Regent Seven Seas Explorer Athens to Istanbul Full Travelogue

[BellaOnline]

18 hours ago, Techno123 said:

My husband still teases me about this but our only (for now) Regent cruise was on Voyager having previously cruised on Oceania (and Seabourn but that was as a total cruising newbie so we didn't really know the ropes 😁). Oceania had a wine list (paid for by the glass or included if you had the drinks package) so we could choose the wine we fancied each evening. On Voyager I tried a few of the included wines at the 'horrible wine drinking time of 10:30am'. I asked if there were any others available and was told no. I asked for a list and was told there wasn't one. Then at both lunch and dinner that day there were included wines which hadn't been at the tasting and several more arrived over the course of the cruise. I then chatted with another passenger who had many nights with Regent and he had been given a printed list on the first day which we had a peruse of but it really, really annoyed me at the time as I felt I had been lied to twice in quick succession. Definitely a first world problem but it was as if the wine list was top secret and only provided to 'special' passengers 😂 I had a chat (complain is too strong a word) with the hotel manager and lo and behold, he managed to print off the 'list that didn't exist' for me too 😜

I think it's not even that 'easy' any more - the list seems to change day to day. I really think they need a wine tablet to let you know what's in inventory that evening ... 

[BellaOnline]

17 hours ago, Yankeeclipper1 said:

Ah - getting the included wine list.  Every luxury line protects that document as if it was Top Secret.  On SilverSea the F&B manager admitted that it was intentional and actually against policy to provide a list. This is what he explained - it had to do with provisioning and presenting what was in quantity until the next provisioning. Many of the included wines are not available in the quantities that could be provided for meal service. Many of the available included wines that are “hidden” are remainders from previous provisioning - or are leftovers from wine contracts no longer being fulfilled.  Additionally, each of their provisioning points may have different items loaded.  I said OK - great explanation BUT with the detailed inventorying and oversight over all spirits and wines it is not hard to quickly sort and print a list - he did for me.  

 

Presently - on the first day of a cruise - I seek out the F&B manager and politely state I do not want to play the wine guessing game and would he/she be so kind as to provide an included wine list I can study - if not possible, then I would like to set up my own wine tasting each day - tasting 3-4 reds and 3-4 white.  Several times when the promised list never arrived  - we did our own tastings, making it our own special event - in various lounges and had sommeliers bring us three or four samples of included reds and whites.  By the 3rd day we had a nice list of maybe 20 wines for the rest of the trip.  Have done our own wine tastings 3 times and it was actually fun. 

If the ship really is not going to provide a wine tablet / wine app, then this absolutely sounds like a brilliant idea. Normally my mom likes to get a glass of Champagne in the lounge before dinner - but it's easy enough to change that to each of us getting two half-glasses of wines we think might go with our chosen dishes. We already know by this point what we're planning on ordering for dinner. So we can taste the various wines, maintain our notes, and build a reference library. We'd have to do that every evening because as mentioned the wine lists are really changing that frequently right now.

 

I know other people mentioned doing this process *at* dinner, but the last thing I want to be doing while enjoying an appetizer is tasting 'awful with the dish' wines to see what works and what doesn't work for the main course. I'm more open to that process an hour beforehand, with nuts and olives and such, when it doesn't directly impact the actual meal.

[BellaOnline]

Day 5 / Wednesday August 24th / Bodrum Turkey

 

We were now at our first stop in Turkey! The view from the window was sort of a mix of Mykonos and Crete. That is, the buildings were all white against a greenish background, going up hillsides, and in that sense it did look 'picturesque'. On the other hand, the buildings here were all fairly modern looking - squares with rows of windows. So it had a much more modern feel to it.

 

We had no official excursion planned for today. I slept in, having woken up bunches of time through the night. Mom sweetly brought fruit to the room for me again. Once I was done with that, I tossed on clothes.

 

The shuttles to town are on an EXTREMELY odd schedule. They only leave every half hour – and they have a long lunch break between 12:30 and 2pm. But this doesn’t mean they actually leave from the town at 2pm. It means at 2pm they leave the ship and get into town at 2:30pm to pick up people waiting there. And you have to be back on board by 4:30pm.

