lprp

15 hours ago, bebop bonnie said:

The show last night featured Phillip Browne.  It was probably the best show I’ve ever seen on Regent.

Philip is DEFINITELY the best! We’ve seen him on Explorer and Splendor, love his voice and his stories about his family and upbringing. Along with his bus driving anecdotes.

Looking forward to your reports. Have a great cruise.

LP

8 hours ago, RachelG said:

Next up will be the Kimberley in Australia in July on Silversea.

It’s been fantastic reading the TA reports each day with the fabulous photos. Thank you.

We’re doing the Kimberley in June - 17 nights in a 4 wheel drive vehicle 😬 followed by 11 nights on a Ponant ship, Le Jacques Cartier, which I hope will assist with recovering from the fairly arduous 17 night land trip.🤞

We disembark in Darwin on 1 July, probably just as you start your journey to Australia!

@flossie009

Safe journey home. Loved your reporting. So glad to see you are flying home from Abu Dhabi as Dubai still seems to be having some issues following the recent floods.

Quick question if I may?

How was your experience in obtaining an Indian visa?

I’m in the slightly concerning situation of needing to get a new passport in July (can’t do it before as we’re shortly off on an Australia trip) followed by the visa for India for our Christmas cruise.

I’m hoping that both processes will be smooth 🤞

@flossie009

Your itinerary is very similar to the trip we are doing on Voyager this Christmas, it’s fabulous reading about it, thank you. 😁

6 hours ago, UUNetBill said:

I seem to recall an old saying about "If" that had something to do with Grandma and Grandpa...

 

Unfortunately, it's a sad fact that rudeness begets rudeness.  Would sure be nice if we could just count on people to be kind and courteous...but alas, no.

Good manners cost nothing, sadly though even “nothing” is too much for some people 🤷‍♀️

Thank you for entertaining us again - your humorous reports are always a great start to the day.

The first time we were there back in the 80’s our tour guide warned us not to chew gum (she later added in case we spat it on the ground) 😳

Guess the issues have changed since then……..

Looking forward to your reports @flossie009.

How lovely to sail on Navigator with Ray - “Helloooooo”.

Hope the trip from Bangkok to Laem Chabang is not too tedious.

1 hour ago, vistaman said:

far above BA 

I think you could insert pretty much any other airline in front of those 3 words 😏.

if there was any other airline flying direct to multiple countries from London I’d change loyalty to them in a heartbeat……

1 hour ago, jo-b said:

We are in the UK cruising Cape Town to Cape town December. . We asked for BA flights as they fly direct LHR to CPT but we were quoted an additional £1000 pp per leg as Regent don't have an arrangement with BA.  

This confirms what my TA has told me. Our return flight from Singapore to London for next January is currently with Qatar Airways via Doha. Now, I really like Qatar, but BA fly direct to LHR as do Singapore. Regent offered Singapore but with another £2.5k each on top of the Business class upgrade for Qatar……

I’m hoping BA and Regent agree terms soon!

Looking forward to travelling vicariously with you.

Enjoy!

30 minutes ago, mrlevin said:

Bill, why would you book this through Regent?  I have stayed at fantastic game lodges and resorts in South Africa and would book through a TA that knows South Africa or directly with one of the tour operators; Regent greatly overcharges.

 

Marc

100% agree. Check out Singita.

18 hours ago, fb0075 said:

CONDITION?

FOOD?

ENTERTAINMENT?

We were also on over Christmas and NY.

The overall condition of the ship is fine, notwithstanding the drain issue that seems to have been resolved 🤞.

There were definitely some things that were not as good as they should be - entertainment was dreadful considering it was a holiday cruise and service in Compass Rose was “Miss” more often than “Hit” for us, Regent acknowledged that this was due to a large number of new (not fully trained) staff.

I would expect this to be fully resolved by the time of your cruise.

4 hours ago, Pcardad said:

It started with a guest flushing something - I've got a text from someone onboard telling me about it. This blocked the pipe and then popped a number of old seals leading to a lot of downtime

We were on Mariner Christmas and NY and believe this is definitely what happened. I was told verbally while on the ship and in writing from Regent when we got home.

We didn’t have any toilet issues, although a suite a few doors along from us seemed to have several judging by the number of times the “sludge gulper” (doesn’t that conjure up a wonderful image 😬) was deployed.

