First Time on Regent—Boarded Explorer Today

[sb44]

11 minutes ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

@sb44 Good grief, what a start to a vacation!  I now regret not posting that we changed piers when we docked.  I wish I had. It never crossed my mind.  It might have saved some hassle for folks like you.  I’m so sorry!  And broken glasses on top of that!  Amazing that they could repair them and thank goodness for it!

 

Be sure to pass on to someone what a mess it made for you to not know about the terminal change.  We have been in ports where they have a large sign at the entrance that lists the ships and terminals for the day.  That would be helpful.

 

We did make it home, four hours later than we anticipated.  I have NOTHING good to say about the madhouse that was the Miami airport.  Truly, I’ve never seen anything like it.  And American Airlines should be nicknamed Always Awful.  If we ever fly with them again I need to have my head examined.  Did you know that it makes a flight four hours late if they have more than a certain number of wheel chair passengers?  If you believe that, let me show you the Hope diamond that I can get you for a big discount. 🙄

 

We hated that airport so much that we are going to check into what it would take to fly into Ft. Lauderdale next time and transfer to the port.  Now that we love Regent so much they come with Miami attached so it is going to take some doing to make me a willing participant in the Miami Mess again, but I may be forced into it.

 

Have a fabulous time....so easy to do!  I’m glad the blog helped, since that was the purpose.  I honestly don’t know how people not on CC do it...how do they figure things out, know where to go, what to do, what to order?  I think I have read that it is a very small percentage of cruisers who are aware of and use CC.  Amazes me, and they miss so much!  The post above from @ChucktownSteve is a perfect example.....

Joanie

Sorry about AA and MIA. It's the reason we are on Regent as we can drive from home in 5 hours. Last time AA in Miami to meet Wind Surf in St Marteen was 4 gate changes and 9 hours when connection was supposed to be one hour. The pier change was pretty bad though when coming by car. After 45 minutes waiting for a shuttle that never came we grabbed a Lyft driver who was dropping someone off at the parking garage. He did not speak one word of English but I waved a $20 bill and entered Pier C in his Lyft app! Lol. Best thing is we are on board and loving it!

[boblerm]

6 hours ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

We did make it home, four hours later than we anticipated.  I have NOTHING good to say about the madhouse that was the Miami airport.  Truly, I’ve never seen anything like it.  And American Airlines should be nicknamed Always Awful.  If we ever fly with them again I need to have my head examined

FWIW, I am scheduled to fly home on Jet Blue on Thursday. I just checked the flight status for that numbered flight for yesterday, and it was delayed 5 hours. 

[asnaleah]

“We hated that airport so much that we are going to check into what it would take to fly into Ft. Lauderdale next time and transfer to the port.  Now that we love Regent so much they come with Miami attached so it is going to take some doing to make me a willing participant in the Miami Mess again, but Imay be forced into it.”

 

We have the opposite feeling. I will do everything possible to avoid FLL! Maybe other terminals are better, but terminal 3 is a dump. 

[rkaratsu]

9 hours ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

 I have NOTHING good to say about the madhouse that was the Miami airport.  Truly, I’ve never seen anything like it.  And American Airlines should be nicknamed Always Awful... 

Perhaps next time (depending on where  you are flying from), if an AA Flagship First or Business flight is available, look into it.  I thought the AA Flagship lounge in MIA was probably *the* nicest airport lounge I have ever been to in the continental US.  (Dare I say it was the "Regent" of airport lounges in the US?... 🙃)

[-Lew-]

It's been a long time since we've flown thru MIA and I appreciate the current discussion.  We're disembarking Splendor on February 22, 2023 and planning to overnight at Hyatt House Miami Airport.  We're considering an American Airlines flight departing at 8:50am the following day.

 

I would appreciate advice as to what time to arrive at the airport.  We'll be flying business if that makes a difference.

 

Thanks for any insight...

[ronrick1943]

1 hour ago, -Lew- said:

It's been a long time since we've flown thru MIA and I appreciate the current discussion.  We're disembarking Splendor on February 22, 2023 and planning to overnight at Hyatt House Miami Airport.  We're considering an American Airlines flight departing at 8:50am the following day.

