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Thoughts on recent Baltic Cruise, Explorer, Aug 21-Sep 1


UUNetBill
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I’m going to post a review of our cruise soon but wanted to just give a brief synopsis here before I do the ‘official’ review.

 

Bottom line: Incredible cruise but with a few hitches (some Regent related, most not)

 

We started off from Charlotte, NC on Friday August 18th to spend a few pre-cruise days in Copenhagen with my wife’s parents. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate and we got stranded in Charlotte overnight. There were no more flights out that night (my wife and I both checked online, we had our travel insurance company check, and we had Regent Air’s emergency office working it as well. With the weather delays there were no hotels available nearby so we ended up passing the night in the rocking chairs in the main atrium. Not a fun start to the vacation but hey, we’re still going on a cruise, right?

 

After our three cancelled flights on Friday we finally managed to get out of CLT the next day and figured we’d only miss a few hours in CPH and could still join the in-laws for the tours we had booked that day. It was just a bit frustrating that after being on the road for 22 hours we were no further along than Atlanta…a 2.5 hour drive from our home. Anyhow, to make a long story short (too late for that, I know) our initial CLT-EWR-CPH journey turned into a CLT-ATL-YYZ-CPH odyssey. At least that was the routing for us and 3 of our 4 bags. One of my bags managed to go from CLT-RDU-BOS-LHR, and then sat there for days. So our first hours in CPH consisted of filling out lost (and damaged) bag reports. But at least the overwater portion on Air Canada was nice. Throughout all of this, I have to say that Regent’s Emergency Air Office was fantastic, offering us alternative flight options and keeping everyone in the loop. The odd routing over was a result of us wanting to get over and meet up with the in-laws as soon as possible and that just happened to be the quickest path over.

 

Anyhow…get to CPH and of course our room isn’t ready yet (but at least they knew we were arriving late and hadn’t cancelled our reservation) so we checked our bags and took a taxi over to the Torvenhallerne to join up with the family. Afterwards we got to do a little shopping, courtesy of my missing suitcase. Fortunately the Tivoli Hotel was conveniently located near the Fisketorvet shopping mall so that was a plus.

 

So enough of the pre-cruise festivities – let’s talk about the cruise itself.

 

Boarding Explorer is always a rush for me. To my eye, it’s the most beautiful ship in the Regent fleet. I feel like the transfer and boarding was a bit rushed and just a little crowded. Nothing ‘bad’ really, just seemed a tad less luxury than it could have been. And of course, once we got our key cards we still had to wait a while for the cabins to be ready. No worries – a couple of cocktails and a light snack always fill that time for us. Once we got the all-clear, we went to our cabin and started unpacking (which I have to admit was much easier for me this cruise, what with only having the one suitcase and all). We were in 612 and the in-laws were in 611 (although they’re right above some lifeboat davits, could be noisy in tender ports if they use those particular boats). Great locations on these cabins, just aft of the forward elevators and an easy walk down to Reception, Destination Services, etc. We had no issues with whistling doors at all, although my in-laws somehow managed to break the pivoting door in the bathroom with the trash can on it as well as dislodge their sliding shower door (twice). Both issues were fixed promptly and I don’t know if I should put it down to a problem with Explorer or user error.

 

We didn’t have enough interest in an M&G to have an ‘official’ one so we set up an unofficial cocktail hour in the Observation Lounge on our first sea day. It was great to meet some of the folks in person, but unfortunately this cruise was so port intensive it was difficult to spend a lot of time with anyone. Still, it was nice to be able to say ‘Hi’ to familiar folks on board and in the port areas!

 

Dining. Subjective, I know, but I thought the service in Compass Rose was impeccable. I love the new menu and honestly, if you can’t find something you enjoy on board, I don’t think it’s the ship’s fault. Between the four of us, we couldn’t agree on a favorite specialty restaurant. We liked them all, but we all had our favorites. The only places I saw any issues with service were the Pool Bar/Grill (a continuing sore spot, I’m afraid) and to a lesser extent in La Veranda. Even when it wasn’t busy, water would go unfilled, orders would get jumbled, etc. Not often, mind you – but enough to be noticeable.

