NJBelle

It was my pleasure. As you read, I had very little negative to say. Just a lovely cruise.

Muscat is a clean, almost spare, elegant city. All the buildings are white. Just beautiful. We are staying overnight at the Grsnd Hyatt. The architecture is a little over the top but the facilities and services are top- notch. We are enjoying our visit here.

Next cruise on the Wind only has 120 passengers. It is from Muscat to Athens, so is quite a unique choice for some. A Walter told me that it was to be mostly Germans and some Americans. I know that Captain gets off in Athens.

It really was a wonderful cruise. We are anxious to get home, but look forward to one more day in Muscat. Then, back to reality!

Hi all, just a quick note to say that we disembark tomorrow morning in Muscat. Bags are packed and outside the door, awaiting pickup. Sorry I didn't post more. I think that I, and my fellow CC cruisers, were just enjoying the cruise!

It has been a great cruise. Lots of great ports and excursions. Wonderful staff and food. Weather was hot but not too bad. Tomorrow is supposed to be 98F in Muscat. If so, that will definitely be hot!

Will try to post more after we get settled in Muscat. Just staying a couple of days, then flying home.

Jus a quick note to say the cruise is still going very well. I have to say that the service on this cruise is the best we have had in years. Yes, years! And we have sailed on Regent as well as Crustal in the last year. And the food is great too. Some of the best we have had as well.

This is our third sea day. Love those sea days! Today is rather quiet and that is fine with me. The other days we had a cooking class and a wine tasting class as well as the lectures. Today I am enjoying my book in the Panorama Lounge. Just noticed that it is raining outside! Maybe it will cool things off. The last two days in Myanmar were not so steamy, but the last couple of days on the Bay of Bengal have been quite hot.

Quick response about Bagan - I think I heard that 12 passengers went and I do know they had a great time. Apparently the hot air balloon at sunrise was a highlight.

Please ask any questions - and I hope my fellow travelers will chime in!

The excursion last evening was really good - totally exceeded expectations. We were picked up from the ship in a refurbished omnibus. Ours had 6 plush seats and curtains on the windows (but pulled back for the view) and a little galley in the back. The finish on the bus is a maroon and gold and since there are only three in Yangon (all in use for our tour and in a convoy), we turned heads. The Swedagon Pagoda was unbelievably lovely. We were there at sunset and watching the lights come on and then seeing the whole complex so dazzlingly illuminated was something I won't forget. I am pretty pagoda'd out now, but that is one I am glad to have seen. Then we went in our chariot to the Governors Residence Hotel. On the way, our steward served us fresh juice and offered cold towels. The grounds of the GR were so lush and beautiful. We were 20 people total and they had two tables set up on the lawn for our dinner. With the candles and soft lighting, it was a fabulous setting. During the dinner, we were entertained with local musicians (antique instruments) and very talented Myanmar dancers. The food was authentic and very tasty. My husband thought it had too much fish paste as an ingredient in some of the dishes (they do love fish paste as we learned from our market tour) and I like Asian food a little spicier, but still it was a very nice meal. The service was excellent and the wine flowed. And they presented us all with longyis as a take-home gift.

I haven't seen our new friends who took the Bagan tour since they got back, but I will check on that. Also will report on today's cooking class later on - but now need to go to the sail away! Goodbye Myanmar - we will be happy to come back!

Myanmar is a lovely country, still developing its infrastructure for tourism. Yesterday we had a tour - 14 guests plus one guide and one assistant as well as the bus driver and an assistant for him (all in addition to the Silver Sea host who went with us). Then, there was the police guide who accompanied our bus the whole time - said to be there to help avoid traffic jams. The tour was very nice: included visits to 2 pagodas, including one on an island, that we had to reach by boat. We had a visit to the market (always like that) plus a really special stop at a local village where we walked down a dusty road and actually went into the homes of several of the local folks. None of them spoke English and their homes were very rudimentary (outdoor bathroom facilities and mud huts for the kitchen) but the locals were so lovely, calm and gracious. It was one of those experiences that probably could not have happened with a larger ship and excursion numbers. Only downside is that it was so so hot. Not that I didn't know it was going to be hot here, but still it was hot. Today, we have stayed on the ship, awaiting our evening excursion. Today's has been milder and we even enjoyed an alfresco lunch at La Terrazza.

