And so it begins Mariner April 2 Barcelona to Istanbul

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Wow, that is a lot fo kids. I wonder if it's because it's the week prior to Easter.

[Travelcat2]

This cruise promises to have a different onboard feeling than the TA due to the presence of 40 children. We sat next to a wonderful family spanning two tables and three generations, including a couple of younguns.

 

Rich

 

40 kids? OMGosh! This must have to do with Easter week or something. I wonder if Regent advertised it as a sailing with Mariners Club. You seem to appreciate "younguns". . . . unfortunately, we would head for the hills.:mad:

[marinaro44]

Rich,

 

I'm curious how your in-transit tour was arranged? In November, I'm on a b2b from Monte Carlo to Rio to Buenos Aires and several of the in-transit passengers have wondered about the availability of a tour for us in Rio. Any information you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Arranged by the ship. Two buses. Four-hour tour that took five. Parc Guell, Sagrada Familia exterior, Casa Batllo interior, and Barcelona drive-around. Very nicely done. No cost.

[Gardendog]

Jamie Logan is the cruise director. His wife is the assistant cd. In the announcements that I listened to over and over as I was unpacking and steaming my wrinkles out of the clothes, the cd mentioned this 40 number.

 

He said that even though this cruise was not a club mariner cruise, they still would have some meetings, one for the pre teens and one for the teens. We met a family with teens in the elevator, they were going to the meeting for the teens.

[DaveFr]

Arranged by the ship. Two buses. Four-hour tour that took five. Parc Guell, Sagrada Familia exterior, Casa Batllo interior, and Barcelona drive-around. Very nicely done. No cost.

Thanks.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Interested to hear how Nana's doing--I guess she doesn't have free internet, so perhaps she's not going to post much, but it's her first, right?

[Mr Rumor]

Rich,

 

I'm curious how your in-transit tour was arranged? In November, I'm on a b2b from Monte Carlo to Rio to Buenos Aires and several of the in-transit passengers have wondered about the availability of a tour for us in Rio. Any information you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Dave, the in-transit Barcelona tour was finally arranged and announced more than halfway through the TA cruise, after a number of us (including yours truly) agitated for it. Why so late? Because the onboard staff didn't have an accurate count of in-transits. Why? Because, due to a special Regent promotion, many (including Ginny and me) booked the Barcelona-Istanbul cruise at a later time--thus, we had two booking numbers. It took days for the double bookers to be sorted out and for the ship to be informed how many in-transits were actually aboard. When it became clear that the number was actually quite a lot (109 to be exact), the Gaudi tour was quickly arranged. More than 60 of the in-transits immediately booked it, much more than the 24 minimum that Destination Services announced that it needed.

 

Good luck--hope you get your in-transit tour, too.

[Mr Rumor]

40 kids? OMGosh! This must have to do with Easter week or something. I wonder if Regent advertised it as a sailing with Mariners Club. You seem to appreciate "younguns". . . . unfortunately, we would head for the hills.:mad:

 

So far on this port-intensive cruise, they've been seen, but not heard--at least by me!

[nana541]

Interested to hear how Nana's doing--I guess she doesn't have free internet, so perhaps she's not going to post much, but it's her first, right?

 

Nana is pooped! The ships computer system keeps kicking off my iPad and I have tried to post sever times....all is good!

 

Lets see if this will post...

[nana541]

Interested to hear how Nana's doing--I guess she doesn't have free internet, so perhaps she's not going to post much, but it's her first, right?

 

Nana is pooped! The ships computer system keeps kicking off my iPad and I have tried to post several times....all is good!

 

Lets see if this will post...

[tallship]

Had an awesome dinner in Compass Rose tonight. Food and service has been superb on this cruise.Went to St Paul this afternoon. We had been there many times. Tour leader was great. St. Paul has changed a lot...not for the better...lots of junkie shops and less artsy than I remember but it was fun nonetheless. Tomorrow is a 10 hour day going to Siena and San Gimignano. Love Siena so excited to go back there again.

 

Lessons of the day....drink less at lunch esp. If going on excursion; drink more at night if needing to sleep

 

Goodnight

[Gardendog]

Tonight as captain's welcome. It was very sparsly attended, maybe 100 pax. Many people were still out on tour.

 

We had a great tour, happy with the choice. Dinner with newly made friends in compass rose after dancing a bit.

 

Great service. No complaints, no ball room dancing pros on the cruise, too bad, I like the pros.

 

Going to bed early for the early excursions tomorrow.

[DaveFr]

Dave, the in-transit Barcelona tour was finally arranged and announced more than halfway through the TA cruise, after a number of us (including yours truly) agitated for it. Why so late? Because the onboard staff didn't have an accurate count of in-transits. Why? Because, due to a special Regent promotion, many (including Ginny and me) booked the Barcelona-Istanbul cruise at a later time--thus, we had two booking numbers. It took days for the double bookers to be sorted out and for the ship to be informed how many in-transits were actually aboard. When it became clear that the number was actually quite a lot (109 to be exact), the Gaudi tour was quickly arranged. More than 60 of the in-transits immediately booked it, much more than the 24 minimum that Destination Services announced that it needed.

 

Good luck--hope you get your in-transit tour, too.

Rich,

 

Thanks for the information. Hopefully, they get a quicker count of in-transit passengers on my cruise. :)

[Hambagahle]

40 children? I hope they behave...

 

Bon voyage and calm seas to all of you! we hated to leave the Mariner on Monday morning...

