jillyf

We sailed Dubai to CapeTown at the end of 2015 and added 10 days in the Winelands and Sabi Game reserve before flying home to Australia. We had 3 nights at Arathusa Safari Lodge which is in the Sabi Sands Game reserve, a large unfenced area abutting Kruger National Park. The luxury lodge sits on a large dam that has frequent visits from many different animals, as well as having resident hippos. The staff were wonderful and we enjoyed our comfortable villa between relaxing, eating and morning and evening safari’s. We booked through Rhino Travel Agency and were very happy with them. Worth a look at their website to see what is available in different areas. https://www.rhinoafrica.com/en/destinations/sabi-sand-game-reserve/3013 My husband’s blog will show you a little of what we did. Unfortunately the photos don’t do it justice. http://www.thefletchers.com.au/The_Fletchers/South_Africa_2015/South_Africa_2015.html I have also had 3 nights at Chita Chita Lodge by myself a few years before, In the same area and enjoyed it too. We met a fellow Regent traveller while in Cape Town and they did an included post cruise trip to a safari camp and thoroughly enjoyed it. They were in a small group and seemed to have much the same experience as we had. I would go back tomorrow, however age has caught up with us and travel has become closer to home now. Jill

Here is evidence of a wonderful meal.

The Melbourne food and Wine Festival is on at present. Today we had lunch at Marion. They had paired with Noble Rot from the UK. I forgot to take photos until I had finished my main course of Flounder in seaweed butter sauce. It went beautifully with Western Australian Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2024. I’m looking forward to cruising vicariously with you. I will miss your jokes that i wake up to most days, but I’m sure someone on the cooler will stand in!

Mysty, I’m very envious of your trip. I love all your research and I think that is a great way to build up the excitement. We have just returned from Darwin and Far North Queensland and had a delicious lunch at Ochre in Cairns. It is a very short walk from the cruise ships terminal and overlooks the harbour. https://ochrerestaurant.com.au I remember you saying you were looking forward to revisiting somewhere you ate last time but we did enjoy this. No photos as we were catching up with my sister and we were too busy talking! Asian Bayleaf Balinese had delicious Rijsttafel. We thought it was beautifully presented. We went for dinner so not sure about lunch. Asian https://www.bayvillage.com.au/bayleaf-balinese-restaurant/ Silky Oaks Lodge in the Daintree is open for lunch to non guests. It is a 1hour 30 minute drive along the beautiful coast, through the cane fields and into the hills and rainforest, so an interesting drive for delicious food in rainforest surroundings. Anyone coming on a land tour would enjoy staying here for a few nights. It was nominated in Gourmet Traveller tourism awards this year for Destination Dining. In Darwin we ate at quite a few restaurants but these are the ones we felt were worth a visit. Hanuman a South East Asian restaurant and enjoyed it. Need to book as very busy with locals and tourists. https://www.hanuman.com.au/darwin-1 Snapper Rocks on the Waterfront, a short walk from the cruise terminal. We ate there a few times as it was close to our hotel and we enjoyed it. Most cafes / restaurants on the Waterfront have happy hour and Snapper Rocks has a gin menu. On the night we did the Street Art and Food tour it finished here. https://snapper.rocks Darwin Gourmet Street Art and Food Tours. We did this the night after we arrived and it gave us good insight into the restaurants. https://www.darwingourmettours.com/about-us The street art is very good. They are all a short walk from each other and I think there should be a map available. We had an app on the phone which showed some of the paintings moving. It’s worth a wander if you have time. https://activatedarwin.nt.gov.au/local-favourites/guide-darwins-street-art

We will be in Darwin for 2 weeks early next month. We have booked a food and art tour on our second night there to find out a bit more about restaurants. I see they have a tour for cruise ships too, i will let you know what we think and any information about restaurants we go to. https://darwingourmettours.rezdy.com/413967/3-5-hour-gourmet-lunch-or-dinner-art-tour

JP and Chris. Very sorry to hear about your cat. Our Trev is nearly 18 and has had diabetes for 10 years with insulin twice a day. We have never had a cat live this long and didn’t expect him to still be here. We are lucky that there is a wonderful cattery where he is very happy and they will give him his insulin. Enjoy your break away. I love the way you travel and take advantage of every minute you have in a day as well as enjoying the food and wine of a region.

Roy Orbison

Just catching up on your great thread. We visited TI in 2019 while on an expedition cruise. After doing a tour of the island we visited Gab Titui and found it interesting. Doesn’t take long and there was an artist showing his work. Worth a quick trip off the ship if you want to stretch your legs. We were lucky that we had a Moa Island artist on board for lino print workshops. His extended family came aboard and danced for us. We bought one of his Lino prints. It tells the story of their sea creature ancestors.

Surname, not the one doing the great trip report at the moment!

Yes. Do you know him?

I just looked at my photos from 26th June 2013 cruise on Silver Cloud. I remember that when we arrived at North Cape it was cold but with clear views. While we were there the cloud came down and it was very cold. It was lucky we were there as it took 3 goes to dock at Honningsvag because of the high wind. My husband posing at North Cape with down jacket and beanie.

