Live from the Spirit for a special family celebration

[boblerm]

My wife, Jeannie, is celebrating a milestone birthday this month.  About a year ago, I asked her to start thinking about a special trip that she would like to take to commemorate, but her answer was immediate- she would like to take the family on a luxury cruise.

Some background- our family started our cruising life in the early 90s when our children, Jason and Amy, were a mere lad and lass, our first being on the Carnival Ecstasy.  We all loved it, and were hooked on cruising.  Over the next decade or so, we took them on several more cruises on RCCL, Princess, Celebrity.  When our little birdies flew the nest, Jeannie and I continued sailing on these lines, adding HAL to the mix.  On Jeannie's last milestone birthday, 10 years ago, we decided that a special way for us to celebrate would be to try out the luxury cruise market, and booked a cruise on the Regent Navigator.  While we had enjoyed each and every one of our previous cruises, we surely did appreciate the difference in quality compared to what we were used to.  But I told Jeannie to bear in mind that this was a special occasion experience only, that we should not get the idea of making a habit of it.  I was quite emphatic on that point.

Since then, we have been on 8 more cruises on Regent, 5 on Crystal, 2 on O.

Nothing, if not a man of my word.

When we are on a luxury line, Jeannie often comments about how much the kids would love this experience, and that she wishes we could take them with us on one.  She emails the kids every day, describing our experiences, and when we are at home, we describe what we did, and show them our photo albums.  It is clear that they would love to come on one.

And so, back to the present, the best way that Jeannie could think of to celebrate her special day is to have her loved ones on a first class cruise line to share this experience with them.  Family consists of our son Jason, our daughter Amy and her husband Chris, and our grandson Noah, who just happens to be the most attractive, charming, clever 28 month old on the planet.  Just sayin'. 😍😍😍

As our daughter is an elementary school teacher, we had to choose an itinerary that would minimize her time out of class, and the cruise that suited our needs best is SS's round trip San Juan cruise on the Spirit over President's week.  We are happy about this, as we have been thinking of trying out SS soon anyway. It is not without a bit of trepidation that we bring such a young child on a sophisticated cruise.  We are well aware that SS does not have services specifically geared to this age.  Noah tends to be pretty much a go-with-the-flow type of kid.  But.....he's 2.  With 5 responsible adults to look after him, (or perhaps more accurately, 4 responsible adults plus grandpa), we are confident that we can keep him entertained while respecting the sensibilities of our fellow passengers.

Bob

[boblerm]

This is us

 

[boblerm]

We flew in to San Juan today, (Thursday, and are spending 1 night at the Condado Vanderbilt hotel, the rest of the crowd will join us on board tomorrow.

 Tonight we are having a Valentine’s Day dinner at the hotel.  Tomorrow, we will relax around the grounds in the AM, and are champing at the bit to board the Spirit!

 

Happy Valentines Day!💘

Edited February 14, 2019 by boblerm

[boblerm]

The Condado Vanderbilt is a lovely property. 

 

 

 

 

[liptastic]

Bob following along. Your regent blog last year was excellent , so looking forward to this one.

Birthday celebration wishes to Jeannie and have a fabulous time with your lovely family.  Jean.

[Unibok]

Enjoy, Boblerm! I suspect Noah will not be the only wee one on board given that this is a common school break week. What a lovely way to celebrate your wife’s milestone.

[spinnaker2]

Oh what FUN! Enjoy and keep us posted.

A terrific family event.

We will be aboard February 22.

 

[Stumblefoot]

Fun times!

[les37b]

Thank you for posting. Always nice to see live reports and look forward to sailing along with you.

[Daveywavey70]

Happy 30th Jeannie!

 Hope you all have an amazing time.

[WesW]

Bob, you're a hopeless romantic (well yesterday was Valentine's day here in U.S.) and a terrific father to have your family join Jeannie and you on your Spirit voyage. Wishing y'all Fair Winds and Following Seas!

[RachelG]

Have a wonderful time.  I have encountered children that age of Regent, Oceania and Silversea before.  As long as they have sane parents,  they are be fine.  The waitresses in the restaurants will probably spoil him, as many have children they miss very much.  Just take him back to the room if things aren’t going well.  We travelled all the time when our kids were little, to some very upscale places.  Though we weren’t cruising then, our boys would have been fine with it.  

[boblerm]

Unibok, Stumblefoot, les37b,  thank you for your well wishes.

Jean, thanks, and I'm glad that you enjoyed my previous report.

Spinnaker2, we will make sure that the ship is in good shape for your boarding as we disembark.

