Question for 2020 World Cruisers

[travelwell]

I am following your 2020 WC as we are a year behind you on the 2021 WC. I know our booking date for shore excursions is May 9th next year and final payment July 9th next year. This means the dates are coming up fast for you. On Regents website for your cruise I am not seeing the shore excursions that are extra cost except ones for cars/drivers. It appears excursions are being tweaked. Are you guys receiving different excursion choices then on the website? Is it too soon? Also do you know where your pre-cruise hotel will be?

 

Lastly, is anyone planning on blogging?

[Maxmann65]

Booking for excursions opens on May 11. Earlier in the year I made a list of all the excursions I wanted to take so I could quickly book them. Your question has me thinking that I need to revisit the excursion list to see if I am more interested in anything else.

 

I do not know what hotel will be used for pre-cruise as my RTW cruise will start on the prior Amazon cruise and will not need a pre-night hotel. Last year on our Cuba cruise we were at the Kimpton EPIC Hotel but there were other cruise travelers at another hotel. I am not sure if they selected their hotel or if Regent did.

 

As for blogging, not likely for me but if someone else does I may add to it a time or two. I hope someone does. I always enjoyed reading the RTW blogs and was able to pick up many ideas for packing, spending time on the ship, excursions, what to do or not do, etc. I do miss that. Now most blogs are private or posted elsewhere and I cannot find them. I understand from a privacy perspective. Geezz, if someone is going to steal a package off my front porch in during the day, I would hate to think what could happen to my house on a long cruise. As a lurker and not a frequent contributor it does make it harder to learn or live vicariously through others, you need to become recognized with posters so those that wish to remain out of the limelight will share where their blog is posted.

 

Hope that helps somewhat.

[HotRoot]

Currently on the World Cruise.  As to shore excursions - they are still being added.  We receive a complete and correct list of excursions two or three days before the start of the next leg.  That gives us time to change excursions before the new people board.  We have been able to book every excursion we wanted except for a catamaran in Bora Bora.  Later learned the mast was broken so it did not even sail.  

[ArtsyCraftsy]

Can't answer the questions about excursions, but the pre-cruise hotel for those of us boarding the 2020 World Cruise in San Francisco is the Ritz-Carlton.  And I'm planning to blog the trip with photos and the occasional short video.

 

Lana in Bellingham, WA

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Interested to hear what the Miami hotel is for 2020.

[travelwell]

I am interested in the Miami hotel choice also. Many good choices.

 

ArtsyCraftsy, I am going to keep an eye out for your blogs, especially your WC. I am also interested on your take of Oceania. I have a feeling you will have fun where ever you go but we felt a  step up from Oceania to Regent. I will look forward to your thoughts. You do have an exciting year coming up. 

[baz48]

On 4/30/2019 at 5:11 PM, Maxmann65 said:

Booking for excursions opens on May 11. Earlier in the year I made a list of all the excursions I wanted to take so I could quickly book them. Your question has me thinking that I need to revisit the excursion list to see if I am more interested in anything else.

 

For our cabin category (G), booking for excursions opens on July 28, 2019 which is final payment day.

[Sharle]

I see May 10 for the excursions for 2021 WC. I also wondered about the bookings. Do you get to do the whole cruise on that day, and the dining reservations for all segments in July as well or is it spaced out. So many questions.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

2 hours ago, Sharle said:

I see May 10 for the excursions for 2021 WC. I also wondered about the bookings. Do you get to do the whole cruise on that day, and the dining reservations for all segments in July as well or is it spaced out. So many questions.

 

Yeah that's the date I have too, and October 7th for dining.  I am assuming that both will be for the whole cruise.

[Ladys Mom]

On 4/30/2019 at 7:11 PM, Maxmann65 said:

Geezz, if someone is going to steal a package off my front porch in during the day, I would hate to think what could happen to my house on a long cruise. As a lurker and not a frequent contributor it does make it harder to learn or live vicariously through others, you need to become recognized with posters so those that wish to remain out of the limelight will share where their blog is posted.

 

My feeling is that as long as I use a handle that does not identify me specifically, I can post to my heart's content without someone figuring who I am.  But that is just my opinion.

[Ladys Mom]

On 5/1/2019 at 12:09 AM, HotRoot said:

Currently on the World Cruise.  As to shore excursions - they are still being added.  We receive a complete and correct list of excursions two or three days before the start of the next leg.  That gives us time to change excursions before the new people board.  We have been able to book every excursion we wanted except for a catamaran in Bora Bora.  Later learned the mast was broken so it did not even sail.  

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

1 hour ago, Lady's Mom said:

My feeling is that as long as I use a handle that does not identify me specifically, I can post to my heart's content without someone figuring who I am.  But that is just my opinion.

 

I don't care about that for myself.  We live in a condo with a concierge, so don't have to worry about packages disappearing off the porch.

[Ladys Mom]

As you can tell I am not real good  with moving posts that I am responding to.  What I wanted to say a few posts back was that I was happy to hear that Regent adds shore excursions as the WC goes along, and that they are generally easy to get on.  Thanks for all the information on the current WC, I am trolling and dreaming because we are booked on the 2021 WC.

