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So funny! We were in pirate territory on Voyager and we had Israeli commandos on board. Very easy to spot, shades, black cargo pants, tight T-shirts over buff pecs, easy on the eyes. A girl can still dream…..

I’m convinced it is a legit learning disability. It took my husband ten years to be able to navigate from our house (Virginia-Highland in ATL) to Lenox Square - not three miles away. I always drive now, even with Siri patiently giving directions. It makes me nervous that he has no idea where he is. I’d chalk it up to age but I have known him fo 47 years and he has always been that way. Cognitive mapping skills are definitely something you are born with!

They can also keep track of food allergies.

We have sailed the most on Voyager and I like the ship a lot. Splendor and Explorer have more dining venues and the beautiful outside dining area at la Veranda. However. Voyager has an outdoor lounging space on the back of the ship off one of the lounges which is our favorite place to have a cocktail or just read during the day. I think the rooms are comparable and, of course, only one sink in the bathroom. The balconies in concierge level suites are smaller than on Explorer (our last two cruises were on Explorer). Keep in mind we haven’t been on Voyager in four years, I think, and we may be spoiled by the Explorer! We will sail on Voyager in January, so I will give an updated report.

It was dreadful, wasn’t it? I’m not sure why destination services is such a weak link for Regent. Since all excursion seem identical for identical cruises year by year and our excursion choices are on the computer, why not create individual excursion surveys? We could rate them and add a narrative explanation. Both the excursion desk on the ship and the corporate excursion “Wizard of Oz” could then readily see where the clunkers are and act accordingly. In surveys there are always those who are excessively positive and negative but that would be fairly easy to sort out. And, on another note, the system of collecting in the theater has got to end. It is inefficient and annoying. We have tickets. Meet on shore. Collect the tickets. Easy.

@GeorgiaPeach51 further pic instructions: Before you post your entry I assume you have uploaded all your pics. If you touch the pic, you will see “insert” in the bottom right corner. Let’s say you want to insert the picture here. Make sure your cursor is positioned here and then scroll town to the pic you want to insert and tap insert. and say you want to insert another picture. Repeat the process like this: i usually will write my whole post and correct spelling and grammar then decide where I want the pics and insert them. Or, you can insert as you write. Whatever is easier for you! Cheers to you!

Just an editorial note….if you want to post pictures as part of your narrative, all you need to do is upload your pics and then tap the part of the narrative that describes the pic, scroll down to the uploaded pics, tap the picture and tap insert. This way you don’t have all the pictures at the end of the post. I’m really enjoying your writing! We have two cruises booked on Splendor, London to Barcelona in 2023 and Lisbon to Cape Town in 2024. We have been on all the other ships, so your descriptions are most welcome!

I appreciate your diligent reporting! I know, first hand, that you can get “caught up” in your obligation to your devoted readers! We can wait. I like to do ongoing trip reports so they can jog my memory when we return home and I transform them into a digital blog. We will sail on Splendor next year so I eagerly anticipate your observations. PS - it continues to be cold in ATL but sunny and dry weather.

We were on Lufthansa to Frankfort in August and I agree the plane was too hot! The seats were odd as they were sort of inflatable and mine kept deflating so my hips hurt more than they usually do. But, the service was lovely. The Frankfort airport, on the other hand was not so lovely - huge and difficult to navigate. By the way, I found that when pics randomly post upside down, delete the upload from CC and go back to your photo library. Then exit the picture by rotating it to the side, upside down, to the other side until you are in the original right side up position. Upload again and it should work. Your pic:

I’m curious how Regent handled the awful return trip home. Are you able to give us an update? I thought of you as we flew home from Istanbul last week. We were flying in UA points so we didn’t have a TA ticket number. Wasn’t too paranoid as our outgoing flight to Istanbul was uneventful but our ordeal was very much in my mind as we checked in. I hope that time will make this an engaging travel story as you gain distance from the nightmare I’m sure it was. i just read an article about an Australian couple whose 18 month old baby was booked on a different flight after a flight cancellation. It took them two weeks for the three of them back to Australia. KLM blamed Quantas…Qauntas blamed KLM.

Yes! Small world, isn’t it? We have two booked for 2023, too. Buenos Aires to Santiago on January and London to Barcelona in September.

Can’t wait to follow along! We booked this itinerary for 2024. I’d love to see your notes and your “lessons learned”!

