Dave, I downloaded the app and scanned both of our QR codes on our clinic site and app returned "verified;" however, I cannot then see that again on the app; where does it store the info?

thanks,

Marc

edited to add: Never mind, I just used camera on phone to scan it and it was automatically added to my digital wallet; no app required.

Well after wigging out about the memo from Regent, my wonderful wife spent hours Sunday trying to figure out what we could do to comply.

Finally she found a section on Wal- Mart site where we could pull up our 2 booster shots, and it has a QR. So printed them.
Then after a lot of searching she found our Holy Rosery Hospital site she found the information on our 1st and 2nd shots.
Was able to print those with a QR.
Then after hours of searching our cell phones she found an app for us to download all of our information on a "wallet". So that is now done.
Montana has no access to this VAMS thing that they talked about. So what we have is all we have. Guess we will see what happens.

Thanks Dave, I think? I don’t get it: I need the QR codes I get from California AND I need to read them for the authorities with the app?
———————
Helen

This is an impossible task as some states do not have any type of QR code. I think something will have to happen as this is just not doable. I found out that CVS is not a participant in this VAMS/CDC program so it is not possible for us to get the required QR code. I can get the CVS QR code for our boosters, but I think one of the things listed below will take place and this will all go away. As you have read on this thread there is a question on whether those QR codes will work. Just so few of the passengers will have the CDC QR code this will have to be changed.

Either the countries waive this criteria and take the US vaccinations cards. I would think they want the tourist dollars they will get from the ship.
Regent cancels these ports and replaces them with new ports or we have two more sea days.

Personally I would not stress out about the QR code at this time and wait and see what happens. As soon as we know anything we will immediately send out an email to everyone.

Thanks Ngaire. That is what I was thinking would happen.

Sunday :NOV 6th
Jan and I will leave about 11 am tomorrow for our 150 mile drive to Billings, Montana.
Our United flight on Tuesday takes us to Denver where we then catch our flight Denver to Munich, to Lisbon.
Scheduled for 12:30 pm embarkation the 12th on the Voyager. See you around the pool grill or pool bar.
Helen & Jeff Reid will be with us. .

Wishing you safe, on time flights. It WILL all be worth it. Have a fabulous time !

All packed! We leave early tomorrow morning. This is the longest trip we have ever taken and, given the post- cruise safari, packing was a bit tricky. Thank goodness for free laundry😀. Looking forward to seeing a bit more of Africa with a fun group. Looking forward to meeting you Jim.
——————————
Helen

I packed this weekend as well and we leave on Thursday. I have 300 pins to bring between the cruise and the safari. Heavy, and we take them on our carryon bags (away from the computers and ipads) Not sure that would cause problems with our electronics but not taking any chances. All set and ready to go!

I packed this weekend as well and we leave on Thursday. I have 300 pins to bring between the cruise and the safari. Heavy, and we take them on our carryon bags (away from the computers and ipads) Not sure that would cause problems with our electronics but not taking any chances. All set and ready to go!

We are packed and leave tomorrow for Lisbon. Just checked in to non-stop from Dulles to Lisbon. Most luggage we have ever taken; we're doing a B2B. See you all on Saturday.

Wow, looks like a fun trip! Wish we could go, but then again even if no work obligations, it would be hard to miss thanksgiving with the grand babies.

Ngaire at the 4 seasons t Friday night?

Tuesday 8th
Sitting in our Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Billings waiting for time to take the shuttle to the airport.
Snowed all night and flurries right now. Little concerned about any delays, but do have about 4 hours in Denver
before flight to Munich.

No Intercontinental - used points.

See they got the QR thing fixed after we all jumped through hoops.

So, as predicted by Ngaire we are skipping Togo and Senegal has elected to forgo that fussy QR code nonsense! Way to go Ngaire! We are in Sky Club at JFK expecting on time departure to Lisbon!
————
Helen

We spent a very pleasant 3 days in Lisbon and boarded Voyager yesterday afternoon. Today we are in Portimao Portugal.. it’s been great running into and catching up with so many friends. Apparently Regent managed to call their bluff in Togo as we have been informed that the port is back on. Sea day tomorrow and then Africa!
————————
Helen

So happy to read your posting and all is going great. Continue having a fabulous time !

Had great flights, easy transition on the connection. Arrival protocols super easy. Beautiful day in Lisbon. Hiccup up with our hotel booking at the Intercontinental as we arrived in Lisbon at 6.30 am we had booked the night before. They gave our room away. So they said we had to wait until a room cleared, but it should not be long they had someone cleaning a room right now. Then about 5 minutes later they said we have a nice room ready you can have now. Turned out to be a far superior room, with a large balcony with chairs over looking Lisbon. Also included the private club for us that was one of the best we have ever experienced. Eggs to order and a huge breakfast buffet as well. So the beginning of this cruise was terrific. As I am writing this Ken just told me that the Intercontinental also reinstated all the points we had spent on the two nights at the hotel.

