loriva

We put it on our butler request form on Explorer and it was waiting in our fridge when we boarded in Sydney. If not in a Penthouse, I've also emailed Regent Guest Services (GuestRelations@rssc.com) 90 days before sailing with special requests.

No, there is nothing--only the disclaimer statement from Viking I posted. Maybe the credits we receive from our TA are SBC only? (As I said, nothing on the invoice from our first Viking River cruise--but credits appeared when we boarded. Same thing on the invoice from the upcoming trip.)

Only FRA.

Our invoice from Viking, through our TA, includes the following statement "Shipboard credits on this booking, if applicable, are not included in the amount above." We've only been on one Viking River cruise previously, but credit from our TA showed up only when we boarded. We could spend that credit for anything we wanted on board--in our case it covered the vouchers we purchased for a future (the upcoming) Viking River cruise. (At least that is what our end-of-cruise statement showed. Gratuities and the SSBP ended up being covered by optional tours we had booked and paid for in advance that were cancelled and refunded.)

The caveat first: Unfortunately, this is not available to Canadian passport holders. For U.S. passport holders, however, the German Federal Police offers a service whereby you can register to use the eGates to pass through border security as easily as Schengen passport holders. Details on the free service are available on the Frankfurt Airport website: https://www.easypass.de/EasyPass/EN/EasyPASS-RTP/rtp_node.html The only downside is you need to travel to the Federal Police office in FRA to register. The office is outside of security, so you'll have to do the arrival process and then pass through security again to board your connecting flight. We had a four-hour layover when we registered, so it was not an issue. It has worked great on our subsequent connections through FRA.

We will be taking this itinerary in May. We have euros left over from previous travel. The question is some are larger bills. Does the guest services desk on Viking have change? If so, one and two euro-denominations are coins. As the tip suggested by Viking is two euros for the guide and one euro for the driver, will those in the countries not on the euro (everyone except Croatia, in other words) have difficulty exchanging the euro coins for local currency at a bank? On our recent travels, finding an ATM--especially on a shore excursion--has been challenging. Hungary will not be a problem as we're staying three nights before we board. Ditto for Romania at the end. But I don't know how viable this will be in Serbia and Bulgaria and doubt our local AAA or bank will have U.S. $20 of these currencies. Hence, thinking euros is the way to go but worry about the coin issue.

Have not sailed with Ama Waterways, but on Viking there were three nights where we stayed in port late enough to return to the Christmas markets in the evening. Most lines follow similar patterns so you might find the same. Have you tried searching on the Roll Call board? If you can find a roll call from a previous year, you might find some details.

@notamermaid -- Thank you for another year of following the Danube. We'll be setting off for our second sailing on the river--this time downstream from Budapest to Bucharest to complement our previous Budapest to Vilshofen sailing--in May. While I realize your report focuses on the German parts of the river, I always learn so much from your posts. Thanks again,

That is how the Indonesian e-visa works. It is a fussy process. It seems like you can obtain it without setting up an account first, but we (including those who reported on the process on our Roll Call) found not. Set up your account first.

And Concierge and above only allows you to fly in the day before the cruise if you take the included one-night pre-cruise hotel and then you need to depart the day the cruise ends. Those dates shift if you are doing Regent's pre- or post-cruise included tour, if there is one. But any travel dates except those directly tied to the cruise or Regent packages will include the deviation fee (and possibly upcharges if the contracted itineraries do not fit your desires.) Only those who have achieved Platinum status or above in the Seven Seas Society have the deviation fee waived. (Maybe those in Grand Suites and above also have a waiver, but never sailed in one of those so cannot tell you.)

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the signature cocktails Regent has created for each ship. That is my boarding ritual--drink the ship's signature cocktail and get an order of lobster nachos (with extra lobster!) from the Pool Bar and Grill. The RSSC.com menu, https://www.rssc.com/experience/cuisine/pool-grill, doesn't show the cocktail for the Grandeur (presuming that's the one you're on) yet, but here's the EXPLORER cocktail's ingredients as an example: Aperol, Apple Pucker, Pomegranate Juice, Sweet & Sour, Mint. And almost any cocktail from the Meridian Bar will probably fit the parameters you cited. Also, we've found they have shifted to a lot of ice, little booze in the cocktails in that bar, which also makes them a lighter choice by default.

We just had one excursion cancelled (the Tiger Brewery in Singapore is no longer offering tours) and tours for a changed port on our itinerary departing from Sydney just opened up yesterday. I tried to book a replacement excursion for the first excursion when we were notified of the cancellation last week, but the RSSC system would not let me get past the "Confirm your Tours" page--it just kept returning me to that page and would not book the excursion. I asked our Regent agent to try to help and he said he had booked the tour for us, but it never showed up on our excursion summary. (He kept saying we had a conflict with another tour--but we did not.) When I tried to book tours for the port that opened yesterday (Cooktown, AU) I had the same problem. Not sure what the problem with the software was, but I finally figured out a fix. For some reason, the system kept trying to apply some of my OBC to the tours--even though both were included, not extra charge Choice excursions. I noticed an "edit" button on the payment area, clicked it, reset the amount to $0, and tried checkout and then confirm your tours again. And, voila, it worked. Booked the new excursions, received a confirmation email, and they are on my summary. Offering this up in case anyone else runs into this. And notifying @mikemoore of something his team might want to look into. Many thanks,

Did you look at itineraries out of Tampa, Orlando, or Miami? We also have a smaller market airport in FL as our home airport, but find itineraries always involve two stops at a minimum. Also, if you find a non-stop from TPA, MCO, or MIA to a major airport in Europe (FRA, LHR, etc.) the connecting flight to Rome (from Monte Carlo) might be in business class. (Although that doesn't mean the same as first class in the United States.)

I haven't had time to look for a photo, but I recall they did have some sort of seasonal decoration on each table. Nothing big, just a pick in the bud vase or maybe a floral ring around the base. And, yes, there was eggnog!

You might also want to check tour destinations on Google Maps. Some ports are located a long way from the sites, so you'll face a long bus ride. And Regent is not always good on remembering its demographic and including rest room stops. Some buses will have a toilet, but not all. And even on those that do, you'll find it locked and the driver and guide will discourage use unless in an emergency. Destination Services won't know the details of the schedules, but you can always ask the guide when you board the bus--and maybe get them thinking of a stop if none is planned. And another reason to consider an upcharge "small group" tour. Regent does not always pay the local tour companies to include an QuietVox-type system for guides so it can be a struggle to hear what they are saying when in a large group. As others have said, guides are the luck of the draw. Some are great, some not so. Since all cruise lines use local companies, this is not any different from any others you may have experienced. Something that might be, however, is Regent's mid-cruise survey. If you experience any issues, take some quick notes and then put them on the survey sheet you receive in your cabin. Ship management does pay attention to these and respond, although Destination Services remains the department registering the largest number of negative comments on these boards.