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ToxM

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Everything posted by ToxM

  1. When I took a cruise with my mum, our TA told us on the phone that disabled friendly transfers had been booked for us. Day of embarkation - we were expected to get on a coach (my mum is in a wheelchair). We had to pay for a cab from Nice to MC - 90euros. I emailed my TA, explained the issue and they listened back to the telephone call we had found the TA to be at fault and we were refunded the cab fares. I don’t know if calls are recorded at your TA but worth checking out. For something as important as cancelling a cruise, I would always follow up with an email so you have a “paper trail”.
  2. We always book biz where possible. I am just about to pull the plug on our O cruise in November. I crunched the numbers at the weekend and the results pointed squarely towards Vegas. When we stripped down our needs on a vacation it was decent accommodation, good food, a casual atmosphere and access to poker games if possible. This is why we did TA’s as the extra sea days allowed for this. Our blip on Regent has ruined cruising for us for a while, which is a shame as the things we saw and the trip was amazing, just let down by the operation/hotel side of the ship. Marital Unit no longer wants to cruise for the near future and we both agreed we want more access to food choice in case we find a blip somewhere we are staying. It really seemed like we were trapped on the ship (in my case for 14 days with no time onshore) with food choices that were frankly, terrible and were ridiculously cumbersome to even get the easiest of meals. When you feel anxious about what could go wrong every mealtime (and to be fair my anxiety was correct, it did) then the enjoyment of any meal is ruined. Regulars on this board will know I am pretty easy going so the above isn’t nit picking. So I’ll happily save 8k GBP (the difference in price for our trip) and go to Vegas for 9 days. I won’t say it is easy giving up PH 8000 on Sirena for a TA - it’s my favourite ship and favourite cabin (a hidden gem), but I can find no enthusiasm for a cruise at the moment. I am upset at Regent over this, but understand that to an extent the cruise I was on with them was a huge blip (although complaints about Voyager have been ongoing), but the blip was big enough for me to reconsider cruising at least for the foreseeable. Would I recommend Regent? Not even if I didn’t like you.
  3. As long as you can make a table (min 6 - max 8 to a table) they will do a tournament on a sea day. 60usd buy in, rebuys first hour add on at break. 2K starting chips, ante’s for BB come in after second blind level. Nice way to spend a sea day afternoon. You will have a human dealer, there are no electronic poker machines (apart from VP of course!).
  4. Ahh so it looks like they will embark as we disembark. A light in an otherwise dark tunnel.
  5. I think the trivia crowd enjoy her.
  6. Dottie’s storytime reading of the daily activities grates on me, they are too long and are really intrusive. Tom was a bit racist in his comedy act last time I was on Sirena and I didn’t appreciate it at all. You can be funny without being racist - this is not the 80’s! Knowing Dottie is going to be the CD on the cruise in November will probably be the death knell for us for it. I haven’t told marital unit she will be CD in November, but guessing when I do we will be actively looking at Vegas flights.
  7. An expensive blip, which was unfortunate. Am a big fan of Sirena, love the ship, not such a big fan of Dottie, so thats another factor to take into account.
  8. Voyager appears to be very creaky, never ben in such a creaky cabin! I didn’t mind the decor on Voyager, it’s older, but I didn’t have an issue with it. Service was an issue, as was food on our Cape Town to Rio. We made missed Luderitz and St Helena on our crossing - we did make it to Walvis Bay…. Mother Nature is a fickle mistress. I wasn’t impressed with Regent (first timer on the line also), we had a series of unfortunate incidents that have made us question if we want to cruise again.
  9. I do think the overnights pre and post can wipe you out and possibly negate the positive effects of a cruise. But then the thought of hopping on a plane for a long haul right after disembarking is also quite horrendous. I think I was just unlucky, we had a fabulous precruise tour, then hubby was very ill with an allergic reaction to some food the night we embarked, (asthma attack, the works) then I got Noro - this wiped about 4 days from the start of the cruise til we were both back up and running, then I caught covid at the end of the trip (I think I caught it onboard) and was just at the edge of feeling awful on the flight home (I put it down to two flights and dehydration til I tested two days after we were home). Cumulatively with the less good than expected cruise it’s just become a bit like a distinct aversion to a particular drink when you have had a terrible hangover from it.
