SusieQft

I had this app loaded on my phone for my recent Dec/Jan Splendor cruise, and it did facilitate logging back on when the wifi periodically kicked me off.  But it did NOT work for Passages,  menus, or "more" as advertised on its home page.  I probably should have inquired about this at the IT desk, so I don't know if he could have helped.

Sounds great.  I sure would like to figure out how to make this happen for us.  We have 130 nights with Regent and it is still a major struggle to get our beverages of choice.

2 hours ago, DaveFr said:

We just got on the Grandeur today. There was diet caffeine free Coke in our suite. We did not order it pre-cruise but have ordered it in the past. 
 

Dave

We're the previous and current cruises in a butler level suite?

The shareholder OBC does not conflict with Amex.  Some of Regent's special offers do, though.  I think I lost an Amex credit with the Black Friday special.  Often my TA's consortium offers an OBC in the same amount as the Amex, and I can have one or the other, but not both.

17 minutes ago, rcandkc said:

I’m confused.  It says it cannot be combined with any other offer.  So, if you already have some obc, is it worthless?

I suggest that you go ahead and request it anyway, as soon as you have made the initial deposit.  I have never had it turned down.  I have "other offers" on most of my bookings, and also the shareholder benefit.  For some I have added the recent Black Friday offer after the shareholder benefit was in place, and the shareholder OBC did not go away.  I'm not sure if I could have added the shareholder benefit afterwards, because I have not tried that.

Where I have had difficulty is with the Amex OBC offer, which seems to be incompatible with other things more often than not:  consortium OBC offers (generally for the same amount), Regent offers, etc.  The Amex OBC will go away if you add an incompatible offer after the initial booking.

I agree that the laundry service is a major plus for sailing on Regent.  I just did not want people to expect it to always be back in less than 24 hours.  Realistic expectations will avoid disappointment.

32 minutes ago, GOARMY said:

Or, on ALL Regent ships we have been on:  In when leaving for Breakfast; back either before leaving for a pre-dinner cocktail, or upon return from dinner as part of the turn-down service. 

 

There have been a few exceptions, but never a time gap exceeding 24 hours.  

 

GOARMY!

This was not our experience recently on Splendor.  Laundry out before 6:30 pm was back sometime after 6:30 pm the next day.  Always more than 24 hours, usually by just a bit.  But laundry out ~9 pm was back sometime after 6:30 pm two days later, about 46 hours.  Maybe if we were not going to dinner at 6:30 it might have been back before dinner, but I doubt it.  It came back with our evening turndown service while we were at dinner.  I'm pretty sure we never put it out in the morning, but I don't think that would have gotten back any faster than the night before.

Good luck.  You can probably get some sort of sugar free Coke.  Diet Coke is very iffy, if that distinction matters,  depending on where in the world you are.  In my experience, getting it caffeine free is extremely difficult, even when requested in advance.

5 hours ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

Sorry to be confusing.  There are 4 elevators in the forward section on every deck.  There are two elevators aft on every deck except 5.  One bank of forward elevators only on deck 5, which leads to the logjam.  As you say, the theater is in the forward section, and this leads to the long waits.  Thanks for responding so I could hopefully clarify.

I presume you are talking about Vista.  Splendor (and I presume also Explorer and Grandeur) have the same issue.  The aft elevators do not go to Deck 4, so unless you sit in the balcony on Deck 5, you have to go up one flight of steps to avoid the congested forward elevators after any event in the Constellation Theater.

The weather in Alaska can be very unpredictable.  On our first Alaska cruise (late June and early July), it was very cold (with some rain but not constantly) and out of necessity we bought some fleece jackets at the first opportunity.  The next time (late May and early June) was sunny and much warmer, and Seabourn's jacket was really overkill and unneeded.  Our last Alaska cruise was in late September, and it was raining and foggy nearly every day, but not as cold as our first time in July. I would be prepared for rain and cold, but hope for better, regardless of when in the season you go.

What about on Regent's Grand Arctic Voyage?  I'm sure some of those ports will need a warm jacket!  I am tempted to bring the one Seabourn gave me on an Alaska cruise.

