RetiredandTravel

This is correct, yet too early and you will see green. Most states have foliage info. here's Maine (midpoint?) https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mfs/projects/fall_foliage/whenandwhere/ https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mfs/projects/fall_foliage/report/index.shtml

1) All of the complimentary wines available aren't widely advertised so you need to ask some questions. For instance if you order a chardonnay you will get one of the less expensive ones while a nicer French one is available, ask for the French white burgundy and they'll give you all you want. This list is a little dated I think there is a more recent one somewhere. https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/topic/2645719-current-explorer-complimentary-wine-list/ 2) Sette Mari is a nice alternative Italian restaurant that is first come first served, you need to be there at 6:30 when it opens to be assured of getting a table. Sette Mari & Compass Rose menus are posted on the TV so you can decide which best suits your taste that evening. 3) The biggest advantage for a new Regent cruiser in a Concierge suite is the expanded time frame to make excursions and specialty reservations. If your cruise is full many popular excursions may be completely filled (you could be shut out)at this point and specialty restaurants may only have fairly undesirable times available. If it were me I'd do some homework on excursion and specialty restaurant reservation availability. https://www.rssc.com/discover-more/blog/upgraded-amenities-of-your-concierge-suite

Thank you Mauibabes. Is this your first Antarctica sail bye? If you would be so kind as to give an update on the Antarctica portion of your 1/23 cruise it would be greatly appreciated. We're very interested in the Lima > Buenos Aires cruises but are a bit leery given some of the feedback on "sail byes". Many Thanks

Cruise Lines asking CDC to change Covid testing policies https://www.thestreet.com/investing/cruise-lines-call-for-cdc-to-change-covid-testing-policy

Cruise Lines asking CDC for changes to covid testing https://www.thestreet.com/investing/cruise-lines-call-for-cdc-to-change-covid-testing-policy

Its nice to see Regent has moved back up to Monopole. On our 2019 Mariner cruise they downgraded the champagne to something that retailed for $13. This is what was served ship wide and was complimentary in the room (concierge). We did get Veuve on our first cruise in a veranda suite in 2016, that cruise served Monopole Thanks for the report Cruise Critic Chris, one question. Do the Regent employees all know you work for Cruise Critic?

Agreed. The elimination of the Covid test was a very welcome change, it makes travelling much less stressful but hurdles remain. I appreciate you sharing your experience, I keep telling my wife we need to do these long haul trips while we can. Good luck with that December cruise. I'm guessing the cruise lines will be under pressure to eliminate or lighten the restrictions. Cruise stocks have gone down a good deal recently, many Wall St analysts are pointing to lower bookings as one of the factors. There are quite a few people like us that feel the current restrictions and too burdensome and are looking for alternatives. Every year these international flights get rougher but we're still hoping to do several international cruises in the upcoming years. Cruising brings a lot to the table for us. It allows us to see wider geographic areas and more diverse cultures that we would have difficulties navigating on our own given our age. Another big advantage to cruising is you get on the ship and your are all set no transfers packing unpacking etc. IMO the luxury cruise experience doesn't come close to the service, room quality and food (wine) at luxury hotels and top restaurants. You pay a premium for the convenience, which is fine. Looking forward to getting back once things lighten up. Hope everyone above has safe and enjoyable travels.

+1 Just returned from a beautiful 2 week vacation in Austria & Germany. Top hotels, Michelin starred restaurants every night with "Connoisseur" level wines, private tours & cars, NO tests (except to re-enter the US), NO masks, NO quarantines all at a 20-30% discount to luxury cruise prices. Only proof of vaccination & booster to enter the country necessary. When the only remaining Covid restriction for cruising is showing proof of vaccination & a booster we'll start booking cruises again.

This is a key question, from what I've read travel is booming at this point. Why are two sectors (Airlines & Cruise Companies) that have similar challenges and end markets stocks performing differently. Why is MS talking about weak cruise demand? Is it the overall economy or cruise line specific? Just from my own perspective I'm not flying to Sydney or Lima and spending $40-50k on a cruise & airfare to be told I can't board because I have asymptomatic Covid (which I am highly vaccinated for) or I have to wear a mask on excursion buses. This is my personal choice and I don't think I'm alone. There are also people who feel the complete opposite. Reaching 90% capacity will probably require both groups.

There are news reports that MS had a negative note on CCL and its ability to service the debt. I haven't read the MS note but here are a couple of news reports. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/why-carnival-royal-caribbean-and-norwegian-cruise-line-shares-are-falling-today-1031517420 https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/06/08/why-carnival-stock-slumped-today/ IMO the conundrum for the cruise industry is there are some people who strongly want Covid measures like pre cruise testing, masks, quarantines etc and some who strongly oppose them. The cruise lines at this point really needs them both back on the ships.

If you make your own flight (&transfer) arrangements Regent offers $7200 each for Australia and $4900 Asia (Hong Kong) both well within reason of what you can get a biz class ticket w/ one stop from most cities. Direct flights to Sydney from LAX can be slightly (sometimes significantly) higher or lower. Regent offers $2500 for Europe that's light. We've always made our own flight arrangement on Regent but have met several people that did not have direct flights.

Thats great news. With the entire ship vaccinated serious illness risk is pretty low. Personally I'd be pretty steamed if I had to quarantine for that long on a separate deck with no symptoms, especially knowing the whole ship is vaccinated. Hope you were able to salvage some good times & memories thru it all.

Just wondering how sick your friends were that they quarantined. Hoping they are OK. Do they get any refund or FCC? According to the NYT website the US had 107k cases +46% yesterday yet fortunately deaths were only 312 down 15%. GOD rest their soles but I would venture a very large percent of the deaths were people with serious pre existing conditions.

