Mariner Grand Asia Cruise

[londonfog]

Want to know if there is anyone out there taking the full cruise starting in Vancouver and ending in Los Angeles or any part thereof. My husband and I will be taking this cruise and then continuing on through the Panama Canal to Fort Lauderdale. Don't know if there are cruise critic meetings on the Regent ships as there are on other lines. Have met many people on Princess and Celebrity cruise that post on Cruise Critic. Anyone who would like to correspond, please do so.

[easy spirit]

londonfog;

WOW... the full Grand Asia Pacific cruise. How many days? This is a World Cruise with an "oriental flavor". Very interesting.

[londonfog]

Good morning Easy Spirit. Glad to see someone is out there. The cruise is 107 days for the Grand part and then we are staying on for the Christmas and New Year cruise for I think it is 14 days which brings us through the Panama Canal and back to Florida. Originally was going to fly home from Los Angeles but when we realized the ship comes back to very near our home, we decided to lengthen the trip. Hope this turns out to be a good idea. I think in days it turns out to be longer than the world cruise. Good to hear from you.

[londonfog]

Good morning Easy Spirit. Glad to see someone is out there. The cruise is 107 days for the Grand part and then we are staying on for the Christmas and New Year cruise for I think it is 14 days which brings us through the Panama Canal and back to Florida. Originally was going to fly home from Los Angeles but when we realized the ship comes back to very near our home, we decided to lengthen the trip. Hope this turns out to be a good idea. I think in days it turns out to be longer than the world cruise. Good to hear from you.

[LOGHL]

we will be on from Vancouver to Hong Kong....about 40 days..

[Grothj]

We did the Grand Asia Pacific last year...you will have great time. There were only 40 of us doing the entire cruise and we were treated to many special events. If you have any questions about the ports, I'm happy to give you what help we can.

 

Jan

[Shipless in Seattle]

Londonfog,

 

I'm on for the Auckland to LA segement but will be interested to talk to you on board about your experience during the Vietnam segment as I am booked for that in 2008. Have a great time. Wish I could do the whole thing with you.

 

Kent

[londonfog]

we will be on from Vancouver to Hong Kong....about 40 days..

Hi: Glad to hear that you will be on the ship with us for a while. I see that you live in Florida also, don't know where. Have you ever been on the Mariner before? We have done the transatlantic on the Navigator and loved it, also the Voyager to Europe from Fort Lauderdale. We really liked the Navigator with the limited amount of people. Hope we like the Mariner. Have you booked any excursions yet? We just received our booklet today with the excursions but haven't had time to look through them. Let us know what you are doing.

[easy spirit]

As we are only doing the Osaka / Hong Kong segment we booked the 2 nights Terracota Warriors & Li River excursion thru Regent, a "private walking tour of Nagasaki", the Tongdosa Temple & Tea Ceremony in Pusan & the chinese acrobats in Shanghai. I have to figure out more things to do in Shanghai, but I think you can do many things on your own. We will only have 2 full days in Shanghai as on the third day we will start the 2 nights shore excursion. Remember that there is an included tour to all guests in Beejing. We are staying post - cruise in Hong Kong for 4 nights. You will have to do a bit of homework for shore excursions as there is a lot of ground to cover.;)

[LOGHL]

Hi: Glad to hear that you will be on the ship with us for a while. I see that you live in Florida also, don't know where. Have you ever been on the Mariner before? We have done the transatlantic on the Navigator and loved it, also the Voyager to Europe from Fort Lauderdale. We really liked the Navigator with the limited amount of people. Hope we like the Mariner. Have you booked any excursions yet? We just received our booklet today with the excursions but haven't had time to look through them. Let us know what you are doing.

 

We live in Punta Gorda....Haven't checked on tours yet, as husband has just had surgery...will check in a few days & let you know. We haven't been on the Mariner ..hope it's not too big, as we always travel on ships no bigger than about 400 pax. shall keep in touch..

[londonfog]

We live in Punta Gorda....Haven't checked on tours yet, as husband has just had surgery...will check in a few days & let you know. We haven't been on the Mariner ..hope it's not too big, as we always travel on ships no bigger than about 400 pax. shall keep in touch..

