Remaining World Cruise segments are opening for booking today. It would be fun to see some more KLT customers join us.
With the Voyager & Navigator sailings being delayed there is talk of bringing some of their crew over to the other ships to give them work and let crew who have been on for months get a break. They still haven't been able to get of in ports and it wears on them. The crew on the Mariner have been terrific and it's great to be "home".

Jim, except for the 31 day itinerary, the remainder seem overpriced; of course, they throw in all the masks you may need.

Have fun!

Marc

Are they actually calling it a "Caribbean World Cruise?"

Tom, Regent didn't rename the World Cruise but we on board call it "Caribbean World Cruise", "Grand Caribbean World Cruise" or "Mystery World Cruise." Guatemala has already been cancelled and replaced with a new Mexican port.

According to Regent the 2022 World Cruise does not exist. The 120 day sailing has been removed and replaced with five separate segments. Jim, are you still going to have the WC lecturers? Entertainers? Special events?

Marc,
Of course Regent isn't touting the World Cruise since it's already sailed, but they are selling the new segments with fancy names. Lecturers are a problem because Regent has had several cancel due to Covid and we're not getting the usual quality. Terry Bishop is on for the first segment and they are working on extending him.
Entertainers are pretty much like we had on the Splendor - pretty good so far.
Special events are currently on hold for obvious reasons - where could we go for an event without serving beverages & food (like is now happening in the theater.) They'll do something if the Covid situation changes. We are getting gifts however.
Jason & some Corp biggies are supposed to visit in Miami so maybe we'll get additional info.
The crew is wonderful as always.

Jim, I will be really interested to hear what you learn from Jason. With 11 NCL ships now sitting idle along with three Oceania ships and two Regent ships, I am beginning to get a little concerned about Navigator in June.

Marc

Jim, stand by to pick up a lot of Crystal refugees in Aruba on 30th.

Marc,
At least 3 couples from the Crystal Grand Cruise are joining us. I think they're past RSSC cruisers.

When we returned to our room after dinner last night on our way to Miami we had a sheet with changes to our upcoming itinerary. Aruba was removed, Curacao was added and the sequence of some ports was changed.
The next day was a turnaround day where a lot of guests left and a 14 joined. We will now sail this 22 day segment with only 150 guests and 450 crew. After lunch there was another sheet on our door with another itinerary change and Aruba is now back on the schedule. During the segment we have an overnight in Cartagena which so far has denied any cruise passengers to go on shore. Maybe we’ll have a pool deck BBQ that night.

Love the updates Jim really appreciate the information. On our trip we had a few changes and it is was about the requirements of the ports. The situation is VERY FLUID and I do feel for the ship having to deal with so many "out of the box" issues. Cartagena would be a great night for a pool deck BBQ. Once we got to Mexico everything went very well just like a normal cruise except the staff are not allowed to disembark or even walk on the pier. I do feel with them I am sure they would love to put their feet on land.

We were at NCL's Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas the day before Miami and will be there again today. Unfortunately it will only be around 70 degrees. Bar and restaurant staff are able to get off to work the bars & buffet and they split the day into 2 shifts to give as many as possible some land sanity.

We anchored off Great Stirrup Cay around 7am and were supposed to begin tendering ashore a little after 8. The temperature was around 60 degrees with an expected high of 70, so it wasn't shorts & T shirt weather in the morning. At 8am the Captain came on the PA system and announced that the
Bahamas denied our going ashore due to our Covid percentage. With only 148 guests only a 2 or 3 can skew the percentage. 5 guests are in quarantine, but 2 tested negative and had to quarantine due to regular association with one who tested positive. None have symptoms however. Now the HQ in Miami has to check with our upcoming ports to see what our opportunities may be. It's really a struggle for the Destinations Dept to organize tours with constantly changing itineraries. With so many crew (450) they are stumbling over each other to help us, just to keep busy.

Thanks for the update, Jim! Have been wondering how th cruise was going. Keep us up to date as you have time!

Captain came on the PA system at 5pm and said Jamaica wouldn't let us land tomorrow, but we will stop at Puerto Plata in Dominican Republic. Too late to arrange any tours, but the old town center is only a 5 minute walk from the ship. I wish they would do this more often when there is a last minute cancellation. About 40 from Crystal will join us in Aruba. Jason Montague will join the ship in Antigua on Feb 9 and sail back to Miami on the 13th with us.

Thanks for the updates Jim. It sounds like Regent is doing the best they can with ports not allowing you in.

Just being on a cruise to "nowhere" sounds inviting to us. Keep enjoying.

People are now calling our cruise the "NEW WORLD" cruise - around Columbus' new world.

Stories keep changing and we may now get 80 guests from the Serenity. We already have a couple from Symphony who joined us in Miami.
Things are loosening up a bit with low occupancy. We can again have canapes and drinks in the theater.
The 2 stops in the Dominican Republic have been fun and now on to the ABC Islands.

