Live from Mariner Rome to Monte Carlo, June 15-22, 2014

[RachelG]

We are off again, after way too long away from regent. It has been almost 2 years!

Currently in the admiral's club in Chicago, getting ready for our flight to LHR. We will overnight there, then on to FCO the morning of the 15th. I don't like arriving the day of embarkation, but these are ff tickets, so you take what you can get.

On the plus side, we are going to the imperial war rooms and the Houses of Parliament tomorrow, which George will love. Since you can only visit parliament when it is NOT in session unless you are a UK citizen, we lucked out by being in London on a Saturday.

I will try to post every day and will be happy to answer any questions, etc along the way.

[Travelcat2]

So happy to hear that you are onboard and really look forward to your reports. First question....... where was Park West's area on the Mariner? Was it on the way to the Horizon Lounge? Think I've been off of the Mariner for too long (which will be remedied in October).

 

Smooth sailing!

[englandsrose]

The Houses of Parliament are amazing - enjoy!

 

 

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[nana541]

Thank you Rachel for taking the time to take us along...

Safe journey!

 

 

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[Travelcat2]

Thank you Rachel for taking the time to take us along...

Safe journey!

 

 

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You are a sweetheart -- hope to meet you on a cruise some day:)

[nana541]

You are a sweetheart -- hope to meet you on a cruise some day:)

 

 

DH and and I would love to buy you and yours a drink or 3 and have a good visit! :)

 

 

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[jhp]

We are off again, after way too long away from regent. It has been almost 2 years!

Currently in the admiral's club in Chicago, getting ready for our flight to LHR. We will overnight there, then on to FCO the morning of the 15th. I don't like arriving the day of embarkation, but these are ff tickets, so you take what you can get.

On the plus side, we are going to the imperial war rooms and the Houses of Parliament tomorrow, which George will love. Since you can only visit parliament when it is NOT in session unless you are a UK citizen, we lucked out by being in London on a Saturday.

I will try to post every day and will be happy to answer any questions, etc along the way.

 

Rachel, best sailing wishes to you and George, I always enjoy your onboard postings! Good weather and fair seas and all that

"other stuff" to both of you.

Edited June 14, 2014 by jhp

[rarin2go]

Look forward to seeing you onboard - hope you have a great cruise! :)

[WesW]

Hi Rachel & George, also echo Olivia's Fair wind's and Following seas--have a terrific voyage--look forward to reading about it.

[Mr Rumor]

Me, three, Rachel!

 

Rich

[RJ2002]

Thank you for taking the time to post your experiences. I have not sailed on Regent yet, and these threads (when successful :o ) are very informative.

 

Hope your thread proceeds without incident.

 

Best wishes for a wonderful cruise!

[RachelG]

Thanks for all the well wishes. Our flight was Uneventful and right on time. And they had our room ready at the hilton in terminal 4 even at 8 am. So we had a nice breakfast in the lounge, a little rest, then set off for the war rooms and Parliament. They did not disappoint!

For anyone going to the war rooms, tickets can be purchased ahead online, and I had done this. When we got there, there was a huge long line snaking out the entrance. But we were able to avoid it and go right in with our tickets, so I definitely recommend the online purchase. They are not timed, just for a specific date, so you don't have to worry about showing up right on schedule.

 

For parliament, you must purchase advance tickets, and they are timed. So plan accordingly.

 

On our way back, we ran into the nudist bike ride. Let's just say there is a definite reason people should wear clothing, and it is not to stay warm. My eyes are still burning.

[Ron&Sue]

On our way back, we ran into the nudist bike ride. Let's just say there is a definite reason people should wear clothing, and it is not to stay warm. My eyes are still burning.

 

Yikes, coming from a doctor, that had to be bad!

[RachelG]

Yeah, pretty bad!

[Travelcat2]

What..... no pictures? :D

[flossie009]

Rachel,

Best wishes for your cruise.

We are leaving Mariner tomorrow in Rome after an excellent week. The ship and her crew are in good shape for your voyage........enjoy.

[rarin2go]

Rachel,

Best wishes for your cruise.

We are leaving Mariner tomorrow in Rome after an excellent week. The ship and her crew are in good shape for your voyage........enjoy.

 

Second that! :)

[RachelG]

June 15, 2014--civitavecchia--embarkation

 

After a scary episode of almost missing our flight in LHR, we are onboard. Our flight was at 7am out of terminal 5, and I just figured we could easily take the heathrow express between terminal 4 where our hotel was to terminal 5. I have done this plenty of times before with no problem. But apparently not this early or on a Sunday, because heathrow express doesn't start running till 6 am on Sundays.

 

At any rate, we made it to FCO where Monica, our driver from romecabs was waiting right there with a sign to pick us up. Highly recommend their service. We were at the port and onboard less than 45 minutes later. It is raining on and off today, so no traffic. Temperature is cool, maybe in the mid 60s.

 

We walked right on and were checked in in the theater with no wait at all. The theater does look beautiful, with new carpeting and upholstery in a navy and grey color scheme.

 

Upstairs for lunch in La veranda, then the sun came out for about an hour at just the right time so we could relax on the pool deck till our suite was ready at 2:30.

 

Love, love being back on regent with ample closet and storage space, a bathroom I can move around in and where I can put all my stuff without crowding, a curtain between the sitting area and sleeping area so I can read while George takes a nap. There are very nice new chairs on the balcony which I have not tried out yet due to the rain, but they look great. Woven rattan sort of material with thick cushions. The furniture in the suite has not changed, but ours is in great condition.

 

We were able to forgo going out on deck to the lifeboats due to the rain and some fairly spectacular lightening, so we just were instructed in our muster stations. Everyone was required to attend, even those who are doing back to backs.

