Onboard! Home!!

I already learned something new; don't book first night dining as way to get additional dining reservation; you need to book any night EXCEPT the first and then add first night as soon as you are onboard. The dining reservation desk has replaced the puzzle; now I need to go find where they moved the puzzle to.

More later..

Marc

PS Wonderful Assistant F&B from Explorer greeted us as soon as we came onboard. Stephane also onboard. We are in for a wonderful dining experience.

Bon voyage, Marc and Arlene! What an adventure you are embarking on! Wishing you the best of times.
--------------------
Helen

Are you referring to Kseniia (Asst. F&B)? She was on Voyager when were were onboard last month - indeed she is exceptional. Tell her hello from Cindy & David.

Have a great cruise you guys. What a way to officially start retirement!!

Congratulations on your official retirement cruise. Have a wonderful time!

Mark and Arlene - have a wonderful cruise. What an amazing way to start the next chapter of your life.

We look forward to your updates.

Marc and Arlene, we are so happy for you! Congratulations on your retirement, Marc, and we hope you two enjoy this well-deserved, lonnnnng cruise. Lots of seamail, please :)

Miss you guys and wish you all the best!

A couple more observations:

I was able to be simultaneously logged in on iPhone, laptop, and ship's computer; when I logged off of ship's computer I was still logged in on other two. No pushing to logoff; they finally realized being logged in "usually" does not impact bandwidth unless you have automated backups or updates.

Fantastic dinner in Chartreuse. Stephane is Maitre' d. They had a "special" of filet, crab, and lobster; very well prepared. Wonderful service.

Lots of bar staff from Explorer; everyone has remembered my drink orders.

Palermo a nice four hour tour; not a place I would go out of my way to come back to but a nice walk.

Ship is totally full. All 700 left for excursions between 1000 and 1030 and all arrived back between 200 and 230; La Verandah and Pool deck slammed. Took us a while to even get on board as only one crew member swiping keycards.

Tonight - room service! Cabins redone nicely; plenty of room; easy to set up dinner; we are really looking forward to it.

More later . . .

Marc pretty much already posted what I was going to post. The dinner in Chartreuse last night was exceptional. One of the best I have ever had. I looked at the menu on the TV in the afternoon and the cheese souffle was not listed! I told Marc I wanted to get off the ship then and there if they didn't have the cheese souffle in Chartreuse any more! Alas, when we got the actual menu in the restaurant it was there, so all was good with the world again. (Can you tell I love that shuffle? I have even been known to order it for dessert). The preparation on Voyager is a bit different from the one on the Explorer, but very good too. The filet with crab and lobster was phenomenal. Lobster cooked perfectly. What a way to start the cruise.

The ship is completely full. I talked to one of the staff today and they said there is not a single cabin free. It feels it too. This morning at breakfast in La Veranda, it was a madhouse. I have never seen it so packed, No tables available, they were sending people out to eat on the pool deck. The staff was really working their tales off, keeping everything going and bussing tables as fast as they could. At one point I couldn't even get a plate, but that was soon remedied. A mad house for sure, but a very efficient one. All the tours came back at the same time and only La Veranda and the pool deck were open for lunch. I just got a couple of slices of pizza and took it to the suite. Marc had to sit at the pool bar to eat as there was no other place available. Did I say it was packed? It is a strange feeling to actually be waiting in lines on Regent, I think a first for me, but they are handling it very well. The ship and cabin are in great shape and staff is wonderful. No complaints here, that is for sure!

So excited to be able to follow your adventures. The Voyager sure does sound packed, what cabin are you in ? Tom & I will always have such special memories of our cruises on the Voyager. I'm glad she's lookin' good !! Thanks for taking us along with you.

Been a great few days. Good excursions in Malta and Crete. Fun trivia team yet we haven't broken through for a win; got a tie for third with 13 today. Good meals in Chartreuse, Room Service, P7, and Compass Rose (twice). Great service in all bars including pool bar and pool deck. I have gone back to doing the various token activities. Since the gal running most of the activities gives three reward points just for participating, and I had a fantastic time at croquet; I picked up a total of 20 reward points yesterday. I am going to start doing the daily quiz for a chance for more.

We are headed now for Suez Canal. Canal, Luxor, and Aqaba are main interests for almost all pax on this cruise. A sea day, transit of canal, two days in Luxor, day in Aqaba, and then four sea days. No more sleeping in as we go through canal starting at 330 on Thursday.

I will try to post pix at some point; once I figure out how.

More later....

Marc

Your description of the Chartreuse dinner has my mouth watering. Interested to hear of your reports from Luxor and Aqaba.

