Thanks again Debbie, you're an ace reporter

Deb your reports are quite interesting and entertaining! Can't wait for the next one. ;)

I hope you catch up on sleep before you board the No-Name cruise!

Thanks for your posts! Have loved following your adventures on the Whisper.

Deb - I sure appreciate your posts. I am looking forward to our upcoming cruise. Foreknowledge is a good thing!

Hope you're sleeping better and can enjoy the rest of the trip. I got off track on PANDA with the jet lag. It was annoying, all right.

Cheers, Anne

Khasab and Fuajairah/Sharjah pics are up. We've toured in Oman, but I will do those later.

We are still in Oman. Tonight they are having dinner under the Arabian stars and are having an Arabian folklore show. Shani said she'd set us up on 9 if we didn't want to do the buffet, but we have now decided to do it to make sure we don't miss anything.

I'm caught up on the sleep enough. It is just too hard to stay up for shows every night with this much tourinng, eating and wine. They will have afternoon shows on the sea days, or I would be making more effort, as I loved the one show.

We are definitely up on all ways Muslim. I already was after working with one for 5 years and sitting next to him.

Today's tour had Todd rather sour, as I knew it would. I got the, "Dear, you know I hate museums and sightseeing" quite often, along with, "I love the ship" and "I don't make you do things you don't want to do". I know Todd did see some great things he enjoyed, but 4 touring days in a row is a lot. We are done for a couple of days.

Today here in the Sultanete of Oman, we saw the 4th largest mosque in the world. Several things in it are in the Guiness Book of World Records. Please read if you are coming here: LADIES, long sleeves, don't show wrists if possible. Absolutely must have a scarf. Also, no ankle can be showing, even in a long dress, wear socks. You will not get in if even a centimeter of ankle is showing, period. Men ought to wear long sleeves but not a must. Pretty much all did that I recall. Light fabric for your comfort and shoes that are easy to remove. No cleavage and something high that can be totally covered with the scarf.

We did see the museum here. No photos there, and they want the cameras left on the bus.

We went to the souk here (accessible by the ship's free shuttle, as is local casual dining), nobody is open from 1 to 4. They sell franchinsense and mhyr and the pots and charcoal, many knives, oil pots, perfumes, local candies, scarves, potteries, woven items, herbs, Indian treats. US dollars are widely accepted, and it was 2.5 USD to one of the local Omani currency. On the day like this where 250 SS people were there, US change was not a problem.

We went to the Sultan Qaboos palace for photos and to the old cruise termiinal. Another stop was the Grand Hyatt, a 5 star hotel where we had soft drinks (tea, coffee, soda, and unusual juices) and local cookies). That was midway in the tour.

The bathroom at the mosque was in the ground, very difficult for a woman in long pants. Be forewarned, men may bust in. Also at the mosque yesterday, it was a unisex wierd place where you had to carry in your own toilet seat and go in while men were in there. Try not to drink much liquid if you can and don't eat anything that will create stomach issues. They have the hoses vs. tissue. I would rather wait all day.

More later. I have to catch the hot tub before they close off for the bbq.

Thanks for the Oman update, Debbie. Sounds very interesting. Enjoy those seadays before Mumbai.

Our team won trivia the last two days. I won crazy golf today, and Todd won yesterday. Yesterday, I attended the Oman lecture.

At the souk today, we bought the franchinsense and mhyr and the charcoal and also candies and another camel and some pots amd some silver sandals. You are allowed to take pics if the women are not in them.

Tonight's canapies are chocolate covered strawberries. They may have to roll me to no-name.

Hey Debbie, how are you going to bring those camels home? I bet the shipping charges are awful. <img border="0" alt="[naughty]" title="" src="graemlins/naughty.gif" /> Sorry, I couldn't resist that!! Would love to see pix of those silver sandles.

Congrats on the trivia win.

No congrats on the golf win?

The silver sandals - I bought the little ones that are an inch long each. They had the full-sized ones. Todd was surprised the huge knives were only $40.

Getting anyone to wait on you as a woman is not easy...

One of my friends saw the camels from that pic at the cruise terminal in Dubai. I told her I bought one, and she HAD to have one. In both cases, I bought the little one, though we both wanted the big one. Those little dudes are about 4 bucks.

