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Ha! It's been a while since someone called us "kiddos"! :-) We really like the library on the Regatta. While the Oceania Marina's library has that cozy feeling with small little sub-rooms, the Regatta's has an open feeling with windows and is really comfortable. It doesn't have the painted skylight that you referenced. If you want to see what it looks like, we have a ship tour that includes the library: ruclips.net/video/W6t8wn-fZRg/видео.html Thanks for watching and for the kind words.

Thank you for such kinds words. I know that others have noted issues with the sound proofing of the rooms but we didn’t notice any issues. Thanks for watching!

We had a different cruise on the Splendor booked for 2020. So when COVID canceled that, we were looking for another cruise and found this one…discounted due the chaos of the pandemic.

Thanks for the kind words. We apologize for not being a clear as we should have. What happened was we spent the night in Ushuaia as opposed to making our way out through the Beagle Channel to the Drake Passage and on to Antarctica. This is the reason we were filming the second day in Ushuaia. As a result, we had one less day in Antarctica because we arrived a day late and still needed to return as scheduled. As far as a refund. No. And to be honest we fully understand and accept it. One of the things that we've learned over our 300 days at sea is the weather is always in control and changes to the itinerary are expected. This is certainly true of an Antarctica cruise. During our initial briefing--and we think we used the clip in our video--Jonathan explained the 3 rules of an Antarctica cruise which are 1. Flexibility, 2. Flexibility, and 3. Flexibility. The reality is that although we were bummed by losing a day as we were in Ushuaia, by the end the time we were returning to Ushuaia from the 7th continent, we had such an amazing experience we really didn't even think about it. Jan is sitting at his computer right now editing our footage to bring you this experience hopefully next Sunday. Thanks for watching.

Fantastic! I would imagine that crossing the Drake was a bit more manageable on a Celebrity ship as opposed to the 10,000 ton ship we were on. Although we wouldn't have traded our experience for anything. Thanks for watching.

@@janandtraceytravels it was rough crossing the Drake, but I’ve been In worse. The captain and the guest lecturer both said we had amazing weather for our trip. It was clear, no rain or clouds and the wildlife was plentiful.

Celebrity uses the Equinox for their Antarctica cruises, right? It's got to be a bit more steady than our small expedition ship. To put things in perspective, the Equinox has a tonnage of 122K tons. The Atlas ships have a tonnage of just 10K tons. Our cabin was on deck 6 and in the evening, we had waves splashing over our veranda! Unfortunately, no footage of this. That being said, we managed without any real issues or even sea sickness--thanks to the patches. Your overall sentiment seems to echo our own, however. A cruise to Antarctica is a magical experience. Thanks for watching and caring enough to comment. Next video is on our editing software being edited right now!

@@janandtraceytravels it was the Eclipse!

Thanks so very much. We did a transatlantic on the Vista a couple of months ago and loved it (restored our faith in Oceania after a rather shaky cruise on the Regatta). The videos for the Vista are upcoming--we have the very happy situation that we are traveling faster than we can edit and get videos out. We have always loved Regent and it is a great line. But for the money, it has pretty much priced us out of the market and didn't provide enough over Oceania to justify--to us at least--the additional expense. Thanks again and we hope to run into you on an Oceania cruise in the future. We have two booked in the next 12 months!

Have a great cruise. We’ve heard the internet has been upgraded as well. The internet in the Vista was good when we did a transatlantic cruise on her a couple months ago (still getting through content to get those videos out, ugh). The Vista had the Aquamar which Tracey enjoyed. However, with the Waves Grill on the other side, Jan couldn’t resist eating there for the burger and malts! Thanks for watching.

Nope. Don’t think we could blame this in the wonderful people of Galveston. We chalk it up to the size and design of the venues.

Actually, there were no USB plugs. We try hard to point out all of the outlets in our tours--there were no USB outlets to highlight.

Yes we did. There was one evening in which the special was lobster and they made a rather big production out of it, but for the most part, we found it wanting. Of course, this is an experience where N=1, so maybe we hit Viking not at their best. Although, outside of the food we greatly enjoyed everything else.

We’ve looked at Ponant and friends of ours have sailed on one of their ships and enjoyed it. Maybe one day. Thanks for watching.

Great question. Every sea day in the morning--check the Currents for times--one of the crew (sometimes its the asst. cruise director or one of the production cast members) will host needlepointing. Usually there are at least 20ish guests there. The ship will provide needlepoint kits that you can choose from. The only caveat is that you have to complete one project before they will allow you to select a new kit. It's held in the Horizons Lounge which is a wonderful venue and is a great way to meet other guests.

@@janandtraceytravels thanks! I used to love to needle point

Wow. If we would have know that from the beginning we would have never mispronounced it. We now wonder how we should be pronouncing The Local 😎. While we didn’t like the forward suite, we did love the aft suite. Have a great trip. Thanks for watching and great information.

