pnsnkr

Day 13 - Cartagena, but not that one The Passages frontpage description of Cartagena starts with "Cartagena de Indias was named after the famous port on the southeast coast of Spain." Say what? There are times when the googles fails you and this was one of them. It seems like the city in Colombia gets more hits than the one we were to visit and whoever was responsible for putting together the Passages write-up fell victim to the oldest trick of the interweb search engines. Luckily for us, our Captain didn't consult google to navigate and we found ourselves parked at the one in Spain. DW had a rough sleepless night and so we skipped our regularly scheduled Cartagena Tapas tour as well as the Sunday caviar breakfast. It would be a solo outing for me into town for a quick visit to the Roman theater. It was also Easter Sunday and so I was able to catch the town's Easter parade. The Roman theater is only about 1/2-mile walk from the pier. The main entrance is through the museum and I almost missed it in my hurry to get over there. The googles had incorrect information that it would be open only till 2p but in reality it was open till 6:30p; even on Easter Sunday. As per the literature in the museum, the theater is a recent find when the initial excavation started in 1986 and carried through as late as 2003 to reveal it in all its glory. The theater is well-maintained. This is the view as you enter the theater from the museum side. I saw folks enter from the opposite direction as well. It's as if someone dropped a theater in the middle of the urban sprawl. Wonder how many structures were demolished to excavate this in its entirety. Probably a worthy application of eminent domain, hopefully the land owners were adequately compensated. The museum hosts a few artifacts as well as an indoor screening room for documentaries. No shows were scheduled while I was there. The Easter parade was underway so I made my way out to take a peek. The street sides were jam packed and I had to hold my camera well over my head to take the pictures. The city square was well-maintained and also hosted a few interesting structures. A Roman moai...? The brooding replacement soldier Not sure if this is indeed a trash receptacle or if it's been repurposed to be one. Hits a bit closer to home, having arrived from the ocean makes one wonder about the plight of all the sea life amidst the garbage cast off in open water. I made my way back to the ship and took note of the Easter decorations. Today's tea was Easter. I grabbed a few goodies and headed back to the room to enjoy from the balcony. They were good but not great enough to devour, so just a few bites were all we could manage as we bid farewell to Cartagena. The pre-dinner entertainment today was the Captain's farewell and Krew Kapers, a variety show of singing and dancing performance by the multi-talented crew. They don't get time-off to prepare for the show but instead stay late at nights after putting a full day's worth of work. The performances were stellar. No pictures during the show but I would like to highlight the full-bar and hors d'oeuvres service prior to the start of events at the Constellation theater. Kudos to Regent for offering this. The mini-bites were quite decent too. Dinner tonight was back in Compass Rose. Our last visit was a disaster and will Regent make up for it? There was a short wait to get window seats that we didn't mind and so took the opportunity to capture a couple more pics outside the dining room. The ornate plate setting - never could get tired of it. The right-hand side of the menu had a few promising choices that we will be tasting tonite. The service has been quite as well, so far so good. Caught a glimpse of what looked like a Windstar yacht while we placed our orders. For app, we both chose the Falafel Fritters. Wow, these were amazingly delicious some of the best falafels we've had. We shared the app portion of the Ricotta and White Truffle cheese fiocchetti pasta as well as the Siberian Ossetra caviar. Quite enjoyable. For the main, Maine Lobster Thermidor - absolutely delicious. Though, what is that steamed rice doing on the plate...? At this point, we were adequately stuffed and so ordered our desserts to our room. The mango and coconut ice cream are heavenly. Don't remember much of the Papuan Chocolate volcano.

