Dolebludger

I know some did that. We didn’t. We tipped the “recommended amount” or a little more. No fan of the “American tipping culture” here, but I can’t change it by stiffing those who give me real service. But recent attempts to spread it into basically self service transactions with a tip prompt at checkout are met with “0”.

Actually, I think Virgin’s target market is about 1/4 my age! But I can’t find where Virgin has free drinks or much of anything else “free”. I’m probably missing something. But I would feel like I was on a cruise with my grand kids!

Please keep us posted. According to Picardad’s figures (which are going to be pretty spot on) it’s up to probably $375 USD to get from the airport and book in the hotel. And I’ll bet it will take more than $5 to get from hotel to pier. And Regent’s hotel and transfers includes breakfast, and that will cost extra. And there is the inconvenience to the guest in having to arrange things that Regent was paid to do. From what I can see, Regent is having these problems in small embarkation port cities, like Anchorage, Bridgetown, and Rekyjavik. On our Explorer Alaska cruise last summer, we booked concierge, but learned that Regent’s hotel in Anchorage (Hilton) had some bad reviews. So we took the credit and booked our own. In reading reviews of our cruise on CC after our return, we learned that the hotel was indeed poor, as were the transfers. We found a small boutique hotel and did our own transfers (not in a crowded bus) and all was good. I note that there have been some more minor complaints about Regent’s hotel choices in some larger port areas, but nothing as serious as the problem here.

I must confess that I prefer cruise lines wherein tips (WiFi, drinks, etc.) are included in the fare. It saves me from needing to “do the math”. But I’m capable of doing that, so no problem.

I don’t know the experience of others, but we have found that OBC on Regent is useful only in booking “extra cost” shore excursions. Everything else we might want is included. From our experience from a short stay in Iceland (back in 2017) I don’t think $380 USD will be sufficient to compensate for hotel and transfers. The airport is a very long way from town, and prices in Iceland are very high. Check your actual costs and discuss this with your TA and Regent. As a repeat guest of Regent (many times) I am disappointed in it based on some recent threads, including this one. There was a similar recent thread about Regent being “unable” to provide transfers and hotel in Barbados. There are current threads about Regent’s failure to provide the advertised “unlimited free shore excursions”. I don’t like what is going on with Regent.

There is a problem with the included excursions also. Not only on Regent, but on other lines that offer them. There have been reports of “no excursions available” on Regent and Silversea too. I understand the problem, and it is not being caused by the cruise lines. There are shortages in the hospitality industry world wide. But it does make advertising “unlimited free excursions” a bit wrong, doesn’t it?

The tipping situation over the decades we’ve been cruising sure has changed. Back 30 sr so years ago we cruised Royal a bit. We were furnished tip envelopes for our fixed seating waiters and our room steward. We put money in the envelopes and gave them to those people on the last day. We never knew what happened to the tip money. Was it kept by the staff members tipped, or was it pooled and distributed among all the staff? In the old days, all cruise lines we knew of used the rip envelope system. In more recent times, we have cruised in an auto tipping or a tips included situation, and we just go with the program. We consider auto tip amounts to be part of the fare and pay them. And if we don’t like the fare with those auto tips added in, we don’t book.

Yes, the 150 compensation is an insult UNLESS it is accompanied by the standard credit given when a concierge guest elects to book his/her own hotel and transfers. On our Alaska/Explorer cruise last summer we made this election due to reports of poor service at the selected hotel and transfer provider,— and the credit was more than 150 pp! Reykjavik is not a large city, and most hotels there are on the small side. It is understandable that Regent would be unable to reserve a large block of rooms in a single hotel. But it is not understandable that Regent (being in the travel business) wouldn’t have known this much earlier in the game.

Any idea of what the reasons for the cancelations are? Without knowing, I sounds scary!

If there is a major refit of the Mariner, I hope they will get rid of all the tub/shower combinations. They are not ADA compliant. Insufficient headroom, and not accessible for persons with any leg disorders.

pappy1022, if you look back to Covid era on THIS forum you’ll see posts reporting that many PG guests that were canceled by Ponant had to resort to credit card charge back to recover their payments for a cruise that wasn’t. Of course, the problem with a 125% FCC is that there is no guarantee that the line won’t increase fares to 150% (which it pretty much did). And that’s why all other lines I know of gave the option of a 100% cash refund.

Sounds like the ship is short staffed.

For my next two cruises, we are going with Regent.

Well, it is good that all priority booking categories stay in place. The two times that we were suite guests, we weren’t bothered by the Zenith guests boarding with us. Boarding was no problem, and I hope it stays that way, Zeniths and all. You know what? I suspect that X ships have gotten too big! How does a line offer a premium or lux experience in a 3500 passenger ship? I don’t know, and apparently X doesn’t know either. The way matters have been recently, we’ll never be Zenith. The prices are above those on recognized lux lines for similar suites, but with fewer inclusions. So where are we going to book? You guessed it.

Our flight after Splendor docks at Southampton from LHR to DIA is at 2:50 PM on United business class that we got via a deviation. It is the only direct flight to Denver that exists. I hope all will go well. But I wouldn’t want the return flight to be any earlier.

X must have recently revised this information on their site. Doesn’t look vague now.

Actually, the X website does list the mini fridge as a benefit in ALL suites including SS. But it shows the additional comment “extra charge MAY apply” as to all suites — even RS and above. X seems to be keeping the matter vague, on purpose.

Just a question. Do the Retreat Hosts (or room stewards, or whatever they are called) empty the extra cost contents of the mini fridge and replace with included contents from the Retreat Lounge, upon request?

It’s been five years ago, but we bought a future cruise certificate on the Equinox, and cancelled about six months later, and we were refunded.

I don’t know about Silversea, but we were able to deviate with Regent to get a direct business class United flight from LHR to DIA. It cost a little, but we were able to avoid an additional connection in the US, and avoid a rather long domestic leg in basic economy.

We cruised Alaska on the Explorer last summer with our 12 year old grand daughter. There was no problem at all about this. And she loved the experience.

When the PG was owned by Regent/Radisson, and after that when it was owned by a Tahitian resort owner, all was great. But after Ponant acquired it, it reportedly was downhill — leading to the refund fiasco. We can only hope the PG will have a new owner soon.

And another note. The Seaborne Legend, Pride, and Breeze were sold to Windstar, and one of them (think it is the Breeze) is now sailing year round in FP. Its smallest suites have 277 sq ft, interior space but real balconies are few. The Silver Whisper that makes its home in FP in 2026 has its smallest suites at 285 sq ft interior and have a balcony in addition.The Paul Gauguin (PG) has its smallest suites at 200 sq ft interior, some with balconies, The smallest suites on he RSSC Mariner are 250. sq ft interior plus balcony. The PG and Star Breeze carry about 312 guests, the Silver whisper carries about 390 guests.the Mariner carries about 750 guests. We must draw our own conclusions I lean toward the Silver Breeze. We had several great cruise on the PG be four the pandemic. But when Covid cancellations hit, PGs parent (Ponant) refused to give cancelled cruisers cash refunds, that soured me on the PG.

Just a side note her. For those considering FP in 2026, Silversea will have a ship there.

Question ; Do those of you who are having a good SS experience have included access to the mini fridge? Just asking, because that is an important perk to me