An Adventure on The Voyager

[DeepFreeze63]

 

We leave tomorrow evening for a B2B on the Voyager from Lisbon to Cape Town with return on 12/22. This includes a 3-night Regent pre-cruise excursion and 39 nights on-board – our longest cruise. I am starting this thread but, should some more extensive thread start (with photos and menus), I’ll piggy-back on it.

We have had this cruise booked since 11/2020; developed a well-edited/modified set of notes (11 pages); and already experienced several “adventures”: do we have enough blank pages in our passports; do we need malaria meds; can we get Yellow Fever vaccinations; and, oh yes, also Regent “forgot to make payment for our return flight in time” so the airline cancelled it (Regent got us an acceptable substitute). I expect more interesting events as several of the African ports haven’t had cruise boats since before the pandemic and I have tracked only 2 ( German) cruise lines with 3 ships in southern African waters as yet this year.

 

I just checked in for our non-stop flight from Dulles to Lisbon on TAP’s Airbus 321neo. We are using Star Alliance FF points going and Regent Air for return home. TAP has a spotty reputation but so far so great!

 

Have spent hours on You Tube and TripAdvisor researching the aircraft, Lisbon (although, it is our 4^th visit), and various ports. We’re taking 4 suitcases and 2 carry-ons, the most luggage that we have ever taken! We know from our 2 earlier 2022 cruises on the Voyager that we’ll need to store some stuff in a suitcase under the bed. The standard cabin (F) on Voyager has a terrific walk-in closet but sleeping/living area storage is minimal. The bath has plenty of storage (drawers and shelves) for personal sundries. We use the tub as a clothes hamper; we send out laundry almost every day.

 

Happy to run down any questions that you have but expect very spotty internet will delay responses.

[RachelG]

Can’t wait to follow along.  Very jealous!

[HotRoot]

TAP ticket agent stole our credit card.  We had paid for bags but she insisted we pay again.  Said OK and we will argue after the trip.  The credit card machine did not work there so she had to go to a different desk with our credit card in hand.  Later at the hotel the credit card company contacted us.  Our card was used all over Heathrow airport.  We denied all charges.  The bad thing was they cancelled our credit card so we had to travel without it.  It all worked out.  We did not even have to protest the bags charge.  They lumped it with the stolen credit card charges.  Will never fly TAP again.

[Snore42]

TAP = Take Another Plane

[RJ2002]

Looking forward to reports on this great B2B.   Enjoy!

[irishwitchy]

Have a great trip!!!  Looking forward to your comments. 

[forgap]

Can’t wait to follow along!  We booked this itinerary for 2024.  I’d love to see your notes and your “lessons learned”!

[bitob]

We will be on voyager in January, boarding Cape Town.  I’d love to hear about lecturers and entertainment 

 

we board splendor tomorrow for our first regent cruise. Voyager will be our second. We were crystal regulars until….

[Gilly]

10 hours ago, RachelG said:

Can’t wait to follow along.  Very jealous!

Me too!

 

[GoNavyFamily]

5 hours ago, forgap said:

Can’t wait to follow along!  We booked this itinerary for 2024.  I’d love to see your notes and your “lessons learned”!

Hi... Are you on the Nov 12 2024 Lisbon to Capetown?  That would be such a coincidence since we sailed with you on the Panama canal cruise  in January, and we are also on this cruise! 

[forgap]

14 minutes ago, GoNavyFamily said:

Hi... Are you on the Nov 12 2024 Lisbon to Capetown?  That would be such a coincidence since we sailed with you on the Panama canal cruise  in January, and we are also on this cruise! 

Yes!   Small world, isn’t it?  We have two booked for 2023, too.   Buenos Aires to Santiago on January and London to Barcelona in September.  

Edited November 8, 2022 by forgap

[makai 7]

Good luck with TAP.  They “forgot” to put our luggage on the flight from Newark (back in 2022) when we were heading to Lisbon for our first TA on Seadream.  Had to purchase clothing in Lisbon at El Corte Ingles as luggage never arrived.   Fortunately, Sea Dream facilitated search for our bags.  One arrived in Madeira.  Other one showed up in Palm Beach at the end of the cruise, missing all items of value, anything with a logo (eye glass case) all men’s shirts (with monograms!) pants, jackets, etc.  all that was in the bag was men’s underwear, socks, sneakers, and spare eye glasses.  They even stole the toiletry bag.

