vitacura

Part 2 of our day in Santa Cruz de la Palma. We left off having cheese and whine.. no, that’s not it.. Cheese and Wine! Yes, that’s better! Boarded our bus and went back the way we came, hair pin turns and all! Some of these roads were really tight! We were headed to a lookout point over a black sand beach, los Nogales, which is a 3 km walk from the nearest road! You have to be really determined to make it there! It is hard to tell from the picture, but there were several determined ones living it up down on the beach! Continuing on the drive back to the ship we see some of the many, many, many.. did I say many? banana plantations we passed. Several tunnels and hair pin turns later.. we are greeted by this sight: We really did enjoy todays excursion, it was our last chance of stretching our legs before five straight sea days. Since we were a late excursion, Sail away was shortly after getting back to the ship. Just enough time to be on deck for sail away, freshen up and head to Compass Rose for dinner. Not the best picture, but my wife started with the Black Angus Beef Tartare. I don’t know what it is.. but somehow I’m ordering two desserts again! Must be something in the water.. I had the Passion Fruit Soufflé and the Floating Island. Absolutely delicious! Had a pre show cocktail, mentioned in an earlier post. Then off to the Constellation Theater for the first show of the Mariner Production Company: Divos & Divas! It was a great show featuring songs from Neil Diamond, Lady Gaga, Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Ricky Martin, Stevie Wonder and many more.. quite a fun show! My one nitpick, would be that the Regent Orchestra music would drown out the main voices in a few of the songs. We are officially headed west towards Bermuda, unless Lee has something to say about it… We set the clocks back one hour tonight. Looking forward to what the sea days ahead of us bring! As always, thanks for following!

Not to worry, there are many, many more wines you can get by the glass. We just sat down in the Horizon Lounge after dinner and my wife got a glass of Cabernet from right here, in La Palma. They have an extensive option of complimentary wines, I am on the hunt for a tentative list. Mine is the Tiramisu, which features Vodka, Grand Marnier, Baileys and Kahlua.

Another beautiful, sunny day for an excursion! Today we were in Santa Cruz de la Palma and we had the second departure of the ‘Charms of the North’ excursion. It was a five hour excursion including stops at Casa Lujan with a museum housed in a 17th century estate, Granja los Tumbitos to visit a goat barn and sample some cheese and wine as well as a scenic stop overlooking the black sand beach of Los Nogales. Sounds good, we have our walking shoes on.. let’s go! First thing I noticed was the modern, comfortable bus for about 16 of us. Our guide was another winner, she was originally from Venezuela but had lived in the UK and Spain for many years. She was engaging, informative and patient with us. We had a scenic drive from the port to our first stop. Up the mountain we go to Casa Lujan! A quaint little place that used to be a family estate that dates back to the 1700’s and is now a Museum. A two story building with the dormitories and library upstairs. The lower floor was converted and used as a classroom for many years before the conversion into a museum. It has the scariest teacher I have ever seen. Yikes.. That teacher just gives me the willies! 🙀 The view just outside the home was something to behold! After our visit there, it was about an hour of scenic, yet twisty and windy roads up to the town of Barlovento. We learned that the island used to grow a lot of Sugarcane, but now the main export is.. Bananas! Sing it with me; B-A-N-A-N-A-S! While not truly the main export as they ship most of them to the mainland of Spain, it is the biggest export off the island, closely followed by avocados and dragon fruit! Who knew? Well, now we do! Upon arriving into the small, family owned farm we spent some time visiting the goats, sheep and chickens! Smelly, yet cute bunch! Thereafter, we sat down for some goat cheese and wine. We had plain goat cheese, or we could have it topped with olives or guava paste. This was paired with local wines. Not bad for a tour of about 16.. we finished off a few bottles! I will have to do part two of today in another post as it has taken me a few hours to upload the pictures. (Boo!) I don’t want to lose what I have thus far! Stay tuned..

Absolutely! One of the things I love of Regent dining, you can pretty much have anything you want when and how you want it! I will ask for the inclusive wine list and see what arrives!

