Ray and Penny reporting in and in good shape.

Lots of photos and some video.

Looks like protests have started again by BG while we were dining on the Plaka. All is peaceful though.

We're bushed. Going to hit the hay.

Cheers! Ray

We are at the Sofitel with all bags accounted for and just enjoyed a nice dinner of squid, risotto and sardines.

See everyone tomorrow.

:app: :app: :app: :app: keep the good news coming!!!!

I second Joanna

I third

Ngaire and Ken will bring up the rear!

Well pre-CLEO has officially ended, we are in Athens and ready to start CLEO.

Kusadasi yesterday was wonderful, did Ephesus with the expert and a terrific tour, just long, hot and lots of steps, but very worth it.

Santorini was amazing and the cooking class was everything Andrea and Russ said it was and we had a great time and loved the food. Small group which also made it fun. We then walked around Fira a bit but heading in the direction of the tram and it literally took us an hour at 2 in the afternoon to get down. There were 7 ships in port and it was crowded to say the least.

We are just catching up this morning, being lazy, going to the spa this afternoon for a blow dry and Frank is having a pedicure. Lucily our unused shipboard credit will carry over, so we will have to get busy spending next segment as we get a bunch more today.

Will post on the new thread Ray started from here on. Looking forward to seeing everyone this evening and keeping fingers crossed that Ken and Ngaire make it.

Greetings:

Lots of info on my Blog which I hope to post when we reach the ship this afternoon, plus lots of photos and some video. Hopefully ship's bandwidth can handle.

Dinner on Plaka last night when heavy rain started but we were protected when outside. Fun to watch people and dogs seek cover.

Demonstrators formed once again last night while we were at dinner and other than noise, it was no problem. A die-hard group chanted until about 3a.m. this morning and also played soccer on closed street. (The demonstrators of several days ago broke windows and appeared to knock pieces of BG steps off. Not nice)

Good video of changing of the guard.

Can't wait to board ship.

All is well.

Cheers! Ray & Penny

Anxious to hear you all are onboard and can't wait for your seamail! It is hot, muggy and air smells of smoke in my 'hood. I look forward to traveling with you

Lunch with JoAnn/Frank/Kathy & Al on pool deck with stop bys by Leslie, Susan & Russ.

Lifeboat drill at 5:15pm followed by a flock of us gathering at Observation Lounge, followed by Mariner Lounge thence dinner at Compass Rose.

Met up with Waiter, Michael from the 2008 World Cruise and it was wonderful to chat with him and we are enjoying our Butler, Irshad and I Gede, Cabin Attendant.

Life is good!

Cheers! Ray & Penny

Have a great cruise everyone!!!

Bon Voyage, ALL! Remember, you all have to enjoy twice as much to make up for our cancellation.

Happy sailing! :bv:

Glad you folks finally got out of Athens!

Have a wonderful cruise! :bv: :hello1:

Yay! May smooth sailing and great times be with you all. :bv:

Susan, Please tell Russ how much Marc and I are enjoying Russ's blog! The pictures are wonderful and being back so many memories.

I have taken the day off of hours long tours, Frank went to Masada and the Dead Sea today and I will post more detail a little later today, after my "spa day" appointments are over.

All in all its been a great cruise, although we never see anyone after dinner as everyone heads to cabins to get ready for the next days touring. Hopefully now that this is the last day in Isreal things will liven up a bit. More later, although you are getting a lot from Russ's blog and I need to go back and catch up on it myself.

Really enjoying the photos, Russ & Ray & Ken! Thanks so much for going to the trouble of posting. Isn't this an incredible experience?!!!
So glad you made it no matter the heat.

I finally had a chance to catch up on seamail and the fabulous blogs by Ray and Russ. Jerusalem and Bethlehem look amazing and Haifa looks like such a gorgeous city. These blogs may be the closest we get to experiencing this history and beauty. Thanks for taking us along. :app: :app: :app:

Greetings:

Absolutely fascinating day touring Jerusalem today with John, Priscilla, Kathy, Al, Penny and me and our 81 year old guide who was incredibly good. What an adventure and fun!!!

Then to top it off dinner in Prime 7 with Ken, Ngaire and daughter Cindy and her friend Cheryl. What a hoot of a night.

Slipped off to do some videotaping of the show but couldn't keep Penny's eyes open so now will try to upload photos of today's experience.

Cheers, L'chaim and Ciao! Ray & Penny

Bet you All are exhausted! Well, maybe not JoAnn!

I never did come back and post more about Isreal, it was truly fascinating, but long tiring days and lots of time spent on busses as everything was far away from both ports. Jerusalem, as Ray said was amazing and it seems we all saw different things, depending on one's guide and whether or not it was a Regent tour or a private one. Even the Regent tours were different. Frank said Masada and the Dead sea were the best tour in his opinion, but by then I was just really suffering from too much sun and heat and was glad I just stayed onboard.

Yesterday in Limassol we got lazy about getting off and taking the shuttle into town and just somehow never managed to do it. Several others also stayed onboard. Fun dinner last night with Ken, Ngaire, Russ and Susan. Tonight we have Signatures with Brad, Leslie, Ray and Penny.

We are planning on taking the shuttle into town in about an hour and just walk around. This is the inaugural call to Antalya, so it should be interesting. I think I am just done with busses and guides and such and we will just do our own thing from this point on.

When we got on the ship on June 7, 22 days seemed so long to go, and now we are down to the last 4 days. It has been a fun trip and we've seen and done a lot, but in a way, I'm about ready to get home and especially to get back to normal eating habits. :eek:

Hello LCTers. Finally I am checking in. I have tried to post from my iPad in the room, but the internet service has been testy there. Now I am at computer corner, so I should be able to write a little.