Good morning Chelonia: Sorry to hear of husband's surgery, hope he is doing well. My husband and I were booked on the Radisson (former Regent name) world cruise and had to cancel because of my husband's surgery so I know what that is. Just received the book with all the tours, enough to blow your mind. Have a lot of homework to do this weekend. Will let you know what we decide on. Meanwhile, have a nice weekend.

[londonfog]

We did the Grand Asia Pacific last year...you will have great time. There were only 40 of us doing the entire cruise and we were treated to many special events. If you have any questions about the ports, I'm happy to give you what help we can.

 

Jan

Dear Jan: Happy to hear from someone that actually did this cruise. I don't know how many people will be doing it this year, but I imagine it will be about the same. I just received the book of tours on Friday which is quite a bit to go through. Lots of homework for the weekend. Did you do anything that you would either not recommend or would recommend highly? We are on a waitlist for the warriors. If we can't book it through Regent, we definitely will be doing a private tour. Other than that, if you would drop a note and let us know what you really liked, we will look into that. Thanks.

[londonfog]

As we are only doing the Osaka / Hong Kong segment we booked the 2 nights Terracota Warriors & Li River excursion thru Regent, a "private walking tour of Nagasaki", the Tongdosa Temple & Tea Ceremony in Pusan & the chinese acrobats in Shanghai. I have to figure out more things to do in Shanghai, but I think you can do many things on your own. We will only have 2 full days in Shanghai as on the third day we will start the 2 nights shore excursion. Remember that there is an included tour to all guests in Beejing. We are staying post - cruise in Hong Kong for 4 nights. You will have to do a bit of homework for shore excursions as there is a lot of ground to cover.;)

Good morning easy spirit: We just received Regent's book of tours. As we were out of the country for May and June and half of July we were not able to book any tours. When speaking to our travel agent on Thursday, we found out that the tour to the warriors was sold out and that we were waitlisted. If we can't do the tour through Regent, we will do it privately. The rest of the tours we haven't even looked at yet, lots of homework for the weekend. Will let you know what we decide to do. What stateroom are you going to be in? We will be in 1018.

[londonfog]

Londonfog,

 

I'm on for the Auckland to LA segement but will be interested to talk to you on board about your experience during the Vietnam segment as I am booked for that in 2008. Have a great time. Wish I could do the whole thing with you.

 

Kent

Good morning Kent: Wish you could do the whole thing too. It's nice to meet new people on a cruise. This forum actually helps people make lifelong friends. Since you will be on for I guess eighteen days, it will be a pleasure to tell you what to expect in Vietnam or answer any other questions you may have. What statement are you going to be in? Drop a note when you have a chance.

[Grothj]

Hi Londonfog,

It is hard to say what was the "best"..this cruise has so much variety. We did the Warriors and it is worth it..so I think you should do it independently if necessary. Just to see more of China was fasinating. One of our favorite tours was in New Zealand at Tauranga. It was called Exclusive Rotora...while expensive it was worth it...only 15-16 on the trip. The "launch" was a very nice boat complete with grill and kitchen where the crew cooked up a delicious lunch. We had my Mom with us and it was her first helicopter ride to the top of the volcano and she loved it. I would do that tour again!

 

We also took the Helicopter into Hanoi. They had us concerned talking about "old army" helicopter with bench seats, but ours was a commercial helicopter with uniformed crew. We had headsets to drown the noise but the flight over the countryside to Hanoi versus a 3 hours bus ride was well worth it. You do ride the bus back so you get to see the countryside then.

 

I wrote a blog on the trip that describes most of the ports and what we did. if you are interested you can access it

http://journals.aol.com/grothj/grand-asia-pacific-2006/

 

This year we are going to Europe because for the past several trips we have been in Asia. If I can answers any more questions, feel free to ask

 

Jan

[petlover]

There are a group of us who will be on the last segment of this trip (I think there is a roll call on the "other" board) as well as another fun group who will be on one of the middle segments (also has a roll call).

 

We have spent time in China twice on Regent World Cruises. For those who have never been to Shanghai before I'd highly recommend seeing the acrobatic show one evening. In the daytime, allow time for shopping. This is where you'll get some fantastic deals and will likely need to buy another suitcase just to get your "bargains" home.