In January we were on a half full Explorer cruise so we had the opportunity to go through most of the menu in multiple visits. Recently we were in quarantine with the ability to order from Pacific Rim through room service, which we did for a couple of nights. We love Asian cuisine and, other than the miso black cod, I found most of the dishes just OK. It seemed that the chefs were “dialing it in”. I realize that corporate wants consistency in preparation and presentation but this handcuffs a creative, passionate chef. Perhaps daily specials would increase the wow factor.

@SusieQft you are correct that the quarantine is the CDC required “5” days which is really 6 days but you are actually set free on the 7th day if you have two consecutive negative tests. The first of the tests are given the morning of the 6th day. I guess that in my mind, the 7th day counted as still in quarantine even though we were se free after the negative results came in. @peribit I think quarantine requirements depend on the country you are in if you are still positive when disembarkation comes around. In our case, Turkey, it didn’t matter,

Ha! Quarantine is 7 days and two negative tests OR the end of the cruise - whichever comes first!

Quarantine has ended!- Debarkation Early morning Covid test that was once again negative. What a relief to leave the room! It looked a little worse for wear given that we had no housekeeping for six days. We could have requested it but why not keep the standards I’m accustomed to at home! But then again, at home I’m not knocking around in two rooms. Debarkation was a breeze but Galataport in Istanbul is large. We booked the Novotel which is very nearby and managed 3000 steps. Many of the steps were accomplished by walking the length of Galataport three times before we surfaced from the underground labyrinth. Once in open air we walked the length of it again to get to the hotel. As we were waiting to leave the ship, I spoke with a fellow passenger we met before boarding. She said that there was a mean upper respiratory infection circulating the ship that is not Covid. One member of her traveling group is quite sick. She was surprised that our quarantine was so strict. She was even more surprised that I opted to stay with my husband! Actually, we did quite well in isolation. One of the things I liked about the early days of Covid lockdown was the lack of obligation. In quarantine, I wore comfortable clothes, barefoot the whole time, no makeup until debarkation, hair in a scrunchie on top of my head. Best of all, all I had to do was pick up the phone to get anything I wanted delivered to the cabin. We are in Istanbul for two days and fly home on Wednesday. Thank you for all the support you gave us during this cruise. It was very encouraging. Our captain was good managed to give me a room with a view on our overnight in Istanbul. Enjoy! And a restaurant, right outside our cabin in Galataport!

You were not on out side of the ship but see you on the navigation cam. Nice horn blowing!

Covidlogue -Day Five We are officially Covid negative! BUT, we are still in Covid lock down until our next test tomorrow morning. Irish, our nurse, tried to soften the blow by assuring us she would test us at 7am so we can eat in La Veranda before leaving the ship at 9am. I didn’t even roll my eyes! The last two days have been more difficult than the first four (remember we started at day zero!) I hated that we missed some entertainment, the Gatsby party and the Halloween party. I have practically memorized the menues in all the restaurants. We even skipped dinner last night as we were too stuffed from lunch. The devil on one shoulder wants to sneak out, but the angel on the other shoulder is very persuasive in telling me to sit tight. We received a lovely conference call from the management team making sure that we were content and that we were aware of the benefits of Covid lockdown. The GM joked that he would talk to the captain about parking the ship so we had a good view! I think they have either been reading this or my posts on Facebook! We are sailing the Dardanelles strait today so the scenery is beautiful and we are scheduled to arrive in Istanbul at 6 pm. I ordered another bottle of champagne….carpe diem!

Covidlogue - Day Four We had a beautiful sail away from Rhodes yesterday. The rest of the ship had a party to celebrate Regent’s 30th anniversary. I felt a little sorry for us, but champagne and a cosmopolitan cheered me up. The anniversary menu looked good and for the first time I ordered beef tenderloin which convinced me that I am just not a beef eater anymore. The rest of the meal was OK but eating in the cabin for the fifth day is getting old. We tried to make it a movie night but the sound quality on the TV was lacking so we just spent the night reading. Today we docked in Kusadasi, Turkey. I was up early and took a shaky picture of what I thought would be another picture perfect view. An hour later, though I looked out, the sun was up and I was confronted with the Viking Ocean “peep show”. Plus, the ship is not quiet. I guess it’s the sound of the generators to keep everything running, but it makes our balcony unusable. Fortunately, we sail at 5:30, cocktails in hand. i tried to whine my way out of quarantine this morning but the guidelines are inflexible. I have developed a cough and a raspy voice so I tested myself with an antigen test from my stash. Still negative and G now has no symptoms at all. We will be missing our last port in Turkey due to weather that will make tendering unsafe so the captain announced we will be spending the night in Istanbul tomorrow before debarkation the next day.

