DAY 11--AT SEA

 Last Night:

         Our 5pm canapes in the suite today were pigs in a blanket plus some garlic shrimp.

     Sitting at the Meridian Lounge bar is quite entertaining with watching Catalin and Bogdan make all the specialty drinks offered here.

Bogdan made my Grey Goose martini and I told him extra dry.  So he used a spray bottle for the dry vermouth.  That's a first.

On deck 4 on our way to dine in Compass Rose.  Entrance is at the end of atrium.  Entrance to the Explorer Lounge is back of Rebecca's head.

                                                 Table for two with waiter, Gede.

You knew I would have some food photos.  This is our hearts of palm, artichoke, and tomato salad with green Goddess dressing.

                                                              Escargot again this evening.

I was not crazy about the chateaubriand entree I had so this is my cheese cake.  Not New York cheese cake for sure.  

     I was at the door to the theater when they opened it at 9pm (30 minutes before showtime).  I got our seats on the front row center stage.  Rebecca went to the suite but joined me about 10 minutes before the show started.  The photo above was taken from my seat looking toward the rear of the theater.  Big crowd for the show.

     Tonight was the second production show with the ship's singers and dancers titled, "Paradis".  Kind of a Paris themed show.  Following are some photos I took during the show.  Video recordings are not allowed nor is the use of flash.

                                                       The lead singer and she is very good.

Today:

     Land ho!  This is our position at noon today.  We will be arriving at the dock in San Juan by 7:30am tomorrow.  It is sunny and 82 degrees outside today and smooth sailing.  We received a letter saying everyone must present themselves with passports to CBP (US Customs & Border Protection) officials in the cruise terminal starting at approximately10:45 tomorrow morning.  Those going on tours will be processed first, so as we are not going on a tour, we will be last.  I don't think we will be allowed back on board until everyone has been cleared.  Bummer!!  Then our first covid test will be between 4 and 6:30pm.  Busy day.

Salmon in puff pastry in La Veranda for lunch today.  It also has some spinach & rice in it.  One of our favorites so for the first time Rebecca had a piece instead of her usual Atkins bar.

                                            You can put some lemon butter sauce over it.

     This morning I asked Shogun if he could get us a 7pm reservation for this evening in Prime 7.  While we were having lunch he found us and said there was an 8pm available but we declined it.  We had already decided to dine in Sette Mari and had told Donald, the maitre'd, to expect us around 7pm.  He said he would have us a table with Skinny as our waiter.  I had not planned on asking Chef Deon for veal parmesan but at 2pm I went up to the pool grill and asked if he could do it despite the late request.  He said he could do it for me.  I said not a big one however.

     There is another production show tonight at 9:30 titled, "World Rhythms".  Of course I will be trying for front row seats again.  We set our clocks back another hour tonight.  Big day tomorrow in San Juan with US Customs/Immigrations and first covid test.

DAY 10--AT SEA

 Last Night:

     Another perfect evening.  

     As I mentioned in an earlier post, guests can now again sit at the bar.  That is our perch again to enjoy our pre-dinner cocktail.  La Crema chardonnay for Rebecca and a Makers Mark Manhattan for me.  I asked for a Woodford Reserve Manhattan but Catalin advised us that they ran out of it.  That's ok as I think Makers Mark may be better anyway.  The barstools were all full last evening.  Catalin and Bogdan were fun to watch as they made the special cocktails only available here in Meridian Lounge.

     Indeed we both did have the crispy a 'l orange duck.  I opted for a side of creamy, scallop risotto.  For dessert I had the profiteroles but with chocolate ice cream in them instead of vanilla.  Sorry no photo as I gobbled them up right away.

     We finished dinner an hour prior to showtime so retreated to our suite to wait.  Once again the comedian, Cory Kahaney, was very good.  She may be the best comedian we have had on a cruise ship.

     Our clocks went back another hour last night.  We are now two hours ahead of Miami time.

Today:

     Another benefit we enjoy as Titanium members is they download and print the Dallas Morning News for us daily.  This morning everyone received a letter saying the San Juan health department wanted to know the date all passengers had received their 2nd covid vaccination.  So I filled it out and returned it to the reception desk.  In another form we received last evening the Destinations Services folks wanted to know our transportation plans for our arrival at the port in Miami on Sunday morning.

So I turned it in also and confirmed with them that we would be getting a private car to take us to the airport in Miami.

     At noon today Captain Saro said we were now 800 miles from San Juan, Puerto Rico.  It is sunny and 80 degrees today.  (I did not pack any shorts)  The depth of the ocean is 23,000 feet.  Smooth sailing again today.

