Panama!

[Mjflowers]

Well, again, Panama Canal. 9/30/19 for those that need a reference. LAX to MIA.

Number ten with Regent. Don't really know why I thru that in, seems to be issues. Sometimes, for some people on CC.

Second Canal with Regent. Mariner the best for observations forward, thru Canal. Lounge or balcony.

Get to the observation lounge early. Like 5am or so. Been there, done that. Gets crowded real soon. Regent did put out a nice breakfest 

spread. 

Will try not to keep you up to date. Not my style😊. I may surprise. Depends on internet. Clouds and mountains and all.

Coffee, dress codes, jeans, I will not be on the look out. Especially for the rude and obnoxious souls on board.

Leave the fashion police to somebody else,  but I will be looking out for those seasick glasses😏. 

I'm cruising. On Regent. Better things to do.

Exactly why we cruise with Regent. Always spot on.

Imagine most of you have been there and done that, so pictures of the Canal will probably not appear. Google it. Better pics anyway.

If you tell me about a roll call, Don't. I know.

This is for everybody. Comments incureged. Will have to bump this up a few times before trip.

 

 

 

[DavidTheWonderer]

12 hours ago, Mjflowers said:

... Get to the observation lounge early. Like 5am or so. Been there, done that. Gets crowded real soon. ...

That does not match my experience, which was on Mariner. i wandered in and out of the observation lounge a few times during the transit, and there was always seating. I'm not saying you're wrong, but it didn't match my one experience. And the ship was full.

Although the observation lounge is a nice place for the transit, lounges in the stern such as the Horizon let you see where you've been; this is a nice alternative after the first couple of locks.

And looking over the side from either a deck or a balcony gives yet another great perspective on the operation, so you can watch the "mules" pulling the ship along.

When you're close to the Pacific side of the canal, the South side of the ship will let you see Panama City.

The transit takes a few hours, so you can wander around and watch the process from a number of different viewpoints.

 

Edited August 23, 2019 by DavidTheWonderer

[GOARMY]

And, of course, if one becomes bored looking at yet-another set of locks--take a break and have a bagel. 

 

GOARMY!

 

(For context, see Roll Call for Splendor 03/14/2020 San Diego-Miami segment.)

 

[JMARINER]

The Canal transit was a much better experience when the ship would stop in lake Gatun and thye would have a BBQ at the Gatun Yacht Club. There were shoreX to the locks and/or the river below the dam. But best was swimming in the Canal.

J

[Host Dan]

Mjflowers,  I hope you have a grand time through the canal.  I've done it 3 times, so its definitely off my bucket list!  My next cruise will be on the Explorer April crossing, so I have to wait!

[Travelcat2]

23 minutes ago, Host Dan said:

Mjflowers,  I hope you have a grand time through the canal.  I've done it 3 times, so its definitely off my bucket list!  My next cruise will be on the Explorer April crossing, so I have to wait!

 

Wow - you are finally going on Regent!  Hope that you enjoy the Explorer as much as the rest of us do!

 

Looking forward to your comments.  

[Mjflowers]

19 hours ago, Host Dan said:

Mjflowers,  I hope you have a grand time through the canal.  I've done it 3 times, so its definitely off my bucket list!  My next cruise will be on the Explorer April crossing, so I have to wait!

Thanks Dan. Actually Susan's and my third also.  Second on Regent.

We're booked on Explorer this Jan for two weeks. We just like to get out on the water.

[Mjflowers]

On 8/23/2019 at 4:36 AM, DavidTheWonderer said:

That does not match my experience, which was on Mariner. i wandered in and out of the observation lounge a few times during the transit, and there was always seating. I'm not saying you're wrong, but it didn't match my one experience. And the ship was full.

Although the observation lounge is a nice place for the transit, lounges in the stern such as the Horizon let you see where you've been; this is a nice alternative after the first couple of locks.

And looking over the side from either a deck or a balcony gives yet another great perspective on the operation, so you can watch the "mules" pulling the ship along.

When you're close to the Pacific side of the canal, the South side of the ship will let you see Panama City.

The transit takes a few hours, so you can wander around and watch the process from a number of different viewpoints.

 

There was also always a spot to view from. If you wanted a front row seat in the Observation Lounge, a early arrival was a must. Being our third time transit I will take your advise and do a leisure walk around. Hope it's not raining🙂. Always a nice view forward from the in suite TV. 