 

Excursions. Hit and miss. Mostly hits. Most were good, but frankly, sometimes it’s difficult to tell the included excursions from the Regent Choice excursions. Some we were on were great and we said ‘Wow, this is worth every penny’, only to find out it was an included tour, while others were ‘Meh, this is okay’ and then saw that we’d paid extra for it. I’d still rather see Regent limit both the number of passengers on each bus and the number of buses they send to any one location. I know that’s not really feasible with ‘included’ excursions, but sometimes it just cheapens the experience a bit.

 

Disembarkation. Was a little bit of a mess due to a late arrival (medical evac the night before) and rainy weather on arrival. But the luggage porters were very professional and helped most everyone with their luggage with a smile. The end of a cruise is always a bit of a sad time and it can be made worse if disembarkation is a cluster, but this one went as smoothly as could be expected.

 

On a side note, we hit Gold this trip and upon check-in we got smiles, congratulations, and our shiny gold key cards…but our parents should have hit Silver on this cruise but they were issued Bronze cards. When I asked about this, we were told that they only showed one previous cruise when we knew they should have had two priors. We were told the only person who could help us was the Cruise Consultant who, frankly, seemed a bit unapproachable and not overly eager to help. It took an excessive amount of time and some outside assistance from our TA to get this straightened out. I know it seems like a minor issue, but we wanted to make sure they had their one hour of phone time so they could stay in touch with other family members. It left enough of a bad taste in our mouths that we didn’t book a future cruise while onboard, which I think is a first for us. First world problems, I know.

 

The general feeling is that this was one of our best cruises ever, which is saying a lot considering how we got off to a bit of a rocky start with the missing luggage and cancelled flights. Not sure when our next one will be, but hopefully it will be soon.

Edited by UUNetBill
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Excellent report! Did you ever get your lost luggage? Hope so! Your "review" pretty much hits the nail on the head as far as John and I are concerned. We love Regent for the most part, but there are some (usually, but not always) glitches in the experience. No cruise line is perfect. Strengths and weaknesses in all of 'em! Glad you had a (mostly) good time!

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Excellent report! Did you ever get your lost luggage? Hope so! Your "review" pretty much hits the nail on the head as far as John and I are concerned. We love Regent for the most part, but there are some (usually, but not always) glitches in the experience. No cruise line is perfect. Strengths and weaknesses in all of 'em! Glad you had a (mostly) good time!

Mudhen - thanks, yes - the missing bag finally arrived - in Latvia. When we arrived in CPH and the bag wasn't there, we went to the airport baggage office and they had already located it in London. "No worries", I thought - London is only a 2-hour flight and there are many flights every day. It'll be here tonight...

 

Well, I was wrong. I think it boiled down to American Airlines (original carrier) and Air Canada (our rescheduled flight) battling over who would pay to get the bag to me. I told everyone who would listen that it would be a LOT easier to get the bag to CPH and on board before the ship sailed...but nope. So I had Copenhagen, Berlin, a sea day, Lithuania, and an entire day in Latvia before I was reunited with Mr. Bag.

 

It made me rethink my insurance coverage - I had $300 for buying necessities for a delayed bag and $1,000 for replacement if the bag disappeared. I told my wife that $1,000 wouldn't even cover replacing the suitcase, let alone the contents... :o

 

But even with the bumps, it was an awesome cruise.

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Agreed, excellent report! Our Baltic cruise on the Viking Star was in Copenhagen that very day, and the Explorer was docked right beside us. It was clearly embarkation day, and looked beautiful. Did it stop in Gdansk? We were supposed to two days before on 8/19 but the ocean conditions thought otherwise.

We only ate in La Veranda one evening on our november Explorer cruise, but reading your thoughts reminded me that it was the one specialty restaurant we weren't wild about. No one told us what to expect, or exactly what the process was, and our table just didn't seem to get a whole lot of attention. Still a nice meal, but not as good as Compass Rose.

 

 

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Thanks very much for your balanced report. We have our first Regent cruise (Mariner) coming up soon, so these recent trip reports are much appreciated.

 

Sorry about your lost bag, but happy to hear you made use of your travel insurance to pick up a few things to help you get by.

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Thanks for the great trip report....you really managed to stay positive despite the lost luggage!!! As we will be on an Explorer Baltic Cruise next summer, can be more more specific about which excursions you enjoyed and which you didn't? Any insight would be much appreciated!