Day 12 - Land after a week out at sea: Malaga That also means waking up at too early O'clock to prepare for being tourists once again on this cruise. Would the land feel firm under our feet or be wobbly after seven days at sea? To be seen. We were still pulling in to park when Zahid brought us our in-suite breakfast. In-suite breakfast has been consistently good on Regent We opted for a paid excursion this time - Malaga Gastronomy route. It included a "panoramic drive" through the historical Malaga, a visit to the hilltop Gibralfaro castle, walking the streets of old town past old Roman ruins, a visit to a tapas bar, and lunch at an Andalusian restaurant at the La Malagueta Beach. In retrospect, we should have skipped breakfast. With tickets in hand, we made our way to the Constellation theater; this time, a bit wiser to not show up too early to wait our turn. After a bit of navigating the maze that was our exit route, we made it outside to our tour bus. We were assigned a full-size coach with plenty of seating as it wasn't even half full. The city seemed to be well-maintained with fairly clean sidewalks, at least the parts we visited. Our first stop was at the hilltop for a panoramic view of the landscape below. We didn't get to go inside the Gibralfaro castle. Plaza de Toros de La Malagueta in the foreground. A tight squeeze, reminded us of the narrow two-lane road in the Amalfi coast. Next stop was at the historic district where we walked past old Roman ruins, other impressive structures, and narrow, but well-kept streets, to our stop at El Pimpi tapas bar. El Pimpi is a well-appointed tapas bar with proud owners. Though, why were we seated inside when this beautiful patio was so inviting? Time to taste us some wine and tapas. This was our first tapas tasting experience in Spain so we were looking forward to it. The wines were decent. The croquettes were amazingly delicious, and so were the potato salad and other dish we can't remember. Definitely a very good start to our tapas experience in Spain. Our next stop was at El Merendero de Antonio Martin. It's one of the highly rated restaurants in Malaga, with reservations booked days in advance. So, we were definitely excited to try out fine cuisine. The first dish was some sort of cold appetizer made with tomato and olive oil. Well, there was a ton of olive oil and it was the most prominent and forward taste, reminiscent of a gallbladder cleanse formula. The next dish was fresh-cut salad with fully cooked tuna. Not a fan of fully cooked tuna, so I had just the salad. The picture was blurry so didn't include here. Picture a bowl of salad with tuna on top. A tartar dish. We've had better, so a couple of bites was enough. So far, we haven't been feeling it. Having had a full breakfast didn't help, neither did the flavors on the fru-fru side. Fried anchovies. Fans of anchovies would have enjoyed it. Hard pass for us. Next up was paella. Finally, a dish we could get behind. The fish skin had really strong flavors but the rest of the dish was yummy delicious. For dessert, we were served layered caramelized cake. It was quite decent but we could get more than a few bites in at this point. Maybe it was the choice of dishes, as they do have an extensive menu, we weren''t impressed. After this stop, we made our way back to the ship. As we bid farewell to Malaga, we spotted a few dolphins. Dinner was a low-key affair in the balcony, ordered from Compass Rose. This pastry was delicious. The risotto, not so much. This curry dish was bursting with flavors, very enjoyable. Delicious snapper. Absolutely amazing thai sytle short ribs. Tonight's entertainment was West End star Phillip Browne. But, we were quite tired and retired early for the day after dinner.

One thing to consider is that not all cruises are the same. I was in the same TATL cruise as Alaska_Bound and I noticed that the starboard side stabilizer was doing extra work based on the wake patterns. We were getting constant swells from the North ( port side ) for the majority part of the cruise when we were sailing due east. This may or may not have contributed to extra vibrations on the starboard side - or for that matter, the port side. But, I definitely wouldn't decide based on one cruise. Might help if any of the current cruisers can chime in.

