'07 Regent World Cruise-PreCruise

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Many of you asked “What do you do for an encore after last year’s spectacular World Cruise adventure?”

The answer…Take another World Cruise but go in the opposite direction and visit as many new destinations as possible. It all started when we reviewed the Voyagers ‘07 passenger inspired itinerary and realized how it complimented the ‘06s. To our dismay, it was sold out, so we enlisted our travel agency “Cruise Professionals” to help. By autumn, we had our suite booked and decided that it would be a lot of fun to tell no one that we were coming and surprise them at the Bon Voyage party in Miami on January 8th. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

In December, we were honored to be invited to a fellow passengers 90th birthday party in Key West, 2 nights before our 111 day cruise started. We left L.A. early in the morning with 40 degree temperatures and 40 mph wind gusts. We arrived in Miami 5 hours later to 81 degrees and balmy conditions. Our vacation had begun! The weather was perfect for our 3 ½ hour drive to Key West, and we enjoyed the tropical beauty of the area and the aquamarine color of the Caribbean on both sides of us. The site of the surprise party was a 5 acre island estate with the guest of honor arriving by helicopter to the cheers of his 250 friends. I’m sure all who attended, enjoyed the evening. Then it was back to Miami for a wonderful lunch at the Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne with the owner of our travel agency and her husband. Thanks Mary Jean and Brad! The Regent Bon Voyage party was held at the Miami Four Seasons that evening. It’s hard to describe the exciting reunion atmosphere when 400 people (75% have traveled many days together) have a party. It was especially fun to see the people’s faces that had no idea we were coming. The party had a Cuban salsa flare and the service and food were terrific.

January 9th we boarded our ship in Ft. Lauderdale and the real work of unpacking 14 suitcases began. We had 5 minutes of panic when one suitcase with Chuck’s tux, suits and my evening dresses was missing. It was later located minus its handle and nametag and we breathed a sigh of relief. Our suite this cruise is located all the way forward (bow) compared to other years when we were always in the back (stern). The difference is more of a rocking motion versus a slight vibration from the ship’s engines. It took a few hours to get our sea legs, but we both slept like rocks. Our first day out, we rendezvoused with our sister ship, the Mariner, at Princess Cays in the Bahamas for a beach barbeque. Again, it was like old home week, seeing many passengers and crew from the other ship, including our friends from cardiac rehab in Laguna. The surprise on their faces was priceless. As both ships left the small island of Eleuthera, we cruised side by side waving to each other and listening to beautiful music like “Time to say Good Bye” and the “Theme from Titanic”.

And so it begins…many new and wonderful travel experiences on another voyage of a lifetime. Stay tuned for our 1st segment letter when we travel south to Rio and across the Atlantic to Cape Town.

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