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Having cruised for over 50 years, 10 of those years were spent cruising with Regent until FDR came upon the scene.

After implementing his idea of cruising, we never sailed with Regent again.

Maybe he's grown up since or maybe not, but if he mirrors his past performance, we will be gone from NCL as well. After our  cruise with Celebrity last month, their CEO just chased us away as well. This time it's no big deal since at our age, we don't have much more time for anything to be too concerned. But for those of you who are still climbing the mountain,  good luck.

The point is that the person at the top does make all the difference in the end result.

9 minutes ago, Lilikins said:

I do have some trip coverage from my credit card (citi is getting rid of it, but I put the cost of the entire cruise on it before the cut off point) but I was lead to believe that I still had to account for all of the costs of the trip in order to get medical. So you mean I don’t have to put 100% of the trip cost for trip insurance if I’m already covering a portion through my credit card? 

 

These things never crossed my mind when we were traveling in our 20s. It was so much simpler traveling with the mindset of “why would I need medical coverage and med evacuation? I’m healthy”. Ah the ignorance of being young and feeling indestructible.

If you insure through a company like "tripassure.com" for example, you will find only a few policies that provide waiver of pre-existing along with not having to insure for total trip cost. Up until now we have only used the insurance for the medical aspect.

After September 22 when Citi cancels their trip insurance benefits, we will have to look for a package to insure total cost as well as medical. Becomes very difficult and expensive at our age and some companies only insure up to age 85. 

On 4/10/2019 at 9:51 PM, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

 

I think this is only on the NS and Konigsdam, the ships that have Club Orange. As far as I know all other ships offer breakfast in the PG to Neptune and Pinnacle Suite guests. It was available a month ago on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

3 hours ago, boscobeans said:

 

Unless  you cruised 20 years ago it would be hard to understand how different it was...

 

Back then  there was so much more to the whole dining issue.

You had a waiter and he had an assistant who had a reasonable number of tables to serve.

There was a sommelier AND a bartender to take care of your beverages.

The nightly amuse bouche to cleanse the palate.

The variety of menu offerings over the course of even the longer cruises was amazing.

White gloved staff and fully dressed tables and chairs on formal nights with live music.

The nightly dessert presentation..

Everyone on the ship had the same food and service, so different than the SUITE LIFE of today.

The meals in the MDR were Excellent and there was no need for "Special Dining".

 My only special culinary treatment from a butler was plate of shrimp at 4 pm each day.

 

All that was THEN and not now.

Everything  changes including what people are looking for, what they are used to and what they feel is essential for them.

 

We will continue to cruise as often as we can but NO LONGER will Celebrity be exceeding our expectations as Royal Caribbean has really closed the gap.

 

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Loracpin2 said:

I completely agree, Twenty years ago, Celebrity did not have to "give away" free booze, include gratuities and give OBC to fill a ship. When the decision was made to include all these perks (which I admit we have taken advantage of for at least the last 10 cruises), something had to give and it was the quality of the food in both the buffet and the MDR. Even the icescream in the buffet did not taste the same. The great thing about the OBC is we supplement the amount to eat more than half the nights we're on board. I will add, it definitely wasn't worth using the OPC on our August 18 Summit sailing. Even the Tuscan Grill and Quisine did not meet up to their usual standards. 

WOW! boscobeans....

You sure brought back memories. We haven't seen anything like that for many, many years.

Those days are long gone..if I remember, most of the ships had real staterooms...far larger than what they now call suites.

The ships were smaller and most all had bathtubs. Today they remove the tubs and create more cabins.

Back then they had professional entertainment and informative lectures. Now we get port talks and what is called music continuously blasted everywhere on the ship.

Thanks for the memories....

On the Equinoxthe bottles not really wall mounted.

There is a cage on the wall, high up for me, that has 3 pump bottles that are very difficult to pump from below.

 After you try these you will wish you brought your own.

Were on the Equinox this past week  and will record some of our experiences...4th cruise with Celebrity and the last.

We have been cruising for 50+ years..all over the world so we're not exactly novices.

We booked Aqua class on this cruise because we like to eat in Blu. MDR is too hectic and noisy for us. In the past, the food was very good and we liked the comfortable venue.

This time, the food was bad. Mostly overcooked and dry no matter what and how we ordered it. Never again.

Service however, was outstanding.

What's interesting is that the suite(?) choices that come with Aqua are quite small and uncomfortable.

Concierge costs more and comes with a larger suite but can't eat in Blu...only if available.