Oman pics are now up.

Oops, sorry, Debbie. I'm real into trivia... not so much golf. But congrats on the golf win, too. :app:

Deb it sounds like you have gotten some strength back in you and the jetlag is gone...winning at golf and trivia! My My! :D

As far as rolling you on to No-Name :eek: cut back on the chocolate and just eat the fruit! ;)

Enjoy your sea days...they are my favorites!

I'm sorry, couldn't delete all of this but only wanted to comment on the Mosque bathrooms :eek: Should I pack Depends? :ohmy:

Hi Debbie,

Thank you for all your reports! Seems like a very interesting cruise.

Suzie,

We had a similar "bathroom" ( I use the term loosely) experience in the mosque in Casablanca. The other LCT ladies were somehow able to figure it out but I didn't . I had gone back to the bathroom a 2nd time, thinking I would take my pants off before going into the "toilet" (Ie. hole in the ground type), but by then, there were men there so I had to retreat!

E-gads...I'll have to post Anne, Suzanne and Marilyn as 'guards'...perhaps with a large stick in each hand :ohmy:

I'm sitting here on the balcony on the Mariner tryin' to catch up & lo & behold see these posts of Debbie's. Mercy! Depends & guards for the pottie - great info! :ohmy:

From Debbie: "Also at the mosque yesterday, it was a unisex wierd place where you had to carry in your own toilet seat and go in while men were in there. Try not to drink much liquid if you can and don't eat anything that will create stomach issues. They have the hoses vs. tissue. I would rather wait all day."

Hoses vs tissue? Oh my! The visual image is horrifying! :ohmy:

Horrifying or hilarious??!! :D

Hmm, "horrifying" if you are a female desperate for relief and not eager to deal with the details of what we used to call "Turkey pots" in the presence of anyone else, much less miscellaneous males. "Hilarious" if you are a guy who can pee standing up and therefore finds the arrangement perfectly easy to manage, just like at any big sports stadium or state fair restroom. The "hose" issue is a bit creepy. At least in Turkey, they usually have a faucet in each stall (and in the highest end joints, footprints on either side of the hole). But we should not dwell on such things as hoses, as it might become way too Freudian for this particular subject of discussion. Thank goodness that Karen is busy on LAMB and not able to police our little pranks here on LCT, no??

I live on a golf course and play 5 or 6 holes 3 times a year, so this was a real coup for me, lol!

The trivia team we are on is a real international mix, and they count on us for the American stuff, but then they don't listen to us half the time. On the one about which state had the most hurricane damage in 2004, I said Florida, but they wanted to put Louisiana. There have been a number of others, too but we are still winning. Todd cost us a question a couple of days ago, so they are only mixed on our skills, lol.

We have been inside two mosques. If you look at the ones where I have the big black cape (Freddie or someone will know the correct name)...that is in Fujairah. That one, you just have to deal with men going in and no tissue or toilet lid, but the lids are outside if you look, and the men won't see you in the stall. Further, these flush, and if you brought paper, it would be fairly Western.

It was the grand mosque in Oman where it was a metal thing in the floor. What was yucky is there was so much water on the floor that removing the pants and all was not easy, and the lock didn't work, and I had already busted in on some man who didn't even have the door shut. These metal things in the floor don't flush.

Don't focus on it, just be prepared for it.

Last night was dinner under the Arabian stars. We don't like the pool bbqs on SS and told Shani so, and she did set up chairs for people that only wanted to see the show, but we went like we always do and had the usual experience. Todd called this a real step down, and I agree. First off, it was Dinner Under the Arabian Stars, not to be confused with Arabian Dinner Under the Stars. There was not a single Arabian dish, which was sad since the huge dance group was there with us all day.

Some people love these pool bbqs. I liked the way Regent did these things at lunch and how they focused on local foods. I did give Shani a long talk on this two days ago from the hot tub.

At any rate, I did eat one rib and some salad and fruit, and Todd had some shrimp and a rib and some rice. Oh, I had mussels from the paella, too.

The Arabian show had a few guests up there dancing with them. We didn't get any explanation, they just danced.