@@janandtraceytravels speaking as a Brit, I would call The Local - Pub! ;) :)

Ha!

We haven't sailed on Azamara (yet), but friends of ours have and loved their cruises on the line. However, we were under the impression (perhaps erroneously) that the fares on Azamara and Oceania were rather comparable. We were very close--reservations were even held--to doing a series of B2Bs on Azamara that went from Miami-Miami circumnavigating the whole of the South American continent. But backed out when we learned that unlike most other lines there was no discount on doing B2Bs and that specialty dining was an additional fee. We've done one Viking ocean cruise (so far), and with the exception of that one cruise's food, thought it actually had a great deal of value--especially when you figure in the included thermal spa--which we thought was the best at sea--and included excursions. Where we do agree with you is Explora and Atlas. Our Antarctica trip on the Atlas World Navigator was amazing. We are still putting together our review on that trip and are having difficulty beyond the Wifi package on coming up with our 3 downs. We will be on the World Navigator again in October going around the southern portion of South America. Atlas might be our favorite cruise line. We also enjoyed the Explora 1--review on that is also in the works--and thought that it has the potential of being a real contender in the luxury segment of cruising. We do worry that when the ship begins to sail at full capacity whether some of the venues are big enough to handle additional guests. We are booked on the Explora 2 this upcoming January. Anyway, thank you so much for not only watching, but being passionate enough to provide your thoughts. We'll have to give another look at Azamara.

We loved Sydney! Although not on this cruise because we had to fly out that morning. But we spent 2 days there during our world cruise!

Thanks so very much. We are glad it is helpful.

We had 5 Regent cruises before COVID (Regent/Raddison was actually our first ever cruise) and we’re blown away with them. We do want to go on Seaborne and Silverseas, though. Thanks for watching!

When we were on the Viking Sky, we talked about how perfect their ships would be for a WC. Sorry yours got cut short. Glad to hear about the food.

@@janandtraceytravels Viking was excellent. The sea days with the spa and enrichment lectures were great. The many spots on the ship to sit and relax were wonderful. My wife did art classes, I joined the choir and played baggo and we made many new friends. I highly recommend Viking for a world cruise if you can do it. Because everything is included, when the wine steward recommends a particular wine to go with your entree, it is because it is the right wine, not because he/she is trying to sell you a high priced bottle. We had cruised with Crystal before they had issues. We found Viking to be a modern version of the Crystal we enjoyed previously. We have a 28 day Baltic cruise planned in 2025 and a 14 day Asia cruise with Viking in 2026. We are considering an Oceania transatlantic repositioning cruise in the fall of 2026.

Like we said, we would love to do a WC on Viking. We did the 2023 WC on MSC as it was achievable on our current budget. However, in a few years we will be old enough to begin taking fund from our IRAs and the math changes a great deal. Thanks again for the comments and safe traveling! Sounds fun.

We enjoyed our Viking Sky cruise and look forward to sailing with them again. We did like the small size of this ship however. Thanks for watching!

We loved sailing through Asia. Enjoy and thanks for watching. A review of our Oceania Regatta from Singapore to Sydney comes out tomorrow!

@@janandtraceytravels wonderful I can't wait to see it!!!

We didn't have these issues on our recent Oceania Vista cruise, either. I believe that Oceania upgraded the Marina with Starlink after we sailed on her which might be the difference in experiences. Thanks for watching.

Glad you had a great cruise! Thanks for watching

We appreciate you watching and the thoughtful comment. Good news, though. This was simply a first impression of our first day in the ship. Our review should be coming out in 2 weeks. Also, while we were disappointed with the atrium and the main dining room, we liked the food court and love the Ocean Boulevard. In the review, you’ll hear our impressions on the specialty restaurants which-save for one of exception we really enjoyed. Stay tuned.

We have been blessed to have been on 10 cruise lines--we have 3 more booked in the next 18 months that will be new to us. We think that cruises are like clothes. What you wear may not fit us and what we wear may not be your style. When we were younger and had kids in the house, we loved NCL. In fact, it is the cruise line that we have sailed on most (and have 2 more cruises booked, sans-kids ). Carnival and MSC receive lots of angst from cruisers. But for families or those on a budget, they are lines that are good fits. Although we love the Yacht Club and think it's probably the best value at sea (spoiler, we just got back from the MSC Seascape in the YC and will be bringing those videos soon). We've sailed once on Royal Caribbean in an Owners 1-bedroom suite and thought it was a fantastic deal. However, as we are now in our 50s, we are gravitating towards smaller ships. Our one cruise on Viking Ocean was fantastic (less the food) and look forward to finding an itinerary where we can sail on them again. They have perhaps the nicest (free) thermal spas and the ships are gorgeous. That they include excursions in every port is definitely a plus. We sailed Explora Journey's Explora 1 and have the Explora 2 booked and were blown away. Our only concern is that when this new line begins to fill up to 100% capacity, we worry that some of the venues might become too crowded. Regent was the first cruise we ever did on our honeymoon years ago have taken a total of 5 cruises with them. They are probably the best cruise line, but have pretty much priced us out of the market. So, to (finally) answer your question. It probably comes down to Oceania and Atlas. We've done three cruises on Oceania and 2 of the 3 have been amazing. Our Oceania Regatta cruise had plenty of ups, but something just wasn't quite right on that cruise. That cruise review comes out next week (fingers crossed). We did Atlas twice including our Antarctica cruise which was the best trip of any type we've ever taken. It's a small expeditionary ship with only 150-190 passengers. We just loved the vibe of cruising with a small intimate group of active, well-traveled passengers. Sorry to wear you down with a long answer. But it's a question that we find to be very involved. Thanks for watching!