 

I would appreciate advice as to what time to arrive at the airport.  We'll be flying business if that makes a difference.

 

Thanks for any insight...

I’d always allow 2 hours—better a little early than late.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

@Lew  All I can share is what we ran into.  Some people said it was due to Spring Break.  But others said they came through in January and it was the same, so perhaps more people can weigh in.  Seems early to me for Spring Break, but I’m not sure about Florida.  In Georgia, where I live, Spring Break is in April.
 

It took us exactly 20 minutes waiting in line to get to a kiosk to print boarding passes.  We were already checked in.  Then another shorter line that took about 15 minutes to get rid of the luggage.  Then we walked and walked and walked and walked to get to the end of the line for security.  Security took almost 45 minutes.  Then about ten minutes to walk to our gate.  So 90 minutes.  Two hours early is probably the minimum I’d risk in order to not be stressed, have time for the restroom, etc.

 

I hope others will give input as to whether these wait times are an anomaly or the norm.

Edited March 16, 2022 by GeorgiaPeach51

[GOARMY]

GeorgiaPeach51:

 

Explorer has been our go-to ship since enjoying a series of 2017 Inaugural cruises.  Last aboard:  October-November 2021, Barcelona-Miami.  

 

----------------

 

Following-up on my Post #188:

 

Miserable experience at Ft. Lauderdale Airport last November following that Explorer cruise.  We wanted a N/S return to SEATAC.  None was offered out of Miami Airport. So, opted for a N/S on Alaska Airlines.  Regent was responsible for that flight.  Did a deviation, as Regent had us originally booked on an AA flight out of Miami Airport which would have involved an intermediate stop w/long lay-over.  

 

It did not make any difference. Bottom Line for benefit of ALL:  These airports are simply not equipped to handle heavy passenger loads, particularly for those departing following a cruise.  Spring Break?  Give me a break.  

 

We have (had) a long, positive history with Alaska Airlines going back over 35 years.  That evaporated at Ft. Lauderdale. Total lack of what us military-types refer to as "Situational Awareness".  On that particular late morning/early afternoon, were confronted by what amounted to somewhat organized chaos.  That Terminal could not cope with arrival of passengers from a much-larger cruise ship, plus the normal flow, plus self and wife.  

 

There is a saying:  How do you cram 10 tons of canaries into an 8-ton truck?  Keep the truck moving, and some of the canaries flying. 

 

Had to stand in line--with our bags--for over two hours before being able to even "check-in".  That line, over time, entailed almost everyone--regardless of cabin class--on our flight. One couple "acted-up". Police were summoned. They (couple)--removed.  Very-unsettling. 

 

The departure Gate?  No better.  Only place to actually sit down was at a nearby restaurant.  Crammed-together in a long line dealing with folks arriving from adjacent Gates.  Social distancing?  Joke.  Well, at-least everyone was masked-up.   

 

As to the actual flight--when it did, finally take-off about 1.5 hours'late?   I could go on, but why dredge up a bad memory from what was otherwise a great Explorer cruise. 

 

Just-be prepared, either coming to, or going from, Miami or Ft. Lauderdale Airports. 

 

GOARMY!

 

   

 

 

[GeorgiaPeach51]

@GOARMY Holey moley, what a nightmare.  OK, I now accept that Ft. Lauderdale is not deserving of optimism, either.  Perhaps what we can all take away from this is that if you book too early a flight post cruise you may be inviting a disastrous day to take place.  
 

From the terminal where we disembarked we could see four cruise ships.  All appeared “average” size to me.  There may have been more in other terminals.  We can probably assume that the airports cannot support four ships disembarking, and that if one of them is one of the behemoths it will be exponentially worse.  We generally don’t check the cruise port traffic, but might need to add that into our normal routine.

[BeatlesFanForever]

Thank you GeorgiaPeach51 for your wonderful and informative blog!!! I've learned so much from you, just hope I can recall it when we get on the Explorer next week!!! This is first Regent cruise. We did Seabourn in 2019 and thoroughly enjoyed it! That was our first time with a luxury cruise. What a difference from the Celebrity and Holland America cruises we've been on!

