Susan Walsh got pins to our suites and most of the MAYANS met in the Observation Lounge Friday night. Ken & Ngaire don't join us until Cozumel on Sunday but their families are here.

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day in Key West where we docked at the navy pier and had to take shuttles to town. The Enchantment of the Seas was the only other ship in port. The town was filled with St Paddy's Day celebrants who had a book of coupons to get drinks at designated bars on the "Bar Crawl". Many were dressed and painted in green and had Mardi Gras style beads. Kenny Chesney was in town and was supposed to perform at Sloppy Joe's in the afternoon. I imagine that the town got quite wild after we left at 5:00. 4 of us clients of B&K were on the winning trivia team.

Today we start the "Build the Ship" program with a town hall meeting. We were all given coveralls to wear to the meeting. We were also given pins and wonderful carry bags commerating this journey.

Terry Breen is still on board from the South America cruise to talk about the Mayan ruins we have the opportunity to see.
Jim

Thanks for checking in, Jim. I bet KW was interesting yesterday with the St. Patty folks. Too bad you had to dock at Navy Pier. The dock at Mallory Square gives you great access to the downtown area. Congrats on the trivia win.

Keep us posted on the "Build the Ship" activities.

Great to hear from you, Jim and Pat. Coveralls? Geez, we could have used those on the ICE trip, too.

Give our best to Terry Breen. Remember to tell 'em to measure twice, cut once with the new ship (especially the bathtub placement!)

Cheers, Anne

Thanks for posting. By the way, one more suggestion for the new ship-Regent should either name it "Nagairator or Brown and Keenor!" ;)

Hi everyone I am aboard. We had a 2 1/2 hour delay on our flight which worked out perfectly. As we flew in we saw the Mariner from the plane heading towards Cozumel. When we reached the dock the ship had not quite cleared so we were able to board before people disembarked. Perfect timing. If the flight had been on time we would have been sitting in the heat on the dock for 2 1/2 hours.

We have missed most of the build a ship meetings as they really focused on this on the first few days of the cruise. Quite a few of the executives are leaving the ship today. I understand the Town Hall meeting was recorded so I hope I can see that session.

The breakout sessions continue in small groups of about 6 people so that has allowed for some really quality time to express individual opinions.

Everyone has enjoyed the sessions tremendously and I am having really positive feed back. They consensus is the executives were really open and discussed things that were suggested and took great interest in the points raised.

Since I was not at the meetings I am not the best one to comment here I am sure Jim could do a better job. However the most likely scenario is a ship of about 750 to 800 people. Talk of using the same base hull design as the new Oceania ships (save money and TIME as this is already being or has been designed) just that the ship above the hull would be different. No pods, 16 decks, much larger spa and work out facilities, 5 restaurants. The cabins will be larger and I think this idea is pretty much set.

On that note of bigger suites and future pricing, these are my thoughts. Looking on the positive side.

I know many are concerned this new ship will be priced out of their range. However, some of the great values on the Song and the Diamond were because they had the smaller cabins and were not the top ships. I think it is possible that this scenario could play out again. The Navigator particularly could come out with better values as could the Mariner and Voyager. Nothing wrong with those ships. So if history does repeat itself and that happens it could work out for everyone.

Those that want the larger suites and new ship pay the higher prices and those that want a better value sail on the other ships.

Ngaire, thanks for finding the "half full" glass in the pricing discussions.

Ngaire got a good portion of the new ship info in spite of missing the meeting. The guest size was actually listed as 750 to 850 using 350 to 430 suites of 400 sq ft and up. Some suites would be multiple room for families and some would be designed for the single traveler.
They discussed having a CR that could seat 600, a La Veranda, 3 specialty restaurants and a full time snack bar that would take care of those returning late from excursions. All would be at the stern and the CR may have a high ceiling and large windows (applause from Diamond & PG lovers.)
There are also plans for a dedicated crafts room and possibly a dedicated cooking school room. There will be more open space throughout. The spa & gym will be larger; bathrooms will have both a full size tub and a separate shower and 7 ft high ceilings.
They are considering a retractable roof for the pool deck and enough deck space for everyone to have a lounge chair.
Although they have to charge more because of the cost (which is considerably more due to the $ to Euro exchange rate) there will still be value deals for early booking. As Ngaire said, it will make the other ships more attractive. The new ship will also lead to more interesting itineraries.
The new ownership of Regent & Oceania is too new to allow SSS type benefits to be interchanged between cruise lines, but that will be considered in the future. Even though R & O compete in some sense, Frank Del Rio said that they plan to keep O in the 3rd tier category and not compete directly with R, Silver Seas or Seabourne.
After the meeting there was a lunch for Tits, Plats & Golds in Signatures. Seating was assigned and each table had an exec hosting it. The menu was caviar, double consume, ceasar salad, a choice of halibut or filet and a delicious desert. French wine was served.
Ngaire boarded in time for trivia and joined our team which won for the second day. I was in town and missed trivia so it was good to have Ngaire there to lead us on.

