mj_holiday

On the Canary Islands (cannot remember which one) that is volcanic and mostly covered with lava a tour that includes both the volcano and the wineries was very interesting.

My favorite NA spirit is Monday NA Gin. It makes a very nice G & T and a good martini. Haven't found this in stores, order from Amazon.

When comparing two cruise lines cruises, I would build a spreadsheet listing what is included in each. First is the suite size and compare it to a similar size on the other cruise. After listing everything I give a dollar value to what it would be to get that on the cruise that doesn't have it. Pricing seems to come in very close. Remember that many itineraries also have an included pre or post land trip.

Thanks for taking the time to post your experiences. We also found the beverage packages, experience etc not to be much of anything. For liquors, the package description always ended with something like and others. So going to a bar, it was hit or miss to find out if a liquor you desired was in the package you purchased. Wine service at dinner was rushed and confusing. I was always offered wine well before I had decided what I wanted to eat.

For myself, I do not care for the "virgin" drinks, seems to be too much of sugar, or lime, or sour. Several NA "liquors" are showing up that to me make some nice mixed drinks. These are what I would like to see in the various bars. Last trip I did get a NA Gin in our cabin and that was nice. It made a good G & T to refresh while getting ready for dinner.

When we were on Voyager in December I had requested NA Gin and a bottle was in our suite. I didn’t see it behind any bars. They had 0.0 Heineken. Our next cruise I will ask that the NA Gin be in a bar for me.

The very first discussion on the Regent Cruise Critic forum (which you are on) discusses flights with and without deviation. There is a thumb tack by it. That will give you alot of information about booking flights.

I also recommend this museum. Try to get some detail directions. We took a trolley from our hotel and were dropped off within a block, the guy pointed the way, and it still took us several passes before we saw it. (I realized there wasn't a parking lot or huge sign like we are use to in the states.)

Don't remember having binoculars in our concierge.

Laundry service is available for all categories of cabins. We have not been of Splendor, but would consider it to be the same as the other ships which is very good.

We have done both included land tours and those that costs extra. Our first included land tour was in Cairo and was very nice. (this was pre covid) Great hotel and great excursions, and I don't remember it being more than a relaxed pace. Maybe 25 people. We did a wine country after our Cape Town cruise and there were 2 bus loads but was very nice, would have liked a little more time in a town but the meals and site seeing was very good. The older we get, the more I am inclined to sign up for both included and extra costs land trips. So much easier when everything is handled.

I don't believe there is a standard set up in the cabins. I could just see the stewards spending all afternoon rearranging soda/beer cans. Our last cruise started out with 5 or 6 Coronas. So if no special requests, just have a list ready of what you want when you see your steward, they will probably move the cans you don't want to the cabinet next to the minifridge. We usually start out with beer and club soda and a bottle of wine and some type of after dinner liquor.

Oh, you are giving the shore people alot of credit. First - remember - most of this forum has said once you are on board things will be fantastic. Our embarkation was in Cape Town with a pre-night. Several of us arrived at the pre-night hotel around 10:30 pm ending our pre-cruise land trip. We asked about pick up times the next day and was told 7:30am. None of us believed that and agreed we could sleep late. We had a really nice breakfast and after we got repacked etc, went downstairs to see what the process was. (I do not remember what we did with our large suitcases) Oh, what chaos. We checked out and headed outside and we were put on a bus and our carry-ons were stored below. The port was pretty chaotic. We got off the bus and realized the shore people had taken our carry-ons and put them with all the luggage. Several of us complained and needed to get our carry-ons back, mainly because of security and meds. So we were taken into the luggage area and allowed to pick up any suitcase we wanted, but we all picked our own carry-ons. Some kind of line was forming (not much area to sit) so we got in line. There was and interesting display of beaded objects which we had plenty of time to look at as the line slowly moved. (At several ports during the cruise we would find this type of beaded pieces many places.) Our assigned time was noon. Don't know what time we got onboard, but the line moved fairly quickly as we got closer. We made it onto the ship . . . .YEAH. . . . and up to the pool grill for lunch and a beer.

