ROLL CALL
Miami to Miami
20 nights SPLENDOR
Friday Dec17th, 2021 to Thursday Jan. 6th. 2022

Dec. 17th to Dec. 27th
Pat & Jim----------------
Sheri & Tammy---------- #839

Dec. 17th to Jan. 6th
Jan & Jim B ------------ #803
Arlene & Marc---------
Carolyn & Jay------------
Ashlyn & Keith-----------

Dec 27th to Jan 6th

Carol & Bing------------- # 951

Jim, Marc and I are seriously considering this cruise. Are you and Jan still considering it? We would be doing the 20 day version

BTW, there is only a 25% single supplement for this cruise; the more the merrier.

Carolin and I are signed up for this cruise. Really looking forward to sailing again. Have signed up for the excursions except for Gustavia, St. Barts and St. John's, Antigua which are not up yet. Hoping it does not get canceled.

Jay

FYI
I just changed this to a roll call.

Sorry Jim, Clay and Brooke are not on this sailing they are on the December 20, 2022 Splendor out of Miami.

Oops. I guess I misunderstood what Clay was telling me.
I see he was saying 2022 not 2021. My mistake.

Just finished entering our excursions. Well except for the last two which are not available yet.
I assume they will do like before and have something for those of us doing Back to Back in Miami on the 27th.

Looking forward to meeting and sailing with you. Our first Regent cruise was back in 2007. (Paul Gauguin) We joined this board and you and others were a wealth of knowledge. First round of drinks are on me.
Jay

Wait a minute Jay!! I thought you were Scottsdale AZ.

We have been to Phoenix once and I think we drove through Scottsdale. But I don't believe we actually stopped.
Jay

See where I made the mistake.
Was looking at the roll call on Cruise Critic and there is someone on that site from Scottsdale on our cruise.
For some reason I thought it was you. Well I have been to San Luis Obispo if that helps my goof up.

Jim, do you really think this trip is going to actually sail?

Yes I do!!
I feel by December everyone who wants the Covid shot will have both 1 and 2 completed. I also believe the herd immunity will be very strong.
I do believe there will be restrictions, and changes, that will change how we have experienced a Regent cruise before but that is OK.
Think the cruise lines might be required to have all passengers have a vaccination card, or something similar showing they have gotten the shots,
or some kind of Doctor's certificate that will need to be, or should be, sent in before final payment. Waiting until boarding procedures is a little late to
be worrying about it.

A lot of other people must believe we will sail. Just looked at the web site and there are a lot of added cabins on "wait List" from a couple days ago, and it is over 10 months away.

Jim, I sure hope you are right; but with Canada scampering around like a little chicken with its head cut off, New Zealand trying to commit suicide, and half of Africa doing the ostrich dance with their heads stuck in the sand; I am getting a little pessimistic.

Hope for Alaska is if the Jones Act (requiring a ship to make a port of call in a foreign county) could be temporarily waived for Alaskan cruise season. The ships could sail out of Seattle and by pass Canada completely. This will really hurt the people of Alaska to miss two cruise seasons so hopefully this be considered. There is a movement taking place to try and get this approved. So those with 2021 Alaskan cruise bookings there is still a little hope on the horizon.

This has been an incredibly hard year but the good news is cruise bookings for the future are really strong. That opening day of the last release from Regent beat any past record significantly. Once this does get back to a semblance of normalcy I feel the volume of bookings will be record breaking. This is all down to one basic thing - vaccines around the world. Plus the scientists getting ahead of the variant curve for the future which may be something that will be required annually just like the flu shot but far more important.

Wow. If the Jones Act could be waived, that could be wonderful for cruise lines.
I can see it now. LAX to SFO to Hawaii about a 14 day cruise. Then reverse it back. Or SEA to SFO, to LAX to San Diego
MIA to NOLA, to Galveston TX about 14 days with lots of stops a long the way.
Portland Maine to Miami
Oh my. The itinerary's could be endless and you won't really need a passport.

I think this is just being requested just for the Alaskan Season.

I'm almost reluctant to post because it seems like I'm always so pessimistic. While I certainly think it's possible the PVSA could be suspended to allow for a 2021 Alaska cruise season, I see absolutely no indications that the cruise lines that sail Alaska cruises are ready to resume cruising in time for this year's Alaska season.