I need to take some pictures with the phone as they are easier to post. Yesterday, Halloween was fun. The menu in Compass Rose had things like witches brew sauce, etc. It was really cute. They had grey ghosts in the glass elevators that were fun and of course lots of pumpkin carvings. The block party consisted of the officers coming through with candy in their hats for us. A fun day. We put our names on the Chartreuse waiting list for when ever there was an availability and got calls both yesterday (we had other plans) and today, so another great dinner there, alas, the special with the steak, crab and lobster was only the first day. We are really enjoying relaxing and are enjoying getting to know the cruise director Margaret. We have been eating lunch in Compass Rose as La Veranda and the pool grill is so packed. Compass Rose is nearly empty, so it is quiet, service is quick and so much better than the madhouse upstairs. We are having a great time despite not having any LCTers on board with us. A very different experience to be sure. No card or scrabble games.....we are missing that for sure, but Marc is back into the various games they are playing.

More later, hopefully with pictures....

Made it to the finals in bocce today; beaten by a novice. However, scored a win in trivia with 14 of 16. Somehow I knew who was the first "mortal" woman in Greek Mythology. Getting ready to enter Suez Canal. Don't know whether to go to bed and get up early or watch as we join the convoy in Port Said.

Will provide reports on Luxor and Aqaba. Next four days are heart of this cruise.

More later . . .

Congrats on your trivia win and bocce ball finals Marc. I'm so happy you and Arlene are having such a good time. Retirement suits you well. Looking forward to hearing about Luxor and Aqaba from you and Arlene.

Marc:
Mary and I join you for Dubai to Singapore (Cabin 723); we were on the Explorer TA in April. We are avid Trivia players; maybe you will need new teammates for that leg? Bad news is that Mary plays every game and the Daily Quiz.
have fun,
Jim

Love you checking in all the time Marc it is like we are with you.

Marc and Arlene -- we're loving your posts. Enjoy the Suez Canal. With luck, you'll see some of our U.S. Navy coming through--but even if you don't, I'm sure you'll find it extremely interesting.

Jim, welcome new trivia teammates; we are losing our whole team in Dubai. I am out there playing almost every game; been quite fun. Best haul was 20 reward points in a single day.

Canal was great!!! Up at 330 to see us enter canal. A lot different than on USS America in 1983. Great having GPS to provide location info as there was no commentary.

Food continues to be fantastic; service too.

Three big days on excursions coming up; then four sea days.

More later.. ..

Marc

We are having such a great time. The food has been absolutely fabulous. Pool grill and La V are same as always, but Compass Rose, Chartreuse and Prime 7 have all been fantastic. I had a chicken breast coated with a gorgonzola cheese crust tonight in CR that was so good. Very different from anything I have ever had on board. It is really strange not having LCTers aboard, we miss you all. Very different experience, that is for sure!

Marc and Arlene, this sounds so wonderful! I can't imagine a better way to celebrate retirement. Keep the seamail coming!

Many LCT'ers are with you in spirit, Arlene. Love reading about your great adventure!
------------------------
Helen

What Helen said!
Thank you Marc and Arlene for sharing with us. Please post all you can. We love it.

Long day in Luxor yesterday - FANTASTIC! Took "Ancient Luxor" which combined Luxor Temple and Valley of the Kings; we are really pleased with our choice; both were fantastic. We know it just whetted the appetite and we need to take one of Ngaire's Egypt trips to be fully satisfied.

Came back around 8:30 and went to Compass Rose for a great quick meal. It is nice that they can serve a two course meal in 30 minutes when you are hungry and tired.

Decided to forego snorkeling excursion today; glad we did when we got up to a very windy day. Tomorrow Aqaba and Wadi Rum followed by four glorious sea days.

Some more observations about the ship:

Internet decent except in cabin; keeping door ajar does help a bit. Ship refurb left intact Radisson lyre on both glass elevators and CD's door; I wonder how many guests really remember why they are there. La Verandah a bit of a zoo; opening up serving lines did not improve things that much; might have made worse as only one location for ordering eggs. Observation lounge update pretty bad; no more long couches; just tables for four with heavy chairs. They added an extremely large dance floor but no place for a group to meet. Compass Rose absolutely fantastic; much quieter than Explorer; much better design.

Overall, ship is fantastic!

More later . . .

Marc adjusting well to retirement. His two biggest decisions today were to sit by the pool table r on the balcony. Oh, and what kind of beer to order!

Arlene:
All packed as we leave on Friday for Dubai. Have a hiccup though. Jim needs a clearance on a health that arose Thursday; we expect clearance on Wednesday. Fingers (and toes) crossed.
Who are the Captain and the CD?
Mary

Captain is Italian I am sorry I forgot his name. The CD is Margaret and she is really nice. She has a show tonight (sings) and we are having dinner with her tomorrow night. Very nice personable lady. Does a great job at trivia.

Hope everything works out and we see you in Dubai. Fingers crossed here too.

Is the captain Felice Patruno?

Yes, Captain is Felice, I still haven't met him except receiving line of Captain's Welcome party and at Officer's versus guest competitions. Hopefully will see him (and Anatoli) about the ship more now that we have a series of sea days.

Marc

Tell Felice hello from Pat & me. Also tell him you're Ngaire's client - he loves her KLT escorted groups.

