charltonkerry

It was a cruise of a lifetime, but all I will say is that the final compensation package went a part way to our grand cruise in 2026 which happily replicates all the ports we missed in ‘23 and then goes the other way round Australia and up to Japan. I just thought it was a little unfair to appear to blame Explorer and its crew when in my opinion it was an error in Miami office. We have been on 3 regent cruise since then, and we have got over the incident and even have a laugh about with crew members we have come across who also where on board.

It was the last section of a grand cruise, it should have been Sydney to Auckland, but turned out to be a 15 night boomerang tour of the Tamsin sea. Because the Explorer didn’t have the correct certification saying the hull was clear of all foreign matter, this requirement of New Zealand came into force just before Covid struck and then wasn’t enforced until 2022. So basically it meant we weren’t allowed into New Zealand waters, but at the last moment New Zealand relented and allowed us to dock in Auckland and re provision and new passengers where allowed on, for the next cruise which also then run into a similar argument. That basically it, as I said it had nothing to do with the ship Explorer, but the senior management on board didn’t perform that well, an example was the cruise director daily update saying he would inform us of exactly the situation and as he was speaking the ship had changed direction 4 hours previously and we were heading back to Australian waters to attempt the nearly impossible cleaning of the ship hull whilst at sea (which was carried out but failed New Zealand inspection). From memory we boomerang the crossing of the Tasmania sea 3 times. 15 days without setting foot (might have been 12) land is long while. The staff all done a magnificent job, with shows and entertainment being altered and put on daily, the food was magnificent although we did run out of lemons, so had to have lime in my gin and tonic. In the end Regent did a great compensation package, note I said in the end because some earlier ones where how can I put it politely unacceptable and it was the closest I been to a mutiny by the passengers, apparently my suggestion of keel hauling the captain and thus cleaning the hull was deemed a little bit excessive 😀

We were also on that cruise, agree initially that regent management was terrible, but eventually the came up with a good compensation package, however without in my opinion a satisfactory explanation of why the situation occurred and that was the fault of Regent head office and not the fault of the ship or crew of Explorer. Explorer is our favourite Regent ship and as someone described it much more subdued than Splendor. As it was my life long ambition to see New Zealand despite the January ‘23 cruise we have now booked the 61 day “grand Asia” grand cruise for January ‘26 so hopefully we will finally see New Zealand and Tasmania.

No sorry I might be confusing people, it’s can be in items such as stir fry, they use I believe a crayfish sauce, never was stopped using any of the sauce you state,

No, but that my fault as I can’t stand picking my meals 24 hours in advance, so that was the compromise we came to, also importantly the menu does not highlight the hidden ingredients such as fish sauce. As I say Regent couldn’t be more helpful, but as I said I’m allergic to anything that comes out the sea, it isn’t because I don’t like fish, if that the case then I don’t think Regent would be so obliging.

They tend you use different fish sauces even on the non fish food, which you only find out when they check with the chef because of my allergy. In all fairness Regent does a wonderful job keeping me safe, to such an extent on a 70 night cruise they allocated a waiter to check with the chef every night and then tell me what I could eat, most being blatantly obvious, but things like a meat stir fry would have caught me out as it included a fish sauce.

This is of great interest to me, putting it simply I’m allergic to anything that comes out of water, in pacific rim that means I’m down to 1 starter and 1 main course as the others are fish or have a fish sauce in there ingredients. My wife loves going to the restaurant but frankly I’m bored with no choice, it would be nice if they would make something that I could eat, in compass rose the chef occasionally cook me a no fish, spicy stir fry which is tremendous, I’m wondering if pacific rim would be as obliging. Mind you we are going on Friday, so it might be an idea just to ask myself,

Ysolde, Our son’s who is joining this cruise at San Juan documents states ‘San Juan pier 4 east”, but got the normal caveat that this could alter at the last moment. Like you, our documents hasn’t got any details showing which dock,