Exactly Concierge is important for the expanded booking window for Specialty restaurants & excursions until you hit silver. Once you hit silver the only real benefit is the hotel & extra internet connections, not worth it. Its my understanding that if you are willing to share a table you may be able to get extra specialty resos. I've read that Silversea and Seabourn have no hierarchy (first come first serve) to specialty restaurant reservations & excursions, a better model IMO.

Agrred. Sharing a table can be good fun but it can also go horribly wrong and yes alcohol is often involved when it does.

Establishments that make large amounts of money off tourists but are rude to them. Great. Best to make your feelings known online, at least help the next person. Our experience has been that the Spaniards are generally very friendly we did have a very rude waiter at an oceanfront restaurant in Marbella maybe its an oceanfront thing.

We're going to get on Terry's bad list Loved the 80's and 90's, my cholesterol peaked at 300. Were you in NYC? I don't reveal much personal info on the internet if you prefer not to say I understand. What was cataclysmic was the financial engineering that created Mortgage Backed Security derivates like CMOS which became instrumental in creating the financial crises in 2008/09. MBS CMO's were created to widen the appeal of MBS and improve margins as passthroughs bid/ask declined. CMO's started ok with PACs & TAC's but evolved into wildly leveraged securities like the inverse floater. The first large meltdown of MBS esoteric securities was in 1994 when Greenspan & Co tightened aggressively, the writing was on the wall. In the late 90's early/mid 2000's firms that specialized in MBS derivates became extremely profitable and continued to leverage their balance sheet. Cataclysmic may not be a strong enough word for what came next.

When margins declined in equity trading & banking Wall St forms turned to sophisticated algos to improve profitability. Institutional stock trading went from charging 6 cents/share to 4 to 2 to <1, I've been retired a while have no idea where is is now. This coupled with declining margins on Investment banking deals and the separation of IB and research departments led to significantly less profits so firms turned to algos. In addition to technical analysis the algos monitored client behavior and other factors. Equity trading & Sales Trading desks have shrunk considerably over the years replaced by the machines. In my opinion Mathematics has led to some fantastic and cataclysmic results for IB firms, investors and the overall economy.

Come on man cut me some slack I went to college in the 70's everything is a little fuzzy. Actually its ok that the second trough went thru the first, some people actually prefer it. It would have to go thru the "neckline" to be confirmed. The bigger problem is the time frame for a longer term indicator. more of a day trader chart. I don't really trade anymore just long term allocation. Started the year 50% stock 40% cash if we got in the 3500 range I'd probably take the stock percent up some. If nothing else to adjust for current market values. Its amazing how much money you can lose with 40% cash. Totally agree with no idea. Quote from attached article, these guys are decent. Opinions vary on the topic of course. "While exact troughs are preferable, there is some room to maneuver; typically, a trough within 3% of its predecessor is considered valid." https://school.stockcharts.com/doku.php?id=chart_analysis:chart_patterns:double_bottom_reversal

Hope springs eternal here in the R&T household. Yesterday the S&P500 and QQQ held the support levels previously mentioned and a chartist might say they could be forming a double bottom. We would need some price confirmation for more confidence (hard to have these days). My back of the envelope calculations shows that on an operating earnings and reported earnings basis (using 1Q earnings) the S&P 500 PE is below the 25 year & 35 year median. In my opinion this is encouraging although sometimes stock markets go from fair value to cheap to really really cheap. I don't want to be a wet blanket here but IMO if you "invest" in these stocks you have to understand that these companies could go down a lot more. I certainly hope they don't but they could. You are correct Terry debt is getting more expensive (especially high yield debt) and these companies are in a race to pay it off. I would venture that inflation isn't going stop most SS cruisers from booking another trip. What RCL has to worry about in its quest to 90% capacity is the couple that busted its tail to feed their kids and send them to college and was planning a "trip of a lifetime" for their anniversary on Royal Caribbean and just delayed it because they are spending $300 a month for gas. If I were thinking of taking a gamble on RCL stock Stumblefoots levels look interesting to me. Has there ever been any speculation of RCL selling Silversea? Probably not the best valuation at this point but would SS be an interesting investment for someone who wanted to take it private?

Good to hear. I sometimes don't read things as closely as I should,. Guess I missed the positive part. How's the food? Everybody loves food & booze pics. Enjoy!!

We always make our own travel arrangements. In my experience research from the US Regent (Business) & SS (Economy) air credits are reasonable to Asia & Australia (not sure with current rates) and less for Europe. I hope Seabourn doesn't follow SS and include excursions in the fare. IMO including excursions in the fare is just forcing every passenger to take an excursion at every port under the guise of being "All Inclusive".

The best comment on the Navigator was by a gentleman who said he orders his eggs raw and lets them scramble themselves. 🙂 Sorry to hear the trip thus far hasn't been up to expectations. We had poor service at Compass Rose so we just asked to sit in another section. Agreed that fellow Regent cruisers are very welcoming. We had no vibration issues on the Mariner, sounds like vibration on the Splendor now needs to be monitored. This report in conjunction with the recent Voyager TA assessment reinforces my belief that Regent puts its best foot forward on the newer ships.

Congratulations If you have extra time head over to the Stafford Hotel American Bar for a Club Sandwich and a beer for lunch. The Club sandwich is awesome, nice place. https://thestaffordlondon.com/american-bar/ enjoy your trip

Thank you for that information you saved me from a major disappointment. Much appreciated. Well the Voyager has a cruise that says its going to Antarctica. I was looking at the Splendor which is straight Lima > Buenos Aires. The big problem is they stop in Santiago on Christmas Day , seems like a big miss. Oceania does seem to have some of the best itineraries and we'll use them in the future. Voyager https://www.rssc.com/cruises/VOY230129/summary?source=top results Splendor https://www.rssc.com/cruises/SPL231220/summary?source=top results