That said, the area outside Reception and Destination Services often had an aroma that was at times gag inducing! The reception staff admitted to being nose blind to it!!

We had to move from the Mariner Lounge after dinner one night as the stench was unbearable.

1 hour ago, Dolebludger said:

Again, which hotel in Reykjavik did Regent use last year?

As per post #31

We stayed in the Reykjavik Grand last year and I can’t recommend it based on our stay.

9 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

Here is the problem, as I see it. Reykjavik is a small city.,Regent needs maybe 200 hotel rooms, but these rooms may not be available in that city. And Reykjavik,is a long distance from the airport. The only major airport in Iceland. I suspect that Regent didn’t “survey the territory” well before selling hotel rooms and transport there. And because if this, Regent can’t deliver on what it sold. Now, this doesn’t relieve Regent of liability for selling what it couldn’t deliver. It is merely a take on this mess.

I think it’s more likely that they dropped the ball. We were on Splendor -  Reykjavik to Copenhagen last year, in Concierge with the requisite pre-night, along with loads of other passengers.

4 minutes ago, highlandshores said:

if they decide UK get something, then US should also.    Everyone should be treated the same no matter where they live. 

The booking conditions in the UK are VERY different to the US, for instance:

1) We only get Economy Air as standard - Business Class is only offered for European cruises, utilising short haul flights, for those in Penthouse or above.

2) Deposits are 25% and non-refundable (there are occasional offers that mitigate this).

BUT, the consumer protection schemes we have afford us rights that mean we are treated differently.

This might be useful if you do end up booking your own hotel:

https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/03/02/review-reykjavik-konsulat-hotel/
 

We stayed in the Reykjavik Grand last year and I can’t recommend it based on our stay. I liked the look of the Edition (Marriott), but HFP don’t recommend it due to the high price and the fact that it’s surrounded by building works. These were my comments from the blog I did last year:

21 hours ago, Mike Moore said:

Hi @flossie009 - I’m afraid that I can no longer provide you all with any assistance, as last month my time with Regent came to an end. It was my pleasure to help the CC community over these past 15 years, and I wish you all fair winds and following seas! 

Thank you @Mike Moore. Best wishes for your future endeavours. Wherever you land they will be lucky to have you.

2 hours ago, bitob said:

I decided to take the hotel credit and use points to stay at my hotel of choice for free.

i am adding an extra night and the amount they ask for an extra night pp is absurd in the extreme.

549 pp

 

the hotel credit is 150 pp

 

what is wrong with this picture?

It’s always been like that - absolutely ridiculous, wonder if anyone ever buys extra hotel nights with Regent 🤔

5 hours ago, taxman1 said:

@kjbacon we had a very similar feeling with respect to the lack of thoughtfulness amongst our fellow passengers.  During our 30 years of world travel we have found a common language shared by all in every corner of the world … it’s called a smile.  We enjoyed your posts as we shared the same journey.  Thank you!

100% agree, it annoys me beyond belief when passengers just state what they want to the wonderful crew with no hint of a “please”, “thank you” or even a smile. 😡

18 minutes ago, Portolan said:

Regent has said for several years now that they will add that capability to the web site...still waiting. 

@mikemoore any update as to when this might be happening?

 Thanks 

I believe the issue only started this January, for new longhaul flights 

Has anyone tried to get flights and upgrade prices from Regent for long-haul flights with BA?

I’m hearing that BA have pulled their “contract/IT/flexible” fares for ALL cruise lines since January while they renegotiate 🤔

Notwithstanding all their shortcomings, which are manifold, we have Tier status with them that means we book them where it’s appropriate.

This POSSIBLY only affects UK based passengers;

4 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Totally agree with your comments about the entertainment this last Christmas; but of course it will likely be a totally different team next Christmas, who will hopefully put in more effort and use more initiative than was evident on our holiday cruise

I’m hoping that the Mariner Christmas 2023 entertainment team do not migrate to the Voyager Christmas 20 24 cruise 😬🤞

5 hours ago, mrlevin said:

I have found that building a rapport with young dining room staff pays off quickly.  Even if they are not the most experienced

Unfortunately we had very inconsistent service in CR. A complete contrast to Chartreuse where the service was exemplary.

The only area we had good service in CR was in Dennis’s section, unfortunately such is his reputation it was not always possible to secure a table there. RSSC confirmed that they were aware of the service shortcomings we experienced.