Navigator, Copenhagen to Amsterdam dep July 22

[Gilly]

Sitting here in the lounge at LHR T5 I thought I'd start a "live" thread for this cruise and hope that others will join in the chatter.  I plan to write my blog on my website as usual so probably won't share that much here beyond the occasional update and thought.  First steps have been fine however; we checked in last night and stayed over at the Sofitel T5 and so far so good.  The airport is fairly calm and quiet so far, though as it's the start of the English school holidays around now, there are more families travelling.  

See you - and fingers crossed - our luggage (!) in Copenhagen around lunchtime!

[forgap]

Looking forward to following along!  Safe travels.  My fingers are crossed that you have smooth sailing.  
 

jennifer

[liptastic]

Gilly, safe travels to you both and have a wonderful cruise.   🥂 Jean.

[Gilly]

Thank you for the good wishes @liptastic and @forgap.  We arrived without a hiccup, our luggage did too - but oh, what mountains of bags there were in the Copenhagen Airport baggage hall 😢.

Now we have a new challenge.  For some reason Regent has stopped sending the pre-cruise folder to UK clients.  Noting we had no boarding passes a couple of days ago, dh emailed them and ta-dah, received two copies almost instantly.  What would have happened if we'd been new clients who didn't realise we needed boarding passes?  Will we always have to request them in the future?

Anyway, more importantly, baggage tags.  "Don't worry", says Regent, "bags will be labelled before boarding".  So, on arrival in the hotel, we collect our envelope from the Regent representative who tells us our bags will be collected from outside our room at 8am tomorrow morning,  The letter inside states clearly "Please ensure each piece has a Regent Seven Seas Cruises tag showing your name and suite number together with a separate identification tag attached to the handle".  You can guess what follows....what Regent Seven Seas cruises label would that be then? The one that's going to be attached at the port?  Another journey down to reception to request tags from the Regent rep...who has none.  She tells us that she's asked for them from Regent, but they haven't sent any.  The delightful receptionist returns with a handful of "cruise labels" for us - SILVERSEAS!   (Now wouldn't that confuse matters were we to use those?!)   We have labelled our suitcases with hotel branded labels then, clearly marked with our name and Regent Suite number and added this label to the other id "stuff" tied to the handle.

All I can say to Regent (and will have this conversation in the coming days) is that their economy measures sure cost their UK clients a great deal of bother and anxiety at the start of what should be a relaxing cruise!  

So, the luggage anxiety continues, only tempered by the fact that our first stop is Skagen, which means they've got 24 hours to drive anything left behind to the ship in a taxi.

 

Edited to add an update: dh has just returned with a handful of Regent labels; all bright yellow disembarkation "Group 3"  which were apparently just sent to the hotel.  What a shambles.  There has to be a better way than this.

Edited July 22, 2022 by Gilly
update

[mrstanley]

The Copenhagen airport is chaotic!

We arrived Thursday morning and I’ve never seen such a mess.

Luggage everywhere.

 

 

[2012_Alaska_bound]

8 hours ago, mrstanley said:

The Copenhagen airport is chaotic!

We arrived Thursday morning and I’ve never seen such a mess.

Luggage everywhere.

 

 

Yes. We arrived Thursday morning. Wish I had taken pictures! I was too shocked to think to do it. But let's just say the pictures in the news the last couple weeks have not been exaggerated! 

 

Like I said I was impressed with Avoator / Lufthansa.

[Gilly]

Hope everyone is safely on board with their luggage too?!   We found boarding to be pretty smooth and trouble free and look forward to a great cruise.  A bit chilly in Copenhagen today, isn't it?

One tour has been cancelled with no reason given - we quickly booked a replacement and will not know what we missed 😉

[Boatmans Lady]

Late to this but have a wonderful cruise and we agree, the situation with UK cruisers and not getting the folder with everything in, really detracts from your cruise experience. 

I shall do the same for our next cruise as we did for our last and make my own labels for the ship, but hopefully as we have a pre-cruise tour, things might be more organised. 

 

[Gilly]

A great day in Skagen today.  I even got my feet wet 🥰

[cuddles115]

We're also on this cruise.  After debarking in Amsterdam, we have a late afternoon flight to LHR.  What do we do in the long hours before our flight?  Does Regent offer a tour after we debark?  I know that Seabourn has a tour of Barbados with lunch and drop off at the airport.

[forgap]

Absolutely love reading your blog, Gilly!   It is part of my morning routine!

 

jennifer

[maryogreen]

@Gilly, it's a delight, as always, following your blog as well as the helpful information posted here. Wishing you continued safe and happy travels on the Navigator!

 

Mary

Travel Blog: https://www.themodernpostcard.com

[Gilly]

Well, thank you both and I think, a Happy Birthday to one...;-)

I must say, we are enjoying being on board Navigator again!

