Taj Mahal precruise, Mumbai to Bali on Voyager 20 Nov-20 Dec

[Anna B.]

Count me among the many who will be so sorry to have your cruise come to an end. Your reports and your photos have been the best I can remember, and your Voyager crew profiles have been wonderful. Truly a labor of love, and it shows! Thank you so much!

[Frank5]

Col. Wes,

 

Thank you for sharing your excellent blog. I thought you did a fine job of striking a balance of covering both your shipboard as well as your excursion activities. Your photographs were superb. I especially liked the way you acknowledged many crew members with memorable photographs. I haven't seen this done before to the same degree in a cruise blog.

 

Frank

[WesW]

Good afternoon from our last sea day (we disembark in Bali tomorrow early morning--about 9 a.m.) on this outstanding SE Asia journey aboard the Seven Seas Voyager;

 

Pls enjoy pix from Ron's 60th surprise birthday party two nights ago. Voyager staff did an outstanding set up in Dennis/Daphne's suite:

 

 

 

Wonderful meal last night at Sette Mari with new cruise friends (LtoR, Top to Bottom; Ron/Sue, Dennis/Daphne, Wes/Ida) and pix second below

is of the outstanding (flint stone-sized veal parmigiana) we all ordered.

 

 

 

Some pix taken on our Highlights of Semarang excursion:

 

 

 

Pix of SE Asia's largest Mosque

 

[OrpingtonT]

Once again, very interesting pictures and you all look so fit and well. There looks plenty of room in that suite for the Ron's Birthday party. Would it be an impertinence to ask what grade suite it is? And do Regent charge for setting such a party up?

[tallship]

Safe travels home

[Keith1010]

Wes, I've thoroughly enjoyed each and every post and the photos.

 

Wishing you and Ida very safe travels home.

 

Keith

[xrvlcruiser]

Wes,

 

Thanks for all of this and have a safe trip home . . .

 

Peggy

[WesW]

Good evening all; Glorygaf/Tony & Gloria, Newlondon/Bill & Wendy, NCcruzqueen/Beth, Sealover/Elaine, dabear, Anna B, Frank 5, Orpintont/Tom & Barbara, Tallship/Tina, Keith1010/Keith& Anne Marie

 

Tony& Gloria, Thank you--we miss you already (btw, Ricky Ballenger did get us Peroni beer in Singapore--will save u one Tony for our

next cruise. And very warm holiday well wishes to you and your family.

 

Beth; thank you--we also have sad faces we're leaving the Voyager tomorrow but you're spot on wonderful new cruise friends were made.

 

Elaine, thank you, Ida and I also wish you happy holidays

 

dabear, thank you, we would love to sail with you too

 

Anna B, your gracious words are sincerely appreciated. A true privilege to share Voyager crew member profiles--very glad you enjoyed them as much as we did composing them.

 

Frank 5, pls call me Wes, Your very welcome and thank you for your too kind words.

 

Tom and Barbara; Dennis and Daphne hosted Ron's 60th surprise birthday party in their Grand Suite. Their butler handled the arrangements (drink set up and horse dervies) no cost. Was very special (as US Army retired Veterans) meeting Dennis, Daphne, Ron and Sue all Israeli Army Veterans of the Yom Kippur war in the late 60's early 70's. They now live in bay area (towns where I spent my first 22 years)

 

Tina: Thank you for your well wishes as we travel home.

 

Keith & Anne Marie, our sincere pleasure to share our pix & posts.