Afterward was the disco party, and people from 35 to 60 appeared out of nowhere, thankfully. The other nights, the lounges have had very low attendance besides the structured show. This was great fun with the social hosts, especially the European men's rendition of YMCA and a couple of others. Their involvement of scarves to get the women to move their hips after Shani left was most interesting. When they moved into salsa and cha cha, the Spaniards invited me out. I did my best, but after a few, my calves were hurting, and I retreated to my seat.

Sue, the two strawberries with chocolate have been my only chocolate. We are not dessert eaters, and I have had maybe 4 bites of meat the whole trip. I just eat fish and vegetarian items except veal the one time and that one rib. It is the wine. The variety is so good, and they go down so easy.

Today, they are offering so much that they had to use smaller print on the activities sheet. They have a bridge tour with the captain, several fitness and health lectures, regular enrichment, extra bridge lessons at all levels, French lessons, Italian lessons, Latin dance class, a culinary demo with the wine pairings, knitting, blackjack tournaments, two daytime shows from the night time entertainers, bing, Liars club and also all the regular stuff they do. I see Todd had marked his choices with a "T" by them, and they aren't what I was planning to do. He seems to have marked the points stuff. We really took home a lot of stuff last cruise, and we do want some more things. Last time, we had the most of anyone on the ship. That won't be the case this time.

They continue with Hannukah every night, as well.

They also have yoga and pilates every day and other fitness classes. I will post all the activity sheets when I get back, along with the menus that I have enjoyed having a day in advance like usual, lol.

Tonight, we are going to La Terraza for Italian. I am looking forward to that.

ROFLMAO

You should be able to do all your Christmas shopping with the tokens you are collecting on board.

Now I have never been on SS, but to me it sounds like Regent is just as good if not better - how do you feel since you have sailed both?

Debbie,

I don't have your picture/web page anymore. Can you repost it? Thanks.

Peggy

http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/debbieh103

The newer days are first, and then after all of this is the Regent Western Med before that.

Sue, after 2 Whispers and one Wind and one Regent Voyager, I am anxious to see how Navigator does on service.

Silver Whisper service blows Voyager away many times over, and Wind blows Whisper away any times over. Voyager does a better job of matching the local cuisines to the port, but SS is an Italian line, and they like it that way.

It sounds like the new Regent ship and the new SS ship will be similar in many ways, though SS will be at 540, and it sounds very similar to Seabourn Odyssey (info on it is widely available, as are itineraries all the way thru 2009). Both the new Regent ships and the new SS ship will be focusing on bigger suites and better cuisine, and Odyssey does not seem to have the bigger suites, but they will be closer to some of the current market offerings, and they sure will have more pools and hot tubs than now.

Regent Voyager had more going on in the lounges, but then my cruise sounded livelier than on crossing.

Both do an outstanding job on their tours, though SS is ALWAYS escorted, and in the Middle East, this is critical.

Regent Voyager met 95% of my expectations, and the 3 SS cruises have met 95-99%. As you all have guessed by now, my expectations are quite high. This cruise cost 16k with the tours, air and 1 night's hotel, so my expectations are high.

I was amazed to count in the passenger booklet that 106 of the 360 on board are Americans since we have met 7. So, that is 29.44% Americans.

I feel pretty strongly about the few things that are better on here and the few things better on Voyager, and I am not the only one to say, but when I have sat in the upcoming ship and plans for both lines for current ships, they are planning to address these.

The scarey thing is that when SS, Seabourn and Regent build all these ships by 2010, the birth count will be up considerably. That will be good for all of us if they can't fill the rooms, but on SS most sailings are sold out for 2008, and they are looking at 2009 and planning 2010. They say they are so full that they are anxious to cancel the early booking bonus and the early payment. Of course they want us to book on board.

I asked the counselor about booking at the last minute on 30 days' notice, and she said they are not giving the last minute Venetian anymore because they are too full. I don't know about that. So, if they are 96% full, they are going to charge 200% for one person to join this thing if they book one day before sailing? I don't know if they would or not, but they have a swelled head.

We all know the lines will charge what the market will bear, so if they fill up, they will reduce discounts, and if they are full, they will raise. One thing is for sure, if the new SS ship sits in 2009 for 3/4 of the year in the Caribbean, it should be good for Americans.

