March 5 - Home

Disembarking the Voyager was very smooth, helped I'm sure by the fact that there are only 700 passengers.  We had our last breakfast in the main dining room, and again, it was mostly empty.  That amazed us since on Princess, the last morning is a zoo.  And we could have even had room service breakfast if we wanted, another thing that is unheard of on Princess on the last morning.  After breakfast, we waited a short time in the Horizon Lounge until our luggage tags were called and walked off easy breezy.  We were quite surprised to see that ours was the only ship in port that morning.  Last November there were 4 or 5 of the large ships and since they all dock in a row, the place was a madhouse.  This time we found our bags easily, breezed through Customs, and called a Lyft which was there within 5 minutes.  We had time at the airport to use our Priority Lounge pass, which at our terminal was actually a restaurant where we had a $29 spending allowance each.  I took advantage to order a club sandwich to go for the plane ride.

I watched 2 movies on the plane (The Wife and A Star is Born).  Again, glad I hadn't paid $9 to see either one.  The final flight from Los Angeles to Redmond was fine except for pretty good turbulence leaving LA and a bit more on our way down to Redmond.  It was snowing, of course, but the roads weren't too bad.  And thanks to good friend Mike Golden who cleared our driveway a few days ago after the worst of the snow had stopped, our driveway was manageable.  We were able to walk up it dragging our suitcases.  Anna and Russ also came by and pulled some snow off the roof.  The icicles are amazing, some reaching almost to the ground.  The steps were ice rinks, but the new snow gave them a little traction so we got back in without problems.  All was well with the house - no broken refrigerator, heat pump or water pipes.

All in all, another wonderful trip.  We are looking forward to the 2020 World Cruise even more now that we have experienced Regent. 

March 4 - At Sea

Our final day of the cruise.  It has really flown by.  Pool lounges were not available in the shade again so we went up top to the Observation Lounge for reading, etc. I got so absorbed, I almost forgot my massage.  It was wonderful, just what I needed before our long trip home tomorrow.  After lunch we found our suitcases on the bed all ready for packing.  So we did that, then I went to the pool and Michael went to the gym.  We had a lovely final dinner (pulled out all the stops with crab salad, escargot and lobster tail.)  In lieu of dessert we went to a lounge and I had a Grasshopper, a real blast from the past, and Michael had his last Baileys/Grand Marnier combo.  Sniff.

Ah well.  Back to reality tomorrow.

March 3 - At Sea

After breakfast we couldn't find pool loungers in the shade so we spent a short while on the upper level in the shade of the smokestack, but that didn't last too long so we returned to the cabin and spent time on the balcony.  I did go to a lecture on the history of sugar production.  I learned that Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio is so named because it is the shape of a sugar loaf which is how it was sold in early days.  You kept it in a special box and chipped off the amount you needed.  After lunch, we were lucky enough to find loungers in the shade.  So all in all, it was a lazy day again.

We ate dinner with Dora and Steve again and had wonderful escargot, lobster thermidor and Beef Wellington (shared those last two). 

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day.

March 2 - St. Maarten

We've been here before so this time we signed up for a semi-submersible boat ride and visit to Marigot.  The boat ride was nice. The last time I was in a "glass bottom" boat I nearly got sick, so I wasn't sure what to expect this time.  This boat was a little different in that we sailed to the viewing site up top and then went below to sit in the glass enclosed area for a while to see the fish.  It is very narrow and you walk in and fold down the bench behind you.  We were the last to enter just in case I wanted to leave; last in, first out was our operating theory.  I just turned the AC vent right on my face and was fine.  Next was a shopping stop in Marigot on the French side of the island.  When we were her last November we stopped at the same place and were amazed to see the glass on top of the atrium of the indoor shopping mall had huge cracks in it from hurricane Irma in 2017.  Happy to report they have finally repaired the glass. This weekend is Carnival time again and traffic was really slow heading back to the ship in Phillipsburg on the Dutch side.  There were 6 cruise ships in town, so that didn't help.  We had an early all aboard of 2:30 which we made easily, but at about that time they were calling for 3 people to call Reception.  Finally at 3:00 the last woman made it on board  She apparently wasn't aware of the early departure time.  We were told that on the last cruise, a couple were left behind when they didn't show up and had to make their way to Miami to meet the ship.

