I couldn't find any threads dealing with this, so maybe what I have to report isn't news, but it was to me.

Today, on the Voyager in the Baltic, they had the Titanium-Platinum-Gold event which was a sail-away cocktail reception outside the Horizon Lounge which I thought was really lame (previous events were, indeed, special)...this wasn't. However, the cruise consultant said that in the next few months Regent (which is running at 90% sold-out for all of 2010 and expecting to go higher with additional bookings on the remaining cruises fro the year) will--finally--announce a new ship build. Minimal details: 800 pax, movable dome over the pool to provide all-weather use of the space, more specialty restaurants to allow more than the typical one meal per each venue per week, and some singles cabins to allow lower fares for singles all the time.

If this isn't news, then maybe it is reinforcement. IMHO they despearately need another ship or two to keep the interest up for their long-time cruisers since so much of the current calendar has the three ships doing the same Alaska-Baltic-Med intinerary over and over. We can only hope.

Added: forgot to mention the time frame--supposedly the build will start in 2012 with first sailing in 2014.

Very interesting news Scott! The single supp cabins is a great idea. I sure hope they don't go any bigger than 800 pax, though!

Sounds exciting if true. I would think that Ngaire (and B&K) would be one of the first TAs to know if this is well-founded.

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Eugene

Heard rumors but nothing concrete I do hope that this will be a reality.

During the President's Cruise on Voyager in May, in an informal hallway conversation Mark Conroy mentioned that "the Board" (I believe he meant Prestige Cruise Holdings board, but he might have meant Apollo's) was going to consider what to do with Oceania's third option for a new build in June, and one possibility was to assign it to Regent. Seems that's what has happened if the rumors are to be believed.

Without going back and checking my notes, this is basically what Mark Conroy told everyone during his visit to the WC. The decision on what to do with the third "Oceania" option needs to be made by the end of the year. If it becomes a Regent ship, they would make changes to the "hotel" upper decks only, to keep standardization to the main operational areas. He also mentioned wanting to have some "single" cabins, optional covering for pool, additional dining options and approx. 800 pax capacity.

Sounds great to me...I was wondering when this would happen. I also wondered if they would not just buy a ship and totally renovate it to Regent standards. 2014 will be here before we know it!!