Captain's Welcome Night

[CCKelly]

Below is the itinerary for our Mariner cruise in May. As you can see, there are four late nights in port. Can any of the more experienced Regent cruisers give me an idea which nights the Captain’s Welcome and Farewell dinners might be? I believe we would like to eat in Compass Rose on those nights, as it seems that the best dinners in CR may be on those nights, so I am trying to figure out which nights to book Prime 7 and Signatures. Also, any idea if there will be anything special out on the deck, etc. at any of the late nights in port? It is my understanding that unfortunately Regent no longer provides the night concert in Ephesus.

Thanks for your help!

Date
Day
Port
Dress Code
Arrive
Depart
May 04</SPAN>
Tue
Istanbul, Turkey (https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR100504/IST/1/portsexcursions.aspx)
Elegant Casual

5:00 pm
May 05</SPAN>
Wed
Mykonos, Greece (https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR100504/MYK/2/portsexcursions.aspx)
Elegant Casual
2:00 pm
11:00 pm
May 06</SPAN>
Thu
Kusadasi, Turkey (https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR100504/KSA/3/portsexcursions.aspx)
Elegant Casual
8:00 am
10:00 pm
May 07</SPAN>
Fri
Santorini, Greece (https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR100504/JTR/4/portsexcursions.aspx)
Elegant Casual
8:00 am
5:00 pm
May 08</SPAN>
Sat
Katakolon, Greece (https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR100504/KAK/5/portsexcursions.aspx)
Elegant Casual
9:00 am
6:00 pm
May 09</SPAN>
Sun
Corfu, Greece (https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR100504/CFU/6/portsexcursions.aspx)
Elegant Casual
8:00 am
6:00 pm
May 10</SPAN>
Mon
Dubrovnik, Croatia (https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR100504/DBV/7/portsexcursions.aspx)
Elegant Casual
8:00 am
11:00 pm
May 11</SPAN>
Tue
Korcula, Croatia (https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR100504/KOR/8/portsexcursions.aspx)
Elegant Casual
8:00 am
3:00 pm
May 12</SPAN>
Wed
Koper, Slovenia (https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR100504/KOP/9/portsexcursions.aspx)
Elegant Casual
8:00 am
10:00 pm
May 13</SPAN>
Thu
Venice, Italy (https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR100504/VCE/10/portsexcursions.aspx)
Elegant Casual
8:00 am

May 14</SPAN>
Fri
Venice, Italy (https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR100504/VCE/11/portsexcursions.aspx)
Elegant Casual

[Hambagahle]

On the cruises that I have taken the welcome dinenr has been on the second night of the cruise, and the farewell dinner on the second to last night. I think this is pretty standard.

[Travelcat2]

I agree with the last post. There are some exceptions to this, however, your itinerary (which is great by the way) should follow this rule.

[CCKelly]

Thank you. That's what I had thought, but the late nights in port were making me think twice.

Travelcat, yes I am pretty excited about the itinerary, a lot of new ports for us, including Istanbul, where we will stay a couple of days before the cruise.

[JACKHAWK]

Thank you. That's what I had thought, but the late nights in port were making me think twice.

Travelcat, yes I am pretty excited about the itinerary, a lot of new ports for us, including Istanbul, where we will stay a couple of days before the cruise.

We are also on the Istanbul - Venice trip. I noticed you are also going to Istanbul early. Have you done any research on hotels in Instabul? We are thinking about a botique type.

We are arriving on May 2.

Thanks,

[CCKelly]

Jackhawk,

We definitely wanted to stay in one of the small hotels in the Sultanahmet area, since this is our first trip to Istanbul and we would like to be close to the main tourist sites. I started checking out hotels on Tripadvisor several months ago, and finally just made a decision a couple of days ago. We had sort of narrowed it down to Sirkeki Konak (which is close to the train station and apparently very close to the tram line most used by tourists), the Best Western Premier Regency Suites (close to the Blue Mosque) and the Sari Konak. The first two were similar in price for the superior or deluxe rooms. Sirkeki Konak does have less expensive standard rooms and there are a lot of good reviews on Trip Advisor. Anyway, I emailed the BW Regency Suites a few days ago and they quoted me a rate for their "executive" rooms which look over the cobblestone street that I was satisfied with, so decided on that. The BW Regency Suites also got a good recommendation recently from a cruiser on the Seabourn site that made a similar trip last fall.
The Sari Konak also gets pretty good reviews, I believe it is more like a bed and breakfast, but the rooms there are also less expensive and it seems to have a good location.
There are so many small hotels to choose from, it was really hard to narrow down, I also looked at Seven Hills and several others pretty seriously.

[englandsrose]

Hi - we did the Monte Carlo to Istanbul on Regent Navigator last year and stayed at the Sirkeki Konak for 3 nights post cruise - it is in an excellent location and the rooms are really nice, and I would stay there again definately. However it is not a 5 star chain hotel standard, so things like trouser presses, mini bars etc are missing, but the showers/baths are fantastic and there are lots of nice personal touches, like turkish delight on your pillow, and complimentary apple tea and sandwiches from 4.00 til 6.00. Also the views from the rooms aren't great as it is in a a built up area, but it is literally 10 minutes walk away from the main tourist sites of the Blue Mosque and Haga Sofia, as well as the covered market.

Istanbul is a fantastic city, a little manic in places especially around the markets, and you certainly feel like you are somewhere foreign - unlike many other major cities which seem to have a "sameness" about them.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask. Tripadvisor was a great source of information for us prior to going.

If you do decide on Konak then make sure you print a map of how to find it for the taxi driver, as they did have a bit of trouble and we ended up calling the hotel. Their is a tram stop literally 2 seconds from the hotel, and if you are brave you could get the tram from the cruise port to the hotel, but with all the luggage you will probably prefer a cab.

[poss]

CCKelly: Wanted to let you know that I happened to read this post and saw your mention of the BW Regency Istanbul booking. We stayed there several years ago, at the end of a wonderful Voyager cruise. We loved the place. Great little restaurants all up and down the street. Excellent management. Quite good breakfast (be sure to ask for an omelette if you'd like one-- no extra cost). We're doing the 12-day Istanbul-Rome cruise on June 28 this year. Alas, we don't have time for extra days in Istanbul this time. If we did, we'd unhesitatingly book BW Regency. Have a ball!

[CCKelly]

Englandsrose and Poss,

Thanks for the first hand info. It's always nice to get an actual recommendation from fellow cruisers rather than just trip advisor. It seems we cannot go wrong with either of these hotels so that's great to know! I have a list of all the main sites we want to visit in Istanbul, and I think it will be very interesting and fun. Planning to tour Istanbul on our own of course, that doesn't seem to be a problem.

Poss, hope you enjoy your cruise in June.