Jim and Ngaire, thanks for keeping us up to speed. I'm wondering why we have not heard from Michael?

The internet is extremely slow today as we approach Belize. Yesterday was a warm and very windy day in Cozumel and nothing special happened. Our B&K team with Ngaire won trivia for the 3rd straight day, flat panel TVs are finally being installed in the rooms and we had the B&K cocktail party last night. More later.

Thanks, Jim. Glad to hear the flat screens are finally being installed. There has been much talk about that.

Keep up the great trivia record!!

But have they replaced those ragged and soiled sun bleached stripped deck cushions yet?

Deck cushions are dark blue and in good shape. New towels are beige.

Pooch started up today with 3 new converts.

Our trivia team won again - 4 for 4
LCT RULES.....

Belize was very windy and all dive & snorkel excursions cancelled. The city hasn't changed since I was here 30+ years ago - sill looks like early 1950s.
Jim

Really appreciating your reports.

OOOOOPS I meant to say balcony cushions ,the green and white stripped ones on the cabins.Sorry.

Balcony cushions haven't been upgraded yet.

Thank you for prompt reply

Hi everyone.

I am so glad I came on this trip. We had some wonderful discussions with the Regent staff. There is a genuine interest in the ideas of all the guests and a desire to put as much thought into making the new ship as good as it can be.

Mike put everyones thoughts and suggestions from LCT into a really nice format that was well organized and broken into the appropriate subjects. It read really well. I was in the Hotel Directors office yesterday on another matter and there was the report, front and center on his desk. Mike made enough copies to be sure everyone from Regent and everyone in the group got a copy. He spent a lot of time and energy on this project and he is to be congratulated on a job well done.

Writing now from steamy hot Santo Tomas De Castilla, Guatemala. Key for this port is to take the longer excursions to Mayan sites of Tikal and Copan. The locals have built a craft market inside a warehouse right on the dock. They are locals dancing and singing, many tour vendors offering various local tours for a price range of $20 to about $80.00. These include visits to the small town of Livingstone, a beach, waterfalls, a Mayan Archaeological site. It is very hot and we are being lazy today and we have our focus group right after lunch so we decided to not partake in the local offerings.

Been a really nice and relaxing trip. I have never sailed with all my family and that has been a nice treat. My grandkids are LOVING Club Mariner and we barely have seen them at all. Each time we do run into them the smiles are from one side of their faces to the other!

Met Lindy and her husband,Mark for the first time (Miaporta) and look forward to having dinner with them on Friday. They are coming to learn POOCH today to swell the ranks of the addicted! One of the Regent people running the focus groups said they were great in the focus group - they really got the whole concept of what we are trying to learn from our passengers" so kudos to them.

As always enjoying all the people that we have travelled with before and meeting some new people too. This is a big group and we are only on for 8 nights so hard to spend time with everyone. However it is amazing how much time there is when you just run into people and can stop and visit. This cruise is wonderful. Just a comfortable and relaxing time with lots of conversation, winning at trivia to keep up the LCT tradition and finally getting in a little pooch.

Tonight --- DOVER SOLE and HERB CRUSTED RACK OF LAMB - I am a very happy camper! Love this menu best of all and it always comes on Society Night.

She is incredible for making lemonade out of lemons.

OMG. How do you choose?

The new ship sounds like it will be positively decadent...in a good way. Large too with 16 decks.

One word answer to that menu: "yes"

Thanks Ngaire, for your report. So nice you could have your family on the cruise.

Yes, Luke, my mouth is watering. Next week, my friend, it's our turn!!!!!

We're dining with Ngaire & Ken tonight and choosing from the menu is very simple - a triple order of rack of lamb for everyone is really the only chioce for our group. We did that on ICE too. Yummy!!!!!!

