Regent Seven Seas Explorer Athens to Istanbul Full Travelogue

[BellaOnline]

On 11/8/2022 at 3:08 PM, forgap said:

I’m curious how Regent handled the awful return trip home.  Are you able to give us an update?  I thought of you as we flew home from Istanbul last week.  We were flying in UA points so we didn’t have a TA ticket number.   Wasn’t too paranoid as our outgoing flight to Istanbul was uneventful but our ordeal was very much in my mind as we checked in.  I hope that time will make this an engaging travel story as you gain distance from the nightmare I’m sure it was.  
 

i just read an article about an Australian couple whose 18 month old baby was booked on a different flight after a flight cancellation.  It took them two weeks for the three of them back to Australia.   KLM blamed Quantas…Qauntas blamed KLM.  

 

There is still no contact at all from Regent, beyond the Regent person posting here in the forum that they would look into things. My travel agent has not gotten any response at all from their messages to Regent besides a "we will look into it". 

 

That is extremely scary about the Australian couple. Who in their right mind would book an 18 month old baby on its own flight like that??? As a parent that would tip me over the edge. 

[BellaOnline]

9 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

 

I just read your terrific blog, with great interest, and flashbacks to my first (and likely last)  trip to Istanbul a few years ago, right up to the filthy toilets near the mosque which I still vividly remember .  I appreciate the details in your frank descriptions of both the good and the not so good, both on the ship and off.  

 

A couple questions, if you have time: 

 

1.  So as of 10/24 your TA claimed she had not heard anything back from Regent.

 

Meanwhile on 9/15 the Regent "customer" assistance person Teegan here wrote that she *knew* Regent had reached out to your TA:

 

"

#132   

Posted September 15

   

Hi @BellaOnline – I am so sorry to hear about the challenges with your trip home. I know that our Guest Relations department has reached out to your Travel Advisor,  . . ."

 

So either your TA or Teegan was, frankly, lying (unless one redefines the term "know" in Teegan's response)

 

And no one from Regent, or your TA's company, was available to answer a phone while you were stuck at Istanbul airport with your elderly mother and hostile Turkish airlines employeees.  

 

Either way, it is very disconcerting that one cannot rely on Regent's travel bundling procedures.

 

2.  As for the the passenger behind you putting bare feet on your arm rests, it is just another example of how even business class passengers' behavior has degenerated in recent years. Did you ask her to remove them?  Or ask the flight attendant to tell her to remove them?  

Or did they not bother you enough to complain (e.g., it was "only" a 3-4 hour flight from Madrid?)

 

In the past I have had people try and stick their feet, with either stinky socks or hairy toes, into my space (either on my seat back or through the space between sweats ), but it only happened in coach, where I expect more Greyhound bus type behavior,  and as a last resort there are creative ways of taking care of such things . . . 👿

 

I love traveling, but the 'getting there' -- not so much anymore.

 

 

 

 

I suppose both the TA and Regent are technically correct here. Our TA reached out to Regent immediately. Regent responded with something along the lines of "It may take us several months to get to you because we're very busy." So that was a response. Still no ACTUAL USEFUL response yet (or I suppose what I as a human being would call an actual response).

 

Yes I absolutely found the lack of Regent phone response while at the airport in a fairly serious situation to be egregious. Someone should have been available to answer phones. Regent gets paid a LOT of money for their services.

 

For the feet, on that leg of the flight there was no real separation between the sections. There were I think three rows of seats in the front for business class, then a light curtain, then a continuation of the seats going back. So it was barely a thin piece of fabric separating one row from another. It was a "non-business-class" person behind me doing this to me. By this point I was beyond exhausted and just didn't care. I wasn't going to antagonize the person sitting behind me to make them start kicking my seat all flight long. I could deal with toes. I just tried to get some sleep.

[BellaOnline]

Here's the full slideshow of photos from Day 6 / Antalya. There are only a few from the actual city of Antalya, which I wasn't fond of. There are photos of all the meals and menus. We had lunch at Chartreuse which is really tasty. About 100 photos in all. No 'short videos' from today.

 

 

[BellaOnline]

This slideshow is Day 7 of my recent 10-day cruise on the Regent Seven Seas Explorer through Greece and Turkey. Today we explored the main city area of Rhodes, Greece on foot. We had lunch in a delightful cafe at a plaza, enjoying stuffed grape leaves. We returned on board to listen to some guitar music, then had dinner in the delicious Chartreuse restaurant. There's about 125 photos from today.  

