SWFLAOK

18 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Nah....bring on the Flying Monkeys!!

The threat of Flying Monkeys was enough to keep me well behaved when I was a child. I still try not to think about them.

17 minutes ago, westmount said:

As we all agree, its up to the parents of any child to make sure they behave, and in 90% of cases, the parents are more worried about their kids creating havoc than enjoying their holidays. 

I agree that it's up to the parents, but based on our experience, it's the opposite, with only 10 percent of parents aware of what their kids are doing. The other 90 percent totally ignore their kids: ignoring a screaming baby ("that's what they do"), letting kids run wild and unsupervised, or leaving their supervision  to grandparents or other family members.

And from our experience, the worse offenders are the large family groups, who all think that someone else in the family is responsibly watching over the kids, or that their kids are helping take care of the grandparents. The grandparents have very often paid for the whole cruise for everyone, but paying for the cruise and babysitting for the grandkids is not normally what happens, and who can blame the grandparents for that. Large tables of families with even a few noisy children in Compass Rose is not what we're paying for. Nor are the large family groups pushing others out of the way to stay together on excursions, which we've experienced on 2 summer cruises (and we'll never book another summer cruise on Regent again because of that).

As the number of large family groups increases, we will stop taking cruises on Regent. We spend too much for Regent to put up with kids who pay little or nothing to take the same cruise we pay so much for. We have single siblings who can't afford to cruise with us since they pay the same amount as a couple, and they don't see the value in that. I would rather see the single supplement eliminated, and have children charged a significant amount, especially teens. Teens are almost never supervised, and tend to form an annoying group of their own when there are more than a few onboard.

So everyone has a different opinion based on their circumstances, and Regent needs to decided which business model works for them. We'll react accordingly.

5 hours ago, Mahogany said:

Are reservations for the Grill now necessary?

I don't think they were required, but since we could make reservations, and it was quite full if the weather was good,  and casual attire was allowed, we made 2 reservations. We cancelled the second one after the first try. If I remember correctly, La Dame was the only reservation required, rather than recommended, restaurant, with a $60 dollar charge. La Terrazza recommended reservations, and The Restaurant didn't take them.

On 12/21/2019 at 7:58 AM, jschoch said:

SWFLAOK did you have a timed skip the line ticket for the David statue?

We were put into a shorter line for those with a timed reservation, but we still had to wait about 15 minutes. I suspect we were late for our time due to our guide needing to arrange transportation back to the ship for those who could not continue due to the heat. The other line was much longer when we entered, but both were about the same length when we came out.

On 12/19/2019 at 2:15 AM, jschoch said:

Has anyone done these excursions in Florence with Regent?. We are also in Florence on a Sunday and have read you may not see the churches.

•  

We did the Ultimate Florence tour last July, and we loved it. Our tour guide was the best we had on any of our excursions. She was originally from Florence but now lives in Livorno. Her father is from Florence, and her mother from Germany.  It's a long bus ride, but she had many things to tell us on the way to Florence, and since no one needed an emergency bathroom stop, we first stopped at a scenic overlook just across the river from the historic area. Shopping stalls, cafes, and bathrooms were available, at short photo stop. After the bus dropped us off on the other side of the river, we walked to the plaza in front of the Basilica of Santa Croce. While a tour of that Basilica wasn't included, our guide told us this plaza was our meeting point at the end of the tour and we could visit on our own (which we did and loved it - beautiful and no big crowds). She had also arranged for a large store on the plaza to allow us access to bathrooms and AC throughout the day. In exchange we had to start with a 5 minute presentation on their jewelry making process and leather making. Since it was 95 outside, the AC was well worth the 5 minutes.

Other than going inside the Accademia  to see the real statue of David, and the other artwork inside, the rest of the tour is outside only. She bought us all ice cream, and 6 of the 16 on our tour asked to return to the ship due to the heat. The guide arranged for a van to pick them up and return them at their expense. With a few hours remaining, we had the chance to enter the Duomo, but the line was long and we all decided to return to the original plaza with our guide. She pointed out a restaurant where 6 of us decided to have lunch. The food was good and very reasonably priced. After that, we went our own ways (some of us visiting Santa Croce, and others just shopping), and all met back at the store before going back to the bus and returning to the ship.

Unless the tour description says you will go inside, assume you will not. Those who took the Highlight tour said they did not see the real David statue, just a replica in a plaza.

27 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

A few pics from the weekend. Two of the youngest nieces having a good time, undoubtedly planning something that was no good.

