Portolan

Not late March. Embark on the 14th (with a pre-cruise land program earlier), so maybe the one before your cruise?

We've eaten in Pacific Rim probably 25 or so times, including a half dozen since cruising resumed. It is hands down our favorite restaurant on the ship or any ship. While some meals have been better than others, all were enjoyable experiences.

I agree with Kwaj Girl: there is no incentive for Regent to change your flights since they've been booked under a contract favorable to Regent. However, stuff happens. We booked our own air for a Regent cruise in Japan next March. We had non-stop flights both ways between Dulles and Tokyo. The slow restart of tourism (and hence flight demand) in Japan resulted in United suspending some of their flights to Japan until late March, including ours. Now connecting through Chicago outbound (could be worse, both Dulles and Chicago have Polaris Lounges which are great). Fortunately, the suspension ends before our return so still on the non-stop. Had we booked these through Regent, the exact same thing would have happened. Likewise, the mess at Amsterdam's airport has required airlines to involuntarily reduce flights so a trip we have there in December is likewise now a connection versus the originally booked non-stop. These types of changes are likely to continue well into 2023.

You'll get a locator number on the air proposal from Regent which can be used to retrieve your reservation. If your TA is on the ball, they will have passed your FF numbers to Regent and the reservation will show up automatically in your account, otherwise you'll need to enter them as jeb_bud notes. Then you'll want to check to seat assignments since they probably aren't the ones you'd choose. Especially on United for domestic flights, you'll be able to choose Economy + seats if you have status. Having dived into the PNR details (not usually visible), I've found that Regent actually tickets the flights about 28 days out, at least for United. That means that your reservation will show no mileage accrual until after ticketing, but not to worry. AFAIK, nobody has reported any issues in accruing the miles.

To add to RetiredandTravel's comment (perhaps for other inquiring minds): the included drinks on Regent cruises exceeds any drinks package that you can purchase on any line that I'm aware of (for instance, on Viking, the drinks package excludes drinks costing more than $15...like champagne). I don't think we've ever gone beyond the included drinks except when we had "use or lose" OBC's and then will seek some aged Scotchs (like >12 years), etc.

The charge, as stated, applies only if you change a name on the air reservation within a year. Otherwise, as I read it, no change from immediately previous policy. Papaflamingo: I believe that the cancellation penalty is the same prior to final payment regardless of whether it includes Regent Air or not.

But, on Regent, you can just see that it's a buffet in La Veranda (very unusual in our experience) and head back to Compass Rose or inquire about no-shows at the specialty restaurants. You'll never be forced to have a buffet dinner.

We put one bottle in each of our bags so they don't knock against each other. Two bottle also being the allowance for bringing in alcohol without paying duties. Never had a bottle break or any leakage even discounting the multiple seals which should contain either event.

We always travel with spill-proof bottle packs similar to these: AmazonSmile | [UPGRADED PROTECTION] 4 Set (8 pcs) Reusable Wine Bags for Travel, Wine Travel Protector, Bottle Travel Sleeve Case For Airplane, Car, Cruise, TRIPLE Protection Luggage Leak-proof Safety Impact Resist: Bar Tools & Drinkware Never had one of these fail. Burying them in the middle of your luggage is also a good idea.

It occurs to me that it is also typically a function of the US versus overseas. Few US hotels (ironically, especially the luxury brands) routinely include breakfast hence the dedicated room or the vouchers mentioned. Most international hotels do include breakfast so no special arrangements needed (you just provide your room number). This is consistent with our Regent hotel experiences, both domestically and internationally.

It varies. On our most recent Regent cruise on August, it was in the breakfast area for all at the hotel. No doubt A function of how may are boarding the cruise at that port.

That address is still valid, at least as recently as May when I used it for an August cruise.

And, to be clear, the reservation counts as their reservation at the restaurant for each of the other couples, as well.

If your excursion was booked through the ship and the port or excursion are cancelled, you get your payment refunded. As I mentioned in another thread, Regent has made the process of how OBCs are handled much easier in that if the excursion cost was in non-refundable OBCs, they will be applied against any other expenses on-board which you may have used refundable OBCs or new money for which, in turn, will be refunded in cash or to your credit card. If you book a private shore excursion, you are on your own unless the operator is sympathetic or, possibly, any travel insurance trip interruption coverage might apply.

Lew: you may know this, but the restaurant is sometimes overlooked in the Polaris Lounges since it's often tucked away to the side. While there is a very nice buffet spread in the main part of the lounge, you can order cooked-to-order food in the restaurant from a small, but interesting menu. Think small plates. Of course, several small plates = a meal. We had a 10 PM departure (by choice) on our flight last month to London and had dinner in the Polaris Lounge because having a full meal on-board at ~11PM wasn't appealing.

