Embarkation - favourite spot whilst waiting for suite

[Belfast Taxman]

So you have arrived, accepted the first glass of champagne and now await your Suite to be ready in a couple of hours.

where do you like to go now?

i would like answers to suit a couple of scenarios as follows;

(a) sunny day and wet day

(b) hungry and not hungry

 

 

[flossie009]

Sunny, warm day: La veranda aft (outside) or Pool Deck 😎

Cool or wet day: La Veranda inside

 

Hungry: eat & drink 😋

Not hungry: drink 😉
 

 

+ people watching; looking for crew & guests that we recognise from previous voyages.

Edited October 28, 2019 by flossie009

[ronrick1943]

After a lunch at La Veranda a nice walk around the ship getting familiar with you home for the next 15plus days we'll be on the ship.

 

[Hambagahle]

After lunch we (if we are not already in our suite) go to the Observation lounge and read.  Next cruise we have access to our suite at 1200 so I suppose we will read there after lunch!!  (And unpack)

[rcandkc]

If nice we get a table around pool grill and have lunch and a drink.  When done if new arrivals needing a table to eat we gladly move to a chaise to wait.  If rainy we are in LaVeranda and a little slower to vacate table but we still do.  We want everyone to have a chance for a nice lunch. 

[wishIweretravelling]

Compass Rose if hungry and it's open. La Veranda if hungry and CR is closed.

 

If not hungry, whichever is my favorite bar on the ship in question. If weather is pleasant, the pool bar if it's no longer a smoking area. 

[rcandkc]

1 hour ago, wishIweretravelling said:

Compass Rose if hungry and it's open. La Veranda if hungry and CR is closed.

 

If not hungry, whichever is my favorite bar on the ship in question. If weather is pleasant, the pool bar if it's no longer a smoking area. 

Usually Compass Rose is not open for lunch on embarkation day.  They are working hard behind the scenes to get ready for the new cruise.  Also, lots of crew are involved in luggage delivery. 

[wishIweretravelling]

56 minutes ago, rcandkc said:

Usually Compass Rose is not open for lunch on embarkation day.  They are working hard behind the scenes to get ready for the new cruise.  Also, lots of crew are involved in luggage delivery. 

You're right, it usually isn't. But it has been open a couple of times that I remember. Once, last year, it was open at the start of a grand voyage, but I think only for those going on the whole trip.  And several years ago, I think it was on Mariner, La Veranda was closed and we were offered either the Pool Grill or CR. 

[flossie009]

Compass Rose was open for lunch on changeover day in Barcelona on Voyager last Saturday; but only for continuing guests, not for those embarking.
 

We have also seen Compass Rose used for entertaining invited local Travel Agents & Tour Operators for lunch on changeover day.

[mj_holiday]

With nice weather we go to Pool Grill for lunch and sit at a table for 4, so if a couple is looking for a table we ask them to join us and we get to meet someone else on the cruise.

[Hambagahle]

31 minutes ago, mj_holiday said:

With nice weather we go to Pool Grill for lunch and sit at a table for 4, so if a couple is looking for a table we ask them to join us and we get to meet someone else on the cruise.

What a nice idea! 

 

That said, I get the feeling that our Belfast Taxman is rather over planning his cruise and there will be no serendipitous moments like this for him and his wife!!

Edited October 29, 2019 by Hambagahle

[Wendy The Wanderer]

The pool deck for a drink and a bite, for sure.  If chilly, perhaps La Verandah or one of the lounges.  If we don't have too much hand luggage, we often walk the ship, especially if we haven't been on that particular vessel before.  And also often, we go by our suite, and can dump our hand luggage there, if someone is around and says it's okay to do so.

[Belfast Taxman]

6 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

That said, I get the feeling that our Belfast Taxman is rather over planning his cruise and there will be no serendipitous moments like this for him and his wife!!

Sorry but I don’t see the contradiction between planning and serendipity.

I plead totally guilty to being very excited at the prospect of our first Regent cruise, and we are keen to get the very most we can from every aspect of the experience, from the very first steps we take aboard to disembarkation. But please do not confuse a newbie asking a whole load of questions, which I genuinely hope will help or be of interest to others, with someone who is set in their ways and not absolutely prepared to go with the flow of the moment. 