Thanks again and safe travels.

Kathy

[-Lew-]

16 minutes ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

We can probably assume that the airports cannot support four ships disembarking, and that if one of them is one of the behemoths it will be exponentially worse.

 

Thank you @ronrick1943,  @GeorgiaPeach51, and @GOARMY for your insight.  Although arriving two hours before our flight will likely do it for us, as a true belt and suspenders guy I'll likely make it three.

 

Joanie, we've flown out of FLL many times when there were six cruise ships docked at Port Everglades.  The trick for us has been to use a service such as Princess EZCheck where the cruise line provides our boarding passes and transports our checked luggage to the airport and we don't see it again until luggage claim at our home airport.  We can then do an easy disembark and go directly to security and our gate. I'm not sure whether Regent provides a similar service, but I haven't seen it mentioned.

 

After our Splendor cruise next year we'll be flying to Maui and all the best flights leave fairly early, so it makes sense for us to overnight and take an early flight out the following day...before cruisers disembarking that day arrive at MIA. 

[alidor]

Kathy from Brighton, Michigan.  I think we may have been on the same Seabourn cruise as you and we kind of became friends on board.  Did you take the cruise from Auckland to Sydney?  I think it was about this same time of year.  We were also friends with a couple from Colorado.

 

Dorothy

[minidonuts85]

1 hour ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

@GOARMY Holey moley, what a nightmare.  OK, I now accept that Ft. Lauderdale is not deserving of optimism, either.  Perhaps what we can all take away from this is that if you book too early a flight post cruise you may be inviting a disastrous day to take place.  
 

From the terminal where we disembarked we could see four cruise ships.  All appeared “average” size to me.  There may have been more in other terminals.  We can probably assume that the airports cannot support four ships disembarking, and that if one of them is one of the behemoths it will be exponentially worse.  We generally don’t check the cruise port traffic, but might need to add that into our normal routine.

I would also take into consideration cruise ships debarking from the Port of Fort Lauderdale in addition to those in Miami adding to the people traffic at FLL (and possibly MIA). I’ve flown out of both airports over a “debarkation weekend” and seen equally as bad crowds. 
 

Thanks again for your amazing write up! We sail the Explorer as our first cruise with Regent in Nov 2023 and your blog has fueled our excitement. 🙂 

Edited March 16, 2022 by minidonuts85

[mj_holiday]

GeorgiaPeach51   It took us exactly 20 minutes waiting in line to get to a kiosk to print boarding passes.  We were already checked in.

 

The last couple of times we cruised with Regent (pre COVID) I was able to check in on my I-phone and go to the printer onboard and airprint our boarding passes.

 

[GeorgiaPeach51]

I thought I would do a wrap up of a few things now that we have packed away the luggage....some final thoughts, things we might do differently, more of, less of, etc.

 

We just plain ran out of time to do everything we thought we might do.  At the start of the cruise ten days seems like a luxurious plenty, and then, all of a sudden, not so much!  Part of this was due to my husband having to unexpectedly work while on board.  That put a big crimp in plans.  We found that we were starved for just plain sitting together and watching the world/sea/people go by, kindle in hand, coffee or drink on the table.  So, we did as much of that as possible in many different areas on the ship.  Abundant comfy seating abounds, peace and quiet is easily found.  We took big advantage of that.

 

Things We Didn’t Do but Wish We Had

 

We never found the additional outlets that are apparently under the bedside tables, plus the ones above on the wall.  🙄🙄

 

We never made it to tea, except to take photos to post.  We had the time, certainly, but just how far can you test the limits of waistline elastic or buttons?

We never found after dinner dancing.  It may exist.  We just didn’t get to it.  We did dance a little to the orchestra pre-dinner in the Meridian, but it’s not my favorite music for dancing.

 

We didn’t take part in any of the games or competitions for points to be redeemed for Regent stuff.  But we saw plenty of people having fun.

 

I didn’t get to any of the crafts classes, and I really wanted to do some.

