also. Table for two; three courses; out of Compass Rose in 45 minute. Two courses in Prime 7 and out in 45 minutes; three courses in Prime 7 and out in under an hour. Out of Johnnie Walker Black in Splendor Lounge two nights ago but Andrei tracked down a bottle in Prime 7. Yesterday all the bars restocked. One passenger really likes Hendricks Gin and Andrei showed that he had one hidden for her. Yes, supply issues persist (e.g., no king crab legs in Prime 7) and turnover day is notoriously bad (out of a lot of beers in pool bar) but Regent sure tries to make the onboard experience wonderful. Marc

If your phone is on ship's wifi it should cost. ZERO to post pictures. You are not using your data or your cellular or your wifi.

We spent 24 days in aft facing G2 on Explorer with three adults; definitely manageable. I agree that the bars are the primary issue on Explorer and Splendor. Meridian is no substitute for Horizon Lounge on Mariner and Voyager. In addition, Mariner has one more with Stars. As for hours, don't get me started on why on port days you have to go to Deck 11 for a drink before 4 on Explorer and Splendor. We have sailed a combined 126 days on Splendor, Navigator, and Mariner in last year. Regent has definitely had issues with staff and shipboard management knows it. We have been told a number of reasons; Regent later to get restarted so many staff have gone elsewhere, visa issues, and the odd one that failed COVID test prior to joining the ship. We have also seen a number of staff in multiple departments leave before their probationary period was over. I should have known how bad the bar service would be on Mariner when F&B on the fist day commented on "young bar staff." We have 23 more days on Splendor starting next week; I sure hope bar, waiter, and destinations staff are up to snuff and that the supply issues have been overcome; after all, we are paying a pretty penny. See you soon!

I just received new brochure from Regent today with the OLD itineraries in it; you would have thunk that operations and marketing would be on same page. They lost a golden opportunity to market the new itineraries.

2023 Mariner World Cruise still has two days in Hong Kong; 16-17 March. Since these are mid-segment; will be interesting to see how long before Regent cancels them.

Can someone onboard post a picture of the outside of door to cabin? Don't remember Splendor design for hanging a wreath. thanks, Marc

General William Westmoreland. Actually, AA.

Fidelity. Been using it overseas for over 15 years and no fee and great exchange rate.

I hope someone shows up soon; maybe Nature's Rhythm willl be back?!

Best place to get currency is at ATMs; no fees and best exchange rates. On our Sydney to Beijing cruise the ship was buying back AUD at worse rate than I got at ATM; I could have made a lot more money if I thought to get additional AUD.

You are allowed to put $400 per segment (per person) on your room bill; easy way to earn miles. Last cruise ship did not have any Euros; just USD. One cruise in 2011 ship had Aussie dollars onboard but otherwise really haven't seen any currencies except dollars and Euros.

On Navigator, after 1130, only music is the jukebox with 1,000s of songs in Galileos. No problem playing what you want and dancing up a storm until wee hours of the morning.