Explorer Live! Lisbon to Venice, April 8-30 (with the prequel)

[flossie009]

12 hours ago, kjbacon said:

The specialty restaurants are packed and very difficult to get into while Compass Rose is easily accessible. Could be that larger or more speciality restaurants would have been a good thing.

Are you meaning that you have had difficulty securing additional Dinner reservations in the speciality restaurants?

Explorer has more and larger speciality restaurants than Regent's other ships, so I am surprised at your difficulties on a 22 night cruise.

[Travelcat2]

Your cruise is a bit unusual.  During some of our Explorer cruises, CR was so busy that they asked passengers waiting in line if they would like to go to a specialty restaurant.  

[Silver Sweethearts]

1 hour ago, flossie009 said:

Are you meaning that you have had difficulty securing additional Dinner reservations in the speciality restaurants?

Explorer has more and larger speciality restaurants than Regent's other ships, so I am surprised at your difficulties on a 22 night cruise.

 

The 22 nights are shown in the Regent catalog as being two cruises - 10 nights Lisbon to Barcelona and then 12 nights Barcelona to Venice.  Even though they are B2B it seems they are treated as two separate cruises - which makes it harder to book reservations for each one.  

[poss]

We had the same experience that kjbacon had in Morocco.   Don't know the whole country, but spent three days in Casablanca and about four days in Marakkesh.    Don't remember liking anything much at all, mainly a big turn-off for us, though we did like some of the cuisine.    I also agree about the Beef Wellington.   It's a dish we like a lot, but have never been impressed with Regent's preparation.    Do in general really like Regent food though.

 

But that lobster detail!   Did they really say Maine (cold water) lobster and serve spiny lobster instead?   Now that surprises me a lot  — it simply shouldn't happen.   (Back to Chartreuse for a nice floating island....)
 

[Travelcat2]

We have spent two weeks in Morocco (two different land trips) and loved it.  Either things there have changed (for the negative) or people's expectations are not realistic.  Morocco is a third world country, and as such, requires research before visiting.  When Regent passengers go to parts of Africa or South America (and likely other countries), they will see the same thing.

 

If passengers expect to see what they see in their home countries, they will surely be disappointed.

[kjbacon]

5 hours ago, poss said:

We had the same experience that kjbacon had in Morocco.   Don't know the whole country, but spent three days in Casablanca and about four days in Marakkesh.    Don't remember liking anything much at all, mainly a big turn-off for us, though we did like some of the cuisine.    I also agree about the Beef Wellington.   It's a dish we like a lot, but have never been impressed with Regent's preparation.    Do in general really like Regent food though.

 

But that lobster detail!   Did they really say Maine (cold water) lobster and serve spiny lobster instead?   Now that surprises me a lot  — it simply shouldn't happen.   (Back to Chartreuse for a nice floating island....)
 

Many passengers were very disappointed in the Moroccan ports and found little to like. A couple people we spoke with did have a good tour guide and their experience, while still negative, was far less negative than most of us who had such dreadful guides.

 

Yes, we have enjoyed most of the food a lot too! The lobster tail info on line and on the preorder sheet is described as Maine but when you get to Compass Rose, the menu says Florida. Maine lobster is my favorite so I think I should ask about it.

[kjbacon]

9 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Are you meaning that you have had difficulty securing additional Dinner reservations in the speciality restaurants?

Explorer has more and larger speciality restaurants than Regent's other ships, so I am surprised at your difficulties on a 22 night cruise.

Yes. The specialty restaurants seem very popular and they are packed! Very hard to secure a second reservation or to adjust the time on an existing one. As another poster said, it is treated as 2 cruises (a 10 and a 12 day). Compass Rose is usually about half full. Today is the start of the second leg and the specialty restaurants are already heavily booked.

[frankdp]

23 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

I love Morocco and have been there many times - port cities as well as the interior and generally on my or our own and driving.  To me the toilets are no worse than those in Greece (and I actually prefer what we call a "Turkish toilet" here because your "nether regions" do not have to touch a seat! - But I also know that for Americans they take a bit of getting used to..)  And frankly speaking I dread, absolutely dread, using public (or airport) toilets in the USA which are uniformaly disgusting...

