Our first night aboard Splendor, we had dinner reservations in Prime 7 (the steakhouse) for 8:30 PM. We don’t usually eat that late in the evening, but there were no earlier times available. Since I wanted to try all three of the specialty restaurants, I took that time. It wasn’t a bad plan, as a lot of people don’t book the specialty restaurants on the first night. Also, at this time of year in Scandinavia, the sun still shines brightly at 8:30 PM.
Bill could have put an eye out when he opened our sailaway champagne!
We had plenty of time to kill before we went to eat dinner, so Bill and I went to the Observation Lounge on Deck 11 for the welcome party. As we were sitting there listening to a guy name Rick “tickling the ivories” and sipped wine, we heard someone call our names. We turned to our left and there were Gail and Ger, whom we met on our second SeaDream Yacht Club cruise in November 2011.
We got up and hugged them, then moved to their table for four, where we caught up on things. Ger and Gail live in England, and like us, they’d moved since our last in person meeting. Ger is a pilot and is about to retire. When I asked him if he was okay with that, he seemed very honest and happy when he reported that he truly is. Now he can travel for fun even more often!
Gail and Ger were also booked in Prime 7, but they had an earlier reservation. So after a little more catching up, they took their leave, and Bill and I hung out in the lounge a little bit longer. Rick, the pianist, had packed up and left by then, so we listened to the easy listening/jazz/mellow R&B that seems to be piped in all over Regent Splendor. I didn’t mind some of the jazz selections they were playing. I even Shazamed some of them. As I type this, I’m listening to music by Diane Kirkwood, a jazzy singer I discovered on Regent Splendor. I even downloaded her album.
Some of the other music they piped in was decidedly “elevator music” style, which I like a lot less, and sometimes even find a little “triggering”. Yes, I know that sounds ridiculous, but some of you haven’t been forced to ride for hours in the back of a van with a hyper-controlling musician wannabe father who hums, and it shows. 😉 While it’s true that Regent has a number of “senior” folks aboard, most of them seemed far from needing a nursing home. I think if anyone from the cruise line asked me for my opinion, I’d advise Regent to ditch the “beautiful music” style tunes and stick with a more adult contemporary sound. But, that’s just me.
When it was time for our reservation, Bill and I headed to Deck 10 on the starboard side, where we were met by a smiling man named Aras who said he had a table, but not one that was by a window. We said that was okay, since we were there to eat, rather than look out the window. Bwahahahaha… Actually, I like looking out the windows when I travel, but I knew we would certainly survive dinner without direct window access. So we sat down and enjoyed a very beautiful meal… See below!
A couple of selfies with my main man…I always manage the best smiles when Bill is by my side.The outside area of Prime 7. There is a bar in the vicinity for those who have to wait for their table. I never saw anyone using it.A local military ship.I think this was pork cheek with a scallop.And beef carpaccio for Bill.Prime Rib with mashed potatoes for me. The mashed potatoes were delicious.And Bill had a strip steak with bearnaise and fries.I was a bit stuffed, so I had a half portion of their “special” 14 layer chocolate dessert with pistachio sauce. It was delicious.Bill had red velvet cheesecake.We shared candies.
After dinner, we waddled back to Suite 964 and watched the sunset as we left Sweden for Helsinki, Finland. Helsinki is, of course, the original place we were going to visit. Finland won the champagne bucket draw, after all. I was looking forward to seeing a new place in a country I had never visited before. But first, we had to get there, and it would take all night, as Regent Splendor gently made her way…
We tucked ourselves into bed and soon fell fast asleep. No joke… Regent Splendor’s linens are absolutely exquisite. It took no time before we were sound asleep.
Bill and I followed the crowd up the gangplank, where several ship staffers of obvious Asian descent smiled brightly and welcomed us aboard. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t mention this, except that I noticed that it seemed like so many of Regent’s crew members hailed from Asia. I always find it interesting to talk to people who work on cruise ships, because I like meeting people from other countries. I never really got a chance to talk to a lot of the Regent crew, as they were all working very hard. But on Hebridean Princess, most of the crew were from Eastern European countries– especially Latvia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. SeaDream seemed to have a lot of crew from the Philippines and South Africa. Our waiter on Vision of the Seas was Bulgarian. And Regent had a smattering of people from all over the place, but it seemed like the crew mostly came from Asian countries.
Someone handed us glasses of champagne as they scanned our IDs for the first time. We walked into the impressive atrium with its prominent wooden staircase, and another staffer directed us to go to our muster station near the Pacific Rim restaurant (one of Regent Splendor’s speciality restaurants). I must say, the “muster drill” was extremely easy on Splendor. Instead of having the entire ship gather at the muster stations wearing life jackets, we simply went to the muster station as we were; then, a crew member asked us if we’d watched the one minute safety video Regent sent us before we embarked. When we answered affirmatively (we’d watched it twice), he scanned our IDs, and that was that. Embarkation was very quick and simple, with a minimum of waiting around in crowds and lines. That’s a plus!