10 hours ago, mrlevin said:

Carol, thanks.  When I learned of the fine print that said applicable to cruises of less than 60 nights I knew this wouldn't help me as I have three GV booked.  There is also something in terms and conditions that says this doesn't apply with reduced deposits which I would think refers to the onboard booking reduced deposits.

That is pretty sneaky, IMO, since they promote the onboard bookings to have a lowest price guarantee.

On Splendor Buenos Aires to Rio this January, there were a number of truly awful excursions.  For example, starting an hour late, then a 2 hour bus ride, 20 minutes at a different less interesting museum than the one in the tour description, skip the cathedral because we were behind schedule, then 2 hours back to the ship.  We did a couple of other tours almost that bad in that segment as well.  Most of the tour guides were totally obsessed with getting us back to the ship at the scheduled time, even if it was long before all aboard.  That seemed to be far more important to them than the quality of the tour, and that emphasis came from Regent.  Several of the guides mentioned that they would be significantly penalized if they did not get us back on schedule.  Starting on time was not a high priority, though, resulting in some abbreviated tours.

For the first several ports of the next segment, Regent provided each tour guide with 2 evaluation forms to give to random guests, asking that we return them to destination services on the ship.  More forms were available on board if anyone else wanted to opine.  The tours we took that used these evaluation forms were all pretty good, so I am sure they got a lot of positive feedback.  My impression was that they got a lot of complaints during the previous segment, so they decided to actually ask for some feedback.  

I don't know how often destination services does this, but it is something that they have done on at least one segment.

3 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

Hmm.... what's happening in Nov.? 🤣

Cancellation penalties!  Final payment for the Voyager "Grand Spice Route Quest" is due on Oct. 26, 2024.  We were booked on it but recently decided to move our deposit to something else instead.  It looks like a great itinerary, but we did not like the uncertainties involved.

Lucky me, most of my losses were repaid by American Express.  The remaining $2,000 of very old admin penalties-->FCDs was paid by my travel insurance.  Of course then I was unable to carry that insurance policy forward to another trip, but we'll ignore that loss.

My travel insurance company insisted that I file a claim for the $2,000.  Their thinking at the time was that then Moecker would pay them back what they paid me.  I could not see that happening, but I did comply with their instructions because I wanted my $2,000.  The form included a spot for the name of my insurance company, and in due course my claim was appropriately rejected.  So in the end all this accomplished was some extra work for Moecker, me, and the insurance company.

It is good that Moecker is doing their due diligence, although unfortunately that can be very challenging in cases with multiple losses, and some partial reimbursements from credit cards and insurance.

The mid-cruise hand written surveys are easy to fill out and just drop in the box at reception.  I use those to mention names I want to recognize, and also for any specific issues that I know they can address quickly on the ship.  I know that the individual crew members hear about any positive or negative feedback. Complaints result in a large furor of apologies, meetings with managers, and occasionally an actual remedy of the situation.  (Sometimes the remedy is not possible when supplies are not on the ship.)

DH is more diligent than I in jumping through the hoops to complete the digital survey.  We collaborate to make sure we give recognition to all the crew members who have done a great job for us in some way, and it is always a long list.

I got disgusted with it after spending a lot of time on it, saving it to complete later, and then trying to finalize and submit it early in the morning before disembarkation.  That was too late, and all my work was wasted.  You have to submit it the day before disembarkation, not that morning even though you are still on the ship.

On Splendor this past Dec/Jan in F1 (no butler), if we got our laundry out before the evening turndown, it was always back the next evening with the turndown service.  If we got it out just after dinner (we usually ate at 6:30) or the next morning, it came back 2 nights later with evening turndown.  The only time it came back just under 24 hours was when DH had his sport coat dry cleaned.  Our room steward came rushing to our room with it at almost exactly 6:30, because he knew (without being told) that DH would want to wear it to dinner.  THAT is Regent service!!

I would like to know why they don't publish any information about the Crystal Society on their website.  That sounds to me like they have not decided on the milestone rewards, and they might not be the same as before???

Regarding the snorkel boat steps, the DD staff did try.  He went in the back to inquire of someone and the answer was "a ladder at the back of the boat."  There are a lot of different kinds of ladders on boats, though.

And yes, I do expect them to be able to find specific answers to questions.  They can always contact the tour operator if they don't know.  On another line the staff more frequently go on the excursions, and they have first hand knowledge available.

