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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.

 

 

13 hours ago, SusieQft said:

I find this thread disturbing because we are booked in Splendor 934 for 67 nights starting in Dec 2023.  I just reviewed all the Splendor and Explorer reviews on Suite Guru, and there is a paucity of reviews in that part of either ship except for the recent one from 2012_Alaska_Bound for 932.  If there is similar vibration in other areas as some have mentioned, then trying to second guess a cabin change in advance may not be that helpful.

 

I am hoping that this is a maintenance issue on Splendor that Regent will resolve well within the next year and a half.  Am I being too naive?

 

Since Explorer has been sailing a lot longer and no one is complaining about a similar issue there, that would support the idea that it should not be a design flaw, and hopefully something they can fix.  Certainly they have been made aware of it.  If not, then Navigator is not the only Regent ship with a reputation for uncomfortable vibration issues.  That would be a shame.

 

We are also booked on Navigator in December 2022 (in a forward suite), so we will eventually be able to make our own direct observations and comparisons.

 

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

 

 

 

9 hours ago, Sweetpea711423 said:

Hi.  I've been reading your review with interest, particularly your repeated references to playing poker in the ship's casino.  My husband and I are both "land-based" casino poker players, but have not previously found poker being played on ships.  Were these always structured as "tournaments", or was there ever just "live" poker games?  And are the  "tournament" structures themselves always the same (starting number of chips, length of play at various betting levels, etc.), or did that vary as well? 

 

Thanks for any information you can provide about this. 

 

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.

7 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Wondering if you intend to do a review of the entire trip.  Sounds like you had a great time but the food could have been better in spots.

 

 

 

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.

3 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

Agreed, not really top steakhouse quality steaks but fun.  Nice choice on the wine.  

 

Sorry to see you were disappointed in the Matador burger its a personal fav.

 

Wondering if you intend to do a review of the entire trip.  Sounds like you had a great time but the food could have been better in spots.

 

Many thanks for taking the time.

 

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.

3 hours ago, Travelingwithstyle said:

Great photos and information. Really glad your wife had a great special birthday.  Thank you for sharing.

 

Could you share the up charge for the Odette wine?

  Thank you

 

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.

 

 

20 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

Nice photos, looks like you’re enjoying the cruise.  Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

Thank you.  We had a wonderful time.  Back home to the grind. 

Day 8 - Day of culinary mediocrity

 

Our night continued in the cabin, wide awake unable to shake the effects of time change.  We watched a movie and after that it was time to check out the room-service menu.  How about some pizza and burger?

 

We were able to customize our topping not listed on the menu - onions, and jalapenos.  The pizza was seriously delicious, way better than the slice I got from the grill earlier in the trip.  And no, we were fairly sober and this wasn't a case of the munchies.  The fries however were cold.

 

Medium-rare, just as we wanted and quite delicious.  This was our first burger on the ship and it was quite promising for what's yet to come.

 

When we woke up, we had sailed past midway point of the Atlantic - but still 4 more sea days to go.  There were steady swells from the north but the sailing had been fairly tame, though we did notice quite a few passengers sporting the patch.

 

It seemed like the ship took the day off.  The passages didn't have any special feature on the frontpage except for a full-page Ad for Seven Seas Splendor.  There was no special theme for lunch printed on page 2. (except on the last page showing middle-eastern buffet), and afternoon tea was pound cake - yay...?  The evening entertainment featured comedy by Tony Daro, so we wee looking forward to that.

 

Lunch was at the grill.  Kebab and tandoori to start.  The kebabs were juicy and delicious.  The tandoori was heavily overcooked.  Didn't eat but a bite or two.

 

The shrimp brochette was amazing as ever - this is a failsafe option at the grill.

 

The chicken wings are battered and fried.  Soft, juicy and yummy.

 

The handcrafted Matador burger was an utter disappointment.  It was a jumbled overcooked mess and the bun was dry and brittle.  One bite was one too many.  It's unfathomable how a grill that specializes in burgers fumbles it so bad compared to room service.

 

A bit bummed, we headed back to our room, deciding the enjoy the views of the ocean from our balcony.  DW ordered the buffalo chicken salad from room service, along with ice cream, cheesecake, and coffee.  The salad was very very good, even though the chicken was served cold.

