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I assume Regent did not have time to arrange for a last minute excursion, though I agree, in these circumstances, a HOHO might have done the trick.

Agree with @Gilly that our embarkation in Rio left something to be desired. Fortunately, by the time we boarded the ship, DH and I felt entirely at peace. We dropped off our bags, ate lunch with a wonderful couple, and explored the ship It was the beginning of a wonderful cruise, with embarkation long since forgotten.

One of the easiest things in the day is to put on a dress and a pair of pumps in order to get ready for dinner. The make up might take a little bit more time (it's amazing how much effort it takes to achieve the "no make up make up" look 😂 ).

Oh, I should add that we have a concierge doctor, and membership there reduces the price of MedJet Assist, so that's nice. So check your doctor's website. You never know.

We travel a fair bit (we will have a total of three cruises and two other trips in 2024). so we purchase annual trip insurance with Allianz. We have not had to use it, but it appears to be fairly comprehensive. We also have a multi-annual MedJet assist policy. We also have the Citi Advantage Executive Mastercard, which has a travel insurance feature. It covers trip delay/cancelation, lost/damaged luggage, that sort of thing. I would have to look up which insurance covers what first.

I hope this is the case. Count me among those who had a wonderful time on the voyage from Rio to Lisbon a few weeks ago (hello, @Gilly!). For DH and me, it was our second time on Voyager, third time on Regent. We love Voyager, love Regent (we have a Christmas cruise booked on Mariner in December/January 2025/2026 already, and are looking to book another cruise with Regent -- we just don't know where we want to go yet). We feel like we have found a "home" with Regent -- the ships, the crew, and the fellow passengers are something quite special.

This thread is so wonderfully informative! I really appreciate it. Our cruise begins in very late November and goes into December. We start in the Mediterranean, cross the Atlantic, then end up in the Caribbean, so we have a lot of sea days in there. I'm thinking there will be plenty of Eggs Benedict to look forward to, and I like it. I am also wondering whether we can request an occasional plate of mini brownies (or cookies, or something like that) for our cabin, so that we can snack on them in the afternoon/evening while we relax on the balcony with a cup of tea, read, etc. It sounds so idyllic.

That was precisely my point. Regent should not be telling passengers they have a business class ticket with full lounge access when a business class ticket does not always guarantee lounge access.

We were just on Voyager, in a concierge class cabin. They do bring in shower chairs for you, and you can make them work, but it is a bit of a squeeze. Place the shower chair in the shower, sit and figure out the best angle. Then step out and turn the shower on, to get the shower head going at the proper angle and height (I had DH do that for me). Once that is done, step back in, sit down and enjoy your shower. The next day, do it again (or, in my case, try to shower when in port or when the ship was not moving as much, and avoid using the shower chair).

We stayed at the JW Marriott on Brickell before our last Regent cruise out of Miami. We loved the views from our room, loved the room itself, enjoyed the breakfast, and found it easy to take an Uber from the hotel to the pier (it was maybe 5-8 minutes).

DH and I love Barcelona! We have visited several times, and cannot get enough of its architectural wonders, from the Roman to the Medieval to the playful Modernisme. Its museums are incredible, and the shopping there is a lot of fun (the fashion often echoes the architecture). And then there is the food. Oh, my goodness! From simple tapas bars to high-end restaurants, the food everywhere is delicious, made with the freshest of ingredients. Enjoy!

Wow. We have the Advantage card, as well as (and perhaps more importantly) OW Emerald status, which helps grant entry to OW alliance business class lounges when flying on an alliance airline, even when not flying in business class (as long as they are not overcrowded on that day, which can be an issue). The ME3 (the three major ME airlines), are renowned for being quite restrictive in their lounge policies, and Regent should be careful in stating whether passengers will have lounge access when clearly Regent is purchasing the most restrictive tickets for its passengers. The days of the most luxurious cruise line in the world are long gone. We seem to be heading down a path of, well, you are getting international business class, at least in the air.