Enjoy your dinner tonight and tell everyone hello

Susan

I cant wait to see this new ship, and I have no idea if I will be able to afford to sail on her, but if I cant, I think I can be perfectly happy sailing on the Voyager or the Mariner for the rest of my life---ain't nothin' wrong with that!

Just an update.

Roatan has really a wonderful beach facility for a "day at the beach". Lots of buildings, chairs and lovely white sand. There is also a little nature area where they have sharks, large sea turtles, and we watched a sloth in a tree. The sloth moved slowy from one tree to another and was no more than a couple of feet away at eye level. Ken got some great shots.They also had a great lunch, for me anyway, lots of meat. Unfortunately we hit a very windy day with intermittent rain. As the day progressed it got worse so it was an adventure coming back in the tenders. This would be a great day if the weather co-operated.

Today is a day at sea and it is beautiful. Calm seas, sunny skies. Really a perfect day. There was a tex mex buffet on the deck today and my family and another clients family all got together. There were 12 adults and 4 children. We all had a great lunch and lots of laughs ending up with more drinks than was really appropriate at lunch - but who is counting.
All served by Francisco, who did ask if Miss Suzanne was onboard as soon as he saw us. This idol worship of Suzanne stared on the Diamond on DDD where the entire idea of LCT was first conceived. He is a really sweet man.

Now onto food. We ate at the Italian Steak House last night and in a word YUM!! For a carnivore like me it was heaven. Veal Chop, Lamp Chop, Lobster, Filet. Choices choices. Everything was outstanding. Wont probably have the opportunity to go back there again but would if I could. I sure did enjoy this meal.

Pooching is continuing with the high score still only 104 so we need to get some good games in before we leave the ship.

Tomorrow is Grand Cayman and I hope we have a day like today. The beaches are really lovely in Grand Cayman and a nice day makes all the difference.

I think we have cruised more often with Francisco than any other RSSC employee! He is always smiling and just an absolute delight, one of our all-time favorites!

Our LCT team won trivia again - that's 6 out of 8. One loss was bad but the other we missed by 1 point.
Grand Cayman was a nice sunny day today and tonight is Captain's farewell party. Sea day with pooch & packing tomorrow and then home on Monday.

Walking down the hall and ran into John Barron. He has been off for six months with his new son. He looks great as usual. Said to say hello to everyone and confirmed he will be on the Navigator for CAVIAR - the Black Sea. So that is great news.

Won at trivia again today we have had a great streak. Taking a family picture tonight since we are all on the ship together.

Been a nice trip - one more day and then back to reality again.

Thanks for checking in, Ngaire. Great idea with the family picture. The trivia and pooch games sound like fun.

We've gotten ourselves twisted around with basketball so we're all glued to our sets. Hoo ya! Time for the dinner break - Easter eggs and carrots - before we go back to watching basketball.

Safe trip home!

Cheers, Anne

Sounds like everything is going well Ngaire and so happy your family was able to join you! I hope Ken will scan and post family pix when he gets home.

My popular demand, I hope John will be able to stay on as CD until SAMBA in November. I bet he'll probably be CD on Ring of Fire too in January.

Congratulations on all the Trivia wins!!!

Thanks, Ngaire and crew for taking care of the Mariner before we board on Monday.

Marcie, After Ngaire's comment, I was wondering if John would be on for the full DC cruise. Since I've not met John, I look forward to cruising with him as CD.

John told me he would probably be on the full ring of fire. I also think he mentioned he would be coming back to the Mariner after his summer 6 weeks on the Navigator. So he will probably not be on the Discovery cruise but as we all know these things are always subject to change.

I am NOT ready to get off!! Been a delightful cruise with some wonderful new people we have met. A few more days would sure be nice but better get back to check on those pesky gold points the dealine is approaching.

Mark and I had a terrific time on MAYANS! It was wonderful to meet “in person” Ngaire and Susan -- who were so charming and energetic; their families -- who were so warm and friendly; and those many LCT/B&K friends -- who were so interesting, engaging, and fun. This was our first B&K “escorted” cruise, and sailing with Ngaire and Ken onboard was special. Not only were Mariner’s food, wine, service, accommodations, and amenities as superb as ever -- and not only did we thoroughly enjoy the Town Hall meetings and Focus groups -- but Ngaire’s get-togethers afforded an exceptional opportunity to meet and make so many interesting friends!!

The time just sped by ... And now we’re counting down the days until more “FUN!”