Full 2012 itineraries should be out soon. Ngaire and Ken are already booked for Antarctica in January and Nile in March.

So, what Regent itineraries do we want them to escort for the remainder of 2012?

My choice is for a Caribbean cruise over Christmas and New Years. This would be exactly ten years after 18 of us first met on Seven Seas Mariner sailing Ft Lauderdale to Aruba (and some of us took return to Ft Lauderdale).

What is everyone else interested in for 2012 on Regent?

:lct:

How about a repeat of TUT either on Regent or Silversea which has a similar itinerary?

We are actually doing that Mitch on CLEO June 17, 2011. I am open to doing it again if enough are interested of course. Many on TUT are not on CLEO.

We'd love to do the Black Sea and depending on the schedule, of course, would follow or precede it with a TUT-like itinerary.

So when is the rest of 2012 going to be released? They haven't released Alaska yet, let alone later in the year.

We, too, would love to go to the Black Sea. I've already mentioned this to Ngaire.

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Eugene

We have an OBB deposit on any future Seabourn cruise so that would be great to have a Ken & Ngaire escorted one. We're open to the when and where's.

We would love to try Seabourn in 2012. It would be great to have an escorted B&K Seabourn cruise.

Marc:

Wow! Has it really been 10 years!?!
(I bet you can name all 18, too.)

Doug

Black Sea - Ken and I like that cruise sounds like a good idea. Keep coming up with ideas fun to anticipate and to know the LCT wish list.

Have not looked at a thing but Xmas/New Years has always been appealing -

Eight years now; will be ten years December 2012. And no, I cannot name the full group. ;)

Also have a request for a Christmas Markets River cruise. If that happens I would want to the same itinerary as Paris. I think that is better than the Prague to Budapest trip. That would be early December so both a river cruise and a Xmas/New Years cruise would be doable.

Yangtze River Cruise in September

Andi, Yangtze is fantastic. We went on Yangzi Explorer which carries just 124 passengers with a crew over 100. On our sailing, as we were going upriver, there were only 33 passengers.

I would recommend taking three weeks to see as much of the country as you can.

Thanks Marc! I would love to do this. Looking forward to seeing you two next week.

Got a safari in September so Ken and I cannot do anything that month. The Yangzi Explorer is the the ship to use if you are doing the Yantze.

How about November? If not 2012....2013?

We're still wanting a tour of Japan for 2013...LOL thats over 3 years out..Pat

Yangzi is on my bucket list and a tour of Japan would be great also, if we had a local tour person along similiar to Egypt where someone is there. I do not have the expertise to be the "tour guide' like I do in South Africa. Both of these destinations would be brand new for me.

I need to balance out my trips as organizing things out of the box is a ton of work. This last few weeks with finalizing ROAR, doing the excursions in Beijing for Kangaroo, Fiesta organization, and putting together NILE 2 all at the same time. Swear I wont do this many out of the box things again. Handling one major land trip with normal business is a lot but all of this is really difficult.

When I go somewhere new such as Yangzi and Japan it is not easy and takes a lot of time and work. Hard to explain but there are always so many issues that are unknown and the unknown with a group worries me. In most cases I want to go and do it first before I take a group and that is not always that easy to do.

I have never taken an escorted trip to a totally unknown destination. I went to South Africa first before the first ROAR trip, I even did an additional trip to the Nile (5th time in Egypt) in September to hand pick a new boat and so glad I did that. It was not one I would have found had I had not been there personally. I just feel the need to be in control and know what to expect if I am taking a group somewhere particularly if there are land arrangments involved.

When I work with Regent everything is so much easier because of the working relationships we have with the corporate office and also on the ships. It makes a world of difference. Most problems I can resolve and I am so familiar with the policies and how things work. I cannot go into situations but just in the last few months some really unique things have happened and Regent has stepped up and done some incredible things that no other line would do. So the secure feeling I have with Regent for resolutions of unique situations is hard to recreate anywhere else.

When I go to other lines everything is much more complicated. The experience with the Antarctica trip on the Hanseastic was so incredibly difficult. Those on that trip understand, even though it was "just booking a cruise" the complications were amazing.

So when you look at 2012 it is getting full of out of the box issues.

2012 - Antarctica (January) Nile 2 (March)Safari (September) that is three out of the box trips already. So my plan is to finish off 2012 with cruises rather than taking on another unknown trip.

Silversea is now getting very easy to deal with too. With Ken Watson from Regent over at Silversea things have changed for B&K a lot. Everything worked great with Antarctica on the Prince Albert and I know that ship well and really love it.

2013 the only trip planned is a safari in June or July that is all set with three family groups. So 2013 is where I can add some "out of the box" things but anything brand new in 2012 would be a challenge.

Seabourn at least I have been on the new ships and it is a possibility. However I have never taken a group and worked with their group policies. I do know any of the senior corporate or ship staff, except ex Regent people such as Captain Dag, John Baron and Barry Hopkins.

