Thats great! We will look f/w to dinner, perhaps at Portofinos? Our cabin is 8099 and my email is [email protected]. And what happens on the Connie stays on the Connie. No worries. :D BTW my wife is Indian and I've been there 6 times so maybe we can help a little if you want to go there. Cheers, Larry :-)

Oops. I meant of of their speciality restaurants but Portofinos is on RCI.

Indeed, jacket, I understood you perfectly. Well, what a surprise, eh? This'll be fun. You'll be easy to find, anyway, 'cos of your glamorous Indian wife. Well, except when the seas are other than dead calm, in which case she'll be throwing up in the cabin. lol.

As for India, mmm - I've been there a coupla times...
http://thedogster.wordpress.com/

but, after 'Connie' and Azamara, I'll be so infantilised, so deep into the cruising torpor I'll scarcely be able to think - so I'm looking for an easy option, this time. Who was your tour guy? The esteemed Mr. J.P. Singh?

LOL! Lets hope for calm seas. In 2006 I made to colossal mistake of booking a f/w facing cabin on the Tahitian Princess, a tiny ship much like the Azamaras, about 32 k tons. Well thats the worst place to be and when the seas rose it was just plain ridiculous.She was really sick. By good fortune an amidships cabin became available 3 days into the cruise. We were at lunch and heard my name paged and though "this can't be good" but a crewman who saw how sick she was thought of us when he heard of this cabin and sprung into action to get it for us. They sent 3 guys to our room and w/i 10 mins we were outta there. Great stuff and it saved out cruise. Mr. JP Singh?? :D Well she is beckoning now. Gotta go to a wedding so time to get ready. Well the wedding is an India bride and a Mexican groom so I imagine things will start a wee bit late. :S- Cheers, Larry :-)

The dog sails again!! Wow.
If I had left over holidays this year I would have joined you on the Connie. Havent been to the holy land yet. I do like the back balconies on the connie - but dont get sea sick so they are ok for me.

I journey on the Journey in Jan 2012. I noticed on the A website they mention azamazing..... I think they got that from you... didnt they? LP is likely reading all your writings!

I guess A is offering fabulous deals in other parts of the world. Here its more or less full price.

Miriam

Just got a Regent brochure today and they are offering 2/1 deals w/ free airfare and free shore excursions. Oceania has similar offers out there.

Hi dog, when do you leave? Watch out for that Iranian border - I don't think you'd like their jails....

Nice to hear from you guys - yup, I'm teetering right on edge of making that final booking plunge: my technique is to plan it all then, at the magic moment, book the lot. Well, the cruises are long booked - but what to do before? I've abandoned deepest Turkey, thursday - in favour of Egypt - well, at this moment. Getting into and out of Luxor is a hassle but today I'm much taken by this:
http://www.nourelnil.com/

I'm also much taken by the fact they don't have a bloody single supplement - the bane of my life.

Azamazing... emdee I'd like to think the esteemed Mr. Pimentall was reading my every word but I suspect he has better things to do. lol. The story continues to be very popular - way over 10,000 hits now - but I scarcely think Azamara would be overly interested in the ramblings of some souffle-soaked loon. I guess I'll find out in December when I get back on Quest for a month - maybe I'll get lucky and Rudi will be the F&B manager again.

I like the idea of the Azamara trilogy... there's a nice shape to it: from argh-h-h-h! Get me OUTTA HERE to Mmmmmm, it's not so bad to We-e-eeelll, I might just book another cruise to Ahh-hhh-hh... Azanaesthetised.

As for fabulous deals... nah, not really - but I discovered that if you hover and keep checking, every now and then you get a big surprise. I did well on my timing, both for Connie and Quest... no OBC tho. I'm still working out the system. Daily checking and the ability to go with the deals brings rewards.

Me? I'm free. Zooom.

So today is the day to decide. I've been up and down the Nile several times - but always on one of those container tourist boats - which is a crap way to see the sites. Nour El Nil looks perfect... but, by the end of the day, who knows?

Hi dogster - pity about the Kurds.... But I just read an article in Nat Geo Traveler about travel in Egypt during the "disturbances" - sounded good. You can probably find it online - look for "Egypt's New Day" by Carl Hoffman.

Yup, the idea of Egypt without the yowling hordes appeals to me - and the chance to get to some sites without another 14 boats arriving simultaneously makes it very attractive - otherwise it's a bit of a misery, isn't it?

Couldn't find that particular piece but I've been reading the earlier stuff from February. I'm enjoying Mr. Hoffman's insight.

Where was I all these long months?

Hello Dogster. Hmmm. When life gives you lemons then make lemonade. Or maybe limoncello :D. I was initially bummed that the Connie had cancelled the Alexandria stop though the addition of Haifa was good. Then I thought to make things more positive that seeing Egypt as a land based venture was be better and a Nile cruise would be wonderful. I didn't know a Nile cruise could be 5 days. Wow, 5 days cruising the Nile sounds idyllic. Gotta look into that. Anyway 6 weeks from today we leave for IST. Now gotta leave for the gym. C U on board. Larry :-)

I'll tell you about Egypt when we meet, jacket - I've been there 3 times - but I'm getting nowhere this time. Flights are too much of a shlep so its back to the lemon squeezer. I'll doubtless just turn up in Istanbul three days before 'cos its easy. I'm not feeling in the least adventurous at the moment. Just stick me in business class, lie me flat and deliver me to Istanbul...

