Three days in and still not seamail thread?????

We are having a great time Beautiful ship; great friends; and a great itinerary. I have actually won at hearts and been killed at trivia; i may have to give up on the trivia. Arlene and I are here with my step father in a G2 cabin; quite reasonable. We have six suitcases of clothes and everything is put away. We are facing aft and can throw grapes to those in infinity pool; if anyone gets in.

Ship's design flaws are well documented but it is still a beautiful ship. New compass rose menu fantastic. Prime 7 absolutely beautiful. We will dine in the other three restaurants over the next week. Bermuda today and tomorrow and then some more sea days; life is good.

Marc

Agree with Marc, ship is beautiful and we are finding our way around easily. We have an F2 cabin with angled balcony and its great. We have empty drawers there is so much space. I miss having a side chair so mentioned that to our amazing room stewardess and one appeared in our room. Compass Rose fantastic, Prime 7 was wonderful last night. Probably do Sette Mari tonight. Having so much fun connecting with friends and enjoying time with them. Some rocking and rolling on the trip over to Bermuda, but manageable for the most part.

I too would say life is good, very good indeed.

Wow Marc! Three of ya'll in a G2?!?! Others had reported they felt it was too small for 2 people! That is definitely encouraging. Try to get some photos - would love to see the room layout and storage. We always love the aft cabins on Voyager, but on Explorer, there is only a choice of G2 (lowest level) or the very expensive Grand or Master Suite (way outside of our budget!!)

Sounds like everyone is having a great time. Keep the posts coming!!

Any Olivia sightings???

Olivia is on the ship. And looking good as usual.

Suzanne, haha, I'm here! Rocking and rolling slows me down a bit for strolling around the ship, but enjoying mealtimes and tonight, Ngaire and Ken hosted a great party! Once again, like many times before, I have a chance for a free cruise, and Betty's name got pulled twice; many chances for all us LCT people in there!

I will say, there is no better sleeping in the world than on a Regent ship on a crossing when we have "movement"! And I love sleep.

The ship is lovely as many have said. I do feel I'm on a different planet somehow; this ship is just different, and I have to get used to what is where, and how I get there. Sometimes the elevator doesn't go to the floor I want? But it's truly luxury all the way. And there are so many choices for dining. Love CR, but avoid that center section under all that blue glass, too noisy. Love those tables in the back with the very low ceilings, better for conversation,actually reminds me of the ding room on the side of the old Diamond,

Except, I would never book a G cabin for 2, perhaps because I need too much closet space. It's perfect for 1. That alone is the shortcoming, the closet for more no more than 1. There's a small length of the rod, on only one side. Those four hooks on the wall on other side hold little. I could never share that closet with a travel mate. Others will disagree. Marc and Arlene are doing fine with Chuck with them, and said they have 6 pieces of luggage and are doing fine. 3 of them!

As usual, the staff is great. I find that if you just take a little time to talk to the staff, it's amazing how interesting they are...the gal working the smoking "cage" told me she is from Siberia. Now can you just imagine how nice it must be for her to be in Bermuda today?

So nice to hear from you, Olivia! Sounds awesome!

Two threads going I decided to post on Seamail.

Having a great time, so many great people in the group and some really nice new people. Food has been terrific , playing cards And scrabble is a lot of fun. Trivia is in the constellation theatre and it works great. Plenty of room to spread out and they have tea, coffee, sandwiches, bite size cakes, and cookies. John Baron is so good at trivia so happy to have him onboard.

We are rocking and rolling but as Olivia mentioned so great to be rocked to sleep. Hopefully it will calm down soon.

I've been posting some pictures on my Facebook page. You don't have to be my friend to see them, but you have to have a Facebook account.

https://www.facebook.com/tom.giusto.16

The cruise has been great and the ship is beautiful.

Bermuda - Boat tour of beautiful homes:












Oracle Team USA practicing for America's Cup Yacht Race.


SoftBank Team Japan.

KLT Cocktail Party and Preliminary Free Cruise Drawing:


John, Tom, Marcie, & Gudrun.






Jim, Mary Ellen, Wendy, & Don.


John, Ngaire & Clay.

Ralph & June's Marriage Celebration:






John, June, Ralph & Daniela.


Don, Carolyn, Don & Wendy.


Tim, Jim, Jim & Jan.


Meridith, Bo & Mark.


June, Ralph & Lynette.


Jan, Pat, Pat, Michael & Harry.

These are such "feel good" pics. I can't stop smiling. Cheers to you, Ralph and June. You are a beautiful couple. And cheers to all of the rest of the LCT gang! You are the best!

Is Sea Mail anything posted while on board? Or is it an app or something else?