 

 

[BellaOnline]

I'm still working on the short videos for Day 8 which was in Ephesus Turkey. Here's the main slideshow of all my still photos. Then I have a few short videos done so far.

 

 

[BellaOnline]

Ephesus Turkey short of a market street -

 

 

[BellaOnline]

Ephesus Turkey short showing how the shopkeepers walk right in front of you to nearly block you - 

 

 

[BellaOnline]

Casting off the final lines as we depart Ephesus Turkey -

 

 

[BellaOnline]

Ephesus Turkey - Sailing Away from port -

 

 

 

I have three more shorts to go for this day, and then I will move on to Day 9 / Dikili. I'm in the home stretch :). Just been busy! 

[BellaOnline]

Kusadasi Castle -

 

 

[BellaOnline]

Glass sculptures on board set 1 -

 

 

[BellaOnline]

Glass sculptures on board set 2 - 

 

 

[BellaOnline]

Slideshow from Day 9 / Dikili Turkey. We stayed on board, so this is mostly of the food from the Middle Eastern buffet and from the Asian-themed restaurant. There will also be 9 short videos coming over the next few days. I've been really busy with life!

 

 

[BellaOnline]

First short from Dikili Turkey - a tender approaching the ship along with a look along the shoreline.

 

 

[BellaOnline]

Tender docking with Explorer:

 

[BellaOnline]

30th Anniversary Party:

 

[BellaOnline]

30th Anniversary Party part 2:

 

[BellaOnline]

Mack the Knife at 30th Anniversary Party:

 

[BellaOnline]

Puttin' On The Ritz at 30th Anniversary Party:

 

[BellaOnline]

Prayer Wheels / Mani Wheels / Mantra Mill by Asian Restaurant Pacific Rim:

 

[BellaOnline]

Here's the slideshow of 230 photos from our full-day exploration of Istanbul, Turkey last August. This was a BUSY day. There will then be about 50 short videos to go with this of various locations in the city and on board the Regent Seven Seas Explorer. I'll post those as I find time! Ask with any questions.

 

 

[BellaOnline]

I now have all the slideshows and videos from my Greece / Turkey cruise up through everything documenting the city of Istanbul itself. What remains is primarily all the video I shot the final night to document each of the ship's various public rooms. I'll let you know when I get the 'ship tour' part done.

 

Enjoy!

 

This link is to the full playlist of 57 videos (so far).

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcVdcGvvgOSYM8yZ8ucua3i03PcCbYBhM

[forgap]

I’m curious as to how Regent followed up with you after your horrible trip home which you described in your “live” travelogue.  I think it gave many of us chills and, I know, prompted me to check my flights repeatedly.  I hope you and your mom are well and completely recovered from the ordeal.

[BellaOnline]

On 3/4/2023 at 7:00 AM, forgap said:

I’m curious as to how Regent followed up with you after your horrible trip home which you described in your “live” travelogue.  I think it gave many of us chills and, I know, prompted me to check my flights repeatedly.  I hope you and your mom are well and completely recovered from the ordeal.

 

We finally, months later, received an email from Regent saying in essence 'airlines suck, and that's just the way things are.' Regent took zero responsibility for the situation or for leaving us hanging. They refused to reimburse my mom for the Uber ride she had to use to get back home from the alternate airport. So it was just a troubling situation all around.

 

I am just SO SO grateful Air Canada invested the time and patience to find us alternate flights home. Otherwise we would have been stranded in Istanbul and required to arrange fresh, brand new flights using our own money, which probably couldn't have been same-day, meaning we'd have to find a new hotel, etc. etc. 

 

Even now, when I go back and reread my notes, I get very stressed. I am so grateful we got home and that Air Canada's person calmly got us through it. And part of what makes it awful is that it was WHOLLY unnecessary. The seats were empty. It's not like Turkish Air double-booked the seats. They were wholly empty and waiting for us. Turkish Air simply refused to lift a finger to figure out their tech snafu. And they were nastily hostile about it. 

[BellaOnline]

Hurrah! It's only 8 months later, but I finally have loaded up all 89 videos from my August 2022 cruise to Greece and Turkey! This trip is now wholly documented and complete. Let me know if you have any remaining questions.