 

I have not encountered people with the sort of "attitude" that your tour guide certainly had.   He has no business being in the tourism industry and I hope you reported him.   When we were in Rabat a couple of years ago we had a great guide who could not have done more for our group...   In general I have found Moroccans to be very kind and hospitable.  And would love to go back there next winter for a golf holiday in Marrakesh which is a city I particularly like.

You must hang out in some rough places when in the US.   Most public restrooms in decent establishments are very clean.   Airport restrooms are close to immaculate.

Edited April 18, 2019 by frankdp

[Hambagahle]

12 minutes ago, frankdp said:

You must hang out in some rough places when in the US.   Most public restrooms in decent establishments are very clean.   Airport restrooms are close to immaculate.

No they are not - not by Swiss standards anyway.  Filthy in fact.  paper all over the floor.  Very often toilets unflushed or stained.   I fly Business class and I grant it that normally in the Club lounges the toilets are OK.  But lord help you if you get off a plane and have to use one...also in a lot of restaurants (and nice ones at that because I don't go to fast food or cheap places) the toilets are really sub-par.   I dread using any public toilet in the US...

[forgap]

I agree.  After living in the Far East, traveling all over the world, and working in public education, I have developed the enviable ability to “hold it”.  Whether it’s healthy or not remains to be seen.  I might just be chronically dehydrated, too. Regardless, I detest public restrooms and I have been known to just walk away when conditions are just not right.  

[malily]

3 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

No they are not - not by Swiss standards anyway.  Filthy in fact.  paper all over the floor.  Very often toilets unflushed or stained.   I fly Business class and I grant it that normally in the Club lounges the toilets are OK.  But lord help you if you get off a plane and have to use one...also in a lot of restaurants (and nice ones at that because I don't go to fast food or cheap places) the toilets are really sub-par.   I dread using any public toilet in the US...

 

3 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

No they are not - not by Swiss standards anyway.  Filthy in fact.  paper all over the floor.  Very often toilets unflushed or stained.   I fly Business class and I grant it that normally in the Club lounges the toilets are OK.  But lord help you if you get off a plane and have to use one...also in a lot of restaurants (and nice ones at that because I don't go to fast food or cheap places) the toilets are really sub-par.   I dread using any public toilet in the US...

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

On 4/17/2019 at 7:10 AM, morneau said:

Thanks kjbacon for your detailed description of the Moroccan ports - they sound positively awful.  My assumption is that a Regent did their best to offer interesting and safe excursions but they were hindered by the actual infrastructure there.  I will gladly remove these two spots from our bucket list.  Thanks for posting!

 

I'm not sure that's a fair assessment.  I admit I haven't done either Casablanca or Agadir, but when we had a stop in Tangiers about five years ago we had a delightful private tour, for just six or eight of us.  This was Oceania, so we didn't have to deal with a large group like Regent.  These experiences in Morocco probably do underline some serious issues with the destination, but also underline the issue with included excursions--you're unlikely to go private when you have already paid for group tours in your fare.

[Travelcat2]

Actually, the three weeks (two different trips) that we spent in Morocco was in Agadir and Marrakesh.  When Regent stopped in Tangiers, we were very unimpressed and would likely not visit there again.

 

In terms of included excursions (which I have loudly been against since it was first implemented), we do not consider the "free" excursions when we book a cruise since we usually cancel them.  Instead, we like Regent Choice excursions and occasionally private excursions.  We do not care that we have paid for them in our cruise fare - if they are crap (can I say that?) there is no reason to waste our time on a bus going to the same place as multiple other buses.

 

When Regent rolled out "free" excursions, we almost left Regent permanently (as did several other customers - some have returned to Regent and others have not).  After a lot of research and soul searching, we decided that the crew, food and service on Regent was worth the extra money that we are paying for something that we do not use.  

 

I still tout Regent Choice excursions - especially those that include the Culinary Center chef (only on Explorer) that goes with a small group to local restaurants, markets, etc.  

 

In my opinion, "free" excursion is a draw for many people that are new to luxury travel which is a good thing for Regent.  However, I have seen how people get pretty tired of these excursions and wish that they were not paying for them in their cruise fare.

[Hambagahle]

5 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

Actually, the three weeks (two different trips) that we spent in Morocco was in Agadir and Marrakesh.  When Regent stopped in Tangiers, we were very unimpressed and would likely not visit there again.

