Jimmcdaniel

@Pcardad, Speed tests are not impressive but with VPN I am also able to stream. Here are screen shots without and with VPN. Lower number is with VPN.

Maybe I spoke too soon about the internet. Mike Moore’s video won’t load for me. I didn’t buy the enhanced internet package.

The ship is stunning. Compass Rose is very light and airy. The serving stations are around the perimeter so much less dish noise in the dining room. There are etched glass panels over the exterior walls so no real window views. Seating in the theater is more spread out and getting to middle seats is much easier. Lots of light colored wood throughout the ship. The internet is much better. We have an F2 suite.

Still offloading. We can hear David Nevin calling luggage tag colors. I think he just called the last group.

Dawn beaks on the Grandeur in Trieste.

Woke up early to see her coming in to port

We are in the hotel across the street from the terminal. We’ll be there at 11:00 knocking on the door.

There was an ATM in the casino on the Mariner. It dispensed $100 bills. I was charged a $6.99 fee when I withdrew $500.

In keeping with the water bottle theme of the original question, If you are going to a warm part of the world I would suggest bringing your own insulated water bottle like a Hydroflask and using ice to keep your water cold. The Vero bottles are not insulated and your water will get warm during the day (even with ice in warm places). On our WC I bought an insulated bottle in one of our early ports and left my Vero bottle in the room. Other things that we found helpful are magnetic hooks (and maybe some binder clips) that you can use on the metallic walls to hang things and organize pieces of paper or to hang hats. My wife also brought a shoe organizer that hung from our closet rod.

Depends on your butler. Sometimes those gentlemen can work wonders with dining reservations. That is part of their job and they want to help you out.

We were on the 2023 World Cruise. We rinsed our water bottles ourselves. We didn’t feel the need to use soap as we were the only ones using them. We never asked our room attendant to clean them for us. We did not receive new bottles for each (7) segment.

The tenders on Splendor leave from Deck 3.

I downloaded a bunch of movies and TV shows to my iPad for our upcoming WC. I bought a USB-C to HDMI cable on Amazon to hopefully connect the iPad to the TV on the ship. Don't know if this will work or not. When i tried it on my Samsung TV at home the TV didn't seem to recognize the cord plugged into the HDMI slot. Maybe with a different TV?........

@flossie009 enjoy the Mexican sunshine while you can. It will be raining when you get to LA. We aren't complaining though--we need the water! Have so enjoyed your lovely photos and commentary.

Same church, same roof, same beer. Nice day as I recall.

Yep. On Explorer March of 2019.

Indonesian was the choice we made on a past cruise. The problem came when they asked me which Indonesian dishes we would like for our special dinner. Having no clue about Indonesian cuisine, but receiving a spark of inspiration, I asked that the chefs make the favorite dishes their mothers or grandmothers had made for them as children.------ We had one of the most spectacular meals on all of our hundreds of nights on Regent. It started with the soup and the head chef came out and watched us expectantly to see if we liked it. Of course it was superb. And BTW, you can dial up or down the spice as you wish. They are very cool with that.

And the one in your suite is MUCH longer. We just turn it on as soon as we get in and start unpacking and let it go.

We have been on Splendor post-Covid and seen them open. In rough seas the Captain may order them to be closed and secured but they would re-open them when things were calmer.

It is the opposite on the Explorer but on the Splendor the Coffee Connection is on the port side.

Can you ask Boogie and Kashia if they are going to be staying on for the World Cruise?

Thanks Susan. I was wondering about that. We are in 905 for the 2023 WC. I thought there was a "post" list but I could't find it. I guess we will learn to live with and love the post.

Sorry Bill. Must have been late when I did that. 905 is the next cruise. This was for 903 on the starboard side.

We are on the 2023 WC (just around the corner). We had some confusion about this on our cruise. As best I can tell, the current plan is the the pre-cruise night is included but the gala will be held onboard the ship after boarding.

A lot depends on which airlines you are connecting with. If it is BA to BA, 2,5 hours is probably fine—all in terminal 5. If you are going BA to American, that means a bus ride from terminal 5 to terminal 3 with an additional security check. 2 hours would be my minimum. It all depends on the security lines and how crowded the bus is. I’m not that familiar with other airline partner connections.