Mulled wine & musings from Mariner

[flossie009]

An excellent dinner with friends in Compass Rose last night.

 

Due to conversation, and wine, flowing so well we only caught part of the last number from the show last night.

It was a performance by the new assistant CD, Richard Rubin.

Many commented on how good his show was; a very talented pianist with a quirky personality

 

 

 

 

We did make it to Ross Ranallo’s “Name that Tune”. Having a rock&pop bass guitarist on our team certainly helped our score 😀

More Regent Reward Points 👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[flossie009]

Another glorious day at sea for us today.

 

 

Our morning coffee was accompanied with a special order of Almond Croissants

 

 

 

Yummy 😋……….. and must be healthy and so very low in calories 🤣

 

Sure beats a Blueberry Muffin  😉

 

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by flossie009

[cwn]

1 hour ago, flossie009 said:

Another glorious day at sea for us today.

 

 

Our morning coffee was accompanied with a special order of Almond Croissants

 

 

 

Yummy 😋……….. and must be healthy and so very low in calories 🤣

 

Sure beats a Blueberry Muffin  😉

 

 

Love your reports and pictures😊.Those Almond Croissants look wonderful, one of my favorite foods on Regent!. Thank you for taking us along with you!

[flossie009]

Another glorious day in the Pacific.

 

 

A very enjoyable evening last night. An excellent dinner in Prime 7 - delicious food & attentive friendly service; followed by the entertaining Liars Club (Call my Bluff) in the Horizon Lounge - the panel were very amusing with their word definitions.

 

Our indulgent desserts 😋

 

 

 

 

 

[BBWC]

Now that Mexican ports are open again, any plans to change back?

[flossie009]

Just now, BBWC said:

Now that Mexican ports are open again, any plans to change back?

We are heading directly to San Diego, arriving January 1st

 

 

[flossie009]

Since we last sailed with Regent pre-pandemic we have noticed some changes to the dishes in the speciality restaurants:

 

Prime 7

Seared Diver Scallop (new appetiser) - served with pork belly and an orange/pomegranate sauce

 

Rocky Road Bread Pudding (new dessert) - served with marshmallows, pecans & salted butterscotch sauce

Sorry, no picture

 

Petit Fours - chocolate brownie with a jelly topping

not a particularly good addition, in our opinion

 

 

Chartreuse

Escargots (hors d’oeuvre)

a slightly bizarre mixture which actually tastes a lot better than it looks; certainly a massive improvement on the previous escargot appetiser in Chartreuse.

 

Crispy Apple Tart (dessert - new design)

still a very tasty dessert; the crispy pastry is improved

 

Creme Brûlée (dessert - new design)

similar recipe to the previous version, just a different shape & the unnecessary addition of ice cream

 

 

It is good to see some new developments on the menus.

 

 

[RJ2002]

@flossie009 Loving all your reports and pictures, especially the food.  What did you think of that scallop dish?  That is an interesting combination.  

[Eno-Bob]

1 hour ago, flossie009 said:

Petit Fours - chocolate brownie with a jelly topping

I liked them better when I scooped out the jelly topping --

[flossie009]

A very enjoyable get together of CC members on Mariner last night.

Eight of us met for dinner in Compass Rose, where Regent staff kindly set up a special oblong table for us; much easier to converse than around one of the large round tables.

We should have been nine but one member must have been off playing whiff-whaff 🤨 

 

Then it was off to the theatre for the production show Tuxedo. The new cast are excellent; very good singers & dancers.

 

 

Today the weather has turned colder as we head north, with cloud & rain forecast for tomorrow, New Years Eve

Hope we have a reasonable day for our call in to San Diego on January 1st.

[labonnevie]

16 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

Hope we have a reasonable day for our call in to San Diego on January 1st.

Should be sunny but crisp. Highs in the upper 50's F. Enjoy your time there.

[pingpong1]

17 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Yes, A very enjoyable get together of some CC members on Mariner last night

Eight of us met for dinner in Compass Rose, where Regent staff kindly set up a special oblong table for us; much easier to converse than around one of the large round tables.

We should have been nine but one member must have been off playing whiff-whaff 🤨 

 

Then it was off to the theatre for the production show Tuxedo. The new cast are excellent; very good singers & dancers.

