Regal Princess October 14 to 21, 2017 New England/Canada

[MisterMet]

Trip, thanks for the comments and compliments!

 

Boston is now on my list of places to revisit. I had visited it during the Big Dig on a very rainy weekend in 1998 and it didn't resonate strongly with me. Now it does.

 

So much World and so little time.... I haven't even been home to Northern Ireland in 14 years. Top of my bucket list is to visit Paris and sit at a sidewalk cafe.

 

 

I hope everyone stays until the end with you.

 

Norris

 

 

 

 

 

Norris,

 

We loved Northern Ireland when we stopped there on the Caribbean Princess in September. Hopefully my review (almost ready to start posting) and notes about our time there will inspire you. Do you ever feel the homeland calling you?

 

Trip

 

 

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[Bimmer09]

You will have to visit Paris then jump on the overnight train to Venice and sail from there. Rome. Milan. Switzerland - although we are asleep when we go through. So many places and so little time especially if your holidays are short. I live about two hours on the train from Paris. Love it there. Sadly, my husbands' ill health is not getting any better but I get all over with you and Carol�� It is not your camera that is heavy - I am curled up in the bottom of the bag.

 

Sorry to hear of your husband's ill health.

I am often saying to Carol we need to do as much as we can-while we can. Life can change forever in a day.

Venice I love. If you have read my Ocean Princess review you will know that it was love at first water-taxi.

Someday in the future we can take more than 10 days to travel. The 8 days on the Crown will be our longest cruise yet.

Norris

[Ellie322]

Norris - sunset pictures are just incredible! So enjoying your review. Nice way to end the week. Thank you!

 

Sue

 

 

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[Bimmer09]

The familiar charger plate says Sabatini's

 

 

An amuse of prosciutto and Grissini olives



 

I always order Vitello Tonnato, thinly sliced roast veal served chilled with tuna and caper aioli

 

 

Carol's salad of spinach, marinated fennel and ricotta



 

[Bimmer09]

The food, the wine, the relaxed atmosphere and the stellar service made for a memorable meal in Sabatini's. One caveat-at the beginning when we sat down the door was left open and the din from the band wailing away in the Piazza was a buzz-kill. They need a door that is (a) closed and (b) which is thick enough to mute that sound. The Piazza space is a sound amplifier.

Anyway, we weren't done eating and each course left some savor and anticipate time which is key for me. We eat all our food in due course unlike those big dogs in the Pedigree Chum ads where they attack it as if starved. With us there is no tail wagging and much less slobber.

I am one of those people who find a dish that they like and beat it to death as I can't NOT order it. Such as...

 

Braised short rib over penne pasta

 

 

Carol's manicotti alla Sorrentina



 

 

Roasted Branzino (sea bass) with zucchini slices and fried polenta was my choice



 

 

Carol's shrimp with cherry tomatoes and roasted vegetables



 

I sat back after clearing my plate of any Branzino evidence, patting my tummy. "I'd say that is the best meal we have had in Sabatini's ever. There must be an Italian in the kitchen!"

"Agreed" said Carol. Just then the chef came by to ask how everything was...he was a young Indian guy! We asked the waitress about him and she said that after culinary school in India he had gone to work in Italy for a few years. Obviously a great learner!



Dessert? No-how could we? We had just had a 4 course meal...well no harm in taking a look at the menu...













 

 

A sumptuous feast for the senses. For $29 per person? Find that in any big city!! Wait- the bill says Zero? Yay! Winning!





Being temporarily in Italy I had to order my signature aperitif-Sambuca Romana ($8) and a double espresso (Coffee card not stamped). "Sambuca" is Norris-speak for "Life is good"

And on the Regal Princess, it is.



We were running a couple of minutes late for our show but the Princess Theater was just a couple of floors up...

Has anyone ever ordered an espresso creme brûlée and regretted it?

[Bimmer09]

The sunset pictures are just awesome. I know they took alot of skill and patience. So worth it.

 

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Pam, glad you liked them. They needed less done to them in Lightroom than many of the photos I took that day as I have had a lot of practice with this camera (Canon 6D Mk II mainly though some from the other camera) taking sunset shots in Michigan. The cold wind made me want to bail but I felt the sky could only get richer as the minutes passed and the lady near to me was dealing with the same cold and wind and wasn't budging. Peer pressure!

Thanks for the compliment!

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Just a note on the Sabatini's photos-they were all taken on my new camera the Canon 6D Mk II as we had a table for 4 and room to sit the bag and get far enough away from the plates to get focus. In my MDR dinner shots so far I have had to use a small camera due to tightness of space. If only we could get table 312!

Norris, camera, table and ship nerd.

[Bimmer09]

[emoji106][emoji106]. Thanks for sharing.

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You are most welcome!

I hope you can make it to the end....I know this is lengthy but it doesn't have to be read all at once, although that's awaiting me when its finished.

We are both very glad we bookended the trip with New York City, so we didn't get off the ship in Brooklyn with sad faces-we were on to the next adventure!

