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Did the gin arrive in one piece?

Cracked me up! I wondered the same thing…..even if she was offering water it was a peculiar response to the scene in front of her.

The lectures, for me, are usually the highlight of daily activities. We were on a cruise in February, Buenos Aires to Santiago - including Antarctica. Regent had a team of Antarctica experts on as lecturers. They included a seasoned expedition leader, an ornithologist, a geologist specializing in ice, and a National Geographic photographer. All lectures and events were exemplary.

Thoroughly enjoyed this blog and your humor. Well done! We hope to meet you and TB (Inga) on a cruise one day.

Pithy hindsight here. I doubt that there are ongoing drills for what to do when passengers fight on a Regent ship. I imagine the security detail are the point people but is it their job to patrol the ship? I imagine they were called on the radio and it took them a minute to get to the area. In addition, the man at the head of the person on the ground was barking orders at the staff to put the guy in handcuffs and telling the others to stay the course. We don’t know what happened next.

Watched the clip. All I can say is WOW! Would love to know what happened as the “take down” by fellow passengers looked extreme!

The specialty restaurant menus stay the same so multiple reservations aren’t needed unless you really want to try more menu items. We found that the Compass Rose menus to be very interesting on a daily basis. Sette Mari was our least favorite as there was just too much food to eat.

I’m already laughing in anticipation! Our first trip on Splendor be in September (London to BCN) so we will especially enjoy your great reporting. Have a wonderful time and happy anniversary…we are approaching 46 years …how time flies!

Others have recommended tripinsurancestore dot com. Steve Dessus and staff are terrific and there are many choices.

We do a similar procedure, using our chase sapphire reserve for cancellation, then getting the minimum allowable insurance coverage ($500 pp) so that medical and evacuation kicks in. fortunately, we haven’t had to test it but my husband contracted Covid during a trip last year requiring both of us to quarantine and I successfully got the insurance company to reimburse us for the retail coat of missed excursions. This took about 4 appeals and lots of documentation but, after 5 months of being like a “dog with a bone”, they paid up! They paid the medical expenses almost immediately.

Take the compliment! It is such a pleasure (and relief) to know there are competent, accessible, “go to” staff who can actually help. Jennefer Teegan is another enormously helpful contact. Bravo!

i asked the CD who managed to schedule it. I think it depends on the captain’s comfort level as the outside lights are turned off. I imagine that this requires more surveillance on the bridge as other ships can’t readily see the ship.

Our longest voyage was on Navigator in 2017 - San Diego to Aukland. We had plenty of sea days and the crew did a very nice job of mixing things up so we were never bored with the food. In fact, the chef sourced fresh seafood and a specimen often greeted us at the entrance to Compas Rose. We also requested in advance an Indian meal which was fabulous. In general, I am not too impressed with the daily activities but I realize I am not as gregarious as other cruisers and I don’t really need to be entertained. I like lectures, interesting music, and events. On one cruise, I requested star gazing. The captain dimmed the lights, an officer who was an amateur astronomer helped, and 100 passengers showed up at 10 pm to gaze at the southern constellations. Fantastic. On our last cruise that included Antarctica, the Antarctic team added so much to the cruise. We had a National Geographic photographer, an ornithologist, an expert in icebergs, and the head of the team who had spent years on scientific missions in the region. I wish that Regent would have comparable experts on all cruises! FYI, Atlanta weather report: finally warm so putting away my winter clothes! Some thunderstorms but nothing terrible. We were in Cashiers, NC, last weekend and the trees are about 6 weeks behind ATL. Pollen everywhere is still catastrophic. have fun…enjoying your writing!

I’m curious about the changes you mentioned. Changes to the itinerary? to tours? To staff? i have enjoyed your previous reports and I look forward to this one. jennifer

I ageee. The judgmental aspect of social media is the problem. Under the cloak of anonymity we can write things we would never say face to face. Let’s keep these boards conversational. If you disagree with a poster, give your opinion rather than railing about their character,

I wonder if the NZ snafu resulted in the “early retirement” of Jason Montegue and the installation of Andrea DeMarco as president. If heads rolled that would explain Regent’s silence.

Sheila, I’m not sure how you got this from Ms. Teegan’s response to you. I hope you work it out to your satisfaction. The whole incident may have started with the boat captain, but it seems Regent did not address what happened politely or in a timely manner. Personnel issues won’t be shared with you but Regent should assure you that your experience was reviewed thoroughly and procedures and training put in place so it won’t be repeated. Your posts on CC are usually so positive. The humiliation must have left a pretty deep wound. I hope you can work it out with Regent, or at least find a cruise line you like as much.

I agree. Ms. Teegan has been very helpful, especially getting other departments to respond in a timely manner. I think that some people get a bee in their bonnet and then find it difficult to let go of their point of view when presented with solutions or even apologies. Too bad. I found this posting to be over the top in order to embarrass Regent in a public setting. I think we have all experienced the aftermath of the honeymoon period on Regent. The first cruises on each ship were exciting as we explored the ships and the destinations. We are almost platinum now and not nearly as excited as we were 11 years ago. Is that Regent’s problem? NO. It’s now like going home. It’s familiar. It’s comfortable. We have our favorite and least favorite venues on each ship. And, I’m not saying that Regent should just rest on their laurels. Changing up itineraries, entertainment, and ship activities is within the process of continual improvement that all organizations should attempt.

So funny! I have never seen animals on a Regent ship (except a corpulent male in a speedo). Reminds me of our voyage to Japan on a Navy transfer ship in the '60's. We were allowed to take one dog overseas. He was in a kennel outside (but so were hundreds or men meeting their fate in Vietnam). We visited Beau multiple times a day. Even coming home four years later on the much more luxe President's line, Beau still had spartan quarters. He never was allowed in other parts of the ship.

It may be too tight time wise, but you might try to arrange a private tour to Kamakura which is south of Yokohama. It is famous for its large bronze Buddha. It is very scenic. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2166.html

I bet George’s cowboy hat is quite the conversation starter in Japan!

Love your impressions of your travel! I hope everything meets your expectations. We are booked for next year after three cancellations.

Fabulous narrative, Flossie, thank you! We are on the Explorer next year going from Tokyo to Vancouver. We went back and forth as to which tour would suit us. We finally decided to take a ten day land tour of Tokyo, Hakone, Gifu, and Kyoto/ Nara then back to Tokyo for the pre cruise tour. There is only one overlapping site in Tokyo. We are very excited about seeing Japan. I lived there as a teenager so it will be very interesting to see the changes.

In a perfect world, I wanted a database built by Regent, populated with Regent excursions, and reviewed by Regent customers. The excursions are already digital so not a monumental task (but, then, I’m not an IT person). This way, not only could Regent passengers make informed choices, the destination services staff could be better informed. In addition, management could then periodically review the excursions that are not up to standards and get rid of them.

I’ve suggested this before but I don’t think that it would be that difficult to load tours into a database and allow passengers to write reviews. When I go on a site like Epicurious, I use the search engine to find recipes. Then several recipes show up. I pick a recipe that tweaks my interest, then I read reviews about how easy, hard, or delicious the results were. The same can be done at Regent: search location, choose excursion, read reviews.