Tsunami74

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

Tsunami, sounds like an amazing trip. Out of curiosity, how much time are you allowing for this adventure?  And how many changes in stay location?  

Oh my!  We are just in the process of assembling "must see" places.  When we complete this, we will determine how many days we need in London, then in Edinburgh.

We hope to stay in one central location in each, but that may have to change.

Next decision would be whether to take the train back to London, from where we can get a direct flight home or to fly out of Edinburgh with a connection.  Decisions .....

Thank you to all who have given feedback on this topic. It is very much appreciated!

I think we have decided to do a do-it-yourself land tour with London base, and then take train to Edinburgh to use as a Scotland base. (If anyone has thoughts on the train from London to Edinburgh would appreciate those also!)

Will save Ireland and Wales for another visit. 

We eventually would like a circumnavigation cruise around Great Britain to see less known areas, but not start out with it.

Thank you to all who have given feedback on this topic. It is very much appreciated!

I think we have decided to do a do-it-yourself land tour with London base, and then take train to Edinburgh to use as a Scotland base. (If anyone has thoughts on the train from London to Edinburgh would appreciate those also!)

Will save Ireland and Wales for another visit. 

We eventually would like a circumnavigation cruise around Great Britain to see less known areas, but not start out with it.

Perhaps asking on a cruise site may be a biased place for opinion, but not sure where else to ask.

We are ready to see Great Britain.  The circumnavigate cruise around Great Britain goes to several ports/places we have never heard of or know next to nothing about (Portland, Cork, Fishguard, Isle of Man, Isle of Bute, Oban Ullapool, New Castle, Great Yarmouth)

Are these ports something wonderful to see, or just a fill in place as you sail around the island?

The question is - for a first (although at our age, perhaps only) visit to Great Britain, would it be better to just go to the major cities by plane or train - London, Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh - and take tours of the cities and surrounding countryside instead of visiting a different small port each day.

(Full disclosure, I am also asking on another cruise site that has different ports offered)

Perhaps asking on a cruise site may be a biased place for opinion, but not sure where else to ask.

We are ready to see Great Britain.  The circumnavigate cruise around Great Britain goes to several ports/places we have never heard of or know next to nothing about. (Kirkwell, Hebrides, Killybegs, Hollyhead, Cork, Guernsey)

Are these ports something wonderful to see, or just a fill in the place as you sail around the island.

The question is: for a first (although at our age, perhaps only) visit to Great Britain, would it be better to just go to the major cities either by plane or train - London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin - and take tours of city and surrounding countryside instead of visiting a different small port everyday.

(Full disclosure, I will be asking on another cruise site that we are also considering that has different unknown to us ports included)

1 hour ago, Nitrodog said:

9034 should be fine noise wise. Cabins on the deck above and below yours. We were in 9114 a month ago and had no issues at all.

We always are careful to book a cabin with only cabins above and below.  It seems as if the noise problem is mostly coming from next door or even the hall.

We have been blessed to be on many cruises and stays at resorts, but have never had any noise problems. (Of course, did in cheaper hotels)  I cannot believe that we have always been lucky to have quiet people around us, so it must have been the sound proofing.

This is apparently lacking in at least some of the cabins on Vista.

We are booked on an up coming Vista cruise, but are concerned about complaints of noise and lack of sound proofing in cabins.

Being in such a cabin would ruin the cruise for us. Considering cancelling.

The problem seems to be different in different areas.  Has anyone been in or near cabin # 9034 on the Vista and can comment on noise level?

Thank you all.  Good to see there are choices

2 minutes ago, nancygp said:

Have your ta contact seabourn

Is there a name for this ? (like Regent has a pre-cruise package)

2 minutes ago, nancygp said:

yes

How does one find about this?

2 hours ago, Capri73 said:

We are doing the same cruise.SB has a 2 night in London with transfers Dover.We decided it was easier to do that.

 

Is this an add on?

We are considering a London to London cruise on the Sojourn.

The port is actually Dover.

For those who have been on this type of cruise, is it difficult to go from London to Dover (with luggage at hand) ?

How did you do it?

48 minutes ago, Colorado Coasty said:

You just pay the additional amount when you book.

Do you know it you can use on board credit for this?

We have $300 each in Simply More excursion credits.