Another lazy afternoon and a good dinner at Sette Mari (the Italian restaurant) a deux. And again an early evening.  We have only made the 9:30 show a couple of times.  Ah well.

We are now heading back to Miami and will have 2 sea days.

tight quarters

March 1 - Roseau, Dominica

Today we met at 9:15 for our tour to the Emerald Lagoon and River Tubing.  Ten of us were loaded into an air-conditioned van.  It was a bit rainy, but that didn't last long.  It took us about 45 minutes to get to the lagoon which was way up in the mountains over a very windy and pot-hole ridden road.  The Lagoon was small but beautiful and some of the group went swimming.  Next up was tubing the river after another 30 minutes creeping along a road with big ditches and more pot holes to dodge.  The tubing was much more fun than I anticipated.  We were in individual inner tube type things with a paddle.  You have virtually no control of course, so all you can do is go with the flow and try not to get hung up on rocks or the occasional branch.  But even if you did, there was a guide to come along and drag you back into the flow.  I was only able to appreciate the beauty during the quiet stretches - the rest of the time I was trying to direct  my tube to go where I wanted, or at least try to remain facing forward, an exercise in futility but great fun.  I felt like the ball in a pinball machine, bouncing and spinning all the way along.  I wish I had pictures, but I don't have a waterproof cover for the phone so I had to leave it in the van.

Today was the beginning of a carnival weekend so traffic was horrendous on our return to the ship once we got back into town.  This island was hit very hard by Hurricane Maria and there are still signs of it everywhere.  They are an independent country, part of the British Commonwealth, and received aid from Great Britain, France and the US but they still have a long way to go.

We didn't get back to the ship until about 3:30 so we just skipped lunch and cleaned up and relaxed in the cabin for a while.  At sailaway time we went to the Observation Lounge for an "adult beverage" and to watch the sunset.  We had arranged to have dinner with Barbara and Ron so we met them at the Compass Rose.

Another good day.  We were both tired, probably from fighting to stay upright during the van trip and beating off rocks on the river float, so we turned in early.  Tomorrow is St. Maarten.

February 28 - Gustavia, St. Barts

St. Barts is part of the French West Indies.  We had booked a catamaran sail and snorkel trip, but decided this morning we didn't really want to do that so we turned in the tickets.  Since it's a tender port, we had to wait for the tours to go on ahead so we didn't leave until around 10:00 am.  Getting into the tender was a bit exciting with the swells, but the crew is fabulous and if you listen to them, they will tell you precisely when to take the step so you don't end up tripping or falling into the boat.  This is a pricey island and that was reflected in all of the mega-yachts moored outside and docked at the pier.  We simply walked around window shopping - no tacky souvenir shops here.  They were Hermes, Channel and the like.  A stop into a grocery store was interesting.  Liquor prices were pretty comparable to home, but food that we could compare to home was at least twice as expensive, and sometimes more.  We did stop at an outdoor cafe after a while for a beer, but by then we'd seen the whole town so we made our way back to the ship.

Another hard day reading or dozing around the pool.  Not only do they come around offering to fetch drinks, or handing out cool towels, they also will clean your sunglasses!  Seemed very decadent but we took advantage.

Since we still have a bit of shipboard credit left, I booked a massage for Monday.  We had dinner in the Compass Rose with our "neighbors" friends Fran and Briggi from Michigan.  I think our waiter might have been new since he struggled a little bit, but it was fine.  It's not like we have to be somewhere.  

Tomorrow is Dominica.

