mj_holiday

We haven’t had any issues with transfers. But you do need to make sure you know which parts of your trip have included transfers. When we travel a couple days before the cruise and stay in our own hotel, we don’t get transfers to the ship or to our hotel. But we still get a transfer to the airport at the end of the trip.

Just finished a you tube video of a tour of the Explorer. We have only been on the Explorer once so I have some questions about what is included in the Spa. I am sure that Hair dressing/cutting/styling is extra. Mani and Pedis are extra. Massages are extra. But what about the cold room, or the room with the heated reclining chairs, the sauna or the shower experience? Are any of these things included? Now for more sun Also please tell me what is your favorite dish (besides the ice cream sundae with choc, peanuts and caramel corn) onboard the Explorer.

frantic36 - As others have said before, there is no way of telling about the boarding since the port authorities are involved. We are always excited to get onboard, that is really the start of the trip. We plan on getting on anytime after 12 noon, because that is when transfers usually show up. After we get on we head to the Pool Grill and take up residence at a table off to the side, and order lunch. If it looks like all the tables have filled up we will either ask someone to join us or decide to walk around the ship. But suites are usually ready shortly after we are finished with lunch.

As mentioned quite a bit, the port authority seems to set up the structure of the check in process. We boarded Onward this last spring at the Canary Islands. We had a transfer that picked us up at noon and right to the port. We got our baggage taken care of quickly and we were ask to sit in a staging area. Before I even got a cookie, we were called to board. The cookies and water refreshments in the staging area is a nice thing that Azamara does.

We were in concierge our last cruise. I do not believe there is a set time for concierge to board. The Regent transfer was a full bus with all different levels of suites and we all waited until the Names suites got checked in. This was the only time I remember as being chaotic, and think it had a lot to do with the port itself. Except for this last time. those with Regent transfers get to board when they arrive. It is usually timed at the hotel to keep them spread out.

Last sailing we had, could use OBC (any type) to play BINGO and if you won, you got cash put on your account.

Wine on Regent - There Usually is a wine tasting (in the open area outside a lounge, the first or second day. This will be of the Included wines that are common on all ships and always available. There are other included wines that will not be part of this. We have always enjoyed the wines we select with our dinner. Sette Mari - for dinner the La Veranda turns into Settee Mari and Italian. No reservations, just come when open. If there is a wait, you may go to the Observation lounge and they will call you when a table is ready for you. Read the stickies at top of this forum that talk about Deviating for your flight. That is if you want to choose you own flight, this can be done starting at 210 days prior to cruise. This is talked about in several topics along with the sticky. There are positive and negatives to this.

So now there is a way to book specialty restaurant reservations on line before you board?

We did Cape Town to Cape Town last year. I seem to remember reading the limitation, but it didn’t impact me. I looked at an upcoming Cape Town itinerary and saw for an excursion to an elephant park, t Food hat guest should not use cell phones. What do you think would happen if the cell phone started ringing, while you were next to a herd of elephants, I think that’s the reason you’re not supposed to use cell phones, don’t want to disturb the animals.

LaVeranda is the buffet for breakfast and lunch. The Coffee Connection has some fruit, pastries etc. The Pool Grill has healthy continental breakfast. Some days the Compass Rose serves breakfast. For room service if you use the door hanger to order breakfast the night before you can identify a delivery time frame. Check the daily newsletter for the times of service at all the different venues.

What surprised (really impressed) me on Regent - The lectures. They are not just port advisors on where to shop. On the cruises we have been on with lecturers there has been one that talked about the places we are visiting (history, geography, nature, people etc) If there is a second lecturer they will be talking about an interesting subject, but may not be about where we are going. Concierge perks - better location on the ship, booking excursions and specialties sooner. And yes, many times you can handle the transfers and book a hotel, but sometimes it is just good to let someone else be responsible. The pre and post cruise trips are a great thing. On our very first Regent cruise, I went to book a cruise through Suez canal and at that time I learned there was an included post trip - 3 days in Cairo. Booking limited to max number. They seem to have expanded this quite a bit, some included and some with add on. Don't know how to categorize the guests. Part of it depends on the length of the cruise. We have met some really nice people and also some that I started avoiding. Basically all are friendly and it is just fun to meet people with different experiences. A lot has been posted about the service and food since COVID. We have been on one Regent since COVID and the service and food were very good. The contracted port services were lacking. And you will get spoiled by the included Business Class air for cruises that start/end out of North America.

According to Rome 2 Rio - Flight from Paris to Bordeaux, is 2 hours and cost $77-280 Train is about 4 hours and $200 to 360. I would say that the differences in each has to do with time of day and passenger load.