Sadly, I will be getting off in NY. On embarkation day I asked one of the Sommeliers about tastings they may have planned. There are two Wine tastings, one Cognac and one Macallan tasting on this cruise, all scheduled for sea days. The Wine Lunch pairing is $169/pp, Cognac $125/pp and Macallan at 85/pp. They did announce them in the Passages over the last couple of days as well.

Well, what I thought would be a relaxing, leisurely sea day ended up being anything but that! (In a good way!) I decided to start off the day joining Bruce, our Cruise Consultant, at the Constellation Theatre for the Future Cruise Presentation! Always a fun time, dreaming of possible future cruises and Grand Voyages! It was well attended, but I do think the appeal was also in the raffle for $250 shipboard credit! Alas, I did not win. Thereafter, Terry Bishop gave an informative lecture entitled: The Lost Civilizations of the Canarias; A land of mummies and giants lost to conquest and greed. His joke: “Mummification: A dying art!” *Badum Tsss Pool Grill lunch today featured Kebabs & Shawarmas. We did not attend as my wife was at the Connoisseur Wine lunch held in Chartreuse. She had a great time sampling about six different wines, including a bonus one not listed. As for me, I wandered aimlessly around the ship like a lost puppy! Probably what my wife was thinking, but not really what happened. I attended, but did not participate in, the Officers Challenge game of Top Toss! I do not know who won as I did depart before it ended to grab a bite at the Coffee Connection as I realized I had skipped breakfast and wasn’t about to wait until dinner for some nutrition… or sugar.. lots of sugar! Seas were mainly calm, slight rocking motion throughout the day. Pool was filled, loungers on the pool deck full of sun worshippers. As for me, I do enjoy my balcony! One thing I do like on the Mariner is how they separate Tea Time from Trivia. On our last Navigator cruise they combined both in Galileo’s and it got rather crowded. Here I noticed that while Trivia is held in the Observation Lounge, Afternoon Tea gets the Horizon Lounge! Ample space, soft music, tables galore with the trolley of goodies coming to visit several times. Today Afternoon Tea featured Cherries Jubilee, oh my! Afternoon lecture was by Dr. Douglas Nelson entitled: Globalization Impact; How Atlantic Ocean trade impacted the overall dynamics of globalization. We did miss this lecture, but hope to watch it in our suite tomorrow. Checking in on our progress.. In the meantime, my wife and I look at each other wondering how we could possibly have room for dinner.. Lunch, Tea Time with sandwiches, scones, sweets and it’s already time to eat again?! Well.. ok. Off to Compass Rose we go with the intention of having one appetizer, soup and another appetizer as our main course. Sounds like a good plan! That plan went sideways real quick! I do not know what happened but we somehow ended up with two starters, soup and an Entree each. Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough.. I did this. Excuse me, but who ordered TWO desserts? Oh, I guess that was me. Pistachio Soufflé and Dark Chocolate Mousse with mango sauce. Dear me.. do I have no self control?! I guess not when it comes to sweets! Back to our Suite in order to enjoy another beautiful sunset! I love sea days.. what I thought would be a completely sedentary and relaxing day was anything but! On a side note, I am glad that they don’t have scales in the bathrooms! Tomorrow morning we arrive in Santa Cruz de la Palma of the Canary Islands. Until then.. thanks for following!

Absolutely incredible! For me, it’s the pistachio sauce that sets it apart. I would explode.. have to draw the line somewhere!

So happy to have a fellow passenger post, please feel free to pitch in your thoughts and commentary about the cruise anytime! 🙂 We had an 8:30pm Prime 7 reservation and were there until well into the night, so we sadly missed Chris Ritchie. Prime 7 was quite lovely with several anniversaries being celebrated last night! We chose to spend some of our SBC with one of my favorite Cabs from Chile. I had the Bone in Rib-eye while the Mrs went for the Filet Mignon. We had a little assortment of sides, with the onion rings being our favorite! I don’t think I have ever chosen a dessert other than the 14 Layer golden chocolate cake at Prime 7. Absolutely heavenly! We’ve had calm seas throughout the first few days/nights with the first night and last night being the only ones where we had a slight rocking motion. Sea Day today. We will see what the day brings!

