What is the "annual free night" stay thing? We probably don't have enough Priority points, but didn't think about checking into that. Good info Marcie.

JoAnn,

Believe Marcie is referring to the free annual nite she/Tom earn for having the Priority Club Select Visa card.

If you do not have this credit card, there are currently two Priority Club Select Visa offers:

80K Priority points on first spend, annual fee of $49 waived.

https://ccsic.fni-stl.com/cgi-bin/IHG.pl

The above link does not mention the 80K points but multiple posts on Flyer talk applied within the last few weeks, called and confirmed they will get 80K points.

60K offer:

https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/ihg-credit-card.aspx

Applying for the Priority Visa, on first spend you will get either 80K or 60K Priority points depending on which offer you use. 50K Priority points will give you one night at the IC in Hong Kong. If both Frank and you applied for this visa, you would have more than enough points for two nights at the IC and then you would both get a free anniversary nite a year from now (tho u would have to pay the $49 annual fee for this card).

Thanks for the info Wes, appreciate it. Will check it out.

Thanks Wes....you explained it all far better than I could. We have been very happy with the Chase Priority cards (Tom & I each have one) The annual fee is well worth getting the free night each year as we use it for $$$$ hotels that we otherwise wouldn't be staying in.

JoAnne, another good credit card that gives you two free nights per card is the Chase Hyatt. We each got one of those and used the free nights in Sydney and in San Francisco, both very $$$ cities.

The Hyatt card got us free nights in Moscow where the simple rooms went for well over $1,000 per night.
Great deal.

Doug

PS: the Hyatt status given w/ the card doesn't hurt AND no foreign exchange fees!

There was a company that offered major health & evac services. I cannot recall the name.
Help. anyone?

Doug

Med Jet is what many of us have

Thanks, Marcie

Just a quick side note:

AARP offers a pretty good discount to members on Med Jet. It is well in excess of the AARP membership fee.
I'm not a big fan of AARP's politics, but the discount could be a reason to join. (The United Airlines credit card gave me a free membership to AARP.)

Doug

So does Medjet provide both medical coverage, as well as evacuation? Do they cover anything else? We usually do CSA for these trips out of the US, but it is getting up there in dollars. How can I find out more about their coverage? We have AARP so it might be worth checking out if the give a discount. And, Doug are you saying that if we have a United mileage plus VISA card, we can get free membership in AARP? Geezzzz you guys are so much more knowledgeable about this stuff than we are.

JoAnn:

1. Yes, my United credit card offered me a free AARP membership. There are a number of different United credit cards. So, check which one you have & call them. I love free, so I took the membership.
2. MedJet seems to be only about getting you home once you are in a hospital. It appears that med coverage is something different and you should look elsewhere for that coverage. As I see it, the difference is that MedJet is a MUCH better way to get home with fewer situational requirements. But do your own research! We have not signed up, yet.
3. CSA is expensive. I am not really clear how their evac coverage works: ie: what trigers it & what it actually allows you to do. And, frankly, the cost seems to be more related to cancellation of a trip as opposed to the other items of insurance.
4. As far as finding out more.... go to the MedJet web site & read.

JoAnn: I'm still learning all this stuff, too. Please share anything you learn.

Doug

Thanks Doug, will definitely check it out.

add Pam and Jim 716

WOOPEE You made our day

Ralph and June

Joann, there are different med jet policies. Some are just for med evac but some cover actual medical treatment as well. Go to their website to check out.

Seconding what RachelG said. It definitely is basically an evacuation assurance AFTER you have been admitted to a hospital, but now there are other options. You really have to look at the plans and read, and decide what is best for you. Take the time to do this.

I used to have medical insurance everywhere in the world with my health insurance, now I do not, with Medicare and supp, so I plan for that if I think I might need it.

I have only used MedJet once, when I broke my arm on a land trip to England and the trip was cut short. We were not on a "tour", so hotel rooms all over the Cotswolds could be canceled by my daughter, whom I was visiting. We were there at Christmas time, I had a wonderful young female doctor who looked like the "Brave" Disney character. Flaming and curly red hair, I loved her. One day, she came into the room and sort of whispered to me, and said "I think you need to get yourself home".

In their national health system, she could not find a specialist I needed to perform this operation soon. A hip replacement man, yes, but not a shoulder replacement man. My daughter made my plans to come home, complete with the x-rays the hospital in Bath provided by their doctors to where I was going at home in Maryland, with a lot of help from her father, emailed to them in advance of my arrival.

