Hello from the PG!!! We are happy to be on board, but the 3 days inSydney were very nice. Not having been on this shiip before, i will try to describe the changes. All of the carpeting in the halls/rooms is new. Red, and quite pretty. It would appear that all the bedding is new as well. The matresses are very firm, but comfortable. One thing we noticed are the wine glasses in the main dining room. On previous cruises, the nicest glasses were reserved for passengers that purchased a bottle. Now, all the wine glasses are the really pretty larger glasses. A tiny thing, but noticeable to us. Marc Conroy is aboard, and hosted a very nice coctail party at the hotel in Sydney. We missed it, as we had opera tickets, but i understand his speech was simple, did mention the name change but little else.

We stopped at a bottle shop (liquor store) on route to the ship, David "picked up" a case of Australian beer for our fridge. Of course we were on a bus full of passengers and held up the entire crowd . They were good about it though. Oh, we think the average age onboard is about 70. When we boarded, "someone" said to him, can i help you with that? He said sure, and handed this gentlemen the giant case of beer, proceeded to check in. I asked David if he realized the "bellman" was Marc Conroy. Everyone thought that was quite funny.

We are adjusting to the ship well, very, very bumpy. Our cabin attendant is sea sick. We are fine, but many are complaining. We anticipated this, and do have iron stomachs.

Well, off for now. My book and the pool beckons. I will keep in touch!!!
Cindy and David :rolleyes: :)

Cindy, thanks SO much for posting - of course, there are many of us wondering about the changes, and just about your cruise in general!

We are on the June 21 PG sailing and have every interest in the "new & improved" ship. And honestly, your vacation will feel like our vacation!

I am very glad you & David have iron stomachs! :) Hope to hear from you again soon! Enjoy every moment!!!

Cindy - good to hear from you. Glad you are having a great time. The irony of Mark Conroy being your bellman is a great story!
Thank you for posint

Wow - we have LCT people on all the ships reporting in!!! How exciting for us who are landlocked at the moment.

Hi Cindy! I am so glad to hear you are having a good time. I hope the ship settles down soon! I miss you and hope the rest of your cruise is perfect!

Hi Cindy, thanks for posting. so glad your cruise is off to a great start. I really liked the bellman story.

Nancy

Cindy,

LOVE your Sea Mail!! Keep having fun and please keep posting!!

Betty

Hi Cindy - hoping the seas calm down and glad you are taking it well (I would be sick). If your cabin attendant is seasick it must be rough! :eek:

Have a wonderful time and thanks for the Sea Mail!

Thanks for posting Cindy.

Too funny the story of your embarkation and the case of beer.

Hope the rough seas calm down soon.

Cindy, it's great to hear from you and get your impressions of the renovations.

I'm glad your iron stomachs are working for you now. Have a wonderful cruise.

Hi all, think we are a little more lucid now, boy sleep is a good thing. A couple of more things, they claim they used to have a cigar bar which is no more. The new bedding is really pretty with matching fabric head boards. Oh, one big thing, they have built 2 beautiful canopies at each side of the stairs at the pool to provide much needed shade up there. It looks great. Mr. Conroy is getting a good grilling let me tell you. The poor guy should probably stay in his room with his two bottles!!! We could give him a beer or two. We heard from some guest that they are asking him lots of questions, re: plans, and the ever important all inclusive issue. Tonight is the welcome reception, it should provide good stuff. We are chicken, stay to our selves, but get all the others to do our dirty work. The crew is just wonderful as always. OK, off for food and drink!!! Oh, Anne...... no word about this being the innaugural for the new Regent name. Cheers!!
Cindy and David

Cindy,
We dream of going on the PG when relocated back to the US. Your information regarding its updating and changes are welcome indeed. What a funny story about Marc Conroy and the beer....loved it! Enjoy the rest of your cruise.
Cheers, Pam

Good stuff, Cindy. Keep posting!

Masaki

Cindy - thanks for letting us virtually join you! Glad to hear Mark Conroy's still so responsive one-on-one to passengers .. or that he really likes Aussie beers and wanted to know where to get one! It's good he's onboard to hear directly from passengers. What's the old saying? That's why they pay him the proverbial big bucks.

Glad you are catching up on your sleep. The hop to Sydney is a big one for jet lag (at least for me). Doing it in December/January or June/July is also when the amount of daylight is most different from the US. Difference in length of day seems to throw me off more than if I make that hop in March or September when daylight is relatively constant.

If you know, I'd be interested in who is the hotel director, food & beverage manager and cruise director on this sailing.

I hope it's a similar shade of red in the hallway carpeting to what they had in May. I thought it worked really well on the ship .. not all aboard agreed (of course! that's what makes a market.)

The canopies on the sun deck are a much-needed improvement. I may have brunette hair, but very fair (and burnable) skin. I didn't sit out on the deck except for mornings and late afternoons to minimize sunburn.

The cigar bar no more was just above Apicius on Deck 6 and just below La Palette - same sized venue. It is now the four C cabins at the back of deck 7. I'm wondering if the folks in the new stern C cabins are finding it noisy when other passengers use the back outside stairs.

Let us know if they do announce the name change to Regent on the sailing. Does the smokestack have the harp logo or is a stylized R?

Anxiously awaiting your next check-in, and very glad you are tolerating the bouncy seas so well.

Cheers, Anne

Cindy, that's good news about the canopies on the pool deck, that would be a big improvement. Keep the reports coming!

Good report Cindy - thanks for checking in.

Love the story of Mark Conroy and the case of beer.

Hi Cindy! Thanks for the seamail and PG update. The ship sounds great.

Really enjoyed the Marc Conroy story.

Hope you have calmer seas. Have a wonderful time and please keep the seamail coming our way!

I love that they've put some shade on the pool deck. Thanks for the seamail, Cindy!

Cindy, maybe you can organize a sit-in and refuse to get off the ship until Mr. Conroy announces that the ships are going all-inclusive!

Hi Cindy, thanks for your reports. It's great to have a first-hand account of the renovations!

Regarding the new cabins on deck 7 aft - if you hear any buzz about them or have a chance to peek in - I'd be interested in knowing the pros and cons.

Hope you continue to have a good trip!

Dena

posted a new topic about a meeting today, all inclusive appears to be in our future Karen...... I am heading off to toast that decision now!!!!
Cindy

Cindy, you did a good job securing our beloved dream of all-inclusiveness!!

Ditto what Karen said!

Great job Cindy!! We can only assume it was your influence.

Cindy and David,
Thanks so much for taking the time to check in with us! Reading your posts really brings me back to the wonderful time we had on the PG Oct 2005.

I just loved the story about Mr. Conroy! He was extremely kind in giving us some very special perks when we were on the PG. I would love to thank him in person some day! He must be a very down to earth person.

Babs