Mary Ellen and Bruce

And I would suggest, since you have an overnight in Melbourne, and you would like to see penguins take a tour.

It is a late afternoon, night tour to see the cutest, little penguins and their habitats.

Look for Phillip Island Nature Reserve Tours.  

I noticed that Regent doesn't offer a tour there.

Have a great trip,

Mary Ellen😊

P.S.  Navigator is one of my favorite ships.

On our World Cruise we met a solo female traveler who rented two suites. One for sleeping, etc. and the other for her clothing. The line took out the bed and put in hanging racks. It was a sight to behold.

Thanks for pointing this out. I did wrestle with the right word to describe when I first saw the new construction on the East/South side of theCanal near the end of the cut. How about startled. Then awe with all the machines moving the hill side and following them the big hoses spraying some green stuff on the disturbed soil. Erosion control?

It will be interesting to see the changes on my next visit as it will have been five years. I am looking forward to seeing the progress of the new locks.

Mary Ellen

Maybe reading David Mccullough's book "The Path Between the Seas" would give you inspiration on the beauty and history of want went in to this magnificent piece of work. Every time we have traveled through it something new pops up for our viewing pleasure. I thought once was enough but for us that wasn't true. We have gone though both ways several times and always found something new.

However the last time (2010) was when they were working on expanding the locks and widening the Gaillard Cut. It was disturbing to see such activity on the Canal. We will be transiting it again in January 2015 maybe our opinion will change.

Mary Ellen

Jongbj,

When we took a World Cruise years ago we had to send our Passports to an Agency to get the China and Brazil Visas. They had to be mailed to them and then they were mailed back. I have to admit a lot of angst doing this. Although I have never had to use my Passport for ID, I wondered on the time and trouble to replace them if they got lost in the mail (or Fed EX, etc).

All was well, they came back in time for the cruise.

On that WC we had to have our Passports on our person in one port. And I didn't like it. But all went well. We are taking another WC next January and have to do it again, sending the Passport away. And I am still not comfortable doing it, but am hopeful all will be well again.

We had to renew our Passports for this trip and I made a booboo and sent $140 instead of $110 for the renewal. What this booboo did was give me a Passport Card along with the Book. The Card will not be of service to us on the WC but it will be good ID on shore should it be needed. Basically it is a Credit Card size of your Passport ID page.

Would this make you feel better letting the Cruise Line keep your Passport? As mentioned before it does expedite Immigration into most Countries.

Sincerely, Mary Ellen