I called MedJet, and they brought me home in biz class and were immediately responsive in reimbursing me for every extra cost for flight changes, etc. I had already arranged the flight changes, but they said "oh, we would have done that for you!" Next time, I'll just turn it over to them. I was happy to get that check that the airline charged me for the changes, etc.

lol, reading this over, I sound like I am a paid spokesperson, but I have known other Regent guests who have also needed this service in far more dire straits than mine.

Thanks Rachel and Olivia, I will definitely check it out. We have always done CSA when in Europe, and mainly for the reasons you mentioned Olivia that Medicare is not recognized outside of the US, and yes we have a supplemental, but I have always insisted on some minimal insurance when we leave No America, even though Frank grits his teeth, one just never knows, your story just emphasizes that Oliva.

Hi everyone. Sorry I have been late in posting here. Just some thoughts.

Medical evacuation is also a benefit of possessing the AMEX Platinum card. You don't have to use the card for anything. But it will pay only to get you to the nearest suitable medical facility, not necessarily back to the US. Although, they have been known to get people back to the US.

MedJet offers great flexibility if you're willing to pay for it.

I still have medical insurance through work that covers me outside the country for medical care and medical evacuation, but the way things are now I'm afraid I would die abroad while the insurance company was trying to figure out a way to deny the claim.

On the free hotel night offers with credit cards, I think these can be great and save a lot of money in certain foreign cities, but the offers are usually for standard rooms.

In Hong Kong we have been looking at club level rooms with harbor views, which are at least two grades above the standard rooms. I don't think you can usually upgrade those complimentary standard rooms, even with additional points, or money. But you can't beat free.

Tom.

You are correct, Tom, just standard rooms on free nights. When I have been to Asia, I seem to remember Peggy (pwolftx) being a great help. I can't even remember the hotels I've stayed in pre and post-cruise, all I know one was on a Harbor, maybe Hong Kong, loved watching the boats passing by all day and night. Peggy knows all about good deals thru hotel websites.

One way to get upgraded on free nights is to 1) be a gold or platinum level at most chains or ambassador level at Intercontinental and to request an upgrade at check-in. Most of the time, I haven't been upgraded to a suite or club level, but I have been upgraded to a better floor or larger room. The other way to get upgraded is if you pay for the first night and use upgrades for the remaining nights. I've never had a hotel ask me to move to a lesser room.

we've been upgraded quite a few times since many times we're traveling close enough to one of our birthdays or our anniversary and ALWAYS mention this at check in (sometimes we fudge a bit on our anniversary since date isn't in passport)

Also will share a site to get great hotel prices: www.lastminutetravel.com (and it doesn't have to be last minute either). We are going on a family Disney cruise and needed 3 rooms in FL for the night before. I was able to get 3 rooms at the 5 star Intercontinental on the bay for $102. per night, substantially less than near by 3 star hotels. If you use the coupon code ' mother30 ' you save additional $30.(there are other promotional codes as well depending on how much your total is www.lastminutetravel.com/coupons.aspx)
Also, it may or may not tell you the name of the hotel when you click "book it" but there's a phone # and it says "if you call you'll save additional $" and when you call they'll tell you the name of the hotel so you're not buying a pig in a poke. AND the room can be cancelled up to 3 days ahead with 100% refund. I think it's a terrific site.

You may look on that site to for rooms in Hong Kong or wherever you're traveling.

Sorry to report that we've cancelled this cruise and are going on Sandals (Miami to Lima and on to Buenos Aires) in January. Doesn't look like there's a roll call for Sandals, but if there were, we'd be on it.

well damn Peggy, we will miss you and Jerry. Actually I don't know how you keep up with all the ones you are on, LOL. You guys and Ken and Sheila seem to be on almost all of the roll calls. Needless to say we are green with envy.

Peggy there are about 35 - 40 people on Sandals most LCT regulars too. There is a roll call unless a post is made on a thread it does not come up in "active topics" where most of just look for new posts.

I will post there now that will make it show up on "active topics" here is the link too

http://www.luxurycruisetalk.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/237575/Sandals_roll_call.html#Post237575

Well I am one happy camper. We were booked coming home via FRA, LH to UA, not bad. Used 60,000 mile awards per person for biz class.

But I have been checking two or three times a week for the non stop UA, PEK to IAD looking for 60,000 mile award biz seats and this morning they were there. Called UA and got us switched and we are good to go. Same flight as Tom and Mona have as well.

Now I can quit worrying that and relax. Will check out that hotel site Marcie and see what they might offer.

I managed to get my flights in past day or two (using Ben's associate) using American points. Cathay Pacific F class to HKG via DCA and JFK. and return on AA biz class via ORD/DCA. 122.5K rt. Been wanting to try CX for awhile. Whew, glad that's over and done with, like JoAnn.