Our stateroom was 964, which was on the portside aft of the ship. I chose the suite not knowing where we might rather be on the Splendor. It wasn’t a bad choice, except that it was at the ass end of the ship, which gave us some good opportunities to stretch our legs. That wasn’t a bad thing for either of us. One of our next door neighbors had a Master Suite, which is one of the most expensive and luxurious staterooms aboard the Splendor. The other neighbor was in a Concierge E stateroom like ours.
Regent Splendor does not have any inside staterooms for passengers, and all rooms have private balconies. Most of the staterooms are like the one we were in, which is a “Superior Suite“. We were in a Concierge E stateroom, which means that the room was just like a superior suite, except we got some extra perks, like the “free” night at the Nobis Hotel, “free” bus transfer from the hotel to the port, a small discount on premium booze and choice shore excursions and experiences, “free” professional laundry services, “free” unlimited WiFi for up to four devices (although this didn’t really work out for us), and “free” porterage. I put quotes around the word “free” because it’s not really free. You pay extra for these perks.
In our case, I’m not sure concierge class was totally worth what we paid, since we booked so late that we couldn’t really book any “choice” excursions or experiences (like the gourmet cooking class). But it was convenient to have the Stockholm hotel and transportation to the port arranged, and I definitely appreciated the laundry service after our six sweaty nights in Norway! Regent Splendor also has self-service launderettes, but we never needed to use them. I’m sure they were fully engaged as the voyage wore on, as people did laundry while on the cruise.
There is a smaller stateroom available called the Veranda Suite. These are the cheapest cabins aboard, but even they are very nicely appointed with queen sized beds and private balconies.
We weren’t able to go directly to our suite after the muster drill, as the stewards were still preparing them after the previous cruise had ended. We were instead invited to go have lunch. Regent Splendor has several restaurants aboard. The main dining room is called Compass Rose, and it’s on Deck 4. There are three specialty restaurants which require reservations: Prime 7 (a steakhouse), Pacific Rim (Asian cuisine), and Chartreuse (French cuisine). There’s also a buffet area called La Veranda (breakfast and lunch), which, at night, turns into Sette Mari, an Italian restaurant (does not require reservations). And there’s also the Pool Grill, which offers table and buffet service outside. The Pool Grill (and its accompanying bar) is the only venue we didn’t have a chance to try during our week on the Splendor.
We chose to have our first lunch at La Veranda. We hesitated for a moment at the entrance, but were then invited to sit wherever we wanted, as it’s open seating. That was a change from Hebridean Princess, where seating is assigned. I enjoyed prime rib from the buffet… the first I’d had in a very long time, and shrimp cocktail, also a rare treat.
Once again, we were seated near Americans who were quite loud and might not have realized that they were sharing so openly with everyone in the vicinity of their table. I asked for a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and I’m pretty sure I got California Chardonnay. Meh… I don’t really like Chardonnay that much, but it’s a first world problem!
I did like most of the wines by the glass offered “free” by Regent. I noticed that they didn’t seem eager to sell any expensive fine wines. We saw the sommelier once or twice; he was casually advertising a wine pairing lunch for an extra charge. We might have been interested in booking that, except it took place during one of our excursions. Other than that, we didn’t encounter anyone trying to upsell the wines or anything else, really. That was one thing I really liked about our Regent experience as opposed to our Royal Caribbean experience years ago.
After a leisurely lunch at the buffet, we were finally invited to our stateroom. I must say, our room on Regent Splendor was absolutely fabulous. The bed was extremely comfortable and had wonderful linens… I wish I could have brought them home with me– the bed included!
The room featured a walk in closet, a marble bathroom with a bathtub that was deep, but looked a bit “short”, a rainfall shower, his and hers sinks, and a fridge stocked with beverages. I requested that the Budweiser be replaced with Stella Artois or Grolsch and was surprised when a steward brought both! There was a fruit plate that was restocked daily, and a beautiful balcony with a table, two chairs, and a lounge chair, each with cushions.
The flat screen television offered information about the ship, as well as movies, news, and television shows. It could be swiveled so that we could watch from bed, or from the small couch in the sitting area. There were PLENTY of electrical outlets for both US and European plugs. Since we have electronics with both types of plugs, it was handy to have so many outlets.
Yes, when I think about the cruises I’ve been on, Regent Splendor’s superior stateroom– even though it’s not the best on board– easily tops the list of the most luxurious I’ve ever experienced, personally. The most expensive stateroom on Regent Splendor is the size of a 4000 square foot house! Our suite was one-tenth the size of the Regent Suite, yet it was extremely posh and comfortable.
Below are some photos from our first impressions onboard Regent Splendor.
The beer selection could use some work… InBev’s best.Yes, there’s a complimentary bottle of champagne waiting on embarkation day.Observation lounge.Back of the TV. See how it swivels?AtriumOur loooong walk home.Wooden staircase.
One thing I think Regent gets right on the Splendor are the staterooms. We definitely were right at home in ours. I loved the balcony, and managed to get some pretty nice selfies on it, including the one below… It’s not so easy for me to look relatively pretty in photos these days, so this alone was probably worth the price of the first night.
The sea breeze does wonders for the mood… I did edit out the sore spot under my nose. Darn colds!
