WNcruiser

Good morning from Zeebrugge, Belgium. A cloudy day but luckily the rain is staying away. Hard to believe this is the last day of this 2 week cruise. We started our day yesterday with a 90 minute walking tour of Amsterdam and then a one hour canal boat ride. The walking tour was nice but missed many places we had hoped to see, like Dam square, Jordaan neighborhood, Anne Frank house, etc. Definitely will need to come back for a longer stay. The canal boat dropped us right at the ship where we had about 45 mins before our PM tour to the countryside. We visited Edam, Zaanse Schans, and a family farm. The first two stops were very nice taking a short walk seeing windmills, a small village, cheese shops, canals and churches. The last stop was just a tourist trap trying to sell us junk. We managed to avoid the rain for most of the day with just some showers on the second tour. Overall we had a nice day and saw a lot for a single day. Photos of Amsterdam (note the leaning buildings in #3):

@GeorgiaPeach51 A Nutella cronut just for you! It was delicious 😋

WOW. That’s all I can say about the service on Regent. I will try and keep this story short. The first couple nights of the cruise we had a few issues with meat being cooked as requested. As I said before it was quickly fixed. The Executive Chef, Glenn, came out both times and made sure the new dishes were prepared correctly. From then on Glenn continued to check on us whenever he saw us, stopping by our table many times the last 12 nights. Two days ago we saw Glenn at the pool grill and he asked how everything was going. We asked about the Mexican themed lunch in La Veranda as we were missing Mexican food. Unfortunately they were not having it this cruise. Well, tonight Chef Glenn personally cooked us a Mexican dinner in CR. This food was absolutely delicious, probably the best Mexican food we have ever had. For the Executive chef to take the time to plan and cook us a dinner is really unbelievable. This is what Regent, and specifically this Voyager crew does every day to make everyone feel like they matter. Courses were: A spicy shrimp cocktail, chicken quesadilla with fresh salsa, crema and sliced avocado, chicken enchiladas and pork belly tacos with an amazing sweet honey and spicy sauce. Just no words for how good the tacos were. For dessert, traditional Mexican flan that was the creamiest we have ever had. Just an incredible meal. Thank you Chef Glenn! I am really going to miss this crew.

Good evening from Amsterdam. It has been a long whirlwind day, but a very enjoyable one as well. My first time here and really enjoyed it. Yesterday I finally made it to tea time and it was “tea and cupcakes”. Very beautiful cupcakes in many flavors, don’t miss it if you are sailing soon. Had another dinner in Prime7 and ordered the whole Maine lobster this time, it was a nice change from steaks. CR had molten chocolate lava cake so we went down there for our dessert.

Thank you very much! I appreciate that 😊

Today is going to be a relaxing sea day. Definitely walking a couple miles up on deck. We will be having a small cruise critic lunch for our roll call members as well. Something a little odd on this cruise. We have been on board for 12 days now and have not seen the Captain once. I don’t think this has ever happened on a cruise before. We hear his announcements every afternoon and we have seen many other senior officers walking around, but not even a glimpse of the Captain. The singers and dancers put on a great show last night called “Rockin Soul”, very high energy and lots of good songs and dancing. Tomorrow is Amsterdam and it will be a busy day touring all day. Hopefully I will be able to post in the evening, otherwise Friday morning. That’s all for now…time to enjoy our last sea day. This cruise is flying by!

I am a little behind on the dinner photos so this is from two nights ago when I had the chefs degustation menu. Corn coconut soup not pictured but was very good:

Thank you Joanie. Cronut request noted 😊. I actually had the maple bacon this morning. Steve

Yes, right in the city center.

Voyager docked in Oslo this morning.

DECK 11- Pool DECK 12- shuffleboard/mini golf, paddle tennis court. There were no Pickleball’s or Pickleball paddles.

DECK 6- Library(lots of guide books), gym

DECK 5- Theater, Prime7, Charteuse, quiet promenade seating (don’t tell anyone):

Here are some photos of Voyager, I will post by deck. DECK 4- Lobby sculpture, Compass Rose entrance, casino, voyager lounge:

We have had two great days In Oslo. Warm weather and blue skies. Enjoyed our panoramic tour yesterday and took a nice two hour walk this morning around the port, Oslo opera house, Munch museum and around the city center. Will be leaving for Amsterdam at 6:00 PM with a sea day tomorrow. I was able to get several pictures of Voyager yesterday that I will post as well. Here are some photos of Oslo: Overview of Oslo (Do you see Voyager hiding in the trees?), Holmenkollen ski jump, Munch museum and opera house, view from the roof of the opera house (the brown buildings in the water are floating saunas!):

I am currently on Voyager and not experiencing anything like this. In fact the sommeliers are all willing to get any wine for you in any venue. Yes they have a red and white but we have never had anyone pushing them on us. After a week the sommeliers and head waiters all know what I drink and have it ready for me. I would speak with the head sommelier and let them know your feelings. Ours on Voyager is extremely friendly and approachable.

I haven’t talked much about the breakfasts and lunches. We mostly go to La Veranda but the dining room is also open for a more formal atmosphere. Each day La Vernada offers a breakfast special such as stuffed French toast or eggs florentine. Pastries, oatmeal, cream of wheat, fruit and cereal are available every day along with the usual eggs and breakfast meats. The lunch is also themed daily with pizza, pasta and a salad bar available every day as well along with desserts and ice cream. Yesterday I asked if they had papaya and this morning low and behold…papaya. Coincidence or not? 🤷‍♂️

Good morning from Oslo. We will be here for two days leaving tomorrow at 6:00 PM. It was a very scenic sail in through the Oslo fjord. It was quite dark and rainy looking but clouds are moving off and blue sky is starting to appear. We have a 3 hour panoramic tour in the afternoon. Another excellent dinner in Prime7 last night. Crab cake, beef tartare, goat cheese tart, hearts of romaine Caesar and the 18 oz prime bone-in ribeye. The infamous popcorn sundae and the bread pudding also showed up. I have raised the white flag for food.

It was a gorgeous day in Kristiansand today. Low 70’s and clear blue sky. After breakfast we set out on a walk around the harbor and city center. Kristiansand is compact and easy to walk with beautiful parks and city sqaures. The city seemed shut down with hardly anyone around and very few stores open. The fish market was also closed on Sunday which I was looking forward to seeing. We walked for about two hours and saw most of the city. After returning to the ship we found two sun loungers calling our name and laid out at the pool with many others enjoying the warm sun. Kind of crazy to think we are in Norway sunbathing but it was a nice recharge. Back to Prime7 tonight for dinner and a new entertainer from the UK. Some photos of Kristiansand:

Didn’t haedly sleep a wink last night. We were in thick dense fog from about midnight until around 5:00 AM. The ship was sounding their horn every 2 minutes and it was impossible to sleep. I know it is a safety requirement so not complaining, just something to expect I guess. I went down to La Veranda and there was a nice champagne and cavier breakfast. A little too early for me but others were enjoying it.

I have heard a few things on board but I don’t like posting rumors. Let me check with some of the officers and see if I can get any “official” word.

Majestictaxis.com

Mid-cruise summary I wanted to write a few thoughts about my first week on board. First, The Crew. This crew is outstanding and cannot do enough for you. Within the first two days many crew knew our names and drink/water preferences. They are always asking if you need anything, if you are enjoying the cruise and is there anything they can do for you. There have been many wonderful gestures and moments I won’t soon forget. I can’t say enough good things about the crew on board. Fellow passengers: We have 615 on board. I would say the average age is 70’s with most 60-80’s. There are two families on board with small children but we rarely see (or hear) them. Around half are from the US, with UK, France and Belgium making up the majority. Penthouse “A”: I already spoke about our suite so won’t say too much more. It definitely needs an update as the bathroom shows it’s 20+ years. There are also several cosmetic issues that look poor on a six star cruise line. Luckily it doesn’t affect my cruise. The Voyager: Overall she is looking good. With 615 people on board we have never felt crowded once. Restaurants, bars, lounges, getting on and off the ship we have not seen any crowds. Voyager is easy to navigate and find where you need to go. We have had very calm seas so far but she seems to be quite stable. We do get some strong vibrations on deck 10 now and then but no complaints. Itinerary: This is an amazing itinerary. 5 countries in two weeks with five stops in Norway. So far it has exceeded all expectations and I look forward to our second week. Food: If you have followed this thread since the beginning, you are probably surprised food is last. I honestly don’t eat (or drink) like this at home. Food is important but itinerary and service are much more important to me. We have had some excellent meals on board, and unfortunately some bad ones. The bad ones were quickly addressed and everything was done to try and make us happy and correct the issues. I really feel it is getting better though. I appreciate everyone reading this live thread. It does take a lot of time and work but hopefully it is helpful to those of you who have not yet sailed Regent or visited these ports. And for the Regent regulars hopefully I brought back some happy memories. Off to cocktails and dinner. Until tomorrow…

Well our 7 day streak of beautiful weather came to an end today, but only temporarily. The forecast was for strong winds and heavy rains so we switched to a panoramic bus tour from our fjord cruise. It was quite nice driving around the city and country side and learning about Stavanger. The good news is we are expecting better weather for our next two ports Kristiansand and Oslo. Sorry, didn’t take many photos today.

After dinner I somehow walked to the Constellation theater to see Oli Nez, a fantastic saxophone player and entertainer. He played a wide range of genres and it was a great show. When we returned to our cabin we had a little surprise. We ate the white chocolate truffles that were brought out with our dessert menus but left the chocolate grand marnier. We walked in the cabin and had a plate of white chocolate truffles on our table. This is the type of amazing Regent service we have experienced in our first week on board. We opened the curtains and saw the last bit of daylight, an amazing Norwegian sunset. Great ending to a wonderful night.