Oh, sure.. pop my happy bubble! 😜 Well aware, just wanted to live in happy bliss of one of my favorite movies! Glad you noticed that! The food has been on point this trip, I neglected to notice the local features on the menu! I do hope for just enough Wi-Fi for pictures on sea days as I plan on doing my commentary on the ships condition and activities! Currently enjoying a near empty Observation Lounge while sailing into the sunset.

Had a fun time exploring Casablanca today. Our excursion was the ‘Highlights of Casablanca’ and featured stops at the Hassan II Mosque, Anfa District, Habbous Quarter, Mohammed V Square, Royal Palace Esplanade and two markets. Sounds like fun! Weather is partly cloudy with a high around 80. Once we boarded our bus, we did have an unexpected slow drive by of none other than Rick’s place! The tour guide on these excursions truly can make or break them. We had a great, approachable and informative tour guide for this one. I have spoken to fellow guests who sadly had a terrible excursion in Cadiz that went over by an hour and had limited restroom breaks. It has soured their view of Regent’s inclusive excursions. Hassan II Mosque, the third largest Mosque, was our first actual stop. We did not enter, but had an informative and picturesque visit. Made a brief refreshment stop at a local hotel before continuing on to where we did a walking tour that started at the Royal Palace. Yesterday I had the cider, today they had a local apple flavored soda, which was quite good! There were the usual Coca Cola products, water or coffee available. It was a small hotel, right on the water. The Royal Palace was our next stop. I wanted to knock and see who might answer, but the Mrs talked some sense into me.. the area was well guarded and they only allowed one group in at a time. They declined allowing us to take pictures of the guards. Back to walking amongst the commoners, we found ourselves seeing a typical residence entrance.. nicer than mine for sure! Quite a few cats in town, to my wife’s joy. She is a cat lover! Next up were the markets. Spices, olives, seafood, vegetables, clothing and of course magic carpets and Knick Knacks! We did have a little time to shop at some of the stops, but not too much. A few spices and what not may or may not have been purchased by yours truly. A quick drive back to the ship and we found ourselves back at my wife’s favorite hangout, Coffee Connection. Ship-Wide block party is this evening, followed by sail away shortly thereafter. We have a late reservation for Prime 7, which I am very much looking forward to! Thanks for reading!

Thanks Marc! I must say, after worrying about so many storms approaching our gulf coast of FL over the years.. it is a nice change to not have to worry about Lee. I left our home buttoned down from Idalia and I know Regent will keep us safe. When I booked this cruise we were originally scheduled to visit Rhode Island, then it was changed to Bermuda. I’m game for any adjustments needed, perhaps we will get to NY earlier and overnight. Until they make that announcement, I am Squidward! Arrived in Casablanca and it’s a very industrial port! Getting ready to head out on our excursion shortly. This is an exciting port of call for the Mrs and I, as it finally gets us to set foot on our seventh continent. We had two previous attempts to visit Egypt cancelled or altered. In anticipation of making this port, I booked Prime 7 for this evening to celebrate!

Sail away just before 7pm while we were happily sipping on some wine, staring at the menu in Compass Rose. We were the last ship to leave port this evening. Many wonderful choices today. Dinner was just shy of two hours, mainly because I ended up asking for seconds or even thirds(!) of the amazing Ravioli served in a truffle cream sauce. But first up was the Chicken and Goose liver parfait for the Mrs. Soufflé this evening was Salzburger with Lingonberries. Quite delicious and light! We also went with the White Chocolate Mouse with mixed Berry Jelly. I mean, we’re on vacation so no one is counting calories, right? We waddled back to our suites, thinking of making it to the Constellation Theater this evening for the talented Andrea Amat! That plan was short lived as we settled into our balcony with some bubbly to watch a beautiful sunset which soon lead to heavy eyelids. Clocks go back one hour tonight and tomorrow we are due to be at Rick’s Café (not really) in Casablanca, Morocco! We will be doing the Highlights of Casablanca excursion instead. Until tomorrow, thanks for following!