 

 

The storm started around 3PM. We were cozy inside, so no worries. Lucky that the landscaper was by yesterday to finish the fall clean up.

 

 

Time for a roaring fire! 

 

 

 

And a little Christmas music. Now the tree is finished! 

 

 

After all that work, I think we deserve a splash of wine in the hot tub. Or a bottle. We will see.

Looks like a great time was had by all.

My brother is spending his last month in our home town of Kingston NY before he moves to Florida. He was hoping winter would start late this year, but he's expecting a foot or more, and just finished packing a POD for his move to SW Florida in January, so he has one more Christmas with snow. I thought I would miss it but it's been 11 years so far, and pictures are still enough for me.

23 hours ago, Lois R said:

Hi, I didn't shower...…...did a wonderful sponge bath LOL...….I did wash my hair in the sink. That felt pretty good.

 

I definitely would have washed my hair in the sink. Nothing's worse than dirty hair. 

We were hit by Hurricane Irma in 2017, and while our condo mostly landscape damage outside, we were without electricity for 5 days. On the 10th floor, there's no water without electricity to pump it up. We had filled the "garden tub" with water before the storm. We also tested it to see if it leaked, and it did, so we a used a bead of silicone around the drain to prevent the water from leaking out. After a few days without AC,  we had walked up and down 10 floors a number of times. The toilets worked for the first 2 days in the lobby before someone plugged it up, and then we were pouring a few gallons of water from the tub into the toilet to flush it. We tried to do that only twice a day.  But on the third day, we took a sponge bath and washed our hair while standing in the shower with pots of water from the tub. It was the greatest feeling to be clean again.

My medical experience was a long time ago when I graduated from college with a BS in Medical Technology and worked for 2 and a half years in Microbiology in a hospital lab, with fill in for the rest of the lab as needed.

If my doctor's office said no shower until the post-op check, then I'd go with that over the hospital's opinion. I would use some Wet One wipes in certain areas away from the bandaged area, but I would not take a shower that wet down the bandage until after the doctor rechecked it.

I'm not a doctor, but I have worked in a hospital and  I would always take my doctor's recommendation over the hospital's.

Very good news Lois. We've been sending positive thoughts your way, and will continue to do so.

21 hours ago, JMARINER said:

IMO, Rarely is anyone check twice, as you suggest; once on shore and again on the ship.

 

We were checked twice in a number of ports on our Med cruise in July, and the port in Venice was definitley one of them. I was surprised to have to show my ID twice to get back on the ship. I guess I just imagined it, or I'm a liar. But anyone can have quests onboard, and they seem to have less security than we do, and they eat, and drink for free.

Who ensures that they leave the ship at the end of their visit?

At this point, I'm done with the Regent board, and am considering cancelling our 2021 cruise. I obviously don't fit in with the regulars on this cruise line.

And no, you're not a guest if you board for 10 hours because you aren't paying for it. I've paid for the entire cruise, and Regent isn't inexpensive.

We've always been told to avoid interconnecting rooms if you don't plan to use it since noise will come through the door (just like it does in a motel room with a connecting door).

If you aren't planning to use the interconnecting cabin, then it's definitely not worth picking that cabin for the rain shower. We recently switched out our old shower head for a rain shower head in our condo at a cost of 65 dollars. It was easy to do, enjoyable everyday, and uses less water than our old shower head.

I have to say that I can't imagine why cruise ships allow visitors onboard. There's so much security involved with boarding cruise ships at the ports in the US. Even in other countries, our passports are checked multiple times when we board, and we have our photos taken and an ID created when we board. We're checked every  time we leave, and twice when we reboard (once by the port, and again when we board the ship). But "visitors" are allowed to board, and apparently are allowed to eat, drink, and visit cabins of people that they know. Where's the security when this occurs?

Les Tipaniers has been a great place to eat for many years. We ate lunch at the hotel's restaurant in 20 years ago, and I still remember it was delicious. Two years ago, we rented a car to drive around Moorea, and ended up at Le Motu Pizza Grill for lunch. The food was great, reasonably priced, and there were many locals there. A little familiarity with French helped with ordering.

On 11/23/2019 at 12:15 PM, 1982CruzStart said:

Personally i wouldn't send anything to the laundry where there are special instructions. We send out our laundry all the time when on Regent but I only send items that i am not worried about for laundry and use their dry cleaning for anything i am concerned about.  

I recommend using the laundry facilities and washing them to your own specifications.  I assume if you don't have them tumble dried that you hang them up which you could do in your bathroom. 

This is exactly what we've done in the past, and plan to do on our upcoming 32 night cruise in December. We assume that special instructions might be ignored, so we only send items that we're not worried about.