 

We were able to catch the 11am shuttle. It’s a minivan with maybe 10 seats total. It took about 15 minutes to drive around the bay to the main plaza of Bodrum. That plaza is immediately aside a minaret, which makes it fairly easy to find from around town. You just look for that minaret tower. The plaza is also right against the water.

 

From the plaza it was a short maybe 10-minute walk along the water to the historic castle. There was a longish line which didn’t move ‘steadily’ – it seemed as if they were waiting for enough people to come out to then accommodate a tour group going in. It moved in fits and starts. At last we got to the front, paid our dues, and went through security to get in. We saw a man go through security who had a bottle of alcohol removed from his bag. The bottle was held at the security gate for when he was done.

 

I adore castles. I write many books involving castles. This castle was one of the highlights of my trip. It is quite large and has all sorts of history associated with it. So for me the castle was quite interesting. I want to warn that the castle had a LOT of high-step stairs made from worn rough stone. There weren’t always handrails. I had to help my mom up and down a number of them. The stone was very uneven and bumpy. It’s good to wear sturdy shoes for visiting the castle.

 

The views of the town and water from the castle were quite pretty. There were many embedded stone coats of arms in the castle walls, representing various important people who had ruled over the castle. There were displays of ancient mosaics, gravestones, and other items around the grounds. Some of the tower rooms were used as museum display rooms, holding beautiful pottery, vases, jewelry, weaponry, and more. A variety of styles were represented. There were peacocks and cats roaming the grounds.

 

I really enjoyed this visit immensely. I liked being able to take our own time as we went through it. Many of the rooms were smallish so I appreciated being on our own and being able to linger. It was hot, but some of the rooms with artifacts were air conditioned, so there were ways to cool off.

Finally we were tired, starving, and done. We walked back to the town in a light rain. It was only 1:30 by this point so we checked in with the Regent people hanging out by the shuttle pickup location. We were a bit worried about this shuttle filling up, and we let them know would be ready for the 2pm shuttle. We held up 2 fingers. They said sure, you are all set.

 

Since we had a half hour to wait, we went off in the little alleys to do some shopping. I got a few items - two shawls, one with the blue eyes, the other with a lavender design. Cloth triangles were draped across the overhead areas of streets to act as a rain and sun shield. It was lovely. About 1:45 we got back to the plaza and hung out in the shuttle area. We figured there might be a swarm of people when the shuttles started up again, and we wanted to get on the first one as we were very hungry, thirsty, and tired. We checked in with the Regent people again.

 

2pm came. 2pm went. At 2:10 I went over to check in with them. They said, oh, it doesn’t get HERE until 2:30. The shuttle was over at the ship at 2. We said, but we already asked you before to make sure we had the time right. We would have gone right back to the ship on a taxi if we knew it would be this long until we got water and food.

 

They pointed us to the taxi stand.

 

We got a taxi and it was only 5 euros to get back to the ship. Clearly we should have done this back at 1:30. The taxi happily took euros even though the currency here is Turkish lira. 

 

At the terminal, it was a quick zip through a security station, just showing our room key and nothing else. And then a quick walk down the dock where we were across from another cruise ship. And up the gangplank.

 

I’ll note that nobody in Bodrum commented on my Ukrainian gear, either positively or negatively. It was a neutral issue. I was also wearing rainbow pride socks, but those are less visible with my long pants.

 

We went right to floor 11, but of course the main restaurants were all closed now. At least the pool grill was open still. I had my usual salad and Mom had a panini. I was very thirsty but it took them a while to come over to even check on our drinks, so at least I had the lettuce which is watery to eat. I should have brought a shoulder-holster for the water bottle so I could more easily carry it with me. It’s just a pain to hand-carry the big metal bottles the ship provides. I didn’t want to bring a waist pack big enough to carry these massive bottles.

 

Now, back to the room. I packed up all my laundry, added in some of Mom’s, and went over to the laundry room. It’s all free to do and they have detergent there. I started it up. There was nobody else using the machines (two washers, two dryers) and no sign instructing people to stay with their laundry. So I set my phone timer and came back to the room to relax a bit.

