D-14 Two Weeks to Go!

 

 

Date:  Dec. 25, 2006

 

Location:  Chicago

 

Next Port:  Departure from Ft. Lauderdale on Jan. 9, 2007

 

Quick Summary:  It’s Christmas and two weeks to go. 

 

Report:  Wishing a Merry Christmas to all who happen to check in today to this journal.

 

In two weeks from tonight, we will be at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami for a gala sponsored by Regent – providing us an opportunity to meet all our fellow world cruisers. It is hard to believe embarkation is almost here.  We put down a deposit on this trip almost a year ago…in early January…and now it’s finally just around the corner.

 

We have “mentally packed,” but – with our two daughters and son-in-law law here for the holiday – we don’t really have room in our two bedroom condo to get down to it in earnest. We will begin that on the 28th when they depart. The shippers will pick up our luggage on January 2nd. And then it will be less than a week before our flight to Florida.

 

One of our nicest Christmas presents was a “Dr. Ron medical survival kit” from our son-in-law…with humorous instructions for using the various medications and other practical items. Personally, I’m taking some clothes that are a bit warmer than I hope we will need. With my outdoors daily exercise routine and for sitting on our balcony while we are underway (or for air conditioned areas) they might come in handy. I figure if it’s real hot you can always buy T-shirts anywhere in the world. Karen has to figure out how many “formal” outfits to take and of course sort through the perplexing “shoes” problem!

 

Cheers,

 

Larry

 

 

D-23 Acknowledgements

 

 

Date:  Dec. 16, 2006

 

Location:  Chicago

 

Next Port:  Departure from Ft. Lauderdale on Jan. 9, 2007

 

Quick Summary:  Why a journal? When our daughters, family members and friends learned of our trip, many asked that we keep in touch and share our experiences via e-mail.  This AOL Journal method seems to be much easier and less time consuming. 

 

Report:  Prior to this year, Karen and I had been on six cruises, the longest lasting two weeks. I had been a casual reader of cruise web sites and upon retiring, in July 2005, began to investigate extended cruises. Last January we put down a deposit on Regent’s 2007 World Cruise and I began more extensive research.

 

I found two web sites that had good RSSC boards – www.cruisecritic.com and www.luxurycruisetalk.com.  The latter is run by the Brown & Keene travel agency and is populated by a very active group of experienced Regent travelers. They call themselves LCT’ers and often take escorted B&K tours together.

 

I became a dedicated reader of an AOL Journal about Regent’s 2006 World Cruise written by LCT members Debbie and Clay. Their daily reports were enlightening -- giving us a taste of what shipboard life is all about on an extended Regent cruise. Subsequently, I have been in contact with Debbie who has been helpful in many ways, including setting up this site. We also found LCT member Marcie’s report about her 2005 World Cruise. We look forward to meeting Marcie and her husband, Tom, who are returning for the 2007 World Cruise.

                                             

We included the URL for this journal in our Christmas and holiday card notes.  Rather than sending extensive e-mails and photos to family and friends, we will let them decide how often they want to check in to see where we are. I’ll also post the URL on both the Cruise Critic and LCT sites. Who knows how large this community may become. 

 

Enjoy,

 

Larry

D-26 Introductions

 

 

Date:  Dec. 13, 2006

 

Location:  Chicago

 

Next Port:  Departure from Ft. Lauderdale on Jan. 9, 2007

 

Report:  The authors of this journal are Karen and Larry. For the past 5-1/2 years we have lived in a high-rise condo in downtown Chicago. Larry retired in 2005 from an executive position with an aerospace company.  Karen is a retired elementary school teacher.  We have two grown daughters – one lives in NYC and the other lives with her husband in San Diego.

 

This will be our second cruise with Regent.  We took a one-week cruise on the Voyager’s sister ship, the Mariner, this past September.

D-29 The Seven Seas Voyager

 

Date: Dec. 10, 2006

 

Location:  Chicago

 

Next Port:  Departure from Ft. Lauderdale on Jan. 9, 2007

 

Quick Summary:  Here is some information on the RSSC Seven Seas Voyager, the ship we will be taking on our upcoming world cruise. 

 

Report: The Seven Seas Voyager, launched in 2003, was built in Genoa, Italy.  It was the second all-balcony ship in the industry.  (The first was the Seven Seas Mariner, a similar-sized RSSC ship built in 2001.)

 

          Gross Tonnage: 46,000

          Length: 670 ft.   Width: 94.5 ft.   Draft: 23 ft.

