Gilly

One aspect of Regent which we very much appreciate is their approach to getting things right for their guests right there and then. When something is not quite as (we think) it should be (or how we'd prefer it to be) a quiet word with the appropriate person almost always resolves the situation immediately. No fuss...no palaver...just quietly sorted out. Of course, there are times when that's not possible - they run out of a favourite wine, say, or the spare part to fix the thingummyjig isn't available until three ports of call away. But it's always clear when speaking to crew members that their guests' happiness and comfort is their priority and that, to us, makes all the difference. PS And since you mention the number of years posting here, you'll appreciate I wrote my first post when I was in my pushchair...🤣

I was wondering if you were - thanks for answering the question before I asked it!!

Re Lisbon airport, there is a potential "trap" for UK/EU passport holders in the passport check system when leaving - beware, because in small print beneath the EU/EEA/CH there's a condition that entry was also through Portuguese immigration and for most of us arriving on board a cruise, that wasn't so. We fell foul of that twice before getting it right on our third transit, after which we also said we'd avoid Lisbon airport at all costs!! Having said that, I made an interesting purchase... https://www.elegantsufficiency.org/blog/2024/9/22/sardines-and-soft-eggs

And yet we sailed for 40+ nights on board Mariner on deck 9 earlier this year without a single issue.

I was about to say the same. I feel sure that if you arranged it ahead of time, your wishes would be accommodated. Though I haven't been in exactly the same situation, we have certainly enjoyed a special first course in Chartreuse, set up with the Maitre D' , I assume. (It was a surprise)

Marc, we too have experienced outstanding F&B and Housekeeping on board Voyager. Isn't it a delight to encounter such people and to be able to appreciate the fruits of their labour!?

http://bit.ly/3ZjgZSB 27 minutes and a fascinating insight to our drinking habits 😉

Good to see Albert was serving you breakfast in CR! He's one of our favourite staff members and we've shared many giggles with him. He has a wicked sense of humour too 😉

We will miss Navigator when she goes and I'll enjoy reading about her in the coming weeks, remembering happy days on board. I agree 100% about your traffic observations in Istanbul @lprp - thank you for sharing the occasional update during your busy schedule and @liptastic what a lucky duck you are to be boarding so soon as well! I'm envious of you all...😎

So sorry to read the detail of Ken's fall, which sounds really horrible (and avoidable with assistance?) I'm thinking particularly of several occasions on board Mariner recently in the South Pacific, where transferring from ship to tender and reverse was tricky and required several hands on elbows from capable crew members to ensure our safety - usually two to help off and two on the other side to help on, occasionally with a third "catcher" in the middle as well. The mere thought of managing that with a "bouncing gangplank" and only the guide and a crew member to assist sends a shiver down my spine and I send my heartfelt good wishes to you both, because clearly this has impacted on not only your confidence but your whole cruise experience. Relaxing with a Wine lunch today sounds an excellent idea. I hope it's as enjoyable and delicious as we've experienced too. It's certainly an effective way of using on board credit 😉

Thank goodness for no broken bones and a good outcome to what might have been so very much worse. Take it easy and I hope your wife's confidence hasn't been too severely bruised either. Gx

That was indeed the same cruise! Whenever I hear "code red" I immediately think back to that one and I'm hoping so much that this one is soon sorted. I think routine hygiene practice on board has improved since 2018 thank goodness and trust that every individual on board takes their personal responsibility seriously too.

@mrlevin having sailed under these conditions for most of the time on board a Mariner cruise around South America a few years ago, you have our heartfelt empathy. Though we tried our best to keep our spirits up - neither of us fell ill - the experience was nothing like the usual Regent standard and it was hard to watch the measures staff had to take to keep things under control. They were clearly exhausted after a few days yet had to keep cleaning cleaning cleaning. Definitely not something we'd like to repeat and we sincerely hope that all is soon back to normal.

We just spent 40 days on board Mariner too and had the most wonderful time. I wrote about it here in a thread Live from Mariner and on my personal blog too. @Port Power writes regularly from Mariner as do Bo and Sherpa in their journal Two great reads which will giwill accurate picture of life on board.

@DavidTheWonderer same here with a guest joining us for dinner in Auckland just a couple of weeks ago. We arranged it with plenty of notice, supplied the necessary documentation (her passport details etc) and all was well. Easy Peasy.