Great news Olivia. We've been trying to get two FC seats on our Cathay Pacific flight from LAX, but so far they haven't opened. I keep checking with AA, maybe it will happen closer in. If not I'm sure their biz class will be just fine.

So I just realized while looking at my account this morning that excursions open next week, July 9. Started checking into some of them, we are clueless in this area of the world. Not fond of 8 to 10 hour tours, but in a couple of ports, it seems like that is the only way to see things, as ports are sometimes an hour or more away from the city. Kind of like in Isreal.

Any suggestions of must do ones from those of you who have been there? We will be booking our excursions while at the beach in Florida next week, but any suggestions are most welcome.

Thanks for the heads up JoAnn.

Is it something I am doing wrong. I can not bring up the excursions when I go to the my cruises section of the Regent web site. Seems like the excursions should be loaded by now.

Can others see the excursions.

Ralph, I do remember finding it difficult to work my way to the excursions, but just kept picking around untill I got there. I see several, but other ports are noticeably absent of much. The big one that sticks out off-hand is Kyoto. Before one group cruise, I spent several days pre-cruise in that area alone. Known for Japanese gardens (I had always heard of Japanese gardens) and temples, there is only one excursion, and that is a place not even mentioned on any list of "must-do's" there. I remember having the formal tea ceremony here as well, not your typical European tea, more a "rite", almost! Someone has a lot to do before July 9 for that port alone!

JoAnn, above all, I would include an excursion in Hiroshima that included the museum and parks that surround the area of the A-bomb in WWII. Hiroshima last time I was there in this port was the most chilling, moving, saddest reminder of the atrocities of war that I had ever personally experienced to that time.

I have never been to Normandy, nor have I ever visited any sites to memorialize the holocaust and preserved as museums. But the visit we made to the American WWII graveyard in Belgium before the start of the Christmas market cruise (where General Patton is buried) on AMA after that (Japan) was equally moving, and overwhelmed me with sadness, and gratitude for the sacrifices of all the men we lost. Japan on the "other side" of course, but anyone with the opportunity should see it. I never felt from my tour, as an American visitor, that we were ever singled out as the "evil doers", as we as a nation in the end, were reacting to Pearl Harbor, perhaps, and the aftermath.

Other than that, I know I have watched Masaki flying a kite in South Korea or somewhere on PANDA! And in Taiwan, I have visited the National museum for a too-short tour, as there are so many treasures there that were taken out before the communists came to power. Sometimes you just can't do much with 4 hours, and most of those 8-10 hour ones may involve a lot of time on the bus getting too and from, or are just too tiring. Visiting, and climbing at least a part of the Great Wall is a must, of course!

Ralph,

Go to this page ( Excursion Link ) and click on the link that says: "Receive All Available Tours Via E-mail." (The link is just above the symbol for Light Activity/Walking.) Fill in your email address and the complete list of excursions will be emailed to you in short order. Hope this helps.

I just brought them up by bringing up the itinerary and then clicking on a specific port, and then scrolling down I could see the ones that have been loaded. Olivia is right though, a couple of the ports do not yet have anything showing, but most of them do.

Olivia, thanks for the suggestions, I think we will definitely do the Hiroshima one, had already talked about it. Kyoto is one we are thinking about as well even though its a long day.

Dave, Thank you , that helped a bunch. Still do not seem to get it on my own via the My cruises section of the Regent web site. Just tried again and got to the correct place. Does seem that not all excursions are loaded yet.

Hi all,
A bit late to the party but please add Rich & Joan to the roll-call, cabin 756. Looking forward to catching up with old friends (Zodiac, Leopard) and meeting new ones!

Welcome Joan & Rich, it will be great seeing you again.

FYI - Excursions may now be booked for PAGODA. Note that the excursions for Taipei, Okinawa and the Shanghai excursion called "Jewish Heritage of Shanghai" exist but are not yet loaded into the online booking system. I called Regent this morning was able to book excursions in those ports missing from the online system. The person I spoke with said he would report the omissions from the online booking system so, hopefully, the missing excursions will show up online shortly.

Thanks for the update Dave.

I booked a few things but the pickins are slim right now. I'll keep checking back. I wonder why all the excursions in Seoul are in the afternoon when we dock at 8:00am ?

I wondered that too Marcie, and also thought the selections were very slim and not too exciting.

When we were on the Mariner for 70+ days at the end of last year, most of the excursions lasted 3 1/2 to 4 hours with two 30 interest stops and one 60 minute shopping stop. Quite underwhelming for the most part.
Jim