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Great electrical outlets. I haven't even had to use our extension.

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So many dogs in Spain. Interacting with them helps me miss mine a little less. This one was very friendly with us at a cafe. Her owner told us she had rescued her as a pup from a rubbish bin where someone had thrown her. Not sure what's wrong with some people. But very thankful for those like this lovely young woman!

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Malaga Spain

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Very nice little laundry room. I'm loving to send out blouses/shirts and slacks. But guess I'm just too economical (cheap?) to send our my underwear [emoji2]

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Apparently we are very lucky, because (knock on wood) we’ve had no problems in our cabin. Everything working properly and looks great! We’ve heard from some we’ve encountered that, like Susan, are not so fortunate.

I was more than a little skeptical about traveling right after the refit, but decided to take the chance because it was the itinerary we wanted. We’re definitely glad we did!

We saw Lovena Fox on another luxury line and she is fabulous. We have her CD and she does a mean Tina Turner and Dionne Warwick and other artists and she is lovely to meet in person. Hope you enjoyed.

She was fabulous! What a voice!! And a great variety of music she performed too. I’m hoping to meet her. She made a point of requesting everyone talk with her when we see her around the ship.

A few more Cartagena photos. We are from the frozen tundra in MN. Seeing green things was delightful!

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Thanks Boblerm. You saved me looking back to instructions I received from Wes previously. He’s a great wealth of information!

I have sent a test photo, so we’ll see if it works....

A test photo... arriving in Cartagena

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We enjoyed a very nice included tour that took us to the Conception Castle, the scenic route on a winding highway to La Manga and return to Cartagena. It was a beautiful day, we had a very good guide and driver and a great group.

Enjoyed tea with some new friends and then cocktail before dinner at Setti Mari. Delicious food and great service! Also engaged in conversation with a very nice couple seated next to us.

Wifi has been spotty today, but good connection now and was able to post photos to Facebook.

Now off to the show...Lovena B Fox.

Looking forward to your comments regarding your cruise. Glad to hear your boarding when smooth. I'm guessing all the comments on this board about boarding the ship is much about nothing and should be dropped. People just don't care, they want to enjoy the cruise they waited for.....Thanks for posting, so sit back and enjoy your holiday/vacation the why you want - hope all will be as you expected. Enjoy! Rick

Thanks Rick! I'm anticipating our first Regent cruise to be as good as yours was 😃

Thanks Wes, Jackie and PapaFlamingo!

Calm seas all night and a very comfortable bed provided us a great night's sleep!

The bathroom is lovely and Gene's crazy about the shower. I loved it too.

Breakfast in LaVeranda was delicious. We then had the opportunity to meet Jason Montague and chat with him. That was an unexpected pleasure!

Service has been top notch so far. I've worked in hospitality management for nearly 30 years and the staff/team is always a most precious asset!

We're sailing into Cartagena now. It's a beautiful, sunny day. Just like summer here! Made even more delightful for the fact that we left home in

the snow.

We hope your first Regent cruise is as wonderful as ours was. If so, you may find yourself getting bitten by the Regent Cruise bug. Looking forward to seeing pics of the new Mariner, but also excited to hop onboard on the 18th in Miami.

Z and TB

 

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Thanks Z. We drank a Hendrix and tonic last night in your honor!

Rachel, I was very glad both about not missing the ship and getting all our luggage! I packed carefully, with enough in the carry on to last several days, if needed and other items distributed between the two checked bags. Was nice to not have to deal with any of my lost luggage fears.

We had our health questionnaires in advance, in the envelope we received at the hotel. But probably not everyone received them ahead.

And since the only experience we have had was boarding a Royal Caribbean ship with 4000 others, this boarding experience seemed very quick, easy and quite sane!

The items we requested ahead (distilled water and certain beverages) were all in our cabin when we arrived. Our baggage all came before the muster drill, so I was able to unpack, too.

The muster drill was also much quicker and easier than trying to accomplish the same on the much larger RCL ship. And we enjoyed chatting with people around us as we waited for everyone to arrive at our muster station in the Theater.

Then time for before dinner cocktails, where we met more interesting people and then dinner in Compass Rose. It was very good, nicely presented and food was proper temperatures. I heard some complaints about the dinner service at the lounge after dinner, but we had no service issues.

We’ve only used the WiFi a few times, but has been very decent so far. Fingers crossed that continues! I am still trying to figure out Tapatalk to post some photos. I might have to take some more instruction before that happens.

All in all a very nice first day on Regent!

The transportation from the hotel was very good and comfortable. And much like Briar14, we found the check in to be very quick and easy.

Onboard there were many comments around us from those who could immediately see the differences. The carpet in the main areas is the same as TC posted a photo of previously. I would certainly not pick it for my home, but I'll bet it doesn't show stains very easily. We've been too busy just finding our way to lunch and then our room to notice any artwork or other decor. The picture in our room is not really our style for home, but not objectionable. Everything is quite lovely!

We had a nice lunch with a couple who have more than 300 nights on Regent. They were very pleasant and a good source of information.

Waiting for our luggage to arrive and muster drill soon. Then we can begin exploring the ship!