Everything is still great. Will share more after our next excursions - tonight we are doing Shwedagon Pagoda and Royal Dinner by Omnibus. Tomorrow we are doing Cooking Experience with Myanmar Cuisine.

Eric and I have been on Crystal, Regent and Silversea and in fact, on all the ships on those lines (except for the explorer ones on Silversea) but we always say that our favorite cruise is the one we are on. We are 4 days plus on this cruise and everything is great. Maybe that is the sea day talking, but seriously, we are enjoying every minute.

Our day in Phuket yesterday was very enjoyable. Hot and steamy, yes, but still was great fun. Heck, we were just glad we learned to pronounce Phuket correctly so we didn't embarrass ourselves! The trip to the Elephant Camp was just icing on the cake. We had ridden on camels before and I have to tell you that elephants are much nicer. I don't want to own or have to feed one (well, the occasional banana would be fine) but did enjoy the ride around the camp and the "talent" show afterwards.

Today on board, we had a lecture on the British Empire in Burma. Professor Patrick Allitt is one of the best presenters I have ever seen on our many cruises. His talk was fascinating and he seemed to do it totally without notes. I didn't go to his talk yesterday afternoon, and I regret that now - I won't miss the rest! Also we had a cooking demo given by Chef Edgar van der Aar. That was very entertaining and I might even cook those dishes myself! The food on the Wind continues to be excellent. I am loving all the fresh fish and Eric is enjoying all the fresh pastas. Plus everything else, of course!

We are currently on the Wind - 2 nights ago, we ate at La Terrazza on formal night. My husband was one of 3 men there in tuxedoes. There were a few men there in no jacket at all, but most had a jacket, with a few ties. So, LT is a place you can go if you don't want to dress up.

However, in the MDR, on informal night a couple of days ago, I looked around and saw the all were in dress code. In fact, I even saw one guy sent away from the desk, who came back a few minutes later in a jacket.

Well, CrusinPashmina, I have to admit that today, while in Phuket, I did buy a gorgeous silk scarf. I mean, despite what I said earlier, you can never have too many scarves, right? We will be in Muscat for 2 days, so please give me more info on where your favorite souk is, if you have the details!

And bohaiboy, everyone is from somewhere. But granted, there is not a lot of Monroeville traffic here on CC (but now I have to mention that Monroeville is the home of Harper Lee of To Kill a Mockingbird fame - not to mention the latest bit of news). I went away for college but did return home for medical school (UAB). However, when the Bear died, I did wear a black armband - Roll Tide!

Okay, back to the cruise... Still great. Such nice service. After every excursion, we have returned to staff - totally at the ready - who have cold towels and tropical drinks for us. Not just ice chests with water and lonely towels available, but genuine service with a smile.

We have had three port days in a row since starting the cruise. Tomorrow is a sea day. Whew! I need one. We love sea days. This is a 17 day cruise with 6 sea days. I really like a few more sea days in the mix, but this is such an interesting itinerary, that it didn't matter so much. But still looking forward to a lazy day tomorrow.

If you haven't been on SS in a while, they are doing something new in the main dining room. All the waiters have iPads and that is how they enter your order. Makes for very efficient service - although if you like your meal a bit more leisurely, just tell them to increase the intervals. Also in La Terraza, they have them at the desk, so when you show for your rez, they greet you by name (since they have pulled up all the 7:30 reservations (and your photo from embarkation). We don't really care if they remember who we are, but it is a nice touch to be greeted by name.

Again, if there are questions, let me know!

