SWFLAOK

Unless you don't mind missing your flight at LHR and making other arrangements to get home, I would tell Silversea that you can't make that flight. I would not count on being able to disembark at 7 AM unless you are taking private transportation, provided by Silversea, from Southampton to LHR. It's often a long slow ride from Southampton to LHR, and I would not trust any cruise line's bus to get you there in time. I would ask if Silversea can provide a later flight with an upcharge. We begged Viking to put us on a flight from Miami to Amsterdam that had more than an hour between the Delta flight they booked us on with a connection through Atlanta. We complained 3 times, and they didn't budge, but we didn't say we would pay more since we had already paid a considerable amount for the upgrade to business class. As expected, the Delta flight from Miami to Atlanta left nearly an hour late, and they told us to run as fast as we could to get to our flight to Amsterdam before it took off. We, and one other person on our flight did that, and Delta slammed the door to the flight when the the other person was standing in front of the door. We were slower (being older), but we were close enough to see that happen. We looked online, and they had already given our seats away, and we had to wait 3 hours for crappy seats on Delta in "premium economy" with all of the college students enjoying free drinks. We lived through it, but we didn't sleep at all, and eventually, we had to work very hard to get our business class upgrade payment back from the cruise line. And they only gave us half of it back since they said the one hour flight on Delta from Miami to Atlanta was first class (there was no first class or business class on that flight), We learned that you can't trust the cruise lines to book flights that will make it likely that you will arrive on time with a connection. We will only accept that from them if it's on the way home, and we don't mind spending another day on our way home. We also no longer allow them to book us on Delta since this was the second time that has happened to us through Atlanta with 2 different cruise lines.

Our experience in the Emirates business class lounge in Dubai was completely different. We were on a connecting flights both ways, and had to pass through security both ways between flights, but not customs or immigration. The lounge was the biggest we had ever seen, with our previous best lounge experience being the Admiral's Club in MIA. There was a very long central walkway, with many places to sit and eat along the way. There was even at least one sit down restaurant with wait staff service. It wasn't crowded at all compared to any lounge in the US. We would rather sit in an airport bar and pay for food and drinks rather than enter a Delta lounge where there are never any seats, and many kids running wild. We boarded our Emirates flight from the end of the lounge, and went directly onboard. We never saw any of those who weren't business class after we left the previous flight, since we disembarked and boarded separately from them. It wasn't the same on Emirates in FLL where there are no lounges, but Emirates did give us 50 dollars each to spend in an airport restaurant. After that, we've always flown out of MIA instead of FLL for our cruises, which takes us 15 minutes longer to get to the airport, but the choice of available flights are much better, and they do have lounges.

I've never had a desire to go to Antarctica, and I've often wondered why other people want to go there since visiting it just for a vacation, rather than research, seems like it might harm a delicate environment. And I'm not normally an environmentalist. But seeing what's required for cruisers makes me feel a little better about attempts to balance cruises and the environment. At the same time, I wonder where the treated gray water and sewage goes. Is it a no discharge zone like the Panama Canal? And, I would not want to go through all of the apparel and footwear cleaning required. We have done some footwear cleaning for parks in certain areas, but cleaning parkas isn't for me (nor is wearing them).

We had local tenders come aside of Voyager in Ko Samui, but our captain thought it was too dangerous for us to go aboard. We didn't agree since we had done worse on the small tenders of Paul Gauguin in the Marquessas. But instead of going ashore, we had to sit for 6 hours off the shore of Ko Samui, bouncing up and down while officials came aboard from one of the large local tenders and cleared the ship. I suspect it would have taken much less time to clear us if the passengers had been going ashore to spend money in the port. We also had to use local tenders in some of the small ports on the South coast of Peurto Rico when we were on Sea Dream. At the first port, they sent a dive boat to pick up passengers. The first person in line to disembark was a very elderly woman who shuffled rather than walk. She had to be lifted by the crew to board the dive boat. When they tried to disembark at the dock, she fell and was injured. Unfortunately for the rest of us, our shore excursion was cancelled at that port and the next 2 stops were cancelled. And even worse, she was treated at the local walk-in clinic, and brought back to our ship. After that, she fell near the pool, but still went in and bled in the water, causing the pool to be drained and disinfected. In some places, there are no other ports available that can be quickly booked. But I guess Regent is solving that problem with its port intensive cruises where there are only a few large ports on each cruise. Having seen the ports being used for those cruises, we don't plan to book any more Regent cruises, and hope our upcoming cruise will not be affected by that any more than it has. We cruise to see other parts of the world by going ashore, and large commercial ports, and those far from anything interesting don't work for us.