 

Tina - I was hoping you and Prabha would be on the TA cruise and we mised you both!!

Gerry

[OrpingtonT]

40 children? I hope they behave...

 

Bon voyage and calm seas to all of you! we hated to leave the Mariner on Monday morning...

 

Tina - I was hoping you and Prabha would be on the TA cruise and we mised you both!!

Gerry

 

That's better, Gerry. You sounded so "down" and unlike you after you disembarked the other day. Glad you are back on form.

 

Thanks, Tina, Nana, Rich, gardendog for your postings. Love to hear them.

[tallship]

Gerry- Mom and I sending hugs your way. We were so hoping to see you as well but I couldn't get away.

 

We had a so so day today. We took the full day excursion to Siena and San Gimignano. We had been to Siena before. The tour in Siena was great but the bus rides were long, the tour guide on the bus hard to understand and a bit annoying. The tour in San Gimignano was so so. This tour definitely not worth the 119 pp upcharge.

 

We returned to another great dinner/ service in CR. They had Malaysian Rendang Curry that was superb and we made some new friends from Ohio.

 

Now to bed....

[nana541]

Finally the internet is working! Had the best tour today in Florence we had ever had, private or otherwise! Ultimate Florence is the name and it was a paid excursion but just $129, our two guides were wo derful! Lots of Italian lessons in speech and manners....it was fun, silly and soooo informative!

Another BIG day tomorrow as we have a private tour all day in Rome.

Still loving everything about Regent and our Butler Ram is great.

[poss]

Nana: Glad to hear you so enjoyed your Florence excursion. Do you happen to know if the folks who went on the included Florence excursion were pleased as well? Also, about how long was the bus ride, and was it a pleasant enough ride?

 

I'm enjoying the various postings. Thanks to all.

[Mr Rumor]

Glad you had a great Florence tour, Nana.

 

Was on the tour with Tallship and agree with your comments about the tour guide, Tiziana. She tried hard, filling the two-hour drive to Siena with her commentary, but could barely be understood due to her weird speech cadences and pronunciation. Regarding the latter, "read and write" came out as "red and writ," "battle" as "bat-tole" (with the accent on the "tole"), etc. Just before letting us off in Livorno, she seemed to be asking for mercy from us by repeating, "please be kind to me." However, I have no doubt complaints will be filed at Destination Services about her, especially considering the upcharge. Luckily, the tour guides in Siena and San Gimignana were excellent, and easily understood.

 

We got a new troupe of singers and dancers in Barcelona and tonight was their debut, and they were great peforming the same Broadway Legends show the previous cast performed on the TA. Especially like the new female lead singer, Julia, from Sacramento. I seem to recall the new male singer, Shawn, from Des Moines, from our North Atlantic cruise on the Voyager last summer. He is very good, too.

 

I don't know what I'm doing still up--we have another long tour tomorrow! Good night all!

 

Rich

[nana541]

We only ended up with 16 guests on our tour...both our guides spoke excellent English so understanding was not an issue...as to the drive it was abit over two hours and our tour leader had us in stiches the whole way! italian lessons and silly tests! Everyone joined in the fun :) great day and I will let Regent know about these two special folks. sadly,..Monte Carlo tour was not much to shout about.

 

i heard we missed a great show...we ate in and I am not sure what i am doing playing on the computer...Rome will be a lonnnnggggggg day :)

 

Good nite all!

[txladycruiser]

We only ended up with 16 guests on our tour...both our guides spoke excellent English so understanding was not an issue...as to the drive it was abit over two hours and our tour leader had us in stiches the whole way! italian lessons and silly tests! Everyone joined in the fun :) great day and I will let Regent know about these two special folks. sadly,..Monte Carlo tour was not much to shout about.

 

i heard we missed a great show...we ate in and I am not sure what i am doing playing on the computer...Rome will be a lonnnnggggggg day :)

 

Good nite all!

 

 

Interested in hearing about your excursions as our cruise is 4 weeks later than yours, same itinerary. What Monte Carlo excursion did you do?

 

Sounds like everyone is having a great time!

 

 

 

 

Karen

[nana541]

Interested in hearing about your excursions as our cruise is 4 weeks later than yours, same itinerary. What Monte Carlo excursion did you do?

 

Sounds like everyone is having a great time!

 

 

 

 

Karen

 

We did Eze and Monte Carlo and Ultimate Florence....there was nothing really wrong with the Monte Carlo tour.... But the Florence tour was so over the top I am thinking i wasted my time.On the Monte Carlo tour.. Should have just taken a differant tour or enjoy the ship!!! The harbor was a site to be seen.... The wealth is hard to wrap your mind around!

Ok gotta go to bed :)

[stjohnrocks]

Thanks for posting info about the tours you are taking. It will really be helpful to us future cruisers! Florence is a beautiful ciy, no wonder you loved your tour there. So much to see and do! Also, I love the whole itinerary you are doing, sounds so fabulous. Sorry to hear the Sienna tour wasn't as much of a success.

 

OMG, and Rome is another one! Too magnificent. You could spend a month there seeing everything. Have fun.:)

[RachelG]

If they offer the st Paul de Vence tour in monte Carlo, that is a good one to take.

[Mr Rumor]

Great deal on artichokes in the Rome area today: 10 for a measly Euro. (It's peak of the season.)

 

Not a great deal today--or any day--on gas. . . $13-$14 a gallon!! "And, still," commented Luigi, our guide, "it's one person per car. Italians love their cars. They can't stay without them."