Day 11 - Final sea day, Gibraltar crossing The night activities continued back in the room, both of us still wide awake into the pitch dark of the night. How about some room service grub? Let's try the butter chicken and get some of that delish pizza with it. It didn't disappoint and was quite flavorful and creamy. And with the final time change, our bio clocks were truly messed up at this point. It was well into the wee hours before we were tired enough to get to bed. Which meant that we'd blown past both breakfast - never a concern - and lunch hours when we woke up. The Passages frontpage was about the post-cruise survey. Regent does this differently where the survey is only available while onboard and can't be accessed after debarkation. Made a mental note to complete the survey on the final night but we never managed to get to it. We made our way to the grill, which is open during daytime hours. This, along with Coffee Connections, serve as food stations after lunch (Of course, there's always 24hr room service.) Today's fish was barramundi. Properly cooked and with some blackening seasoning, just the way we like it. And shrimp brochettes too, why not? Today's main event is the Gibraltar crossing. This was supposed to be at night; but, since we skipped a port, there was an opportunity to make the crossing during daylight hours. The Captain had kept us informed the past few days as there are apparently quite a few factors to consider before the timeslot can be locked down. And, it would be between 7p and 8:30p. The strait is about 35mi or so long west-to-east, and the Rock of Gibraltar is on the eastern side. It didn't seem likely that we'd be able to view the Rock before it got dark. In any case, we made our way to the Observation lounge at around 6:30p...to find it jam packed. The mood was festive, accompanied by piano music. But, we hadn't even arrived at the mouth of the Strait yet and still had quite a bit of distance to cover at reduced speed due to traffic controls. One lady was visibly upset that the ship was going too slow and that they had dinner appointment approaching. Oh, lordy. Just grab a drink and enjoy the scenery; there's Tangier over yonder, the setting for one too many romantic or spy movie. And ferries playing chicken with us in their haste to keep schedule crossing the continents. Sure, the panama canal locks crossing it is not; but it was still quite scenic even though it was hazy. And windmills everywhere on the hilltops. And quite a bit of traffic We had a dinner appointment at 8p and so we bid adieu to the lounge and made our way to Prime 7. A window seat was assigned and we continued to enjoy the views of the crossing. The plate setting. Each restaurant has its own unique design. We think the one in Compass Rose edges out the rest for the winner. Amuse bouche; they say compliments from the Chef. That's funny, isn't the entire dinner complimentary? But, serve me just this goodness in a bowl with a side of grilled cheese sandwich and I'm a happy camper. It is really delicious, with smoky flavors For apps, I chose the beef tartar and DW went with the tried-and-true Diver Scallops with pork belly. The tartar was OK, I've had far better ones on a ship. I also ordered crab cake; glad I did as it definitely more than compensated for the tartar. It was mostly crab with very little breading, bursting with flavor. We did order steaks this time around for the main course; DW had the surf and turf filet with lobster, and I order a bone-in ribeye with a side of King crab. Against our judgement, might I add. The filet was cooked right but the lobster was way overcooked. Bummer. We've had better filet on Celebrity so this one didn't stand out. The bone-in ribeye was cooked properly to requested temperature. But, nothing memorable at all. It didn't seem like prime cut either. Glad I ordered a side of crab. They had actually removed it from the shell, a nice touch. Just as good as the first time. The wait staff really shine at this venue. We had quite a bit of banter with them. Definitely more interactive every time we've been here compared to our first visit at the Pacific Rim that seemed a bit more mechanical; or our visit at Chartreuse. We enjoyed the ambience so much that we changed our final night reservation from Pacific Rim to Prime 7. But, we'd stay away from the steaks. For dessert, DW had a hankering for key lime pie. It's pretty much a lot of condensed milk, sugar and lime juice on a crust. But, it just clicks when all the ingredients come together. Prime 7 rendition gets DW's stamp of approval. I didn't feel like dessert on the menu. So, how about an off-menu request - affogato? But, of course. After burning well over 2 hrs on dinner, we headed over to the Meridian lounge to catch the Best of 70s and 80s. We really enjoyed the Orchestra band, quite the talented bunch. Wish they played more of our kind of music, but that may not play well with the rest of the clientele. Kacia and Boogie were apparently in quarantine for the past few days and so we didn't catch them but once.

