We've had to cancel this cruise - getting to Valparaiso and back from Sydney just adds too much to the overall cost, altogether too much at least for us. We really wanted to go too, it's a great itinerary and group - especially great group - but it just got to be too much, we couldn't find business air under $10 grand for the two of us, and Regent doesn't offer Premium Economy except the Scandinavia special.

I wasn't convinced premium economy was a good idea on such a long flight anyway, but was willing to give it a try. Instead we'll try it coming back from VIKINGS next year, if we can find the right deal. Thats much shorter, and west-bound to boot, which we personally find easier to adjust to.

Pat and I really regret having to make this change, but in addition to the cost, we've found we're less and less tolerent of those long trans-Pacific flights, as we learned coming back from PANDA last year. Even double-doses of sleeping pills (Ambien) didn't work on that one. Too bad, but cruising and related costs have skyrocketed, particularly on Regent, while the bottom seems to have fallen out of the market, our main source of fun money.