Below are a few more photos from around the ship… including some of the beverages we enjoyed while waiting for our room. We never did get the chance to try the pool or hot tub, as it was a little too chilly for swimming. Plus, we were pretty busy during the days, enjoying our “free” excursions.
The featured photo is of the hapless guys trying to load the luggage. They’d lost about half of the load pictured when I took that photo from the ship.
On June 23, 2023, Bill and I embarked on our very first Regent Seven Seas cruise. This was an unusual experience for us, because although we do cruise on occasion, our cruises have overwhelmingly been on much smaller and older vessels. Aside from our very first cruise, which was a short Baltic cruise in June 2009 on Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas, we’ve only done cruises on SeaDream I or Hebridean Princess. SeaDream’s ships carry a maximum of 112 passengers each. Hebridean Princess maxes out at 49 passengers. Hebridean Island Cruises just acquired a new ship that is also very small. We haven’t sailed on the Lord of the Highlands yet, but she only carries 38 passengers!
Our first cruise on Vision of the Seas was fine, but we determined that we prefer smaller boats that are more all inclusive. So, for 14 years, we have avoided big ships. In fact, I hadn’t wanted to do a cruise at all this year. Originally, I’d hoped we could do a land based trip to Finland, which won our champagne bucket draw, and then go to the Baltic nations on our own. But, as I tried to plan the trip, I was confounded by the lack of easy transportation options in the Baltic countries. And although there are trains in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, they aren’t super convenient like they are in Germany and other European countries. Like, if you wanted to go by train from Bergen to Stockholm, you’d have to go to Oslo first.
At this writing, there aren’t any train connections between Tallinn, Estonia, Riga, Latvia, or Vilnius, Lithuania. If we’d done a land based trip, we’d have to rent a car and drive, fly, or take buses. Or… maybe use the ferries, which basically amounted to cruising, right?
Anyway, I noticed that Regent had a handy northern European itinerary available, and I’d been somewhat curious about luxury cruising on a big ship. It helped that the voyage was on sale. So we pulled the trigger, booked our spots on the Northern Folktales & Traditions cruise, and boarded the gorgeous Splendor on that auspicious June day.
Well… I don’t know how auspicious it really was. As we waited in the lobby at Nobis Hotel, I already sensed that we’d be rubbing elbows with people who had the potential to be irritating. I’d been sitting next to Bill and got up to use the ladies room. When I came back, there was a rather assholish looking older man sitting near Bill. There was enough room for me to sit down in my former spot, so I did.
The tall, distinguished looking man with the perfect haircut didn’t seem to appreciate that very much. After a few minutes of sitting near me, he got up and sat on the other side of his painfully thin and rather well coiffed wife, who bore a resemblance to Blythe Danner circa 1991 (when she was in The Prince of Tides). *shrug* I guess he has no respect for the “unwashed masses”… emphasis on masses. I’m sorry to say that COVID and the onset of menopause, plus my love of boozy libations, has done a terrible number on the size of my ass. It’s too bad I never learned to play tennis or golf. Maybe I’d be more the type of person that guy likes to hang around with. His wife, by the way, seemed a lot nicer than her (I assume) husband. We shared a shrug and bemused smile when there was a sudden crash outside.
I don’t want to dwell too long on this first impression of the other passengers. It’s just that this guy gave off serious narcissistic “boomer” vibes. He sort of exuded masculine power. He was handsome and tall, appeared to be very fit, and if I were to guess, I’d assume he comes from the southern USA (as I do) and has a longstanding membership at a country club (as I don’t). He seemed much like someone very privileged who doesn’t like to mingle with people who either aren’t physically attractive to him, or don’t share his level of financial success.
I could be totally wrong, of course, and I realize that I’m judging him as much as I perceived him judging me. But I’m pretty good at observing body language, and his body language told me to keep my distance. So I did that… but later, I also noticed him in the Observation Lounge with his very slim and attractive wife. She was always walking several paces behind him and seemed very much like a second banana to his self-presumed awesomeness. I guess he wanted her to keep her distance, too, lest she cast a shadow on his narcissistic glow. Yes, she was well dressed and very pretty, even in her (I assume) 60s. She and her husband exuded an obvious air of wealth and prosperity. But… I sure wouldn’t want to trade places with her.
We all clambered aboard the first of many tour buses. A beautiful Swedish woman wearing a Regent jacket and scarf took attendance, then wished us a pleasant journey and got off the bus. It was now her job to welcome the departing cruisers from the voyage before ours who were staying for a night in the Nobis Hotel. These were folks who’d had Regent arrange their air, or booked post cruise tours, which Bill and I did not do.
I was excited to catch my first glimpse of the Splendor, which was built in 2020-21 and carries a maximum of 746 passengers. Splendor’s godmother is none other than supermodel, Christie Brinkley. It seems very fitting that such a beautiful ship should have a supermodel as her godmother.
