This from Terry Breen's blog just now:

450 CIRCUMNAVIGATORS FOR SOUTH AMERICA 2011
FYI: On the upcoming South America cruise over half the Mariner will be staying on for the entire cruise! That is unprecedented. I am looking forward to seeing you all --- can only imagine what kind of wonderful events our creative General Manager Franck Galzy will be coming-up with - he i

Wow, this number is quite impressive!

Nancy

WOW! That is impressive.
Wish we were one of them. :(

Jim, you took the words out of my mouth!

Jim, ditto for me. We took last year's SA cruise (Lima to Rio) and LOVED it. If I had to do it again, I'd stay on the whole time too.

We did Segment #1 FLL up the Amazon in 2007 and
have wished we could have stayed on board ever since.

So sad for me.....I'll be getting off and 350+ won't be :mecry:

This is quite the change from my last Mariner cruise when there was hardly anybody (comparatively speaking, of course) staying on for the full voyage.

Recession?? What recession???

It is my understanding that many of those who have been taking the Voyager World Cruise year-in and year-out opted for the South American cruise. Two of the primary issues people were complaining about while we were on this year's world cruise:

One, the 2011 WC is too long; 145 days (though Regent decided to let folks get off earlier in Rome and still keep WC perks).

Two, the 2011 WC ends in Southhampton instead of returning to the U.S.

Thus, droves of the "regulars" were shifting to the Mariner SA cruise.

In our case, we are doing neither, spending the winter in San Diego in a condo on the bay to be nearer the grandtwins.

Larry you are exactly right. Most of the world cruisers will be on the SA one because the reasons you gave. Hope the powers that be learned from this mistake and maybe we shall sail together on the 2012 WC. Am anxious to see that itinerary and hope we shall get it soon. Winter in San Diego sounds good to me. Have a great time.
Elaine

Maybe that is why Regent offered several long segments of the WC as replacements for the TUT folks -- in that there's still plenty of capacity on the 2011 WC. It would be interesting to have some stats on how many 2011 WC cruisers there are since final payment may have already passed,

exactly Larry....unfortunately no segments of SoAm were offered to us as just about every segment and every category is waitlisted. Darn! Most of the WC segments are wide open.

Okay, experienced cruisers....time for me to start thinking about packing (I know, I know, it's 2 months away but I'm an obsessive/compulsive pre planner!)

What is the weather like in January in South America (north only, sadly I'm getting off in Lima). I've checked "weather central" but it only shows average degrees and that doesn't really tell me if I need shorts, capris, long pants..... long sleeves, short sleeves, sleeveless.... I know many of you have already done the Panama Canal so I'm relying on your past experiences :nw:

Haven't been there on a Regent cruise there yet, but we have done 2 extensive land tours--one in Peru and one in Ecuador and on a Galapagos cruise. Only place I wore shorts was in the Galapagos, and really I think I wore my lightweight hiking pants (the kind where you can zip off the legs to make them into shorts) more, even there. Short sleeve shirts as I recall. I think I wore jeans or pants with a short sleeve shirt in Lima. It seemed like the type of place that never gets really hot or cold. It was definitely cool at night, so take that into account.
We also were on a cruise to Costa Rica and Panama--it was hot there. Shorts or capris and sleeveless top weather.

Rachel, that is good to know as we are going to Ecuador this weekend and I was wondering if I should pack more pants.

We were in Equador a few weeks ago - shorts during the day & pants at night. This was even in Quito at high elevation. The coast should be delightful. We wore shorts all the time in the Galapagos. A lightweight windbreaker was all we needed but certainly not during the day. Have a great time :)

Sorry to hijack this thread but do we need electric convertors? I am getting mixed messages from my hotel. They say the elec is 127 vs 120 for US elec?

We did use a converter for everything (cell phone, hair appliances) but for our computer as it has its own.

Electric stuff normally works at 100 to 130 volts and 210 to 240 volts.
Jim

Now I am more confused than ever, lol.

Karen,
Don't worry about it, your electrical stuff will work just fine.