And why does anyone want any of those? I just went through my large storage closet in our condo since it was almost full. I came close to throwing away the Gold Glitter Tote Bag we received in our Concierge cabin on Regent Navigator last spring. I know I won't ever use it since it's very gaudy, and not practical. I do use a few of the older navy bags which are much sturdier, with plenty of zippers, and they're right up front where I can easily find them to use again.

We had Emirates in the past from FLL to Singapore and back from Sydney back to FLL just before Covid in early 2020. The flight experience was excellent on Emirates, and the lounge in Dubai was very comfortable. For our next cruise, Regent booked on Qatar Airways from MIA to Bangkok through Doha, and back from Abu Dhabi through Doha to MIA at the end of the cruise. We only paid the deviation fee when they first booked us. But our assigned seats in business class disappeared on the way back which we were not notified about, and we had to pay a seat charge to book new seats. It was a significant amount extra, and there were only a few seats available. Now we check our flights often to see if it happens again since Regent never notified us about the seat assignments disappearing.

Last April, we had my brother, and our best friend (a woman), take a 2 week Caribbean cruise on Regent with us. It was the first Regent cruise for both of them, but they have both cruised on other cruise lines in the past. They both enjoyed the cruise, but each of them having to pay as much for their cabin as we did as a couple didn't sit well with them. We tried to convince each of them to join us on our April cruise from Bangkok to Abu Dhabit, which had a 0 percent single suppplement last month, but went to 25 percent this month. But neither of them wanted to fly that far, even if it was business class.

I think the people who consider leather sneakers appropriate for elegant casual, and wear them with suits at work are not part of "this age group often having foot issues". It's the younger people who would rather not wear leather dress shoes under any circumstance, and certainly don't want to bring them on a cruise. And even though I'm in the older age group, I agree with them. If your shoes don't attract everyone's attention in the dining room, then they should be acceptable. A pair of dark leather sneakers will blend in nicely with elegant casual attire on the cruise. There are, however, always a few old men that wear old white sneakers to dinner, and I don't think it has anything to do with foot issues. They usually also wear a hat. White leather sneakers work well for walking excursions, as well as on flights. But, there's only so much room in your luggage for more shoes, and as you get older, it's harder to manage a lot of luggage. We haven't gotten to that point yet.

On Grandeur there are 3 specialty restaurants. You can make a reservation for each of them before the cruise. If you want another reservation while onboard, you can ask your butler to make those reservations. Also, if you decide to eat dinner in your cabin with room service, your butler can arrange that, and will serve it to you in your cabin, course by course if that's what you want. They will also shine your shows, have a few items pressed on boarding, and even unpack and pack for you if you want that. We really haven't asked much of our butler in the past, but one time we asked him to look into the excursion we had already booked the next day since we would be off the ship that day, and he found out what we needed to know. If there's any way they can help you, they will.

Regent doesn't assign GTY until a week or 2 before sailing. I can't imagine any cruise line assigning a guaranteed cabin at the time of booking. If you want an assigned cabin, then you have to pay for it at the time of booking. GTY gives you a chance to be upgraded at no cost, but the downside is that you have to wait until the last minute to find out where and what your cabin is. My brother is not fussy about his cabin being anywhere on the ship since he doesn't get seasick, and noise in his cabin doesn't bother him. He still is bothered by not knowing what cabin he's been assigned until the last minute, but so far he has gotten a veranda cabin when he paid for a window cabin. It doesn't make up for paying a 100 percent single supplement, and I'm sure all solo travelers feel the same way.