Lew: HNL-IAD is not a business class route on United (though you might get a plane with Polaris seats which is United's term for international business class). It's just domestic first class, hence, no lounge. United business class is just on international routes. As you note, that does get you access to United Clubs or (way better) the Polaris Lounges at hubs (IAD, ORD, EWR, SFO). No inconsistency with this policy since HNL-IAD is obviously domestic.

Can't guarantee this for the Med, but on Voyager last month from the UK to France and the Netherlands, they had Euros, but at a pretty bad exchange rate (11% in favor of the Euro when the actual rate was 1-2% in favor of the Euro).

The policy used to be 75 minutes between excursions. I haven't read of a change. Not always correctly implemented on the web site, so you may have to call if it isn't letting you add one less than 75-90 minutes from another.

We're arriving early and staying over with friends so that won't be an option. But I'll look forward to meeting you on-board (noonish for us, as well).

When we sailed on Splendor last March, the time offered for the boarding pass was clearly designed to deconflict with the transfers which arrived ahead of us as independent travelers. Didn't work since the pre-boarding processing was hugely backed up. Similarly, when we boarded Voyager last month using the Regent transfer (to Southampton...doing it on our own would have been quite expensive), we were only offered the set transfer time which, again, seemed to be different than the boarding time offered to independent travelers based on some conversations while on-board. I should note that the pre-boarding process last month was much simpler than March (and June for another Regent cruise) and should continue to converge on the old normal. We always try to arrive as early as possible since we don't feel totally relaxed until we are on-board and enjoying lunch.

Regardless of whether or not the TA OBC is refundable (they usually are), if the total of all your OBCs (regardless of whether they are available before you board) is equal to or less than you pay for your excursions, the new money (when you paid now for the excursions) will be refundable either on-board or to your credit card at the end of you cruise. If the TA OBC and the total OBCs are less than you paid in advance for your excursions, the amount you pre-pay in excess of the OBC shortfall will likewise be refunded. The question about cancellation is (I hope) most easily explained as you'll get any money refunded where OBCs exceed the cost of the excursions your take. The bottom line is that Regent changed this from the older process where you had to be proactive to get to the same end result where any and all non-refundable OBCs will be spent first regardless of their timing.

I think Regent has said that they'll add the ability to cancel previously selected excursions to the web site at some point since it is a waste of both our time and that of the Regent rep to do this manually. However, if you have to cancel an excursion, you can also ask the rep to add the replacement, if any.

And, when you are aboard, your shipboard account will reflect any OBC added after you bought your excursions. If the OBC are non-refundable (most TA OBC are refundable, but Regent promotions or OBC from on-board bookings are not refundable), they will, in effect, be retroactively applied to excursions your already purchased. This used to require some extra effort, but is now automatic. An example my make this clearer: OBC at time excursions are booked = $200 Regent Choice or SG excursions booked = $500, paid for with the $200 OBC and $300 charge to credit card TA refundable OBC = $400 On-board booking credit (non-refundable) = $200 Your shipboard refundable credit will be $600 (the $400 from your TA plus $200 of your previously charged $300 since the $200 on-board booking credit will have been applied, retroactively, to your excursions). Basically, subtract any non-refundable OBC, no matter whether received before or after you buy the excursions, from the cost of the excursions + any refundable OBC and that amount will either be refunded to your credit card or you can cash it out from reception at any time during the cruise.

Our WIFI calling through AT&T has worked pretty well when on-board. If you don't get a good connection, disconnect and call again to (probably) change the routing which may/should/could improve the connection. Voice only, of course. Video calling like Face Time would likely disappoint.

We have quite a few hours of the ship-to-shore phone service (Platinum) and find it to be more solid than VOIP service from AT&T through the ship's WIFI. The WIFI-calling works for in-bound calls and then we return the call, if necessary, using the STS. It was nice to have the hours of STS last week when, the day before we docked in Amsterdam to fly home, Lufthansa canceled our AMS-FRA flight which was to connect with United home to Washington. Spent more than an hour on the phone to get through to, and explore options with, LH...they were useless and would only offer flying us home that day in coach and no solution for the next day in business. Then called United and received much better service: got their flight the next day AMS-ORD followed by ORD-IAD, in business and first class respectively. Had to spend a night at the Schiphol Airport Hilton which I'll be going after LH to cover since the EU passenger rights laws are very good. Anyway, I used about a third of our STS phone time rewickering the trip home.