[Hambagahle]

Sometimes it is a lot more fun to find things out as you go!  The Experiment in International Living, an old US exchange programme, had the slogan “Expect the Unexpected”.  Which is not a bad thing to bear in mind when travelling.

[mj_holiday]

I understand BellfastTaxman very well as I am quite the planner.  And there will still be plenty of nice unexpected things to find out about.  But it seems many times I talk with people about something we had done (whether on a ship or a land trip) and I will hear people say that even though they were familiar they didn't know anything about what we had seen.  CC has been a valuable resource for me to get the most out of our cruise vacations

[Belfast Taxman]

1 hour ago, Hambagahle said:

Sometimes it is a lot more fun to find things out as you go!  The Experiment in International Living, an old US exchange programme, had the slogan “Expect the Unexpected”.  Which is not a bad thing to bear in mind when travelling.

A fair point and well made. No matter how much planning we do for our first Regent cruise, I am confident that there will be plenty of the unexpected. We look forward to that.

However I do suggest that planning has a vital role in our enjoyment of our Regent cruise. Let me give you two examples.

(1) one of the destinations on our cruise is St.Petersburg. My wife and I have long wished to go there. Our cruise is very possibly our one and only chance to go there. Should we not plan our three days? I believe we should and indeed in some great detail in order that we don’t feel that we have missed what is important to us. That may sound like overkill or routemarching to some, but for us it is all part of the holiday experience as well as being very usefully educational to us.

(2) a more general example - the Regent Cruise experience. My wife and I have cruised before, albeit many years ago, but this is our first Regent cruise. We expect things to be different on Regent, hopefully better. But expectation should not, in my opinion, harbour in a vacuum of the unknown, otherwise it may become unrealistic in more ways than one. By asking questions and having them answered by a range of the more experienced Regent cruiser is, for us, a great way of understanding, in advance, what is realistic. Indeed, is that not a main purpose of this Forum?

Whatever, we feel happier with enhancing our understanding of the Regent experience in advance, call it planning if you will, because we believe that will enhance our enjoyment of the actual event. And all that still leaves plenty of room for the unexpected, including meeting new friends along the way. Who knows, we may meet a wonderful Swiss/US couple, with whom we become great friends. Wouldn’t that be serendipity 😀

[Hambagahle]

That is well put.  But be careful not to over-plan or you can set up disaster!

For St. Petersburg - we were there some years ago on the Mariner.  We hired a private guide, car and driver and saw a LOT.  She got us into places when they were closed to the public and in many cases we were the only people going around - with her of course and a couple of times with the museum director.  It was amazing AND very expensive.  About $1000 per person (there were 3 of us) for the three days.   Personally I think one can do very well with the Regent tours OR take the “Regent choice” option for a private car and driver.  You won’t have the guide we had - she had taken Clinton around some time before - but you will have some good visits.

[Belfast Taxman]

Hambagahle

 

thank you for your reply and advice re St Petersburg.

as it happens our planning has involved looking at private guides for a three day tour and yes, it is not cheap! 

I think what we will do is look very closely at what actual free/Regent choice excursions are offered and the price of the latter when released by Regent.

can you, or anyone, suggest the likely price of a Regent private car and driver for three days?

[Gilly]

35 minutes ago, Belfast Taxman said:

I think what we will do is look very closely at what actual free/Regent choice excursions are offered and the price of the latter when released by Regent.

 

 @Belfast Taxman  I can't offer costs of private guides from Regent etc. but I can offer an insight to the included Regent tours from a couple of years ago and maybe that will give you an idea of the kinds of things which might irritate you enough to feel it's worth paying extra for a private experience.