[travelwell]

I am not too concerned with the house on our cruise. We are in a very secure, well connected neighborhood.  We are in a situation  similar to Wendy. Definitely one less problem to worry about.

[ArtsyCraftsy]

I'm kind of in the same situation as far as the house is concerned -- I'm in one of 22 houses on a private dead-end lane, an "over 55" community, with lots of neighbors who really like to keep an eye on things.  About 1/3 of our residents are snowbirds, but not all on the same schedule, so we're used to looking out for each other and keeping a watchful eye on comings and goings.

 

I'm still up in the air about how I'm going to deal with the mail situation.  Don't want to ask a neighbor to pick up almost 5 months of mail, so I'm leaning toward setting up a temporary forward to my brother's address.  We're in touch via FB almost daily, so that might be the safest/easiest way.  All my banking and bills are handled electronically, so there shouldn't be any problems there, either.  As long as I have Internet access, I should be good to go.

 

There's still time to get all the details ironed out -- 

 

Lana in Bellingham, WA

[HotRoot]

Maybe you have to have a sense of humor.  My brother-in-law lives four blocks from us.  He has been keeping an eye on our house.  Walks the entire 4500 square feet once a week to make sure no broken pipes, critters, whatever.  Talked to him yesterday.  The neighbors are having their back yard redone.  All of the equipment drove across our backyard and tore it up because we have nothing planted there.  We have something like 500 perennials planted in our backyard that have not broken through the ground yet.  He has the business card of the contractor.  We told him we will deal with it when we get home.

 

We have found that the free phone time we have onboard is sufficient to deal with matters at home.

Edited May 9, 2019 by HotRoot

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Oh no!  That sounds horrible, HotRoot, your poor plants!

 

Not sure what I'll do about mail. I'll have tried to deal with all bills in advance, and anticipated that sort of thing from January-May so there won't be anything of consequence.  We get our mail forwarded to Florida from Canada usually for the winter, so I'll probably just ask the USPS to hold it, or I'll ask one of my condo neighbours in Florida to empty our box.  Or it can just collect at our Toronto condo, and our son can look through it once in a while. 

 

Canada Post is not particularly trustworthy about any of this--we recently came back from Florida and received the notice that our re-direct to FL had expired.  But lo and behold, our mail was still being sent south, until we complained--and I pay for this service!  Arrgh!

[wcsdkqh]

USPS will only hold mail for 30 days

[Wendy The Wanderer]

20 minutes ago, wcsdkqh said:

USPS will only hold mail for 30 days

 

Right, forgot that.  We'll probably just revert it back to Canada and ask our FL neighbours to collect our US mail, which is usuallly just junk anyways

[DaveFr]

46 minutes ago, wcsdkqh said:

USPS will only hold mail for 30 days

While online USPS mail holds are limited to 30 days, it is possible to get a longer hold.  Local post offices have a form to fill out for holds longer than 30 days.  A local post office manager has to approve the request.  We have done 40 to 60 day holds a number of times.

 

Dave

[Travelcat2]

On 4/30/2019 at 10:09 PM, HotRoot said:

Currently on the World Cruise.  As to shore excursions - they are still being added.  We receive a complete and correct list of excursions two or three days before the start of the next leg.  That gives us time to change excursions before the new people board.  We have been able to book every excursion we wanted except for a catamaran in Bora Bora.  Later learned the mast was broken so it did not even sail.  

 

You are on the '2020 World Cruise"?  This shows how confusing two WC threads are.  Some people are on the 2019 WC and others are on the 2020 WC (which is what this thread is supposedly for).  Even more surprising is that some posters are on the 2021 WC and are posting on both threads.  

 

Perhaps Host Dan could start a sticky about world cruises since it is such a specific subject.  That would incorporate everyone's questions - whether they are on the 2019, 2020, 2021 or 2050 WC's. 

[HotRoot]

There already is a thread called Regent World Cruises - no year specified.  

[UUNetBill]

22 hours ago, wcsdkqh said:

USPS will only hold mail for 30 days

 

22 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Right, forgot that.  We'll probably just revert it back to Canada and ask our FL neighbours to collect our US mail, which is usuallly just junk anyways

 

USPS will only hold for 30 days, but will they forward for a longer period?  If so, have your US mail forwarded to your Canadian address and let the Canadian Post hold it for you all in one place.  Not sure if that works but it was just a thought...

[DaveFr]

16 minutes ago, UUNetBill said:

 

 

USPS will only hold for 30 days, but will they forward for a longer period?  If so, have your US mail forwarded to your Canadian address and let the Canadian Post hold it for you all in one place.  Not sure if that works but it was just a thought...

Bill, the 30 day hold limit is only partially correct.  See message number 20 above.

 

Dave

[Wendy The Wanderer]

47 minutes ago, UUNetBill said:

 

 

USPS will only hold for 30 days, but will they forward for a longer period?  If so, have your US mail forwarded to your Canadian address and let the Canadian Post hold it for you all in one place.  Not sure if that works but it was just a thought...

 

Oh yeah, they will forward it indefinitely (or they claim to, we don't get much here in Canada.)  But if I was going to do that, I'd just cancel our forward from Toronto, since after the cruise, we might spend a week or so in Florida, but no more.