[Mjflowers]

20 hours ago, JMARINER said:

The Canal transit was a much better experience when the ship would stop in lake Gatun and thye would have a BBQ at the Gatun Yacht Club. There were shoreX to the locks and/or the river below the dam. But best was swimming in the Canal.

J

Wasn't there awhile ago that some guy swam the canals? 

[Mjflowers]

21 hours ago, GOARMY said:

And, of course, if one becomes bored looking at yet-another set of locks--take a break and have a bagel. 

 

GOARMY!

 

(For context, see Roll Call for Splendor 03/14/2020 San Diego-Miami segment.)

 

Or a Bloody Mary. Virgin of course.

[Mjflowers]

Onboard in about 3 hours😀😍😜. A beautiful day in LA. I Love LA!!

Prefer AZ though. Next couple of weeks looking good for cruising.

All is well when on Regent. Make of it what you will. If you're not having a wonderful time, something is wrong with you, not the other people. Smile, egnore them. Life is way to short and for most of us it is getting shorter to fast.

 

[poss]

Have a terrific cruise, Mjflowers.    And thanks for posting.   I'll be reading, as we may do a Canal cruise (San Fran-Miami) May 2020.    (Would be a 90th birthday cruise for my dh  —  VERY "d")

[Mjflowers]

Well. New boarding procedure. Arrived 12:15, usually walk right on. given a boarding group pass. We are in group 8. Boarding didn't start until noon! That is not acceptable. Right now over 300 people still waiting to be called to get in line. Should take hours?

Group 4 just called. Guess no lunch today. Hopefully this will not be a refelction on the entire cruise. Should have booked through Regent. Seems that the people booked with Regent and staying at their chosen hotel are being boarded first. Class system?

 

[Gcto]

On 8/23/2019 at 9:34 AM, GOARMY said:

And, of course, if one becomes bored looking at yet-another set of locks--take a break and have a bagel. 

 

GOARMY!

 

(For context, see Roll Call for Splendor 03/14/2020 San Diego-Miami segment.)

 

but then you turn the bagel upside down and all looks different 🙂

 

[Silver Sweethearts]

7 hours ago, Mjflowers said:

Well. New boarding procedure. Arrived 12:15, usually walk right on. given a boarding group pass. We are in group 8. Boarding didn't start until noon! That is not acceptable. Right now over 300 people still waiting to be called to get in line. Should take hours?

Group 4 just called. Guess no lunch today. Hopefully this will not be a refelction on the entire cruise. Should have booked through Regent. Seems that the people booked with Regent and staying at their chosen hotel are being boarded first. Class system?

 

 

We were in a Grand Suite on the Explorer from Los Angeles to Miami in March, and arrived before noon.  Boarding was certainly at the discretion of the pier staff though, as we had to wait a fair amount of time.  No class system there.  We have found that the pier staff is quite often a total opposite of the staff onboard as to caring about passengers, and we let it go at that.  La Veranda was busy by the time we got there, but it was open as was the Pool Grill (which we believe is open until later in the afternoon), and we had a very nice lunch.  Hope you did too!

[JC in CA]

13 hours ago, Mjflowers said:

 

 

 

13 hours ago, Mjflowers said:

 

 

We were at the Regent hotel. Representative there told me she was supposed to have 315 today, but had dropped to 245. She seemed surprised. We were bus 5, it left the hotel at 11:30 and took 45 min to get to the port, then took another 5+ minutes to drive all the way around the parking lots and pull up to the terminal   We were given group 11 and were on the ship at 1:30. There were a lot of folks waiting when we got in the building and were given our boarding group number.  They had called group 4 to get their boarding passes as we came in.  Being a 1st time Regent cruiser, I thought it was well organized and appreciated sitting to wait rather than standing in line. 

Jerie

[Hambagahle]

On 8/23/2019 at 6:34 PM, GOARMY said:

And, of course, if one becomes bored looking at yet-another set of locks--take a break and have a bagel. 

 

GOARMY!

 

(For context, see Roll Call for Splendor 03/14/2020 San Diego-Miami segment.)

 

Maybe I should explain ?   Lox in the locks ...  around 0930 during our transit on the Mariner in 2005 we got tired (had been out on deck since 0530) and went to our suite and ordered Bagels and smoked salmon.  Sitting out on the balcony eating this Ken suddenly said "we are having lox in the locks" --  he is a "real" New Yorker!!    And GoArmy is planning just that for our group of CCers on the March 20 Splendor Canal cruise.    Great idea!!

