papaflamingo

We just finished Hong Kong to Tokyo including a 3 day pre-cruise tour. All our guides were good to great (mostly great). We sailed Feb 21-Mar. 6. Plus we did a full day tour in Tokyo to Mt. Fuji through Viator and had a great time in spite of cloudy and cold weather. Only saying this as it's a recent experience, so hopefully the tour guide issue has worked itself out.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!! We have booked the same tour! And for info, it's simply added to our booking so we don't actually have to pre-pay anything. But NOW, thanks to your spectacular blogs... I am REALLY EXCITED to do this tour!!! And my wife, really Egypt is her "bucket list" item as she studied all of this in college, will be amazed and thrilled by your wonderful blog and pictures!! Now if only the "world situation" will resolve in time.

Jan. 2023 was a LONG time ago. Crews come and go. I'm not trying to talk you into trying Regent again, I don't do those things. I feel people should find what they like and stick with it. Much of the "cruise experience" is very subjective after all. I am only pointing out the fact that you were on Explorer over a year ago because it might skew the OP as to how Explorer is NOW in 2024. We sailed on her Feb. 21-March 6 and felt it was one of our best Regent cruises to date. We were on Grandeur in Jan. and as beautiful as she is, I personally like the older more "rich" darker colors on Explorer. Personal preference for sure, my wife was the opposite, she loved the lighter decor of Grandeur. But the service, food, etc. of Explorer was definitely, at least for us, what the Regent Experience should be. Oh what a difference a year makes.

If they did people would probably complain there isn't enough sunny areas to lounge.

Yeah,.. I was kidding about Nov. Actually we've considered the possibility of a major reroute too. I figure if the Red Sea remains closed, then the itinerary will be more similar to the current World Cruise and head down Africa and around. My guess would be ending maybe in Capetown (that would be about the same number of days depending) then likely they'd add a cruise to get to the Med. For us, since we would like to go to Africa anyway, not a bad alternative. And if they did this, we'd seriously consider trying to stay on board until the ship hits the Med. But that's all speculation at this point. Who knows?

Hmm.... what's happening in Nov.? 🤣

From Regent's Ticket Contract, "8. CANCELLATION POLICY Regent Choice Shore Excursions Within 36 hours of tour departure 100% fee"

If you call room service you can have all the foo foo umbrella drinks your heart desires delivered to your room. Or.... have the cabin steward or butler put the right ingredients in your cabin, and have your spouse or significant other simply mix and deliver the drink to your balcony wearing nothing but a smile! Won't get that on the pool deck. 😜 But is a deck chair really worth all the attention it gets? People are entitled, rude, ignorant, and just plain selfish. It's no different anywhere else. For the record, I agree that "stuff" needs to be moved after 30 min. (or so). And personally I hate entitled, rude, ignorant, and just plain selfish people too. So public shaming is absolutely fine with me. But heck... I'm not going to lose much sleep over it.

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?