SWFLAOK

On the older ships it's all one room with a curtain. On Splendor it has sliding doors to separate the lounge from the bedroom. The cabins are larger on the newer ships.

8 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

Wendy, I wasn't familiar with Brics at the time. But my favorite ever was a Fossil bag that I had bought many years ago, when I was still working. It was on sale, but still expensive. I loved that handbag, and used it for many years until it got worn around the leather edges. The Brics handbag was exactly the same configuration as my old Fossil bag; relatively large with 2 outside pouches with snaps, and an inner part with a zipper compartment inside, and a zipper across the top. But only the trim is leather, and the rest seems to be a heavy nylon in Navy. I would rather have had black, which they had in other styles. But it seems to be well made and I've been using it for over a year. I had enough cruise credit to pay for it, and it cost less than my Fossil bag many years ago. I'm happy with my purchase.

1 hour ago, mrlevin said:

Speaking only for myself; I will never sail Oceania or NCL so reciprocal or consolidated benefits will not be of any use to me; on the other hand, if Regent provides reciprocal benefits to NCL and Oceania cruisers those are benefits that impact what could be provided to existing Regent cruisers.

 

In the whole scheme of things probably a minor impact for or against.  

 

Airlines have sure found out that giving benefits to too many people sure impact what they can provide to their best customers.  

I totally agree with you for both NCL and airlines. And don't get me started on allowing people with an American Express card access to airport lounges, and then turning away business class passengers for our airline's lounge.

On 5/19/2024 at 10:10 AM, MarcyLondon said:

yes we have a separate lounge to our suite. Its a Penthouse Suite. Sorry I wasn't clear. I will ask for a insulated jug, that's a great idea. Thanks

No, you do not have a separate lounge in a Penthouse Suite. It's all one room with a curtain separation. On some of the older ships, it's the same size as the Concierge/Deluxe Veranda suites.

If you want your tea made with boiling water, I would order it from room service, or go to one of the restaurants (or lounge at tea time, or Coffee Connection at breakfast) and order it there.

There is clothing available, but no underwear, so make sure you have at least one change in your carry-on.

Sometimes I have onboard ship credit left and have bought clothes onboard. Regent T-shirts are often on sale toward the end of the cruise, but aren't my favorites. They should be free.

My favorite thing to look for are Joseph Ribikoff clothes. I first bought dress pants and a matching top on sale for a good price when we were on Voyager in January 2020. I found another pair of dress pants that matched the same top on our Splendor cruise in September 2022. They're very comfortable and I wear them to dinner at Compass Rose, as well as cruises on a few other cruise lines, and I've always gotten compliments on them.

Last year on Navigator, they had a sale on some Brics handbags toward the end of the cruise, and I found one that was exactly the type of handbag I normally buy. I had just enough onboard credit to cover it, and I've been using it since as my everday handbag.

I have seen the used purses for sale, but they were still more expensive than I wanted to pay for, even if I was using onboard credit.

On 5/13/2024 at 5:18 PM, carolcp said:

Unfortunately all the items on his list are restricted by medical necessity.  He has a butler so they should be able to assist in this as SWFLAOK says.    

The butler should definitely be able to assist. I would additionally check with the maitre'd at the restaurants as he goes for each meal. And if he can find the executive concierge at their desk, or locae the restaurant manager on board that will help.

2 hours ago, teagues said:

Does anyone recall whether the ship's full service laundry uses fragrance-free detergent?  

That's what we use at home, and I haven't noticed any fragrance in our laundry on Regent.

We had the same problem with "deposit needed" for the cruises we booked while on our April cruise. Our TA called Regent, and they said they would work on it and it should be fixed by Tuesday. The Regent website now shows that we have no future cruises booked, rather than our 2 back to back cruises that had indicated we not made a deposit for. We did make the deposit onboard our April cruise.

We'll see what happens on Tuesday. We hope to be able to book a pre cruise stay/excursion in Paris, but nothing was available from the Regent rep onboard.

On 5/16/2024 at 11:37 PM, edgee said:

Arriving on Splendor in Barcelona on a Friday and disembarking following day. Cannot do self carry off of luggage. We want to catch mid morning flight. Can we get off super early (6:30 a.m.) since ship will already be in port from day before, or since we need bags out night before with crew delivery to terminal, should we plan on the normal departure time with earliest possible about 8 a.m?

I would check with Regent before your cruise rather than waiting until you receive your disembarkation questionnaire a few days before you disembark.

If you arrive in Barcelona on Friday, and disembarkation is the next day, I'm sure that you've cleared customs and immigration on Friday.

If your flights were booked through Regent, they should provide you with transfers, and I would expect them to be available at 6:30 AM since you dock the night before, and I would expect them to bring your luggage to the transfer (bus or taxi) that they provide.