 

In terms of included excursions (which I have loudly been against since it was first implemented), we do not consider the "free" excursions when we book a cruise since we usually cancel them.  Instead, we like Regent Choice excursions and occasionally private excursions.  We do not care that we have paid for them in our cruise fare - if they are crap (can I say that?) there is no reason to waste our time on a bus going to the same place as multiple other buses.

 

When Regent rolled out "free" excursions, we almost left Regent permanently (as did several other customers - some have returned to Regent and others have not).  After a lot of research and soul searching, we decided that the crew, food and service on Regent was worth the extra money that we are paying for something that we do not use.  

 

I still tout Regent Choice excursions - especially those that include the Culinary Center chef (only on Explorer) that goes with a small group to local restaurants, markets, etc.  

 

In my opinion, "free" excursion is a draw for many people that are new to luxury travel which is a good thing for Regent.  However, I have seen how people get pretty tired of these excursions and wish that they were not paying for them in their cruise fare.

Which pretty much summarises why we like Oceania!  We did in fact have an excursion to Rabat with  Oceania that was excellent.  I suppose we were about 20 people.  Good guide and the only "issue" we had was the refusal of some participants to tip the fellow who maintained the toilets !  (Funny, things seem to come back to toilets) I had to explain that in some countries (France, Italy) it is customary to do this in public toilets!  And I had to apologise for my fellow passengers to the fellow. 

 

We are still looking forward to our next Regent cruise but already, reading the summaries of excursions in many ports I know we will be staying on board.  That doesn't bother me...

[kjbacon]

Another big nod to Regent ... last night we were informed that we could not make our scheduled stop for today but were amazed that we were making an alternate stop! We have missed several ports over the years but have always just missed a port, never have we received an alternate port. The destination team scrambled and put together a lovely day for us! 

 

Winds are crazy high ... calls for extra wine to help sway along!

 

No, not scheduled for the Spendor. Instead, we are choosing between 2 on Explorer and 1 on Voyager.

[Tucruisers]

Our experiences of excursions in Morocco on this cruise were a bit better than those of kjbacon and our guides and bus drivers in both Agadir and Casablanca were fine, even though the microphones in both had feedback which made listening to the commentary painful. We have travelled quite a bit in poorer countries but there was something which made Casablanca in particular seem unsettling and chaotic. The traffic in Casablanca was also terrible which made the tours late getting back.

Having said that, I would not have missed them for the world. Cruising with Regent is maybe the easiest and softist form of travel but it is still good and important at least to me to see something of how other people live and at least a bit of what life is like in other parts of the world. 

By contrast the (included) excursion we took in the next port, Cadiz was one of the best we have taken anywhere on any cruise. We went to Jerez in a small group of 11 (I think there were some dropouts after Casablanca!) and after a walk round the town visited the Gonzalez Byass bodega. The tour was great in a lovely setting with copious free sherry tastings and no pressure to buy. Cadiz in Holy Week was packed but it was still a real pleasure to walk around the old town in the afternoon.

I should also say that the included excursions in La Palma and Tenerife were also very good and the destinations services staff obliging and professional.

[kjbacon]

There is a new menu in Chartreuse that we look forward to trying tonight. It’s not completely new as there are many items from the last menu. Some of the new items are a provencale fish stew and a duck breast with turnips and cherries.

[kjbacon]

We are rerouted again! We find ourselves so very impressed by Captain Serena and the destination services team. That team always works so hard and is so cheerful, now they are scrambling double duty with a smile. Again, instead of simply missing a port, which has happened to us on probably every other line, we are being substituted. Instead of Monte Carlo, we will be going to Toulon, France. They report that the bad weather will be staying with us so we will just have to wait and see where we are going next!

 

A couple updates ... not sure about the Chartreuse menu, hearing different inputs so I just don’t know.

 

The Maine lobster tails are back, yay  🙂 the Miami to Lisbon voyage and the Lisbon to Barcelona voyage had the Florida spiny lobster. I will have to make up for lost lobster time on leg one!

[RachelG]

One thing that I like about Regent is that they try to substitute a port if one is missed.  Not saying it always happens, but often does.  They seem foamier an effort rather than just have another day at sea, which is not the case on many other lines.

[ronrick1943]

On 4/18/2019 at 5:50 PM, Travelcat2 said:

Actually, the three weeks (two different trips) that we spent in Morocco was in Agadir and Marrakesh.  When Regent stopped in Tangiers, we were very unimpressed and would likely not visit there again.