 

we did manage to get reimbursed by our travel insurance.  The airline only pays a few dollars per kilo.  We learned three lessons:

1.  We always cross-pack now so we have clothing even if one bag goes missing.

2.  We can enjoy a cruise with next to nothing to wear, and if other people are offended they can look at someone else.

3.  We will avoid flying on TAP .

[ssawjo]

We will see you in Lisbon and onboard.  We leave tonight.  Yes, it was an experience about malaria pills and yellow fever vaxes.  But really no big deal.  We are flying British Air Phoenix-London-Lisbon.  The connection in LHR is tight so timing is everything.  

 

Safe travels everyone.

 

Bill and Kathi

[1982CruzStart]

We did Lisbon to Cape Town in 2019 on Explorer. I look forward to hearing about your trip to compare with ours. Have a wonderful time. 

I don't remember having much trouble with the internet as Flossie and I did a joint thread on the trip with lots of pictures and commentary posting everyday. 

[captjohn]

2 hours ago, ssawjo said:

We will see you in Lisbon and onboard.  We leave tonight.  Yes, it was an experience about malaria pills and yellow fever vaxes.  But really no big deal.  We are flying British Air Phoenix-London-Lisbon.  The connection in LHR is tight so timing is everything.  

 

Safe travels everyone.

 

Bill and Kathi

Hi, we leave on Thur. with what I think is the same flights as you but at least the connection is in Term 5 ! Have a good time in Lisbon. J&C

[briar14]

We leave Thursday also. Charlotte-Munich-Lisbon. See you onboard. Safe traveling to everyone. Jan & Dave

[ssawjo]

Well, just received an email from Regent stating that our visit to Lome, Togo, on Nov. 27, has been cancelled due to changes in visa requirements.  They say they are looking for a replacement port.  We'll see.  

 

Bill

[ssawjo]

1 hour ago, captjohn said:

Hi, we leave on Thur. with what I think is the same flights as you but at least the connection is in Term 5 ! Have a good time in Lisbon. J&C

We have to get together and talk Arizona.  We like the Oro Valley area but rarely get down there.  See you soon.

Bill and Kahti

[captjohn]

6 hours ago, ssawjo said:

We have to get together and talk Arizona.  We like the Oro Valley area but rarely get down there.  See you soon.

Bill and Kahti

Yes- We only get to Tempe? Anyway give us a call when on board  our suite # 720 John & Christina

[DeepFreeze63]

we’re at the Lapa Palace hotel on the Regent pre-cruise tour(about174 of us). Beautiful property! Arrived at LIS at 5:15 AM. Had a VERY NICE direct flight on TAP- Yes really. I’ll post about the flight in the Sticky above in this forum.

Had to wait about 30 minutes for our luggage. Regent reps were waiting; saw our baggage changed us into a private van. 
Wewere the first of the day to arrive and immediately got a beautiful rom overlooking an extensive garden surrounding the outdoor pool and the river -way to go Regent. The hotel is in a residential area; on the same street as the Chinese Embassy and around the corner from the U.S. Embassy.

The Regent local contractor appears to be very efficient; we,ll see how they handle this big group.

 

 

[DeepFreeze63]

Fun but chaotic day! Group overwhelmed the breakfast venue as half the tables were set up on a patio- beautiful but- Brrrr outside.

Morning tour was 34 “tuk-tuks” , 4 passenger, electric, open-air. Vehicles. Had “whispers”. Our diver got separated from the main group on the downtown portion, so we winged it. Got back to the hotel (an oasis) about 2; now preparing for a group dinner with Fado.

[DeepFreeze63]

Monday AM. Am now aboard the Voyager, my home away from home - great to be aboard after the CHAOS of the pre-cruise excursion. Venues and events were great BUT the hotel and the Regent contractor were not prepared to handle a group of about 150. Transport to/from the hotel involved using 1 14 passenger van (nice but small) to get downtown to board a 40 passenger bus.

 

As embarkation was easy as our "morning "tour bus reached the port at 3:30. Process was very efficient with emphasis on passports, proof of vaccination, and Yellow Fever vaccination card (or waiver). No one looked at our Regent Boarding Passes!

 

Public areas of the ship looks great but our F cabin is in need of refurbishment soon. Lots of new crew from when we were on the Voyager 6 weeks ago. John E is the CD and Ugo is the GM. We shared a table in Prime7 last night; very tasty meal and very enjoyable conversation (2.5 hours) with couples from London and from Oslo. Very nice international feel to passengers; CD said there are 150 Brits aboard.

 

[makai 7]

Glad to hear your flights went well and you have a good start to your cruise!
One burning question… do they have cronuts? 😊

[Turn 8A]

Yes to cronuts. 

[DeepFreeze63]

On 11/13/2022 at 9:21 AM, makai 7 said:

Glad to hear your flights went well and you have a good start to your cruise!
One burning question… do they have cronuts? 😊

Yes, as noted by Turn8A. Maitre'd La Verandah said "but only periodically".