Live from the Regal - July 2-23 - Med Cruise - R/T Barcelona

[Ken the cruiser]

21 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

Don't think I've ever had that much of a price difference.  Hard to beat that amount of savings.  Not hard at all to make your choice😀

 

Forgot to mention in reply to Billish that Elites receive the mini bar perk   automatically  for each segment no matter how you book.

The middle leg from Rome to Athens was the most expensive of the 3 with the first leg from Barcelona to Rome being the cheapest. Also remember we had an M1 CC mini-suite, which usually sell out on the more popular itineraries.

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, Billish said:

If you book three seven day cruises as a b2b2b2b instead of a single 21 day cruise, do you get three lots of shareholder obc, which would equate to more than you get if booking a single cruise. 

 

Yes, 3 x $100 instead of $250.  Sometimes you do get more S/H OBC with a single booking (e.g. 14 nights over 2 x 7 nights).  However, I find I often am getting other perks for separate bookings, like an extra SD credit, or OBC, etc.  I am finding the fares pretty equivalent these days (but I know it varies).  I don't mind a bit of a hit since I get flexibility in re-faring the separate segments.  I also like having my outbound and return airfares disconnected when using EZ-Air since I can re-fare one without the other.

 

We have a B3B on REGAL in October, plus a following 4th trip on ISLAND.  I booked the REGAL as three segments rather than 25 nights (or 14+11).  I re-fared the various cruises multiple times since the beginning.  I booked us early so it was NP at all to get the same cabin throughout.  With EZ-Air, I changed flights and re-fared multiple times since that opened up and am on different airlines than I started with.  I know we have to lowest possible Business fares to and from FCO and it would have been nearly impossible to do with a round-trip booking.

 

Those are my reasons.  Other things like Captain's Circle cruise credits and Elite mini-bar setups are the same, no matter how booked. 

 

I will say that a new issue that gave me the shivers was DMW trying to book across the virtual REGAL B3B as DMW (and MC App in general) sees this as one voyage, but I have little confidence in DMW and hope our expected TD style booking can be confirmed on board.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

On our last night after our final dinner in CC Dining, we went to the evening show with the comedian Geoff Boyz

 

 

followed by the soul singer Cici Taneal, both of whom were great!! But we passed on the Majority Rules Game Show as we had to pack.

 

[coo359a2]

Safe flight home and thanks for all the excursion reviews and photos.

[Ken the cruiser]

33 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

Safe flight home and thanks for all the excursion reviews and photos.

Thanks! We had a great time and thanks for following along! 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, lynn2002 said:

Hi Ken

 

Really appreciate all the effort you put into this thread which has made me look even more forward to our cruise on 13 August.

 

Do you recall which port in Naples the ship docked at?  Do you recall how far the ferries to the islands were from where the ship was docked?

 

Have a safe trip home tomorrow

I don’t, but if you look at the pictures I posted of the dock area when we were in Naples yesterday, the ferries looked pretty close to where both cruise ships were docked. And from what I could tell there was only one terminal where the cruise ships docked. But, again, I could be wrong.

[Mary loves to travel]

Hi Ken,

 

have so enjoyed following along on your adventures!    We're on the same cruise (but r/t Rome) this fall.

 

One problem:   now what will I read with my morning coffee?   🙂

 

Thanks,

Mary

 

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, lynn2002 said:

Hi Ken

 

Really appreciate all the effort you put into this thread which has made me look even more forward to our cruise on 13 August.

 

Do you recall which port in Naples the ship docked at?  Do you recall how far the ferries to the islands were from where the ship was docked?

 

Have a safe trip home tomorrow

 

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHZL_enAU841AU841&tbs=lf:1,lf_ui:2&tbm=lcl&sxsrf=ALiCzsbjEG7Gkdn7chu4cUEsQhk5c73ORQ:1658525602148&q=naples+cruise+port&rflfq=1&num=10&ved=2ahUKEwjZsPequY35AhV5K0QIHSXeCGkQtgN6BAgkEAY#rlfi=hd:;si:;mv:[[40.844735199999995,14.2638681],[40.8370989,14.253869]];tbs:lrf:!1m4!1u2!2m2!2m1!1e1!2m1!1e2!3sIAE,lf:1,lf_ui:2

 

[Billish]

3 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

Yes, 3 x $100 instead of $250.  Sometimes you do get more S/H OBC with a single booking (e.g. 14 nights over 2 x 7 nights).  However, I find I often am getting other perks for separate bookings, like an extra SD credit, or OBC, etc.  I am finding the fares pretty equivalent these days (but I know it varies).  I don't mind a bit of a hit since I get flexibility in re-faring the separate segments.  I also like having my outbound and return airfares disconnected when using EZ-Air since I can re-fare one without the other.

 

We have a B3B on REGAL in October, plus a following 4th trip on ISLAND.  I booked the REGAL as three segments rather than 25 nights (or 14+11).  I re-fared the various cruises multiple times since the beginning.  I booked us early so it was NP at all to get the same cabin throughout.  With EZ-Air, I changed flights and re-fared multiple times since that opened up and am on different airlines than I started with.  I know we have to lowest possible Business fares to and from FCO and it would have been nearly impossible to do with a round-trip booking.