 

We didn’t do trivia or Mensa.

 

Forgot to try the French Press coffee.  Rats!

 

Didn't go to any guest speakers.

 

We missed several special deck dining options like the Mexican day, which we were told was excellent.  Be sure you read the daily carefully.  We always take two highlighters so we can try to help ourselves keep track of what we want to do or see. (One color for each of us).  Definitely not needed but a cruising habit for us now.

 

We watched no movies in the suite.  But they were new movies....like House of Gucci.

 

We didn’t do the putt putt golf or play pickle ball, or do the golf irons practice or bocce ball.

 

We didn’t do any cooking classes.

 

That is a lot of stuff we didn’t do!  Good grief!  Now I’m wondering what in the world we did do!  But by the time you sleep in a little, have a cup of coffee, have some breakfast, work out for an hour, shower, it’s coming up on noonish.  Then lunch, read a while, sit at the pool a few hours, visit the library, good grief, it’s time to get ready for dinner and pre-dinner drinks.  Time just slides by like it’s on ice and the next thing you know it’s 11:00 p.m. and you’re yawning.

 

Things We Loved

 

I need to preface this by saying that we sometimes, well, okay, often, pinch ourselves to find that we can afford luxury cruising.  It is not something we ever dreamed would happen and we are honestly like two little kids at Christmas about it.  Part of it is allowing ourselves to indulge in the luxury of Regent and not feel guilty about what we are spending.  This is due to three things, at least two of which you already know.

 

1.  We are getting older.  Days are guaranteed to no one.  
2.  We are in good health and blessed.  It doesn’t last forever.

3.  We are believers in this...”IF YOU DON’T GO FIRST CLASS, YOUR KIDS WILL.”  🤔

 

We loved the Veranda.  SO different from what we are accustomed to....We are like country folks come to the fancy city to find the tablecloths and lovely table settings, and someone to take your order for perfectly cooked fish or omelette, or whatever.  Food displayed that was fresh and replenished often.  Tables easy to find.  Never crowded.  Contrast this with struggling often on Celebrity to find a table.  Food that had been there under the heat lamps for a bit.  Trying to carry a plate and silverware and whatever else to a table.  Usually one of us would find a place to sit while the other got food because sometimes if you got food first you ended up wandering around trying to find a seat while it all got cold.  I’m not saying Celebrity was awful.  It’s not.  But this is way better.
 

We loved the sommeliers.  Quick, omnipresent, they never let our glasses get empty.

 

I loved the public restrooms.  On Celebrity there seems to always be someone there folding towels or something.  Never once did I see someone working in the restrooms on Explorer.  They must come in the dead of night and then evaporate through the walls.  
 

The desserts.  Oh, my.  Off the charts good, and I won’t belabor it because I spent plenty of time applauding them already,  But, I miss them!

 

The fatal flaw for us on Celebrity is that if you are in a suite, or The Retreat, you have access to a special pool, a dedicated bar, snacks, etc., a dedicated deck area and a dedicated  “specialty”, Luminae.  All very nice.  The problem is that once you leave the Retreat the suite experience is diminished.  But on Regent you have access to the suite experience wherever you go.  And a gracious plenty of restaurant choices, all of a higher caliber than our last experience in Luminae, in our opinion.

 

It is saying something when the main dining room is just as good as the specialties.  

There is no way you can go into Compass Rose and not have a superlative meal.  If you don’t love the specials for the night you have an enormous every day menu full of fabulous choices.  
 

Loved the bar tenders and wait staff.  Excellent across the board and consistently made drinks that are excellent.

 

The lobster for my husband.  Enough said.

 

Loved the canapés served by the white gloved butlers in the Observation Lounge and the pianist and his music choices.

 

Loved being able to request a bottle of whatever wine/liquor we wanted and have it magically appear.

Loved our Concierge suite.  Perfect size for us, loved the balcony and furniture and the ample drawer space.  

Loved the quiet in the cabin.  We never heard a single sound from outside our cabin.  I do believe the five o’clock train could come down that hall and we’d never hear it.  It seemed soundproof.  
 