But before we could embark, we had to go through security and pick up our new ID cards. So we got in line and soon found ourselves talking to a very young man– I’d guess maybe aged 19 or 20– who asked us if we’d been vaccinated for COVID and wanted to know if we’d been feverish or had diarrhea in the days immediately prior to our sailing. Then, much to my amusement, he asked me if I was pregnant. Ordinarily, such a question might irritate the hell out of me (as it did in France back in 2014). But… since I turned 51 years old three days before that conversation took place, I simply had to laugh and say, “No, I’m not pregnant.” If I had been more on my toes verbally, I might have added, “That ship has sailed.” 😉
But instead, I added, looking at Bill, “And he’s not pregnant, either.” As one commenter on Cruise Critic pointed out, you just never know these days. 😀 We shared a quick laugh, and eagerly made our way to the gangplank.
Here are a few photos from our journey from Nobis Hotel to the port in Stockholm, Sweden.
Stockholm is lovely. We will have to go back and properly explore it.Anchors aweigh!
I really wish we’d had more time to visit Stockholm. It was our second time in the city, but once again, we were unable to explore it because it was on the end of a cruise. Our 2009 Vision of the Seas cruise ended in Stockholm, and we had to rush back to Germany because Bill (still in the Army at the time) had a conference he had to attend.
This time, we missed a proper tour because I wasn’t able to easily book two nights there, due to our stay at the Nobis Hotel booked by Regent. It was possible to book a second night or simply stay in a different hotel, but that would have required some finagling and probably paying more than we needed to. As it turned out, we decided it was better to just relax in the hotel, since we were both battling colds, as were a lot of other passengers. More on that in a subsequent post.
The featured photo was taken on a day cruise we took in Oslo, Norway, back in 2009.
It’s not so often that I travel blog during the work week. We have the pandemic to thank for that, as it made taking normal trips a lot more difficult for the past couple of years. In 2023, things are pretty much back in full swing. I expect Europe will be, once again, teeming with people this summer. In fact, I expect there will be more people than ever.
A week ago, we did a champagne bucket draw, and Finland won. That meant planning a trip that included a stop in Finland. I marvel at the changes our plans have undergone within about ten days. We went from planning a Helsinki based trip that would include land based stops in the Baltic countries, to pulling the trigger on a luxury cruise, with a week in Norway beforehand.
When you see the words “luxury cruise” in my blog post, of course it goes without saying that this trip is going to be pricey. We are going to sail on Regent Seven Seas’ newest completed ship, Splendor, in June. An even newer ship, Grandeur, will be sailing this year, but I don’t think she’s had her maiden voyage yet. So, as of this writing, Splendor, which was built in 2020, is Regent’s newest. This will also be the newest ship we’ve ever sailed on, as we usually opt for either SeaDream or Hebridean Island Cruises, both of which offer luxury on much smaller and older vessels.
One of many Regent Splendor cruise ship tour videos on YouTube.
I chose this particular cruise on Regent mostly because of the itinerary, which includes a stop in Helsinki, as well as most of the Baltic locations we wanted to visit, along with a couple of other stops. It’s not our first Baltic cruise, though.
Our very first cruise was on Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas, back in 2009, and that was also a Baltic cruise. It was only four nights, and included stops in Tallin, Estonia and Copenhagen, Denmark, with embarkation in Oslo, Norway, and debarkation in Stockholm, Sweden. On that trip, we spent a couple of nights in Oslo, which we both really enjoyed. The cruise was loaded with Norwegians, and we found that we really enjoyed their joie de vivre. 😉 Later, we encountered a friendly bunch of them on our second SeaDream cruise and vowed we’d visit Norway again. So that’s why we’re doing a week in Norway, too… and staying longer, so we can see more of Norway than just the city of Oslo. Below are a few photos from our cruise from Norway to Sweden in 2009… As you can see, I need to take more photos of beautiful Norway, at the very least! That was before I had an iPhone.
When I saw Regent’s June 23 Stockholm to Copenhagen cruise, I knew it was a no brainer to book it, because I was finding it very difficult to plan a land based trip including Finland and the Baltics… And yes, before anyone comes at me, I know there’s a large body of water we’d have to cross to get to the Baltics. I was planning a few days in Finland, then a ferry ride to Tallin, where I naively thought we could arrange train travel or maybe rent a car or something… At this writing, a train route is being constructed to make that vision come to fruition in the future. As of now, though, it’s just not convenient. 😉 I also realized Bill wouldn’t want to be driving so much, and I wouldn’t want to be flying so much.
The cruise solution was simply more practical, and it was available during the time we wanted to travel. And– we had the money to pay for it, thanks to a big tax refund. Even better was the fact that the sailing I found was on sale… which was a damned good thing. In fact, I should have waited another week, because the price went down again, and it was quite a significant drop! Some people would probably tell me to cancel and rebook, but I’ve already had lots of words with my bank. Oh well… you win some, you lose some.
Anyway… last night, we were trying to decide how long we wanted to stay in the places we’re visiting before the cruise, and how we wanted to travel to them. It didn’t take us long to decide to visit Bergen, which is a very beautiful city on Norway’s west coast that offers enchanting scenery, fresh seafood, and lots to do. However, from Oslo, it takes seven hours to drive there or take the train. We could also fly; that takes just an hour. But if we fly, we’ll miss the incredibly beautiful scenery on the way, and have to deal with everything that flying entails nowadays.