When I look at 2008 on both Regent and SS, there are only a couple of sailings that have all the discounts and number of nights I am interested in, and they seem much more interested in filling 2008 than selling 2009.

Anyway, today, Todd did intermediate bridge while I did the cooking demo/wine pairing/tasting and then we had lunch. I did the future sailing lecture and the Andrew Lloyd Webber lecture/songs by Sally Jones.

We did the Black Jack tournament, bingo for points and then Todd did golf, while I went back for black jack. I have won everytime except when he was there.

Next is a violin virtuoso and international show from Jacqueline Roche.

We have dinner at La Terazza, the Italian specialty restaurant.

They have Liars club tonight.

Debbie, thanks for the comparison and updates, all very enjoyable..we have been on Nav, PG, Shadow and Whisper..but not Regent when all inclusive..will be interesting to note the differences on board the Nav next week..r/wes

Thanks Debbie!

Debbie, So glad you are able to enjoy Sally Jones. She was on the Diamond a few years ago and we thought she was great.

Wes, I like the sound of that.... on board the Nav next week!!

Deb how on earth will you get back to Houston, unpack, repack and get to the Navigator by 12/14? You must not get home until 12/10 or later or are you not staying over night in Mumbai and coming home right away?

You sure will be dragging from jet lag on the No-Name cruise! :eek:

Suzie - I'm bringing a pair of stix. Forget the depends, but do wear a skirt!

Cheers, Anne

Lost my long post again. Guess I won't learn.

Sue, choices were Luftansa, Air France, KLM or Air India. All leave between 12:30 and 2:30 a.m. except Air India. We leave the ship at 6 a.m. after the ship overnights in Mumbai. The flight is at 9. We fly to Chicago and then take United home to IAH. It will be horrid. All our Indian friends fly Luftansa.

Anyway, the sea day was great. I did two shows, bingo, the cruise lecture, the cooking/wine pairing demo and tasting, and black jack tournament and video black jack and also trivia. We came in 3rd yesterday. A couple of teams pulled in half the ship for their team, and there was a new team. You get points everyday anyway, and we are raking them in.

Todd did half of what I did plus the intermediate bridge (which was really the hard core people that showed up anyway) and the golf. Someone new got a hole in one.

There is a very active bridge group on board.

Beth, Sally has had 3 performances. Two were at 10:30 and one at 3:45 in the afternoon. I hate that we didn't make it up for the 2nd late one. She can do comedy or serious stuff either one.

The violinist has been on many times. I really liked her, and Shani opened for her, and 200 came to their pre-dinner show.

Girls, just remember, you must cover the entire ankle even in a dress.

If your tour is going for refreshments to a Western place vs. a local place, just use the restroom there.

Also, Sue, on no-name, I am flying same day to FLL non-stop on Continental, and I fly home the same day.

We lost an hour last night and will lose 30 minutes tonight. When we go home, it is 11 and a half hours difference, and I think the trip is 22 hours. I don't have nearly as much work waiting for me as Todd does. He is starting to already stress out, and I really thought he would relax more on the sea days. He had a good day, but at dinner, he was thinking about stuff that could have waited till that 22 hour flight.

Dinner last night wasn't my favorite. I had cod, and Todd had chateaubriand. We had French onion soup and I had a salad, and he had the spring rolls. They decorated the plate with a bunch of dijon sauce, and I had a hard time keeping it out of my fish. I don't "do" mustard.

We have skipped breakfast almost daily but are having it in our suite today.

The flutist plays again today, and I like her as a person, so I hope to see her today. We missed her show before.

Yesterday, they had 5 spa lectures (eyes, teeth, anti-aging, detox, and overall wellness). We missed all of that. Today they have one on aches and pains with aromatherapy and one one nails and feet.

They are also doing some sort of sherry and beer bash, which seems odd where you are supposed to brag about your grandchildren and bring pictures??

There is a Buddhism and Hinduism lecture, a wine tasting, and Islam lecture, a fashion show, the top suites tour, line dancing class.

The farewell party is tonight, and we are going to the La Terazza for dinner for the Italian.