However, if you have booked your own flights, then you are responsible for the transfers. You might be able to pay Regent for them, since the disembarkation form that we have always receive in our cabin mentions this. Otherwise, you should be able to arrange your own transfer from the ship to the airport, and if you give offer an extra tip to your butler or room attendant to help you with the bags in the morning when you disembark, I would expect them to do so.

But as I said, the disembarkation details are left until you near the end of your cruise, and I would definitely ask for the details to be clarified before boarding so you can plan accordingly.

I haven't been on a Regent cruise out of Papeete, but we have been on 3 cruises on the Paul Gauguin before it was bought by Ponant. For those 3 cruises, we stayed at the Intercontinental for all or our pre cruise and post cruise stays. The owner of the PG at that time was the same owner of the Intercontinental Hotel Group, so it was a no brainer. They also provided airfare, so we normally had a day room included depending on what time the flights arrived/departed. We often paid for an extra day before and/or after, and rented a car at the hotel to explore Tahiti. We were always happy with our stay. They have a beautiful pool, and a lagoon full of fish that you can snorkel in. I would, however avoid their over water bungalows since they can be quite noisy when the wind blows under them.

24 minutes ago, lmsguy said:

I initially wrote on this thread concerning the acceptability of Jeans in the evening on a Regent cruise.  I was bringing slacks to wear at night but my partner was considering to wear black "jeans" which were custom made and fit well along with a sport coat.  I have a pair of black "All Saints" brand "jeans" which are quite nice looking and can be worn for business casual.  But I opted not to bring them.  This was my first cruise on Regent so I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be asked to change or not look as presentable as everyone else. There were many responses here as to why those "jeans" shouldn't be worn and why don't I just follow the rules.  I have just returned from an Alaska cruise on the Explorer.  Honestly I was a bit disappointed and astonished as to what people were wearing in the evening.  Compared to many my partner in his "jeans" and sport coat looked like he was in formal attire!  Now maybe the first evening, although it was a regular elegant casual evening, maybe they were a bit more lax since maybe some people didn't have time to unpack everything.  But some people to me were just pathetic looking, I'm sorry to say, so very casual with their frumpy oversize blue jeans and ragged tennis shoes.  I was a bit shocked really!  For the rest of the cruise it was better, but there were still some blue jeans and some overly casual looks for both men and women.  I wished I had brought my "All Saints" jeans!!  I don't consider a Polo type shirt on the dressy side especially if collared shirts are required.  Some in those collared polo shirts were just too casual maybe because it fit too loosely.  But it's just my opinion.  Kudos to the one couple I would give "best dressed" to as he had on a tux and she an evening gown! Classy. In any case the cruise experience on Regent was wonderful.  

Our first cruise on Regent was an Alaska cruise, and we were prepared for the dress code which was described as Country Club Casual (now Elegant Casual). On our cruise, well fitting  jeans not made of blue denim, and a sports jacket would have been much better than what almost all men wore to dinner. They were still allowed into the dining room for dinner, but they had to remove their caps. And their dirty white sneakers that they had worn on their excursion that day were acceptable. There wasn't a formal optional night due to the length of the cruise. I think we might have been the only ones onboard that could have met that dress code.

On all of our Regent cruises since then, I wear a dress or a blouse and fancy pants (most of which I've bought in the boutique on Regent), and he wears a tropical shirt and dress pants on some nights, and dress pants with a dress shirt and sports jacket on other nights. On the last night, a polo shirt and shorts are allowed, but I still wear a pair of fancy pants, with a more casual matching silky t-shirt.

We took a cruise on Silver Sea back in 2018, and it required much more formal wear. While we never did the tux and gown, a suit and cocktail dress were expected on formal nights. As an alternative, we had a Silver Suite where we could comfortably be served dinner, which we did a few times since my brother was with us in his own cabin, and refused to wear a suit since he was on vacation.

6 hours ago, labonnevie said:

If the tour is something we’re really interested in, and a small group is available, we take it. Have not been disappointed.
Have, fortunately, not experienced the problems of being sandwiched among the big buses. Can see where that would be frustrating. 

That was what we did in the past, and only a few times have we been disappointed by a regular tour bus or 2 arriving at the same time at each of our stops. But on this cruise, there were very few popular excursions, so there were many large buses for the same 3 or 4 excursions that we paid a significant amount extra for.

We have still booked 2 back to back cruises on Regent for next year, but we will not be paying for any small group tours.

On 5/11/2024 at 8:54 PM, CardowMD said:

One advantage to small group groups is that their vehicles can get closer to the “action” in the city centers than large coaches that have to park in outer lots requiring more walking. When traveling with my mom, we always tried to reduce walk distance.

On the small group excursions on our last cruise, we stopped at exactly the same drop off points as the big bus version. Every stop was the same. What cruise were you on that where the small group stopped at a closer spot, and on what excursions?

