Our Captain made a public announcement this noon letting us know the status of the Voyager and that some of the Voyager's guests would be joining us in Bali.

Ardis

Ardis, any word on how many Voyager pax would be joining you in Bali? Any word on whether they would be staying on until Seward or continuing to Vancouver?

How is it doing the Ring of Fire clockwise versus counter-clockwise like in the past GAP?

Say hi to Stan for us,

The only word on numbers came from our General Manager who said it would be somewhat under ten pasengers. YES, there is room after Seward in spite of their saying that the ship is full in Alaska.

The route has been beyond great! We have such a compatible group of people, too, although there will always be those who complain. I feel a sense of excitement with peace and calmness that was often lacking from Voyager. I would love to see John Barron as CD on the 2010 World Cruis e.

By the way, Handre did not go on vacation. He followed Barry Hopkins to Seabourn. Handre told me.

Ardis

The Captain announced at lunch that they have the names of 22 guests who will join us in Bali from the Voyager. I wonder what they will think if we refer to them as "new segmenters"???

Doing this voyage clockwise allows us to follow the warm weather and we really been lucky with the weather. Tomorrow in Darwin the temperature is forcast to be 92 degrees.
Jim

What are the world cruisers doing for the few days between leaving the Voyager and arriving in Bali?

I think you should refer to them as full segmenters if they were full cruisers however, then I'd guess we'd be repeat segmenters since we are re-boardinging the Mariner in Osaka.(yes, the baby is beautiful and healthy) Hank and Sondra probably will be repeat multiple segmenters as well. Oh well I guess we are all Mariner segmentists to some degree. Sounds like Regent is doing I great job. As a part time travel planner for our company I can just imagine the comments that they are receiving.

Hopefully they will be staying in Bali, at some nice resort?

From what I understand, some Voyager world cruisers will be joining you in Singapore so keep the welcome sign. I might be wrong but I heard that there will be a total of 50 or so that will embark from the Voyager between Bali and Singapore.

What's interesting in all of this is that both ships appear to have been not much more than half full. Sad to see this, but not surprising I guess. I wonder what the rest of the year will bring.

YES, latest from John is that 21 are arriving in bali taking 14 suites. There is a lot of excitement as we wait to see old friends.

Ardis

This will be a fun reunion for many friends.

All the emails I've received from Voyager friends are very upbeat and they continue to be enjoying themselves in spite of the circumstances. They have commented how helpful the staff has been in helping to make alternate arrangements..

Hopefully everyone moving to Mariner already has another entry on their Chinese visa or can somehow get a new visa along the way (mabye during three days in Hong Kong).

For Petropavlask, does the ship get the visa for everyone?

Only you, Marc, would think of this!

I think Peggy said before they are not needed for Petropavlask.

I'm sure Regent will figure it out for China, weren't the WC people already there?

Yes, they were already there. They would have only needed a single entry visa. If they were lucky enough to have a double entry or multiple entry visa AND the visa has not expired, they will be ok.

Komodo today and lots of anticipation. Linday is still debating whether to go ashore because of the heat and Luke being so active so it is possible for a sitter to be found for Luke so she can enjoy this unique experience.

Tomorrow is BALI and the Balinese are dancing three feet off the floor. Our wonderful Balinese approached John some time ago and asked if they could put on one of their colorful cultural dances for the guests. John asked them how much they wanted for it and the answer was, "Nothing." Plans have gone ahead, costumes ordered and will be picked up in Bali and the dances are planned for next week. I asked one man the cost of the costumes since they are so elaborate and was told about $500. And the Balinese are willing to cover this cost themselves. Needless to say, some have been quietly helping out with the cost. They practice each night until about 2 a.m. for this program which will run about 45 minutes.

Ardis

What a wonderful trip - so happy John's family could join him - he must miss them terribly - Lyndsay is a special gal - and now they have adorable Luke - :hug: :hug: to the 3 of them

Ardis, one of my most magical cruise memories is spending a day in Bali. Now you get to see it again when you weren't expecting to be in that part of the world. Sometimes good things happen from bad situations. Enjoy.

WOW, I can give no greater expression of the talent and enthusiasm of our Balinese friends on Mariner. The show last night was wonderful. Many of their items did not arrive and they had to make do. The monkeys were to have white painted stripes on their chests and when the paint did not arrive, they used toothpaste! A couple of dark wigs also were missing so the salon let them use BLOND wigs they had on hand. What a wonderful performance and John has said it would be repeated later in the cruise, I would expect in Alaska. The cast got a standing ovation at the end. Today they are walking three feet off the ground and just cannot wipe the grins off their faces.

Ardis

My apologies, Ardis. For some reason I thought you were one of the World Cruisers who moved over to the Mariner. Duh, where is my brain? I've been reading your reports from the Mariner since the beginning. Guess I had one of those senior moments.

