RachelG

My TA is definitely not associated with a big box store and gives rebate which I think are generous.

we always do our own hotel and transfers--much less expensive than having Regent do it.

Capt Dag was also captain of the first cruise on Regent that we were on. Istanbul to Athens on Diamond. He and my husband bonded instantly as they were pretty much cut from the same piece of cloth. We were on many cruises with him over the years, the last being where we went to his house in Norway. Gilly, I sympathize regarding the glacially slow internet. Had the same situation in Canada on Navigator,, though I finally did find a sweet spot that wasn't quite so bad. At least I didn't have to sit out in the hallway to work--which I have been known to do in the past. The GM actually got me a chair to sit in as I was sitting on the floor.

Awesome! Another blog to keep me from going into total cruise withdrawal. I didn't know meet and greets were back though.

We were off at 5 pm. We were told new passengers would start loading at 7 pm. Smart idea. LGA. The new Delta terminal is very impressive. We were checked in and through security in no time. Entire terminal is very clean and bright. I used to hate LGA but have now officially changed my mind. A followup regarding Regent's response to the whole delayed disembarkation issue. I had emailed my TA immediately. He was on it this am as soon as offices were opened, and I received an email this afternoon with a FCC offer which is very satisfactory. Won't say more than that, but I am pleased.

The ports you are visiting are not going to have great coffee for sail. None are coffee growing areas

October2, 2022–final thoughts We had a good nights sleep at the Hilton Garden InnTimes Square. Comfortable quiet room, with a view of scaffolding. We woke up to overcast skies and then more rain, but not to be deterred, we walked around the Times Square area, then had Pizza at John’s Pizza which was great and did not taste at all like cardboard. Also a great spinach salad which we shared. We walked over to Rockefeller Center so I could visit the Kate Spade store and plan future purchases. They thoughtfully have seating for husbands. Back to the hotel, we picked up our luggage and set off for the airport driven by the world’s slowest taxi driver. I have taken Ubers and taxis all over the world, and this was truly weird. The guy drove so slow, way under the speed and stopped at every yellow light. George thinks he must have had a bunch of traffic citations and a license on the verge of suspension, or he was Sick. We were getting worried about time, and I have been to NYC many times, know about the traffic and had taken that into consideration. We finally made it. George didn’t want to give him a tip, but we were there in plenty of time. So I insisted. Super quick check in in the new Delta terminal, super quick through security, and even a little time to spare. As far as the cruise, we had fun, because I always make us have fun. George had some grouchy moments, but we were with good friends, and all the port spots that we actually made, and the excursions we actually did, were good to great. Food and drink were very good, what I expect from Regent. Ray is a great CD, and had a tough job this time. The entertainment was good. The comedian was actually funny.. Navigator has probably seen better days. I like that she is smaller, and I love how things are arranged. The exercise room is probably the best at sea. Galileo’s is a great place for pre dinner drinks. And the theater is my favorite of all. The suites are quite comfortable. But there is the vibration issue, which is pronounced in the back of the ship. I would not book a cabin toward the back half of the ship. Would I sail on Navigator again? Definitely yes—in fact, we have one scheduled. Would I do this itinerary again? Maybe, because it has the potential to be spectacular. But probably not this early in the season. We had done it before starting in NYC about September 24, and it was better as far as the leaves turning. Obviously the weather can’t be predicted months or years ahead. So no one could have predicted the hurricanes. And we encountered two. I think they did the best they could given the circumstances. My only complaint is the last day. We would have been better off disembarking in Newport and driving to NYC. But I know they did the best they could do…just hoping for either FCC or OBC to cover the cost of my show tickets.

A contraption to hang your purse off the table in a restaurant, so you don’t sit it on the floor or the back of your chair.

We were finally off at about 5 pm. Our Uber was at a totally different area but we connected, had dinner in Little Italy and got to our hotel.

I didn’t actually purchase the tickets. My friend we are traveling with bought them for all of us, and I paid in cash. But I don’t think that would be reimbursable anyway.

They are reusable and metal. Not great insulation, and we don’t like the ship’s still water.

