Air Canada anticipates return of worldwide air travel by Christmas.

Hopefully, sooner for you Jackie.

This sounds like a breath of playful fresh air!

I have 4 cruises on the books right now and think/hope that only two of them will sail so my bet is:

Splendor April 8 2021 Roundtrip Barcelona. 

Splendor is south of Ensenada and heading south right now. Repositioning? I hope this is encouraging.

Add Windstar to the list.

We are getting the port charges and shore excursions returned to our credit card. The rest sits as FCC.

I hope that helps.

Regrettably, my only contribution will be to say THANK YOU for ‘setting the table’.

I look forward to following along and hope that your cruise is Splendid and goes without a hitch. 

6 minutes ago, RJ2002 said:

I have no idea what amount of guest cancellations would prompt an outright cancellation of the cruise itself.

If the cancellations of the role call members for the March 14 Splendor is any indication of the general cruise passengers’ position, this is a concern for the viability of that sailing.  

We are on the Insignia and white wine is a real issue. They ran out of Pinot Grigio on the second day and only had one French Chardonnay until they ran out of that yesterday.

It puts the sommeliers in a tough spot, trying to explain to guests (particularly those who bought the packages), that they seem to only have Sauvignon Blanc or Soave. 

They are also out of cranberry juice and Coke Zero is hard to find.

We are at sea today and back to NYC tomorrow. I trust that this will be resolved for the next cruise.

For us, it is disappointing.

We are doing a Viking ship swap around Passau tomorrow. Our bus trip into the city today clearly showed a rising river that flooded some areas later in the day. Sandbags, water locks and barricades are in place.

There is no doubt that the ships will not make it under that bridge!

Hopefully the rain will stop and the river will be navigable very soon. 

In the mean time, I have great confidence that the swap will run as smoothly as the very competent Viking officers communicated to us.

The river/weather is unpredictable and this is part of cruising. Tomorrow will be an adventure and hopefully we will have a nice day for our cruise down the Wachau Valley in the afternoon aboard our new ship.

Fingers crossed for no more hitches.

We were in 956 on the inaugural cruise and it was a nightmare for noise! We actually received a monetary future cruise credit because of our negative experience.

We reported late night noise - long after Chartreuse was closed - that sounded like something rolling in the ceiling above us. There were nightly visits (between 10pm and 2am) from various staff trying to figure out what was going on. We recorded it several times and it made falling asleep so difficult that I slept on the very large balcony one night until after it stopped.

It was loudest in the closet and over the head of the bed, situated directly below the dishwasher and the rolling door to the kitchen of the restaurant above.

There was no resolution on the voyage but our TA helped us get the compensation.

We rarely complain about anything and didn't hesitate to because this was a 'shakedown' cruise and they needed to know there was a problem. In our lighter moments we referred to the room as haunted!

I have to assume that they have fixed it!

The Future Cruise Certificate worked well for us. We got off the Voyager before Splendor bookings opened so we purchased a certificate that we applied to our Splendor booking days later. The $100 went towards our spa bill!

Thanks Carol

We have not noticed any cost cutting either. The food has been excellent. My DH is a carnivore and commented that the beef he had last night in Chartreuse was the best he has EVER had! He didn’t need a knife and it was cooked perfectly.

Our excursion to Taygatay Ridge had some drama today and our guide handled it with exceptional grace. When we returned to the port there were several people there (described as ‘my bosses’) to greet us and make sure we were OK. The traffic here is a little nuts and we rear ended another vehicle. A passenger in the front row was thrown into the guide and they both took a tumble resulting in some abrasions. It appears as if they were shaken up more than seriously injured though the pax will seek medical attention onboard. Since the bus was too damaged to continue (broken windshield, headlight and bumper) we waited for almost an hour with our police motorcycle escort for a replacement bus. Once it arrived the tour continued without further incident.

Again, I want to give a shout out to our guide for how professionally he handled the entire excursion.

Sounds like a Toto toilet. When we saw one of those it was scary. The toilet does everything if you know what I mean and they are expensive. The seat is heated on some models.

We are in the EVA lounge in Taipei and I wasn’t brave enough to push any buttons. I did enjoy the heated seat though!

WishIweretravelling,

Murmansk port is a commercial shipping port with extensive railway yards. It is dirty (coal yards) and has a funky smell that I think was coming from the active smoke stacks nearby.

There is nowhere to go unless you take an excursion. We chose the Oceanarium on a filthy school-type bus with significant condensation between the window panes so viewing was impossible. The PA system malfunctioned so badly that the bus requested it be turned off because the high pitched squeal was deafening. Our poor guide did what she could and spent her time walking the aisle repeating herself in order to be heard. I debated putting my fitbit on her!

I did hear that the tour of the nuclear icebreaker museum was enjoyable.

This port was the only even slightly negative blip in an amazing itinerary - enjoy!

I'm surprised that Vancouver isn't on the list of favourites. Yes, I live here but sailing under the bridge with Stanley Park on one side and the mountains on the other before snuggling up to beautiful Canada Place with all of its sails...

The worst port we have experienced - by far - was Murmansk!

May I ask what city you were in when Regent provided a day room? This is not typical but does occur in certain parts of the world.

Papeete at the Hotel Intercontinental.

We were given a day room at the hotel that Regent used for our pre-cruise night. It was very nice. We enjoyed the pool, showered and were ready for the long flight.

PAJJJ, I created a post in response to this that is not appearing unfortunately. We have now left the ship and can tell you that the captain lady today too.

Enjoy your trip!

Amazing is accurate Lois.

Hello from beautiful Sydney Nova Scotia.

Yes, Jolly Jones, every one (including me) is settled in. Customer service is amazing with many crew members calling us by name.

It appears as if we are early for the brilliant fall colours as trees are just starting to change.

Marius Octavian Sima is HD

I received a call from the HD today to discuss my concerns which btw appear to be resolved as the days pass and crew members gain experience on the ship. I would no longer use the term 'underwhelmed' to describe my customer service experience. We are frequently addressed by our names and our preferences are offered to us naturally.

Iles de la Madeleine is a quaint, windswept fishing village with steep red cliffs and brightly painted buildings.

Tomorrow is Sydney Nova Scotia.

Good to know! As my mother used to say, I better "mind my P's and Q's"!:o

We are having a lovely, leisurely day at sea. The Pub Lunch was a lot of fun with a sing along and the bonus of a pod of dolphins passing through.

One advantage to the iPad was evident today when the grill manager called us by name.