Live from Mariner May 18-June 1. Vancouver to Vancouver (with Alaska in between)

[RachelG]

May 19,2016--at sea

 

We woke up very early again due to not yet being adjusted to the time difference. It is cool and windy, overcast early on but clearing to bright sunshine by mid morning. High is to be about 55F today, but it feels cooler due to the wind.

 

We both had massages booked for the morning, mine much needed after my slide down the cliff yesterday, as I definitely woke up sore this am. My masseuse was excellent, willing to work more on the sore areas, and I felt much better after the massage and a sit in the sauna.

 

Now comes a rant: one of my pet peeves (and this isn't just on Regent, but anywhere) is having a massage or facial or even a haircut for that matter, and the provider ends up by trying to sell you some product. I have loads of products at home that I need to use. I certainly don't need more, but they present it in such a way that you feel like it is something you should really purchase. Anyway, I said no, but still annoyed.

 

The other, and this is particular to Regent, is that even though they clearly state in all the brochures that tips for spa services are included, they present you with a bill that includes a line for tips. So unless you pay attention, you double tip. I knew this, but George forgot, which made me annoyed at him since he has been on Regent enough to know this and remember. Ok, rant over.

 

I decided to do my walk outside on the top deck after my massage, and it was a good thing, as later it was just too bumpy and windy. As it was, I wore a sweater, my windbreaker, and gloves over my inside clothes. Didn't feel cold with all that on and walking quickly, but the wind was so strong, walking on direction, I was propelled along at a jog, and in the other, I felt like I was running in place.

 

The chef did a cooking demo in the horizon lounge. The demo was informative, and I learned some tips for cooking salmon that I will use at home. He also mentioned that they will bring aboard fresh local fish at every port. The menus will feature these every day.

 

Lunch buffet in La Veranda. They were having a fish grill outside as well as some fine looking paella,but too cool to sit out there. Of course, you can always get your food outside and bring it in, then mix and match with things from the La Veranda buffet and salad bar. I saw lots of people doing this.

 

The afternoon seas were really bumpy at first, but then settled down a bit. The captain had warned those who are sensitive to prepare with medication ahead of time. George loved It.

 

We did terrible at trivia, as did pretty much everyone else. The winning team had 10 out of 15 correct. We had 7. Part of the problem was that we totally didn't understand he Stone question, and we didn't have any possible guesses on two others.

 

Tonight was the captain's reception. Captain is Teo Srdelic, who was have cruised with before and quite like. Davor Josipovic is GM--we have sailed with him several times before And have become friends. Margaret Lynn is CD. We also like her a lot.

 

And our favorite sommelier Daniela Oancea has been promoted to food and beverage director. We are happy to hear that. Saw her in the hall yesterday, and there were hugs all around. She is smart and sweet as well as very capable.

 

George and I, along with Helen and Jerry were invited to dinner with Davor. He is a good friend from previous cruises, and we enjoyed catching up on news of his family. The food was outstanding. Fresh halibut brought on board in Vancouver was delicious.

The show was "Dancing in the streets" and the dancers were really good. I look forward to seeing more of them.

[JennAngel9]

Wonderful report so far, glad you are recovering swiftly from the hiking incident. I really appreciated seeing the Passages and am so glad you mentioned the spa tip-- I'm almost certain I would not have paid close enough attention and spent an extra unnecessary 15%! We do tip above and beyond if it's a great massage, but double tipping is a bit much.

[Sheltieluv]

Hi Rachel

 

A trivial question, but one that I have to ask!----Is there an ongoing Jigsaw puzzle area anywhere on the Mariner? There was always one in progress on the Navigator, and when I passed by the puzzle I always had to stop and work on it for at least few minutes. (Whenever I did this, I was always the only one working on it, but lo and behold the puzzle was always compete in a few days, and a new one would be on the table!) This was always set up in a small alcove on one of the passenger decks, if I remember correctly, and was actually listed as an activity in the Dailies. I didn't see it in the Dailies posted for the Mariner, unless I missed it. I'm sure I'm not the only jigsaw puzzle fan out there.....?!

 

Thanks! Have a great cruise!:)

[flossie009]

Hi there. I am onboard with Rachel. We are in concierge level cabin on deck 8 and I have looked and looked but cannot find any evidence of the filth and general nastiness experienced by the reviewer. My cabin/ suite is sparkling clean and perfectly adequate for our needs.

Helen

 

Read the review. I have seen no dirt anywhere onboard. There is some carpet separating in our cabin, and the curtains look frayed, I think because they tend to get stuck in the sliding doors when it is opened and closed. Our bed is great, but the couch is very lumpy and has seen better days.

 

All the higher end suites got a makeover last year, as did the public areas. The rest of the cabins really could use a refresh. Hopefully this is planned for soon.

 

Haven't been to P7 yet, but if the food presented was that bad, why not bring it up at the time rather than go posting about it online.