          Speed: 20 knots

Propulsion: Diesel-electric, 2 Dolphin azimuthing pods; stabilizers

Passengers: 700 (double occupancy)

Crew: 445

 

RSSC refers to all the staterooms as suites, as its lead-in ones are the largest in the industry. Ours will be forward on the 8th deck (#810) and is 306 sq ft, with a 50 sq ft balcony.  There is a walk-in closet, a small refrigerator, plus a large bathroom with a separate shower and tub. New flat-screen TVs, DVD players and WiFi internet connections have been recently installed. Complimentary laundries are located on each passenger deck.

 

There are four restaurants: Compass Rose (the main dining room), Signatures (operated by Le Cordon Bleu), Latitudes (featuring the cuisines of the regions visited and/or Indochine-style cooking) and La Veranda (the breakfast and lunch buffet area which in the evening is converted into an informal trattoria or brasseire). On an extended cruise such as ours, each of these venues will present special menus coordinated with area in which we are cruising.

 

Public areas include a gym, spa, pool, two hot-tubs, sports deck, poolside bar and grill, extensive library, Internet café, casino, several lounges and a main theater.

 

In 2007, Regent Seven Seas Cruises is going all-inclusive, by adding complimentary alcoholic beverages throughout the ship.  (Previously it just included an in-suite bar set-up.)  All gratuities are included.  And for full world cruisers, RSSC is paying for our visas and shipping up to 270 lbs of luggage to and from the ship.

 

The World Cruise is comprised of six segments of 2-3 weeks in length.  We understand that about 400 passengers are making the entire cruise.  Included in each segment is a complimentary shore event for all passengers and there are also four additional special shore events for full world cruise passengers.  There will aslo be a full slate of guest lecturers and destinaton experts on each segment.

Day -39 World Cruise Itinerary

 

Date: Dec. 1, 2006

 

Location:  Chicago

 

Next Port:  Departure from Ft. Lauderdale on Jan. 9, 2007

 

Quick Summary: Itinerary for 111-day Voyager of the Seas World Cruise. 

 

Report: Seven Seas Voyager’s 111-day 2007 World Cruise will visit approximately 46 ports in 27 countries.  (Some route adjustments have been made in the past few weeks.  More may be made enroute, depending upon winds, sea states, political situations, etc.  Flexibility will be the key.)

 

We depart Ft. Lauderdale on Tuesday, Jan. 9th, and return to the same port on April 30th.  This is not a true circumnavigation since we don’t go thru the Panama Canal or around Cape Horn.  Generally, we head south to Rio, east to Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, across the Indian Ocean and through Southeast Asia to China.  We then head back west through Southeast Asia to India, through the Suez Canal, across the Med, through Gibraltar and the Canary Islands before cruising across the Atlantic back to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Size restrictions on this site will not allow me to upload the specific detailed itinerary.  If you desire a copy, send me an e-mail (themccrackens@hotmail.com) and I’ll send a Word document version to you.

 

Here are the countries/locations we will visit:

 

Princess Cays, BAHAMAS

Bridgetown, BARBADOS

Belem, BRAZIL

Forteleza, BRAZIL

Salvador de Bahia, BRAZIL

Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL (Overnight)

Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL

Jamestown, St. Helena, UK

Walvis Bay, NAMIBIA

Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA ( 2 Overnights)

Richards Bay, SOUTH AFRICA (Overnight)

Maputo, MOZAMBIQUE

Mombassa, KENYA

Mahe, Port Victoria, SEYCHELLES

Male, MALDIVES

Colombo, SRI LANKA

Singapore, SINGAPORE

Muara, BRUNEI

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, MALAYSIA

Corregidor, PHILIPPINES

Manila, PHILIPPINES

Ishigaki, JAPAN

Shanghai, CHINA (2 Overnights)

Hong Kong, CHINA (2 Overnights)

Chan (Hue), VIETNAM

Laem Chabang (Bangkok), THAILAND (Overnight)

   Special Overnight Hotel Stay in Bangkok for All Guests

Port Kelang (Kuala Lumpur), MALAYSIA

Georgetown, Penang, MALAYSIA

Cochin, INDIA

Mumbai, INDIA (Overnight)

   We are taking optional overnight tour to Agra & The Taj Mahal

Muscat, OMAN (Overnight)

Salalah, OMAN

Sharm el-Sheikh, EGYPT

Suez, EGYPT (Overnight)

   Special Overnight Hotel Stay in Cairo for All Guests

   Ship Transits the Suez Canal

Port Said, EGYPT

Alexandria, EGYPT

Rhodes, GREECE

Messina, Sicily, ITALY

Sorrento/Capri, ITLAY

Livorno (Florence/Pisa), ITALY

Monte Carlo, MONACO

Barcelona, SPAIN

Valencia, SPAIN

Malaga (Granada), SPAIN

Gibraltar, UNITED KINGDOM

Arrecife, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, SPAIN

Tenerife, Canary Islands, SPAIN

Ft. Lauderdale, USA