SWFLAOK

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.

4 hours ago, dribst in ks said:

 

... is in London, and will let you down (compared to nearby Westminster Abbey).

 

Maybe you were thinking of Salisbury Cathedral, which is closer to Southampton, and on the way to Stonehenge. Salisbury is also a charming small town and would make a great stop for turnaround day!

 

Westminster Cathedral is in London, and is near Westminster Abbey. It's a Catholic church, and isn't very impressive. We walked around inside when we were in London on our pre-cruise hotel stay before our bus ride to Southampton for our Regent cruise in September 2022. We could not access Westminster Abbey, which is an impressive Anglican Church from the outside, because of the Queen's funeral.

Winchester Cathedral is in Winchester.

45 minutes ago, welshfamily said:

How do you find out if excursions are offered on turnaround day.

We have a b2b in August. The port is Athens. We have to change cabins and have to different booking numbers.

I have asked a regent Uk and they have told me excursions on turnaround days are rare.

Thanjs

They're not rare. We like doing b2b, and we have always had excursions available. In Southampton, it was a choice between a day long excursion to Stonehenge, and a visit to Winchester, which was the shorter of the 2. We did the later and it was fine. We had some free time in the town and picked up a few things in the stores that we had run out of on our first cruise.

On 5/2/2024 at 2:10 AM, Kwaj girl said:

 

We were onboard at the time.  What actually happened is that the Captain had to quickly maneuver aside to avoid a small unlit fishing boat in the middle of the narrow channel, thus saving lives.

Cruise ships can't maneuver quickly. Small fishing boats can. A prolonged blast should have been given as soon as this small boat was detected, and if he didn't move, 5 short blasts should have been given. Taking a chance on the lives of 1000 people by running aground to avoid a small boat (if they've been warned), isn't something a cruise ship captain should do. If they've been warned and don't move, their intentions are suspect, and there may be other boats waiting for the ship to run aground.

On 5/2/2024 at 11:05 AM, rev29k said:

Does anyone know how many bottles you are allowed?  I'm not trying to have a fully stocked bar, but I would like a couple options, and the wife really only drinks wine.  I'm hearing 2 bottles, but hoping 3 or 4 is allowed by chance.  

In a Penthouse, you can preorder 2, but you can check with your butler about something additional. If you have thoughts of fully stocking a bar in your cabin and aren't in a very high level suite, you'll need to pay for it. If you have a suite lower than Penthouse, you don't have a butler. Your room attendant should be able to get you 2 bottles delivered to your cabin. After the first day onboard, I would expect an empty bottle to be replaced, but finding your attendant to ask for something else can sometimes take a few days, especially if you are off the ship during the day on excursions.

On 4/1/2024 at 12:25 PM, SWFLAOK said:

We have an American Airlines Advantage membership number and have miles from several International flights on American but the lounge in Doha wanted to see an AA Advantage credit card which we don't have. But we were allowed into the Qatar Airways business class lounge with a supervisor's approval and 273 dollars. They said that they were having a problem with travel agency's booking business lite and not informing their clients. Our TA told is to keep the receipt and she will talk to Regent about The 273 only includes 6 hours of access, and Regent booked our flights with over 6 hours originally, and it grew to 9.5 hours over the months since we booked. We found out that there was a Bangkok flight at 8:10 that they could have booked us on but didn't. We would have been willing to pay for an extra night through Regent for that.  At least the terminal here is beautiful compared to the one at MIA.

We were told we had access to the lounge included on our return flights which has First class tickets from Abu Dhabi to Doha and business lite from Doha to Miami, but we only have 2 hours in between.

We will be looking out for business lite and business restricted fares in the future since we now know it might cost a lot more.

Just to follow up on this, the return flights did turn out better. On the return trip, our short flight from Abu Dhabi to Doha was booked as First Class since there was no Business Class. First Class contained 8 seats, with 6 of us being from the Regent cruise, and the other 2 having a final destination of Doha. We had access to the lounge in Abu Dhabi, and our 2:15 AM Regent van ride from the hotel (the Rosewood was a great hotel) to the airport gave us time to spend in the Abu Dhabi Lounge which was acceptable, but nothing special. I had a glass of chardonnay and a cup of yogurt for breakfast, and it was fine. Our short flight to Doha went well. We had our own flight attendant in First Class, and I passed on the champagne and snack. In Doha, we had 90 minutes before boarding after passing through a full security check twice after landing. Our flight to MIA was leaving from terminal C, and close to Al Mourjan Business Lounge which overlooks The Orchard. This is the same lounge we had paid 273 dollars on our previous flight. Since we had departed from Abu Dhabi on a First Class flight, we were allowed access, and we were able to stretch our legs in the terminal, and relax in the lounge before our 15 hour flight to MIA, and our 3 hour drive home.

All of our Qatar Airways flights left on time or early, which is unusual. The service on board was excellent. For me, they serve too much food, and it isn't what I want to eat when I have a long flight.

As far as being given "business lite" on the cruise that just ended, we booked another cruise onboard, and the reservation made clearly says (but wasn't pointed out to us) that the cruise includes "restricted business class". So anyone who expects real "business class" should be prepared to have to pay extra if you want anything other than one of the worst seats in the business class section of the plane.

On the future cruise, we will be looking at options other than taking the Regent air, especially after reading on this forum that Regent doesn't help with rebooking if their booked flights don't work out during your cruise.

We just completed a 20 night cruise on Regent. We had 2 "Formal Optional" nights. I didn't see a tux, but there were quite a few suits, and some very fancy dresses. There were a large number of jackets, some with ties. In general, the majority seemed to take it up a notch.

For some, this wasn't much since they usually only met the minimum for the dress code. But I think part of this is the amount of clothes and shoes needed for a 20 night cruise. You need to dress for travel, for excursions, for sea days onboard, and for after 6. Even with laundry included, that's a lot to pack. And having to lug large amounts of luggage containing those clothes and shoes on long flights isn't easy, especially as we get older.

But a denim skirt weighs more than a light dress, and the dress meets the dress code.

16 minutes ago, wcsdkqh said:

Why do some people feel they have to push the rules? The guidelines say no denim after 6. Just follow the friggin’ rules.

A denim skirt is definitely not "Elegant Casual" and there are plenty of other cruise lines that might be a better choice if you don't want to follow the dress code of Regent.

I've never worn a denim skirt. It's a heavy, uncomfortable fabric, and it never seemed to go with bare legs. In a totally casual setting where it's cool enough to wear denim, I would rather wear pants. But, it's never cold enough in a Regent dining room to wear pants that are made of a heavy fabric.

2 hours ago, APFBarb said:

Going to Amazon on Regent in Feb.  Are collared caribbean print shirts acceptable with nice pants?

Yes.

On 4/12/2024 at 12:48 PM, Jim Avery said:

Just a thought since the title of this thread is Admiral Suite.  I would like to see some of the Commodore Suites which have a lesser component in the murphy beds when separated, made into proper Admiral Suites with a rebuilt and larger bath.  I believe this would sell well. 🍸

Opinions?

We always book a Commodor Suite so that we each have our own bathroom. They might be small, but that 's fine with me since we don't need to be in one at the same time. It's especially convenient when we have both need to shower and get ready for dinner. We've had large bathrooms on other ships (Viking Ocean, explorer suite, most recently), but when you're both in there at once, it's still not ideal. 

When we boarded Navigator back on April 5th, our butler told us to leave the laundry bag on the bed when we were out of the room, and it would be back within 48 hours. Sometimes, it's back in 24 hours, but never less than that. We've left it in both the morning and the evening, and it's still not back in less than 24 hours.

Last April, we were on Navigator for 2 weeks in a concierge suite, which has no butler. We left our laundry in the hall by our door when we went to breakfast. Sometimes it was gone by the time we returned from breakfast, and then it would usually be returned clean while we were at dinner. Sometimes it was still there after breakfast, and taken sometime during the day. It was not returned until the next night during dinner in that case.

One of our traveling companions ob our last cruise waited more than 48 hours for her laundry. It was returned quite promptly when she asked her room attendant about it. 

I would never expect to turn in my laundry in the morning and get it back before dinner. I can't remember that happening on any of our 8 Regent cruises. I guess some people are luckier than us. 

It really matters where your cruise is. I had no trouble getting Coke Zero on our Caribbean cruise out of Miami last April. It was in the fridge when we boarded, replaced when I drank it.

On our current cruise, on the same ship, I have 3 types of sugar free Coca Cola. One was made in Austrailia and is called Coca Cola Diet, and indicates on the can that it contains caffeine. It's in a short fat can. The other 2 are in tall slim cans. One says Coca Cola light on the front and Coke light on the back. It was made in Malaysia and distributed in Singapore. It has 0 for "energy" which I assume are calories. There are ingredients listed in both Engligh and another language, and there's no caffeine added, but it doesn't say there's no caffeine. The third can has nothing but Thai writing except "Coca Cola" on the front with a short word in Thai letters under it, and on the back it has the trademarked Coke light. I assume it came from Thailand where we started this cruise. 

They all taste the same to me. I usually have one in the afternoon, and skip the late afternoon coffee or tea that I might have had otherwise, if the Coke was caffeine free. 

12 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

Do you have any AA status?  If so you could use one of the lounges in DOH just not the QR lounges.  And again regent misrepresenting business class air, I’m glad I used miles in our upcoming trip to South Africa or probably would have been given the same crap by regent air.  That said there were alternatives priced less than the 6500 pp Rt air credit.  I learned my lesson with regent air before.    Hope the return flight works out better for you.

We have an American Airlines Advantage membership number and have miles from several International flights on American but the lounge in Doha wanted to see an AA Advantage credit card which we don't have. But we were allowed into the Qatar Airways business class lounge with a supervisor's approval and 273 dollars. They said that they were having a problem with travel agency's booking business lite and not informing their clients. Our TA told is to keep the receipt and she will talk to Regent about The 273 only includes 6 hours of access, and Regent booked our flights with over 6 hours originally, and it grew to 9.5 hours over the months since we booked. We found out that there was a Bangkok flight at 8:10 that they could have booked us on but didn't. We would have been willing to pay for an extra night through Regent for that.  At least the terminal here is beautiful compared to the one at MIA.

We were told we had access to the lounge included on our return flights which has First class tickets from Abu Dhabi to Doha and business lite from Doha to Miami, but we only have 2 hours in between.

We will be looking out for business lite and business restricted fares in the future since we now know it might cost a lot more.

We are at MIA for the "business class" flight that Regent booked for us on Qatar Airways. Even though we made the deviation fee to book early and had to pay Qatar Airways extra to reserve seats we found out we don't have real business class seats. They're "business lite" and have no access to a lounge.

When we checked in we were told we could access the Turkish airlines lounge, but they showed us we had no lounge access. We just paid over a hundred dollars for sandwiches and drinks at a noisy counter.

Even worse, we have a very long layover in Doha, and have no longer access there either. AT The gate here in Miami we were told to go to the transfer desk in Doha to see what we can buy. I could have paid 148 o line yesterday if I knew I needed to but it's too late for that offer.

I guess I know why we were only offered the worst seats in business. I wonder what other amenities we don't get onboard.