I was thinking the same thing. We have been on Voyager a number of times, but I would not take that South American cruise on it. It's not the right ship for it. We did have a problem with the Captain of Voyager a few years ago in Southeast Asia, who would not allow us to tender to shore when numerous large tenders were brought out to us for tendering in to Ko Samui. We had previously tendered into ports in the Marquesas and Cook Islands from the Paul Gauguin on much smaller tenders, in much rougher seas. Instead, we sat for 6 hours, rocking and rolling, enduring seasickness, until it was time to sail to our next port. This was the Captain's decision, and he never communicated well on the entire cruise, nor did he interact with the passengers. I don't know if it's still the same Captain or not.

That's not what we found on Regent cruises in the summer when there have been plenty of kids. Both a Mariner Alaska cruise in August, and a Voyager July cruise of the Med had enough kids that they traveled in groups, taking over areas that they enjoyed (the pool in July for example). They were mostly from big family groups (which Regent started marketing to a few years ago, apparently with discounts offered). There were no adults from their family groups keeping them in check. They also disrupted excursions, chasing each other and pushing their way through the tour groups. After the second cruise, we stopped taking cruises during the summer since that limits kids to those less than 5, and those that are home schooled.

Cruise mapper has shown plenty of cruises coming out of if ports in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai, going through the Strait of Hormuz to Muscat, making a stop and returning back through the strait to the Persian Gulf ports. There are 3 currently in progress; MSC Aida and Costa. We're on the last Navigator cruise before they head around Africa. We could end up with a few extra nights in Mumbai at the end of the cruise. Silver Moon is adding hotel nights in Mumbai to start their next cruise since their around Africa cruise from the Med without passengers is taking extra days. Our problem would be that we're flying Qatar Airways via Doha to Bangkok to start the cruise, and flying back from Abu Dhabi to Doha to MIA. If Qatar Airways could get us a flight from Mumbai to Doha to catch our already booked Regent flight, that could still work, but might be hard if Regent decides to do this at the last minute. I remember when I used to look forward to our cruises, but every since Covid, there have been too many things to worry about. Driving vacations, even with all of the traffic, has become less stressful.

We did a 2 week Caribbean cruise from Miami to Miami on the little, old ship, Navigator. I don't mind the older smaller ships, but this cruise was considerably above the normal max passengers. We had 3 cabins for the 4 of us, and we are SSS gold members. Both of our Regent newbies in their own cabins (paying 100 percent single supplement) asked for bourbon in their rooms, and did not get it. At the bars, the best they had was Woodford, but it only lasted for the first week of the cruise. One of our newbies was able to get a bottle of Woodford in her Concierge level cabin, but the other, in a Veranda suite, had to settle for something other than bourbon. For our 2 bottles in our cabin, we hadn't asked for bourbon (we already knew they wouldn't give us Blanton's), and got what we ordered online before the cruise. Our newbies were tempted to buy something more to their liking when stopped in ports, but since they had already paid the 100 percent single supplement, and there are other drinks that they enjoy, they went with other options. We did, however, buy some small bottles of curacao from the distillery, and had it for after dinner drinks a few times while onboard. And I loved the cronuts, and ate 1 every morning at the Coffee connection with my cappuccino. I gained 5 pounds on the cruise, and I blame the cronuts.

I really don't know why the newer cruise ships are keeping the bath tubs. We have 2 bath tubs at home, and only use the large one once in a while. On cruise ships, if there's a shower that's what we use. The bath tub has a laundry line over it, and we hang wet swim suits and hand wash on it. But we find it a waste of space. Two trying to get ready at the same time are likely to bump into each other on the bath mat between the standalone shower and the tub shower. In some of the higher level suites, the tub and shower might be in separate rooms, and would allow 2 people to get ready at the same time.

We have about 100 nights on Regent, and another cruise in April. We've never experienced a theme night. I would ask Regent. Theme night's aren't our thing, and we would want to know how to avoid it rather than what we needed to bring to participate. Our suitcases are already full enough without having to bring something special to wear for a few hours.

