2015 schedule

[forevertravel]

We received email yesterday with 2015 electronic brochure. Bookings for summer/fall 2015 starts next week. I noticed some new ports have been added. The printed brochure should be arriving soon.

[DaveFr]

Thanks for the notice about the 2015 e-brochure. My TA sent it to me and the African cruises look interesting.

[Cruising Librarian]

I've been eagerly awaiting the schedule- we've been thinking of spending a month in Europe in Fall 2015 then taking the Mariner back to the Americas. But the Transatlantic is from Cape Town to Rio in Nov 2015.

 

Looks like it is Azamara for us in 2015. Tomorrow we tour the Quest so we will see if we can get by on 75 less sq ft in a suite:) With their current promotion and the TA's add ons, we think we will be getting a great deal to try out their product.

 

Maybe 2016:)

[Travelcat2]

I found some of the itineraries that start or end in Istanbul quite unique and interesting. It is also interesting how fickle the public can be. A mere 3 years ago, Regent dropped Cape Town from their itineraries as their customers seemed to have lost interest in that port. Now it seems to be the hottest destination in the world (followed perhaps by New Zealand and Australia). In any event, we loved Cape Town 3 years ago and have booked one of the itineraries for next year.

[poss]

Tc: Which of the Istanbul itineraries looked especially appealing to you? We're only able to cruise June through September and I was hoping for some great Greek ports, but nothing had particularly terrific appeal. I do love Istanbul, but most of the ports attached to those itineraries seemed either not very interesting or I don't know enough about them really to know what to think. I like that there are some new ports in France, but no single "package" has got me excited at this point. (Usually there's at least one itinerary that grabs me as soon as schedules are out.) Part of our problem is that we can't travel far anymore; the days when going Down Under or to Japan and such were no big deal are long behind us.

[Travelcat2]

Tc: Which of the Istanbul itineraries looked especially appealing to you? We're only able to cruise June through September and I was hoping for some great Greek ports, but nothing had particularly terrific appeal. I do love Istanbul, but most of the ports attached to those itineraries seemed either not very interesting or I don't know enough about them really to know what to think. I like that there are some new ports in France, but no single "package" has got me excited at this point. (Usually there's at least one itinerary that grabs me as soon as schedules are out.) Part of our problem is that we can't travel far anymore; the days when going Down Under or to Japan and such were no big deal are long behind us.

 

I kind of liked this one http://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR150916/summary/default.aspx because it does Turkey, Greece and Israel. I spent years avoiding Israel as we had no interest in visiting that area. Now that we've been there, we would love to go back.

 

http://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR150916/summary/default.aspx includes the previous cruise and goes to the Black Sea as well (something we have not done).

 

However, the only thing we are booking is Cape Town. May see what fits in at a later date. I'm still in the "cruised out" mode so it is difficult for me to get excited about much. The most exciting thing right now was the switch (due to the ship being full) from a Beijing to Bangkok itinerary next month to a 28 night Scandinavian itinerary in July. This cruise would have not been affordable if it had not been for the offer. Sometimes having Regent overbook ships is a great thing for their passengers:)

 

Let us know if you decide to book something for 2015.

Edited February 14, 2014 by Travelcat2

[RachelG]

George and I are going to do the Istanbul to Istanbul cruise that includes Israel. Very excited! We have been to Ephesus and Rhodes twice before, but very much enjoyed them. 3 times to Istanbul but still enjoy it. All other ports are new to us.

[forevertravel]

We did the Athens to Istanbul cruise last September. It cruised Greek Islands, Turkish ports (Ephesus, of course), and Israel. It was a wonderful cruise. We loved Israel and will like to go back. To me Israel was very emotional. We had wonderful tour guides. We stayed in Istanbul at end of cruise because we love the city. I recommend this cruise to anyone. We had a Horizon Suite and a wonderful butler. The food, crew, tours, wines...everything was perfect.

[RachelG]

We did the Athens to Istanbul cruise last September. It cruised Greek Islands, Turkish ports (Ephesus, of course), and Israel. It was a wonderful cruise. We loved Israel and will like to go back. To me Israel was very emotional. We had wonderful tour guides. We stayed in Istanbul at end of cruise because we love the city. I recommend this cruise to anyone. We had a Horizon Suite and a wonderful butler. The food, crew, tours, wines...everything was perfect.

