mrlevin

Alessandro and Captain leaving 13 April in Tokyo; don’t know about Vlado. 

We just stayed at the Tokyo Conrad; great hotel great location.  In shiodome tower above shiodome subway station and adjacent to shimbashi station for trains and more subway lines.  Executive lounge excellent.  

This is undoubtedly the best service we have experienced in 21+ years of cruising Radisson/Regent; Alessandro and Vlad have trained an excellent crew.  We are very happy campers. 

Just saw from our hotel room through the rain and fog Explorer sail into port; just a few more hours.

Doesn't look like Explorer is going to make it to Tokyo on schedule this morning or may be following Riviera into Yokohama instead.  Not good signs.

Or, just waiting for Riviera to get out of the way so they can speed into Tokyo.

edited to add:  Never mind, Explorer is not scheduled to arrive until 0800.  Should be tight for our 1200 boarding.

We are at Aoyama Cemetery, our favorite cherry blossom viewing location in Tokyo and we are still too early; lots of buds but few blooms. Kyoto is supposed to peak when we are there on 3 April but it is a bummer missing them here. 

53 minutes ago, Whipsnade said:

Looks like Symphony is making a beeline for port of Duqm, Oman. This is way out of the way to bab al Mandab. Must be to refuel ( did not refuel in Mumbai) and or meet up with military escort for journey into Red Sea. 
Never been to Duqm. Looks like a pretty desolate and lonely spot. 

Duqm is near Masirah Island which USN has used for replenishment for decades.

13 hours ago, Avidtravler said:

To those that got their QR Codes in advance, How long in advance of flying can you apply for the Code? How difficult to get the code, and how costly? 

Mrlevin, How did you get through immigration and customs without QR codes in advance?

When they took pictures and fingerprints in immigration line they handed us forms to fill in; had them done by time we were in front of line.  In baggage claim they had customs form to fill in while waiting for luggage.  No delays, we were done rather quickly. 

2 hours ago, labonnevie said:

Your cabin attendant will fill your ice bucket daily if you ask for it. 

mj was talking about her room at Hilton not ship.  🙂

We had easy travel day AUS LAX on delta and short walk to Singapore airlines LAX to NRT.  No QR codes but quickly through immigration and customs.  Driver took us straight to Conrad in under an hour.  Didn’t pick up Suica cards so need to figure that out this morning.  First six trips planned.  See everyone on the first!

7 minutes ago, SusieQft said:

That is pretty sneaky, IMO, since they promote the onboard bookings to have a lowest price guarantee.

Onboard booking lowest price guarantee has never been worth the paper it is printed on given they regularly dump inventory overseas. 

Carol, thanks.  When I learned of the fine print that said applicable to cruises of less than 60 nights I knew this wouldn't help me as I have three GV booked.  There is also something in terms and conditions that says this doesn't apply with reduced deposits which I would think refers to the onboard booking reduced deposits.

I haven't made any new bookings in a while so this new option snuck in on me.  I checked today and it "seemed" to apply to all bookings and said all other discounts applied;  so my questions:

Is this in fact on all bookings?

Even onboard bookings where the deposit is just $500 per person per segment?

Can this be added retroactively to existing bookings?

New Grand Voyages and segments of WC should be available soon; has Regent announced an end date for this promotion?

thanks,

Marc

It is on the website.  TA should give you 8-10% discount plus onboard booking for sure; other discounts might be available.  

$203,299 per person before discounts.  

has crossed $100K for F2 which many consider required on Splendor.  $100,999 for 141 nights.  🤑  I can't believe this will sell that well for a mundane (i.e., repeated) itinerary.

We would not be happy with a change from Athens to Cape Town.  First, Saudi and Egypt are two of the high points for us.  Second, we are doing the fall 2025 GV from Barcelona to Sydney down the west coast of Africa; these two GVs become too similar.  I will try to use FF miles for all the flights so easily redeposited but we will have to do some soul searching in October if the Red Sea is still closed to cruise ships.

26 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

Thanks.  We just contacted Regent and booked the Luxor overnight, sounds pretty much like the one you did.  And we're following the activity in the Red Sea.  I know the cruise is a year away, but I'm not all that optimistic that we'll get into Egypt.  

We are going to get airline tickets next month; I sure hope this cruise proceeds as planned.  This is the next Regent cruise planned for Red Sea so won't have any advanced warning.

Just now, papaflamingo said:

 

Are you on Voyager in 2025? 

Yes, Auckland to Athens through the Red Sea.

Cape Town to Rio port side should be in the shade and starboard side in the sun.

4 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

Yes...that's the one.  Did you choose any regular tours as back up if the Overland program doesn't go? 

No I did not.  We went to Luxor in 2017 so I don't know what we would do this time.  We have never been to pyramids so this allows us to scratch something off the bucket lists.  We are trying to decide on Jeddah tours; most everything seems expensive.

2 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

We are looking at doing an overnight overland tour with Regent in Luxor in 2025.  We need to make shore excursion selection in 5 day.  I'm not sure how to make the overnight overland tour reservation.  I assume we have our TA call Regent and have it added to the reservation.  In the meantime, I plan to make excursion reservations just in case the overland tour does not go.  Anyone done this in the past and have any info on how to do this?  

Thanks

Are you talking about Luxor and pyramids?  If so, just have your ta add to your booking; we had it added a while back. 

Bill, why would you book this through Regent?  I have stayed at fantastic game lodges and resorts in South Africa and would book through a TA that knows South Africa or directly with one of the tour operators; Regent greatly overcharges.

Marc

Excursions for next year''s GV on Voyager are out and I'm not very happy; more additional cost excursions rather than free ones.  Even excursions that were free in the past are now cost added.  So much for Free UNLIMITED shore excursions.

Rant over, cheerleader returns.  😇

5 minutes ago, crusin7 said:

This was waiting for us after dinner.  Any guesses as to what the message will be??

 

Announcement of 2027 World Cruise.