Voyager Barcelona to Belfast Jun 2022

[Scout16]

To there and back again

I used Regent Air since I felt more comfortable having someone who could deal with cancelations and changes in the current times.  Both going and returning were not through flights.  I was scheduled to fly from Washington Dulles to Paris to Barcelona with a night in a hotel to recover from the flight and to adjust to the time change.  Air France cancelled the flight after several delays.  I called Regent Air as soon as they cancelled the flight and was told to wait a bit and see what the airline would do.  Air France rescheduled me for the next day for the same flights and gave me vouchers for taxi rides to and from their hotel and a hotel voucher for the night.  When I got to the hotel, they said they had a problem with the airline vouchers and had us pay on our own, the charge did not appear on my credit card bill so I guess the voucher was accepted after all.  The flight to Paris and then on to Barcelona had several delays and they left my luggage in Paris.   I arrived at the ship at about four PM.  Paris airport lacks the internal transportation system I am used to, no buses or trains to get from one end to the other, so I walked a long way along various hallways in eighty plus degree heat and found limited seating at the gate for the next flight.  The return flights were on Icelandic Air from Dublin to Iceland to Washington Dulles.  The fights were acceptable but delayed by over four hours.  Dublin airport lacks the normally signage to lead you to the proper check in for the airline, I was sent to two different parts of the airport on different floors before I got to the check in, the gate had very limited seating , and you had to walk outside and climb the steps to board the plane.  In Iceland there was a connecting bridge to the airplane but it lead to tower with a staircase which lead to a door where you had to get on a bus with no seats to get to the terminal.   They do not list the gate for connecting flights until about an hour before they are going to leave, again there is very limited seating at the gate so I spent about five hours sitting on hard wooden benches which are in the main hallway.     

[Scout16]

Covid

The most obvious impact of Covid was that the crew all had to wear masks all the time except for performers when they were performing.  The Social Hostess was thrilled that she was just recently allowed to sit and talk with the passengers, this limitation still existed for most of the entertainers but it appeared to be easing by the end of the cruise.  The crew still could not eat or drink with the passengers.  Masks were suggested on board but there were only a handful of passengers who wore them all the time.  I only really wore the mask when going to events where you had to come in close contact with crew members such as the Captain's Reception and society gatherings.  Masks were required in Spain on the buses and in terminals, most of the passengers followed these rules.  The mask requirements did not exist in France, the UK or Ireland.  I am not sure if the mask would have helped me or not but I believe I have a sensitivity to the disinfectant they commonly use on the buses.  I thought it was a reaction to perfume at first but I soon found that I had a runny nose every time I got on the bus and it was worse when they turned up the fans.  I developed a minor sinus /ear infection which kept me on cough drops to keep socially presentable.  The Spanish government did not want to see the health documents since I was in transit.  I believe that only when boarding the ship was the only time that I had to show my Covid test result and vaccine card.  I needed to get my vaccine card replaced since I carried it with me every day as suggested in ninety plus degree temperatures, it got amp and the people who entered the data on the card used felt tip markers, all that remains is a blob of color.     

[Scout16]

Service and Dinning

On the whole the service was up to Regent standards.  There were some minor misses such as not bring the fork before the salad, not offering to remove the lobster from the shell, and having to call over another waiter to remove the bones from the Dover Sole.  After a day or two I was known and what I normally ordered was known by the crew in the restaurants and lounges I normally visited.  I will not get into the discussion about the quality of the meats which has been covered under other topics on the Regent boards.  I tried some of the cuts suggested and found that I still preferred the cuts which were said to be too tough and dry.  The one item I suggest is the tuna burger at the pool grill, it is not a burger but a tuna steak with a wonderful sauce (nd if you ask they will cook it well done rather than rare).     

[Scout16]

Entertainment

There were three production shows on these legs of the cruise, The Hollywood Musical, Rockin' Soul, and Dance To The Beat.  All the shows were well done and well performed but there were few songs which really were my type of music.  I am the Simon and Garfunkel and Peter, Paul and Mary type and I understand that there is little chance that these will ever make complete song and dance shows.  

The special performers were Duo Esencials (a violin player and a Flamenco dancer did two wonderful shows), Ruben Vilagrand (a magician who did the first show as a mime and spoke during the second show), Dave Kristian (he did two comedy shows), Lisa Lawton (she did two concerts with opera to popular music, this is more to my preference), A celebration of Song and Dance (this was not a full production show but had the singers, dancers and lounger performers, again this was more to my preference), Broadway in Concert (this was a very good presentation by the singers of Broadway songs which were mostly familiar to me), and finally Jonathan Jacobs ( a cast singer who did a mostly solo show).

The lecturers were rather good and mostly on target with the ports and areas we were visiting.  The lounge performers were Austin Ray in the Observation Lounge, he did music from the late forties to the eighties with some comments on the histor of the songs and original performers.  His audience was mostly well behaved and some even got up and danced while he played the piano and sang.  The Glitter Duo Veroa &Talo did what I would call disco and their audience was talking loudly which hurt the performance for me.  I only was in the Voyager Lounge the night when it was too rough to have any performances above deck five so I do not know if there was normally and passenger dancing.  The Regent Signature Orchestra did not exist, it either was a duo or a trio and appeared to mainly do jazz unless they were with a singer.  I do not recall ever seeing them on the pool deck but this may be due to most of the days being port days and the rest being rough weather.  

[tripperva]

Are all those air travel problems worth it?

[asnaleah]

We were onboard with you, disembarking in Southampton. Fantastic service, really. The Covid quarantine wasn’t my favorite part of the cruise, but I was treated very well. 

[mrstanley]

It’s a shame you weren’t on United Airlines direct flight from Dulles to Barcelona.

Did you get your luggage?

Lucky you didn’t miss boarding the ship.

[Scout16]

My luggage arrived the next day as we were leaving the first stop following Barcelona.  This is the adventure of travel but in the long run I trust Regent to see that it works out.