GOARMY

TS: "Passages" is that printed copy, often-4-6 pages to account for the usual promos for the Spa. And, any special offers at shops. And, --bio information on various ship's officers. Should that copy be misplaced--it is available at Reception. Pleasant reading. Very-detailed description of next-day events throughout the ship; dining schedules for each venue; service hours for various Bars; "show times" for entertainment options; time and location(s) for on-board lectures. And, to remind passengers with next-day excursions where and when to show up. Basically, an hour-by-hour overview of ALL ship events. Regent keeps audio announcements to all Suites to a minimum. Same with general announcements heard only outside Suite or on Regent's internal "channel" via tv. It is expected guests will actually read "Passages". Any concerns can be addressed to Reception, for clarification. Enjoy your cruise. GOARMY!

cruiseej: First, "assuming" it would be safe to assume Regent will handle all the technicalities of your situation involved in getting you to Regent's hotel-- Conforming to proper protocol on this site, but--based on my background, "assuming" anything on a situation you still have some control over will turn out o.k. in the absence of your taking any proactive action to guarantee a positive outcome is not recommended. Assumption is the mother of all--------ups. : Assumption is not a plan. Hope is not a plan. Both might just wind up with a negative outcome. The Spanish Generals and Admirals "hoped" Divine intervention would assure success in invading England in 1588. How did that turn out? So--hows about contacting the hotel directly? From your text, I do not assume you have a Travel Agent with a history actually being on Regent ships who would be an advocate in contacting either Regent, your hotel, or both to guarantee these details have been ironed out. In any event--recommend you contact the hotel. Actually talk to a representative. Confirm hotel is aware of your situation. Get that confirmation in writing, text, or, whatever. Then, a similar conversation and verification with Regent. The point is to remove any angst that would detract from enjoying your voyage before, during, or upon debarkation. GOARMY!

Another example of Regent having thought this through-- St. Petersburg. Explorer, Summer, 2019. Several long, early to late evening city excursions. We chose the complete "Swan Lake" ballet option. Necessary to leave ship around 1900H. Very-light dinner. BTW: Performance was magical. Upon return to Explorer at around 2300H--met by Staff advising there was a Russian-themed buffet option available at La Veranda. Why not just go for a peek. Met at entrance with vodka shot glasses; followed by complete dinner service and wonderful options. Obviously, significant advance planning had been needed to pull this off. It was appreciated. GOARMY!

ernieb: No worries. Your precruise hotel night includes next day's breakfast and then transfer to pier. Done this many times. GOARMY!

pappy1020: Reference Onboard Credit discussion: This is another of those topics generating significant feedback on various Threads going back over the years. Kind of like--Chair Hogs; Suitable attire at dinner; and, wait-for-it--Tipping. FWIIW: For a rather-complete, and current, overview go to Page 5. Date: June 6th. Topic: "Onboard Credits". Two pages of CCers comments submitted throughout the month. Happy reading. GOARMY!

Scout16: Default for the Good, Bad, and Ugly of a cruise experience is-- Jennefer Teegen, Director of Guest Experience & Loyalty Regent Seven Seas Cruises jteegen@rssc.com Hard copy to her at: Regent Seven Seas Cruises ATTN: Jennefer Teegen 7300 Corporate Drive Miami, FL 33126 -------- She was proactive, on one occasion, in reaching out to spouse and self after the Pandemic shutdown resulted in us being "stranded" at San Diego on March 13, 2020 at Regent's hotel and unable to board Splendor the next day to begin our planned 50th wedding anniversary cruise. It was back to Seattle the next day and beginning of lockdown. Then, totally unexpected: A nice, and unanticipated Christmas surprise. Premium bottle of champagne accompanied by a personal letter. Subsequent interactions have been positive when providing feedback on suggestions I made as to having an onboard event coinciding with a significant historical event (such as D-Day, June 6, 1944 at Normandy, France); and national holidays pertinent to Veterans--of all Allied Nations. Result: Onboard staff followed-through by providing such a venue with appropriate recognition so us Vets and spouses could meet. Give it a try. GOARMY!

Yes. In all Suites, on all ships. Bottle of "complimentary champagne" on ice in bucket, will greet you upon entering the Suite. GOARMY

As a last, last resort for parched lips-- Call 24-7 Room Service. Order a bottle of wine. GOARMY!