I don't remember waiting for a lot of people for transfer. It will depend on how many people on your flight are heading to your hotel We stayed at the Southern Sun last year for a post cruise. I have mixed comments mostly about food (subjective) and service (could be cultural). Breakfast and Dinner are served on an upper level. The rooms are clean, comfortable and quiet. One thing I found out reading something after we got home, there is a bar/grill down by the pool. The food is pretty good. If you pay for it there and not charge to your room, there will be 10% off. At least last year. If you are doing the winelands etc - that is a really interesting tour. We really enjoyed it.

I have read several places that the best place to get Yen from the ATM is at a 7-11 (the Japanese style) and not an airport in Tokyo. With tours and stuff it may take a day or two to find the 7-11. I would like to ask those of you who have been on a cruise going around Japan, did you get some local currency and where did you get it. We plan to rely on credit cards, but from reading some of our excursions, looks like there will be some locally made items from stands that may not accept credit cards.

When we were on a Regent cruise and the gingerbread houses went out, in a couple of days you could see that someone had taken a bite out of various decorations. I am sure a wooden house will survive a lot longer.

Thanks for the report on the Vibrant Tokyo, we are headed to the cruise end of March, looking forward to all of it.

Due to a recent medical event DH and I needed to review all our excursions we had booked, to make sure we understand the activity levels with our current situation and get necessary changes made. We initially decided on excursions based on the excursion descriptions I found through "My Account" right where you can select and book the excursion. For the review that we needed to do now, I also opened up the pdf version of the excursion descriptions that my TA had sent with receipt for final payment. (I have never bothered with this version since I do not like printing the pages out. I can easily work off the "My Account" descriptions) Here is what I found The Activity Levels found in "My Account" descriptions did not always match the Activity Levels for the excursion in the pdf version. On some excursions that did not have any activity level on the "My Account" description I found in the pdf version that the activity levels were sometime "Moderate" I had expected the two lists to match. Based on a YouTube video of a previous Regent Japan cruise guest, I had a couple of my questions answered by viewing the actual excursions in their video. I do understand that the activity levels are somewhat subjective but seeing an excursion rated as "Seated Tour" have buried in its description that there is moderate walking doesn't make sense. So don't do as I did and rely only on the descriptions in "My Account" where you book the excursion. You need to look at the pdf version for activity level. Also, don't just see a seated tour and not read the additional info about the cruise, since you may need to do some moderate walking. Our first couple of cruises with Regent I remember viewing in our room on TV an overview of the various excursions, I think day by day, but sometime my memory fades. I quit watching them, since by the time I saw them I already had everything booked. It sure would be helpful to be able to see these videos when you are getting ready to first book your excursions. GOOD NEWS something good about the exercise I needed to do. I got my list of cancelled excursions and called Regent. I bet I wasn't on hold for 2 minutes. As I was giving the agent the excursion to cancel, I was asked if I had one for that port to book, which was then done by the agent. I bet I didn't spent 10 minutes with the call and got the excursions deleted and added that I needed to do.

Thanks

That makes sense, but what is entered in the Japanese system online for the info.

For those who have recently boarded a cruise in Japan, could you please give some detail for the QR code and the entry requirements for Covid vaccinations. I watched a very well done you tube of a cruise starting in Japan. They explained the entry requirements and that a QR code is the best way. One of the things to fill out is about Covid vaccinations and something about whether or not to quarantine. Well, we just received the current Covid vaccine and the person who gave us the vaccines said they no longer fill out the CDC white cards. Do we just need to prove we got the initial vaccine and booster or that we have the latest vaccine. Any information will be helpful.

Thank you for your explanation. We would all like to avoid waiting in a line longer than necessary. But this will work only if the shore services work with it. Our last Regent cruise we arrived (11 of us) at the hotel rather late the night before we sail after a pre-cruise. We asked what time for the bus (s) to the ship, and we were told 7:30. Well we ignored that. The next morning we had a nice breakfast and saw that there were a lot of people heading to the ship. We checked out of our room around 10am and headed down to the lobby. We ended up in the chaos moving toward the bus. So a lot of people got to the ship at once no matter the boarding time.

Yes, it must have been stressful not knowing from one day to the next what the trip will look like. Thanks for taking the time to do some comparison between Oceania and Regent. I always look at Oceania but still end up with Regent since that is a known entity.

I would not worry about grabbing a bite before getting luggage and heading to the ship. Board the ship and head to pool grill or La Veranda for lunch.

Trivia is great fun. Do not be shy about walking up to a couple of people the first Trivia and ask if they need two more to make a team. They will either say the rest of their team is not there yet, or yes they could use 2 more people. The team size is limited to 6.

We were on the Voyager this last year. While not shiny and new like Explorer and Splendor, it is a very comfortable ship. We have a 2025 cruise booked on the Voyager. We were in a concierge which except for location and perks like excursion booking really isn't very different than Veranda Suites. When Navigator went through dry dock several years ago, an additional set of drawers were added in the closest. On the Voyager that extra set is much larger and we had plenty of drawer space. Viewing in the theater is much better than Explorer. I would never hesitate about booking the Voyager if the itinerary is what I want.