February 27 - St. Thomas, USVI

We were here in 2018 with Viking Ocean and did the overview tour of the island then.  This time we signed up for a boat ride to St. John and then a beach visit.  Just as we boarded our boat it started pouring rain and blowing quite hard.  The first half of the boat ride was wet and wild.  But I did learn that I don't get seasick easily which is good to know.   The skies cleared and the seas calmed after a while.   Once at St. John (about 45 minutes away) we climbed aboard one of  these safari jeeps that we've done before .  This is a platform with bench seats that holds about 20 people mounted on the bed of a Ford 450.  It was a 20 minute drive to our beach - Trunk Bay.  There is still a lot of visible damage from the hurricane over a year ago.  One resort at Kaneel Bay was destroyed putting 500 people out of work and there are no plans to rebuild.  The boat driver emphasized several times that we would be leaving the beach at 11:45 because the boat back was leaving promptly at 12:15.  At the beach our driver said he'd be picking us up at 12:45 and the local guy who was arranging things told us 12:15.  Mmmmh.  Anyway, while they all got on their phones to sort this out, we headed to the beach.  There was snorkel gear available, but between Michael's hand which is still healing, the departure time uncertainty, and the water being a bit colder than we expected, we simply relaxed on the beach and spent a little while in the water.  It was very relaxing which was fine.  St. John is a beautiful island and we thought maybe one day we'll use the Westin timeshare here.  So we eventually left at 12 noon and by the time we got back to the pier, the 12:15 boat had departed.  There was a backup but it was having some issue with the pump so we had to wait for that to be repaired, which took about 30 minutes.  It was fine since we had shaded seats and the temperature was perfect.  The captain declared the pump fixed and off we went.  Fortunately, the weather on the way back had improved so the ride was smooth but very noisy - hopefully not from the pump.

Back at the ship, Michael napped for a bit while I did laundry in the complimentary launderette and watched The Favourite on the TV.  I must be missing something because I didn't really see what all the fuss was about even though the previews looked promising.  I forgot to mention that I watched Bohemian Rhapsody on the plane to Miami and didn't care for that either.  Good thing I'm not a voting member of the Academy.

We had our second reservation at Prime 7 and shared a table with Fredda and Dave from outside Denver.  Another delightful time meeting new people and learning about their lives.  The food was fabulous again.  Regent is really setting the bar very high for future cruises.  By the way, there is no doubt that we will be doing the World Cruise with them next January.  We've begun saying "when we're on the world cruise ..."  I didn't really think it would be an issue, but now we know what to expect and we can make better preparations.

One more thing about the cabin that I love.  The sitting area near the balcony can be curtained off from the bedroom part so I could read last night without disturbing Michael while he slept.  And then, if you want, you can also pull a curtain across the entryway between the closet and the bathroom for more privacy.  This is the biggest cabin we've ever had and it's their lowest category. 

I had plans to go to the show, but best laid plans ...

I've been remiss on pictures, so here are a couple taken today.  Tomorrow is St. Barts

February 26 - San Juan, Puerto Rico

We didn't arrive in San Juan until early afternoon, so we had a relaxing morning.  Michael went to the gym after breakfast while I napped a bit since I didn't sleep well.  After a quick lunch, we met our small group for our tour to the rainforest.  It wasn't the most interesting tour, but we did get to see more of the island than we have in the past.  I didn't even know there was a rainforest here so that alone was a plus.  Our guide was of Chinese heritage, born in Panama, raised in New York and moved to Puerto Rico many years ago with his new wife who is from here.  He was a respiratory therapist before retiring and going into the guide business. As we were leaving our last stop in the forest, our driver told us of 3 young people who went up there by Uber, but weren't told that Uber can drop off in the rainforest, but not pick up.  Since we were about 12 km from the entrance and there was no cell service anyway, they were pretty much stranded so we gave them a ride back down to the town where they could catch a ride.  Hope they gave their Uber drive a poor rating. 

We've been here a number of times before, and since we got back from the tour at close to 6 p.m, we just returned to the ship.  There are 3 other ships here with us - the Carnival Sunrise, Carnival Horizon and Celebrity Edge, all very large so the town is jumping..  

We had a pre-dinner drink at the Observation Lounge and ended up chatting with a couple of the dancers, which was interesting.  Then dinner was at Sette Mari, the Italian restaurant set up every night in the area of the buffet on Deck 11. It was very good, as expected. 

After dinner we did a quick video chat with Daniel for his birthday.  And we hear from Anna that back home they are having a "snowmaggedon" with tons of snow that has been falling pretty much non-stop for the last few days.  Our airport has been closed for 2 days and of course the roads are a mess so we are thankful we got out ahead of all of that.  She sent a video of Jacob jumping into the snow in his underwear (a deal he made with his brothers) and he actually disappears completely for a second before popping up and racing back inside laughing.

Tomorrow is St. Thomas.

February 25 - At Sea

I really like the bathroom on this ship.  It's roomy, with both a big bathtub and stall shower, and the mirrors don't fog up.  The floor is marble, but not heated like on the Viking Ocean, which was a nice touch.  The closet is also very nice - a walk-in that is big enough to get dressed in easily.  The balcony is only large enough for two very large chairs and a small table, but the deck chairs are fully padded and very comfortable.  They bring the pads in every night so they don't get too damp or blow overboard.