Once we tried concierge class and was assigned to Luminae. For us it was pretty bad. Again the venue was nice but not the food or service.

Ordered room service for lunch twice. Took a little over an hour to arrive..no problem.

But had to call 3 times each time to ask for the tray to be picked up. Ended up putting it into hall where I saw other trays on the hall floor .

On day one, our room phone stopped working. No calls in or out. Took 8 hours and 3 trips down to find a supervisor(Sasha) who said would move our room if they can't fix it now.

20 minutes later he called our room...they simply switched the phone to a working line.

Equally annoying were the recorded calls every afternoon from Captain or Cruise Director always selling something. If no answer, they left a message.

For obvious reasons all the cruise lines are looking to appeal to a younger crowd . As a result, every event or music is so loud that the only peace and quiet is in the cabin..

The events were so loud that I couldn't talk on my phone outside the cabin.

We tried to see some shows and movies, but left after the first 10 minutes, as did others

Years ago we had real lectures...now a lecture is advice on where to shop.

I suppose it's us, as the ships seem to be sailing full.

This time, we couldn't wait to get home.

Very important is to cover pre-existing medical conditions. 

Not all policies do and when they do, you must buy the policy usually within 15 days of making your deposit.

Also some policies that do cover it require you to insure for the full cost of the trip. Only a few do not require this.

Since some credit cards cover the trip cost, this would be more costly than necessary.

I have only used insuremytrip because you can filter any prices only for the provisions you want and their support is excellent.

We have had a few minor claims over the years and they did well for us.

On the Equinox now.

Probably better off finding something else to do, maybe read a book.

Shows are awful and getting worse all the time.

Used to have interesting lectures years ago, but now only port talks about where to shop.

Tried watching a movie today in the theater....pathetic. Had to get in line just to walk out.

With a new hurricane moving towards Florida, I wonder what might happen to next Sat Equinox sailing. Trying to call Celebrity goes nowhere as I assume everyone on that sailing has the same question. If it continues on the estimated path, I don't see how the Equinox could return to the port from this weeks trip.

5 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Only because of CO, or were there other reasons?

 

I could offer many, but after cruising for more than 50 years and reading the posts on CC, all my response will do is use up a lot of bandwidth disagreeing with me. Good luck to all.

2 hours ago, Roz said:

How do you know HAL has lost long-time loyal customers?

 

Roz

They lost us.

11 hours ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

 

I think this is only on the NS and Konigsdam, the ships that have Club Orange. As far as I know all other ships offer breakfast in the PG to Neptune and Pinnacle Suite guests. It was available a month ago on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

11 hours ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

 

I think this is only on the NS and Konigsdam, the ships that have Club Orange. As far as I know all other ships offer breakfast in the PG to Neptune and Pinnacle Suite guests. It was available a month ago on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

On all other ships you are correct. We were in a Neptune 6 months ago on the NA and it's still our favorite ship. After this trip on the NS, we would never book again and if they make the same changes on the other HAL ships, we are already looking elsewhere. When I get a moment, I will write a comprehensive review of our trip.

We just got off the NS and no more breakfast in P Grill for anyone. Only club orange or MDR for Neptune people. Of course the Lido if you are desperate.

On 4/8/2018 at 7:32 AM, bUU said:

That is perhaps the most egregious example of it; it almost defies logic, but my guess is that the irrational upset is not really all that much different from the rest of the attire-related complaints: Some people might feel that what they wear as a cover-up is the only valid thing to wear as a cover-up, just like some people feel that what they wear on gala nights is the only valid thing to wear on gala nights. It is bewilderingly spooky how similar are the perspectives of the fervent formal attire advocates and the fervent casual attire advocates: Both thinking the rules they would have set are "the" rules, instead of deferring to and respecting the rules that our hosts have set.

Interesting...when the cruise line invites me to travel with them at no charge, as a guest, only then would I would consider them to be the host. 

Have they upgraded the chairs in

CO yet.

Are many people attending?

Just got off phone with HAL ship services or something like that.

Sharp agent agreed that they were never trained on club orange..only got an email announcing it.

I mentioned that we booked Neptune on Mar 31st Nieuw Statendam and am upset with what I am reading on CC. She put me on hold and dialed then up..came back and agreed. Also talked to supervisor who told her they were replacing the crazy chairs in CO. She said open seating is still available in the MDR but no Pinnacle breakfast. CO or MDR or Lido, of course.

Then reiterated that this was only a trial and may change yet.

Good luck to us.

