August 2009

If you are lucky enough to be cruising during the month, please list your cruise and the date and we will do our best to stalk you along your journey to get a glimpse of your ship. Please list your dates and ports.

I will be on Mariner's North bound Alaska on the 26th. This is my second cruise on Regent. My last cruise was with my 80 year father on a crossing from FLL to the Azores last year to let him go stare at the ocean one more time. This group helped me learn what to expect and I was very grateful.

This time I get to take my wife, who will be a first time cruiser on Regent. I am giddy to be returning! The 2 for 1 fares are just too good to turn down, and we managed to scrape up enough miles to do the round trip in first class so the long trek from the east coast (VA) will be more pleasant. Looking forward to seeing Mariner's makeover. I know there will be more questions, so thanks in advance for your help and support!


Aug 26 Vancouver, Canada
Aug 27 Cruise the Inside Passage, International Waters
Aug 28 Ketchikan, United States
Aug 29 Tracy Arm Cruising, Alaska, United States
Aug 29 Juneau, United States
Aug 30 Skagway, United States
Aug 31 Sitka, United States
Sep 01 Hubbard Glacier Cruising, Ak, United States
Sep 02 Seward, United States

Tyler, I will be doing the same cruise the following month so I will be interested in your comments!

We are on the August 14 Navigator cruise from Athens to Istanbul and look forward to conversing with fellow travelers. We are staying one day pre-cruise in Athens and 3 days post-cruise in Istanbul.

Welcome to LCT, Billybob! Will this be your first Regent cruise?

We were on the Paul Gauguin in September 2006 and it was our best cruise. We have been on seven other cruise lines and so far Regent is our favorite. We chose this cruise primarily for the ports, it goes to all the places we want to visit on a Greek Isles cruise and stays longer at most destinations. That makes up for the somewhat higher cost than say Oceania, Azamara or Seabourne

The Greek isles is favorite to this day! I think you will have a great time!

Welcome to LCT Billybob66. Your cruise sounds great. We LOVE Istanbul and if you need a recommendation for a good tour guide I can recommend one (same one Denise & Alan used when they were there).

Karen & Marcie: Thank you for the warm welcome. Marcie -- In your experience in Istanbul, did you feel you needed a tour guide to visit the major attractions? We are staying at a small "boutique" hotel near the Blue Mosque, etc and can walk to all the attractions, except the Museum across the bridge. What benefit di you find in having a tour guide? Thanks again

If you're staying in the Sultanahmet, I don't see the need for a guide, since everything will be walking distance. But that's just my opinion.

Since you have 3 days, you might hire a guide for one day to see some other parts of town, but if you plan things right, you can see a lot in this amount of time.

Warning however, it will be hot in August. So if you do hire a guide, make sure they have an air conditioned vehicle. In fact, that's an argument in favour of a guide!

:lct: :lct:

Don't know what happened there - - what I said was we will be on board Karen, are you comming ??

Billybob, we were there 3 nights/4 days and since we didn't want to be with guide all day we did two 1/2 days and it was plenty. One full day with guide is fine too. You're in best location. Make sure your boutique hotel has elevator and AC (many don't) We stayed at Hotel Nena boutique hotel (in a Deluxe room) and were very pleased, even had large balcony off our room we could sit outside (we were there in April). Nightly rate included hot breakfast (outside or inside choice) and a 50% off coupon for dinner. It also included pick-up and delivery back to the airport. We were very close to train/tram pick up which made it very convenient. Fabulous Views from the hotel!

You really don't need a guide, we were happy we did because she told us so much about local history, what we were looking at etc. lots of details that we wouldn't have known about. She also had car so we could go places too far to walk. One full day or two 1/2 days is plenty of time with guide.

Not sure you're even looking for a hotel but this is a picture of our room (even though it's ranked 4 star, 4 star there is not the same as USA 4 star)

Rod, you are on board Billybob's Navigator cruise? If so, no, I am not on that one!

That is affirmative - - we are on board C2C. Sorry you won't be on this one Karen !!
Rod

I am sorry, too! It's going to be a very unique cruise!

OK, so I have formulated my first question for the August Alaska trip with my wife: I am noticing that the cabins on Mariner are smaller than Voyager (301 sq ft including veranda vs 356 sq ft) Is this noticable? It would seem so. It has made me consider the Penthouse C Suite which is 373 sq ft.

Also I remember some discussion about shower vs tub, but I can't find it looking back at posts. Is there a general philosophy among regular cruisers as to one being better than the other? My wife would in general prefer a tub, but I fear it will shrink the rest of the bathroom.

Thanks!!

Tyler, I bet if you post your question in the main Regent forum, you will probably get more answers! I am not sure if others read this particular forum if they are not sailing in August.

But in the meantime, I have been on both ships and really didn't notice the difference in size between the two standard cabins.

(Karen, feel free to move this if it's the wrong place)

Tyler, the penthouse C on the Mariner is AWESOME. It's a double wide with so much room. I have only had the oversized shower when staying in a PH C but have had the tub in the regular cabin and in a Horizon Suite (also awesome because of big balcony and no vibration issue on Mariner). The retrofitted oversized shower replaced the tub so you don't lose any floor space.

My only complaint with the Horizon Suite is it is not centrally located so you spend more time walking up and down the hall. Penthouse C is centrally located midship. IMO, you don't need the butler service, get a PH C and not a PH A or B

I agree with Marcie. The penthouse C on Mariner my favorite cabin - NO need for butler - I LOVED the Horizon Suite on Mariner!! It was a splurge for us and so happy we did as we were Auckland to LA for 19 nights. Fun suite for entertaining and was offered as last minute upgrade for $$$$. I do not remember bath configurations.

I will chime in here.....we loved the penthouse C on the Mariner. Beautiful cabin... Great location.