Since I have nothing else to do, a few Newport pics

October 1, 2022–disembarkation in New York City, New York Another things don’t go as planned day. We were supposed to be in port with disembarkation to begin at 8 am. I set my alarm to get up at 7 am as we were in the last (9am) group. And when The alarm went off, I immediately noticed—the ship was still moving, and not just a little. We were in open ocean. A look outside showed dense fog, pouring rain, and no land in sight. The tv monitor said we were 120 miles from New York. At 8 am, the captain came on the speakers in the suites and announced that we had not been able to leave Newport until 4 am due to an issue with securing one of the tenders followed by an issue with getting a pilot in Newport. So we would not arrive in New York City until late afternoon. That was a problem as, though we are not scheduled to fly home until tomorrow afternoon, we had tickets to the Music Man on Broadway for 2 pm today. Nothing we could do about it though. Now, at 11:30 am, we are trudging along in pretty rough seas and pouring rain. Ray just came on overhead, and said they were working on rebooking flights and getting hotels for those who booked their travel through Regent. He also asked any guests who had made independent arrangements to go to the front desk as they would work on securing hotel rooms for them. I already have a hotel for tonight and flights tomorrow, but am pretty upset about those Music Man tickets. They were expensive, for one thing, and I really wanted to see the show too.

September 30,2022–Newport, Rhode Island We awoke to another bright sunny day with temperatures in the low 60s. Newport is a tender port, and fortunately there was no fog. Our tour wasn’t until 12:15, so we had a leisurely morning waiting for open tenders to be announced. The Newport harbor is huge, filled with mostly sailboats from super fancy and expensive to the little one person ones. It was a long tender ride to the pier. Once off, we grabbed an Uber and set off the explore Fort Adams, an old Army and Navy fort built in the early 1800’s and in use until 1950. It is huge, could garrison 2400 men, and provided defense to the harbor entrance. Interestingly, in 1917 before the US entered WWI, the Germans sailed a submarine here to show it off. The city officials and military officers at the fort were shown around, apparently to impress them with the German technology. The next day, the submarine sailed out into international waters and sank a bunch of cargo ships bound for Europe. We went back to our meeting point on the pier for our tour. There was a stand selling seafood chowder, so we decided that was a perfect quick lunch. It was so good—with big chunks of crab, clams, shrimp. We sat and ate it at the little park beside the pier. Our walking tour was about colonial Newport. We had been here before and had done the Breakers walk and tours of the old mansions, so we wanted something different. Our guide was a native Newporter and is retired but works at a vintage book store on the main square. He walked us all over and showed is a bunch of old very well preserved or restored buildings, some with a lot of history. Back to the ship, it was the most unfortunate time of the cruise—packing. We always have an issue as we seem to accumulate more stuff than we can fit in, even though we really aren’t big souvenir shoppers. But we made it work. A final win at trivia. I had enough points to get 2 nice shirts for George and a purse hook which I will probably never use. We had a great final dinner in Compass Rose. I had escargot, salad and Dover sole. George had his favorite foie Gras, a delicious leek soup, and a thai chicken curry which really surprised me as that is not a typical dish for him. It all was a great finish for the cruise.

Definitely not, but we still had a good time. Weather just was not ideal.

Great pics!

Agree completely. Gilly, looking forward to your reports. Just the perfect post cruise tonic.

Old North Church

A few Boston pics

I definitely stay away from elevators!