Hi Rojaan19, thanks for the tip on the longyi. It is nice to have something to ship for. At this stage of my life, I don't need more stuff. We shop for the occasional present, but mostly just look. Good to have a goal!

Hi all, a quick note to say that we are currently sailing along at a fast clip to reach Penang. We will be several hours late since we were late leaving Port Klang due to a barge refueling situation. All is well now and our tours will just be moved out later to accommodate. Colin, our CD on board, just announced that they will keep La Terraza open until 4 to take care of all returning from tours late.

We just spent a half hour filling out all the forms for the Myanmar visa. I think I signed 5 or 6 different documents!

Yes, neighbors are much quieter now. Thank you, Saiful, for taking care of that for us!

And yes, Daddyo, we are quite a distance from my hometown - in many ways! I feel so fortunate to be able to see all these wonderful places. This cruise is especially rich in interesting and new places for us.

Any other questions, please let me know!

Hi all, my husband and I are currently on the Wind - Day 2 of this wonderful cruise. Just wanted to check in and say that everything is great so far. A long way to go, but based on my experiences over the last 24 hours, it will be a fabulous cruise.

Weather is good so far. Singapore was hot and steamy, but Port Klang/Kuala lumpur is not so bad. In fast, I am writing this from the pool deck and catching breeze from time to time (and we are still in port!). We enjoyed lunch at the Pool Grill and it was very pleasant.

Ship looks good. Staff is fabulous. Service is great - in fact better than what we had on Crystal in October. We don't "require" a butler but on SS, it comes with one and ours is very nice. We have had an issue with our (clearly hard of hearing neighbors) with their TV on continuously. Last night he dealt with it, but they were back in full force after dinner and until about sometime after 3 am. If one doesn't want to start knocking on doors or calling up reception, having a butler to resolve is a good thing. Will let you know how this sorts out.

Other than that, everything is great. Food is quite good. Chef seems to know what he is doing. We are having lots of local dishes - something my husband and I really appreciate. This is something a small ship can do that we haven't seen as much on the slightly larger ones.

We've been told that there are 214 passengers on board; seems to be very few Americans and a fair number of British. I have seen 3 young children.

We had a very nice Cruise Critic Mix and Mingle last night. It was nice to put faces and personalities with names on CC. Thanks to Silversea for doing this!

We have chosen to do unlimited internet, but even so, I feel a nap coming on. Will check in later on!

Wes, thanks so much for taking the time to post pictures and notes and profiles. Well done! We are going to fly to Singapore a week from today and there we will join the Wind. You are getting us in the mood for a great cruise!

Thanks, MJN1 for taking the time to post your experiences. The rest of us appreciate your efforts during your vacation time! It is great to hear about the Wind and staff - my husband and I will be boarding in about 2 weeks in Singapore.

Hard to think that we will be leaving this cold cold NorthEast and to then be sweating in Singapore in just mere days!

Again, thanks - and enjoy the rest of your cruise!

Hi, my husband and I will be on this cruise also. While we have been to Singapore before, the rest of the stops will be new for us, so we are excited!

Look forward to meeting you all - and we would be happy to meet for a drink as well!

Best, NJBelle

Cardinal Gal, thanks for posting. We will be on the Wind in mid-March, starting in Singapore, cruising to Muscat, Oman. Looking forward to that - but also looking forward to your posts along the way. We have sailed on the Whisper, Shadow, Spirit and Cloud, but never on the Wind.

Glad to hear you are liking the Wind so far!

Thanks, Jackie, for the kind words. Agree that each cruise is different and each cruise line has different things to offer.

And agree that Crystal has NOT changed their dining policy. They offer "Dining By Reservation" but it is really just a way to try to offer something in addition to the set seating at 6 and 8:15 (times may be different on different cruises) in order to "compete" with the other luxury lines (since it is not possible with the size of their dining room on both Crystal ships to be able to offer true open seating). As I mentioned, it was a reasonable compromise for us during the first leg of our cruise (but still not as good as "open seating" by any means) but for the second leg, it was a disaster (not just for us, but for others who were going with "DBR" on that leg) and we ended up having to go with the set seating at 8:15 (not our real choice, obviously).

