Scout16

One factor about the stress level of the tours is the physical level of the citizens of that country. The people from Japan, Italy, and Spain seem to be very fit and able to jog up hills where as I come from a rural area and mostly drive to stores, park, and do short walks. I do work at getting in longer walks prior to cruises. The problem is that the more physically fit people do not appear to notice that members of their tours are lagging behind.

The weather in south and central Japan was comfortable when it was not raining, sixty to seventy degrees, but it was rather cool when it rained all day. Northern Japan was like Alaska with maybe fifty to sixty degrees. This was for the end of April to mid May so I have no idea what the other times of the year would be like.

I am not sure what is available in the locker rooms off the gym, but I remember seeing razers. I thought about this when my luggage took two days to catch up with me, but I only saw the razers the day after the luggage came.

Part Two Boarding the Ship - The Covid check by the Japanese government allowed a fast boarding check in on the ship since we were only released in small groups. The Covid check is no longer being done, but you entered by the bus, were seated, and then placed in line in small groups. You then had to fill out the health questions, list your vaccination history and show a picture of your negative Covid test. This took a while. Covid - Beyond the self test and the paperwork there was very little sign of Covid. I lost track of two of the people that were on my trivia team for about a week and they told me that they had been quarantined due to Covid. Cabin - I was in 640, a G2 Deluxe Veranda. There was plenty of room for a single, there was a US style plug at the bed side table which allowed me to plug in my Capp machine. The shower was large and had a good spray but on rough days I could have wished for another grab bar to hang on. The only reason I missed having a bathtub was that I normally use it to hang used towels on. The only time that there was noise was the nights when the whole ship creaked due to the weather. I do not like the TV screen being mostly visible from the bed and i have never liked having to put your room key in the slot to keep the lights on. Entertainment - The cast shows were good, some of the people in the cruise director's area did acts which also were very well done. We had a violinist who I missed due to late dinner. The comedian was not really my style. I found the magician to be more humorous than the comedian but magic is hard to follow in a large theater. The Tenor and the piano play both did very good shows and then did joint performances. There were local culture shows of drummers and geisha. I spent most late evening listening to the piano player in the Observation Lounge. I like most of the music he selected and I normally could move away from and load groups. Speakers - There was a good history speaker who covered Japanese and Alaskan history, a very good nature speaker, and a speaker who talked on using you i phone which I really had no interest in. Social Travelers - There were a reasonable number of Social Travelers on both legs of the cruise. They were interesting. We had a group for most dinners and met for breakfast on sea days. We normally went to Copass Rose for dinner, but we went to Pacific Rim and Sette Mari once. The only drawback was that on the nights when we had eight to ten at a table, the meal took a long time to serve. Food - The food was mostly good. There were a large number of destination dishes which added extra choices. I was not really sold on the Sunday Brunch, it is impressive but I really am just as happy with the normal breakfast at the Veranda. Weather - It rained often, was chilly, and rough but this was the north Pacific. The rain and cold reduced the seating for La Veranda (they closed the outside deck), but there was no problem with chair hogs. I also had a hard time losing and hour each night for a week.