Anyway, you'd probably never know that I'm on your cruise because I'm not very social. But I do take a lot of photos. They're not very good (and such large portions!) but they are well organized. I won't rotate the portrait-orientated ones, nor crop the panoramas until we are home. And the video will be moved to a server with video-caching later too. But, if you're interested, this:

http://bd-foto.com/bdfoto/bdfoto2.php?user=drib-v&collection=253&album=3656

I also save all the Passages, and they will all be scanned as pdf files and placed in the last album once we are home again.

We were in Bermuda last year too, so not a lot of photos this year. But if you want to see more of Bermuda, then this:

http://bd-foto.com/bdfoto/bdfoto2.php?user=drib-v&collection=288&album=4179

And those are all cleaned up.

Mostly loving the ship!

Thanks for sharing those David much appreciated. I know you are onboard!

Still FROLICing around. Another great lunch in Prime 7 and dinner in Compass Rose with great friends. Great joke night in Observation Lounge last night. Finally done with time changes for a few days. Ship is wonderful but quirky. Don't think it will ever be my favorite ship (without a couple of fixes) but it is sure luxurious. Crew wonderful.

Marc

I love those pictures of Ralph and June! I have to say I called it years ago when I saw the two of them holding hands and so happy!!

Marc, what quirks are quirking you?

We are having a great time!!! Wonderful birthday dinner last night for Frank in Chartreuse, great company, lots of laughs and terrific food. Still enjoying meeting people, the ship and the LCT group. No funny hot dog stories today.

If you are a late-riser, or are starboard on the ship, then you may have missed this big yellow ball over Madeira this morning.

Karen, a number of small items.

Not having a rear entrance to Compass Rose also means that there are no restrooms right outside Compass Rose; there is only one womens and one mens room for entire Deck 4; leads to long absences from dinner table.

Coffee Connection has 50 seats packed closely together without ability to form into a group larger than six or seven; it is often crowded. On the other hand, the Atrium has seating for over 70 which is usually pretty empty.

We are on Deck 7. Explorer is same design as Mariner with center crew only areas. However, on Mariner there are frequent cross hallways for guest use; doesn't exist on Explorer. Only crossovers are two elevator lobbies and forward stairs and at both ends. Makes for real long uninterrupted passageways and a great quarter mile track.

Lots of molding added to cabins; seems like it leads to creaking. There is so much fake wood in this ship that it looks a bit gaudy. One description of ship is 1920s Art Deco Hollywood.

Landing in front of aft elevators on Deck 5 is only about three feet wide before you fall down the staircase.

Restrooms do have neat feature of automatic doors; however, they are slow to close. Quite normal to walk by mens or womens room with door wide open. By the way, even though doors are automatic; you actually have to push soap dispenser.

There is no forward looking weather decks for photos. However, there are doors on both sides of observation lounge that exit out to a metal roof to deck 10 below. Would seem easy fix to add railings; in fact, it appears they were planning on providing this external area but decided not to for some reason.

On Deck plan it appears that there are around 15 category of cabins to choose from; however, not all within one category are consistent. We really should create a spreadsheet/database of cabins that highlights the differences. Still can't figure out why Penthouse do not have bathtub. (BTW, I am a fan of G2 as we never use bathroom at same time.) Maybe those with F1 or F2 cabins can comment on desk/vanity situation.

In many dining rooms, there are tables that are on both tile and carpet; gets hard to push chairs back. Also, carpet design makes it appear that carpet is not wearing very well.

There are many design improvements such as serving area in La Verandah and expanded outside dining for La Verandah.

Just my two cents, I love this cruise, but don't know (yet) if i will love the ship.

Marc

Thanks Mark, very interesting. Though I haven't smoked for years, I am curious about the pool deck glassed in area. Is it wind and rain proof?

Marc, I think all of your comments are great ones. I have been in both the F1 and the F2 and will be happy to comment on the desk/vanity situation. Al does a lot of work while on the ship and uses the desk and drawers. The vanity was the only "personal space" I had. Half the time the chair isn't even there because we have pulled it over next to the table. I'd give up the double sinks and some closet space in a heartbeat to have a little more room in the cabin and to have the vanity back. Does the G have the same configuration?

I'd be willing to bet none of this has negatively affected your cruise though.....can't remember when, if ever, there has been a group on board I would rather be spending time with. Enjoy every minute!

I agree with Marc and have some additional comments. Before the ship was launched Regent touted smaller suites for singles but don't list that they will also place couples in them. We're used to booking the low category price wise and got G-2, the single suite. The suite size we got accustomed to, but the 2 - 3 foot wide clothes hanging rod is ridiculous. The room is very narrow with a wall segment protruding from each side making the bedroom quite dark and the TV is on the bedroom wall and very difficult to watch from the sitting room.

The seating in the theater is very packed and difficult to navigate between the rows to get a seat in the center of the row. It's also a very tight squeeze for servers bringing drinks & canapes to those seated away from the aisle.

