Portolan

I am disappointed but can understand the change. However, what's really making me angry is what Regent have done as far as "free" tours are concerned.

 

We've now lost three days in Israel, so what do they do? When they substitute Luxor, of the 6 trips available, three are charged and the three which aren't are useless snorkelling, beach trip and jeep safari. Not one of the "free" tours is cultural. They want to charge £81 pp for Ancient Luxor. :(

We are on this cruise in October 2015. They have a no charge "Day at Luxor" tour which they ought to be offering you, as well:

Day At Luxor

Light Activity /Walking

Duration: 11 1/2 hours

Tour Code: saf-e03

This exclusive event is included for all guests, compliments of Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

Explore two extraordinary monuments to the gods. At Karnak Temple you will pass through an entrance guarded by two massive statues of Ramses II, explore the great columned hall and see the pink granite obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut. From Karnak, the avenue of the sphinxes leads to Luxor Temple, with the magnificent columns of Amenhotep III and a colossus of Ramses II. Lunch is included.

per the advice from a military doctor for travel abroad, chewable Pepto Bismal which has several uses:

- taken in advance of possible exposure to local food (think exotic locales), it provides a degree of barrier

- taken after mild stomach upset/nausea, provides relief

- also provides some effects similar to, but way less severe than, Imodium (i.e., try this before using Imodium which is very effective, but doesn't turn off easily)

We were on one of the Dag's Homecoming Cruises on Voyager in 2007 up the coast of Norway to Svalbard and then to the pack ice at about 80 degrees North. We were nearing the edge of the ice (on radar, fogbound) at midnight (sun, of course) when Dag announced we had a medical emergency and we had to turn back. As an aside, and not a consideration at the time, of course, but no loss as we couldn't have gotten much closer because of the fog. So we headed back toward Svalbard at best speed. We felt we were at the end of the earth and I'm thinking this won't turn out well. At about 2 AM, a Norwegian Coast Guard helicopter showed up (pretty much at max range from Svalbard) and hovered over the pool deck (which, rather surprisingly, we were allowed to be on under the deck cover, so I took pictures/video of the whole event). They lowered a doctor and paramedic to the running track and about 15 minutes later winched up the patient, his companion, and the Coast Guard personnel and flew off to Svalbard. From Svalbard, he was medevac'd to Tromso. When we got there several days later in the itinerary, we found out he'd survived (stroke), so it ended well.

Round two was on the Voyager after leaving Cabo San Lucas in early in 2008 (after transiting the Panama Canal), again the announcement of a medical emergency. A couple of hours later, a US Coast Guard helicopter accompanied by a C-130 aerial refueling tanker, arrived. Again, the lowering of paramedics and then lifting them plus the patient back on board. All the time, the tanker is orbiting the ship. They then headed back to San Diego, refueling enroute. We heard, very much second-hand, that the patient had fallen ill in Cabo but didn't want to seek medical help in Mexico and so had tried to last it out...at a large cost to the taxpayer.

The take-away from both experiences: you are never as far from help as you might think, and the US, in particular, has some amazing capabilities. An even better example is to read of how the US Navy responded to the ill infant on the round the world sailboat trip the parents had decided was a reasonable thing to do with an infant (!). There is actually a policy to review rescues like I've described (including those that happen in national parks) with an eye toward billing the rescuee if they were found to be negligent.

AFAIK, when you use the Internet Café computers, you have to log into your shipboard Internet account and the clock is ticking even if you aren't actually using the Internet (like word processing). So, unless you are getting free Internet via SSS status or a promotion, it is far better to log on with your own computer, download what you need, and then log off. Do your word processing off-line and then log back in to upload. With your own computer you'll also have a guaranteed, familiar set of applications.

We just cruised on Regent and I paid 99 cents a minute for Internet. Tis was on top of the $20k we paid for the cruise. I've been looking at booking my first Silversea cruise and Internet isn't a deal breaker but it would be nice if an upscale cruise line would get more realistic with Internet inclusion.

but never on Silversea based on what I've read...