Woke up to a beautiful, warm day in Cadiz, Spain. Arriving just before 8am, we lounged a bit before heading off the ship after most of the excursions took off. We decided to just walk the town ourselves. There were two other ships in port with us today, a Princess and a Norwegian ship, but we had the best berth, with the town just steps off the gangway! This was the view from our balcony this morning. We strolled about 8 miles (according to our smart watches) over several hours and found a small outdoor cafe that was slightly off the beaten path for some refreshments. Even though it was around 80 degrees F, being in the direct sunlight most of the day took a toll on us! A glass of Rioja, a local Apple Cider for myself and a slice of chocolate cake, yes please! Walked over to Playa de la Caleta where they filmed part of Die Another Day, when Bond meets Jinx! Continued out to Castle of San Sebastian which was closed, but that did not deter the local fishermen! Lots of individuals and families fishing along the causeway/walkway. Hit some local shops, wandered some more and eventually were greeted by this sight: Loved our visit to Cadiz, small yet charming town with friendly folk. Boarding the Mariner we were greeted with a chilled towel which felt amazing! Now relaxing in our suite prior to dinner in Compass Rose. Norwegian ship just sailed away, leaving Princess next to us.

I do have a Regent app downloaded on my phone. I had no idea it was no longer being used. I remember it worked great the few times we did use it though.

Thank you, that’s kind of you to say. Normally we let things go rather easily, but the smell and finding the pizza did irritate me enough to complain on board and post about it on here. By the time we returned from dinner that evening it was more of a distant memory that we now joke about. We’re having a blast on this cruise and it’s just getting started! 😃

The grasshopper was delicious! So funny you mention the bottle of bubbly.. We found this upon our return to our Suite this evening along with a note of apology. I found that to be a thoughtful gesture! As for your question regarding flights, what I did was look up my top three preferred flights/routes/airlines, then had my TA contact the Regent flight desk and see what was available. I do get one free air deviation per sailing, otherwise there is a nominal fee of $175pp, I believe, and you can do this within 210 days of sailing. Thankfully my first choice was available. HERE is a Regent link that has some more info. Hope you find it helpful!

I did forget to mention that both our Stewardess and the assistant Chief Housekeeper came by to check in with us and apologize for the condition of our stateroom upon embarkation. They said if there was anything else we needed to please ask. We had a relaxing afternoon on our balcony, with the Mrs scheduling a few spa treatments on upcoming sea days. There are two guest lecturers on board, Terry Bishop and Douglas Nelson. They do record the lectures so you can watch them in your suite later on. Enhanced Bios featured in the Passages. Seas remain calm, we did skip the Captains welcome reception and went straight to dinner in Compass Rose at 6:30. Dinner was a swift 90 minutes for five courses (dessert included). My filet was cooked to a perfect medium rare. Another great experience with dinner. Bar staff were moving around and it was easy to get wine or drink refills. I do enjoy the nightly change in soufflé flavors, tonight was Hazelnut! A glass of wine and a Grasshopper at the Horizon Lounge before turning in for the night. Tomorrow we are in Cádiz, Spain!

Had a lovely meal in Chartreuse last night, service and food were impeccable. No pictures of dinner, but we did notice it only got to about 3/4 full. They do hold some tables for the high end suites. Very little swell last night, about two to three meters. The slight rocking motion helped me sleep. They did replace our mini fridge last night and the thermostat is now in place, yay! Seas are calm today. Lunch on the Pool Deck featured French buffet including made to order Crepe Bretonne. Plenty of tables available in the shade, even around 12:30-1. Lots of open loungers by the pool as well. Pool is drained at the moment. We are sailing at near capacity. Some lively music for about an hour! It’s a good, friendly mix of guests on board, lots of returning Seven Seas members. Captains welcome party is tonight followed by dinner in Compass Rose. Coffee Connection features: Internet is pretty decent in the public areas, allowing me to upload pictures. In our suite (deck 9 aft), not so much. We elected for the free SSS internet over the streaming upgrade. As always, I appreciate your thoughts and comments and thanks for following along!

