sarawithanh

Lanyard is least of my cares at this point. Somebody has one floating around and a hole is easily made in those cards - ppl do it all the time on cruises, at offices and at universities ;) managing resources to your advantage

The only thing I have to compare to is carnival and I keep mentioning it bc it's the one that is fresh in my mind from last year. Yes I know. It doesn't compare. Luckily mom just booked us a family cruise for January on celebrity, cc class so I will have a broad range to compare to once that happens ;)

Tho I'm convinced regent will ruin me. Ah well. What can u do ;)

Thanks guys. And our TA is not knowledgable which is why I have all these questions. Plus I'm sure she is sick of my grandfather and mothers questions by now! I know how he is. My questions are just questions I have when I start obsessing about a cruise ;) I haven't been to Europe since 2006 and I haven't traveled with my 87yo grandfather so yeah.

I think waiting til we board is fine

I prob could have planned us a relatively nice cruise on a lower line for less and gotten us excursions privately for cheap. However I do not have that luxury in this care bc the reason he chose regent is bc excursions are included. He's not paying extra and I certainly can't afford it.

So it is what it is and we shall see what the peeps on board say. He is worried about slowing me down but I'll be fine. I've already accepted that more than likely I'll be checking out the boat thoroughly instead of ports ;) prob half day in ports and half day on boat.

Fine by me for a vacation I don't have to pay for (and quite literally cannot afford as both hubs and I are in school, he for his bachelors and me for my masters). I am just along for the ride but want to make sure gramps isn't extending himself too much but also gets to do and see what he thinks he is capable of. That's all

Thank you TravelCat! Are you sick of me yet? ;)

Your answer is super helpful so I think I will just put the issue to rest and wait until we board in Monte Carlo to re-look at excursions.

thanks for tip about potty. forgot about that.

ProTip: Trader Joe's has an amazing frozen lava cake that is ammmmmmmmazing, fast easy warm tasty! :D:D:D

which ones have you done?

looking for more info b/c i'm going with my 87yo grandfather

Has anybody done this excursion through regent?

Can you give me more details than what Regent does?

bathroom accessibility etc?

Rigorous?

I have another question! Shocker...

So Gramps and I are already registered for a bunch of excursions for our Monte Carlo to Barcelona 6/22 med cruise. We are registered for 4hour excursions in all but one of the ports, and that one is an 8hour excursion (i'm thinking about changing it).

That being said, the descriptions for these tours is sooooo inconsistent. Most are pretty good about mentioning the hours/length of walking/standing time and how rigourous or not that walking will be - steps, cobblestones etc.

BUT, there is no consistency in mentioning access to bathrooms

and more importantly...

I would love to know how much DRIVING/riding in bus there is on some of these 8hour excursions. the 8hour one we are signed up for in france mentions 2hours of free time walking around, but I do not wish to be on a bus for 6hours - I'd rather stay on the ship if thats the case!

Has anybody had any luck contacting Regent excursion desk number via website?

Should we just wait until we board the ship and go directly to the desk to make sure everything we are signed up for we like/can do?

thanks! :D

I have his key on a lanyard at my house - so we can use that. I'm sure he has plenty of other lanyards laying around from various doc and other business offices LOL i'm willing to bet. maybe even his hobby flying group.

Europe is generally not ADA accessible like the US is.

That being said, hopefully somebody else has tips for you?

When we were in Paris, we had a private van for my family and that van drove us to see the sights all around the city.

We also took the subway to see catacombs, etc in Paris - don't remember that being accessible via wheelchair.

Never been to London.

You should be able to get wheelchair, golfcart assistance in airports if you call ahead and schedule that.

the no usb port thing makes sense.

blah. maybe I need to resign to just bringing my laptop with me.

course, I should have syllabus for each of my classes by mid May so I should have a better feel by then for what my needs are.

Thanks for the tips everybody. The lanyard is a great idea - maybe the service desk aboard RSSC will have them (I know Carnival did). He's usually pretty good about keeping his wallet and such on his person.

I am definitely going to change the 8hour tour in France to a 4hour tour and I re-looked at some of the ones we chose and will go over them with him again to be sure he thinks he can do it.

Also - I'm not above just saying eff it to one of the port days and staying on board the ship if he's tired. I'll likely be tired too :D

Ok Ok, one more for today and then I'm done.

I have to take 2 summer courses - online - so its possible I may have a deadline or 2 to hit while I am on the cruise with Gramps. I would obviously bring my flash drive with me...

So I'm wondering - how does internet access in the internet cafe compare to wifi in the room? I don't want to bring my laptop (if I can avoid it) so I have no problem utilizing my flash drive as long as I can log into my blackboard online account on the ship computers (the internet site my school uses).

What do you all think? At most I would need to access internet for a school assignment once or twice. hopefully I can get stuff done ahead of time to negate the need but its harder when discussion board questions are posted on like a Monday, and you're expected to reply by Sunday :rolleyes:

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on internet/wifi situation. obviously things will be slower on the ship...

In the meantime, trying to pull a summer syllabus out of these professor's butts is a pain :) I may have to wait til May to know more :rolleyes:

One step ahead of you. I looked up flights for 6/20 and most flights leave anywhere from 3-10pm. and arrive in Nice anywhere from 11am to 9pm. LOL

I really really really hope we only have 1 layover and I really hope we arrive on the earlier side of Saturday.

Guess we have to wait to see what TA offers us.......