A lot in last week. Enjoyed Wadi Rum even though we had been there before; not a good guide so it didn't live up to our previous experience where we had done it privately. Fantastic dinners with Matilda and Ricardo (Cruise Consultant and Destinations). Margaret and Elda, and Felice and Sunshine Sarah. Our trivia team finished with five wins and placed all except three days. Met some wonderful new people including KLTers that hopefully will start posting on LCT.

Last night Suzanne and Mark came onboard for drinks and a wonderful dinner. Due to our late excursion, and procedures at terminal, didn't get onboard until 8pm. Had drinks in Voyager Lounge, dinner in Chartreuse, and more drinks in Horizon Lounge. Alas, they were told that they needed to debark by 11pm; so the night came to an early end.

We entered the boat building contest teaming up with Aussies from our trivia team. I will say that our boat easily could carry the most cargo; however, it did not place in the top three. Pictures to come. Arlene and I are going to try again on this cruise; aiming for a smaller more decorated boat that will hopefully handle the seas and cargo.

Without cards at 10 and 2, I have regressed into playing most all of the games. Did well at croquet, bocce, and putting and not so well at skittles, top toss, and chipping. Ended up with over 150 regent rewards; alas two couples I had been competing against had a lot more rewards to redeem yesterday. I saved most of mine for new merchandise that is supposed to appear in Singapore.

Decided to stay onboard today to watch change over. A lot of crew leaving including Captain; Captain Green is now in charge. Nicola is Social Hostess, new fitness instructor and piano player but Nature's Rhythm is still onboard. Major change over in Singapore where Ray will replace Margaret, Gudrun will replace Matilda, and Katja will replace Ricardo.

More later . . .

Sounds great Marc wish I was there with you at 10 and 2. However great success on the token front. Congratulations on the trivia success!

I love you posting and keeping us up to date on the coming and goings on the ship. When you see Katja give her a hug for us she is such a lovely person. Natures Rhythm, such a fun group. I have never done such a long trip but seeing all the different staff is kind of neat. We all hope our favorites are onboard and with crew changes you get to see people you know but also get to meet new ones.

Keep the posts coming. We are preparing to leave to board the Silver Cloud. Can't wait to get onboard.

Marc -
For you next boat building challenge... I remember at the Coffee Connection they have soy milk in those aseptic boxes. Can you try to have them save some empties for you? That would be similar to the milk cartons Kathy recommended.

We are continuing to have a great time. How can you not? We keep telling ourselves how blessed and fortunate we are. We had planned this trip for so many years it is hard to believe we are finally here! A changeover in lots of crew and passengers yesterday, but today back to normal. Marc has met Jim but I haven't yet. Will meet him today at trivia. Today is Fujairah, but we just stayed onboard, relaxing and enjoying the quiet.

They have completely new members of the "Regent signature orchestra " on board. Margaret told us they came on before the last cruise and didn't even know each other until they came aboard. They had to "gel" quickly and have they! We listened to them the other night and again last night and they are fantastic. We will really enjoy when and wherever they play. Their lead vocalist sounds so much to me like Harry Connick.

We had a great dinner with Captian Felipe before he left in Dubai. What a sweet, personable man. He was happy to receive "hellos" from Jim and Pat, Olivia, Ngaire and all the rest. He does love the LCTers.

Any way we are just having a great time as Marc adjusts to retirement. We are definitely "Levin the life" as Helen says, but miss all of you. Just not the same without seeing all our friends around the ship

I thought I posted a reply already; guess it didn't "take". SO glad you had dinner with Felice, and just knew you would enjoy him!

Oh, and keep those posts coming, you know we love hearing from you two on this wonderful "retirement" cruise!

Greetings from Mumbai!

Arlene and I are in agreement, not our favorite place. I know many love Mumbai and India but not us. We took a highlights tour today that had too many stops for time and traffic allotted; still it was great to see.

We are back to back trivia champions. Jim and Mary joined our team when they boarded in Dubai, Cathy who had subbed last cruise is a full time member, and Donna was a fantastic addition. Yesterday we had 14 and the next highest team was just twelve! Today it looks like it will just be Donna and Arlene and me as rest of team on long excursion.

Compass Rose service and food has been great. We have found we can be in and out in an hour if we want. Chartreuse fantastic. Fourth trip to Prime 7 tonight. Minor issues have arose with spa and reception but they are just exasperating; we walk away and address eventually; nothing too concerning.

For George: If you are on a cruise with Cy Cy as bartender, ask her for "Cy Cy Old Fashioned;" you will enjoy; they are fantastic.

Four more days in India; will be interesting. Then one sea day then Colombo. Staff and crew have been wonderful to us. If this is what retirement is like, I should have retired years ago.

More later . . .

I think Mumbai is one of those places where a private tour is so much more enjoyable. We found Mumbai and India in general to be utterly fascinating even though I got sick there and had to cut my trip short and come home. We are booked to try again in April on Azamara.

Congrats on your trivia rout! Retirement should be just like this!
-----------------------
Helen

Even with four substitutes, we are now three time champions. I also won at golf chipping yesterday. Today was Jewish synagogue tour; quite interesting and no traffic so back early.