Day 10 - Bad Science, left turn at Albuquerque, back at Pacific Rim We woke up to the remnants of last night's festivities, still full of memories from the wonderful time, but obviously quite empty of the fabulous wine in the decanter. That thing probably costs upwards of $300 so we were careful not to break it.. A quick look at the navigation map in the morning confirms that the Captain has indeed made a left turn at Albuquerque, or the Madeira archipelago as it's called in this region. Our suspicions of an unannounced landing party to explore Marrakesh were finally put to rest. We are indeed headed towards the Strait of Gibraltar. The topic of today's Passages frontpage is Ocean Tides. It has the popular explanation of how tides are formed; but, also quite incorrect: [QUOTE] Most coastal areas experience two daily high tides. This is because at the point right "under" the moon, that water is at its closest to the moon, so it experiences stronger gravity and rises. On the opposite side of the Earth (the antipodal point) the water is at its farthest from the moon, so it is pulled less; at this point the Earth moves toward the moon than the water does - causing the water to "rise" (relative to Earth) as well. [/QUOTE] Hm..no, there's no levitation of water due to moon's gravity. And earth doesn't "move" towards the moon more than the water does. While moon's - and sun's - gravity cause tides, it's a bit more nuanced. Here's a good video that explains how tides work. Anyhow... We've enjoyed free valet laundry service throughout this cruise, though we did hear in the roll call thread that this was stopped midway when they opened the laundromats. Didn't affect us, maybe because we were in the PH; or, our butler was too kind...? In any case, each garment is carefully tagged with the room number so they don't get misplaced. The only problem is that they seemed to be using a really strong adhesive not unlike gorilla glue, as it took Herculean effort to peel them off; leading us to add a few new choice entries to our swear word repertoire. Almost a month later since the cruise, DW is still finding a few of these stuck to our garment. There's one more and final time change coming tonight. We thought that this gradual spread-out way of moving time forward would help us acclimatize but that never happened. Any future ocean crossing would have to be in the opposite direction. It's Seafood Extravaganza at the pool grill, so we checked it out for lunch stop. Looked pretty but having just feasted on seafood the night before, we headed over to La Veranda to check out the spread. We were pleasantly surprised to find Indian food on offer. The stuffing in these samosas was heavenly. Wow, these tandoori ribs were amazing. Didn't touch these pre-packaged "naans." The curry was decent. Didn't get to sample these stuffed rotis. Have I mentioned that Regent excels in shrimp dishes? This was delicious. We grabbed these on our way back to the room; to enjoy in our balcony. Nope. The room was being made so headed down to the lobby instead to enjoy them there. I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of the various light fixtures. This being one of the last two remaining sea days, I went to the casino to play poker. It was another lively fun tournament and a good way to burn 2 hrs. Just in time to make the Donut tea. Regent hedged their bets in Passages by calling it Donut tea but the description speaks of a "selection of doughnuts." Well, they tasted more like Donuts than doughnuts, if you catch my drift. Nothing memorable. Bummer. Back to the room for some room service French Press coffee and watch the waves from the balcony. Out of the blue, DW mentions that she isn't feeling it for Compass Rose dinner. Huh? We didn't have any reservations; but, no harm in asking. A quick call to Zahid to check if he could get us into Pacific Rim (with only a few hours advance notice? hahaha) OK, that was me enacting Zahid on the other end of the line. He was actually quite diplomatic in his response and rightfully set our expectations quite low. He called us later in the evening and requested us to make our way to the restaurant at around 8p and if there was an opening then they would accommodate. Seemed only fair and so we made our way there at the appointed time. Promptly after we arrived, Zahid showed up there as well; as if there's a hotline between the CCTV control room and the Butler network - he always seemed to know where and when we are. And, this wasn't the first instance either. Apparently he had been on the phone back-and-forth with the maitre d' to check status and availability. Amazing. We thanked them both profusely but the words failed to convey how we actually felt. We were seated by the window with gorgeous views of the waves crashing in. It was still light out. The menu is so extensive that you could visit multiple times and not have the same item twice. But, we do have our favorites from the first time that we revisited while tasting a few new items. These weren't wrapped tight and crumbled. Not the best sushi we've had at sea. Soft shell crab still tasted yummy. Lobster tempura, another favorite. This was finger-licking good! Sticky and flavorful. These were alright. Very delicious and perfectly cooked. Something new for dessert as well Don Papa Rum Cake - really enjoyed it. Coconut "Tres Leches" - not so much. Another memorable experience at the Rim. We had one more reservation for the final night but we decided to switch that over to Prime 7 instead. After dinner, we headed over to the Meridian Lounge the catch the Early Years of Rock by the Orchestra. With special guest appearance by the CD David Nevin