A possible 3 excursions we picked would add up to $320.75

Can we just pay the $20.75 that is over?  Or use OBC?

Or do we have to somehow only choose excursions that add up to less than $300 each?

49 minutes ago, jeb_bud said:

Was your Pittsburgh to Houston flight in coach or first class?  Same airline all the way or different airlines?  

First to Houston.

Same airline to Australia (United Polaris business)

And yes, it is $125 for not being in a gateway city - would always have that surcharge deviating or not.

I have read on this forum that if your domestic flight connects with an international, it is first class for domestic leg, and it has been for us. However, I have not seen that in writing officially.

10 minutes ago, MELSMOM47 said:

Did they fly you from your city or did you need to get to a hub on your own?

From our city 

For example in January we flew Pittsburgh/Houston/Sydney.

One stop from Pittsburgh to Australia is pretty good.

We have used Regent airfare several times from a non gateway city without any deviation and have had pleasing results. Could not have picked better route ourselves. Maybe we are just lucky.

2 hours ago, Mike Moore said:

Hi @flossie009 - I’m afraid that I can no longer provide you all with any assistance, as last month my time with Regent came to an end. It was my pleasure to help the CC community over these past 15 years, and I wish you all fair winds and following seas! 

Oh no!

Thank you for all the assistance that you have provided us.

Good luck in the future!

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

 

I will highly recommend Uniworld River Cruises for a trip on the Nile and Cairo. They take security seriously, conduct great tours, and the food is overall better than on Oceania. They also have a pre/post cruise extension to Petra.

We agree with this!

Excellent cruise and pre/post hotel and tour.

On 2/16/2024 at 7:06 PM, Sthrngary said:

@ak1004 We are on the same page.  That is the reason I have passed on Regent Seven Seas, Ritz Carlton, and Crystal.  When the value does not meet the price, I pass.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

At this point in our (relatively long) lives, when we fly long distances, we really appreciate (or I might say "need") business or first class flights. Otherwise, it would take 2 days to recover from a 10 hour + fight.

So value wise, Regent always comes out on top for distant cruises  

From our non gateway city, adding business air to Asia on even a Princess cruise makes it more expensive!

Otherwise, for a Caribbean cruise in/out Miami - both Oceania and Regent are great choices.

4 hours ago, WanderingBrit said:

“Safe” is the perfect way to describe Viking food; it’s generally competent but not very creative. 

I couldn't agree more!

We do much enjoy the more "creative" (for lack of a better description) on Oceania. For example, the pea vicchyssoise, sea bass in puff pastry, lobster gnocchi.

We do not get to enjoy this kind of fare on any other ship. We love it (and remember fondly), but admit it is not for everyone who might better enjoy a steak and potato.

We will be in a pent house suite on the Grandeur in April.  This will be the first time that we will have a butler.

Having been pleased with the room steward service on previous cruises, we are not sure what a butler would add.

Would anyone like to enlighten me as to what to expect?

13 hours ago, Sachasmom said:

If I can ask, what is the average group size on the pre/post cruise tours?

This can vary so much!

We were on a post tour out of Hong Kong to Xian China and there were less than 20 people.

We just got back from a post tour in Singapore with about 350 people!

The small group was excellent.

The Singapore group was handled about as well as could be done. However, we almost always went in the same order and our group was almost always last 😟 (but still a good experience)

Oceania and Regent are the two lines we use - just got off the Explorer.

The whole dining experience on both lines is excellent. Service comparable.

However, we feel Oceania ranks higher food wise. Both have very good food with very few misses,  but Oceania has some truly memorable meals.

Examples: Red Ginger vs. Pacific Rim, the miso sea bass at Red Ginger over the miso cod at Pacific Rim; the duck water mellon salad offered at both, it is much better on Oceania. Several dishes at Oceania's Jacques: the pea vichyssoise (so much depth of flavor), the scallop gnocchi, the sea bass wellington for two. On no other ship have we had such dishes.

We also appreciate that the buffet at breakfast and lunch on Oceania is all served by attendants (no touch by passengers).  This was true even before covid. Just seems to be more sanitary (although I haven't really seen anything egregious on Regent)

We just write out request and give to room attendant when he/she comes in to introduce.

This seems to work, but ours are very simple requests