We got a taxi the next morning and arrived just before noon. Again so different from the recent embarkations. Very few people there, no testing straight to a check in person. He checked the vaccinations filled in a few forms and very quickly we were on our way to board the ship. From getting out of the taxi to stepping on the ship about 15 minutes.

What is even better than this great start is how many people on this cruise we know so well. It has been fantastic. We have 65 people in the group and only 14 people we do not know. I am so glad this cruise is so 24 days long will give us a lot of time with everyone.

Coming into our first port we were in dense fog and were delayed. But only for about an hour. It was very cloudy but no wind and perfect temperature. Our first tour we had a great guide that made the day. The weather cleared when we went up the highest mountain in the area. I guess we were lucky and our tour had good timing on the mountain others could not see the view. Most interesting aspect of this town is the storks. Tons of stork nests on top of man made structures. BIG nest and the majority has storks in the nests. All this was topped off with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Absolutely the best orange juice I have ever tasted. Small oranges, freshly picked and delicious. Overall a great day.

An unusual sea yesterday water was like glass but with a big swell. Never seen anything quite like that before. Moved the ship a bit with the swells. Had fun in the afternoon playing cards with Dave, Joan, Jim and Pam.

Not had a chance yet to look at Ken's picture and have a tour this morning but will get those pictures up whenI can.

Porimao, Portugal

In remberance of a large fish processing plant where all the workers were women


The storks were all over the island.



Julie and Marvin’s anniversary


Tenerife, lots of pedestrian streets, and absolutely delightful to walk around the town

Beautiful church.


Walking street

Trivia going well. Two KLT teams, including mine, have got every question correct and won two days in a row. Hope we can keep up this winning streak up. We have 65 guests in this group and almost every one well. Lots of fun and not enough time!

Weather has been good no rough seas and food has been excellent. Life it good on the Voyager

Wow! 30 straight questions in a row correct. That is impressive! Hope you all have a fantastic adventure !

30 straight....That sure is impressive. Keep having a GREAT time.

Sorry to take so long to post. Feel like I have never been busier than this on a cruise. Did a couple of tours and some pictures of the things we saw.

Cape Verde - Make up port for Dakar. On this same cruise last time Dakar was our the port we did not like. So we visited the capital of Cape Verde. Bus ride with some stops at various places and saw quite a few interesting things and saw the emphasis of Chinese investment as well.

Cape Verde



Locals



Mary, Cliff and Ngaire



Always things to buy

BANJUL, GAMBIA

Our tour here was one stop after another. Overall not the greatest tour and two hours longer than it was supposed to be. Some left to go to a market, tons of traffic. The bus could not park and the guide and bus driver could not communicate. Other than that it was okay. Pictures coming.

Live crocodiles we were able to touch them.


Monkey at the crocodile farm
https://i.postimg.cc/NBKCY1px/C673-B230-451-D-4535-92-FE-34-CA79-B17690.jpg

Next photos at the museum




Where we had a refreshment stop

Thanksgiving on the Splendor. Better than our display on the Voyager.



Our group for Thanksgiving.

In Ghana today.

Visited an amazing museum that was three stories and had some really unique art. So wish we could have taken pictures it was really remarkable. Could only take the two lions at the entry.



Posting as I am in the bus thanks to Kim giving me instructions. Next installment will follow.

We drove by several funerals they are always on Saturday. Everyone wears black or red. If it is an elderly person it is white and black. We passed a wedding and everyone was in white.

We arrived at a hotel where they had bottled drinks and passed fried banana chips. Two children about 6 years old, 4 women and 1 man put on a dance performance.

They were preparing for a 2 pm wedding reception. The room was stunning. Pictures will follow.

I love seeing all these WONDERFUL photos you're posting. Sounds like such a great time !

Today we are in Lome, Togo

Fantastic welcome group of dancers. How those guys walk and move with the super high stilts is beyond me. We remembered the tours from the last time we were here. So we decided to sleep in and take the shuttle into town and then come right back. That is what we did. Really lovely beach wide and very long with really white sand. The bus stopped near a market but one we did not want to venture into so we just came right back,

they are soooooo daring. Like you, no idea how they do it. So happy all is well.

This trip has really been adventure for us. I have long wanted to see more of Africa then our multiple South African trips had permitted and here we are. The weather has been really hot and humid but that was expected this time of year.

Togo was a revelation! We went to visit a school full of little kids which was delightful but never in my life did I know what I was in for at the fetish market! I resisted all offers to sell me dead cats, monkey skulls complete with toothy grins or crocodiles even with the promise that they would surely cure me of any awful disease I didn’t know I had 🥴

We have a really great group on this trip and I am having a blast.
————————-
Helen

Yep! That fetish market put the DIS back in disgusting!

So today we took a waterfall and bird watching tour. Not as we expected. We drove up a mountain that was really quite good. Extremely lush and some exotic flowers. Bumpy road but that was okay. As we got higher it got cooler which was great.

Then we started a walk to see the birds and the waterfall. Muddy, rocky with puddles of mud and water. Then it started to rain hard. We got drenched and went back. The birds were so small you could hardly see them.

