Wendy The Wanderer

So Richard, are you having a good time yet?

I'm very jealous, Richard. Have a great trip!

I also would choose 721. Great location.

Yes, they have several sets. I believe there might have been a couple of photocopied cards, but bring your own for sure. It's just a pickup game, not organized.

I'm kind of surprised they would specifically target "luxury" cruises rather than mass market.

Yes of course, you could get an air credit, which was handy, but rarely equivalent to the price of booking your own business air flights.

I'm talking about the base cruise fares. I.e., they used to be inclusive of business air (in North America), now they're not.

Included Biz, yes. Those halcyon days of a great deal on included Biz air are over. Cruise-only fares are still high, but adding air, even coach, seems very pricey. I think we can blame the airlines and mass travel in general for this change, but I suspect Regent is not reducing base fares in any way to compensate. Just my opinion. P.S. I wonder if they'll quote on Premium Economy now?

They lump us Canadians together with the Americans. We get mostly the same regs and perks.

Oh, do tell! How could we possibly figure that out?

Mostly I'm reacting to the marketing language. The ships are all fine as they are, in terms of luxury, although I admit I like the newer ones. But they just don't need to get any more luxurious (or expensive.)

Ick, glad I'm going to miss all that. It's all so over the top.

No disrespect, but I'm trying to picture bringing garlic powder and tabasco into Compass Rose. 🙂 My experience in the past requesting less salt has not been good, but perhaps they handle special requests better now. My ankles always swelled after a couple of days onboard.

We got upgraded to 8 once as well. It was divine, but only at the discounted price. Ah, those were the days!

Yes, we did two of those courses in the early days. On Voyager they happened in Signatures, using the galley for the cooking part. Chaotic but wonderful.

Presumably this tab just doesn't show up on the older ships that have no culinary classes?

I'm pretty sure we've stayed in 421. (425, etc., but can't remember 426.) Great value.

You could do something modest such as visiting the church of Santa Maria Della Vittoria. 10 minutes walk. So many great work of art in beautiful churches. There's also the Fountain of Moses nearby. (I haven't been to either, btw.)

Fingers crossed for Greenland!

Yes, La Veranda is definitely the place for as quick breakfast prior to excursions, if not the other choices mentioned above. Compass Rose is not speedy. In Concierge suites, you wait and tell your steward what your preferences are. I would call and ask if there's a waitlist for the cooking class.

Nice to see the Pierre NA wines. I quite enjoyed them.

Sorry, my reply ended up inside the quoted post, above.

I can't comment on specifics, but if by "land", you mean at the airport, then the question becomes, where are you staying? After a long flight, your hotel restaurant might be just the thing. Bear in mind that most hotels aren't close to the port or food trucks, but some hotels have restaurants nearby.

I wouldn't call it a plethora. Depends on the state of renovations at these places, and changes of ownership. We stayed twice at Le Meridien and it's now named something else and is temporarily closed, presumably for renos. Hotels don't last long in this climate. The Hilton has been renamed and renovated a few times since I was first there in 2000.