I think our deal breaker is that we MUST leave out of Dulles - its the most convenient for both of us since we both live within 10mins of that airport :)

June is going to be crazy for me.

I ask because this trip actually shortens my beach week with hubby's family. I'm planning to leave the beach on 6/19 so that I can be home that night and spend 6/20 running around doing errands laundry packing like a mad women, expecting our flight to be that evening since I know international flights "usually" leave in the evening.

Sorry for taking over the Regent forum!

Trying to get some of my questions out now before a long April break of focusing on finishing my spring semester at grad school!! :D

I know that we booked concierge which means we get pre-cruise hotel for a night (Gramps and TA is handling all that)

But my mom said we won't know our flights til 7 weeks out.

Can I assume, that for a Sun 6/22 cruise departure, our flight out of DC is likely Friday evening 6/20 ? in order for us to arrive in Monte Carlo on Saturday 6/21 and stay the night?

Or would Regent automatically try to get us to fly in the day of the cruise?

Anybody know what "usually" happens for flights booked through Regent?

and before you say it, no we aren't taking a rebate, the whole point is to let Regent do everything because gramps is paying and neither of us wants to deal with trying to find comparable flights etc etc etc.

Thanks in advance!

^^ excellent. thanks! I don't think I will make it to the early morning classes - it'll be hard enough to get myself and Gramps ready, fueled and ready for those 8:30am excursions!

But I'm liking the idea of a 3pm class! I'll be sure to stop by the spa and sign up when I get on board.

Ping Pong! I appreciate the tips! I will do my best to review and such the trip - as I love taking pics and reviewing trips/restaurants/etc (I'm a big yelper! (yelp.com) I'm hoping to do a guest post on my friend's travel/finance blog so I'll be sure to put a link in my signature once its posted later this summer :D

While I have not traveled with my grandfather, I do know he will need my arm in Europe when walking up steps and such. I do the same with my mother in law currently on a regular basis because steps are hard for her.

We plan to take wheelchair service throughout the airports while traveling to alleviate any walking. and we definitely plan to utilize the elevators always!

He doesn't have the vertigo issues - my dad does however, but he knows how to manage.

Right now all of our excursions are the 4 hour ones, except for one in France which is 8 hours and I'm reconsidering that one. its also a possibility if gramps feels too tired that he may send me on my own to an excursion. We think the 4hour ones will be perfect, that way when they end, we can grab lunch in port or on ship and then he can take an afternoon nap! I do wish all the 4hour excursions didn't start at 8:30am - that is terribly annoying. It would be nice to sleep in and not have to rush to an excursion. We will probably have to do room service breakfast because gramps takes a while with his routine of getting ready and such ;)

I was trying to decide what sort of bag to bring to carry my camera, and I definitely will take my cross body bag to keep my hands free so I can help him. He is a slooooooooow walker so we will have to deal with that as it comes.

I'm bringing a magnetic dry erase board for our door to help with communication on ship. (I wish I had done that with my friends on our last Carnival cruise last year!)

He keeps saying he will go to the gym and walk prior to June - but I am not sure if he has followed through. I'm also not sure if he has lost some weight either...hmmmm all things that would speed him up, but it is what it is.

As for the tummy/potty issues - those are NORMAL for BOTH of US on a REGULAR day. So yes traveling will exacerbate things for him. He was worried to my mom that I might spend forever in bathroom getting ready - she assured him that I am rarely in it, and I can do makeup and such out in the bedroom. My showers are quick.

What is your preference?

My dad wants anytime dining.

My husband I are fine with anytime dining.

Our last cruise (Carnival) was the late dining time, and I convinced our group to do assigned time because the server is supposed to "get to know you" etc etc.

However, we ended up not liking our server so I wished we had done anytime dining.

That being said...... 6pm is way too early and the late serving is way too late.

siiiiiiiiiiiiigh. my mom is on the fence and wants to know everybody's thoughts :) :):)

Hello,

I'm not sure where to locate this information and don't want to bother the TA right now (she's had to deal with gramps afterall!)

Our cruise departs Monte Carlo at 10pm.

Any idea what the earliest we can be on the ship is? Around lunch time?

Trying not to get too excited, need to finish my spring semester in grad school first. blech! (and lose some lbs).

Thanks. Guess I will have to wait and see. Not a dealbreaker as I can do my own thing in the gym, was just curious :)

I generally can never find time to workout on a cruise, but I have a feeling my grandfather will need afternoon naps so figure I can kill time by working out or sunning ;)

hello

the rssc website was not very specific but can anybody tell me the names of the various types of fitness classes offered on the ships?

I was specifically looking for something similar to BodyPump.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the tips guys! Today was the day we could make reservations for our 6/22 cruise :)

So I'm doing the French restaurant on our 3rd night and the Steakhouse on our 5th night.

and maybe I can drag gramps to steakhouse on the first night to see if we can get in :) or even the last night :D play by ear! gotta bring my stretchy pants/dresses

Hello,

Can anybody tell me information about galley tours? I've never even heard of such a thing til now, but I figured they existed and hubby and I are kind of foodies so maybe it'll be interesting?

does it cost anything? when are they offered? we are just reg cruisers, no elite membership or anything, it'll be our first time cruising Celebrity.

Thanks in advance.

I just noticed that, but I think they moved it. Look up where it says welcome, your name, and look to the left of that.

Thanks, this is helpful!