Live report—Miami to Miami Jan 6-13, 2022–splendor –back to cruising Regent

[RachelG]

We are scheduled to board Splendor on Thursday.  First Regent cruise in over 2 1/2 years, though we had many scheduled that were cancelled due to covid.  We have done one cruise, on Silversea Galapagos back in August, which was great, but obviously a very different sort of product, and are very excited at the thought of being aboard Regent again.

 

First hurdle passed— our precruise covid PCR tests are all negative.  Now we just have to make it to Miami by Thursday morning.  What with flight cancellations, that has been a concern, but I have been monitoring, and everything seems good on American from Tulsa to DFW  and on to Miami.  Fortunately we have lots of flight options.

 

George and I are cruising with my oldest son, who has been on Regent several times, and his wife, who has cruised before but is new to Regent.  I will try to report every day, so if there are any questions or things you want me to check out, just let me know.  I don’t post food pics generally though.

 

btw, people must be canceling in droves.  I got and took an upgrade to a penthouse suite yesterday.  Minimal up charge.

[macbest]

Minimal up charge like $100s or ? I’m also hoping for an upgrade on Feb 3 cruise

[forgap]

I hope your trip is uneventful and Covid free.  I enjoy your writing and have followed you on many adventures.  Thank you for taking the time to do this.  

[lprp]

Safe travels and happy cruising Rachel and family, so happy to hear that you passed the first (PCR) hurdle.

Loved your previous blogs, looking forward to travelling vicariously with you..

[CruiserFromMaine]

We’ll be following along! We were booked but cancelled last week and replaced it with a cruise next January. For us, there were just too many concerns about ports, tours, and a less-than-Regent experience. We’ve yet to sail Regent but have two nice Inaugural Season Splendor kits from them—one for this cruise and one in April 2020 that was obviously cancelled. 

[RachelG]

12 hours ago, macbest said:

Minimal up charge like $100s or ? I’m also hoping for an upgrade on Feb 3 cruise

more than $100 pp but very reasonable.

 

40 minutes ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

We’ll be following along! We were booked but cancelled last week and replaced it with a cruise next January. For us, there were just too many concerns about ports, tours, and a less-than-Regent experience. We’ve yet to sail Regent but have two nice Inaugural Season Splendor kits from them—one for this cruise and one in April 2020 that was obviously cancelled. 

We will miss you!

[LATTELOVE]

Wishing you a wonderful cruise.

Enjoy it to the fullest! 

Going to follow  your report.  We have done

quite a few cruises with NCL, Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

The majority with Roral Caribbean.  

But we have never done Regent.  So I'm very curious to see

how your go. So I'm following and asking a lot of questions

if you don't mind.   

We will be cruising with Royal Caribbean

again for the first time in 2 years, next month.

Super excited about it too.

Can't wait.

 

[RachelG]

2nd hurdle cleared—we arrived safe and sound in Miami with no flight delays on American at all.  In fact, the flight from DFW to Miami landed early as I had to attend the traditional medical emergency onboard.  It is a joke in my family that at least half the time we fly, there will be some emergency..  I won’t go into details, but there was an emergency. The captain asked me if we could continue to Miami or needed to divert.  I told him in my judgment we could continue, so he put the pedal to the metal, and we arrived early.

 

we are now comfortably resting at the downtown Hilton.

[GOARMY]

Thank you, Doctor, for your timely intervention.  

 

My dear wife, a retired R.N. with critical care experience, was called-upon to assist in two similar situations following her 2012 retirement.  These were when aboard either at 35,000 feet enroute from Los Angeles to Syndey for a cruise; or the second while in a down-to-earth restaurant--just for dinner. 

 

One never knows.  Fortunately, that flight with about 250 other souls plus crew included two M.D.'s.  Once the word from the CPT was announced--prompt response from all medical professionals. 

 

Bottom line:  We were able to continue to Sydney without need to divert to Auckland. 

 

EMT personnel arrived at that restaurant to transport the individual--stabilized--to a hospital.  

 

These situations, in retrospect, tend to place our current trials as to canceled cruises into proper prospective. 

 

GOARMY!

 

 

 

 

[RachelG]

Our view Splendor this morning

[Zqueeze1]

Way to go, Rachel.  You have a very unusual “tradition.”   We wish you a happy and uneventful cruise and look forward to your posts.  Enjoy your cruise. 
Z and TB

[RachelG]

January 6, 2022–Miami Florida—embarkation 

 

Our room at the Hilton downtown gave us a perfect view of the port, and when we arose, we could see Splendor there waiting for us.  

 

We have always stayed at the Hilton by the airport in Miami.  I don’t really know why, but we always did.  This time I decided to change things up, and I am very glad we did.  The room is very large, with 2 walls being floor to ceiling windows with views of the bay and port.  Furniture is basic industrial Hilton but the bed is very comfortable.  And the staff is friendly and helpful.  Only complaint is exceedingly poor water pressure on the 10th floor.

 

For the morning, we went to the science museum just down the street.  Very interesting, but is really a whole day excursion.  We left at noon, as we were scheduled to board at 12:30.  In the preboarding documents they send you by email, they have you pick embarkation time.  The earliest is 12:30.  It specifically says to not arrive before your assigned time.

 

We ubered to the port and arrived precisely at 12:30.  The porters took our luggage as usual and directed us to this large white tent for covid testing.  There was a huge line—probably over 100 people—so people definitely were not following the instructions on when to arrive.  We waited and waited.  Finally got our tests which were negative and were allowed to board.  The whole process took a little over an hour.  But behind us, there was no line at all.  If we had just eaten lunch in town and arrived 30 minutes later, there would have been no wait.

