papaflamingo

Here's a few shots of Namba. Quite "colorful." 😎

You're not going to cruise because you can't get a lounge chair in the shade by the pool? Why not just sit on your balcony? That's what I do. Quieter, better view, and I have my in-room bourbon to keep me company.

Hmmm... not sure how easy this would be. But I imagine if you want to stay longer and find your own way back to the port that there is no particular reason why you can't do so. Just ask the guide and see what he or she says.

That is EXCELLENT advise!

We docked in Osaka overnight earlier this month. Did "Highlights of Kyoto" and also "Osaka Castle and Namba On Your Own," For "Osaka Castle and Namba On Your Own," we enjoyed seeing the Castle. It's a multi-level museum and quite interesting historically but you don't have enough time to read everything so I chose the stuff that looked most interesting inside to read. Go to the top floor and work your way down. The top floor has wonderful views. The grounds are pretty "cool" too so try to leave a little bit of time to walk around the grounds. Namba is basically an area of shopping with some very interesting facades on the shops and eateries. Lots of great street food places so pretty good place to wander and sample dishes. "Highlights of Kyoto" we toured the Nijo-Jo Castle, and Golden Pavilion. Both beautiful and worth seeing (at least we thought so). One word of advice... you can go into the. Nijo-Jo castle at your own expense (it was only a few dollars). But it takes a while to go through. We enjoyed seeing the inside, but the Japanese royalty was not like European royalty. The Japanese furnishings are mostly non-existent unlike the over ornate European castles. Lots of symbolic and beautiful wall paintings, and different floor levels for "power." Anyway, it takes time to go through the castle, partly because once you start you have to go through the whole thing and it can slow down as people read the descriptions of the rooms and there is no early "escape." Problem was, the gardens are extensive and beautiful (even though they weren't in bloom when we were there). We would have liked more time to wander the gardens. So you pretty much have to make a choice of either castle interior and minimal garden time, or spending your time in the gardens. As for the Golden Pavilion, that was spectacular to look at! You don't go in it, but it's. a spectacular sight and the path around it and through the park area is beautiful and makes for some wonderful pictures. Anyway, that was out take on the two tours. We enjoyed them and for us, seemed to be about what the description says. Also keep in mind, we did the tours from Osaka, not Kyoto so docking in Kyoto might change them some.

Yeah.... we'll be using Regent Air and deviating. I haven't found anything that can "beat the price" of Regent, and I'm retired airline and get a 25% employee discount! But the big advantage on the cruise or Regent Air is if the Red Seas remains closed, Regent will have to arrange return flights from wherever we end the cruise (my guess is Capetown). We also hope it goes as planned. My wife studied Egypt in college and has always wanted to see the many sites. We just booked the Luxor Overnight (booked on Mariner in Oct. 2025 that goes to Port Said, Egypt so will see the pyramids then). Thanks for the good info, by the way. Called our TA and "got her done." I will say, for me, if the ship reroutes to the east coast of Africa, I won't complain. Want to see Africa anyway. And if it goes all the way around....even better. 😎

We were booked on a 10 night Caribbean on Navigator in March 2023. On Christmas 2022 we had a pipe freeze and do $58,000 damage to our house. We were in the middle of the repairs in March, but since final payment was made before the pipe leak we decided we'd simply go on the cruise and "hope for the best" regarding the house. Anyway, about 4 days before the cruise we received an offer to delay our cruise to Dec. 2023 and receive an upgrade to a Penthouse on Mariner (a HUGE upgrade from a Deluxe Verandah on Navigator), and a significant refund (about 20% of what we paid). WE JUMPED ON IT! We were able to be home for out house repairs, upgrade to a better ship and MUCH BETTER cabin, and get money back!!! So it's still happening.

As Frantic said, other cruise lines send out surveys a few days to a week after a cruise is completed. I wish Regent would do that. I keep forgetting the survey and tend to miss it. And when I do remember to do it it's usually a few days before the cruise ends so it really isn't complete. It's hard to rate Prime 7 if you haven't gone yet. In my experience it's much easier to give an honest and complete review a few days to a week after the cruise than a few days before the end of the cruise.

Just got off Explorer in Tokyo 2 weeks ago. The wifi was ok generally with some times when it was not all that good. So pretty "typical cruise ship internet." If you want to do the survey, it's WAY EASIER to go to the Business Center on deck 5 and use the ships computer to do it. The IT guy will help if you have any logon questions and their computers seem much more stable.

Since Regent is owned by NCLH then it's a pretty good bet that they will be using the same tour companies as Norwegian Cruise Lines. In many ports it's very easy to find the exact tour on websites like TripAdvisor, etc. Very often the answers you seek as well as videos and pictures are available. The problem comes with ports rarely visited. Now all they can do is go with the descriptions that the company provides to Regent. I love snorkeling too. I grew up near the beach in San Diego and "lived" in the ocean as a youth. But sadly I'm at the age when I am finding (not gracefully) my limits. My days of boosting my self on to a swim step are over (ugly story how I found that out, but rolling a dead whale onto a boat comes to mind). So now I have to seriously look at the descriptions. I do NOT expect the Destination Teams to really be able to give me too much more than I can get on line. They don't go on these tours. And there are 700 people on a Regent ship, all with differing needs. Imagine trying to get very specific info on an excursion that they've never gone on so that one can tell if their limitations will be exceeded. Sadly at our age and health we simply have to do the best we can and, in my opinion only, be the only one's responsible for our decisions. If I have a concern about the difficulty of an excursion, I look at other options or decide I will go and if I can't do it I'll sit on the bus and watch. But I won't blame anyone other than myself for that decision. Again, only my opinion.

