Zoey1

1 minute ago, bellaone said:

I know this wouldn't be for everyone, but on my last Lisbon stop I used "Bike My Side", motorcycles with side cars, great and informative drivers, and the ability to get onto side streets and in alleyways no car could fit through! So much fun.

Thank you for your reply, not sure if our friends would like this but will definitely check them out!

We are going to be in Lisbon for a couple of days prior to our cruise. We are looking for both a company for transfers and private tours, looking for any and all recommendations.

Good morning! Sadly this is day 9 of our 13 day Baltic cruise our if Amsterdam. We flew in two nights early and had a lovely  stay at the Pulitzer. We had an awful experience with a tour operator that we had booked pre pandemic and of course our cruise got shifted each year until now, we had correspondence with them the entire time but they canceled on us last minute and it ended up being a blessing in disguise as we found someone else who scrambled to get us accommodated and they were fabulous. They arranged a lovely private boat ride for the four of us that first evening, the second day a wonderful walking and driving tour of the countryside with a great stop for lunch. We went to Black and blue restaurant the second night which was a disappointment with food as well as service.

We had pre booked tixs to the Anne Frank house( this is a must as it sells out quickly) and did this in the last morning. Incredible but very heart wrenching.

We transferred to the ship, we have been on at least 30-35 cruises many with Celebrity but never on Edge class, ( the Reflection and Equinox had been our favorites) but Edge class is different, modern, fresh and beautiful. We are in a beautiful Royal suite, very different from the S class, some pluses and some minus but overall we love it. Gene is our personal retreat host and we have never had to ask for something twice. We had pre booked our speciality restaurants and each one is better than the last. Shows are 7:30 and 9:30, Tbh I was never big on cruiseship entertainment but go for my DH and our traveling companions and I’m so glad that we did, they really stepped it up and have been great, they have a couple of different shows in different venues which is also great.

We have the most wonderful private tour guides in each city so if anyone needs a recommendation I will be happy to provide. Please feel free to ask any questions and I’ll do my best to get answers for you. This is a wonderful cruis thus far!

On 5/31/2022 at 10:13 PM, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I would like to add another country to the mix. 

 

Helsinki, Finland:

The cruise dock is not near the city center or close to the attractions we would want to see. I have read there is a shuttle into town. 

 

So, we were thinking of just taking a ship’s tour in Helsinki for ease.  It was listed as visiting three places:

 

·    *Mannerheim Street: Helsinki’s main street, home to historic government buildings, National Museum, Finlandia Hall and contemporary art museum, Kiasma.

·   * Sibelius Monument: Marvel at this amazing tribute honoring great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, constructed using over 600 welded pipes.

·    *Temppeliaukio Rock Church: Experience the magnificence of this unique house of worship blasted into solid rock.

 

The tours will leave you in the city center if you have a morning tour and wish to stay. The cost of the shuttle to return to the ship is included in the price.

 

However, my research shows that Rock Church is closed on Sat/Sun. [we dock on Saturday] So, if we do not stop there this tour sounds like more of a bus tour with a few picture stops. I think that church is the only place we go in.

 

I am looking at TJ travel’s tours, also.  We had booked with them for our St Petersburg tour. But their tour sounds like the ship’s tour. It includes a few more drive-by visits, however, the Rock Church was a highlight of the tour and we already know that is not available the day we dock.

 

Should we just take the shuttle to the city center and DIY?  Helsinki is one place I have looked at the HOHO bus.  But, the stops still look like they are a good distance from the sites. 

 

Does anyone have any information or suggestions?  Thank you in Advance for your help.  😄

I’m not sure if we are too late, for you but we are on Celebrity’s Apex now. We had the most amazing private tour guide in Helsinki we were a party of four. Paulo was responsive, prior to during etc. he was informative and fun without being boring, he was able to modify at our request at the drop of a hat and had we known we would have enjoyed him so much we would have requested him in Tallin as well, you cannot go wrong with him, tell him Wendy and Victoria sent you!

We got off the Reflection 3/26 they were inky at 1/3 capacity which I asked our Butler if it was the cruise lines choice and he said it was nit. People have not fully returned to cruising yet. We felt 100% safe, in fact I am Auto immune compromised and it was the first time I went anywhere without a mask.

1 minute ago, Sauer-kraut said:

 

Friends of Dave seem to always get good reviews on here.

thank you for the reply, they do not really do private tours.