 

Those are my reasons.  Other things like Captain's Circle cruise credits and Elite mini-bar setups are the same, no matter how booked. 

 

I will say that a new issue that gave me the shivers was DMW trying to book across the virtual REGAL B3B as DMW (and MC App in general) sees this as one voyage, but I have little confidence in DMW and hope our expected TD style booking can be confirmed on board.

 

 

Thanks for the  comprehensive answer.

Unfortunately us Brits can only refare once (at a cost of £100) so trying to decide if the fare is as low as it will go is a bit of a challenge! 

[Billish]

3 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

Forgot to mention in reply to Billish that Elites receive the mini bar perk   automatically  for each segment no matter how you book.

Yes, we were in a cc minisuite for 14 days, and at the start of the second week we unfortunately got another half bottle of red and white !

[alibabacruisers]

Thank you Ken for taking us all with you!  It has been very informative, fun and love all your pictures!  Thank you again!

[tml1230]

2 hours ago, Mary loves to travel said:

Hi Ken,

 

have so enjoyed following along on your adventures!    We're on the same cruise (but r/t Rome) this fall.

 

One problem:   now what will I read with my morning coffee?   🙂

 

Thanks,

Mary

 

EXACTLY!! ..... I just remarked that same lament to my wife! 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Billish said:

Thanks for the  comprehensive answer.

Unfortunately us Brits can only refare once (at a cost of £100) so trying to decide if the fare is as low as it will go is a bit of a challenge! 

Yes, I know.  An unfortunate circumstance in the UK.  It is a reason I have read some Brits find ways to book in USA.

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, Mary loves to travel said:

Hi Ken,

 

have so enjoyed following along on your adventures!    We're on the same cruise (but r/t Rome) this fall.

 

One problem:   now what will I read with my morning coffee?   🙂

 

Thanks,

Mary

 

Thanks for following along with us! Give us a couple weeks to rest up and you can follow along on our “Live” 24 day Celebrity Summit Canada, Iceland and Greenland B2B. 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, alibabacruisers said:

Thank you Ken for taking us all with you!  It has been very informative, fun and love all your pictures!  Thank you again!

Thanks for following along! We did have a great time and didn’t hear the dreaded “C” word once! 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in Barcelona! I want to thank everyone who has followed along on our very port intensive Mediterranean adventure and invite you to join us in a couple of weeks over on the Celebrity forum when we head out on a 24 day B2B Summit cruise in an aft-facing Aqua cabin to Canada, Iceland and Greenland and back! 
 

 

[Carnevale]

I am REALLY going to miss reading this thread every day.  It was fantastic!

[Billish]

7 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Yes, I know.  An unfortunate circumstance in the UK.  It is a reason I have read some Brits find ways to book in USA.

Although with the current fx rate, the advantages of doing so are now greatly diminished.

[Alcairns]

Thanks for taking the time to produce this great and informative “live from”  greatly appreciated. 

[caribill]

22 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

However, being that I’m 70 now and my DW not far behind, we have found on the longer 15+ day “single” itineraries, the amount of kids and young adults (under 20) you’ll find may be a few dozen, if that. What that means to us is that the entertainment, such as production shows, guest entertainers and lectures will normally be more geared to an older demographic.

 

The cast on a Princess ship only know 2 or 3 production shows and that is all they can present no matter how the ages of the passengers vary on different segments.

 

I have really enjoyed reading about your cruise and seeing the many great photos you posted. Thanks for sharing your cruise with so many of us on Cruise Critic.

[Ken the cruiser]

27 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

The cast on a Princess ship only know 2 or 3 production shows and that is all they can present no matter how the ages of the passengers vary on different segments.

 

I have really enjoyed reading about your cruise and seeing the many great photos you posted. Thanks for sharing your cruise with so many of us on Cruise Critic.

Thanks! As far as the production shows go, it would have been nice if they would have thrown a rock n roll show in as their third one. After all, there were a lot of folks that were on a B2B during our B3B. But, as they say, it is what it is. 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

We have made it to the airport. Here are some pictures of our drive to the Barcelona airport. 
 

 

Thought this was a unique looking hotel. 
 

 

And now we wait for our flight back to the US. 

Edited July 23, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Sunny_li21]

Such enjoyment to follow your post. Have a lovely trip home, and I will search for your "Celebrity Live" in few weeks. 😀

[Anubi]

14 hours ago, Mary loves to travel said:

Hi Ken,

 

have so enjoyed following along on your adventures!    We're on the same cruise (but r/t Rome) this fall.

 

One problem:   now what will I read with my morning coffee?   🙂

 

Thanks,

Mary

 

I was just thinking the same thing!  LOL

 

 I want to add my thanks Ken, and I will be looking for your Celebrity Live From.  That looks like an awesome itinerary. 

  

Edited July 23, 2022 by Anubi

[Manderius]

Ken! It's been a pleasure following your cruise!! 3 weeks until same itinerary!!

Final question What time were you able to get to airport and go through security by and would imagine the airport was crazy