 

Near the end of the laundry timer, we got a call that somehow the front desk didn’t have my Turkish Visa, even though I had brought it to them and they’d copied it. So I took it again to reception. This time they didn’t copy it – they just wrote down some numbers from it. This made me a bit nervous about my visa situation, but I hoped for the best.

 

On the way to the room I swapped my laundry into the dryer – I was again the only unit in use - and set my phone timer again.

 

When my timer went off I went back to the laundry room. There were two women standing right in front of the units, talking. All four units were now going. They talked for about five minutes which was confusing to me because my unit should have stopped. Then one woman turned to me. I said my laundry should have been dry by now. She explained she’d taken out my laundry and left a few things in to finish drying. I let her know I’d just take those damp things and hang them, and did so. It felt a bit odd that she’d handled all my underwear and bras, and unless my timer had been off, the dryer shouldn’t have been finished yet. So it felt very strange. Still, a minor inconvenience, and now my laundry was all set again.

 

We dressed for dinner and went down to the lounge first to hear the musical duo. It was a keyboardist and a singer. The lounge was very dark. Again, small casual snacks like pigs-in-a-blanket and chips were offered. The musicians were technically good, but to me very mechanical sounding. We would rather have had a string quartet option. I will note that my boyfriend plays in a classic rock band, so I might be a bit more picky about music than most people would. I go to a *lot* of gigs. And, again, people were talking loudly and not even listening anyway.

 

Finally it was time for dinner at Chartreuse, one of the specialty restaurants. I happen to *adore* yellow Chartreuse, so I was really looking forward to this. In the front area, there was a couple animatedly talking by the maître d' podium and he gently tried several times to interject to ask if they were ready for dinner. Finally they said they were joining another party and moved on. The next person in line was waiting for someone, and realized he probably shouldn't have been in line if he wasn't ready. Then the maître d' got to us to seat us. It was just an odd feeling in terms of starting an evening at their high-end dining restaurant.

 

We were brought Champagne to start, then bread, then the meal began. It was quite lovely. The flavors and plating were quite nice.

 

At the end I asked if they had Chartreuse and if so which kind. They had the green kind which Bob and I always joke is ’not ripe yet’ as it is the tarter-tasting one. So they went off to check, and yes indeed they had some yellow, which was delicious. I'd been looking forward to it all evening, and it was nice that they did have it.

 

Then back to the room, and to sleep!

 

Steps: 7,328
 

[BellaOnline]

This is out of order in terms of the travelogue, but my mother has been feeling awful for the past few days and has barely left bed. She finally got tested and she does in fact have COVID. Our most crowded day was in Istanbul, when we went to several mosques and also the grand bazaar. So she figures she probably got COVID at that point.

 

Fortunately even though I was her roommate, I do not have COVID. At least I am still testing negative.

[KenzSailing]

On 9/4/2022 at 5:54 PM, BellaOnline said:

Day 3 / Monday August 22nd / Santorini Greece

 

 

 

Tonight was my teen writing group I run online.

 

 

 

I suspected something like this.  Your prose is strong and exceptionally clean, a real pleasure to read.  Thank you for this.  

[kjbacon]

2 hours ago, BellaOnline said:

This is out of order in terms of the travelogue, but my mother has been feeling awful for the past few days and has barely left bed. She finally got tested and she does in fact have COVID. Our most crowded day was in Istanbul, when we went to several mosques and also the grand bazaar. So she figures she probably got COVID at that point.

 

Fortunately even though I was her roommate, I do not have COVID. At least I am still testing negative.

Sending our very best wishes to your mom. We just had Covid, almost a month ago, on our seabourn cruise so we can sympathize. 

 

Your pictures and descriptions are fabulous. With many of those ports in our future, even better!

[FengShui@Sea]

I sincerely hope your mother feels better soon.  Sending her positive thoughts, and good wishes.