Enjoyed every person we met.  Lovely people on Regent.  (Celebrity, too).

 

Disembarkation was painless.  No people jammed in the halls or on the stairs.  Everyone appeared to do what was asked...vacate your cabin....and even the breakfast options were uncrowded.  It will be interesting to see what it is like when the ship is full in contrast.

 

We feared that the Explorer might be too small for us but it wasn’t.  We enjoyed not having to walk so far to everything.  We now have that trepidation about the size of the Navigator which we will try out in May 2023.

 

That covers it.  Thanks for following along.  I learned a lot from you and appreciate you one and all.  See you in November on the Splendor!

 

Joanie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by GeorgiaPeach51

[briar14]

Regent Marketing, have you read Joanie’s posts?? She really nails it as to why so many of us are Regent fans. I hope I get to travel with her some day.

[WNcruiser]

On 3/15/2022 at 9:23 AM, sb44 said:

Sorry about AA and MIA. It's the reason we are on Regent as we can drive from home in 5 hours. Last time AA in Miami to meet Wind Surf in St Marteen was 4 gate changes and 9 hours when connection was supposed to be one hour. The pier change was pretty bad though when coming by car. After 45 minutes waiting for a shuttle that never came we grabbed a Lyft driver who was dropping someone off at the parking garage. He did not speak one word of English but I waved a $20 bill and entered Pier C in his Lyft app! Lol. Best thing is we are on board and loving it!

We did the same thing!  Had to park in G garage as C was closed. We kept asking where the shuttle was and they told us to keep waiting. It never came. 

I hope the shuttle is there at C when we get back to Miami! 
 

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by WNcruiser

[sb44]

On 3/15/2022 at 9:06 AM, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

@sb44 Good grief, what a start to a vacation!  I now regret not posting that we changed piers when we docked.  I wish I had. It never crossed my mind.  It might have saved some hassle for folks like you.  I’m so sorry!  And broken glasses on top of that!  Amazing that they could repair them and thank goodness for it!

 

Be sure to pass on to someone what a mess it made for you to not know about the terminal change.  We have been in ports where they have a large sign at the entrance that lists the ships and terminals for the day.  That would be helpful.

 

We did make it home, four hours later than we anticipated.  I have NOTHING good to say about the madhouse that was the Miami airport.  Truly, I’ve never seen anything like it.  And American Airlines should be nicknamed Always Awful.  If we ever fly with them again I need to have my head examined.  Did you know that it makes a flight four hours late if they have more than a certain number of wheel chair passengers?  If you believe that, let me show you the Hope diamond that I can get you for a big discount. 🙄

 

We hated that airport so much that we are going to check into what it would take to fly into Ft. Lauderdale next time and transfer to the port.  Now that we love Regent so much they come with Miami attached so it is going to take some doing to make me a willing participant in the Miami Mess again, but I may be forced into it.

 

Have a fabulous time....so easy to do!  I’m glad the blog helped, since that was the purpose.  I honestly don’t know how people not on CC do it...how do they figure things out, know where to go, what to do, what to order?  I think I have read that it is a very small percentage of cruisers who are aware of and use CC.  Amazes me, and they miss so much!  The post above from @ChucktownSteve is a perfect example.....

Joanie

 

10 minutes ago, WNcruiser said:

We did the same thing!  Had to park in G garage as C was closed. We kept asking where the shuttle was and they told us to keep waiting. It never came. 

I hope the shuttle is there at C when we get back to Miami! 
 

 

We received a call yesterday from the head of guest relations (I think head concierge) apologizing for the parking and shuttle debacle.  He said it had been escalated up to the president of Regent and that it should not have happened. Apparently they changed from J to C because of wind. Nobody got an email so we've met others with same situation.  We received $20 that we spent on Lyft as OBC and a profound apology.  That was very much appreciated.  Yes, hope when we return to Miami car will be at J where we are parked or that shuttles are running.  