Thanks. We just contacted Regent and booked the Luxor overnight, sounds pretty much like the one you did. And we're following the activity in the Red Sea. I know the cruise is a year away, but I'm not all that optimistic that we'll get into Egypt.

Yeah...we noticed that too. Oh well.. I'm sort of at the point that what the heck... once in a lifetime cruise... what's a few thousand more? My kids disagree! 🤣

We stayed at the Keio Plaza Tokyo in Shinjuku about 2 weeks ago and loved it! Great hotel, great location.

Excellent! Us too! We're still hammering out shore excursions. Finally got a copy from Regent of what will be offered. Interestingly, it shows us NOT going to Haifa, but going to Santorini the day before Kusadasi. Not surprised, but waiting for the itinerary to change on line. Wondering if it will before selecting excursions. Hope to meet you on board!

I noticed that too! Read the Terms and Conditions and it clearly states that free consultation but you'll have to pay for any treatments and then claim against your insurance. The T & C's for the 2025 World Cruise states "FREE Medical Service includes onboard medically necessary treatment only." So it does seem to be a change.

I suspect it has less to do with "terms" and more to do with passenger loads. I'm retired Delta and live in Atlanta. Delta is flying so full that prices, especially on desirable flights, are going full. There is no incentive for them to grant contract rates. That'll change as the hiring increases and eventually passenger loads will lessen. However for the time being, we all have to expect less desirable routing or fairly hefty up charging.

Thanks... our first time so we want to make sure we have something booked in case there isn't enough interest in the Overland programs for them to go. Of course that's assuming the ship will even be able to get into the Red Sea and Egypt. But... Are you on Voyager in 2025?

Yes...that's the one. Did you choose any regular tours as back up if the Overland program doesn't go?

We are looking at doing an overnight overland tour with Regent in Luxor in 2025. We need to make shore excursion selection in 5 day. I'm not sure how to make the overnight overland tour reservation. I assume we have our TA call Regent and have it added to the reservation. In the meantime, I plan to make excursion reservations just in case the overland tour does not go. Anyone done this in the past and have any info on how to do this? Thanks

That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the info. A story... my son was a Navy F/A-18 pilot and deployed on the USS Bush for 7 months. The Bush has the vacuum toilet system, the older carriers used a salt water flush system. Anyway, the vacuum toilet system was so bad that they had to assign dedicated crew members whose only job was keeping the system working. Each morning my son would put on the TV to the ships announcement channel and they would announce what section of the ship had operating toilets. It was a long 7 months. 🤣

I was also able to scan from your photo and get the brochure to download. Looks like a great cruise!!

We were on Mariner in Dec. Yes there were a few toilet issues, and it's not people flushing stuff down, but a suction problem. One day when we were in port they shut the entire system down to make some repairs. Since we were on a tour, don't know how long that was, but it was done well before we returned from our excursion. What I heard (can't really verify this) was that some of the seals were failing preventing the suction from building so they had to replace seals. Makes sense. Anyway, I've been following the World Cruise and there is no real comments about the system so it seems they've handled it. As to the ship, in general it was up to Regent standards as far as food and service. Food, for me, was great. No complaints at all and I enjoyed everything I ordered. Service was pretty good, but slipped occasionally in the restaurants. Example, my wife never seemed to be able to get coffee with dessert. Same thing happened on Grandeur in Jan. Since both were Caribbean cruises (Grandeur was Panama Canal) I think that it was just a different "vibe" but both ships seemed understaffed. Not so on Explorer. We got off Explorer 2 weeks ago in Tokyo and it was a superb cruise in every way. So I think the service "glitches" are isolated. The ship's in good condition. You will see some worn or stained carpeting, especially if you look for it. I don't actually notice trivia like that, so it didn't bother me. But the crew works hard to keep it up, so if you see something in your cabin that bothers you, bring it to their attention and if possible they'll correct it. We've booked Mariner for Oct. 2025 and it'll be its last cruise before a major overhaul. So I suspect it'll be pretty worn by then, and we are thinking hard about it now. But the service, food, etc. should be Regent standards, and for me, that's ll that really counts.

I really think that seating in Sette Mari on Navigator is a bigger problem than other ships as Navigator only has Prime 7 and Compass Rose, and Prime 7 seems pretty small compared to the other ships in the fleet. So Sette Mari becomes the "second specialty" restaurant on Navigator.

Yes. We just got off Explorer last week, but I'm excited and it's still a year away! And we haven't seen the actual available tours either, we're just going through the one's on the website that pop up when I select each port and prioritizing our desired excursions. Hopefully the list will be available soon. It's going to be a great cruise!!! 😎

We will be on next year's Grand Cruise and need to reserve Shore Excursions next week. Since the Grand Cruise does have an exclusive event, I was wondering if this will be listed in the Shore Excursion selection when I select? I wouldn't want to reserve a long excursion that would cause us to miss the event. Anyone have info on this? Thanks