Thanks!

Well, from two retired Army Soldiers, let us first thank you for the kind words and also wish you Fair Winds and Following Seas!

Wow! Are your B2B's on the Sky or what other ship is it? In September 2026 we are nearly doing 5 S2Ss. We'll have a night between the 3rd and 4th cruise and 4 days between the 4th and the 5th. Cruises 1-3 will literally be getting off at one terminal and having Uber pick us up and taking us to another terminal. 77 days sounds fun. We assume you've done something like this before? If not, we'll tell you from our experience of being on the same ship for 118 days straight--it truly is the first 30 days that are the hardest. Enjoy and thanks for watching!

@@janandtraceytravels same ship. I have done b2b before on same ship and on different ships. When it was different ships I got off in Barcelona HAL and got onto Costa, Costa was right behind us so I was able to walk in about 5 mins and that was easy. I don't book far out, I'm solo and watch for the $0 or low single supplements. Plus I don't want to book that far out too many opportunities or appts could come up.

@@kirareed1865 Well, have fun! We suffer--should we even be allowed to use that word?--from filling up our calendar. We made a mistake though, our 5 cruises are in September-October 2025, not 2026. However, we have 1/2 of 2026 already scheduled.

You'll love Reykjavik. Iceland is wonderful! There are things that are to like about the ship. Make sure you go to the Palomar restaurant on-board!

True. However, unless I'm (Jan) mistaken, the Sky has always operated under NCL and had previously been refurbished at least once. Additionally, as we noted, we've sailed on MSC which, like Costa, is an European cruise line largely focused until recently on the European market and our European cruises on the line had more 110 outlets. It's not a deal breaker or even a hard negative--just an observation. Thanks for watching!

@@janandtraceytravels so what did you think of MSC beyond the yacht club is it too crowded and pushy on the nickel & dimei

We actually just got home from a cruise on the MSC Seashore which was at 118% capacity. Still putting together our thoughts for our review, but our initial thoughts were that while parts of the ship can get very crowded at certain times, overall we found it no worse than the other mass market cruises we’ve been on and more tame than a few

@@janandtraceytravels GREAT i will wait for that then ;) keep up the good work !

Have a great cruise. We’re interested in hearing how it goes. We have generally noticed that in 2024 that things tend to be gradually returning to how we remember cruising. Take care and thanks for watching.

We really need enjoyed the room. Thanks for watching!

Nope. We state that we were looking at the cruiser rating average from Cruise Critic. At the time we filmed this, the NCL Prima had an average of 2.8-the lowest of any NCL ship. The Spirit btw has an average rating of 3.8.

Thanks. We were there for a day last year on our world cruise. The MRT is just like any other metro. Pretty easy to navigate. We paid with our iPhones. You just have to use a different card for each of you (if we remember right).

We did! Thank you.

What a wonderful comment! 😎. Seriously, thanks.

We know we said renovating. It could also be a routine schedule of cleaning.

The port is about 7km from the area where both the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque is-but it is in the other side of the strait. So, I think your bet is to either take a taxi or even the metro. There is a metro station about 300 meters (ish) from the port Tracey took the metro in to the spice market and said it was easy. The security when we were there wasn’t any more severe than most any ports. Have your ship card (don’t remember if we needed our passport also-take it along in case. ) Once you get to the Haggai Sophia and Blue Mosque lines can be long. However there are always your guides in the area drumming up business and the can get you in (including the Cisterns which are also nearby) without much wait. Be aware of the times of prayer as you will not be allowed into either mosque while they are going on. You can stay inside-as we did-if you are already inside, just cannot enter. Have a great time and thanks for watching.

@@janandtraceytravels Thank you very much for your information.

Ha! But the wanton soup was SO good!!! (We actually did, but didn’t show it). Thanks for watching.

We’ve been to Thailand twice and last year visited Vietnam and Malaysia. As part of the trip of this video, we next went to Indonesia. We haven’t been to Laos and Cambodia-yet. We are planning on going to those two countries in 2026. Thanks for watching!

Yours are very kind words. Thank you.