golfgirls

Embarkation yesterday was pretty smooth even though 3 buses arrived at the same time.  We were checked in quickly and headed to the pool area for lunch.  We enjoyed a nice lunch and glass of wine and were delighted to hear that all of the rooms were ready by 1pm.  This was by far the earliest we have ever been ‘settled’ with our bags unpacked and our room set up.   It made for a pretty relaxing afternoon.  

We took advantage of very calm sailing conditions last night and enjoyed a great meal out back at Sette Mari.  It couldn’t have been much better with a lovely atmosphere, great service and the food was very good.  Overall a great night.  

We were at Great Stirrup Cay today.  Gosh the crew works hard to transport all sorts of provisions across to put on a beach bbq.  I did a wave runner excursion first thing and then headed right back to the ship as my travelling companions had stayed onboard.  I can’t comment on the BBQ other than to say that they seemed to have just about anything you could want to eat or drink there.  

Looking forward to dinner in Prime 7 tonight and then an Academy Awards party in the theatre after dinner.  Should be fun.  

Port of Miami this morning.  I am sure the Voyager is over at terminal J by now...

A few comments about the Conrad Hilton.  We were received very warmly upon arrival by both the Conrad staff and the Regent hospitality desk.   We were assigned to a nice corner room with a view of the port.  Hotel is quite nice and certainly a bit more modern than the HR Coral Gables.  Some pros and cons there as the rooms in Coral Gables, albeit outdated, are quite a bit larger than the Conrad. 

I had made a dinner reservation at the bar/restaurant on the 25th floor for dinner.  Unfortunately the place was overwhelmed with customers and not nearly enough staff to look after us.  I never did find a host or hostess to seat us, nor was there any table available for our reservation.  We were lucky to find a spot at a sharing table and enjoyed some wine and appetizers that were quite nice, but only served because I kept chasing down a server to help us.  It was kind of comical but I will provide some feedback to the hotel about additional staff being required.  

Will head  to breakfast around 9 and hope it is better organized! 

Hoping that when we meet our butler  this afternoon, it will be Roshan!

Fantastic news. She is a wonderful Captain, a great storyteller and someone who is truly interested in learning about the world around her.  

Selfishly, I hope she will still be onboard in April when we will be on the Splendor crossing.  

And if Travelcat is correct with John Barron, a double yahoo!  

Yikes, hoping we will not have too many chair issues next week but I expect we will as it looks like a full house. 

Job number one when we get to our room will be to request a second chaise for our balcony.  We did this last time and didn’t receive it but this time we will insist!  

Hi Beaujolais, nice to hear from you.  Should have clarified that we are from London, Ontario.  We could compare notes about London, the Thames River et al but our commentary would be from the Canadian perspective!

Sorry we didn’t cross paths at the end of the cruise in Compass Rose. It was a pleasure meeting you as well.  

Thanks Rachel.  We enjoyed following your cruise. 

Thanks Wes.  Not the most scintillating itinerary but just what we want, a fun, relaxing cruise!  

We have enjoyed following along cruises with other posters so I thought we would try to do the same by doing a realativley real time blog along this journey. 

We we are Golfgirls from London, Ontario but based in The Villages, Florida for the winter.  We booked this cruise some time ago as it is for Pat’s ‘special’ birthday in March.  I am fortunate to frequently enjoy my birthday aboard ship as we often sail over the Christmas holidays and my birthday falls shortly after Christmas. So Pat had a specific request to have this special birthday onboard, so unquestionably it was a ‘where and when’ and here we are. 

As with others who have challenges before boarding, we are sad that our frequent travel partners Jiiiim and Eileen won’t be able to join us as they had to cancel for health reasons.  So we are sad about that but wishing them speedy results and recovery.  

We more often than not book a Concierge level suite.  So instead of the HR Coral Gables pre cruise, we will be staying with Regent at the Conrad Miami this time.  Mixed feelings about that as we are very comfortable with the restaurants et al in Coral Gables from previous visits, but expecting the Conrad will be a major step up.  We will see.  

If if we are travelling within Florida, as in Orlando to Miami, I always book our own flights.  We do First/business class on American Airlines, which  pretty much equates to the the Regent credit plus the cost of domestic baggage fees.  A little bit more expensive for us but well worth the difference IMO.  

We are looking forward to seeing many familiar faces on the Voyager.  We did a similar cruise in November and know some of our favourite staff members have headed home but some will remain.  No matter what, am sure we will be well taken care of.  Really hoping we will see Joseph looking after one the bars!

Will post from Miami on Friday!  

Oh and one of our most important decisions onboard will be regarding selecting a cruise for my next ‘special’ birthday. I expect it will be on the  Explorer Lisbon to Miami in November  or the following December Caribbean cruise.  Know many fellow posters are doing those itineraries so we will see where we land. 

Cheers!

Unfortunately some of us were missed on the original event.  Massimo has very kindly scheduled another one for us before the end of this beautiful crossing.  Please spread the good word. 

January 17th

11 am 

Explorer Lounge

i also posted this on our Roll Call.  See you there.  

Jackie, we will happily be embarking the Voyager in Miami after she arrives on the 26th.  I know that you have mentioned Daniella and Davor.  Who are the CD and ACD, assuming they are staying on through our cruise til December 6th.   Thanks.  

In my experience, the Canadian website shows the USD price plus the conversion rate as the price that we see.  So it is important to be able to go to a US site, perhaps your TA’s or another one in the US, to see what your pricing should be for a special offer at par.    I do often rely on the good ole ‘brochure’ for this purpose as well.  These ‘at par’ offers are definitely the best prices for we Canadians in my opinion but yes you do need to do a bit of investigation to find your ‘real’ price. 

