hello from sea

we left miami yesterday after putting inlaws into airport hotel
for overnite before flight to toronto
we came right back to ship and yes it was a busy port
maaged to have a few drinks and ended up missing dinner
thank god for chris martin who was only too glad to join rosanne
so she should not be too upset with me

there are a huge number of people on board that we met on voyageur last year (none which i can remember) and a few that have stories about me that they wont reveal to me
so it will be fun trip

at sea today and tomorrow so will just relax on pool deck
until block party tonight at 6 and captains welcome

will update

ok good day all from the mariner

2nd day at sea and it is very very choppy

pool deck cannot be used due to wind

but to my surprise a lot of people up and around
maybe because a lot of seasoned cruisers on board

tonight captains welcome and so far very quiet
we hit land tomorrw which is good dince last four out 5 days at sea

just another bumpy fun ride

hello from aruba
we have now done tow of the abc islands and are on way to columbia
where we arrive at 3pm tomorrow and do an overnite
i love doing overnites as you get to actually see the nightlife
and the real way of life for the locals we have added 7 days
to stay in peru and do a tour of various places

again very quiet ship with the exception of what i call laundry bitches !!! boy a lot of fighting so glad mine is included with our status

went last night for dinner with laura and chris(social hostess and ast cruise director) and had a famtasti(costly) meal

today in aruba rosanne and i went to another great place to eat
again not cheap versus north american prices but food was great

i am looking forward to columbia as we have not been there in 6 years so i expect to have a long fun day

and no snow!!!

soon

Ahoy Victor from the Voyager. Blowing wind on the Mariner and blowing wind on the Voyager. Wonder if it is windy on the Navigator!

I have not done this segment you are doing now but look forward to that same cruise next January. So I will be reading your reports and impressions. Have been enjoying reading your posts just always so rushed never have time to answer - you know how it goes on cruise ship!

Ngaire

when we extended it was done so quick on board
the easiest booking your son has had to do
nice crusie a little rocky and 2 sea days to start
now we are coming to the fun
today at 3pm we land in columbia for an overnight and hopefully a party with crew we are taking the ships doctor out for dinner if not too busy and possibly other crew will join
then tomorrow we start our way through the panama canal with no stopping yeh!!!
everyone looking forward to canal but we been there so not a big deal not to downplay what an amzing feat of work

mostly quiet on ship except the laundry bitches!! you know what i mean!!

again regent found an empty c cabin after departure
offered to me for 3100.00 yet i paid 1500.00 for 17 days more
go figure who talks to whom

we did not move as rosanne had already put all away and i could not justify an extra 300.00 a day for what??
it was nice for xmas as rosanne always bring a xmas tree
so the extra space was great for that time

the staff as always have been fantastic
more than once on way to compass rose they redirected us
to prime 7 where there was space
but then again you know how good they can be

another staff member catalin at pool bar has more than once reopended pool bar after closing to look after last minute drink requests

a class act

will uopate when in panama as we will party tonight and most likely6 sleep late tomorrow

till then

good day from transiting the panama canal

as usual comments fro9m teh bridge and a very fast transit is happening thank goodness no stopping at gatun yacht club
weather please 28 and a cool breeze a huge drop in tempature from otherr times we have been here
one more day and then we add another new country to our list with equador and we will not be extending as rosanne has many things she wants to see ijn peru and we prepaid hotels and private tours already if we had not i could see us trying to extend

so off to luch and learn more about canal

later

Another point of view: I always enjoyed the stop at the yacht club - it gave us a chance to see the extraordinary local crafts and also an opportunity to take some short tours in the Canal area. And for those who wanted to do so, be able to swim in the canal (well - Gatun Lake).

Just my opinion . . . .

Having said this, I thoroughly enjoyed the transit yesterday.

Peggy

correct some liked it but unless on tour you could not walk off the grounds so i felt limited

now we are sailing from ecuador to peru a sea day tomorrow

ecuador was a very interesting place and we found out they
are one the the largest exporters in the world for bananas who knew?? had a nice tour into a very entertaining park and a great local lunch in a high end resort of types a nice touch

some passngers got off yesterday to do an over nite to quito
which would have taken a lot of energy to do in this heat no way for me

i tried today to book a future cruise stockholm to barcelona
and they came back with a per diem of about 1500.00/day
i really think now i should rethink of maybe doing another cruise
line as they are putting up the tarriff( by 50% compared to what we paid this trip)and really not getting a whole lot more
the long regent/radisson passengers are now being forgotton as when you reach the top level there is NOTHING MORE!!!!!
we are the one sthat helped build the line and it seems they
no longer care and with mark gone i expect even further changes
although the incoming person who is just having this title added to his already role at prestige has said otherwise

seeing that he has multiple roles leads me to think that it will be different that having a president to look after regent and only regent

only time will tell but i really think this will be my last with regent !!!

it will be sad to say goodbye and it is not the staffs fault and anyone that has dealt direct to the office is well aware

most of you have ngaire fight and work for you wheeas many times i have gone direct then given the results to ngaire as i had a great long term relationship with many inside


THE END HAS COME!!!!!

Victor, sorry to hear you say the end has come. We have a couple future Regent cruises booked that we're really excited for so guess we'll decide for ourselves. Like you and many of us, it has been nice having some Regent insiders who we could always turn to.

The only other luxury cruise line we've been on was Seabourn with Capt. Dag at the helm so it was pre-determined to be a great cruise, which it was. We may try other lines but it's tough to walk away from the fabulous Regent staff and the great perks we've earned. On the other hand, we sure don't have a money tree either.

I guess time will tell but it is a given that Mark Conroy will sure be missed!!

Keep enjoying yourselves and thanks for all your posts to the rest of us.

Victor, we'll miss your posts! Will it be more difficult to quit Regent than smoking?

Victor, never say never. You don't know what may come around in the future. Please don't tell us you have gone to seabourn so you can smoke!!

ok to set the record straight i am back smoking
i stopped when i used champix but teh nightmares and the unreality of things made me stop that drug
once hoem i will again attempt with another try at something that
may assist i know it all in the ehad and i will beat it for sure
end of that subject

now as to regent i am very upset with them but maybe should not jump the gun( i almost booked 72 days yesterday staring in china)
i just get the feeling that they dont care for the long timers
even with their mailings we get lots of stuff for others that we have taken(as our home address was on file) but we get very littkle if any i guess they just presume we are coming so no need to mail any info even if it includes a discount of sorts

i love the staff and have donated to crew fun for 15 plus years
they will be very much missed if we do change but thats
something i will think about before next cruise
right now we are booked for the baltic back to back and we will cancel

ok to nicer things

in a port in peru and had a wonerful sunny day and nice tour
when we arrived we had fog like i have never seen and the captain
had fog horn on many times but we made it safely to port

in the bar last night we got to really know a couple that are divorced for 3 years but he wanted a travel companion and he brought and paid for his ex!!

after she got teh 7 bedroom home etc whats that all about
single beds etc there are different people for sure

tomorrow is lima and rosanne will pack either today or tomorrow
as we overnight in lima then go to local hotel to begin an 8 day tour of the area which we may extend as air canada only has one flight a week and direct is better anytime since we will not have to clear us customs if we did a connection

the weather has been great and wish we were staying on
but if given that chance would do this trip again


will update later