For our long cruise, we plan tp use the launderette for items that we don't trust the laundry to treat gently.

4 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

You don't mention the cabin classes or sizes.

 

I admit all this talk has made me miss the PG very much.  No future plans to sail again, but never say never!

I was just quoting minabruuke, the Princess cruiser. We looked at Princess once, and decided it wasn't for us and that we were not interested in sailing on Princess. When you book your parents on Princess, and are looking at Paul Gauguin for yourself, that might  indicate which cruise line looks more appealing.

We've been on deck 8 for our 3 previous cruises, and are booked for Fiji to Bali in April in a cabin we stayed in on our first cruise on PG. After that, we've done all of the ports that PG visits, so we might be done..

4 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

When we first cruised the PG in 2002, the fare was $2300PP! And it included air from and back to Oklahoma City.

Wow, that was a fantastic bargain. In 1995, we flew economy from Newark to LAX to PPT, and stayed a week at the Sofitel on Bora Bora, and a week at the Beachcomber on Moorea. I recently found our receipt from the travel agent and it was just under $10,000 for the 2 of us. Neither of the hotels had AC, and it was hot with just a ceiling fan. It was MAP, with no drinks, excursions or rental cars included. Over 20 years later, the Paul Gauguin seems like a bargain compared to the 1995 prices.

5 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Well you cdd as n hold them responsible to your hearts content but you won’t get anything. Suggest you read the terms and conditions that you agree to by booking. Like mss as my cruise lines if not all the cruise line is NOT responsible for third party issues even when the cruise line books and or pays for the third party services

 

just like if a flight delay causes you to miss  the departure of your ship you and not the cruise line are responsible for getting to the next port where you can board including the costs. That said there are times where regent and other cruise lines will take on the responsibility even though they have stated in writing they are not responsible but the don’t have to and you will never win if you complain. 

OK rallydave. I'm not getting all of what you're saying, "cdd as n hold" for example. But if Regent books my flights, and they make me miss their cruise because they booked a connection with 30 minutes in between the flights, then yes they are responsible. I questioned it (in writing) and Regent assured us it would be OK (in writing). At that point, it doesn't matter what the contract says. I do read the contracts, but I also know that many standard contracts don't hold up when challenged, with the documentation that I had.

Obviously, if I choose to book my own flights, I am totally responsible for missing the cruise and paying to catch up with it if possible. That is why I have always taken the air provided by Regent and the other cruise lines we've traveled with. Paul Gauguin, for example, always waits for the LAX to PPT flight that they book many of their passengers on, which normally arrives between 11 PM and midnight. If it arrives later, the ship waits, and leaves as soon as they're onboard.

23 hours ago, rallydave said:

That is one option as concierge or above gets you a hotel nite so you would fly in the day before for your included hotel the nite before embarkation.  You could also deviate and come in a day early plus choose your flights both way or take the air credit and make your own  reservations.

 

And SWFLAOK.  the flying in the day before is the choice Concierge gets you.  Also, for your delayed flight home from Alaska, once the flight reservations are made by Regent, the airline takes over and your delayed departure from ANchorage caused the airline to change your connection in Dallas and go your you your "better seats".  Pretty sure Regent was unaware of the flight delay and the whole delay was handled by the airline as in the T's and C's, Regent is not responsible for third parties such as the airlines. 

This was our first trip on Regent in 2018, and we didn't have a cabin with concierge amenities so we paid for our own transfer (about 30 dollars plus tip) to a hotel at the port in Vancouver (which was expensive, but very conveniently located above the port, and we were given an upgrade to a Bay View Suite from a room with a queen bed because we were willing  to eat lunch at the hotel restaurant while waiting for our upgraded room - the bay view suite was nearly as big as the condo where we live). We paid  for a deviation at the end of the trip since we were spending time with family, but we had Regent air on both ends from Fort Lauderdale to Vancouver on the way out, and from Anchorage to Fort Lauderdale on the way back. If we were unable to make our connections on flights that Regent booked for us, you can be sure that we would hold them responsible, and not the airline they booked us on.We still do, and will on our future cruises.

When we book our own flights, we book direct flights rather than connecting flights, and if we need to have connecting flights, they won't be with times less than 2 hours in between as Regent does when booking your flights.

We did the opposite cruise from Papeete to Lautoka in September, and enjoyed it. On our 3 Paul Gauguin cruises, we've always done excursions through PG, and have always been happy with them. We are on the Fiji to Bali cruise in April, and still feel no need to look for private excursions.

