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If anyone is interested in changing to the March 25th sailing on Grandeur, talk to your TA. The sailing has availability and is being offered for very attractive pricing by some large well known travel outfits which can be matched by any good TA with good connections at Regent.

Paging Michael Moore - your assistance and clarification is needed

Your TA should be working on your behalf - they should have the necessary contact information. It is situations such as this that having a great TA is worth their weight in gold.

You didn't tell me you were right next door! You should have introduced yourself and we could have discussed the Jersey hangouts of our youth - 😉

Unless it is a younger couple - one evening we could hear so much that sometimes it felt like we were intruding and bordering on voyeurism

Google is your friend - some very good information is available. I would link it but not sure if it is allowed but it is quite easy to find - just search "hiding ducks on cruise ships"

OK, so no one answered my question and I was really curious so google was my friend and I learned of the practice of hiding ducks which I had never heard before - I personally think it is a very cute idea and if some people are offended by it, just look the other way and do not participate. It reminds me of the painted rock project. To the OP, go ahead - start a new trend on Regent. Hopefully others may also join - the same as decorating the suite door. Some passengers complain that it ruins the atmosphere of the ship, while others walk through each each floor looking for decorated doors. Remember, those of us who participate in CC are a very tiny minority of total Regent cruisers and do not speak for everyone, even if some appear to have louder voices than others.

Ok, I am clueless - please enlighten me - why on earth would people hide ducks on a ship?

Needlepoint is one of my "guilty pleasures" and nothing makes me happier than to sit in the observation lounge, have great conversation with new friends, enjoy a nice beverage and work on a needlepoint project - I am very easy to please!

Depending on the ship and the sailing, there may be a variety of needlepoint kits made specifically for Regent, some made for specific ships. I have made items which were made for Navigator and Explorer and one which was just the Regent “R” on a green background

Just a correction so you are not disappointed - the kits provided are for needlepoint and not cross stitch. It will be announced in Passages when and where to meet up to collect your kit and work together on your projects.

Another option if you do not want to got to the room - as you board the ship, ask for the "hand luggage room" - they usually earmark one room, close to the entrance, that is used for dropping off your hand luggage while eating lunch and exploring. They have staff working there - you sign in with your suite number and the number of bags being dropped off and you are provided with a claim check. As soon as the rooms are ready, you need to go back and collect your luggage.

Actually, this has been standard practice for at least the last ten years and is to prevent passengers from "accidently" packing them - a number of years ago as I was packing up the night before disembarkation, I went to look for the binoculars and noticed they were missing. I didn't want Regent to think that we (or the children) took them so I went down to the front desk to make a report and that is when I learned that they had been removed from the room and the explanation why.

No harm, no foul

I know that I have been working for long hours and am tired, but I cannot follow this post and have no idea what it means - can someone please enlighten me?

I have also noticed when Regent officers are present, the entire process goes much smoother

Believe me, they exist. They just don't need to advertise or put themselves out there because they get plenty of business from referrals. Unless you need LOTS OF HAND HOLDING, there are many top notch TA's that provide outstanding service and also offer rebates, however if you are the type of traveler who needs to call their agent every other day for the two year period prior to the cruise, then that agent is entitled to their full commission and more. For any type of service or item, I never rely on the opinion of just one group, such as those of us on CC. While there is a great deal of invaluable information provided here, it is good to learn from others who do not post of CC. Other flyers and travelers post on other travel web sites similar to CC but dealing with more aspects of travel (I'm not referring to Facebook or the large on line booking sites - for those who are unaware, CC is owned by TripAdvisor). Also, other travel websites allow one to PM with others (if one choses to allow it) which can be very helpful to learn and gain insight from others. Google is your friend - you will find some well heeled travelers who will be more than happy to help you out. Also remember - when you book directly with Regent, you have no outside influence to go to bat for you in the event of a problem. When you work with a top producing TA's who sell Regent as well as their competitors, you know that they have connections within the Regent organization. A well run business wants to keep their top producers happy and coming back for more and know that if they do not deliver, the TA will just direct their customers to another cruise line.

I use to think the same thing before I learned about this organization: https://k9sforwarriors.org/ While I agree, many "emotional support animals" are just pets without any special training and a "certificate" printed off the internet, please do not make assumptions that all support animals fall under this category - dogs are being trained to assist in many ways that are not visible to others. The key word here is "trained".

Unfortunately, as Regent continues to cut costs it will affect the overall experience and one way to cut costs it to provide a lower grade hotel. Over the past few years I have noticed that the hotels Regent uses are not what they used to be and most of the time we now take the credit and book our own and the credit covers the cost of a nicer hotel. Even if it doesn't, there is a lot to be said about the peace of mind of being able to arrive without hassles. It is also nice to arrive at the port on our terms without having to deal with the bus - I will never forget one cruise we were all on the bus ready to depart for the port - they asked if we had our passports and then required us to show them and it appears that one couple could not locate theirs. First they emptied all of their hand luggage and then all the luggage had to come off the bus so they could look for their passports (turned out to be in the pocket of the jacket one of them was wearing on the plane) and then we had to get out to identify our bags before being reloaded onto the bus. Instead of getting to the port at 12:30, it was closer to 3:00pm. If this had been me, I would be apologizing non-stop to the other passengers, that did not happen here. Since that incident, we have always arranged our own hotel and transfers.

I understand what you are referring to - that is why I suggested that you might want to look at some other travel websites (I do not believe I can name them, think another form of travel) and learn from others. While CC provides lots of good information, in order to get a better overall picture, I believe it is important to look at more than one site. I like reading and getting the opinions from more than one site and I like being able to contact someone via PM if I want more information without hijacking someone's thread.

I do not believe it is allowed on Cruise critic - however, there are other similar travel web sites that I encourage you to explore. While cruise critic is helpful for cruise information, other sites can also provide guidance with regard to flights, which airports to avoid transfers, etc. Google is your friend. Like cruise critic, the site is only as good as the people who participate and I think it is helpful and beneficial to get other view points and to be able to reach out to individuals for further assistance. As an example, one of my friends travels with a service animal (the dog is trained to foresee epileptic seizures) and she is able to not only post on those sites, but others have been able to message her and provide guidance to others learning to travel with a service dog.

On our Grandeur cruise, the social hostess hosted a number of craft activities, including card making and bracelet making - in the bracelet class there were a number of men, all seemed to be making holiday gifts for their granddaughters and they were all having a good time. The current social hostess is quite good and lots of fun.

I totally agree with you - they were so nice!

Jason was an example of a great hands on CEO who really cared about his passengers - over the years I have had the pleasure of interacting with him on a number of occasions and every single one left me feeling more positive about Regent and I was truly upset when the change on leadership was announced. Since the reassignments in in the C suite, there has been a very noticeable difference and not for the better. This is not just my opinion, but some high end TAs who specialize in luxury travel. I am quite aware of the financial problems of the parent company, but corporate needs to remember that there is a difference b/w the Norwegian cruise line passenger and the Regent cruise line passenger.

I think that would be a great idea!