 

As someone who has had Covid, and racking my brain wondering where I may have caught it (being a total germaphob, and ultra cautious) I can almost guarantee you that she can set her exposure like a watch.  It starts at day three after exposure thinking ‘ghee, I kind of don’t feel so well’ to day four with ~ okay this is something (sore throat, fatigue, etc.). She may have caught it on the plane home, in the Miami airport, or who knows?  But I can sympathize with any uncertainty in thinking “Where did I let my guard down?”  

 

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by FengShui@Sea

[2012_Alaska_bound]

Glad she didn't get sick until she got home. Hope she has a very mild case. I got it, but my cruise roommate didn't even though we traveled together the whole time.... who knows?

[kjbacon]

On 9/4/2022 at 7:59 PM, papaflamingo said:

You got THAT right!   We made the mistake of riding the donkeys down a number of years ago.  The donkeys are tied together and led by a guy on foot.  My wife was on the donkey ahead of mine so mine was tied to hers.  She had a "killer donkey."  It didn't try to rub her leg on the wall, but instead would go from one side of the path to the other pushing people walking down into the walls!  All my wife said the whole way down was "I'm sorry....I'm sorry... I'm sorry!"   And THEN my donkey walked up and had it's head next to my wife's donkey and suddenly her donkey raised it's tail and I KNEW what was coming!  I quickly lifted my leg as much as I could while her donkey "unloaded" right where my leg had been!!!  😱. 

Yeah.... NEVER...EVER...EVER ride the donkeys, especially down.  And by the way, don't even consider walking down.  All that "stuff" on the trail was "dumped" by the donkeys!  😜

 

If the busses go up, why don’t they come down? I’m not the best with heights so I’m hesitant about the cable car so more detail on that ride would be much appreciated. Are you overstating that the walk down should not be considered? Depending on the visuals of the cable car, dodging dumped donkey do might not be that bad for me 🤣 Santorini is one of the ports in our upcoming voyager cruise.

[Brownie54]

The busses take you up from one location on Santorini, the ship moves, and you “descend” by whatever means you choose (donkey, walk, or cable car) to a different location to re-join the ship.

[cwn]

6 hours ago, kjbacon said:

If the busses go up, why don’t they come down? I’m not the best with heights so I’m hesitant about the cable car so more detail on that ride would be much appreciated. Are you overstating that the walk down should not be considered? Depending on the visuals of the cable car, dodging dumped donkey do might not be that bad for me 🤣 Santorini is one of the ports in our upcoming voyager cruise.

Well the visual of the path down is even worse! I hate cable cars and avoid them. 😬But I willing rode the cable car down after I saw the narrow steep path crowded with the donkeys and people. Ride the cable car!

Edited September 7, 2022 by cwn

[pingpong1]

2 hours ago, cwn said:

Well the visual of the path down is even worse! I hate cable cars and avoid them. 😬But I willing rode the cable car down after I saw the narrow steep path crowded with the donkeys and people. Ride the cable car!

Actually, I find myself feeling very sorry for the donkeys!  It's certainly not much of a life for them!  😟

[Wuzzle10]

18 minutes ago, pingpong1 said:

Actually, I find myself feeling very sorry for the donkeys!  It's certainly not much of a life for them!  😟

 

[Wuzzle10]

Please do not ride the donkeys in Santorini, this is cruel as a lot of people are far to heavy for these lovely animals , if no one rode them they wouldn’t be there

get the cable car down, I did when we were there but I can honestly say I really don’t like this island, to hilly, to touristy, to busy

[BellaOnline]

On 9/6/2022 at 4:16 PM, kjbacon said:

Sending our very best wishes to your mom. We just had Covid, almost a month ago, on our seabourn cruise so we can sympathize. 

 

Your pictures and descriptions are fabulous. With many of those ports in our future, even better!

Thank you. We cruised a few months ago and my sister got COVID where she was sick on the boat and had to miss some ports. So in comparison this time it was relatively good that Mom got home before she felt that sick.

[BellaOnline]

On 9/6/2022 at 6:16 PM, FengShui@Sea said:

I sincerely hope your mother feels better soon.  Sending her positive thoughts, and good wishes.