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Thanks for the great trip report....you really managed to stay positive despite the lost luggage!!! As we will be on an Explorer Baltic Cruise next summer, can be more more specific about which excursions you enjoyed and which you didn't? Any insight would be much appreciated!

 

 

 

Bill, how were the included excursions in St. Petersburg? Did they cover all the sights? We booked a two day "grand tour" independent excursion that was spectacular, at a relatively inexpensive price.

 

 

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Bill, thanks for sharing a wonderfully balanced summary of y'alls Explorer cruise. And kudos to y'all for sharing a special Explorer cruise with your wife's parents.

 

Sorry to hear about your delayed bag--tho having travel insurance mitigates the delay/loss--very frustrating way to start a trip--but y'all pressed on with a very positive "tude."

 

If I recall, may be mistaken but believe you have 30 days post cruise to still get an on board booking discount but a lot less than if you had booked while on board. Believe the discount is based on the type suite you might book within 30 days of returning home. Maybe worth checking with your TA to be sure.

Edited by WesW
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Bill, to say that you have been missed on the Regent board is an understatement!:loudcry:

 

Can definitely emphasize with your lost luggage. Kudos to you for how well you handled both the luggage and airline situations.

 

I found your comment about excursions most interesting. The Baltics is one area where I feel that the included excursions are quite good. We did a Regent Choice excursion in the Hermitage that was not as good as included ones. While this is not always the case, it certainly can be in that part of the world.

 

I'm curious as to your experience in La Veranda at lunch (if you dined there at all). We are on the Mariner and are finding the food quality, temperature, offerings and taste to be underwhelming. Also, were the side dishes in CR served hot? I'm trying to determine if the issue on the Mariner is F&B Director driven or if the issue is across the fleet. We know the F&B Director on our next Mariner cruise and know that he would have addressed these issues (as would Daniela on Explorer but she is still on vacation).

 

Cannot tell you how much we miss Explorer. Mariner really needs refurbishment (in the suites - the rest of the ship is still quite nice). We are not booked on Explorer until 2019 however, if we are dissatisfied with the Voyager in March, we will switch all future cruises to Explorer.

 

Anxious to read any further comments that you have...... and, welcome home!

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I agree with the comments about La Veranda. Breakfast is the usual fare - not my favorite meal of the day, so I can give it a pass. Lunch entrees remind me of creative ways to dress up leftovers. I stick to salad and smoked fish or shrimp as a little nod to cutting calories. I do like most of the deck BBQ's however but I don't like eating on the deck so much. It's fortunate that we can usually go to CR or order room service and eat privately on the balcony.

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I’m going to post a review of our cruise soon but wanted to just give a brief synopsis here before I do the ‘official’ review.

 

Bottom line: Incredible cruise but with a few hitches (some Regent related, most not)

 

We started off from Charlotte, NC on Friday August 18th to spend a few pre-cruise days in Copenhagen with my wife’s parents. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate and we got stranded in Charlotte overnight. There were no more flights out that night (my wife and I both checked online, we had our travel insurance company check, and we had Regent Air’s emergency office working it as well. With the weather delays there were no hotels available nearby so we ended up passing the night in the rocking chairs in the main atrium. Not a fun start to the vacation but hey, we’re still going on a cruise, right?

 

After our three cancelled flights on Friday we finally managed to get out of CLT the next day and figured we’d only miss a few hours in CPH and could still join the in-laws for the tours we had booked that day. It was just a bit frustrating that after being on the road for 22 hours we were no further along than Atlanta…a 2.5 hour drive from our home. Anyhow, to make a long story short (too late for that, I know) our initial CLT-EWR-CPH journey turned into a CLT-ATL-YYZ-CPH odyssey. At least that was the routing for us and 3 of our 4 bags. One of my bags managed to go from CLT-RDU-BOS-LHR, and then sat there for days. So our first hours in CPH consisted of filling out lost (and damaged) bag reports. But at least the overwater portion on Air Canada was nice. Throughout all of this, I have to say that Regent’s Emergency Air Office was fantastic, offering us alternative flight options and keeping everyone in the loop. The odd routing over was a result of us wanting to get over and meet up with the in-laws as soon as possible and that just happened to be the quickest path over.

