LIVE from the Regal- 5.21.18! The Tale of 3 Princesses, the Baltic, and Suite Destiny

May 25, 2018

Another Lovely Day at Sea

Hi Friends!

Firstly, I want to thank the three of you who are still following this goofy thread. It’s lonely out here in blog land.

NEWS FLASH!

OMG! I slept. For 12 straight hours. Coma sleep. Like death! And I woke feeling fabulous! Yay! (You can tell I am pretty excited about this by my liberal use of exclamation points!!!! Can’t stop! Won’t stop!)

We had to move the clocks forward an hour- and I would like a partial refund for my lost hour at sea please... So I went to bed at 10:15 and I woke at 11:15– the next morning.

Breakfast in Sabatini’s was gone. So I headed down to CC dining in the Allegro. I had gazpacho and tortellini for “breakfast”. Weird, but deliciously weird. Today was also blueberry roulade day!!! I almost had two. One for me and one for Keith in Colo. It is his favourite too.

I also committed the venial sin of doing a load of laundry on a sea day... When will I ever learn? I love to do laundry, and I have a bizarre fascination with laundromats. Weird. Just plain weird. I know that laundry comes with the suite and it is also an elite perk, but some stuff— I just want to wash my own. The laundry room was pretty packed, but I found a washer. When it was time to get a dryer, all were busy. I ran around a bit more, returned just as my laundry soul mate was pulling out the last of her dainties. I got a dryer! For those of you who have never witnessed a cruise ship laundry room on a sea day— it is entertainment in its own right. So much so, it should probably go into the Patter. Laundry is a competitive sport! Seriously, I once watched two men get into a shoving match over a washer (2010 Caribbean Princess). Dudes! It is laundry- not the last size 8 wedding dress at Filene’s basement. For the love of all things Tide pods, put down your fists and step away from the Maytag!

Once I had put away my clothes, I made my way to Club 6 for trivia. I made it onto a team of 5 women. It was a full house and no CD staff in sight. Finally, someone showed up and the game got going. Our team managed to find the correct answers for 16/20 of the questions which got us.... Second place. Wah wah. The winning team got 17. Oh well. It was fun. So fun. Super fun, I tell you. The winning team won coasters. I think that I forgot to mention that Paige and I won trivia (Theme music from the 80’s) on the first night. That is really ironic, because I don’t really watch TV. Paige got a lot of answers. I might have gotten one of the “dark horse” answers though. We won fiber composite backpacks. They are actually pretty nice! So I am batting .500 at this point. We shall see what lies ahead.

After, I went back to the cabin to ready for formal night. I did not bring anything super formal. Tonight, I wore a simple navy cap sleeve dress with a beaded belt. I fit in just fine. There was a wide array of everything. From tuxes to suites to sport coats.... Full length evening gowns, to cocktail dresses, to sparkly tops and black pants. I thought is was pretty dressy overall, though. My hypothesis is that with 2044 “first time to Princess” cruisers, they actually followed the published dress code. It was refreshing, actually.

Dinner was really wonderful. Onion soup, a salad, and filet. Simple and delicious. Paige went a bit more exotic with escargot and lamb. I am assuming she liked hers as well, as evidenced by the empty plate at the conclusion of each course. And guess who came to dinner??? Norman. Norman Love. I had the amazing hazelnut bar. His desserts are just so stinking good. And the addition to the menu has been one of my favorite changes made by Princess. I really hope they never go away.

I watched the cutest contest in the Piazza. It was a take off of Dancing with the Stars. A member of the cruise staff paired with a passenger to form a dance team. There were 6 teams. And they had a dance competition of sorts. Waltz. Tango. Salsa.It got really funny during the Bollywood and Irish dance rounds. Hip hop stole the show, though...Super fun to watch and very well attended.

P1 and I also saw the guest vocal performer in the Princess Theater. Nik Page is a singer, pianist, and drummer. I liked the vocals. He did some drumming for a rendition of Ellington’s Caravan, and that got a little long. Overall, it was a nice show and not terrible cheesy. (Please, see past reference to Stevie B (Bor) from my Singapore cruise in 2017- I had to leave the theater because I caught a severe case of the giggles). This was much much better.