Covidlogue - Day Three We arrived in Rhodes today and, again, we have a lovely view. I have to say I’m getting tired of quarantine as G is not sick at all. Irish, our nurse, said that they won’t test him until day 5 of isolation. We are on Day 3 so that means testing on Sunday and then on Monday when the cruise ends. I’m getting a little bored with our routine so I asked if they streamed the entertainment…NO. I asked for one of the tea lights they have in various bars for a more romantic dinner en aire….NO. Today is the Gatsby cocktail party in the atrium so that’s out too. . But, the boutique manager is shopping for me by sending me pictures, which is wonderful! And, the spa sent us some equipment so I’ve invented an exercise circuit in our cabin. We have books to read and there are always movies to watch. With all the hardship in the world, I’m ashamed to complain about this experience. One of my friends called this a Covid spa stay, which it is, so my gratitude goes to Regent! Covid Spa with a view!

I’m not sure, as this is a moot point for us. Our quarantine is for six days or until the cruise ends, which in this case is the sixth day. I don’t believe that Turkey cares if we are positive or not so off we go for the two days in Istanbul until our flight.

Covidlogue - Day Two As you know, this is really day three of quarantine but the count begins on day zero. I’m getting a little bit antsy, a little bit regretful that we reported G being Covid positive. But, I keep telling myself that we had no way of knowing how his case would develop. It is benign right now but could have been life threatening. Our port today is Alanya, Turkey and we are lucky enough to have a beautiful view! But, the pirate ships arrived at nine, blasting music and encouragement in multiple, indecipherable languages as passengers dove off for a swim. Fortunately, they were on their way by 11, so now we have a handful of recreational boats in the harbor. At my request, the spa sent up a mat, 3 lb balls, and. Pilates ring so we can get some exercise. The mirrors in our cabin are great motivators to do SOMETHING to counter the slippery slope of age. We have enjoyed beautiful weather and very pleasant meals on our balcony. Tonight I will attempt pre dinner cocktails. They may just need to send up a mini cocktail shaker with the correct ingredients and a glass so all I have to do is shake and pour!

Paxlovid was on board and delivered by medical staff. MD was cautious as there are medicines one has to stop while taking Paclovid. In addition, G was given decongestants and cough medicine. Nurses visit two times a day, MD calls once a day. We feel we are in good hands.

Covidlogue - Day One When G tested positive yesterday, that became Day Zero of our quarantine. This morning he sailed through his medical check-up with no fever, clear lungs, good oxygen levels, and no temp, although he is still testing positive while I am testing negative. My biggest complaint is that we have had terrible views when docked! Today we are in Cypress and the port is loud and industrial but we can see a bit of the hills in the distance. Coffee on sail-in was nice. Our noisy view for the day: The plus side of quarantine is that we no longer have to keep up the frenetic pace of early excursions and all the activities not to be missed while sailing. I rather like ordering from any restaurant and I don’t feel so compelled to over order. As an example, last night we ordered from Chartreuse. Beet Salad, Lobster Bisque, Mushroom Soup, and Artichoke Tarte Tatin. And, a digestif from the coffee connection - sambuca and Amaro Montenegro. Very nice! Breakfast this morning came from Compass Rose. Another nice bonus is that we got a letter yesterday informing us that we now have upgraded internet. It is slightly faster and we shall see if we can stream anything. We also have the option of rolling over our on-board credit to our next cruise. What to do? What to do? They sent up the wine list last night which might be one way to spend down our credit. I also talked with the Executive Concierge about sending me a photo of some jewelry I had my eye on. So, all in all, it is disappointing to miss half of our trip, but, hopefully, insurance will reimburse us for half of our costs. We shall see!

Thanks for the well wishes. We thought we were in the well exposed category, too, and we are fully boosted, the last being on 9/30. Hoping that trip interruption as well as medical care kicks in when I file for insurance.