I thought maybe we’d drive and stop somewhere on the way, maybe do some exploration. Unfortunately, renting a car in Norway, especially for a one way trip with drop off in another city, is VERY expensive. Gas and food are also very expensive in Norway, plus there are tolls on the road we’d be using.
The route from Oslo to Bergen is also rather devoid of places to stay. There are a lot of apartments to rent, and a few hotels that are either in the middle of nowhere or have dodgy reviews. I wouldn’t mind renting an apartment, but I’d hate to do that for just an overnight. Most of the ones I found were pretty bare bones, too. I did manage to find several hotels that allowed me to book now and pay later, and can be canceled up to the day of arrival. Clarion Hotels for the win! They even have a hotel out in the middle of nowhere that I considered booking, but then I thought again.
Finally, I think we decided we’d just take the train… which means we now have to decide if we want to leave at 8:23AM or 12:05PM. The later trip is notably less expensive, but slower. I suspect we’ll go for the morning time, so we can get to Bergen in the afternoon. If we wanted to spend another night in Oslo, we could get a really (relatively) cheap train fare… but then we’d be paying for another night in Oslo, which is legitimately a nice city, but one we’ve already seen. It’s not a super pretty town, either, although I do remember enjoying the day cruise we took on the Oslo Fjord in 2009.
So, once I found a hotel that offers parking, in case we drive after all, I went to book plane tickets. A flight from Bergen to Stockholm takes one hour and twenty minutes. I found seats on SAS– Scandinavian Airlines (although when I hear SAS, it reminds me of a cursed statistics program I had to use in grad school). I tried to book with my PenFed card, but for some reason, PenFed refuses to send texts with codes to overseas phone numbers, nor will they send the confirmation codes to emails. So that means I can’t authorize charges through their stupid two factor authentication program.
I went to USAA, which did successfully send me a text. But, even though I entered all of my information, gave them a fingerprint, and tried to authorize the charge, they still declined it and blocked my card. At 10PM, I was calling USAA– for the second time in a week– to ask them to unblock my card and authorize payment, so we can get from Bergen to Stockholm. The lady I spoke to last night was very nice and professional, unlike the other person I talked to a few days ago, who was quite rude to me.
We finally got the plane tickets sorted, and now we just have to confirm where we’ll be sleeping for our night in Stockholm. I had wanted to stay longer in Stockholm, since we never really got to see the city when we were there in 2009, but that would have meant arranging for another night there. Our night in Stockholm is already included in our cruise fare, so adding another would mean going to another hotel or paying more to Regent. I think we’d prefer another night in Bergen, anyway.
All that’s left to do now is buy train tickets, or arrange for a car to get us from Oslo to Bergen. I’ve even mostly paid off the credit card companies. I paid off the deposit and Lufthansa tickets last week, which I booked through PenFed. Then, this morning, I accidentally paid USAA for the rest of the cruise fare. I had only meant to send them $1000 today, but ended up requesting to pay the whole bill. Luckily, there was enough money to pay for it. Thanks again to Bill’s decision to pay taxes all year and get a refund, we had the cash available. Edited to add: I just got us our train tickets… good thing, too, because the seats were already sold out, and I had to get us a compartment for six people instead. That was another $500. At least it’s changeable and refundable.
Living in Germany sure has been good for us…
But dammit… the fares went down 2,000 euros this week!!!!
Oh well. We’re sure to have a great time. I look forward to blogging about it, and experiencing new places on a different cruise line. I’ll be surprised if I’ll want to give up small ship cruising for Regent permanently, but we’ll see. I suspect that if I ever spot a hot deal like the one they’re offering right now for our cruise, I’ll want to jump on it. Especially if we have the money!
If you’re curious about what we’re in for on our journey from Oslo to Bergen, have a look at a couple of videos… I think it will be unforgettable.
Let’s hope for sunny weather!
Looks good!
And yes, I know we don’t have to spend this much money to have a good time… but I have definitely done my fair share of cheap traveling. It’s nice to have an upgraded experience, and I’m grateful we have the opportunity. We never thought the day would come.
Again, cross-posted on the main blog… The featured photo was taken on the car ferry from Denmark to Germany, back in 2019.
Yesterday, I wrote about my apprehension about booking a cruise. I termed it a “true first world problem.” Aye– as my Scottish ancestors would say– that it is. Twenty-four hours ago, as I was pondering whether or not I wanted to spend big bucks on a luxury cruise in the Baltic region, I started looking for alternatives.
A friend of mine had suggested touring the Norwegian fjords on Hurtigruten, which is, of course, a perfectly good suggestion. However, if I had decided to go for the fjords, that would have completely negated using the champagne bucket to choose where to go. The Norwegian fjords are a place I’d love to see the right way, and a cruise is probably the right way to go. But it wasn’t one of the choices for this particular trip. Moreover, I never asked for alternative suggestions.
I still decided to look into the Norwegian fjords experience and found that besides Hurtigruten, there’s another line that does cruises along the fjords. Maybe at some point we’ll pull the trigger on that. I did look into short cruises in Norway for the days we’ll be there, but they aren’t very convenient to our plans.