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Gorgeous sunset pictures. Love Boston too. No better place to get fantastic sunset pictures than on board ship. Thanks for sharing a great review. Have read your precious ones and always enjoy them.

 

Susan

 

Susan, happy to have you along for the ride! I am glad you have read and enjoyed my previous reviews.

Cheers!

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Enjoying your review and great pictures! We were on just before you and we loved Boston too - much more so than NYC. We absolutely LOVED this itinerary and wouldn't hesitate to go again! :)

 

Great to see you join us DLM! Welcome.

Norris

[need2cruisesoon]

Norris,

 

Great narration, photos and story telling telling that leaves one wanting for more.

 

There is a certain intrigue and suspense even though it was just another in the annals of the beautiful Regal Princess bound for the Canadian maritime provinces.

 

This story touches all the senses of smell, the spoken word and feeling of sailing this 146,000 ton ship.

 

It's almost as I was there sailing with you, (perhaps I was).

[Bimmer09]

Norris,

 

We loved Northern Ireland when we stopped there on the Caribbean Princess in September. Hopefully my review (almost ready to start posting) and notes about our time there will inspire you. Do you ever feel the homeland calling you?

Trip

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Trip, I do from time to time but not with any urgency. I have two sisters with husbands whose company I enjoy when I am there. They both live within a mile of where we did as kids but are both keen travelers, the eldest one is an NCL cruiser and has been to the USA many times.

I call home once a year on Christmas Day.

I do love the landscape and always did. I loved the wit of the people I have known there, although the friends I would visit there are dead now.

Here's a couple of photos, modern ones from Google images. The first shows the house I lived in by the harbor from 5 years old to 15. Extreme left with a little car sitting out front. Top window was my bedroom which looked over the harbor so when I say that I lived by the sea you can see how close. In the 1960s there were about 40 wooden trawlers using the harbor. I had the keys to one of them as my granddad and his brother owned it.

 

The second one below is an aerial view. In the 1960s the top third of this would have been grass fields with cows grazing and me playing soccer. A lot of houses have been built since then. Our most famous resident was George Best the gifted soccer player for Manchester United (after he retired) The harbor and the beaches were my playground. Idyllic childhood!

My home at extreme bottom left before the sea. Still standing! reclaimed land has made the harbor facilities expand (Upper half with warehouses was not there when I lived there)

 

I got these (and many more) from Google Images, Portavogie, N Ireland

I'm looking forward to your cruise report including N. Ireland!

This is "where I am coming from"

Norris

[Bimmer09]

RYAN AHEARN SHOW

We arrived at the Princess theater a couple of minutes into the show but there were plenty of empty seats at the back where we like to sit. Solo pianist may keep folks away but he was a fine player and sang too-mainly rock and roll classics when he stood up.



 

Cleverly they had a camera on his hands as you can see above. He did a virtuoso version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody which brought the house down as the saying goes.

 

The ship's band was super tight and with him all the way

 

 



 

 

The video camera was a great touch!



 

 

Fine show and he did a 2nd later in the week with different material but we didn't go.





Bed by 11.30

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 17th October we are in Bar Harbor!

[SuiteTraveler]

Do you happen to know if the casino has live Texas hold 'em instead of the virtual kind?

 

 

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My husband loves to play Texas Hold'em but no, it is not live in the casino so he did not play. To my knowledge, you can get live Texas Hold'em on Carnival, RCCL, NCL and Celebrity.

[Bimmer09]

My husband loves to play Texas Hold'em but no, it is not live in the casino so he did not play. To my knowledge, you can get live Texas Hold'em on Carnival, RCCL, NCL and Celebrity.

 

Thanks for answering this question as I was clueless!

Norris

[macsford]

Norris,

Great to see (unexpected) pictures of Portavogie here, inducing nostalgia, memories of Sunday afternoons down the peninsula with icecream at the Cabin in Donaghadee or Cafollas in Newtownards on the way home to Bangor.

I also remember so many fields where there are now buildings.

I left Bangor in 66 and N. Ireland in 69 but still love lots about it.

Husband John from Birmingham spent all his summer holidays with his grandmother in Strangford and also has wonderful memories.

Oh well, memory lane but it's a great place to revisit .

Sandra

[pa247]

My husband loves to play Texas Hold'em but no, it is not live in the casino so he did not play. To my knowledge, you can get live Texas Hold'em on Carnival, RCCL, NCL and Celebrity.

 

 

 

Thank your for info. Now I don't need to bring as much cash :)

 

 

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[MisterMet]

Trip, I do from time to time but not with any urgency. I have two sisters with husbands whose company I enjoy when I am there. They both live within a mile of where we did as kids but are both keen travelers, the eldest one is an NCL cruiser and has been to the USA many times.

 

I call home once a year on Christmas Day.

 

 

I do love the landscape and always did. I loved the wit of the people I have known there, although the friends I would visit there are dead now.