I missed drinks in the theatre that is good news! Going to be interesting to see how the Crystal guests feel about Regent. I am sure some will love it but the long time Crystal guests may have trouble adapting. We all love what we get used to it makes it more comfortable and familiar. Plus they will miss all the crew they have known for years.

Serenity now going to Bimini instead of Aruba; those 40-80 pax are out of luck.

That's bad for us as well. Extra guests would help lower Covid percentages that keep ships out of ports. Aruba is still on our itinerary. Bonaire tomorrow.
We had 8 or more in quarantine for 10 days that were all on the same excursion in Punta Arenas.

Jim, with such low passenger counts has Mariner been able to keep both Chartreuse and Prime7 open each night? Or, are they trading off?

Apparently not. Regent is offering them several options, including joining in Miami, joining Splendor or Explorer, or taking a full refund.

Marc, Each night one of 3 (Prime 7, Chartreuse or Sette Mari) is closed.

That makes sense with such a small compliment of guests. Actually Compass Rose is now my favorite restaurant. So many more choices and options and we seem to order "off the "always available" menu most of the time. Years ago when Mark Conroy was President at the KLT event "Hee Haw I was asked to give Mark a list of our clients requests. It was a list that was not really serious more about fun than anything else. One of those requests was to have Dover Sole available every night. Mark said "that will never happen". Now there Dover Sole, lobster tail, escargot, scallops, lamb chops, all kinds of steaks. The filet mignon and lobster tail in Compass Rose is great.

We're in Barbados for 2 days and it's embarkation day. 30 or so from Crystal will be joining us. Others from Crystal also went to our other 2 ships.

What a mess with the stranded Crystal passengers. Will these Crystal passengers be dropped off in Miami or ___??

The Serenity returned to Bimini, they were ferried to Ft. Lauderdale and flew to Barbados to join the ship. This isn't a rescue. Regent cooperated with travel agents for them to make bookings, so they can stay to the end or do segments as they please.

Really great to see the co-operation in helping the Crystal passengers.

Several Caribbean islsnds won't allow us to roam around on our own and we can get off the ship only on a Regent tour or take a taxi to a remote beach or waterfall. One port told us it was because they were only 50% vaccinated and didn't want to infect tourists. Fortunately Destinations was able to add more buses to some tours to accommodate many late bookings.

Jim, please ask Jason about Regent's response to new CDC mandates/requirements/guidance. Are they still going to voluntarily "opt-in?" If so, are they going to mandate boosters? If so, will there be an "expiry date" on the booster?

thanks,

Marc

Marc, Town Hall meeting with Jason is tomorrow morning (2/11). Masks become voluntary for guests starting Mar 1. Crew allowed off ship as of today - lots of smiles on them because it's been 5 months of confinement for most of them.

Yikes, I bet the crew is ready to get off the ship after FIVE months ! I'm so happy for them.

The Mariner has begun some table hosting, but only Cruise Director, Cruise Consultant and General Manager can so far. One step at a time. I don't think Bridge Officers will be hosting until Covid is no longer a threat.

Jim, I see you are now doing a Gulf Coast tour (Key West, Tampa, New Orleans, Galveston) instead of Amazon; you can get some great meals ashore on this tour. Are your passenger counts higher this segment?

Marc

We were supposed to cruise up the Amazon to Manaus, but Brazil still hasn’t opened up to cruise ships. The segment will be mostly a repeat around the Caribbean with the addition of New Orleans where we’ve spent many nights over the past 60 years, Tampa, which is a 2 hour drive from our home and where we visit my son regularly and Galveston where we’ve spent plenty of time. We decided to end our cruise at the end of this segment in Miami and we’ll receive a full refund for the unused nights of the cruise. We’ll miss the ship and our cruise friends, but hopefully next year’s World cruise, with many of the same people, will be able to complete its planned itinerary with minimal changes. We still have a month left on this segment.

Marc, we only gained about 40 people on the current segment and the next one is TBA. It will be a few days before they know how many others are bailing this cruise and how many will cancel the booking for the next segment. Regent's bookings for the 2nd half of 2022 and beyond are at historic highs so, even though they are running at a loss now, they expect to be in the black the 4th qtr of this year.

Jim & Pat, At least you're on a beautiful ship getting fabulous food and service....guess that's about all we can hope for now. You're good sports knowing you need to roll with the flow.

We don't board another Regent ship till September (probably the longest between cruises EVER). Like you, we'll just have to go with the flow. At least we're healthy and looking forward to it. I haven't booked any flights to Vancouver yet....still in a wait and see holding pattern.

We went to our Grandaughter's elementary school Pre-K to 6th grade Talent show 2 nights ago. She was chosen to be the MC. The kids did great but it was so sad seeing these children trying to sing, do skits, play instruments ALL wearing masks.