Any good TA will get both USD and CAD info right away.

Interesting, we did not receive the list of Officers in our Seven Seas Society pages   - Canadian version? - but we are very interested in knowing who will be looking after us on the Explorer over Christmas and into the new year!  

Btw, if Regent gets it right, I think the list of Officers is a great thing to include in the SSS pages.   

Oops sent too fast. So if you are looking to Monster Mash or Time Warp or just have a fun time, I expect that will be on your agenda.

And some of the costumes were fantastic. CD Lorraine as the Twister game - fun and unique at the same time.

Pat and Marg

We sailed from Montreal to Miami last Halloween on the Mariner. There was a great dance party with the dancers Many staff members in costume and lots of guests as well.

Pat and Marg

Hi Robroy, we will also be on this cruise and look forward to meeting you.

A couple of thoughts about your flights. We are former Torontonians and have taken Regent flights many times. I agree with you that it can be risky and stressful to travel the day of embarkation, hence we usually travel at least the day before the start of any cruise. For this reason, we often take a Concierge level suite so that Regent takes care of the flights, hotel and transfers. That makes it very simple.

I can almost hear the CC reaction from the words that I just typed as yes, you can likely book a similar or better hotel than Regent plus pay for transfers with the cost differential for Concierge, so it really depends on what your comfort level is in doing your own thing vs. letting Regent take care of it.

We winter in Florida and Regent never puts us on a domestic flight from Miami before 3pm, therefore I highly doubt that your flight would be the Air Canada non stop flight that leaves just after noon. In my opinion, they will book a flight(s) that you will definitely be able to catch, which may include a bit of a wait in Miami.

Also remember that domestic flights typically do not include luggage fees. Regent Air credits were previously much more generous, so we often took the air credit and purchased a first class/business class domestic fare that was cheaper or comparable to the Regent Air credit plus luggage fees. Last year we upgraded our Air Canada flight via Air Canada, not Regent, which was a comparable cost to our luggage fees.

Oh my, now way too much information. Bottom line is that there are many options, go with the one that makes you most comfortable!

Pat and Marg

We just left the Explorer last Friday. The Captain is Serena and the GM is Davor. Andy Heath is the CD. Need other info?

Do you know how long any of these folks will continue onboard? We will be on the Explorer for Christmas in Cape Town area so just curious. Thanks.

Pat and Marg

Hmmm. Just went on to the RSSC site via my iPhone vs my iPad and can see the reservation and excursion that I wanted to book. Unfortunately it seems that others figured this out before I did as 2 of 3 excursions in St Helena are fully booked. Took the open one and will work Destinations onboard!

Guess it pays to try all modes of access but a note to Regent that is not the best of the best customer experiences!

Pat and Marg

Ok please do a different post if you want to discuss music. This is a web site thread (I think!). Thanks.

Pat and Marg

I still can't see the cruise details of my B2B on Mariner next April. Still being redirected to the home page.

Yes when I go to look at our booked cruises we definitely get redirected to the home page looking at the second booking.

Wonder if the ‘testers’ tested for a multiple booking scenario.

Pretty basic problems but in all honesty, all requests seem to work out in the end so I am a bit annoyed but no big deal.

Pat and Marg

Sorry that there are unsatisfactory reports about bartending, particularly on the Voyager. We were delighted to find Joseph ‘at your service’ had been promoted from server to assistant bartender on our Singapore to Sydney cruise last year. He held court at the pool bar from opening to the time that people wanted to leave. Not only was he entertaining, I can attest that he pours the best martinis, margaritas, g&ts and glasses of wine that you could ever hope for. We had a similar experience in all of the other bars, though I don’t recall other names. So my experience would be quite the contrary to others, but agree that my martini is a different mix than someone else’s.

I think all of the bartenders try to please. Yes some are more social than others but like most things in life, it what you make of the experience.

We are also looking at some alternatives to Regent. Have done Oceania but really didn’t think it compared. Will be interested to hear from others, as always.

Pat and Marg

You can have the tours emailed to you. The email you receive will have the current tours as well as their departure times. Log onto the Regent's site and search for your cruise, you don't need to be logged in to do this. On the itinerary page click the first port for the cruise. On the page that comes up, just above the Legend box, you should see the link Receive All Available Tours Via E-mail. Click that link, fill in your email address and click submit. It usually takes 5-10 minutes for the email to come.

Thanks for the info regarding the tour information being available via email. I had not noticed the link before and this is VERY helpful! I just tried it for an upcoming cruise and am delighted with the result.

Pat and Marg

Wondering if anyone could compare a room in The Haven to let’s say a Regent Concierge Suite. I know there are differences in drinks, excursions, etc. but have heard that The Haven is great and includes a lot of dining options and I am sure other unique things to that category. Worth a look for a soon to be Regent Platinum traveler or not worth bothering?

Pat and Marg

We have been on all four ships and enjoyed each one. I would say that the Explorer is our favourite for many reasons. The Concierge level suite is a great size and layout with a fantastic bathroom with double sinks plus a shower and a bathtub. We love the Coffee Connection area, the Infinity Pool and the specialty restaurants, especially for lunch on sea days! We are looking forward to an extended cruise on the Explorer over the Christmas holidays on to the crossing.

We have sailed on the Navigator numerous times and I will say she has dropped to the last on our list in the past 6 months. She is great but just lacks a little in entertainment and specialty restaurants.

The Voyager and Mariner are very nice, not sure we have a preference here.

As I often say about these types of questions, they are pretty great problems to have!

Cheers.

Pat and Marg

Got it, thanks. And now for my TA....

Pat and Marg