LovesPurple Posted December 5, 2023 Author #26 Share Posted December 5, 2023 Yesterday was our first port day - Puerto Plata. My included excursion (a city and fort tour that turned out to be a shopping tour) was disappointing, but the town is lovely. (I pause here to note that most of the Regent excursions are good to excellent, this one was an anomaly). For people with limited mobility, please be aware tour buses drop you off about 1 km (0.6 mile) from the actual boat and you walk through a nice area of shops and a lazy river. Food continues to be excellent on board - dinner again at Sette Mari. We also had the Regent block party - at 6 pm everyone goes outside of their suites, the attendants pour wine and canapés and some of the officers come by. It’s a nice tradition and fun to meet our neighbours. On the downside, our toilet stopped flushing for a while today. It was fixed within a few hours - apparently the Mariner has a particularly sensitive plumbing system and this isn’t uncommon. The internet is a bit slow this morning (probably because we are late into port and everyone is online). I’ll do a speed test later and post the results. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Avery Posted December 5, 2023 #27 Share Posted December 5, 2023 Sounds like our cruise on Mariner last month. Repeated toilet issues in various sections of the ship. The only other complaint was tendering. Fortunately we only had one tender port, St. Barts, but the delays, crowding, and the very cramped seating on the boats used would make us look twice before booking lots of tender ports. Food, service, and Penthouse Suite all very nicely done. Bon Voyage 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeb_bud Posted December 5, 2023 #28 Share Posted December 5, 2023 20 hours ago, CJANDH said: Articles in the press state that Starlink Internet has been installed on Mariner as the first of Regents fleet to get it. It is not clear if it is up and running now or will be switched on in January for the World Cruise. Can anyone confirm? Starlink was up and running in October. Download speeds were consistently in the 1-3.5 Mbps range through a VPN. Compared to the sometimes zero Mbps performance I all too often saw on previous Regent cruises this was pretty good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pcardad Posted December 5, 2023 #29 Share Posted December 5, 2023 I've seen a couple dozen Speedtest numbers from M and G....the max seems to be about 4mbps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight_Buffet Posted December 5, 2023 #30 Share Posted December 5, 2023 Thanks everyone for the internet updates. Guess I would be streaming my 4k movies 🙂 Just wanted to make sure I'd be able to keep in touch with folks.. I'll pack my patience. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travel-or Posted December 5, 2023 #31 Share Posted December 5, 2023 1 hour ago, Midnight_Buffet said: Thanks everyone for the internet updates. Guess I would be streaming my 4k movies 🙂 Just wanted to make sure I'd be able to keep in touch with folks.. I'll pack my patience. Off topic but your gif that matches your username is absolutely hilarious !! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_dylaness Posted December 5, 2023 #32 Share Posted December 5, 2023 On 12/4/2023 at 11:34 AM, irishwitchy said: That is because you are a man. <mic drop> I hope your spouse includes this feedback about the speaker on the post-cruise survey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camillus112 Posted December 5, 2023 #33 Share Posted December 5, 2023 1 hour ago, the_dylaness said: <mic drop> I hope your spouse includes this feedback about the speaker on the post-cruise survey. I am a Puerto Rican woman...many said pretty in my youth...but I would not like my Island to be highlighted for this banal fact. I hope he talked about our culture, history, architecture, etc. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LovesPurple Posted December 6, 2023 Author #34 Share Posted December 6, 2023 Day 3 was our second port = San Juan. My spouse went diving and I stayed on board to have a massage - treatments are pricey, but very good! And a lovely use of cruise credit. We have a significant amount of on-board credit and I will be using more than half - we asked as reception if I can use my husband’s credit and they said yes as we only have one credit card on the account. I’m not sure if the one credit card is mandatory, but I recommend it if you are using on-board credits like we are (I go to the spa on board, he goes diving 🙂 ). Other than the buffet at peak times, Mariner never feels crowded - sometimes we are one of only 2-3 couples in a bar/lounge in the evenings! Dinner was at Compass Rose and was delicious with great service. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJANDH Posted December 6, 2023 #35 Share Posted December 6, 2023 Can you please let us know who is the Cruise Director on Mariner right now and if he/she will be staying for the next (Holiday) cruise. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LovesPurple Posted December 6, 2023 Author #36 Share Posted December 6, 2023 2 hours ago, CJANDH said: Can you please let us know who is the Cruise Director on Mariner right now and if he/she will be staying for the next (Holiday) cruise. Thanks. It is currently John and I’ll ask at trivia if he is staying on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight_Buffet Posted December 6, 2023 #37 Share Posted December 6, 2023 LovesPurple - I'll be on the cruise right after you. I've been on Regent before but it was a while ago and I don't remember if the coffee connection has any vanilla creamer? If not I'll bring my own. Not sure how I'm supposed to survive without it. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcandkc Posted December 7, 2023 #38 Share Posted December 7, 2023 When we were on Mariner last month John said he would be on for awhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LovesPurple Posted December 7, 2023 Author #39 Share Posted December 7, 2023 Yesterday was a great day, other than the continuing toilet issues. We were at St. Barth’s, a tender port, my spouse went diving (for any divers reading this, the diving is excellent) and I stayed on board. Had a lovely lunch at Compass Rose, relaxing afternoon by the pool and then we had an exceptional dinner at Chartreuse. The toilet issues are very problematic though. Both yesterday and this morning, the whole ship was out for a couple hours each time. Not a working toilet on the ship during those times. No announcements or explanations. I didn’t have a tour scheduled today but most of the morning tours were canceled because drivers didn’t show. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_dylaness Posted December 8, 2023 #40 Share Posted December 8, 2023 On 12/6/2023 at 7:16 PM, rcandkc said: When we were on Mariner last month John said he would be on for awhile. Sounds like they could really use him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcandkc Posted December 8, 2023 #41 Share Posted December 8, 2023 9 minutes ago, the_dylaness said: Sounds like they could really use him. We had a good 16 night cruise on Mariner. Yes, we did have toilet issue one day but cruise was full of friendly people and staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenzSailing Posted December 8, 2023 #42 Share Posted December 8, 2023 10 minutes ago, the_dylaness said: Sounds like they could really use him. Oh, that is so arch I'm envious. Aren't you on GR 12/21? Let's have a drink, I like your roll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_dylaness Posted December 8, 2023 #43 Share Posted December 8, 2023 (edited) 9 hours ago, KenzSailing said: Oh, that is so arch I'm envious. Aren't you on GR 12/21? Let's have a drink, I like your roll. Thanks 😉 I'm actually on Grandeur 1/8 but I'm stalking your roll call because of the port issues. Otherwise, sure! Edited December 8, 2023 by the_dylaness typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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