Hi all, I posted a while back in a different thread about my recent experiences on SS, Regent and Crystal. Since comparison to Crystal seems to be a topic on this thread, I thought I would cut and paste my previous remarks since they might be helpful to some of you:

Silversea vs Regent vs - Crystal!

My husband and I have traveled on all three of these lines over the past 15 months (1 on SS, 2 on Regent and 2 on Crystal) - although we have cruised on all three lines between 7-9 times each over the years. Before I really get started, let me reveal the punch line - I agree with some of the others that it is really not possible to choose a clear winner. That is really why I have not done an extensive comparison and posted on all three boards....even with recent experience on all 3 lines, it is really too difficult to compare since each one has its own pros and cons. And what we learned on a back-to-back on Crystal this past fall (and to echo an earlier poster) is that each cruise, even on the same line, has an entirely different feel.

In general, we find SS and Regent to be very similar and those have been our "go-to" cruise lines over the past 5-6 years. Regent is a little more expensive since it includes excursions, but since we usually take ship's excursions (vs contracting with vendors on our own) that usually works out fine for us. We find Silversea to have more diverse (from a global perspective) passengers - and we see that as a positive. We hate smoking so had some concerns about Silversea, given that it seemed that some former Regent passengers went to Silversea due to more "lax" smoking regs, but we have not found it to be a real concern in reality. Food and wine seem similar - and food does depend on the chef to some extent. We have enjoyed some of the smaller SS cruises where we felt like we got to know the chef a little - for example, on the Cloud a few years ago, the Chef came to the boat dock after my husband's boat (a SS excursion) returned and took the fish they caught and the next night 14 of us had a fabulous "Chef's dinner" that he prepared especially for us. Anyway, we see both of these lines as offering an attractive product and we will be on a SS cruise in a couple of months and a Regent one in October.

Just to mention Crystal, since some consider it a luxury line to be compared to SS and Regent (and Seabourn). Others dismiss it since there is the set seating and also the smaller staterooms. Admittedly, those are real drawbacks, but we enjoyed a number of Crystal cruises (before we found SS and Regent) and so we thought we would try them again this past fall. There is much to love about Crystal - the entertainment and spaciousness of the ship come to mind - but it is true that we missed having open seating and missed the large standard staterooms of SS and Regent (but we did sign up for another Crystal cruise in 2016). This was when we saw how very different two cruises - even back-to-back - can be. The first leg was a trans-Atlantic with lots of sea days. It was a much older crowd but they were very lively and fit, lots of really interesting people. The next cruise was a younger crowd, with many family groups (maybe because it was a Miami to San Diego route) - and it seemed that there were quite a few who were maybe new to Crystal (and overdoing the all-inclusive). Anyway, it was a different vibe and we really missed our friends from the first leg. (Also, the main seating on this second leg was extremely crowded so our Dining by Reservation was a disaster.). Anyway, I bring this up since I would have rated the two cruises very differently - and if I had only been on one of them, I would have been left with a different opinion about Crystal, especially if I had never been on Crystal before.

So, bottom line, I can't pick a favorite or best line. All 3 of these can work for us (and someday we will try Seabourn). We base our choices on the itinerary for the times we are looking for, and of course on price - if we find two cruises that are similar around the same time. We are just glad there are so many choices!

My husband and I have traveled on all three of these lines over the past 15 months (1 on SS, 2 on Regent and 2 on Crystal) - although we have cruised on all three lines between 7-9 times each over the years. Before I really get started, let me reveal the punch line - I agree with some of the others that it is really not possible to choose a clear winner. That is really why I have not done an extensive comparison and posted on all three boards....even with recent experience on all 3 lines, it is really too difficult to compare since each one has its own pros and cons. And what we learned on a back-to-back on Crystal this past fall (and to echo an earlier poster) is that each cruise, even on the same line, has an entirely different feel.