Both blackjack and poker tournaments were offered on most sea days, at 1:30p and 2:30p local time respectively. I didn't see much activity during the evenings or at nights the couple of times I walked past the casino, so not sure if they hosted cash games. They didn't have regular poker tables and so one of the blackjack tables was converted to host the games. There were only ~550 passengers on board and it was the same set of 6-8 of us who played in the daily tournaments. I played three times while a few of the rest played almost every day. The tournament structure was the same every day: 2K starting chips and the first round of 100-200 blinds was 30 minutes long. Unlimited rebuys were allowed during this time when the chip count was < 2K. At the end of the 30 minutes, there's an option for one add-on with 4K chips + one rebuy. Then the blinds went up every 10 minutes with no ante. All rebuys and add-ons were the same price as the entry fee - $60. The house took $10 from it. It usually lasts about 2 hrs.

Ha! In my post-booster - that I got yesterday - stupor, I read "trip" as "ship." Yea, plan is to post the remaining days, plus Barcelona condensed into one post and possibly a summary of our thoughts on this maiden voyage.

We once had the opportunity to taste Cos d'Estournel on a SQ flight and it was divine. That's been our benchmark for wines around this price range. The Odette definitely compares quite well. The Matador could have been a one-off bad experience. Since the shrimp brochettes were our go-to option, we stuck with it on subsequent visits. There are quite a few reviews of the ship that have done far more justice than I could ever attempt. So, I wasn't planning on it. Though, the light fixtures around the ship did catch my attention. I have a few pictures of them that I try to add in to my review.

Thank you. The up charge was between 13% - 20% depending on baseline price.

Day 9 - Happy Birthday, DW! The original itinerary had us visiting Ponta Delgada today; and so, we'd earlier planned to celebrate DW's birthday a day later so it would be on a sea day. Plans change and we adapt. We shall celebrate the birthday, well, on her birthday; so we had the Prime 7 dinner changed to today as soon as we heard that we'd be skipping the port. I'd also requested our butler Zahid to decorate the cabin and it would be done when he head out for lunch. A beautiful sunny day with calm seas. But, the storms were raging right behind us and making a beeline towards Ponta Delgada. The captain still had the ship pointed due east and was getting us the heck outta dodge. Zahid stopped by to personally wish DW Happy Birthday and to reconfirm our reservation at Prime 7 for dinner tonight. There would be no theme buffet today and so we'd be heading over to Prime 7 for a sit-in lunch. Today's tea would be banana flambe so something to look forward to this afternoon. The Passages also boasted the special caviar bar and champagne at the Observation lounge at 6p. When we traveled on Seabourn, we could order caviar and champagne on any day, served right in our room. Not sure why Regent doesn't advertise such a perk. In any case, it would be no special caviar, just the same that we'd tasted earlier at the brunch; so, we skip. We made our way to Prime 7 for lunch after enjoying the calm seas from our balcony. We we promptly seated by the window. The seas were still relatively calm past the streaky window. The specials featured South East Asian dishes and that looked promising. For starters, we had the Coconut and Galangal soup. Yet again, it was served lukewarm. What's going on here...? For the next course, I had the Country Terrine and DW had the app portion of the Nasi Goreng, the featured dish. Once again, the Nasi Goreng wasn't served hot. The terrine was exquisite and the tangerine complemented it just right. Really enjoyed it. For the main course, Nasi Goreng for me and Chili and Honey-glazed Salmon for DW. Holy smokes, the salmon was served almost cold. It was promptly returned to the kitchen. This was pretty bad and something wasn't right with expediting at the kitchen, with food just sitting there feeling lonely... We had a chat with the restaurant manager while we waited for the main course and provided feedback that this seemed to be a problem ship-wide; or maybe we were the unlucky chosen ones. He was apologetic and ensured that he'd make a note for us; which prompted us to inquire - why would anyone have to make a note of it? Hot food needs to be served hot. The two of us had a laugh playing out WWGRD - What would Gordon Ramsay do - scenarios while we waited. After the main course, we just nibbled at the petite dessert sampler that tried valiantly to rid of the bad taste from our experience. My wanting to give a few more minutes for Zahid to decorate the room, it was time to do some exploring of the ship. We headed down to Deck 5 to check out the SPA. It was quite impressive, but also quite empty. The SPA menu was also reasonably priced. But, not our cup of tea. We made our way to the Coffee Connection to grab our usual to go. There are no paper cups so it was served in proper china that we carried to our room. Zahid had decorated the room in the meantime and it was just right; and set the right celebratory mood. We enjoyed a nice chilled bottle of Champagne in your balcony. Our request to get a printout of the Complimentary Wine list was also delivered to the room (already posted upthread.) We really enjoyed the Afternoon Tea events on the ship and tried to attend as often as we could. Today it's Banana Flambe tea. Not a table-side affair but still was quite good - definitely a better dessert than the petites at Prime 7. And the scones never disappoint. We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the room, basking in the decorations; and filled out the mid-cruise survey. It's been an amazing experience so far except for a few notable hiccups - exceeding expectations. Just the right kind of pampering for DW for her milestone birthday. Zahid had been patiently waiting outside our room - and we didn't even know about it! - while we were preparing for our dinner outing at Prime 7. He greeted us as we left our room, wished my DW one more time, and escorted her all the way to Prime 7. Wow! Once at the venue, he checked-in with the manager, who then escorted DW all the way to the table. It was like the changing of the guards. It was quite funny yet so elegant and done with flair. This would be our first visit to Prime 7 for dinner. We are from Texas. Steak Houses on ships don't impress us. We dined at the TK Grill on Seabourne Serenity. It was quite good but not impressive. We didn't come to Prime 7 for a cut of steak, we get plenty of it back home. But, there are other goodies on the menu and that would be our focus. The manager had reserved a table at the far end of the restaurant by the rear windows with amazing views. Just the perfect start to set the tone for the celebratory dinner. Champagne to start and a few pictures for posterity taken care of and it was time to peruse the menu. DW had known well before the start of the cruise what she's gonna have - King Crab legs. We also decided to splurge a bit and get a red wine from the Connoisseur's menu. A short discussion with the sommelier and a wine was picked. We haven't had this one before so hopefully it matches our tastes. Wow! An amazingly well-balanced wine with a smooth finish. A quick check on the googles also confirms that the upcharge is very reasonable. This dinner is looking ever promising. For starters, we both ordered scallops and pork belly. A simple enough dish, yet everything on the plate worked well; and of course cooked to perfection. Delicious! For the mains, King crab for DW and whole Main Lobster for me. But, what I received were two lobster tails. Still quite sumptuous. Regent really redeemed itself from the disastrous King crab offering at the brunch. Hot, succulent and a whole 2lbs of it. The onion rings hit the spot, though I could have devoured a few more. Petite fours. DW doesn't care for fruits and chocolate combo. I enjoyed them nevertheless. For dessert, it was an elaborate fanfare and procession from the kitchen of bringing over the birthday cake while the staff sang. Thankfully, the restaurant had cleared by then and we were pretty much the last two left, due to our late dinner timing. The cake itself was quite delicious. Wow, that was by far the best dinner experience on the ship. Just about everything was perfect - oh yea, the hot dishes were hot. We enjoyed the wine so much that we bought one more to take to our room.

@pnsnkr& @islandchick Jeez, another thread on the transatlantic?!? We felt bad to pile on to the other thread but now that we've figured out how to transfer food porn from camera to the phone via Splendor Wifi, we got pictures... Lotsa pictures. Maybe a few of the ship as well. The Captain woke us up this morning from deep food coma only to announce that there'll be more food to be had onboard because we are skipping Ponta Delgado! We think somebody on our deck was so angry that they flushed their tour tickets down the toilet, cuz ours don't flush anymore. Oh nooooo! Anyway... Now that we have five more sea days ahead including today, let's start at the beginning. Or, before the beginning to bid adeau to Crystal; you shall be missed and hope you rise back from the ashes of Genting.