TS: You are still about eight months away from going wheels-up from your home en route to San Juan. I am assuming your embarkation will be from Puerto Rico. First: also assuming you have actually made a booking: Review Regent's "Guest Statement" which has/would come to you via your Travel Agent (TA); and/or directly from a Regent representative if you do not have a TA following that booking. Your TA should be your first line of contact w/Regent and provide you with an "Invoice Date" summary. Hopefully, that individual has a history based on actually being aboard various Regent ships. If you are dealing directly with Regent--make a phone call and ask. In any event, the Regent "Guest Statement" should show Concierge status, and specific hotel identification as to that with one-night pre-cruise stay. It may, or may not, be more definitive, as time rolls on. And, if a hotel is shown, it may change. Because: Stuff changes, constantly. This has been our experience going back many, many years with Radisson/Regent. Recent post-COVID lockdown examples: Barcelona, 2021 and 2022 sailings. Regent-designated hotels changed two times. Why? because the initially-assigned Barcelona hotel remained under renovation. Explorer, Vancouver, B.C. to Tokyo September-October '23 cruise segment booked almost two years ago. Two changes as to the Vancouver hotel. One change as to the Regent add-on 3-day post cruise hotel stay in Tokyo. So-far, so good as to Vancouver and Tokyo pre and post-cruise hotels which have stayed the same for the past 10 months. But, I constantly check for changes by going online--before calling my TA. As always: YMMV. Recommend you do the same. Others on this Thread will provide their experiences as to timelines. Bottom line is that the passenger(s) paying the big bucks on these Regent cruise segments should be proactive in keeping updated on potential changes. Enjoy your cruise, as we have enjoyed our Radisson/Regent experiences going back about 23 years. (Excepting COVID) GOARMY!

That is the usual schedule. But, there can be exceptions. Pay attention to relevant entries in "Passages"--the daily 4-page (usually) brochure provided to every Suite each night containing timetable for next day's social activities; performances in all venues; and dining hours in all restaurants. (Together with the usual promotions for jewelry and spa services.) GOARMY!

Flgreg: Considering the amount of final payment--and to alleviate any angst as to where the money is going-- And, considering your situation as not having a viable TA, It would be worth the time to make a simple telephone call directly to Regent and get this matter resolved. One way or the other. Going back and forth on a Cruise Critic Thread looking for additional guidance is problematic. It's your money. GOARMY!

BNguy: There are a lot of folks signed up for this September-October '23 segment. Suggest you visit Explorer's Roll Call. 151 entries so-far. We are now on the 7th page of comments from folks with a lot of experience during previous visits to Japan. Plus, what to anticipate re: weather conditions while en route, and such. GOARMY!

BNguy: Nothing much more to add to the above. Same experience. Otherwise--see you at Vancouver, B.C. on September 20th--if not before at Regent's assigned hotel. GOARMY!

TS: Only experiences over the many-years either with Regent, Seabourn, or Silversea involving really-young (four-years old or less) children involved traveling with families including kids with a parent holding a high-level management position within that cruise company; or a ship's Officer. On all occasions--there was a Nanny as part of the party. Nanny dealt with issues in dining venues, and such. That luxury is not available to most. So, should you decide to cruise with young one(es), consider enlisting the in-laws. Our last Princess cruise was a late Summer, 2022 seven-day Seattle-Alaska-Seattle segment on that Line's newest ship. Our daughter and her husband wanted to celebrate our grandson's 2nd birthday. We "volunteered" to go-along, together with our son-in-law's mother. In fact, we insisted. Home base for all adults is the Seattle area. So, easy on-off ship with no air travel involved. That's five adults to monitor/manage a two-year old. Having done five previous Alaska cruises, our sole function was babysitting. Sometimes, pulling a shift in the late night, or early morning hours. It took all in-law efforts to enable the parents to have a semblance of an enjoyable cruise--most of the time. And, Princess did have a venue available for very-young ones for organized daytime activities, as long as one parent was on-site. Our long-time Travel Agent made our booking arrangements. Put us in a Penthouse-type Suite to enable our little charger to have more space for running around. Which he did--when not running on-deck. Agent also opined we should be accorded special recognition for service(es) rendered above and beyond the call of grandparent duty. Just a cautionary tale. GOARMY!

PhD-iva: This is so, so subjective as to--even after reviewing Regent's guidance and definition(s) of various shades of "casual" attire: Based on personal experience only (YMMV): Itinerary and time of year does make a difference. Example: Western and eastern Caribbean 7-10 day itineraries. Contrasted with, usually longer Baltic, northern European, and eastern Mediterranean segments. And, the colder the routing, the more likelihood gentlemen will spring for wearing a sports jacket at dinner venues. Again, the ladies tend to take "elegant casual" to heart, regardless of the heat/humidity index. And, conforming to a pledge I made to myself a few-years back: No more specific opining on Cruise Critic of personal opinion regarding Regent's "dress code". Other than: dress to reflect respect for the 5+service experienced on all Regent ships. GOARMY!

ZERO. The benchmark is a cruise segment of 15 days or more. On those occasions (which we are looking forward to this September-October aboard Explorer when cruising to Tokyo) two "Formal Optional" nights are offered. This applies to ladies and gentlemen. As to how formal? Our experience over the years is about 15% of gentlemen wear a Tux. Ladies ALWAYS seem to dress up more than men, whether a Formal Optional night or not. Shame on us guys. On those Formal Optional nights, gentlemen may decide to dress up a bit by actually wearing a sports jacket. The percentage of tuxes has tended down in recent years. Just our experience GOARMY!