I am so happy to see postings from the Mariner! I do have one question about boarding. Was boarding for Seven Seas Suites and above as well a Gold and above Seven Seas Society members? This is what I heard would be the case but red to check before I "advertise" the pre-boarding for Regent's loyal customers.

 

Thanks much! Enjoy every moment of your cruise.

From the perspective of a newcomer, I didn't notice a special boarding line. There were two lines and one was a bit shorter, but once you got to the head of your line people were sent alternately from each line as a check in person became available. If there was signage or the like for the higher suites check in I didn't see it.

Following in the footsteps of Mr. Rumor, Jennifer, Crisy, Wes, TC, Susan and others, I hope I can do justice to some blogging and perhaps offer a slightly different perspective from a “newbie” on Regent. And hope others on the ship feel free to join in with their own thoughts and observations.

We are not rookie travelers. We have been land travelers for many years, until last July, when we took our first cruise. It was a multigenerational (ages 11-71) Royal Caribbean Alaskan cruise, which we enjoyed tremendously! And so here we are embarking on a journey that will hit two travel bucket list items simultaneously….a Transatlantic Cruise and a cruise on Regent.

To “set the table” as Mr. Rumor always does so nicely, it would be untrue to say we are going into this cruise without any expectations. Reading blogs, reviews, CC and Fodor’s thread postings, information from the Regent website has given us insight (and sometimes conflicting points of view). But we do try to enter into all new experiences (travel or otherwise) with open minds and open hearts. Sometimes that’s easier than others…

Our travel from Minneapolis to Barcelona took far longer than expected. What was supposed to be about 12 hours total travel, with delay at MSP and flight cancellation for Air France strike in Paris, it took about 32 hours. An interesting way begin our journey!

But our luggage arrived and we were picked up and transported by private vehicle (with a wonderful, little unexpected “tour” of Barcelona by our driver) to the beautiful Grand Hotel Central in the heart of the city. After a cocktail and snack at the rooftop bar, we were more than ready for a good night’s sleep.

This morning our bags were whisked away by the Regent folks and we at least had a few hours to explore around the hotel.

Now we are awaiting our transfer to the ship, so the excitement builds…

On this subject, are there available outlets for CPAP's or do we need to let Regent know that we need extension cords? For that matter can we just pack and extension cord? We will be on Mariner. Thanks.

It’s our first Regent cruise, so all I can say is our TA requested distilled water and asked about an extension cord. Regent rep said both water and extension cord would be there in our cabin. They said they preferred we use their extension cord.

But am wondering if there are the same kind of plugs on Mariner as Flossie posted a photo from the Explorer? If so, there is a US plug under the nightstand, which would be perfect.

There has been discussion about electrical outlets and water for CPap machines....thanks everyone who contributed to that discussion, as that was very helpful!

But I’m wondering about carrying my DH’s machine onboard. We will bring as a carry on for our flights, but do those of you who use CPap recommend to also carry it by hand onboard? Or put a tag on it and let it go with the rest of our luggage onto the ship?

Completely agree with you. Especially knowing that their sister company Oceania has a better system now I find it very disappointing that Regent does not have it. https://www.travelagentcentral.com/cruises/oceania-cruises-debuts-wavenet-internet-service-fleetwide, and even Royal Caribbean has a similar high-speed system https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/cruise-ship-wifi

 

Also just read that one of the ships on Princess has a new high-speed system https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8430

We’ll also be interested to see how the WiFi is on Mariner when we board next week. It won’t make or break our vacation, but will certainly have an impact on the work I’ll need to do occasionally onboard.

I can speak to Royal Caribbean’s WiFi, as we sailed on Explorer of the Seas last summer. While the internet access wasn’t as fast as in land, it was much faster and better than we’d expected. Even our IT Director son was impressed and could do his necessary work with no problems. And even if not everyone on board was connected to WiFi, with 4000+ passengers onboard, certainly there were at least as many online as a Regent cruise.

We cruised to Alaska last July and I don’t think it ever got above 60 degrees, mostly 40’s and 50’s and rainy some days. It was still incredibly beautiful and we had a wonderful time, but were very glad I’d packed layers, rain gear and gloves.

Thanks for the great photos and commentary TC!

Sounds like a great start to your trip!!

Thanks for the great blog and photos Susan!

We’ll look forward to meeting you and David when we board Mariner in Barcelona.

I wonder what would happen if someone were to sneak onto the fancy line with the wrong cabin class ticket? Would they be sent to that OTHER line in disgrace? First world problem?

I'm sure the OP will have a wonderful cruise.

Definitely first world problems! I am in schools nearly everyday with students of very hard working, minimum wage earning parents who can barely afford the necessities. We know we are beyond blessed to be able to sail on Regent, even in a simple suite. We plan to enjoy every minute of our cruise, even if our boarding line is with the other riff raff 😀. They are probably more fun!

If you wash the clothes and the shirts, for instance, need ironing, send them it for "ironing only" (much less expensive). My DH won't wear no iron dress shirts and they come out of the suitcase wrinkled. I send his dress shirts in to be ironed as soon as we get onboard. Not expensive at all.

Refusal to wear no iron shirts would cause serious problems in our household 😀