This is about the cruise from Tokyo to Vancouver by the Seven Seas Explorer, this was a Tokyo to Tokyo leg followed by the Tokyo to Vancouver leg from April 25 to May 22, 2023. There was also a pre cruise tour of Tokyo. Japan Japan is very clean with polite, helpful, and physically fit people. I saw many younger adults wearing traditional clothing. The guide said that it was common to rent the fancy clothing to honor their traditions and elders. I would have been able to travel through the cities on my own, but after decades as a Boy Scout leader, I am not comfortable traveling without using the buddy system. Experience with the government - It may be that tourism was just starting back up, but I was impressed that they actually asked all the immigration questions and listened to the proper answers. The asked about any plant or animal imports, took your picture, and took two finger prints. This was made more difficult for me since I was just off a fourteen hour flight and had been up for over twenty hours. When the entire ship had to go through immigration, in the theater, after the ship spent a day in Korea, I was asked if the reason for my travel was vacation. Shore Trips There are some shore trips that I take just to see a key location or thing, but for me I mostly like to see the country, the people, what they wear, where the live and work, what is traffic like, and what do they drive. This is in addition to what the guide says. Physical fitness - My leg muscles acted up when I got to Tokyo an made it difficult to walk quickly for any distance. In Japan it appears that most people think nothing of walking at rapid pace for miles. In Tokyo it was normal that you had to leave the bus blocks away from where you were going and that there was a law that forced everyone to leave the bus since the buses normally did not stay where they dropped you off. When I got to the ship I found that several of the tours I had signed up for had increased activity levels so I dropped most of the trips with more than easy activity levels. Tokyo - The pre cruise tour was not the small group that I expected but was over two hundred people. The first day was to the natural history museum, a long fast walk to the museum where we were given a half an hour to go on our own through the museum, followed by another long fast walk back to the bus. We did see a local religious procession that was passing though the park we were traveling through. We then went to see a temple and a shrine which only required a walk of one and a half blocks to and from the bus. This was very interesting and was where I first noticed the people wearing traditional clothing. I skipped the second day and did my self inflicted Covid test since the tour was going to cover the shopping district and modern buildings. The third day was the tour on way to board the ship. First we went to se a shrine in a nice wooded park. We could stay on the bus since the bus was parked in a shaded parking lot. I went to see the shrine, but turned back to the bus when after a quarter of a mile walk down well paved walkways I saw the our group disappear in the distance. The next stop was for a tower with a view of the city. Everyone had to get off the bus since it could not park, at least two people had walkers and to get off. I am not impressed with cities and considered this stop to be a waste of time. Shimizu - I skipped this one because it was pouring down rain with less than a mile visibly and the main purpose of the trip was to get a view of Mt. Fuji. Kyoto - Sorakuen Gardens - There was a four to five block walk to the gardens which were nice and a two block walk down hill to return to bus. The extra distance to the gardens was so we could see a shrine which was twenty to thirty yards behind trees from the sidewalk. We left there and went to a nice overview of the city. Kochi - Japanese papermaking - The papermaking was interesting, but I really liked the drive though the countryside where we saw rice paddies and commercial gardens. Hiroshima - There was a nice drive to the bomb park where I was able to listen to the introduction and then could sit on the wall while the rest of the tour went around the park. Nagasaki - There we many steps and steep paths to get to the Ropeway (aerial tram) to an overview of the city. We then went to the cathedral which I skipped due to a steep path and sat on a bench and watched a very nice playground. We went to the Peace Park which was full of modern sculpture, I heard the introduction and sat on a bench as they went through the park (about half the group was sitting near me before the tour officially completed the park). Finally we stopped at an open air museum of the early trading with the Europeans. We had a go tour of the city from the bus. Muroran - We had a nice drive to the volcano. The Ropeway to the observation point on the volcano was accessible with few steps. This was an interesting tour. Dutch Harbor - There were no tours here, but we were originally going to tender into town. The ship docked away from town so they set up a last minute shuttle school bus. It was raining and the World War Two museum was closed so I stayed on the ship. Kodiak - City overview - This was a nice tour where you heard about local life from the guide and the bus driver. The only problem was that it was in a school bus. Seward - Wildlife cruise - This was a five hour boat trip where we saw two types of whale, eagles, two types of puffins, sealions, seals, sea otters, a mountain goat, and bears (close enough to count the legs). It got a bit chilly at times and after five hours the seats got a bit hard. Juneau and Ketchikan - I skipped these since I had been there before and wanted to be sure I would be able to go through the airports on the way home.

For Japan the stamped the passport every time you entered and left the country. If you go to Busan after being in Japan you will have your passport stamped and then when you return to Japan you will have it stamped again followed by a stamp when you finally leave Japan.

I have never been on a world cruise but I have done several back to backs. Immagration depends upon the government where you are docked and if the ship is arriving for the first time in the country. The same applies to the other requirements such as those for Covid. You should receive a key/card for you entire cruise when you board and you will be reminded to check to be sure that the card is still good for the next segment before the end of each segment. During the Covid processing days we were given paper wrist bands to wear to allow us to skip the processing to get back on the ship. I found that on turn around days it paid to go to the Compass Rose for breakfast if you did not have an early shore tour and I tried to stay out of the way of the people cleaning the rooms. One problem I had with the on line lifeboat drill was that it took me two times of watching the safety video before I was able to convince the system to allow me to have control back for the TV. I also will add that I have always arranged on the back to back cruises to have the same room, I have visions of forgetting and going to the wrong room after some of the late night entertainment when I am half asleep.

Airports and airlines are the reason that I do only one cruise a year and then do it with at least one back to back. Once I get to where I am under Regent's wing I can relax.

I have found the need to buy cheap items like post cards and magnets while on tour to break the larger bills that you receive when you convert dollars to Euros.

The room stewards do pay attention to what you take from the mini bar. Last June I joined the Voyager in Barcelona after a rough flight from DC via Paris, they delayed and then cancelled the flight on the first day and then were delays getting to the ship on the day she sailed (they also left my luggage in Paris and it took two days to get to the ship). I was a bit dehydrated when I got to my cabin so I drank two beers and the complete bottle of filtered water. The room steward noticed this and the cabin was supplied with an extra bottle of water for the rest of the cruise.

Another thought about tours is getting on and off the ship and then to the start of the tour. This past June the gangways in France were terrible. They were often steep with no stair treads and very steep for the last few feet to the dock. Once you were on the dock it was often a long way to the point where you got on the buses. This was much better in the United Kingdom and Ireland so I believe that the gangway and the access to the meeting point were most likely controlled by the port authorities. I saw the Regent people almost carry some people on and off the ship and in one case have them driven to the meeting point in a port work car. Many parts of the world are unfriendly to people with any physical limitations.