     For lunch today they are featuring some dishes from India.  So I went to the pool grill and ordered a hamburger and some buffalo wings.

     OOPS!  I did it again.  Forgot about taking a photo until after I bit into it.  I thought I would take you on a tour of the La Veranda noon buffet today.

                                                            Cold seafood station

                                                                        Salad station

                                                             Cheeses and breads

                                                                        Desserts

                                                                   And more desserts

                                                               Hot food and carving station

                                                                     Pool grill pizza

                                                        Pool grill hot foods--Indian today

                                                      Table for two!  Note the smooth ocean.

                                                     Our long time waiter friend, Hendra.

     We have a lot of ship board credit to use or lose so we went down to the shops this afternoon.  Shopping, my favorite pass time!!  NOT!  Anyway, Rebecca lost one of the earrings for this necklace early on during this cruise.  She found these which will match the necklace pretty good so bought them.  They were half off so got a deal.  Then the perfume spray bottle she bought was basically empty so she found a Lancome five small bottle perfume kit that will work well for traveling.  We still have $168 to spend.

     It is now 5pm here and Shogun just delivered some evening canapes, shrimp & wieners in pastry.  We will be doing our pre-dinner cocktail, as usual, in the Meridian Lounge around 6:15.  Compass Rose for dinner.  We requested a special salad of marinated hears of palm, artichokes, and tomatoes with green Goddess dressing to start with.  I believe Rebecca will be having grilled salmon with Beluga lentils and I am having chateaubriand.

     There is a second production show tonight by the singers and dancers titled, "Paradis" which we hope to be on the front row for at 9:30. 

     

DAY 9--AT SEA

 Last night:

     I went to the special show for Seven Seas Society "top tier" members at 6pm.  Rebecca was on laptop looking at the Cowboys & Broncos play by play.  Cowboys got a good ass kicking!!  The pianist was an international showman, Chris Hamilton.  He was very good.

     I had this smoked salmon canape while watching the show.  I left the theater before the show was over and met Rebecca in the Meridian Lounge for a pre-dinner cocktail.

     Dinner was in Sette Mari as I had requested Chef Deon make us another veal parmesan.

     Think I have mentioned that in the evenings they transform half of the La Veranda into the Italian restaurant, Sette Mari.  They raise this big shutter so you can watch the chef and the cooks preparing the orders.

     The Executive Chef, Dino Schwager, came up to check on us so I asked him to make us some fried soft shell crabs as the appetizer for our dinner on Thursday.  Our friends, Joan & Charlie Davis, will be joining us for that dinner.  The Davis' have over 1200 nights on Regent ships and will be on our world cruises in 2022, 2023, & 2024.

     I cut part of my piece of veal parm off and shared with Rebecca.  The piece in the center of our table was untouched so I offered it to our waiter, Skinny, and the maitre'd for them to enjoy later.

     After dinner Chef Deon stopped by to make sure we enjoyed his veal parmesan.  Maitre'd, Donald, was with him.  I told Chef Deon he needed to transfer to the Mariner for our world cruise.

Today:

     Same morning routine.  At noon Captain Saro said it was sunny and 80 degrees today.  Smooth sailing again today.  We have about 1325 statute miles left to sail before arriving in San Juan on Thursday.  We will be clearing US immigration upon our arrival.  That way we will not have to do it in Miami and can head right to the airport upon disembarkation.

   For lunch I had the salmon with a chili honey glaze, fried rice, and steamed vegetables.  Very good.

                               The casino was empty at 1:30 this afternoon when we passed by.

                                       They added some fresh flowers to our arrangement.
     I woke up in the middle of the night worrying about our cell phone account.  I have heard horror stories about people returning from cruises to find a cell phone bill in the thousands of dollars.  So I called Spectrum this morning to check on it.  We have a lot of free ship's phone time to use due to our Titanium status.  The phone connection is amazingly clear too.  We have gotten a few text messages which I discourage when on cruises.  The lady said our account was ok and advised me to turn off our mobile data just in case.

     The striped bass filet, crispy duck, and beef bourguignon all look good to me.  But I think we will both be having the crispy duck a l' orange.  Quack-Quack!!  We do not prepare duck when at home so it sounds good.

     The show tonight is a return performance by the comedian, Cory Kahaney.  We liked her first show so will be going back tonight.  There is a pre-dinner show at 5:45 by the orchestra's pianist which we will skip for sure.