 

Anyhow…get to CPH and of course our room isn’t ready yet (but at least they knew we were arriving late and hadn’t cancelled our reservation) so we checked our bags and took a taxi over to the Torvenhallerne to join up with the family. Afterwards we got to do a little shopping, courtesy of my missing suitcase. Fortunately the Tivoli Hotel was conveniently located near the Fisketorvet shopping mall so that was a plus.

 

So enough of the pre-cruise festivities – let’s talk about the cruise itself.

 

Boarding Explorer is always a rush for me. To my eye, it’s the most beautiful ship in the Regent fleet. I feel like the transfer and boarding was a bit rushed and just a little crowded. Nothing ‘bad’ really, just seemed a tad less luxury than it could have been. And of course, once we got our key cards we still had to wait a while for the cabins to be ready. No worries – a couple of cocktails and a light snack always fill that time for us. Once we got the all-clear, we went to our cabin and started unpacking (which I have to admit was much easier for me this cruise, what with only having the one suitcase and all). We were in 612 and the in-laws were in 611 (although they’re right above some lifeboat davits, could be noisy in tender ports if they use those particular boats). Great locations on these cabins, just aft of the forward elevators and an easy walk down to Reception, Destination Services, etc. We had no issues with whistling doors at all, although my in-laws somehow managed to break the pivoting door in the bathroom with the trash can on it as well as dislodge their sliding shower door (twice). Both issues were fixed promptly and I don’t know if I should put it down to a problem with Explorer or user error.

 

We didn’t have enough interest in an M&G to have an ‘official’ one so we set up an unofficial cocktail hour in the Observation Lounge on our first sea day. It was great to meet some of the folks in person, but unfortunately this cruise was so port intensive it was difficult to spend a lot of time with anyone. Still, it was nice to be able to say ‘Hi’ to familiar folks on board and in the port areas!

 

Dining. Subjective, I know, but I thought the service in Compass Rose was impeccable. I love the new menu and honestly, if you can’t find something you enjoy on board, I don’t think it’s the ship’s fault. Between the four of us, we couldn’t agree on a favorite specialty restaurant. We liked them all, but we all had our favorites. The only places I saw any issues with service were the Pool Bar/Grill (a continuing sore spot, I’m afraid) and to a lesser extent in La Veranda. Even when it wasn’t busy, water would go unfilled, orders would get jumbled, etc. Not often, mind you – but enough to be noticeable.

 

Excursions. Hit and miss. Mostly hits. Most were good, but frankly, sometimes it’s difficult to tell the included excursions from the Regent Choice excursions. Some we were on were great and we said ‘Wow, this is worth every penny’, only to find out it was an included tour, while others were ‘Meh, this is okay’ and then saw that we’d paid extra for it. I’d still rather see Regent limit both the number of passengers on each bus and the number of buses they send to any one location. I know that’s not really feasible with ‘included’ excursions, but sometimes it just cheapens the experience a bit.

 

Disembarkation. Was a little bit of a mess due to a late arrival (medical evac the night before) and rainy weather on arrival. But the luggage porters were very professional and helped most everyone with their luggage with a smile. The end of a cruise is always a bit of a sad time and it can be made worse if disembarkation is a cluster, but this one went as smoothly as could be expected.

 

On a side note, we hit Gold this trip and upon check-in we got smiles, congratulations, and our shiny gold key cards…but our parents should have hit Silver on this cruise but they were issued Bronze cards. When I asked about this, we were told that they only showed one previous cruise when we knew they should have had two priors. We were told the only person who could help us was the Cruise Consultant who, frankly, seemed a bit unapproachable and not overly eager to help. It took an excessive amount of time and some outside assistance from our TA to get this straightened out. I know it seems like a minor issue, but we wanted to make sure they had their one hour of phone time so they could stay in touch with other family members. It left enough of a bad taste in our mouths that we didn’t book a future cruise while onboard, which I think is a first for us. First world problems, I know.

 

The general feeling is that this was one of our best cruises ever, which is saying a lot considering how we got off to a bit of a rocky start with the missing luggage and cancelled flights. Not sure when our next one will be, but hopefully it will be soon.