Tom.

Lots of questions around everything to do with COVID and cruising and unfortunately no clarity as it is a moving target. No one really knows what the future holds just that EVENTUALLY there will be light at the end of the tunnel.

The fact that there is an effort to secure the release of the Jones Act the cruise lines may just want to take that impediment out of the equation if they can sail. You are right they still have the very difficult CDC requirements sailing out of the USA.

Marc - NZ is not only surviving but thriving! Life returned to normal there about 8 months ago. While, as with other countries, it has closed its borders to anyone except NZ citizens and residents, kiwis, being a resourceful lot, have embarked on a re-discovery of their own country. The tourist industry, while impacted by the border closure, is extremely busy with local tourism. Friends and family there tell us the economy is buoyant and the populace is not unhappy with border restrictions. Vaccinations due to commence there about May. We will be among the first visitors there as soon as the border re-opens. Can’t wait!

June, sounds fantastic; here is an article on the aborted restart of cruises in New Zealand; one part of the government apparently not communicating with the others whilst the MU is making absurd requests:

http://crew-center.com/new-zealand-trying-take-crew-jobs-after-banning-foreign-cruise-ship-workers

And following on from what June said, it’s been a very similar story here in Australia. We’ve had a few more lockdown challenges than NZ but for the most part we’ve been able to enjoy our pre Covid life except for overseas travel.

Coral Expeditions and True North along with other Australian cruise/expedition companies have been successfully cruising in Qld and WA for several months and are now cruising round Tasmania, WA and SA.

The Kimberley season - March/October for these ships is almost fully booked. All with Aussies since no one else can come here.

Our vaccination programme is set to roll out at the end of this month/beginning March with Pfizer initially, and the plan is to have all Aussies vaccinated by October. We should be having ours sometime late March.

What a nightmare for Pondant! That is an unbelievable story.

June,
Is there any speculation from the Kiwis as to when the borders might open post-vaccination? We are supposed to be there right now on a post-Antarctica Lindblad cruise but of course it was cancelled. We rebooked the same cruise for exactly a year later and are getting ready to rebook our NZ visit. Are we wasting our time?

Wish I could give you a definitive answer. We would like to know also as we plan to return to NZ this Dec.
The last we heard was the PM announcing recently the borders may remain closed until the end of this year. We are however hopeful that once the vaccine has been widely distributed that the border will re-open on the condition that visitors must produce proof of vaccination plus maybe a negative Covid test.
Fingers crossed!

Knew about the schmozzle with the cruise. Stuff happens!

Today I received a Regent promotional email.
Opened it up and there were video's to watch.
One of them was of the cabins on Splendor.
What to our surprise but one of the ones they showed was our cabin to be 803.
That was really cool.

Didn't see the Regent promotional email (or at least didn't read it), but I have done considerable searching for pictures and video on the Splendor. Here is a link to a video of the various cabins. This may be the same one they sent. 803 starts at 2:45 if you don't want to be bored with other cabins, hallways and stairs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssPTb56L2NI

Jay

Yes this is the same video I was talking about. Cabin 803 was one they toured.

Anybody new going to join us on this cruise?

Just made our flight, pre & post arrangements for this cruise. Flying into Miami two days early
and then post cruise doing a road trip ending up in Orlando.

Jim, it sounds perfect for you and Jan. We're hoping to get back on track and be with family Xmas 2021 so the dates don't work for us. I love your added road trip to Orlando.

Hopefully we'll see you at BOOTS in September.

Won't be at "BOOTS" Putting the band together to play for a class reunion that weekend.

Jim, isn't that taking a risk booking flight so soon? What happens if departure/arrival port changed to somewhere in Caribbean?

Not for us Marc. Here in Montana you had better make reservations early. Flight selection is very slim. Currently airlines are allowing you to make changes without a penalty which also helps.

Marc, from Montana they would probably have to fly via Miami to get to the Carib.

You are absolutely correct Mr. Bittle.

I just found out that Carol & Bing Cherry have signed up for the 2nd half of the cruise. Yippee!

I am looking forward to meeting them!

Just wondering if we have anyone new to add to the roll call?
Since the cruising industry appears to be opening up I thought we might have some people.