[Boatmans Lady]

2 hours ago, cuddles115 said:

We're also on this cruise.  After debarking in Amsterdam, we have a late afternoon flight to LHR.  What do we do in the long hours before our flight?  Does Regent offer a tour after we debark?  I know that Seabourn has a tour of Barbados with lunch and drop off at the airport.

Regent put a tour of Barcelona on for those with afternoon flights earlier in the year, but we didn't get notified until a few days before disembarkation. 

[cuddles115]

3 hours ago, Boatmans Lady said:

Regent put a tour of Barcelona on for those with afternoon flights earlier in the year, but we didn't get notified until a few days before disembarkation. 

Thanks for the info.  Hopefully, we'll get the same in Amsterdam.

[liptastic]

Gilly enjoying your blog thanks, Jean.

[Gilly]

Sorry, no blue skies in Stavanger this morning but a side by side comparison of Navigator alongside P&O's latest "family ship" Iona.  I am counting my blessings more than ever!

[Borna]

Thanks for the reports.  Question-I'm confused about Regent luggage tags given at the hotel v port

 

I am staying a precruise night at a Regent hotel.  Doesn't our luggage travel with us from the hotel to the port?  It seems otherwise according to Gilly's email.  Please explain, as I expect us to be in a similar predicament with only being given port luggage tags.

 

Thanks.

[pingpong1]

4 hours ago, Borna said:

Thanks for the reports.  Question-I'm confused about Regent luggage tags given at the hotel v port

 

I am staying a precruise night at a Regent hotel.  Doesn't our luggage travel with us from the hotel to the port?  It seems otherwise according to Gilly's email.  Please explain, as I expect us to be in a similar predicament with only being given port luggage tags.

 

Thanks.

Hi Borna - Oftentimes, on "cruise day" the passenger luggage is set outside your hotel room door and collected by porters/bell hops.  Then those large bags are all loaded on a box truck and taken separately/directly to the port/ship and loaded onboard the ship.  Sometimes before the passengers arrive and sometimes afterwards.  As a passenger, you would only hold onto/personally carry small bags with you over to the ship on a passenger bus.  Your small carry-on bags might contain valuables, money, medicines, camera/phone/laptop, documentation/passports, etc. that you would want/need to keep with you. 

[Borna]

1 hour ago, pingpong1 said:

Hi Borna - Oftentimes, on "cruise day" the passenger luggage is set outside your hotel room door and collected by porters/bell hops.  Then those large bags are all loaded on a box truck and taken separately/directly to the port/ship and loaded onboard the ship.  Sometimes before the passengers arrive and sometimes afterwards.  As a passenger, you would only hold onto/personally carry small bags with you over to the ship on a passenger bus.  Your small carry-on bags might contain valuables, money, medicines, camera/phone/laptop, documentation/passports, etc. that you would want/need to keep with you. 

thx much

[Mystictraveler]

6 hours ago, Borna said:

Thanks for the reports.  Question-I'm confused about Regent luggage tags given at the hotel v port

 

I am staying a precruise night at a Regent hotel.  Doesn't our luggage travel with us from the hotel to the port?  It seems otherwise according to Gilly's email.  Please explain, as I expect us to be in a similar predicament with only being given port luggage tags.

 

Thanks.

Just to add another possibility, we recently did a pre-cruise land package in Israel. On our last tour day/embarkation day, our luggage was collected outside our hotel rooms and taken to the lobby. We then had to find and collect our luggage and take it to our bus. When we arrived at the port, we reclaimed our luggage, took it to the x-ray machine and then passed it to a porter who took it down the dock to the ship. A bit of a hassle but at least we knew our luggage was with us.

[Borna]

And

9 hours ago, Mystictraveler said:

Just to add another possibility, we recently did a pre-cruise land package in Israel. On our last tour day/embarkation day, our luggage was collected outside our hotel rooms and taken to the lobby. We then had to find and collect our luggage and take it to our bus. When we arrived at the port, we reclaimed our luggage, took it to the x-ray machine and then passed it to a porter who took it down the dock to the ship. A bit of a hassle but at least we knew our luggage was with us.

and each time, you have to put different Regent luggage tags on?

[Gilly]

I hope that others on board right now will agree, but we think Navigator's crew is firing on all cylinders right now. We have enjoyed superlative service from so many familiar members of staff and some new to us but just as delightful. So far, though the sunshine is in short supply, Navigator is bringing its own. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by Gilly

[Go9ersjrh]

Gilly - Nice to hear.  We will be joining the Navigator in Barcelona on August 24.

[Mystictraveler]

13 hours ago, Borna said:

And

and each time, you have to put different Regent luggage tags on?

At the hotel, we put on one luggage tag indicating which bus we were on (there were three busses) and also our Regent tag with our cabin number. The bags for each bus were then grouped together in the lobby. It sounds more chaotic than it really was. The worst part was dealing with the x-ray machine when we got to the port.