 

 

Today the weather has turned colder as we head north, with cloud & rain forecast for tomorrow, New Years Eve

Hope we have a reasonable day for our call in to San Diego on January 1st.

I would just heartily verify Flossie's report.  All the "private CC dinner guests" had a wonderful evening together.  To clarify so there is no future confusion, this was not an "official" CC-sponsored or arranged event.  It was just a gathering opportunity for some of us who normally chat on this board to meet each other in person and have a nice dinner together.  And it worked out very well.

 

Despite some of the supposed (or real) "short-comings" you might be reading about on some of the cruises at the moment, I can personally attest to the fact that all the Regent folks "on the ground" and in direct contact with us passengers, are working their hearts out to make our cruise experiences the best they can possibly be under the circumstances.  Last night, 4 of us travel friends enjoyed a wonderful/private in-suite cocktail and dinner party in our own Seven Seas (Aft) Suite.  Our hard-working and totally dedicated Butler ("Vikas") pulled this off for us "Flawlessly", and we owe him many thanks and much gratitude for this!

 

We started at 5:30 PM with beautiful wines and appetizers comprising of cold shrimp and charcuterie.  We were able to enjoy this in the suite and out on our own lovely (huge) balcony (the seas have been like "glass" that past few days).  After an hour or so of drinks and appetizers, this was all taken away and Vikas presented us with a beautifully set table for 4, complete with table cloth, all the proper silverware, napkins, and with all the proper glassware for the various wine pours to be served with the meal.

 

We then sat down to eat dinner, while Vikas brought in perfectly cooked lobster tail (very tender and not over-cooked) for 3 of us and ample pork chop for the 4th person, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, asparagus, hollandaise sauce, and rolls.  For almost an hour, we listed to nice music on the sound system and enjoyed each others company.

 

Vikas then came back, cleared our table, and presented a "custom-made" cherry pie for the 4 of us, complete with vanilla ice cream to go on top.  I had asked Vikas the day before if he could speak to the bakery chef about making this pie for us.  The chef was quite happy to do this (with a day's notice), and the pie was absolutely wonderful and the effort by the chef was most appreciated!  We will finishing the rest of that pie this evening in CR.  After desert, Vikas brought us all coffee and nice servings of "Ruby Port".  What a wonderful meal this was for the 4 of us, and if I might remind everyone, it is because of this level of personal service, that we continue to be "Regent Regulars"!

 

Thank-you again "Vikas", and Thank-you Regent!  😄    

[cwn]

Sounds wonderful……like the Regent we know and love. Happy Sailing! Thanks to you and Flossie for taking us along!

[flossie009]

Yesterday evening we made our third visit this cruise to Chartreuse.

 

We both started with the Foie Gras Terrine; paired with a glass of Sauterne 😋

 

After initially choosing the Halibut Fillet, we returned the dishes as the fish was not to our taste; seemingly over cooked giving a firm woolly texture 😒

We changed to the always reliable Beef Tenderloin Rossini - melt in the mouth delicious.

 

For dessert I opted for the excellent Crispy Apple Tart

 

David chose the French Cheese Selection

Not served from the trolley; but a fine selection of freshly cut cheeses at the correct maturity & temperature. 
 

Sadly neither of us had much room for the chocolates

 

 

[boblerm]

Susan,

Thank you for keeping us up to date on your cruise, I am enjoying your posts and photos as always.

A very happy new year to you and Pingpong1 and the other CC members on your cruise. 

Bob

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Susan and David….

wishing you a very safe journey home! Will stay in touch…👍🤞

Hugs ❤️❤️

sheila and Herb

[flossie009]

 

 

 

Happy New Year 🥳

[RJ2002]

2 hours ago, flossie009 said:

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year 🥳

 

Boy would I love those choices tonight.  Happy New Year all.

[liptastic]

Happy New Year to you all onboard. Enjoying all the live posts . Lovely menu for last night Hogmanay dinner . Thanks for keeping us all updated. 
Jean. 