After we got back a small group wanted to try it again. We are sitting inside and the rain now sounds like waterfall we never saw. These people are going to be dripping.



We then took a drive to a waterfall. Picture below with Jim and Pam.

Sorry to hear about the hard rain....love seeing Jim & Pam picture. Please give them our best...it's been awhile since we cruised with them (or anyone for that matter).

Loving the reports; have fun at your crossing the equator ceremony.

We have had 3 sea days in a row. Must admit I enjoyed them. Playing Phase 10 with Joan and David and Pam in the afternoon followed by trivia. Dave, Joan, Jan, Dave, Kate and Dick were one team. Ngaire, Helen, Pam & Jim and Janice & Joe were the other. Both teams did well but we were always looking to see what they got and they were always looking to see what we got. Personally both KLT teams to me so I was happy when either of us placed. Lots of lunches and dinners along the way. With things that came up I was very busy but that is okay, I am used to that.

Today we arrived in Nambia. Love this port but have been multiple times. I had booked a new excursion another bird watching excursion. We have done the other excursions multiple times and they are good but we decided to just take day off today, and go in on the shuttle. We have never been to the town. The shuttle took us to a a HUGE mall could have been in the States. There were Namibian kids were entertaining in the mall. They were great. I have been looking for year for a hairdryer with a brush with 220 power that will work in Europe and South Africa. Today I found one! So I was happy. Things were cheap here due to the currency rate.

Then I found out there were thousands of flamingos at the lagoon we were going to see originally. DUMB us should have known better all our Namibian tours have been good.

The childrens Namibian choir entertained the top tier group before sailing. Love this choir and I play their tape in my car everytime I drive. Really enjoyed seeing them again, although the presentatioin was very different from the first time we saw them.

One more sea day and we arrive in Cape Town. Getting excited for our safari. The temperatures for our four days are looking good, the high in the mid eighties. That is great it can be much hotter.

One of my favorite waiters. MELDIN



Namibian Children’s Choir.

What a wonderful time you're having....keep it up. Brings back great memories for Tom and me.

So we had a great time in Cape Town. I got some more of the beads I liked and bought some for clients that wanted them. Most of us went to Baia for dinner it was great. With exchange rate everything was a bargain.

December 7
We have now arrived at Mala Mala. First evening game drive was excellent. Lots of elephants, baby impalas are adorable, zebra, wildebeest, hyena, rhino, giraffe. This morning we followed a leopard called the Island female who we have many times before. She came right next to the vehicle. She is about 8 years old now. We saw a mating pair of lions but they were just asleep, no action. A new coalition of lions came in and ousted the Gowrie males. This is a new coalition of four males. Cannot remember the coalition name. Two have injuries and the other two are in their prime and big. Although this Lion was sleeping he was impressive, very black mane.

Not as hot as I had anticipated. Highs in the mid eighties. It has been over 100 and those high temperatures are predicted again for next week. We came at just the right time. Usually have rain at this time of the year but they have not had much rain yet. Sky is clear and partly cloudy. I also anticipated more bugs but that has not been the case.

Food was great last night. Roast Lamb and Kingklip. Plus a stunning chocolate cake. At breakfast a incredible array of fruit. Including passion fruit, leeches, berries, papaya, pineapple and other standard fruits. I was in heaven. Today we are going down to Rattrays for lunch and will go out on the afternoon game drive with Harvey, Richard, Kieron and Mary.

Wild dogs have been around. Two packs, one with eight dogs and one with 21 dogs. Got my fingers crossed.

HIghlights December 8,

Day was filled again with a variety of great sightings. Lots of stunnng big horns on Kudus, Waterbuck and Nyalas. A hippo with a big yawn, and lot of birds we have not seen before as we have never been on safari in the summer before. We did see the Saddle Billed Stork they are stunning birds .A group of 4 female lions provided great viewing opportunties. At 2.30 pm while we were driving to Rattrays we saw four female lions crossing the landing strip. On the game drive we followed up on the lions and found them. Once was eating a leg of an impala they others moved and around and one female went for a drink that seemed to last forever. We ended the game drive with a joint sundowner which was great. Pictures will follow.

Today was Miriam’s birthday. So the staff did the singing and dancing to celebrate and got Miriam up to dance around the table. It was fun that were really great as usual.

Highlights December 9
Game viewing has been great not too much looking for animals as actually seeing the animals. Started off today with two hyenas within in a minute of leaving the lodge. Then a whole pack of about 6-8 hyenas came running toward the two other hyenas who seemed to be intimidated by the new arrivals. There was a impala carcass in the tree nearby.

This was followed by a leopard who was rasping announcing her presence. Giraffes, tons of baby impala. Then we moved to a group of zebras with small foals, a Klipspringer, a large herd of buffalo deep in the bush, and two young male lions, one with already a pretty good mane. They were watching the buffalo.

Ken has a new camera and he is working on pictures and he will get some posted at some point in the future. In the meantime I took some with my iphone, not great but pictures nevertheless.