RetiredandTravel
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Feedback sought from Alaska on the Explorer
RetiredandTravel replied to notabigcruiser's topic in Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Its important to point out that Regent is hierarchical in how they allocate excursions & specialty restaurant reservations. People who are Silver level (20+ nights) or Concierge Suite or higher get to pick their preferred excursions and specialty reservations earlier. Considering this there is a chance of being shutout of certain excursions. I don't think its a super high possibility but we were shutout of a couple excursions on our first cruise. Full disclosure people say you can waitlist and Regent will try and accommodate you which we didn't do, we just picked another excursion. We've had very good experiences with the Regent included excursions but they are often on a bus with ~ 50 seats. I think Papa is correct in that the base excursions are basically the same across the cruise lines in Alaska. CC has a section to just discuss ports & excursions here is the Alaska one. Have fun. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/33-alaska/ -
We are currently comparing two itineraries from Singapore to Hong Kong (Thailand & Vietnam). One costs quite a bit more but goes to Manila, Coron (Palawan Philippines) & Sihanoukville (Cambodia). Are these ports worth the extra $$$. Please elaborate if you have time. ty
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Thank you. Sounds like your husband is a good source of information. I'm guessing he goes business class. Understanding this is a tough question, how did he find the flight with that number of hours? Difficult place to get to. Enjoy your vacation.
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There is actually a direct flight from Newark to Singapore on Singapore Air, its 19+ hours. Anyone taken that?
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When we stayed at the Hilton Tokyo there were always plenty of yellow cabs outside (#2). In our experience yellow cabs are very reliable in Tokyo.. You could just call the hotel and I bet they would set it up for you. Sorry I have no specific names. Fun fact: If you go down the escalator at the Hilton Tokyo towards the subway just to the right is a convenience store to get reasonably priced water, beer , wine & snacks. Have fun
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Our entry experience in Narita was very efficient and friendly (pre-covid). Not bad at all, less than an hour. Our cruise went from Japan to Korea and back to Japan. We had to do immigration again on the ship in Japan and it was very slow.
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Tokyo is very manageable. Depending on how comfortable you feel you can easily do it on your own. Japanese people are wonderful. Not sure of your cruise or past experience but IMO Kyoto should be a prime focus.
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Thank you Hubofhockey & John Bull. Invaluable information. Hub we did a cruise to Southern Japan & Korea (Tokyo<>Tokyo on Regent) in 2019. We loved it. Make sure to spend at least a full day in Kyoto and I'd recommend that you splurge for a private tour that day. If you have any other questions on Japan let me know. Thanks again.
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My brother was an 19 year old farm boy from a small town that got drafted and sent to Vietnam (Artillery). Just imagine that. Today my brother is fine, loves his grandkids. I love my country but honestly I personally have more problems with how our (US) country handled the Vietnam war than the North Vietnamese. My issue is more out of respect for my brother. If I ask him he'll say he doesn't care but that might not be the truth. I will say I spent the ages of 7-8 praying hard for my brother and watching the horrifying reports on the nightly news that always included with the number dead and injured. If we do go it will be very emotional for me.
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thank you hubofhockey. My niece and her husband (Boston) are huge Bruin Fans. Honestly I'm trying to figure this out. My cruise stops in Bangkok (Laem), Ho Chi Ming City, Chang May & Ha Long Bay. I've read that the Bangkok (2 days) and Mo Chi Ming (3 days) are 2 - 2 1/2 hour rides. Not sure about the other two. We will be taking the basic cruise line tours, they are included. I am an aging male and the thought of going 2 1/2 hours w/o a bathroom break is frightening. Also we are going in Feb so would want AC in the bus. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
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SS/RCCL Finances: Improving, Options, Questions??!!
RetiredandTravel replied to TLCOhio's topic in Silversea
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65102150 -
SS/RCCL Finances: Improving, Options, Questions??!!
RetiredandTravel replied to TLCOhio's topic in Silversea
Its really just an evolution of voice recognition like Alexa or Siri. The next level. There are no press 1 or 2. My car recognizes my voice and performs the operations I ask. In the case I mention the programming and ability behind the voice is just more powerful. I'm not saying it will happen tomorrow but the technology is changing quickly. -
SS/RCCL Finances: Improving, Options, Questions??!!
RetiredandTravel replied to TLCOhio's topic in Silversea
Looks like a real long term trend line has been broken doesn't it. I started my bond career in the early '80s buying 30 year (non call 10) Munis @ 15-16%. -
SS/RCCL Finances: Improving, Options, Questions??!!
RetiredandTravel replied to TLCOhio's topic in Silversea
I could envision a situation where the TAs are replaced by the AI. The AI would have a human voice and be polite, funny and extraordinarily efficient. There would never be a wait, the AI would in seconds know all of your preferences and the entire cruise schedule and pricing. The AI would immediately answer any question you have and follow up. You could call (or chat) back and get instant service on any issue. Think of the productivity gains and labor cost reductions for firms like SS and AMEX. The only problem is where are the humans going to work? ☹️ -
Do the cruise line excursion buses have AC and is there access to bathrooms on these longer rides in Thailand & Vietnam? ty
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Business Class Air for Alaska Cruise
RetiredandTravel replied to jhenry1's topic in Regent Seven Seas Cruises
We just made flights on our own from NC to Vancouver and back from Anchorage. We have no direct flights so connected (1) on Delta for ~2K for First class tickets. DFW came up on American as a connection so you have direct flights from DFW which is huge especially coming back from Anchorage. Maybe you can get direct first class on American for about $2K? -
SS/RCCL Finances: Improving, Options, Questions??!!
RetiredandTravel replied to TLCOhio's topic in Silversea
This op-ed gave me a much better understanding of AI. https://www.wsj.com/articles/ai-has-finally-become-transformative-humans-scale-language-model-6a67e641?mod=opinion_lead_pos7 "Consider the task of creating an image to use for marketing content or for a movie poster. For companies running their own version of an open-source model like Stable Diffusion, it costs roughly 0.1 cent and takes around one second to generate an image. Hiring a graphic designer or a photographer would cost hundreds of dollars and take hours or days. Even if, for simplicity’s sake, we underestimate the cost at $100 and the time at one hour, generative AI is 1/100,000th the cost and 3,600 times the speed of the human alternative." -
My oldest brother was in combat in Vietnam (Tet). I have mixed emotions about going. I certainly don't want to offend my brother but it would be interesting seeing where he was.
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Barbados flights and hotels
RetiredandTravel replied to Shrinkersgal's topic in Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Good thinking. We had two hours plus to connect last Dec and barely made it. Chaos. -
Barbados flights and hotels
RetiredandTravel replied to Shrinkersgal's topic in Regent Seven Seas Cruises
WE have had several horrendous experiences transfering from the Caribbean through MIA to the US. We always allow a good amount of time. -
Insurance Company Recommendations?
RetiredandTravel replied to GMIAC's topic in Regent Seven Seas Cruises
In the past I have used the Forbes website for travel insurance reviews & comparisons. They do transfer you to sites so I always keep that in mind. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/travel-insurance/best-travel-insurance/