mountaindoc358

We will be in Boston on the Grandeur in September on the segment from BCN to NYC and would like to bring a relative on board to view the ship and perhaps have lunch. How do I arrange this with Regent.

We were on the Gorah/Shamwari double safari in Dec off of the Voyager and thought it was wonderful. We had a 5am disembarkation for a 6:30 flight to Port Elizabeth. We were allowed a 50# checked bag per person on the flight and Regent transported our emaining luggage to the hotel for storage. There were 8 of us on the tour so the group could all do the game drives together. The transport to Gorah was great in a private vehicle with guide/driver. We had 4 game drives at Gorah and then transferred to Shamwari Long Lee Lodge (the most luxurious of the lodges on property) for the afternoon game drive. We left Shamwari at 5am (with breakfast box) for an early flight back to Capetown. We missed the morning game drive on the last day and I thought they could have booked a later flight for us, especially since we were on our own after we got to the hotel. The lodges were both wonderful and had watering holes next to the lodge to watch wildlife during the day. Food was fabulous and service was great. You can view Shamwari on Netflix (Shamwari Untamed series). We paid $3679 pp through Regent (after our 25% discount for Titanium) plus tips to staff at the lodges. It was promoted as a 6 day excursion but only 4 nights in lodges, the last night in Capetown. I had
contacted a local travel agent in Cape Town (rhinoafrica.com) and was quoted $6300  pp for 5 days in Kwandwe Ecce Lodge including flights to Port Elizabeth and transfers to lodge, but no transport to CPT airport. We loved the safari, a highlight of the cruise, and would do it again with Regent. 

Review of Vorager suite 812 from November.

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I used air tags on my bags sent via luggage forward for the grand Arctic adventure in June on the Navigator. I followed my bags to a storage facility in Brooklyn and then transferred to the ship. It was great peace of mind knowing where my luggage was. Worked very well. 

I’m currently on Navigator third segment of the Grand Voyage and current number of guests is 299 according to staff. 

I was able to upload a picture on my ipad and the state automatically loaded in the payment section. Neither would work on chrome or Edge on my PC computer. Strange glitch in the system. 

The site will not upload a picture I took for a previous cruise as well. Also the state dropdown menu is not working. Tried both people in suite. Not a good sign for Regent.

This is my choice for nicest presentation- chocolate indulgence at Pacific Rim on Splendor.

Here is the Compass Rose menu from the Splendor Thanksgiving cruise in November.

Covid testing this morning. Although they offer pcr as well as antigen (rapid) testing, only those whose destinations required pcr testing were able to get it, the rest of us Americans got the rapid test. Only took 25 minutes and very organized. Email results came 1 hour later and hard copy to come tonight. We went through immigration in Puerto Rico so disembarkation should be quick. Embarkation was easy in Athens (1/2 hour) and I heard no complaints from Barcelona boarders. It has been a wonderful 26 days. Mask restrictions have been off since we left Spain. We only had 490 cruisers from Athens, then up to 600 this last segment, so lots of staff attention. We are sad to leave. 

Restrictions have been changed to CDC guidelines rather than European guidelines as of this morning. Masks are optional as is social distancing. Buffets are self serve now and bar stools may be used at the bars.  No Covid cases reported on board that we have heard about. 

puI boarded in Athens- very easy- 20 minute wait for the Covid results. 45 minutes from arrival at port to boarding ship. Measures due to covid- no self serve at buffets, masks to be worn at all times except in cabin, in gym , and when eating or drinking. Masks on excursions but we can walk around town on our own. There is a hand washing station at La Veranda but just liquid disinfectant at other venues. No block party and no share tables, although groups may sit together. Internet is slow- ok for browsing but they have an internet package for $10/ day that allows streaming ( can’t stream movies or podcasts with std free internet. Thanksgiving dinner was done very nicely. See photos. Just under 600 people on board, 490 last segment. Lots of itinerary changes at the last minute so be flexible. 

All the Italian ports were lost due to Italian rules of not allowing anyone in that had been to Turkey. That would be Sicily, Naples, Rome , and Tuscany. Monte Carlo had been replaced  earlier with Villefranche. Then Mytiline was eliminated after a maritime strike. Wow! The current itinerary is below. Boarding was easy-45 minutes  including 20 minutes wait for Covid test. No self serve- wait staff serves everything including at coffee connection. Great cruise and fabulous ship so far. I’m ecstatic to be back on board Regent after a 2 1/2 year hiatus. 

Regent just canceled Lesbos, our 1st port due to the strike. We are staying overnight in Athens. Hope the rest of the cruise goes smoothly. 

I just booked an excursion from Villefranche, the alternate port for Monaco which was closed on the upcoming Splendor cruise from Athens to Miami. I had previously booked the excursion to Rothschild estate which was free when the ship was docking in Monaco but I was upset to find the same excursion was now a Regent choice excursion costing $99 from Villefranche. The description of a Regent Choice excursion is as follows on the website:  In addition to offering FREE UNLIMITED SHORE EXCURSIONS on every voyage, for those intrepid explorers who wish to delve deeper into a region’s culture and history, we offer REGENT CHOICE SHORE EXCURSIONS in each destination. The unique and one-of-a-kind content of these popular excursions require a highly discounted supplementary charge to partially offset the cost of their more extravagant nature.

The Rothschild estate is 3 miles from the Villefranche port and costs 15 Euro admission. Foe me, this does not meet the criteria for a Regent Choice excursion, especially since it was offered free when the ship was docking in Monaco. The trend towards charging for more excursions is quite evident here. 