After a nice breakfast of eggs benedict in the Compass Rose, we headed to the coffee shop.  I tried a vanilla coffee which had a dash of vanilla and a shot of spiced tea.  Not my favorite although it got better after a while.  The rest of the morning was spent around the pool reading.  The seas have been pretty calm - just enough movement to make you aware and more cautious as you walk around. 

Our travel agent is part of some kind of travel consortium called Virtuoso Voyages and they have special "events" for their passengers.  Today was a private tour of the galley and then a private cocktail party.  At St. Barts they are hosting a lunch at one of the swanky hotels.  Unfortunately, we had booked a tour already that conflicted, so we got a $100 shipboard credit instead. 

The captain had a Welcome Party in the theatre which we attended just to see how it compares to those on Princess.  This one wasn't that well attended, probably because "free drinks" isn't quite the incentive it is on a ship where they aren't already "free", and because he just introduced the ship's officers and said welcome aboard.  We like to hear the passenger statistics that they do on Princess (numbers, most travelled, etc.), but they didn't do that here.

However, Regent has "block parties" at the beginning of each voyage where at a designated time (6 pm today), you get a wine glass from your cabin and step out into the hall to meet your "neighbors".  Staff come around with white or red wine and a few canapes and you mingle with your neighbors for 1/2 an hour or so.  It was a hoot.

We had dinner reservations at Chartreuse, the French restaurant, tonight.  We shared a table with Jackie and Larry from Santa Rosa, CA.  They were fun and we enjoyed their company, perhaps a little more than the food.  My rack of lamb was good, but the escargot and Coquiles St. Jacques that Michael had were a disappointment.  The escargot that I had in the main restaurant was the more traditional style and I will definitely be ordering that again, since it is available every day.

We made it to the 9:30 show which was a dance performance.  The shows here aren't the big extravaganzas on other larger ships, but the quality was as good.  And we were quite pleased to note that the volume was just right, not blasting us out of our seats.

Tomorrow we arrive in San Juan in the early afternoon.

February 24 - Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas

This was an interesting morning.  Last night I was reading the Passages (ship's newsletter) for today.  It said that we would be putting our clock's forward one hour tonight.  I'll blame it on jet lag, but I thought that was for last night and so dutifully moved my watch forward.  I thought it was odd that neither the wait staff nor our room steward mentioned it, but this is a new cruise line to us so what do I know.  We woke up at 8:00 am and hustled around to make it to the main dining room (Compass Rose) in time for the weekly champagne and caviar breakfast.  When we arrived at the restaurant we were a little confused that no one was there.  The waiter was even more confused when we asked if we were too late for breakfast since they weren't set to open for 10 more minutes.  Then the lightbulb went off in my head.  So we had a lovely coffee at the Coffee Connection, completely ignoring the beautiful pastries calling to us, and went for breakfast a bit later.  The caviar was worth it and even Michael said he liked having breakfast in the dining room.  This is a surprise since he always wants to eat in the buffet.  We walked through the buffet afterwards just to check it out and found it a little busy so I think we'll be breaking fast in the dining room from now on.  Yay.

Today was a stop at a small Bahamian island owned by NCL - the parent company of Regent, Oceania and Norwegian Cruises.  They've got a bar, some activities available, a dining facility, a small handicrafts market and oodles of beach loungers on a lovely beach.  No sooner did we find our spot in the shade when a waiter came up offering pina coladas or champagne.  After a while we went into the water, which wasn't quite as warm as I expected, but wonderful nonetheless.  We spent the time floating and talking with Steve and Dora from dinner last night.  Regent put on a big BBQ spread at the dining facility, bringing all the food over from the ship.  We debated whether to eat there or take the tender back to the ship for lunch.  Michael said he really wanted a caesar salad with anchovies and I said he probably couldn't get that on the island, but let's just check it out and then decide.  Lo and behold they had all the makings for a caesar salad including a bowl of anchovies and their fabulous dressing, which I think is equal to mine.  I didn't bring my phone, not thinking I might want to take pictures.  I wish I had so I could take a photo of the wheelchairs with huge sand tires.  We didn't see anyone using them, but I bet they did the job.  The last tender left at 2:30 so we didn't linger too long after lunch.  Back on board I spent some time reading by the pool and Michael went to the gym and then took a nap. A very tough day.