I have viewed the situation as "the small town influence". The size of the group helps set standards and behavior. With a smaller population you are more aware and in most cases more likely to try not to annoy the other members of the group since if you do you may find yourself alienated.

I would like to see information about tipping show up in the Passages for the next port. I am ever completely sure about tips for the guides, drivers, and local businesses. I also have heard that there are places where you can not use US dollars and laces where they are preferred. I tend to ask on the Roll Call pages to get an idea what to do for tips for pre and post cruise tours.

I understand people wanting to dress up, my mother loved dressing up for dinner. I normally only wear a jacket on nights such as the Captain's Welcome and the various SSS functions. i also tend to wear button collar shirts, but normally only short sleeve. I find questionable some of the clothing not mentioned by the guidelines. I have seen women in outfits which would be expected on the Las Vegas stage in the dining room as formal wear. The one problem that I have with the restriction on jeans is that it keeps me from wearing my national costume, I am from West Virginia, of blue denim overalls, a red plaid button down shirt, and boots for the semi formal nights.

I believe that mask policies depend upon the governments, your own, the government where you join the ship, the government where you leave the ship, and the governments of the ports you visit. The policy on the ship is in line with what the governments request or require. I know that the requested/required masking and social distancing changed last spring when you entered EU waters. I have not heard of any current masking requirements for countries visited on the Amazon cruise currently, but you can call Regent and ask, remember that the governments can and do change their policies often with little or no notice. I am currently watching the requirements for Japan in April.

It is good to be forewarned of the requirements by the governments, but has anyone know if there are any additional procedures being taken on the ship? I was on the Voyager in May/June and there were requested maskings, limits on the contacts between the passengers and the crew, and blocked off seating.

I tend to take the excursions to see, feel, and hear the area. I only really have concern over a small list of places and things that I want to truly see. I have a hard time convincing myself to spend money, so with Regent once I have paid the fare I will sign up or the tours and drink the drinks with no concern. If I had to pay for each excursion I would most likely only take one or two for the entire cruise. I am aware of my physical limits and try to keep those in mind when signing up for the excursions. This has left me with no tours for two ports in Japan since one port had several hours of walking for all the tours and the other required climbing one hundred steps or both of the tours. I would like to see if there could be an option to offer a bus for those with mobility concerns when there are multiple buses for the same tour.

I am a solo traveler and I booked all my specialty restaurants for one. I think that if I run into another person to dine with that I can call and change the table to two with little trouble, also from past experience the Social Hostess may be able to bump up from a single table to a larger table for a group.

I am a bit old fashioned, I feel better doing my own socks and underwear. The new laundry arraignment makes it much easier to find empty machines.

In 2019 this was normal and the Social Hostess would often check to see if there were any openings for Prime Seven or for Setti Maria, this was on the Navigator. We also always had an entertainer or staff person join us. This past Summer due to Covid the passengers were not able to eat with the crew. I believe that this has now returned to normal. We had several couples join with us.

If you want to meet new people for dinner one of the best options may be to look up the Social Travelers gathering which will be listed in the daily Passages. In 2019 there was always a group which went to dinner together often with an entertainer or the Social Hostess. This past summer the crew were not allowed to eat with the passengers due to Covid, but there was often a few of us who would join together for dinner.

I have never heard of any problems forward of the forward elevators.

I have three reasons for going with Regent. First, the inclusive nature of the cruises means that for all my cruises, except for this past summer, once I was dropped off at the airport I did not have to worry about connections to and from the cruise. This past summer the problems were with the airlines and there was a bit of worry but Regent helped with the problems as they occurred. Next, I am not thrilled to play dress up. I have no problem with wearing respectful clothing, a button down shirt and long pants and even put on a jacket for the more formal meetings, but I remember as a child having to wear a suit to dinner every night when on a cruise. Finally, I find it difficult to spend money. Yes I know that Regent is initially high cost, but once I make the payment it is done. I do not have to decide if I really want to spend money for a drink, or a shore trip, or going to a special restaurant, since I have already paid for it I will go ahead and do things that I most likely would have nickeled and dimed y self out of.

I am on a Tokyo to Vancouver cruise in April and the initial offerings for some ports in Alaska were only premium tours. They have added regular tours since then, my guess is that some of the offerings depend upon what is currently available for them to offer. I have heard that there is still a problem with the limited number of people in the tourist industry.

During my last cruise from Spain to France to Ireland we were required to mask in Spain but we no longer needed masks in France. I began noticing a nasal irritation in France which required many cough drops to keep under control. Another passenger suggested that I may be reacting to the disinfectant that was used on the buses. This advice came too late to stop the irritation, but it may cause me to keep a mask to wear on the buses.