 

 

Pls enjoy some of fellow CCr, Snorkel buddies/cruise friends-- Ezel/Ed & Ellen's outstanding pix of the iconic Borobudur Temple taken in Semarang yesterday:

 

 

 

Pix of Ezel/Ed & Ellen among the Borobudur Stupas:

 

 

 

 

Dreaming of Travel/Jan & John, Ezel/Ed &Ellen, Ida and I depart the Voyager about 9 a.m tomorrow morning for a 4-5 hour tour of Bali. We will then be taken (dreamingoftravel, us) to the Denpasar airport, Ezel will be dropped off at their hotel. Cost per couple is a very reasonable $23. Plan to post some pix at the Thai airways lounge tomorrow evening. Tonight is our last dinner meal on board, we hope to eat with John and Lesile (maybe Kia Orana/Frank & Susan) at Sette Mari again.

 

ps..one pix for Bill & Wendy (new london) and thanks again for your kind words Bill

 

[sea lover]

Wes, I hope you and Ida have a safe trip home and have a wonderful holiday. It is so great that we are able to travel to visit different parts of the world and meet the people who live there. I hope you will enjoy many more cruises in the years to come. Let's count our blessings and after the tragic event that took place in Ct. hope that 2013 will be a better year for everyone.

Elaine

[ededmd]

Can't believe it is over :(

Seems you and Ida had a great time and I too add my thanks for bringing us along.

 

While the trip in total is its own special experience, I'd be interested in hearing you play favorites with the ports.

 

Which do you want to revisit?

 

Which can you check off your list - been there / done that?

 

And while I know you are generally focused on the positive,

Which could you have done without (of course not knowing that prior does create its own paradox, no)?

 

Best wishes for safe and no-stress air travel.

[nyfeds]

Thoroughly enjoyed your reports and pix, Wes. A trip of a lifetime for us all to vicariously join you on. Safe travels home. Happy holidays to you and Ida!

[nancygp]

Wes,

 

Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful journey!!!

 

I wish you and Ida a safe trip home and a wonderful holiday season.

 

Nancy

[newlondon]

You couldn't resist could you? Hope your cuties are fat when you get home.

Seriously, Wes, great work; hope we come even close to having as much fun as you did. We are far more reserved, and older, so it is probably only close.

Once again, however, please do a full review of Voyager. And is Paul Reynolds the CD come 1/24?

[WesW]

Good morning from Bali (our last stop--sad face) we disembark in two hours; Sealover/Elaine, Ededmd, Nyfeds/Densie & Alan, Nancygp/Nancy, Newlondon/Bill & Wendy.

 

Thanks again for the warm words and travel home well wishes. And Elaine, Denise & Alan, Nancy, all Regent CCr's--Happy Holidays and our sincere wishes for a safe, prosperous and cruise filled 2013.

 

Ededmd..will add more context to our voyage when we get home, have only six minutes of internet time left before the Voyager internet closes for this voyage.

 

Bill/Wendy; Yes, Paul will be your CD when you board. Will not do a review per se, but will answer any specific questions y'all have.

 

Thanks for following Ida and I along this wonderful SE Asia journey.

[Eager2Travel]

Well done, Wes. We enjoyed each and every post. Safe travels.

 

Ann and Shel

[WesW]

Good evening from Bangkok airport; Eager2Travel/Ann & Shel,

 

Ann/Shel, thanks so much for Shel and your kind words.

 

Pls enjoy some Bali pix taken today with fellow CCr's: dreamingoftravel/Jan & John, Ezel/Ed & Ellen and us. During our privately arranged half day Bali tour, we were fortunate to visit the breathtaking & beautiful Jatiluwih Rice Terrace Field, Bali Bulana coffee plantation, and a majestic Bali temple--we had to wear sarongs to enter:

 

 

 

LtoR, John, Jan, Ed, Ellen, Ida, Wes

 

 

Pix of Luwak cages, Luwak, and poo coffee beans

 

 

 

[WesW]

Good evening from Bangkok airport; Eager2Travel/Ann & Shel,

 

Ann/Shel, thanks so much for Shel and your kind words.