@mj_holiday was this a Regent Included tour? I was thinking it sounded rather similar to those we did in Raiatea and Huahine....pearl farm, Marae etc We loved tours on both islands, the best part about our Raiatea tour being our fabulous guide Ti Hoti... (This was on Sacred Island by Le Truck)

@kjbacon are you following Bo and Sherpa's Substack written from the World Cruise? They wrote a really interesting account of their overland trip in New Zealand a couple of weeks ago. It begins with this post and continues for the next four or five. Their posts are all indexed here too - you could read your way through the whole world cruise!

We had a Townhall session on Mariner a couple of weeks ago with Steve O'Dell (Global Sales) and I scribbled the following down in my little notebook: 2027-28 itineraries: Legendary Journeys and World Cruise 28 April, Prestige 11 June, 27-8 season in July. I also noted down that Prestige will arrive in December 2026 which leads me to think there won't really be many 2026 itineraries to announce?!

Somehow, those last few days on board slipped away all too quickly and now we are home and discombobulating. We left Sydney at 4pm yesterday afternoon and thanks to time changes along the way, arrived at LHR at 4.45am this morning after around 24 hours journey time. We had a magnificent journey on board Mariner during the last six weeks. The ships company were outstanding, every one of them. We attribute a great deal of that to the inspiring leadership team who were there leading from the front, hands on wherever they could. The itinerary was not without its challenges (Easter Island!), but we had not a single disappointment - and the bonus of Pitcairn Island together with wonderfully located berths in Auckland and Sydney really were the icing on the cake. We thought Mariner was in pretty good shape. Yes, there are a few spots which are ready for some attention, but overall, we had no complaints. Food and drinks were as good as we've come to expect on a Regent ship and we particularly enjoyed the many "Executive Chef's Special" menu items, often location-specific as well as two special request menus: Indian and Indonesian, shared with friends. We managed no less than four Connoisseur Wine Lunches; spectacular as always and the blue Mermaid gin and FeverTree tonic never ran dry!! (The Chateauneuf du Pape did run out but was replenished just a couple of days later, thank goodness 😉 ) Happy ship, happy people, we are delighted that we still have tickets in the box - though we'll have to exercise a little patience till then! @portpower I'll be following your posts as you continue the story for a few more weeks yet 😎 More details on my Elegant Sufficiency blog for those who could use a remedy for insomnia 🤣

Mariner arrived in Auckland this morning. Such a pity she couldn't get closer to the city centre 😉😂

A first in Trivia today, where maybe 15 or 16 teams were present. All but two got full marks! (One team dropped one, the other two...) A run on the bank of Regent points followed 🤣

The days fly and since I last posted we have visited three countries American Samoa (the youngster was dressed ready to dance the taualuga) Samoa, where our tour included a visit to the cathedral and where we marvelled at the Samoan Last Supper in the cupola and Fiji, where our poor choice of tour took us to "the largest Southern Indian Hindu Temple in the Southern Hemisphere", except we didn't have tickets and could take only quick snaps before being shooed back onto the bus! We lost a whole day when we crossed the date line. We have won, nearly won and not won at all at Trivia and a few meals have been shared and enjoyed, including another wine lunch (hic!), this one in the delightful company of @2012_Alaska_bound. We have had a lunar eclipse which we watched from the outdoor deck by the Horizon Lounge, though the clearer skies were over Voyager, not so far away from us right now. More reliable internet meant that I have been able to (almost) catch up on my blog too. We now have two sea days to New Zealand...life is good!

Two questions today. Oh and a bonus thought to consider. We love Bill Lee's presentations on Physics and find them both entertaining and challenging at the same time. First question though, is, will either of us ever be able to explain string theory? (It doesn't stop us trying, though!) I ask myself the second question each morning when I wake up and open my eyes to this. Not exactly an uplifting and inspiring piece of art for a bedroom wall, in my opinion! Will it be replaced when Mariner gets her refit later in the year I wonder? One activity I have very much enjoyed and which I think would work well on any cruise is the book group. Organised by Dana, the World Cruise Hostess, a book was selected for each part of the WC and a discussion group held on one of the last sea days. The titles were chosen to reflect the part of the world in which we were sailing, which added interest too. Great idea, Dana! Over and out from the Mariner, sailing in the Pacific Ocean today, heading towards American Samoa tomorrow.

Sadly, @seasickphil I am no flower arranger! I do love them though 😉

Flowers on board Regent ships are usually quite attractive but since our visit to Papeete, they are spectacular! Another lovely day in Bora Bora today. It's a hard life... 🤣