FOOD - Live from the Mariner - April 2 - 20

computerworks: do you have any photos of Malaga to post? This is such a beautiful city. We enjoyed it much more than Barcelona -- it is safer, more of a community -- just lovely. We have been here before but were probably on an included excursion that we did not enjoy instead of being in the city and learning more about the people - the restaurants and the local sites.

Tomorrow pictures will resume. It is our last day and while we enjoyed every minute of the cruise, we are anxious to get home. I will be nice to have our last day be a sea day (and an active one at that).

I want to go off-topic - just for one paragraph. Many times people report experiences on board that are different than ours. A month or so ago there was a thread about men wearing hats in CR. Someone posted that they had seen a man wearing a hat and no one said anything. Our experience was seeing a man being asked to remove his hat. Tonight we saw a man wearing an English type cap...... no one said anything. I may ask what the policy is but did not ask this evening. We also saw someone smoking an electronic pipe outside of LV. Many of us inside thought that it looked like a real pipe as it appeared that a lot of "smoke" was coming out of it. When we asked about it, they said that it was electronic and what we were seeing was steam. Anyway, this evening, we asked the Dining Room Manager about where electronic cigarettes/pipes, etc. are permitted and were told "anywhere where food is not served (so, the man vaping outside of LV should not have been.)

Will post tomorrow and will do a wrap-up/review when we get home.

And your comment about portion size is so true...w/ several categories on the menus to choose from smaller / European portions were the order of the day..and yet the food was so delicious & we always were very satisfied on many levels after each meal...the only thing to do was to go up to the lounge & dance to one of the fabulous bands before the midnight buffets started...oh and of course the wines.....

 

Home Lines & Sitmar were also favorites of ours. The only ship I never got to sail on was the Christoforo Columbo.

Not the Mayflower? It must've been "all inclusive."

Malaga is where Picasso was born. His home is a museum and you can see room where he was born - awesome. We were driving and drivers in Spain and Portugal are SCARY! BEWARE !

TC2, you highlight my problem with excursions. A level 2 or 3 excursion should be only for fit people thus there should be no handicapped seats on the bus? For either, you should be able to wlk around for at least a couple of hours without getting tired, and for the level 3, it should be over rough terrain. And the excursion desk people should not allow people who are clearly unfit t go on these excursions. It is dangerous for that person, and unfair to everyone else.

I could not agree more. I go for excursions with the most people, 3 and expect an active level. Then someone gets on that has no business and the excursion operates to the lowest common denominator. It is not fair to the rest of the group. And this has happened every single cruise. For this, I blame Destination services.

Malaga is where Picasso was born. His home is a museum and you can see room where he was born - awesome. We were driving and drivers in Spain and Portugal are SCARY! BEWARE !

Important not to confuse the museum at the Casa Natal - where he was indeed born - and the Picasso Museum nearby which is a lot "grander" !!

If you think Spanish drivers are scary then either drive in Florida or come here to the Valais in Switzerland!!

Just sent quite a few photos to computerworks (hope it wasn't too many). I would like to explain them a bit.

First was the Spanish buffet. Not too many photos. Shortly after they were taken, the pool deck was shut down for an emergency evacuation. Our prayers are with the person evacuated and their family. Fortunately we are in the Mediterranean and land is nearby so they could a helicopter here very quickly. The emergency team on Regent is amazing (as is the Captain and Staff Captain that work with the helicopter pilot to make it all happen successfully!)

The Country Fair is an event usually only held on "crossings". We love it because it really shows that Regent passengers are fun and down to earth. While the photos are not great (it was very sunny outside and this made it difficult to see what I was taking). Each department sets up it's own "booth" with some type of game. The "martini department" always has a race with passengers holding two glasses of colored water in martini glasses. It is goofy - it is fun -- you would have to be a stick in the mud if you didn't at least smile at these events. The Country Fair is now on Oceania crossings as well.

After the Country Fair was the Chocoholic Tea Time. The set-up is magnificent. I have no idea what the Oceania equivalent is because we do not typically go to this event (except when it is "chocolate" and when I want to take photographs). I did pretty well resisting the chocolate -- only one marshmallow dipped in the fountain but could not resist a half of a scone (shared with DH) with clotted cream and jam. Sooooooo good! Whoever posted that Regent does not have clotted cream on board was mistaken. I thought I had seen it but the poster had me convinced that I was wrong. So, I took a photo of the clotted cream and it will remain in the archives of CC so it can be retrieved when necessary:-).

As Regent passengers know, it would be impossible to take a picture of all the food served on a cruise but I did my best to give you good idea of what is offered. Without computerworks, none of this would have been possible. I have between now and November to learn how to post photos easily because I would like to post photos from our pre-cruise safari as well as excursions in Africa. I know how to use photobucket but it is so tedious. There must be a better way.