 

As someone who has had Covid, and racking my brain wondering where I may have caught it (being a total germaphob, and ultra cautious) I can almost guarantee you that she can set her exposure like a watch.  It starts at day three after exposure thinking ‘ghee, I kind of don’t feel so well’ to day four with ~ okay this is something (sore throat, fatigue, etc.). She may have caught it on the plane home, in the Miami airport, or who knows?  But I can sympathize with any uncertainty in thinking “Where did I let my guard down?”  

 

 

On our April cruise around the Mediterranean she was using hand sanitizer at each dinner, wearing a mask out, etc. This time there was no masking at all and no hand sanitizer use at all. So there wasn't much 'letting the guard down' thought. She pretty much knew she could get it and was, to be sort of blunt, past caring. I don't think she realized it would hit her as hard as it did. Again, it's just lucky she got home before it really hit her hard. She really likes to enjoy the dinners and so on, while on ship.

[BellaOnline]

On 9/6/2022 at 7:17 PM, 2012_Alaska_bound said:

Glad she didn't get sick until she got home. Hope she has a very mild case. I got it, but my cruise roommate didn't even though we traveled together the whole time.... who knows?

She was flat out in bed for at least three days once she got home. So I suppose it depends on what one compares it to. If she had been that sick on the ship, and then prevented from going to the dining room, she would have been fairly unhappy. That dining experience is a key reason she cruises (and the aforementioned missing string quartets ...) So in that sense she is very very lucky the symptoms only emerged once she got home.

 

I am extremely fortunate that I was my sister's roommate on the April cruise, and didn't get sick, and then I was my mom's roommate on this cruise, and didn't get sick. I'm not going to go out of my way to test this mythical immunity, though ... 

[BellaOnline]

On 9/7/2022 at 2:09 PM, Wuzzle10 said:

Please do not ride the donkeys in Santorini, this is cruel as a lot of people are far to heavy for these lovely animals , if no one rode them they wouldn’t be there

get the cable car down, I did when we were there but I can honestly say I really don’t like this island, to hilly, to touristy, to busy

 

I imagine pretty much any stop that a cruise ship goes to could qualify for being 'touristy'. The locations do still all have their inherent charm to them. I adore the aesthetics of Santorini. The white buildings and blue domes are absolutely beautiful for me.

 

There is a reason tourists want to come here. There is so much to appreciate.

 

But one definitely should plan for 'how one descends the cliffs' in advance and set aside the time that is going to be required for doing it. Also, the town really should invest in options which are safer and more efficient. 

[BellaOnline]

Day 6 / Thursday August 25th / Antalya, Turkey

 

I didn’t sleep well last night, waking fairly often. I was finally awake about 10:30am. Mom had gone to have breakfast and brought me back a fruit plate. She is so delightfully wonderful :). Then, as I continued to wake up, she went to have some espresso at the coffee bar and get us a map of the city. We were at our second stop in Turkey - the city of Antalya. We did not have an excursion planned here.

 

It turns out the shuttle situation here in Antalya is even ‘worse’ than at Bodrum. There is a shuttle every half hour, and once again the shuttles stop running between 12:30 and 2pm. The challenge is that the shuttle ride is much longer – about forty-five minutes in one direction. So that means the taxi option would be more expensive, if we needed to find alternative travel for some reason.

 

We decided to have lunch at the specialty restaurant Chartreuse at noon, and then take the 2pm shuttle into Antalya. That way we aren’t “trapped” in the city over the long lunch break. We’d have plenty of time to explore the city a bit before taking a shuttle back to the boat again. 

 

Lunch at Chartreuse was delicious and beautiful. This restaurant is well worth going to. I didn't have any Chartreuse this time :). I have to say I absolutely adore the plateware here. The design of 'raindrop edges' is just so pretty to me. Then we headed back to the room to prepare for our afternoon in Antalya.