Thanks everyone! Our luggage was waiting for us outside our suite, so we brought them in and finished putting everything up with still no sign of anyone coming to our aid. I decided to go down to reception in person, but as soon as I departed our suite I met with our lovely stewardess and explained the situation. She was mortified and apologized profusely. She will have the mini fridge changed out since the bottom of the box had melted onto the top of the fridge. Went for a stroll around the ship and found the public spaces to be in great shape! In Port with us are Virgin, Royal Caribbean and Costa. Currently enjoying a Vesper martini and a glass of Champagne for the Mrs. at the Observation Lounge. I signed up for the Macallan tasting on the 11th. Sail away is at 1900. Can’t wait! Figured it best to post the Beverage Menu while I have cell signal and don’t have to rely on the ships wi-fi.

Right? Perhaps I should tag that post as NSFW! 😬

I had no pre-cruise requests in regard to our suite this time, but I was surprised at the selection they left for me. None of them are what I normally drink, perhaps they want less crowds in the bars? Nah.. I like the ambiance at the bars! Will have our Room Steward/Stewardess clear them once they come to introduce themselves. Today’s specials for Compass Rose:

Finally time to board! I love this ship, my first cruise on Radisson was on the Mariner over 20 years ago as a teenager, so she holds a special place in my heart! (I’m so glad my wife enjoys cruising as much as I do!) Easy check-in, quick visit to our Muster Station, then off to the Pool Grill for lunch. Ship looks great, always nice to see familiar faces. Suites were ready a tad early, perhaps they should have taken more time to get them ready.. we are in a Concierge suite and we were not too pleased upon entering our room.. Thermostat has seen better days, and a pizza box was found on top of mini fridge, where there is just enough space for it to fit, easy to overlook if it weren’t for the smell.. We let reception know, waiting on our room steward to come dispose of it. We will not let this deter from our trip, we just hope the negatives are now out of the way early! We now wait for our bags so we can unpack! We are dining in Chartreuse tonight! Suite had a nice Regent tote on our bed upon arrival! Perhaps some tape is needed? What’s that smell?! Oh.. yuck! That’s what smells!

I haven’t done a thread in several years, but thought I would start one for our Mariner crossing. Many sea days, but I hope some will find the information helpful. For only the second time in our Radisson/Regent travels did we take Regent air. (One way) Booked this cruise months ago and received our airfare with an easy connection. TPA-EWR-BCN. Of course, what is pre-trip packing without some excitement? Paging Hurricane Idalia, please enter stage left! Being in the Tampa Bay, FL area, we started the week not knowing what to expect. Hurricane prep, packing and then TPA airport closed on Tuesday and didn’t re-open until Thursday with our flight scheduled to depart on Friday! Idalia stayed on her northern course, missing Tampa by about 90-100 miles, and we dodged another one. Do feel for those impacted by Idalia to our north though! Friday finally arrived and we were off with some uneventful (those are always welcome!) flights on United. Food was.. ok. Arrived in BCN where we met the Regent rep and a few other Regent travelers. We were taken to our bus (all six! of us) along with our luggage and promptly taken to the Hotel Sofia. A very nice hotel, albeit you will need to use a taxi or hop on/off bus to get to some of the more touristy areas (eg Sagrada Familia or Gothic Quarter). We barely slept on the flight, so we walked the area near the hotel before calling it an early night. There were quite a bit of shopping, restaurants/coffee shops to check out though. Sunday morning we left our luggage in our hotel room and joined another small group that elected to do a pre-cruise tour. There were 18 of us on this tour and we got on a nice, new bus with a great tour guide. We visited and walked several areas including the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Pedrera, Gothic Quarter, Picasso Museum (did not go in) and Montjuic Hill. Overall a great way to visit some of the highlights of Barcelona in a short period of time before being dropped off at the port near 12:30pm. Here is our Hotel Room at the Sofia Hotel Sagrada Familia Cathedral View from top of the Hill

I booked our airfare through Regent for an upcoming cruise later this year. Flying TPA-EWR-BCN on United. First on the domestic portion then Business across the Atlantic. I have enjoyed the Polaris product and the timing worked on the flights. I do recall they offered no options through ATL without an extra charge. I didn't inquire on what cost or airline those were, since the United flights worked for us.

What cruise are you booked on? I am on the transatlantic in September on the Mariner which has a scheduled stop in Casablanca. Final payment is tomorrow so I thought you were talking about my cruise, but I have not received any schedule changes yet.