We are now quite anxious to get home to our kitties (and family). As I mentioned yesterday, I will review the cruise a bit more when we get home and will explain why I complimented Destination Services on the final questionnaire amongst other things. Bye for now.

Just sent quite a few photos to computerworks (hope it wasn't too many).

...not so bad. ;)

TC2 - thank you for all your time and efforts in posting your review of your trip. I totally understand the need to get home to those kitties! :D. Safe trip home.

From your first posts, the food offerings now look so much better - and the chocolate afternoon tea, well, the Pastry Chef has truly excelled himself! It all looks quite delicious!

Now, with you and Hambagahle returned home - for now - after your recent adventures on Regent and Oceania .... What are we going to do every day without the "My Ship is better than your Ship, Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah" !???? ;):p:D. LOL!!!

But seriously girls - you both did a sterling job in telling us all about your trips! Thank you both.

And of course thanks to Computerworks for posting the photos.

Hear, hear!

Thanks for all your food reports and the pics. I want to be onboard now. We have never been on a cruise with the country fair. Which is strange considering how many times we have cruised, but it looks to be great fun.

TC2 and Computerworks ; Thanks for all the great posts and pictures. Missing the ship even thought we were there just less than 2 months ago. No chocolate tea, though and probably for the best - my pants were tight as it was! Safe journey home TC2.

Joanna

Thanks for taking us along!

Good flight home Jackie!! Your photographs were most interesting and I - and seemingly others - appreciated the time taken to (a) take them and (b) put them on the site - thanks to Ron for that!!

Ken took some photos of the "Grand Tea" and also the magnificent Easter Chocolate display we had on the Riviera and once I sort out my other photos I will try to post some of them. Not sure how to but will try! We also had the Oceania equivalent of the Country Fair and we didn't take photos then but it was a lot of fun, as it is on Regent.

We also had a medical evacuation - but ours was in the middle of the Atlantic. We were 3 days out from Bermuda and the ship changed course in the night to steam north towards the Azores. Around 0800 the following day one of those huge two rotor helicopters arrived over the ship. A doctor was dropped (winched I suppose) down and he checked the patient out before giving the OK to take him to the sports deck where he was winched up into the helicopter in a basket. (Off the croquet court as a matter of fact!) The helicopter then headed for the Azores and we for Madeira. The GM told me that the helicopter used had a range of 500miles and where we were was about its limit.

Next day I found out that the patient was doing fine and his wife was due to disembark in Madeira from where presumably she could fly to the Azores. All this was quite dramatic but I was ignorant of the entire thing until the CD made an announcement about it... I slept through all the rotor noise etc! I asked Damien (GM) if this sort of thing happened often and he said yes - often. I suppose given the age group on the ships this is to be expected.

It took 26 hours from the time we walked off of the Mariner until we walked inside of our house. Delays at Heathrow - change of equipment, etc. It is now almost midnight and, although I am quite awake, my brain may not be clear enough to do a review.

Before leaving the ship I made a point to ask Franck Galzy what the percentage of people from the U.S. were because there seemed to be many non-English speaking guests as well as a lot of people from the U.K. (not sure if this is due to bargain prices or not -- hope not as that is frustrating for those people in the rest of the world). Anyway, there ship had approximately 60% guests from the U.S.

Debarkation was very smooth and fast. I think that Oceania can take a lesson from Regent on this topic. While some ports are more difficult than others, Barcelona could not have been better. We had the choice of a 3 hour city tour (included) and then a drop-off at the airport or going straight to the airport. We have seen Barcelona and enjoyed spending time in the lounge (not a BA lounge but quite lovely nevertheless). There were plenty of computers -- that was enough to keep me busy:-)

Heathrow was difficult as usual. It seems that more and more flights are going into terminal 3 which requires the long walk and a 10 minute bus ride to terminal 5. -- at least for flights going to the U.S. and Canada. The lounges in terminal 5 are some of the best around (not as good as the new Amex Centurion Lounges in the U.S.). The delay was interesting to us because we have flown the exact same 747-400 for at least the last 4 times we flew BA (there are identifying features on the plane that I look for). There was a mechanical problem with the plane when it arrived at Heathrow and the plane they decided to use had to be moved, luggage reloaded, etc. The delay at that point was about 2 1/2 hours. Then someone on the plane decided that they wanted to get off of the plane so their luggage had to be off-loaded. So, we left about 3 hours late but arrived in Vancouver 2 1/2 hours late. The plane was the newest 747 we have seen - very nice.