Refurbished cabins have plenty of outlets both 110 and 220 so no need to bring power strip. Ship has policy that nothing is to be left plugged in when cabin is empty; so if you don't unplug your gear the stewardess will. We have five Western European adapters so able to have everything plugged in at same time.

Still amazes me that three days into cruise some people still don't have their cards out when boarding the ship; stood behind a woman after the long tour yesterday that still had her card in her purse so she had to find a place to put down her purse to open it to find her card! I reached my card to the podium and passed her and her husband.

Good mix of passengers; a lot of Brits, Germans, and even Brazilians. A number of people came onboard in Dubai and are staying until Hong Kong so hopefully we can easily reconfigure our trivia team.

More later . . .

Indian ports have been slightly disturbed by activities related to finally selling our house; we didn't go ashore in Goa and will stay onboard for Cochin as well; really nice to have ship (and internet) to ourselves. After my previous post of three time champions at trivia; we crashed and burned without even placing; however last two days we have returned to our winning ways with solo wins with 14 and 15, respectively.

With Mumbai night tours and then three nights where 55 are off to Taj, easy to get into Chartreuse and Prime 7 each night. I have found one trick is to get a 630 sharing table; when you get in that early, both restaurants can switch you to two top as they know they can flip by 8pm; in fact, we have been getting there a few minutes before opening so that they know they can flip.

This cruise changes tremendously after today; one sea day, Colombo, three sea days, three days in Burma, and another sea day are the heart of the cruise.

Today will be spent with emails and phone calls related to house sale; after that, pure relaxation!

More later . . .

Congratulations on selling your house that is fantastic news. Always such a relief once a house gets sold.

Congratulations on selling your home...No more stressing !!

I Love reading about your journey. Congrats on the trivia wins.

Up to four consecutive wins in trivia. Arlene, Jim and Mary, and Dick and Pat combined for a third place at Liar's Club while I was at Cognac tasting (my first minor grumble, scheduling two wonderful events against each other). Today we are in Colombo; decided to take shopping tour in town which ended up covering the panoramic tour as well. I had not been here since 1983 so great to see it again; first time for Arlene.

Great dinner with Captain Daniel, Nicola, Jim and Mary and two couples we had yet to meet (Marcie, it was good to meet your friends Dick and Pat). Now, we have three sea days followed by three days in Burma. Tomorrow night is SSS party and we have dinner with Stephane, F&B. Tonight is our trivia team dinner, I sure hope it is a five time celebration instead of crying in our wine. After too many cruises with cruisers with so many nights that they knew all the answers keeping us from winning; it is nice to be the team that is winning. Ray is taking over in Singapore so I have started studying Harry Potter trivia.

Went to lecture yesterday. I think it is first time I have watched an entire lecture in all my time on Regent. I think I will watch some more. Still haven't picked up a book to read or played bridge; been too busy with all the silly games. I think more people are staying on in Singapore (to Hong Kong) than stayed on in Dubai. We have also met a few other folks staying on until Beijing.

The remodeled Compass Rose is very nice. Some issues walking between tables (sometimes they walk you through the server stations) but much quieter than Explorer; more soft surfaces and no mirrored wall. We had table for 10 in middle of restaurant last night and could still talk across the table. I have made my "routine" comment about lack of game meat (including Ostrich) but have enjoyed both always available and daily menus. On a few occasions the daily menu did not feature a beef dish so I have had a steak a little more often than I planned. I am working my way through P7 menu; I can definitely say that I won't order Seafood Plateau again; not much food and cold scallops are strange. I think next time I am having Porterhouse.

Today it has been four weeks since we boarded; Sunday night will make it our longest cruise. I am learning that I have to take some down time; can't treat it as a continuous vacation. It is nice to think of the ship as home; but since I don't drink wine every night at home, I have learned to do the same thing here; some nights a cocktail and some nights just water.

More later . . .

Many of you that were on FROLIC remember Kseniia, the Crimean Assistant F&B. She is in same role here. The 35 bar staff (bartenders and bar waiters) all report to her. She is fantastic. In the last few days I learned a bit more about how the bars are staffed (we had dinner with Stephane last night among other sources). First, I learned that only Europeans could be "Bartenders." Asians could be Assistant Bartenders but not Bartenders. Their career path would be to learn the skills to be a Sommelier. I was a bit upset about this as Joseph has been one of our favorite bartenders both here on Voyager and in past. Well, the info I learned was only partly true. From now on, only FEMALE Europeans can be bartenders. Iuri and Catalin are grandfathered but no more male bartenders either Asian or European. (Anivash, Indian, is Head Bartender, he is also grandfathered).

The other thing I learned is that none of the F&B staff (around 300 in total onboard) work for Regent. F&B is a "concession;" they all work for Apollo; the same group that used to own Oceania and Regent. I guess the fact that the staff actually work for Apollo is immaterial; I am still on the fence regarding European female bartenders only; Alesksandra and Cy Cy are both fantastic; but so are Catalin and Joseph.

