Aloha 1

Same pipeline, same results. Don't waste your money. The world has changed and high speed internet is now not just a luxury but a necessity. O needs to talk to Musk and get on board with Starlink.

We were in 8018 this past July. Directly under the pool deck and near the Bar. Nary a sound from there.

As December is fast approaching, we shall all know soon how the redesigned porcelain throne room will look. Looking forward to it!

A little further as it's about 15 minutes from city center. We took the train from Venezia Mestre station to Trieste ( about 1hour 50 minutes) and stayed at the Doubletree which I highly recommend. Trieste is a beautiful city in its own right.

There are two ports in Trieste. The main terminal is at the city center and you could practically walk to the ship from your Trieste hotel. But typically, MSC and Costa get the pick of the few berths. The other is the industrial port which requires a cab ride of about 15 minutes. O will not know which port until next year but either way, you will find it easy to get to.

It isn't a problem of seeing the ship, it's having your driver drop you at the right door apparently. My understanding is there's a half mile walk just to get from your drop off to registration.

This is really unacceptable. O needs to provide some type of guide for navigating Galataport embarkation .

Thanks. He's wonderful. He was the CD on our first Regent cruise on Voyager from Rome to London in 2013.

I humbly beseech your pardon. I should know better, having an ancestor who came over in 1066 with William.

Is Ray the CD who has performed for the late HRH Elizabeth?

Good to know and hopefully Explorer will have restocked for our cruise in 5 weeks . They had none in Pacific Rim on our February carib cruise.

The" must sees" would include the Hagia Sophia, Cisterns, Blue Mosque, perhaps a Bosphorus cruise, The Spice Bazaar, the Grand Bazaar, dinner at one of the many waterfront restaurants near the ferry docks.

In Istanbul, 2015, I had a conversation with our guide about the political situation in Turkey at the time. I expressed my thoughts about Erdogan that he was reversing many of the secular reforms of the Turkish Republic. Our guide said that if he went too far the people would vote him out. Sadly, that hasn't worked out so well.

We just did this in July on Nautica. Easy Peasy. Your Butler will handle the moving as maiubabes said. Make sure you stop at reception to get your new cards if you plan to leave the ship that morning. Upon return, you bypass the embark scrum and go directly back on.

You wouldn't love LIS this summer. Flew out to LHR in August and it was total chaos.

Yes, video only. It doesn't matter if you pre watch the safety video before boarding as your TV in the suite will not function until you rewatch the video on board. Then just go to your muster station and have your sea pass scanned and it's done.

Now I'm hungry! Thanks for the info.

Moche; What restaurants would you recommend in each of those ports?

The new and improved safety protocols eliminates the muster drill. So,watch the TV show ( which you must do if you want your TV to ever show anythIng else) while you unpack then head to your muster station to have your cards scanned and then off to Martinis!

A 5 star cruise line should absolutely have 5 star internet. Otherwise, they are not 5 star. Come on, Jason, step up.

Pacing around the hotel room waiting for our time to head to the port.

Yes, there is a storage rack that runs the length of the car for carry ons. If you go from St. Lucia station there is a ramp to take your bags up into the station. Same with Venezia Mestre. At Trieste you just walk straight out, no steps.The trains are step up and if one person gets on and the other lifts the bag up to them it works. Plus people are helpful. If it helps, I'm 74 and managed.

Yep. Emailed and within 5 minutes I had my visas.

You could but getting to St Lucia station would require a vaporetto or alilaguna. Plus you would need to change trains at mestre.

I moved 3 large bags without a problem. There is luggage storage space in each car. You'll have time to get on and off.