[pingpong1]

It's about 6AM off the southern California coast.  The lights of San Diego can now be seen just east of us, and I'm "up and about".  Staying up late for the New Years celebrations onboard held no particular interest for me.  DW and her friend kept the celebration going, while I and "Chuck" went off to our separate suites and "called it a night".  Dinner in CR was really good and finished off our Cherry Pie from last night's in-suite dinner.  Yumm!

 

The pilot boat just pulled alongside and transferred our pilot to the Mariner and we've now begun to pick up a bit of speed and are heading towards the harbor.  A little bit of daylight is just "peaking above the eastern horizon".

 

A few minutes later.....Looking out my patio window, I can see that we have just now passed the outermost channel markers and are heading towards Cabrillo Point and will be seeing the Coronado Bridge within the next 15 minutes.  Customs and Boarder Protection Officers will be boarding as soon as we securely tie up and everyone on the ship will have to go through a "face to face" immigration check with the officers.

 

I would imagine after that, they'll open up ship and many folks will be eagerly setting foot onto U.S. soil for the first time since we departed Key West on the afternoon of Dec 19.  DW and I have no actual Excursions booked, as we've been to SD many, many times over the years and we're now "just" a 5-hour drive back home (to Arizona) and do the occasional road trip over to SD.  We might just walk around the Gaslight District a bit to stretch the legs.  But we'll be staying with the cruise until we finally depart the ship on Jan 5 in San Francisco.

 

We had given a 5-second consideration about leaving the ship today, but didn't see any compelling benefit to doing that (packing up is such a "pain").  We're enjoying all the entertainment and meals onboard and are having a great time seeing some of the other passengers we've become friends with.  I'll "check in" later and let everyone know how things are going and how the "Cruise to Nowhere" continues.  Best Regards

Edited January 1, 2022 by pingpong1
spelling

[Frncie]

2 hours ago, pingpong1 said:

It's about 6AM off the southern California coast.  The lights of San Diego can now be seen just east of us, and I'm "up and about".  Staying up late for the New Years celebrations onboard held no particular interest for me.  DW and her friend kept the celebration going, while I and "Chuck" went off to our separate suites and "called it a night".  Dinner in CR was really good and finished off our Cherry Pie from last night's in-suite dinner.  Yumm!

 

The pilot boat just pulled alongside and transferred our pilot to the Mariner and we've now begun to pick up a bit of speed and are heading towards the harbor.  A little bit of daylight is just "peaking above the eastern horizon".

 

A few minutes later.....Looking out my patio window, I can see that we have just now passed the outermost channel markers and are heading towards Cabrillo Point and will be seeing the Coronado Bridge within the next 15 minutes.  Customs and Boarder Protection Officers will be boarding as soon as we securely tie up and everyone on the ship will have to go through a "face to face" immigration check with the officers.

 

I would imagine after that, they'll open up ship and many folks will be eagerly setting foot onto U.S. soil for the first time since we departed Key West on the afternoon of Dec 19.  DW and I have no actual Excursions booked, as we've been to SD many, many times over the years and we're now "just" a 5-hour drive back home (to Arizona) and do the occasional road trip over to SD.  We might just walk around the Gaslight District a bit to stretch the legs.  But we'll be staying with the cruise until we finally depart the ship on Jan 5 in San Francisco.

 

We had given a 5-second consideration about leaving the ship today, but didn't see any compelling benefit to doing that (packing up is such a "pain").  We're enjoying all the entertainment and meals onboard and are having a great time seeing some of the other passengers we've become friends with.  I'll "check in" later and let everyone know how things are going and how the "Cruise to Nowhere" continues.  Best Regards

Thank you! What a beautiful way to start the New Year!

[1982CruzStart]

Thanks Susan and pingpong1 for your posts and the beautiful pictures. 

[PaulaJK]

Fabulous photos…I gained weight just looking !

[flossie009]

11 hours ago, liptastic said:

Lovely menu for last night Hogmanay dinner

It was delicious ……………….. but no Haggis 😱, even though Andy Heath donned his kilt for the celebrations.

 

[flossie009]

Following the very enjoyable New Year's Eve celebrations on Mariner we docked in San Diego this morning. A glorious day, cool but sunny, for our tour around the city & harbour.

 

From l-r: The World; Seven Seas Mariner; USS Midway