Regent toiletries

A couple of questions here....

I understand that there are "new" toiletries on the Explorer. A "new" flavor of L'Occitane for the lower suites and I don't know what's in the upper suites. Does anyone have any comments on what's offered? Good, bad, ugly, etc.

If, in fact, there are "new" flavors, are these being offered on all of the other ships, or is this just for the Explorer?

I've enjoyed the L'Occitane Verbena line, but disliked the shampoo. A kind hearted "upper cruster" gave me some of the Hermes products a couple of years ago. Oh happy days! WONDERFUL STUFF!

Mud hen, on Voyager last week, we had the normal Verbena L'Occitane products, except for shower gel, which was a l'Occitane 'flavour' I didn't recognise and can't find on their website. Maybe they'd run out of the Verbena and were using the new one? Sadly I'm allergic to both the L'Occitane and the Hermes products, so I had to manage with my own Jo Malone

Recently on Mariner it was the new l'occitane Mer and Mistral, a blue colour range full set of toiletries and in place of the Hermes it was full range of the Geurlan toiletries. If I am honest I did not like either choice. I did ask about the old L'occitane range and our stewardess said this is the new replacement and the Hermes is also gone for good too. Both are quite strong fragrances. Jean.

Jean, you got it - the L'Occitane shower gel was clear blue-ish colour, in a more up to date packaging and was very likely Mer and Mistral. It must be tricky identifying a suitably "exclusive" brand with a reliable, regular supply and non-gender-specific fragrance, but it's a shame to say farewell to Verbena. Here's hoping one or other is free of MIT (methylisothiozolinone) and I can take an extra pair of shoes instead of my own toiletries!

Gilly I like your style. I also take my own toiletries, I just don't seem to travel light. I don't know about the contents of the Geurlan products, they are also quite a strong fragrance, not one I would buy for personal use. I notice when reading other boards some cruise lines offer a comprehensive choice of products. I am happy to take my own with me. Jean.

A couple of questions here....

I understand that there are "new" toiletries on the Explorer. A "new" flavor of L'Occitane for the lower suites and I don't know what's in the upper suites. Does anyone have any comments on what's offered? Good, bad, ugly, etc.

If, in fact, there are "new" flavors, are these being offered on all of the other ships, or is this just for the Explorer?

I've enjoyed the L'Occitane Verbena line, but disliked the shampoo. A kind hearted "upper cruster" gave me some of the Hermes products a couple of years ago. Oh happy days! WONDERFUL STUFF!

If I have something special in our suite, I'll share;) I enjoy L'Occitane products and by the time I became used to Hermes, they decided to change. I assume that the brand(s) would be the same on all ships but the only way to know for sure is to hear reports from other ships. I did see something unique in the Regent suite (and a couple of other larger suites) during out tour but do not recall was it was at the moment. I'm only mentioning it so perhaps you'll ask me about it when we are onboard.

Speaking of soap and hair products, people are always asking about the strength of the hairdryers onboard. The first time I used the "new" hairdryer on the Explorer, it melted (guess that means that the heat is strong:-) When I received the replacement I made sure not to put it on hot and high at the same time.

Speaking of hairdryers, on Voyager last week, the (powerful, contemporary) hairdryer which was supplied with our suite would not plug into the vanity unit so I could sit and dry my hair. The cable comes out of the bottom of the plug and the socket is pretty close to the vanity top. When I asked our housekeeper about it, she said that everyone uses them only partially inserted, at an angle. It's hard to describe without a picture, but imagine the plug being in at the top but very much out at the bottom. Now, bearing in mind how powerful these things are, I said I wasn't happy using it that way, that it was unsafe and she shouldn't use it like that either, for her own safety. She brought me an old hairdryer which plugged in securely but had the power of a mouse's breath, so for the rest of the cruise, I had to make do. But tell me, is this 'normal'? I hope that, on Explorer, someone thought of this and indeed, when Voyager is in dry dock, such an issue is resolved!

The only alternative socket we could find to plug in the original hairdryer was where the coffee machine plugs in. That'd be fine (we don't use the coffee machine at all) but drying my hair without a mirror? Could have scary results!