 

In terms of included excursions (which I have loudly been against since it was first implemented), we do not consider the "free" excursions when we book a cruise since we usually cancel them.  Instead, we like Regent Choice excursions and occasionally private excursions.  We do not care that we have paid for them in our cruise fare - if they are crap (can I say that?) there is no reason to waste our time on a bus going to the same place as multiple other buses.

 

When Regent rolled out "free" excursions, we almost left Regent permanently (as did several other customers - some have returned to Regent and others have not).  After a lot of research and soul searching, we decided that the crew, food and service on Regent was worth the extra money that we are paying for something that we do not use.  

 

I still tout Regent Choice excursions - especially those that include the Culinary Center chef (only on Explorer) that goes with a small group to local restaurants, markets, etc.  

 

In my opinion, "free" excursion is a draw for many people that are new to luxury travel which is a good thing for Regent.  However, I have seen how people get pretty tired of these excursions and wish that they were not paying for them in their cruise fare.

I agree 100%, like Regent and what they have to offer, but wish they didn't offer "free" included excursions.  I'd rather pay extra for what I want.

[kjbacon]

The Destination Services team has been outstanding during this voyage. It is also nice that there is a wide variety of choices including complimentary excursions and charged excursions. Another feature is that some excursions also offer a small group option for just a few $$ more that we find well worth it.

[twinmom22197]

Agreed that the Destinations Services Team has been amazing!!! I will admit I was bummed about Monaco. We had purchased tickets to the Men’s Doubles and Singles Tennis finals for today. We knew we were taking a chance by buying them, but was happy to see that they came up with an alternate port with excursions on such short notice. Along with it being Easter I honestly don’t know how they did it!

We had Prime 7 for dinner the other night and lunch today. Both were outstanding. 

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

The discussion regarding included excursions continues!

So it’s the same as included liquor. 

I do not drink.. Herb drinks his bourbon on the rocks ( one at dinner). 

We have traveled extensively around the world. 

We take some of the included tours to the enjoy nice memories.

We sail on Regent because we enjoy the entire package and don’t complain about the cost. 

Just enjoy!

Sheila

Edited April 21, 2019 by Bellaggio Cruisers

[Hambagahle]

Some years ago on a TA on the Navigator there were high winds (and seas) when we were supposed to anchor off San Tropez.  We didn't!  Instead the captain announced that we would push on to Villefranche where the mooring was sheltered.  So we did.   Villefranche is a lovely port and we enjoyed our time there.  In those days no excursions were included so none were organised but the tenders kept running till after midnight and we were only 20mns by train or so from Monte Carlo.  Some people went off to gamble!  (We didn't!)  Regent does what it has to do.  And apparently rather well...

[Travelcat2]

8 hours ago, Bellaggio Cruisers said:

The discussion regarding included excursions continues!

So it’s the same as included liquor. 

I do not drink.. Herb drinks his bourbon on the rocks ( one at dinner). 

We have traveled extensively around the world. 

We take some of the included tours to the enjoy nice memories.

We sail on Regent because we enjoy the entire package and don’t complain about the cost. 

Just enjoy!

Sheila

 

Hi Sheila - There is a very big difference between what Regent offers onboard and what they contract out.  The “Regent Experience” and the all inclusivity that it provides is for what happens on the ship (two exceptions are the Boutique and Spa).  Air, hotel and excursions are obviously contracted and are separate from what occurs on the ship.  

 

My big argument with Regent management is about excursions.  You can opt out of air and you can opt out of the hotel but not excursions.  We have gone around in circles discussing this issue.  I have even suggested that they could allow passengers that opt out of excursions (which we would do on many itineraries) have the option of paying for an excursion if there is a port where they would like to do an excursion.  It would be an easy computer set-up. If you opt out and sign up for an excursion, you are charged.  The passengers that do not opt out will continue to receive “included” excursions.

 

Excursions are a huge draw for Regent and I now (after several years) understand and agree.  However, once you do multiple cruises on Regent, the excursions lose their luster for some passengers.  Having traveled internationally since 1987 and cruising with Regent since 2004, it is frustrating to be paying for something that is not part of the onboard experience but for something that takes place off of the ship.  It would be like forcing you and all other passengers to take Regent air and hotel whether you like it or not.

 

Something to think about.