 

Rachel & Helen,

Thanks for your interesting blog and for your specific responses to the very recent, less than stellar, review of Mariner.

 

Subsequent to my post I have read the quoted reviewer's previous reviews and it does appear that she is a somewhat negative glass-half-empty cruiser. In a 2012 poor review of Mariner she stated "Regent will not be seeing my husband and myself in the future"................they have since sailed with Regent at least twice :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise

[petlover]

Love reading your seamail Rachel. Happy Belated Anniversary. Good to hear that you, George, Helen & Jerry, Ngaire & Ken and all aboard are having a great time. Enjoy all the beauty Alaska offers. You'll get 'em next time at trivia :) Your pet peeve at the spa trying to sell products is also mine, drives me crazy. I've gotten to the point I tell them before they even start to save their breath I will NOT be buying any products...I've trained Tom to do likewise and it does help.

Edited May 20, 2016 by petlover

[RachelG]

Hi Rachel

 

A trivial question, but one that I have to ask!----Is there an ongoing Jigsaw puzzle area anywhere on the Mariner? There was always one in progress on the Navigator, and when I passed by the puzzle I always had to stop and work on it for at least few minutes. (Whenever I did this, I was always the only one working on it, but lo and behold the puzzle was always compete in a few days, and a new one would be on the table!) This was always set up in a small alcove on one of the passenger decks, if I remember correctly, and was actually listed as an activity in the Dailies. I didn't see it in the Dailies posted for the Mariner, unless I missed it. I'm sure I'm not the only jigsaw puzzle fan out there.....?!

 

Thanks! Have a great cruise!:)

Not a trivial question, though if they asked it at trivia, I would get the correct answer which is: Yes. There is an ongoing jigsaw puzzle on a big table in the hallway area on deck 6 beside coffee connections.

[Mr Rumor]

Just saw Rachel's response to Sheltieluv's question, so deleted my duplicate answer--sorry about that!

Edited May 20, 2016 by Mr Rumor

[Sheltieluv]

Not a trivial question, though if they asked it at trivia, I would get the correct answer which is: Yes. There is an ongoing jigsaw puzzle on a big table in the hallway area on deck 6 beside coffee connections.

 

Thanks! I'm happy to hear that!:D

[Catpow]

We're just off the Voyager and I enjoyed putting a few pieces in the jigsaw as I passed it on Deck 6 though missed, unlike the Mariner, that the jigsaw was not on the same floor at the Coffee Connection on Deck 5. On our South American cruise in 2013, I spent quite some time on deck 5 doing the jigsaw when my husband was unwell and needed time alone. It was great to be able to grab a coffee and move freely to the table and chat with fellow passengers whilst putting some pieces into place.

 

I've loved jigsaws all my life, though it's a very casual attraction. On our Mariner Tahiti criuse in December 2014, the jigsaw had been hijacked by zealots of a nature I'd never expected. Every piece was sorted by size and colour; the effort made to do this actually hindered the solving of the puzzle. I confess I made some late night solving raids:).

 

The recent Voyager puzzles were only about 500 pieces; I hope the Mariner ones are more challenging.:cool:

 

All in all, I love that there is a jigsaw table for every cruise.

[RachelG]

 

A couple of pictures of the breakfast buffet. Sort of hard to appreciate the choices. The first is the side with yogurts, cereals, breads. The second is the made to order egg station, and behind it are the hot foods as well as fruit, smoked salmon, cold meats. There are 2 sides and both are the same.

 

 

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[Sheltieluv]

Ah, jigsaw puzzles and doughnuts (I see them in the pastries!!). Life is good on a Regent ship!!!:p

[tallship]

 

A couple of pictures of the breakfast buffet. Sort of hard to appreciate the choices. The first is the side with yogurts, cereals, breads. The second is the made to order egg station, and behind it are the hot foods as well as fruit, smoked salmon, cold meats. There are 2 sides and both are the same.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Your pics are great. Can you share your posting secrets?

[crusin7]

Here is last nights meal in Compass Rose. Excellent halibut with a crab cream sauce. Most of the staff are new, but doing a great job.

[msmillie]

This cruise and the weather have been all you could wish for (for us). We had a great sunny day at the crab feast excursion and are looking forward to the rest of the cruise. I did receive disappointing news today from Destination Services. I was told that there would be no excursions provided for continuing passengers at Seward/Alaska. So that equates to another sea day for a lot of people without the services that we typically provided on sea days. Angie

[RachelG]

Your pics are great. Can you share your posting secrets?

 

No secrets. Zqueeze just showed me how to do it easily. Prior to that, I had to load my pics to shutterfly then access that to post them. It was to labor intensive, especially if internet speed was load. I would time out before even loading a single pic.