[cwn]

23 minutes ago, sb44 said:

 

We received a call yesterday from the head of guest relations (I think head concierge) apologizing for the parking and shuttle debacle.  He said it had been escalated up to the president of Regent and that it should not have happened. Apparently they changed from J to C because of wind. Nobody got an email so we've met others with same situation.  We received $20 that we spent on Lyft as OBC and a profound apology.  That was very much appreciated.  Yes, hope when we return to Miami car will be at J where we are parked or that shuttles are running.  

That was good that someone got back with you. 
We are driving to the port from home in Dec. Do Regent ships normally use Terminal J. DH wants to park under cover in a protected place. We have had good luck using port parking at other ports.  Really don’t want to have to take a taxi from a remote garage. Are you able to drop luggage before parking? We have sailed out of Miami on Regent before but we use the Regent hotel transfer and don’t remember much about the port except exist check in was a mess.

 

[sb44]

30 minutes ago, cwn said:

That was good that someone got back with you. 
We are driving to the port from home in Dec. Do Regent ships normally use Terminal J. DH wants to park under cover in a protected place. We have had good luck using port parking at other ports.  Really don’t want to have to take a taxi from a remote garage. Are you able to drop luggage before parking? We have sailed out of Miami on Regent before but we use the Regent hotel transfer and don’t remember much about the port except exist check in was a mess.

 

I think they get moved around although J only takes small ships. Normally parking at Miami Port is ok. J is an old pier not near any of the others. You can drop off and then park at any garage. It's a busy place! Hopefully this was a one off. We've met people who parked at hotels and took shuttles. 

[mdunne48]

The Parking Garage for the "J" terminal at the port of Miami is directly opposite of where you can drop your bride and luggage.  After parking your car in the "J" parking garage (under cover except for the roof spaces) it is less than a 200 foot walk back to where you dropped off your luggage.  Extremely convenient!!!

[Pudgesmom]

4 hours ago, mj_holiday said:

GeorgiaPeach51   It took us exactly 20 minutes waiting in line to get to a kiosk to print boarding passes.  We were already checked in.

 

The last couple of times we cruised with Regent (pre COVID) I was able to check in on my I-phone and go to the printer onboard and airprint our boarding passes.

 

We now use our phones for boarding passes, they can be transferred to the Apple wallet with an iphone. That's one less line to wait in!

[GeorgiaPeach51]

15 minutes ago, Pudgesmom said:

We now use our phones for boarding passes, they can be transferred to the Apple wallet with an iphone. That's one less line to wait in!

We printed our boarding passes on the ship.  It was the luggage tags we had to wait for.

[cwn]

Mdunne48  and sb44 Thank you for your replies. Just what I wanted to know. 
This thread is loaded with great information.
Thanks also to GeorgiaPeach51 for spending so much time on it!

[SWFLAOK]

We took a cruise once from Fort Lauderdale, on Holland America Line. We can drive to Fort Lauderdale in just over 2 hours, and had a reservation at a parking facility that took our car away and put us on a shuttle to the port. Everything went fine up to that point. Once at the port, everyone who worked there was totally incompetent, causing backups at every point where we had to interact with anyone. When we finally reached the boarding "lounge", it was standing room only. We had paid for a Neptune Suite (a great cabin once we got to it) which came with priority boarding. But apparently, anyone who had ever sailed on HAL before, also had priority boarding. It was well over an hour before we were allowed to board. At the end of our 2 week cruise, disembarking took forever. We were glad we didn't have to catch a flight, and only needed a ride back to the parking lot to drive home. We would never, ever sail out of Fort Lauderdale again, on any cruise line.

Even when cruising on Regent from an embarkation and debarkation with Business class airfare included, we would always prefer Miami airport to Fort Lauderdale airport. When flying to Singapore for a cruise, Regent booked us on Emirates, which was a great airline to fly to Singapore,  and back from Sydney at the end of our back to back cruises. However, unlike Miami, there is no Business class lounge in Fort Lauderdale. We were given a 50 dollar credit to use at any restaurant in our terminal, and it did not include alcohol. While our restaurant experience at FLL was 2 star, we did find a place to eat that accepted it for alcohol, as well as a few fried snacks. Miami airport has great Business class lounges, although not as great as Emirates in Dubai.