Sorry, the new ship is December 18, 2009, and basically there is a Christmas cruise and then an FLL to FLL that they think will mostly be for staff. We are looking at 2010 for this ship, basically.

So, you can waitlist any 2009 grand voyage segment (or more than 1) to get the 5% savings and then transfer to another 2009 one if you don't like the price when it comes out. Also, you can book a 2008 and get the savings and then transfer to 2009 when the prices come out. If you do that, there are not going to be many cabins left.

Also, even though this cruise has 360, all cabins are full, as there are a lot of singles.

They are charging 200% single supplement for 2008 because they feel they can fill remaining cabins.

I got a lot of sun today from chatting in the hot tub and from sitting on our balcony.

I booked cruise 3830 for Dec 08 but want the Christmas one afterward. It is not cheap and we have been to most of the ports more than once.

Iam holding May, 2009 for Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Okinawa and somewhere else in Japan. There is not even a price yet. I hope our schedules allow us to go. We have done Hong Kong and Singapore together 10 years ago, and I have been to Japan. It has been a long time.

Weather must be nice if you got a lot of sun.

Booking two SS cruises - doesn't Todd want to try Regent?

I was on the same tour with Maria at the King Hussan II Mosque in Casablance - it was definitely a challange. I was lucky, I had worn a skirt, so that helped, but it was still hillarious - we were all laughing our heads off in the stalls, yep, if you can wait, definitely do so.

Sounds like a busy trip Debbie, certainly some interesting sightseeing and tours.

We are in India now and heading out to the inspection required for all guests. No Regent 2008 itinerary catches my fantasy, and I booked here onboard to get %5 off for two trips. I can move these to any time and any names but really would like to keep the Singapore/Hong Kong/Taiwan/Vietnam/Japan.

I would like to move voyage 3830 to 3831 since he has mandatory off 10 of those 14 days, but the discount is only 15%. Of course, it is only 25% on the one we took since I booked this suite vs. 45% if I downgrade. I am holding an extra cabin at the 45%. Forty% is the web discount.

Debbie--are all the single supplements going to 100%?

Hysterical is an understatement, JoAnn! That was such a fun day, wasn't it?

I wore jeans and I'll tell you, it took a while to think it through. Doable, but a challenge!

They call it 200% since it is the cost of 2 persons. I don't know, but they are trying to present it that way, and I told her that their competitors are not doing that. I think for 2009 it will not be that way and very likely not 2010, but with 2008, they are almost sold out on so many voyages.

I am sure most of us prefer our own cabin. They are not making it easy.

Today's bathroom report: Matgatma Ghandi's house (not the correct name) - Western style, flushes but has the hose like Heathrow and no tissue. The Prince of Wales Museum (old name), way worse than the mosques, el grosso, avoid at all costs Taj Mahal hotel, terrific.

So, about Mumbai - there are 16 million people here. Sixty percent are unemployed. There are 80 million a year moving in here. We were chased and followed everywhere with tremendous harrassment. The same people followed so many places. Everywhere we were not on the bus except inside the Taj Mahal hotel, we were shown merchandise, begged for money or asked for picture taking or something.

We saw the dobi ghats, which was very interesting. We toured the two museums.

We went to some fancy shops, and there was high pressure to buy. Some did, and some did not.

At the Gateway to India, nobody went over there except Todd and me, as we wanted good pictures. That was the worst of all.

We did buy two great maps and a wonderful tapestry and a nice box and a little jeweled elephant. Some bought clothes, scarves, rugs, and boxes.

When we got off the ship, we were all handed a red rose.

The tour went long due to massive traffic and the fact that the shoppers did not come back to our bus on time. One of the other tours went to some of our stops but also rode some train. This tour was added later after we booked.

They were generally charging 40 rupees to the dollar, but those with pounds were getting ripped off if they did not know the rate, and they even tried to drastically "round up" for me, but I refused to pay.

The ship was not allowed to offer a free shuttle here due to unions, and I think they announced to the whole city that our buses would be out and about for two days.

The Taj Mahal is a class hotel, but if you even leave the steps, be prepared.

There is a lot to learn here. We know a lot of this since we are exposed to so many Indian people in Houston. Most don't live here or come here that we know, and I would keep a visit here as a stop and not a base.