We have taken several cruises on Sea Dream Yacht Club. Their 2 ships are quite small, with 112 passengers max, and about the same number of crew. They offer cruises in the Caribbean and the Med. In San Juan, they have always docked at the Old San Juan port, at dock 1. They do customs and immigration there. We did back to back cruises, and had to leave the ship, go through immigration, go to shore, and wait until everyone had left the ship. After that, we passed by immigration and returned to the ship, along with a number of new crew. The new guests came onboard mid afternoon. There were 4 of us on the back to back, and we ate lunch together by the pool. The service and food were exceptional. When we ended our cruise at the same dock after our second cruise, we passed through the same immigration desk at the dock, and after the transportation provided by the cruise took us to the airport, we only had to go through security at the San Juan airport.

Since you are booking your own return flight, Regent will not be providing you transportation to LHR from the ship. During your cruise, they will give you a disembarkation questionnaire and include options for paying for transportation Regent. Based on your answers, they will schedule your disembarkation time. Rather than book your flight before seeing Regent's airport transportation offerings, I would book my own transportation to LHR so choose a time to be picked up. As far as needing to disembark only when Regent has scheduled you to, just keep all of your luggage in your cabin rather than putting out anything the night before. When the port clears the ship, independent travelers who have nothing but carry ons are allowed to disembark. If you can carry your carry ons and roll your suitcases, you can just leave the ship. We've seen people do this on Regent and Viking, and will do it ourselves if we have our own transportation when leaving the ship since we've been delayed by hours a few times in the past just to wait for all of the suitcases to be sorted in the port.

We have a Jeep and bought it without knowing that ducks were a thing for Jeep owners. They're a thing for Jeep Wrangler owners, but we luckily haven't had to deal with it for our Grand Cherokee. We once received a cute little duck on our bathtub in a motel along I-26 going back North from a family wedding many years ago. There was a note that said please take me home if you smiled when you saw me, with no charge. That duck still sits on the edge of my bathtub 25 years later, and still makes me smile. On the other hand, we recently stayed at a very nice boutique hotel in Panama City, Panama, where we really enjoyed our stay. There was a duck in the beautiful upscale shower. There was a menu of ducks available for purchase. We didn't buy one for 25 dollars. We haven't seen any ducks onboard Regent, and won't be bringing any in our luggage.

From our experience on Regent (Navigator, Mariner, Voyager, Splendor) we have always had a tub with a laundry line. We never use the tub, but we always use the laundry line. Regent has free laundry for everyone post Covid, but there are still things we want to wash and hang. Not all cabins are the same so you need to check if you have a tub or not. Most cabins have a tub on Regent and other cruises we've taken. We really wonder why since we could still find a place to hang the few things we hand wash without the tub, and the tub is a large waste of space if you only take showers onboard.

We are booked on Silver Dawn for the 2025 World Cruise. If they have a ship's dog assigned officially onboard, and are welcoming passengers to bring their dogs, then we will most likely cancel. I've had some bad experiences with dogs in the past, starting as a child, and would not feel uncomfortable having to handle this for almost 5 months.

We had dinner at a friend's house, and my DH wore our friend's sneakers home. The next morning, I noticed them, and pointed out that they were not his. DH called his friend, and he had already worn them that morning, and hadn't noticed. They did, however, exchange them later that day.

I am, in no way, obsessed with environmental issues, but if Regent provides a detergent, you should use it. The wash water goes into the ocean on a cruise ship, and Regent has had to investigate what is safe for overboard discharge, and what isn't. A quick search on Tide pods brings up a number of concerns with them. I would go with the Regent's choice.

I do use the bathrobe onboard, but never at home. I think it's the chance that a room steward will come to the door as soon as I get out of the shower. I could never take the bathrobe with me since there isn't any room for something that bid in my suitcases.

But on the up side, we were able to enter our Jet Blue numbers on the Qatar Airways website and it accepted it.