Hello!

we are traveling with another couple and will be In Warnemunde in September and would like a private tour. I know that many say you can DIY but we like a “ bit of hand ho,ding” I suppose. . Can you recommend a few For us?

thank you

Wendy

I too, suffer from extreme motion sickness and cannot use the patch. We have been on over 30 cruises in all parts of the world and I have found the best thing is to start taking less drowsy Dramamine ( or generic) a few days before, but I take it differently one in the morning one in the evening and do this throughout the entire cruise, I also bring ginger capsules when I feel even a teeny bit unsure. I have never had a problem ( I even get motion sickness on rides). 

On 10/16/2019 at 11:40 PM, Heidi13 said:

Depends on whether you are looking for weather forecasts for ports, or at sea.

 

If ports, the weather channel or any of the other online sources are probably easiest. However, for marine forecasts I use the local environment/weather department - looking for synopsis, forecasts & wind/sea forecasts

 - US: NOAA

 - Canada: Environment Canada

 - UK: Met Office

I was looking for forecasts for ports mainly as I’m thinking it might be warmer than I remembered and may need to pack some lighter clothes.

Does anyone have an app or link for weather forecast?

thanks

Wendy

I use to have an app that enabled you to see the forecast in all ports and I cannot find it.

does anyone have a good link for this?

Thanks,

Wendy

We did the farmhouse one and DH truly had no interest but did it for me and was delighted to see that we had the BEST time! Great experience, lots of fun!

We have been sailing on Celebrity for many years, most recently on the Equinox this past March. We are booked for two cruises in 2020 in a Royal suite but I do not see any literature that says it still includes specialty dining, does anyone know if the new revolutionized ships still include this as a perk? 

We are arriving into FLL about 12:30am, we will be four adults with way too much luggage. Do you think we will have trouble finding an Uber XL OR TAXI VAN at that hour to take us to a hotel at MIA?  Or can anyone recommend a reputable car service?

I’m starting to mix up my cruise lines and ships even though we do mostly celebrity. We are going on the Equinox in March are the show times still 7;and 9 pm?

thanks 

Wendy

Thank you for sharing your experience, sounds like a great cruise!

we are sailing on her in March, we have done about 10 Celebrity cruises but this will be our first time in the Equinox.

Just returned and wanted to list an update.

The InterContinental was FABULOUS, JUST DREAMY! Beautiful infinity pool good food at the restaurants we were thrilled, I wouldn’t mind staying at this resort for several nights, we loved it!

We literally just returned last night. We booked day rates at the Intercontinental a couple of months in advance, it is super pricey but having just come back it is so worth it. The p,ace is dreamy, the staff very accommodating and we just found the resort to be paradise! 

Wes,

Thank  you so much fir the pics and videos, my kids will get quite a kick out of them!

that was a magical excursion in whatbis probably my new favorite spot in the world...Bora Bora!

Regards,,

Wendy

11 minutes ago, cruiseluv said:

Hi,

 

Thank you for sharing your experiences. Yes, the mold on that cheddar was icky. You say you asked the Hotel Manager to come see it. Did he? What was his reaction? In my many cruises with Regent Ive never had a butler, so cant relate as to what he may or might not be able to do for you. I'm sure others will comment. However, I must say I dont understand why you were surprised by the suite size, as that's something its clearly described on the website/ brochure. All the information is there for a pax to make an informed decision as to if the extra cost is worth it for them. Yes, the ship is somewhat "dead" after hours, but again, something that's apparent if you have read these boards for a while. Regarding the "holding room".... well, in my estimation better than waiting standing in line ( for sure, much better if they had offered complimentary champagne or something!).  At what time did you get there? Maybe too early?  

The head concierge and head butler came to,our suite said the hotel manager was tied up. He was quite appalled and seemed embarrassed that this happened. He was very apologetic.

We we also shared our disappointment on several things and we thought he handled the situation really well, he did not try and explain away just listened and apologized.

We were a table for eight at dinner and they brought over a really nice bottle of wine with more apologies and had the head chef come over to apologize as well. 

We were here not surprised at the cabin sizes we chose it, but seeing the balcony in person, we were surprised it was that small in a suite that large but as I said it was more then sufficient.

we always have a butler on other lines but felt on Regent it was not worth the extra cost.

