Wendy The Wanderer

Have a great time. Let us know if the maintenance issue they have has slowed the ship down at all. Oh, and how is the passenger load?

Looking forward to reading about your adventures! (BTW, we prefer to take a cab anyways.)

You can manage to eat outside, since there's outdoor space in the main dining room I believe, as well as La Verandah. And Le Grill, for dinner, is an indoor/outdoor dining area, also open for breakfast. All covered.

Plus the included wine list tends to change over time, so not entirely predictable in my experience.

Well, if you look at the globe interactively, it's pretty darned close to a circumnavigation, just not the traditional one that we expect. But missing out on the NZ South Island seems like a big mistake--that was going to be a big highlight on our (cancelled) 2021 WC. And the multi-climate aspect will make packing interesting. It's also long.

I remember on our 2012 Alaska trip on Navigator, she went directly to drydock afterwards, across the bay in Vancouver.

Well, one way or another we would have to fly between Anchorage and Vancouver (or Seattle I guess), so it would depend on the flight schedules, which direction would suit us best. Of course, ideally we'd do a back-to-back roundtrip Vancouver, ha ha! It's all moot right now, since I don't think we'll be doing this. Yeah, we did the SF to Vancouver ten years ago, and that was great. And we've flown the Dreamliner to L.A. and it was truly wonderful. If it was just YYZ<->YVR I'd do it on points, it's Anchorage that's the problem. But pretty well decided we can't do it, so thanks all!

Well it's such a long way off, this cruise. I think you both have a good chance, but be patient. Presumably you both have paid a deposit for the waitlist?

Me too, but Anchorage is a problem, since we live in Toronto. If it was just return to Vancouver it wouldn't be a problem. (It's all pie in the sky right now anyways, we have nothing booked, just dreaming at this point.)

Okay, I'll revive this one more time. Does anyone have recent experience upgrading their North American flights through Regent to Business/Domestic First to Alaska (i.e., Vancouver, Seward?)

Oh yes, definitely!

As a last-minute upgrade, you would not get the benefit of the pre-cruise hotel. So little benefit to you, unless the location is significantly better. But if your current suite is in a good location, or unless you really want to be higher up in the ship, I'd stay where you are.

The Cook Island itinerary has more sea time, as I remember, so bear that in mind. Ours didn't make it to Aitutaki because of wind, so I can't comment on the snorkeling there. Both Fakarava and Rangiroa have great snorkeling potential. Do keep in mind that the reefs are not what they once were, even 22 years ago when we were first there. But you should still have some great experiences. Can't comment either on your hotel choices on Moorea, since we have chosen to stay at a smaller, local hotel called Les Tipaniers. But they don't have OWB's. I have heard that you need to choose carefully when you book an OWB, since some aren't in deep enough water to actually snorkel from. Moorea is wonderful, and I would suggest a pre-cruise, since it relaxes you and prepares you for the cruise. Once your itinerary is set, you can ask about specific excursions to maximize your snorkel adventures!

And creaky! I'm not sure I remember a cabin that didn't have some creaks coming from the walls when actively sailing in open seas.

Mariner is quite stable in my experience. Voyager has some vibration from damage early on in its career, on its maiden voyage I believe. In my experience on Navigator, the vibration is worst aft, although the ship as a whole can be quite bouncy, so mid-ship cabins are best. The show lounge is aft and can be quite affected in bad weather. (I still really like Navigator, btw.)

My knowledge is all pre-ponant, and thus pre-covid. The nice thing about the Bora Bora beach is that it's just a lovely stretch of beach and water. So it's wonderful if you just want to spread out a towel and relax and have a dip, or walk on the beach. Do bring your beach shoes (that goes everywhere in FP.) There used to be a pre-flight tour offered and/or a short dayroom stay in a hotel for late flights, if you arranged Air through PG. I think excursions are available about 30 days prior. Hope you have a wonderful time!

Cheese curds have to be very fresh to be good, imho.

Can't imagine a poutine place in Montreal, given the culinary choices. I tend to think of it as chip truck fare, can't remember what they are called in Quebec. Of course if the poutine is authentic they have to use curds, not grated cheese.

The 24 hour PCR test makes little sense, n'est-ce pas? Since results usually take much longer than that unless you can find a "rapid" one?

Well that's great, good to know. Not even sure what Commodore status is, but I'm sure it's a lot more than our lowly 60-some-odd days, and I'm very jealous. Also glad to know that Ponant treated you well, since we've been on the fence about ever going on the PG again. (And yes, Regent gives us loyalty credit for the sailings that we did with them or Radisson while they managed the PG.)

Well, so much for that. When the PG previously changed hands (when Regent ceased to manage it), the new management honoured the past cruises from the Radisson/Regent days. So much for loyalty, that is now out the window!

Perhaps that's true of Azamara; it's certainly not true of Regent our "go to" line. Moot since we're not travelling right now at all, but their prices are eye-watering.

I think the discounts would have to be short-term to prevent that. This has happened briefly in the past, and it hasn't had long-term consequences for quality. Think 9/11.

I think if the cruise lines (or at least the premium and luxury ones) would just admit that it's tough starting up again, and offered some discounts, most would be fine with it. We're all struggling, everywhere, but they could at least acknowledge that.

Well said. We didn't know how lucky we were, did we?