On more thing - I sent DH to get us drink packages after a couple of days and he didn't know, I hadn't seen the advertisement, that we would get a small discount because we were repeat cruisers with Azamara. No one asked him if this applied.

After we got off Onward I did do a review with some comparison with Regent and here in a nutshell are the things I didn't care far on Azamara The fact that there were three levels of drink packages, in the included package of course there is one beer I wanted that was in the next level and DH also found that a couple different alcohols were not on the first included level. If you pay for these instead of purchase the drink package, the ticket has a space for tipping even though tips are included in the price. I would just rather not think about is this included or that included. The MDR had nice sized tables for two but they were very close to your neighbors. I just couldn't tell what/how much wi-fi was included. Since excursions are not included with Azamara, we will be doing cruises that make it very convenient to walk off and look for a taxi etc. We really missed the in suite bar set up (beer, mixers, etc) Yes we could have called for room service, but then we are waiting for that instead of getting ready etc. And there is a lot of disagreement on this forum as to what you can order room service. There were some talks ( self healing, IPhone phototaking and about excursions) but also felt they were comeons to something that would come at a cost. The photo guy had brochures talking about his other lessons for a price and the self-healing person always reminded us that she had open appointments. I found no enrichment lectures. These are not show stoppers, we found ways to work around/with them when the itinerary is right for us. Stuff would be listed in the daily newsletter and annotated that there is a price, but not give the price.

We sail Regent most of the time, but have been on 2 Azamara cruises (one pre Covid and one post Covid) And will sail with them again when the itinerary is right, that being docking in towns/areas where you can get off the ship and find a taxi for a nice site seeing trip around the area or walk to the main city, since you are docked so close. Yes, Azamara is not Regent, but there are also itineraries that are quite different. The food on Azamara was very good, even in Windows, restaurant and the service was very good. There are a few things I do not care about, but that is overlooked for the right itinerary.

I found that on usually day 2 they have a wine tasting of included wines available on all ships. So someone serving wine should have that list and then the list of included wines for that cruise. If the person pouring does not have a list, ask them to send over the head sommelier, or ask the person seating you for the head sommelier.

Taxis ae easy to find, our last taxi ride in AMS was in a Tesla.

Usually if you are with the same airlines in the US, your domestic flight will be business, this is done by airlines, not part of Regent.

If we don't get a certain time for a transfer, I would also be getting tickets early. I do not mind sitting on the ship having a nice lunch and people watch until our cabins are ready. Our bus transfer to the ship in Cape Town was pure chaos. We were told at the front desk that busses left at 7:30 (not), so we came down after a nice breakfast around 9:30. To get out of the chaos we headed to a bus. Lets just hope all of this confusion/chaos will get better as we get farther from Covid. But I agree, there should be a better way to give out tickets so people can plan on when to get to the lobby.

In the past I have never bothered to try to get reservations the first night they open up, and have been able to get what we wanted, sometimes with a wait list, but still got them.

I agree with getting to the theater at least 10 minutes prior to the time on your tickets. Usually when you get to the theater, you will see a line formed to get tour tickets from the stage area, so stand in line with all the tickets for that one tour you want to exchange, and then go sit down by an aisle. Your tour will then be called by the number on the ticket you just got from the front of the theater, do not let anyone in your group stray. when they call your tour, get up and head out of the theater and follow the crowd. You will be told what deck to go to to exit the ship. There should be a place to fill up your water (we do this before we get to the theater). As you leave the shop check for the sign that will tell you the all aboard time, in case you want to linger in town or someplace.

I use our TA for almost all activities associated with a cruise, pre and post hotels and transfers if especially if I am not familiar with the port cities. Many times the reservations we get are more expensive than if I had booked them myself, but they are also just GREAT experiences that I would never have gotten to on myself. I book flights, hotels etc on land trips for us.

A Gerber tool, but that really doesn’t impact the story.

We had a tool in our suitcase that security didn't like. Our cabin steward came and told us one of us needed to go to security because of our suitcase. Our steward when with me. I opened the suitcase and found the tool for him to look at. He gave me back the tool and said I needed to keep it in our suitcase for the cruise and I said I would comply, but I also would have let him confiscate it. I realize that security has a very tough job and if they are successful in their jobs no one notices because nothing happens.