We put in a request for Diet Coke before each cruise. It is not in our mini fridge when we get there, but then we remind our cabin steward/ess, and the fridge is stocked and re-stocked regularly. We don't drink alcohol (DH will have wine and/or champagne with a special meal; it is contraindicated with some of the medications I take), but we appreciate having water and Diet Coke in our cabin and available at meals, as well as tea/coffee at breakfast and after meals, so we appreciate Regent's attention to detail in having our favorite soda available when we request it. I did notice Caffeine-Free Diet Coke regularly poolside during this last cruise, so it was available (either someone pre-ordered it or it was readily available). IME, your best bet is to make the request ahead of time via e-mail. They do seem to honor these requests.

We were in a G category on Splendor back in February for a one-week Caribbean cruise. It was fine, but we found it a bit narrow. Also, we were used to Voyager, where all cabin categories have walk-in closets. G category on Splendor has a much smaller closet. It was fine for a one-week Caribbean cruise, but it would have been problematic for a longer, TA cruise. Ultimately, we realized that on Explorer and Splendor class of ships, we need to book F class and above suites if we are booking a longer cruise.

We had dinner at Prime 7 last night and our waiter, Christian, recognized us, as he had worked on Splendor until recently, and we were on Splendor in February (OK, that is a bit embarrassing to admit, but we did not plan it that way -- it was just rescheduled for us when I could not take the cruise we were supposed to take in January 2022 because I caught Covid). Anyhow, Christian was delightful, and so happy to see us! The food in Prime 7 was excellent (both DH and I had filets mignons). The service was a bit slow, though we don't mind that. We are in vacation mode, and relaxed is fine. The acoustics at this Prime 7 are not great: it gets loud as it gets full. This is not a problem at the Splendor specialty restaurants. Not sure why Voyager's specialty restaurants are so loud.

@Gilly, I thnk we may have had lunch with you and your DH yesterday. Getting onto the ship was indeed, chaotic, what with traffic and then rather a mess at the port itself. Sit and wait. Get ready, a shuttle is here. No, sorry, sit and wait again. When the shuttle finally arrived, I realized I could not physically climb into it (I have a mobility impairment and am short), so the wheelchair pusher pushed me to the ship, with my DH walking alongside us. I think we looked dead by the time we boarded. One funny thing: our muster station is at Prime 7, so DH joked that in case of emergency, we'll be fed well on our way off the ship. We saw sail-away from our balcony and were asleep by 11 pm. Jet lag resolved by exhaustion.

We flew in from PHX to MIA last night, then had an 11:00 pm flight from MIA to GIG. Well . . . When we boarded in PHX, we did not take off for some time. Apparently, there was weather over GA, so we did not get clearance to take off for a couple of hours. We therefore arrived MIA quite late. However, our flight out of MIA was also delayed (apparently, there was a -- not a joke -- lavatory leak). They eventually had to get us a new plane, and we did not take off until almost 2:00 am. We arrived in GIG and were told they did not know whether my wheelchair had been loaded onto the new plane. Welcome to Rio! After the (wonderful) special assistance gentlemen who pushed my wheelchair and helped us get our luggage at the carousel ascertained that my wheelchair was, in fact, at the airport, we made our way to the area where the Regent folks were waiting, and what a large group that turned out to be! We were driven to our hotel (the JW Marriott) and then we went through the pre-check-in procedure. After that, we were given cheesy bread and coffee and then we were taken to our room. We then spent the afternoon on a tour of Rio (Christ Redeemer and Sugar Loaf), and have spent the evening having dinner. DH is asleep on the couch. I am about to wash up, figure out what to wear tomorrow, and call it night. I think we are both exhausted. See you on board!