In general, we find SS and Regent to be very similar and those have been our "go-to" cruise lines over the past 5-6 years. Regent is a little more expensive since it includes excursions, but since we usually take ship's excursions (vs contracting with vendors on our own) that usually works out fine for us. We find Silversea to have more diverse (from a global perspective) passengers - and we see that as a positive. We hate smoking so had some concerns about Silversea, given that it seemed that some former Regent passengers went to Silversea due to more "lax" smoking regs, but we have not found it to be a real concern in reality. Food and wine seem similar - and food does depend on the chef to some extent. We have enjoyed some of the smaller SS cruises where we felt like we got to know the chef a little - for example, on the Cloud a few years ago, the Chef came to the boat dock after my husband's boat (a SS excursion) returned and took the fish they caught and the next night 14 of us had a fabulous "Chef's dinner" that he prepared especially for us. Anyway, we see both of these lines as offering an attractive product and we will be on a SS cruise in a couple of months and a Regent one in October.

Just to mention Crystal, since some consider it a luxury line to be compared to SS and Regent (and Seabourn). Others dismiss it since there is the set seating and also the smaller staterooms. Admittedly, those are real drawbacks, but we enjoyed a number of Crystal cruises (before we found SS and Regent) and so we thought we would try them again this past fall. There is much to love about Crystal - the entertainment and spaciousness of the ship come to mind - but it is true that we missed having open seating and missed the large standard staterooms of SS and Regent (but we did sign up for another Crystal cruise in 2016). This was when we saw how very different two cruises - even back-to-back - can be. The first leg was a trans-Atlantic with lots of sea days. It was a much older crowd but they were very lively and fit, lots of really interesting people. The next cruise was a younger crowd, with many family groups (maybe because it was a Miami to San Diego route) - and it seemed that there were quite a few who were maybe new to Crystal (and overdoing the all-inclusive). Anyway, it was a different vibe and we really missed our friends from the first leg. (Also, the main seating on this second leg was extremely crowded so our Dining by Reservation was a disaster.). Anyway, I bring this up since I would have rated the two cruises very differently - and if I had only been on one of them, I would have been left with a different opinion about Crystal, especially if I had never been on Crystal before.

So, bottom line, I can't pick a favorite or best line. All 3 of these can work for us (and someday we will try Seabourn). We base our choices on the itinerary for the times we are looking for, and of course on price - if we find two cruises that are similar around the same time. We are just glad there are so many choices!

Now this is the way I like to see the Regent board.....compassion AND humor!

Thanks, Wes, for posting these. My family and I were lucky enough to sail with Judie twice on the Cloud. She was lovely to us and our young teenage daughter. It brought a tear to my eye to see such beautiful pictures of such a wonderful woman.

Best, Janice

Hi, I haven't seen this listed, so thought I would share. An additional item I take is an Ace bandage. A few years ago, I twisted my ankle (not horribly, but enough that I needed support). I sent my husband out (forget what foreign country it was) to find me an Ace bandage. It took a while and a lot of perseverance and sign language, but he finally was successful. So, now, since we tend to do more active excursions, I pack one in my medical kit.

Hey jhp, thanks! - also, do you think our shared cruise might have been "FJORD" - that one was 7 years ago (same TA)? We haven't done a crossing yet - that is coming up in October (but on Crystal). If you were on that Captain Dag Homecoming cruise, that really was wonderful - rainy weather and all!

Hi, sorry I forgot to address your question about polar bears! We were really around the settlement of Longyearbyen, so none were around or expected (we did see a "Polar Bear Crossing" sign, however!). And no excursions offered to specifically to see them. We would have had to go up toward the polar ice to get a chance, I would think (as per Rachel's answer) and we really didn't get that far.