 

 

 

We also watched a couple of whales (could have been humpbacks) in the distance; and, a bunch of dolphins decided to play along crossing the bow every so often - they were too fast to capture on camera.  Quite an enjoyable relaxing afternoon in the balcony and a worthy trade-off to pound cake.

 

We headed over to Compass Rose for dinner leaving plenty of time to catch the comedy show after.  We were seated by the window at the far end of the dining room.  

 

This never gets boring.  What a delightful way to begin dinner.

 

The dinner was also middle-eastern themed.  We both ordered the Moroccan Harira duck soup.  It was served lukewarm that pretty much took the punch out an otherwise delicious serving.  This was yet another time that we've been served lukewarm food on this ship and it was getting annoying.

 

I had the cavatelli pasta and DW had app portion of the Madras lamb curry.

 

We were served this dish on our special Indian dinner and it was just as delicious as before, albeit a bit salty.

 

For mains, I had the lamb curry and DW ordered surf-and-turf from the left-side menu.  Once again, the lobster was served cold, not even lukewarm.  The meat temperature was equally bad.  What a complete waste of a high-quality product just because it sat too long somewhere unattended.  DW would have sent it back except that the service had been slow so far and we wanted to catch the show soon after.

 

 

We were completely put off at this point and left the venue without ordering dessert.  I gave a quick feedback to the hosts in the front on our way out.

 

We headed out to the Constellation theater to catch the comedy show.  After a slow start, he was quickly on a roll and was quite hilarious.  Definitely lifted up our mood to wrap up the day on a high note.

 

 

Day 7 - Mo sea days

 

Still deep in sleep, we were woken up by the Captain.  Dang, how long have we been sleeping..?  We still had two more sea days before our`` next stop at Ponta Delgada.  But, getting there would involve rough seas and high winds.  So, we would stay on our easterly course and skip the port.  Well, it was only three hours till his regular noon update.  He could have let us sleep until then before breaking the news.  He was quite apologetic, though.  Multiple times.

 

The Passages featured The Country Fair, or the "fete," on the frontpage.  It was scheduled at 10a local time.  But, with successive days of losing an hour, that would mean 6a body time for us.  Captain's alarm clock didn't do it for us and we went back to bed, deciding to skip the event.  Apparently, it was a resounding success and talk of the town for the day.  We'll catch it on reruns on YouTube.

 

We skipped breakfast as we usually do on sea days.  The buffet theme for today is German.  They typically offer the featured dishes at all the lunch venues, with additional venue-specific items to differentiate.  Our lunch today would be at Chartreuse.

 

DH had their version of the french onion soup and she liked it.  I had some sort of a corn soup that was quite good as well.

 

  

 

 

For the main, we both chose the fisherman's platter.  Some of the best fried seafood we've had on a ship.  Really enjoyed it.

 

 

Dessert wasn't memorable.

 

 

 

After lunch, we returned to our cabin and lounged out in the balcony.  I spent a good bit of time trying to upload the pictures from our panasonic camera over to my phone so I could start writing the reviews.  The free wifi up to 4 devices per cabin was put to good use to transfer the pictures.

 

Afternoon tea theme was Viennese.  The presentation was quite pretty as usual.  Only thing we enjoyed were the scones with clotted cream and jam. 

 

 

 

 

 

That was a bit disappointing.  Back to the cabin to complete the uploads.  Tonight's dinner is at the Pacific Rim.  It gets rave reviews and the menu is extensive.  A quick visit to the Meridian Lounge for some 'Dancing before Dinner' with the Orchestra band but there wasn't much of dancing.  The specialty drink that includes a mist of rose water gently sprayed over the glass was the highlight.

 

 

Our reservation was at 8p but the venue was quite busy and we had to wait close to 20 minutes to be seated.  The ship's restaurants manager was quite apologetic and assured us another guaranteed visit to the venue as compensation.  We were in no hurry and didn't mind the wait.  But, the gesture was appreciated.  

 

How could one not be impressed by this! An auspicious sign to the feast that awaits us.

 

We were seated and promptly offered the welcome drink.  The plate setting is gorgeous.

 

That dip is oh-so-delicious!

