Roll Call for CLEO (aka RE-TUT)

Ngaire and Ken
Frank and JoAnn - 1002
Kathy and Al - 1010
Ray and Penny- 926
Russ and Susan - 833
Brad and Leslie - 916
John and Priscilla - 879
Michael and Terri - 837
Wayne and Charlotte
Peter and Mark - 831
Pat and Mike - 878
Joe and Rose - 922

JoAnn, I think you just started it :) Whenever anyone posts that they are on the cruise, you can edit your post and add their names.

Kathy and Al are on too! We're in 911!

Okay ,JoAnn, please put Ray & Penny on your roll call.

We're once again looking forward to cruising with you, Frank, Kathy, Al and whoever else, plus visiting Israel.

Cheers! Ray & Penny
Go Huskers -- Beat the Longhorns!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Karen, did it.

OK Ray and ROLL TIDE!!

Susan and Russ 833

We're booked:

Leslie and Brad 909

We're there! Priscilla and John 879

Michael and Terri are in, in 837

Glad you posted Terri. You were on TUT right? So sorry we didn't have a chance to meet you, but will look forward to doing so on CLEO.

Peter & Mark - 831 - probably going to cancel WINES though.

Glad you are joining us Peter and Mark. Know the feeling though of having to choose one over the other, not easy -- I just want to do them all! LOL

It's been too long since we've cruised, and after our Barcelona to FLL got cancelled, we decided to book this one. Looks like a Great Itinerary & Group!
So add us to the list!

Arlene & Gil

Done, glad to have you along.

Is anyone looking into doing an overnight in Cairo?

So you mean revisit that overnight we were going to do from Cairo to Alexandria? In this case it would be the reverse, Alexandria to Cairo, and the ship leaves later from Cairo, which would make the second day a little less hectic.

There is an all day, 12 hour tour from Alexandria shown on the website, that includes Sakaara, Memphis and Giza, but that is it. Longgggg day needless to say.

I heard that maybe Priscilla was considering trying to redo the overnight trip - Priscilla is that so??? What does everyone else think? Anyone willing to re contact George at Ramsea tours to see what we could come up with?

We are definitely interested!

Kathy

Yes, we're interested in the overnight trip, Alexandria to Cairo. We want to get some time at the Egyptian Museum as well as the Pyramids, etc. and that seems to be the best way. I hadn't raised the issue yet because I wanted to see what Regent will offer, but if it's $1,000 per person like for TUT, we would want to do privately organized touring.

I don't mind contacting George at Ramses tours. I'm a little buried this week, but next week I can gather some information.

I'd be very happy to help too....if I had a clue what to do We're going out of town tomorrow for a week, but will be happy to do anything I can to help when we return!

Kathy

We're booked on CLEO, in 878, and will be spending some time touring Cappadocia and Istanbul before taking the train back to Athens for the Mariner's Black Sea Odyssey departing Athens July 6 to Istanbul (again) July 16. Look forward to seeing y'all and enjoy cruising with Ngaire and Ken again!

We're interested in the overnight in Egypt, and perhaps one in Israel as well. Any ideas about that?

We're also looking for information on reliable hotels, tour guides, things to see in and around Istanbul, things and guides to avoid, etc. during our visit there June 29-July 4. We've tenatively booked Regent's post-cruise tour to Cappadocia, but it seems quite expensive for what you get, and drops us two full days before we need to get the overnight train to return to Athens and re-board the Mariner for our Black Sea cruise. Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Pat and Mike Murray

Gotcha on the roll call.

We might stay an extra night or maybe two in Istanbul and I could use suggestions as well, and plan to do some research in my guide books to see if we want to stay, so agree any help or suggestions would be welcome. This is a new port for us.

Welcome, Count Florida! You are across the hall from us, so the neighborhood will be in good hands.

