gray eagle

I have an I Phone and AT&T service. I checked with AT&T prior to to going to Europe and was advised to keep the phone in airplane mode. I was told to pay for phone service I would have to get a European SIM card which is only available in Europe. She did urge me to turn off data roaming or the data charges could be many hundreds of dollars. In fact she recommended turning off the phone completely as more than one customer swore the phone was on airplane mode and still had a very high bill. That being said, we left our phones in air plane mode for wifi and so we could use the camera and had no problems. You will note you phone to automatically switch to AT&T At Sea once you get off shore ( at least in the Atlantic). I switched to air plane mode whenever I saw that as that service incurs additional charges.

Over the last year we have had two Regent cruises ( Mariner and Navigator) and one HAL (Eurodam). Food was better on Regent as were the rooms. Service was fine on both but we aren't demanding at all. Bartenders remembered our drink preferences on Regent, but we still thought service was about equal between the two. We preferred the Mariner over the Navigator. We have two upcoming HAL cruises and one on Regent. All things being equal we would always pick Regent. But Regent can't compete with HAL on iteneraries.

I really get tired of having to bring a couple of hundred dollars in small bills to tip the staff for every interaction. Paying upfront is a major plus and HAL does nickel and dime you at every turn. Regents cost does include a pre night hotel and airfare, we upgrade to business on all overseas flights on both Regent and HAL. If you go to the bars, like wine with meals, eat in the specialty restaurants and go on tours ( which are better on Regent) the cost is about the same.