Last October on the crossing from Italy to Miami on the Westerdam I used wifi calling with no problem. I have Metro/T-Mobile. I bought the middle internet package. Only cost was for the internet.

On the current sailing, could someone post the schedule for the Lincoln Center players for the week?

We are looking forward to spending the next week listening to them.

Thanks

We are on the westerdam now and for us Lincoln Center is the highlight

3 concerts each day with a full string quartet plus piano. Standing room only. Like being in Lincoln Center in NYC. BB king pretty good. Had two really funny comics.

Have fun.

Current experience in Neptune suite on Westerdam.

Told our concierge at about 3pm what we wanted from the mdr menu and wanted a tablecloth and setup on the balcony for 6:30pm.

Right on time we got our delivery and set up. Was quite nice and the food was pretty good.

We are on the Westerdam in a Neptune suite for the first time. Will have a hard time going back. Lounge has lots of food from 7am to 8pm and a quiet place to relax. No free wine. Fine concierge staff.

Has laptop and printer and the ship has a special internet package...$159.00 for the entire 13 day crossing...unlimited...and the best internet we have ever experienced on a ship.

I assume you meant Radisson. If you did, in fact, mean Renaissance, no comparison in passenger to space ratio Radisson/Regent versus Renaissance.

 

Marc

You are correct... I did mean Radisson.

Thanks

My husband and I have cruised nearly 200 days on Regent cruise line and it has changed after Norwegian purchased Regent and Oceania. We have cruised on all four ships after the buyout and Norwegian has diminished the quality of the Regent Luxury line, while still charging the Regent premium price. Disappointing as we use to speak highly of the Regent brand and can no longer do so. We are currently on the Voyager from San Francisco to Montreal for 28 days.

 

Listed below are the changes we have noticed and not for the better:

Entertainment

* By cutting costs Norwegian termed their contract with the Jean Ann Ryan production company. What a huge miss... We couldn't wait to watch the Productions/Cirque de Soleil while cruising and now we don't even go to the shows. The quality of the entertainment crew is like watching a high school production and the bios reflect so. Bios commenting they are excited to be leaving the country for the first time or happy to be on their first cruise. When you are paying the price for a luxury line the entertainment should reflect so. We have been on board eight days and the entertainment for two of those nights were movies: Beauty and the Beast and Pirates of the Caribbean. Did they buy the rights so it can be shown on all three lines: Norwegian, Oceania and Regent. Isn't Beauty and the beast a kid movie - not many kids on board?

 

Wine

* We use to thoroughly enjoy the various wines offered and typically provisioned around the region you were cruising. This is not the case anymore, Norwegian is now purchasing from very large vintners that can supply all three cruise lines and cutting cost. We may have purchased a bottle prior to buyout; however, now we average buying a bottle every other night for assortment. Very limited rotation now.

 

Food

* Lunch

The Compass Rose for lunch had a quite varied menu selection including Canyon Ranch/healthy options and build your own sandwich. Now they offer the same exact menu, everyday and on every ship. They do offer one daily special selection; however, you hope it's something you like or you are back to the same menu. It feels they are pushing you to go to buffet style eating rather than dining on white table cloth. We are now eating more at La Veranda buffet just for assortment.

 

* Dinner

Prior to Norwegian purchasing Regent we couldn't wait for dinner and to view the dinner options. We would always say after our cruise, wow not one bad bite. Not anymore... The creativity, quality and preparation are nothing near the Regent standards we use to know.

 

* Service

While we have had great service it has been spotty. We feel the quality of the service is lacking up to Regent standards.

 

Good note!

Housekeeping has been doing a fantastic job on this cruise, yet on our last cruise our Steward did a poor job.

 

For what we spend and knowing the decline in quality we are switching to another five star luxury cruise line.

 

 

 

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At the risk of incurring the wrath of the fanboys, I do agree with you. We have been sailing for over 50 years and for 10 of those with Regent..it was far classier when it was Renaissance. We eventually began to understand that we became our own victims while thinking this was the best. Since we untethered ourselves, we discovered there were other worlds of cruising out there that didn't require overpaying for our perceived luxury.

As in the past, I expect the flame throwers to erupt 🐯

Deja Vu.. about 12 years a ago we were also on that train, but when we put our large luggage there, a nice man came over and insisted that if we wanted to see our luggage again, we should move it right next to our seats.

Thank you all..

To those who have recently boarded a HAL ship at the port, will a taxi take you directly to boarding area where the luggage can be handed off?