We didn't make it to five in a row at trivia; came in second but followed it up with a win the next day.

Had a Cognac/Armagnac tasting the other night; the first sighting (by me) of an obnoxious passenger; off now to a Whisky tasting.

More later . . .

Marc, your posts have been great - fun, interesting and informative. Thanks so much! It makes me smile to read about all the fun you are having!

That is just not right! I do not understand how they can get away with this discrimination. You have to wonder what in the world is their rationale for this?? We have had many outstanding Filipino and Indonesian "Assistant" bartenders over the years, and I knew the policy was that they could never be "bartenders", only "assistant bartenders". I just never understood it, and still don't understand it.

We have had some great European female bartenders in the past (Aleks is definitely one of them!) but we have also had some that were terrible (not friendly at all and some times downright rude to the other crew and the passengers too!). In many cases, the "assistant" bar tenders have done a better job of running the bars than the bartenders did.

And yes, I agree, Kseniia is awesome! Tell her hello!

Cindy ,

Sounds like you already knew of policy that Asians could only be assistant bartender; I don’t think any change there; they still can be assistant bartender.

Thanks for the posts, Marc. Wish I were there to share the various lectures and tastings and trivia with you! And Alice would be there with you at every silly game!

Numbers from SSS party:

Titanium 4
Platinum 16
Gold 129
Silver 229

Total 378

There are supposedly around 612 onboard and it is a 21 night cruise so I don't really understand how everyone is not Silver

This cruise did not sell very well. Regent did three things to fill up the boat (without lowering "fare" so didn't have to honor onboard booking guarantee);

First, they offered a good deal for those booked on Singapore to Hong Kong leg to add Dubai to Singapore leg; a really good deal according to one couple we met that took it.

Second, they offered Canadians "at par" fare which amounts to a discount over 20%.

Third, they have a large foreign contingent; no idea if they gave special pricing overseas.

Less that half the passengers are Americans. Top five countries are:

USA 254
Canada 74
UK 64
Australia 51
Switzerland 34

Passengers come from a total of 27 countries.

We should have entered boat building competition again; only two entries and are honorable mention from last time would definitely have placed in top two.

Burma tomorrow. Been listening to great lectures by John Freedman; whetting the appetite.

More later . . .

We are having a sea day today, so finally I have time to post. We have been so busy! Yesterday we were in Myanmar and were there for 2 1/2 days. It was fantastic. Marc and I definitely want to go back as there is so much to see. We really want to see if we can talk Ngaire into doing a land trip there! (Hint hint Ngaire!)

Our cruise director is Margaret Lynn. I had not cruised with her before and was a little leary as a cruise director can (IMO) make or break a cruise. She is fantastic, now my favorite! She works so hard making sure there are always things to do. I have been teasing her that she is "killing me" as I have no time to sleep in or take a nap as there is so much to do and I don't want to miss anything. She and Elda, along with the social hostess Nicola are just the best. The games, lectures, classes, shows, music, etc. There is just so much to do. The lecturer is fantastic though I have made it to too few lectures. The theater is always packed for him.

The regent signature orchestra is absolutely the best they have ever had. We have been staying up listening to them almost every night. They do it all from oldies, to jazz, to contemporary. Just terrific.

I have really enjoyed the staff this trip too. I am not sure if it is because we are on for such a long cruise, or if they are just more personable, but we have gotten to know so many of them, it truly feels like we are cruising with family. All of them have learned our preferences and I never sit down but someone is bringing me something before I even ask. The absolute best! The food has been so good too. It seems like everyone has just been going overboard to ensure we are well taken care of. I am just overwhelmed at the staff and how good they have been to us. Truly special.

We are having a great time. Marc has been wanting to see Myanmar for so long and it did not disappoint. All our excursions have been really great. Sometimes we've had so - so excursions but on this cruise we haven't had one that wasn't terrific. Egypt and Sri Lanka were great new ports for me and really interesting. We still have Phuket, China and I can't wait to get back to Japan.

Can you tell I am just on overload, so happy with this cruise? It has been a spectacular way to start retirement, that is for sure.

We have met a lot of nice people, and lots of KLT clients. It is funny how many there are....Ngaire has cast her net quite wide! Many do not post on the boards, but I wish they would as they are all so fun and nice.

The one down side of this cruise is not having any of our LCTers aboard. It is a very different cruise without all of you. They had a wonderful deck BBQ the other night and Marc and I were thinking it wasn't like other ones, then it donned on us that it was because we didn't have a lot of LCTers aboard and weren't table hopping back and forth. Oh do we miss you all!

We have been doing fantastic at trivia! I have lost track of our wins, and we have nearly always placed at least 2nd or 3rd. So many time we have been on cruises with another trivia team that seems to win everyday and can't be beaten. Now we are that annoying team and I must say it is fun. We are always gracious when others win or "grumble" that they can't beat us. It is just so fun. Margaret has invited our team and spouses to dinner the last night of the cruise and it will be a raucous night for sure....I hope they put us back in a corner somewhere where we wont anoy everyone else!