 

At the appointed time we walked down onto the dock. We got onto the bus. This was a full-sized bus rather than a small minivan. A sign let you know you could buy water, soda, and beer for various prices. Note there isn't a bathroom on this. Off we went. Some of the trip was gentle green mountains, but then most was city. There were 'city-typical' skyscrapers and apartment buildings. One interesting thing is that most of the apartment buildings had on-their-side barrels on top of them. I researched what they were for. It turns out the buildings pump water up into those barrels so they heat with the sun. That becomes their hot water. If you live in the apartment building, your hot water usage depends on how hot the sun is that day and how many other people showered before you did.

 

We got into the city proper and the bus pulled up on the side of a busy road. This was our spot. It wasn't an easy-to-find plaza like in Bodrum. It really did feel like just the side of the road. I took lots of photos to document where we were. Then I "placed a dot" in Google Maps to make sure we could find our way back here. 

 

We began to explore.

 

There was an empty plaza nearby, and then a statue - the "Monument of National Rise" which featured a horse alongside a clothed man and a bare-breasted woman. It represented the liberation of Turkey in 1919. There was a bush with a few tiny kittens beneath it, curled up. In the Greece locations there were cats in quiet pathways which all seemed beloved and cared for. Here, I was worried about the little kittens alongside a busy road.

 

Then we reached what was for me sort of a "turning point" on the trip. 

 

I've mentioned how on the previous Mediterranean cruise a few months ago, and on this one, I've joyfully worn my Ukrainian angel earrings, Ukrainian hair band, Ukrainian bracelet, and so on. I have tried to be an advocate for peace. As we planned this trip to Turkey, I put aside Turkey's current political stances and focused on the beautiful historic locations like the castle dating back centuries. Our visit in Bodrum was focused on the castle.

 

At this current Turkish port, Antalya is a Russian resort city. We saw billboards in the Russian language encouraging Russian tourists to have bank accounts and protect their wealth and so on. It was 'in my face' that Turkey was supporting wealthy Russians in their attack on Ukraine. It was 'in my face' that Turkey was threatening to attack Greece. Even on the ship, passengers would half-joke, half-warn about not upsetting Turkish police, about behaving well, and how dangerous the Turkey laws are. Many comments were made about not getting anywhere near "Turkish Prisons". And here I was looking at billboards praising the Russian wealthy and wanting to encourage them. There were banners everywhere praising Erdogan, in a cult of personality.

 

It upset me a lot. I now just wanted to get back on the ship. I didn't want to support the Turkish government in any way. 

 

Still, Turkey has an amazing historical legacy. We had just travelled 45 minutes to get here. We should at least see something of the culture.

 

We walked through the city streets to a local mosque. We asked permission to go inside, and removed our shoes. I draped my shawl over my head. It was a small mosque, but quite lovely. I did not take any photos here. I offered silent prayers for peace. An area outside the mosque provided seats to wash feet and legs.

 

Then we found our way back to the bus meeting point. We got on, and 45 minutes later we were back at the ship.

 

We decided to go to the Observation Lounge - the main one with the bank of windows - to listen to some music. There were not many people there, but we had some cocktails and nuts.

 

Then - incredibly strangely - an announcement came on the speakers that all non-European passport holders (which was nearly everyone on the ship) had to turn in their passports to the reception desk TONIGHT by 8pm. They were giving us maybe 2 hours notice. We went back to our room and only just now were the staff putting letters into everyone's room with this requirement. It was very very strange. They would only give us our passports back in a few days. That meant at the next stops we would not have our passports. 

 

I know that we could get on and off the ship with our key cards but I *always* carry my passport as an emergency safety net. This situation stressed me out a lot. It wasn't exactly clear if the Greek or the Turkey government wanted our passports. I was feeling very uncomfortable about Turkey right now. 

 

We dropped off our passports. I carry many copies in person and on my phone, but even so I felt unhappy about not having my passport in my control at this point.

 

We went to the Compass Rose for dinner. We talked with the sommelier how it is frustrating that they can't just give us a wine list of included wines - or even a tablet of the current roster - meaning we have to play guessing games about what wines are available tonight to go with the various appetizers and main courses we want. We both have our own preferences and would rather choose for ourselves rather than having them guess what we might like. In any case we figured out a nice Chateauneuf du Pape for my main course.  