 

Pls enjoy some Bali pix taken today with fellow CCr's: dreamingoftravel/Jan & John, Ezel/Ed & Ellen and us. We were fortunate to visit the

breathtaking & beautiful Jatiluwih Rice Terrace Field, Bali bulana coffee plantation, and a majestic Bali temple--we had to wear sarongs to enter:

 

 

 

LtoR, John, Jan, Ed, Ellen, Ida, Wes

 

 

Pix of Luwak cages, Luwak, and poo coffee beans

 

 

 

[WesW]

More Bali pix of our Temple visit:

 

 

 

 

[Keith1010]

Wes, safe travels to you and to Ida. These photos like all the others are excellent.

 

I can't wait for your next trip as I've enjoyed following your adventure.

 

Best to you and to Ida.

 

Keith and Anne Marie

[SusieO]

By the time you read my post you will probably be home. I read your posts and looked at the pictures this evening; I am speechless - you truly were on the cruise of a lifetime. So happy that you and Ida were able to experience this. Sorry you hurt your leg, but glad you were ok! Sorry about the camera loss. Welcome home...where is your next adventure to and when is it? :)

[ededmd]

Re: the sarong.

At least it was color coordinated to your shirt and baseball cap.

That was one of the pictures I've enjoyed the most.

[gf]

LOL! Missed the color coordination with sarong and baseball cap at first viewing - good eye, ededmd!

 

Hope final leg is not too arduous; supposed to be raining tomorrow; high 60; we'll see!

 

Welcome home!

[jhp]

I have so enjoyed yours posts all along the way, Wes, just been a little distracted with the holidays coming. It makes me happy to see you and Ida enjoy every cruise so much. You always see the best of everything!

[WesW]

Good early morning from Frankfurt, Germany all; Keith1010/Keith & Annie Marie, SusieO/Sue and Tom, ededmd, gf/Kathy, jhp/Olivia.

 

First, apologize for the double post above, the internet connection at the Bankgok/Bali airports were excruciatingly slow--much much slower then when we were on board the Voyager.

 

Thanks again for all your kind comments and travel home well wishes--very much appreciated and significantly help fuel our desire to share our cruise travel experiences with y'all.

 

Keith & Anne Marie, Ida and I now look forward to reading/enjoying your Crystal WC posts/pix next month. Thanks again for following and sharing our magnificent (as someone posted very earlier, a sensory overload) SE Asia journey.

 

Sue & Tom; So very nice to see you posting on the Regent board Sue, absolutely this voyage was one of our very favorites due to the wonderful SE asia ports and outstanding pax we met/became friends with, as well this Voyage is extraordinarily memorable as we were privileged to get to spend some personal one-on-one time with many outstanding Voyager crew members and then share their stories here on this thread. Sue, for our next cruise adventures (2013/2014) are on Silversea for the next 17 months (London Tower Bridge to Reykjavik and back to London Tower next July on the Cloud, then both the 2013 Spring and Fall crossings on the Spirit) plus we have our 30th Anniversary cruise booked on the Whisper (Lisbon to Southampton, Southampton (we will get to visit Normandy beaches) to STockholm in May 2014.

 

gf/Kathy. We are now in the Frankfurt airport, we just got off 12 hr Bankok to Frankurt Thai Airways flight and enjoyed our first flight on Thai's new A380 aircraft (Thai Air put the a380 in service on this leg (Bangkok to Frankfurt just four days ago). Pls see pix of this mammoth plane below--outstanding cuisine, service and biggest most comfortable bathrooms on a plane we have yet experienced.

 

Olivia; Your generosity & spirit of sharing your Regent cruise experiences here on CC and on the other board for the last eight years tremendously helped Ida and I learn how to make the most out of time on board a Regent ship--so thank you too :)

 

Thai Airways a380 plane we deplaned from about two hour ago, pls see:

 

 

[Lvtocruize2]

Wes, thank you again for taking all of us with you and Ida. It was so kind of you to spend time posting about adventures in a part of the world I will probably not get to experience. Get ready for all the tail wagging that will greet you upon your arrival home:)