Zqueeze taught me to do it using the tapa talk app. And it is really easy. Just hit "reply". Then hit it again, and you will see some icons at the bottom. Pick the second one, looks like jagged mountains, click on that. It will allow you to access your pictures and select the ones you want to post. I only select 2 at a time, but with the Internet speed better now, you might be able to do more. It will ask you to select the size. I pick medium, as large will only allow 1 picture per post. Then just hit replay and it will post.

Hope that is clear as mud. If not, zqueeze maybe will hop in and explain.

[ededmd]

Thanks for posting the live blog Rachel. Enjoyable to follow.

 

Agree the tapatalk app is an easy (probablythe easiest) way to post photos.

[RachelG]

May 20, 2016-Ketchikan Alaska

 

We got to set the clocks back one hour last night, which normally I would love. But that, combined with not yet adapting to the 2 hour previous time change and the sun being totally up at like 4 am, meant I was wide awake at 3:30 am. I will probably wish for that sleep later.

 

A bright sunny morning with not a cloud in the sky for sailing into Ketchikan. Temps in the low 50s, but no wind. Mountains on both sides covered with lush evergreen trees then a cute colorful town with the dock where you can walk right off the ship into town. With the sun out, everything just sparkles.

 

We have been to Ketchikan before, and even though the statistics show it rains here most of the time, it has been bright and sunny for us every visit. I thought I had probably used up my sunshine in Ketchikan luck, but apparently not.

 

There were two other big ships in town today, Norwegian and Holland America, then us. Only Mariner stayed past 3 pm. We are here until 11 pm, so after the other two left, we pretty much had the town to ourselves.

 

George and I had a plan for the am, to go on a hike on a trail above the town. But we needed instructions on finding the trailhead. We followed the instructions, but spent about an hour finding it as the trailhead we were initially looking for had washed out. It is early in the season, so apparently no one had been up there yet. But we found a policeman who told us an alternate route, and once we were on the trail, it was a good one. The only problem was that we had to hike really fast as we had spent so much time looking for the trailhead. So not much time to stop and enjoy our surroundings.

 

The first part was like a stair master going up up up, but finally we got to the top which was mostly flat, going through lush ferns in a rain forest like surrounding. We had great views down to the water on one side.

 

We ended up back in town in time to meet Jerry and Helen at Annabelle's for lunch. We had eaten there before, and I can attest that the smoked salmon chowder is one of the most heavenly things I have ever put in my mouth. It is just amazing delicious. And as good as I remembered.

 

The afternoon was a fishing trip with just us 4 and a guide. We were in search of halibut and rockfish. Didn't find any halibut, but Helen, George and I each caught a nice rockfish. I also caught a pacific sole, but it was too small to keep.

 

The water was totally calm today, like a lake, with air temps in the high 60s. So the things I worried about, being cold or seasick, neither were concerns. After catching the fish, we went to a rustic fish camp where our guide filleted the fish. They were then cooked up in a bouillabaisse type dish that was really good, or I was just hungry. But they were so fresh!

 

The boat ride back to Ketchikan was smooth, with eagles being visible several times in the trees onshore. One even followed the boat for a while, probably hoping for a handout.

 

Back to the ship, we were tired. Not hungry, so had a glass of wine in the room and some goat cheese, and are watching a movie. A quiet end to a very nice day.

[RachelG]

 

Views from our morning hike in Ketchikan

 

 

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[RachelG]

 

Fishing expedition in Ketchikan

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[tallship]

Thanks, Rachel

The pics are great

[Zqueeze1]

No secrets. Zqueeze just showed me how to do it easily. Prior to that, I had to load my pics to shutterfly then access that to post them. It was to labor intensive, especially if internet speed was load. I would time out before even loading a single pic.

Zqueeze taught me to do it using the tapa talk app. And it is really easy. Just hit "reply". Then hit it again, and you will see some icons at the bottom. Pick the second one, looks like jagged mountains, click on that. It will allow you to access your pictures and select the ones you want to post. I only select 2 at a time, but with the Internet speed better now, you might be able to do more. It will ask you to select the size. I pick medium, as large will only allow 1 picture per post. Then just hit replay and it will post.

Hope that is clear as mud. If not, zqueeze maybe will hop in and explain.

 

Rachel: You got it. After hitting "reply" the first time, hit the + button and that will show you the icons. It's a the best tool so far for posting pics from your smart phone directly onto a cruise critic post.

 

Z and TB

[RachelG]

 

Morning in Wrangell Alaska

 

 

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[WesW]

Thanks Zqueeze and Rachel. Now, look forward to leaving laptop at home and using tapa talk to post for our upcoming Silver Wind crossing in November and Voyager Grand Voyage in January

 

 

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[PaulaJK]

The photos are great.

I am copying down the instructions. I am assuming that one has always begun the post and then does this...am I correct?

[Mr Rumor]

Nice going mastering Tapatalk. I think it is about to become the rage among Regent bloggers!

 

Rich

 

 

 

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