I plan to give details on our latest cruise to Regent, which was the worst example of paying for the small group and getting the worst excursion to exactly the same places as the free excursion. It's not the first time this has happened on SG excursions, but it was definitely the worst since our excursions were much worse than the free excursions rather than just the same.

12 hours ago, douginct said:

On our last cruise - on Grandeur this Spring - all of our laundry came back the same day. Left out before 9 AM and back while we were at dinner that evening.

Good for you! But our experience says that this cannot be relied on, so plan accordingly.

We just finished our 8th cruise on Regent Seven Seas, with 4 pre-Covid and 4 post. We haven't been on Explorer, but 2 of our post-Covid cruises were on Splendor. We found the food and service to be excellent in Compass Rose, the main dining room, both before and after. We found the internet to be very good on our most recent cruise on Navigator, Bangkok to Abu Dhabi. In the past, we have had some cruises with poor internet access. It will only get better as they move to Starlink. We aren't big on entertainment, but we heard it was excellent. It was offered both before dinner and after dinner. We attended a pre-dinner magic act where the magician explained how to do his trick. It was very interesting.

And as for excursions provided by Regent, they were hit or miss, as we have often found in the past. Some are really good, and others are disasters. And you might take an excursion that's great, while others on the same excursion find it a total failure. For each included excursion, there are many buses following the same route. And there is no attempt by destination services to make this a smooth experience by scheduling them with time in between, or having buses visit the stops in a different order. We have found that the extra expense for the Small Group excursions are not worth it because you are on a small bus in between the large buses, visiting the same sights (and often leaving later because the guests arrive later). If your small group bus  is the 5th bus to arrive at the toilet stop, you will be there for a long time.

Taking your own excursion outside of Regent gives you the risk of not getting back on time. On our last cruise, we got back late twice from a Regent excursion and they waited for us. We had only had that happen to us once before on the previous 7 cruises, but that could have been due to the destinations rather than any change by Regent.

We have always used the laundry service extensively, and have never included any special instructions. I am very fussy with our laundry at home, and hand many items after briefly drying them in the dryer to prevent shrinking in a hot dryer. I have only ever had 1 item that came back damaged, a bra that I left hooked, and came back unhooked with the hooks all bent. Since then I hand was my bras and hang them on the line in the bathtub, since we have never used a bathtub on a cruise ship for anything other than the clothes line (for swim suits, stockings, and my husbands support socks).

On our last 2 Regent cruises, the turnaround time for laundry has gone from 24 hours to 48 hours, which is understandable since everyone now has included laundry rather than having it based on cabin and/or status. This was on Navigator, and we did ask if this was a change, and they said yes.

On 5/7/2024 at 10:47 PM, carolcp said:

Lonedaddy, thank you for screen shot from the website. I must have missed that one with all the others I have been looking at.  We are inside the 150 days so hopefully on the ship we can get it taken care of.  

Is your father in law in Penthouse or higher cabin? If not, he doesn't have a butler to take care of his dietary restrictions. Otherwise, he might need to go to the Restaurant Manager rf the Executive Concierge to arrange for a very restrictive diet.

8 minutes ago, GMIAC said:

The plural of anecdote is not data. You do know that many people have wonderful meals there with polished service, no? How about just saying it's not the kind of Italian that you like?

 

Enjoy your search for a cruise like that more suits your needs. 

Actually, Splendor, Explorer and Grandeur will match our needs, and will most likely cost less than the new ships. And I'm happy to know that you and many others love the type of Italian food, and the service in Setta Mari, since that will mean fewer people in Compass Rose where we almost always dine.

7 hours ago, mrlevin said:

The two new ships will have a fourth reservation only restaurant; it will be an Italian restaurant.  La Veranda will be open each evening as a casual buffet restaurant with both indoor and outdoor seating.  

Regent already has Setta Mari, and the food and service is terrible. We have rarely eaten there, and never enjoyed it. We tried it once again on our last cruse in April. It was not enjoyable, and we would never again eat at any Italian restaurant on Regent. And we have no interest in a casual buffet restaurant at dinner.

Since Regent doesn't do Italian well, having a reservation only restaurant is something that will make us not book the new cruise ships. There's no chance we'll book either of the 2 new ships in the future.

We're starting to see Regent more and more as a cruise line that is moving away from our interests, and with the price increasing more and more, I think we'll be looking elsewhere after our B2B cruises on Mariner next August.

On 5/7/2024 at 6:16 PM, Lonedaddy said:

The delay issue is why you deviate.  I always leave extra time between connections to an international flight just more lounge time which is easy.    If you fly to a Schengen country (which is different from the EU) from a non-Schengen, you go through passport control on arrival and then through the security again at least a every Schengen country and LHR I've been to.  It is a preference for me to connect in the US and upon arrival after the longer leg, I'm finished and can go to the hotel.  

