Well, less than a month to go before we depart LA for Istanbul and I'm beginning to get excited. Went to Costco and bought some new luggage, their black TUMI copies. (I know that sounds tacky, but I'm NOT going to pay to have my Hartman set repaired yet again!) :mad:

Docs will arrive in a couple days, and then a little "doc dancing" will be in order. We're traveling with a group of about 35, but only know a few of the group really well. I hope that any of you nice folks here on LCT who are also on this cruise will I.D. yourselves so we can say hello.

Several of us are going to bring fine wine from our collections. I researched the Turkish government's website, and the best I can determine, visitors are allowed 5 bottles of spirits without duty, so we'll bring 10 very special bottles for corkage on the ship ($20). I know this sounds a bit cheap on our part, but since Oceania is a non-inclusive product as compared to RSSC, I think it makes some economic sense. For example, an outstanding vintage wine that possibly sold at time of purchase for $85 would be treble that amount on the ship's wine list, if available. So we're bringing that stuff for special evenings, and will purchase a few items off their menu for the casual evenings.

We also plan to buy bottled water from time to time at ports of calls...since the notion of paying several dollars for bottled drinking water on a cruise goes against my grain. (Again, got spoiled on RSSC :D )

We've arranged for private tours in Istanbul, Kusadasi, Rhodes, Santorini, and Athens. The rest of the ports, we're going to wing on our own.

I look forward to reading the review of Regatta from one of our esteemed LCTer's one she gets caught-up, and I'll do my own review one Hiro and I return from the trip...

Hope to hear from any of you fellow LCTer's!



Eric

Eric - I bought the same luggage for our next cruise - our TUMI did take a beating on our last trip to Italy and I had to choose Duct Tape or new luggage. I had bought a piece of the Kirkland before and liked it just as well.

Have a great cruise and enjoy that new luggage. Be sure to put some kind of unique identifcation on it. We use those luggage straps on the outside incase a zipper breaks and use a marker to write on those as well.

You will have a great cruise!
Totally agree about bringing on the wine..but they do charge a twenty dollar corkage ( boo hiss)..

Sorry Eric if I am the one you mean - I know I owe LCT a review of our Oceania cruise.

Its just been really hectic since we got home - had to go to Richmond for our Grandson's first birthday, then home for a couple of days and back to Richmond to babysit while our daughter and son in law had a little getaway - just got home yesterday and are frantically repacking as we leave tomorrow morning at "0 dark hundred" we have to drive all the way to Nashville as its race weekend in Bristol and we can't get our usual overnight room - visiting our son and daughter in law and Granddaughters - but in the middle of all that today had to spend about 2 1/2 hours having my one year CT scan from the kidney cancer last March and I am just totally behind. PROMISE to work on it.

However Eric - you will enjoy it -- Oceania is really nice, but will try very hard to get a review going.

Hi Chatkat, Claudia & Claudia,
Thanks for your kind words. Claudia, no hurry...you've a lot on your plate.

One thing however, I'd sure love to have a sneaky peek at the wine menu on Regatta. I've heard everything from one extreme to another, i.e. "every wine is double retail and the really high-end wines are even worse"...to "pretty much everything on the menu is 30% over retail."

I wish someone who's into wine and has experience on Regatta would set me straight. Or I can just be patient, and all will be revealed in the fullness of time.

I also heard through the grapevine that bringing along a "surge protector type multi-plug strip" is a good idea due to the lack of plug-ins near the vanity. Come to think of it, I suppose the same could be said of some RSSC staterooms as well.

Well, forgive my ramblings. This is the first time to leave the RSSC family in several years, and I'm having last minute "did I do the right thing" thoughts. I'm sure everything will be dandy, and worries are a part of normal anxiety as any big trip approaches...



Eric

You really will love Oceania ..you made a wonderful decision..I was reading somewhere that people would rather go once a year on Radisson than cruise more times on lesser ships..I personally would like to cruise more times on Oceania!! Tho I love Radisson..to me more is better especially on Oceania!!
Jan

JoAnn..we are happy to wait..hope all your tests come out GREAT..that is the most important..
Regards,
Jan

Thanks Jan for your good wishes.

Eric - I really think you will like Oceania just fine! We were plesantly surprised -- for a ship where you "pay as you go" so to speak, and after three RSSC's in a row, we had no problem. Met really nice, well traveled, friendly people (even ran into some people we had cruised HAL with a couple of years ago, not to mention a couple from the Voyager Monte Carlo to Rome segment from last year). Food was wonderful, staff was outstanding and we enjoyed all the restaurants. Just go into it planning to enjoy it. Can't answer your question about the wine, as we did mostly just the house wine's and they were great. We also did both of the wine taste's offered and enjoyed them.

Again, will start to work on the report as soon as we get to Nashville and I recover from the 10 hour drive (thats of course if we are lucky - could be more) and get my thoughts together.

I think that if you go to their website
Http://www.oceaniacruises.com
click on fine dining you can then click on their wine list...I don't recall if the prices are posted though.
Yes, they have pretty good mark-ups..like most other ships...they also have some fairly priced
offerings.

Thanks, Claudia.

A very nice selection of wines, indeed. (Hey, what's that sucking sound I hear near my wallet? Why is there a green vortex forcing my cash to fly away?) :D

Oh well, it's a vacation and after we drink up all the fine wine we're schlepping aboard along with our friends, (which will take about 5 days!) that menu is going to get a complete workout, along with my Amex card. :eek:

Tomorrow, I'm off to Costco to eyeball the new digital cameras. I've always been a "film" guy, but I think I'm going to break down and buy one of these suckers!



Eric

The Maitre De on the Regatta is Andreas..please send our regards and tell him we hope to see him again soon!
Jan and Stu

Thanks Jan,
I WILL visit with him on our first afternoon on board. I want to "connect" with Andreas, and let him know that our group is fairly serious about fine wine and that we are bringing bottles for corkage, but will be augmenting with special selections from his menu.
Can't wait! Now, off to Costco...

Eric