On 3/4/2024 at 9:30 AM, Chateaunole-du-pape said:

"The tour is not available to wheelchair guests and may not be suitable for those with mobility concerns who are cautioned to carefully evaluate their personal level of stamina and ability."

I have to say, this is one of my biggest issues with the shore excursion descriptions.  The vast majority of shore description excursions have the above sentence.  Many also have the one that says not for people with neck or back problems. I have all of the above, except thankfully the wheelchair, and there are many excursions with these descriptions that I have no problem with.  Others are beyond me, but from their descriptions, I cannot tell in which category that excursion falls.  There is no sliding scale of just how bad it will be.  The narrative descriptions of the amount of walking and steps are more helpful, but often just totally wrong in both the pdf and the online descriptions.

I totally understand @hkparadise's frustration.

There are very few sitting and "one man" excursions, none in many ports, and of course since I can do more, I usually want to.  There is a huge amount of overlap between the 2 man and 3 man excursions.  I have been on 2 man ones that were probably more than I should have attempted, and also on 3 man ones that I thought were quite easy.  I DO read all the descriptions, but they are not as helpful as I would like.  It is not unusual for them to change in the onboard list, and I read that, too.  I have changed my excursions a number of times based on the onboard description.

In my experience, the onboard destinations staff have not been able to answer my specific questions.  For example, I love to snorkel and have done a lot of it over the years.  Some boats are easier to get on and off than others, and there are some that I can no longer easily navigate on and off.  The staff was unable to give me a clear picture of the types of ladders on the excursion boats.  As a result, I have very sadly decided that the uncertainty involved is just not worth it to me any more to book those excursions, even though I know that many of them would not be a problem for me.

On 3/19/2024 at 4:43 PM, SWFLAOK said:

I'd like to hear more about the gastrointestinal distress on Regent. After tasting the caviar onboard Regent once, we didn't want to try it again since it was rather fishy, and I don't like fishy at breakfast. But if they aren't serving it due to gastrointestinal distress, that makes me worry about having a more widespread problem onboard. Is there a Regent ship other than Voyager who has had norovirus/covid protocol onboard this year?

In my case, it was on Splendor.  They did not go "code red," and I do not know if it was norovirus.  I blamed mine on foolishly drinking some fresh fruit juice from a glass on an excursion in Panama, and the timing supports that, but not from the Brunch in my case.  I reported it to the medical center, and the doctor just asked both my husband and me to stay in our cabin that evening, and we could go out again the next day if we felt okay.

My comment about a "lot of gastrointestinal distress" was based on a remark by the doctor and also overhearing conversations about other guests staying in their cabins on their own initiative.  And perhaps a bit of projection, once I was sensitized to the issue.

It had nothing to do with the caviar.  I was referring to the special Sunday Brunch in Compass Rose as a possible source of GI issues (due to poor guest behavior at the buffet tables), not the caviar which is offered every Sunday in both Compass Rose and La Veranda.  Any time there is a self serve buffet, it increases the risk of disease transmission. 

On 3/14/2024 at 9:35 PM, RELS said:

 

It's not on every sea day Sunday. We had a sea day Sunday on Splendor in January, and there was no big brunch. No big brunch at all on that 21-day cruise, which was a bit disappointing

They did Sunday Brunch 3 days before you boarded. I suspect they don't like to repeat the Sunday Brunch just two weeks later, when you had a Sunday sea day.  There were a lot of people on both segments for the Grand Voyage.

Also, there was a lot of gastrointestinal distress on board, so that may be another reason they did not repeat it so soon.

I would not expect to be able to double dip the CFAR and the 100% FCCs you would get it you cancel more than 180 days out.  There is nothing to stop you  from waiting until less than 180 days to get the 75% (or less) cash from the insurance instead.

If it is not a new booking, you won't be able to get CFAR.  Even using EI "money" might prevent that, depending on the company.  The older you are, the more expensive the insurance. 

You can go to tripinsurancestore.com and use their "side by side comparison" link to see the cost, coverages, and options for your trip from a number of different companies.  If the trip cost is >= $25,000 per person, there will be a lot less choices shown.

We usually booked below PH level, but the one time we were in what is now a Serenity Classic Aquamarine, I thought there was an outlet in the bookcase next to one side of the bed???