 

Greetings from South Beach, UUNetBill, where we anxiously await Irma. Great read! You capture the essence of cruising, lost luggage and all. Your experience with the Cruise Consultant matches my own. I had booked almost the same cruise we are on December 8th originally for March 2018. My husband liked Explorer so much, he wanted it changed for this earlier one. I called that woman, and she snappishly said to come back with the documents as soon as possible so she could issue new ones. Well, I did just that. I waited at the door until she noticed me. In a very surely voice she asked if I didn't see that she had someone sitting there. I reminded her that SHE asked me to return those papers. I dropped them on her desk and walked out. We did get the updated booking the next morning.

Mary

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I agree with the comments about La Veranda. Breakfast is the usual fare - not my favorite meal of the day, so I can give it a pass. Lunch entrees remind me of creative ways to dress up leftovers. I stick to salad and smoked fish or shrimp as a little nod to cutting calories. I do like most of the deck BBQ's however but I don't like eating on the deck so much. It's fortunate that we can usually go to CR or order room service and eat privately on the balcony.

 

We have been taking the food from the pool BBQ and taking it into LV. Room service is also a good alternative. Unfortunately, the "special" meals on the pool deck have been anything but special. My breakfast now consists of two pieces of toast and fruit. I'm going to try Capt. Teo's diet (really isn't a diet but is just how he eats) -- two apples for breakfast every day. I plan to do that for as long as possible when I get home I preparation for our November cruise. My expectations for the food on that cruise is high.

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I too take food from the pool deck buffet and eat inside in LaVeranda at lunch.

 

As far as lost luggage, LHR to Copenhagen is notorious for this. Has happened to us twice. I have had to go in the huge (as a football field) lost luggage warehouse in Copenhagen.

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Agreed, excellent report! Our Baltic cruise on the Viking Star was in Copenhagen that very day, and the Explorer was docked right beside us. It was clearly embarkation day, and looked beautiful. Did it stop in Gdansk? We were supposed to two days before on 8/19 but the ocean conditions thought otherwise.

We only ate in La Veranda one evening on our november Explorer cruise, but reading your thoughts reminded me that it was the one specialty restaurant we weren't wild about. No one told us what to expect, or exactly what the process was, and our table just didn't seem to get a whole lot of attention. Still a nice meal, but not as good as Compass Rose.

 

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BP - no, this one didn't go to Gdansk. Our last Baltic cruise did and although we liked the old town area, the available excursions left a lot to be desired. We stopped in Lithuania this time, which seemed similar to Poland to us.

 

As an aside, La Veranda isn't technically considered a specialty restaurant. The venue (both La Veranda and Setti Mare) seem to garner mixed reactions.

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Bill, Welcome back to the Boards. You have been missed - worried that the Russian vodka or Scandinavian aquavit had got to you.

 

Very sorry to hear about the extremely bad start to your vacation, but glad you had a good time in the end :cool:

Thanks, Flossie. No worries here - the Russian vodka that can get to me hasn't been distilled yet. ;p

 

I really had planned on posting while onboard, but between the grumpiness caused by missing bags, port-intensiveness, and generally poor internet I decided to run silent and just post upon my return.

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Bill, how were the included excursions in St. Petersburg? Did they cover all the sights? We booked a two day "grand tour" independent excursion that was spectacular, at a relatively inexpensive price.

 

 

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BP - we found the included tours to be very good to excellent in StP. We did private tours on day 1, then did the Imperial Evening with the Tsars the first evening. Day 2 was the marathon Moscow trip on the Sapsan, and Day 3 was the Faberge museum in the AM and a StP subway/shopping trip in the PM. Busy, busy, busy.

 

There's something to be said for going private, as you really do get to see more in a shorter amount of time...but the included tours aren't too shabby. We loved the Evening with the Tsars (although the vodka didn't flow as freely this time as it did in '10). And Moscow was a real eye-opener. Finally, the StP shopping trip was much more relaxed than our last trip there...they even let us wander off on our own for a few hours, something that wasn't allowed last time. The entire country seemed much more relaxed than it did 7 years ago.

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Thanks for the great trip report....you really managed to stay positive despite the lost luggage!!! As we will be on an Explorer Baltic Cruise next summer, can be more more specific about which excursions you enjoyed and which you didn't? Any insight would be much appreciated!

Moreau, I included more detail on ports and excursions in my Explorer review which hasn't been reviewed and approved yet. Should be available in a few days.