  10. Dinner on any line is whatever we fancy that night - I think luxury means what you want and choice. But then again the definition of Buffet is very different in reality between say Celebrity and Oceania. I tend to slow right down on TA’s and regress to extremely casual, and after a long day on a tour, I don’t really want a drawn out sit down meal. Also I like to dip into a few things. It was definitely a learning curve for us on Regent.
  11. Wasn’t there a hat eating promise if ATW ended up being on Vista? I know there was a lot of debate regarding it that as usually happens on this board got quite heated. I shall bring my lawn chair.
  12. I love Sirena, we have booked our favourite PH for our trip in November and it’s also a TA (which we love). I just feel ambivalent about cruising at the moment, it’s actually rather distressing for me and certainly a very new experience for me when I think about the prospect of a cruise. We have a while before final payment and I have yet to arrange our return flight, so we have time to contemplate. I will say that currently 10 days in vegas at a casino that will fit our poker needs and casual eating choices and is not in a strip location (done all that don’t need to do it) with biz class flights from the UK and a hefty food budget is still cheaper than what I will price our final costs for the Sirena TA to be, so it’s a tricky decision at the moment - one which I am wrestling with a lot 😞
  13. If you enjoy the option of a buffet in the evening then Regent shouldn’t be on your radar. I was worried about the lack of a more informal venue for evening meals before I went on the cruise, and I was right to be concerned. Sette Mari is a nice dining venue, but you can’t just wander in unless you are there at opening or can judge when second sitting will roughly start to take place, the options for the antipasti/mezze don’t really change and the mains seem to be on a 3/4 night rotation. It only utilises half of the buffet area and it’s not really a relaxed venue as a buffet proper would be. Regent has taught me that I like the casual and informal nature of The Terrace. I enjoy the choice and the convenience - add to that the pizza venue where Waves is in the evening and it’s a real winner. I know Regent has a more casual eating area outside in the evenings using their pool grill area for the duration of their World Cruise on Mariner, but they really need to bring that back to all their ships.
  14. It is worth noting then that my report is from Mid/End January of this year.
  15. My experience of Regent is probably not the norm, as we were on code red for the duration of the cruise, but based on a 14 day TA the food on Regent is well below Oceania. Buffet was extremely sparse (no buffet in the evening), pool grill - more choice but quality lower. Breakfast in the main dining room - plenty of options, but eggs Benedict not as good as O, hashed brown potato honestly looked like what you get from McDonalds, the same experience in the buffet regarding poor breakfast items. Extremely random chance of getting all your desired items in one go or of a quality you would expect on a luxury line. Asked for country ham one morning as a side to pancakes and received one extremely thin slice of greasy ham the quarter the size of an iPhone screen. Questioned if this was a normal portion size with the Maitre’D and received two slices the same size 10 minutes later with an embarrassed shrug. I do not think there was one meal we had (including two lots of room service) where the order was correct, or didn’t have something on the order that I felt was substandard. I am not an overly critical person either. I really wanted to like Regent and I was very understanding of the ship being understaffed and having an extra workload due to the code red. We were not alone in feeling this cruise was quite dire, I would say most of the people we spoke to at the end of the cruise were very disappointed with the experience they had on board. One couple said “this has been the sh***est cruise we have ever been on”. That’s a more extreme version of similar things I heard. I was very disappointed with Regent, and really can’t justify trying them again to see if it was a blip. The Regent cruise has actually made us reconsider whether we want to cancel our November TA on Sirena - I don’t want to be stuck on a ship again with poor food choices if we have another “blip” cruise. The Regent trip has made me realise that we really enjoy the evening buffet on O, and dressing up for dinner is a bit of a faff and we want to relax when on a cruise. Food was so hit and miss on Regent that mealtimes became a chore as to what mis-step we would inevitably experience. We’ve not had that experience on O, but are wary as to whether we want to take that roulette chance. Currently feeling very wary of cruising again after an experience I would have been disappointed with if it was P&O! I feel like it has actually put me off cruising, which is really sad as I love O as a brand, and have adored my time on Sirena, but not sure I want to take that chance. We are actually thinking of cancelling and going to Vegas for a poker holiday as we will be more in control of potential food blips. It’s quite upsetting for me to feel like this. I wouldn’t recommend Regent to someone who enjoys O.
