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Coming back from our TA, Regent will be flying us from Barcelona to Phoenix. Now, I understand that they are supposed to fly us home in Business Class, but it is not clear to me whether that will only be for the international portion of the trip, or all the way home (since, AFAICT, there are no non-stop flights between BCN and PHX). I mean, I imagine the trip will be something along the lines of BCN-MAD-DFW-PHX. Or BCN-CDG-JFK-PHX. Or BCN-CDG-LAX-PHX. Or BCN-MAD-JFK-PHX. The routes are endless, and if the last leg is in economy, if could be anything from a short hop to a fairly long, rather uncomfortable few hours. We have status (low to mid-tier) with some airlines, none at all with others. Would love to know whether we can expect to be sent home in business class all the way home, or only partway. Not sure what to expect in this instance.

Well, that problem has been solved by our PCC. She said she would look further into the Azores problem. We'll see. I must say, Regent is responsive.

Currently on the phone with Regent (well, on a long hold, to be precise). None of the excursions I tried to reserve (the only ones that accepted wheelchairs in Bermuda and Cadiz) are showing up as reserved in our account. Not sure what went wrong in the system, but hopefully, Regent can resolve the issue. Sigh.

That's a very good question. I need to look into whether the Azores are allowing private excursions and whether Regent is allowing private excursions. If they are, we may be able to put something together.

Today was the day that we got to select our excursions for our TA cruise which is coming up in April. It is not exactly port-intensive (something which I enjoy about a TA, as it gives us many relaxing days at sea to get to know a new ship and fellow passengers). However, as a passenger in a wheelchair, I do appreciate the ability to have at least one excursion available to me at each port. One of our ports on this cruise is Azores, and none of the excursions at this port are available to wheelchair users. I am at a loss right now. The only thing I can think to do is to call Regent in the morning and let them know, to see if they can put together just one excursion for wheelchair users in the Azores. I really hate to sound like a whiner: it is a beautiful ship and, if I end up spending an extra day on board, it won't be the end of the world.

We moved from Manhattan to Scottsdale, AZ recently. Harder to say how things are going here since Covid is just not as much in the news as it was last winter when the Omicron variant was hitting hard. I can only assume things are OK at the moment.

Thank you so much for this post. We are supposed to cruise on Escape on November 1. It starts as a Med cruise, then becomes a TA. DH is becoming nervous about this, and is wondering whether we should call it off. I am on the fence: We are vaccinated and boosted (and another booster will be required before we board). I also suspect (though there is no way of knowing for sure) that a cruise this late in the season and this long will likely be slightly less crowded than cruises are right now, since people tend not to want to cross the North Atlantic that late in the season. DH and I have done it, and agree that it can be rough, but we seem to have saltwater in our veins -- it did not affect us at all, even when so many others, both passengers and crew, felt sick. But even with fewer people on board, a late season ocean crossing means more time spent indoors, and greater chance of infectious airborne disease spreading. So I hopefully, the current wave will be over by the time we cruise, and the next wave will not have had a chance to take hold. We'll see.

OK. It's weird, because like so many others, we'll be going straight from the ship to the airport to catch our flight home. I had no idea if NCL was testing people to let them know if they were OK to go out and fly home, but I guess it doesn't matter, from a public health perspective, anymore.

We are booked on NCL Escape from Rome to NY starting Nov 1 (Yay!). It starts out as a Med cruise, then crosses the Atlantic and ends up in NYC. For those who have done a TA already, I have a question how does the disembarkation process work? I am assuming there is some sort of Covid testing being done a day or two prior on board, or am I wrong? If people test positive prior to disembarkation, what happens? Am I stressing too much about this?

My husband and I don't drink, so we decline the drinks package. We prefer Diet Coke to Diet Pepsi, and would love a wider variety of soaring waters on board (not to mention a tea and coffee package). But you can't have it all.