 

We had earlier booked another visit to the venue for the final day and so had a rough idea for how to approach this extensive menu split between two visits.  

 

Ginormous lamp shades - this wide-angle shot doesn't do justice to capture the sheer size

 

Tempura soft shell crab for starters.  Thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Duck spring rolls.  Perfectly seasoned and delicious.

 

Foie gras gyoza 

 

Siu Mai

 

Tuna tartare with carrot and ginger sauce - yummy

 

Tempura lobster for the main course.  DH loved this better than the soft shell crab.  

 

Seafood laksa - was more like a curry but tasty nevertheless.

 

These sides were blah so we didn't take but a bite

 

Mei goreng - blah

 

Petite fours before dessert.  I'm a sucker for macarons and ate them both.

 

Chocolate Indulgence - but it has a gelatinous gooey center that the DW ate around.

 

Passion fruit cake was a disappointment.

 

We burnt a couple of hours on dinner.  It was quite elaborate and had a lot of hits, with a few misses mixed in.  We wrapped up dinner just in time to head over to the Observation lounge for some "guess the tune" fun.  I guessed one tune - woohoo!  DW faired much better and guessed 9 more.  But, not even close enough to the winners.

 

We headed back to the cabin and it was time to call it a night.

 

Or, was it...?  Technically, the activities that followed would be Day 8.

36 minutes ago, Gilly said:

Fingers crossed for negative testing all round!  Wishing you safe and trouble free journeys home.

 

Had a wonderful time in Barcelona, the food is phenomenal.  We tested negative and are on the flight back.  We had the self test kits and did it from our hotel room over video chat.  Quite straightforward.  

 

Will write up the rest of the review once we reach home.

 

All the best to fellow cruisers with their tests and safe travels.

 

 

51 minutes ago, Pudgesmom said:

I hope they are well and recovered. They seem like really nice people. 
 

I am in the minority here. We attended their show one evening after dinner and didn’t care for it at all, so we did not return. 
 

We liked the piano player and really liked the variety of music in the Meridian lounge, with various orchestra members. 

 

We attended both; the orchestra was indeed quite talented, too bad that they didn't quite cater to our music.  On one of the nights on our way to the Meridian lounge, we bumped into David - I recognize you, gigolo! - and I let him know that if the music doesn't improve at the lounge, then I'm gonna request "Black Hole Sun" and we had a good laugh.

 

I have a bit about Cassia that I'll share in my thread.

 

Edit: OK, so this thread is about Cassia and Boogie and I didn't share that part.  C'est la vie.

 

 

On 4/19/2022 at 12:37 PM, Techno123 said:

One of the reasons why I always open the public washroom doors with a paper towel and try not to touch handrails, door knobs etc (not just because of Covid nor just on cruise ships but generally when out and about). 

There is a sensor to open the door to the restrooms on the ship.  You just wave your hand in front of it to activate.  There are also paper towels right by the bathroom door on the inside that one could use.

1 hour ago, 2012_Alaska_bound said:

We stayed two days in Barcelona and agree about the crowds and Covid. Now on the high speed train to Madrid.

 

Sure do miss Regent!

 

Safe travels to Emily and you, Martha.

23 minutes ago, CJANDH said:

Have you found a place to get the test in Barcelona? Is Regent still "responsible" for your hotel and travel home? Do you know the process if you happen to test positive?

We brought a video-supervised antigen self-test kit with us.  The hotel wifi seems reasonable enough that we are going to try this out first.  There are numerous testing sites close by as well that don't require an appointment.

 

We booked our own hotel and the flight is an award ticket with United.  So, can't speak for Regent protocols if someone tests positive on a post-cruise stay.

We are enjoying our stay in Barcelona, but in Regent withdrawal.  The room at the Le Meridien is nice but there isn't even a vanity mirror for DW; Oh the humanity!

 

There's hardly any COVID protocol enforced.  The market at La Rambla is crowded and all the restaurants are packed solid.  We've been wearing masks indoors except while eating.  We need to be tested in a couple of days for our flight back, fingers crossed.

Day 6 - Sea day Sunday, The Brunch

 

"Yay, the Sunday brunch is back!". The excitement was palpable in at least one suite the night before when DW was thrilled to see the invitation from the Culinary Team to join them for a "gala brunch."  Our previous cruise experiences of such gala brunch events have been underwhelming so please excuse me for not sharing the excitement with DW.  Let's see what Regent can deliver.

 

The previous night was the second time that we had to move our clocks forward by an hour and so wake up time was also appropriately delayed.  But, we did manage to squeeze in coffee, fresh juice and a few doughnuts for room service breakfast

 

 

The doughnuts were alright, though definitely better than the consistently stale ones we had on the Crystal Nassau cruise.

 

Before long, it was time to head over to Compass Rose for the brunch, our first visit to the venue.  

 

We were seated by the window after a short wait. Drinks orders taken and I ventured out to take a few pictures.  Regent did a stellar job with the decorations, the food presentation and the variety of options.

 

 

 

The seafood spread looked quite inviting and included king crab legs, so we loaded up our plates for a sampling.  Unfortunately, the crab legs were completely soaked and inedible.  What a waste of a great product.  The shrimp was delicious and the sushi was good.  Crystal offered better sushi. 

 

 

They had prime rib and salmon en croute.  Regent did an amazing job with the salmon, one of the best we've had. We also tried the smoked salmon and it was very tasty with rich smoky flavor.

 

They had a crepe station so that would be our dessert.  Delish.

 

Overall, it was quite well executed by Regent.  Too bad about the crab legs. 

 

Today was cheesecake tea but we were too full from the excellent brunch that we had to skip it.  The Hennessy tasting must have been popular as they had another session today.  The Culinary Arts Kitchen held two classes on Mediterranean Masterpieces.  Not for us.

 

Dinner tonight would be at Compass Rose.  Again, not too hard to score a window seat after a short wait.

 

Ornate Varsace plate setting.  They must cost a pretty penny.

 

Dr. Loosen was on offer, our favorite Riesling.  

 

Indian vegetable patties for app.  They were tasty but too subtle on the flavors and required a dash of salt to bring them out.

 

The soup from the left side menu was the lobster bisque, but no lobster bits?  Also, the soup was lukewarm, an annoying trend of late; even our soups at Chartreuse were lukewarm.

 

 

I had the crab salad with caviar. It was atrocious, the only flavor coming from the caviar.  No more crab salads for me on Regent.

 

 

DW had an app portion of the miso glazed sea bass and it was heavenly, cooked perfectly.

 

 

Hey, we get a palate cleanser.  It was coffee sorbet.  We could have had this for dessert and be quite content.

 

The main was the Caribbean seafood curry.  Quite delicious and had a good mix of seafood in it, all cooked properly.

 

Petite fours prior to dessert. Dang, this is actually a specialty restaurant and not some "main dining room." Sucker for macarons, I gobbled that up and just took a nibble of the rest.

 

 

DW doesn't remember the name of this dessert.  The chocolate part was good, but not the center.

 

They had a mango ice cream and a coconut ice cream, why not both?  Holy smokes they were both delicious.  Glad I got them both.

 

 

We were stuffed after this elaborate dinner that we skipped the evening entertainment by Linda Gentille.  Moreover, we'll be moving the clock forward yet again tonight and so it was lights out for us.

 

 

6 hours ago, desibee said:

Strange.  Why, I wonder, were some targeted for testing despite also getting off the ship at Barcelona but not leaving the cruise and some not?

 

It's a new cruise segment, I think similar to a B2B cruise; otherwise wouldn't be fair for the folks who are getting onboard in Barcelona. We had to be tested for B2B on Crystal after the first segment. 

 

And, there are quite a few cruisers who are returning to the US immediately after the cruise and Regent offers onboard testing at cost for them, unless they have a Regent Air package, I think.  Seems fair to me.

 

 

 

8 hours ago, desibee said:

My contacts have said that testing was given to everyone, not just those needing it to travel home.  After all, they were not travelling home but were tested anyway.

 

We are getting off the ship at Barcelona and we aren't required to take a test.

 

We will be required to take a test to get on a plane to the US but that isn't until a few more days.

 

On 4/16/2022 at 12:44 PM, RetiredandTravel said:

 

 

Out of curiosity did they have the Chateauneuf du Pape or the higher end Bordeaux in Chartreuse?

 

 

 

 Yes, they did.  We also asked for it in the observation lounge and they obliged.

13 hours ago, mrstanley said:

I just heard that there is a couple in quarantine. What’s going on with the COVID issue? How many passengers have tested positive??? 

There's been no announcement that I've heard of active cases.  We've been tracking status at the CDC cruise ship quarantine site.  We were green when we left, then it became yellow after a couple on days and then orange while in the Atlantic and has remained orange ever since.

 

Day 5 - The crossing begins

 

There was a steady low-pitched rocking overnight indicating that the Captain had spooled up the crank shafts to put some distance away from Bermuda and pointing towards our next stop, Ponta Delgado.

 

Woke up the next day to find out that the Captain had chosen a much southerly route, cruising due east from Bermuda. We'll be taking the long route for the crossing.  The swells were a steady 6-8 ft from the north that would gently rock the ship.  The seas were otherwise calm, nary a white cap.  No need to break open our stash of scopolamine patches. Yet.

 

The Passages boasted of Saturday Marys ( 7 - 10a; too early for us ), an Asian buffet, afternoon tea with brownies and a Hennessey tasting event ($89 per guest.). I do enjoy the occasional cognac but passed on the event.

 

None of these sounded appealing so we headed to Prime 7 for lunch.  Regent does this better than Crystal by having two specialty restaurants open for lunch on sea days.  A few of the daily special menu items are repeated in all venues and they each have their own regular menu on top.

 

We got there just after 12 and were promptly seated by the window.  

 

We shared the quesadilla and the beef empanada for apps.  The quesadilla was the bomb, really tasty albeit an unusual offering at a French restaurant.  The empanada was quite good as well.

 

 

DW had the salad while I opted for the hot and sour soup.  The soup wasn't all that good, more watery than gelatinous.

 

 

For the main, I had the Asian salmon with sesame seeds and DW had the mustard glazed salmon.  Both were perfectly cooked medium and delicious.

 

We got the sampler tray for dessert.  Key lime pie was the standout, with the rest ranging from good to blah.

 

 

 

 

Cappuccino after lunch saved us a trip to the coffee connection, served in a cool looking cup.  What if you are left-handed?  They don't have one for lefties, so I tried it with the other hand and am glad to report that it didn't feel awkward. To a righty.

 

 

We headed over to the sports deck for a round of putt-putt golf. I lost miserably to the DW by a few strokes. 

 

I played poker in the afternoon while DW was preparing the laundry to be sent out.  I caught this flash-mob class right across from the casino in the Splendor lounge.  They were having a ton of fun

 

 

Dinner tonight was at Chartreuse, stopped by the Meridian lounge for pre-dinner cocktail.  The spicy and passion ( it's an adjective and a noun! ) was superlative.

 

 

Our first signature restaurant dinner of the cruise ( apparently all venues are specialty with three signature restaurants ) so let's see what's in offer.

 

The light fixtures on the ship are just over the top.

 

Elegant yet understated plate setting reminds us of the venue

 

 

A bit of Paris on the table

 

It's showtime.  Les hors d'oeuvres were the escargots Chartreuse style for the DW and Steak tartare et caviar for me.  They were both delicious.

 

The escargot isn't the typically tub of garlic and butter with something chewy floating in the middle

 

 

Some of the finest I've ever had.

 

I had the lobster bisque and DW had the mushroom soup.

 

The bisque had choke full of lobster flavor bursting out of it but not a lot of cream. I really enjoyed this rendition.

 

The mushroom soup was heavenly

 

For the main, filet for DW and lamb chops for me.  We also got a side order of baked lobster but it was horrible, so we didn't eat it after a bite.

 

The lamb was cooked perfectly to medium rare, the chickpea fritters was interesting

 

DW enjoyed her filet though it was cut thinner than usual.

 

The yucky lobster 

 

Petite fours before dessert

 

DW had the Lemon Bavarian cream.  Nothing memorable as she can't remember from the picture.

 

A French restaurant, so of course I had the cheese platter.  Delectable stinky cheese. Ate all of it.

 

 

The entertainment for the night was Diamond run, and Sinatra & martinis.  Not for us, so we called it a night.