  16. Not related to an apparent issues on Vista, but I am just off Regent Voyager on a TA where it was very very hot during the majority of the crossing. There were people on the pool deck laying claim to shaded sunbeds from 5.45 am (I am an early riser as were most of the other smokers and we sat and enjoyed the show early every morning). By 6.15am if you hadn’t claimed something in the shade you were out of luck - it did lead to some undesirable behaviour. I never went near the sun til after 3pm and there were plenty of loungers by then. Regent put one vague message on a board on the deck one day but it made little difference and several messages in the daily sheet didn’t help either. Until the cruiselines specify a set of rules that are devoid of vagueness and empower their employees to deal with this issue it’s not going to go away,
  17. This is exactly why we book a PH on R class.
  18. There was an increasing number of cases throughout the TA, I heard the figure of 80 guests at one point and I am unsure if that was peak. As we were not a full sailing (just over 500) this is a large number. The two guest performers had to cancel their last show due to both of them being ill. I also tested positive for covid yesterday after having felt unwell since Monday when we got home. Obviously I don’t know where I picked it up from, but the timing would suggest the ship. Thankfully as yet hubby is still ok. I have managed to avoid Covid til now (5 cruises since the pandemic). Statistically it was going to get me I suppose. For anyone on Voyager at the moment - be careful of hand rails, use sanitiser, and good luck!
  19. Such a shame they can’t nip it in the bud, it’s clearly going to take more than a deep clean 😞
  20. They had too many nuts on them so I didn’t try them! They didn’t look as …. Succulent!
  21. If anyone is interested here’s a brief run down of my recent Voyager cruise on Regent. If anyone has any questions about Regent, happy to answer, as you can see I think my trip was not their usual standard. Happy to be returning to Sirena in November - sad not to have enjoyed Voyager as much as I think is the norm - she is a lovely R type ship.
  22. Seasoned Oceania cruisers try out Regent. How did it go? It was an adventure. We are seasoned Oceania cruisers, and seasoned transatlantic cruisers. We booked our own flights and took the transfer from the airport to the Southern Sun and joined the 4 day/3 night precruise. The hotel is fine, in a great location, and the staff could not be nicer. The precruise tour was exceptional, our guide was excellent, there was a small problem with the air con on our coach back from the game drive, but apart from that everything went smoothly. Anyone who complains about the picnic lunch at the winery is deluding themselves and the buffet dinner and breakfast at the hotel was more than adequate. South Africa is beautiful, the game drive was wonderful and lunch at Aquila was again more than adequate. First Regent problem of the cruise - we never got tags sent to us, and the company dealing with the precruise tour had not been given any by Regent either. I marked our cases as best I could and hoped the AirTags would do their job. How difficult would it be to make sure there are spare generic tags available? Voyager is a lovely ship, embarkation was easy and swift (although to be handed a glass of champagne then practically ordered by a member of the entertainment team to go straight to muster was a bit of a dampener on what should have been a special moment!). Muster done I had to pop to reception to ask if the hose lift for my cpap machine could be fixed by someone - after a little bit of negotiation this was done and an excellent job was done as well. Our cabin was available very quickly and after a rather sparse lunch (more on that later) I had got us an extra reservation at Chartreuse for the first night and we were off to get settled. Lovely cabin, the walk in closet is such a nice little touch, I loved the bedding and enjoyed the bed. Luggage arrived 20 mins before we sailed. This was unnecessary stress. Could have been sorted very easily. We were in Code Red for the duration of the cruise. Partly due to infection (Noro) from the previous cruise, and I think we added some covid and increasing infection during the cruise. I heard the number 80 quoted by various people - and we were a little over 500 on board