markser

I am considering a European cruise in 2019 in a Penthouse suite..

I would be flying from LA to Europe and back. If I understand what I have read here, Regent could have me flying coach to and from the east coast and business for only the transatlantic portion.

To avoid this, I have two options. I can take the Regent air credit, which is only $2500 per person and book my own air. However, because I am flying from LA, business class airfares (I arbitrarily picked October since the cruise is more than 11 months out) are almost twice as high as the credit.

I also have the option of filing a deviation request 270 days from the date of my return flight (not my departing flight -- is this right?). At that time my travel agent would submit my preferred flights (which I would make sure don't include a change of planes in the U.S,) to Regent. It could accept one and charge me the deviation fee and the difference. As long as the difference is less than $2,000, I would probably save money going this route although I wold give up some flexibility.

I guess my questions are has anyone had a really high differential fee, like $1500 or more? And has anyone heard of Regent just rejecting all of someone;s preferred/suggested flights?

Any thoughts and/or opinions would be appreciated.

That's good to know. However, I have read the tvs are wall mounted so how would the DVD player "communicate" with the TV?

Anyway, thanks for the response.

Are there DVD players in the Explorer Penthouse Suites?

Thanks.

I read that Chartreuse on Explorer is open for lunch on alternate port days and all sea days. Are reservations required? Can reservations be made?

What is the lunch cuisine like>

Thanks.

We will be sailing on Explorer in a Penthouse suite and wondered what brand of TV will be in our suite.

If it is Samsung, I can bring a remote from home that might? allow me to access an HDMI input and watch movies/TV from home The ship's remote (at least on Mariner) doesn't allow this..

Has anyone tried bringing a universal remote?

Yes, I know that the ship provides some movies and TV, but for the few times I will want to watch TV, I would prefer to choose my viewing pleasure.

I started this thread and I don't want anyone to think we spend a lot of the time watching movies on a cruise. What we do enjoy is watching/listening to a half hour TV comedy (Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock) while we're getting ready for dinner or waiting for our excursion.

We just discovered we are going to have an extra sea day because of the hurricanes, so this cruise we may want to watch a movie one day as well.

As stated, the problem on Mariner was that the remotes in the room were not the original remotes for the TV. The idea of a universal remote does sound promising.

Does anyone know what brand of TV is on Explorer? We did have Samsung on Mariner. I think I'll ask this on a new thread.

Thanks for all of the input.

Is there a way to watch our own movies in our Penthouse suite on Explorer.

I can bring dvds but I don;t think there are dvd players in these cabins.

I can copy the movies to a thumb drive but I don't know whether the tv system will accept and play thumb drives. On the Mariner the system would recognize that the thumb drive was there but the tv remote in the room wouldn't play the movies on the drive. In a much earlier thread, someone suggested finding out what kind of tvs are in the suites and, if available, bringing that brand of remote from home.

Any thoughts?

We understand that San Juan and St. Maarten had to be dropped for our Jan. 3rd cruise but very disappointed that only Martinique has been added. Instead we have another sea day.

I chose that cruise because it had a higher ratio of port days to sea days than most Caribbean cruises. Oh well.

I hope that Regent will make an effort to add more activities for the sea days.

We stayed two nights at the Hyatt in Coral Gables prior to our cruise.

The front desk staff were nice but couldn't figure out whether our first breakfast was included in our "package." It took quite a while to convince SEVERAL PEOPLE even though I had something from Regent showing that it was.

The first breakfast, in the hotel dining room on our own, was great. The group breakfast buffet on the day of sailing was a disaster. Both Regent and Hyatt should be ashamed. There were not enough seats. There was not enough food. Maybe that was a good thing because the hot food was cold and of poor quality.

Our room was large and pleasant.

The hotel was close to downtown Coral Gables. We took a free bus to get to a metro stop (or whatever Miami calls it) and then the metro to get to downtown Miami.

We had one of the earlier shuttles to the ship based on the luck of the draw. Some people's shuttles were not until mid-afternoon but they had to be out of their rooms at 11:00 AM anyway. They were not happy.

The biggest problem with the hotel credit is that it is a lot less than the cost of a room, at least around the holidays.

I booked my upcoming cruise a month after the excursions were available for booking and was very concerned about availability. However, I got all of my first choices..

Other people could tell you if I was just lucky.

I'm the original poster, and I was afraid I would start a more general discussion than I intended.

Wading through the many interesting responses, I am concluding that although three-quarter length pants are not exactly slacks, which are one of the clothing items suggested in Regent's code, they are not shorts, which are definitely not permitted. Also, a few people acknowledged seeing other diners wearing three-quarter length pants, and those who did seemed to think it was OK. Therefore,I will tell my wife that the verdict is in and that three-quarter length pants are acceptable after 6:00 pm. She can start packing for next week's cruise.

Thanks, everyone.

My wife is planning on taking some nice three quarter length slacks for ladies on our cruise in a few days. She suddenly wondered whether they are OK after 6:00 pm to wear to dinner in the Compass Rose or Sette Marie. They are slightly longer than mid-calf length.

Thanks.

I have booked excursions for my December cruise. However, I thought the selection was rather small for a few ports. Does Regent add additional excursions after the initial list? If so, will I be notified or will I have to check frequently?

So there are no DVD players?

A few weeks ago we received a $400 per person air credit on a coast to coast flight.

Not only do you want to get to the ship on time. You want your luggage to as well.

We have been on numerous cruises and land tours where the people got to their destination on the scheduled day but their luggage didn't.

Granted you do have the day the ship is docked in Amsterdam, but once the ship departs, it will be difficult for lost luggage to catch up with you. It took five days for a group of people to get their luggage on a cruise out of Panama City.

This is beginning to look like an island where we'll save some bucks and snorkel on our own.

We are taking a cruise that stops at Fakarava. The only listed excursion is scuba diving. Does PG add more that can be booked on ship if not sooner?

I have read that Ato Lissant offers an fun independent excursion, but the only web site I have found is in French. Can anyone provide more info about his tour?

Does anyone have advice about finding a snorkeling beach near where the tenders drop us?

I read we might be able to rent bicycles at a hotel. Has anyone done this?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.