Loved reading about the Balinese performance on the Mariner. Sounded really special.

No appologies needed, Donna.

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.No apology needed, Donna.

Transferees from Voyager are being welcomed on board and being referred to as the "refugees." Captain Felicci is going out of his way to welcome them all. Some have already been invited to dine with him. A great thing about the Captain is that his tables are small with only five or six people so all can converse. It has been great to see old friends.

There are both sides of the story from those boarding. Some arrived in Bali and had four nights there. These were full cruisers and it was their first trip on Regent. They are greatly impressed and plan to travel with us again. One couple I talked to had absolutely no idea there was even a problem. They arrived in Dubai to board the ship, were taken to one side and given twenty minutes to make up their mind. That would blow me away.

Bangkok today with about 70 of us choosing to stay aboard. We are offered a shuttle bus to the beach city up the way but they are charging $50 for it. That seems grossly overpriced, especially for the full world cruisers.

Another plus for John. In spite of most guests being gone, he has games and also Trivia organized for us. This is something that Voyager did not do. Sure would be great to see him on WC 2010.

Ardis

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Ardis or Jim, with the protests in Bangkok, is the port visit being skipped? Or, are most people taking excursions outside of Bangkok?

There was some talk of demonstrations at the beach town up the way (Petaya?) but nothing heard from Bangkok. Guests will start returning in about six or seven hours.

Ardis

Marc, One of the full RoF bloggers from Mariner got caught by one of the protests and talks about it here.
http://www.jetsetway.com/

dfb, thank you. I cannot understand why Regent would skip Sri Lanka even thought there was no problems in Colombo itself but put passengers into Bangkok (and Pattaya Beach) under the current conditions. Regent should never have arranged for passengers to go to Pattaya Beach during the East Asia Summit and, when the summit had to be cancelled due to protests, should never have allowed passengers to go there.

There were protesters in Pattaya (yellow shirts) the day before we arrived. There was an ASEAN summit that quit when the protesters messed things up. We went to Pattaya for an overnight instead of Bangkok and everything was fine. We saw lots of crew in Pattaya which was crowded due to today's New years celebrations and also the aircraft carrier USS Stennis and 4 escort ships were in port adding another 10,000 people to the area. The bars and girls were happy.
Jim

Those who came back from Bangkok said it was the most organized trip Regent had put on and there were no disruptions at all. Nothing but priase.

Ardis

Jim and Ardis, thanks for the reports! Glad everything worked out. Enjoy your time in Vietnam.

The crew always seems to like to go to Pattaya as I remember. In 2007 we were lucky to be able to stop in Sri Lanka...a day or two later we probably would have had to skip it too like Silversea did.

Yesterday Bangkok was superb! Typical tourist charming city, despite the news showing on the media... all was just great.

Welcome to LCT, Mariner, are you on the ship?

MARINER WELCOME!! How is the trip???? Share more and more

Would love to hear more about Ring of Fire Mariner...we were disappointed we had to cancel it. Please keep posting....Are you on the ship now?

At the Captain's welcome party Captain Felice announced that John Barron was voted (from comment cards) as the best cruise director in the fleet. I'v got a photo of John, Lindsay & Luke in their formal dress that I'll send to Ken to post.

We're anchored off Saigon until 3:00pm because a freightor is in our berth until 2:00. There will be 3 hydrofoils to take us ashore before then - tours first and independents at 11:30.

Chef Mike has been trying some new menu items with great success and has done an excellent job of serving local dishes with locally purchased ingredients at most ports.
Jim

What a great "update" about John - no surprise to us - If Regent loses JB they are fools - I say this after reading about recent Regent departures - He is simply the BEST - we'll follow his career, as it will tell me much about Regent -

Take notes, Jim. I'll be asking Viet Nam questions before we leave on the Mariner this fall.

I don't know if it's been posted on LCT but aparently Rose Clarke has left the company.

The container ship stuck at our docking spot is still there with "technical problems." It's 5:30pm and the last hydrofoil is on its way back to the ship and nobody can go back ashore tonight. A tender will be sent until all guests & crew are back and, if we aren't docked by 7:00 tomorrow we'll likely leave. That will be a problem for those who are having clothing made to be picked up tomorrow noon. We'll see what happens and report back.

Saigon is getting more and more prosperous and looks cleaner and busier than 1 1/2 years ago. Prices are still great - a 4 course Vietnamese lunch with 2 beers for under $12.00 or ladies silk slacks for $40.00 is hard to beat.
Jim

Photo of John, Luke, & Lindsay in their formals courtesy of Jim.

Such a great family!! Thanks Ken...

Mr. Bean sure has a beautiful family. Glad he is getting the recognition. He certainly added to the fun we had on our segment.

They look like movie stars!!