After a short while, I stopped researching travel possibilities, and turned my attention to my guitar, which badly needed new strings. I don’t play it so often that I routinely change the strings. But, it had gotten to the point at which I had forgotten when I had last changed them. The old ones were starting to get discolored, and weren’t staying tuned well. So, as much as I hate changing the strings, but love the results of changing them, once they stretch, I knew it was a job that urgently needed doing. I had just put one string on when my phone rang.
It was someone from Regent Seven Seas Cruises calling. I felt confident in answering, since I knew Bill was already agreeable to my booking the cruise, once we confirmed the correct price. The cruise specialist, whose name is Andrea, is from Germany. She thought I was German too, and was speaking German to me, even though I had made contact in English. I didn’t realize it, but the voicemail on my phone is in German… No one ever calls me, so I didn’t know. I thought the call was coming from Germany, but actually, it was a U.S. based call that somehow looked like it came from Germany.
Andrea and I got to talking, and it turns out she lives in Florida, which is where Regent is based. She’s been there since 1991. I always find myself bonding with Germans in the U.S., since I’m an American in Germany. As we discussed the cruise, we talked about how we ended up in each other’s countries. In many ways, Germany is kind of like the U.S., but I find that the U.K. feels more like home to me than Germany does, even though people drive on the other side of the road and kids wear uniforms to school.
Andrea said that my request went to her, because I am in Germany. She handles all clients from Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, even though she’s based in Florida. It was still very early in the morning where she lives when we were talking– maybe 5:30AM! Nevertheless, she was wide awake and friendly. I guess she’s a morning person like Bill is. All of our documents are in German. Andrea says there’s nothing she can do about that, since I’m in Germany. Google Chrome will save us, I’m sure…
It didn’t take long for Andrea to sell me on Regent. I put down a deposit on the cruise. I would have just paid for the whole thing, since the cruise is coming up in June, but I used my credit card with a lower limit, and the whole cruise costs more than the limit is. I used that card rather than the other one, because I knew it was less likely to get declined for “suspicious activity”. Both of my cards usually have zero balances. I rarely use them because it took me forever to pay them off when we were less affluent. The deposit didn’t raise any red flags, which made me feel confident about using my card (mistake).
Bill got home later and I proposed booking the flights. I was thinking of flying into Stavanger or Bergen, since we had never been to either of those beautiful towns, and we have been to Oslo. But it turned out there weren’t any flights that worked with boarding Noyzi and didn’t cost an arm and a leg. Like… there was an attractive flight that would have worked, except it left at 10:30AM, and that wasn’t enough time to get Noyzi to the Hundepension and get ourselves checked in at the airport. So, Oslo it is…
I had no idea that Norway’s cities were so far apart. Stavanger looks like it’s not that far from Oslo, but it’s a seven or eight hour car ride or train trip. Bergen, likewise, is hours away by car or train. There are cheap flights available, and we may decide to avail ourselves of one, just so we can get a feel for a city other than Oslo. But, we did also enjoy visiting Oslo when we were there in 2009, and that was at a time when we had a lot less money.
Oslo is also closer to Stockholm, which is where we will be meeting the ship. We haven’t seen anything in Stockholm except the cruise port, which is where our first Baltic cruise in 2009 ended. It was a four night “short break” on Royal Caribbean, and we started in Oslo and stopped in Tallin and Copenhagen, then ended in Stockholm. We couldn’t enjoy the city, because Bill had a conference in Garmisch-Partenkirchen the next day. So, we hopped a plane to Munich. I spent the next week taking tours out of the Edelweiss MWR Lodge while Bill tended to his Army duties. We had flown to Oslo from Munich, and when we got back to the parking garage, the car battery was dead, necessitating a call to ADAC. Plus, our bags didn’t make the flight, and had to be brought to us in Garmisch.
This time, we will end in Copenhagen, a city we’ve been to twice, but haven’t had much of a chance to really enjoy. The first time, it was on that short cruise, that only allowed a few hours in town. The second time was in 2019, when we were passing through on our way home with our new car and stopped for a night of rest as we continued onward to Rostock, Germany. This trip will at least give us a full day to enjoy Denmark. We’ll spend a couple of nights there before coming home on July 2.
So, off I went to Lufthansa to book our flights, after confirming with Bill which ones we wanted. I input all of the information, then tried to use my trusty credit card to pay. Sure enough, it was declined. I called up PenFed and explained that I was trying to book my vacation. I should have probably asked them to raise the limit on that card, too. Maybe next time I call…
The tickets are now booked. All I have to do now is decide on hotels in Norway and Denmark and maybe book transportation to Stockholm. A flight from Oslo takes an hour, but a train is much more scenic and is about five hours of fun. 😉 Oh… and I also need to choose excursions and restaurant reservations for the cruise, since they are included in the fare.
It’s hard to believe, just a few days ago, I was agonizing over all of this. It’s all coming together now, like magic. I wasn’t planning to do a cruise, but this may turn out to be a bit of a Godsend. If it turns out we really love any of the places we see, we can come back and do a land based tour, as I originally planned. They are now building a railway in the Baltics that will make it a lot easier to travel there. And I do want to go and spend more than a few hours. We already know we like Tallinn from our 2009 trip, and Bill enjoyed Riga when he went.
I know… first world problem, and maybe I should be ashamed of myself for writing about it. But, at least this isn’t a cranky complaint post about politics or similarly unpleasant topics.
For those who are curious, here’s a video highlighting the ship we’re going to be on. Yes, it’s expensive, but it’s not like you don’t get a lot for the money. This is also not our usual style. We normally prefer much smaller ships, and that generally means the ships we’re on are usually much older. Splendor was built in 2020. Hebridean Princess, by contrast, was built in 1964 as a car ferry and later became a cruise ship in 1989. SeaDream I was built in 1984. I think Vision of the Seas is 1998 vintage, and I’m not even sure if it’s still in service.
A new experience for us… revisiting the region where we had our very first cruise. This time, we’re taking more time and spending way more money!
We booked a Concierge Suite.
Again, I chose this entirely for the itinerary, and the fact that it’s an all inclusive cruise. I’m not a Regent cheerleader, and I’m not sure we’ll give up small ships for this. But then again, maybe we will. We won’t know until we actually have the experience. At least now, I’ll have something new to write about on the travel blog!
By the way… I was very impressed by Andrea. I hope she’s a representative of most of the people who work for Regent. She seems pretty awesome… but then, maybe it’s because Germans demand it. 😀
Cross posted on my main blog. The featured photo was taken in 2019, when Bill and I went to Sweden to pick up our car and drove it on a Nordic adventure.
I’m in the midst of trying to plan a summer vacation/birthday trip for Bill and myself. Because of the whole COVID-19 odyssey, and the seemingly endless lockdowns that followed, we’ve decided that this year, we’d like to fly somewhere. And because there are a lot of places in Europe we still want to see, we decided to choose our destination using the “champagne bucket” method.
I’ve written about the champagne bucket method on this blog. Basically, I got the idea for it from “blind bookings” on Germanwings (now known as Eurowings). I’m not sure if Eurowings still does blind bookings, but Lufthansa does, and Lufthansa owns Eurowings. It basically involves booking a surprise flight, and usually paying a lower fare. You don’t know where you’re going until after you pay for the ticket(s). Bill and I have done it four times to great success. We visited Barcelona, London, Berlin, and Munich that way.
When we moved back to the States, I decided that it wouldn’t be hard to plan more of our vacations that way. Instead of relying on the airline, we just put our choices on slips of paper and put them in the champagne bucket. Then, Bill picks one of the slips out of the bucket.
I was really rooting for a trip to Armenia and possibly Georgia this summer. That was one of the choices, too. Bill was a bit reluctant, because of political and military issues going on in Armenia right now. We may still go there this year, but for a short trip to Yerevan, instead of an all out country tour. Then, I can show Bill where I lived, when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer, and sign him up for a more extensive trip. 😉
Anyway, when we did our champagne bucket challenge, Bill ended up choosing Finland. Neither of us has ever been there before. We have been to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Estonia together. Bill has also been to Latvia a couple of times on business. Neither of us has seen Lithuania, but we’ve met people from there and Latvia on cruises.
Originally, I was planning for us to go to Helsinki and do a land based trip, then go by ferry to Tallinn, Estonia, stay a few days, and work our way south to Latvia and Lithuania, before flying back. Then I started researching and discovered, there’s no easy way to travel to Latvia and Lithuania that doesn’t involve riding a bus. We considered renting a car, but that seemed potentially risky.
So then I thought, maybe instead of trying to hit the Baltic capitals, I could go west. Visit Finland, do a day trip in Tallinn, then head west toward Norway, which we know we love. Then I thought, maybe it would be better to start in Norway, and head east to Finland, then go to Tallinn and spend a night or two…
Then I realized how expensive flights would be… plus the stress and inconvenience involving finding transportation, hauling bags, and booking hotels… and although I’d already looked for cruises and initially didn’t see any I liked, I kept getting ads for Regent Seven Seas on Facebook. And Regent is– or was– considered a luxury line, although it’s a much bigger ship than we usually go for when we cruise.
I noticed they had a cruise available during the time we plan to travel. It starts June 23 and ends June 30, and hits ports in Sweden, Helsinki, Estonia, Latvia, and Denmark. We could still go to Norway and do a land based trip, working our way to Stockholm, a city we’ve been to, but didn’t really get to explore at all in 2009. Best of all, the cruise in question is on sale. It’s still expensive, but doable for us. We wouldn’t even have to stay in the cheapest stateroom. I pitched the idea to Bill, who liked it.
I started making a booking request. It took about a half dozen times to finally get registered. I mismatched my email address, or added one too many dots in the address, or the passwords didn’t match. Finally, I had my account, and started to make the request.
But the stateroom I wanted was listed as twice as expensive than was advertised. While we technically could do it, I’d rather spend that much money on a new car or a down payment on a house. So I stopped making the request, and sent an inquiry to Regent, asking them to confirm that the cruise is on sale.
About an hour later, I got a phone call through my iPad, which I wasn’t prepared to answer, as I was reading something to Bill. I also got a message, written in German, indicating that the cruise is on sale, and inviting me to call between 11am and 8pm today. I sent a message back in English, asking if I have to call to get that rate, and clarifying that I’m American and can’t speak German worth a damn. 😉
Then I went on Cruise Critic and started reading reviews and comments on the messageboards. The consensus is, the ship I’m looking at booking is beautiful, although Regent has “gone downhill” in recent years. Bill and I have done cruises on Royal Caribbean, SeaDream, and Hebridean Island Cruises. SeaDream and Hebridean, like Regent, are considered luxury and are all inclusive. However, they are much smaller ships. So Regent would be a different cruise experience for us, and it would offer some convenience, as we’d be hitting places we want to visit– albeit for a shorter time than we would personally plan for ourselves.
I truly am attracted to the cruise because of the itinerary and the time the cruise is going. I don’t have particularly high expectations of great service or being treated like royalty. A cruise just offers a convenient way to cross some items off our bucket list.
On the other hand, I was kind of looking forward to a deeper dive into the areas, and exploring more on our own. Also, there’s less chance of running into people with whom we don’t mesh when we do land based trips, or getting sick from any number of viruses on ships. I like to plan trips and look for interesting places to stay. I guess the pre cruise travel to Norway would offer that, but I was kind of wanting to get more of a feel for Finland.
Either way, this trip is going to be expensive. Good thing Bill got a generous raise this year. We do have the money, too… at least for the cruise. I’m just not used to having that, either… being somewhat well-heeled is kind of a new experience for us.
Sigh… a trip to Armenia would be a lot more economical. On the other hand, if I develop a bleeding stomach ulcer, I’d feel better about seeking treatment in a nordic country. 😉
This is truly a first world problem. I’m sure I should just go for it and see what happens. We’ve had some great times on cruises and made some friends. And a bonus is, since Regent ships are a lot bigger, there’s less chance I’ll get seasick this time.
We’ll see what happens. I may scrap the idea of the cruise. It is tempting, though… Regent is probably more comfortable than the Stockholm to Helsinki ferry.
Those of you who regularly read my travel blog might remember that in August 2021, when it came time for Bill and me to visit our dentist in Stuttgart, we decided to book a stay at the Hotel Engel Obertal in Baiersbronn. We spent four pleasant nights at that luxury property and mostly really enjoyed ourselves. While we were staying at that hotel, we visited a restaurant owned by the Hotel Bareiss called the Forellenhof Buhlbach. I noticed a number of guests who were enjoying fresh trout there were also staying at Hotel Bareiss. I didn’t know much about the place, other than it’s where one of the two Three Star Michelin restaurants in Baiersbronn is. I also knew that Hotel Bareiss is considered a pretty swanky place to stay.
In August, Bill rescheduled our dental appointments, to accommodate the Hundepension taking care of our dogs, Arran and Noyzi. Since we moved to Wiesbaden and COVID-19 has been less of an issue, we’ve been combining our trips to Stuttgart with “mini breaks”. Last year, we did Baiersbronn, for instance. In the spring, we went to Sessenheim, France, and stayed in a beautiful little boutique hotel with a gourmet restaurant. I was considering staying in another nice place we haven’t yet been, when I remembered the Bareiss Hotel, and how curious I was about it. So I checked their availability for our dates…
Sure enough, they had room in their “Landhaus”, which is where some of the hotel’s suites and apartments are. After talking about it with Bill– especially given the steep price of the room– we decided to book it. And, because of the steep cost, and the contractual obligation to pay soon after we booked, I also bought travel insurance. It made sense, since the original quote– just for five nights in the room, parking in a garage, and half board, was about 3700 euros. That may seem like a lot, and it is. But you get a lot for your money at this hotel. Besides offering a comfortable place to stay, the Bareiss also has daily activities and many facilities, an awesome spa and sauna world, a huge pool complex with several pools, most of which can be used year round, walking trails, a petting zoo, and lots of child friendly attractions. It’s also an extremely dog friendly hotel, although there is a daily 35 euro charge for each dog.
Having just left the hotel this morning, I can say that the high price was mostly worth it. I liked the Bareiss more than Hotel Engel Obertal. The food was exceptional, especially considering that we mostly ate from the board program, rather than a la carte. The staff is mostly excellent, too. I did have a few quibbles about a few things, which I’ll get to as I write the blow by blow account of our trip. But– overall– I can say that we did enjoy ourselves very much.
I just wish we’d had better weather, because there were some outdoor activities I wanted to do while we were visiting. However, not doing those activities meant that we got to enjoy a couple of fabulous mornings in the pool and sauna world. They were not at all crowded, and were on par with some of the best public mineralthermes/spas/quellens we’ve been to. Imagine going to your favorite pool based spa with almost no one there, competing for resources. That’s what it was like for us at the Hotel Bareiss at this time of year, when most children are in school. I think if you’re a couple or a bunch of ladies who want a relatively quiet and less child populated experience at this property, definitely book in late September or October! In the summer, I’m sure it’s a hell of a lot more crowded and expensive! But then, the weather is also sunnier.
I’m going to start from the beginning of our five night stay and give a very detailed account, then do my usual quick and dirty top ten things I learned post, for those who want to skip the details. I hope you’ll come along with me on our latest Black Forest journey!
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