 

We had been to St P previously and though we were glad to be returning, this was unlikely to be our one and only opportunity to visit (in fact, we returned shortly afterwards on an independent trip, but that's another story).  So, we were reasonably relaxed about seeing the sights, though of course, wanted to maximise our time.  The kinds of things that frustrated us about group tours were that people don't always hear - or listen - to instructions and in Russia, more than many other places, the group has to work together.  So one person doesn't obey and it holds everyone up.  Grrr eh?  The days are long and tiring, and not everyone has the stamina for the tight schedules.  Occasionally, people react to feeling stressed, tired and anxious with short tempers and a lack of patience...and again, that can impact on your experience.  But on the other hand, there are marvellous experiences out there to be enjoyed and if you are able to rise above such things, the Regent-included tours can be spectacular - and some of the private tours simply followed us around, being there at the same time as the group and of course, many other groups of tourists.   There is no way of knowing how things will be - I think you have to make a decision based on your own preferences and priorities and don't doubt that you have made the best one, regardless of what anyone else might say!

 

If you'd like to read of our Regent experience it begins on my blog here and continues on the following pages (we were there three days).  If you search my blog for "St Petersburg", you'll find other entries about the city.  Of course, the time of year and the tours you choose will impact on your experience, but perhaps it will give you a bit of an insight.

 

I very much doubt that you will be disappointed, whatever you choose to do!  It is a spectacular city and I am envious!

[ClefsDor]

We are very much like Belfast Taxman in that we like to do a fair bit of planning and tend to ask a LOT of questions about any new cruise line we are thinking of trying and even more so once we've booked. Partly this is to embark with a reasonable expectation of what to expect and to avoid certain disappointments - e.g. knowing in advance that the MDR will be closed on embarkation day. We are used to Crystal and dining in the MDR when we embark. If the question hadn't been raised we would have been a little surprised and a tad disappointed but knowing ahead of time that it will be closed we will avoid that.

 

But another reason why I enjoy threads such as this is that it builds my anticipation and gets me even more excited for my upcoming cruise! When we took our first cruise I asked many questions similar to this thread and many others about all sorts of inconsequential "stuff" and my husband had the same impression - that I would leave nothing to surprise us when we finally embarked but in fact it was the opposite. We knew what to do, where to go, which tickets to try and secure first once we boarded and where. It enhanced our cruise experience immeasurably. In fact we spoke to quite a few new cruisers on that same cruise and many of them had missed out on tickets to things like the magicians show because they were unaware about it, or extra specialty restaurant reservations as they didn't know the Maitre'd had a special office set up on embarkation day to deal with new bookings and seat allocations (back in the times of set dining).  So I totally understand Belfast Taxman's various threads on this cruise and hope he keeps them coming.

[Stickman1990]

I agree - as a new to Regent cruiser I very much appreciate the questions and the helpful members who answer them. We all have to start somewhere after all

 

I look forward to returning the favour should any of you decide to try a cruise line I am familiar with

Edited October 31, 2019 by Stickman1990

[orvil]

Regarding embarkation.  Our friends who insisted that we travel on Regent clued us into the checking hand luggage upon boarding service.  We didn't have to carry it around while waiting for our suite.  There is a very nice person who gives you a claim check for whatever you choose to leave.  In our particular embarkation she was located in the theatre.  Just ask and someone will tell you where to find them.  

 

We had a very leisurely lunch at La Veranda, retrieved our hand luggage and proceeded to our suite to unpack.  We wouldn't have known about it if our friends hadn't clued us into it.  

[rcandkc]

49 minutes ago, orvil said:

Regarding embarkation.  Our friends who insisted that we travel on Regent clued us into the checking hand luggage upon boarding service.  We didn't have to carry it around while waiting for our suite.  There is a very nice person who gives you a claim check for whatever you choose to leave.  In our particular embarkation she was located in the theatre.  Just ask and someone will tell you where to find them.  

 

We had a very leisurely lunch at La Veranda, retrieved our hand luggage and proceeded to our suite to unpack.  We wouldn't have known about it if our friends hadn't clued us into it.  

I’ve done 10 or 11 cruises with Regent and didn’t know that. Great info. 

[Brownie54]

We didn't know this either! It's not made very public.

[grayparrot]

We have dropped our bags off as well - I believe in our case it was in the casino.  Makes life so much simpler.   One place we like to visit while waiting for our suite is the library.  We just prefer paper to screens, and the selection pf books is quite good.  There are also some computers there.