March 13 - At Sea
We have decided to end our cruise and go home. It wasn't an easy decision. The new itinerary is not appealing for a few reasons. We've been to many of the ports already and there are only a few that really appeal to us. But at today's town hall meeting, it was mentioned several times that the new itinerary has not been completely finalized. And even once it is, there is always the possibility that the ports can change their minds before we get there. There will be no new passengers allowed on in Perth and they are looking at making no crew changes also, although that is not certain yet. There will be no new outside entertainers getting on. And they will no longer have any cocktail parties in the theatre, although there will still be lectures and some evening shows, so I don't understand the rationale for no parties. The officers will no longer have meals with passengers.
We'll probably take the refund rather than the future cruise credit. That way, we aren't locked into another cruise. Although we are looking at another long one (91 days) in 2021 that would do northern Europe and parts of the Mediterranean. Lightning couldn't strike twice, could it?
So we'll get off the ship in Perth the evening of March 18 and fly to Auckland, NZ through Sydney that night. We'll arrive in Auckland mid-day on March 19 and spend the night. Then fly to Redmond through Los Angeles on Friday, March 20 and arrive 3 hours before we left! We're doing this little bit of convolution for 2 reasons - to break up the very long trip home, and to get a really good deal on Business Class from Auckland to Redmond with only 1 stop and a reasonable layover. We really don't want to be in coach for such long flights.
It is so sad now. We thought we'd have about 2-1/2 more months and it would have been very easy to stay on board that long. It's hard to believe we've been here for about 49 days already; it has really flown by. Now we'll have to pack and start saying goodbye to new friends. One good thing we learned is that Regent will ship our 4 suitcases home from Perth, so we'll just have the 1 each that we brought ourselves which will make getting home that much easier. Too bad I don't have any extra room in my suitcase or I could stuff some rolls of toilet paper in there. 😀
We had another lovely dinner at Prime 7 with Pam and Ralph from Danville. They are sticking it out for as long as possible. And we spoke with Carol and Phil who have decided to leave also. They are flying through Japan to Seattle and then renting a car to drive to their home in Portland. We will see if we can share a transfer to the airport since they have a late evening flight on Wednesday as well.
This whole situation seems to be all that everyone is talking about. The first question we ask each other is "What have you decided to do?" Maybe I'll sleep better tonight now that we've made the decision and have reservations in place. Hope so.
We'll probably take the refund rather than the future cruise credit. That way, we aren't locked into another cruise. Although we are looking at another long one (91 days) in 2021 that would do northern Europe and parts of the Mediterranean. Lightning couldn't strike twice, could it?
So we'll get off the ship in Perth the evening of March 18 and fly to Auckland, NZ through Sydney that night. We'll arrive in Auckland mid-day on March 19 and spend the night. Then fly to Redmond through Los Angeles on Friday, March 20 and arrive 3 hours before we left! We're doing this little bit of convolution for 2 reasons - to break up the very long trip home, and to get a really good deal on Business Class from Auckland to Redmond with only 1 stop and a reasonable layover. We really don't want to be in coach for such long flights.
It is so sad now. We thought we'd have about 2-1/2 more months and it would have been very easy to stay on board that long. It's hard to believe we've been here for about 49 days already; it has really flown by. Now we'll have to pack and start saying goodbye to new friends. One good thing we learned is that Regent will ship our 4 suitcases home from Perth, so we'll just have the 1 each that we brought ourselves which will make getting home that much easier. Too bad I don't have any extra room in my suitcase or I could stuff some rolls of toilet paper in there. 😀
We had another lovely dinner at Prime 7 with Pam and Ralph from Danville. They are sticking it out for as long as possible. And we spoke with Carol and Phil who have decided to leave also. They are flying through Japan to Seattle and then renting a car to drive to their home in Portland. We will see if we can share a transfer to the airport since they have a late evening flight on Wednesday as well.
This whole situation seems to be all that everyone is talking about. The first question we ask each other is "What have you decided to do?" Maybe I'll sleep better tonight now that we've made the decision and have reservations in place. Hope so.
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