I do know that the guides that go on the hike that is offered as an excursion in Longyearbyen (basically a hike straight up a gravel mountain/hill and back down again - burned once 7 years ago on that one - not again this time!) carry shotguns as a precaution since the group is getting away from the town. But I don't think they have really ever run across them....

Thanks for all the kind words. Even though reviews like this take a bit of time, I know that I have learned so much over the years from others on CC, so I like to give back when I can.

Hi all, I have posted from time to time on the "Live" thread of this cruise, but wanted to include more of my thoughts. I will try to hit the major topics of the cruise - and just remember, these are just our impressions.

My husband and I chose this particular cruise since we like Regent (8 cruises) and particularly love the Voyager - but mostly because of the itinerary. I celebrated my 60th birthday while on the cruise and I wanted to be someplace cool and it was icing on the cake that Norway is somewhere that we both love; also we liked that there were lots of sea days. This was our third time on this kind of Norway cruise (2x on Regent and once on Crystal) but this one was nice in that there were several new ports for us (more on that in a moment).

Pre-cruise:

We did our own air and hotel arrangements. We spent 4 nights in Oslo before embarking on the cruise. We like to see the water so chose The Thief Hotel in Oslo. We absolutely loved it. It was modern as well as very comfortable - would stay there again in a heartbeat. Also was fun to see the Voyager slip into the berth as she arrived the day before we embarked. Loved being in Oslo and had a great time. Only issue was the HEAT WAVE that gave temps in the 80s, rather than the 65-70 that I had envisioned :-)

Itinerary:

Obviously started in Oslo... then Kristiansand, Bergen, Honningsvag, Murmansk (Russia), Hammerfest, Spitsbergen/Longyearbyen, Harstad, Hellesylt/Geiranger - and then finally Copenhagen. Several of these were new to us: Kristiansand, Murmansk, Hammerfest and Harstad. We were very happy with the cruise ports - but maybe there could have been at least one other fjord (at least that was some of the feedback that I heard from others along the way). All in all, we were happy.

Weather:

Have to say that although it was hotter that I would have preferred, the weather was absolutely fabulous. The last Norway cruise we went on (7 years ago) had lots of rain (although with Captain Dag and Jamie as CD it was still so much fun) so this weather was very unusual (as everyone in Norway told us) in that we had such warm and sunny weather. And believe it or not, it didn't rain in Bergen!

Voyager:

We had just been on her in February (Australia cruise) and were thrilled to be back on again. We loved the refurbishment from the fall and she still looks beautiful. We had a basic suite - well located - and loved the bed. Decor is a little bland (muted beiges and greens) but still very nice and plenty of space. Bathroom is great and was kept well supplied with towels and toiletries.

Embarkation:

This was easy. Got there about noon, dumped off our luggage, got our pictures taken, got key cards and then we headed to sign up for additional meals in Prime 7 and Signatures. Then to the library (more on that later) and then to the Veranda. After a nice lunch we went to the Pool Bar where we met several of our shipmates and had some cocktails. To me, those first few hours of embarkation are the sweetest of the cruise - utter relaxation and all the potential of what is to come.

Staff:

Very personable and friendly. We found attentive service in most venues. Sometimes the Veranda staff was a little hit and miss and occasionally the Compass Rose staff would make faux pas (like taking away my plate before my husband was finished, or once they brought out his hot soup and then 5 minutes later finally served my dish). The Pool Deck staff was very attentive. And the staff in Prime 7 and Signatures was very professional. We were very impressed with our steward/stewardess - thought they were the best ones we had had in a long time.

Management was friendly and we had no complaints. We didn't really interact in a prolonged way with any of them but found them all fine.