We have had lots of wonderful dinners too with the Captains, F&B manager, dancers, Margaret and Elda, Nickola, etc. We even had dinner one night with Mathilda the cruise consultant and Ricardo the destinations manager. What a great dinner that was hearing about all her travels and ports and upcoming cruises. It was fascinating listening to Ricardo and hearing all about his job and what is involved. We truly have no idea how hard these people work behind the scenes for us. His knowledge of ports around the world is encyclopedic. It was a really really fun dinner.

Anyway, as you can tell we are having a wonderful time though we are really missing all of you!

So happy you are having such a great time. People that do longer voyages often say some of the things you are mentioning. Getting to know the staff so well they become family. I have not seen Elda or Nicola for a long time. Please say hello to them for me. Happy you have met other KLT guests. Always seems to happen, we will have just two couples on a cruise and they meet. Amazing. A very small percentage post on LCT but a lot do read.

Winning at trivia is such fun. We did well on our last trip and loved it.

Keep the posts coming. Enjoy them immensely.

Posting for Arlene:

Marc and I and Jim and Mary at the BBQ on the Voyager in Myanmar

Beautiful picture Arlene & Marc, sure brings back GOOD memories.

Busy last few days of the 21 day segment Dubai to Singapore. Our trivia team crashed and burned; but we still were all invited to dinner with Margaret and Elda day of Captain's Farewell. Poor excursions in Phuket (basically nine hours to see James Bond Island) and Langkawi (cable car cancelled due to winds). Fantastic Gold Platinum Titanium event starting off with duet by Margaret and Ray and then a great show of puppets and singing by Ray.

Large turnover of personnel in Singapore. New Staff Captain, Destinations (Katja), Cruise Consultant (Gudrun), and, of course, Ray. These next two segments are only twelve days each so don't know how it will work out for meeting new people, Signatures party is tonight after block party. Trivia team needs to be recreated; will see how that goes (I have been studying Harry Potter trivia for over a week). Actually, hardest adjustment will be rotation of bartenders. You get into a pattern of certain bars (and bartenders) certain times of the day and this rotation pretty much screwed that up (i.e., bartenders had a natural fit to the bars where they were previously located). I am sure by tomorrow, though, I will forget the previous rotation and be back to normal.

Biggest hiccup is that Luggage Free is strongly recommending that we not ship luggage home from Beijing. Only choices are taking five suitcases to Harbin (we don't return to Beijing from Harbin) or shipping from Hong Kong; we will probably ship one bag from Hong Kong and hope it doesn't arrive too soon.

Even though we have sailed these next two segments before, we have a number of new ports: Ko Samui, Nha Trang, Sanya, Kagoshima, Kochi, and Miyazaki. We are also looking forward to cooler weather, hopefully by time we reach Sanya. These 90 degree temps with high humidity wear you down.

More later . .

Congratulations on the house sale! That must be kind of difficult while being on a ship though.

Margaret and Elda are a couple of my favorites. We have sailed with them many times.

Too bad I am not there for trivia.

So many bars so little time; my new motto. It is hard to devote time in each bar. A Belgian beer at pool bar after lunch. Then to Observation Lounge for trivia with first whisky of the day. Pre-dinner it is Horizon Lounge for drinks, canapés, and music. Have drinks at show in Constellation. The problem is fitting in Voyager Lounge as we usually go back to Horizon for band after the show. Of course, I have yet to go to crew bar.

This segment has been nice. No steady trivia team and only one win. Only a 12 day segment so not a great chance to bond with new passengers. Most get off Sunday in Hong Kong and we do this all over again. Slowly, a lot of our friends on staff are turning over too. Stephane (F&B) got off in Nha Trang (Rico who I have yet to meet is new F&B); Thomas gets off in Hong Kong; and Elda departs in Shanghai.

Ship is mostly decorated for Christmas. At least the trees and greenery; to me, won't feel like Christmas until gingerbread shows up.

Tonight is another Krew Kapers; we haven't gone to last two and we will skip tonight, too. Dinner with Ray. I shared drinks with him at bar the other day and he is full of stories (all true I am sure) that are fascinating.

Voyager is a wonderful ship though I am still partial to Mariner (I think). Cabins are great; Horizon Lounge is great; Voyager ok; Observation not near as good as it used to be. In our past "group" cruises we have often had 20+ for cocktails; I don't know where you could do that on this ship. Observation used to work but not anymore as banquettes are gone. I think it would have to be Horizon.

After seven weeks onboard, we are still ready for more. This has been a wonderful experience.

Marc

I love the way you write Marc, it is 100% your personality. We have never done a long trip like this and do see the changes when we do back to backs. Just a completely different experience I am sure with such a long trip and so many turnovers in crew and guests.. When you come to the end at least you have the HARBIN ICE FESTIVAL to look forward to something that we really enjoyed hope you do too.

Posting from Kagoshima Japan; they have a "backup" satellite that is actually providing reasonable internet service while in Japanese port.