I can’t remember the time we got there but took the Regent shuttle that was assigned to us, I’m thinking we got picked up around noon. I agree sitting was better then standing in line( though there was plenty of that to get to the desk as well!. 

Thanks fir your repky,

Wendy

I was a bit hesitant to post my thoughts as Regent has such a lovely loyal following. Please keep in mind that this was our experience, others may have a very different one.

I have been following CC boards for about 18 years and always look here for tips, advise etc so anted to share our thoughts here as.well. 

To put  this in perspective a little about us..

While we are new to Regent we have taken around 25+cruises across many mass market cruise,lines settling in the last ten years primarily on Celebrity and Oceania. 

For my big birthday I wanted to go to Tahiti and have heard wonderful things about Regent and loved the itinerary so the Mariner fit the bill.

Pre cruise was changed a few days prior from The Royal Hawaiian to Alohalani as the Royal Hawaiian was one of the hotels on strike, kudos to Regent for that call, as no one wants to cross a picket line,let alone not have service. 

The hotel was okay, for the one night and Regent had a really lovely buffet breakfast put on at Morimoto restaurant.

We were sorry that we had not taken a taxi from the airport as the shuttle stopped at about five properties and after the long plane ride it would have been better for us to go directly to the hotel.

Embarkation was a total mess, we were shocked that we were out in a holding room, with folding chairs for over an hour before we were able to board. ( first picture)

We have never had this experience in all the years if cruising. We joked that if they had only provided cocktails and some canapés it might have taken the sting out.

When we finally got to check in they were wonderful and efficient and did not try and minimize the situation.

First impression of the ship was how beautiful the ship is. We were in a Mariner suite which was beyond lovely. Beautifully appointed with tons of storage. We were surprised that the balcony was not larger in such a large suite but it really was more then sufficient. Very spacious, 1 1/2 baths, dining table, sofa,two chairs, bar, it was really lovely however after speaking to many frequent Regent guests it seems that most do not stay in these larger suites, And while we loved having the extra powder room as we do in the Oceania suite on our favorites Mariner and Riviera and Royal Suites on Celebrity( we prefer the S class ships) it was not worth the money on Regent.

Our butler Joel was not a new butler but did nothing to enhance our stay. Your butler brings canapés but honestly if one wants an afternoon snack you can order room serice.

He did most of whatever was asked of him but a bit like he was doing us a favor. He was not able to help get extra reservations in Prime 7, when I asked for extra canapés when we had friends over, we were surprised at the small spread he put out( having done this on other lines this paled by comparison)

the last night our cheese candles arrived with mold on the cheese and the prosciutto was spoiled,( 2nd picture) we actually asked the hotel manager to come to the room to see this as this is just not acceptable. I was tempted to put this on our mid cruise comments but he did not do anything wrong, just didn’t add to our cruise in anyway so didn’t want to make an awkward situation.

Muster was “ Old school” with eventually putting on life jackets and lining up outside bit nice to think they take it seriously.

Meet and mingle was very well attended and it was really nice to put names with faces. 

Service every was fine However very  few,went the extra mile, for instance, when at the pool, I asked where we get clean towels, I was pointed in the direction whereas on Oceania and Celebrity someone would have brought it to us. Having said that it was nice to frequently have a server go by seeing if we wanted a drink. 

The very best service that we had was surprisingly in Compass Rose, they went above and beyond. Jason the Matr’d was wonderful as was our servers Tyrone and Dennis.

The.bar staff was great

Destination services while pleasant, were very under informed on the ship and  even at each port there was little to no direction of where to go or what to see. 

Reception was good.

Casino is tiny, and other then drink servers, there is no service even if you press the call button on the slots. Boutiques have wonderful staff but very limited selections.

Food was delicious.

Restaurants

Compass Rose, the food was wonderful almost every night, wonderful choices with lovely presentation. The service here was amazing.

Prime 7, great food and presentation, waiters were lovely but many times side dishes ( a few of our companions actually were missing the entree and by the time it came everyone else had finished.

chartruse , we did not care for.

La Veranda, buffet the food was generally fairly good but very limited selections.

Pool grill had some great items.

we realized that we prefer mostly private tours to Regent excursions as we like when we are enjoying an area we can stay longer and if we tire of an area we can leave early.

Afternoon tea was really lovely, get there early to get a table by the window.