We have always paid to deviate on all of our Regent cruises because we don't like to wait until the last minute for our flights. And when booked, there was always a comfortable amount of time between flights. But after a few flight changes made by the airlines (which we questioned through Regent) the time became too short to make the connection. On our last trip, the connection time became too long. In fact, we were moved to a later flight, when there was still room on our original flight. We don't know why.  And then we found out we were in Business Lite instead of regular Business as we had been on our original flight, and had to pay for 6 hours of lounge access. We passed on paying for a second lounge access and wandered around the Doha Airport for 3 more hours. It is a very nice Airport for wandering.

On 5/5/2024 at 5:26 PM, ctbjr1309 said:

Our experience has been that Piano Bar noise is not an issue in the AS.

On our first Sea Dream cruise on SD 1, we stopped at the Piano Bar quite a few times, after an after dinner drink at the Top of the Yacht Bar. And after one more drink, we sang along. But the singing always ended before 10. We headed back to our cabin, but most headed upstairs to the TOY bar at that point. We were on deck 4 for that trip, and didn't hear anything once we went to our cabin.

5 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

Connecting in the US is also easier as you don't have to go through security again as you do at most international airports when transiting.  A big PITA in places like LHR.

The only problems we've had transiting on flights assigned by cruise lines are those within the US. That's because our flights were had too little time between them, and then were delayed, We didn't make the second flight in the US, and at that point, we lost our business class seats on the international flight.

If you're flying to another country from the US, you will have to go through security. If you arrive in one EU country from the US, and are flying to another country in the EU, you won't have to go through security again.

We now always go for an international flight as our first flight, to ensure our long flight is in business class seats.

4 hours ago, redraider1966 said:

By my count this makes the fourth Voyager cruise this year impacted by either Noro, Covid, or GI-related maladies plus one delayed by a euphemistically described technical problem.  As I did before on another thread, I wonder how you can maintain a suitably high standard of hygiene consistently with a self-serve buffet, no matter the size of the ship?

 

For you Regentphiles who dredged up from the archives examples of reports of outbreaks on Oceania's fleet, I noted that those were from 8 or more years ago.  Yes, I will concede that there are incidents from time to time in more recent years, but I would still opt for being served in a buffet line by friendly, attentive, and gloved servers.  I also note that on another thread on this board that a poster contrasted the crowded scene at the dessert counter on Oceania's Vista with a Regent ship.  Having recently completed a second sailing on Vista (our 18th overall on Oceania), I question that characterization and would also point out that Vista has 1250 pax, so almost twice the capacity.

 

We board Voyager in three weeks with growing trepidation as we could not cancel without forfeiting all monies.  Perhaps our cruise, which is labeled "Elegance of Travel" should be relabeled "Voyage of the Damned?"

We have done many Regent cruises, and enjoyed most aspects of them. We do, however, avoid buffets whenever possible. I was hoping that after Covid, they would never return to help yourself. It's just never sanitary as people reuse their plates, use their fingers to serve themselves, cough on all of the food, as well as the table cloths at their table, which are quickly reset for the next guests without a change of table cloth or remaining plates and utensils.

Unfortunately, your schedule of excursions gets in the way of meals. I would recommend room service in the morning rather than eating in La Veranda for the breakfast buffet when you have a morning excursion. If you want a lighter meal, the Coffee Connection has great coffee and and a selection of light breakfasts and pastries.

We never eat lunch at the buffet at La Veranda, and I can rarely be forced to eat at Sette Mari for dinner, and eat almost nothing and complain about it when we do. You can avoid the buffet portion of their dinner, but they still serve way more food than I can enjoy eating.

12 hours ago, ChucktownSteve said:

I've had Grey Goose, JW Black and Seagram's VO stocked at the beginning of our Splendor cruise in a Concierge (pre ordered) a little over a year ago.

Did you pre-order that online? We tried that on our most recent cruise, and it wasn't accepted. We even tried to pre-order a bottle of wine with 2 liquor selections, and it was not accepted by the online application.

On our previous cruise last year, our cruise companion on her first Regent cruise, and in a Concierge cabin tried to get 2 liquors and vermouth pre-ordered, which email since the online ordering won't accept it. She ended up with nothing but beer and soda when she boarded. After a few days, she had her martini makings, and an after dinner liquor, but it took a few reminders to her room steward.

For a World Cruise, it would have to be Splendor. We've comfortably done 34 nights on a B2B on Voyager in a Penthouse B (a great layout compared to other penthouses on the other older ships). We just finished 20 nights on Navigator, and the shower is small, and the living room area is tight when one person is using the desk, and the other is watching TV and trying to access the frig.  On Splendor, the choice of restaurants is so much better, with specialty restaurants open at lunch. And we were able to book a lower level cabin that was bigger than a penthouse on Navigator.