Hi from the rocking and rolling Voyager! Everyone is having a great time onboard for a relaxing sea day. The hearts players are at it again this afternoon as I type. Here is the morning group:



There have been bigger splashes, but of course they are hard to time to get a good photo:

Alice and I had a very nice morning in Hong Kong before boarding the ship yesterday. There were some low hanging clouds, mist and some wind, but we still enjoyed our walk around Hong Kong. The hotel concierge mapped out a route for us to walk after we took the star ferry to the island.

View across the harbor from our hotel room:



There isn't much if old Hong Kong, but we did find a temple.



The sail away was dramatic with the skyline poking the clouds.

Thanks Kim, I know you all are having a great time!

Thanks Kim for the wonderful pictures you shared.

Thanks for the pics Kim, I am loving every one!

Wonderful pixs Kim - so exciting to see and hear about your trip. We sure are envious but so happy for all of you!!

Yay, seamail!!! Thanks Kim.

So fantastic to see so many wonderful people. A noisy observation lounge as we all got together and lots of hugs and laughter.

Internet yesterday was only working during the morning. Late last night it came on again but was slow. We woke early this morning turned on the TV no signals for the TV channels. Darn! However then it came on and we are set with some nice fast internet again. Around Japan there will be NO internet the Japanese block the signal. So no sea mail at that time.

Been the strangest seas. This was like being on a road and then hitting a giant speed bump. For the most part it did not rock back and forth and rolling as normal. It just was a big shudder and an up and down movement. The speed bumps were more frequent at times. Sometimes in-between not much movement at all. VERY strange.

We had a lovely relaxing day at sea, I slept in and missed the morning card session. Yummy lunch of King Klip a South African fish. I do not remember seeing that on a Regent menu before. Enjoyed reuniting over lunch with Ralph and my sister June who were ALL smiles. Enjoyed dinner with Jim and Pam and Cheron and Mark. Dover sole and rack of lamb. LIFE IS GOOD!

We have arrived at Keelung and it does not look like a nice day. Rainy and a bit dreary. Most tours leave REALLY early today but Ken and I are staying in and making it a sea day.

The refurbishment of the ship is overall very nice. The new carpet alone makes a difference. Also some lovely new art work.

The Horizon Lounge has changed the most with the seating gone on the lower level for a bigger dance floor. The dancers will like that. Really nice are of cubicle type seating on entering but they need dimmers it is too bright. Hard for trivia chairs can be moved around but it just is hard for six to get together.

The Observation Lounge is now very white. It looks pretty but many find the chairs too deep they need more pillows and the low backs on the chairs some find uncomfortable.

Everyone had varying opinions of course but overall I think it is a big improvement.

We have our Brown and Keene cocktail party tonight and then Dinner for us in Prime 7! Be back later.

The seas sound very weird. And I have never heard of a King klip. In fact, my autocorrect does not like me typing it.

Anyway, have a fun time and I am loving hearing all the details.

Not great photos, but it is an iPhone after all. We're having such a great time. I missed the start of trivia yesterday. Got there once I busted out of the poker tournament on the bubble. Tom placed 1st and Ralph 2nd!

Trivia was tough they said:


Last night was the captain's reception.

Sounds like a great start. We had King Klip on the Mariner a little over a week ago -- they said it came from the Falkland Islands, but who knows. It was good regardless of where it came from.

So glad the seamail has begun...... This is going to be so much fun! Thanks to all!

(If Mark writes a poem I sure hope he'll share it!)

King Klip is probably a Southern Ocean fish, in the Falklands and in South Africa. It is good.

Rocking and rolling again tonight but now the more normal movement side to side. Hard to stand at the cocktail party to night. Will post the preliminary winners under the right thread.

We do not get in until 1.00 pm tomorrow - lazy morning ahead!

FYI, we are sailing into Japanese waters coming into Okinawa and our internet will be cut off until midnight tonight. Its 09:00am in the morning right now.

Ken

Hi all,
Seas are calm this morning and I'm enjoying a nice sea day morning. Yesterday Tom and I went on the "Battlefields of Okinawa" which was a good, educating tour...not too long, not too short. Jim and Pam Turner came with us, many went to "The Highlights of Okinawa".

We had great dinner with Ken & Sheila and Olivia last night. Food was excellent as was the company. The food has been so good on this cruise. Chef Kelley is really the best of all the chefs IMO. Today should be a nice, calm day...good for playing hearts, bingo, trivia...the usual. We've discovered good friends from our SoAmerica and WC's on board and will meet them again for lunch today. Lots to catch up with. You just meet the greatest people on cruises !!

We've been doing lots of dancing in the Voyager Lounge on this cruise so good for keeping us in shape. Two nights ago it was Cheron's birthday and many of us sure had fun celebrating her special day in VL.

Excited that our name was drawn to go in the hopper for the free BK cruise. I think it may be the first time we've ever had our name drawn.

Tomorrow we're in Shanghai and overnight there. We're looking forward to visiting there again and have a day tour, shopping time and going to the acrobatic show tomorrow night. FUN times ahead !!