We've never been offered different flight options based on our cabin choice. Concierge is not really a cabin choice, it's amenities that go with a veranda cabin or superior suite, depending on your ship. It comes with a few extras, such as a night in a hotel pre, with transfers, a coffee maker in the room, and earlier access to excursion reservations.

Within the US, you won't get any bargains from Regent, and you won't get your preference of flights. The only things you'll get is some assurance that you won't be left behind on your cruise because you booked through Regent, and the connecting flights will be closer than you would feel comfortable with if you book your own.

We experienced this with our first Regent cruise to Alaska. We had to fly to Atlanta from Fort Lauderdale instead of Fort Myers (2 hour drive instead of 20 minutes) because For Myers would have had us spend a night in a hotel in Atlanta. Instead, we had to pay for a hotel in Fort Lauderdale since our Atlanta flight was at 6:30 AM. We had 30 minutes between our arrival in Atlanta and our departure to Vancouver, which is something I would never book myself. Our flight attendant onboard told us that the flight crew would be taking the same Vancouver flight, and then I stopped worrying for the first time since I saw our Regent assigned flights.

On our way back from Alaska, we spent an extra week in Anchorage visiting family. On our way to the airport with a drop off by family  at 5:30 PM, we were texted that our flight was delayed for 2 hours. We decided to stop for dinner at a restaurant on the way to the airport. While there, our flight was delayed until the next morning, so we paid for dinner and went home with family for another night. Regent made sure that the connecting flight we had in Dallas was rescheduled with a brief time before our flight to Fort Lauderdale, and that the upgrade to better seats that we had paid extra for was applied to our new flight. We were happy to not have to deal with that. In addition, the airline gave us a credit for the delay since it was a flight attendant that was ill on arrival to Anchorage, and they were unable to find a replacement who was willing to fly until the next morning (on American Airlines).

We were happy not to have to deal with this ourselves, which could have happened if we had booked this flight on our own, and the airfare credit for this cruise was very minimal.

14 hours ago, jrmuk said:

The Silver Suite was very left field and not in our thinking.

Then I had a rush of blood to the head and asked for a quote and suite availability.

Before I knew it I had paid a deposit.

Sometimes you have to let your heart rule your head.

I did the same once with Seabourn when the PH spa suites were first released, TA mentioned them, I looked at them and immediately booked one. I was worried I'd overspent for a while but we loved the cruise and never thought of the cost again.

Hopefully it will be the same this time too.

I just need to buy a very large case so I can take a months worth of washing to be be laundered and dry cleaned.....

Last November, we upgraded to the Silver Suite on the Silver Whisper cruise from Barbados to Barbados to Manaus in Brazil and back. We decided to upgrade since my brother was also going to be onboard in a Veranda Suite, and the guys didn't want to dress up more than a sports jacket if they could help it. Our fantastic butler had no problem serving an extra guest for canapes on many days, and dinner in our suite on all but one formal night. He was rewarded for his efforts, and we totally enjoyed our cruise, with our onboard experience even better than many of our cruise stops.

The only thing I disliked about our Silver Suite was the long trip to the toilet at night. It was either through the walk-in closet and the shower/bath tub area, or out through the dining room, living room, hall and into the toilet/sink area. Having too large a cabin can be so hard to take. OK, I'm just kidding. ... we really loved the Silver Suite. And, what we didn't know until we arrived in our cabin was that we had laundry included. Don't tell my brother since he happily used the laundrette halfway through the cruise so we didn't mention it.

10 hours ago, minabruuke said:

I do agree that the difference is not as great.  At least not as great as it initially appears.  

Out of interest I compared two similar options just grabbing the past passenger rates from each line's website (not including air).  The rates are for two people in a balcony cabin (prices in USD).

 

Oct. 14, 2020 Paul Gauguin 10 night Society Island and Tuamotos- $12625.50 (cruise fare) + $430 (port fees & taxes) = $13055.50 (for us we would add internet & possibly laundry costs here as we get those amenities for free on Princess)

 

Oct. 15, 2020 Princess 10 night Tahiti & French Polynesia- $6298 (cruise fare) + $200 (port fees & taxes) + $290 (gratuities) + $1415.75 (premier beverage package) + $120 (2 specialty restaurant visits for 2 people) = $8323.75

 

In this scenario we can see the price difference is not as great as it initially appears.  Now of course if the Princess cruise does not fill up then Princess will discount that cruise rate as the cruise approaches and you can be quite certain that there will be people who pay a much lower rate.  On such a port intensive cruise, I also believe that very few people would come out ahead purchasing the Princess beverage package versus paying per drink but it seemed fair to throw that package in there for comparisons sake.  