[flossie009]

8 hours ago, JC in CA said:

We were given group 11 and were on the ship at 1:30

 

18 hours ago, Mjflowers said:

Well. New boarding procedure. Arrived 12:15, usually walk right on. given a boarding group pass. We are in group 8. Boarding didn't start until noon! That is not acceptable. Right now over 300 people still waiting to be called to get in line. Should take hours?

 

Not sure that I am understanding the issue. It is normal for the boarding of Regent ships to start at midday.

Just sounds like they split boarding guests into groups to avoid an unseemly rush, and a long line, when boarding commenced.

@Mjflowers, Hope your day improved and that you boarded in time for a relaxing lunch.

 

Best wishes for a great cruise through the Panama Canal; looking forward to the reports from Mariner 😁

[rcandkc]

Sounds like everyone showed up near the same time so it was a way to organize group.  When we boarded in nyc in May we were given numbers based on when we arrived.  Seems fair to me.  There was a separate line for the named suites. 

[Travelcat2]

Being from Los Angeles (which I hate), our only experience with the port was less than satisfactory.  Reading about how boarding was is not surprising.  They are quite clueless at the port.  The only thing worse than that was disembarking in Los Angeles (which we did in February, 2019).  Destination Services was also clueless and gave incorrect and conflicting information (depending upon which Destination Services person you spoke with).

 

In my opinion, Los Angeles is the best place to move away from!

 

Note:  The paperwork delivered to our suite said that we could not put our luggage out the night before but would need to have it with us.  I checked with the General Manager who told us that we should put our luggage out and there would be no problem.  The next morning, we had no idea where our luggage was.  Checked with Destination Services and they had no idea.  Fortunately, the General Manager was around and he helped us.  If I could avoid Los Angeles as a embarkation or disembarkation port, I would certainly do so! 

[orvil]

Re:  Sea sickness glasses.

 

They will make their appearance in the Caribbean in January and the Mediterranean in June.  

 

A full report will be presented upon completion of the voyages. 

[Travelcat2]

On 9/30/2019 at 11:56 PM, Hambagahle said:

Maybe I should explain ?   Lox in the locks ...  around 0930 during our transit on the Mariner in 2005 we got tired (had been out on deck since 0530) and went to our suite and ordered Bagels and smoked salmon.  Sitting out on the balcony eating this Ken suddenly said "we are having lox in the locks" --  he is a "real" New Yorker!!    And GoArmy is planning just that for our group of CCers on the March 20 Splendor Canal cruise.    Great idea!!

 

Thanks for explaining that (I was about to do the same).  I must have a short attention span because I cannot sit and watch the locks, etc. for 8 hours - too boring for me.  After spending time in the Observation Lounge, we went to our suite and did occasional viewing from the balcony.  In my opinion, the best viewing going from east to west is on the starboard side and the port side from west to east.  In any case, we are looking forward to "lox in the locks" on Splendor (along with some mimosas).

[Mjflowers]

On 9/30/2019 at 11:43 AM, poss said:

Have a terrific cruise, Mjflowers.    And thanks for posting.   I'll be reading, as we may do a Canal cruise (San Fran-Miami) May 2020.    (Would be a 90th birthday cruise for my dh  —  VERY "d")

Thanks poss. Late in responding to some posts. Canal cruise, if the first time is a unique  voyage. A engerning feat in the extreme. Not 90, you go guy, but just hit 70. Hopefully we both will be able to continue or passions on the sea.

[Mjflowers]

10 hours ago, orvil said:

Re:  Sea sickness glasses.

 

They will make their appearance in the Caribbean in January and the Mediterranean in June.  

 

A full report will be presented upon completion of the voyages. 

Looking forward to that. Observation so on this cruise. No glasses. Should be obvious.

 

[Mjflowers]

On 10/1/2019 at 7:36 AM, rcandkc said:

Sounds like everyone showed up near the same time so it was a way to organize group.  When we boarded in nyc in May we were given numbers based on when we arrived.  Seems fair to me.  There was a separate line for the named suites. 

Now we're back to the class system?  What is fair? If there was a sperate line for "named suites" I didn't notice. Correct on everybody showing up at the same time. Bad planning on Regents part. Buses all showed up,same time around noon. Very unorganized. Take a boarding pass. Didn't get one, well just get in line and add to the confusion.