Well rest up b4 the cruise and then pls. tell what a "lemon squeezer" is. :D

Enjoy your cruises dog and hopefully we will get some more instalments.
FYI since you like to cruise - AMEX Plat gives you a $300 OBC on a number of cruise lines.

Jacket I have foresworn Regent for now though have a number of cruises on that line. Hated Oceania the one time...

What was wrong w/ Oceania?

Larry, you and the Dog on the same boat? It will be a riot! >:-)

Someone quick, call X to get ready for both of you. I am really looking forward to see the two trip reports from you two.

You bet. :D Man I am looking f/w to this cruise. :S-

Actually Dogster will be like a mentor I think. :D :D

Actually, I find I'm always a bit of a disappointment. Mr. Dogster is much more interesting than his owner.

Luckily, he'll be on a chain in the cabin, under sedation while I'm having dinner with Mr. & Mrs Jacket.

Mr. Dogster's owner is a charming, shy gentleman, scarcely worth the time of day. He has been witness to bacchanalian scenes of horror and excess, courtesy his disgraceful canine companion but has somehow survived, not very intact.

Alas, the only thing he specialises in is his own stupidity so I'd cautious with his advice.

Larry, you will have to work real hard on your TR to match Dogster's wit :). Boy, it's going to be so much fun ...

Well Dogsters wit is pretty unique so I'll just post my usual stuff and enjoy his TR like we all usually. Hey, can't compete with that man, just want to keep enjoying it.

Aw shucks...

I leave in three weeks. I decided last night to bite the bullet on Egypt so added it in at the front. I've been there three times before so this is really just to try out Nour-el-Nil and revisit the Egyptian Museum in between bouts of jet-lag.

I assume that, as a consequence, papers will be full of revolution and disaster between now and then. I note a thread on another board assuring me that I'll be killed by militants on arrival.

Sounds like a perfect Dogster jaunt.

Armchair travelers can click here:
http://www.kempinski.com/en/cairo/Pages/Welcome.aspx
http://www.nourelnil.com/beit-sabee-guesthouse.htm
http://www.nourelnil.com/itinerary.htm

As you see, it's not exactly <i>intrepid</i>. Pfft. I've done intrepid in Egypt. This time I'm not. Four Nubian lads have been hired to carry me around in a palanquin.

Then here:
http://www.wistanbul.com.tr/
'cos it's a very gro-o-o-oovy little hotel.

I should be warmed up by the time 'Connie' and I get acquainted.

We have a different definition of little, lol! 136 rooms isn't little in my book, maybe 13.

Good luck in Egypt, glad you got it worked out.

All the best Dogster. Await the story of your travels.

Jacket - I felt that Oceania was faux everything it was a bit of a wannabe. Both staff and passengers seemed pretentious to me. I know you are an X traveller but I find some of the passengers on X to be like that as well.

I do still love Regent and quite like Azamara. Both have the country club casual which I like.

Thanks for the reply. This will be our 1st time on X actually. Pretentious is not us so we shall see. Cheers, Larry :-)

Larry, this is the first time for you on X? I wouldn't have guessed! I'll be very curious now on your opinion after the cruise. Teh Constellation is a nice ship.

BTW, bring your coffee press. Their buffet coffee is better than Princess, but still has a way to go.

I heard about the coffee. rather than lug the press I'll just bring Starbucks Via packets and use their hot H2O.:-)

Larry, Not the same, and they don't have coffee cards like Princess ... you packet will taste like instant coffee. Just like me trying to cook soft boiled eggs with a thermal cup on the ship ... :D

With that said, enjoy the Turkish coffee while in Turkey. We just love to sit outside the cafe, open air, by the market (Bazzar), sipping Turksih coffee or Apple Tea, watching people and the world goes by.

Funny thing is, there is a Starbuck a block away and we didn't even consdier going there.

Actually I prefer Via to Starbucks brewed stuff. I know they don't have a coffee card but what surprises me is that their partner cruise line RCI has as free coffee a blend from Seattles Best called Royal CariBean which is pretty good. Don't know why X can't do that. I just don't feel like taking my French press and my own coffee but I've been known to change my mind B4. :D How is the Turkish coffee? I don't mind very strong but dude don't want to taste grounds man. :-)

Strain the grind with your teeth ... :D Always good to the last drop.

Make sure you asked for "traditional" coffee. BTW, I am not sure if you will be in Greece or not, DW preferred Greek coffee. But then, you have to make sure that they made it the traditional way with the traditional equipment. We were lucky that they had a set of equipment right in the hotel dining room and when we asked for the traditional coffeee, they made it right in front of us and showing us how to do it. We were pretty wired after drinking that stuff a couple times a day for 3 days straight :)

We will have two stops in Greece, Athens and Rhodos. I've had greek coffee here and actually its just too gritty for me. very close to where I work is Chicagos Greek town with a bunch of restaurants so I've tried it B4. Torkish I've never had so I gotta try it once. As luck would have it. there was a gal wooking here short term who is from IST and is there now and we plan to get together while there so hopefullu she can steer us to some authentic places for the real deal. :-) As for me though I enjoy coffee it seems to have lillte effect on me buzz wise. Iget more of a jolt from diet pepsi max.

Larry, Apple Tea is the other hot beverage you have to try while in Turkey.

OK. Sounds good. There's a place downtown Chi called the Russian Tea Room. They have their own blend of tea. Awesome stuff. Never had black tea that tasty.

I have been told that they drink more apple tea tahn regular tea or even soda ...

RIP, witty poster :(