regent cruise

[pkf]

am booked on regent highlights of asia for march 21-april 8 sailing.concerned about unrest in bangkok and smog in china.any comments

[dabear]

I suggest that you go to the roll call for this cruise.

[Travelcat2]

We are on that cruise as well. Agree that you should check in on Roll Call (for many reasons) -- here is a link http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1856129

 

Regent would change the itinerary if there were any danger to their passengers in Bangkok (still may do so if problems of the past week continue). In terms of China, we are taking masks to wear in Beijing (first time we have ever done this). The pollution there is reportedly horrendous but, for whatever reason, a lot of us have decided to visit there in spite of it.

 

See you on board!

[TedC]

am booked on regent highlights of asia for march 21-april 8 sailing.concerned about unrest in bangkok and smog in china.any comments[/quote

 

NO cruise line will put their ships or passengers in harm's way.

 

China reportedly cleaned up the air recently. When we were first in China many years ago air was OK - VERY FEW vehicles then . Bangkok air isn't the best either -try face masks

 

 

We were trekking in Nepal many years ago when there was political unrest with a lot of threats! We were cautious but it was part of the adventure! Very GLAD we went - and survived!

[DavidTheWonderer]

We are booked to be in Bangkok, arriving on Feb. 14 but not part of a cruise. So, we're watching the situation there pretty closely. The unrest is centered on an election on Feb. 2, so we're hopeful that by the time we're there all will be calm.

 

That said, I think you can trust Regent to not put you in harm's way, either in Bangkok or China. If there is a possibility of difficulties, they will cancel ports. They have done this in the past for various good reasons, although some pax inevitably complain.

[findacruise]

We were in Beijing mid-March last year with Regent. We were told by our guide that the smog starts to get better after they turn off the government supplied heat around the 15th or so. That reduces the amount of coal that is burned, resulting in less pollution. The day we landed it was relatively clear, but by the 3rd day I was wearing a mask, supplied by the tour company.Good to be prepared. I would suggest that in addition to mask, a bottle of eye drops is a good thing to have. And I have never seen so much traffic.

 

On our tour to the Great Wall, our pictures all look like it is cloudy, but it is the smog. We were going for tea to the tallest building, which is just a block or so away from the China Hotel. We got to the top and looked out and could see nothing, so we left.

 

In Tienanmen Square there is an enormous video screen. Recently they have been showing pictures of the sun etc since you can't see it. Locals told us that they have the American Embassy app for pollution counts on their phones and they check them everyday before they go out.

 

We still very much enjoyed our visit. It was interesting when we ran into groups of students at the Forbidden City. They stared at us and took photos. Our guide explained that for most of them we were the first Westerners they had ever seen.

 

Have a great cruise. It was most educational and we fell in love with Bangkok and the people of Cambodia.