GeorgiaPeach Sails the Atlantic on Navigator

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Well, I dithered about whether to attempt this again, given the erratic nature of the Wi-Fi on board, but I’m thinking it might be tolerable since we are sailing up the East coast to Canada.  Time will tell!  I’ll give it my best shot.  On two cruises I have so far resisted the urge to throw my iPad off the deck, so I will go for three in a row.

 

This cruise begins in Miami on May 5 and ends in Montreal on May 20.  So, warm weather to cooler weather.  As usual, most of my clothes are hanging on the bedroom fireplace mantel, having been yanked out of the closet a few at a time every time I spied a likely culprit that might cover a 20 point temperature spread.  Sigh.  Stay tuned on that.

 

This will be the smallest ship we have ever sailed and I am really curious to find out what we think.  In previous trip reports if you followed along, you know that we rolled right along and had no issues falling in love with the sizes of Explorer and Splendor after the comparatively gigantic E class ships on Celebrity, our former favorite cruise line.  Turns out that was just a silly crush, but expensive….and we are fickle and now totally smitten with R.

 

That is not to say that we think R is perfection, but we frankly don’t expect that anyhow.  If you don’t know us from prior reports, we are on the easy to please side.  Totally thrilled to be able to cruise and boggled that we are able to sail a true luxury line.  Most things are not worth getting in a knot about and we only complain if we feel something is egregious.  We will sometimes send food back if it is not up to par, and staff is always eager to make us happy.  We sometimes send a drink back if the first taste makes our eyeballs spin due to two drinks worth of an ingredient in one glass.  If an excursion causes us dismay we report it to Destination Services.  We just try not to get upset with little stuff, so we don’t.  Lord knows there is enough going on in the world to get upset about and not drag angst along on vacation.

 

So, I will report as honestly as I can without hiding flaws or concerns.  I’ll try to answer questions if I can, but know that I’m learning Regent along with you!

I am absolutely unconcerned about others on the ship offering their observations on this report.  Feel free to hop in.  The more the merrier.  I decided on the last report to post a picture of myself just so I could meet people on the ship, and that was a success.  Last cruise we met lots of nice people who introduced themselves when they recognized me, so I’ll do that again once we start to travel.  If you’re on the ship, please say hi!

 

We leave oh-dark-early on Thursday morning and I’ll come back before then to tell you the Traumatic Tale of the Lost Luggage, and why we will be leaving so early.  
 

Joanie

[irishwitchy]

Enjoy!  Wave to me in NJ as you sail by.  What are you doing in NYC? 

[doncarlos]

DonCarlos here down 515-I 575 from u in Canton for the Summer . I have also been on the Roll Call with U so look f'ward to meeting . Flying to MIa Thur afternoon and they [ regent } has us at the Biltmore . I have not done Regent before and am looking forward with open mind , I must say , however , that all thees relatively last minute changes without explanation give me cause .......

[GeorgiaPeach51]

1 hour ago, irishwitchy said:

Enjoy!  Wave to me in NJ as you sail by.  What are you doing in NYC? 

@irishwitchy We are doing the same as we are with you….waving as we sail by!  We don’t stop there and we start in Miami and end in Montreal, and fly home from Montreal.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

@doncarlos Hello, neighbor!  We live up the road in Big Canoe.  Looking forward to meeting you!  I have to say that we’ve never seen so many changes on Celebrity, where we have a lot of experience, nor did we see anything near this on our previous two R cruises.  So, I am puzzled, but just waiting to see what they have to say about it.  In our brief experience, R is very responsive to most concerns.  At this point, since it is so far removed from my realm of influence, I am just letting it go out of my mind and not wasting energy on it.  Perhaps it is a perfect storm of odds and ends that have made these things happen in a big bunch.  We will see and can report back to our eager readers once the mystery is solved.

[2012_Alaska_bound]

So looking forward to your posts.

[rcandkc]

We love Navigator…been on her many times…but coming from Explorer and Splendour there will be an adjustment.  Give yourself some time to get in the small ship mind before making any opinions. 

[forgap]

7 hours ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

 I have to say that we’ve never seen so many changes

I’m curious about the changes you mentioned.  Changes to the itinerary? to tours?   To staff? 
 

i have enjoyed your previous reports and I look forward to this one. 
 

jennifer

[Anchorbuoy]

37 minutes ago, forgap said:

I’m curious about the changes you mentioned.  Changes to the itinerary? to tours?   To staff?

 

See "Another itinerary change for Navigator" thread.

 

This sailing's itinerary is swiss cheese from schedule changes.  Even the pre-cruise hotel was changed.

[Kwaj girl]

We're onboard now and will continue until June.   We are on 7 - just look for our door plaques. Navigator has always been our fave....boutique 🛳 ship, so to speak.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

@forgap here is the initial itinerary…and the changes, as I understand them, in caps. I hope this formats correctly when I post it.