And now I am in bed, with my sheet mask on (see P2’s Fungirl page for video on the sheet masks... we look like geisha bank robbers), and I am finally caught up and current! Yay!

Have I mentioned that I love a sea day! Tomorrow is Tallinn... a beautiful walled city in Estonia. I can’t wait!

Night, friends!

Anyone sleepy yet???

Tracie-Lynn :)

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Great reading. Thank you for taking the time to post.

Sleepy??? I will sleep when I am dead. FOMO to max!

Sleepy??? I will sleep when I am dead. FOMO to max!

YOLO, baby... YOLO!

PS... I am hungry again... I need a sammich!

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So fun “joining you” on your journey! Thanks for taking the time to share!

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Tracie, Your previous post reminded me of our "one fine day" in Schwerin five years ago. Fortunately the Rostock to Schwerin train was running so we were able to avoid the buses and cars portion of the trip. It was a pleasant walk, mostly along the lake, from the Schwerin train station to the Castle. We could have had a "bad day" because the Warnemunde train station would not accept credit cards for our purchase. If my rusty German heard right, they had a 50 Euro minimum. Also, the toilets at the Rostock train station and elsewhere required 1 Euro. Fortunately I had brought around 50 Euros from home and the day was saved in both cases. After the Castle and a quick bite to eat, DW and DD found some "shopping opportunities" :o while I found a version of a German brewpub and all was good :) Schwerin is certainly a viable alternative to six hours traveling back and forth to Berlin which I believe is better saved for a land trip.

Enjoying your live from! I gather you are taking full advantage of free Medallion Net. One thing that you haven't mentioned though is the Ocean Medallions. Did you get one and are they fully functioning yet? The latter probably made you laugh but I had to ask.

There are only three of us who are still following this goofy thread...NOT!!! ;p

Not many of us have your fun filled & entertaining writing skills. :') I’m greatly enjoying your journey as we await our cruise to Norway next month. :D

Been following your blog here and Paige's on FB. Enjoying both.

Brings back memories of our cruise last year.

Loved Tallinn!

I'm really enjoying reading along. Have fun! :)

A shout out to my friends Sawtooth, sunset beachgal, Iowa traveler. Without you, the network would cancel me. You all told me I would love the Regal and I do. It will be hard to go back to the older ships.

A shout out to my friends Sawtooth, sunset beachgal, Iowa traveler. Without you, the network would cancel me. You all told me I would love the Regal and I do. It will be hard to go back to the older ships.

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TracieABD:

I think you need to recount! Lots more than 3 are following the travel antics of P1 & P2!!!

Keep it up! Can't wait for the next port/adventure!!

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I'm still here as well. Just love your wacky humour.

Judy

I’m here too! And loving your commentary!

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May 26, 2018

Tallinn, Estonia

Hi Friends-

Thank you so much for your responses! I have missed you! I am so glad we are still cruising together!

Also, another public apology to Paige for my yakky behavior. We were up until 3 am just being silly. (There may or may not have been chicken fingers and potato chips in there somewhere...). I feel like I need to write 100 times:

I will go the heck to sleep.

I will go the heck to sleep.

I will go the heck to sleep.

I will go the heck to sleep.

Even though we did not go to sleep until late (or early), we were still up and moving at 8:30. By the time I finally got out of the room, I missed breakfast in both Sabatini’s and the MDR. I had to settle for a muffin and a coffee in the International Cafe. The coffee was made under my watchful eye, because you know how I am about these things.

P2 planned to HoHo, and I had my own mission to accomplish- so we were separate tours. First I tried to attend trivia in the Vista Lounge at 10 am, but I was the only participant. That did not happen. I told Fab, the asst. CD- save the trivia for another day.