Wish you all were here with us.

Not much to add to what has been posted already. We have been enjoying dinners with various people, Olivia, Kim and Alice, and tonight Dave and Joan. Our friends Jack and Laura are with us, as well as Jim and Jill who got on in Auckland. The seas have improved as of this morning and things seem a little calmer for our day at sea. Massage at 10, so will miss morning cards. Enjoying spending time with everyone and Cheron's birthday party was a lot of fun.

Sounds like the food has been great! So nice to have those dinners with friends over good food and wine. You are right Marcie, you meet the nicest people on cruises! Keep the sea mail coming folks...

We are in the middle of the East China Sea heading from Naha, Japan to Shanghai, China. Yesterday our tour in Naha, Okinawa was of Shuri Castle and a market. A very fun guide makes an excursion so much better!

The group gathered in coffee corner and waited to be called for immigration processing and bus tickets for the tour to Shuri Castle. Afterwards we walked around a shopping area.







Dancer outside of castle:



Visual aids in a restaurant window:



Heading into the market:

This was the tour Alice and I did in Taiwan day before yesterday. The Yehliu geological park on the north coast. Obviously it was raining, but we managed. There are interesting shapes formed by erosion.






Fairy slipper:



Profile of Queen's Head:

Our first stop of the morning in Keelung was the statue of the goddess of mercy.



Inside the temple behind the statue:



There were 4 columns with tiny figures of deities. It has something to do with new years. People purchase the figures for themselves and families members for good luck throughout the year. At new years they are lighted.

Loving your pix, Kim. Thanks for sharing.

Great Pictures Kim. Glad to see you two
are having a good time.

Thanks for posting your very interesting photos, Kim. So glad you and Alice are having a great time!

Loved your pixs Kim - sounds like everyone having great time - love the seamail!!!!!

Enjoying Olivia's birthday dinner.

Happy Birthday Olivia!

GOOD the candles weren't a fire hazard.

Birthday celebrations on ships are THE BEST!!!
Happy Birthday to Olivia and Cheron.
Keep the great photos coming!

Happy Birthday Olivia and Cheron! Loving the pictures!

Hope our birthday girls had a great day! Cheers, Anne

Hope you had a great birthday!

Cheron and Olivia -- you're still having birthdays??? Hope you had a great time .

Happy Birthday Olivia and Cheron.

Glad everyone is having such a good time and thanks for all the great photos!!! Looks like a blast!

We're so envious - and we'd love to be cruising with Frank and Carla - but like us they are stuck back in the USA -

Yesterday arriving in Shanghai was spectacular! A little chilly because of the wind up on deck, but we bundled up. We sailed past miles and miles of cargo and container ships and ship yards. The photos from the sail up the river are a bit hazy, but at night with the lights the city shined brightly!



Several folks went to Chinese acrobats show. Alice and I and a few other LCTers went to the top of the Jin Mao building where we could look out over the city. The voyager is across the river:

Yesterday afternoon we visited a garden. It's really an estate built for the parents of someone. But the parents died before it was finished.:






We also went to the Shanghai museum. We did a quick look through the rooms with jade, ceramics and bronze.

Jade buddha:



It was an excellent museum. Not crowded. Good English descriptions of the artifacts:

Funeral mask. The jade pieces are shown on a cloth:

The second day touring Shanghai, we went to town knows as the "Venice of Shanghai" . We had a short boat ride through the canals. Then walked around seeing the oldest post office in China and an old Chinese medicine pharmacy.

A little drizzly, but not windy. So it was fine.





I think they are quail eggs cooked in a salt dome:







One of the food stalls on the side streets:



Fried frogs!

Kim has been doing such a great job with pictures and reports. Not a lot else to add. We did a tour this morning and the one thing I wanted to do on it was the Jin Mao building, alas the top was completely fogged in. I think I see a pattern here, last year it was Sugar Loaf and the Christ statue that was fogged in, then Victoria Peak in Hong Kong and now this. Sigh.....oh well such is life, and we are after all on a wonderful cruise with wonderful friends. We did get to Pearl City yesterday and bought a couple of fun necklaces, and Christmas gifts for the daughters, daughter in law and the Granddaughters.

The Captain has just announced that we can't leave the port just yet because of dense fog, which is pretty dense but apparently worse up or maybe its down the river, so we are still docked in Shanghai. Maybe in the early evening he said. So just hanging out in our cabin, relaxing and napping. Tonight we have Signature's. Tomorrow is a sea day, so I am sure there will be lots of activities and such and plenty of cards.

Really enjoying the pictures! The fried frogs would not be for me, or the quail eggs in a salt dome either. But interesting to look at.

We are staying in Shanghai all day tomorrow and not leaving until midnight. Unfortunately this is causing us to miss Kobe but not much anyone can do about that. For many guests another day in Shanghai is just fine. I bought a beautiful top I really like at the pearl market and now am on a mission to get another one. Interesting was the fact that Cheron has a top she bought at CHICOS for $100+ and at this store the exact top was $36.00

So back to the shopping tomorrow - not a bad thing!!!