Re the grand cruise question, this situation you are suffering is different to the grand cruise / cruise to no where, for many reasons, we were on this grand cruise so we know the situation, and the circumstances, although not from Regents perspective. This is an unofficial / personal version which does not up agree with Regents assessment, once you get to the end you might understand why. A bit of preamble. A law was passed by New Zealand and Australia in 2018 that all ships entering their waters had to be certified that all debris had been removed this was to be brought into force at the start of 2020, when Covid was at its height and no one was sailing. It all started to go wrong long before we reached Australia even, we should have had the keel cleaned in Bali, prior to entering Australian waters (this differs from Regent statement, but we learnt this from various unofficial sources on board) but for some unknown reason it wasn’t undertaken. Australia were somewhat flexible and we had the keel inspected, I believe at the first port, then we started to hear rumours that there could be problems when we entered New Zealand waters as a few other ships were not being allowed in. On news years eve / news years day, ports started to be cancelled and we were told told that the keel was to be cleaned in a special area out at sea off Tasmania. This was done and took a couple of days, we were the allowed to dock at I believe Adelaide were the keel was inspected (we were allowed off for a few hours, the last time we got onto dry land for 15 days). Inspection was carried out and we departed for New Zealand, thinking oh well we only missed Tasmania and the New Zealand fjords, but we were calling in all the ports. No after 2 days, with no notifications we noticed the sun started to change position, we were turning and heading back to Australia as the cleaning process had not passed New Zealand requirements. Anyways for another 10 days (roughly) we were ether stationery having the keel cleaned or boomeranging between Australia and New Zealand via the Tasmanian sea. New Zealand finally accepted that we were in trouble (certain items were running very low ie there were no lemons for gin and tonic) It was debatable if we could make if to Auckland so the decided we could just sail to Auckland (we had flights book, and it was the last destination of the Grand cruise (and a major change over port for staff and guests, and a restocking point for the ship). it’s was our opinion that either Regent had dropped the ball and forgotten or ignored the fact that the keel had to be cleaned, but you can imagine regent didn’t agree with this, there explanation frankly didn’t match what we were told unofficially on the ship by many crew member. Sorry about how long the above is but I thought I ought to explain why I started off by saying it was a different circumstances. We had many offers for free cruise credit, which we all complained about, but eventually they did the gentlemanly thing and offered a full cash refund for that section of the cruise. Which obviously we accepted (and spent on another Regent cruise). It’s my opinion that we all (every guest on the ship) got the full refund was because some one within the Regent organisation cocked up massively.

As per the Uk government, UK citizens do not require a visa for holidays along if the stay is less than 90 days. We just return from Turkey after a weeks holiday and travelled without a visa.

I have an anything that comes out the sea allergy, why has been stated above is absolutely correct, the only safe place to eat is compass rose. Just something to remember we were on a 70 night cruise and I worked out that I lost about 50% of the menu with my allergy, so around the halfway mark, I had a very little moan about this as I had more or less gone through the whole menu of non sea menu (I was surprised at how much meat option contained fish sauce such as stir fry) and our waiter got the big boss over, he offered to cook anything I wanted along as he had 24 hour notice, I like a spicy stir fry (without fish sauce) so I asked for a non fish stir fry, they concocted the best beef stir fry I every had, only problem it wasn’t quiet spiced enough, next time it was perfect. What amazed me was when I spoke to the chef to thank him for looking after me at the end of the cruise, I asked what was done with the left overs, the reply was the meal was only cooked for me, once I had eaten anything left over was thrown away. You haven’t to worry along as they have the ingredients they will cook whatever you want, they just need 24 hours notice. Oh and another thing we had booked some culinary course, I wasn’t allowed to attend these after conversation with the chef as they couldn’t guarantee my safety, but I had heard a whisper that this might not be the case now, so it might be worth checking. My wife who loves fish, had fish for the whole 70 nights as we can’t have fish in the house, she love her cruises for that reason. It is important to let Regent know of your allergies, they will try to get you to select your meal 24 hours before.

Like you we were surprise at Jennifer response as anyone from Regent seemed to disappear into the ether when were on the. Grand cruise from Istanbul to Auckland that ended up yo yoing around the Tasman sea for 14 days finally getting off in Auckland, yes Regent was fair and refunded the full cost of the 14 days, however we always wanted to visit New Zealand and living in England it’s not an quick an easy place to get to. Anyway a couple of days ago we decided to have another go at seeing New Zealand and hope not foolishly, we have reserved a suite on a grand cruise from Auckland to Tokyo in early 2026. We are hoping that regent will give us some confirmation that a similar series of let’s call it ‘misfortunes” don’t occur again. But we are not holding our breath.

That was my thoughts exactly.

After the misadventures of our grand spice route cruise last autumn through to mid January this year where all the ports in New Zealand were missed for well documented reasons. We have decided to try again to see New Zealand so have advanced reserved a suite on the grand Asian exploration departing Auckland 12th January 2026. Thought I should warn everyone just in case you want to cancel or not book as lightening can strike twice.😀😀

We have been on explorer twice already this year (and we are also doing the grand cruise with you) and you only had Chablis (our favourite) in one of the speciality restaurants, and I’m certain that Chardonnay was readily available throughout the ship. We are not wine buffs but we normally having the house selection. Like you I would be interested in a list of senior staff. You never know we see you at the pre cruise meal.