 

Glad to hear this! I know Israel will be exhausting as we want to see as much as possible.

[Travelcat2]

Glad to hear this! I know Israel will be exhausting as we want to see as much as possible.

 

Yes -- it will be exhausting but worth it. When we went, Regent included a night at a hotel in Jerusalem. It is still possible to do that but you pay for your own transportation.and hotel so I doubt if anyone will do it on their own. It just made the excursions a little less than the typical 11 1/2 hours.

[forevertravel]

Yes, they were three long days but worth it. Regent made everything possible to make it easier. They served room service breakfast starting at 5:30 and on the longest day there was a buffet for those of us returning around 7pm. CR was kept open but Sette Mari was a buffet. It may have been two days instead of just one. On the last day some of the crew waited outside lined up to welcome us with champagne and music. Jerusalem was a wonderful experience. For those of you thinking about it, I highly recommend it.

[WesW]

Rachel, concur with above posters Israel is absolutely worth the time to visit. Pix below shows the wonderful crew welcome home word pix forevertravel describes above:

 

[poss]

Ah, the itineraries that include Israel have enormous appeal (I spent 3 weeks there many moons ago, my husband's never been). But those days are too lengthy for us at this point: just don't have the get up and go-- at least when the getting up is very early and the going is for 12-13 hours.

I keep staring at the other itineraries, esp. the ones in July and August, the months that are best for us. But we've done and re-done virtually every port.

May have to try to find something on land or riverboat, though the Tauck kind of thing requires early wake-ups and I'm afraid that for not very social people, both those options would be too close quarters.

Happy vacationing, everyone!

[RachelG]

Poss, please do consider the Israel itinerary. There are some 1/2 day tours available ( just not to Jerusalem), but we would love to have you along.

[Sunprince]

And it looks like prices have increased for 2015 itineraries. For example summer 2015 10 day Med is now $8999 for lowest category vs $8499 in 2014. I might reconsider using my future cruise certificate and just cash it in at those prices. For $1800 a night, I think I can plan a pretty nice tour of the Med on my own for much less!

Edited February 18, 2014 by Sunprince

[poss]

Hi Rachel,

That was sweet of you to say, but you don't know me. E.g. I'm one of those people who truly doesn't mind wearing same outfit every other day or so, who brings only one or two "dress" shoes on board (that's all I own in fact)-- and those not heels, since I have foot problems (can walk long distances, but only with good lace shoes and orthotics). When I read the various posts about people loving cruising in part so that they can dress up, show their fashion sense, wear a different outfit every night, bring 6 or 8 (more??) different pairs of shoes, it makes me want to cry-- or at least sigh. Doubt that you're in the category of caring much about such things. Probably more important is that we're not good at trivia:-( We both know a lot about classical literature (all literature, I guess, just not pop stuff) and art and music and history, but our minds are fairly slow these days.

 

All said, it still makes me happy that you said what you said.

[newlondon]

poss, Don't give up! We all age and need to modify our mo. I used to lead the tour groups so I could closely question the guide. I now look for tours that don't include too much walking; or plan private ones so we can see the best sights. Your idea of a river cruise makes a lot of sense-and Tauck is the one I would choose. The cruise part eliminates the up early problem and also the too intimate part. We loved it.

[RachelG]

Poss, I do love my pretty dresses and shoes, but I certainly don't judge others who can't wear cute shoes because of foot difficulties. Glad my feet are sound but realize that things could change.

 

And George thought he was terrible at trivia until I got him into it. He just didn't realize how much knowledge he had.

[poss]

Oh, we've got lots of knowledge (not so much of sports or pop culture); the problem these days is the retrieval....

 

"Dresses"! I remember those things. I "remember when...."

[RachelG]

Oh, we've got lots of knowledge (not so much of sports or pop culture); the problem these days is the retrieval....

 

"Dresses"! I remember those things. I "remember when...."

 

LOL, my weak spot in trivia is sports and pop culture too.

[newlondon]

poss, I reiterate there are other fun ways to travel that would meet your criteria:)