 

 

Here's a couple of photos, modern ones from Google images. The first shows the house I lived in by the harbor from 5 years old to 15. Extreme left with a little car sitting out front. Top window was my bedroom which looked over the harbor so when I say that I lived by the sea you can see how close. In the 1960s there were about 40 wooden trawlers using the harbor. I had the keys to one of them as my granddad and his brother owned it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second one below is an aerial view. In the 1960s the top third of this would have been grass fields with cows grazing and me playing soccer. A lot of houses have been built since then. Our most famous resident was George Best the gifted soccer player for Manchester United (after he retired) The harbor and the beaches were my playground. Idyllic childhood!

 

My home at extreme bottom left before the sea. Still standing! reclaimed land has made the harbor facilities expand (Upper half with warehouses was not there when I lived there)

 

 

 

 

 

I got these (and many more) from Google Images, Portavogie, N Ireland

 

I'm looking forward to your cruise report including N. Ireland!

 

 

This is "where I am coming from"

 

Norris

 

 

 

 

 

Norris,

 

Thanks for the pics from your native land. Beautiful to say the least and explains your affinity for the sea and harbors. Enjoy the weekend.

 

Trip

 

 

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[traci_money]

Sunset photos could be paintings ... so prettu

 

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[BarbinMich]

Gorgeous sunset pictures. Love Boston too. No better place to get fantastic sunset pictures than on board ship. . . .

Susan

 

Ditto! I think that port was also our most spectacular sunset on a similar cruise a few years ago.

[Walt fan]

Sir Norris, I am all caught up! I love your reviews, wonderful wit and full of pics that make me add to my bucket list. We were gone for 8 days from a Utah/Arizona road trip, and life was catch-up busy all this week but I managed to find you and start reading. I am here to the end. The sunset pics from Boston, wow, there are not enough words on the beauty. Thank you for sharing your Ireland pics. I really want to visit there one day, sooner rather than later, to see where my husband's ancestors roamed. Life is too short, and my list is long. So glad to see you here again Norris!!

 

Carol from Texas

[SuiteTraveler]

My DH said Princess has the Texas Hold'em electronic table play, but there never was a tournament scheduled while we were onboard. It was a shame really because he looks forward to shipboard tournaments.

[rdsqrl]

Thank you for the Sabatini's photos. I'm sailing on the Crown in December for my first back-to-back, so to avoid same-menu fatigue in the main dining room, I'll be trying both specialty restaurants, also for the first time. The vitello con tonnato is tops on my must-have list, so it was great to see a photo. And that branzino looks amazing -- but so does Carol's shrimp . . . I may have to go to Sab's twice . . .

 

 

[Bimmer09]

Norris,

Great to see (unexpected) pictures of Portavogie here, inducing nostalgia, memories of Sunday afternoons down the peninsula with icecream at the Cabin in Donaghadee or Cafollas in Newtownards on the way home to Bangor.

I also remember so many fields where there are now buildings.

I left Bangor in 66 and N. Ireland in 69 but still love lots about it.

Husband John from Birmingham spent all his summer holidays with his grandmother in Strangford and also has wonderful memories.

Oh well, memory lane but it's a great place to revisit .

Sandra

 

Sandra I never expected to see anyone on this board who knew where Portavogie was (is)! Cafollas (Italians) was a hangout for me after classes in High School in Newtownards and before I took the 45 minute coastal bus ride home (eye candy!!) I left Portavogie in 1969 and N Ireland (also known as Ulster) for good in 1974 after being caught in the middle of two gun battles-one of them indoors. I went, with my mother's urging, to London, which I had first visited when I was 13 and was smitten by and stayed there until 1986.

I have therefore lived in the USA for longer than I did in N Ireland. I miss the food and the easy hospitality of the people-you are not a stranger for long when you sit down next to an Ulsterman.

Thanks so much for the comments!

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Sir Norris, I am all caught up! I love your reviews, wonderful wit and full of pics that make me add to my bucket list. We were gone for 8 days from a Utah/Arizona road trip, and life was catch-up busy all this week but I managed to find you and start reading. I am here to the end. The sunset pics from Boston, wow, there are not enough words on the beauty. Thank you for sharing your Ireland pics. I really want to visit there one day, sooner rather than later, to see where my husband's ancestors roamed. Life is too short, and my list is long. So glad to see you here again Norris!!

 

Carol from Texas

 

Carol-that road trip is right up our alley. Glad you found my report and are here until the end!

I am happy with the Boston pics as they took very little work in Lightroom. I deliberately underexposed them using a fast shutter speed which is how you capture as much color as possible in a sunrise or set. I am looking at the Bar Harbor pics in the morning- I haven't seen beyond Boston yet and hope I have some good ones to show you. I shot some pics that I knew would make for a good Day 1 (2, 3,etc) headline (all seen on Page 1 intro) and homed in on them to get the review started but beyond that I find surprises in what I captured. It's fun finding out day by day.

Tune in tomorrow!

Norris