This has been a strange segment. Real rocky and cold going into Hong Kong and even rockier and windier on trip to Shanghai. Very few Americans onboard, 209 out of 625. UK, Hong Kong, Australia, and Canada together are much larger than USA contingent. Games not very well attended but trivia is doing reasonably well; just hurts to finish in a three way tie for first and end up third as we didn't guess what year Ringo Starr became a grandfather. Still, we have had a couple impressive wins.

Even though we have been on for over eight weeks, this last week is highlight for us - Japan for first time since we left in 2008, Christmas, and our 25th anniversary. Crew continues to change out; Olivia replaced Elda as Assistant CD in Shanghai. I think Singapore on 17 January will be a major turnover.

Ship continues to be wonderful. Anatoly is great as GM. David is new dining room manager and is wonderful. Food continues to be fantastic, and we have been able to get into Prime 7 and. Chartreuse on more than one occasion. They have also worked it so we could get into Prime 7 for our anniversary. We really enjoy the Orchestra. Arlene was able to get approval for us to have dinner with all five of them in Compass Rose the other night. Steak tartare, escargot, foie gras, lobsters tails, and wine kept showing up at our table. We had a fun evening. They played until 7:30 in Horizon and were back on stage at 10:30. We were worried that after such a heavy meal they might have had a hard time at show; no problem; they were extremely energetic.

Alas, the trip is almost over; all my "pacing myself" has been thrown out the window. Five more days of fun then onto Beijing and Harbin for hopefully more shopping and fun.

Things are SO DIFFERENT when you are on a ship for so long. Each segment has changes and hearing this from you along the way has been really interesting. Amazing so few Americans on this last segment. So happy to hear you were able to celebrate your 25th Anniversary in style!

VERY EXCITED to hear there is a "backup satellite" for use in Japan. That has always been a big problem.

I agree - forget the pacing yourself - enjoy all the food and you will need that extra fat for the cold you will have in Harbin. I wish you good weather like we had there, one sunny day, one snowy day. The snowy day was wonderful as well as it had STOPPED snowing and it was so beautiful in the snow. Anxious to hear your experiences in Harbin.

What a fantastic voyage, Marc and Arlene! I have been enjoying reading about it. Happy anniversary and all the best to you through the holidays. Wish we were there with you!

Belated Happy Anniversary from Mary and I. We gave out a lot of Regent stuff as Christmas gifts (thanks to "boat building" and our great Trivia Team). Hope we sail together again.

We are sitting in Hilton Wangfujing in Beijing; fantastic room and hotel so a very slow return to reality. Ship was wonderful for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (even though both were port days) and Anatoli, Aleksandr, David, and Ray ensured we had a fantastic anniversary. Food and service were absolutely wonderful through the trip. It was really hard to leave today. I am really looking forward to ROO in December as a reasonably long 36 days without a changeover of passengers; should make a long trip even better.

Three days in Beijing then onto Harbin; I think it will be return home (wherever that is) before we get pictures posted.

Marc

Marc is right, we are slowly readjusting to the real world after being on the Voyager for 63 days. We had a fantastic time, celebrating Marc's 60th birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and our 25the wedding anniversary. The ship and the crew were in tip top shape. The crew all seemed so happy and I saw several examples of supervisory personnel doing special things for crew members, really nice to see. I don't have much to add, as Marc had pretty much covered it, but did want to add one tidbit.

As Marc posted earlier, we got to have dinner in CR one night with all the Regent Signature "Orchestra" members. (Seems silly to say Orchestra as there were only 5 of them, but that is what they were being called. Margaret had told us they had all come on "new" in Rome, and had never played together. They were just fantastic from the beginning. The bass player and drummer are from the US, the Saxophonist from the Ukraine and the Guitarist and Pianist form Minsk. The latter two didn't speak the best english (this was their first contract ever) but were still so sweet and fun to get to know. I think anyone of them could be a headliner in their own right, they were each that good. They are all fantastic musicians and we enjoyed hearing them play. We probably listened to them more than all the other bands in the past cruises combined. We were enjoying listening to them and getting to know them so much that I asked Margaret about having dinner with them one night if we could fit it in with their schedule. Long story short we had to go all the way up to the General Manager (Anatoli) who arranged it in no time. We had an absolutely fantastic dinner. They had never been asked or been able to eat on one of the guest restaurants before and they seemed to really appreciate being asked. (Marc just came up to me and he looked like something was wrong. I asked if he was OK, he said yes, but it is time for trivia and he is missing it) They really liked being able to order anything they wanted (that new menu is so terrific) and dining "like the guests do." When we were finished with dinner, the waiter (Tri, who is the absolute best of the best) brought out the little tiered tray with the petit fours on it. One of them had obviously never seen this before and said "Oh wow....appetizers before dessert" Marc and I cracked up and I don't think I will ever think of them in any way other than dessert appetizers! Any way it was a very memorable dinner among many. One of them told us later that two fellows from Minsk were so overwhelmed they had never eaten such an elegant meal in their lives so very special for them as well.