Entertainment was decent as far as cruise entertainment goes, their singers and dancers were good.

we thought there could have been more diverse things to do during the day and in the evening, The ship goes to bed pretty early, and after the show, there is lounge but we thought the performers were dreadful and we were surprised there were not other venues but seems like there are not enough people around in the evenings.

I have  to say the other cruisers were wonderful,really friendly just a great bunch of people willing to share their experience or advise.

We spoke with quite a few loyal Regent guests and there was a number who a,somfelt as if service was not up to par on this sailing. 

Disembarkation was was a breeze and since the flights out of Papeete are at 11pm we took a day rate at the Inter continental hotel which was dreamy! 

We might give it another try if the itinerary was the right fit, despite my criticism we had an amazing time but all in all we were disappointed that service was not what we were expecting.

On 11/12/2018 at 10:24 AM, WesW said:

Malbec, Keith1010; thank you both—it was a privilege to have served our Country. 

 

Clskinsfans; am sure our Regent experienced World Cruisers can provide you answers to what they have missed most.  For Ida and I, and our Grand Voyage and five week+ cruises we miss authentic Southwest cuisine (made by Ida) and our beloved pets.

 

Marq; yes, Elda will be (along with Ray) your assistant cruise director for The Circumnavigation of

Australia next month on the Mariner—you lucky folks!

 

Forgot who asked about Poker on board, but spoke at length with bbfromca/Bill who is an avid

Poker player on board.  Bill plays whenever the Casino is open and lets me know most of the seven seats are taken up with fellow Poker aficionados.

 

JPR; thanks so much for sharing your Romantic (austere) Bora Bora story.

 

And fellow lead blogger Rich—thanks for taking us along to enjoy vicariously your special Grand Voyage event at the Conrad Hilton.

 

Good Morning as we near (about 2 hours)our next French Polynesian port, Raiatea,

 

Yesterday, on board Regent Seven Seas Mariner, we enjoyed an all morning “sail on a Catamaran” excursion around paradise, err mean Bora Bora.

 

We had perfect weather, lake-like ocean conditions for our Catamaran experience.  A small group of about twenty Mariner guests and Ida and I enjoyed being mesmerized by the beauty of stunning Bora Bora.  The magnificent verdant hills and Mountain are surrounding by the azure sea—your breath is taken away as you marvel at this Paradise.

 

Please enjoy about a dozen photos and videos of our outstanding Bora Bora

Excursion.

It was great meeting so many of you at the meet and mingle then getting to “ bump” into each other again throughout the sailing. We hated to leave paradise and then came home to see snow on the ground!

Wes,mwe were on the catamaran withbyiu and Ida and She and I were the only ones to get up,to learn the lovely dance. My hubby took a few photos but did not get any video of it, I was wondering if you had gotten video of it. My kids won’t be,ieve that I actually did that, but I figured heck, I’m in Tahiti! Please let me know. My email is nwmallis@aol.com. Enjoy the rest of the cruise!

thanks,

Wendy aka Zoey1

8 hours ago, jollyjoyce said:

 

Aperol is an Italian Aperitif.

You mix it with Prosecco, Soda, ice and a slice of orange ...lovely drink....you must try it !!

Thank you for your reply, that sounds wonderful, looking forward to trying it onboard. Wes and Rich we are so enjoying your posts M

Wendy

5 hours ago, cAPS lOCK oN said:

The people in the next suite on our first Regent cruise would get milkshakes delivered from room service every afternoon. I'm not ashamed to admit that I poached that idea. It was a hot cruise, and we would also have room service bring Aperol spritzes for us to enjoy on our veranda. Really, you can get whatever you want.

What is in a Alerol spritzes, I keep seeing post about it, now I’m curious. Getting excited to join up in Honolulu 

Rich, happy belated Anniversary! 

We also are cruising to celebrate my 60th bd. Had to laugh about the practice packing as we leave Tuesday evening and cannot pre or practice pack due to the fact that we have our ho e up for sale and do not know if we will have showings over the weekend, with the h Use staged there is no room to hide luggage. We have An

never packed last minute but hoping due to the late packing it will keep us from our usual over packing. Getting excited to join all of you onboard in Honolulu.mwe are seasoned cruisers however this is our first with Regent so really looking forward to both Regent and my birthday bucket list Itinerary!

Wendy