passenger wise. This meant no place settings, asking for sugar, milk, salt and pepper, sauces, and meant considerable burden on the crew and a disruption to the way they are used to doing things. We had a wonderful pool BBQ one evening early on - it was truly amazing, and held great promise for the rest of the cruise, but sadly that was the high point. I am a very patient person, I don’t get upset, but when every meal becomes an adventure between asking for something and what you receive - well it becomes tiresome. Every single order for room service was wrong - Regent Club and Cheese plate became a Regent Club and a Cheese and Ham toasted sandwich, hot chocolate arrived without cups! The buffet was in chaos - we had to be served (quite right too, Oceania does it with no problem!), and this slowed things down, egg orders were misplaced, never came, or came wrong. In the dining room I ordered pancakes with a side of Canadian Ham, I received 1 square of thin ham a quarter of the size of an iPhone screen. My husband ordered Eggs Benedict - was asked how he wanted his gags done - lightly - one arrived barely done the other was hard boiled! We did politely point this out to the restaurant manager. We heard a lot of complaints around us during dinner - people having to move because an area was boiling hot, then not getting their food, then getting it cold, which they sent back, and when it returned it was the same dish dried up from being in a microwave! As I said every meal was an adventure in how much the staff listened to everything you said or just the first few words of your sentence - they were overworked. We enjoyed both specialities, and enjoyed Sette Mari once they had appeared to send away our waiter who was not really in the game that night - his assistant stepped up very well. I appreciate the concept of SM, but would have appreciated a more casual dining venue for the evenings. It was difficult to get in there unless you timed it just right. We missed Luderitz, and made it to Walvis Bay. We missed St Helena, no issue with Mother Nature deciding our fate, but we had three ports (overnight in Walvis Bay) and we made one of them. You would hope the entertainment team would step up and provide some extra activities? There was no block party (due to Noro and probably Covid), they started the boat building competition - but that never had a finale, no country fair. Krew Kapers was great and well attended. Entertainment was sparse - thank goodness for our afternoon poker tournaments! We had great weather during most of the crossing - it was very hot - there was no regulation of chair hogging - this elevated itself too an Olympic sport with people on the deck at 6am to bag something in the shade! There was something missing from this cruise - a staff member confirmed that Voyager is understaffed, and I would imagine they lost some more staff due to Noro or Covid (there were more than a few staff wearing masks for periods of time). It was chaotic and unsatisfying at times, despite the crew trying to do their best. A can do attitude helps nobody if the do is wrong. It was sloppy at best. The food was all over the place quality wise and never excelled Oceania. At the start of the cruise we wanted to go see Sweet the cruise consultant to get a future cruise certificate, we decided that we didn’t want one in the end. This all sounds terrible and I am sorry Regent fans. I wanted to love Regent, and given normal circumstances, I probably would, but this was - for the price point - not the greatest experience. I will try them again if a good bargain comes up, but the experience I had (and talking to others they felt the same) was not what I feel Regent sells
  23. I didn’t notice much difference with the muffler, but the adapter and a good hose cover made a world of difference for me.
  24. I have my pressure at around 15 as well - the air mini is noisy with the provided hose, but you can get an adaptor so you can use a normal hose - that with an added hose cover makes it about the same noise level as my Airsense 10. The adaptor was about £10 from amazon or ebay. But a husband who is happy to carry your Airsense 10 is also a great win!
  25. I will also say that there is an option within the framework that Oceania offers to get access to one’s stateroom earlier, and that is to book a higher grade of cabin.
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