When you go to a new cruise line those PERKS that most of us enjoy on Regent are not there. No free internet for almost everyone, for some no free laundry these things are so nice to have and when you do not have them it really hits home. No internet for me is a problem I am on all the time.

I just hope that Regent has some new interesting itineraries as we do need some new places to investigate. Interestingly enough I have not been to the basic MED for a LONG time. A few new ports in Italy or Sardinia would be great.

Totally understand. Japan, Yangtze...both are on our bucket lists and we don't mind being guinea pigs. Some folks from my office (who are Indian) say the way to do India is via the new Royal Palace train for a week. It is about $7K all inclusive then to go south as well as to a safari park. That's on the bucket list too. We also have to do Butan,Cambodia, Galapagos and Machu Picchu. These are our must do's over the next few years after Antarctica.

Well we never tire of the Med, always lots of new things to do even with repeat ports. We need Sorrento one more time so we can go to Capri, Sardinia would be new for us, Corsica would be new for us, Portofino is our very favorite port, there are always things to do from Livorno and who ever tires of Rome? LOL. But there are a lot of small little places in Italy that I wish Regent would add to some of their itineraries.

Would love a Med. cruise with new ports of call. We still have not done Venice on a cruise. That is on our to do list.

JoAnn, you would have loved our Seabourn Spirit cruise the week before Un-TUT. It started in Rome, ended in Venice with small islands and ports in Italy, Greece, Croatia. We were in some real gems, places we had never heard of, with the real locals. It was fantastic and having Capt. Dag at the helm made it even more special.

Andi.......I have also had the Palace train recommended to me for India by a couple on my Egypt trip that live in Hong Kong. Like you and Doug, I have to get through ROAR3 and Antarctica first. And when do I fit in Vietnam and Cambodia? So many places that are "MUST SEES!"

Our Med cruise this August was fantastic, though the weather was very hot, and I always look forward to a change in weather when I travel since we live in FL. I never realized how beautiful the Adriatic coast is. We loved Dubrovnik and Cavtat. The Black Sea would work for me. I am also open to trying other lines even given the lack or perks. Seaborn seems to do many shorter cruises and the only way I woud be happy is combining 2 week long cruises. Silversea has some lovely 12-14 day itineraries.

I also loved Portofino -
but I wonder how much it has changed since 1954? (I was VERY young then.)

Guessing you were about 4 yrs old then Ted ;) ;)

Someone else emailed in a request for the Paul Gauguin 2012 or 2013

Choices choices!

Med is great in MAY or EARLY JUNE or in OCTOBER when it is not so hot, the crowds have dwindled and the kids are back in school. That is when I like to go to the MED.

Yeah, right!

I was old enough to drive but ejected from Monte Carlo Casino for being too young!

Betty, I would go back to Viet Nam any day...I loved Sth. Vietnam and Thailand. We need to see more of Asia. As Mitch said...any line would do with the right itinerary. Loved the Med and Black Sea.

Our favorite trip (2005) was Sydney to Singapore a long one - we LOVED Viet Nam, Thailand and HONG KONG!!! MED is always enticing for us and loved Marcie's comment about "off the beaten path places" with SB

Well Ted, we were there in 2005 and it was probably the most charming and beautiful place ever, it is still our favorite port, and believe me, there are many, but overall that is the one.

How about a New Year's Panama Canal cruise - we have always wanted to do a New Year's cruise, well..... I have, wonder if Frank could handle missing bowl games. Sigh.......

Asia I love Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Thailand. PARTY was a New Years cruise and that is usually the itinerary over New Years that is a good idea also.

SOOOO many places to go....sights to be seen....and that darn clock just keeps ticking and ticking.

Have to make time to do it all...and Ngaire,you are the one to make it come true.

Ngaire you offer we follow????

The right choice will develop it always does and Ken and I flexible, and will go where the majority of the LCT people want to go. Some good ideas here and it all depends on what the schedules for all the ships offer.

Ngaire, of course, with Regent, there are those pesky single supps, but can't expect you or anyone else to choose for this reason.

I've been to the Black Sea on the Diamond with you already! I really dont want to go back there, but eager to hear what you choose to do. I'm at the point now where I want to do nothing less that 14 days. But your cruises in the coming year are that long, at least, I think.

Ngaire - Don't forget the AMA cruise on the Mekong River from Siem Reap to Saigon. Sharon & Dick did it this year and loved it. As you well know, Mary Ellen & Jim and Pat & I (along with a delightful couple from England) are going in November. We're going to spend 5 nights at a wonderful lodge (only 10 individual villas in a private setting next to a small village) near Siem Reap before boarding the lovely riverboat. We'll do the advance scouting for you. Maybe Cambodia & Vietnam, including the Mekong River cruise, might be a good choice for 2012 or 2013. Cheers, Fred