September 29,2022–Boston, Massachusetts When we awoke, we were already at the seaport in Boston. We had a quick breakfast then met for our excursion, a walking tour of the Freedom Trail. It was bright and sunny but pretty chilly to start off with temps in the 50s. Our guide assured us it would get better with the sun out, and eventually he was correct. Traffic in Boston is always terrible as far as my experience, and today was no different, so it took quite a while to get to our drop off point by the Boston Commons. I have done this walk several times, but always learn something new, and today was no different. We went by all the usual stops with interesting commentary. The cemetery was particularly interesting as he pointed out how gruesome some of the headstones are, with skeletons, skulls and crossbones, the grim reaper featuring prominently. We didn’t get to go inside anywhere. Since I had done this before, I didn’t particularly care, but if it had been my first visit, I would have been disappointed not to go inside the old north church. At the end of the tour, our guide took us to a spot by the aquarium and said that was where the shuttle bus back to the ship would pick us up, and that it was running every 30 minutes. George and I wanted to have lunch in the North End, so we just made note and took off. Lunch at Benevento’s was disappointing. We had a nice salad to start, but the pizza was tough and tasteless, which is weird because we were watching the guys making the crust and cooking it in a brick oven. We decided to have a look at the aquarium. Pricey but it had a lot of interesting fish and a big penguin exhibit. We went outside to catch our shuttle, and another guy was there. He told us this wasn’t the stop for our shuttle, but was for Oceania instead. Fortunately he knew where we were supposed to go, about 3 blocks away, so we headed over and found it. Back onboard, we came in 3rd at trivia, but we were missing 2 team members, so not shabby. Dinner was in Prime 7. We weren’t able to get a reservation prior to 8 pm, which is later than I prefer to eat, but George really wanted to eat there again. We were having a perfectly nice meal, everything lovely, when the man at the table next to us started shouting loudly at the waiter. Very upsetting. I don’t know what he was upset about. His wife seemed embarrassed, but it definitely threw off the evening. Perhaps he has early Alzheimer’s or something. But it was uncalled for. Our dinner was delicious. We missed the show due to the late meal and the outburst. An observation though—as of this evening, all staff are again wearing masks. We asked why. Apparently there are multiple covid cases among passengers and staff. I had heard of a couple of passengers with covid a couple of days ago. George and I feel fine and are double faxed and triple boosted, so I am not worried.

More Bar Harbor

Bar Harbor views

A few Halifax pics

September 28, 2022–Bar Harbor Maine We gained our lost hour back last night. Very smooth sailing, but the foghorn continued through the night. And when we awoke, there was still a blanket of white outside, though at least I could actually see the water of the ocean again. We were to be ready to present ourselves to US immigration officials at 8 am. Ray started calling the groups to present themselves, and we were quickly through. The captain came on overhead and said the fog had to clear some before the tenders would be allowed to run, so we went to La Veranda for a quick bite of breakfast. The fog was burning off fast, but there were still 10 people who hadn’t gone through immigration. Ray came on overhead, so politely, to ask them to present themselves. He had to make 3 announcements to lure the stragglers in. Finally, he had to call out the individual suite numbers. Then the captain came on and asked those suite numbers to present themselves immediately. What’s the deal? It was clearly announced multiple times. The ship has to be cleared before they can let anyone off. I just don’t understand. Finally, we were cleared and able to board the tenders, as Bar Harbor is always a tender port. Our morning excursion took us by bus up to the top of Cadillac Mountain then to Jordan Pond. The sun had come out, and the views were spectacular from the top of the mountain. We only had 20 minutes at the top due to the delays—I could easily have spent 2 hours there. We then drove through the forest to Jordan Pond where we were served iced tea and popovers. The popovers were very good (and I have baked a few of these over the years). We had an hour here, so George and I ate quickly, then hiked along the pond. There is a new boardwalk, which made it very easy. Back to the dock, our original plan had been to have lunch in town then do our afternoon hiking tour. But we were late for the hike. Fortunately, they had taken this into account, so we just went directly on the hike. There was only another couple and us plus the guide. I had met the lady on my walks on the top deck so knew she was fit. We told the guide we were fast hikers, and she was all in for that. So we had a great afternoon hiking the ocean view trail. We even saw a wedding on the rocks. Back to Bar Harbor, George was still wanting his lobster, so we went to Galyn’s, a place we have eaten at previously. It did not disappoint. He had a huge lobster with all the trimmings for $31 while I had crab cakes and salad for $18. It was very delicious and a bargain to boot. We went back to the ship just in time for Cruise Capers, the crew show. They did a great job. We were too full for dinner, so George went to lose some money in the casino. I went to the show, The Great American Song Factory, which was basically 50s and 60s pop music. It was pretty well done, but not my favorite.