There is no Horizon or Galileo's lounge at the rear looking out over the stern, Instead there is a Meridian Lounge mid ship on deck 5 and, even though it has side windows, it can be dark..Observation Lounge is the only place to enjoy drinks with a view.

The staff has been great as always and, even though we're enjoying Frolic, the Explorer is our 4th favorite out of 4 ships in the fleet and she's also the most expensive. We've really enjoyed the Navigator since her refurbishment, the per diem is about 1/2 the other ships, the new itineraries are very interesting with sea days rather than port intensive and my response to old complaints is "What vibration."

I agree with Marc and Jim's observations.

For me the most serious issue is the design that caused there to be no aft elevator or stair access to deck four where Compass Rose and the theater are located. If you have mobility issues, DO NOT book a cabin in the aft half of the ship. Otherwise, you will have to walk a long way to the forward elevators to get to deck four, and then walk back to get to Compass Rose.

While the rest of the criticisms are valid, they would not stop me from cruising again on the ship.

Tom.

Some really nice changes I have noticed on this ship:

Having a dedicated dining reservation desk staffed all day is great.

Having destinations staffed continuously 9-9 on sea days is great; no need to cram into a few hours.

Chartreuse and Prime 7 are beautiful with wrap around windows and dedicated bars.

Pool grill seating is nice and comfortable; service wonderful.

Observation lounge has great seating options.

Doctor's office has lowered their prices and are quite reasonable.

Still undecided on ship; i think a number of these improvements translate to the other ships so they will become even better.

Marc

PS I was kidding about doctor lowering prices. :)

We have had some pretty bumpy seas. In the Gibraltar straits it was REALLY windy. Now we are in the Med I am looking out at super calm seas. Really lovely to see a perfectly flat ocean.

Hearts, Mexican Train and Scrabble have been active on sea days with many different people coming at different times. Had a lot of fun with hearts but the BOYS are tough. I like playing with them though they are so good. I fight to simply not be last. Winning against these guys would be a miracle.

They have had a no Texas Holden tournament game each sea day at 3.00 pm and that has been very popular.

Some of the shows have been good I hear (I never go) and I love John Barron's trivia. He is so funny. Been hard though we have had one second and six thirds.

Time has passed so quickly. Good thing about a big group is that people are enjoying others they may not have seen for a while. For us it is hard to see and spend time with everyone as much as I would like. Just a super group of people and I have met many really nice new people.

Tomorrow a lot leave and I will be so sorry to see them go.

I have probably done the least amount of frolicking of any of Ngaire's people on the ship. I know, that doesn't sound like me....but it's true. I do love the ship, although the Mariner remains my favorite. I am in a F1 cabin, deck 8, mid ship. Perfect cabin, perfect location. Half way to each set of elevators so no issues on which direction to go. Just where am I going to eat. Food has been wonderful, with the exception of room service. Yes, they need to work on that. Although the room service people couldn't be nicer.
I love my bathroom, closet and cabin. I don't need to worry about working in the cabin. It's a vacation after all. BUT the issues with the internet are enough to drive a person to drink. Oh yes, the drinks are also wonderful. Looking forward to the next leg to Venice.

Funchal, Madeira:







Gibraltar, UK:

Quick update. Been so busy not doing my posting duty.

In Funchal we did a short tour and then had afternoontea at Reid's. The tea was great with warm scones from the oven. It is a really pretty island.

In Gibraltar we took the Gibraltar delights tour. Starting with a city walk, botanical gardens and cable car. The view from the top was really nice and it was a beautiful day. We had only been here once before years ago so it was great to see it again.

We took a day off in Barcelona. The ship was so quiet. Most on tour and new guests not embarked. They had lunch in Compass Rose for those in transit which was very nice. Very peaceful day.

In Marseille we went to Charming Castellet. I was there a couple of years ago and had the "locked in the toilet" adventure. Love this little town full of interesting shops and quaint houses built in the rock walls. We decided to take a picture of the infamous toilet to find it has been replaced with a much simple toilet without all the bells and whistles. Not as nice but you won't get locked in this model. Had some great sorbet and a lovely time. Little late back but we got ready very quickly.

Today we went to St. Paul de Vance. This must be my sixth time here and I still always enjoy it. One of the places I buy things. Got a lovely jacket and two tops. Wore one that tonight. Just love walking through this town with all the art galleries. Will probably go back again next time I am in Monte Carlo. Weather beautiful this morning, then became overcast but as we drove to St. Paul de Venice the sun came out and it was perfect.

This segment is so different from the last segment. Last week, coffee corner chats, cards, trivia but this week not seeing anyone as we all disperse on morning or afternoon tours. A mixture of both would be perfect.

