tombo

We use to eat foie grass but now we don't due to the force feeding mistreatment.....have a look at some videos how horrible this is. I won't post them here but you can google it yourself. Disgusting.

Not sure I agree with you on the disgusting part. Years back, I had occasion to visit a traditional family farming operation in France where they produced geese and ducks for the foie gras market. At feeding time, those animals not only didn't resist the feeding procedure, they ran to the feed stations as fast as their little webbed feet could carry them.

Chacun a son gout.

Regent's own web site had the Navigator in St Tropez (mentioned in my original post) which is what made me shake my head in disbelief. Both Regent's page and all of the ship locators had her in St Tropez, as scheduled.

 

What really got me started was A) They initially told me she was still in drydock, and B) when I pointed out that the ship was actually in St Trop, he told me "yes, right before drydock."

 

Unfortunately I was doing this via email, not phone. It's disappointing that they don't know more about the product.

Call FDR Jr. ( head of destination services).

I get about three Regent brochures per week. They go directly into the trash along with other unopened bulk mail. Oceania, Seabourn and Crystal have now got my name and address too, although I've never cruised with any of them. Emails are deleted unread. We plan our cruises relatively far in advance, so nothing to lose.

I imagine Regent's insurance carrier has a lot of input on itinerary decisions such as these. Marine insurance premiums vary according to the changing underwriting criteria of the insurance companies.

A few years ago we did the Agra/Taj Mahal add-on after a cruise from Bangkok to Mumbai. Three nights: Jaipur, Agra and Delhi. The hotels in Jaipur and Agra were sub-standard, as was the food. The Taj Mahal at daybreak was impressive, although the tourist throngs were depressing. The Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi was modern and nice; our room was on an upper floor although we couldn't see very far out of the window because of the extreme smog. The included buffet-style dinner was awful.

My conclusions about travel to India were:

Don't go by cruise ship, go land-based, try to do everything first-class and be prepared to pay for it.

We have cruised twice on Voyager, both times in cabin 703. We selected it the second time because we liked it a lot the first time. No motion or vibration issues at all. The forward area on deck 7 is to my mind the nicest place to be -- a little isolated from the noise and bustle of the mainstream.

If you don't want to buy an underwater camera or housing, most dive shops sell a single-use disposable camera for $20 or so.

If you plan to book with an outside operator, try to arrange an afternoon trip if the schedule permits. Most mornings, there are hundreds, if not thousands of day-trip snorkelers at Stringray City.

Does anyone know what has caused my mask to discolor - not the part you look through, but all around the edges it has turned orangish. Is it still probably ok, and is there something good to clean it with? I haven't used it in 9 years, and it has been in a bin in the basement. Thanks.

The silicone skirting on dive masks tends to discolor with age but the discoloration is hastened if the silicone is in contact with dark rubber items such as regulator hoses, fin straps or foot pockets, dive booties, etc. The discoloration doesn't affect the performance of the mask. I've used the same mask since 1987 and it still works fine, notwithstanding the yellowing. If your mask has a silicone headstrap, you might replace the strap with one of the stretchy neoprene ones available cheaply at dive shops.