Norton Explorer(er)s Trumps BFF Putins land

Now a kir royalle is my absolute favourite and those canapés look divine......jealous?....not me. ;p

Pam.

Our first stop was Tallinn in Estonia. The tour I was on was a walking tour of the upper old town along with a visit to an outdoor folk museum to see some traditional dancing.

Sometimes the network name yields little information about the country you're in.

Something seems off about this.

Emperor Norton, thank you so much for sharing your libations and food pictures. I wonder if we would have livers left after all those scrumptious cocktails. Continue to enjoy!

I can see Russia from my house.

Pity the Costa ship and Disney ship weren’t in opposite places.

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Been there, seen that!

Thank you for your most interesting posts! Enjoying it all as we travel along with you!

Thanks for all your pictures and commentary.

So day 2 was Tallinn. When I was here with Seabourn we did a shopping with the chef tour. Turns out I was very much spoiled as the chef was Jes Paskins (IMO the best chef in Seabourns fleet). This time I was going to see old town and then some. That turned into upper old town and an open air folk park. Our tour guide was probably 3/4 stand up comic and 1/4 guide. He was very entertaining (even if every other tour came back mentioning microcrete and the KGB).

As is my luck construction/rehabilitation ruled the day.

 

I asked if this was the German embassy and was told no - it was just where the ambassador lived. Ok.

This was right across the street to a plaque for those that were killed via communist terror (their words and I'm not disagreeing).

Not quite as devoid of tourists as it was in 2012.

You have to love the churches in Europe. Some common bond that worked for them.

 

At this point its like a slightly less crowded and traffic prone St. Petersburg.

Our first scenic view was of a seabourn flying rat.

 

Our ship might be in there somewhere.

For those that still have to have fun with the PSAT or SAT todays word is juxtaposition.

Start of the open air folk village

That's not my grandfathers selfie stick

On one hand, probably better than I could do - on the other anyone ever seen a long legged racing weasel?

At least I don't have to pay to bring in a model

They need an app for "make everyone in a group portrait get on the same page"

Dinner on day two was in

this was my favorite dining venue on the genuine fake inaugural cruise

Neither did I get any strawberry flavor from this champagne, nor was I the working girl from Pretty woman.

On the genuine fake inaugural this was my favorite dish. I think it was much bigger then. Still it tastes excellent - I just need to order more.

This was the cream of artichoke soup. It tasted excellent but I don't think there's a way to make it look good in a picture (though a few K worth of studio lights may help)

This was Tournedos Rossini. Everything was excellent. Except the beef (please find a better source and treat it better Regent/Oceania).

The chocolate ice cream was chocolaty and creamy. Fit the bill perfectly.

My sister in law ordered the floating island and this is what it looks like.

As an aside, cruise ships do not have the ability to cook steaks as well as they are on land (mostly because they cannot cook with flames). IMO, you can take the best steak in the world, cook it on a ship and ruin it!

Your food pictures are very good and make me hungry. We enjoy Chartreuse very much.

As an aside, cruise ships do not have the ability to cook steaks as well as they are on land (mostly because they cannot cook with flames). IMO, you can take the best steak in the world, cook it on a ship and ruin it!

 

Your food pictures are very good and make me hungry. We enjoy Chartreuse very much.

Though there are challenges, I understand, chefs on other lines who are careful have managed to serve excellent steaks at sea. They do not have to always be ruined.

Thank you for your thread, Emperor, though weirdly titled, I am enjoying it, as usual!

It’s not the cooking of the beef that I’m taking issue with (it’s been perfect for me). It’s the to me lack of quality combined with too much time in a freezer (pre freezer burn still wrecks the texture).

Most of the crew has been great. Weather not cooperating so much.

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It’s not the cooking of the beef that I’m taking issue with (it’s been perfect for me). It’s the to me lack of quality combined with too much time in a freezer (pre freezer burn still wrecks the texture).

 

Most of the crew has been great. Weather not cooperating so much.

 

 

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Why do they even use frozen beef? I just don't see the point in doing that!

Why do they even use frozen beef? I just don't see the point in doing that!

They have to freeze most meat and seafood. After all, it won't stay fresh for days at a time...... some itineraries have 5 sea days in a row and food cannot be obtained in every port. In certain areas of the world Regent is able to get fresh fish and veggies in port but, in order to maintain consistency, to my knowledge, beef and lamb are only obtained in a few ports in the world. Regent's lamb, for instance, is from New Zealand so it is obviously frozen but it is amongst the best lamb in the world.

We have personally had some amazing steaks onboard Regent and some that we did not care for. They do a pretty good job with lobster (especially when you are leaving from Miami - a port where most of the food is obtained). I understand that the best lobster onboard is when they get it fresh in the northeastern part of the U.S. since they do not have to freeze it. For us, we like the fish that is loaded onboard from Alaska (not sure if it is frozen or not but it is amazing!).

Freezing meats and fish is not unique to Regent - it is done on most (if not all) major cruise lines.

You cannot keep beef unfrozen for days at at time as bacteria will start to form. The process is usually flash frozen and sealed and air air vacuumed out to keep it fresh. We have a vacuume sealer at our home and it’s fantastic.

One major company in the US is Omaha Steaks and they are are great and expensive too but their beef products are wonderful and you can store them for a long time up to six months. So if you are doing a 5-6 day transatlantic cruise it would be impossible. If a cruise line has a CDC inspection they can get into trouble if poultry, meat or fish are not stored at a proper temperature or outdated. This happened on another luxury line a few years ago and they got into a bit of trouble and low CDC scores.

We found the filet mignon excellent. We ordered that because that’s what others here on CC recommended

Second day in CR for breakfast second time service was quick. Much nicer than waiting 45 minutes for toast.

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I understand that seafood and poultry must be frozen but good quality vacuum packed beef can stay fresh for months without problem, so I just don't see the need to use frozen beef.

Yes - the filet mignon comes out very well - when we want a steak onboard, that is what we order!

I agree, the filet mignon are not bad at all!

I believe this was in St Petersburg yesterday and is here today?? Short time there.

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That is likely Serenade of the Seas. They were in St. Petersburg yesterday for only around 12 hours (7 am to 7:30 pm). That IS a short visit. Too bad. St. Petersburg is definitely one of those ports where you need at least 2 days to really see it.

Agree - you can hardly see anything in 12 hours.

That is likely Serenade of the Seas. They were in St. Petersburg yesterday for only around 12 hours (7 am to 7:30 pm). That IS a short visit. Too bad. St. Petersburg is definitely one of those ports where you need at least 2 days to really see it.

Thank you. My recollection was correct then that they were there for a super short time.

Dress code doesn't appear to be enforced for the sub 12 year old group after 9. Makes me want to break out shorts and flip flops.