This. Show up earlier if you don't mind a little bit of a crowd, and you will get in to a nice lunch, get to meet some fellow passengers, move into your suite, freshen up, have dinner, and enjoy a leisurely sail-away (sail-away invariably occurs several hours late, with the ship needing to stock up on provisions, passengers arriving late, and heaven knows what else going on). In the alternative, board the ship a little later. Arrange for a late check-out from your hotel, enjoy a late breakfast at your leisure, arrive at the port when the crowds (such as they are) have passed. Freshen up in your suite. Have a coffee at Coffee Connection. Explore the ship. And so on. There is no right or wrong way to do a boarding day, really.

Then, if the errata sheet shows a difference with the on-line cruise descriptions, head to destination services. They will contact the specific excursion operator directly, once you have had a chance to chat with them and explain what your specific issues and limitations are.

Given the opportunity, that's what I do. In Antigua, DH and I had signed up for an excursion that had been billed as wheelchair accessible, and, much to our joy, it was. There were a couple of steps onto the bus (DH helped me navigate those, and another passenger, a lovely gentleman whose wife also had mobility issues, was also quick to help me on and off). The excursion guide put my wheelchair away. I stayed on the bus at most stops. The very last stop was long but easy to traverse in the wheelchair -- DH was happy to do the honors. It was the boatyard where yachts and sailboats are repaired. I was so happy to be able to see that up close. It was a lovely day and I hope my presence did not ruin anyone else's enjoyment. We were in St. Thomas the day before. And it was the afternoon before that that we found out from the excursions desk that the open air trolleys that would be taking us on our panoramic tour of St. Thomas would not be able to accommodate me. I guess, when I read on the website that that particular excursion was suitable for wheelchair users, I misunderstood. Or is it possible, just possible, that the information on the website did not match the information that was given to the excursion desk, which then had to advise passengers accordingly?

First, there are very few excursions available to passengers who use wheelchairs. Many ports have no excursions available to passengers who use wheelchairs. Then there is the more troubling issue: you can sign up for an excursion that is apparently accessible to wheelchair users, only to discover, a day before arriving at the port, that it may not be. This happened to us on our most recent Regent cruise: the day before we arrived on St. Thomas, we discovered that the excursion trolleys were extremely tall and did not have a step stool to climb into them: there was no way I would be able to climb in (nor was there space for my wheelchair, though that could be folded up and kept at the port under supervision of the excursion people). It was a real let-down, as we had been looking forward to this panoramic tour of St. Thomas. Had we known that, we might have made other arrangements from the get-go.

It's just DH and me, and we travel a bit differently, but here goes. A couple of years ago, DH and I decided to try Regent for the first time. Since then, we have cruised Regent once more and booked three more Regent cruises and one more NCL cruise. Our NCL cruise is on Viva, a not-huge ship. In a non-Haven suite. We have now booked business class flights for ourselves, as well as a hotel in the city where the ship is leaving from. We still need to book specialty dining and drinks packages, and we have to account for all the gratuities, and the cost of our NCL cruise is already higher than anything we have booked on Regent, whose suites are larger and more comfortable, and which have a better crew to passenger ratio and more personalized service overall. It's not likely we will be booking anymore NCL cruises.

My husband (who turns 65 later this year) and I (55) have the same AIG annual travel policy @SargassoPirate described above. We also have a MedJet policy. Because we take several cruises and trips each year, we have found this is the most comprehensive and cost-effective option for us.

There was at least one fully accessible excursion on Roatan last summer. It took us to a sloth/monkey/bird sanctuary (a pretty amazing experience in itself if you are an animal lover) and on to an iguana sanctuary. Lots of sightseeing in between. About a half day.

Our flight was delayed getting into MIA the night before and we were absolutely exhausted, so we slept in, had a leisurely brunch type breakfast (even though it was a Friday), took our time. packing, checked out late, went to the ATM in the lobby to get some cash, called a Lyft, and were at the port sometime after 2:00. We were among the last people there, and had the place to ourselves. It was a surreal experience.