 

We had dinner in signatures, our traditional first night meal. Food was good to outstanding. George's veal was a bit overcooked. He ordered medium, and it was definitely more toward medium well. But had a nice flavor. I had a dish new to me, an open faced lobster and mushroom ravioli which was delish. Service was excellent. The cheese trolley was a proper one, brought around so I could pick what I preferred.

 

The only downside was that a large family group came in shortly after us, including 3 kids, the youngest probably about 4 and bouncing all over the place. Since there is no seating in Signatures for such a large group, they were at 3 separate tables and proceeded to talk very loudly between tables. Very disruptive to he atmosphere of Signatures which is normally a serene place, not a playground. We and the couple beside us had to move because it was just too loud to enjoy a meal or even talk at a normal volume. I am not anti-kid at all. There was another family with kids, and they weren't making excess noise. But if you can't behave appropriately to the atmosphere of the restaurant, you shouldn't go there.

 

Two additional things: the departure of Park West must have been very abrupt as there is a long empty wall between Horizons and the coffee connection where they used to have their stuff. Lovely new furniture, but absolutely no artwork.

 

And finally, the Internet so far is awful, the worst wifi connection I have ever had on this ship, and I have been on many previous times. No connection at all in our suite. I am sitting in coffee connection to post this and get work done, but hopefully it will improve. I thought they said they were going to fix it to be better.

[tallship]

Rachel-

Thx for your input. Something must have happened to the internet as it seemed to be ok for us in April. I had an aft cabin on Mariner last year and was fortunate to move as we had no reception in our cabin.

 

Look fwd to more reports.

[Travelcat2]

Great report Rachel. Thanks for mentioning romecabs -- we are looking for transportation to the Mariner in early October!

 

I am trying to envision an open face lobster and mushroom ravioli but can't do it. Is there a piece of pasta on the bottom with the lobster and mushroom on top? It sounds yummy -- hope it will be on the Voyager as well.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience in Signatures. Agree wholeheartedly with your feelings.

 

When you have a second, please let us know who the G.M. and C.D. are. I'm always curious about that -- especially now that they appear to be short one C.D.

 

Looking forward to more reports!

[rarin2go]

June 15, 2014--civitavecchia--embarkation

.....

 

The only downside was that a large family group came in shortly after us, including 3 kids, the youngest probably about 4 and bouncing all over the place. Since there is no seating in Signatures for such a large group, they were at 3 separate tables and proceeded to talk very loudly between tables. Very disruptive to he atmosphere of Signatures which is normally a serene place, not a playground. We and the couple beside us had to move because it was just too loud to enjoy a meal or even talk at a normal volume. I am not anti-kid at all. There was another family with kids, and they weren't making excess noise. But if you can't behave appropriately to the atmosphere of the restaurant, you shouldn't go there.

 

.....

And finally, the Internet so far is awful, the worst wifi connection I have ever had on this ship, and I have been on many previous times. No connection at all in our suite. I am sitting in coffee connection to post this and get work done, but hopefully it will improve. I thought they said they were going to fix it to be better.

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Unfortunately there does seem to be a lot of rather loud family groups come aboard - we dined in P7 to the accompaniment of strident teens, having previously witnessed family altercations regarding the dress code in the Mariner Lounge :(

 

Strangely our internet connection has been very good by comparison to previously - we're midships on 8 - perhaps you've got a 'dead spot'?

 

See you around ;)

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[RachelG]

June 16, 2014--Sorrento Italy---not!

 

 

Captain is Felice patroon, GM is Michael Coghlan, and CD is Margaret Lynn. We have sailed with all of them before.

 

Travelcat, the open faced lobster ravioli was served in a shallow bowl, like a soup bowl. There were a couple of layers of thin flat pasta as would be used to make ravioli with medallions of lobster and 1 small claw in a sauce that reminds me of the mushroom soup but chunkier with pieces of mushroom layered between. Really yum. And beautifully presented as were all the dishes.

 

The captain had warned us yesterday that there was a front moving in, and that it might be a little rough during the night. He was wrong. It was smooth as silk. But as we were sitting on the back deck of La Veranda eating a leisurely breakfast, anchored with Sorrento in view, it started getting really windy, whipping up a pretty good swell. And I started to have a sinking feeling. There were dark clouds coming over the mountains.

 

Sure enough, a few minutes later, the captain came over the intercom to announce that the port was cancelled and this would be a sea day. George and I are really disappointed because we had plans for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, which happens to be in Sorrento.

 

So today is an unplanned sea day. I did an hour up top on the jogging track. Windy but perfect temp to stay comfortable, at about 70F.

 

Internet is still giving me fits. I can download emails on my iPhone, but the iPad, which I have used in the past with no problems, takes forever to connect, if it will connect at all. Usually it just times out.

 

Rarin2go, make yourself known to us if you see us around the ship. My husband is the guy wearing a cowboy hat and boots.

Edited June 16, 2014 by RachelG

[rarin2go]

Hi Rachel

I was rather surprised we actually dropped anchor off Sorrento - when I checked the local weather forecast last night it was pretty bad. But we always enjoy seadays on the Mariner anyway! I'm always impressed by how smoothly she sails - seems much better than Voyager IMO.

Sorry you're having wifi issues, it really is the best I've known at sea.

Will certainly look out for you - shouldn't be too hard to spot - unless you're unaccompanied! Afraid we don't have any real distinguishing features - I don't think I have grown to resemble my avatar on CC ;)

[sarawithanh]

Rachel - glad to see you made it onto your ship!!! yay!!!

 

Rachel & Rarintogo - please keep us abrest of internet situation. I really really need it next week on my cruise with Gramps - I have some school work to do and a quiz to take! :(