We're not planning an overnight in Israel at this point, but a touring company that I can recommend based on my experience in planning for TUT is Guided Tours Israel -- www.guidedtoursisrael.com. The person I dealt with was Alon, and he was very accommodating and great source of information. Since we didn't actually get to Israel on TUT I can't vouch for the on-the-ground service, but I'm betting it would be very good.

deleted, thought you said Istanbul. :eek:

Hey JoAnn:

Penny and Ray are in cabin 926.

Cheers! Ray

Got it!

LOL now I know who got that cabin. While I was on the phone with Regent booking myself, the agent said "Oh the best cabin available is 926" so I'm looking at the deck plan and we are chatting and then she said "oh while we were talking someone took 926". Too funny.

We're new to LCT and we would love to be added to the roll call for Cleo

Joe and Rose Fox (923)

Welcome Joe and Rose! :hello1:

Joe and Rose, Welcome to LCT. Really glad you found it.

JoAnn, Joe and Rose are Napili Kai folks so you will have to get together and share stories.

Joe and Rose, welcome to LCT. So glad you are booked on CLEO. You are added to the Roll Call.

Frank and I enjolyed meeting you that first night on TUT and were so looking forward to having some dinners, and getting better acquainted and talking about Napili Kai. This time we will do it. Thanks Ralph for the heads up.

Welcome to LCT Joe and Rose. Glad you checked in here and look forward to seeing you again.

Heads up for those on CLEO who are planning on staying at the Grande Bretagne pre-cruise. Starwood / Grande Bretagne is reinstating their "peak" season award "pricing" which raises the "cost" of award nights from 20,000 points to 25,000 points effective 1/10/2011 (so if you are planning on staying here on points, book your awards prior to that date). See https://spgpromos.com/highseason/index.cfm?em=HighSeasonLP2010&starpointNavSelect=6 for the actual announcement.

Booked our excursions today for the cruise prior to CLEO. Those are coming up next in 10 days.

Susan - did you and Russ book any tours for the Rome-Athens portion?

YEs we did. I will try and email you this weekend what they are. I am busy all day tomorrow.

We need to plan a dinner when that opens in March.

Susan

Excursions open for CLEO today. Got ours booked.

We have booked our Egypt excursions, But wanted to explore an overnight excursion to avoid what appear to be some lengthy bus rides. I know there were some earlier posts regarding a private overhight trip. I contacted Ramses Tours (Mohy) with a general inquiry of their Overnight Program II on there website. He responded quite quickly with an overview of what was pretty much available online. The prices quoted are considerably less than the overnight program offered on TUT. They quoted :
5 stars hotel
Prices per Person
2-4 Persons 250 USD
5-8 Persons 220 USD
9-15 Persons 210
4 stars hotel
2-4 Persons 230 USD
5-8 Persons 200 USD
9-15 Persons 190 USD
We are interested in the Oberoi Mena House Hotel which adds $50 PP. This Hotel is right next to the Pyramids. There were a number of optional activities. I am looking to see if anybody is interested in sharing this trip. I would be glad to forward their email response to anybody who is interested. I checked out Ramses Tour on Trip Advisor and they had many positive comments. Let me know if anyone is interested.

Hi all -- It seemed time to move this thread up, with final payment approaching.

Is everyone still on? John and I are getting excited.

Michael, my response to your post is months late!!! We have toyed with the idea of a private overnight tour in Egypt but are leaning away from doing that now given the unrest.

Yes, indeedy, we're going and can't wait to get underway.

Looking forward to seeing new faces as well as those that have charmed us in the past.

Cheers! Ray & Penny

We are ready for this trip!! FP next week. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

Thanks for bumping this up Priscilla. Lets get some chatter going.

Priscilla, We have also let this sit on the back burner while things sort themselves out in Egypt. We have taken no action on this tour. We may still try it but I plan to wait until the situation in Egypt is a little clearer before we undertake the private tour. The posts on the Trip Advisor forum go both ways regarding visiting Cairo, we'll see.

Ooops, We just noticed that the CLEO roll call lists us in 923...
So we have a small correction to make... We will be in 922.