Wow thanks! Well Penthouse C is booked. You all really come thru with the information when needed! Thank you. I actually envy my wife Bobbie who will get to experience this for the first time. Having been before, I know what to expect from when I went with Dad on the crossing last year. Theres nothing like being wowed beyond expectation that first time!

Thanks again

Jerel and I are on the first portion of Sea2Sea. We're staying 2 days precruise in Athens at the Grand Bretagne - I've heard so many wonderful things that we just have to stay there - and 2 days in Istanbul. Marcie - I think I'm using the guide you recommended.

Andrea, Hold on to your wallet at the rooftop terrace restaurant, $90 for small pizza and 2 cokes. Book a room w/balcony facing plaza and Acropolis. Have fun, we did!

Wow!! :eek: Guess I better start putting some $$ aside now!

Andrea, The rooftop terrace is a great place for evening drinks and a gorgeous sunset over the Acropolis. Otherwise, there are nice inexpensive restaurants in the Plaka, a short walk from the GB.

Andrea - Athens (esp. the Grande Bretagne) and Istanbul :app: !!! Two of my very favorite places. I know the rooftop bar is expensive, but you must go up for even just one drink. The view is priceless, esp. at sunset. Greg actually went out and bought a tripod JUST so he can get higher quality photos of the Acropolis lit up at night. I can't believe we'll be back there at the end of May! :3smile:

Another vote for the GB!!! We had beautiful room with balcony. I know some don't care for Athens but we enjoyed it. Had great Italian dinner, hotel recommended, about ten min walk from GB - of course I don't have the name. Rooftop bar was closed when we were there, repairs.

The GB has the most beautiful bathroom I have ever seen.

Marcie: Your advice sounds really good. Besides all of the sites in "old town," where else outside of the area do you recommend visiting, particularly with a guide?

Bill

Bill,
We only used our guide for the two half days exploring the sites in Sultanhahmet. We went to the Grand Bazaar (suppose to have something like 4000 stalls selling things) as well as a boat ride on the Bosphorus (water dividing Europe & Asia)on our own. The Grand Bazaar is just a block away from our hotel and we caught the tram to where you catch the ferry for the boat ride. We prefer to do things leisurely so it worked fine for us.

Our guide was Fatos Ozal
She has several email addresses listed on her card:
fatos65@superonline.com
guidefatos@hotmail.com
fatos@doruknet.com.tr

She has a Phone & Fax: 0212 212 37 41
Cell: 0532 211 23 71

Here are a few of our photos, one with Fatos in it:
http://picasaweb.google.com/petlove...Gv1sRgCMKLr_ztjO69cg&feat=directlink

I will be on the Crystal Symphony doing a British Isle's cruise.

Aug 23 Sun London/Dover, England
Aug 24 Mon Cruising the North Sea
Aug 25 Tue Edinburgh/Rosyth, Scotland(overnight)
Aug 26 Wed Edinburgh/Rosyth, Scotland
Aug 27 Thu Cruising the North Sea
Aug 28 Fri Belfast, Ireland
Aug 29 Sat Liverpool, England
Aug 30 Sun Dublin, Ireland
Aug 31 Mon Waterford, Ireland
Sep 1 Tue Cruising the Irish Sea & North Atlantic Ocean
Sep 2 Wed Guernsey/St. Peter Port, Channel Islands
Sep 3 Thu London/Dover, England

Nancy

We are sailing on the PG August 15... first time for us on any cruise- can't wait!!!!

Marcie, you captured some wonderful pictures. Mine did not come out nearly as well as yours.

Also, I used Fatos as a guide, and I loved her.
Lynn

Glad it worked out for you Lynn and thanks for the compliments. Those BEAUTIFUL tulips everywhere....We loved those. The tulips that Holland is so famous for were originally sent as a gift from Istanbul (or maybe it was Turkey?)

Fatos is so knowledgeable! Someday I'd love to go back to Istanbul.

We're sailing out of New York to Bermuda on NCL with our two teenage grandsons (13 & 15). We leave Aug.2 after two nights in a hotel on Times Square. They're more excited about being in New York than going to Bermuda--go figure. It will be interesting to see if NCL has improved under Apollo--I hear it has. Don't really care about the cruise line--just love spending time with the
grandkids.

We're on the second leg of sea2sea. We're looking forward to being re-acquainted with some of the LCTers and others who we've met on previous cruises, and those who we haven't met yet.

We really enjoyed meeting LCTers who we hadn't met previously in S. Africa when we were on LION.

------------

Eugene and Gail

We're on the Nautica, August 4th Istanbul to Rome. Arriving in Istanbul day before. Staying in Sultanahmet for 1 night pre-cruise, then one night post in Rome. Staying at Albergo Senato. First time in Turkey and Greece. Really looking forward to Istanbul. Have been to Italy and Monte Carlo before on our own. Will be nice to just hang out at a cafe, and wonder around Florence and Rome. Thinking about visiting St. Paul Vence, we have stayed in both Monte Carlo and Eze before. We are concerned about the heat factor. Have always visited Europe in either May or June. Oh well, it was a fantastic deal, and we will only need summer clothes rather than having to pack for both heat and cold!!

Jeanine, your cruise sounds fabulous. If at all possible I'd recommend staying at least 2-3 nights pre-cruise in Istanbul. There's a lot to see and do there. You're staying in the best part of town to see the sites (Sultanahmet.

When we were planning our trip there last year, someone here on LCT recommended 4 nights (1 just to get over any jet lag) and I'm glad we took their advice.

I'm going to be on the August 8 Paul Gauguin cruise in FP. Anyone have any suggestions for me?


Windstar - Costa Rica - 2008
Royal Caribbean - Mediterranean - 2005