 

If you have any questions about specific excursions feel free to ask, and I'll try and answer.

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Bill, to say that you have been missed on the Regent board is an understatement!:loudcry:

 

Can definitely emphasize with your lost luggage. Kudos to you for how well you handled both the luggage and airline situations.

 

I found your comment about excursions most interesting. The Baltics is one area where I feel that the included excursions are quite good. We did a Regent Choice excursion in the Hermitage that was not as good as included ones. While this is not always the case, it certainly can be in that part of the world.

 

I'm curious as to your experience in La Veranda at lunch (if you dined there at all). We are on the Mariner and are finding the food quality, temperature, offerings and taste to be underwhelming. Also, were the side dishes in CR served hot? I'm trying to determine if the issue on the Mariner is F&B Director driven or if the issue is across the fleet. We know the F&B Director on our next Mariner cruise and know that he would have addressed these issues (as would Daniela on Explorer but she is still on vacation).

 

Cannot tell you how much we miss Explorer. Mariner really needs refurbishment (in the suites - the rest of the ship is still quite nice). We are not booked on Explorer until 2019 however, if we are dissatisfied with the Voyager in March, we will switch all future cruises to Explorer.

 

Anxious to read any further comments that you have...... and, welcome home!

Jackie, thanks. Good to be back. Sort of. ;p

 

Regarding my comments on excursions, don't misunderstand me - we liked most of them. Mits just that they seem to be getting crowded, and the lines between the included and Regent Choice excursions seems to be blurring. There is definitely no shortage of things to see and do over there.

 

We didn't do lunch on LV, though - in fact, we were off of the ship almost every day - I think I ate at the pool grill once and grabbed something at the Cafe one time, otherwise we ate ashore most days.

 

I also didn't notice any issues with the temperature of the sides. For us, CR was humming like an S-Class on the Autobahn - food, service, ambiance were all great. Well, except for the one time I had to ask twice for a shot of Baileys for my after-dinner coffee...and when it finally arrived, my mother-in-law promptly grabbed it and slammed it down. Must have had something to do with the abundance of chilled vodka shots going around upon our return from the day's fun...

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Greetings from South Beach, UUNetBill, where we anxiously await Irma. Great read! You capture the essence of cruising, lost luggage and all. Your experience with the Cruise Consultant matches my own. I had booked almost the same cruise we are on December 8th originally for March 2018. My husband liked Explorer so much, he wanted it changed for this earlier one. I called that woman, and she snappishly said to come back with the documents as soon as possible so she could issue new ones. Well, I did just that. I waited at the door until she noticed me. In a very surely voice she asked if I didn't see that she had someone sitting there. I reminded her that SHE asked me to return those papers. I dropped them on her desk and walked out. We did get the updated booking the next morning.

Mary

Mary, our Cruise Consultant was a he, not a she, but it was a similar thing...Reception told my in-laws to go see him at 4:00 and we showed up right about 3:58...and we're told that "you need to have an appointment to talk to me, and I already have a 4:00 scheduled. Come back tomorrow." He eventually issued a "provisional" silver card to the in-laws but let them know they still needed to validate their cruises before it was 'official'. And he was smug about it, too.

 

I finally contacted my TA who got things straightened out with Miami...and the next day, the cruise consultant had the cojones to tell my in-laws that HE got their cruise status fixed. :mad:

 

Just left a bad taste.

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BP - we found the included tours to be very good to excellent in StP. We did private tours on day 1, then did the Imperial Evening with the Tsars the first evening. Day 2 was the marathon Moscow trip on the Sapsan, and Day 3 was the Faberge museum in the AM and a StP subway/shopping trip in the PM. Busy, busy, busy.

 

 

 

There's something to be said for going private, as you really do get to see more in a shorter amount of time...but the included tours aren't too shabby. We loved the Evening with the Tsars (although the vodka didn't flow as freely this time as it did in '10). And Moscow was a real eye-opener. Finally, the StP shopping trip was much more relaxed than our last trip there...they even let us wander off on our own for a few hours, something that wasn't allowed last time. The entire country seemed much more relaxed than it did 7 years ago.

 

 

 

Sounds great. You clearly took full advantage of all there was to see and do. Congrats!

 

 

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