Okay - it is now midnight and I'm not sure what to do but I do know that I want to get off of the computer. More tomorrow.

I do not think Oceania can take a lesson from Regent on disembarkation (or embarkation for that matter!) Disembarkation at Barcelona was as smooth as silk. We (independent travellers) were told we could leave the ship any time from the time it was cleared and that we had to be off by 0900. We had breakfast served in our suite. Collected our bags and walked off the ship about 0830. by then there were only a few people left waiting for their groups to be called for transfers. Of course we did not have to queue to get passports stamped - being Swiss we go through the EU line and our passports were looked at and that was all. So no wait there. Bags were really easy to find and so was a porter. We were in our hotel room in the Hotel DO (Plaça Reial in the Gothic Quarter) 20 mins after leaving the ship and 30 mins after leaving the suite.

Smooth as silk. And so was embarkation.

Morning Techno123 ..... And I thought the nah, nah, nah, nah, nah was over! LOL! Anyway gave me a laugh this morning over my "postwalk with the dogs" cup of tea! ;):D

Actually Barcelona is one of the easiest and nicest places we have ever disembarked a ship. No queues, no passport check (being non-Swiss), and lots and lots of taxis available. Luggage lined up in very sensible order made that easy to spy too!

Time to BCN, about 15 minutes in a taxi and the lounge there is very nice with a quiet zone with day beds too.

TC2 - that T3 to T5 shuffle is a pain in the you know what. The worst bit can be going through security getting back into T5 for your connection. We always allow plenty of time if we have to do this. Even with so-called Fast Track! :rolleyes:

Apart from the identifying aircraft ID, how on earth do you know you are in the the same aircraft? Do you stick your bubblegum under your seat? :p Were you in the Concorde room at LHR - it's quite nice but can be busy at times.

 

Apart from the identifying aircraft ID, how on earth do you know you are in the the same aircraft? Do you stick your bubblegum under your seat? :p Were you in the Concorde room at LHR - it's quite nice but can be busy at times.

Quite correct fairbourne. Only ways to be sure you are on the same aircraft is the "tail number" on the aft end of the aircraft or upon entering the aircraft, there is usually an air worthiness certificate with the serial number of the aircraft. Aircraft are so similar that using features is a recipe for failure in trying to identify a particular aircraft without serial or tail numbers.

Also, saying it was a new aircraft is also false. The last 747-400 delivered by Boeing to British Airways was in 1998 so to say a 17 year old aircraft is "new" is false as well. Some people seem to have to one up everyone else with their extreme lack of knowledge.

Morning Techno123 ..... And I thought the nah, nah, nah, nah, nah was over! LOL! Anyway gave me a laugh this morning over my "postwalk with the dogs" cup of tea! ;):D

 

Actually Barcelona is one of the easiest and nicest places we have ever disembarked a ship. No queues, no passport check (being non-Swiss), and lots and lots of taxis available. Luggage lined up in very sensible order made that easy to spy too!

 

Time to BCN, about 15 minutes in a taxi and the lounge there is very nice with a quiet zone with day beds too.

 

TC2 - that T3 to T5 shuffle is a pain in the you know what. The worst bit can be going through security getting back into T5 for your connection. We always allow plenty of time if we have to do this. Even with so-called Fast Track! :rolleyes:

 

Apart from the identifying aircraft ID, how on earth do you know you are in the the same aircraft? Do you stick your bubblegum under your seat? :p Were you in the Concorde room at LHR - it's quite nice but can be busy at times.

Hope you know that the nah nah nah is light hearted. When we disembarked the Riviera in December, it was the worst "mess" we have ever encountered. Passengers that were called to disembark could not as passengers were blocking every single hallway that led to the door to disembark. This was clearly a Oceania problem - not a port problem. Several people commented on this on CC.

Wish we had been in the Concorde room at LHR. We were only in the Business Class Lounge (which is still better than most lounges that we have visited). The plane.... hmmmmm, we always sit upstairs -- maybe six rows of seats. We are almost always in the same seats. There are a couple of things that are broken in the compartments next to the seats (there is a ton of storage area next to the window seats). Unless the exact same damage - in the exact same place has been done to multiple 747-400's, we were on the same plane multiple times.

In response to another posters most unkind comment, I do not care when the plane was built -- the interior was clearly "new" (new seats, new compartments, etc.) When Silversea and Oceania advertise their "new" ships, they were not necessarily built recently but were completely refurbished. Perhaps Oceania needs to be reminded that the "new" Sirina (debuting next year) is really an old ship that is taking a year to refurbish :eek:

Will spend the day shopping and reflecting on the cruise so that I can do the promised "review". :)