 

The ship is beautiful, more understated elegance than the over the top of Explorer.  I very much like it. We went to La Veranda for lunch, and it is a beautiful venue with multiple stations for food.  They are allowing self service again.  We had a leisurely lunch and explored a little until the announcement that suites were ready came on.

 

We are in a penthouse on 9, son and daughter-in-law are in concierge on 8.  Both are upgrades.  Our suite is a big entry area with a small table and chairs as well as a bar, then living room, separate bedroom.  Bath has shower only, which we like, and double sinks. 

 

There is a huge closet.  I love the storage space in the suite.  I should have brought more stuff.  We haven’t filled even half of it.  

 

I would prefer to have the living room and bedroom just one big space however.  And there is no desk area at all.  The balcony is very big with a lounger, 2 chairs and a table.  Couch is uncomfortable—for sitting only.  It is very nice, but all said,I would not pay the extra money if I had to pay full cost.  Our butler has already been by to get all my sugar free stuff and fizzy water stocked in the fridge.

 

Safety briefing was all online and in the suite which was pretty nice.  We did have to go and check in at our muster station sometime during the afternoon, just to prove we know where it is.

 

Sailaway was at 5:30 on the top deck.  Perfect warm weather and no wind.  Fewer people out than usual, but I think that is because of all the cancellations.

 

Dinner was Prime 7.  Previously this had not been my favorite as our steaks at home are way better, but they do have great seafood.  First impression—Prime 7 on this ship is huge, way bigger than any of the other versions.  And our food was outstanding.  I started with a crab cake which was excellent.  The tomato salad was just ok as the tomatoes were hot house—I should have known better than to order.  But my Dover sole and asparagus were spot on.  Everyone had rave reviews.  We were too stuffed for dessert.

 

George proceeded to lose all his money in the casino.  The show was Bohemian something or other.  I couldn’t figure out the story line.  There was some good singing and dancing, but it didn’t really make sense to me.  Very disconnected.  But entertaining.  

•  

[RachelG]

Miami sailaway 

[RachelG]

Huge Prime 7-this is only a small part

[RJ2002]

Looks like you are off to a great start. Beautiful shots at sail away.  
 

We are just like you about preferring steaks at home, but we’re looking forward to being back at Prime 7 later this year. 😉

 

Enjoy and thanks for sharing. 

[forgap]

Great report, Rachel!   We sail on Explorer in 12 days. Can’t wait! 

[Aubie59]

Thank you SO much Rachel for your live reports as we are on the March 7th sailing.  Will be curious to know about the port situation.  Do you happen to know if the cabin TV's have an accessible HDMI port?  We are thinking about bringing our Roku stick to watch NCAA men's basketball tournament.  

[PinkMEB]

Would you please remind me about cell phone service as I can’t recall what we usually do? Do you turn off cellular data, put it on airplane mode, connect to WiFi? Do I need to add something extra from Verizon? I know this is off topic, but since you are aboard, thought I would ask. We are about three weeks away from being on Splendor. Enjoy your cruise. 

[RachelG]

1 hour ago, Aubie59 said:

Thank you SO much Rachel for your live reports as we are on the March 7th sailing.  Will be curious to know about the port situation.  Do you happen to know if the cabin TV's have an accessible HDMI port?  We are thinking about bringing our Roku stick to watch NCAA men's basketball tournament.  

Don’t know but will find out

 

11 minutes ago, PinkMEB said:

Would you please remind me about cell phone service as I can’t recall what we usually do? Do you turn off cellular data, put it on airplane mode, connect to WiFi? Do I need to add something extra from Verizon? I know this is off topic, but since you are aboard, thought I would ask. We are about three weeks away from being on Splendor. Enjoy your cruise. 

yesterday in Miami, we just left our phones on.  But while cruising, input mine on airplane mode normally.  I forgot to last night, and this morning I had a text that said I could get 50MB of data for $20 while on board if I added intl trvl 1mo and that without it calls would cost $2.99 per Minute and texts would be 50 cents to send  and 5 to receive.  This is with Verizon.  So I am going to airplane mode and George is doing the intl trvl option.  He gets way more messages than me.

[mrlevin]

Just go to airplane mode and enable wifi calling; no cost at all and you can talk and text to your heart's content.  Big thing is that you can text each other if you want to coordinate.

 

Marc

[Aubie59]

18 minutes ago, RachelG said:

Don’t know but will find out

 

yesterday in Miami, we just left our phones on.  But while cruising, input mine on airplane mode normally.  I forgot to last night, and this morning I had a text that said I could get 50MB of data for $20 while on board if I added intl trvl 1mo and that without it calls would cost $2.99 per Minute and texts would be 50 cents to send  and 5 to receive.  This is with Verizon.  So I am going to airplane mode and George is doing the intl trvl option.  He gets way more messages than me.

 

[Aubie59]

Just now, Aubie59 said:

Thank you Rachel

 

[RachelG]

4 hours ago, Aubie59 said:

Thank you SO much Rachel for your live reports as we are on the March 7th sailing.  Will be curious to know about the port situation.  Do you happen to know if the cabin TV's have an accessible HDMI port?  We are thinking about bringing our Roku stick to watch NCAA men's basketball tournament.  

I am not an electronics expert, but I examined the tv’s (yes, there are 2) and could not fine one on either.

[Finnishfox]

Thank you Rachel.  We are on Splendor next week and anticipating a great time!

[Aubie59]

1 hour ago, RachelG said:

I am not an electronics expert, but I examined the tv’s (yes, there are 2) and could not fine one on either.

Thanks!