 

However, there are incredible deals that you can find on a mass market line when booking closer in to the sailing date.  I've never seen comparatively fantastic deals appear with Paul Gauguin (maybe they do and I just don't know how to find them).  

 

As an example, I just recently booked a 14 day Princess cruise for my parents.  The cruise sails to/from Australia and visits New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji.   Surprisingly to me, I actually found these rates two days before final payment meaning that other guests that were already booked who qualified for these rates (past guests) could've re-fared and/or canceled and rebooked.  In USD, we secured a balcony for $1686 ($843/person) + $400 port fees ($200/p).  Add in $348 for gratuities, maybe two specialty restaurant visits for $120 total, the specialty coffee card my dad will want for $35 and probably a maximum bar bill of about $150, subtract their $200 on board credit and their total cruise price sans air and any excursions will be around $2539 (of course this reflects their on board spending habits and someone else could spend a lot more).  I don't think that I will ever see a 14 day Paul Gauguin cruise that even begins to approach that low price point.  

 

The Pacific Princess with 670 passengers is too big for us to consider in French Polynesia. That's the ship size that we hope to never encounter on our PG cruises, especially in the Tuamotus and the Marquesas. That's too many people for the small islands to handle. Hopefully some of the Princess passengers stay onboard in these small tendering ports rather than overwhelming them.

Someone recently mentioned that the PG had to divert to Cook's Bay at Moorea, inconveniencing them for their tender dockage and excursions because Princess was in the anchorage they were scheduled to anchor in.

We love having the crew remember us, and we love deck 8 with a balcony on the PG. It's a long way from Florida to Papeete, so we're not looking to save money in the South Pacific. We can cruise the Caribbean cheap, but at this point, it's too crowded with cruise ships to enjoy. We've tried twice, and will fly to the Caribbean in the future. Cheap cruises to the South Pacific will make it the same over crowded destination, and going to small destinations further away such as Vanuatu makes it even worse.

Regent does a better job than many other cruise lines of describing the difficulty of the excursion, and what that difficulty is. I have an extreme fear of heights so I look for that in the excursion description. If I see it,  I look for reviews to see if others had problems. There are sometimes changes once you board in the information given you in your cabin, so that is the time to cancel if it's changed to more difficult, or sign up if it's been changed to easier.

We're mid 60's in reasonably good shape and can easily walk 4 or 5 miles on trails in Florida which are mostly flat, with hot and humid conditions. Before our Med Cruise, I did the 10 flights of our condo stairs every other day for 2 months since we expected to walk many steps on our excursions.

We had no problem doing the excursions that were listed as strenuous on our Med cruise, despite the extreme temperatures in July. There were many people who struggled, even with flat walking in Florence, and we could predict who they would be while leaving the ship since they found getting from the ship to the bus as a strenuous walk in the summer heat. Some of them held the tour up and prevented us from seeing everything we expected. Others relented and paid for transportation back to the ship, which the guide arranged for them.

I think wipro has a good suggestion with the private tour. It might cost more, but you can see what you want at your own pace, and get off the ship for at least half a day.

Thanks for traveling with you on your cruise. We'll be boarding Voyager in Singapore in a little over 2 weeks for 32 nights to Sydney. I'm excited and nervous for our first trip to Southeast Asia and Australia, but we've enjoyed Voyager twice so far, and expect to enjoy our Penthouse B cabin onboard.

On 11/14/2019 at 8:35 PM, UUNetBill said:

I try and eat reasonably well 50 weeks out of the year.  The two weeks or so I’m on board a Regent ship, I’m gonna eat and drink what I want, when I want.  I’ll deal with it when I get home.

 

😁

I'm sorry to say that we can't limi ourselves to only 2 weeks onboard. a Regent ship.  We want more nights than that. That means we need to lose weight before we get onboard, and we expect to lose weight after we leave. But while we're onboard, we never order more than we would order at a restaurant at home. But we don't eat at restaurants 3 meals a day, everyday, at a restaurant at home, so we try to order small rather than large portions while onboard.

9 minutes ago, Lois R said:

Hello friends.....have a request for some positive thoughts.....I got called back after my recent mammogram---

had a 2nd one and now I had a biopsy today.....they saw some calcifications and hoping they are all

negative.  I won't find out the results until next week. 

 

Thanks.

 

 

Sending positive thoughts to you Lois R. I've enjoyed your posts, and look forward to hearing about your future travels.