With apologies to the 1958 movie, "Gigi": Specifically wonderful song, "I remember it well" sung between Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold; and my memory-- But, relying on a summary kept in our basement concerning prior cruises, and that this Thread has, as usual, deviated a bit, indulge me. Best memory as to change-over to a fully-inclusive experience Regent now offers concerning beverages: 1997 and 2004 Silversea "Cloud" and "Shadow" cruises during which we had positive interactions with the Destinations Manager, or whatever the title was. A dinner with her and another ship's officer was pleasant. Fast-forward to October-November 2005 when aboard the then-Radisson Voyager on a series of 'Med cruises, the last of which was from Rome to Athens. Our Destinations lady had relocated from Silversea to Radisson, again as Destinations Director. Instant recognition shortly after we boarded. She later invited us, together with another couple, to dinner with her and the Food and Beverage guy. Of course, we accepted. Once seated at dinner, the four of us passengers realized this invitation had a bit-of a purpose. She advised Radisson would soon be changing its name (she did not specifically mention the new name). She had met the four of us on previous Silversea cruises; therefore we were aware of the product offered by that Line, and, possibly, other 5+lines. Like, Seabourn. Turned out the other couple had, as we, also experienced Seabourn. Bottom line: In conjunction with change of name, Radisson was considering "upping the onboard experience" to better model [read, compete] what those other 5+star cruise lines were offering. So--what recommendations did we have? Not a lot, other than--why did we have to sign for a predinner cocktail? Or an alcoholic beverage while enjoying the post-dinner Theater show. A clientele that could afford a Radisson cruise could be expected to shoulder the "burden" of additional costs associated with an "all-inclusive" beverage offering. It was also an undue burden on Staff to go around obtaining signatures on chits for cocktails. She nodded in agreement. Cannot remember whatever else we offered. Result: November, 2006. Back on REGENT's Mariner. New Line name. And, all-inclusive beverage program. Cause and effect? No-doubt, Management replicated our experience with other clients on other 2005 cruises. Whatever--What is Past is Prologue. GOARMY!

taxare: on behalf of all who have served, Thank you. GOARMY!

Rothko1 28-total years combining Active and Active Reserve duty home and abroad. Initially, Infantry as a Platoon, then Reconnaissance Platoon Leader with 1st Infantry Division ("Big Red 1") in Vietnam. Then, onto 1st Division ("Danger Forward") slotted as Assistant Order of Battle Officer to finish out that '68-'69 deployment. Numerous Stateside assignments following permanent switch to Military Intelligence. Assignments in D.C., Arkansas, California, and at the Army's Intelligence Center and School, Ft. Huachuca, AZ. Retired in 1993. GOARMY!

Rothko1: To broaden the range: Over 10 years ago, probably about 15--while aboard a Seabourn ship, heard a morning announcement into all Suites from the Captain advising anyone having information concerning "an incident" which occurred in The Casino the previous night to report what was witnessed to a ship's Officer. We were NOT in the Casino. Two days later--announcement from the Captain, again to all Suites, that the individuals involved in the incident had been, since the "incident", restricted to their Suites. This was one day before end of that segment. Of course, the unofficial rumor mill had run rampant in the interim. Apparently two guys traveling together had gotten into an argument with a third guy. A fight broke out. One fellow sustained an eye injury; another guy an arm injury. The Captain added that, in accordance with protocol, these individuals would not be allowed to book another cruise on any Seabourn ship. BtW: We were on the same flight back to the USA following debarkation with two guys--traveling together a few rows up. Recalled seeing them previously during the cruise. One sported a big patch covering half his face; his buddy had a medical bandage wrap covering a hand and wrist. I doubt they sustained such from hitting each other. How about applying the equivalent of a TSA "Do not Fly" List to such miscreants? GOARMY!

Rothko1: See penultimate sentence in Post #3. GOARMY!

Roxydog15: Assuming you will be on Explorer. We join that ship, again, in September for a cruise to Japan. Explorer has a special desk in the Reception area to handle Specialty Restaurant reservations. Make an early visit to that location, particularly if you are seeking a second reservation. Everyone gets a shot at one dinner at each venue. People do not show up; people cancel--which is the proper thing to do. Which creates opportunities. If all else fails, check in, in person, at that particular specialty dining front desk around the time you would like to be seated. You may have to "share" a table with someone else. And/or, Staff will let you know when something opens up. In the interim, advise which cocktail lounge you will be in. They will come and get you. Having to "stay in the MDR" [Compass Rose] is hardly a penance. CR is great on all Regent ships we have been on over these past many, many years. GOARMY!

As usual, Pcardad cuts to the chase. Nothing to add. GOARMY!

bitob: Subject to correction, see my Post #14. One per segment. GOARMY!

mrlevin: Yes. I should have clarified that two of those three Sundays were in Port. Coming this September-October: Explorer from Vancouver B.C. to Tokyo. Two Sunday at-sea days. Looking forward to the one Sunday specified for that Brunch. I understand the protocol is to offer one such Brunch on a segment even though there may be two such sea day Sundays during that particular itinerary. GOARMY!