NYC-London

It depends - I also have lifetime elite status with both Hilton and Marriott. Both programs clearly state that elite benefits are only available if you book directly with them (or through an approved corporate booking service) and not through a 3rd party, such as Travelocity and Expedia. Also, certain "group" rates do not qualify for elite benefits. That being said, on occasion I have had my status recognized when booked through Regent, depending on the location and on other times I have not with the excuse being that the rate used for the booking does not qualify for elite benefits. Since I am drowning in hotel points and earn more than I burn, most of the time I take the Regent credit and book my own hotel to take full advantage of the elite benefits.

I could not agree with you more - it should be a fun way to spend 30 minutes, yet some people act as if the winner gets a free cruise, rather than points to redeem for stuff one may or may not need and if one can afford a Regent cruise, they can afford to buy any of the items that are available for points. And the level to which some people cheat is beyond me. On one cruise it appeared that someone was sitting in a corner with an ipad and communicating with a member of a team who was wearing ear buds. Jeopardy is one of my favorite shows, and watching from the comfort of my recliner and shouting out the answers is a great way to spend 22 minutes (I tape and watch later in the evening). I probably would not enjoy the pressure of standing on the Alex Trebek stage and playing the game in person - that is how I feel about trivia on some cruises - it is so cut throat that it takes away the enjoyment of the game.

I can personally attest to Steve from the TripInsuranceStore - I have written about this in other threads but I had to cancel a trip with other people and those of us who used Steve got our money refunded very quickly - others who used different vendors have not been so fortunate. Steve is unique in that he listens to his customers and only recommends products that are most beneficial to the customer, not what earns him the highest commission and if there is a problem, he goes above and beyond to obtain a satisfactory resolution. I would never book an expensive trip without first consulting with Steve to learn of my insurance options.

Z and TB: Just the other day we were talking about you and wondering why you hadn't posted a wrap up as you normally do and just thought you were busy getting back to "real life". I am so glad that you are on the road to recovery and won the pool grand prize and hopefully you will be able to go home today. Take the time to fully recover and you are so lucky to have TB by your side - this must have been so scary for her. BTW - called my broker - sold all of my stock!

That was the individual I was referring to in post #100 - I thought I was the only one who was a little surprised at his dress and attitude but I guess it was more obvious than I thought.

Are you volunteering extra room in your suitcase?

Guilty as charged with regard to wearing sneakers into Compass Rose, sometimes while also wearing a dress. On more than one occasion, after spending the day walking and exploring a city (one day I exceeded 40,000 steps!), my feet were just too swollen to fit into either my shoes or sandels so it was one of three choices: 1) sneakers, 2) slippers, 3) barefoot. It is on nights like these that I would have preferred a more casual dining option - I know that room service is available which I have utilized on many occasions, but there are some nights where we were scheduled to dine with friends and I would never cancel because my shoes don't fit.

We had the same situation - no invites so we thought they did away with them until we learned later in the cruise that there indeed had been both upper tier and regular society functions - maybe they now exclude Titanium members - in fact, during our entire cruise, unlike previous cruises, there was no recognition that we were past passengers. Previously, we were addressed by name by both crew and officers - this time it was if we were first time Regent cruises and only our room stewards seemed to know our names. Not that it makes much difference but it was always welcoming to be recognized for our loyalty.

We also do not remember having it on other ships and at first it surprised us because I thought my phone was on and everyone else could hear it - it is especially annoying if sitting directly under a speaker.

There are many places other than Antarctica that benefit and require the use of an expedition ship. I think Regent is missing out on a huge opportunity to attract a "younger" demographic, such as those pictured in all of their advertising but in actuality are as a rare as a unicorn. I know among my friends who now have the time and money to travel, they are spending their dollars with other high end luxury cruise companies that offer itineraries and excursions/activities more suited to their lifestyle.

The Biltmore Kimpton Epic Intercontinental Highly recommend forgoing the "included" transportation and take a taxi or uber over to the port, just make sure they take you to the "J" terminal - some drivers insist there are no ships in that terminal because they are accustomed to dropping passengers off at the terminals that service the big ships

What a great picture - glad you got home safely!

I am not surer if it was because we were in the Caribbean, but it appears that some people on our recent cruise completely ignored the dress code and it did not appear to be enforced. I really do not care what others are wearing, but I am of the belief I that one gets dressed for special occasions and a cruise holiday counts as a special occasion so I dress accordingly. We were in Charleston on a Sunday morning and it was so nice to see families dressed for church. Last year I was invited to a first holy communion ceremony and dressed in a suit and was in a very small minority - some of the attendees looked like they were going directly from church to the beach.

I could not agree with you more. I believe it is contributing to the problem of loud conversation in the restaurants - although the music is played at a "low" level, for some people with hearing aids, the music sounds much louder than it actually is resulting in people raising their voice to be heard over the music. I noticed that in all the restaurants, when the music was not playing, the conversation volume was slightly reduced. It is hard to find a truly quiet space with comfortable chairs - I love reading in either the observation lounge or the outdoor enclosed area with the green couches on the 11th floor near the coffee machine, however I find the piped music to be very distracting.

In a concierge suite on the Grandeur, the outlets are as pictured in the post above (with one each USB A and C ports) will be on either side of the bed. When the beds are in the twin configuration, the bed nearest the wall will have the nightstand against the wall and for the bed near the entrance, the night table will be between the two beds. Each bed will have easy access to the outlets, ports and and light switches. The nightstand adjacent to the wall will have a mobile phone plugged into the USB A port - we just unplugged the phone (there is another phone on the desk, although it is not mobile) whenever one needed to use the USB port on that side. We had lots of electronics with us and never had any problems - plenty of outlets, however, we did use adapters for charging our ipads instead of plugging directly into the USB ports. There are no USB ports at the desk. However, there is one major design flaw - The night stands have one small drawer and a small shelf on the bottom with an open back - the European style outlets are located on the wall near the bottom shelf and if the beds are separated, requires some gymnastic maneuvers due to the limited space.