We were on segments 2 and 3 of the 2017 World Cruise on the Navigator. We did note some circles of friends that seemed to do things together but we like to do share tables and found no shortage of world cruisers that were sharing with others. By the end of our segments there did seem to be more established "cliques". Overall I didn't notice any world cruiser "elitism" if you want to put it that way.

19 hours ago, boblerm said:

My thanks to all that have been sharing their memories and photos of Regent days gone by.  What wonderful memories!

 

Drib- great stuff, I especially appreciative your heads up about the Cliffs of Insanity in San Remo, will make a mental note to steer clear should I find  myself there.

 

kjbacon, I must confess, I have never indulged in the cheese offerings.  So now, the question is, if I have the cheese, what do I leave out?  Or do I leave out nothing and only let out my waistline? 

 

mountaindoc358, the Song of Flower is a new one on me.  The ship looks very different than today's Regent ships!

 

My sanity is starting to come back but only slowly.  Keep the posts coming!

 

Here is another of my Regent favorites-  for me, the crown jewel in the treasure trove of Prime 7-

 

(cue choir music)-

 

The Caramel Popcorn Sundae

 

Song of Flower was one of 2 ships owned by Radisson Seven Seas Cruises. It had only 226 passengers and was sold in 2003 to a French company. Lovely picture of the popcorn sundae!

19 hours ago, boblerm said:

My thanks to all that have been sharing their memories and photos of Regent days gone by.  What wonderful memories!

 

Drib- great stuff, I especially appreciative your heads up about the Cliffs of Insanity in San Remo, will make a mental note to steer clear should I find  myself there.

 

kjbacon, I must confess, I have never indulged in the cheese offerings.  So now, the question is, if I have the cheese, what do I leave out?  Or do I leave out nothing and only let out my waistline? 

 

mountaindoc358, the Song of Flower is a new one on me.  The ship looks very different than today's Regent ships!

 

My sanity is starting to come back but only slowly.  Keep the posts coming!

 

Here is another of my Regent favorites-  for me, the crown jewel in the treasure trove of Prime 7-

 

(cue choir music)-

 

The Caramel Popcorn Sundae

 

Song of Flower was one of 2 ships owned by Radisson Seven Seas Cruises. It had only 226 passengers and was sold in 2003 to a French company. Lovely picture of the popcorn sundae!

Great idea to go down memory lane. Our first Regent cruise was on Song of Flower in 1996 for 10 days Athens-Santorini-Rhodes-Ephesus-Delphi-Cephalonia-Taormina-Sorrento-Capri-Rome. What a trip! 

Song of Flower pool deck

Santorini

Song of Flower in Rhodes harbor

Cephalonia

Taormina

Capri

Be well and good memories!

The Embla suffered a generator failure and had a temporary generator placed on the Sun  deck in late August before we boarded 4 September. We are now in. Budapest and are told the ship cannot go beyond Passau due to the height of the generator. We are leaving the Embla in Passau and will stay in a hotel for 2 nights doing Regensberg and Nuremberg tours by bus. Then bus to join a sister ship to continue our cruise on the next day. The Embla will need a new generator which has been shipped from US and will be back in service after that. This is is disrupting our cruise but Viking is trying to be as accommodating as possible. 

We are traveling from Bucharest to Amsterdam on Viking Embla. The Embla could not reach Giurgiu on September 4 to pick us up due to low water. We had to be bussed a further hour upstream to Lom to board. As there is no rain forecast for the near future so the river level will continue to drop. The Embla can travel in water greater than 6 ft so check the draft on your boat. 

Bill- thanks for your work. Here is my review for the mariner on the Tokyo to Vancouver trip in April-May.

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We have skipped the port of Petropavlovsk as others have mentioned due to weather and we are proceeding north expecting to turn east at some point. See our position on the map screenshot. We are running ahead of a low pressure cell it is likely to catch us when we turn east. This means we have 6 sea days from our last port to Dutch Harbor. We are currently at 37 degrees and 35 mile winds so not pleasant on balconies. Weather is expected to improve according to  Captain Ubaldo’s noon forecast. There are games and lectures as well as bridge instruction on board (Jerry and Marion Fleming) to pass the time at sea. Hugh Neighbor and Karen Dodd have been excellent lecturers. Someone wanted to know about closets and I have included a photo for Veranda suite (G). 6 drawers,  3 shelves (including safe shelf) and a shoe shelf. Hope that helps. Pictures are horizontal since I can’t upload verticals. 

We are joining the Mariner on April 15th through to Vancouver. I am enjoying following along as you approach our embarkation. One question I have since I have never visited Japan. I know there is no tipping in restaurants but do we tip the guides and drivers as we do elsewhere in the world? And can we tip in US dollars or is Yen expected. What amount is generally suggested by the ship travel department? We are doing final packing today for our flight on Thursday- can't wait!

We arrived on mariner until BA as well and were at the meet and mingle this morning with about 12 others plus most of staff officers. Aivo is captain , Nickie is GM ( until Belize), Lorraine cruise director, William is Concierge, Donald food and beverage, Kelly Cochran is chef. The duo is Svetlana and Janos who play dance music at night and we like them. Bridge instructor onboard until Barcelona is Enid and she is an excellent instructor. If anyone coming on has questions, I will do my best to find answers. We had wonderful veal at Sette Mare last night- I recommend it.