 

The meal was lovely.

 

We headed to bed. Tomorrow we were back in Greece, in the city of Rhodes. It was our final Greece stop. I decided I would have a meal *on* the island of Rhodes, since it was our last time in Greece. We had no excursions planned. I adore Greek food :). I also wanted to do my final purchases there. I didn't want to buy anything in our subsequent Turkey stops.

 

Rhodes is famous for the 'Colossus of Rhodes' as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - but of course that statue no longer exists. When we were in Bodrum Turkey at the castle, the castle had been built using stones of the collapsed Mausoleum at Halicarnassus - another one of the wonders which was destroyed. And the day after tomorrow when we visited Ephesus, Turkey, this was the location of the once-amazing Temple of Artemis, which was also long-since destroyed. So we were visiting the locations of three of the Seven Wonders and in each case that wonder was long, long gone. Should they make replicas so we could see what they looked like? With so many amazing existing locations in the world, is it strange to go where "long ago there once was a statue here"?

 

Lots of questions went through our minds.

 

But mostly right now I was feeling upset about Turkey. The historical beauty of ancient castles was crashing in my mind with the current geopolitical issues of Turkey actively endorsing attacking Ukraine and Greece. My mind was having trouble sorting those things out.

 

Steps: 5,233

[Host Jazzbeau]

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[irishwitchy]

It appears you decided not to take any Regent excursions in some ports, any particular reason, besides the one when Mom was tired?  Hope starts to feel better.  

[forgap]

10 hours ago, BellaOnline said:

I'm not going to go out of my way to test this mythical immunity, though ... 

I feel exactly the same way.  My husband and I have gone two and a half years without getting Covid despite a cruise during the Omicron surge,  a major exposure when visiting my best friend who developed Covid during our visit, and a recent three week cruise/vacation involving 9 hour flights. I suspect immunity due to a robust immune system from less than pristine childhoods.  I also lived in a Japan as a teen and got every immunization known to man before we left the US.  Who knows?  I know that researchers are interested in those of us that haven’t yet contracted the bug.  

[BellaOnline]

12 hours ago, irishwitchy said:

It appears you decided not to take any Regent excursions in some ports, any particular reason, besides the one when Mom was tired?  Hope starts to feel better.  

The primary focus was my mother, who has health issues, taking excursions she felt she could make it through. A number of the excursions have quite a lot of walking or a long time between bathroom breaks. Even the ones which didn't mention walking seemed to have more walking than most of the attendees were up for. I think they should do a better job of listing the walking content of each excursion - if there are long, steep stairs, for example. 

[BellaOnline]

2 hours ago, forgap said:

I feel exactly the same way.  My husband and I have gone two and a half years without getting Covid despite a cruise during the Omicron surge,  a major exposure when visiting my best friend who developed Covid during our visit, and a recent three week cruise/vacation involving 9 hour flights. I suspect immunity due to a robust immune system from less than pristine childhoods.  I also lived in a Japan as a teen and got every immunization known to man before we left the US.  Who knows?  I know that researchers are interested in those of us that haven’t yet contracted the bug.  

 

I imagine at some point researchers will ask people who think they've never had COVID to come in for testing. Perhaps many of us actually have had COVID but never had any symptoms. It would be interesting to find out who really has never had COVID and if there is some sort of common thread.

 

I will say that I actively take vitamins, vitamin C, fish oil, etc. My mother and sister both are not vitamin takers. So part of it could be as simple as, like you say, keeping your immune system strong enough to provide a first line of defense. But I'm sure there are many other factors. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

33 minutes ago, BellaOnline said:

I imagine at some point researchers will ask people who think they've never had COVID to come in for testing.

I doubt that will tell us much, frankly.  I happen to be part of a longitudinal general health study here in Ontario, and thus have had two blood tests for sars-cov2 antibodies, one this year, one last year.  All they tell me is that I have antibodies, not where they come from.  Not sure scientists can even determine that.   The point is, with vaccination so widespread, it may be impossible to tell where those antibodies came from.