Daveywavey, Jeannie loved your approximation of her age!

Wes, it's always great to receive your signature send-off.

Rachel, although I have not been posting on it much, Jeannie and I have been  reading and enjoying your report from the Explorer, enjoy your last few days.

 

I plan on posting from the ship, but recent reports is that internet has been less than stellar, so here's hoping.

Bob

[boblerm]

We had dinner last night at the hotel restaurant 1919. They had a special menu for valentines day, a 6 course tasting menu. It was over the top.

 

 

 

 

 

We had the wine pairing to accompany each course. I must confess that at the end of the meal, I feared that I might need to call an Uber to haul me up to my room. Fortunately, Jeannie was able to guide me.

We loved the ambiance, the service, the food and wine. But in retrospect, I'm not sure that this type of indulgence is so wise on the night before boarding a cruise ship!

Edited February 15, 2019 by boblerm

[boblerm]

As many cruises as we have taken, the thrill of first setting foot on our ship is as great as ever. Jeannie and I have a long standing tradition, which is one of our favorite parts of the cruise. The first thing that we do after boarding is to go to the pool deck and toast the cruise with a glass of champagne with Grand Marnier. 

 

 

How lucky are we? 😁

[liptastic]

That’s a lovely tradition. Cheers 🥂 have a fabulous cruise.   Jean.

[napria]

I’m so looking forward to hearing/seeing more!  We’ll be on our 2nd Silversea cruise first week of April on the Spirit with our 20 year old daughter.  We enjoyed our first cruise on the Wind so much last April that we booked this one.  It’ll be her first cruise (way to spoil a kid, huh?)

 

Happy Birthday!  Wishing you nothing but happiness and wonderful memories in the making!

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your review.  Wonderful way to celebrate!

[boblerm]

Thanks Jean and jimbi! 

napria, we surely do have lucky children. 

Jeannie appreciates your warm birthday wishes. 

 

We enjoyed sailaway from San Juan last night from the Panorama lounge. 

 

 

Dinner last night was at La Terazza, and was great. Here is are some of our dishes 

Antipasti

 

 

Octapus salad

 

 

Trenette al pesto 

 

Duck papardell. This dish has gotten bad reviews from SS veterans of late , but I thought I'd try it anyway, and did enjoy it 

 

The consensus winner of the night was Branzino

 

We try not to do much desert, but couldn't resist a sampling of Gelato 

 

[boblerm]

We all had a great time, but guess who had the best time! 

 

[boblerm]

After dinner Jason, Jeannie and I went to Dolce Vita to enjoy the piano player. We really enjoyed her, and at her break I went up to her to tell her so. She thanked me and said that her name was Claudette. I found that curious, because the Chronicles listed a different performer in that time slot. She said that the schedule often changes after Chronicles is printed. Curious. Apparently,  Chronicles is an instrument of fickle testimony. 😏

Anyway, we are fans of Claudette. 

 

[boblerm]

Today we are in St. Martin. We spent the morning at Great Bay Beach, which is close to the port. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight we plan on dining at Atlantide. We are overnight in St. Martin, so there is a pool deck party after dinner. 

We are all having a wonderful time. 

[spinnaker2]

OMG, that little guy is adorbs!

[Keith1010]

Bob and Jeannie,

 

Congratulations on Jeannie's Milestone Birthday and Birthday trip.

 

Wishing you both and your family a lovely time.

 

Enjoy every minute and we know you will make memories which will last a lifetime.

 

Best to you both.

 

Keith and Anne Marie

[daddyo]

6 hours ago, boblerm said:

After dinner Jason, Jeannie and I went to Dolce Vita to enjoy the piano player. We really enjoyed her, and at her break I went up to her to tell her so. She thanked me and said that her name was Claudette. I found that curious, because the Chronicles listed a different performer in that time slot. She said that the schedule often changes after Chronicles is printed. Curious. Apparently,  Chronicles is an instrument of fickle testimony. 😏

Anyway, we are fans of Claudette. 

 

 

4 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

Bob and Jeannie,

 

Congratulations on Jeannie's Milestone Birthday and Birthday trip.

 

Wishing you both and your family a lovely time.

 

Enjoy every minute and we know you will make memories which will last a lifetime.

 

Best to you both.

 

Keith and Anne Marie

Bob

We are enjoying your comments. We were on the Spirit in January and thought Claudette was great. Please ask her to sing  John Prine’s “ Angel from Montgomery “ one more time for her fans from Nashville.   She does a great job!!

Hope you have a great Cruise.