Hard to believe all the places and countries we went to in 63 days, just a very incredible cruise.

Marc & Arlene, I'm so happy you had such a fabulous time. I so understand that "coming back to the real world" feeling. Now that Marc is retired and you've spread your wings, you're ready for a 4 month world cruise !

Thanks for all your great postings along the way.

How wonderful that you were able to provide such a special experience for the orchestra guys! I think we sometimes forget that what is ordinary and routine for many of us is beyond even the dreams of many. Thanks so much for sharing!
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Helen

I loved the story of the dinner with the orchestra Arlene. Very heart warming. Good for you making that happen.

YEARS ago on the Song of Flower when we used to stay up until 2.00 am every night dancing (when we were younger - what the heck happened) we met a young man named Luke. His job was to vacuum all the carpets at night. He was a sweetheart. He would give us a big smile every night and we really grew fond of our "goodnight" from Luke. So we did the same thing and had to jump through hoops to get him in the dining room but he loved it.

The wonderful part of this story is Luke is now a Destinations Manager for Regent/Oceania. Amazing from the vacuum cleaner to running a staff and a senior position. When I see him on the ship it always makes me so happy. Katja who is also a Destinations Manager who some of you may know was his mentor and he certainly came a long way.

Arlene, I love the dinner story! Bless you for arranging! Have a great time in Beijing and Harbin, can’t wait to see the pix.

We had a similar special experience on our Grand Voyage in 2016. But in our case, we had bid and won the "dinner with the crew" for the benefit of the crew welfare fund. Such a special evening - having dinner with our favorite waiter and sommelier!! We will never forget it, and I think the crew felt the same... We forged a lifelong friendship with our waiter, and have since visited him at his home when we were in Bali. These are the BEST memories!!

That great Cindy. SUPER picture!! I love those auctions for the crew fund. Only experienced those once and it was great. Jamie handled it and he was excellent.

Ngaire, I loved the story about Luke! What a special dinner that must have been for him as well. From vacuuming carpets to destinations manager is such tremendous growth for him. We were fortunate to have dinner with the destinations manager Ricardo, and after talking to him I am impressed with anyone who does that job. The amount of behind the scenes work that job takes is unbelievable. We were told how in some ports they go out ahead of time and brief guides on subjects that shouldnt be discussed, i.e. politics. In some places they go out and fumigate or spray the busses for scent, bad air or small insects like nats and such. I had no idea they did these things. I think it would be fascinating to spend a day with the destinations manager on a port day. Up early checking on the busses, getting every bus in order of tour, signage, the right guide, etc. Then getting all the passengers on the right busses on time. The logistics seem mind boggling when you think about it. Plus, RIcardo's knowledge of the ports! Ask him about almost any port and he can recite from memory what is there, how long to get to the sights, shopping, etc. Just absolutely mind boggling to me.

Cindy, Loved the picture of your dinner! You are so right....for all the touring and such, sometimes the dinners and the staff are the best memories. We were hoping they would have an auction to benefit the crew fund but they didn't. We talked to one staff member about the crew fund and he was just in tears, saying how much it meant to him that it paid for his flights home and back when his brother died.

I have a picture or two of our dinner I will try to send to Karen to post. It was so special to us and them as well I think.

We are in Beijing and the Hilton and it is such a wonderful hotel close to an enormous mall. As it is a holiday weekend the mall is packed. Consumerism is alive and well here that is for sure. Experienced some Chinese road rage here this morning when our taxi driver and another driver got into it. The taxi driver had the right of way and I think if we hadn't been in the car, they may have come to blows, but other wise, given the massive number of cars, the drivers are very polite. I suppose road rage is everywhere these days.

This is our fourth time here in Beijing and it is still surprises me. Just Marc and I wondering around today by ourselves! A far cry from our honeymoon when I was such a novice traveler..... We took a cruise out of San Juan and when we got to the hotel before the cruise, Marc said "lets go out and explore" I said "No, we are in a foreign country!" Look how far I've come!!

Now back relaxing at the hotel. We need to repack as I was under the weather the last day on the ship and left Marc with all the packing. As we brought everything from snorkel gear (Red Sea, Thailand) to winter coats, boots and long underwear for Harbin we really need to repack and sort thru everything. Poor Marc just made sure to get everything in a suitcase so some major reshuffling is going to be necessary! I am so looking forward to Harbin. The last few days I reread Ngaire's post about it and so excited to get there I can hardly stand it!

Say hello to BILLY for us we so enjoyed him as our guide. Hope you like him as much as we did. Wish we were there in Harbin with you I could easily do all that over again. I just looked on line. The festival looks even better than we went. The snow and ice sculptures are totally different. I love the sphinx! I also checked the weather and it looks good for your trip. Not sure when you actually go to Harbin or when you leave Harbin but for the next ten days it looks great. Partly sunny or sunny most days with a maximum of 10% chance of precipitation and very light wind. FANTASTIC - still cold of course but it has to be or those sculptures would melt.