 

Miami.  Sail at 7 pm

Great Stirrup Cay, 7-6.  NOW FREEPORT, 7-6.

Port Canaveral…..8-6.  NOW 8-7

Fernandina Beach. 8-6 NOW JACKSONVILLE 7-5

Charleston.  7-4.  NOW 7-2

Sea

Hamilton. ARRIVE 2 pm. NOW ARRIVE 6pm

Hamilton/St. George.  Depart 6 a.m.  Arrive St. George 8 a.m., Depart 3:00 p.m. 

Sea

Halifax. 11-7.  NOW ARRIVE 11:30

Sydney. 11-7.  NOW 12-7

Corner Brook. 11-7.  NOW 11:30-7

Sea

Saguenay, 12-8

Quebec City 9-7

Montreal. 7 a.m.

 

So,  unless I have lost track of some, the major changes are the loss of Great Stirrup Cay to Freeport (unless you are a fan of Freeport…we are not);  the loss of Fernandina Beach to Jacksonville (we were looking forward to FB, Jax not so much); the lost afternoon in Hamilton, the two hours lost in charming Charleston.  The changes in the Canadian stops are negligible, by just an hour.  We gained an hour in Port Canaveral, so that’s a plus,

 

Our hotel changed from the Brickell to the Mandarin Oriental, which has to count as a BIG win in my book.

 

There have been several changes and three cancellations to our scheduled excursions.

 

My reaction to all this is to shrug and carry on being excited to go.  As I said previously, it is out of my realm of influence so “What ya gonna do.”  We will probably stay on the ship in Freeport and Jax, having been to both many times and having no need to go back to retrieve anything left there….😘. Two extra days relaxing and being waited on, and no laundry or cooking or driving or anything except doing as little as possible is a great vacation to me!

 

 

[NCCruzQueen]

1 hour ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

@forgap

 

My reaction to all this is to shrug and carry on being excited to go.  As I said previously, it is out of my realm of influence so “What ya gonna do.”  We will probably stay on the ship in Freeport and Jax, having been to both many times and having no need to go back to retrieve anything left there….😘. Two extra days relaxing and being waited on, and no laundry or cooking or driving or anything except doing as little as possible is a great vacation to me!

 

 

 

 

I like your positive attitude, @GeorgiaPeach51  See you Friday!

 

Beth

 

[GeorgiaPeach51]

@wishIweretravelling and @NCCruzQueen 

Looking forward to seeing you both on the ship!  We are excited, but I haven’t put anything in my suitcase yet.  I keep circling around it as it sits in the bed, and so far today I am even avoiding eye contact.  🙄🙄

[Steve Q]

We will also be sailing with you. We were looking forward to a beach day at Great Stirrup Key. Hopefully, there will be some sort of beach excursion in Freeport. Not sure yet as Regent hasn’t announced any excursions.

I must say that we have been on many cruises, but none that have had changes like this. Last year, on our Transatlantic crossing, they substituted Nassau for Hamilton. Regent did, however, explain that it was because of bad weather. There has been no explanation provided this time for any of the changes.

We booked this cruise while on our last Explorer cruise. We are very excited and looking forward to a great experience.

[wishIweretravelling]

If you go here https://www.rssc.com/cruises/NAV230505/summary and click on Freeport, you can see a list of typical offerings in Freeport. It doesn't distinguish between Regent Choice and included excursions, but does show a couple of beach excursions.  Destination Services should be a total zoo that first day.

 

@GeorgiaPeach51 I look forward to cruising with you again,

[GeorgiaPeach51]

@Steve Q Looking forward to meeting you!  We can share impressions about Explorer vs Navigator.

[ON cruiser]

Thanks for starting this thread, GP. We “almost met” on Splendour last Fall (transatlantic); thought I spotted you but did not wish to intrude.

 

DW and I are looking forward to boarding Navigator Friday, and anticipate a nice cruise notwithstanding the many itinerary changes (about which I do believe we are owed an explanation). 
 

looking forward to meeting many—I walk with a cane, baldish late middle aged guy (hmmm, that may not narrow it down sufficiently 😀). 
 

we arrived in Miami last night—staying at the Marriott Biscayne Bay, nice hotel. It’s very hot (90 F.) and sunny. A welcome change from chilly Toronto!

[RachelG]

Looking forward to following along on your trip.  I think you and I have much the same attitude--will call a spade a spade but not get too worked up about.stuff that is our of our control anyway. 

[NCCruzQueen]

5 hours ago, ON cruiser said:

Thanks for starting this thread, GP. We “almost met” on Splendour last Fall (transatlantic); thought I spotted you but did not wish to intrude.