At 10 am, it was easy to get off the ship. For those of you coming up behind us, it is totally possible to DIY this port. Princess runs a shuttle that is 8 euro or 10 USD for a round trip ( 5 euro or $6 for a one way). You can even pay with your shipboard account. It is also very walkable- if you have the gumption. The shuttle only has one stop- at the base of Old Tallinn- a lovely walled city. I had no solid plan for the day- but once I got there- I was struck with inspiration- Today was my very own personal gallery crawl! I stayed out of the souvie shops and just focused on glass, ceramic, and textile galleries. I even thought I might buy something- if the right piece spoke to me... Alas, that did not happen. (I have spent the past year and a half getting rid of stuff- I am trying very hard not to amass more. It has to be very, very special). I walked up to top of the Old Town. It is a hike on cobbles, but so pretty. At the top there are beautiful churches and the Parliament building. The Russian Orthodox Church is pretty foretelling of the architecture of our next couple of days!

On another note, Tallinn ROCKS!!! It was so busy in the squares... The Regal and a TUI (Mein Schiff) both larger cruise ships were ported AND at least 2 more tourist ferries. But the best of all was the abundance of middle aged people in Iron Maiden T-Shirts! I googled it and Iron Maiden is playing Tallinn tonight! Nickelback played last night! I might have snuck a photo of the fans with a reaper statue.... Got to love the “hair bands” of the 80’s! Bang your head!

After taking some pictures, I walked back down and started off on my mission. I needed to get my nails done. This is not a matter of vanity. I needed a profession to wrangle my out of control cuticles. I found one shop called OK Salon- it was a 1.2 mile walk form the bottom of Old Town. That seemed reasonable. But when I got there, I was told no services without an appointment. It looked like a lovely shop, but not so friendly or accommodating. I guess if you want to go there, make an appointment.

So I started back to Old Town and I found another shop right across from the buses and shuttles. Alisa handled my out of errant cuticles with precision of a surgeon. I am so much better now!

I crossed the street to board the shuttle. When I got on it was empty. I filled pretty quickly and within 10 minutes, we were headed back to the ship. Very fast ride. It was easy to reboard the ship. And I was sitting at 3 pm trivia. I just did not have it in me to find a team, so I played alone. I scored 14. The winning team scored 17. I was #3.

Dinner was at Alfredo’s. Salad, the veal aglionotti, and Pelligrino. I just could not do a big meal in the MDR. I needed to simplify my life a bit. I will most likely meet up with P2 for BeatleMania at 7:00... and then it is time to:

Go the heck to sleep

Go the heck to sleep

Go the heck to sleep

Go the heck to sleep

Tomorrow is Russia. Very heavily scheduled, so I may be out of pocket for a few days.

Thank you for shopping with me today, even if we did not buy a thing.

Anyone ready to “go the heck to sleep”??

Tracie-Lynn [emoji4]

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Following.The Baltic was the first cruise we did after a 20+ year hiatus. TA told us it was the best way to see Russia and DH really wanted to go there. When we were first married we did a Greek Island cruise on a small ship and got desperately seasick. It took us all that time to try again lol. Now we’re hooked on cruising. Enjoy

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I check your adventures daily. Thoroughly enjoying your posts and can't wait till August when we do this cruise. You have a wonderful way with words and I feel like I am right there with you. By the way, I too am a princess. Just ask my husband.

Maybe our paths will cross someday on a Princess cruise.

Love your blog and interested to see what you get up to in port and on the Regal. We will be on her in August...

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Tracie, I am following your blog as well. I will be on the Regal on August 28, my second time to the Baltic. I will DIY it except in St. Petersburg. A few days ahead of time in Copenhagen ( last time we did a few days a head in Berlin) . I love your blog and hope I can convince my travelmate to splitting up on a few of the ports!

Thanks again to you and Paige!

Barbara

PS. I am a trivia fan too.

Just found this and got caught up with the great blogging. Thanks for posting it would love to do this cruise one day [emoji4]

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These are very fun Princess. But, I bet PJ is missing you terribly.

Loving every moment of reading your blog and getting excited to follow in your footsteps in July.

Enjoyed your description of your time in Tallin. We walked from the ship all the way up to the Town Hall Square and St. Nicholas Church and back to the ship with no problem. For DIYers, here is a Rick Steve’s tour.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/a-walking-tour-of-tallinn-5779/

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My husband and I are enjoying your blog and Paige's Facebook page! Thanks!