mj_holiday

We are on the December 8 voyage. We start out going to Victoria Falls for a pre-cruise land tour. And after the cruise we have the wine wonder out of Cape Town. We have been on Navigator, Explorer and Voyager and have had a great time on all three, but they are all different. We were originally booked for this cruise in 2020 and the wait has been long. Both of the sailings show a lot of suite categories as “available “, don’t know what this really says about how many passengers are signed up. Let me know if you have any questions about the sailing when we get on board.

Final payment has been made and getting excited about a cruise finally happening this time. Excursions are booked. Flights are made. Not much traffic on the Roll Call for this cruise, wonder how many people will be doing this cruise.

Thank you so much for taking the time to post the details of you trip. Knowing details like your experience at Madrid airport will help someone who gets in similar situation to not panic. ( i.e. At Heathrow you are not shown your gate until 30 minutes prior to boarding, this is nerve racking for us Americans.)

We stayed in a Cat G stateroom on Explorer. It was OK, but not conducive to room service anyplace but the balcony. The table is a coffee table height.

1. Many times there will be shuttle service between a city and the ship. Destination services should have the info. Please, make sure you let the tour guide know when you are leaving the tour to go on your own. Be mindful of the all aboard time. 3. We have never been in a position to take a small group tour. But, we have not felt crowded in the tours we have taken. 5. Your excursion tickets will have the meeting time and place, this will also be in Passages the evening before the excursion. So if you meet in the theater, they will have explicit instructions about exchanging your excursion ticket for a ticket for that tour. (this lets them know how many people showed up). They will call you tour when they are ready for you and they take into account the tender times. It is usually very orderly. For afternoon tours, I have seen the tour meet on shore. But there will be instructions on your excursion tickets.

So, if you would have wanted to pay for the specialty dining, you would have been able to when you called?

We lost a port due to weather, and the ship was able to go to a port we had already been to that trip, but for us this was great because we had some things we didn't have time the first time around.

What's the name of this dessert shown in the last mailing we got for Regent? Looks delicious.

thanks

DH used to change from his NB walking shoes to a leather pair for the evenings, and he was somewhat uncomfortable. Then I started noticing many senior citizen men wearing dark walking/NB shoes in the evening. I went to look at the dress code again, noticed it had changed somewhat. DH now wears his NB walking shoes, these are dark colored (not tennis shoes), he has a script for them when we buy them and is much happier in the evenings. No issues at all.

Would someone post a picture, please

Yes (I wasn't home when I sent that last item) This came from the description of the trip that my TA got from RSSC. but has since found on the web. Luggage: CHECKED LUGGAGE For your economy class internal flights between Johannesburg, Victoria Falls and Cape Town: *Passengers are permitted to check-in one piece of luggage at a maximum of 23 kg (50 lbs.) and maximum dimension of 158 cm (62 inches) - subject to change by airline *Excess luggage fees will be paid directly to the airline at the check-in counter by guests however should you wish, a maximum of 1 additional piece of luggage per person (23kg/ 50 lbs) can be stored in Johannesburg from Days 2 – 4 and it will be shipped to your hotel in Cape Town. HAND LUGGAGE For all flights: *Passengers are permitted to travel with one piece of hand luggage not exceeding 8 kg (18 lbs.) and a dimension of 56 cm (22 inches) length, 36 cm (14 inches) width and 23 cm (9 inches) height. *All hand luggage must be of a size that fits under the seat in front of you or in one of the overhead lockers.

We are on a pre-cruise to Victoria Falls, before starting our Cape Town cruise. Our TA sent us the latest itinerary and luggage info. Our instructions define the size and weight of both of the bags we can have -one checked and one carry-on. I would consider DH camera to be part of his one carry-on. Trying to find the plane being used is a good idea, but also a challenge. From the luggage restrictions I am leaning to the conclusion our plane is larger rather than smaller. Nothing talking about soft sided checked luggage, but a blurb about the airline can impose fee it bag too big. We are also limited to one each bag that we leave with a representative to take to the ship.

Good to know. Our first cruise (after COVID) is on Voyager. Hopefully they will also have some different NA beers

We have cruised on both Explorer and Voyager. To me, the Explorer often lets you forget you are on a ship, and I enjoy being on a ship at sea. The Explorer is very nice indeed. We enjoyed both ships. The Voyager only have 2 specialty restaurants, but we enjoy the Main Dining Room so much with the great menu, that we don't miss the additional restaurant that the Explorer has. Voyager has a better Theater. Explorer Theater has some areas with seats behind a column and the aisle and steps are very hard to see where you step and where you don't. Be sure to understand the size of the suites on the Voyager before you book, since they are not the same as Explorer. If I had to decide between the two ships for the same itinerary - it would be a hard choice. They are both very nice.

I have been following a thread on Oceania and a mixed drink tasting was held one day. It was mentioned that they some zero proof drinks. I asked about some NA liquor. I got the reply they had Lyres on board. Hopefully this is planned for Regent also.

Great about the zero proof drink offerings. I didn't see, but do you remember if any of the zero proof and NA liquors ie Monday, Seedlip

Lisbon, London Heathrow, Munich to start with.

I have Apple AirTags and got them set up for our suitcases. To follow our suitcases, I am understand I will need either access to wifi or data. So, would like lessons learned etc on using the AirTags and getting wifi in airports etc.

Knowing people who are unvaccinated by choice, I suspect some of them also wouldn't want to take a COVID test to get on a cruise ship. I concur with Portolan above in that those unvaccinated people that want to cruise will not be on the upcoming cruises but will look to cruises further in the future. The SailSafe program that Regent has established has some medical experts that I respect and expect them to make the safest decision. It was Regent (NCL) that decided in the beginning that the entire ship had to be vaccinated while other cruise lines were allowing a certain percentage to come aboard unvaccinated.

I start looking at them way before it is time to actually book and that gives me a chance to do any research I feel I need to do. A couple of things to be aware of. When the excursions do show up on My Account - double check that you have looked at all of the excursions that show up. Every so often there is a new one that I hadn't seen. The other thing is when you board your cruise, tickets for you excursions will be in your suite, or get there in short order. There will also be an errata sheets of changes to excursions, some may have been dropped or times may have changed etc. The most common change for me seems to be the activity level of the excursion. I recommend going through them just in case there is a change so you won't be surprised later on.

I am one that also likes to have plenty of time to look at what is around us. But you will also hear people complain that the pace was too slow on the excursion. Hard to please everyone.

Thanks for the info

Thank you for your almost live of your trip. Sorry about your Covid but glad to hear you are recovered and the excellent treatment by Regent also reassures me.

I have been on HAL a couple of times, I am interested in Oceania. I recommend comparing as many things as possible: Cabin Size Room Service dining arrangement laundry arrangements - self serv laundromats and valet service Specialty restaurants Ports called on and time in port Number of sea days Compare for both costs and if you like what the ship offers in each category.