We stayed there in 2010 and loved it. It’s been renovated since then and even more luxurious. Wonderful to see Uluṟu from your room ( and bed ). My husband did a brief blog about our time there. http://www.thefletchers.com.au/The_Fletchers/Central_Australia_2010/Central_Australia_2010.html

We have had 3 great meals at Bayleaf Balinese Restaurant. We had our first Rijsttafel meal in Holland 50 years ago and were blown away by it. Always wanting to repeat the experience, we have ordered this each time and it has been delicious. It’s in the city so a short taxi ride from The Shangri La Hotel. https://www.bayvillage.com.au/bayleaf-balinese-restaurant/

Broome. Matso's Brewery Watch out for the lemonade. It’s delicious but 4.6% alcohol. We went on Willies Pearl Farm Tour when we were there in 2019. Quite interesting if you want to see how pearls are farmed. I did buy a Pearl while there but probably could have found one I liked in town.

Regent doesn’t book flights from Australia ( or they didn’t when we sailed pre Covid). The airline changed their flight so an extra night needed to be booked. They thought Regent would still do the airport transfer as it wasn’t them who changed the flight. I know that if Regent booked the extra night they would have had the transfer. Not sure what happened there. I agree that they were fortunate to be offered some OBC and they appreciate the gesture.

A friend had their flight changed by airline to a day earlier (from Australia so no Regent flight) and TA booked an extra night at pre cruise tour hotel. The pre cruise tour included pick up from airport but Regent won’t do that now. They did eventually offer some OBC, but they feel let down. I had been telling them how great Regent was, so not a good start for them. We had to cancel our booked cruise which we would be onboard now so enjoying hearing about the Japanese ports and tours.

Our summer really hasn’t arrived this year. Only a few warm days (35C) but most around 20C (68F) One day last week it only reached 16C. A cold blast from Antarctica so it felt much colder. We had 2 Bbqs early in January, the first was too hot to eat outside, the second 2 days later, was too cold to eat outside!

DW, thanks for posting the photos of your trip. It brings back wonderful memories of our trip in 2017. India is one country I would return to. I was quite worried about the crowds before I left but enjoyed every minute. I’m not sure if you are going to Varanasi but it was one place I absolutely loved. Amazingly glimpse of the culture/ religion. Friends were shocked that we did a street food tour in Delhi, but it was great fun, and no Delhi belly! The one thing I regret is the excursion into the bush we did with the elephant. Would rather have done what you did. Here is our blog done for family and friends when travelling. best to click on archives first. http://www.thefletchers.com.au/The_Fletchers/India_2017/India_2017.html

Here is mine. Russia was only St Petersburg so a bit of a cheat. We cancelled a trip from Bangkok to Japan and Tokyo to Tokyo cruise leaving next month (Regent Explorer) because my husband isn’t as well as we had hoped. That was going via the Philippines so would have a bit more filled in.

We did Copenhagen to Copenhagen with a B2B in 2013. We did a blog for family to follow our trip. It’s pretty brief but will give you a bit of an idea about some of the ports. Ten years ( is it so long ago! ) may have changed places a little. Unfortunately Apple doesn’t support the website any more and our blog has developed some glitches. It’s best to click on archives to navigate to the ports you want to look at. We loved both trips and we are very glad we did the B2B. I think about half the people stayed on for the Baltic cruise. http://www.thefletchers.com.au/The_Fletchers/Norway_Baltic_Cruise_2013/Norway_Baltic_Cruise_2013.html

Greetings from Victoria Australia. Christmas lunch was out by the pool. Very different to the cold and snow in the northern hemisphere at 37C (98F) here.

This was taken in Jan 2009 on a land tour. Not sure what ship it is. it was before our cruising days began so not aware of different companies.

JP you are my hero. I love the way you live your life to the full, at work and play. I always look forward to your trip reports, land or cruising. Enjoy your Christmas in London. I imagine the lights will be lovely.

We cruised Dubai to CapeTown in 2015 and called at several ports you would go to. Here are tours we did: Cochin. Tranquil Backwaters. Enjoyed seeing the way people lived along the way. Visited a church, then on to lunch at a waterside resort. Mangalore. Not sure what it was called but saw cashews processed and visited a large house. Goa. Taste of Goa was a tour of a spice farm with lunch. Visited two of four Catholic Churches within walking distance to each other. One built by the Jesuit order, the other by the Dominican order. Mumbai. Old Bombay with lunch. Visited a lovely house in the Portuguese quarter and were shown how to put on a sari. Had lunch in Khyber restaurant a traditional restaurant. Mumbai by lights. I see you have the choice of a meal with this. Fajairah. Desert Safari. Fun day with 4 passengers in a Toyota Land Cruiser driving up and down dunes. There were 52 cars waiting at the dock for us, so a popular excursion. Dubai. We had our pre cruise 3 day tour here. We had flown in two days before and visited the Malls, had a day on the Hop on Bus. Visited the Gold Souk and the Deira area. Had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the Dubai Fountain Lights one night. Very touristy, but that is Dubai. Like HotRoot we were glad we had visited but not in any hurry to return.