Food/Dining:

This is a biggie for us. And I have to say that on this cruise, the food was pretty good, but not great (although thought that Prime 7 was a great version of a steak house). We eat a lot in NYC restaurants, so in thinking about it, we took care not to compare to those, but to other cruises (on Regent and Silversea and Crystal). While we liked the chef personally, we found the food "high-end workmanlike"....that is, it was good and there were lots of luxurious items on the menu, but there were not really the wow moments - where we say "OMG - this is so delicious". I do have to give a shout out to the chef for preparing a very nice soft shell crab dish for my birthday - my husband had communicated with him in advance to arrange this; it helped to make my birthday very special. As far as the fruits and vegetables, they were fresh and plentiful. Also, we took fresh fish onboard many times during the cruise. One thing we like about the small ships is that they are able to take advantage of location and bring on local foods. We loved having different fresh fish options on this cruise.

Kids:

Seems like people wonder about kids on some of these cruises, so thought I would mention this. I spotted two lovely young ladies in uniform early in the cruise and spoke to them, wondering if they were Youth Directors. Indeed they were and they told me that there were 8 kids on board - all boys! All were teenager - and they also said there were a couple of 19 year olds that they had heard about. I know there was one girl with her parents who was 19 (she reminded me of my daughter so asked her about herself). Anyway, they were all well-behaved, seemed to have a good time with their families and the Youth Directors - and also with each other. Our daughter (19 now) always loved cruises with us, but she has a summer job so stayed home. We missed her, so maybe that is why I noticed the kids and decided to comment on them!

Excursions:

We chose mostly active ones - we figured we were in beautiful Norway so wanted to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. We did a number of hikes (Bergen, Hammerfest, Harstad, Geiranger) and found the scenery to be incredible. In Murmansk, we toured the ice breaker and found that very interesting, and while otherwise, the city is not particularly inspiring, we found it to be very worthwhile to have visited it. In Longyearbyen, we did the Dog Sledding on Wheels and loved it.

I have to say that the Destinations group did a very nice job with getting us on the buses and off on the tours. I found the new system of having your tour called and THEN getting your bus number to work very well. We rarely waited more than a few minutes in the Theater before heading to the buses. And in almost all of them, there were reserved seats for handicapped - most of them later got filled when there were no takers for them initially. The buses might have been a little fuller than our previous trip, but again, I know that Norway (and esp Russia) may have limited buses for the tours.

Now for areas of improvement - there should have been more "free" tours offered. I know Norway is expensive, but then again, we were all paying a bit more for a cruise in Norway (vs the cost of some other cruises), so a few more free tours should be included in the future. But more than that, they should should be better descriptions of the "effort required" for some of the excursions. For example, our Dog Sled tour was "3 walkers" - well most of the effort of that excursion was from the dogs, not us. Then on the Geiranger hike to top of Mt. Westeras, I about had a heat stroke (okay it was quite hot and sunny that day, but it was also a pretty arduous hike up great big stones at a pretty steep incline) - that was also rated "3 walkers". I know that several people on these hikes also thought that they should try to describe some of these activities in a little more detail so one can determine if the tour is right for them.

Entertainment:

We don't go on cruises for entertainment, but do enjoy a good show from time to time. The singers/dancers were fine and we mostly went to the shows. The pianist in the Observation Lounge was actually a fine player - classically trained, so we enjoyed cocktails there before dinner and sometimes after the show.

Library:

Want to give Regent a tip of the hat for improving the selections and numbers of copies of best sellers. I found there to be lots of variety and enjoyed several books that I had had on my "to read" list.

Internet:

As Gold, we had free unlimited internet and very much enjoyed this perk. With our daughter at home, it was great to be able to text back and forth and even to FaceTime. We liked to download the NYT and catch up on email. I must say that I got a kick out of surfing the web while lounging on the Pool Deck or sitting in the Observation Lounge. Connection on our suite was usually pretty good, although there were times when it was down. Overall, very pleased with the internet.

Okay, I think I covered most areas. Let me know if you have questions.

We really enjoyed this cruise and enjoyed meeting our fellow passengers, including some of those we met first on Cruise Critic!

Best, Janice