 

DW and I are looking forward to boarding Navigator Friday, and anticipate a nice cruise notwithstanding the many itinerary changes (about which I do believe we are owed an explanation). 
 

looking forward to meeting many—I walk with a cane, baldish late middle aged guy (hmmm, that may not narrow it down sufficiently 😀). 
 

we arrived in Miami last night—staying at the Marriott Biscayne Bay, nice hotel. It’s very hot (90 F.) and sunny. A welcome change from chilly Toronto!

@ON cruiser  I was on the Splendor transatlantic last fall, too.  We may all remember each other from that cruise.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Well, I just slammed that sucker shut and zipped it for the last time, dragged it to the scale and it weighed 43 pounds!  A new record for sure.  Of course, I also have a carry on that weighs 140 pounds but never mind about that….

 

I wasn’t going to take a carry-on but learned a tough lesson the last vacation we took, which was a family ski trip to Park City, Utah.  This is The Traumatic Tale of the Lost Luggage I mentioned previously.  Long story short, the tale is in the title.  Just saying, hard to do a ski trip without ski clothes.  We arrived at the Atlanta airport 2.5 hours before the flight and the lines at Frontier were not to be believed.  We were traveling with our granddaughter and when we got to Park City her suitcase appeared and ours did not.  It stayed gone the whole week of skiing, and put a serious damper on the trip.  I spent hours and hours trying to communicate with the good (not) folks at Frontier to no avail.  
 

Would you believe it when I say that our suitcase stayed gone for 28 days and on day 29 a United Airlines employee called to say she found our suitcase sitting in a big storage facility somewhere in the back of beyond at the Atlanta airport.  She was searching for a person’s bag and happened to turn her head and see our suitcase sitting there with its’ REGENT CRUISE luggage tag and take it upon herself to call us!!  Someone had apparently yanked all the tags off except that one, which was, of course, buckled on.  Then the suitcase was pitched into THE PLACE LUGGAGE GOES GO DIE AND THEN BE SOLD TO THE PLACE IN ALABAMA.  If not for her, God bless her, taking the time to call us, it would have stayed long gone.

 

We’ve had luggage go missing and then be delivered, but this was the first time we truly had a lost suitcase.  And it was a royal pain during the trip to be without everything on the vacation, and then at home every time I reached for something, it was in the suitcase, and I had no mascara or tweezers or socks or sneakers or my favorite sweater, on and on and on.  Drove me nuts.

 

So I have a carry-on so I can survive if it happens again, and we are leaving in order to be at the airport THREE before the flight.  Fooled us once,  but not again.  When you consider all the travel we have done, even when Rolf, my husband, was in the Air Force for 21 years of travel, we are really blessed to have only lost one suitcase.

 

Anyhow!  Wooohooo!  See you in Miami at the Mandarin, if you are there.  Otherwise, will see you on the ship.  Safe travels to everyone!

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Miami!  Beautiful weather, low 80s with a nice breeze.  Traffic was kind, as was TSA, so it was effortless and with zero stress.  Most importantly, two people arrived and so did their bags!

 

We did not use Regent air so had no transfer from airport to hotel, but we will have one for tomorrow to the ship.  Taxi from airport to hotel was $35.

 

At the hotel, there were two R reps in the lobby.  Their Hospitality Desk is open 11-7 on the day prior to sailing and 9-2 on the day of sailing.  They gave us a sheet with the following info…breakfast for R guests is in a 5th floor ballroom from 7:15-9:15.  Have suitcases ready to go and lined up at the door.  They will begin pickup at 8 a.m.  You don’t have to be in the room.  We did this before when we sailed out of Barcelona and it worked like a charm.   So lovely to not bag drag.  Makes me feel special!  Be in the lobby at 11:00.  Board the bus at 11:15.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  

 

Here are some photos of the Mandarin Oriental.  Just lovely.  We had a late lunch/dinner at around 3 at the pool bar.  Rolf had the lobster sushi and I had the truffle grilled cheese sandwich, and we split a salad.  It was all very good, but I need to get back in the habit of photographing food for you!  We both had an excellent margarita, and yours truly, being such a lightweight drinker is ready for a nap already.  Good grief.  

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Lovely room.  Nice view.  Sliding door into the bathroom. I highly recommend the Mandarin, and it is a big improvement over the previous hotel, The Brickell, I believe, according to posts on CC.

[Mudhen]

LOVE the Mandarin. Their bathrobes are to die for!!!

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Well, I promised a photo so you will know us if you see us, and can come say hi!  I figured the background might make up for the foreground!

[marne-c]

Thanks @GeorgiaPeach51 for this play -by-play.  My wife and I were on the Navigator for 28 days last fall on a trip up the Amazon River.  Keep her warm for us — we’ll be back in August for a North Sea itinerary out of Copenhagen.

 

—Marne