We ate in the Compass Rose with John and Marjorie from the Phoenix area.  Dinner was excellent and we had another good time. The ship is showing the Academy Awards show in the main theatre, but having no interest, we returned to the cabin for a little TV and reading.  Tomorrow is a sea day and tonight (I have it on good authority) we set our clocks forward an hour.

February 23 - Miami, getting onboard

The hotel had a decent included breakfast with pre-made omelettes, Canadian bacon, make your own waffles and various cereals, etc.  We hung around until 11:00 when we called a Lyft to take us to the cruise pier.  Boarding took only about 20 minutes and then it was off to the buffet topside for lunch.  The selections weren't overly large, but everything was very good.  We wandered down to our cabin to see if it might be ready, which it was, so we dropped our carry ons and went to explore the ship.  Our first impressions are very positive.  It is elegant without being stuffy.  I found the latest Judy Picoult in the library as well as the latest Lee Child book.  There was also an extensive guest exchange selection.  While exploring, we wandered into the spa and since both of us planned to use some of our shipboard credits for haircuts, we decided to go ahead right then. I love the job Tetiana did - didn't love the price so much, but it was shipboard credit so it hardly counts (eye roll here).  And since everything else is included in the cruise fare like liquor, tours, specialty restaurants and wi-fi, there isn't much to spend the credits on anyway.  Might have to use the remainder on a massage.

Our cabin is lovely, very spacious and well laid out.  Everyone on staff has been very friendly and professional. The mandatory safety drill was different in that we met at our indoor muster station and then were taken to the outside lifeboat station.  I thought that was a good way to do it rather than just meeting at the indoor location.  And Michael is happy that the life jackets are in the cabin since they weren't on the Viking Ocean cruise.

We spent the sailaway in the aft Horizon Lounge watching the lights of Miami fade in the distance.  We were able to get a reservation tonight at Prime 7, which is the steak house specialty restaurant.  We sat at a table of 8 with Barbara and Ron (Richmond, Virginia), Dora and Steve (New Jersey) and David and Mary (London).  All nice people and we had some lively discussions - mostly led by Steve who has definite opinions.  He's from New York originally so no surprise there. The food was delicious and beautifully presented.The only negative comment I heard about the food was from Steve who thought the Chicago cheesecake didn't compare to New York cheesecake.

Tomorrow is a beach day at one of those islands owned by the cruise lines.  

 

February 22 - Off to Miami

This cruise on the Regent Seven Seas Voyager is our "dry run" to try out Regent cruise line.  We have put a deposit on their 2020 World Cruise departing from San Francisco next January and Michael suggested it might be prudent to sail with them to make sure we like it before getting on for 131 days.   Sounded reasonable to me, so we booked this 10 night Caribbean cruise. It isn't the same ship because the schedule didn't work out to sail on the Mariner (the World Cruise ship), but we will at least get to see if we like the atmosphere, etc. 

Since we had the dreaded 5:45 am flight to Los Angeles, our alarm clock went off at 3:00 am; actually both alarm clocks since I have a fear of one of them not working and sleeping right through.  But we were ready when our shuttle driver arrived 10 minutes early and off we went.  Getting through check-in and security at Redmond airport was a breeze, as usual.  There are 5 flights that depart between 5:45 and 6:00 am from Redmond and I think our plane was first.  Everyone had to get de-iced first which delayed us by 10 minutes, but we made up the time and landed in LAX 15 minutes early, which was good since we had a scheduled 36 minute connection time and we had to get to the International terminal from Terminal 5.  But all went well and we made the connection easily and our bags arrived with us in Miami.  Woo hoo!  I knew that if we divided up our clothes between the two bags we would be guaranteed they would both be there.

We stayed on points at the TownHouse by Marriott at the airport - a completely forgettable hotel which has an airport shuttle.  There aren't many restaurants nearby, and Michael didn't want to be walking around the neighborhood after dark, so we made a meal of the appetizers in the bar.  Heavy on the carbs, but acceptable.  We were very tired from our long day so we hit the sheets quite early.  Looking forward to boarding the ship tomorrow!