 

During this past world cruise we left the ship in Shanghai on the 2nd day and rejoined it again in Hong Kong. We made our own travel arrangements and flew from Shanghai to Xian to see the Terra Cotta Warriors (we hired a guide who picked us up and was with us the entire afternoon and returned us to the airport). That same evening we flew from Xian to Beijing where we stayed for 3 nights (also had our own private guide). We booked our own air, hotel and guides and got to see BOTH the Warriors as well as Beijing for a fraction of what Regent overnight excursions were and it was quite easy. In our case we overnighted in Hong Kong so we didn't have to worry if our return flight was delayed etc. It was a GREAT trip and certainly worth missing the sea day between Shanghai and Hong Kong..

 

You will really enjoy this part of the world! :)

[Donaldm]

Hi Londonfog, et. al.,

My wife and I will be joining you from Seward to Hong Kong. We have signed up for a number of tours on the Regent website and our passports are out getting their China visas. We have always had a great time on Regent/Radisson ships.

My mom was a reporter in Shanghai before World War II. I will be interested to see if anything she spoke of remains.

Grothj: A great blog and photos. Thanks for posting it.

-Don in Sacramento

[Shipless in Seattle]

Good morning Kent: Wish you could do the whole thing too. It's nice to meet new people on a cruise. This forum actually helps people make lifelong friends. Since you will be on for I guess eighteen days, it will be a pleasure to tell you what to expect in Vietnam or answer any other questions you may have. What statement are you going to be in? Drop a note when you have a chance.

 

Hi Londonfog:

We will be in staterooms 821 and 822. See you are 1018. What's your first name also.

 

cheers,

Kent

[londonfog]

Hi Londonfog:

We will be in staterooms 821 and 822. See you are 1018. What's your first name also.

 

cheers,

Kent

Hi Kent: Sorry for the delay but have been really busy trying to get affairs in order and applying for visas for China and Australia. Just got our passports back Friday with everything in order, now trying to plan excursions. The Alaska part we have already done so we will probably take a whale watching catamaran or something, really like the small gauge railroad which we probably will do again. I think Regent has a day planned for people doing the complete cruise somewhere in Alaska which we will participate in. By the way, our names are Arline and Irwin. Be happy to get together on the ship.

[londonfog]

We live in Punta Gorda....Haven't checked on tours yet, as husband has just had surgery...will check in a few days & let you know. We haven't been on the Mariner ..hope it's not too big, as we always travel on ships no bigger than about 400 pax. shall keep in touch..

Hi Chelonia: Wanted to get back to you before but just got very busy, having just returned from Europe and did not apply for our visas to China and Australia. Also, had to visit with our travel agent to check on the best tours off the ship. How is your husband doing? Hope he is recovering nicely. We will be in Cabin 1018, where are you? Our names are Arline & Irwin. Drop a note when you have a chance.

[LOGHL]

Hi Chelonia: Wanted to get back to you before but just got very busy, having just returned from Europe and did not apply for our visas to China and Australia. Also, had to visit with our travel agent to check on the best tours off the ship. How is your husband doing? Hope he is recovering nicely. We will be in Cabin 1018, where are you? Our names are Arline & Irwin. Drop a note when you have a chance.

 

Thanks for asking..Husband..(Stan) is progressing very well..We are in cabin

783 and waitlisted for an aft 7 seas suite. Seeing our TA tomorrow & he will take care of getting our visas. Stan will have limited walking...so we will have to limit the tours ... but just being on a ship, will satisfy me. :Look forward to meeting you...Judy

[Jim B]

London Fog.

 

I have put you on the roll call on the LCT web site.

[londonfog]

London Fog.

 

I have put you on the roll call on the LCT web site.

Hi Jim: Thanks a lot. Looking forward to meeting all other cruisers.

[Seasick Sally]

We will be taking that cruise as well and I was wondering how do you access that roll call? Not to give the competion too much business, but I would love to get more information.

[Jim B]

We have a roll call set up for the 12/03/07 part in the roll call section.

Don't know of any for the full cruise.

Let me know here your cabin number and I will put it there for you and

also put it on LCT roll call page.