Top staff from Regent including Jason Montague, President are onboard. Looking forward to his session on the sea day.

I love St Paul De Vance as well. Just fun walking around and looking at stuff. And they have those tiny black olives that are just packed with flavor. If you haven't tried them, get some the next time you are there. They are YUM.

Posting for Arlene:

Dinner at Sette Mare

Great photo! What a beautiful night!

Passages now scanned and online. It's not that big of deal now, but you might find it interesting years from now, or maybe some newbie Regent cruiser might find them useful. (What did you do during all those at sea days, Daddy?)

http://bd-foto.com/bdfoto/bdfoto2.php?user=drib-v&collection=253&album=4157

All the other images are now cropped and rotated. Videos are on a Google drive where they play better, although not always instantaneous. I rate all items from 1 to 5, where 5 is best, and there were not that many of those. I will probably adjust a lot of the ratings because images often look better on the camera screen than do on my PC.

If you were wondering why there are so many odd photos, such as the fire hydrants, well those are for my grandson, who likes fire hydrants. I also keep many odd albums like this one of statues with birds on their head.

http://bd-foto.com/bdfoto/tinydancer/index.php?path=8a8785080ae6

I put Krew Kapers in its own album. As far as I know, this is the only show not prohibited for recording, which is nice because it's often my favorite show on Regent. Then I reorganized last years cruise so that I could make a virtual collection of both albums. (Before that, I didn't have enough space for that much video.)

http://bd-foto.com/bdfoto/bdfoto2.php?user=drib-v&cat=krew%20kapers

Overall, I thought it was an excellent cruise and a beautiful ship. My first inclination was that it would be hard to return to an older ship, without all that cabin space and wide balconies. But I'm already over that. There were flaws for sure, but the only one that impacted me was the horrible sight lines in the balcony, and I'm already over that too. This is my review:

http://dribcritic.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=755

The site is just for fun, but you're welcome to peruse, use or abuse it, as you wish.

Another highlight, I forgot to mention in the review, was the FROLIC magnets. Those were awesome. Unfortunately, most of the opportunities to collect new ones are on cruises that are too long for us.

Dave, I tried to join dribcritic but never got the confirmation registration

I just LOVED your review, it might be the best review I have ever read. Full of interesting tidbits about the Explorer, which I really enjoy. And lots of humor, which I like just as much.

"The ocean called. They're running out of shrimp!" You just got to love Seinfeld references!!!

Charming Castellet, France:






Ngaire tries her luck in the automatic toilet. This time she did not get locked in.




Scenic St. Paul de Vence:

I love this part of France....so serene! Well done, Ngaire! That's a big hurdle to get over - Haha!

Easter Sunday - The Entrance to Compass Rose.

Amazing how busy we have been and how time has passed so quickly.

Livorno we stayed on the ship. The tour we booked was not going to get back until 6.30 pm and we had plans for dinner at 6.30 pm. So we just took a day off.

Rome we had a nice tour. Bracciano Lake & Wine tasting. A lovely little lake and a nice cup of coffee with a view was delightful. I went to a fish store BUT the smell got to me so I did not stay long. Finished off with a wine tasting that had very good thinly sliced meats and cheese. Couple this with a sour dough type bread with olive oil it was very GOOD.

Naples we finally went to Herculaneum. It was very interesting. There was a special 25th anniversary tour here that went into tunnels the Borbonico Tunnel that everyone who went really said was great. Some bailed as there were a lot of steps down. Next time I am here I might try that.

Kotor we did a special 25th anniversary tour that went by boat to a church that featured a classical concert. Four lovely young ladies played flutes and the music was delightful. Then back on the boat to a local restaurant for a fish luncheon, calarmari, fresh fish, octopus salad with a good green salad. It was actually very good. A small local restaurant that we filled up completely. No need for lunch back on the ship.

Spent time getting whipped in cards by Marc, Mark and Bo. Those guys are SO good I am really just there to have the fourth person as you need four to play. Enjoyed game of scrabble with sister June. Yesterday I worked on itineraries for the Cheetah safari and played scrabble at the same time. Making full use of my time.

I was not sure how it would all work out with so many people I knew so well and so many clients of KLT that I had not met. I had lunch, dinner or drinks with everyone on the first leg - all the 112 FROLIC people. It was so great seeing so many people we knew in the same place all together. Just like Ho-Down, Fiesta, Hee Haw, and Rodeo, Frolic proved to be a ton of fun. What was great this time is that I met more new people and had a chance to share a meal together so I could really get to know them. Some really super people. All have been clients for a long time but they work with other people in the office. That makes a cruise event good as it is not over in just three days and everyone has time to meet more people.

Just a few more nights and then we are off to the christening of the new Silver Muse.

Naples, Italy - Herculaneum, an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 AD: