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boblerm

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  • Posts

    2,506
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About Me

  • Location
    New England,USA
  • Interests
    travel, digital photography and editing
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Regent ( and formerly Crystal :(
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Europe

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boblerm's Achievements

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

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  1. Gill, I am so happy to see that you are cruising again! Very much looking forward to following along with you here, and here https://www.elegantsufficiency.org/
  2. Indeed! It was a pleasure meeting you and Jack, all the best to you, wishing you many more wonderful future cruises!
  3. I did a review of the cruise on the Cruise Critic Review section which can be found here: https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=712368
  4. A big +1 on that! There was a "seafood extravaganza" on the pool grill at lunchtime which was very nice. The movie, "The Burial" was shown in the Constellation in the afternoon but since this movie is available on Amazon Prime, I decided to defer watching until I get home so that I could spend my precious cruise time on more productive endeavors. Like napping on the pool deck. Dinner at Chartreuse was a bit of a mixed bag. Jeannie had the Beetroot Salad which is always good I was fascinated with "crispy escargot", so had to try it. This is what it looks like Hah? But yes, there is escargot in there The dish tasted very good, but for me, there was way too much bread and too little escargot. I think I'll stick with the CR version from now on. The mushroom soup in Chartreuse is not to be missed ; the Grandeur version seems to differ from that of the other ships in that it contains "egg yolk confit", which made this soup even more flavorful. The Dover Sole was a little disappointing, it was thicker and less moist than the one we had in CR. The Beef Tenderloin Rossini is, IMHO, the best cut of beef that Regent offers. The final production show, also new on the Grandeur, was, "Ignite the Night ". This show featured the dancers of the cast, the fabulous singers were present to more or less support the dancers. I have honestly never seen anything on a cruise ship quite like this one. I am no expert in evaluating the dancing arts, but I thought that the quality and creativity of the choreography and of the performance rivals any that I have seen anywhere. And whomever is responsible for the lighting and the design of the projected scenery should get an award, the stage is a 45 minute visual delight. If you are cruising on Grandeur, and only see one show - to be clear, I strongly recommend seeing all of the shows - but if you only see one, make it this one. You won't be sorry.
  5. We thought that he was hilarious. Different strokes. Agreed! Definitely not everyone else. I found the plot to be incomprehensible, as I do for all of Regent's story line shows. No matter, forget the story line, the show was fabulous.
  6. We had an absolutely glorious day in Tortola yesterday. Our excursion was "Scenic Island Tour and Beach Break." We drove around in an open air vehicle for several scenic overlooks We passed by a wall where there were many murals painted by local artists, our tour guide described several of them as we passed Then arrived at Cane Garden Beach, we stayed about an hour and 45 minutes This was a highly enjoyable excursion. Another winner at Compass Rose. The matzah ball soup was maybe not quite as good as Bubby used to make, but pretty darn good. Truffle meatballs Roast turkey, asked for dark meat An amazing rosemary garlic roasted lamb rack Comedian Phil Tag did a return performance, we thought he was hilarious.
  7. As @kjbaconhas mentioned, St. Barts is a very hit or miss port, hooray that yesterday was a hit! Our excursion was "Sailing the Leeward Coast, a simple catamaran ride to a pretty bay. We had the option of swimming to the beach, (no one did), or we could take a" noodle"and swim around the boat (not us) We were offered fruit, cheese and popcorn, water, soft drinks, rum punch or It was a pleasant, serene way of spending time at St. Barts There was a Carnivale parade in the afternoon. We got back to the ship late, about 3pm, there was an Indian buffet on the pool deck. We also tried for the first time the lobster nachos. The lobster was very tender - what we could find of it. Searching for lobster chunks was kind of like being on a scavenger hunt. We were pretty full at dinner time*, so had a more smallish dinner that usual - 2 courses rather than 3. Oh, the sacrifices! I started with corn and coconut veloute, Jeannie the tuna carpaccio Scallops from the everyday side And chateaubriand Perfect! Somehow we managed to finish. There was another new production show "Marauders Ball".. a pirate show. In general, I am not a fan of the shows that attempt stories, as I can rarely if ever follow the plot. This one was no different. Something about pirates taking over a ship. But about 1/3 the way through, I decided to stop trying to figure out what in Sam Hill the story line is, and just focus on the amazing visuals; the glorious costumes the fabulous on stage props, the brilliant back drop scenery , the beautiful lighting. It was a feast for the eyes. Combine that with the magnificent voices and dancing, the intricate choreography that included sword play reminiscent of Inigo vs Westley.... Bravo! *This may be the first time I have uttered these words on a cruise ship.
  8. My daughter, who reminds me yearly that my greatest failure as a father was bringing her up a J*t fan, also married into that kind of family. Thanks, we will need all of the luck we can get!
  9. I'm glad that you mentioned this, I found the same but wasn't sure whether or not this was different from the other ships or if it was my imagination. Note that I encountered this issue on the first night of the cruise, not late in the cruise when navigating into any seats might be problematic! 😳
  10. I think that any of the seats that are in front of the posts and are not way off to the side are just fine. I second the motion of @papaflamingofor arriving at 9:15, in addition to picking seats it will give you time to order drinks if you wish. They stop taking orders when the show starts, and they start promptly at 9:30. BTW, the current production cast on the Grandeur is as good as I have seen!
  11. We had a very pleasant tour in St. Lucia yesterday called "Island Splendor" We toured a mansion with a scenic overlook We went to an art gallery where they do amazing sculpture carvings from various types of wood We drove to the village of Anse La Raye, where there is a beach and a vendor stand. The vendors here engage in, shall we be say, vociferous marketing techniques. Then to the lovely Marigot Bay As a fan of a team that I am too embarrassed to name, I feel behooved to post this picture of a school that was built through money donated by by Leon Hess, the former owner of said team. It is green and white. Not the eagles. Our tour guide was informative, engaging and pleasant. There was a top tier Seven Seas Society (gold and above) event before dinner where cruise director David Nevens a did a vocal performance, this man can sing! Fabulous voice. Dinner at CR was very nice, but Mr and Mrs boblerm had some difference of opinions. I had the Duck terrine with Asian spices and loved it. Jeannie tasted it and found it chewey. We both had the chicken and vegetable spring roll with Thai sweet chili sauce and both loved it I had the pan fried dorade filet and really enjoyed the bold flavor, but Jeannie found it too strong a taste. Different strokes. Jeannie ordered the lamb chops medium rare. Of the 2 chops, one was prepared properly, the other was more medium. But still very good. Profiteroles! The evening entertainment was a comedian, Phil Tag, really funny
  12. Good to know, because having missed the SB commercials, I will be totally out of the loop in terms of pop culture when I return home. But David offered some interesting and informative trivia questions. For example, I learned what Heisman trophy winner never played in a super bowl and kills people. Ok, not exactly how the question was worded🙄
  13. We had a 1 PM arrival in Grenada yesterday. In the morning, attended lectures by Jim Kennedy of NASA and Jeana Rogers who discussed St. Barts. Our afternoon excursion was a visit to Palm Tree Gardens. We boarded a van that was in dire need of new shock absorbers for a half hour drive to the gardens over a very bumby road. Thouroughly rattled, we arrived at the gardens,where there are hundreds of varieties of plants including 40 palm varieties. We were given a tour by an extremely knowledgeable young man who gave us a great education about these beautiful plants. So I think I can say that I now have a vast knowledge of Carribean flora. Or would have, surely, if I were able to retain newly learned facts for more than 30 minutes or so. We rattled our way back to the pier.  We dined at Setti Mari. We enjoyed tthe bruschetta and appetizer bar, then we each had one of the 2 minestrone choices which were very nice. Jeannie had the veal scaloppine marsala, and I the veal chop. We each had a side of pasta to go with. Both were excellent. There was a sporting event shown in the Constellation, but as my team has not taken part in this event for the past 55 years, my interest was only moderate. The live feed does not have super bowl commercials, so during time outs cruise director David came on stage for some fun super bowl trivia.
  14. Our tour in Bonaire was called "Bonaire Highlights and Cultural Explorer". The excursion that we were on bore no resemblance to what was described in the excursion listing. Oh well. We visited a museum where there was a display of a Bonairian home from years past, and we sampled Cadushi liquour We stopped at the site of the slave huts. We had visited this site years ago, where our to guide gave us an explanation of the horrible conditions that enslaved people had to endure. Our guide only discussed it as a diving site. Of course, there was this In the afternoon there was a very interesting lecture by former NASA director Jim Kennedy on the past and future of space exploration. Seven Sea Society party before dinner, officers introduced and we were entertained by one of the lead singers, Erica, who has a fabulous voice. Dinner at Pacific Rim was pretty much perfection. Starters were tuna tartar Peking duck and watermelon salad Soft shell crab tempura Vegetable pot stickers We paired our starters with cold sake very nice. Our mains were lobster tempura Chinese barbecue pork ribs Side dishes of noodles and vegetables Finished with Thai coconut and tapioca pudding We loved every dish. Speaking of perfection, the Constellation featured a return performance of Patty Dess. All I can say is W O W ! ! !
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