Israel was fascinating, and for me Jerusalem especially. We had a wonderful day there with Ray and Penny, Kathy and Al. John is now calling them St. Al and St. Ray, because they were so helpful to him and me in getting through some of the rougher terrain of the city!

Jerusalem was amazing, and we had a great guide there, clearly pointing out the landmarks and weaving in the history and theories. A friend of ours had given us a prayer note to leave in the Western Wall, which we did along with notes of our own. To me, it was very meaningful. Masada was spectacular too, in its way, and also the north of Israel. As JoAnn mentioned, though, it has been very hot. We have drunk gallons and gallons of water to stay hydrated.

Today we are in Antalya, Turkey, and John is out on excursion to the ancient ruins of Perge and the archeological museum. He will be in seventh heaven. For the first time this trip, I decided to skip touring and stay on the ship to get refreshed for the last few days. Days have been so busy that this is my first time to computer corner.

It has been a really great group of friends here, and we've had such fun with everyone. Couldn't be a more compatible group, in my opinion, led of course by Ken and Ngaire.

More when we get home if not before.

So good to hear from you, JoAnn and Priscilla. I can't imagine how exhausting those tours would be! Enjoy your last few days and keep us posted when you can.

PHOTOS FROM HAIFA, ISRAEL - DAY 1:


Haifa - Mt Carmel Gardens.


Nazareth - Basilica of the Annunciation.


Basilica of the Annunciation.


Sculptures from all over the world.


Goland Heights behind the tank in the background.


View of the Sea of Galilee from the Goland Heights.


Yardenit, the Baptismal site on the Jordan River.


The Jordan River.

ENGLISH VERSION.


HAWAIIAN VERSION.

PHOTOS FROM HAIFA, ISRAEL - DAY 2:


Jerusalem, The Holy City.




King David.




Many people live in the Holy City.






Wailing Wall.

The Path of the Stations of the Cross.


Station VI - Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus.


Colorful Clothing.


Plenty of Shopping.


Church of The Holy Sepulchre.


Any Bread you Wish.

Finally a quick post. BUSY BUSY!

Been an extremely interesting cruise and seeing Israel with that extra day we really feel like we have seen a lot. Our touring included Nazareth, Sea of Galilee, Golan Heights, drove part of the border of Syria and Jordan, Jerusalem, Masada, Quuman (where the dead sea scrolls were found) Tel Aviv and Jaffa. A lot to do in that amount of time. We did two days of private guides and two days of Regent guides. Our best was a Regent guide and our worst was a Regent guide. There are benefits to both and I was very pleased with all of our tours.

With this much touring we had four days when there were many people we never saw. This afternoon we played some pooch and relaxed a little which was very nice. Tonight we will meet prior to dinner at Observation Lounge and catch up on all our experiences.

Food has been good and I have had rack of lamb and dover sole TWICE. Tonight lamb chops and prime rib in Compass Rose. Life is good!

Only a few days left it seems like the time has just flown by and Ken and I will be visiting Cappadocia post cruise and we are looking forward to that as well.

What beautiful pictures Ken. Everywhere is so clean! You all sure have been on the go go go but it sounds like it's been a great trip and you've seen it all.

PHOTOS FROM ASHDOD, ISRAEL - DAY 3:


Masada, Israel from the bottom.


Masada, Israel from the top looking down.








The Bath House.


Brad & John taking a break.


The Dead Sea in the Background.

A Beach Resort at the Dead Sea.


Swimmers floating in the Dead Sea.


Brad checking out the Water Temperature.


This Guy was Enjoying the Water.






Ritual Bath.

GREAT photos as always, Ken. I agree, Marcie - it looks "cleaner" than I thought it would be. Also looks like it was mighty warm!

I LOVE those Dead Sea photos. It just seems like a completely different world from ours, yet we are all on the same planet. Amazing.

We have overdosed on archaelogical sites so we are just going to walk around the old part of Rhodes today.

It has been a struggle getting my iPad to connect to the internet, and I have only managed to upload 4 shots to photobucket, although now I am trying from the computer room with a little more success jointly using my iPad and a ship computer.

Here are four from the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem:

And one illustrating a Dead Sea mud treatment:

This has been an amazing and enlightening cruise made even better by the terrific group of LCTers on board....hate to see it come to an end. And yes, Kristen, mighty warm would be an understatement!!!

Thanks Ken, Russ, Ray and Leslie for the wonderful photos!

PHOTOS FROM ASHDOD, ISRAEL - DAY 4:


Jaffa, a 4000 Year Old City.




An Old Clock Tower.


The remains of a car made in Israel in the 1960's and 70's by the Sabre Autocar Company. This model is called the Camel, they are no longer made and all their cars are now imported.


Both men and women at the age of 18 have mandatory service in the military, women for 2 years and men for 3 years. Only married or pregnant women are exempt.


The Wishing Bridge in Jaffa.

Great dinner last night I had TURF and TURF for a main. Prime Rib and Lamb Chops and both were excellent.

The seas have been incredibly cslm on this trip, you hardly know we are on a ship. The cruise director Paul told me this morning this is the first trip for a while without a cancelled port due to winds and sea conditions.

Another glorius day with bright sunshine. We are in Rhodes today but Ken and I took the day off as we have been here many times. Got caught up this morning and will play POOCH this afternoon.

The LCT teams are really doing well at trivia I think only one day one of our teams did not win.

Okay off to lunch now a girl has to eat!

back to day 1... Palace of Knossos on Crete:











and a view from the palace up to where Zeus was supposedly buried: