makai 7

We did not get these in January for the February 28 cruise, so it is definitely brand new! We received the paper folder only, with the pre printed tags for the cabin, nothing else. enjoy!

I have shared this previously with no problem: Jarat Tours is the company that Regent used for our transfer from the airport to the hotel, and we booked a private car and driver (His name was Kevin and he was fabulous!) for a tour the day we disembarked the ship - sightseeing in Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, visiting wineries, a chocolatier, etc. We had a really nice lunch at Glenelly Estate and eventually ended up at the airport in plenty of time for our 6pm-ish flight. Regent eventually (2 days prior to the end of the cruise) offered an included 'day tour' on a bus that ended up at the airport - but by that time we had already booked the private tour, and we were tired of being on buses with all these same people. We wanted to do something on our own. https://www.jarattours.co.za/ https://glenellyestate.com/ https://www.spiceroute.co.za/

Thank you- we have booked and I am now familiar with their not very good web site. The tour section currently is “N/A”. We are being open minded about what they may offer.

We used a private driver/guide for the day we disembarked (evening flight home). We visited wineries, chocolatier, and had a wonderful relaxing lunch on our own schedule. I can share the information with you if you like.

I have to laugh at this discussion…. First, I found the food at Ember to be a poor excuse for American cuisine, unless you classify mushy, frozen vegetables as “elevated American “. I Don’t care if the table has a cloth, a place mat, or a sheet of paper covering it, but I do prefer something to a completely bare table that may or may not have been properly cleaned before I put my fork and knife on it. Or maybe at least give me a bread plate to put them on? We did not enjoy the atmosphere or the food, except for dessert, and we canceled the second reservation so someone who did want to eat there had the opportunity. I don’t eat at Applebees at home, so why would I pay huge sums of money to do so on a cruise? On the other hand, the evening pizza was a nice add on feature for a casual dinner at the buffet. And there are place mats and table cloths used at Waves and the buffet at dinner!

Oceania Suite 12007 is directly under the stage in Horizons. You will hear loud music in the living room and bedroom (and bath) until between 11:15 and midnight depending on the day. Think college dorm on a weekend. we learned to sleep with it. there are many questionable design and engineering choices on this ship…in the end everything is a compromise.

Following, thank you for sharing your experience! We did a wine tour out of Valparaiso many years ago and enjoyed immensely.

Vista is at terminal J today- with shuttles to the terminal B parking garage.

We were somewhat shocked at no table cloths. I’m not a snob, but I expect something better than a bare metal table. Every other restaurant on the ship at least has a placemat. If they were going for America bbq ambiance they could have used the Kraft paper like that used at Ted’s Montana grill. That would have been fine. We canceled our second reservation there, we had no interest in returning. I hope someone benefited from our cancellation.

We decided to be open minded about Ember, but it was as described, a loud TGiFridays atmosphere with mediocre food. The “grilled asparagus “ was a mushy disaster, and was inedible. The waiter apologized and said it was because it was frozen…. But the asparagus in Red ginger was excellent, so this makes no sense. I think they simply boiled all their asparagus and broccoli and leave it in steam tables until they fill an order. No table cloth or place mats on the metal tables felt like another cost saving measure, and we felt uncomfortable putting our silverware on a not necessarily clean table top.

Vista Oceania Suite 12007- avoid this cabin unless you don’t normally go to bed until after 12 Midnight! It is directly under the stage at Horizons, so you will hear the thumpa thumpa thumpa of the bass , getting louder and louder from 6 pm until 12 or later if people are enjoying themselves at the lounge. There is definitely not enough sound insulation in the ceiling. These cabins are very expensive and the extremely loud noise is NOT a luxury addition to the experience. the living room door has an air leak that whistles all day and night while under way too, so consider this when booking.

Also, has anyone used their business class air?

We are looking at a cruise on Eclipse II around New Zealand. Unlike the river cruises, there is nothing about shore excursions that I can find on the website. is there any place on line with shore excursion descriptions? thanks!

I found that practically all the food onboard was devoid of flavor. The two best things at Manfredis were the Parmesan and the bread. Every other dish was bland except for too much salt.

The company is Larry’s Limo Service https://larryslimo.com/service/#cruise it has been several years since we last used them, but they were always prompt, professional, reliable, and courteous.

In the past we have used a limo service to take us from POM to FLL airport (to pick up a rental car). We have used this same service many times over the years. If you are interested, I will share their information. Then you have full control over when and where you want to go.

We booked some reservations at times we dislike (the only available). Once on board we were able to change to different times and also from sharing to a table for two. we booked a chef’s table reservation for the first evening after we were onboard. You can do this through the app on your phone or the TV too.

We received 2 each. They had no cabin number because we had a guarantee- but I just used a sharpie to write it on and the bags were delivered without any problems.

Just off the Viking Star, our first and most likely last Viking Ocean cruise. We agree with the OP- the age and physical limitations of a large proportion of the passengers was surprising to us. There were several passengers who clearly had dementia. Their spouses worked hard to take care of them- but this was not what we had expected to experience. and for dress; we saw everything from sloppy to very elegant. We are casual dressers, but sloppy was surprising.

I would suggest bringing layers. Some days were brutally hot, others were cool, wet, and windy. Lightweight pants for any trips into the bush like a safari or hiking. Insect repellent, just in case. make sure you notify credit cards (and your bank if you plan on using an ATM). Even so, the first ATM we tried didn’t work. Also make sure you can use your cellular plan in South Africa. We discovered quickly that patience was an asset. There is a different rhythm and pace compared to the USA. Think “island time”. We also found that a polite “no thank you “ usually kept the more aggressive vendors at bay. Definitely keep your Regent local contact information handy. We needed it upon arrival as our flight was delayed and luggage collection took over an hour, so or Regent arranged transportation was no where to be found. The local chocolate was wonderful, and prices were very reasonable. Be adventurous with food! We had springbok loin as an appetizer at Glenelly, it was delicious. if you have specific questions, I will do my best to answer. Here are some hippos for your entertainment 😊

We did this last year and one of our neighbors will be on both the December 28 cruise and the next to Rio. Here is the information that I shared with them… we did the included 3 day pre cruise Winelands and Wildlife. If you can arrive a day or two early, we stayed at Southern Sun the Cullinan. https://www.southernsun.com/the-cullinan. This was the hotel used by Regent for the 3 day pre-cruise, and we booked an additional night pre-cruise to get over our jet lag. The rates are reasonable, it is a very nice hotel, and they have an excellent pub/restaurant with great food at very reasonable prices - with lovely staff too. They also have a great deal where if you join their rewards program before you book you get 10% off their food and hotel rates. They had a free shuttle bus to the Victoria and Albert waterfront that we took advantage of. On our first full day there we walked up to the Cape Town Helicopters booth at the waterfront and booked the 1 hour full peninsula helicopter tour - and it was just the two of us...https://www.helicopterscapetown.co.za/ Jarat Tours is the company that Regent used for our transfer from the airport to the hotel, and we booked a private car and driver (His name was Kevin and he was fabulous!) for a tour the day we disembarked the ship - sightseeing in Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, visiting wineries, a chocolatier, etc. We had a really nice lunch at Glenelly Estate and eventually ended up at the airport in plenty of time for our 6pm-ish flight. Regent eventually (2 days prior to the end of the cruise) offered an included 'day tour' on a bus that ended up at the airport - but by that time we had already booked the private tour, and we were tired of being on buses with all these same people. We wanted to do something on our own. https://www.jarattours.co.za/ https://glenellyestate.com/ https://www.spiceroute.co.za/ For tours, since we did the pre-cruise package, we had a "safari game drive" and decided not to pay to do any others. I think it would have been worth it to do one or two in some of the ports, as ours was kind of sad...So if game drives or seeing the "Big 5" are on your bucket list, definitely go for it! In Walvis Bay we cannot say enough good things about the added cost ($49 pp) Seals and Pelicans cruise. my husband says this was the best tour of the entire trip. And the oysters were amazing! We were going to do the Moon Landscape and Welwitchia tour on the second day, but Dune 7 was CLOSED to visitors, so leaving at 7am was not worth it! Otherwise we still would have gotten up at that too early time to see Dune 7. In Port Elizabeth we were going to the Addis Elephant Park tour - but the ship cancelled the port due to weather. We were very disappointed as this was our only opportunity to see elephants. We ended up not going ashore in Durban - my husband wasn't feeling well. The Chef said it wasn't worth going in town, not safe. Other passengers really enjoyed their excursions out into the countryside. Some of the tours looked interesting.. We originally were going to do the valley of a thousand hills. Maputo is a dirty, poor city. We did the walking tour, which was interesting if you like old Railway stations. It would have been much better with a different guide as he rushed us through the market and we really couldn't look at anything or buy anything at all. We also had a problem with one of the people on the tour who couldn't walk, but was on a walking tour... so we lost about 45 minutes. It was extremely hot on the day we went. The highlight was coffee and the Portuguese custard tart... In Richards Bay we did the St. Lucia Wetlands Nature Reserve (boat ride). It was an interesting (long) bus ride out and back. If you want to see hippos in the wild, this is definitely the tour to take. We enjoyed it. I was sick when we arrived at Mossel Bay (I got my husband’s cold...) and just couldn't face a bus ride that day. We were going to do the scenic mountain passes. Hope this helps!

This is why we gave up on raising issues (except when a specific Restaurant manager was on board). They would make excuses, and promise that the issue would be resolved. A big fuss over us would be made in Prime 7 upon return that made us very uncomfortable. However the cheerleaders on this forum will continue to criticize that words should have been exchanged with someone in a position of responsibility,

We brought some “leftover Yen” from business trips with us. We never used it. In some places we used a credit card. We didn’t buy any little souvenirs so no need for the currency. Our guides were happy with $USD for tips.

Here’s a link to my review. I got flamed for my personal experiences and opinions by the cheerleaders, as usual on these boards. I also posted a “Dear John” type note which was severely flamed as well.

Sadly, it sounds like there has been no improvement to F&B since our Explorer cruise in March-April this year. We had a long discussion with Jennifer and hoped things would improve. We are reluctant to book any future cruises with Regent due to the last two cruise experiences, even if we lose some FCC sitting in the “bank” due to canceling other booked cruises.